Chapter V
Two is Company, Twelve's a Loud
Part II
"Looks like you're getting along with my sisters well." Lincoln said. "And we only have half of them left to meet."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot you have a huge family. Well, let's go meet the rest of your sisters."
As Lincoln and Nathan make their way up the stairs, Nathan felt the need to ask his friend about the rest of his sisters.
"So, is there anything I should know about the rest of your sisters, just as a heads up?" Nathan asked.
"Well, if you have a fear of snakes or other animals like that, I'd steer clear of my sister Lana's room. Also, watch out for my sister Lisa, and whatever you do, don't agree to help her with any of her experiments. Other than that, you should be fine." Lincoln responded, although Nathan have him a blithe look.
"Pssh, what are you talking about? 'Fear'? I'm a tough guy." Nathan said, flexing his muscles in a comedic effect to further his point. "And tough guys don't fear anything or any-"
"Hey Lincoln." Lucy appeared out of nowhere. Her sudden appearance frightened Nathan, and as jumped back he gave out an effeminate shriek involuntary.
"Holy-" he began, but noticing the person who surprised him was only a small girl, although a quite creepy one, he held his tongue. Instead, he cleared his throat and pretended he didn't just embarrass himself by screaming Bloody Murder.
"Hey Lincoln, who is that?" Lucy asked rather melancholically.
"Oh hey Lucy, this is our new neighbor, Nathan. Nathan, this is my sister Lucy."
"I-It's nice to meet you." Nathan stammered, his heart still racing after the near heart attack she gave him.
"It's nice to meet you too." Lucy said, without a trace of emotion in her voice. "Geez, she's giving me the creeps. How can a little girl be do frightening?" Nathan thought. "Hey Lincoln, I wrote a new poem. Can you and your friend listen to it and let me know how it is."
Lincoln looks over to Nathan, who is his head frantically, but knowing how much Lucy wanted critique for her poems, and also because he wanted to mess with Nathan, Lincoln relents.
"Sure Lucy, we'd love to hear your poem. Isn't that right, Nathan?" he said, goading Nathan on. Nathan didn't respond, but Lincoln could feel his eyes boring into the side of his head.
"Thanks." Lucy said, pulling out a poem and clearing her throat. "'Void. Imminent doom of a thousand screams. This is where I store my dreams. Void.'"
Both Lincoln and Nathan are left speechless for a few moments, before Lincoln decides to speak.
"Umm… well Luce, your poems are definitely improving, but still a little too dark for my liking. What did you think Nathan?"
"I think I'm going to need another physiatrist." Nathan muttered under his breath, although Lincoln hears what he said, and elbows him in the shoulder. "Uh- I mean, great poem. 10/10, would listen to again. Not really, but you get what I mean." he hurriedly corrects himself, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Thanks, you two. I appreciate the criticism." Lucy says, before heading back into her room.
"Well, I just met Miss Doom and Gloom. Who's left?" Nathan asked, but all he got in return was snickering. He turned to Lincoln, who was trying his best not to laugh, but failing miserably. "What? What the heck is so funny?"
"What happened to not fearing anything or anyone?" Lincoln questioned in between chuckles.
"Oh come on, I wasn't expecting to meet a real life Samara Morgan when I came over your place. And for the record, I wasn't scared, I was just… caught off guard."
"Yeah, and I guess you always scream like that when you are 'caught off guard'."
"I didn't scream! That was a… uh… a war cry. Yeah, a war cry."
"Lincoln, you okay up there?" Lori called from downstairs. "I heard someone scream, like Leni when she sees a spider."
"A spider?! Where?!" Leni screamed.
"Yeah, like that." Lincoln at this point could no longer hold in his laughter, and was now clutching his sides in a fit of laughter.
"Oh hardy-har-har. Are you done now?" Nathan grumbled.
"Haha, phew. Ok, I'm done now." Lincoln said as he finally managed to stop laughing. "Okay, who should we meet next?"
"AAGH! Mr. Snuggles!" Lola shrieked from in her room. "Lana!"
"Well, I know who's next. Follow me." Lincoln said as he and Nathan make their way into the twins Lana and Lola's room. "Lola, what's the matter?"
"What's the matter?! Oh, I'll tell you what's the matter! Lana's dumb lizard ate Mr. Snuggles!" she yelled, holding up a toy elephant, or what was left of it, in her arms. Around her feet were lumps of stuffing, along with one of the button eyes.
"Hey, Izzy is not dumb!" Lana argued from the other side of the room, holding her pet lizard. "Besides, it's your fault for leaving it on the floor. Your stuffed animal gave her indigestion. Isn't that right, Izzy?"
Lola made a leap for Lana, but was stopped by Lincoln who caught her midair. Thrashing in his arms, she kept trying to attack her twin sister. "Let me at her! Let me at her!"
"Lola, calm down! I'll use some of my allowance to get you a new one. And Lana, you're also going to help pay for it." Lincoln said as she gently places Lola on her feet, much to the discontent of Lana.
"Aw what? Why do I have to help pay for it?"
