Chapter One
Date: Sunday, September 25th, 2016 A.D.
Location: 1216 Franklin Avenue, Royal Woods, Michigan
"Please pass me my water, Hank"
Her mechanical butler finally moved from the spot it had been standing in for the past ten minutes. Using its rudimentary arm, it grabbed the neon green water bottle from the nearby table and brought it to her.
Taking the bottle into her tired hands. She drank the last of the cool water in the bottle.
"Aaah." That was refreshing. She needed it after putting her nose to the metaphorical grindstone for several hours to iron out the finishing touches on a passion project. One she had been working on for a solid month. Technically she could have it done in a week. If it was any other project she would have given her approval and moved on to the next idea on the shelf.
But this was a project that she invested in. One more than any other. She had to make sure there was no room for error or flaw. She would never forgive herself if there was. Let alone even imagine what she would do if something happened to him. She already has enough nightmares as it is.
She looked over to the corner where her other mechanical assistant stood. Only this one was much more vital. Having served as the appropriate test subject to put her project through trial rules. She named it Samuel Beckett. A fitting name she took from a show named Quantum Leap.
As she sat in the chair, she clasped the water bottle in her hands. Her eyes wandered back over to her workstation where the end result of many restless nights lay. A pair of sleek bracers composed of the strongest materials she could get her hands on. From the outside, it looked like regular steel. But its insides were what made it special.
The function was similar to her T-Box, a box she uses to teleport herself to school whenever she's late. Only these were far grander in scope. This enables the wearer to cross unimaginable distances. But through time as well.
She gave the water bottle back to Hank. She got off her stool. Slid one of the braces onto her forearm. As she moves, it changes size to fit her. Her face lit up at the sight. Her heart thumped in her chest with excitement at the fact that it was finally happening.
Before she could celebrate too much, however, she would need to convince Lincoln.
She activated three maintenance robots to tidy the place up before shutting off the lights. Taking the other bracer in hand she walked into the elevator of her fallout slash research bunker. The writing on the wall next to the doors read S-4. Signifying how many floors there were.
The extent to which she was able to have the place built was something she'll always be thankful for to her grandfather, Pop-Pop. It was he that she consulted to ask how she could get in touch with the military to patent her inventions. He got in touch with people he knew to serve as her spokesperson. She could recall those meetings she had been to with her grandfather. Her nervousness was countered by her burning desire to see them through.
A contract within her desired parameters provided a steady source of income for her family. Not that her family knew the exact source of it. Pop-Pop told her parents that the military had revised his pensions. Said pensions he had been splitting up to help their finances.
One might question whether or not it was a wise idea for her to be selling the military her inventions. The things that the Military Industrial Complex could do with something like teleportation are scary prospects on their own. But to her, it wasn't her concern. The only thing that mattered to her was her family. What the world does is their problem to deal with.
Hauling herself out of the bunker. She took a pause to breathe in the evening air. Glancing around the yard she couldn't see anyone. They were likely all inside the house then. She patted her left leg pocket to check if her special remote was still there. It was. Good, it would be useful if she needed to get to her brother.
She felt trepidation in her chest when she was at the front door. Worry clouds her thoughts. What if Lincoln didn't listen to her? She had never thought that far partly because she didn't want to entertain that line of thought. Even if it was unlike her to not plan for something like that. This has to work. It has to.
She's not willing to let him work himself to the bone.
Otherwise, she's going to live out her nightmare of being powerless to help him.
Opening the door, she was bombarded by the expected noise of her family. This house was famous for its noisy occupants after all. No one spared her a glance when she quietly came in. Too focused on whatever they were doing at that moment.
Some of her siblings were seated around the dining room table. Clearly working on their homework that they decided to do at the last minute. Others were in the living room. Her brother was with them. Sitting in between Lori and Leni look rather unimpressed with what they're watching. She is hearing Dream Boat from what she is hearing on television. Lana, Lola, and Luan were also in the living room watching with them.
She noticed how Lori had her arm around Lincoln's shoulder. Her posture very much said 'Go away, he's spending time with me.'. Something about that sparked black emotions in her chest before she brushed them away. No matter how much she wanted to lament how unfair she was. It was no longer denied that there was a stark contrast between her and her older sisters. Lori is able to exert authority in a way she can't.
