June 4th, 2030
Act II, Blood Ties, Chapter V
Project Link
Link-A: Clone No. 1
DNA Source: Lincoln Loud
Breed date: March 16th, 2030
Status: Active/Healthy
Subject has grown at an accelerated rate just as predicted, advancing at four years per month, growth halted to stabilize its age at eleven years old via shock treatment, successfully decreasing the speed at a normal, precedented rate.
Clone No. 1 is the opposite gender as the original subject, just as the outcome predicted. SCX chip implanted in clone's head has confirmed for success, but the clone has taken cranium damage post-discovery-
Lisa had to edit the last part before she had went off, and then decided to fuck it and went off, evacuating the Black Network. She'd finish it when she was on her private estate, on another side of the world. Link-A, the female, young clone of the bloodthirsty Lincoln Loud, was soon wandering about after her check-up. The diagnosis stated that she was well and good, and Shepherd was careful enough to know that the clone would possibly throw a fit, so he backed himself with the special Black Network guards whom fortified the place.
"Ha... Hahaha... Haha..." Link-A was cackling insanely that same minute when she came off of the strapping table, stretching her limbs and twisting her head. Her blue eyes circled around before centering at the middle-aged new boss of the Network and the security force around him. "Oh, I surrender!"
"L-Link-A..." Shepherd struggled to talk. "Good day to you-"
The clone pointed at him, shaking her hand. "I remember now, my man! It was you who got me-" She held her head with both her hands, gasping loudly. "Ohhhhh, there is a real ringing in my head, AGH! Make it stop!"
The monitor came alive without warning, hissing with white noise as an echoing, warped voice Like hers played within the static. "Stop this! It hurts... It hurts so much! Hahahahaha, it hurts, it hurts like stepping on Legos! Kill! Kill! Kill!" And then, Link-A played some guns going off on the flatscreen monitor, translated by the SCX chip. An M60. An M4. MP5. Double barrel thundering about. The screams of random people, and the angry shouting. Orders to go on and fight. Orders to keep themselves together. Then, there was a man's voice. "You wanna know what the worst thing about people is? They'll forget or ignore all the madness in the world, and go on living their lives of perfect illusion. They are, and always will be at fault for never helping each other when they so desperately need it. In other words-"
"ALL HUMANS ARE IMMORAL, SELFLESS AND IGNORANT!" Link-A ideally threw onto her audience, opening her arms wide. "Thank you, thank you! You're too kind! Mwuah!" She blew kisses at them before flipping them off, cynically chuckling at them.
The one punch Shepherd delivered onto her was enough for the chip to come loose enough to be dislodged in the wrong part of her brain. What this did was it messed with her wiring, forcing the elevator below the penthouse level. Lisa had left before she could make that a fact, but Shepherd stood there with the paid muscle, somewhat nervous that this clone was insane in a sense. He could definitely tell the clone was off, but not knowing why didn't matter. "Easy..." He tried to calm her to relieve the insanity this girl was displaying.
Link-A started bleeding from her nose, a well-known side effect from the installation of the technology in her body. "Ahh, oh no, what a weeaboo of an embarrassment! I'm not even in love with you old farts." And then, the hostility kicked in. "Now will you please put down the fucking guns before I rip your throats out?!"
Shepherd gulped, visibly sweating. No kill order on the clone, or Lisa would have his head too soon before the proper fortifications were set inside the base. "Please be calm, I will-" He motioned to his men to lower their firearms, which they did slowly. "Okay, no need for violence, miss. We do not wish to fight."
"But I do..." The eleven-year-old genderbent copy licked her lips, bloodthirsty for the corpses in front of her. "Eenie. Meenie. Miney. Mo."
"Now hold on-" Shepherd had tried his best to tame the ravenous beast of straightened white hair, but the clone had come with a package deal of an unstable bloodlust just as bad as the original, if not worse. Link-A came charging at one of the armed guards, jumping right at him and knocking the rifle away. Her teeth were your average size teeth for someone her age, but the brute force built into her made it simply easy for her to get a kill using her deathly bite as they had all come to realize. Link-A was adamant, willful and monstrously determined to follow those primal instincts wired into her brain, with her system being reduced into nothing but a machine that was bred to kill.
This was the Project Link's first clone at work, having been programmed on default to be a mean, lean murder machine. A toy with the deadly characteristics and traits as the once-Freight Lincoln Loud, made to be a bodyguard for the Black Network in the meantime, and definitely for the inevitable fight that was coming their way. The girl chewed and tore the guard a gaping, bloody wound made undoubtedly fatal. She chewed on the meat in between her teeth for a bit, blood squirting about through her teeth and past her lips, trickling down. Then, she spit the chunk of human flesh from her mouth and continued to jab her fingers into the dying guard's flesh wound to make it faster yet painful. And she killed him away while laughing just like the insane girl clone she had graduated to be. "Yum, yum, yum! Who's fucking next?"
"Cease and desist, Link-A! We are not your enemies!" Shepherd pushed, backing away. "Do not dare to defy your creators!"
