Dawn: Decimation

by Outsider316

Fourteen years after a fire destroys the Loud family, the children, now older, are reunited by a mysterious party that aims to stop a rising threat in the form of Lisa Loud, the genius behind a domestic science division, and are thrown into a world where all choices have consequences. Reiteration of the original 2026 trilogy.

27. Chapter 27

July Something, According To Linka

"Start it! Start the engine!" Linka urged, biting her fingernails in fear. "DADDY'S COMING HOME!"

"Linka-" Carly began.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! LEVEN, LEVEN- TELL ME YOU CAN FIX THIS!"

"Uh, Linka..." Leven tried to speak.

"AGH, I CAN'T EVEN WITH THIS SHIT!" Linka shrieked. "GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY!"

Carly bobbed her head, took a deep sigh and then slapped the albino clone hard on the cheek. "Linka, the car... Is on fire!"

The engine had already been smoking by the time the ride had ended, car only slowly rolling right into a tree after Leven force-steered off the road. Carly and Leven were fast enough to get out of the car before it crashed into the tree, but Linka remained inside for whatever her childish, odd reason it might've been this time. "Hahaha, look at you- All scared of it going boom!"

"Linka, j-just get out of there!" Leven guided. "Quit joking around!'

Linka stuck her hands out. "Wahhh, wahhh! Baby girl needs to be rescued!"

Carly and Leven only gave each other defeated looks- and then sprinted off further down the road to continue escaping the Ungodly Stormbringer.

"WAIT, YOU FUCKING- Okay, I'm coming!" Linka threw herself out of the car- and then came back for the duffel bag of weapons. "How practical of me! Yeah, make them forget to take this so that I lag more! Gee, thanks D, you fucking asshole, you! Guys, wait for the Linka Log!"

---

Act Tree Fiddy: Fucked Into Dankness, Chapter V-agina: The Cunt War

-Linka

---

Lupa had sat in between the two other clones, both of whom had laughed at the idea of being copies of the real Lynn and Luan- but for a joke, the albino clone was dead serious, not breaking face by twitching a smile or wheezing it out. Her whole story- No, experience count from being forced into it by Lisa, to seeing and fighting the pack of Louds alongside a transformed Lori and her own group. The details had seemed too science-fiction for their taste, but Lupa had swore that she was dropping facts rather than creating an original story at the top of her head.

"Wait, wait, wait... Are you being-?" Lacy stammered. "You're messing with us, right? You believed that girl-"

"That girl is right!" Lupa argued. "I saw Lynn- The real Lynn, and I can safely say there's a Luan wandering about somewhere."

"I can't believe you broke your silence now, a few days after you came back," Liby awfully berated. "I don't buy it, I don't believe a single word from you!"

"Why would I lie, Not-Luan?!" Lupa angrily retorted, getting up from the bed, circling the room. "Lisa had me and used you two to blackmail me to fight for her! Look, I found the answers, and I know for a fact Lisa and this place, this faction she called the Black Network- That was where we busted out from- It was them who created us to serve them! It's not a government thing, it's them- It's Lisa up to no good!"

"Lisa ran away all those years ago!" Lacy yelled. "How would she even-?"

"SHE JUST DID, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW OR WHY!" The voice of the Lucy clone echoed about, her voice becoming near close to straining on her. "Agh, fuck-"

"Hey, relax there, Lucy," Lacy dismissed, "we don't want Clemmons to scold us. It ain't pretty."

"I'm not Lucy, you meathead!" Lupa had only decreased her vocal volume, but the aggravation from their apparent slowness had finally sent her to give up. "Know what? Fuck you guys, I'm gonna go .outside! Don't say I didn't warn you when they fucking come for us, and they will! I can feel it!"

The albino raced out of their room with no hesitation, eager to run from the fools so ignorant and humored by her, so much that she had become that specific angry she distinctly recalled back in the time when there was a real Loud family back home. Home, the old house on Franklin Avenue, just a few many streets away from here, and this orphanage was not even that close to town. Lupa needed to clear her head- Her head, which was nothing but stressed out and infected with the deadly disease of discomfort, worry and chattering paranoia that could only do the opposite of tickling her fancy. Down she went, running down the steps of the stairwell, heading outside where the majority of the orphans were seen playing within the perimeter of the place.

The very second Lupa pushes her way out through the wooden doors, she was met with the sunlight- and also happened to be spotted by the very girl clone she met back in the Black Network. She gasped and choked upon the sight of not just Linka, but her, Leven and Carly around Charlotte Clemmons, talking to each other right out of ear range. You've gotta be fucking kidding me!

"Oh, and if there is some food- Like a snack or something, my little sister here would surely appreciate it," Leven sweet-talked to Clemmons.

"Why certainly, my dearies!" Clemmons bent down to Linka's height and pinched her cheeks. "Aren't you just adorable?"

"Oh, em gosh!" Linka toyed around, giggling like a spoiled brat. "Oh, stop it, you!"

Clemmons pulled back and stood up. "Okay, I have a cellphone, it's on my desk inside! Why don't you come with me while these girls can go and play with the other kids here?"

Linka dropped the duffel bag and looked around the place, as did Carly.

"Go on, girls," Leven suggested to the two girls. "Play while I make a call..."

Clemmons led Leven inside- and in doing so, it made him be the first to see a petrified Lupa, designated Link-D, joined in the untimely manner by both the two other clones. Lupa, Lacy and Link-B had never seen Leven before, but the two albinos gave each other deadly, stone expressions that could turn and lead into a quick conflict. Lacy and "Luan" pushed Lupa further outside, completely oblivious to the danger.

"You gonna tell me that was Lincoln, now?" Lacy teased.

"Idiots-!" Lupa tried to conceal herself and her clone sisters by turning them around, away from Linka and Carly. But it had been all but too late.

Linka howled about like a monkey, jumping twice while pointing at them. "LOOK! LOOK, CARLY! IT'S MY BIG SISTERS!"

"Oh, no... No way..." Carly trembled away, remembering how powerful Lupa had appeared to be. "It's that freak clone again."

"Agh, let go!" Lacy slapped Lupa's hand away with the jerking of her shoulder. "If you don't mind, I'd like to leave make-believe land and get my cardio-" She had made a sharp turn, greeted horrifically by the sight of Linka and Carly, and Linka waved her fingers at Lacy harmlessly. "Oh..."

Lupa let Link-B go, and together, the two faced the music as one, coming to face with the first clone and the self-proclaimed death angel. "Shit! You two, no sudden movements!"

"Is- Is she here to kill us?!" Link-B shivered fearfully.

"I'm not gonna fight her," Carly said about Lupa. "And neither should you."

Linka snorted to herself. "Fight? Who says we have to fight each other?"

Carly was gratefully relieved. "Thank you."

Linka immediately bent down and unzipped the duffel bag, drawing out a Colt handgun. "There will be yes killing, however! Hahaha!"

"What-? No! No, Linka!" Carly made a daring attempt to disarm Linka, but the albino magically slipped through the Asian girl, scurrying towards the three. "LINKA!"

"GUN! SHE HAS A-!" Liby pitched out, only for Lupa to perform her gift, waving her left hand once to knock Linka to the floor, and then separated her and the gun with both hands. "OHMYGOD!"

"She's down!" Lupa announced. "Bet she won't try that again."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Carly came running with both hands hovering upward. "She didn't mean to! We- we're not here to-"

Lupa didn't have the patience to listen to the obvious lie Carly spat out, giving her the same treatment as Linka. "Fuck- Fuck! Lynn, Luan, we're leaving!"

"What?!" Lacy protested, "And where are we going to go?!"

"Aghhhhhh!" Carly seethed painfully. "No, we defected from Lisa's organization! Linka, tell them!"

"Buy one Jumbo Jack, get a second one free! Limited time offer, while supplies last!" Linka had gone disoriented enough to catch and broadcast a radio station as if she were a machine. "Only at Jack In The Box."

"Not now!" Carly groaned.

Lupa grabbed her two clone sisters and began escorting them away from Rennis in a panic, eager to get onto the road. "Help a bitch out and run!"

"But I don't wanna-" Link-B looked back and saw Linka getting up, moving right to the dropped firearm. "Going! I'm going!"

Leven had finally returned from making a false call to his father, of which he hoped she would not notice on the call log. Plan here was to simply not cause any suspicion, and now that he was here, he had told her that they'd be meeting aid down the road. Unfortunately. Linka was Linka, and shit happened when it came to Linka. "What on earth-? What the hell did you do, Linka?!"

"She tried to kill them is what happened!" Carly filled in. "This is not how the official introduction between me and those two others played in my mind."

Leven went up to Linka and stopped her before she could lock sights and fire. "Could you be more incompetent?"

"What? Was that not the plan here?" Linka sacrificed her gun over to him, putting her arms right on her hips, swaying her body in a seductive manner. "Momma needs the target practice!"

"Oh no..." Leven went ghost white. "Are- are they going to the road?!"

It took a few seconds for Carly to catch on. "Oooooooh... We should warn them at least."

Leven broke into a run, tucking the gun underneath his clothes, followed by Carly. Linka was slow as could be, taking twenty seconds for her to pick up on the scary realization that Lincoln and the clones were likely to run into each other. "NO, I WON'T LET DADDY KILL MY CLONE SISTERS!"

Lupa, Lacy and Link-B had run as fast as their little legs could endure, which took them far from the orphanage. They came by a border of a plain field and a forest, northbound. This was where they figured to take a rest. "Trees! Hide around the trees!"

"No, use your powers to boost us up there!" Lacy strategized.

"Climb yourself!"

"LUCY!"

"NOT-LYNN!"

Link-B thought she heard faint rustling further into the forest, which aroused her curiosity. Maybe an animal was out there, lurking about and scavenging for food. She guessed it to be an animal when Linka and her crew had some distance between the trio, and could not have reached here before them. However, she came upon a lovely shock in her young life.

Here was the shirtless Lincoln, a white-haired man of a muscular physique, chest right in her face. He did nothing but stare at her with the coldest of eyes, and her only response was a peep akin to a wee mouse. "H-hi." Liby greeted tearfully. "P-please don't kill me."

Lacy came around the corner. "Luan, this is no time to be slacking- LUAN!" She caught the primary cell parent choking Liby to death, his huge arms wrapped around her small throat, seconds away from crushing her windpipe. "NO! LUCY- LUCY, HELP!"

Lupa came running, face going terrified when seeing murderous Lincoln trying to end Liby from existence. "NO! YOU-" Lupa pulled him off of Liby, leaving the Luan clone gasping and coughing for dear life. "SON OF A BITCH!"

