A/N: In this chapter, we'll see Lincoln's issues with Rusty come to a head.

Note: Characters are a year older

Narration

It's has been a year since Lincoln came back to Royal Woods and took up the identity of the vigilante, Ace Savvy. And things have been on the upside for the white-haired young man. He was reconnecting with his family, got his friends back and even was being a good father to his kids Leo and Lina. Plus, he was fulfilling his promise to protect his home of Royal Woods.

A month have passed since our heroes encounter with the devious Blackjack. But despite taking down the biggest criminal in Royal Woods our heroes knew they couldn't afford to rest on their laurels, knowing the power vacuum that Blackjack left. And thanks to their efforts they manage to keep crime down.

Winter had just arrived in Royal Woods, and with it the temperature began to drop. But our heroes were still on their grind.

"Behind you." Yelled out Ace Savvy. Roulette Boy immediately turns around to see a thug trying to strike him from behind with a steel pipe. He grabs the pipe from the thug and hits the thug in the leg with hit. "That's what you get for trying to cheap shot someone." Roulette Boy says before knocking the thug out with an uppercut. "On your right Jack Rabbit." He calls out to his teammate.

Jack Rabbit glances to her right to see a thug with his gun drawn on her. Thankfully she dodges out of the way in time. She then takes out a throwing card and throws it right into the barrel of the gun, jamming it. She then hits the thug with a spin kick, knocking him out. "Too easy." Jack Rabbit notes to herself. "LR, check your six." She tells her teammate.

Lady Roulette nods, and without needing to turn around she ducks under a punch aimed for the back of her head and hits the thug with an elbow to his gut. She quickly turns around and knocks out the thug with a right hook. "That's the last of them." Lady Roulette says. "Good. Was starting to think there was an endless wave of them." Commented Roulette Boy.

"But seriously, who would try to steal from a children's donation center?" Questioned Jack Rabbit. "People who like to take things from people they consider weaker than them." Ace answered. "It was supposed to be a rhetorical question Ace, but thanks for answering." Replied Jack Rabbit. "You asked." Ace retorted with a smirk on his face.

*BEEP*

Suddenly the group hear their comm link start to beep indicating that Lisa was trying to contact them. "Go ahead Lisa." Ace says to his little sister over the comm link. "Hello brother. It seems that Clyde requests you and your friends' presence at his home." Lisa tells him. "Acknowledge. Tell him we'll be there soon." Lincoln instructs. "Copy that brother." Lisa says before signing off.

"Good timing too. That was the third crime we stopped in the last hour; I'm kind of tired." Roulette Boy says. "That's not really surprising, you can be kind of lazy." Jack Rabbit joked with a playful expression. "Very funny." Roulette Boy replied with an unamused expression. "I wonder what Clyde wants." Lady Roulette ponders as she and the others grapples away from the scene.

Later

Fifteen minutes later we find Stella, Ron, Ronnie Anne and Lincoln arriving at Clyde's house. Lincoln knocks on the door and a moment later Sid answers the door, surprising everyone. "Sid?! What are you doing here?!" Questioned Ronnie Anne, surprised to see her best friend already here. "I totally wasn't already here hanging out with Clyde if that's what you're thinking! I just got here a few minutes ago!" Sid says nervously.

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne clearly could tell she was lying but decided not to say anything. Ron however says, "Clearly." He says with a knowing smile, seemingly poking fun at the Asian girl. The four then proceed to enter the house where they see Clyde in the living room along with his dads'. "Hey Clyde, what's all this about?" Asked Lincoln.

"Actually Lincoln, if you don't mind; I wanted to wait until everyone arrived." Clyde tells his best friend. "Oh, okay then." Lincoln says as he goes to take a seat. "Might as well make ourselves comfy." States Stella as she and the rest take a seat as well. The group continues to wait for the next few minutes until a knock came to the door.

"I got it." Clyde says to everyone as he goes to answer the door. "Guys, I'm glad you could make it." Clyde says to the people at the door. "Of course, we came. Your message sounded urgent." A voice from behind the door frame replies. Clyde steps aside allowing Henry, Jordan, Liam, Zach and Rusty all to enter the house. Lincoln was taken aback to see Rusty. During the past year he had hanged out with Rusty the least of all of his friends.

Despite it being eight years ago, Rusty's betrayal still loomed in Lincoln's mind. Lincoln knew he would have to keep quiet as to not risk saying something antagonistic to Rusty. "So Clydesdale, care to explain why we're all here?" Ask Ron from the couch, using Clyde's nickname. "Right." Clyde mutters before walking over to the center of the room. "The announcement I wanted to tell you is, me and my dads' are going to a winter resort upstate. And I would like to personally invite you all to accompany us." Clyde tells his friends.

"Wow Clyde, that sounds awesome!" Exclaims Jordan. "I've always wanted to try skiing." Says Sid. "Not to mention the snowball fights." Added Liam. "You can count us in." Henry says. While everyone else was excited, Lincoln looked rather hesitant. "Uh, Clyde, may I speak to you in private?" Lincoln requested. "Sure." Clyde replies. The two friends exit the living room and steps into the hallway.

"What's up buddy?" Clyde asks. "I don't know if I can come on this trip." Lincoln tells him. "What? Why?" Clyde asks surprised by Lincoln saying that. "You know why Clyde. I've got a responsibility to the city. I can't afford to take a vacation." Lincoln points out. "Lincoln, we just took down the biggest criminal in the city, and crime has gone down the past month." Clyde replies. "What's your point?" Lincoln asks. "My point is that now's the perfect time to take a vacation." Clyde says.

Lincoln knew his best friend had a point, but he still was hesitant to the idea. "Lincoln? Is there another reason you don't want to come?" Clyde proposes. "Is that an insinuation?" Lincoln says as he narrows his eyes. "All I'm saying is that maybe you don't want to come because you know Rusty will be there too." Clyde states. Lincoln folds his arms and looks away from Clyde. "Seems that I'm right." Clyde says with a chuckle. "Then you know why I would rather stay home." Lincoln says in a grumpy tone.