"Because Lana, Izzy is your pet, which means you're responsible for anything she tears up. Okay?"
"Okay…" Lana said half dejectedly, but perking up when she spots Nathan. "Hey, who are you?"
"Oh, my name is Nathan, Nathan Pierce." Nathan says as he shakes her hand. He then goes to shake Lola's hand, who merely scoffs in return.
"I just painted my nails, I don't want to mess them up. Plus, your hands look dirty."
"Lola!" Lincoln reprimands her. " That's rude."
"Fine…" Lola relents and goes to shake Nathan's hands, but not before putting on a pair of her white evening gloves. Somewhat satisfied, but equally annoyed at the gesture, Nathan tries to take a step backwards, but to his surprise finds that he is unable to move. For some odd reason, his body was held in place, almost as if he was on the receiving end of a bear hug.
"Uhh Lincoln, I know we're friends and all, but isn't hugging me a little… extra?" Nathan asked, struggling to free himself. He saw Lana and Lola grinning, but he had no reason as to why.
"Nathan... I'm not hugging you…" Lincoln said cautiously, stepping into Nathan's line of vision. "Don't freak out, but look down very slowly."
"What do you mean, don't freak out? If this is some kind of joke, then…" Nathan's words died on his lips as he saw the reason of his entrapment; a large, Ball Python was wrapped all around his legs and torso, which while coiled made it halfway to Nathan's chest.
"Sn-sn-snake!" he said in a loud stage whisper, not wanting to startle the snake, and started struggling harder to free himself. However, this only caused the snake to constrict tighter and tighter, going from an already rather painless embrace to an uncomfortable pinch. He frantically looked back to the twins and Lincoln, and the former two were still grinning, while the latter looked almost as uncomfortable as Nathan was. "Why aren't you guys doing anything?! Help me!"
"Lana, that's enough now. Get your snake off of Nathan." Lincoln said, and Nathan's look of terror turned to a look of confusion, then quickly to annoyance as he could glared at the twins, Lana in particular.
"Her snake! That's why they weren't freaking out, they were in on it. Those dirty little…" Nathan thought to himself. "But they weren't freaking out, so at least that means it isn't dangerous. Still, a snake is a snake, and I want it off of me!"
"Okay, you heard Lincoln, let him go Diablo." Lana ordered, and immediately the snake released him.
"So, your snake, huh?" Nathan said disdainfully as he gave her the stink-eye.
"Hehe, sorry about that, El Diablo always does that playfully to guests. He doesn't bite or anything, he's a big softie, a real angel." she said as she went to pick up her pet.
"The snake you literally named 'The Devil' is an angel. Really? Okay."
"Hah, you should have seen the look on your face! I wish I had a camera to record it, because that was priceless." Lola laughed, earning a glare from the teen.
"Wow, went from never thinking of hurting a kid to two thoughts in one day, lucky me…" he said to himself.
"Don't listen to her." Lana whispered to him. "You actually took it better that most guests. The others mostly either faint or run away screaming. And between you and me, Lola reacted way worse than you when I got him from the pet store a few years back."
"Well Nathan, we should probably get going. We have two more sisters to meet." Lincoln said to Nathan.
"Oh Lincoln, can I use your bathroom real quick?" Nathan asked.
"Sure, it's the room at the very end of the hall on the left." Lincoln gives him the direction.
"Thanks, be right back." Nathan says as he makes his way out the door, waving the twins off. "Cya girls, it was… interesting meeting you two."
Making his way into the bathroom, he closes and locks the door behind him. He was about to do this business and head back to Lincoln, but for some odd reason, he felt as if something was… off. He didn't know how or why it felt odd, but he just knew something was up. The random clicking noises he heard around didn't soothe his suspicion either. Curious, he tried to listen to where the sound was and what it came from; he was pretty sure that whatever it was, it was inside the bathroom. Eventually he located the source of the noise, with a VR headset resting near the vent. Initially, Nathan was willing to write off the weird sound and go back to what he was doing, but curiosity was beginning to win him over. Sure, it was rude to go through people's things without permission, even more so when said people invited him into their house, but he was curious and wanted answers. So, with a deep breath, he grabbed the VR headset, only to find out it was turned off, yet the clicking sound in the room persisted.
"If it wasn't this, could the sound be coming from…" Nathan thought as he stared at the vent. "It couldn't be the coming from the vent, could it?"
Getting in his knees, he placed his ear near the vent; Indeed, that was where the sound was coming from. He then turned his head to see if he could catch a look as to what was making those sounds. Though barely visible, he could make out a small screen with a few blinking lights. Was it…
"A camera?!" Nathan said, clearly shocked at the fact that there was a camera in this house, in bathroom of all places. Then, a thought dawned on him. "Oh my God, is it on? Lincoln!"
Within a few moments, Lincoln came through the door. "Nathan, is something wrong?"
"Oh, there's nothing wrong. Quick question though, were you aware that there's a CAMERA IN THE BATHROOM!"
"A camera? What are you talking about?" Lincoln asks, perplexed. Nathan then points to the vent, and Lincoln bends down to get a glimpse of it. Coming back up, there was an evident look of annoyance on his face. "Lisa…"
"Who's she?" Nathan asks.
