DATE: FEB 14 2015 NEW YORK 05H59M

Silence takes over the room where a young man with white hair sleeps. Lying on a King Size bed, it rests serenely until, when the clock strikes 6:00 am, the lights come on, and you can hear a song playing loudly:

"When Captain America throws his mighty shield,
All those who chose to oppose their shield must yield.
If you are a lead to a fight and a duel,
Then the red and the white and the blue'll come through.
When Captain America throws his mighty shield. "

The boy then sits on his bed, clap his hands and the sound stops. He gives a long yawn as he stretches, and then drowsy looks at his bedroom. He is wearing blue pajamas, with red and white stripes on his belly and a white star on his chest.

Suddenly he remembers something, and then rises quickly from the bed, fully energized. He quickly make his bed and heads for the bathroom, located at the far end of the room.

His room itself is something to admire. Not only because it's as big as a hotel suite, but because of the decor that shouts "I'm a comic book fan !". To the left of the bed, there is a desk with a computer and a printer, and, to the right, a door leading to his closet. On every wall, shelves filled with toys, action figures and miniatures, plus a bookcase full of comic books.

When he leaves the bathroom, he notices that he is being watched, and decides to talk to the reader.

"Good Morning! I see you liked my room. I'm Lincoln Loud. Surely you must be wondering why a 12-year-old boy has such a big room."

He heads for the door, where it is possible to see a wide corridor, at both ends, stairs, one going up and one down. Counting his door, the long corridor had 10 doors, his being the middle one on this side of the house.

"Welcome to the Loud House, an area that occupies the last 7 floors of the Loud Tower, one of the highest skyscrapers you have ever seen. Years ago, when I was still young, our father, a famous scientist, made a million-dollar agreement with the government that allowed our parents to start a billion-dollar empire." Lincoln then laughs to himself, and adds. "Honestly, with the family we have, I do not know how we have not gone bankrupt yet."

Heading up the stairs to the lower floor, he takes great care not to wake the occupants of the other rooms, making as much silence as possible.

"I have to be very careful when I wake up early. I split this space with my 10 sisters, who usually do not bother waking up early on Saturday, but lately they've been a bit tense, and I admit it's kind of my fault. Our parents usually get very busy with all their chores. My dad spends all day (and sometimes even the night) in one of the labs on the 64th to the 81st floor, and our mother runs the company departments below. Our mother always has a new idea for the company, but still gives us a lot of attention, while our father is increasingly distant and stressed, saying that he is "almost there"."

As he steps down the stairs, he enters the living room, which looks like the reception of a luxury hotel, with sofas and armchairs looking like new, and a gigantic television on the wall, about the size of a van. On the other side, there is a wide desk, to serve breakfast. He walks into the kitchen, which in itself was not too big, but had a door that led to the pantry and one that led to the refrigerator room. Such a big house would not have a conventional refrigerator. He puts on an apron, picks up some ingredients and starts to prepare the meal.

"What, did you think we'd have some kind of British butler?" Lincoln allowed himself a little smirk. "We may be rich, but Mom decided we should have a normal life together, so the employees only clean up to the 86th floor, and we cleaned our house ourselves."

After about an hour of hard work, Lincoln is satisfied with his work. He had managed to prepare 11 generous portions of pancakes with a syrup he made himself, a jar of orange juice and another with coffee, and in a few minutes he would take two dozen muffins out of the oven.

Satisfaction gave way to a worried sigh. Making food was one thing. Now, just over 7:25, he had to perform the difficult task of waking his sisters without irritating them. He started up the stairs again, preparing for the worst.

"Like I said, they've been tense, so I decided to surprise them. They know I have plans for today, so they will not be expecting it."

He decides to start at the end of the hallway and wake up his sisters one at a time. Thus, it is more likely that they do not get mad with him.

"You must be wondering why they're tense." Lincoln stop his hand within millimeters of the door knob. "Our father, as well as a scientist, is a retired superhero. Because of this, we usually develop powers around the age of 7, and our father has used us as guinea pigs in his research on superhumans. At first it was just uncomfortable, but lately my sisters have been feeling in a prison inside the house. And since I do not have any "real power", he got tired of testing me, and it kind of bothered them a little."

Knocking on the door, he just puts his head in, takes a breath, and calls his sister.

"Lori, have you woken up yet?"

"Hmmmm, what do you want, twerp?" She responds, still sleepy.

"I just made breakfast, and I decided to call you."

This seemed to rouse Lori in a good mood. Today, she would be ahead of breakfast.

"All right, I'm going downstairs."

One down, nine to go.