"Lincoln, I know it's still hard for you to even look Rusty in the face, but you knew you'd have to confront the problem at some point." Clyde says to his best friend. However, Lincoln still looked rather unconvinced. "He still feels guilty you know." Clyde tells Lincoln, getting his friend's interest. "We found out he faked the 'photo' six months after you left. He then six months in a juvenile hall. After that, it was as if he was a different person." Clyde states.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asks. "I mean he stopped being a self-proclaimed ladies' man, he started doing community service and whenever we talked about you, he always said that he wished he could tell you that he's sorry." Clyde explains. But Lincoln simply at scoffed at Clyde's story. "I'll believe he's sorry when I see it." Lincoln replies. Lincoln then sighed before turning to Clyde. "I'll come along, but just don't make me regret it." Lincoln says. Clyde nods in response before saying, "We're leaving tomorrow. Make sure you're ready by then." "Count on it." Lincoln wittily replies.

The next Day

We now cut to the next day where we find Lincoln in his bedroom, putting some winter clothes in a suitcase. He wasn't alone either. Helping him was Ronnie Anne. "I'm still surprised you agreed to this." Ronnie Anne says to Lincoln. "By the way, which hat you want to bring?" She then asks, holding up a red and orange skull cap. "I'm just as surprised as you are." Lincoln replied. He then turned around and saw the two hats Ronnie Anne was holding.

"And I'm going with the red hat. I'll bring the orange one next time." Lincoln tells her. She nods and puts the red skull cap in the suitcase and puts the orange one away. "So, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Ronnie Anne then asks. "What do you mean by that?" Lincoln asks as he packs away a winter jacket.

"C'mon Linc, we're partners remember. You'd would've turn this down if you were worried about leaving the city unguarded." Ronnie Anne points out. "Am I that easy to read?" Lincoln sarcastically asked. "Like a book." Ronnie Anne wittily retorts. The two friends then share a quick chuckle before Lincoln's face becomes serious again. "It's Rusty." Lincoln says with a sigh.

"Clyde told me a little bit about what happened to him after he got exposed for the 'photo'. A part of me wants to make peace with him, but then another part of me feels unwilling to get over what happened." Lincoln explains. "I don't blame you." Ronnie Anne says. "If it were me, I'd never want to be in the same room with someone who's caused me that much grief." Ronnie Anne states. "You even being willing to forgive Rusty shows how mature you are." Ronnie Anne says encouragingly.

"Well, what do you think I should do?" Lincoln asks her. "Well, first you should finish packing." Ronnie Anne jokes much to Lincoln dismay. "Secondly, use the next two weeks to see if can forgive Rusty." Ronnie Anne tells him. "I guess I can do that." Lincoln replies. "Good... Now hurry up! Clyde and the others will be here soon!" Ronnie Anne says urgently. "R-Right!" Lincoln stutters as he rushes to pack up his remaining winter clothes.

Thirty minutes later, Clyde and the others arrived to pick up Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, who were sat next to Jordan and Henry. Clyde's dad's then take off as the group of friends began to talk to each other in the backseat. Two hours later they arrived at their destination. "Welp, here we are gang. The Royal Woods Happy Ski Resort." Says Harold as they all exit the car. "Woah." The group of teens/young adults exclaim.

"Now then, I know you all have plans to have fun but first we need to get organized." Says Howard. "That's right. Now, we're in lodge 104. One room is for the boys, the other is for the girls and the last room is for us." Harold explains. "We understand dad." Clyde says as everyone nodded, but not all of them were thrilled by the arrangements. Lincoln understood why they were separated by gender, but he definitely wasn't thrilled to be rooming with Rusty.

"Good. Now, the sooner we unpack the sooner you all can go have fun." Says Howard. Everyone nods and begins to grab their luggage and take it into the lodge. Thirty minutes later everyone was settled in and were in their rooms. "Man, these beds are softer than sleeping on a stack of hay." Liam states as he relaxes on one of the beds. "You can say that again Liam. I feel like I'm lying on a cloud." Says Clyde as he relaxes on another bed.

"Yo Lincoln, you gotta try laying on this bed man." Rusty tells the white-haired young man. However, Lincoln was ignoring Rusty and was busy on his phone. "Uh Lincoln?" Rusty says in attempt to get his attention, but Lincoln still ignored him, choosing to get up and leave the room without a word. "What was that about?" Rusty questions. "C'mon Rust, it's so obvious." Zach says. "He's clearly still not over the whole 'photo' thing." Zach adds.

"But I already said I'm sorry, what else can I do?" Rusty then asks. "You're overthinking it, Rusty. Lincoln isn't worried about that; he just needs to take care of some business he left... Unchecked back home." Ron says, adding his input. "Ron's right. I'm sure that you and Lincoln will be acting like buddies again in no time." Clyde assures.

Three days later

They were in fact not acting like buddies. During the next three days it was made very apparent to Rusty that Lincoln was avoiding him. Whether it be inside the lodge or during activities Lincoln was actively trying avoiding Rusty, whether it was not speaking to him or ignoring him whenever Rusty called out his name or even going so far as to not do the same activity as Rusty.

Rusty tried to not let this get under his skin but all his friends could tell he was feeling distraught that Lincoln wouldn't even give him a chance. Knowing that this couldn't drag on any longer their friends crafted together a scheme.

"You guys want to go sledding?" Questioned Lincoln. "Uh huh." Nodded Clyde, Jordan and Ronnie Anne. "Everyone agreed to come along." Jordan adds, trying to persuade Lincoln. "Even my dads' are okay with it." Clyde says, also trying coax Lincoln into coming along. "Okay. Well, you guys have fun." Lincoln tells them as he goes back to reading a book. However, Ronnie Anne wasn't having any of that.

