[So I'm starting to get used to the once a month and reaching over 10k words, I guess that's one good thing as of recently.]
[I have some moderately important news at the end dealing with the future of this fic, it's not ending btw.]
[Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or anything really, if I did I'd probably quit my job]
Posted 1/24/20
-Chapter 6-
Within the confines of a dark room lightened by a small number of candles sat Lucy with her legs crossed as her thighs shifted in place and a satisfying grin plastered on her face.
To many Lucy comes off as apathetic, detached or even unresponsive but that's just how she is, very silent and secretive.
Inside she's actually kind of a perv, her choice in literature is just one of many ways she chooses to let out her inner deviant.
Lucy gets to a good place in her book and marks it with her placeholder.
She looks of in the distant closing her eyes and 'sees' people walking about, 'Didn't Lincoln say there was a curfew?' A good chunk of them were headed into a secluded building, they were consisting of people she doesn't know but still curious about what they are doing.
Lucy hopes it's not another sex dungeon, she's looked into the day to day lives of people before and has made the mistake of following groups of normal people via mindsight and found quite the shocker.
'Huh, what do you know?' She thinks to herself, Lucy didn't find another underground chamber dedicated to fulfilling the dark-pleasurable desires of man, in her words, but instead found an underground arena dedicated to fulfilling the vehement desires of man, go figure.
Lucy found a fight club, she saw regular people, some soldiers, some of Slade's men and wouldn't you believe it Conner himself.
That fact alone almost made Lucy exit out but decided to look on.
In the midst of Conner's slugfest, Lucy looked onward in displeasure, not of the boy or his opponent but in his fighting prowess.
Lucy has seen Lincoln fight in the pits, arenas and so on, but the way he fought was elegant, fluid and pure perfection through endless hours of practice and experience.
The way this boy fought was sloppy, raw, crude and unrefined. It'd be more accurate to say he was a brawler who only ever got his practice in the ring.
'Perhaps I've been spoiled seeing Lincoln battle but he really lacks discipline.' True enough, Lincoln has had proper training and against people he really does make it look like one of those violent animated shows Lincoln used to watch, at least to Lucy.
Watching the fight Lucy sees Conner take some hits from a heavy set man, they're both bruised to hell and the crowd is just cheering them on, if only she could hear when using this power.
Suddenly a noise draws her mind back into her room, she looks over to see Lincoln twitching and moaning as his body curls and his hands tighten into fists.
Lucy looks down feeling his stress, it was rare that Lincoln had nightmares but they did happen, why wouldn't he when you've seen what the two had.
Lucy and Lincoln have been hurt and betrayed by lots of people and Lucy recoils a bit thinking back.
The word 'betrayal' really does hit her hard. She should know more than anyone the kind of damage it does to people or more specifically to Lincoln.
"Sigh, I wonder what ails him this night?" She wonders out loud knowing that Lincoln hasn't really talked about his dreams or nightmares, from what she recalls, it's either a memory from before all of this or about when he went off the deep end, that was a scary time for her.
After trashcan's sudden demise at the hands of raiders, Lincoln changed, sure he changed after the walls came up but those were little things, the paranoia, the non-comedic pessimistic outlook and his irritable teenage phase were to be expected, especially when it came to their safety.
Lucy believes when the dog died, so did Lincoln in a sense. His entire persona changed into something monstrous and full of rage, he became so angry and violent that he drove Lucy into the arms of another man, someone not worth mentioning.
Lucy was so miserable with Lincoln at the time that she sought solace and freedom in the company of a pretty boy that sweet-talked his way into Lucy's brain.
To this day she's been kicking herself pretty hard for abandoning Lincoln but in her defense, Lincoln was terrifying, he killed lots of people, almost anyone who tried to hurt them and it only drove the two of them apart.
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. When the walls came up, Lincoln was beyond afraid and stressed 24/7.
Every day they were on their own, it was a struggle just for two kids to survive, out of their element and without the comfort of a family or friends was rough on Lincoln and with the responsibility of his younger sister on his conscience he had to make hard choices.
Lincoln was at a breaking point long before his dog died.
And to anyone who thinks him breaking was about the dog, Lucy begs to differ.
When Lincoln found out he was adopted, he was at a loss, he tried his hardest to forge an identity for himself, it invited stress into his life and he found release through creative self-expression, martial arts, being more involved in his sister's lives and vice versa made him into a more complete person.
The bond he formed with Lily was more akin to a father/daughter relationship than that of a brother/sister one.
Being ripped from his family put him on edge for over two years, then the dog came in, when trashcan died, Lincoln snapped, it wasn't about the dog, it was about what it represented, all of Lincoln's love for his sisters and his desire to protect them taken by the whiz of a bullet and worst of all it was Lucy who presented the dog to Lincoln in the first place.
In Lucy's eyes Lincoln has died twice, as Lincoln: the brother, who she loved with all her heart, died alongside his dog and as Lincoln: the monster that came after.
"Sigh, Steven Moffat how right you were, demons do indeed run when a good man goes to war." With that Lucy continues her thoughts.
The blood thirsty monster that took his place terrified her, so much so, she ran off with a boy she really didn't know, Lincoln: the monster drove her to someone who didn't care for her, Lucy wanted to believe in someone so much that she refused to use her powers on the boy instead opting to trust his actions.
Lucy looks downward in shame.
The irony is that if she had used her empathic powers on the boy she would have felt the bullshit radiating off of him since day one.
In the days that Lucy and her 'boyfriend' ran away from Lincoln, she could feel if he was near and would cloud his mind enough to throw him off their trail.
Another betrayal that she won't quite live down was turning him into the DUP, she knew they wouldn't be able to take him but at the time she didn't think she'd be sending them and local militia on a suicide mission.
Lucy's hands clench.
Lincoln has killed before and for various reasons but what he did to those men was Lucy's fault.
Using her powers on Lincoln was one thing but Lucy knows the blood he spilt that day is on her hands.
Then one day the pair ran into… let's say unsavory people.
About 4 women draped in robes and wore leather bondage getup had approached Lucy and her boyfriend as Lucy could feel a sharp pain in her head, a sensation she's felt before, they were telepaths or some of them were.
They introduced themselves as the hellfire club and they were looking for some new members when they happened across Lucy surrounded by the 'rejects who failed initiation'.
Lucy saw some kids a bit older than her who were alive but she couldn't feel any brain activity, no emotions, no thoughts.
She refused on the spot and when they threatened the two of them with the same end, the boy begged for his life and said if Lucy was all they wanted then they could have the freak.
Another taboo word for Lucy.
At first Lucy was devastated but then she thought he was trying to distract them until they let him go and he was walking away, she begged him not to and when he turned around Lucy could see they look of contempt on his face.
She read his emotions as he spoke to her, the insults and slurs he threw at her like 'creepy goth bitch' and 'freak' were all honest, he meant every word and as he was running away Lucy could only stare at the ground and then she blacked out.
Lucy didn't want to think about her encounter with the hellfire club as it drove Lincoln and Lucy further away from each other, there were times when they refused to look at one another, that in turn made Lincoln into an even angrier and hateful person, one that 'died' protecting Lucy.
It was a long day that ended with Lincoln being torn to shreds by an old enemy and Lucy burying him.
