DATE: MARCH 26, 2015, NEW YORK, 16H02M

Lincoln is not having a nice day.

Not that the school was bad, but the problem was inside his head.

Since Monday's incident, no one has seen Chandler, and the police have been alerted. Of course, the first stop of the investigation was the Loud Tower, and Lynn was interrogated. The family discovered that on Monday night, the boy furiously drove out the staff to be alone, and when they returned the next morning, he had disappeared without any sign of break-in or struggle.

It was not long before certain rumors ran through the school, some even hinted that the boy would have gotten involved with criminals who eventually disappeared with him. But even with all this, Lincoln could not help thinking that something terrible had happened to Chandler. Even if he was unpleasant, Lincoln was still worried about his schoolmate.

Despite the concerns, Lincoln still had something more important to think about: taking Leni to the Watcher.

As much as he wanted to support his sister, he could not help thinking that this was a bad idea. Leni was the nicest person he knew, but also very naive, which made her pretty much a little girl in a teenage girl's body. He and Ronnie Anne were progressing in training, but he could not imagine Leni inside the danger room. Knowing Leni as he knew her, he was sure she would be pulverized before she even realized what she was doing.

"What's up Lincoln?" Ronnie asked, pulling him out of his trance.

"Oh, I was just worried about Leni. I still can not believe we're even going to do that."

"Do what?"

At that moment, Lincoln remembered that he didn't told Ronnie Anne about Leni discovering his secret.

"Dang it! I knew I had forgotten something! I'll explain to you later, but Leni knows our secret, and we have to take her to the watcher."

The girl was confused but accompanied her friend through the school's hallways.

It did not take long to find the fashionista, who was sitting in a chair near the principal's office.

"Leni, what happened?" Lincoln was worried, already expecting the worst.

"Hi, Lincoln. I'm waiting for the principal to talk to me."

Lincoln and Ronnie stared at each other, then turned back to Leni.

"Leni, there is no one in the room." Lincoln said, pointing to the principal's office, which had the lights off.

"Don't be silly, Lincoln." She said, smiling. "Of course the principal is going to be in his office. Where else would he be?"

The two just grunted, realizing there was nothing to argue about.

"After all, what do you want to talk to the principal?" Ronnie asked, noticing a clipboard in the chair beside the fashionista.

"I came to show him my idea for the new uniforms of the soccer team." She held up the clipboard, where there were some designs that looked like a mixture of dress and soccer uniform. "I'm sure the girls are going to feel a lot better wearing these than those boyish's outfits."

Not knowing how to respond, Lincoln decided to go ahead.

"Well, I guess that can wait. We have a appointment today, remember?"

The girl was confused until she remembered the conversation she had with her brother on Monday.

"Oh, of course. How silly I am, I just forgot." She looked at Ronnie Anne, then whispered to her brother. "Can we tell her or is it a secret?"

"Leni, she's..." Lincoln stopped talking as he remembered they were still at school. "Nevermind. Let's go, or we'll be late."

The three of them followed the hallways until they left the school building, and went to the back.

As soon as they got there, Lincoln picked up his ID card and looked sideways to make sure they were not being watched.

"Immediate teleportation to Watcher, user authorization user A-02 and user A-03, with a guest."

Immediately, they arrived in the transporter room, where they ran into Larry.

"Greetings, Avengers. Dr. Pym is waiting for you in the main lab. He is very eager to show off his new project."

"Thank you, Larry." Lincoln turned to the girls and touched his watch. "I think we better get ready."

Ronnie Anne did the same thing, and as soon as they both said "Assemble!", Leni was surprised to see how her clocks turned into superhero clothes.

"Ronnie Anne, are you Miss Marvel?"

Ronnie remembered that Leni was with them, and came speechless.

"Leni, you already knew that I was Marvel Boy. Who did you think was Miss Marvel?"

"Wait, how..."

"I'll explain later, Ronnie Anne. Actually, I think it best to let the Ant-Man explain."

Although confused, Ronnie decided to trust Lincoln, and they went to the lab with Leni.

When they arrived at the lab, they saw the scientist taking notes as he looked at a screen.

"Kids, I'm glad you came." He turned, revealing a hair that was unkempt and a scent of one who hasn't showered in days. "This time I overcame my own creativity."

"It's good to see you're happy, Dr., but what is this?" Ronnie asked, already thinking she would not like the answer.

"Well, these are the final adjustments to the test version of Leni's armor."

While Leni was excited, Ronnie was shocked while Lincoln was embarrassed.

"What do you mean by "Leni's armor"? What's going on here?"

"I did not tell you?" The scientist began to pound in the equipment furiously, almost oblivious to reality. "Leni discovered Lincoln's secret identity, to keep the secret, he agreed to bring her here. Although a bit reluctant, I ended up accepting her as a member of the team."