"Lincoln Albert Loud!" Ronnie Anne says firm voice. Hearing his full name, Lincoln knew Ronnie Anne was serious. "So far you've spent half this vacation couped up in a room, now you're going to go sledding with your friends or else I'll give you a knuckle sandwich, got it!?" Ronnie Anne states while giving Lincoln a glare. Just from the sound of her voice Lincoln knew this was a real threat from Ronnie Anne. And if there's one thing Lincoln never wants to deal with it's an angry Ronnie Anne.

"Fine, fine, I'll tag along." Lincoln says as he gets up from the couch. He then exits the lodge while his three friends do a silent cheer. "Told ya I could get him to come." Ronnie Anne boast. "Now it's time to execute phase two of the plan." Says Clyde.

Twenty minutes later we find Lincoln and his friends at the bottom of a huge sledding hill. It even has a mountain's peak. "So this is where we're sledding?" Lincoln asks. "Yep, it's the steepest hill we could find. Which mean lots of acceleration." Henry says in an eager tone. "Which means for thrilling fun." Adds Zach.

"So, who's going up first?" Lincoln then asks. "Well, about that..." Ronnie Anne says.

Minutes later we could find Lincoln and Rusty trudging up the hill with a sled. Unfortunately for Lincoln, he got paired up with Rusty as everyone else already had a partner. Lincoln figured his friends did that on purpose to get him to talk with Rusty, but all it did was make his mood sour.

"Who would have thought, the two of us, going sledding together." Rusty says in an attempt to make conversation. However, Lincoln was still not talking. "That just shows how tight we are, not gonna let anything get in between our friendship." Rusty then says. That second comment really got under Lincoln's skin, but he still didn't give a response.

"Just two bros, with no baggage." Rusty says as the two reach the near top of the peak. Rusty last comment got under Lincoln's skin so much that he dropped his half of the sled. "Do you really want to do this Rusty?" Lincoln says as gives Rusty an icy glare. "W-What?" Rusty says confused. "Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about!" Lincoln yelled in response. "C'mon Linc, I know you're still mad over what happened but just give me a chance to make it right." Rusty pleaded.

"A chance?! A CHANCE?!" Lincoln yelled in disbelief from what Rusty had said. "IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU FEELING INSECURE ABOUT YOURSELF THAT YOU RUINED MY LIFE! MY FAMILY HATED ME, STELLA HATED ME, THE ENTIRE SCHOOL MOCKED ME AND I LOST MY INNOCENCE! NOT TO MENTION, ALL THE STUFF I WENT THROUGH WHEN I LEFT ROYAL WOODS. AND WORST OF ALL, BECAUSE OF YOU I MISSED SEVEN YEARS OF MY KIDS' LIVES!" Lincoln ranted angrily.

Rusty was completely blown back by the sheer anger that Lincoln spoke with that it made him start to tear up. However, he and Lincoln were about to have bigger problems.

*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*

The two feel the ground tremble around them. They both look two see a humongous avalanche coming towards them. "Run!" Rusty yells in a panic. The two began running back down the hill trying to outrun the avalanche. Thanks to his natural athleticism Lincoln was able to keep ahead of the avalanche, however Rusty was struggling to keep pace with Lincoln.

Lincoln seeing this slowed down his pace in order to grab Rusty. But the avalanche was getting closer and closer to them both. Despite their problems Lincoln wanted to save both himself and Rusty, but Rusty knew only one of them was going to survive this. "Lincoln... I'm sorry for everything." Rusty says to him before pushing Lincoln out of the path for the avalanche before it tramples him.

"RUSTY!" Lincoln yells in shock and horror.

Two Week Later

A guilt-ridden Lincoln explained what happened to his friends who were all shocked and sadden by the news of Rusty's death. Clyde's dads immediately canceled the rest of the trip and they all returned home.

Rusty's funeral was held three days later, all his family and friends showed up. Rusty's dad tried to keep himself together, but everyone could see losing one of his son's greatly affected him. As for Rusty's brother Rocky, he was a mess both literally and figuratively as he was crying so much during the funeral. Luckily, Lucy gave him a shoulder to lean on.

As for Lincoln, he felt nothing but guiltiness. He felt that if it wasn't for him, Rusty would still be alive. And after the funeral service, Lincoln promises himself on Rusty's grave to never let this happen again, and that Rusty would one day forgive him.

Over the next week Lincoln threw himself into crime fighting, barely taking a break. And what's worse he seemed to get a bit more violent.

Speaking of Lincoln, he was currently patrolling through the city alone. As he went from rooftop to rooftop, he was eager to find any crime to thwart.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Suddenly his comm link started to beep indicating he was receiving a transmission. "What is it?" Ace asked in annoyed tone. "Greetings to you too brother." Says Lisa who was not amused by Ace's attitude. "Just tell me what you want Lisa, I'm kind of busy." Ace reiterates. "Ronalda and the others are requesting your location. They wish to join you on your patrol." Lisa informs him. "Fine, I'm sending my coordinates, tell them to hurry if they want to join." Ace tells Lisa before hanging up.

Ace continued to patrol for another fifteen minutes, not finding any crime until he hears... "Help!" A voice shouts. Ace scans the area and sees a woman being harassed by two men over by a gas station. While Ace wouldn't say it aloud, he was somewhat glad this was happening due to it providing a distraction. He then shoots his grappling gun towards the gas station, landing with a heroic pose in between the woman and the men.

The two men immediately got antsy from the sight of Ace Savvy. "I'm not in the mood today guys, so either walk away now or you're both going to need a hospital bed." Ace threatens. Slightly intimidated by Ace's threat both thugs reached for their gun, but before they could pull them out Ace hits their hands with throwing card, causing them to drop their guns due to the pain in their hands.

"Wrong choice." Ace growled. He then rushed at the thug to his left and hitting him with a powerful gut punch. He then hits the thug with a left and right hook to the face followed by an elbow shot to the stomach finished off with a judo throw. Ace then quickly makes his way over to the second thug, hitting him with a roundhouse kick to the thug's side. He then hit him with a jab to the chest followed by an uppercut to the face, knocking him out.

