Disclaimer: The Loud House and associated characters belong to Nickelodeon and Chris Savino

DOLL: Reissue

By Lola Presents

Chapter 9

It took Rita and Gerald as long to locate the secret base as it did the children. The only difference was that they had more resources available to them once found. With internally controlled inventions and those made for the government, they had an inside track to the best weapons and armor available.

As it was already late, they slept wherever they could work in the cold dark lab. Choosing the now empty and silent gurneys that Doll and Sylvia once laid upon, they tried fitfully to get as much rest as possible. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day for them both. After only six hours of sleep, they both rose, refreshed and ready to go.

After a quick suit-up, donning Starwork's patented Omnigear, grabbing several Omnirifles, and unofficially requisitioning one of their Omnitanks, Rita and Gerald pulled out of the lab's parking lot looking not entirely like something out of Star Wars.

Their suits were a mixture of black linings with white armor plating, their guns were primarily black with flashing red lights, and the tank itself was rectangular, white on top and black on the bottom, and from the side, it looked like an elongated hexagon with large, fat tires.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Rita, trying to get comfortable in her black leather seat. "We're going to stick out like a sore thumb. I mean, look at us. We look like we just came from one of my son's sci-fi conventions."

"Don't worry," assured Gerald. "We're street legal, and they wouldn't dare come after us in broad daylight. Besides, there're more than a few tricks hidden in here. We only need to get there and through their defenses. After that, we'll be ditching this thing, anyway."

Rita nodded in agreement, not that she had much choice. Her children's lives were at stake, and nothing was going to stop her from getting to them. And, as she sat there staring out the window at the cars below, she at least had some measure of confidence that they could pull this off.

Maybe.

After Lincoln's shift ended, he quietly roused Clyde, who took the second. Later, Lisa rose for the final round. And as daylight began to break, Lisa woke everyone up, intending to get an early start. The only ones to get a whole night's sleep were Doll and Lola, mainly due to Doll's importance in their mission and not wanting to hear Lola complain the entire day.

"Rise and shine, everyone," Lisa said, kicking their boxes lightly. "Time to get up. We need to get moving if we're to get there before anyone figures out we're coming."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Lincoln, rolling out of his makeshift shelter, folding it, and stuffing it into his backpack.

"I take it you've thought of a plan, creator?" asked Doll as she followed Lincoln's example.

"As I told you yesterday," Lisa reminded them, "I can't make any definitive plans until we arrive, giving me a chance to assess what we'll be up against. In the meantime, we need to restock our food supplies. Does anyone have any money?"

"I have a little," offered Clyde, rummaging through his pockets.

"Same," said Lincoln, handing Lisa five dollars.

"Seven dollars?" Lisa exclaimed. "Surely we have more than that."

"Fine..." grumbled Lola, slapping two twenty-dollar bills into her sister's hands. "When this is over, I expect that back, plus interest."

"What?" gasped Doll. "You were holding out on us? We could've used that last night!"

"Sorry!" barked Lola. "I brought that in case we ran into an emergency."

"Alright, let's get this done quickly," announced Lisa a few moments later as they walked down the street, locating a small corner store. "Only buy things that will keep in the heat. Get water, not soda, and nothing with any salt in it. We only have a little over nine dollars each, so make it count. Understood?"

Nodding, they proceeded into the little store and got what they could, knowing they'd be traversing Nevada's hot, arid deserts. Despite various products, they each made similar decisions, settling on three bottles of water each and lots of canned meats, including Vienna sausages, potted meat, and hot dogs.

Only Doll required a little making her choice, not knowing what was good for the human body. At first, she'd picked up a bag of cheese puffs and a can of something called Budweiser and had already caught the manager's eye when they put it back. Later, as they walked toward the edge of town, Lincoln explained her mistake, embarrassing her slightly.

"Alright," sighed Lola, separating them by barging between them as they talked and giggled, clutching onto her brother. "It's my turn."

"Go right ahead," chuckled Doll under her breath, but backing off.

After all, she'd gotten a rather pleasant surprise the night before and was still feeling its effects. Unlike the tender moment they shared in Lincoln's bedroom, no confusion or pain rushed through her head like a wildfire. It was entirely fulfilling, and she was happy to understand the complex emotion called love finally.

"I had my turn last night," Doll finished, smiling with satisfaction, her tongue poking out from one corner of her mouth.

"What was that?!" barked Lola, whipping her head around, squaring off against Doll. "What did you do?!"

"Hey!" snapped Doll, still grinning, holding her hand up in defense. "Don't ask me. I didn't do anything. The one you should be asking is Lincy."

"Lincoln!" growled Lola, running back to her supposed boyfriend, getting in his way, preventing further progress. "What happened last night between you and Doll? Huh?!"

Lincoln stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Alright, let's settle this, here and now," he instructed, motioning for Doll to join them. "Lola, I kissed Doll last night while you were sleeping and..."