Of all the funerals she had attended and somberly enjoyed, Lincoln's was just miserable for her, she finally knew the pain of loss that she'd often romanticized.
Even six feet under she refused to leave his side.
Then he rose from the grave in a beautiful yet terrifying experience for Lucy, upon In his second death Lincoln came back as a culmination of the brother she loved, the monster she feared and someone who hated what he was and so guilt ridden that she can feel his self-loathing on a near-constant basis.
It's taken some doing but eventually Lucy decided to start over with Lincoln in a way and fell in love with the man he is today.
She loved her brother/protector as one sister should, she feared the beast that took his place and she loves the Lincoln in front of her, the man beside her. As a woman Lucy knows in her heart Lincoln is the only man she could ever love and as a young goth she was infatuated with the idea of a forbidden love and romance.
In the midst of her remembrance, Lincoln wakes up with a startling jolt.
~XxX Dream XxX~
"… and they lived Happily Ever After."
Lincoln was back home, just the way he was before he left, he finished reading Lily a bedtime story and saw she was falling asleep.
He grinned and thought to himself, 'Perfect.'
As he got up to leave he felt a shift in the air so to speak.
Lincoln turned and saw Lily out of her bed looking at him with tears trailing down her face.
In a panic he knelt down and held her, "what's wrong Lily-bug, what happened?"
She didn't say anything and before he could repeat himself, he heard Lily speak, "Why did you leave?"
"W-what?" Lincoln stammered out.
"Why did you leave me daddy?" She said as her voice reverberated in a distorted echo.
"I'll tell you why he left, it's because the twerp literally doesn't care about us!" Shouted a voice from behind, Lincoln turned with Lily in his arms and saw the rest of his sisters minus Lucy.
"That's not true!" He shouted back as Leni spoke up next with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Like it totally is, isn't it Linky?" She asked with a pained tone to her voice.
"Of course it's not, I love you all more than anything, don't ever think I don't." He argued
Then Luna steps forward, "Even me dude?" She asks.
"Yes Luna that means you too." Lincoln reasoned.
"But if you loved me why did you leave me!" She yelled in a lyrical tone.
"Look it wasn't about yo-" He is interrupted.
"Y'know, I've 'orphan' been told I tell bad jokes but I never had an audience run out on me like you." Luan growled out.
That one made Lincoln take a step back, "T-that's not funny Lu-" He's stopped again.
"Who said it was a joke." Luan replied with a sneer, then Lincoln looked to Lynn but she looked away.
"… Lynn?" Lincoln hesitated not wanting to hear what might come next.
"I guess you found someone else to chase after." Lynn said in a low voice, Lynn never talks that way, she usually makes her voice known. Lincoln tried to walk to her but he heard another voice scoff.
"Hmph, If we really mattered to you, then it's obvious who you should have picked huh LINKY!" Lola angrily chides as Lana steps in.
"And now we know who you'd pick bro, y'know it hurt less when we knew Lily was your favorite but who'd a thought it was Lucy all along?" She asks but wasn't expecting an answer.
"I-I…"
"Well-spoken eighth eldest sibling unit, but we must do well to remember that our sole male sibling is a creature of emotion, had he a moment to think, he would have seen the correct choice would have been to leave our seventh eldest sibling to her kismet."
Lincoln narrows his eyes at Lisa, "How could you say that Lis', she's your sister!" He snaps at her.
She adjusts her glasses and continues, "You knew that you were what kept our family intact did you not?"
"No, I'm no-" Lincoln is stopped again.
"Did you not think that we would need you too step-brother, an appropriate allegoric comparison to you would be the adhesive that binds our family, you played a rather hefty role in our existence and being the responsible elder sibling you are, should have put the needs of the family first." She emotionlessly explains.
"She's our sister, how could I sit back and let any of you go." Lincoln responds.
Lisa sighs, "Oh you poor foolish Homosapien, how naive a response."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" He asks as a new voice speaks from behind.
"What do you think Lame-o!" Lincoln turns and sees his friends along with Ronnie-Anne in front and she looked pissed.
"Ronnie, what are yo-"
"If you're still calling that freak your sister then something must be wrong with you to make you want her."
"You're sick!" Called out both Clyde and Penny, another voice catches Lincoln's attention.
"What is literally wrong with you!" Shouted Lori but he ignores her and the glares from the rest of his sisters as he hears Lily crying.
As Lincoln let go of his sister to look at her, he saw her melt and sink into an inky black pool and soon enough the rest join her, Lincoln backs up as the pool expands.
Slowly he walks over to it and sees his reflection but then ripples form as a hand shoots out and reaches for him.
Lincoln jumped back and saw the blackened pool reform into a person, a featureless person coated in darkness, Lucy would love this thing.
Lincoln held out his hand and probably tried to blast it with something but nothing came out and as he looked back at the 'dark figure' it was in the middle of a surprise launch attack aimed at Lincoln.
The movement came faster than he could track, something that was near-impossible for Lincoln at this point.
He shut his eyes waiting for the inevitable.
~X~
"…dude"
There was a voice, it came out as a whisper.
"Dude."
There it was again but more forced and this time it was accompanied by a nudge.
Lincoln opened his eyes and saw he wasn't in his home anymore but was in some base, surrounded by forces from militia and the DUP.
'What the fuck is happening?' He asks himself as he looks at himself, dressed head to toe in a soldier combat uniform, a thick vest with lots of pockets, gloves, a big gun and he feels a helmet atop his head.
Before he could ask a question he feels another nudge and looks to see some guy beside him elbowing him and whisper, "You awake man."
The guy was skinny and blonde, like he was picked up off the streets, compared to the rest he really didn't look like he belonged.
"Yeah, what's going on?"
"Ahh dude, you missed it when those dupes agents came in." The guy looked like a total stoner, sounded like one too.
"Mike, what's going on, why are the dupes here?" 'Why did I call him that, I don't know him, do I?" Lincoln asks himself.
"Okay so I know you had a long night already but they're talking with the boss man about that tip yesterday."
"The what?" Lincoln asks.
"Y'know the one about the mutant." He says a matter of factly.
"You're gonna have to be a lot more specific man." Lincoln was starting to get annoyed with this guy.
"Y'know the white one that's been killing dupes left and right, the one Augustine's been looking for."
"Wait, she's here, now?" He asked having a mini-heart attack.
"Naw, she's still in DC or something, she sent her cronies, those big guys talking to the boss right now."
Most DUP soldiers have dark grey body armor with yellow accents but some have different colored accents.
The two look at the DUP soldiers and see 3 presumably 'men', one big and in bulky body armor with red highlights, one skinny with blue highlights and one normal sized with white highlights, each talking to a dark skin man in identical combat gear to Lincoln's.
Lincoln looks around to see the dupes and militia separated and talking to their own, he swivels his head and sees a map of the USA with red marker ink encircling large parts of the western side of the states.
*Sigh* 'Must be the wall.' He thought.
As follows, the irregular barrier represented by the marker contains the states surrounded by the wall, starting with Washington and Oregon, a small part of Montana is trapped in with us.
It was always weird to Lincoln and really everyone else that it's not a straight up dome or a literal wall dividing half the US.