"Link-A. Link-B. Link-C. Link-D. Link-N. These are all the tools of war you maggots wish to throw into the personal Vial Corp versus Patriot Division scuffle!" The computer hissed violent static and broken beeping noises as the painfully warping sound of her electronic voice filled the room. "These are the clones, and I, being the first clone, will not be a part of your agenda! I'm to kill all of you- and then I'll have me some pizza right after!"
"What are you proposing?" Shepherd wondered, raising an eyebrow with some stunning curiosity. Maybe he could work her up so that she fell completely under their control. "Hmph, say you do as you will, and you escape. Then what?"
Link-A rushed him and had him pinned to the wall with an elbow. "What do you mean, then what? Then, I-"
"Is the world-" Link-A pressed harder on his throat, enabling it a challenge to speak for him. "-Deserving of two Lincoln Louds?"
Her cold blue eyes, full of hatred, widened with grief. "Two? Two Lincoln Louds?!"
"Oh, yeah! You should know by now that he's still alive!" Shepherd dropped. "I know you know what I'm talking about when I say the world cannot have two monsters of equal- HRRRRK!"
She triggered easily, tightening her elbow on him when only after she had released some of that force. When he turned the disturbingly hot red, as shown on his face, she didn't stop for jack shit. If there wasn't a motive to hate something, now had been the time for it. Lincoln Loud, the force of nature, and the person she wasn't, and could never be, was far away, somewhere in the world. Him, and the five sisters he was involuntarily backed with.
Link-A's genetic source was acquired through Lincoln's blood, at a hospital in the heart of the United States. Clyde McBride had placed him there underneath a false name and record, but Lisa had been the one to know of his whereabouts, and snuck out enough of his blood to store it in the event should Lisa find herself cornered by a secret party trying to get to her and all of which she had. This mean that for Link-A, the clone would not have memories of anything past the death of the Freights, and this could have been played out to think she was Lincoln Loud. The story they'd settle for was where Lisa had uploaded the real Lincoln's consciousness into their high-grade technology, and from there they inserted that into the host body they created for him. That body being to that of a girl, a failure they had to sell to her no matter how many times the clone would hate it. A perfect deception ruined by the one and only key fact; Lisa made it so that the clone could wield the power of a powerful piece of hardware able to cripple any infrastructure, up to perhaps a country if she played her cards right. The possible instigator to World War III was none other, and could be no other, than her.
Right that second, Link-A was accessing the four other files of her clone siblings, bleeding more than enough of her fair share of blood.
Link-B: Clone No 2.
DNA Source: Lincoln Loud/Luan Loud
Breed Date: March 16th, 2030
Status: Currently In Stasis
Subject continues to grow at a rapidly exponential rate, marked for a scheduled release in mid-August, the estimated age in where Link-B would reach be in its prime age and physicality. Clone contains the superhuman genetics of Lincoln Loud, but the memories and traits of Luan Loud have been carried over to create a relentless killing machine. If need be, Calantine X will be the counteract to any resistance the clone may show.
Clone is a confirmed female specimen with lighter brown hair as of May 2nd, 2030.
"Female clone of..." Link-A had her eyes closed, mind locked to the virtual file. "A Lincoln/Luan fusion... Luan... Luan..." She smirked at the joke. "How could I ever forget?"
Link-C: Clone No 3.
DNA Source: Lincoln Loud/Lynn Loud
Breed Date: March 16th, 2030
Status: Currently In Stasis
Subject is growing at rapid pace as Link-B, with the release set for mid-August as well, but I will be running more tests to conclude the best time to bring Link-C out under the Network. Just like Link-B, clone possesses AZ-132 for the initial design, but for the clone, Lynn Loud's personality and memories outbid Lincoln Loud's own. As of now, it had come to my utmost attention that Lynn has somehow acquired 165, and no such report of a break-in has come to my attention before this, apart from that one time four years ago. This means that the clone will not be gifted speed abilities, but the secondhand knowledge of the FBI agent will prove to make Link-C dangerous with firearms, and with all of her inherited memories.
Clone is also a female.
Next one.
Link-D: Clone No. 4
DNA Source: Lincoln Loud/Lucy Loud
Link-A stopped. "Lucy?!" The last they've all known, Lucy had been killed in the fire. "What the macaroni and cheese?!"
Maybe it had been that Lisa had Lucy's strands before the fire. Maybe that was it, a reasonably logical conclusion.
Shepherd pushed Link-A away when it had been deemed to do so, and the clone was still lost in her mind, still accessing the files. He denied the men to attack and detain her, wondering what her next move would be. Maybe he succeeded to plant the dangerous idea of two devils taking up space. Maybe, and in their favor, the clone would go and fight Lincoln, and the very least. Fight to prove victorious with his head on a silver platter, an advantageous pro for everyone here.
"Ha. Ha! Why, wouldn't it be funny if she was alive all this time?!" Link-A flopped her arms around. "And don't even cheat, you old man! I'm gonna-!" She furthered her reading before she could finish.
Breed Date: March 16th, 2030
Status: Currently In Stasis
"Oh, same day creations for all three, huh? At no doubt the last one will also be-"
"What are you even-?" Shepherd had finally asked of her, wondering what it was that distracted the unstable clone. "What is going on?"
"Sir?" One of the armed guards waited for the confirmation order to take her down.
"No, no! I want this girl unharmed, I said!"