He then went to the room facing Lori's.

"Leni, are you awake already?"

Suddenly the girl, wearing a sleeping mask, stood up and started with a fright.

"Who's there?"

"It's me, Lincoln."

"Lincoln, help me! Like, I think I'm blind!"

"(Sigh) Leni, it's just your mask, you're not blind."

"Oh! Good." She takes off her mask and smiles at her brother. "Is that all right with you, Linky?"

"Yes. I came to tell you that I already cooked breakfast."

"Wow, how sweet of you. I'm already coming down."

Lincoln then goes to the next room, and is greeted by a high-pitched sound and an intense light blast coming from the room.

"Oh, Bro, I'm sorry." His sister got up and ran to help him. "I thought it was Lori. She's been coming to wake me up early lately. Did I hurt you?"

Surprisingly, Lincoln did not seem at all affected by the blast. He just rubbed his eyes, and smiled.

"It's okay, Luna. It's just all a bit blurred. Lynn and Lola have already done worse to me."

If it had happened in any other room, they might have caught the attention of the others, but due to Luna's powers and hobby, her room was threefold reinforced against sound.

"If you say. What did you want so early?"

"I came to tell you that breakfast is ready. I'm leaving early today, remember?"

Luna remembered her brother's commitment, and smirked.

"Oh, of course. How could I forget. Your "big day," is not it?"

"Come on, Luna!" Lincoln got annoyed. "I already said that it is not as you guys think!"

"Of course. As you wish, little dude. I'm coming."

Lincoln headed to the next room. Usually, he only knocks on Lori's door, which is more temperamental, all the young siblings simply entered each other's rooms. However, the increasing stress on the house and what just happened in Luna's bedroom, one of his more relaxed sisters, made him rethink his course of action.

Even so, he entered the room, hoping for the best. To Lincoln's surprise, his sister was not only already awake, as she was reading a book.

"Good morning, Lincoln." She said, smiling. "I was about to go down, I just wanted to stay in bed a little longer."

"Good morning to you too, Luan. What book is this?"

"Oh, it's just an account of World War II. I arrived in an interesting passage, about the great attack of the Hydra."

Lincoln, a big fan of Captain America, could not help but be interested in the subject. If this had anything to do with his hero, he wanted to read it, too.

"May I see, Luan?"

"Sure, Linc. Why not."

As soon as he took the book, Lincoln noticed that it was blank, and began to turn the pages.

"Luan, what is..."

Suddenly, a snake appeared in the book, and Lincoln dropped it immediately.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha..."

Now that he could see better, Lincoln realized that the snake was nothing but a sock puppet in Luan's hand. How could he fall into this so easily?

"What do you think, Linc?" She asked, still laughing. "I think this is my best prank until now."

"Look, to be honest, I did not like it very much, but I admit it was good. Anyway, I came to tell you that I made breakfast."

"Okay, I'll store my things and I'll snake down there. Haha. You get it?"

Calling Luan was relatively easy. It seems that his sisters are already waking up, which makes his work easier.

With that thought, he goes to the next room, but is surprised to see that it is empty.

"Did not I see her pass?"

"Good morning, Lincoln."

He almost screamed at the voice that came from behind him, leaving him out of breath.

"Good morning to you, Lucy. Have you woken up for a long time?"

The Gothic girl nodded, a faint sign of a smile on her face.

"Actually, I was the first to wake up, I just did not want to ruin your caring attempt to placate our joint suffering.

"Uh, thanks, I think. Hey, did you see Lynn?"

"She slept with me yesterday. She saw that I was not very well after what happened at dinner."

Lincoln barely paid attention in yesterday's dinner, he was very excited for the new day to arrive soon. Still, it was hard not to remember Lori's argument with their parents, and how Lucy's powers got out of control again, and caused a huge mess in the dining room.

He then noticed the object on Lucy's left wrist.

"Are you using Lynn's power seal?"

Somewhat embarrassed, Lucy lowered her head, and assumed a tone even more depressed than normal.

"Mom said she were going to order one for me, so I asked Lynn if she could lend me hers in the meantime. She said that's no problem as long as I give it back before a game, and I do not want to take risks with my... "gift"."

"Do not worry about it, Luce. One day, you will control this, it is only a matter of time and you will be as good as Lori, Leni, Luna or Lynn."

Lucy was grinning now. Her brother saying that she could have control of her powers just as her sisters with more skill meant a lot to her.

"Thank you, Lincoln. Just let me go down before you wake Lynn, otherwise she'll eat it all."

Lincoln nodded and went to Lucy's bedroom, which was to the right of Lynn's room.