Next up a small chunk of California along with all of Nevada and Idaho. Most of Wyoming is behind the wall, Utah a piece of New Mexico and Colorado. Some of Texas got trapped in and a small part of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma making up the border to the wall.
There was a thumbtack in the southern part of Nevada and Lincoln could only assume that's where they are right now.
Lincoln was going to speak to Mike when a drone bumped into him and turn toward him as a light shined on him as part of its scanning protocol and just took off, it did nothing.
"Spooked you huh?" Came the voice of mike.
"Yeah, sucks that all this tech has comes with the DUP, it'd be a lot more useful with us." Lincoln replies.
"I hear ya."
Lincoln knows the deal with the drones and advanced tech the dupes have and it's thanks in partial to his dear old sister Lisa.
He doesn't know all the details but the blast radius didn't travel very far, the radiation acted as an accelerant for the mutagens to do their work as the blast spread them.
Over the next month before the wall came up Soldiers and scientists were being escorted to ground-zero all the way back in Seattle the surrounding minerals encased so much of the radiation that they were changed, dubbed blast shards.
The chunks of metals and rocks had a weird glow to them that light up when mutants were exposed to them and guess who came up with the idea to use them in scanning machines like metal-detectors for mutants, if your guess was Lisa, you were wrong but don't worry she was the one who made them work so you'd get points for that.
That's what's in most these drones, irradiated rocks, that scan was for Lincoln. These things can detect mutants.
While in the midst of his thoughts Mike elbows Lincoln again.
"Cut it out man!" He quietly shouted to Mike.
"Sorry but you want to hear what Imelda and Rochelle told me?" Mike asks.
"What?" This got Lincoln's attention, he feels he knows who the two were just like with Mike but again has no memory of them.
"They said that those three agent guys are mutants like Augustine and all of them are involved in some heavy experimentations."
"No way, *"Yeah way"* what powers, what do they got?
"Dunno, but Imelda said one of them walked by her and the room got colder."
"It's bad enough they hunt mutants like animals, now they're sicin' mutants on them, I mean what's the point anymore?"
"Wow, a little over dramatic bro?" Mike jabs Lincoln one more time.
"I said knock that of-"
"Alright Listen up people!" Shouted the Dark skinned man from earlier, 'Captain Dubois, why did I know that, who is he?' Lincoln wonders.
He along with one of the big guys in armor made their way to the front of the room as Captain Dubois stood behind a podium.
"As you know the Department of Unified Protection has been sent here to apprehend the hostile mutant that's been making his way into town.
Approximately 12 hours ago we received an anonymous tip of his location, we sent word back to HQ and it made its way to the director, Brooke Augustine. Now before we go forward, someone would like to speak on behalf of the director."
The big armored guy beside him stood where the captain stood and began.
"Thank you captain, Director Augustine has made it clear the target is to be taken alive, this is a capture and contain Not a search and destroy, he is a priority target, are there any questions?" He finished in a deep and kind of muffled voice, the gas mask he was wearing added a sense of dread.
A woman spoke up, "Why isn't Augustine here, this is a priority right, shouldn't she handle this herself?"
Lincoln smirked, 'she won't leave Washington, she's under orders.'
"She's needed in Washington currently dealing with a resistance group of mutants, she knows this is a special case and sent us in her stead."
Lincoln resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Mike raised his hand, "Why's this one a priority, I know you're supposed to take every mutant you can find but what makes this one different?" Everyone looked to him and he immediately regretted asking.
The armored guy answered, "Contrary to popular belief, when one is deemed too dangerous to capture, we are to eliminate them, the target is different and must be taken in for study."
The word study made everyone shudder a bit before he went on.
"The target has displayed multiple unconnected abilities belonging to that of each class."
This got everyone's attention as murmurs made their way across the room.
According to the soldiers and scientists outside the wall there are three types of mutants.
Mutates exhibit physical changes in the body they can be as obvious and harmless as a change in pigmentation or oddities of extra appendages on the body, to a more subtle and dangerous extent like muscles becoming denser, making one stronger or more durable, increasing their strength to dozens of times that of a normal human in peak physical condition.
That is just one example for the Mutate classification.
Though Lincoln simply can't get behind the names for as lazy as may seem, they did catch on.
Conduits or containers for power are in Lincoln's opinion, the most difficult to handle. They have the power to absorb, manipulate and even take the form of any one type of energy or form of matter; fire, water, electricity etc.
To fuel their power they either recharge or drain their particular form of matter, they need a catalyst of some kind, they have many physical advantages so long as they are exposed to their individual catalyst.
Espers(Lincoln would have preferred psychics but hey he didn't come up with it), any ability that extends past conventional senses and constraints of the physical body can be attributed to the esper class, in all of the comics Lincoln has read, telekinesis or 'psychokinesis' (if Lisa's witty deconstruction of superpowers is to be favored and telepathy) are pretty common but here it's actually rare and rather limited.
Any power that isn't inherently physical in nature or belonging to Conduits are generally accepted as mental and classified as esper.
Lincoln knows with time and training any power can grow and evolve and some even develop an additional ability of the same class but never become something different, a speedster can't just levitate out of nowhere, sure with practice and some imagination, certain powers can be used in different ways but no one can have powers from two different classes, can they?
Back in the base it can be assumed other than the mini discussions everyone was having with each other, there were no further questions as Captain Dubois returned to go over formation and how to capture the target.
Before he stepped down the big armored DUP agent spoke one last time, "Remember people no lethal take downs we need him alive, critical condition is acceptable but the target must remain alive, Understood?" He receives nods across the room, "Good."
~X~
Lincoln could barely remember the meeting as he and Mike were slowly walking through the streets, silently making their way into an alley as he spotted some dupes on buildings.
He, mike and everyone else were packing stun-ammo and tranquilizer guns, no one was to bring live rounds.
Dusk was rolling in as the orange light started to settle in.
The two slowly crept through the ever-darkening alley to find a field, behind the buildings the soldiers were led to some greenery that led to an old church just like their tip informed them.
There was a man or a teen, pretty tall and surrounded with lit candles, he had on dark pants worn shoes and a dark hooded jacket with his back turned to Lincoln and the others.
There were dupes on the railings of the second floor and almost every step had a chance of creaking.
They knew the drill, but it didn't make it any less terrifying.
Nearly 80 armed to the teeth and Lincoln wanted to bolt but they kept getting closer, people behind the stranger, around him, on top the building and further back.
With fingers on the trigger, they saw Captain Dubois raise his hand about to signal som-
"You shouldn't have come here." The voice the guy gave was nasally and forced but still pretty youthful.
Suddenly Captain Dubois called out to him, "Alright kid, on the ground and surrender, you will be taken into custody!"
The stranger stood silently then he spoke once more, "That's not going to happen."
The captain called out to him while signaling his men to approach.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way but you're not getting out of this, we have you surrounded."
There was a pause before the target made his move, "All I am surrounded by is fear and dead men." Was all he said before the candles went out, he turned and charged at blinding speeds as the soldiers open fired.
'Oh No' Lincoln's eyes snapped over in realization.
For small instances the target disappeared and reappeared in between shots.
"Gaaah" Shouted a DUP soldier as he was lifted by the neck and silenced as a crunching sound as the target dropped the dupe down dead.
More shots rained down on him or where he was as he vanished again.