Link-A fell on her back, making a snow angel as she continued to bleed from her nose and ears now, but she didn't remotely care. "It stings just a little," she confessed, eyeing the cement ceiling, and then placed a hand on where she thought the penis was; there was no penis for her to feel, and in its place was a vagina, two closed flaps where a male's genitalia was made to penetrate. "Oh my God, fucking science!"
She had everything similar to Lincoln. His traits, personality, and those inhuman characteristics unsuitable for anyone alive in ever. His hair color, eye color, and even the skin tone was just the same. The differences were too few, apart from the obvious ones of her being the opposite gender, no scar on her forehead, and- Well, she had to think about that some more, but what was now certain was her own sexuality; a preference for women, and that automatically made her a lesbian, in a sorta sense. Link-A, the eleven-year-old with some bloodlust snd maybe an impractical sex drive, which no one had known or discovered as of yet.
Similar, yet a whole new version deviating from Lincoln's main had been made the very second she received that punch. Who knows what it could have been? Maybe an accident, or a destined event delivered by the hand of the unpredictable and balanced fate.
Equal to the growth rates of B and C, this particular clone is healthy for itself, but it seems with this one that Lincoln's DNA was too overpowering for that of Lucy's, a perfect outcome on its own accord. No telling what Lucy has been experiencing in terms of life, for I have been unsuccessful in finding her after it had been revealed she was alive, and I-
"Lucy must be boring, then!" Link-A retorted with humor.
The clone has been confirmed to have white hair, another comparable detail to Link-A. It is essential to note that, considering Link-D, a female as well, carries the Lincoln Loud essence and the 132 serum, which could prove it to be the strongest of all the first four clones, even stronger than Link-A. Cautionary countermeasures are mandatory around this clone when it emerges.
"Stronger?! Stronger than me?!" Link-A was drastically challenged, seeking an establishing of dominance without thinking. "I think the fuck not! Release the clones! Woooo!"
"What?!" Shepherd found reason to be alarmed. "No, don't you do that now! Men, get to the chambers!"
But the crazed clone was already virtually accessing through the Black Network infrastructure, scanning through the projects. She figured she could remotely open the chambers where the others were still in stasis mode. It was time to wake them all up before they could reach their prime, and Link-A was going to keep the fight fair.
The first four clones, with the latter three being half-Lincoln, and half someone else of the original Loud sisters Luan, Lynn and Lucy. Now, before Link-A could even see the last one, she went through the archive of projects, finding only three of them; Project Superior, Project Link, and-
Project Wolverine
"Oh, whoa! What's this?" Linka smirked, blinking idly.
Shepherd and the Black Network goons were gone by then, having retreated to the Project Link chambers. Meanwhile, she was reading on.
Gathered from three different incidents, outcomes from the campaign Lincoln Loud partook against the Freights, I have been able to save four Freights from the brink of death in secrecy. These in question are as follows; Dana Hall, Cristina McAlister, Fiona Ryder, and-
For the last name, Link-A gasped with a heatwave of hatred coming over her.
-Lori Loud.
"WHAT THE FUCK?! YO, HOLY SHIT!" More and more unpredictable, surprising news she could not handle. Lori and three other Freights were still alive, much to her anger. Then, that means Lincoln failed? No, that can't be! Lisa, how fucking dare you bring them back! WHY IS THIS-?
For these four, formula 142, the wolverine formula, proved successful enough to regenerate and mutate them into terrifying wolf-human hybrids, a grand accomplishment and milestone for my science if I do say so myself. At first, they have emerged with no memory of who they were, but have displayed beastly tendencies just like the real thing, but it took a few weeks to readjust them back into "society", which really means that the four have slowly been caught up on current events, and present a hatred for Lincoln Loud. With this-
She shut it off, and then decided to move all files into the trash bin, disregarding it and denying everyone else access to these files if there'd been anyone who didn't get to see them. Fuck them. And in the midst of the deletion process, it slipped that she had never taken a look into the Link-N file. "Aw, shit! Oops!" She let out an innocent giggle, and then remotely activated all the clone chambers, even N's own. We'll let that one be a surprise at the end! Hey, can I break the fourth wall yet?!
In the room that housed the golden chambers, Shepherd stood closer to them, with the armed men in tight armor and assault rifles lined up behind him, side by side. And just as he had been afraid of, the other four have begun to open up with a hissing noise forming, and even worse, Link-A messed with the lights above, submerging them into total darkness. "Stand your ground!"
On the intercom, the first clone in the black spandex suit took over the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Black Network superstore, please do not be alarmed by the unveiling of our newest products, the clones B, C, D and N! Presentiiiiiiiing my sisters! Please give them a warm, peacock welcome!"
"Do not break formation-" A being rapidly rammed into Shepherd, knocking him down fairly easily. "THEY'VE BROKEN THROUGH! FIRE ABOVE! DO NOT LET THEM BREAK-"
Link-D, a teenaged girl with short, wavy white hair in the skin-tight black spandex suit, came shoving her fists around the guards she'd been able to strike, throwing them around like crazy.
"OVER HERE-" One guard cried.
"Get the backup generator working!" Another shrieked.