However, the first thug was still conscious. Weakly, he began crawling over to his dropped gun, however Ace spotted him doing so. Sighing, Ace walks over to the thug and curb stomps his head into the ground, knocking him out. Ace then looked over to the woman. "You're safe now." Ace assures her. "Be sure to call the police." He tells her before grappling away.

He lands on a nearby rooftop and was surprised to see his teammates there, seemingly waiting on him. "Hmp. I see you guys finally arrived." Ace says a tad sourly. "You were a bit rough with those thugs, weren't you?" Lady Roulette question with a bit of sarcasm. "It was necessary." Ace replies. "Now if you excuse me, I got to get back to patrolling the city." Ace says as he attempts to walk pass his teammates. However, One-Eyed Jack stopped him by placing his hand against Ace's pectoral.

"We need to talk." Jack tells him. "You haven't been acting like yourself." Lady Ace tells him. "You guys don't know what you're talking about." Savvy replies in denial. "Really?" Lady Roulette says with skepticism. "You've been patrolling nearly non-stop this past week. Not to mention you're becoming more and more violent." Lady Roulette details.

"So, all I'm doing is keeping the city safe like usual." Ace says, getting annoyed. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to that." Ace says aggressively as he tries to walk pass his friends again. But again, One-Eyed Jack (along with Lady Roulette) stopped him from walking pass them. "Lincoln, we know this about Rusty." Roulette Boy states, referring to Ace by his 'civilian' name. "Don't bring him into this." Ace says venomously.

"It's okay to be sad. We all miss him too." Queen Clubs says, trying to empathize with Ace, however Ace remained quiet as his anger and guilt began to build. "You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened man." Armored Spade tells him. Hearing this seemed to set Ace off. "Easy for you all to say, none of you have to deal with the thought that he died thinking you hated him!" Ace yelled, all of his anger and guilt coming out.

All of his friends were taken aback by the sheer amount of guilt Ace had. Not only did feel that their friend's death was his fault, but he had convinced himself that Rusty had died thinking he hated him. "Linc, you know that's not true." Lady Roulette says, trying to ease Ace's worries. "It is Ronnie. I yelled at him, telling him how he ruined my life and then the avalanche happened." Ace explains, guiltiness drenched in his voice.

"That was just pent-up anger, something you've been holding onto. I'm sure Rusty knew that." Roulette Boy says. "That doesn't make it any better." Ace coldly replies. "Lincoln, if anyone here knows how you feel it's me. I felt that same anger towards both you and Rusty. Having that anger doesn't mean you hated him or that it makes you a bad person for feeling that way. It makes you human." Jack Rabbit tells Ace.

Hearing things from Jack Rabbit's (Stella's) perspective did seem to make Ace feel a little better. She also had conflicting feelings about Rusty, and his death probably affected her the same way it affected him. "M-Maybe you're right." Ace replies, feeling a little less guilty. "Of course she is. Now let's go home. You need a break." Roulette tells him. "Alright." Ace nods in agreement.

Meanwhile

We now transition to a poorly lit room inside an underground and undisclosed location. We find multiple men in the shadows discussing a very important topic.

"Are you sure about this?" One man asks. "Yes, I'm sure. If the boss wants a super weapon, then we'll give him one." The second man says. "It's not that, it's just... why him?" The first man asks. Their eyes then shift over to what the first man was referring to. It was Rusty! And his dead body was inside of some sort of machine. "Look, the boss already spent a fortune on this technology. Do you really think he cares if we tested it on a dead guy as long as it worked?" The second man questioned.

"I guess not." The first man shrugged. "Exactly." The second man cosigned. He then turned his attention to a scientist over by a control panel. "Start the procedure." He tells the scientist. The scientist nods and begins the activation process to the machine Rusty's body was inside of. The machine started to activate as the glass inside the pod Rusty is inside of began to freeze over. "So, if this does work, how will we convince the guy to work for us and the boss?" The first guy asked. "Simple, we make him an offer he can't refuse." The second guy vaguely explains.

A couple minutes later the pod Rusty's body was in open and out came a blue misty haze. Soon after that Rusty's body fell to the floor on his hands and knees. His skin tone now a whitish blue. And his once ginger hair now blue in color.

Cautiously, both men and the scientist approach Rusty. As for Rusty, he slowly began to open his eyes, looking at his hands which were emitting a bluish haze. "W-What's going on? Why do I feel so... Cold?" Rusty questions. "What's happening is that you've been given a second chance at life." The second man tells Rusty, who looks up to see him, the first man and a scientist standing over him.

"W-Who are you guys? How did I get here? And what happened to me?" Rusty asks as he gestures to himself, referring to his niw bluish skin. "Simple, we're the guys who brought you back to life." The second man tells him with a sinister smile. "Brought back to life? Does that mean I died?" Rusty then asks. "Unfortunately, yes. You're friends abandoned you in your time of need and you died as a result. But thanks to our cryo chamber you're alive." The first man tells him.

"T-They abandoned me?!" Rusty says with a mix of disbelief, sadness and anger. "It's sad but it's the truth." The second man states. "But here's the bright side, we have an offer for you." The first man says. "An offer? What kind of offer?" Rusty asks, being intrigued by the idea. "Simple. Work for us and our boss and in return we'll let you have your revenge on those so-called friends of yours." The second man proposed. Rusty like the sound of the man's plan. So much so that his eyes started to fill with a lust for vengeance. "As long as I can get pay back on those friends of mine, I'll do whatever you want." Rusty says his voice gaining a bit of an edge and his hands glowing an icy blue.

Two days later

We fast forward a few days later as we find Lincoln in his bedroom. He was currently looking over old photos on his phone. A few including Rusty. "*Sigh* What I'd give to go back and be eleven again." Lincoln laments to himself.

*Knock* *Knock*

Suddenly, a knock came to Lincoln's door. "Come in." Lincoln says as he still looks through his old photos. The door creaks open and incomes Ronnie Anne. "Hey Linc." She says softly as to not to sound like she was intruding. "Hey Ronnie Anne." Lincoln returns her greeting. "Uh, w-what'cha doing." Ronnie Anne asks. "I-I'm looking through some old photos from when I was younger." Lincoln tells her. "Mind if I join you?" Ronnie Anne asks. Lincoln nods his head yes and Ronnie Anne goes to sit next to him on the bed.