As soon as he opened the door, he heard the sound that lived up to the nickname "Snorezilla". This was a bad sign, since Lynn was probably the one who was most unstable by the current situation. Waking her up suddenly was very risky, but Lincoln had no choice, he had to wake up his sisters and try to have a peacefull breakfast with all of them before leaving.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, he began to shake her slowly.

"Lynn... Lynn... Lynn..."

Quickly, she woke up, but as soon as she saw her brother, she was sulky and with a bitter tone in her voice.

"What you want so early, Lincoln! Do you know what time it is?"

"I know, and I also know that if you do not go down soon, your breakfast will cool down."

Lynn remembered who it was time to make breakfast that day, her, Lucy and Lori. Now she was angry.

"I do not believe! They did not even wait for me to prepare the food!"

"No, no. I woke up earlier and prepared everything myself. We have pancakes, coffee, orange juice and strawberry muffins."

"DID YOU MAKE MUFFINS?!" All the anger was gone, replaced by the concern that the muffins would end. "Why did not you say so."

Before Lincoln could say anything, Lynn disappeared into a blur, just as the door to her bathroom opened and he heard the sound of the tap running and then close, and once more the blur passed by.

"(Sigh) Hurried as usual. Only four left."

Lincoln went to the next room. The next one would be Lana, who, like her twin, Lola, was still somewhat out of control. Not on the same level as Lucy, but they were causing almost as much damage as Lynn or Luna, which was almost frightening.

As he entered the room, he noticed that Lana was not in bed but in the carpet, sleeping like a dog. Speaking of the pets, with the exception of the two snakes, all the animals that would stay in the nurseries and cages scattered around the room were on the ground near her.

All the other siblings felt uncomfortable when they had to wake Lana. Her room looked more like a small pet shop than a room, but Lincoln was tolerant with his sisters' habits. For him, that was just Lana being Lana.

Very carefully, he turned away from the animals and called his sister.

"Come on, Tarzan, it's breakfast time!"

Like Lynn, Lana did not take long to wake up. Lana yawned and started to get up.

"Good morning, Lincoln. Have you been awake for a long time?"

"Just a little. I woke up early to prepare food for all of us."

"Wow, that's cool. I will only use the bathroom and I'm coming."

"Hey, Lana, are not you forgetting anything?"

Lana looked at the carpet in her room, which looked like a zoo poster, and understood what her brother meant.

"Hehe, I got it. I'll sort this out quickly."

Lana whistled, and her animals woke up. Lincoln just stood there, enjoying the show.

"Very well, guys. Each one to his own habitat, right now."

As if hypnotized by Lana's command, they simply followed it, each one to their place. It was not necessary to use locks. Lana had almost total control of the pets.

"I'm getting better at it." The girl said, full of pride. "One of these days, I think I'll ask Mom to let me have a tiger."

Only the idea of a tiger around the house was enough to make Lincoln give a little laugh. Their parents had money, and Lana's powers were amazing, but still, it seemed like an idea destined to fail.

"Maybe one day. Now brush your teeth and get down as soon as possible, and you may be the first to get a fresh muffin from the oven."

Lana saluted her brother and went into her bathroom.

Entering the penultimate room, all pink and feminine, Lincoln found his sister Lola awake, and apparently in a bad mood.

"How dare you?"

The question caught Lincoln by surprise. He could not imagine anything he had done wrong, or that might irritate Lola. You wouldn't like Lola when she's angry.

"What are you talking about?"

"You went to call all the others before me! This is unforgivable."

"(Sigh) Lola, I'm not calling you last." After what has already happened, the last thing he needed was to hear that. "I called you by room. Besides, if you was already awake, why did not you come down?

"I was going down, and I saw you making breakfast." Lola now seemed to be sad. "So I thought it better to go up, and wait for you to finish, since my room is the first one in the hall."

Lincoln felt bad about it. After Lucy, Lola was the most unhappy person in the house due to her powers. With the exception of him and Lana, the others used to interact with her as little as possible to avoid a tantrum from the little brat. After what she did on the last Thanksgiving, he was also a little afraid.

Even though it was dangerous to approach Lola in such a delicate moment, he walked over to her and hugged her. She returned the gesture, and felt reassured with her older brother showing such affection.

"I know it's hard to get attention here, but you do not have to feel so bad. I will always be here for you guys, no matter what."

"Thank you, Lincoln."

"You're welcome. Now come on, it's time to eat."

He took his little sister's hand and left the room with her. When they were already on the stairs, he remembered that he had not called all his sisters.