"YOU WHAT!" gasped Lola, her little round face turning beet red with anger. "How could you..." she began to say when she got cut off by Lincoln.

"Shut up for once, and listen," he demanded. "The fact is, I'm in love with both of you, and I'm going to be with you both," he told her, "and there's nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. Despite some personality differences, you're basically the same person. You're a closer genetic match than you and Lana. How could I not fall in love with her? You're just going to have to get to know each other better if you know what I mean."

"Yes, but..." whined Lola, twiddling her fingers. "We fell in love first. You're supposed to be mine."

"I am," he said. "And also hers. What? Being with one's sister is okay, but loving more than one person isn't? I don't buy that. Besides, you're being selfish. You both are. I love you both, and you better find a way to get along; otherwise, I might dump you both. It's not fair to me to watch you two bicker all the time. Now, if you don't mind, we have a girl to save, and I need some space to think, so how about you two hanging back for a while?"

Admonished and feeling the harsher side of love, Doll and Lola moved to the back of the pack. Each fumed silently, looking like kettles about to blow steam from their ears. And though neither wanted to concede to the other, they knew he was right. At least, he was calling the shots. If they didn't lean to accept each other and share their brother, their rivalry would destroy any hope of either being with him.

"I'm sorry," Doll whispered to Lola, her arms folded against her chest. "But he was my first love. And even though it hurt me to love him back then, I did anyway. I'd do anything for him, you know. I never meant to hurt you in the process."

"Yeah, well," sighed Lola, not wanting to be upstaged. "I guess it isn't all your fault," she offered begrudgingly. "It's Lisa's for giving you my genes. Anyway, he's my first and only love, too, you know. I may have felt a little entitled, being in love with him longer than you, and I let it get out of control."

"That's two of us, then," Doll laughed. "I mean, I did try to erase you."

"Don't remind me," chuckled Lola. "Though you should've seen the look on Dad's face when he heard your confession."

"Oh, that's right," sighed Doll. "I was in the console at the time. I bet that was priceless."

"It was," replied Lola enthusiastically. "Just wait until he hears Lincoln's dating both of us now."

Suddenly, Doll stopped, causing Lola to linger as well. "Listen," Doll said. "Let's let him decide who he wants to spend his time with. Alright? After all, we want him to be happy. Right?" she said, offering Lola her hand. "Friends?"

Lola stared at Doll's hand for a moment, finally accepting the gesture. "I have a feeling we'll be more than just friends," Lola smirked, thinking further into the future than her sister.

"What do you mean?" asked Doll curiously as Lola began catching up with the others.

"Think about it, toots," Lola chirped. "When we're old enough to consent, what's the first we're going to do? Yeah, that's right," Lola continued without pausing. "And who do you think is going first?"

"Uh..." stammered Doll, finally understanding where Lola was going. "We could always draw straws, you know, or let him decide," she suggested, scuttling next to Lola.

Lola just grinned and shook her head. "Not for that," she said. "There's only one way to settle it, and you know as well as I do what that is, sister. If you want Lincoln as much as I do, then we'll have to get used to each other too. And I mean, REALLY get used to each other."

"Oh..." sighed Doll as she strolled beside her genetic donor. "OH!" she gasped a moment later, once the reality of what Lola said settled in her brain. "Now I see why you wanted me out of the picture..."

"Mmhm," hummed Lola, triumphant in her vocal victory. "But since he's made it clear he wants both of us, he'll get both of us."

"I see," murmured Doll, lost in thought. "Then what? We get each other?"

"Don't push it," Lola decried, though not entirely forcefully. "We'll see. I have always been rather fond of myself, you know..." she said, letting the conversation fade into oblivion.

Something new and unexplored had gotten introduced to Doll's young brain. Sure, she knew from Luna that some people like the opposite gender, and some like their own. But it never occurred to her that one might like both.

That, combined with Lincoln's comment about being in love with both of them, triggered random thoughts she could never have had as a synthetic. After all, the primary purpose of love was to ensure the propagation of the species.

Now, she was learning that maybe there was more to it than that. Could she come to love Lola as she did her brother? For a moment, she considered the possible reason for their rivalry was that they were so similar, too similar to ignore and something churned inside her.

Certainly, Doll could see herself in Lola and was reasonably sure Lola did the same. Perhaps, there was something more between them than either of them had ever realized. And, cocking her head to one side, she watched with interest as Lola strolled slightly ahead of her, smirking.

The day wore on as they shuffled past the city limits into the vast sea of dunes that seemed to stretch forever before them. The sun slowly rose increasingly higher in the sky, and the air temperature climbed ever higher. And while their suits kept them relatively cool and comfortable, they still took the occasional beak under a rocky outcropping whenever possible.

Mostly, they remained silent as their trek across the sands progressed. However, there were times when the silence required breaking. Occasionally, Lisa would inquire about the well-being of the small party or check her compass, redirecting their path or informing them of how much further they had to go.