"Clones..." Lincoln twiddled his fingers, looking at them before focusing on the clones. "You have come here to die."

"Oh God, Luan!" Lacy rushed up to Liby and bent down to her. "Come on, let's go- Oh, my God..."

"Get her out of here!" Lupa exhaled sharply. "I'll finish this fast."

"And finish it we will, clone!" Lincoln vowed. "Do your worst."

Linka popped up from behind Lincoln, clinging right onto his back and made an effort to shoot Lupa. "NYAAAAAH, YOUR BELOVED GENDERBENDER HAS CRASHED THE PARTY!"

Lupa stopped the bullets, and had an opening when Lincoln jerked his head back and struck Linka. He turned around and picked Linka up, bashing her head against a tree. With each strike against the hard wood, Linka let out a horse-like laugh. "Neener neener neeeeeeener! And suddenly you're running on the assumption I'm a solo party!"

Lincoln halted on that implication. "What?!"

Leven came in, tackling Lincoln right to the ground. "That's enough of the deluded self-righteous killing from you!"

"What a nice surprise-" Lincoln elbowed the back of Leven's head to break free. "The source of all noise, here and in the flesh! You, the ultimate- Hrrrk!"

Leven broke Lincoln's hands away and threw a punch right up into his chin. "I'm not so eager to let myself be a part of the willingly! I wouldn't-"

Lincoln kicked Leven away, both original and clone struggling up on their feet. "The downfall of the Patriot Division is on you and the girl, as well as publicizing all that should have never reached civilians."

"Yes, yes, I understand the consequences on my part, I knew what I was doing."

"Did you, really?" Lincoln formed a fist at the clone. "You gave our enemies- not to mention that senator son of a bitch, a way out of trouble, and in doing so, complicated things for us all."

"That was for all of us!" Leven reasoned. "There are unseen enemies and undisclosed facts we don't know, Lincoln! McMahon himself demonstrated a fraction of his influential power when Elmont deployed the second team to capture him! If I gave myself up to serve them for their own goal, it would spare you- Her, especially her, when he offered it-"

"And you took it..." Lincoln shook his head. "You did it out of doubt, disbelief in the system that gave you a chance to prove yourself- No, both of you to be of value to us. That automatically means little miss clone here wasted her time defecting you both over to us."

Leven had come under great fire. "Out of doubt...? No, this was-"

"Nothing more than an agreement out of fear, because you didn't know everything bigger than Lisa. Well, let me tell you a little something about an unknown enemy, you... Failed excuse of a clone modeled after me."

"What?"

"They are everywhere, and they can be anyone at any given time."

Lupa helped Lacy carry their taller sister Liby away from the battlefield made in a tranquil area, with Lupa looking over her shoulder in high hopes of not being chased by the clones in allegiance with Lisa, or Lincoln Loud, he who was playing hunter-killer for keeps, prize being their lives.

Meanwhile, Linka, Leven and Carly, the trio also in the shoes of the middle three clones, were after the same thing; a sanctuary of utmost peace, awaiting for the falling chaos, the inevitable manhunt and global noise to die down, however long it would take until the world, anyone who knew the existence of the clones, would forget about them. Or at least McMahon and the smaller loose ends were taken care of, and those were too many for one solo person to handle.

What they needed, and they didn't know it yet, was for the pheno team the Division assembled to continue the fight. Just how long was this going to pan out, some of them wondered.

"Can... Can, does not mean will be," Leven rerouted. "You don't end up on someone's shit list out of nowhere. You've had to have done something-"

"Which you know you did!" Lincoln bellowed. "I hope you'll own up to it... When you're dead!"

"Oh, you and that edge!" Linka rebounded, jumping up to Leven's side. "This feels like a 90s Marvel comic! Oooh, say more cheesy one-liners for mommy!"

"You have my word I won't let myself be a part of their agenda," Leven vowed. "That's why Link-A here brought the Black Network down as well. Both sides are in turmoil, in catastrophic disarray just as the world has become. With that being said, I also don't plan to let myself, and this girl, be killed by you. I know you, I can practically see it in your eyes."

"Can you?"

Linka scoured her eyes for the gun she had dropped, but was unsuccessful. "Even I've got a reading on it now, not like it's rocket science."

"Enough talk!" Lincoln dashed at his clone opponents, starting up round two.

"Not on my watch!" Lupa revealed herself from a tree overhead the two clones- and in control of all firearms from the duffel bag Linka left unguarded, hovering all around and pointed dead center at .Lincoln. "Dare try to attack us?! You may be Lincoln, but I'm not going to spare you for this!"

"Does that mean you're on our side?" Linka hoped, blinking her eyes at Lupa. "I love you!"

"After you tried to kill me?!" Lupa responded angrily. "Yeah, not a chance in hell! It would be you two instead of him, but it's damn obvious he's going after us for being clones created by Lisa. That's what you were saying, weren't you?"

Leven nodded. "Yeah, we're just weapons to him instead of people to him, nothing more than that."

"Weapons best disposed of," Lincoln corrected. "Especially you, boy. This right here-" He pointed to the floating gun display. "-Is exactly what I'm talking about."

"Excuse me, you fucking cunt," Lupa bitched, "but you're trying to murder us. It's self-defense at most."

"And I'm not gonna stop until you five are dead as dead can be."

"Ow is the edge, ice people of Loudnia!" Linka clapped. "Mighty fine work... Let's all get together for an interesting take on an incest harem! And Carly can play the family cat! I mean, this kinda happened on a Discord server, maybe it can be replicated?"

"L-Linka, not now!" Leven shushed.

"ALL HAIL THE SUPER SERVER!" Linka dabbed out on the spot, which weirded the other three albinos on different levels. "I'm gonna miss that- Even though I was never in it."

Lupa cocked back all the pistols and shotguns in the air. "Stay where you are, and not so much as a fucking twitch, or say goodbye to sweet life!"

"Doesn't she know?" Linka asked Leven in a silent attempt, clearly heard by Lupa. "Didn't Lisa-?"

"I thought she did."

Lincoln's blue eyes winced very briefly.

"Know what?" Lupa began to get an odd sensation starting at the base of her forehead, running its way down her neck, and not stopping past her back. "What, damn it!"

"It's gonna take more than regular firepower to kill him, Lupa!" Linka dropped onto the clone. "But go ahead, shoot him and buy us some time to hide! Oh, how I missed a good game of hide and seek!"

"Bullshit-"

"Regenerative properties and enhanced superhuman abilities, Lupa! Don't tell me you don't have that! We both do!"

"BULLSHIT!" Lupa let her guard down long enough for Lincoln to try running at them, but Lupa finally played her card and fired all the firearms before Lincoln could come close to get his hands on them. It was a fireworks display of deafening, thunderous sounds, a painful audio display of a grand ruckus that could have very well been heard by all of Royal Woods to startle and shake. Shell casings flew around, scattering almost all directions while the additional smell of the fresh gunsmoke filled the clear, clean air.

When all guns had become empty, Lupa dropped them all at once, finally flying down in between the clones. "Holy shit, I-"

What remained of Lincoln at this time was him, fallen right on his knees and grazed in many areas from the hail of bullets received. It was as if he were poked repeatedly by a pencil all over his face and body, when it should have been only chunks of meat and dismembered body parts left of him. It wasn't like that at all.

"That- That's not possible!" Lupa pointed. "He should be fucking dead!"

Linka tugged Leven away from the scene. "This bitch is leaving! Let's get to a motel for that eighties sex scene... With Carly of course!"

As fate would have it, Carly had appeared from behind a tree, scaring Linka. "Hey!"

"AGH, DON'T DO THAT!" Now it was time for Linka to slap her. "Turn! Turn around!"

"What was all that gunfire?! Tell me no one died!"

"No, tehe... Sadly..." Linka grabbed Carly's wrist and led her two human camels away in a run. "We pissed Lincoln off! Well, Lupa did that!"

"Lupa?"

"The name she gave the other white haired clone," Leven notified.

"Ah," Carly dismissed. "Go left! Faster opening to the road!"

"Thanks!" Linka changed direction on Carly's tip.

Lincoln allowed for his body to stop trembling, the aftershocks from the bullets that rattled him all over. "Hgghhhhh!"

"You..." Lupa took it upon herself to try again, and this time effectively. She moved closer to the fallen Lincoln and lifted him up in the air with a mere finger pointed at him. He groaned just a little, but she had no moral compass to deter her from this dark path; she planned to kill him, and did not care if she was only reinforcing his own ideology. "I didn't ask to be born, to be created. I want to be left alone!"

Lincoln was now five feet up in the air.

"So I'm going to make you leave us alone by making you dead!"

Ten feet.

"Die!"

Fifteen feet was Lincoln, high enough for Lupa to disconnect her finger from him, letting him fall to his brutal demise.

"NO!" Liby protested from the side.

Lupa was startled enough to flinch and stop Lincoln's fall at just three feet above ground. "L-Luan-"

"I won't allow it!" Liby came speedwalking to Lupa's side. "I don't want to see anyone die- And I was scared to come and see if someone did! Lucy...-"

"He tried to kill you!"

"It doesn't mean I want revenge! I don't, and neither should you! I'm alive, I'm fine, but we've gotta go!"

"L-Luan-" Lupa finally let Lincoln fall safely. "I can't just let him go! He's made it clear he wants to kill-"

Next thing Lupa knew, Liby, not afraid of the big bad wolf, danced her way to him with true courage. He had remained on all fours, still groaning out ferociously while his body mended.

"LUAN!" Lupa thought to stop her, knowing full well how enormous the danger level was. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Liby, the firm, gentle clone of the otherwise deranged Luan Loud, bent down to Lincoln and made an effort to establish a physical connection by touching his face slowly, hoping to take the beast that defined him, that had everyone around him scared shitless. However it was that Liby came to compromise with her fear and the immense feeling she had of him right when he was choking her life away. To defy Lupa, who knew more of a reading on Lincoln, would not go unpunished... Assuming Liby walked away from Lincoln unscathed. "I don't understand you..."

Lincoln kept his hands to the ground, letting Liby draw near before he started again. "What is there to know? You and the others, all abominations with no other reason to be but to be used against us, and at no doubt to replace the real predecessors."

Liby shook her head. "I don't understand all that's happening, but... I know- All I know is that I want to live... And with my two sisters by my side! And you won't take that from us!"