Ronnie Anne looked at Lincoln in complete disbelief.

"Is there anything else going on that I do not know?"

"Well..." Lincoln tried to think of something to say, but he did not have time.

"Of course, there are many other things going on without any of you knowing." Pym seemed to be totally focused in his equipment, and continued to worsen the situation. "Many of them are of my knowledge, but most of them I can not share, for several reasons."

"Dr.! You're not helping!" Lincoln exclaimed angrily.

The scientist finally realized that he was not paying attention to the young heroes, and began to think of something to say.

"Sorry, it's the excitement talking louder than the reason. What I mean is: I know of things that I can not really tell you at the moment, but as soon as possible you will know everything."

"Okay, I think I can take that." Ronnie was still irritated, but she tried to stay calm. "But then, what's with that armor?"

He simply smiled, and went to the machine that had created the symbi-watches, making the compartment open.

With a broad smile, he showed the young heroes a modestly sized white purse, though it did not appear to be any different from any purse at the Loud House, many of which were from Lori or Leni herself. Even so, Lincoln and Ronnie remembered that it had came from the same machine that their symbi-watches came from.

Lincoln, incredulous, pointed to the purse, and began to babble.

"Is that..."

"Yes, that purse actually turns into an armor." Pym was euphoric, proud of his work. "I reviewed my files and it happens that I already had a functional female armor in the database. It was just a matter of finding something that could disguise such a large amount of synthetic klyntar. I call it "the package". What do you think?"

"I think it's wonderful!" Leni approached the scientist and took the bag. "It's so elegant! I just need a dress that match, and it's going to be perfect."

"Leni, that's not how you do it." Ronnie crossed her arms, and looked at her seriously. "We carry the symbi-watches with us all the time, in case of an emergency."

"But I can not take this with me all the time!" Leni felt indignant at the comment. "As beautiful as it is, it does not match with more than half of my wardrobe!"

"Leni, I do not think you understand how this works." Lincoln tried to find the right words, but he could think of nothing to help her understand.

"Do not worry about this." The scientist went to the computer and held out his hand. "Leni, could I have your cell phone?"

"My phone? For what?"

"So that I can prove how smart I am."

Though unsure, the fashionista handed her cell phone to him. Pym put a cable into the charger's input, and then passed some sort of file to the phone. It did not take more than two minutes, and then he returned the phone to the girl, grinning victoriously.

"Take a look at your apps."

The girl was confused, but did as he said.

Among the cell phone apps, there was now a small purse icon, just like the one the scientist has given to her.

"I did not understand. Did you put a purse on my cell phone?"

- No, no. Open the application, and then click one of the options."

Again, she obeyed the scientist, and upon opening the application, several images of purses in different color and models appeared on the screen. Leni became static with the various options, and then clicked on the one she liked more, a light green purse, in the same tone as her dress. Immediately, the purse in her hands began to change shape and color, until it became the one she chose in the application.

"Very useful, do not you think?" The scientist folded his arms, and assumed an air of arrogance. "I deduced that a fashionista would not be able to wear the same purse model for a long time, so I programmed this synthetic klyntar to change slightly it's disguise mode, thus allowing you to change the look of the purse. In practice, you will never have to buy a purse again, as this can be any purse you want."

The young heroes were impressed, especially Lincoln.

He did not expect Leni's armor to be ready in such a short time, much less to be so versatile as to match Leni's clothing. Lincoln had to acknowledge, even if the Ant-Man was full of secrets, he surely work hard.

"And how do I wear the armor?" Despite her usual naivety, Leni remembered why she had come. "Will my purse melt like their watches?"

"That's right. You just need to squeeze the handle of the purse and say "Assemble!", and the purse will become an armor. But before you activate the armor, we have to go to an appropriate place."


SOON, IN THE DANGER ROOM


"I did not understand." Leni looked around in confusion. "If this is a danger room, where are the dangers?"

Leni, Lincoln, and Ronnie were in a large empty hall. The floor, ceiling, and walls looked like mirrored material, and though they could not tell, there was a smaller room next door where Pym was typing something on a computer.

"That's the name of the room, Leni." Ronnie Anne spoke calmly, even though she was impatient. "The Ant-Man is in the control room, and he's going to program a location, which will be where we're going to test your armor."

"Oh really? And what kind of locations does it have?" Leni asked optimistically.

"I do not know how many locations he's got, but we've been training in some pretty strange places." Lincoln replied, recalling previous training sessions.

"Enough talk and more action." Pym's voice was heard by the speakers. "I'm still setting up the armor, so I'll do a simple test for you. Lincoln and Ronnie, please help Leni if even Level 1 its challenging to her."