"Lola, would you mind going ahead? I have not yet called Lisa and Lily."

"Okay, but do not delay."

Lincoln opened the bedroom door, just in time to see his five-year-old sister Lisa about to pry her sister Lily, who had been little more than two-and-a-half years old with an immense needle.

"LISA! What do you think you're doing?!"

The girls, when they noticed their brother, stood still. Lisa with a frightened expression on her face, and Lily with a confuse one.

Lily then ran to Lincoln, smiling.

"Linky!"

"Good morning, Lily. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. Lisa said she would give me powers if I took medicine from her."

So that was what it was all about.

"Really, Lily? Very cool. Why do not you go eat some breakfast while I help Lisa save these things?"

"All right, Linky."

Lily ran happily out of the room, and as she descended the stairs, Lincoln's cheerful expression changed to one of severity.

"Lisa Marie Loud. Have not our parents made it clear that you can do any experiment in any laboratory as long as you do not use your siblings as guinea pigs?"

"I do not see the reason for such a commotion. I was simply testing the possibility of our smallest consanguineous fraternal entity being able to develop superhuman abilities in the not-too-distant future, and how this can affect the balance of our so-called family."

Lincoln was madly angry at Lisa's boldness. This day had begun so well, and he now had to give an ethics lesson to his sister who was possibly smarter than their father with three doctorates.

"Lisa, nothing justifies doing experiments with Lily. You've shared a room since she was born, and you're probably the one she trusts most after Mom. Do you think it's right to take advantage of her trust like this?

This caught Lisa by surprise. She had not considered her sister's emotions, she just wanted to satisfy a selfish desire.

"I know you're not like that, and it's been a while since you've tried to use us as guinea pigs. You wanna tell me what's going on?"

Lisa had no habit of demonstrating her emotions, but Lincoln had something in his personality that made people open up to him. She wrapped her arms around him, then let her worries go.

"Lincoln, I'm scared."

"What do you mean, Lisa? Scared of what?"

She was embarrassed, she wanted to unburden to her brother, but she was sure she would hurt him if she told the truth.

"I have fear of not having powers. That our sisters end up angry with me in the same way that they are with you."

Lincoln was silent. Lisa needed comfort, and he understood why she was worried.

"Lisa, they're not angry at me. They just get pissed off about Daddy locking them up here in the tower for a long time and letting me out."

"You do not mind that?"

"Of course not. I, in their place, would be upset if anyone had more freedom than I did. Besides, they just treat you a little differently because you spend so much time with Dad on the labs."

"But Lincoln, what if I never have powers?" And if I end up having and..."

She did not have to finish the sentence, Lincoln had understood.

"What if they're dangerous like Lucy's or Lola's? Or if they are useless like mine?"

Lisa was silent. She did not want to offend her brother more than she thought she had offended.

"Lisa, even Lucy and Lola will learn to control their powers. And I do not mind you all thinking I do not have "real powers". I know it sounds ridiculous, but think it over: if my resistance was not superhuman, how could I endure to love all of you so much and help you guys do the things you like?"

"You're right, Lincoln. Sorry, it's just... another day..."

"You can tell me, Lisa, I will not be angry."

"When we got a sibling meeting without you, last week, Lynn suggested that maybe you had "real powers", and that you were only pretending for Daddy not examine you."

At first Lincoln was speechless, and Lisa did not know if she had finally hurt her brother or if he was angry that she had broken the protocol of the sibling meeting.

Then, out of nowhere, Lincoln began to laugh.

"Hahahahahaha! Seriously, Lynn suggested that? And let me guess, the others were so upset with me that they thought it was true!"

Lisa started laughing too, her brother was not offended, and that was really a silly theory.

"I know, do not I? But I called them the reason, remembering that even the most disciplined of people could not fool the world's greatest superpower expert."

"Hahaha! Certainly. Even if I could fool you, hiding my "incredible powers", how would Dad never have noticed?"

"Exactly. The machines he built are perfect. Whatever power you had, it would be detected by one of them."

"Well, Lis, I do not know about you, but I'm hungry." He then realizes that he is still in his pajamas, and soon he will have to leave. "Why do not you join the others while I change my clothes? I promise to keep this conversation between us."

"Thank you, Lincoln. You sure are the best brother in the world!"

She hugs him and heads downstairs.

Lincoln returns to his room, and quickly closes the door. He stands there, with his back to the door, with a serious expression on his face.

He then raises his right hand and closes it in a fist. He stares at his hand for a moment, until it begins to shine.

"Sigh) So, they already suspect. How much longer can I still hide this from them?"


TO BE CONTINUED. . . .


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