He only eyed her as if she had a say in it. Who was this clone to talk to begin with? Why did she, or it believe it had a voice? Lincoln could not be open to the blasphemous possibility that these five clones could very well be human beings with authentic feelings just like any other. So far, his pair of eyes had seen all that he believed they were made to do, to be. The albino trio were already proven to be dangerous on various degrees, and so it was only a matter of time until the last two, Lacy and Liby, would show their true colors and attack.

Surely enough, Lincoln didn't want to wait for Liby to have first blood with him, but there was something... Vaguely familiar and heartwarming about the way Liby had caressed his face. He couldn't guess her move at the moment, but had not considered that her words were her actions being taken. It had delayed him from attacking her, but maybe it was doing moreso.

It had to have been a perfect lie told from the lips of one Luan Loud, but there was some damned truth to that which he picked up on, and then there were those sparkles in Liby"s green eyes that told a story separately from her lines. Onto him, she was telling him in the non-verbal sense that she had come out of a chamber with all the world's questions and no such answer to keep her relaxed and at peace. Come to think of it, he had taken notice of the fact that they had never participated in Team Lisa's Anti-Patriot team in the private estate she owned. That meant nothing to him... Up until now. What was told more through her eyes was her, trying to find herself and a place in the world, and not just for being a copy off of Luan, but for actually being Luan. Luan, the murderous woman previously set on a road trip composed of dead corpses behind, and it was for this reason Lincoln believed the fair clone to be a danger to the world.

Only, he didn't see that particular version of Luan in the clone, which had him trying to figure out just what her game was. If it was one she was playing, that was to say.

"Tell me..." Liby requested, "why did you try to k-kill me? I don't understand that-"

"You should know why," Lincoln uttered coldly. "I won't stop-"

"I don't believe it... I don't believe you have a really justified reason to actually m-m-murder me!" And to truly shake the soul inside Lupa, Liby delivered into him a hard slap that even gave Lacy a nice dose of "eek" which was all but terrible on Liby's part. "Are you really the Lincoln that ran out on us so many years ago?!"

During the slap, Lincoln had blinked just the one time while the world continued to rotate. Rather than an unsettling plague of silence, nothing remained perfectly still for him. The air had not steadied, nor did the trees freeze up, branches insistent on swaying around in their holy dance for the ritual cult they formed. It was as if it wasn't that big a deal- maybe it wasn't, but Lincoln had gone feeling rather silly to be addressed as a wrongdoer. It was the same preaching song he usually heard sung by one of his weakling sisters- they who were not of hard stomachs to do what was needed, still tucked behind that thin, red line he wasn't conflicted on crossing.

Liby either played the part really well or she was indeed being true to herself and the other three who lay witness to her. One of those, and the Loud man had no idea on how to distinguish it. Liby truly felt like a true human being at that.

"Don't you dare hurt my sister, you heartless animal!" Lupa voiced, yet remaining in her place out of fear or provoking Lincoln to hold Liby hostage, and that would be a messy situation all the way around. "Not either of them!"

"How dare you judge me when you.. You had the audacity to run out on us!" Liby surely had the mind to pan blame on him for his actions long ago. "Damn you, Lincoln!"

And when little Liby clenched her hands into fists and banged them against Lincoln's bare chest, the unfazed Loud had made up his mind about the clone; he cast her aside as if she were nothing, abd stood up dramatically to face Lupa. He had already decided Liby was not the maniacal Luan, or came close to her in any way. Not yet, at least. "I'm coming for you."

"No you won't!" Liby latched her arms onto his own, pulling them backwards. "I begged her not to leave, I tried my best to do so!"

Lincoln walked forward, dragging Liby, who had firmly planted her feet on the dirt, with him.

"I thought it could work!" Liby strained fiercely. "I thought I could keep Lucy here with me!"

He grew closer and closer to Lupa.

"I didn't want her to leave, even when she made a promise not to be long!"

Lacy joined Lupa's side as Lincoln neared them.

"Don't blame her for her quest for answers!"

"I wasn't expecting to be kidnapped by them, or to meet all of you! She made me-"

"I HAVE THEM ALL BACK, WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE THEM FROM ME?!" Liby bawled at the top of her lungs. "WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME SUFFER BY LEAVING ME INCOMPLETE?!"

And then, the madman of the area had stopped dead short before reaching the other two clones. The words of Liby's pain echoed through his eardrums. The familiarity of it, the feeling he picked up on, it was damn well mutual- Not in the now, but that place, the feet that filled in those shoes now, he had been there before the clone, knowing what it was, what it meant, and just how it left him.

What he had been itching for, was the very cruel thing that the devils had dealt into him. And he broke away from the current mission, eyes looking at an entirely new scene, in which he understood a new perspective- No, he was playing the role of antagonist here, seeking to take away the loved ones of a human he did not recognize as one. Just like before, just like the others; they who corrupted and turned Lori on him. They who weren't just the Freights, but anyone alive. They, now one with Lincoln Loud. He had already become the very evil he hated, feared of getting loose from his grab, and he had never changed since his fall.

And it wasn't too late to stop it.

Lincoln gave in and surrendered himself to them, a reaping of the whirlwind. It was only here when he had noticed a spike in silence, the nice, beautiful piece of mother nature growing ominously quiet, almost like the forest, dirt, grass and air became animate, conscious with a bizarre form of self-awareness, and enough of it for all to watch Lincoln be overwhelmed with broken sentiment that defeated his morally gray ideology.

Liby let go slowly, but did not move from place. Lupa and Lacy were in complete awe at the profound fact that the tall beast of a man, the former sibling once a child, had been dismantled internally by Liby, when in no way did she possess the strength or tactical intelligence to best him. But she did possess a tool as great as any that proved advantageous to her; that sense of humanly love and warmth, it had and could never elude a Liby.

She closed the deal and hugged him from behind, no longer under the assumption she had been dancing with the dreaded danger now. "I don't want to suffer... Please don't make me suffer. I missed them- I missed all of you-" Liby brought herself to tears, actual genuine tears that touched Lacy and Lupa slowly. The atmosphere had left its violent setting, becoming a heartwarming drama.

"L-Lincoln...?" Lacy advanced to his side, falling on her knees. "Are we okay?" Just like Liby, Lacy wrapped her tiny teenage arms around him, firmly resting her head on his shoulder. "We are, aren't we? Aren't we, little brother? I mean, big little brother?"

"Okay... Okay... Okay..." Lincoln mindlessly repeated. "You, Lucy clone-"

"Don't even think about targeting me!" Lupa warned.

"I'm going to need your help..." Lincoln asked of her.

Down The Road

"Hurry!" Linka kept taking the two with her, up until Carly stopped and yanked Linka hard back. "Ow! Wuzzabigidea?!"

"You're hurrying me and I'm already tired!" painted the Asian girl.

"No problem!" Leven adapted, carrying Carly on his arms, not stopping their consecutive running. "Up you go!"

"Oh, hey, I didn't s-say you could touch me-" Carly looked up at Leven's face, then seeing a hero rather than a pervert who used this as an excuse to lay a hand on her skin. "I-I mean, th-thank you, Leven..." she blushed.

"Oh, you'll carry strangers but not blood relatives, eh?" Linka sassed. "I see how it is! Doing me dirty, for fuck's sake."

"Excuse me, but are you tired?"

"No."

"Are you a regular human?"

"Nope!"

"Can you still run?"

"Oh yeah, baby!"

"Then I don't need to carry you, Linka!" Leven spat. "Keep going! We shouldn't be far from Royal Woods now! After that, we'll be home free!"

"Hopefully..." Carly prayed. "Still, it's not a freaking coincidence we ran into him! He's here for something."

"He's likely laying low here," Leven reasoned, "which means he's faced some trouble real recently, enough to spook him."

"Really?" It left Carly with her mouth open. "Man, it's all getting royally fucked up."

"And with a side of extra barbecue sauce," Linka jokingly added. "Oh, wait... Hey, then wouldn't that mean that daddy is also heading to Clyde's?"

Leven froze in place, considering it with calculations. Then- "Oh, shit..."

"Exactly!" Linka slapped his back. "We're fucked in the ass! We need a contingency!"

"We don't have any, Linka," Leven reminded. "We're just gonna have to keep running until we lose him. I just hope the ogher three clones can keep him off of them-"

The road up ahead elevated, suggesting a steep climb, and just over it, the town of Royal Woods would be visible to the three of them. Home at long last. Linka booked it first, flailing her arms like a retarded bird in silly joy, giggling away in her semi-feminine Lincoln voice. "I spy with my little eye, a glorious hometown! Big brother, cute girl, we are here!"

"Swell..."

"We can stop by Clyde's to raid for supplies!" Linka suggested. "At this rate, we can beat Lincoln there!"

"As good a plan like any, I suppose..." Leven accepted. "Okay, but we'll be fast!"

Downtown Royal Woods

At the one and only Burpin' Burger location, a table went occupied by four sisters with a spectacular, odd gift. Luna, Lynn and the twins helped themselves to burger meals, with only Lynn gobbling her own food down like a vicious animal. Lola was visibly disgusted, but made no effort to lecture Lynn on her lacking mannerism, minding her own business while munching on the fries.

They faced a couple of issues that had yet to be resolved. First on their minds, on all of them, was Luan; just where did she run off to, and more importantly, why did she? Luna believed that she knew the reason why, but it had gone unverified as of yet until Luan was found. It had to have been how they left her alone, making her the lonely Loud woman under the Patriot Division while her siblings were off fighting as a family. It didn't help that Lisa had given a terrifying fright. Either it was this that made Luan get out, or the other reason, and the more realistic one over this; Luan was simply afraid of the probability where one of them would not come back after a mission, and this was always a damn risk every time the team gone out to fight Lisa.

Luna and company assured each other they had to stat alive, doing their best to play team and practice teamwork- teamwork that Lincoln was against, which would end up being his downfall. There was that concern that he would fuck himself into a mess, and as of late, he had already by being on his own, the hand he showed and forced them to play against. They cast him out, and none had any regrets over it, not on surface level. If there had been something under the ice, none of them would want to bother breaking the ice over it. It was for the better, and to have freed themselves from that maniac insistent on his dark, bloody way, it was a heavy weight off of their shoulders.

While that was one less issue, and counting the Luan hunt, there was also the matter of their status as phenos, the specific bunch whom were interested by the main layers of the nation runners. It was a rising political matter that could only get more worse than it would be better.

The face of the public went back and forth these last few weeks, both supportive and antagonistic over the newest thing of controversy to date yet, breaking down into tinier subcategories, all right under the Vial Corp tree system, and not easy to keep track of, at least for the sisters.