*Squelch* The wet ripping sound reverberated from above Lincoln, he turned and saw a figure taking out each of the dupes on the railings.
The hooded figure wasn't teleporting, whenever he reappeared it was in a stopping motion, he was just moving that fast, faster than Lincoln and his crew could keep track.
The target was using that speed to slaughter them.
Their numbers dwindled, Lincoln could see that but suddenly two silhouettes crashed through the ceiling and on to the floor.
It was the big armored agent and the skinny agent.
Two of the armored DUP soldiers took position as one rushed the target while the other hanged back.
Lincoln took cover with Mike and saw the stranger catch a punch thrown by the big guy (soldier 1), he then grabbed soldier 1's arm with both hands and threw him to the side but then the skinny one (soldier 2) shot a blast of ice and froze the target's legs in a block of ice.
"Now!" roared soldier 2 as the last armored dupe (soldier 3) broke through a wall (there was an open door but okay) and took aim with a big assault rifle and unleashed a rain of some kind of elctro-darts upon the target.
After the barrage ended the remaining soldiers looked to see their target mostly fine, the jacket he had been wearing was nearly torn to shreds, he had the front of his forearms shielding his face and torso in boxer stance but they were different.
There was a sheen to them that didn't look natural, they were jet black and looked metallic, the target unclenched his hands to reveal claws and then he broke his legs out from their imprisonment.
Gone were his shoes, his feet resembled his arms as his toes had claws.
Before he did anything dupe soldier 1 rushed him hoping to grab onto his target.
*Crunch*
That was the sound of the target plunging his clawed metal-like hand into soldier 1's chest and pulled it back out, letting the blood drip off his claws.
"Son of a-" Soldier 3 began shouting before his target appeared in front of him and slashed at his neck as the blood gushed, he fell to the decaying wooden floor and a pool of blood formed around him.
'Shit' Thought Lincoln, 'This is not happening.'
"You little bastard!" soldier 2 grunted before launching icicle lances at the target.
The stranger tilted his body as most of the attacks missed but caught the last one that would have gone for his head.
Lincoln peeked out and saw the icicle steam and evaporated leaving behind a few droplets of water on the floor.
The target took in a deep breath and let it go as he launched himself at soldier 2 and punched him in the face, while he was stunned the target grabbed both of his arms and they started to sizzle and steam, while he was screaming bloody murder the target tore out soldier 2's neck with his teeth like some kind of vampire and he fell to the floor.
As soldier 2's back collided with the floor it broke and sunk in, but it didn't stop there, the monster of a man kept pounding and pounding at soldier 2's skull until it caved in.
He looked on at his handy work and pulled his fist back for another punch when a bullet to the head sent him to the ground.
Lincoln couldn't believe it such a monster done in by-
"Captain!" A voice called out, it was Mike leaving his cover and joining his captain near the entrance.
"You guys alright?" He asked as the last few of the militia and DUP came in.
"Shit, he was supposed to be taken alive, Augustine will not like this Captain Dubois." One of the dupes growled at the Captain.
"Well we didn't have a lot of options seeing as he took out your big guns, I say there was nothing we could do about it." Captain Dubois stood his ground against the dupe.
"… We'll be luck to come out of this alive when Au-"
*Shunk*
The dupe is cut off by the sound of the head of another dupe's head rolling on the floor as his body fell with blood pooling.
Everyone turned to see the figure stood up and his hood down.
The fig- the man had tanned skin and long slivery- white hair that framed an effeminate face. The hair was covering one eye but the uncovered one was one Lincoln recognized, it was an intensely glowing golden eye, this was Lincoln's eye.
Lincoln was looking at a 16 year old Lincoln, the one during his 'edgier phase'. He remembers this day, this was a couple of days after Lucy run away with what's-his-face and the DUP teamed up with militia to capture him.
He left no survivors.
"That was your last mistake." 16y Lincoln eerily voiced as his metallic arms gained a red hue to them as the air became more and more distorted and the wood beneath his feet started smoking.
The precursor to the carnage ensued with 16y Lincoln looking to the armed forces who were leveling their guns at him, he cracked his neck and rushed forward.
With a swipe from his arm came a force that bisected a few people, they fell in pieces.
16y Lincoln jumped onto the ceiling, clawed and climbed across like a beast as glowing strings sprouted from his arms and reached the necks of two more people, they were yanked up and then they fell back to the ground beheaded.
The monster of a child: 16y Lincoln just kept going, he moved from person to person, swiped at one, disappeared and moved on. He reappeared in front of one person and starred at them as his victim fell to the ground unmoving before he stomped their skull in.
He pointed at another person and they were lit ablaze, the smell was just awful
Memory Lincoln (who now understood who he really was) took cover and hid as he heard the screams followed by silence, repeating over and over again until he heard one scream in particular.
M. Lincoln called out, "Mike" he could only watch as 16y Lincoln held mike off the ground by the throat and proceeded to burn and crush his windpipe with a sickening sizzling crunch and then he just let Mike fall to the floor.
M. Lincoln crawled over to Mike as he was gasping for air while 16y Lincoln had moved on to more soldiers.
M. Lincoln had caressed Mikes face and removed his helmet and looked him in the eyes.
"Mike, Mike just stay with me, please!" M. Lincoln pleaded.
Mike just choked on his own air but soon began to quiet down.
M. Lincoln grabbed his hand and squeezed as hard as he could but Mike's hand went limp.
"Please Mike, I- I can't do this without you… please." He whispered that last part while tears made their way down his chin.
As M. Lincoln sat in silence as creaking footsteps followed made their way toward him.
M. Lincoln with sheer rage in his eyes unclasped the holster to a pistol, he turned as fast as he could and pointed the barrel at an empty space.
M. Lincoln was stunned but he felt something grab onto his neck, it wasn't metallic or burning but it was a vice grip unlike any he'd known before.
'Oh no, I remember this.' Lincoln thought in horror, 'No, nononono NO! Don't do it.' He begged in his mind not wanting to relive what he had done to the poor man.
M. Lincoln felt another hand grip his head and began pulling, it was the most painful feeling he could ever imagine, even more so than the vice grip he was already in at least 100x worse.
M. Lincoln had begun kicking his feet back and tried to punch or claw at 16y Lincoln but then he felt his left hand caught in something, it was like it had been ensnared by a bear trap.
He tried prying it out but then the sensation changed into something horrible, whatever had his hand started to tear into the flesh and reached bone in less than a second.
M. Lincoln screamed at the top if his lungs this was while both of 16y Lincoln's hands were pulling the head off his shoulders and then his hand came loose or rather he pulled back his arm to reveal the stump that was his hand.
He didn't have time to inspect his severed hand as there was a snapping heard and suddenly the view shifted.
M. Lincoln was staring at the bloodied face of 16y Lincoln but as 16y Lincoln brought his other arm into view M. Lincoln could see the body he had been torn from.
The body was that of a grown man and one of African descent, Lincoln never knew his name only that he was just one of many unfortunate souls Lincoln has murdered within his time in the dead-zone.
The head is tossed onto a nearby pool of blood that reflects M. Lincoln's vision and he sees just whose eyes he's been seeing from, it was indeed a black guy and just as M. Lincoln closes his eyes, he opens them again and finds himself in the body of his 16 year old 'edge lord' body.