"You have quite a lot of pictures." Ronnie Anne notices as Lincoln scrolls through his phone. "Yeah." Lincoln replies as he rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "I always like to have a momento for my adventures." Lincoln says as he continues to scroll through his phone. He then stops at one particular photo. It was him and Ronnie Anne when they were eleven. They were outside of Gus's Games and Grub. "Hey Ronnie, remember this?" Lincoln asks her.

"Oh yeah. That was the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance. And you tried to juggle four dates your sisters set up for you." Ronnie Anne recalls with a small chuckle. "Yeah, wasn't really a lady's killer back then." Lincoln jokes. "You still aren't one." Ronnie Anne retorts. "It was nice to hang out with you at the arcade that night though." Lincoln admits. "Yeah, it was." Ronnie Anne replies. The two then began to stare into each other's eyes. And instinctively, they began to lean closer, as if they were about to kiss. But right before they could Lincoln's phone began to buzz causing both of them to pull away from each other.

'Dang it.' Both of them thought annoyed that their moment got interrupted. Lincoln then checks his phone. "It's Lisa, she says it's urgent." Lincoln tells Ronnie Anne. "*Huffs* Alright, let's go." Ronnie Anne says, still feeling annoyed. "Wait! Can I ask you something?" Lincoln requests. "What is it?" Ronnie Anne replies. "Do you think things would be different if we'd made different choices?" Lincoln asks. Ronnie Anne looked at Lincoln with a perplexed look. "In what way?" Ronnie Anne asks, wondering exactly what he meant. "Like, would we still be heroes if we made different choices." Lincoln ponders.

Ronnie Anne was surprised by Lincoln's question. She hadn't really thought about her choice to become a hero or if she could be doing something else with her life. "Well, uh... We'd better go see what Lisa wants." Ronnie Anne quickly spurts before exiting the room. Lincoln sighs before following suit and exiting the room.

We transition inside Ace's base as Lincoln and Ronnie Anne enter to find Lisa at the computer. "You know Lisa, with as much time you spend here it's a wonder that no one in the family is getting suspicious." Lincoln comments. "I simply tell them that I study at the library. Besides, they're all too busy to notice my absence." Lisa states. "Can you tell us why you called us in here." Ronnie Anne says.

"Right. If will turn your attention towards the screen." Lisa tells them as suddenly a thirty-inch computer screen emerge from the floor. "Lisa? When did you install this?" Lincoln asks. "A few weeks ago. Felt it was more convenient for our operation. It's even touch screen." Lisa tells them. "Now, as I was scanning through the city an anomaly occurred." Lisa informs them. "Anomaly? What kind of anomaly?" Ronnie questions. "See for yourself." Lisa says as zooms in on a certain part of the Royal Woods town's map that she was displaying.

"It's the Chortal Portal." Lincoln states upon looking at the highlighted area on Lisa's map. "Precisely." Lisa states. "Now take a look at this." Lisa says as the area around the Chortal Portal began to glow blue. "What's happening?" Ronnie Anne asks. "You see the blue areas represents a drastic change in weather. Temperatures dropping rapidly." Lisa explains. "Looks like a good reason to investigate. Call the others and tell them to meet us there." Lincoln tells Lisa.

[Insert The Batman 2004: Suit Up scene]

Now fully suited up, Ace Savvy and Lady Roulette get on they're motorcycles and speed out of their base.

Later

After a quick drive, Ace and Roulette manage to reach the Chortal Portal. "Be on guard. We don't know what we're up against." Ace tells Roulette. She nods and the two cautiously enter the Chortal Portal. As they enter they felt a massive change in temperature. "Oh man, i-i-its fr-freezing in here." Whispered a shivering Lady Roulette. "L-Lisa was right. S-Something definitely not right." Ace replies, also feeling the effects of the weather. The two looked around the establishment, but found nothing but cold air.

That was until a spotlight shined on the stage. "Ah, Ace Savvy and Lady Roulette. You're here earlier than I expected." A cloaked figure said from atop the stage. "I assume you're the reason this place is colder than Antarctica in the winter." Ace wittily replied. "You could say that." The figure said vaguely. "Well, whatever it is your up to we're here to stop it." Stated Lady Roulette.

"We'll see about that." The figure says as he removes his cloak. Upon seeing the figure's face both Ace and Roulette gasps in shock. They see the pale blue face of their deceased friend Rusty Spokes, who was wearing a blue skin tight suit with a white snowflake logo on the chest. "R-Rusty?" Ace says absolutely stunned that Rusty was alive. "Ah, I'm glad to hear you know of me." Rusty remarks sarcastically. "How are you alive? You're suppose to be dead." Stated Lady Roulette.

"What can I say..." Rusty began with a shrug. "... You can't keep a good thing down." He stated. "And from now on, my name is Blizzard!" He announced as he fires a beam of ice at Ace and Roulette who narrowly avoid it. He then began firing multiple shards of ice at both Ace and Roulette who were doing there best to evade Rusty's attack as they eventually ducked behind a table for cover.

"Hiding won't help you." Rusty/Blizzard says as he begins to freeze over the table they were hiding behind. This caused both Ace and Roulette to leap out from behind the table to avoid get frozen themselves. But as they do they fling multiple throwing cards at Rusty/Blizzard. One managing to slice through his suit and even manage to cut his right arm. And another even sliced of strains of his hair.

"Ah." He hissed slightly from the pain he felt in his arm. Seeing their opportunity Both Ace and Roulette rushed a Rusty. Ace hits Rusty with a punch to his side followed by an elbow to the face and fished off by Lady Roulette hitting him with a roundhouse kick to the jaw which knocked Rusty down. "Rusty, you need to stop. You're not a criminal." Ace says trying to reason with his (former) friend. Rusty may have been knocked down, but he certainly wasn't out yet as his eyes began to glow blue. And before either Ace or Roulette could react Rusty released a snowstorm inside the Chortal Portal, freezing everything, including Ace and Roulette, in place.