The head of the hydra itself was Lisa, had always been her, entire infrastructure being both halves of Vial and the Black Network, and going from there, the phenos came in, the revelation the leaks that were dropped had presented to the world, the countrywide manhunts both open-knowledge and off-the-books of the Patriots' phenos and clones, and Lisa's high-up friend Peter McMahon, placed comfortably in a seat with the blunt possibility that he manned more than just the chain of Kapacity Korp facilities, all of which were just the front to continue advancing towards the Superior Human project, continuing where Lisa had left off.

All those issues, and there were only four sisters fixated on staying out of the spotlight in the meantime.

Samantha Sharp, the fifth member of this group, had fetched her own meal and returned to the table, sitting right next to her love interest. The significant age difference between them made Lola be the only one to judge Luna when their little infatuation came to light, but Lynn and Lana seemed to be fine with it, happy to see that Luna basically head over heels for the younger blonde. "What's the next step here?"

Luna tapped her fingers on the edge of the table, looking downwards. "Well, we're not painted as fugitives or wanted figures, so that's something."

"Not publicly," Lynn corrected. "You heard Elmont, they'll totally be chasing us, but they won't want the media to know. It'll give everyone the image that we are heroes- Or, well, heroines, but Elmont made it clear nothing was to get out the way it did, and it's a mess- Like, my face after a meatball special."

"Yuck, thanks for the image!" Lola sarcastically gagged.

"They won't come to silence us, this I'm sure of," Lynn reasoned, pointing to the twins. "The world will notice dear Momentum and Velocity having disappeared, and someone will go looking into it."

"Yeah, but couldn't that be made to look like someone else was behind it?" Sam wondered. "A special team with these anti-pheno weapons can do the job and make it look like the anti-pheno movements were responsible."

"C-can we not discuss about how they're gonna kill us?" Lola requested, worried.

"No one is going to kill anyone," Luna addressed calmly. "That would be fucked up of anyone to try "

"Yeah, it would," Lynn agreed. "But don't forget that we've got McMahon to watch out for. We know for a fact that he'll comes after us, and won't stop until he's got our heads on a silver platter. Man's lucky he pulled a solid sob story about being used by Shepherd. Plan is we don't separate, just as we've been doing so far."

"It's pretty scary to know that we're on someone's list..." Lana gulped. "I would have never imagined anyone this big coming after us. When me and Lola thought about taking revenue against Vial, we were worried they'd sent their death squads or something, but now..."

Lola patted and rubbed Lana's back to relieve her stress and fear. "Easy, girl. We're not going down that way, we're... Zoomers."

"I hear that!" Lynn threw in.

Sam looked past the twins, eyeing the television at the far end behind them. A special news broadcast played, this one being of police trailing the wanted Lincoln Loud just northeast of their location. "Hey, look at the news! That's your scary brother, isn't it?"

Lynn and Luna looked up from their food and gazed on the television, followed by the twins who had to turn around for it. The news suggested a firefight between him and an unidentified person of interest, which led to another fight a few blocks away at a faat food joint. The update ended when the reporter stating that Lincoln was still on the run as of yet, and for any citizen to come across a him to quickly call the authorities.

"Jesus..." Luna gasped. "Damn that Lincoln!"

"You hear that? He's busy with someone at the moment."

"You don't think...?" Lynn theorized that Lincoln was already being targeted by McMahon.

"Maybe..." Luna was open to it. "Maybe, Lynn."

"At least we know he's far away from us," Lynn sighed, relaxed. "That and the fact that cops are going after him. Hey, you gonna finish those fries?"

Luna brought her hands together, with Lupa's words still echoing in her head. We aren't far from home...

Luna narrowed her eyes.

You know what that means.

Blinked.

We aren't far from home...

She knew by now what the clone had meant; the trio of clones were in range of them, but just where were they? And for how long would that particular window be open for? This was the true reason for returning to Royal Woods, the one that made Luna desperate to find them so that they could team up once they were filled in of the web of conflicts that surrounded them all. The only thing waa that Luna had not shared this step just yet, but genuinely believed they'd be onboard due to the increase in the group, as well as having Lupa's powers as another advantage.

All Luna had to do was to solve where the clones were, convince both sides that it would be beneficial to form one big group and from there... Dealer's choice.

"You know, I didn't think I'd be back here this soon," Lynn revealed. "I know this is my- Sorry, our hometown, but I moved to a bigger world, I thought I'd either come back here in my forties or not at all, seeing as how I was a... You know..." Lynn gave a disheartening sigh.

"Life's full of surprises, huh, baby sis?" Luna hugged and smiled at the zoomer. "It's good to be back home."

The choices where the clones were ranged from Pop-Pop's old place, where he lived before settling at a retirement home, Aunt Rinn's, or maybe... Was it possible that Lupa meant the actual Loud residence? Was it Luna who went over thinking it? It couldn't be... Unless it was, and maybe... Just maybe, the trio was there, or around, close enough to know the original pack were coming. One thing was for sure, Luna would have to go looking without raising suspicion from her clan in the meantime until the right time came.

"I can't believe our identities are exposed," Lola angrily muttered. "There go my retirement plans."

"As if you had any!" Lana scolded. "What about me?"

"We can figure that out later!" Luna advised. "Hurry and eat before we're made."

"I'm already finished here," Lynn showed off, smirking proudly. "I've still got it."

"Pig," Lola scoffed.

"Didn't know I was a mirror," Lynn rebounded. "Anyone else?"

"Uh- You take that back!" Loka screeched.

"I'll take it back alright!" Lynn leaned forward to snag away at Lola's fries. "I'm taking ya fries!"

"LYNN!" Lola sought to defend her food territory. "HANDS OFF, HUNGER GAMES!"

"I'm helping you speed things up, woman!" Lynn protested.

"Mommy, mommy!" A passing mother and child, both coming out of the bathroom, noticed the odd, putrid skin color on Sam, stopping right at their table. "Why is she red?"

"Come along sweetie, she is an undesirable," the mother sneered with a hint of hostility.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sam took her hands off the chicken strip box. "Undesirable?"

"You don't fool me, missy! Clearly you're one of those unwanted good-for-nothing science experiments!" The noisy mother, clearly an anti-pheno citizen, made sure to make herself be heard by the nearby patrons, trying to gain some degree of support from her faction. "Look, this is clearly one of these phenos as seen and heard on the telly!"

"I have a skin condition!" Sam lied, raising her voice. "Get out of there!"

"Then show us your card!" Instantly, a handful of folk began moving up, and around the mother. "I mean, if you're not lying."

"Card-?" Sam collected what the woman meant. "Yes, of course! I have one!" Sam ended up giving the woman a slap that came from her pocket, pretending to pull out a medical card.

"Sam!" Luna choked.

"Teach her a lesson, goldilocks!" Lynn encouraged the blonde.

"No-!" Luna slid out of the seat and pulled Sam away before a fight escalated out here like this. "Not here, hon!"

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME, WOMAN?!" the devil mother screamed, her child hiding behind her legs. "I WILL SUE YOU!"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH, KAREN!" Sam raged. Her skin swelled up with fire, starting burning up Luna's fingers before the latter pulled away from Sam, hissing.

"Ahh! Cool down, Sam!" Luna directed herself in front of Sam, blocking both parties from attacking each other. "We're not trying to-"

A new development started just as this had; a battalion of heavily armed officers in tactical gear, top-tier rifles unlike anything ever seen, a cross fusion between a Scar rifle and a Mossberg shotgun. It broke the perfect sanctuary of the place, riling up the patrons, making both the customers and employees run and get to cover. The officers with the weird weapons circled around the group of phenos, two of them pulling away the mother and child away from Sam and Luna. "GET DOWN! GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR!"

"Whoa, how did-?!" Luna shot her arms up, as did the rest of the sisters. Sam remained as she was, fists forming, steam erupting right out of her red skin. She was flaring up at the heat of the moment. "Sam?"

"YOU, HANDS IN THE AIR OR WE WILL FIRE UPON YOU!" Five of the armed forces fixated their weapons on Sam, fingers hovering over the trigger. "NOW!"

Lynn counted the opposition quickly, pinpointing a way out of this. She rapidly jumped out of the table, jumping right onto two of the men, moving forward to ram through the rest of the platoon. "MOVE TO THE EXIT!"

The twins followed Lynn in the same speed, leaving Luna to try and calm Sam down. "Hey! Hey, we have to go! Come on!"

Sam hyperventilated violently, more steam coming out of her, now including her mouth and nose. "L-Luna, I can't- I can't move!"

"Oh, my God-" Luna observed the blonde. "You're... Hot!"

"Yeah and not the way I want you to mean!" Sam roared. "Carry me or something-" A heatwave began to burn Luna, making her disoriented in her head for the cold-blooded creature in her that weakened severely. Fortunately for them, Sam's bodily smoke set off the sprinkler system, turning the joint into a recreational hot summer day, the water putting out Sam and freeing Luna from lightheadedness. "Oh, fuck- I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

Luna blew away the heat from her face. "What the fuck happened with you?! Okay, never mind that, can you move?!"

"I can now!" Sam wiggled her arms and legs. "Let's go!"

Running outside, they didn't make it far from the glass doors. The three zoomers had fallen, bested by more men lying in wait outside, with a convoy of five black BTR-80 war vehicle lined up in a circular position around them. "Holy fucking shit..."

"Luna, what do we do?" Sam whispered nervously.

"We fight!" Luna whipped out her tail and claws, the main weapons she could so easily bring to the party. Not this time, for two of the armed personnel fired upon Luna with their anti-pheno firearms, revealing to be a special shotgun with special dampening shells that sprayed a white substance on her. Luna went down easily and painfully before she could attack, and Sam knew the cue to stand down and did so, going on her knees in compliance.

Moments Later

"How the fuck, Luna?" Sam sat across from her lover, seated firmly in the back of an armored carrier vehicle, hands and feet heavily locked in titanium cuffs, as was Luna. "Well, whatever they used, we lasted more time on the outside than I figured."

"That's not helping..." Luna planted her hands over her face, groaning. "This is it, Sam, this is what I was afraid of."

"They didn't kill us on the spot, sweetheart..." Sam pointed out. "So there's that."

"But who knows what's waiting for us when these rides stop?" Luna fidgeted her hands. "I know it won't be good, I know it won't be..." Trailing off, Luna looked to the exit hatch, half-closing her eyes. "I'm scared. I'm damn scared for my life here, Sam."