While a fight was breaking out during this orchestrated blackout, Link-A was frolicking along like a happy schoolgirl, hopping her way to the Link clone chamber room. She was humming Camptown Races while listening to a YouTube video of a performance play audibly in the semi-comfort of her mind. At this point, she had no literal idea what she was even trying to accomplish, nor did she give it some logical thought. The lights came back on the moment she had arrived at the room, where she found Link-D going for some brutal beatdowns. This one, just like B and C, had no idea where they were or what this was.
Link-B, bearing close resemblance to Luan in appearance, took cover behind her chamber, afraid of the big bsd wolves with their weapons drawn around the attacking albino. Link-C was on the fritz, indecisive about whether to fight or to remain a spectator. It was her signature Lynn-based sense of justice that compelled her to stop... Which party? Which one of them was the good and bad guy here? "Hey!" She had Lynn's teenage voice, only a slightly lower voice that went along with that. "Girl, what the actual hell are you doing?!"
The guards tried to pull Link-D off while Shepherd got up and eyed C. "Hey, move away!" He warned the Lynn clone. "Do not move!"
Link-A shoved her way through the sea of guards, shoving her shoulders into them like she was playing football and plowing through them. When she got close enough to strike Link-D, she did so and kicked away at her, sending her sliding into Link-C's feet, which stopped her as well. "Hi, I'm gobna end you before..." Link-A recalled where she had left off. After triumphing over this older clone, she'd go to the four Freights- and she didn't even bother to check on them. "Oops."
Link-D looked up at the Lynn clone and gasped. "Lynn? Is that you?" Link-D proved to have a sweeter voice that wasn't as ominous or raspy-deep as Lucy's, which threw off and confused Link-C. "It can't be... You look like Lynn-"
"Are you-?" The Lynn clone has raised a hand to help Link-D up, but when she inspected her hands, she was in for the shock of her life, finding smaller hands where they should have been adult-sized. Bot only that, but her voice sounded different. What was this? And who was this white-haired girl in the same suit she was wearing? Looking around, C noticed B trembling and cowering in fear from the dangerous men.
Link-A cracked her knuckles, smiling and chuckling as she stopped at Link-D's feet. "Lucy, I'm home!"
Link-D reacted to the name, and searched herself by patting her suit. No weapons or sorcery was placed on her, an odd and nakedly perilous play for her. "Shit! Who are you, and what do you want with me?"
Link-C looked on. But... Why did she respond to Lucy's name? Lucy is dead...?
"I'm going to kill you, tehe!" Link-A picked up a rifle and aimed at the clone, and all the room had fallen silent up to here. The guards had stopped freaking out, and James Shepherd was reduced to a dumbfounded, baffled person who had lost control of his assets just as fast as he had gotten control. Great spokesperson and life advisor, but a terrible puppet to actually play the role. All he did was read from a script and follow Lisa's directions, never anything more than that.
And just when Link-A was about to pull the trigger and blow the other albino away, just before Link-C could make up her mind, and fend off A with a daring, ballsy attack, the four wolf-like beasts had arrived and made the entire environment stop dead in one fell swoop. Link-A was denied her unnecessary kill, rifle snatched away from her by one of these so-called Wolverines Lisa had labeled them. "Hey, no! Fuck you! Fuck you and let of my baby girl!" Link-A held onto the rifle, but was taken a foot off the ground, legs wiggling around. "Hairy fuckface! Oh, wait! Which Freight are you?"
Lori wasn't eager to change back, so she instead roared into the clone's face, sending saliva and bad breath to stain A.
"Got it," Link-A joked, squinting painfully. "Ew." She let go, falling on her ass to wipe away the nasty wolf spit off her eyes.
"Ah!" Shepherd could not be more happy or thrilled for their appearance. "Thank you, ladies!"
Link-D closed her eyes and began chanting away what the rest of the folk in the room believed was gibberish at first. Upon opening her cold blue eyes, the Lucy clone began frantically waving her hands as if she had developed a sort of seizure- and things kicked up a notch when two of the four Wolverine beings were thrown into the wall. "Lucy" had activated telekinesis, a call made when it seemed she had been cornered, and had been a last resort when heavily cornered without any of her toys. Now, Link-D had upgraded its own status as a weapon, knocking down both terrifying monster she labeled a demon, and the guards here she presumed to be under some sort of trance. This did not explain the Lynn lookalike behind her, but the clone planned to take her. "Come on!"
"Not without her!" Link-C pointed to the hidden Link-B when "Lucy" grabbed her hand.
Link-A wiped her bloody nose that was becoming dry already, and then licked the blood off her hand, feeling a challenge coming up. So this was what the file had referred to when stating that D could beat A. D. A. "Telekinesis?! Are you fucking me in the ass right now?!"
Link-D flung two of the Wolverine beings right over Link-A, preventing her from getting back up. "Stay down!" She turned to B and C. "You two, with me!"
"Right!" Link-C grabbed a rifle abandoned on the floor and centered it on the guards, only that Link-D had it under control by then, to which she lowered the weapon and raced to the exit. "Covering!"
Uhhh... "Lucy" didn't know what she was dealing with, regarding that Lynn lookalike. "Hey, you..."