As he finished speaking, the reflective surfaces began to glow, so that the light seemed to be alive. Soon the light began to take shape, slowly becoming objects. In a few seconds, the empty room became a large dojo with several weapons hanging on the walls.

At the end of the dojo, there was a door, which as soon as it was opened released a huge amount of smoke, from which emerged 3 ninjas, all dressed in black.

"Wow, ninjas in a dojo full of weapons?" Ronnie Anne was disappointed. "That's too cliché, do not you agree?"

"It's not cliché, it's classic." The scientist defended himself. "Now, let's go to the moment we all wait. Activate the armor, Leni."

The blonde took a deep breath, squeezed the handle of the purse and prepared to follow her dream.

"Assemble!"

The purse began to blend with Leni's dress as it spread all over her body. As soon as it was completely covered by black ooze, the ooze began to increase in volume and change color.

Soon, she was wearing an striking red and silver armor, whose helmet had openings to her eyes and mouth, leaving a serious frown.

Pressing a few buttons, Pym made appear 3 mirrors in the front and the sides of the girl, allowing her a perfect vision of the armor.

"This is me?" Leni was shocked by the armor, especially the helmet. "That's nice, but that helmet is scary. Could not you put on a smile or something?"

"I can change this for the next time you activate the armor, but now pay attention to this test." He took a serious tone, and removed the mirrors. "This is the Rescue armor, a version of the armor known as Iron Man. You have repulsor blasters in the gloves, and it is capable of generating a force field around you."

"And... how does she do it all?" Lincoln asked, a little worried.

"It's relatively simple. Synthetic klyntar reacts to thoughts. You just need to think of something and the armor does."

"Really?" Leni was even more excited, and tried to concentrate. "I'll try then."

All were silent, while Leni tried to command her armor by thought.

After a few minutes, both Ant-Man and the kids were worried about the delay.

"Leni, are you okay?" Lincoln asked, approaching her.

"I keep thinking, but nothing happens." The girl was clearly frustrated, starting to get discouraged.

"And what exactly are you doing?" Ronnie Anne asked, worried about the girl.

"I keep thinking about a Smoothie, but the armor does not make one."

Everyone facepalmed upon hearing the girl's reply.

"This girl is going to be a challenge." Pym thought. "Leni, when I said to think of something, I meant like when you move or use your powers. Just act naturally."

Again, she closed her eyes, and it seemed that Leni would think of something silly again, but she actually managed to move.

The girl smiled happily as she walked toward the ninjas until she realized something.

"And what do I do now?"

"You fight them!" Ronnie said, cracking her knuckles as she smiled. "No need to worry, they are just simulations of the danger room, so they do not feel pain."

"But I can not fight them! What if I end up ruining their clothes? These ninja outfits are cool."

Inside the control room, the leader was already beginning to lose his temper. Even if it was to please Lincoln, it seemed that accepting Leni in the Avengers had been a bad idea. Even so, someone with a supposedly brilliant mind should be able to make the girl use the armor correctly, even if he had to resort to more extreme means. It was then that an idea occurred to him.

"I had an idea. Get ready for a change of location."

Typing furiously, he began designing a whole new environment for the danger room, as well as redesigning the ninjas. After another light show, the young heroes were now in a virtually empty mall, except for some very peculiar people who were attacking the shops.

They wore clothes with scandalous colors, which not only did not match but also wore different shoes and socks on each foot. Leni could not stand what she saw, and by sheer instinct she ran toward the fashion criminals.

Although it was not possible to know if she remembered or not that she was wearing the armor, she struck punches so powerful that it would leave Lynn in surprise. When one of the thugs tried to attack her from behind, a thin wall of red light appeared around the girl.

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were shocked by Leni.

Of course, both had already seen and participated in fights between the Loud siblings, but the scene before them was surreal. Leni had never shown such a penchant for violence, and that was frightening. If she was not able to save the world, at least she seemed willing to prevent crimes against fashion.

When there was only one fashion criminal, he had a gun, which pointed to the armored fashionista, who quickly tried to put her hands in front of her face.

"STOP!"

Without even knowing what she was doing, the girl shot a strong blast of energy, that knocked the criminal down. As he fell to the ground, a warning of "Simulation Completed" appeared in the air, and the room returned to its normal appearance.

"Leni, this was incredible." Lincoln exclaimed, hugging his sister.

"I have to admit, that was certainly rad." Ronnie said, folding her arms. "We have to fight each other sometime."

"You're so kind. I can not believe I became an Avenger!"

"Actually, you did not become a Avenger." Pym entered the room, arms folded behind his back.

The three looked at him in total disbelief.