"Luna- Lunes-" Sam moved closer to Luna, dragging her way next to the brunette. "Lunes, you've got your sisters and me. Listen, whatever happens, it'll happen to us altogether."

They shared a deep kiss, and Luna's fear went away with the sweet, purely wholesome kiss from the beautiful, warn Samantha Sharp. It broke the negative tension briefly before things got weird for them. The vehicle they rode in on suddenly encountered a snag, causing a bump that had them jerk out of place, falling in the middle of the floor. Luna let out a grunt, but was turned on with Sam laying over her. Things should have been more sexier than this, but this she had to make due with. "Well, hi-"

The vehicle bumped again, this time harder enough to sent then both back to the end. Luna had her head bump against the metal, which hurt more due to the added dampeners that lowered her strength to base minimum here. "Ow!"

"Lunes!" Sam picked herself and Luna up, quickly digging themselves into the corner. "They're riding over manholes, those jackasses!"

"If only I could hear-" The vehicle slowed down, making things a hell of a lot more interesting. "We can't be here already... Can we?"

"I think I'm scared-" The terrifying thing that came next was the armored van flipping hard on its side, Luna and Sam falling over with it. Muffled gunfire entered through the crevices of the van, suggesting a second party at work. Whoever it had been to attack these men, Luna and Sam got the idea that this specific party was more resourceful and stronger. Maybe it was the work of phenos. The two would find out very soon.

"Get behind me!" Luna stood in front of Sam, both women crouching while looking at the exit. In a matter of seconds, the gunfire abruptly ended, and someone reached the two women, attempting to open up the van. "Damn it!"

"We can take them!"

Leven opened the van from top to bottom, holding the top door open. "Luna! And girl- Uh, it was Sam, right?"

Luna froze in place, mentally calculating what was occurring, trying her hardest to wonder how and why. She let out gibberish stutters, helped only by San who led her out by her shoulders. "Buh- kuh- kuh- the kuh- cologne-"

"Oh, I remember you!" Sam recollected her time with Leven. "You're a horrible person."

"I know."

"You fucked us so hard!"

"I am aware."

"So hard that I could be pregnant with your kid!"

"Can we not?" Leven broke the two lovers free from their cuffs with ease. "It's nice to see you again."

Linka and Carly looked down upon the pair from atop the flipped van. "I'd like to have your kids... If not, make you have mine, hottie!"

"Oh, not you again..." Sam rolled her eyes and moved away from the van.

'Did you miss me, sugar?"

"Hey, how did you find us?" Luna asked Leven. "How did...?"

"We didn't," Leven answered. "We were raiding for weapons and supplies, but we come across you instead."

Luna scanned her eyes around the convoy, seeing a bunch of downed men and the BTR vehicles emitting black smoke. However Luna and company weren't able to take upon them, the clones surely did, and that alone gave her the necessary heebie jeebies. "You three did all of this?"

"No, just Linka here," Leven corrected, pointing to the little girl.

Linka jumped down from the van, stretching her body. "I love my job."

Luna found the only other armored van there was, signaling Sam to follow her. The three defectors from Lisa's control followed to see Luna and Sam open the tough doors, revealing Lynn and the twins inside, with Lynn and Lola covering Lana, thinking this was an orchestrated pheno-napping. "Oh, it's just-" Lynn gagged and lost it upon seeing Leven, Linka and Carly. "HEY, WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE?! LUNA!"

"Take it easy, sis," Luna calmly stated, "they freed us."

"Not intentionally, mind you,' Leven slipped. "Call this a simple case of lucking out, nothing more."

"Is that so?" Lynn went up to Luna, holding her locked hands up to her. "Help me out here."

"Right-" Luna propped her claws out and slashed across the metal cuffs. Lynn got her speed back and unchanged her feet, and then the twins. "You guys okay?"

"We are now!" Lynn was grunting angrily, almost seething. "That was too fucking close!"

"If I may, could I ask what happened that got you captured?" Leven inquired. "You didn't get sloppy, did you?"

"We... Might have..." Lynn crossed her arms and looked away, humiliated. "Bullshit, I could have handled this well..."

"I don't know, dude, we were careful! Honest!"

Leven grabbed Sam and ran a finger down the side of her face. "Are you sure this won't make anyone suspicious?"

"I- I can pass it off as a medical condition!" Sam pleaded. "I can!"

"That- You guys are joking, right?" Leven let out a mock laugh. "You might as well say she was born with it."

"That's... Wow, thanks."

"That explains us, but how about you?" Luna raised an eyebrow. "Why are you two- and her-" Luna nudged at Carly. "-In Royal Woods?"

"Well-" Leven began to share, only for Linka to cut him off by leaping on him and covering his mouth.

"Hush, big brother! Don't tell them we've come here to hide from McMahon!" Linka processed her words and then rolled her eyes up, dropping away from Leven. "Agh, stupid! Stupid!"

"Hiding from him?" Luna looked to her sisters and Sam with this. "Wait, but you- Especially you, male Lincoln clone- You-"

"I didn't do it willingly..." Leven shook his head and folded his hands. "I didn't want to, believe me, I'm still with you on this."

"I smell bullshit on that!" Lynn growled. "The both of you are still in league with those off-radar maggots!"

"Negative on that, we three are on our own-"

Lynn pointed at Carly. "That girl's one of Lisa's! Cut the shit, we know you three were deployed by them!"

"Was! I was one of hers!" Carly corrected. "We're on the same boat!"

"I doubt it!" Lynn zoomed right at Carly, delivering a wall of air right onto her. "Pity I can't harm minors!"

"Bite me, speedy!"

"We really should be moving," Leven suggested, pointing at the van. "Right now, if you will."

"Lynn, now is not the time!" Luna forcibly escorted Lynn to the back of the van. "Back in with you!"

"OH, COME ON!"

"The rest of you, get in," Leven ordered. "I'll drive."

"Hey, I'm coming with you up there," Luna told him. "You're gonna tell me everything, okay?"

"Yeahhh, no," Sam stopped. "I'm not gonna be back there with Linka."

"Okay,'" Leven listened, prompting Luna and Sam to smile at each other lovingly. "Linka, you can probably fit in the front with us."

"Whoa-"

"Um- Yeah, my hips are too thick, I suppose..." Sam jumped onto the back, only ever so embarrassed, worse than that Christmas party when she was seventeen. "Jeez."

Leven, Linka and Luna boarded up front. The driver had been taken out, leaving the engine running. Leven pulled out of the scene, driving the huge vehicle forward, past the other convoy vehicles. He was careful not to run over the bodies, but Linka was visibly biting her fingernails with frantic excitement. "RUN THEM OVER! RUN THEM OVER!"

"Linka, no."

"Linka, yes!"

"Is she always like this?" Luna poked. "All... Killy?"

"Yes, it's..." Leven shrugged his shoulders. "Interesting."

"You really are a Lincoln clone, aren't you?"

"Uh-huh!" Linka grinned, kissing Luna's cheek. "Good to see you, auntie."

"Don't ever do that again, little dudette," Luna pushed. "And I'm not your aunt."

"So, Luna, what really brought you guys here to Royal Woods?" Leven kept his eyes on the road, but nothing was lacking in his voice.

"We're just passing by..." Luna answered carefully. "Nothing more than that."

"Are you sure it's not due to the three clones?" Leven took a fast glimpse at Luna to read her expression, and detected confirmation when she made a funny face that rendered her speechless. "It is."

"I didn't say anything...?!" Luna forced out.

"You didn't have to, it shows on your face."

Linka turned Luna's face to her. "I don't see any writing, liar!"

Luna slapped Linka's tiny hands. "Okay, okay, yes, I admit it. That's why..." She took a deep breath before going on. "Look, I didn't tell the others that was why we came here, but I want to find the clones and have them team up with us."

"You've met them?" Leven titled his head. "When did this happen?"

"No, I met the other white-haired clone, the Lucy one, and she vaguely said she wasn't far from home. I know, or at least I think I know, it means they're somewhere around Royal Woods." She took a deep pause. "Wait, wait, wait, how, just how in the hell did you-?"

---

Cue the Jeopardy timer theme! Love, Linka.

---

"No... No way!" Luna threw fingers at them. "You guys know where they are!"

"We've come across them, yes..." Leven found himself reluctant to share what current issue they were facing. "It's just complicated."

"What?!" Luna yelled. "It can't be complicated, you're stalling-"

"Lincoln found us all," Linka casually dropped, setting her feet on the dashboard. "He's been trying to kill us three and we all bumped into the other clones."

"WHAT?!" Luna panicked.

"Yeah, we were lucky to get out of there-"

"Actually, I figured the other clone with the telekinesis could beat Lincoln, so we left it to them and ran."

"GO BACK! GO BACK RIGHT NOW!" Luna boomed. "WE'RE ALL IN DANGER FROM MCMAHON, WE HAVE TO STOP LINCOLN!"

"Could you be any more louder, princess!?" Linka had covered her ears to block Luna.

"TURN THIS STOVE AROUND!"

"We can't..."

"WHY NOT?!"

"That- That is literally the direction we were coming from..." Linka revealed.

"Oh..." Luna lowered her voice, it not having gone any more raspy than in her own normal pitch. "Sorry."

"Me too..." Linka moaned, rubbing her ears.

"So..." Luna grunted irritably. "Lincoln's in town, that's fucking great. I just saw him on the news" too! He was just reported back around Maine! What the fuck is his reason for coming here?!"

"That, we might know," Leven offered to explain. "Clyde McBride established his place as a hideout for Lincoln and Lori."

"Clyde...?" Luna shifted her eyes, sorely confused. "What do you mean? D-don't you know...?"

"Know what?" Leven and Linka hadn't the complete Lincoln Loud memory drives as of late, and neither did Luna, but the woman had been made aware of one key fact that played into the clones' plans. "Luna?"

"Guys..." Luna rubbed the back of her neck, unreasonably feeling the guilt turn on. "Clyde is dead... Lincoln murdered him at his place."

WIthout warning, Leven pulled over on a sharp turn, veering into the empty curb. He set the van to brake, taking his foot off the pedal. "Lincoln... K-killed Clyde?"

Neither he or Linka turned their attention to Luna, but the mood had dramatically changed, and so did their views of Lincoln altogether. "No, that can't be-" Linka squeaked. "They were... I mean- I don't understand- How?"

"You guys didn't... Know?" Luna exhaled through her nose. "Damn... But, a hideout for Lincoln and Lori? C-could you explain that?"