"Sorry Savvy, but not even you can stop me from getting my revenge. And one more thing, my name is Blizzard." He says to our heroes before escaping, leaving Ace and Roulette to freeze.

"R-Roulette, c-can you get f-free?" Ace asks his partner, doing his best to ignore the freezing cold. "N-No." She replies, shaking her head. "Can y-you?" She asks, also trying to ignore the cold. Ace tried to move his either of his arms but the block of ice covering them was too thick to budge. "G-Great, out of all the ways to go out it had to be hypothermia." Lady Roulette complained, being very pessimistic about her's and Ace's situation. "We just need to keep calm, I'm sure we'll get out of this mess." Ace assures.

And on cue; One-Eyed Jack, Jack Rabbit, Roulette Boy, Lady Spades, Armored Spade and Queen Clubs burst into the Chortal Portal and spots their friends trapped in ice. "Guys we're here." Queen Clubs calls out to them as she and the others rush over to them. "Are you guys, okay?" Armored Spade asks them. "Oh, you know, just freezing here." Ace replies with sarcasm. "Other that we're doing just fine." Lady Roulette sarcastically added. "Don't worry, we'll get you guys out of here." Roulette Boy tells them as he pulls out the blowtorch he used against Dr Alloy.

"How'd you get that?" Ace questions. "Lisa gave it to me, said it might come in handy." Roulette Boy responds as he activates the blowtorch. He carefully puts them flame against the ice as it slowly but surely begins to melt it away. Three minutes later Ace was free. "Thanks." He tells Roulette Boy as he grabs the blowtorch from him. He then uses it to free Lady Roulette. "You, okay?" He asks her. "Eh, felt better." She nonchalantly replies.

"Well then, can one of you explain what happened in here?" Jack Rabbit asks a tad frantically. "Yeah, it's like winter came early in here." One-Eyed Jack adds. "It's a long story." Ace Savvy replies with a dreadful tone as he picks up the throwing card he had thrown at and hit Rusty with.

Later

We now transition back inside of Ace's base as he and Lady Roulette have just finished explaining what had happened. And they were shocked to say the least. "*breaths in and out* Now Lincoln, I'm not calling you a liar but it's hard to believe you at the moment." Clyde says, still visibly shocked by what he had heard. "I don't want to believe it either Clyde but it's the truth." Lincoln says. "But how?" Questioned Jordan. "No one could have survived that." She states.

"We don't know. All we know for sure is that it was Rusty." Ronnie Anne replies. "So, what are we going to do?" Asked Sid. "We have to take him down." Lincoln says firmly, surprising everyone. "But Lincoln, he is our friend. We can't treat him like any other criminal we've taken down." Stella states. "We don't have a choice!" Lincoln exclaimed. "Rusty told us he's out for revenge. Which means everyone we know could be a target." He tells them.

Everyone faces immediately turned into concern for their friends and love ones. Would Rusty actually try to hurt them? "It just doesn't make any sense. How is Rusty alive? And why would he want revenge?" Questioned Ron. "That's the one thing we've haven't figured out." Ronnie Anne says. "Perhaps I can answer that." Says Lisa who everyone looks at. "I analyzed the substance on one of Lincoln's throwing cards. The test indicate that the DNA does indeed matches Rusty." Lisa informs everyone.

Now having their suspicions confirmed everyone's faces turns grim. "However, there was something else." Lisa then says prompting everyone to pick their heads up. "While analyzing his blood I noticed an anomaly. His blood cells had completely frozen." Lisa explains. "That would explain how Rust got his powers." Clyde states. "But it doesn't tell us how he's alive." Jordan mentions. "Maybe it does." Says Lincoln. "What do you mean?" Asked Jordan. "What I mean is there's a correlation between Rusty's powers and him being alive again." Lincoln explains.

"And I think I know how." Lincoln says as he walks over to Lisa and takes something out of the computer desk she was sitting at. It was some kind of blue paper. He spreads it across the desk as everyone else surrounds him. "What is that?" Sid asks. "Wait a minute, these are the designs for my cryogenic freezing chamber." Lisa says recognizing the design. "What is it doing here then?" Asked Henry. "Let's just say I kept a copy for safe keeping." Lincoln says as Lisa gives him a hard stare for keeping this secret.

"Anyway, my point is what if someone reverse engineered Lisa's cryo chamber." Lincoln proposed. "Hmm, if that were to happen it stands to reason that someone could use it to bring back a deceased person." Lisa states, confirming Lincoln's hypothesis. "Wait a minute. Something still doesn't add up. How could have someone even get Lisa plans for the cryo chamber? And why would they use it on Rusty?" Questioned Sid. But before anyone could give a response, Clyde's phone started ringing.

"Sorry guys." Clyde tells them before answering the phone. "Hello?" He says into the phone. "Clyde, we need your help! Someone is chasing us!" Says a panicked Zach. "Woah, woah, woah, calm down Zach. What do you mean someone is chasing you?" Clyde asks while also trying to calm down his friend as everyone else started to look concern. "Me and Liam were just leaving from Flip's when some guy with pale skin and a dark blue track suit began attacking us with ice powers!" Zach explains erratically. Clyde nearly paled from Zach's explanation. From that description he knew that it was Rusty that was after them.

"Okay, you need to find a safe place to hide, me and the others are on our way." Clyde says, but there was no response. "Hello? Zach? Are you there!?" Clyde asks as he started to get worried. There was still no response until, "... Hello, Clydesdale." A voice says with an echo. Clyde immediately recognized the voice, it was Rusty. "R-Rusty!?" Clyde says in shock, as everyone around him gasp. 'Rusty's already making his move.' Lincoln says in his mind. "You're supposed to dead." Clyde says as he pretends to be surprised.