By Einstein's spirit, she won't fade quietly into the night.
With fire in her heart, she stepped forward and pulled the remote out of her pocket. A special kind that had two rows of multicolored buttons. Each was associated with a member of her family. With two other buttons for more specific selections.
Holding it aloft she pressed a certain combination of buttons. The green light that came from the IR emitter as a sign of the remote being active was enough to bathe both the living room and the dining room in a soft green glow. The eyes of her sisters became mesmerized. She and her brother are unaffected by the device's super-subliminal susceptibility.
Her ever-attentive brother took notice of what was happening. Glancing around in confusion before his eyes came to rest on her. "L-Lisa? What's going on? Is that a mind control device?" While there was understandable fear in his voice, there was also awe that brought her life. He was always impressed with what she made. Always trusting that she won't get crazy with them.
It's knowing that her brother trusts her and that she didn't give in to her vindictive side of her. Telling her to humiliate her sisters. It wouldn't be right. Deep down she understood that some of them were like her. Wanting to spend time with their brother while trying to deal with nine other siblings. Could she really blame them for that?
To continue down that subject even further. She wasn't the only one dealing with issues. Lori is afraid of moving away from home to attend Fairway University next year. Leading to her wanting to spend as much time with those she cares about even if she's too prideful to admit it.
Luna feels guilty for spending too much time with Sam at the expense of the time she could have had with her family.
Lynn was dealing with trauma from her experience in Middle School. She was afraid of looking weak in front of Lincoln, so she acted aggressively to hide her fear.
Lucy has an inferiority complex much like herself. And Lola feels that nobody is giving her enough attention.
Such a lovely bunch of children with angst. It would have been nice if their parents were aware enough to get them help. Of course, they were most likely somewhere else in the house acting like a pair of rabbits pumped full of aphrodisiacs.
That may have been a harsh thing to think about one's parents. In this case, unfortunately, it was not. For instance, there was a time at the resort when they got kicked out because they were not only skinny dipping in the pool but having sex in it. Even being wise beyond her years, Lisa can't grasp how they thought that was a wise idea. They were lucky they weren't arrested for public indecency.
Clearing her thoughts, Lisa looked at her brother. "That is, under normal circumstances I only use it to get in front of the line for the bathroom." She spoke more hurriedly than she liked. "I'm doing this because I want to speak to you in private without our sisters intervening."
"That's crafty." He quickly commented on her normal use of the device before focusing on the main subject at hand. Clearly wondering what was so significant that she had to resort to such a measure to get quality time between them. "Alright, Lise. Let's have a talk in my room."
He unwrapped himself from Lori's hold to get off the couch. She noticed him gazing at their sisters. Probably feeling the same intrusive thoughts as she does. Just not mean-spirited like hers. He's far too kind for that. At most he'll do innocent mischief like doodling on their faces.
She clicked another button on her remote before speaking loud enough for her whole family to hear. "Lincoln and I are going to spend time in his room. You will leave us for an hour." She told them. A chorus of voices agreed with her. Not sparing a thought to how fulfilling it felt to be able to give a command to her siblings and have them obey her. Especially Lori.
Especially Lori.
The remote was turned off as the two of them headed up the stairs. Their siblings resumed what they were doing. Lisa noticed some confused chatter about how they had missed a minute of the program. She was sloppy there. That was the flaw of having people memorize for too long. The more time is lost, the more people will notice.
They entered Lincoln's bedroom. She closed the door behind them as her brother spoke. "What's going on, Lisa?" Her eyes remained on the door for a second. Taking her time to compose herself before turning around to face her brother.
His room was largely the same except for one big change she had her small group of builder robots work on last summer. A large portion of his right wall that used to stand next to his bed was missing. Revealing the pass-through alley closet space that connects his room with hers and Lily's. She had always thought her closet space was unneeded so she figured why not make it useful?
