Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Broken Mirror
Chapter five: Surprising Encounter
Lincoln, the boy without a family, was eating breakfast at the Burpin' Burger in the city that he ran away to after his ex-family essentially said that he was unwanted. Lincoln wasn't actually eating something ordered from the Burpin' Burger itself, though. Lincoln's meal consisted of a muffin and two apples that he bought from a convenience store in the city; Lincoln did, however, buy a fountain drink from the Burpin' Burger. Lincoln wanted to avoid eating too much fast food, but the TV mounted to the wall in the Burpin' Burger served as Lincoln's primary source of info about what was going in the city. To the mild amusement of the boy without a family, the news was playing a story about yet another death of a member of the violent youth gang.
"…Last night after he ran into an alleyway after snatching an elderly woman's purse," the news anchor said, "Upon arriving on the scene, the investigation team found yet another calling card from the vigilante that many people all over the city have taken to calling Broken Mirror." The news then shifted to an interview with a local citizen, a notably plus-sized Caucasian woman that from the looks of her had to be in her mid-forties at the very least.
"The police have got to track down this man that's going around killing kids," the woman said, "Kids should never be killed at all, regardless of what they've done!" The news then shifted to an interview with an interview with a physically well-conditioned African American man that looked to be in his mid to late twenties.
"Those little punks have no problem with killing others, especially other kids," the African American man said in a righteously angry tone, "So why should anyone complain when one of those punks bites it? If you ask me, those punks shouldn't have dished it out in the first place if they weren't willing to take it themselves!" The news then shifted back to the news anchor.
"Public opinion on the matter is still split, with half of the city calling for the arrest of Broken Mirror and the other half hailing him or her as the answer to the problem that this city has been facing for the past several months," the news anchor remarked, "No one has seen that vigilante in action, and forensics have failed to uncover any evidence, such as fingerprints, that would point to an identity, so there is no solid idea as to what Broken Mirror looks like, although experts have reason to believe that Broken Mirror is a man of at least eighteen years of age. We'll bring you more as the story develops. And now onto the weather. Tom?"
Turning away from the TV mounted on the wall, Lincoln looked down to his breakfast. The boy without a family suppressed a chuckle; the news thinks that he's an eighteen-year-old man? That's right, it's Lincoln who's been going around taking out any member of the violent youth gang that he's been coming across. It is the boy without a family that the locals have dubbed 'Broken Mirror', although that was mostly due to the calling cards that Lincoln's been leaving; buying a pack of blank index cards, Lincoln would draw on each of them a drawing of a hand mirror with cracks all over the mirror's surface. He also added capital letters 'B' and 'M' in the upper left and lower right corners respectively, to give it the look of a playing card. And of course, no one was going to find prints; Lincoln always uses his gloves, never touching anything barehanded. Although he's surprised that doing that worked as well as it has so far.
Finishing his meal, Lincoln gathered up his trash and threw it out. Looking down at the outfit he wore, Lincoln brushed a few crumbs off of the purple-and-gold football jersey he was wearing; before coming to the Burpin' Burger, Lincoln changed into a long-sleeved white shirt, threw the jersey on over that, and put on a pair of pants to complete the outfit. Picking up his empty cup, Lincoln refilled it (hooray for free refills!) before taking his leave from the Burpin' Burger. Aside from taking out the members of the gang, Lincoln still does odd jobs here and there in the city. How else would he expect to buy food?
In an office somewhere in the city, a portly balding Caucasian man with a moustache was sitting at a desk as two in-uniform police officers, both Hispanic men with slim yet healthy builds, stood before his desk. Slamming the surface of the desk with his right fist, the portly man practically screamed at the officers, "You better find that killer, and you better find him now!"
"With all due respect, Mayor," the first officer replied, "We have no idea what the vigilante known as Broken Mirror looks like. We aren't even sure if we're supposed to be looking for either a man or a woman."
"You know what I mean!" the portly man, revealed to be the city's Mayor, growled in an annoyed, angry tone, "How can your department be so damn fucking lazy?!"