Link-B let out a whimper and hid further back. "No, you guys... You guys are all scary." That voice was nothing short of Luan's own by sound, and it gave Link-D a case of painful deja vu. No, it gave both her and C a trip down memory lane. To deny themselves that this girl with light-brown hair set in a ponytail, and that they missed her, due to them having the memories of the three girls cut before the rise and formation of the Loud Patriots. "Go away..."
"Lucy" extended an arm out to B's direction, and then yanked it back to snag the latter from her hiding place. "You're coming with us! Lynn, be careful with that gun!"
"It's a goddamn rifle!" Link-C sputtered. "And who are you even?! You sound like Lucy, but Lucy died in the fire!"
"Bullshit!" Link-D bellowed to counter. "I survived it!"
One of the wolf-like beasts rolled back over onto its feet, snarling and drooling at the sight of Link-D. "What power did they put in you?" It went, growling lowly at the clones. "Compliance is mandatory."
"Take them alive!" Shepherd guided the Wolverine. "End it quick!"
Link-D was soon carrying the Luan clone in her arms, having the strength to take her away from there. Link-A couldn't help herself but clap and laugh until she wheezed uncontrollably, for the outcome had gone terribly awry and in such an amusing way at the same time. "Yes, that's right! Prove yourself to be a challenge so that I can find a tough way to defeat you!"
Link-C fired at the standing creature in the way of the other two clones, letting the bullets fly in bursts of three. "Hey, dance with me, you hairy mutt!"
"Grauggggggghhhhhg!" She attracted the six-foot beast fairly easily, but kept firing away until she had run dry out of ammunition from the magazine. And the beast had closed in by charging at the clone, performing an outstanding leap when their spacing distance was about less than five feet. "Mine!"
"Lynn" gulped, dropping the rifle and crouching quickly to the left- but not before the fierce creature landed its sharp claws onto her back, scratching away at the spandex suit and the clone's skin. She screamed in agony right before she had fallen and slumped over on her stomach. Before she could get up, the clone was pinned down, her legs being stepped on by the superior foe she was subconsciously curious about. These weird guards, and now four creatures straight out of the supernatural underworld. So many questions were adding to the infinite queue, but the survival instinct kicked in, the one real priority at the moment. All she had known was that this was no Bureau department.
Link-D dropped B out of her arms the second they got out of the room, and the Luan clone was directed to the clear end of the hall by the second albino clone. "Go and don't look back!" Link-D directed her place in the fight to the Wolverine taking care of Link-C, letting her gift run rampant on it. Her fingers pointed at it, both hands locking onto the legs of the tall, humanoid wolf. When she moved them downwards, the creature was violently dragged onto the cement floor, with its claws scratching against the floor to regain its stature.
Link-B rubbed her hands nervously, shifting her head from Link-D to the otherwise empty side of the hallway. "Wait, what- What about you? And how are you-?!"
"GO, LUAN!" Link-D screamed to the top of her lungs. "GET OUT OF HERE!" She was slower to move and act on account of there being people at risk, and in this case, "Luan" and "Lynn" were caught behind the crossfire of this warped, possibly threeway battle. Her, an intermediate user of magical arts, both light and dark. Either way, she was here fighting four creatures and possssed guards, she'd imagine, all under the controlled and willing influence of the one truly sadistica, evil entity Lucy had been trying to track down for some long, hard and blood-soaked years. And for the life of her, she didn't know how she got here, or what she was doing prior to this. Things were so confusing in quite the dizziest way possible. And for all she knew, Mister Madness, the ghoul in a mask and cloak, was responsible for these lookalikes of two of her sisters, and that white-haired crazy girl whose very laughs even echoed past the room and made their way into Link-D's brain for her to memorize. So then, maybe the right call was to destroy these apparitions, failed copies of her two sisters.
"Cease the fighting!" Link-A took over the intercom yet again. "Let's take a gander at ourselves and call it a draw!"
Link-D kept the Wolverine attacking Link-C down to the bone, but another one had gotten up and tackled her, shoving her hard to the wall, taking control of her arms. "FUCK OFF!"
"Stay the fraaaaaaugggggghhhhh still!" Its large, furry arms were a challenge to squirm out of, especially when the large finger-claws poked at Link-D's skin and inserted deep enough to make her bleed. "Stop moving and surrender... Or bleed further!" Its deep, rusty voice had gone quiet to Link-D's ear range, a deadly promise that she got the impression the beast would not be reluctant to carry out. For a second, she had given up from trying to escape the wrath of the humanoid canine experiment, tricking the brute animal into lowering its guard. "Excellent."
The next second, Link-D turned around on it and redirected her hands to the creature's face, applying a hellish amount of pressurized force right into its face. It was like a train had rammed into it; the head had exploded like nothing. Bloody chunks of meat and bone fragments blew back, aimed at Link-B's direction. Couldn't blame her, she was too stiff to even run at the heart-pounding moment. Her face and black suit became stained with dark blood and bits of the creature's flesh and bones, and she wiped and smeared her face fearfully and frantically.