"Oh, I'm as alive as ever. Though, you'll soon wish I wasn't. Now then Clyde, is Lincoln there?" Rusty's voice echos with seriousness. Although Clyde was hesitant, he gave his phone to Lincoln while telling him, "It's for you." Lincoln takes Clyde's phone and places it against his ear. "Hello?" Lincoln says into the phone. "Hello Linc, long time no see." Rusty says as he smiled wickedly. "Rusty, last time I checked, we buried you." Lincoln states, his voice having an edge. "Very funny." Rusty says sarcastically.

"What do you want Rusty?" Lincoln questions him. "Remember the last thing you said to me? That I ruined your life. Well, let's just say I'm going to finish the job. A thank you for leaving me to die." Rusty tells him. Lincoln face instantly turned into steely eyed fury. "Listen Rusty, don't you dare hurt my family or my friends. This is between me and you." Lincoln says furiously. "Hmp, I'll humor you, Lincoln. Meet me at the abandoned warehouse on Alcorn Avenue at seven. Then maybe Zach and Liam won't be harmed. And one more thing, my name is Blizzard now." Rusty says before he freezes the phone, instantly ending the call.

After that, Lincoln recaps what Rusty had told him. And they were all stunned. "Rusty's gone full villain." Said a distraught Ron. "What are we going to do then, it feels like Rusty has us boxed into a corner." Stella states, feeling dejected. "No." Lincoln says with resolve. "Rusty may know our weakness, but he doesn't know our strength. Each other." Lincoln states. "Lincoln's right. Rusty can't take on all of us." Ronnie Anne says backing up Lincoln. "And Rusty is only expecting me, which means we can catch him unaware." Lincoln states. "I take that as you have a plan." Ronnie Anne says.

"A rather simple one but yeah. The ole' bait and switch." Lincoln states. "All I have to do is keep Rusty distracted long enough so that you guys can free Zach and Liam." Lincoln tells his friends. "What about you? You barely could move a finger after Rusty froze you and Ronalda, and that was with your suit. How are you going to survive if he freezes you with no protection?" Asked a very concerned Jordan. "About that." Lincoln starts as he turns to Lisa. "Lisa, I need a couple of favors." He tells his sister.

Later

It's now 6:58 as we see Lincoln standing outside of the abandoned warehouse on Alcorn Avenue. "Is everyone in position?" He asks into his comm link. "All set." Says Roulette Boy as he and Jack Rabbit stood atop the building to the left of the warehouse. "We're in position." Replies One-Eyed Jack as he and Queen Club stood on the building to the right of the warehouse. "We're watching you like a hawk." Lady Roulette says as she, Armored Spade and Lady Spade are all perched atop the building behind Lincoln.

"Good. Just wait for my signal." Lincoln tells his team. He checks his watch and sees it seven o'clock. He then walks into the warehouse where it's dark inside (like walking into a dark room at 6:30 or 7:00). "Rusty! I'm here! Show yourself!" Lincoln demanded. Then Lincoln sees a staircase, made completely out of ice forms before him and Rusty descending from the top of it. "Ah, Lincoln, glad to see you could make it." Rusty says with a formally pleasant tone. "Spare me the pleasantries Rusty, where is Zach and Liam?" Lincoln demanded. "*Chuckles* Patience Lincoln. Can't two old friends have a little chat?" Rusty asks jovially with some hidden snark.

"You aren't acting like a friend. Now tell me where Liam and Zach are now!" Lincoln demanded again, this time yelling. "Fine. If you must know, they're there." Rusty says as a light then shined on the second level of the warehouse, showing Zach's and Liam's bodies encased in ice (except for their heads). The two were doing their best trying not to freeze to death. "L-Lincoln? W-What are y-you doing h-here?" Asked a very cold Liam. "Zach, Liam, don't worry I'll get you out of this." Lincoln tries to assure them.

"I wouldn't make promises you can't keep." Rusty states as he uses his ice powers to propel himself at Lincoln until he stood right in front of him. "Rusty, you said you'd freed them if I came. Now let them go." Lincoln growled. "Hmm, how about... No!" Rusty shouts as he forms an ice shard in his hand and stabs Lincoln with it; much to Zach's and Liam's shock. Lincoln instantly drops to the ground due to the icy pain his stomach. "I told you, that I would ruin your life. And once you're dead, I'll go after your family and friends. And while they're begging in agony, you'll be in hell knowing it was all your fault." Rusty says as he begins to laugh manically.

But to his surprise Lincoln also began to laugh. "Huh, what's so funny? Huh? Tell me!" Rusty demands in a shout. "W-What's funny is... your face." Lincoln says as his body begins to glitch in and out, until his body dissipates and is replaced by one of Lisa's robots. "What?!" Rusty exclaims in disbelief. Then a figure drops from the ceiling and drop kicks Rusty, knocking him to the floor. "*Groans* Huh?" Rusty murmurs as he looks up to see what had hit him. It was Ace Savvy, and he was wearing a new suit. It was snow white except for the arm and leg sleeves which were pale red. "Ace Savvy?!" Rusty says, shocked by the hero's sudden appearance.

"Surprised to see me?" Ace asked in a sarcastic manner. "How are you here? And where's Loud!?" Rusty questioned. "He's safe and away from you. It didn't take much convincing for him to go along with my plan." Ace explained(lied). "Grrr!" Rusty growled. "Just for that, I'll make sure his friends meet with a chilling end!" Rusty barked. "Don't bet on it. Now!" Ace calls out.

Suddenly all of Ace's teammates burst into the warehouse, each wearing their own artic suit like Ace. One-Eyed Jack, Queen Clubs, Roulette Boy and Jack Rabbit landing on the platform where Liam's and Zach's bodies were frozen in place. As for Lady Roulette, Armored Spade and Lady Spade they all landed next to Ace.

One Eyed Jack and the others on the platform rushed over to Zach and Liam and used the blowtorch to set them free. "Are you two, okay?" One-Eyed Jack asked Zach and Liam, concerned for their wellbeing. "A-Ain't n-nothing a hot bath won't fix." Liam assured them. "S-Seconded." Zach agrees. "No!" Rusty yells from below, readying to blast them with his ice powers. But before he could his hand was struck by a throwing card by Ace Savvy.