"Yeah, um..." Leven took his hands off the steering wheel, going into the details of Lincoln's past. "Lincoln wanted out of the Freights, and for that, he asked Clyde to help me- I mean, him- Jesus, I'm sorry-"

"No, no, I didn't know-" Luna kicked herself mentally. "Fuck."

"Clyde paved a way out of the Freight life and Lincoln had it... But Lincoln wanted Lori to come with him, and you know what happened?"

"No- No, what happened?" Luna gave her undivided attention to hear the piece of Lincoln's past.

"She said no to him," Leven whispered out, succumbing to the same emotion Lincoln felt when Lori rejected him, turned her back on him. "She chose them over him, Luna, she... She didn't want to go."

"She didn't...?" Luna went silent momentarily.

"I really wished- I mean, I can speak for him and I can certainly say he feels like she pushed him away, basically telling him he's on his own. And I..." Leven pounded on his chest. "I can feel how strong that pain was, I can feel how...-"

"Angry and confused he was..." Linka finished. "He went berserk and took down the Freights just a few minutes later."

"Took down..." Luna nodded at that part. "That we do know about... Man, it- It feels so unreal now... Lincoln, and Lori... And Clyde, I didn't know Clyde did that for him. It makes no sense why- Why Lincoln killed him."

"I can't rationalize it either, I don't know why he did that... Something surely went down that we don't know... But it doesn't matter anymore if it already happened."

"I- I can't believe it..." It overwhelmed Luna, driving her to drop out of the van, taking a hard breather in the opposite direction of them. Lincoln... T-tried to... Save Lori and himself-

Lynn kicked the reinforced doors open, jumping out to see why the van had stopped to pull over. "Hey, what's the big-?" She saw Luna crying for some reason, zipping up her grievance. "Sis? What's wrong?"

"Everything... Everything is just too depressing and heartbreaking..."

Lynn rubbed Luna's shoulders, glaring back at the clones with fiery eyes. "Did they say something?"

"Did you know Lincoln made plans to leave the Freights?"

"No..." Lynn removed her arms off Luna. "He did?"

"He wanted to, with Lori..." Luna closed her blurring eyes. "Clyde was helping him, and it was all set up, until... Lori- Hey, what did she say, clones?"

Linka hopped out of the cab. "You're asking for me to share something personal, which I know Lincoon would never like to share or recall. But what we've told you now, that's basically the reason Lincoln hates Lori today."

Luna wiped her tears.

"I'm not fancy of Lori either, I have that desire, too..." Linka held out her hands, bringing then up right to her face. "I know what exact words were exchanged back then, it was as if it were only yesterday... Do you really want to know what she said?"

"I do..."

"Luna-" Lynn didn't see the importance of it. "It doesn't matter."

"I need to know why Lori- Why she..."

Linka rubbed her left eye when it became twitchy with redness. "This is what she said."

Linka-" Leven did not wish to hear the words from those extracted memories placed into his head, but he was not one to restrict Linka.

"I can't go, Lincy, I can't. We don't have a family anymore. This world doesn't care for us the way the Freights do. Chandler, Dana, Cristina- they're our brothers and sisters, and I want- I want you to stay with me, with us. I don't feel like there really is anything for us out there, I don't feel... Alive anymore. I don't feel free.. " Linka developed shuddering breath, trying so hard to not let her voice break when it was apparent she would cry just like Luna, immensely broken in by the shadows of Lori's past decision. "C-can you believe that? Can you believe that?!"

Now was the driver's turn to exit. He did so and came to Linka's aid, locking himself around her as the girl clone broke from inside, the cries of her artificially grown heart sending deathly whimpers up to the surface. She felt what he felt, reliving that same scene, that very scene where Lincoln snapped towards the one true breaking point that sent him over the edge, where he needed to do what he believed he had to, so that no other Loris in the earth of the damned could ever fail their own Lincoln, so that it wouldn't repeat. So that the cycle could end here, once and for all.

"Lori, that- That fucking Lori!" Linka tried her best to smile and laugh it off while Leven held her tightly. "She decided they were her family! Not Lincoln, never him! He made it known he was going to end then- and she ran to warn them!"

"She...?" Lynn's mouth went agape. "She didn't choose him...?"

"Our memories run up to the point Lincoln sets off a bomb, and that was it," Leven filled in. "The hope of getting all the Freights never eludes us, even though we know how that went."

"I don't- I don't want to think about it," Luna dismissed, moving away from the pair, leading Lynn close behind.

"I wish she didn't- Why, why didn't she choose him, Leven?!" Linka went down on her knees, prompting Leven to follow along, still wrapped around her. "He did no wrong, he loved her, he did it for her."

"I can never tell you why, Linka, for not even I know why Lori went down that path..." Leven stroked her hair, and then her patted around her. "Can you keep a clear head?"

"As soon as I stop bawling my eyes out, yeah!" Linka rested her hands over Leven's arms, quieting down. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, big brother, it just hurts too much, and I want it to to away. I want all of it to go away. The pain, the misery, the memories!"

"I'd like that, too," Leven agreed. "I find it too distracting and stressful for me."

"I... I miss Lori."

Lynn had deemed the clones just as hostile as Lincoln had, having a sincere hatred and fixation to put them in whatever right detention center or prison they qualified for. The way she saw it, Linka, Leven and the other three were constructed weapons from the hidden base Lisa manned unbeknownst to everyone, and it wasn't just that these were toys to be used for war or combat, but that Lynn had enough reason to believe they could not be so human in the long run. For one thing, picturing a clone of Lincoln, any of these two here, made it simple; they were just bodies with the characteristics, features and memories of the one they were cloned after. They were here surrogates to her, empty in the head, depraved of an original thought, and no freedom for themselves.

Who knows how the other sisters really felt about the five clones? Surely she didn't, but maybe they were with her on it, believing the bunch of Loud copies to be dangerous, such beings who needed to be captured. Lynn wanted nothing more than to leave these two present with them to the right authorities, but there was that clear consequence in doing so; it would either mean they'd be executed, or taken back by McMahon for use among his Kapacity Korp properties. That, Lynn could not allow, and she understood it, she understood the last resort. Death, it had to be the only way, the the way that made her feel dirty and sinful inside.

She had to, she felt. An unbearable burden to take upon, but it was her. It was the Lynn Loud who branded and carried guns. The Lynn Loud who had to make tough calls, as so taught by her colleagues, her superiors. The Lynn Loud who had already done so, having forced to leave her two fallen in that sinister, mysteruius, grim future that was still in play. Margo, Paula, and Polly, the sacrifices in Lynn's life. What would they say? What would they do in this situation? She hated to think what, but she felt the answer had been clear, and yet she was doubting herself just enough to actually contemplate it. "So, these clones..."

"What about them?" Luna sniffed.

"That older one, he's-"

"Yeah, he's the key to Lisa's planned revolution, the final piece of this 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' level conspiracy. They have to come with us."

Lynn nodded, solely agreeing for a close chance to kill them while they were around. "Of course, we will... We'll protect them."

Luna wiped her leaky eyes again. "Also, they said they've come across the other three clones, so we're going to them, and then we've got another issue..."

"Uh..." Lynn went serious. "What... Kind of issue?"

"The Lincoln kind..." Luna looked over her shoulder, then turning to face Lynn. "He's after all the clones, and he might have already gotten to the other three. I hope not, I want to... Save them."

"You want to save them?" Lynn thought she misheard. "But, they're weapons-"

"Left when I accidentally released them," Linka pointed out. "So, you've met the Lucy one?"

"Yeah...?"

Linka tapped at Leven. "When the fuck was it revealed that was a Lucy clone?"

"You knew this," Leven scoffed.

"But... I mean, she died in the fire... Unless...?"

"We'll figure that out later!" Leven jerked his head to the van. "Luna is right, we have to move before Lincoln could kill them. I'd hate to know we were all too late."

"Ugh, that Lincoln, why the fuck am I not surprised?" Lynn returned to the back, fuming.

The clones boarded back into the cab of the van fast, but Luna took her time to do so, trying her hardest to shake off the most depressing thing she's ever heard in the world, now looking at Lincoln in an entirely different light. From her perspective, Luna narrowed down the most painful memory in his life, it had to be that. Not the fire, not the running away from home, but this. This, where Lori was the one last thing, the only person left to remind him of the past, of something that could have been better. Putting herself in his shoes, she walked enough steps to know that if she were in that place, she would never let Lori slip away from her to keep the memory of the Loud family alive- or she would forget by never being retold of those times, the golden memories Lori could share while she would recount her own. That was it, that was what Lincoln never wanted to lose.

And he did lose it, regardless of what he wanted. Life... Life was truly a cruel mistress.

"Sorry, loves," Luna apologized, getting into the van. "I'm ready."

"About time." Leven applied the brake and clutched on the shift gear- and didn't turn it to park when, in clear eye's view, two armored vans came speeding from the direction up ahead, and a bonus two more from behind. Leven quickly pulled away, only to be slow enough to allow themselves to be blocked in by the four opposition vehicles. In here moments, they had been the targets of a perfect cornering maneuver. "Hold on!"

"We can't fit through them!" Luna calculated.

"Not if we go straight!" Leven floored it, accelerating right towards the two vans up ahead. The men around the blockade had begun firing, but the glass and tires of the vehicle proved to be bulletproof to be stopped, making for a safe passage through it, and a successful one when Leven went around them, driving over the empty sidewalk.

"They'll be chasing us, you know!"

"We have a Linka!" Leven had the girl's chip on standby, knowing now was just as good a time to pull that wild card out. "Linka, tap into-"

In the skies above, a bizarre object had caught their eye. A literal floating dumpster hovered high in the air, something magically uncommon and real odd to them. Linka had to rub her eyes, thinking she was hallucinating, and then laughed. "Why, it's obviously the ghost of that German guy I killed at that dumpster! Ho, I knew he was trash!"

"That... That is no ghost..." Leven rationalized, squinting. "I could use glasses."

The dumpster had actually been nearing them, and upon a closer inspection, Linka and Leven were able to make out a figure standing on top of it.

"Oh! Oh, never mind!" Linka chuckled innocently.

"Who the hell-?" Luna let the dumpster get nearer before she made another comment.

"Oh, no..." Leven pieced it together. "It's her, it's the Lucy clone."

"Bullshit!" Luna slapped her hand on Leven's shoulder. "Why is it coming- Why is she coming to us?!"

"It can't be that!" Leven deduced. "Maybe it's just coincidence-"

The flying dumpster and its pilot, the telekinetic albino clone, uppened their speed and lowered its height to match the incoming van driving rapidly down the street.