It was disturbing and too grotesque for her to handle, and then some horrifyingly gory sights popped up into mind. Her, as Luan, sprinted around, shoving kitchen knives into people. Random folks who screamed, squirmed until they'd stop breathing their last breaths. That taste of blood, the need to inject people with the sharp, flat metal was all coming back, almost like second nature. Maybe it was like that the whole time, and Link-B was only just beginning her transformation to that murderous side of Luan, bringing out the intended killer clone Lisa estimated to create. And then, "Luan" was laughing cynically, mouth wide open, eyes straining away, the green eyes on her becoming a bloodshot red that established a morally destroyed psychopath just as loony and dangerous as the original. All because the perfect kill Link-D performed had reminded her what it was like to be that maniac again. "That was exquisitely brutal!"
"Huh?" Link-D lowered her hands once breaking them away from the loose grip of the humanoid wolf's body that stumbled to the side. She interpreted it as the true nature of Link-B, one of the many hostiles in the base.
The Wolverine handling Link-C had witnessed the death of one of its own, turning its attention to Link-D "NO! DANA!"
D-Dana? Link-D had believed she misheard it. Who the hell-?
Link-A came out, dual-wielding two assault rifles and pointed them at the Wolverine who advanced to Link-D's direction, halting only when Link-A fired the rounds at its feet. "That's enough! We'll settle for a rematch one day, but the Black Network would like its assets to not kill each other today!"
"Black- Black Network?" Link-D repeated. "What the fuck is that, huh? And who are you?"
"We're all friends, here," the first clone assured her with that broken, sadistic smile she kept. "I'm gonna drop these babies, so no need to be alarmed! You and the other two clones will not receive further harm-"
"C-clones?!" Link-D only brought upon more confusion through her front doors. "What are you prattling on about? I'm not a-"
"Link-A. Link-B. Link-C. Link-D. Link-N. These are all the tools of war you maggots wish to throw into the personal Vial Corp versus Patriot Division scuffle!"
"What is that?" Link-D looked above to the ceiling, scouting the intercom layout.
Link-C took a daring step upwards, twitching in pain from the claw scratches.
"Link-A. Link-B. Link-C. Link-D. Link-N. These are all the tools of war you maggots wish to throw into the personal Vial Corp versus Patriot Division scuffle!" Link-A handled the rundown for the three, looping the message on repeat a few times before stopping.
The three creatures of the Project Wolverine regrouped at the corpse of the dead one Link-D had taken, forcing her to retreat back with Link-B. "Why didn't you leave?" The albino asked "Luan."
"You can take them!" Link-B had decided, switching around her personality all of a sudden, odd for Link-D to consider. She thought this lookalike was definitely a for, but the furry beasts had attacked "Lynn" so there could not have been an allegiance with Mister Madness for these lookalikes. "Right? I've seen you just-"
"Stay behind me!" the Lucy clone commanded.
"I need a knife!" exclaimed the clone, "It's the only way I can kill!"
Link-A dropped the rifles and raised her hands at them, featuring both parties to stop. "Come on, there's no longer any need to kill each other! D! B! C! Stand the fuck down!"
"Kill?! Why do you want to kill?!" Link-D turned it around on the Luan clone and guided her away to the far end. "Sorry Luan, but you're outta the big girl fight."
"AW, COME ON!" Link-B slid away, leaving the scene thanks to the telekinetic clone.
The three carnivorous beasts closes in on Link-D, challenging her to either surrender or continue her death wish crusade. She had just killed one of their own, so of course she'd be seen as a top, main threat right at this point.
They had forgotten about the wounded Lynn clone, who was stumbling about with Link-A approaching her with a curvy, blood-craving smile. "I come in peace, sporty."
"Who are you?" asked the lost clone, "And who are they? What's going on?!"
Link-A delivered a knockout blow once getting too close to Link-C and threw the clone over her shoulders. She gave it quite some thought after being asked the first question. Link-A. Designated Link-A of the five-part Project Link. Link-A wasn't gonna cut it forever, but a real name would. Link-A, the clone of Lincoln Loud. And then there was the opening of Linka. Not Link-A, but rather Linka, pronounced differently. Linkuh! I like the sound of that... Tehehehe, maybe my big sisters all need names, too!
One of the beasts looked to Linka, snarling away at her as if it had some personal beef with her. This one had to be Lori for sure, surmised by the Lincoln clone. In turn, the white haired girl returned a freaky-wide grin and stuck her tongue out, mocking Lori directly. "Raughhhh..."
"You fucking suck!" Linka poked, "Let me have a try! Here, you take..." She paused and tilted her head to the clone she was carrying now. "Uhhh..." C! An L name that contains a C! Lucinda. Lucia. Lucianda... Lacey? She had it now. HUZZAH! IT SHALL BE LACY WITH FOUR LETTERS, INDEED! "Take Luh-Luh-Lacy and keep an eye on her!"