"Well for starters, we lack sufficient evidence to even begin an investigation," the second officer began to explain in a casual yet cool tone, "Not to mention all of the layers of red tape that we have to work through before we can even get the necessary warrants."
"Fine, whatever," the Mayor growled in response, "Just get me whatever papers I have to sign to give you boys the clear to being that investigation!"
Crossing his arms over his chest, the first officer said, "Oh, so now you want us to do our jobs."
Glaring at the first officer, the Mayor said, "I don't care for that tone of yours, officer."
"And I don't care for you constantly impeding my department's efforts to try and crack down on the local youth gang," the first officer retorted, "Seriously, Mayor. If we had been allowed to do our job back when the first incident of that youth gang acting up took place, then none of this would have happened! The youth gang wouldn't have made the city into their personal stomping grounds, the local citizens wouldn't be accusing my department of being lazy and not wanting to do our job, and a lone vigilante wouldn't be out there killing the members of the youth gang." Giving the Mayor a knowing look, the first officer added, "By the way, wasn't your son one of the members of the youth gang that was killed by the vigilante?"
"Wait a minute," the second officer said in a mildly shocked tone as he turned to face his fellow, "What?!"
Turning to face the second officer, the first officer said, "Yeah, the Mayor's son is one of the victims of the vigilante that's going around."
"Which is all the more reason why you lazy bums have to pick up the pace and track down that bastard Broken Mirror!" the Mayor practically screamed, slamming his fist down on the surface of his desk once again.
Ignoring the Mayor, the first officer continued to talk to the second officer. "Think about it for a second. The Mayor's son is one of Broken Mirror's victims. All of Broken Mirror's victims have been members of that gang that the Mayor wouldn't let us investigate." As the second officer's eyes widened with realization, the first officer said as he noticed his fellow putting two and two together, "Yeah. You would have to be lacking some serious brain power not to be able to add all of that up." Turning to face the Mayor, the first officer said in a cool, knowing tone, "So yeah, Mr. Mayor. It'll take my department a while to get going on the Broken Mirror case." The first officer turned to leave, which prompted the second officer to turn around and go with his fellow. As the two officers walked out of the Mayor's office, the first officer said with a hint of knowing humor in his tone, "We'll bring the necessary forms over for you to sign as soon as we can."
After the two officers left, closing the double-doors to the Mayor's office behind them, the Mayor himself growled with anger. If he wanted, the Mayor would have the badges of those officers for the lip that they gave him just now. But if he pushed like that, then the officers would let everyone in the city know that he was impeding their ability to investigate the case of the violent youth gang because his son was a member of said gang; if word of that got out, then the Mayor's chances at getting reelected wouldn't look all that good. The Mayor clenched his fist tightly, steamed that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "Damn that Broken Mirror," the Mayor thought angrily, "He's got me stuck in a politician's worst nightmare."
It was late afternoon in the city. Going off of what he heard people had said, Lincoln went into an alleyway looking for an entryway into an abandoned building in the city that supposedly serves as a hideout for the violent youth gang. Even though incidents and crimes are still being attributed to said gang, the number of times said incidents and crimes take place are not only dwindling, but they're dwindling fast. This told the boy without a family that not only is the gang is close to being eliminated altogether (at least that's what he's hoping it means), but that the gang is failing to recruit more members to compensate for the losses. Lincoln hopes that the next few gang members he comes across will end up being the last before the problem is taken care of for good.
Wearing the outfit that he's taken to using when he's in the role of 'Broken Mirror', Lincoln snuck quietly but quickly through the alleyway, looking for the supposed hideout while taking care not to be seen. As he snuck around, the boy without a family had to quickly duck behind a dumpster when he thought he heard some voices talk. Daring to peek out from his cover, Lincoln saw, to his relief, that no one had spotted him. However, he did see where the aforementioned voices came from; a dark grayish door that was left ajar. Giving the building that the door in question was a part of a quick look, Lincoln saw that it was an old factory that looked to be abandoned.