"-Or not!"

"The trash is coming for a landing!" Linka warned. "Oh, you already knew that."

Lupa came in sliding with the dumpster as if it were a skateboard, skidding against the concrete. Leven braked the van ten feet away from Lupa, shaking his head and pointing his thumb over his shoulder. Lupa returned it with a crossing of her arms, expecting and waiting for them to get out. Leven was the first to, going out fast once looking at the side mirror. All clear. "What- What are you doing here?!"

Lupa stepped off the green dumpster. "Nice to see you again, man."

Linka pushed Luna off, knocking her to stumble about. "Hey! You survived big daddy! ...How sad."

"Yeah, the three of us did..." Lupa nodded, her face that of a stone. "Thanks for your help."

"Listen, listen, I'm sorry," Linka owned up to her cowardice. "We had to, Leven here has a huge target on his back like I do-"

"And I don't?!" Lupa yelled. "Ha! Lincoln wants us all dead, he almost killed Luan, or her clone- Whatever, but I wasn't having that! I wasn't having him kill her, she didn't earn it. She didn't do anything, it's- It's the same Luan we all know before the fire!"

"R-really?" Luna approached Lupa. "Tell me more!"

Lupa tucked her hands into her sweater pockets. "My Lynn and Luan sisters, they're... They act like the real thing, but Luan is the best of us. Luan stopped Lincoln from going after us..."

"No way..." Luna twitched a smile. "Luan's clone..."

"So, he let you guys off the hook?" Leven rubbed his chin, somewhat surprised. "Then, he's going to come after the two of us."

"Yeah, about that..." Lupa exhaled slowly. "He only overlooked them both, as for me, he thought I was a danger, so I offered myself to him, a favor he claimed, but I knew he was interested to end me. So... I'm sorry, but I don't know you two, and you brought this to my doorstep to begin with-" Lupa moved to the side and opened one of the dumpster's lids... To reveal Lincoln emerging from inside.

"No..." Luna made a break for it, only for Lupa to stop her by raising her in the air. "No, no! Lincoln!"

Lupa did the same for Linka and Leven, rendering them all immobile for Lincoln to finish one of his missions. "I'm sorry, but I want to live, and I know what your roles are, so I had no second thoughts."

Lincoln brushed away the dirt and wrappers off his skin, having no such weapon but his bare hands. "It's time to die."

Lupa had no idea that the others were right inside the van, and it was a nice surprise to be greeted by Lynn with a hard kick to her chest, breaking away her hovering hostages. Luna transformed and jumped right over the clones, ramming and knocking her brother down. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Get off of me, those two have to die before anyone can wise up and take them!" Lincoln tried to budge free.

"THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO SOLVE A SITUATION!" Luna brought out her roaring voice right to Lincoln's face, spitting mercilessly.

"With consequences, Luna. With consequences."

Lynn walked around the two, staring angrily at her younger brother. "As much as I hate to admit it..." She then focused her eyes at Leven and Linka with the same look. "The clones aren't human, and-"

"Lynn, I- I can't be hearing this from you-" Lynn pulled Luna away from Lincoln, nodding to him while the lizard woman struggled to get out of it. "HEY, NO!"

"Lynn!" Leven made his own move, and had then met the ground hard with a simple Lynn push. "Ahh!"

"You motherfucker," Linka cursed, raising her hands.

"Lincoln," Lynn signaled to him to move. "Hurry, I can't keep this up."

"Why are you helping me?" he asked. "Why now?"

"Don't get me wrong, I hate you," Lynn explained. "But these two compromise the world's safety. He is the key to an inevitable genocide, and she, with that device in her head, can cripple a country if she were to have funny ideas."

"LYNN?! LINCOLN?! DON'T-" Luna was helpless. "SAM! LANA, LOLA! ANYONE!"

On call, the twins appeared next to Linka, with Sam and Carly behind them. "What the hell is happening?"

Lupa recovered, flying back to them.

Tensions increased.

Linka dropped her hands back down, helping Leven back up. Lynn let Luna go as Lincoln slowed down, the latter man looking at the twins and company, while Lynn coughed and moved away from Luna.

"Don't let Lincoln hurt those two!" Luna ordered to the twins, both of them responding by putting themselves in front of the clones. Luna backed away to Sam's position, opposing Lynn. "And careful for Lynn, she's sided with him."

Lupa and Lynn joined Lincoln's side after he had backed away from the twins. "No, I'm not with Lincoln," Lynn tried to excuse. "We just agree that these two can't live, Luna. I thought you would see that."

"No, Lynn, all I see is you being like him, justifying murder."

"Murder?" Lynn laughed to herself. "These clones aren't real people! Lisa planned to clone the whole world so that they would all place their inferior... Parents? The ones we have- Mine, Lucy's and Luan's, were made so that we get replaced when they managed to kill us! I'm not going to be replaced by an artificial, pseudo-Lynn!"

"I... I can't believe you..." Luna was terribly hurt by Lynn. "Lynn, I came here so that we could team up with the Lucy clone and the two others we didn't meet. I wanted all of us to be one group, so that we had a better chance at survival... And you just-"

Lupa raised an eyebrow, alarmed.

"You just spat in my face..." Luna grieved.

"Lynn has made up her mind," Lincoln cut in. "Twins, step away from the clones. Surely you understand what's at stake should they remain alive."

Carly did the unexpected and joined over to team Lincoln, shocking Linka and Leven. "C-Carly, no- No, not you!"

"I'm sorry, but this is easier than what we agreed upon," Carly believed. "If you two die, it gives no reason for McMahon to chase us. Therefore, he won't be looking for me because his interest will plummet. Face it, you relied on me to save you if you got captured."

"Ah, so you were running from him, were you?" Lincoln welcomed the Asian. "You are among real friends, girl. I could not be more proud of you three to make the right choice."

"So, this is it, isn't it?" Luna stepped forward, and Lynn did the same. "We were on the same page, I would have never thought that you'd be open to taking lives."

"I'm not doing the killing, I'm letting Lincoln do it, which means I have to block and cover some of you until it's over. Lunes, just move for one minute, come on. Turn a blind eye and that's it. That's one problem solved-"

"They are not a problem..."

"Then, you're just as blind as them!" Lynn pointed to the twins- and then rushed them. "Hurry, Lincoln, before-!"

The twins had way more experience in the zoomer business, that they practically overpowered and knocked Lynn out, much to Luna's disappointment. Her next move was to point at Lincoln and Lupa, and before either could make a move, the twins grabbed them and ran away with them to drop them off somewhere else. Carly looked around, finding herself on her own, and with a look of sincere heartbreak from Linka.

"I-" But Carly had no way to weasel out of it. Today, she had traded her friends for the easier way, and it wouldn't go away that easy. "I wanted to live... I want to live-"

"Then go," Leven dismissed her presence. "Just leave, walk away from this. From us."

Carly began leaving the scene in shame, without a word, but Linka was there to say otherwise. "No, not her- Carly, don't leave!"

Luna and Sam looked on.

"But she-"

"We need her just as much as she needs us," Linka fought. "I can forgive her... But I won't forget."

"Linka, uh, Leven..." Carly did feel guilty. "I'm sorry-"

"As it should be," Leven scolded. "I honestly cannot believe you."

"We had something!" Linka cried.

"I'll make it up to you..."

The twins came back, staring down at the unconscious Lynn. "What about her?" Lola asked. "Should we-?"

"Drop her off with Lincoln and that clone, then we're done here. The rest of you, back inside! We're leaving town."

"What about the other clones?"

"Fuck everything..." Luna had begun to give up.

"Luna, we can pick them up on the way out," Leven suggested. "Just those two. Forget the Lucy clone."

"It's too much trouble now..." Luna waved at the downed Lynn. "Go, take her."

"I'll do it," Lola offered, placing Lana to remain with them. "Be right back."

"Now what?" Lana wondered.

Elsewhere

Lynn snapped out of it, finding herself on an empty plains field right next to a road, where a police cruiser was parked, sirens lighting up with no blaring to be heard. Just in front of her, she laid witness to Lincoln having beaten on the cops with the help of Lupa. He armed himself with one shotgun, and Lupa herself with a handgun. Lynn raced up to them, stopping and nearly falling over. "Damn it, I'm not a pro yet... Hey, where are we?"

Lincoln ignored his failure of a sister, but Lupa responded for him. "We've ended up somewhere, I don't know..."

The sky was getting dark, the day becoming a late evening much to Lincoln's hatred. Time was running out to get that job done, but the fall of night was just as advantageous as it was hard. There was Lynn the zoomer at his disposal now that he lucked out. Lynn and Lupa alike.

"We follow the road," Lincoln notified the two. "Lynn, check around for a nearby landmark?"

"Of course!" Lynn did a sweep on both directions of the road, and came back after twenty seconds. "Royal Woods is up the road!"

"Here..." Lupa lifted Lincoln up, and then leaped on his back, riding him. "This is a two-person flight, try not to open your mouth."

"I'll follow you!" Lynn fixed herself on the road, waiting for Lupa and Lincoln to get a move on. "Also, why are you shirtless...?"

Lincoln gave no reply- or maybe he did, but they were too far away in the air if he did reply to her question. Lynn ran with them, keeping up with her head bobbed up. They kept it up for a little over a mile, until Lynn came across that orphanage she came across. However, this time, it wasn't empty on the outside. A pair of girls snuck out from the building, cautiously moving around in the darkening evening. If Lynn didn't notice them too closely, she would have passed the two clones she had never seen before. She identified Lacy, immediately recognizing that face and hairstyle as that of which she was used to seeing in the mirror. She slowed down, running up to the two girls.

Lacy and Liby were startled, thinking Clemmons had beefed up the place with extra security- only to meet the real Lynn Loud blankly staring at them. Lacy herself did not have an idea on what to make of it, but was beyond stunned to finally understand that all she heard from Lupa was true. "You- You're-"

Liby's mouth only went agape, no such peep crawling out of her mouth. "Lynn- But, you're- And she-" Liby went back and forth, waving her finger at them. "Then, clone-"

"What's with the red and white suit?" Lacy tugged on Lynn's zoomer suit, feeling the fabric. "Oooh, are you a fighter? Is this skin tight for you? And... I have so many questions!"

But Lynn wasn't here to do a Q and A. Her plans were realized, the most dirtiest thing she could ever do to forever stain her hands. Here, there was no one to get in her way... Or so she thought.

Lupa and Lincoln entered from above, silently greeting them with cold stares.