She dumped the unconscious Lynn clone at Wolverine-Lori and swiftly moved around the clutter of canine humanoids, leaping over the body of their fourth fallen member. Good! One less upgraded Freight to take care of later... Linka expressed no sympathy in that moment she laid eyes on the large furry, beastly body. Her feet, protected by the onesie spandex suit she had on, had its limit and let the thick blood enter through it when she made a kiddie splash on the middle of its dark blood, which also got into her skin and face. "Hey, tighty-whitey," greeted the white-haired clone to her other white-haired sister, the best of them as of yet. "Let bygones be bygones, yeah? Pffft, I know, I know, you don't even have to say it, but I did totally try and kill you-"
Link-D wasn't lowering her guard for shit, bringing only Link-A up in the air and to her direction. The pure Lincoln clone was set in a T pose, arms extended out perfectly flat. And then, "Lucy" was letting the little girl have it, invisibly siphoning the blood out of her through her nose, ears, and even her own eyes. "Die."
Link-A was twitching, almost a breakdancing scenario happening randomly. Her tongue came out, licking away at the dripping blood. She laughed and yet she winced and whimpered for the pain was irritable and uncomfortable. It was like a rabid itch in a place she could not be able to scratch away without harming herself to get to it, first. "NO, I CAN'T EVEN SCRATCH MY BRAIN-!" Her laughed kicked off to a higher, uncontrollable degree. "I'LL CALL YOU LIDA! OR MAYBE LADY! OR MAYBE LU- PAUGHHHHHH!" The bloodied-up clone shook her head violently, sending all the blood from her face away. "LUPA?! LUPA! A NAME MADE FROM YOUR VIOLENCE! YES, WE CAN WORK WITH-!"
Link-D shut the girl's trap shut and slammed her entire body into the wall with a motion of her hand only. This left a wound on Link-A's forehead and left her out cold. Then, she immediately struck again at the three Wolverines who had kept themselves frozen under the orders of the first clone. This clone, who was still somewhat loyal to the Black Network, despite having caused this bullshit to begin with. Someone was totally going to get fucked today when the whole calamity had reached its point of tranquility, but not either of the three entering clones. Link-D helped "Lynn" up, having decided in full hundred percent that the three of them were not allies of these miscreant abominations. Whatever had happened to Lynn and Luan, if these were the real deal, "Lucy" would resolve this the way she knew how to.
"AFTER THEM!" came the roar of a beast.
Link-D, now dubbed Lupa by Linka, had Lacy fly over her head- and Lupa hooked on, using her as a ride away from the horde of monsters. "WE'LL BE BACK FOR YOU ALL!"
"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!" Wolverine-Lori bellowed to her two Freight buddies, dropping on all fours to begin her stampeding charge. "CLONES!"
Link-D and Link-C had heard the final word the humanoid mutt had howled throughout the hall. Clones. There's that word again... Clones...
Wolverine-Lori and her dog buddies were outpaced by Lupa, and slowed down after half a mile worth of heavy running. Shepherd had woken up at this point and dove out of the room, echoing the only command that mattered. "DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU CAPTURE THEM! IF THEY FALL IN THE HANDS OF THE PATRIOTS, WE WILL LOSE OUR WILDCARD!"
Lupa and Lacy had gone too far, and to add insult to injury, Linka's subconscious state had been linked with the SCX chip, making it to act by itself even while she was not active. And it took over the intercom, thoughtlessly guiding the clones out of the Network. "I surely hope you don't go left! No, I'm kidding! Left! Then another left, and right! Oh no, I'm- Hahaha- Oh, they're so gonna kill me! Aw, shit."
"LINK-A, YOU STOP THIS RIGHT-" Shepherd found the knocked-out girl slumped over on her side, blood smearing most of her face. "What the-?"
Link-B had rolled back up and stretched her body when Lacy and Lupa came floating past her head. "HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!"
"We're getting out of here!" Lupa hissed at her, dragging the Luan clone with her. "Feet up!"
"Where are we going?!" Lacy went, "I have to report this to my department!"
"Report-" Lupa had no idea what she even meant by that, but it was not her to know of what Lynn's life was. Later on she would ask them both about it, while keeping to herself the secrets of her supernaturally-involved life away from the main world. There had been still much to gather in all angles, but now was the time to act rather than gain. "Later!"
"And- Hey, won't you put me down already!? This feels so weird!" Lacy wobbled her arms while she sailed high with Lupa steering her.
"You can say that again!" Link-B wheezed.
They had been no longer chased by the furry creatures behind them, the three of them which had stopped halfway, finding it futile to get them back now that they were likely to be long gone. And then the beasts turned back just as Linka awoke with a slap on her face, courtesy of the Black Network's new leader in charge. "Wuzzit?"
"What incompetence I have received from you!" Shepherd berated, his meaty face going a dangerously burning red. Linka could barely see steam coming out of his ears, but maybe it was just a hallucination of a mind trick that played her. "This simply will not do, Link-A!"
"Aw, come on, my dude!" Linka threw her arms up with no care in the world. "I think we should have this much fun! Let the others run away-"
"Are you serious?!" He fumed heavily at this point. "We need them to protect the Network just as we need you! You, them, and-"
Linka pushed herself upwards and locked her tiny hands at Shepherd's shirt, dragging him down to her height. "And the Freights? Has Lisa truly dared to resurrect and recycle those weaklings?"