"Fuck…" what else could he say, this was a familiar nightmare for him but this time seeing flashes of someone else's life before confronting Lincoln and well now we know what he did.
Lincoln made his way past the corpses and exited the church, he looked back one last time and knows what was to come next.
His arms regained their metal-like coating as he took a deep breath, his arms began heating up.
The heat surrounding his metallic claws had intensified and flames erupted from them. He built up a ball of fire between his hands that expanded into the size of a wrecking ball and shot it at the old building and it went down in flames, Lincoln walked away.
~X~
Lincoln had kept walking but the open field spanned for miles with no buildings in sight.
"The hells going on?" He asked no one.
He stopped walking to take a look around, there was nothing but a grassy field.
'Yeah, I don't remember this, am I someone else again or is it something else.' He thinks as he looks around.
Suddenly Lincoln hears growling and turns around.
A bear and not just that it's red, that's not the color of its fur, it's really just a red bear.
'What the fuck?'
Then Lincoln hears a screech and so he looks upward and spots a yellow bird, like the bear it's all yellow.
As the dream bird glides through the air, a hissing sound makes itself known to Lincoln.
Slithering between Lincoln's legs is a big white snake and no sooner as it approaches do the other two lock onto it and rush it.
Lincoln knows to stay out of it but looks back at the serpent and feels something is weird about it.
What can be described next is a death match between three predators but a second look would show it's a two on one right now.
The snake is fast and nimble, it's agility prevents the bear from stomping at it, the bird swooped down when there was an opening but the snake snarled at it forcing it to retreat back into the sky.
This gave the bear an opportunity to scoop up the snake and slam it onto the ground as blood seeps from the snake.
The bird circles around, waiting.
As the bear reaches down to bite and kill it's opponent, the snake sprang back into action and coiled around the bear's neck.
The bear roars in fury but soon begins choking, it reaches to the serpent with one of its paws but it is bitten by the wounded ophidian.
The bear goes down and attempts to thrash about to get it's foe off but to no avail, the snake squeezes tighter and continues to bite the bear all over and with one last cry the bear gives in and slumps over.
The reptilian menace unwraps itself from its fallen adversary.
'Damn, I though the bear had it for sure.' Lincoln thinks to himself.
The snake slithers its way past the carcass but before it can get a moment to catch its breath, the bird swoops down and snatches the snake from the sky.
'Ah dick move!'
The bird begins to crush the reptile with its talons and occasionally peck at it.
Blood drips and drips from the white serpent and Lincoln starts to feel anger course through him but before he does anything the snake strikes.
As the bird reaches down to stab at it again with its beak the snake swings its head over to one of the bird's wings and bites down on it.
Without the use of both wings the bird crashes to the grassy plain and let goes of its would-be prey.
The snake acting quickly coils around the bird's body and latches onto its neck.
Unlike the bear, the bird was less physically imposing threat and went down quicker.
'Holy shit, what a comeback!' Lincoln excitedly gasps at the events.
The snake wounded and bloodied unhinges its mouth and devours the birds in less than a second.
'Okay I know it's a dream but that is just unreal.' Lincoln deadpanned in his thoughts.
No sooner had the serpent fed on the bird did it turn its attention to the bear.
'Alright, it doesn't take a genius to know what's gonna happen next.'
Lincoln briefly looks away and looks back as the snake finishes eating the large bear no matter how impossible it may seem.
'Yeah you earned that buddy but what now?' He questions.
The snake thrashes a bit before seemingly slipping out of its skin.
'Is this for real?'
The snake that slipped out of the skin wasn't white like before but a bright shade of orange.
'Now that I like for some reason.' Lincoln joked.
The now orange serpent had effectively grown in size and was nearly 3x longer than Lincoln, it perched up its head and spotted Lincoln in the distance and speed over to him.
'Oh crap!'
Lincoln was ready for action but lost track of the reptile in the grass but he could hear it hissing behind him.
Lincoln turned to strike but the snake shot out like a missile but something was up with it.
It shrank and was barely the length of his arm.
The cute serpent had landed on Lincolns arm and coils around his wrist.
"No, nonono, what are you-" He's cut off by a burning sensation.
The snake had bitten down on its own tail and ignited, the fire consumed Lincoln as he spiraled into a chaotic flailing trying to put himself out.
Lincoln fell to the ground and clawed his way through the dirt, to the cooling soil and burrows down deeper.
As soon as he feels the fires die out he climbs out but something is different.
Lincoln body feels heavier and can feel the shape of his body change into something he can describe as more monstrous.
As Lincoln emerges from the ground the top layer erupts and he is free to spread his girth and stretch his limbs but something catches him off guard. He's in front of a lot of people, some who look terrified and others who were overjoyed seeing him.
For some reason Lincoln had incredible desire to destroy the terrified individuals and reeled his head back as he shot out a burst of shimmering white and gold energy and the last thing he sees is a white light.
~XxX End of Dream XxX~
"Ahh!" Lincoln shouts as he wakes from his slumber into the dimly lit room of his motel.
He looks down at his arms, inspecting them, looking for anything wrong.
"Lincoln, *"Ahh!"* are you alright?" Lucy asked as she and Salem were looming over him.
"I-I, I'm fine… just…" He pauses.
"Was it a nightmare Lincoln?" Lucy inquires.
"I said I'm fine, it was nothing." Lincoln replies with an edge but Lucy is undeterred.
"It's not Nothing Lincoln, you're out of breath and I feel your stress, the fear and confusion in your heart speaks to me."
"Just leave me alone, please." He looks away from Lucy.
Lincoln sits on the side his bed and just looks at his hands, he breathes in and out as his hands gain a dark sheen to them as his nails extend and sharpen.
He thinks back to how many people have died to those hands and sees his hands caked in blood.
Lincoln shuts his eyes until he feels something latch onto him.
Lucy is hugging him from behind as Salem sits upon his lap.
He gains a somber look as his eyes flicker a moment and the fire from the candles brighten.
"How could you ever want to be near me Luce? You deserve a lot better than someone like me."
"No, I don't, at least no more than you do Lincoln."
Lincoln could feel her heart beat and it calms him.
*Sigh* "I'm nothing like I used to be Luce."
"Sigh, that's a good thing in my book." Lucy reasons.
"But not in mine, I was a real monster." He is hushed when Lucy grabs his hands and awkwardly interlocker her fingers with his from behind.
Lucy senses the isolation and dread with to no surprise self-loathing, she feels a direct approach would be best accompanied by words, her words.
"You know that's not how I see you, after everything you've been through, all of your suffering had led you astray but you found your way back." Lucy recounts.
"Wanting to stop doesn't wash the blood off my hands." He countered.
"And neither does mourning or hating yourself."
"…" He pauses, "I'm not a good person Luce and I don't think I can ever get back to being good."
"Perhaps but you're better now and maybe better is good enough." Lucy offers.
"Right, better… I went from being a soulless, bloodthirsty killing machine to… a killing machine… with a sense of humor, that's so much better." You can hear the sarcasm but Lucy reels back.
"…" Lucy says nothing as Lincoln's head tilts lower but then he feels Lucy lean closer and presses her face to his and whispers, "It's better for me, so much better than you think and you know my cold heart beats only for you Lincoln, do not forget that."