"She's my little sister, 4 yrs. old. She's the resident genius, mad scientist, and clearly she doesn't know how to respect people's privacy."
"Hold up a sec, your little sister is a genius?"
"Not important right now."
"Oh. So, what are we doing about this?" Nathan gestured toward the vent. Lincoln thought for a bit, before he turned to his friends with a look of eureka and heading towards the door. "Wait, where are you going?"
"I'll be right back, I'm going to get a screwdriver."
In the room of Lisa Loud, the young intellectual was tinkering with an some sort of machine, though every few moments she would groan in exasperation as she worked. Eventually, she managed to get it to work to her enjoyment. Grabbing a nearby wooden block, she held it under the machine before pressing the large, red button on the center of her creation; in an instant, the block was encased in ice.
"Thank Science, Test #57 is a success. After 3 strenuous months of insufficient tests, I finally managed to yield a positive result." Lisa announced.
Knock Knock Knock
"Proceed" Lisa called out, and Lincoln and Nathan entered the room, the former holding something behind his back. "Greetings, familial unit, foreign house guest. What brings you into my room?"
"Whoa, what is that?" Nathan asked, gesturing towards the machine she completed.
"Oh this? This is a Nitro Thermal Reduction mechanism. Title pending."
"Well, what does it do?" Nathan asked.
"Nathan, this isn't what we came in here for…" Lincoln reminded him, although Nathan was too transfixed on the machine to pay Lincoln any mind.
"In layman's terms, it cryogenically freezes matter." Lisa explained, but seeing both the confused look on his face she felt the need to elaborate. "You see, most of the air, at least 78% of it, is made up of nitrogen, which freezes at -200 degrees Celsius. Using this device, in theory, you can flash-freeze the air around any object; Ergo, encasing said object in ice."
"Oh… so it's like a freeze ray?"
"Well, technically yes, you could call it a freeze ray. Although it isn't in the shape of a freeze ray, nor is a freeze ray a real object."
"Have you tested it out yet?"
"I've recently tested my Thermal Reduction Mechanism on the wooden block of our youngest sibling, Lily, as you can see." Lisa said, pointing to the frozen block lying on her work table. "But as of yet I have not tested it on any organic matter. Would you two be interested in assisting me?"
"Ooh, I'd like to help out, that sounds awesome."
"Trust me, you really wouldn't want to help Lisa with any of her experiments." Lincoln told him. "Wait a minute, this isn't what we're here for!"
"Then what, do tell, did you require of me?" Lisa asked.
"Oh, we just found a little something, and we were wondering if it belongs to you." Lincoln said, plopping the now dismantled camera onto her workbench, causing Lisa to sharply inhale.
"My surveillance camer- uh I mean, what is that you have there?" Lisa corrected herself, giving one of her nervous, creepy smiles. Lincoln just stared at her with a look that said he clearly didn't buy what she said. "Oh fine, that's one of my surveillance cameras that I installed fairly recently."
"You install cameras in the bathroom?" Nathan questioned. "Why?"
"Oh, just to help me monitor the bathroom. It's helps me keep track of when the bathroom is unoccupied, there's no harm in it."
"No harm in it? What about a major invasion of privacy?" Nathan asked.
"Trivial. This is a house with 13 residents, there is always going to be an invasion of privacy at some point."
"Still, having a surveillance camera, and in the bathroom of all places? What if a stranger were to use the bathroom. I was about to use the bathroom."
"I still don't see the problem with that."
"Look, with family is one thing, but if you keep a camera where you can view the entire bathroom you could've—there are all lots of things you- I mean there are some things that a little girl shouldn't-," Nathan couldn't find any better way to phrase what he meant without embarrassing himself, so he opened for shutting up.
"What are you talking about?"
"What he meant to say, was that you can't just hide cameras in bathrooms, they're one of the few places in this house where you supposed to be guaranteed privacy." Lincoln explained to Lisa. "Besides, why the bathroom of all places?"
"Oh, it's not just the bathroom, I have cameras installed pretty much everywhere in the house, if that's any better."
"What?!"
"Dang it." Lisa mentally slapped herself, and Lincoln quickly ran to his room to search for any hidden cameras, leaving Nathan alone with Lisa.
"So…" Nathan replied. "Can you show me how that freeze ray works?"
Hey guys, XxTheGlichHopxX here! Really sorry about the long wait for an update, I was kinda preoccupied with some last-minute summer homework, so my time was pretty stretched thin. Right now I've been up for hours editing this chapter, but it's all worth it.
As you know, there is one Loud sibling I have not introduced yet, and that is because I am saving it for Part III. I know, don't hate me, it's just that I wanted Luan to be one of the last people introduced. Don't worry, I plan to have Part III to be the longest of the three. Anyways , let me know how the story is right now in the reviews, and while you're at it, leave your favorite color and number at the end of each review! Anyways, I'm going to get some before I pass out. Enjoy, and thanks for reading Let's Get Loud! See you soon.