Under the bandana that he wore to cover the lower half of his face, Lincoln smiled; this was without a doubt the place that he was looking for. Sneaking over quietly but quickly, the boy without a family pulled the door open just enough for him to slip on inside, taking care not to make any noise when he pulled the door open. Luckily for him, the door didn't have any rusty or squeaking hinges that would have given him away. With his entering the building taken care of, Lincoln proceeded to quietly look around, keeping to cover and shadows so as to avoid possibly being spotted. Moving forward, Lincoln walked through a hallway, going past a doorway that led into a factory room. Just after walking past that doorway, the boy without a family heard a girl's voice call out in a worried and scared tone, "W-what do you two want with me?"
Turning back around, Lincoln went over to the doorway and, taking care not to be seen, peeked into the factory room. What he saw had him shocked; two members of the violent youth gang, one a boy and one a girl, had a girl that they must have dragged off of the streets and into the abandoned factory to beat up, similar to how those three boys had dragged off that dorky boy from a while ago. Although two members of the violent youth gang spiriting away a girl to beat up wasn't shocking in and of itself, it was who the two gang members have dragged off that had the boy without a family shocked.
Ronnie Anne Santiago.
"What's Ronnie Anne doing here?!" Lincoln thought worriedly as he watched the two gang members corner the Hispanic girl up against a wall of crates. Removing a pair of fairly large pocket knives from his front pants pockets, Lincoln quietly flipped the blades open, thinking quickly about how to get the girl who he considered to be more than a friend out of this mess.
"Look here, girl," the girl punk said, "Our little group is facing a serious shortage of members." Brushing the top of her right hand against Ronnie Anne's left shoulder, the punk girl continued, "You seem like you're made of some tough stuff. So how about it? Are you in…" Jerking a thumb at the boy punk, the girl punk added, "…Or do he and I have to beat you until you agree to be in? Either way, you aren't getting out of this."
Gulping nervously, Ronnie Anne asked, "H-how many members are in your gang right now?"
"If we get both you and that blonde-haired British girl that we've scouted, then the gang will have a total of four members," the boy punk explained, "And the first thing you'll be helping us with will be recruiting more-" The boy punk was cut off when, to the shock of the punk girl and the shock and horror of Ronnie Anne, someone jabbed a fairly big pocket knife into the side of the boy punk's neck before pushing it outward. The punk boy was thrown to the side by a hooded kid wearing a bandana over the lower half of their face; neither the punk girl or Ronnie Anne could tell if this person was a boy or a girl, due to the hooded jacket they wore. As the punk boy became still while laying on the floor of the factory room, the hooded kid turned on the punk girl, making sure she would be joining her fellow in quick order.
Once that deed was done, the hooded kid got up and turned around to face Ronnie Anne, who at this point was visibly shaking in fright. "P-p-please don't k-kill me!" Ronnie Anne stammered as she was beginning to cry, "I w-wasn't g-g-going to do a-anything with t-those guys! They were t-trying to make me j-join them because their g-g-group was too s-s-small!" Little did the Hispanic girl know that the hooded kid was actually Lincoln, the white-haired boy that she used to pick on due to not knowing how to properly explain her feelings for him. The boy without a family flipped his pocket knives closed, slipped them back into his pockets, then pointed to one of the punks that laid on the floor. Then immediately pointing to Ronnie Anne, Lincoln gently shook his head in the negative.
A mild hint of surprise appearing across her face, Ronnie Anne said as she sniffled a bit, "Y-you're not going t-to kill me?" Once again, the boy without a family shook his head gently in the negative. Now crying out of relief, Ronnie Anne said, "Th-thank y-"
"Oi, what in the bloody hell happened here?!" a female voice called out, prompting the disguised boy to instantly pull his pocket knives back out, flipped them open with quick wrist snaps, and turn to face who had stumbled upon the factory room. As such, the boy without a family saw a fair-skinned girl who looked to be about the same age as his sporty ex-sister. The girl had long yellow-blonde hair with streaks of color in it, obviously there to give the girl a punk look. She wore a baggy hooded jacker that looked like the Union Jack, baggy jeans with torn knees, and large sneakers. Judging by the girl's voice and her wardrobe, she must have come from England; Lincoln, thanks to his musically-inclined ex-sister, can tell a British accent that is practiced apart from a British accent that was actually authentic.