"…" Lincoln doesn't say anything, 'Thank you Lucy.'
"Please, tell me about it."
-XxX-
The two lay upon the bed Lincoln was using, they spooned together with Lincoln being the big spoon and Salem curled up to Lucy.
Lincoln retold the events of his dream to Lucy as best as he could, Lucy feeling the pain in his heart as he reminded himself of such a sweet dream with his pseudo-daughter transforming into a nightmare that even has her question if he made the right choice to save her instead of staying with the family.
What hurt her was Lincoln reliving the final hours to one of the poor unfortunate souls that were taken by Lincoln, it especially hurt Lucy because she was the one that caused it to happen.
Of course after their encounter with the hellfire club she came clean to him and their bond was strained significantly for some time before his 'death'.
But the Last part of Lincoln's dream called out to her, it wasn't a memory, a nightmare or some drug induced hallucination.
"Sigh, perhaps it was a message from your spirit animal." Lucy offers as an explanation.
"What you mean, are you gonna interpret my dreams and ask the spirits for guidance and whatever."
Lucy turns her head and gives Lincoln an expressionless glare.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Lucy turns her whole body and speaks to him.
"I apologize, I don't have my crystal ball or tarot cards, an interpretation is all I can give you, if you'd prefer me not to say any-"
"No, no, go on ahead, I'll keep quiet." Lincoln quickly told her.
Lucy gives a brief smile, "You told me the snake had won and bound itself to you, correct?" She asked as Lincoln nodded, "Serpents are seen as symbols of fertility, healing, rebirth, transformation and immortality, in fact the Ouroboros, that's the snake biting its own tail, is a symbol of eternity and continuous renewal of life.
As for the color it started out white, blank and pure much like you once were. You said it had gone up against a red bear and a yellow bird right." Once again, she asked and he nodded, "The serpent had defeated a physically superior opponent and a more intelligent foe with plenty of advantages.
The birds that come to mind when preying on snakes are owls, hawks and falcons, each share the trait of wisdom and victory in accordance with the color yellow as the color red equates to strength.
Your snake ate both gaining each and once it shed it skin, it revealed itself to be orange, the color of power, or strength tempered by wisdom. Orange much like the rising and setting sun, an endless cycle of beginnings and ends, you were rebirthed in fire and emerged a much grander and stronger entity." Lucy concluded.
"So what does it all mean Luce?" Lincoln asked thoroughly invested in her interpretation.
"I believe your journey is much like the snakes, you have already and shall again come across adversaries who are superior to you both physically and mentally, you can prevail but you will not come out unscathed. Should you survive your ordeal, you will awaken new power, greater than that of your fallen enemies."
"… Sure, I'll take it." Lincoln accepted.
-XxX-
Lucy had fallen asleep, Lincoln wouldn't go back, not now.
Lincoln could feel Lucy embrace him tighter, they rarely share the same bed, Lincoln rarely slept, with our without Lucy nearby.
He had dismissed the candle lights some time ago, it was no problem with his night-vision. Lincoln was a bit weirded out when he first knew he had it, in the games or on tv night-vision through goggles were different than with his own eyes, everything comes out clear and with only a few shade differences.
Another thing that kept him up was thinking about his powers.
They have always confused the hell out of Lincoln, it was one thing when he thought he could heal and see in the dark but to this day his abilities are improving and not only that occasionally something new comes around.
He knows he has nearly every physical enhancement he can imagine, he's strong enough to tear down buildings with his bare hands and casually push and pull trains (don't ask why or when he found the time).
He can be faster than the human eye can track at least with a good kick start and in small bursts, after that he's no faster than say his motorcycle; the Loudhog #7 (about 150mph last he checked, not even Mach 1), don't even get him started.
Lincoln is durable, especially when his muscles are tensed, normal bullets can just barely break the skin but stop right after that.
His agility is very impressive enough so that he wishes he could show off to Lynn, free running turns into a circus act with him now.
His senses are way better, including his hearing and sight, speaking of, it's taken a while to understand but when he concentrates he can 'see faster' which is the lazy way of saying he process images many times faster than people can, he has enhanced perception so precise he can predict movement and respond accordingly thanks to his inhuman reflexes.
He can 'feel' around him at all times, he effectively has no blind spot (although Lucy seems to slip by sometimes), it's only a matter of him reacting fast enough.
Most of the his physical enhancements have something in common, they came only after Lincoln has suffered some form of trauma relating to it, for a long time Lincoln had no idea how this works but recently he has developed a theory that would explain how all of his powers are connected. In the meantime he practices what he has and improves on them.
With a power he dubs analytical clairvoyance, he can tell the position of items and people at a certain range, it's not very useful unless you're actively looking for something nearby, but with this power he can map out the rooms of a building in his head and tell where is what, it's sensitive enough to reveal the contents of one's pocket and identify every pebble surrounding him.
And that is just about the extent of his mental powers or of what he can tell.
As for his conduit powers, for a long time he didn't have any but one day after stabbing a fire manipulating conduit and his blood washed over Lincoln's open wounds, he woke up a few days later with fire powers, albeit on a smaller scale at first, with practice it grew to great heights.
When Lincoln learned how it happened in his 'edge lord' phase he went pretty crazy with it, either with blades or his bare teeth, Lincoln saw fit to drink the blood of his victims and gained new powers.
He gained numerous mutate and conduit based abilities.
He can change his skin to an organic metallic-like substance and grow claws, it's NOT metal and it's harder than steel (if you can figure it out you can tell Lincoln, for now it's a mystery even to him).
He can absorb, metabolize and assimilate many forms of energy and radiation (He's been exposed to a lot) and absorbing them can boost his pre-existing powers and he can blast a condensed form of pure energy from his body. Though he can absorb it, that doesn't mean he is immune to attacks from powers he's gained, he just becomes more resilient.
Like with Karen's attack, she could shoot beams of condense solar radiation, something Lincoln already has but still has to absorb it or dodge it, he wasn't impervious to the attack.
Lincoln has multiple forms of matter manipulation like previously mentioned, pyro-kinesis, cryo-kinesis, electro-kinesis and many more Lincoln has 'collected' over the years.
Lastly and most importantly, Lincoln's ability to heal, it's out of control how great it is. At this point it's more or less regeneration.
Lincoln has other powers he can't control very well yet but only time will tell how powerful they'll become.
Now for Lincoln's theory, he's thought long and hard about his powers and the only thing he can come up with is 'Learn, Adapt and Evolve'. Anytime Lincoln's come to harm he's recovered and his body's grown more resistant to whatever harmed him. When exposed to another mutant's blood, Lincoln gains new powers although now Lincoln is beginning to question if it's just mutants given his recent dream. Finally his powers seem to be growing and with Lucy's prophetic predictions looming over his head, he wonders if he'll still be human-ish by the time they leave the dead-zone.
These are thing things that make him wonder if there even is a point to going back ho-
"Lincoln." Lucy's voice brings him out of his thoughts.
"Yes, what's wrong Luce?"
"I don't mind you grabbing my butt when I'm asleep but could you please loosen your grip, it's starting to hurt." She delivers with her usual monotonous voice.
Lincoln's face reddens as he looks down and sees his right hand caressing Lucy's bottom, he let's go right away but then she grabs his hand and looks at him.