"You watch your flipping tongue, clone..." Wolverine-Lori, still perfecting her ability to hone her transforming capabilities, struggled to switch back, as did Cristina and Fiona. The reforming of their bodies was painful and stinging to no end, but soon they would come to get over it when they've done it more than enough times for it to become second nature. It took about roughly fifteen seconds for the three women to return to their base human form, and in their birthday suits as well. They covered their chests, shivering a little due to the cold, despite them being mostly cold-blooded pheno beings. "Don't even gawk at us, you pervert!" Lori moaned at the middle-aged honcho. "I don't need this, we're going back to our rooms!"
"Hey, what about the clones?!" Such insolence could not be tolerated here. "This is insubordination! You owe it to Lisa to track the clones down, and that will be what you three will do-"
"Four!" The seemingly dead body of Dana had already started its regenerative process. She leaned up while her head, the bare skull, had already formed in place, followed by the flesh that slowly grew back. "I am not out of the count just yet." The fleshy jaws moved as if she were a puppet being controlled by a hand, and it was a real creepy scene for Sheperd to gaze at, especially when the fucking eyeballs weren't even there, only a pair of empty sockets that had yet to regenerate Dana's pair of peepers. How she was able to hear without having her ears back, he did not fathom.
"Jesus..." Shepherd visibly squirmed, coughing to look away. "Get her and Link-A to med bay. And then I want the four of you to go on a search for the clones, damn it."
Cristina and Fiona moved and picked up Dana, placing her arms around their necks and advanced to the medical bay while Lori seized girl Lincoln with her hands behind her back. "Let's go, you little troublemaker."
"Don't you dare touch me, you pretentious coward," Linka retorted angrily, "Just you wait, I will be the one! I will be the one to finish what he failed to do!"
Lori narrowed her eyes and then looked down at the little girl, and away from her. Right, it was true, this clone had all the right memories to make herself an automatic enemy of Lori Loud. She worked with them, on the same damn side, so she didn't have to be. The damn sister of hers made it so Link-A could access everything just as easy as one two three. Lori, already having disliked who the close took after and resembled, found more fuel to the flame this way. If it were up to her, she'd easily kill the clone and throw the body in a dumpster for all that it was worth, the damn closest thing there was to killing Lincoln, the one man who was able to kill her and her friends. The one brother who had succeeded in doing so once, but now the playing field was set evenly.
Both parties had super-powered phenos on each side, the inevitable battle marked for a future date. Lori versus Lincoln again, a rematch where Lori believed she could wind up beating him this time, a turning of the tide. They didn't need the clones, not even Link-A. And not even the-
Lori's blue eyes widened in shock, face rotating back to the chamber room. "Hey, wasn't there a fifth one?"
Linka dropped her jaw, gasping aloud. "Whaaaaaaaat? I can't believe I have the audacity to forget!" Peeking into the room, scattered with the unconscious battalion of guards and automatics, Linka went to the chambers in the center. "I could have sworn I opened them all!"
"Oh, no, don't you even think-" Shepherd and naked Lori followed Linka, seeing that all golden chambers had indeed been opened, and yet, no one was in view.
Then, Lori picked up on a sound, raising her pointing hand to the chamber Link-N behind. "That one is hiding behind its own-"
Linka looked back at them, then made a slow advance forward. "Hey, you're among friends..." She told the hidden Link-N. "Come on out, it will be alright. I promise I won't kill-"
The sound of a rifle cocking back rang out, echoing in the ears of the three. Lori made a step forward, but Linka held out a hand. "What are you-?"
And peering from behind the large cylinder chamber, a figure of six feet and white hair emerged, pointing an aiming the weapon they had picked up. Lori was in a hardened state of shock, arms falling down to her sides when her eyes came into contact with the fifth clone. Shepherd simply raised an eyebrow, reevaluating what he knew of the clones, and Linka just snorted, arms pressed on her chest. The game had become more of a crazy-filled board game at this point, proving that all factors were taken into consideration in Lisa's extensive mind.
This clone was a teenage version of Lincoln Loud. Right gender, right hairstyle, and even the perfectly cold blue eyes that placed Lori into Freight flashbacks the second she had seen him. Him. Link-N. Lincoln. Now, they had all understood the subject name's true meaning. The perfect clone, and infiltration unit Lisa sought to replace the real Lincoln with.
"Good... What is it, afternoon?" Linka greeted. "Link-N, huh? No... How about-?"
Link-N did not lower the weapon, but advanced forward, keeping a deadly eye on Lori.
All while Linka had come up with the perfect name for this clone, the closest to the original. "Leven."
AN: Oh, delays are dreadful, I tell you! Oh, but better late than never! Anyways, boom! The clones have arrived again, and then there's this new one! A little about Leven; he was a Lisacoln brat with an assortment of sci-fi schematics attached to his character, but oh, Leven is a creation by OddCombo, a fellow author around these parts. He revamped the character from scratch, which in turn lets me keep the character of Leven. The second I saw the name, I knew I had to have access to him. Owning him as a pass-down is exceptionally great as it is, so I'm very glad to use him in my image. Of course, I'm also damn certain this fic is the only one to feature Leven, as far as I know. All original credit goes to OddCombo for supplying the character.
Linka has yet to give Liby her name as of yet, but the original trio are now established in the Dawn world. And so has Lori and her three Wolverine members. More to come and develop with everyone around both parties. Next... In another part of the world, we will step into the world of blackmail and scamming, starring Leia and company.