However, much of their vocal restrain was due to taking cues from Lisa, and her reasons weren't altogether benign. One thing that bothered the young scientist was the distinct lack of aircraft in the area. Surely, someone had pieced together what they were up to, even if they had misinterpreted their intent. After tracking some wayward children to Nevada, it didn't make sense that nobody was out looking for them.

She didn't dare tell the other yet, though. Clyde would certainly malfunction, and Lola might throw a tantrum or break down and start crying. Either way, informing them wouldn't help their efforts, so she remained quiet, unconsciously signaling the other to follow suit.

However, Lisa hadn't considered that there might be people looking for them, ones that had gained more immediate attention from those she initially suspected.

"There's three of them now," Rita declared, pulling herself away from the thick but small window.

"Any idea what kind?" asked Gerald as he drove the awkward vehicle down the interstate, well over the speed limit.

"Well, there's not news teams, that's for sure," Rita informed him, drawing on her knowledge of avionics. "Unless they've all started using Apache class birds recently. No, they're onto us, Gerald. What do we do?"

"I'll tell you what we're going to do, Mrs. Loud," the man said, wiping some sweat from his forehead. "We're going to keep driving until they make a move, which, I suspect, won't be until we enter the deserts of Nevada. That's when you take over driving."

"What me?" gasped Rita, beside herself. "I can barely drive our family van!"

"It's either that or handle the pulse canon turret, and I dare say you're more familiar with driving than that beast," smiled Gerald as he winked at Rita.

"What?" gasped Rita a second time. "We're going to shoot them down?" she asked, appalled at the notion.

"Rita, the minute we hit the open ground, they're going to try and stop us by any means required," he told her solemnly. "Even if that means killing us. To save our kids, bring them home, and end this, we will have to make some ethical concessions."

Rita frowned but swallowed her morals in light of the revelation, settling in for a battle she never wanted. However, personal war was their only path forward, and, damn it, she wasn't going to allow her children to suffer for Gerald's mistakes. If it weren't for his daughter's life being on the line, she might have taken off in the tank alone, leaving him to wallow in his grief.

It was nightfall when the children arrived at the entrance to a barren trench in the desert. And crouching between the rocky outcroppings, they could see the base nestled within. Four smaller, rectangular buildings surrounded a dome-shaped building with a radar dish atop it.

"Finally," said Clyde, exhausted despite the aid of his suit. "I thought we'd never make it here," he complained. Then looking at Lisa, the young man asked the obvious question. "What now?" he said, now that Lisa had gotten a chance to survey things. "Got any ideas?"

"It looks like two barracks, a mess hall, and a latrine," Lisa responded. "That big dome is where they'll be keeping Sylvia, most likely," she continued, looking through her binoculars. "Given the size of the barracks, I'd say we were up against roughly twenty well-programmed dolls.

"Twenty?" sighed Lincoln. "That's not so bad. Clyde and I have taken out more zombies than that before."

"Lincoln," muttered Lisa, putting down her binoculars. "This isn't a game, you know. You don't get extra lives. If you die, you're dead. Listen, don't you think it's weird that we haven't encountered any patrols or air support by now?" she asked pointedly. "They know we're coming, and they're confident in their doll's ability to bring us down. They're letting us through. There's no other explanation."

"Sh!" demanded Doll quietly, laying low. "Do you hear that?"

Not only could they hear the approach of an unknown vehicle, but they could also feel it in the ground. Whatever it was, it was big and heavy. Huddling together, the frightened kids secluded themselves in the nearest crevasse and waited until the monstrosity passed.

To their horror, the vehicle slowly stopped not far from their enclosure, and a large door opened, folding downward. Two figures emerged from the vehicle, but in the dark, all the kids could make out was a mass of black and white. And, slowly, as the figures approached, the more the backlit blobs came into focus as some kind of infantry.

"Come on out, kids," called a man who sounded like Mr. Stoltz.

"Let's go get Sylvia and get out of here," added Rita, only because she was second out of the tank.

"Mom?" gasped Lisa as she left the protection of the tiny enclave and approached. "Pardon my language, but what the fuck? You look like a total badass!"

"She's right, Mrs. L," agreed Clyde, joining Lisa's side. "Say, can I have one of those guns?"

Gerald looked at Rita, who shrugged indifferently. "Sure, why not," he said. "There's plenty in the Omnitank. Only, we'd prefer you stay here in the tank. We don't have armor small enough for you."

"Don't worry about that, Gerald," announced Lisa with pride. "We've got synthetic armor on."

Gerald raised a brow. "Now that's a much better solution than mass-producing dolls if there ever was one."

"That isn't the intent, moron," sighed Lisa. "We get in, and we get out. Then, we destroy these suits and the doll research so nobody can ever copy them. Got it?"

"Got it!" Gerald barked, saluting Lisa. "Now, let's go get my daughter."