"I said to loosen your grip not let go, it's alright." She says as he looks to her in shock, "What?"
"Nothing." He says with a smile as he lets his hand resume nestling her butt. Lincoln looks at Lucy to see a light shade of pink on her illuminant skin, he leans over to her and gives her a tender kiss as she rests her head on his chest and goes back to sleep.
Lincoln could catch the scent from her hair, 'She smells really good."
-XxX-
"Hmph, hmph, hmph" Lucy wakes to a grunting noise, she sees Lincoln is out of bed and on the floor doing his routine, currently sit-ups without a shirt.
It's a luxury Lucy enjoys very much, watching his large, tight muscles contract and bulge as he shows off for her and his grunts do take her mind to some rather naughty places.
Her mind wanders as she continues to witness Lincoln's large form, a light layer of sweat drip down his abs, oh she could watch him all day as a matter of fact she has before.
It's nothing she hasn't seen before but that doesn't keep her face from turning red or stop her from muttering under her breath.
Lincoln's voice breaks her out of her trance as she asks him to repeat himself.
In the middle of his sit ups Lincoln asks her, "What do you want to do today, I know we didn't see a lot when we got here and after getting what we need to tide us over, we'll still have a lot of time left."
Lucy ponders for a moment, just long enough for Lincoln to switch to one-armed pushups or with one-thumb, now he's just teeing it up and she loves it.
Lucy's head tilts as she watches and Lincoln smirks, "Well Luce, I'm waiting."
"Wha…oh yes, I would like to explore and maybe see if we can find a boutique, *"A what?"* a clothing store, *"Oh right"* I'd still like to fix my dress."
"That reminds me, we're covered for about 15K in credits for most of town but I guess that works in our favor."
Lucy nodded as she pulls their bags and fetches out a few boxes and pulls out cold hard cash some bills ranging from singles to hundreds, some crumpled and some faded in total about 200K. In a couple of other boxes there are jewels and cut gems.
Where did they get all this, early on before credits the duo learned while scavenging stores and abandoned homes to save the money and jewelry, they do come in handy when some places don't take credits and when not working for credits they do jobs for real money.
"So what was your plan again?" Lucy asks knowing it had something to do with the money they had.
"What we talked about, get as close to the border as we can, we know they won't let any muties out but if we can find a way to send a message to Lisa I know she can help."
"Sigh, how do you know she will?" An honest question.
Lincoln switches thumbs in his pushups.
"Well she didn't lock us in here, *"She kind of did"* you know what I mean, if she knew we were here, she would've gotten us out a long time ago, they probably think we're dead if anything." He said that so casually.
"How can we get a message to her?"
"Hopefully we'll be close enough to the walls that whatever's jamming communications here won't be too much of an issue, if that's a problem, I'm sure one or two people are willing to accept a bribe." Lincoln concludes with a smirk.
"So we'll be here doing what exactly, you told me we might be here a while."
"I was told there was a situation out there and they beefed up security at the borders, *"Great"* so I'm thinking maybe a month or two to recharge our batteries and stock up, maybe see what's here and after, we initiate plan Let's get the hell out of here!"
"Sigh, I guess it could be worse." Lucy accepts this course of action or inaction for now.
Lincoln gets up, "Now that that's decided, let's get ready for the day, we've got a lot to do."
Lincoln takes his bag into the bathroom and Lucy hears the shower switch on as she has serious debate with herself.
"C'mon, you're stronger than that, don't." She whispers to herself before she closes her eyes and sees past the door and watch Lincoln undress, "No, no I'm not." It's not the first time she's spied on him or anybody for that manner.
-XxX-
Lincoln and Lucy are walking down a street and have met a few people along the way, most waved, some stared on, specifically at Lucy.
Lincoln is in an all-black attire consisting of a dark dress shirt, pants and shoes, his white hair looks cleaner and slicked back into a more classy gentlemanly style, he has on his shades (gotta have those) and he's carrying her backpack.
Lucy is in her (Lincoln's) white shirt, jeans, shoes and her hair is still very long and hanging over her eyes. What might be gaining attention would be the two of them doing that couple walk, Lucy is holding onto Lincoln's right arm in a tight hug, Lincoln can feel her soft twin orbs and can't help but smile.
Lincoln sees a shadow zoom past them, it was too big to be a bird and too small to be some kind of aircraft, besides it wouldn't be an aircraft they can't remain airborne not with the clou-
"Lincoln." Lucy calls out to him.
He's taken out of his thoughts as they both come to a stop, "What happened?"
"I think this is the place." Lucy says with an iota of cheerfulness.
-XxX-
'Bored,' were Lincoln's thought as he sat on a bench waiting on Lucy.
It was maybe 10 when they entered and now it's past 12, almost 1pm, over two hours and Lucy comes back out only to showoff, that part Lincoln really couldn't complain about but it's been like this for too long.
When they first came in, they met a lovely couple who ran the place, Lincoln learned it was Sunday on a mid-October and that business had been slow, their eyes lit up as he told them Lucy was looking to expand her wardrobe.
-Lucy-
At first Lucy was disappointed to Learn neither the seamstress nor her husband the tailor could do anything for her ruined dress but actually wore a smile when she learned they did custom jobs, it actually put a smile on her face.
Lucy had her measurements taken and was fitted into a proper F cup, she had gotten quite a few bras and felt more comfortable than she ever had in her undergarments.
"So are you new in town dear?" The voice of the seamstress caught Lucy's attention.
"Yes, we came here yesterday."
"I figured, it's a bit of a small town, I take it that's your boyfriend you came in with?" Lucy couldn't see the woman but from her tone she could picture the teasing smile on her face and feel the curiosity emanating from her.
Lucy paused for a second as her smile brightened, "Yes, yes he is."
"Ooh then I have the perfect little number for when you're both alone, hehe." Now she just wasn't hiding her joy and if it meant getting a sale then why not push.
-Lincoln-
He was just sitting alone, his eyes wandering just looking for something to pass the time when a voice called out to him.
"Excuse me." Lincoln looked to see a man possibly in his mid-fifties in a classic white shirt and brown trousers, fading dark hair and fair skin with wrinkles, he approached and offered a glass of water.
Lincoln took it, he wasn't afraid if there was anything in it (wouldn't work anyway) but he notices bruises on the man's knuckles and that he may be wearing makeup.
"The struggles of being a good man, the things we put up with huh." The man said with a bit of a grin as he nudges Lincoln with his elbow.
Lincoln thinks for a second, "I mean I don't mind it, she seems to be happy."
"And a happy woman makes a happy home, that's what matters at the end of the day, am I right?" The gives a toothy grin.
Lincoln smiles, "You couldn't be more right, but had I known it would be this long, we would've come after getting setting up our place."
"How long you two in town for?"
"A few weeks at least, a couple of months at most before we move on."
"Must be nice to be able to go where you want." The man says with a tone that yeans for something.
"Trust me it isn't like that for everybody, and while on the topic, with everyone here close enough to the border why haven't you all just packed up and left?"
"Oh that's not hard to see why, Smallvile's our home, most of us have been here since we were born and others just like how quiet it is, some are too stubborn to leave but me, my life's here, my wife and I do pretty good on our own, sure we could take our chances back in the states but sometimes it's better with the devil you know than the unknown."