"What do you mean?" Ronnie snapped. "She nailed it!"

"But... you said I could join the Avengers..." Leni seemed about to cry.

Lincoln, on the other hand, seemed to be getting angry with the scientist, but was silent.

"Yes, I did." He reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out an ID card from inside. "But you can not consider yourself an Avenger until you receive this."

Leni took the card, and realized it had a picture of her, plus a word written on the side.

"Who is "Roscoe"?

"It's not "Roscoe," it's "Rescue"." Pym said, almost facepalming again. "Your super heroine codename."

"Wait, so I do not choose my codename?" Leni asked, disappointed.

"Well, I suggest names according to the costume to be worn and the person's abilities. But if you want, I can easily change the name of the card."

"Wait, can we change our codenames?" Lincoln was surprised by the revelation.

"I never said that you had to accept the codenames I suggested, though I did not ask if you had any other ideas either." He looked at Lincoln curiously. "You want to change your codename now?"

"No, I was just curious." His face began to blush with embarrassment, and he looked away. "I mean, I even thought about calling myself "Captain Marvel", but..."

"It's a good name, albeit a bit pretentious." Ronnie Anne said, making Lincoln's face look as red as his costume.

"I agree! Although, you're kinda young to being called "Captain". Who knows when you're older?" He turned to Leni, and smiled at her. "What about you Leni? How do you prefer to be called?"

The fashionista was thoughtful until she came to a conclusion.

"How about "Super-Leni"?"

"Leni, the idea of a secret identity is to people not find out it's you." Lincoln tried to call her to reason. "If you call yourself "Super-Leni", people will find out it's you."

"And what do you suggest?" Ronnie asked, folding her arms.

"How about... "Strong Suit"? This armor seems to be very strong."

"It looks more like a name for someone who uses playing cards." Pym began to scratch his chin, looking at the girl. "You can be more creative than that. After all, the original armor was made of a special alloy, but the guy was still called "Iron Man". I mean, it's not all bad, but it's not very accurate."

"Wait, I know the perfect one!" Leni shouted, with a big smile. "How about "Iron Lady"?"

"Iron Lady!?" The others exclaimed in surprise.

"I once watched with some friends a movie about a woman who was very good at what she did. I did not understand it well, but she looked like a very determined woman."

Leni looked at them hopefully as they seemed to think deeply, until they smiled.

"Well, I think it's even better than "Rescue"." Lincoln approached and patted her back.

"Well, let's do it like this." Pym picked up the card and put it in his pocket. "I'm going to rewrite the card, and in the next training session I'll give it to you. Welcome to the Avengers, Iron Lady."

Leni jumped on the scientist, hugging him with all her strength, which was being magnified by the armor.

"Oh, thank you, thank you. You will not regret it, I'll be the best Avenger in the world."

"Leni, you're breaking him in half!" Ronnie exclaimed, making the fashionista drop him.

"Sorry, I think I'll have to practice a little bit more."

The scientist caught his breath, then headed out of the room.

"Well, I have a little work to do, so I'll leave the rest to you. I've taught Lincoln and Ronnie to use an already programmed simulation, so if you want to train a little more, feel free."

They waved at the scientist, who made his way to his room.

As soon as he entered, he found Larry, who had a worried face on his scree.

"Sir, you received a new message from Secretary Talbot."

"Oh really!? I did not ask the President for anything, so I do not know why Talbot would want to talk to me. What's the message?"

Larry showed a "play" icon, which soon became a "pause" one while playing an audio file.

"Dr. Pym, a situation has arisen that requires your immediate attention. Because of the nature of the problem, I need you to come to the Pentagon to discuss the matter in person. It is imperative that not even your Avengers know about this mission."

On Larry's screen came a "replay" symbol, and he turned the screen off. The scientist became pensive, and threw himself on the bed. He was already tired of doing things for the government, but in fact it was useful to be able to ask whatever he wanted to the President.

"You know Larry, sometimes it's hard to manipulate people. Inevitably, there will be situations where you will have to act in a way that they believe is not you who are in charge."

"So you're not going on this mission?" Larry made a sad face, worried about his master.

"Of course I will, Larry. Even why, it can be fun. Until I get back, I'll need you to take care of the Watcher and my Avengers."

"You know you can count on me, sir." Larry made a happy face, and left the room.

Pym just stood pensive in his bed, plotting strategies for his mission, while considering his course of action.

"I need at least one more Avenger to start Phase 5. Although I will not have to wait long until he sends me his best superhuman." He smiled and closed his eyes, wondering how his other plan was progressing. "How is it going to be, Lynn? Which one will you choose?"


TO BE CONTINUED...


I put two more drawings on deviantart, showing Leni and Larry.