Seeing what was going on, the punk British girl said nervously, "Look, guv. I ain't a member of their little group, alright? Granted they wanted me to join, and they made me a tempting offer, but I hadn't accepted the offer yet." With a nervous chuckle, the punk British girl continued, "If I promise not to accept their offer, will you promise not to take me hide and nail it to a barn?" The hooded kid glared at the punk British girl for a few seconds as he considered what she said. After about fifteen seconds or so, Lincoln flipped his pocket knives closed and slipped them back into his front pockets before giving the punk British girl a thumbs-up.
Sighing in relief, the punk British girl said, "Thanks a mill, guv. You're a real mate." With a look of mild wonder mixed with worry on her face, the punk British girl said, "Umm, before I go, there's something I want to ask." Pointing to where the punk boy laid on the floor, the punk British girl said, "That guy there, who's a total loon if you ask me, has something that I had me eye on. It's a gold men's class ring with a green emerald stone. If I could get that before I take me leave, that'd be grand." With a look of curiosity mixed with a mild dash of confusion in his eyes, Lincoln turned to where the punk boy laid and went over to him. Checking the punk boy, the boy without a family quickly recovered the men's class ring that the punk British girl had just described. After collecting the ring, Lincoln tossed it to the punk British girl, who caught it rather handily.
Giving the ring a quick look, the punk British girl said, "Ah, that's the little bugger right there!" Turning her head to regard the hooded kid, the punk British girl said, "Thanks again, mate. And don't worry, I'll keep to the straight and narrow." The punk British girl turned around and took her leave. After she was gone, the disguised Lincoln turned back around to face Ronnie Anne. Pointing to the doorway that lead out of the factory room, the boy without a family nodded while facing the Hispanic girl. Understanding what the hooded kid was trying to say, Ronnie Anne nodded once in understanding before running to the doorway as quickly as possible so she could get out of there.
Lincoln was glad that Ronnie Anne was okay, but Ronnie Anne's presence in this city had the boy without a family wondering. What was the Hispanic girl even doing in this city in the first place? Is Ronnie Anne a runaway as well? Or might she and her family perhaps be visiting someone in the city? Lincoln did notice over the time that he spent living in the city that a fairly large portion of its population is composed of people of Hispanic heritage; maybe the queen of mean has a relative or two who lives here. Still, after leaving his usual calling card, changing back into a regular outfit and sneaking out of the abandoned factory without risking getting seen by anyone, Lincoln decided, against his better judgement, to look for Ronnie Anne.
After approximately half an hour of searching and asking people that he past if they saw a girl with Ronnie Anne's description, the boy without a family got as solid of a lead as he was going to get. Taking care to make sure Ronnie Anne didn't see him before he saw her, the boy without a family eventually made his way into an area of the city that seemed familiar to him. Lincoln was right to assume that this area of the city was familiar to him, because when he at last located Ronnie Anne, he saw her enter an apartment building. There were two things about this apartment building that got Lincoln's attention; one, the bodega store that belongs to that Hector Casagrande man is part of the apartment building.
Two, Vanzilla was parked outside of it.
END, BROKEN MIRROR CHAPTER FIVE
Author's notes:
I was originally planning on having this story wrap up with this chapter, but due to a few scenes in this chapter dragging on (in my opinion, at least) a bit, I had to end the chapter here and work on a sixth chapter. But yeah, things should be wrapping up in the next chapter.
As a side note, I guess that it was kind of obvious that Lincoln was 'Broken Mirror', even though that fact wasn't technically revealed until this chapter. But either way, congratulations to those who correctly guessed it prior to this chapter coming out; you get one cookie each.