The space was rather cozy. Along the ceiling were strings of soft Christmas lights to illuminate it. The floor was strewn with pillows and blankets. Superhero and sci-fi posters covered what space there was on the walls along with small shelves. There was a pillow chair for them to sit against to watch the small television screen that was on the opposing wall.
Sadly, it couldn't be her slice of heaven with him alone. In a household as compact as theirs it was obvious that their sisters would know about it. The second obvious outcome was that they made a fuss about it. Notably Lynn and Lori. For once their parents actually came in to diffuse the situation. Forcing them to begrudgingly accept that the two of them had this special space for themselves.
That's not to say they don't venture in here. Lucy left behind one of her notebooks as evidence of her presence. The space became one of her favorite spots in the house for alone time. Along with some games that Lori bought out of her own savings to play with Lincoln.
Lisa looked at her brother. It was clear to her that he was starting to run himself ragged. She had seen his personal schedule and how much time he devoted to her and the rest of their sisters. Without any time for himself.
She subconsciously came close to him for a hug. To which he responded in kind. Still unsure what is happening. Their embrace was therapeutic for her. No doubt the same for him as well. "I've been working on coming to accept who I am. Admittedly with bumps along the way." She began. Referring to both that fateful week when she injected herself with an untested drug that led to them growing closer. To the attempt at trying to be in his 5th-grade class just to have more time with him before returning back to kindergarten. Having learned that she needed to value her childhood. At the same time, it's just that I don't want to be some hapless toddler." Her tone betrayed the emotions that she tried to conceal.
"What?" Lincoln was now concerned about her. Holding her close to him. "You're the least powerless girl I know, Lisa. You pretty much have a sci-fi wand that you can just wave around and solve any problem." He comforts her. Not wanting to hear her talk about herself like this.
"I…It makes me happy that you think that, Lincoln. It truly does. But I'm talking more about you." She clarified.
"M-Me?"
She finally looked up at him. There were clear rings beneath his eyes. "I'm worried about you. You're running yourself ragged."
The concern gave way to warm understanding on his face. "Oh, Lise." He placed a hand on her head. Softly stroking her hair, "You know me, Lise. I can handle it. It's exhausting, sure, but I wouldn't give it up for anything else."
Deep down he was also struggling with his own issues. This she knew as well. He too was afraid of not spending enough time with his sisters individually. The one thing he dreads the most is when they grow up to become the sort of family who only comes together on holidays. Same with her if she were honest with herself. She could see herself scrolling through old photos on her phone. Pining for those distant halcyon days.
"It's not right." She protested. "You're not Ace Savvy with the super serum. Sooner or later you will experience a mental crash. And I…don't want to see that happen." The possibilities scare her so much.
The two of them moved a bit. Lincoln was now sitting on the floor with her on his lap. "Lisa…" He was struggling to find words. Nevertheless, she figured he had decided to be honest with her. Having clear communication was something they both worked on for each other. "I know you're right. And I hate that. More than that I hate myself for thinking of ways to get free time."
"Lincoln…"
"You…remember Lynn's last softball game last Thursday?"
"How could I forget Lynn banning you from coming to her games because she's too ashamed of herself for looking like a failure in front of you?"
Lincoln winches at the sudden bluntness of her tone. "Ouch. I mean, yeah that." He was also aware of Lynn's troubles. Although not to the extent that Lisa does. "After thinking about it, I came up with an idea. A pretty stupid one in hindsight." There was guilt in his voice. Prompting her to look at him with curiosity. "I thought that…maybe if I act like I'm bad luck. That I could get some time for myself."
Stark silence hung in the air.
She couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Wh-what!?" She felt instant regret when she saw guilt flash over his face. "Lincoln, I'm not mad. Just bewildered at the thought that any of us would think you're bad luck. Lynn, despite her superstitions, would never truly think that of you. You mean everything to us even if we are inadequate at showing it."
They really need to do a sibling meeting soon to clamp down on their tendency to beat around the bush. All this miscommunication has to stop. It's just causing hurt when it could have been avoided.
He was touched by her words. Genuinely believing what she said. "Thank you." He placed a kiss on top of her head. "I love you, Lise."
"And I love you, Lincoln."