"Guys, get them out of here!" Ace orders Jack and the other, who nod and proceed to get Liam and Zach out of the warehouse. Ace then turns his attention to Rusty. "It's over Rusty." Ace tells him. "You're surrounded. Make it easier on yourself and surrender." Lady Roulette advises. "Give up?!" Rusty said, appalled by the very idea. "I won't give up until I have my revenge!" He yelled.

"Look at yourself Rusty, this isn't you!" Jack Rabbit spoke, trying to get him to see the error of his ways. "You still have friends and family who care about you, they wouldn't want you to become this." Roulette Boy said trying to reason with him. "Friends?! Friends?! Friends who left out in the bitter cold? Friends who barely who could look me in the eye? Friends who despise me over one mistake!?" Rusty yelled in an echo as his eyes began to glow blue and he began to levitate into the air.

Ace and the others were shocked to hear this from Rusty. While they did have every right to be mad for what he had done in the past, they never thought about how it made him feel. Ace then took a step forward and says, "It's not too late. If you stop now, you can make things right with your friends." Ace spoke, offering him his hand. Rusty became still, contemplating Ace's offer. A chance to set things, right? It sounded so simple. And yet, Rusty knew it was too late for that.

"Sorry, but you're wrong. It is too late. And for the record, my name is now Blizzard!" Rusty's/Blizzard's voice booms as his eyes again glow blue. He aims his hands at Ace and the others and shots a stream of ice at them. However, all of them blocked it with their capes. "What?" Blizzard questioned, in disbelief what he had seen. "These new suits weren't just for fashion. They can handle temperatures up to absolute zero." Lady Roulette states. "We'll see." Blizzard retorted as he began rapid firing at everyone in sight. Ace, Jack Rabbit, Lady Roulette and Roulette Boy began to run and flip around the room to avoid Blizzard's attacks.

Ace even had to hide behind a column. 'That's it.' He thought to himself. "Hey Rusty, over here!" Ace shouts out him as he ran from out of cover. "My name is Blizzard." He yelled back as he began to focus his long-range attack on Ace. Ace continue to duck and dodge until his back was against the wall. "Nowhere left to run now, Savvy!" Rusty says as he prepared to fire.

"Good thing I won't need to." Ace says as he takes out two blowtorch valve tanks and throws them in the direction of Blizzard. He then throws the two throwing cards charged with explosives which hit the tanks, causing them to explode right in Blizzard's face, knocking him out of the air instantly and fall to the ground.

Ace, Jack Rabbit and both Roulettes' all walk over to Blizzard who was barely still conscious. "You think you've won? I won't stop until I get my revenge!" Blizzard swore as he struggled to keep consciousness. Ace and the others could only look at him with a look of pity, knowing they're friend is gone. "Well then, you're gonna have to wait a long time to get the chance." Ace says before stomping Blizzard head into the ground, knocking him out.

It was over, it was finally over, but our heroes didn't triumphant, but rather they felt sad that they couldn't save their friend from himself.

Later

After handing Rusty/Blizzard over to Bobby and the police Ace and the others returned to base. Lincoln told the others to take the rest of the night off, knowing the toll fighting Rusty took on them. If he was being it took a toll on him too. But Rusty made his choice, and now they all had to live with.

As Lincoln was thinking over the day's events, he heard a knock at his bedroom door. "Come in." He tells the person on the other side of the door. The door opens and in comes Ronnie Anne. "*chuckles* And here I thought you went home." Lincoln says, not looking up. "I figured you could use some company." Ronnie Anne tells him. She then walks over to Lincoln's bed and sits down next to him.

"Still thinking about the road not traveled?" Ronnie Anne asks, already knowing the answer. "Yeah, but more recently. I knew that I could never really forgive Rusty for what he did, but maybe we could've come to an understanding." Lincoln says. "You're only going to weigh yourself down thinking about the what ifs." Ronnie Anne tells him. "You're right, but it's hard not to think about, you know?" Lincoln asks her, hoping she'd understand. "Yeah, I do." Ronnie Anne tells him as she scoots closer to him.

"Besides my dad, there's been one thing I've been thinking about. Day and night. wondering if things would be different if I acted differently." Ronnie Anne spoke. Lincoln turns to face Ronnie Anne with a look of confusion. "What was it?" Lincoln asked, genuinely curious. Ronnie Anne smiled before cupping Lincoln's face in her hands. "It was about this one lame-o I knew seven years ago." Ronnie Anne says with a sly grin.

Understanding what she meant Lincoln grabbed Ronnie Anne by the waist and pulled her closer to him. Their faces began to inch closer to each other until they began to kiss. It may not have been the two's first kiss, but it was definitely their sweetest, softest and most passionate kiss. After about forty seconds the two lips departed, and both were still in awe of what they had done. "That was..." Lincoln trailed off. "... Breathtaking?" Ronnie Anne says. "Yeah, breathtaking." Lincoln agrees, still in awe.

Meanwhile

We now cut to Royal Woods prison where we find Rusty in a cell, cut off from the rest of the prison. "Just wait Loud! One day, I'll have my revenge!" He vowed. Then the lights in the hall and Rusty's cell suddenly went out, much to Rusty's surprise. "What the?" He questioned. Then he spots the two men who had resurrected him enter the hall. "You two?" He says, surprised to see him.

"Like we told you." Man #1 says as unlocks Rusty's cell with the cell key. "We'd let you get your revenge and then you'd work for us and our boss." Man #2 says. "So kid, are you in?" Man #1 asks. Rusty pondered for a moment before answering, "Absolutely."

A/N: And that's it for chapter 11. Wow, a lot of stuff happened. If you're wondering why I did what I did to Rusty, well, it was for two reasons. He's the reason why everything in the story is happening. And secondly, out of all of Lincoln's friends, he's been the most annoying to me. Anyway, Lincoln x Ronnie Anne finally happened, so I'm glad that happened. If there's anymore questions, or suggestions feel free to leave a review.