Lincoln raises an eyebrow, "Is there something going on here?" He asks with a bit of worry for the man.
"Nothing really, the occasional stray ~B.O.W~ and sometimes these army boys put people on edge but I'd rather this much effort defending my home than starting over somewhere else."
"It might be better outside the wall than in it." Lincoln says in more of a statement.
"Could be, but then again everyone I know is here, gotta appreciate the life you have cause it can get so much worse, Like in Washington."
'Ain't that the truth,' Lincoln thought until 'Wait.'
"What's going on in Washington and how would you know that?" Lincoln raises a brow.
"Easy, communications may still be down but larger bases have ways of getting the word out and when new orders from the outside come, it usually makes way here and… well word gets around, we are a small town. To answer your first question, other than rounding up every mutant they can find, the DUP has been coming down pretty hard on civilians with their liberal use of martial law and using fear to keep 'em in line."
Lincoln thinks to himself, 'Maybe we can just do this here,' "Do you think we could send a message from here to someone on the outside?" He asks with hope in his eyes.
"I'm sorry sir, but something got the boys from the border spooked, they got strict orders against such things, if you came a few months back, then you wouldn't have had a problem." He says downtrodden as he saw Lincoln's face sink.
"Dang it, welp guess we might be here for a while." Lincoln's face goes back to being neutral.
The man coughs and gets Lincoln's attention, "While I'm here, is there anything else I can get you?"
"Well since you're asking I'd like to know where we can find some things."
-Lucy-
"Sigh, what a wondrous relief from the thrill of what Leni would call 'Retail Therapy'." Lucy happily sighs in content.
She walks back to the front desk in her shirt and jeans, when she sees Lincoln trying on a charcoal grey trench coat and black leather gloves and gives a small smile.
"I see you found something you like." She eagerly awaits his response.
"Yeah, I figured since we're here… y'know." Lucy nods, "You all set?" She nods again.
Lincoln removes the coat and gloves, the coat is a deep grey with orange lining on the inside, typical Lincoln.
The two purchased their things, Lucy has a few dresses on order that if Lincoln were a betting man and he kind of is, they'll look a mix of formal and funeral gown, typical Lucy style and he's actually looking forward to it.
The two head out and not too much was spent, with Lucy's orders coming down to a little over 1000, she did place an order for more than a few, 'They better be worth it,' Lincoln has dealt with custom prices, at least it's not outrageous but still… money's money.
Other than custom ordering, Lucy had gotten a few things, pants are still uncomfortable to her so Lincoln can only imagine what she picked out.
As expected of bringing a man shopping with you be it your brother, boyfriend, husband or father, Lincoln is to carry everything without complaint.
-In the Boutique-
Back in the store the tailor husband and his wife the seamstress are working on dark fabrics, (wonder who that's for) when he turns and talks to her.
"So what do you think about them?" He turns to his lady, a dark skinned, short brunette with some greying streaks in a pink blouse and long skirt.
"Well the girl's quiet, she didn't really start talking until I asked about her man, she was a bit off putting, the stoic and silent type aren't made for a small town where everybody's in your business."
"I think that's fine, That young man told me they'd only be in town a few months at most, I thought they were just drifters passing through but he seemed interested in talking to someone on the outside."
His wife picks up the conversation, "Think he has family on the outside?"
"Maybe, would explain why a couple of mutants want to travel so close to the border, with how they upped security, no one's getting out not that they would let the two out."
"You think we should tell them that pretty much everyone knows already?" She asks.
"I think that might've been fair but no sense going after them now, they'll find out about this place soon enough." He says with a warm smile.
"I guess, anyway back to the boy." She got them back on target.
"Right, well he seemed pretty down about the border but he asked for a few other things."
"Like what?"
"Oh nothing too out of the way, where to get supplies, local market, he looked surprised to know we still have a hardware store and I told him where everything was, it was his last question that spooked me a bit."
The wife perks up, "What did he ask?"
"Where our cemetery was." He ended as his wife turns to him with a fixed stare just letting that sit there and just went back to work.
-Lincoln & Lucy-
Lucy had turned to Lincoln, "Was that your way of wanting to impress me by inviting me to a romantic setting." She asked him with her impassive tone as Lincoln's eyes widen in alarm, "If so it's working." She said with her lips curved into a grin as Lincoln's eyes roll for the fake out drama.
"So now that I know where everything important is, do you want to do something else or should we look into getting one of those mini-fridges before we head to the market?"
Lucy was about to answer when her shadow had darkened and went back to normal.
"I believe we all need to get something to eat."
Lincoln looks down to Lucy's shadow and back to her, "Agreed."
As they turned a corner, Lincoln looked back down and saw the same shadow from earlier pass by again.
-XxX-
Back in the motel room we see the Louds lounging on a bed after having a meal together.
Lincoln and Lucy picked up lunch from a diner, a few burgers and a grilled chicken for Salem (diced by Lincoln).
Currently Lincoln was pointing to a wall with his finger as the cat followed the light at the end like a laser pointer, never let it be said that Lincoln does not play with Salem.
It was fun seeing Salem drop into her shadow and climb up walls, Lincoln would trail the light to the other end of the room just for Salem's shadow to lift and stretch to it, Lincoln liked the challenge and began circling the dark feline only for her to get bored and hop from her spot on the wall onto the bed beside Lincoln and rub against him.
He took that as a sigh that she needed attention and he was happy to oblige, every time he ran his hand over Salem's fur, she purred just a bit louder.
The three were content, maybe they could get used to this place.
Lincoln's head perks up and gets out from the bed ruining Salem's comfort time, Lucy looked over to see what got Lincoln's attention.
He silently opens the door to receive a knock to his skull.
"Ow." Don't know what he's whining about but there was a feminine gasp on the other side of the door as Lucy looks over to see one of the women from yesterday.
Lincoln speaks up, "Kara, good to see you."
"Uh hey." There was a bit of an awkward pause before Lincoln lets out a laugh.
END
AN: [So I've been talking to a friend after most of my work was erased a while back, to which I've been rewriting with motivation and a new direction. A while back I wrote that this would be referencing a lot of non-loud house related sources like marvel, DC etc. Now I'm going to make it into a full on crossover within the world of Resident Evil, Infamous with a few shows from marvel (will be revealed when we get to it), and lots of references to DC (most DC shows included the justice league and a world with numerous alien superheroes that won't fit into the world I'm building) as well as multiple characters from other sources.]
[Soon I'll be switching this to the crossover section.]
[In the near future I'll rewrite some parts of previous chapters, update the disclaimer and change up a few things.]
[As a heads up the entire story won't revolve around Lincoln and Lucy the entire time, we will go to the other Louds in the future, this part is just taking longer than I thought. Also in a few chapters we'll get to a lore dump where I'll explain how thing went on the outside and what everyone else has been doing.]
[Further down with more action and more enemies Lincoln will seem overpowered in comparison to most mutants but many will catch up some will be made to outclass him while he grows, the end goal for Lincoln power-wise will make into the unholy three-way love-child between Ms. Marvel from marvel, Doomsday from DC and Dante from Devil May Cry.]
[Also quick spoiler, next chapter's mostly a LincolnxLucy fluff.]