They savored the moment before Lincoln spoke up. Noticed the pair of bracers. "Are these what you have been working on for the past month?"
"You're correct." She gave the brace to him to hold. "In short, they're miniaturized time machines." Pleasure bubbled up inside of her from Lincoln's face of amazement. "They can take us anywhere, anytime. With these, I was thinking we could use them to sneak in some quality time with each other. We could go somewhere warm like Hawaiʻi for a day or so and return to our normal time all rested."
There was a look of fascination in his eyes. Gears were turning in the back of his mind. Sure they already had a time machine that she built. But this is more convenient and streamlined from the looks of it. Yet, there were things that he needed to point out. "Just us?" His words held conflicting tones. Unsure what to make of that.
Her eyes wandered away. "I know this is selfish. That's why I'm planning to make more in the future for our other sisters. But for now, can't this just be between us?" He knew of her inferiority and jealousy in regards to not being able to spend time with him in a way his big sisters can. By the time she's 18 and free to do whatever she wants. He would be 25 years old. Who knows where he would be in life at that point?
Lincoln gave a soft sigh. Beginning to softly rock her little sister. "I would be lying if I wasn't extremely interested in this, Lisa. And I really do need a break." He admits. Taking a closer look at the bracer. "I remember that you did a lot of tests on this right? You did say that you were busy doing that."
She softly nodded. "I wanted to make sure this was as safe as possible. I had one of my robot assistants run 99 tests, and the 100th was done by me. Every time someone left the World Line, they always returned three seconds later on the dot. The patch of disturbed space was supposed to 'rest' here. The length of time that my robot stayed on the other side increased incrementally. From hours to days to years, to the longest being a century."
Her brother was truly awestruck now. She continued to explain to him. "As a result, I came to the conclusion that any alteration will cause us to branch off into another timeline. Therefore, we won't be causing any paradoxes." Lincoln was relieved.
"Where did you end up on that last test?" Of course, he was going to want to know where she ended up.
"I got to see the mission of Apollo 11 in 1969." She said with a small grin. "It was an amazing experience. It's those moments I want to share with you, Lincoln. Due to the bracers preserving our aging, we can spend as much time together as we please. If we wanted to, we could spend a whole lifetime together." That last bit unintentionally came out of her lips.
"Lisa." He softly chided her. "It makes me happy that you're doing all of this just to make quality time for the two of us. But I know that you care about our sisters. I would eventually get homesick if we were away for too long and I know you would too."
He was right. She couldn't disagree with him there. As complicated as she may be as a person, deep down she does love her sisters. "How long do you think our trip should be?" she asked.
"Two days." Was his answer. "That's plenty of time."
"Forty-eight hours is fine with me." They can do quite a bit in that time window. "How often do you want to do this?"
Lincoln gave a thoughtful look. "I don't want to do it too many times. I would start to feel guilty otherwise. Can we do it once a week?" That was less than she wanted but thinking about it some more she came to accept it. It would make the trip more special in a sense. Similar to how when winter break starts they start counting down the days to Christmas
"A week then. I suggest we do it on Wednesday night." Having a two-day break in the middle of the week was better than having it on the weekend. Lincoln understood this as well. Giving a nod in agreement.
Lincoln studied the brace more. Rolling it over in his hands before sliding it on his arm to test it out. His eyes widened again when an orange hologram came to life around his arm. The realization came quickly to him as he looked over at his genius little sister. "I see someone was inspired by Mass Effect." He teased her.
She gave a sheepish grin. Ever since she learned not to bury herself in her work. She branched out into hobbies and subjects that interested her. Science fiction was naturally the first genre she dipped her toes into. Lincoln predicted it when he suggested it to her. She became a fan of the genre. Soon she began to enjoy sci-fi comics and video games. Which she especially liked because they were the same hobbies as her brother.
It did lead to an interesting yet positive development where she, Lori, and Lincoln would sometimes huddle in that closet space to play video games together. She admits that helped her bond with her eldest sibling unit.
"How does Omni-Bracer sound?" she asked in a cheeky manner.
"A word away from a lawsuit but it's fine." He replied with laughter in his voice.