"Oh, you again," Lacy snarled at Lincoln. "Lucy, did you already... You know... That?"

"No, that didn't happen yet, we've had some issues..." Lupa dropped off of Lincoln, hugging both Lacy and Liby. "Oh, I'm sorry I had to leave."

Lynn stood idly by, watching the dynamics of the three clones unfold.

"It's fine, it's not like you have a choice..." Lacy stuck her tongue out at Lincoln to spite him.

"No time for this, my clones are still out there," Lincoln focused. "You, with me. Lynn-"

"No..." Lynn turned it around, grabbung Lupa's gun and taking Lacy hostage. "I can see you two made a deal with each other, but I didn't!"

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Lacy scratched at Lynn's arms. "Let me go!"

"Lynn!" Lupa raised her hands to pull Lynn away. "How dare you?!"

"We're already here!" Lynn triumphed. "We might as well kill them, Lincoln! They're all liabilities! The Lucy one is catastrophic!"

"No!"

"Please don't kill her!" Liby begged. "Please, she's just a girl-"

"I'm a teenager!" Lacy hissed. "Lynn, don't!"

Lincoln aimed his shotgun on Lynn. "These girls are not my interest, Lynn. They have shown me that they are not evil."

"They don't have to be!" Lynn countered. "They were made to replace us! Fuck that, and fuck what they want!"

"Lynn-" Lincoln cocked the pump back, loading up. "Don't be so fucking stupid. Let her go!"

"You're right..." Lynn dropped the gun, but never let Lacy out of her grip. "I'll do it by hand, can't alert anyone around."

Lincoln fired, playing right into Lynn's hands. Lacy was lifted, made to match the shell's target, and took the blast right into her chest. Liby and Lupa screamed, Lupa then being shoved the injured Lacy right at her. It was a quick moment to buy for Lynn, using the time to run her fists onto the opposing Lincoln.

"LYNN, STAND THE FUCK DOWN!"

"You wanted to kill those other two, so why spare these?" Lynn quickly got the better of him, getting him on his knees and putting him in a chokehold. "I need you to open your eyes! We're all going to let this shit happen to us!"

"Only if we kill the male clone!" It became funnt, how their common, signature roles had switched around. "You waste your time-"

Lupa roared her battle cry, lifting the pair up into the air. Lupa brought with her a wave of shattered glass taken from the nearby windows. Lincoln was dropped in place for Lynn to receive a tornado of glass, which cut her skin and suit up as many times as Lupa would allow. The floating Lynn screamed painfully as Lupa raged on at the same volume level, leaving Lincoln unsupervised.

"D-DAMN YOU!" Lynn did her best to avoid and dodge the shards, but to no avail. "THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

Lincoln grabbed the shotgun Lynn had disarmed from him, loading another shell and pointing it up. "STOP THIS NOW!"

"KILL HER! KILL THE CLONE!"

Lincoln aimed at Lupa. "PUT HER DOWN!"

"ONCE SHE DIES!" Lupa promised.

"Damn it..." Lincoln shut his eyes, inhaled for a deep breath, deciding to fire on Lupa, but the albino clone managed to flick it away from his arms. "DAMN IT!"

"PUT HER DOWN ALREADY!"

Lupa levitated the shotgun and pointed it Lynn's way. "IF IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME WHO WILL KILL HER!"

"NO, LINCOLN! HELP!"

Liby came running towards Lincoln with the gun that was used on her. "Here! Diffuse this situation before they kill each other! Don't kill my Lucy!"

Lincoln aimed it on Lupa- but not on any non-fatal areas. He had to shoot to kill, and now since the window was closing too rapidly for him to make a mistake. And he fired three rounds into her head, which made Liby terribly regret that she had inadvertently caused Lupa's sudden, quick fall.

Lupa fell on her side, having died before she hit the ground. Lynn and the aura of floating glass fell back down to earth, her body having been sliced up in many areas. Blood trickled down in just about all areas, leaving her shaking about where it stung. "NRGHHHHH! AHHHH!"

"Lucy!" Liby ran to the dead Lupa's corpse, lifting it up by her shoulders. Lupa remained lifeless, eyes having been stripped of its natural, lively essence, mouth barely open, left that way. Liby shed her aching tears over the dead girl's sweater, so desperately shaking her head in denial. "Lucy, please..."

Lincoln let go of the gun, turning away from the devastated Liby. Lynn herself limped up and forward, going for Liby, still persistent to kill her and Lacy.

"Lucy, please!" Liby brought Lupa's head to her chest, gently cradling it like it was a baby. "Why did you leave me? Why did you-?" Liby noticed Lynn creeping up on her. "GO AWAY!"

Lacy, still injured with the shell in her chest, came to Liby's comfort, looking over Lupa's corpse. "Lucy, I'm sorry..." She closed Lupa's eyelids and placed her hands over her chest, taking a moment of silence. "I'm sorry, sis..."

Lynn circled the clones, noting down this weird display of emotion from them. For a pair of clones... They sure were human.

"What more do you want to take from us?!" Liby hollered at the bloody zoomer. "Don't you two think you've done enough?!"

"Excuse me-?" Lynn threw herself at them, but Lincoln held her back, pulling her hard that she fell on her ass. "Asshole!"

"You forced me to kill this clone..." From Lynn's position, Lincoln looked truly angry. "You just made me take away my only help."

"You didn't need her! I'm here, I can run-"

"Are you stupid?" Lincoln found himself repulsed. "I can't have that, I won't."

"Why not?" Lynn twitched, hissing. "Why not?!"

"Because you aren't me..."

Lynn scoffed, hitting her hands on the dirt. "Always you, it has to be you, doesn't it?"

"Get out of here, Lynn..." Lincoln dismissed.

Lynn wiped away the blood from her chest, staining her suit further. "Whatever, fine, I guess I'll get them another day." She took to the road, sprinting away from the orphanage only to see Luna standing on the road, right in front of the steel van. The mere disappointment in Luna's eyes sparkled in the dimmest of light, which rubbed Lynn the wrong way. The way that made her the failure she had become by the end of the day, a true killer who could justify that. Another real Lincoln in the making, and one such zoomer with that mindset.

Luna shook her head and returned to the vehicle. It drove away south, and Lynn could make out Linka flipping her off from the cab. And just like that, Lynn put herself in a solo situation, right along Lincoln. "Shit..."

"Looks like you fucked yourself..." Lincoln followed her lead, coming across the road. "And you just ensured I lost them."

"Let me heal..." Lynn groaned. "We'll chase them."

"No..." Lincoln looked northward of the road, seeing bright headlights storm their way. He guessed that this was the other units chasing down the first van, bringing a new opportunity his way. To help with this, he wasn't going to jeep up with the clones, but now that he had seen they were likely in the care of his sisters, he hoped they could deny McMahon his agenda.

"New plan?" Lynn smiled at Lincoln, only to meet a hard face punch from him, putting her out of commission. He let her fall, dragging her body to the road, ensuring that they would be captured.

"Hey, you two..."

Lacy looked up. "What now?"

"If you wanna live, you run like hell! Run or they'll capture you!"

"We can't just leave her-!" Liby squeaked.

"Now!"

Lacy picked up the Luan clone, escorting her out. "We have to, Luan. We have to move."

"What about them?" Liby pointed at Lynn and Lincoln.

"They're on their own, Luan. They're on their own."

"We won't ever forgive you two for this!" Liby claimed, leaving with Lacy on that note. "You took the only Lucy we had left! You'll pay!"

"Don't provoke the psycho..." Lacy whispered. "He's letting us walk away..."

Liby went dead silent, disappearing with Lacy further away from the orphanage.

It went down like that, it ended in unnecessary tragedy, and it was not to anyone's favor tonight. Lupa had died, Lynn had betrayed her pack, which led to her fall and getting nothing done but proving how dumb, how broken she had let herself become for this, and Luna had accepted Lynn was beyond salvation, proving how set she was to resort to the same evil that plagued Lincoln's heart. A closer bond broke today, and would maybe prove to remain that way for them.

Things were changing again to no end, an ugly thing wanted and loved by no one, not even asked for. And for Lincoln, who was about to be taken into custody, had seen enough of it today. Today, to be ended by the capture of him and Lynn alike. Lynn, who went overboard the way he would on a regular Friday.

He laughed, for how funny it was that he did his best to stop Lynn from killing Lacy and Liby when, not long ago, it was him who was in those shoes. It was funny, it was purely ironic at most, almost poetic. He enjoyed the joke before he was shot with the anti-pheno weapons, being depowered and cuffed by the special anti-pheno forces.

A play for him to get closer to McMahon if the senator should notice. And he will.

Soon... Soon.

---

Act III: Further Into Darkness, Chapter V: The Clone War

---

AN: Clone War! Clone War with more consequences! Lupa dead, the breaking of bonds, and more running! Let it be known this is twice as long as the other version of it, and more bloodier, as it could get of course. No Lori being present was part of the plan, but the little reveal of Lincoln wanting to save her was on-point. It's to hurt Luna, and those she'll tell, and she will. This was a tough piece to type up, especially with my phone screen legitimately shattered up to high hell, I can't see the periods and commas half the time.

Leven, the clone that needs to die for the right reasons, I also feel. I'll always make two opposing viewpoints to each issue presented, that they come across. Its food for thought, agree or disagree with this character or that one. That's me doing it for you over the simple one-side objective that would make it dull and boring, and make for less character development. Conflict, conflict is always key. I just found that out, oh.

Lynn is out of that, she's really fucked up with both her sisters, and all clones left alive before any bond could be established. I never really did say Lynn and Lacy would be mother/daughter, did I? Don't worry, this won't mean Lynn won't see them again. It never really ends... Until it dies. Does. I meant does.

Lupa Loud has died, may her clone soul rest in peace. She had to go. I can't explain why I picked her out of the three around this time. I'll wait for the voices to speak if there are any that wish to. And it was almost Lacy, too, but she can manage... Once she removes that shell from her body. Maybe I should have... Too late now.

Lincoln can be saved, so Luna believes. There is pity and sadness in that, but she isn't too keen to let him back in, that's why she didn't let anyone getting in the van before they left. What do I say? Yes, he can, but there's gotta be more than just a Liby to pull him back from the darkness. Yes, it's possible, yes, he can find a heart to forgive, and be forgiven, but that is a long journey- especially when he is inhuman, or... Edgelord, as the I've-Been-Online-Too-Long people would say. I can never be used to that term.

Another note, the show continues to gift with the addition of characters; my readers, Lacey St. Claire has a home in Dawn. Goodnight.