Lincoln stroked her hair again. His gaze wandered over to the remote that was lying to the side. "It's crazy that you have that."
"Do you want me to get rid of it?" She asked with a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
"No, no. It's fine. I trust you with it." That made her cheeks pink. "It's just that when I saw you use it on our sisters. The way they sat there like that. It made me curious."
Ah, so he was thinking about that.
"Yes, you're on the cusp of puberty. It's only natural to want to explore the new feelings that you're starting to experience." She didn't realize she said that with mild annoyance. This was until he saw the confusion on his face. "I'm sorry, that was my envy flaring up again."
His gaze grew soft. "Now look who's starting to say 'sorry' a lot." He replied in a kind manner. To which she gave him a mocking glare.
It proves that we are still growing children." She continued, "But as I said, I try to keep its use to a minimum." The thrill of power is intoxicating. To get addicted to it would be dangerous."
"It would." He agreed. Giving her a comforting hug. "You're such a kind person, Lise."
The blush on her face deepened. "You're saying that to make me blush aren't you?"
He giggled. Exposed, he gave her a head pat. "I like making you blush. You look cute when you do."
She smiled. "Alright fine, I'm flattered. Now, let us test the camouflage function of the bracers. It will become translucent enough to appear as if it's invisible." To demonstrate both the function and that it can be activated with a thought. She 'willed' the bracer around the arm to do as she described as Lincoln watched on in fascination.
She helped her brother through the process. When it became invisible around his arm, he touched it. "Wow, it's like it's not even there. I even feel my skin."
"Physics is a funny thing." She chimes. Preventing the urge to explain it further. It would ruin the mood if she continued on and said that the sense of touch was an illusion.
"Feel like heading downstairs to convince our family to order pizza? I'm in the mood for junk food." Her stomach growled as if on cue. The last time she ate was several hours ago in the morning.
A smile grew on his face once more. "That sounds really good, Lisa."
They gave each other one last hug before exiting the room together. There was a spring in her step that wasn't there when she came up. She was happy. No. More than happy. They were excited to be able to spend so much time together now. Later she should go over possible places to explore with Lincoln. No wonder the Doctor in Doctor Who loves adventure. This feeling was indescribable.
To her continued pleasure. They were able to get the family to agree on ordering pizza moments later. Moments later they were enjoying some delicious pizza. An array of boxes was opened at the dining room table. Some of the chairs were brought over to the living room so that there could be more places to sit.
Lisa was lucky enough to sit in the armchair in the corner. Giving her a picturesque view of her siblings together. Lana, Lola, and Lucy were around the coffee table. All chatted away. Lynn Jr. was in the other armchair. Leni and Lori were sitting in the dining room chairs next to it. With Leni holding Lily. Over on the sofa, Lincoln was now sitting between Luna and Luan with paper plates on their laps. Luna was casually playing with Lincoln's white locks as she talked with her girlfriend Sam on the phone. Their parents could be heard in the kitchen.
Lisa took a moment to take in the scene before her. How her entire family is together. All smiling, laughing and having a good time.
To think she had been so selfish to consider excluding her sisters just to have more quality time with Lincoln.
It brought her shame. More so when she dwells on it more. Was her plan really so small that there wasn't room for more? With the bracers 'locked' to their age, they would have all the time they wanted with each other. There was no need to keep them out of it.
She munched down on her pizza. Enjoying how delicious it is. Laying back into the chair to let her mind wander off. Dreaming of the things she could do with her dear brother on Wednesday night.
A/N - Firstly, I want to give a quick shout out to Delquea for giving the time in being my Beta Reader! Secondly, thank you to everyone giving this a read! To get it right out of the gate, this is very much going to be a Lisacoln story. But their relationship is platonic as both understood that they are way to young to be in something romantic. Therefore, a large portion of this story will be wholesome fluff. I'm also inspired by a lot of things and like to put my own spin on things so expected the characters to be different than what you might expect. This is also meant to be a writing exercise so it will be lengthy in scope. You're free to give me suggestions where Lisa and Lincoln could go throughout time. As always, I always wish to improve so feel free to leave constructive criticism!