Disclaimer; Coronavirus is locking you all down, I can only imagine the inevitable boredom after so many days. I myself have found to be cut from work, reduced to working night shifts. Woe is me. Planned this for the sixteenth, but here we are. Let's go, Timeline X awaits.
Lyrics to Zombies by Lacuna Coil and Time In A Bottle by Jim Croce
Down on my knees
Feeling lost, I look around
Another day I can see
My life crashing to the ground
Now that the time is ripe for change
None of the lies that I've been told
None of them lying preachers
Cannot curse me anymore
Our lost souls will rise above as one
We are alone, we are the night
We are the ghosts that come to life
We will scare away reality
When walls are falling down
We are alone, we aren't blind
We see the shadows from inside
We will run away and hide
When the new dawn is breaking
Timeline X, Chapter One: Carnivore
Dadetown, Colorado - 2030
It started with Luna, but it didn't end the way like before; Luna had turned into the ungodly reptilian form she'd been able to take on, courtesy of that body-altering super serum that did her wonders. Vial Corporation, oh how it was a force to be reckoned with- right before they created her, the snowball that was on the verge of creating an even nastier mess than the secret cabal could ever realize.
Lisa Loud, James Shepherd and Peter McMahon were of this cabal, just above a multitude of underlings that followed them. The thing was, these select three were conspiring with each other to create the recipe for the perfected superhuman, the type invulnerable to disease and infections of the human body. A strong one, a fast one, an intellectual one. You knew how it went, and so did Lincoln Loud, one of many who sought out to stop them from winning. The cloning process, the genocide, the damn secret crisis that made Invasion of the Body Snatchers look like a fucking joke. Real humans were trying to achieve this, but he said otherwise. He said this with guns drawn, weapons being fired, and all the greedy psychopaths were made to die down the barrels.
His sister was dead, shot before, and McMahon was given the Humpty Dumpty treatment. Still, that future turned out bad, and in Dylan Blood's favor. Of course it required a reset.
This was the reset, he made one simple change, and things changed...
And he didn't, however.
The night was dark enough for him to move about, and he did move about, scouting the Vial Corp facility, the very same one that contained Luna at this second. The history didn't change for her, it could not have. Not for most of the sisters apart from Lori, in actuality. One of these days, Luna was due to escape, and when things went against Lisa's own plans, Lincoln would be there to assemble the Patriots, turn them in the right areas where attacks were mandatory, and win the war in a cleaner sense. No clones, no leaks. No fucking Dylan Bloods walking around and killing zoomers. It was game set and match at this point, he had no reason to be concerned.
As of yet, he didn't bother to see what the changes were, but he didn't care yet. Not until it was all over.
Inside, Luna had already gone haywire, clawing through the staff and guards as she escaped from the floor. In her ravenous form, she roared away, establishing her dominance over them, scaring a lot of the trapped phenos and Vial Corp scum. She made it to the first floor, galloping like a wild animal right out of the glass panes.
Hello again, Luna... Lincoln set off after her when she stampeded off into the woods, already speeding up the process by a mile. He was too pleased to get this much of a head start.
Yeah, he gave it the right thought, already knowing that there had to be another Lincoln, the first one, around and far away from here. Somewhere else he didn't know where, actually. And why wouldn't he have known? Because the tiny thing that was moved had to do with his own past. Not that he was thinking about it now, not yet at the very least.
Lincoln raced down the road in the dark blue Hummer, the headlights of which were off, for he drove wearing night vision goggles that kept him concealed from any living soul around. It surely helped him, but Luna would hear and detect him-
Speaking lf which, the old punk rocker had already heard him, and came pouncing right onto the roof of the Hummer. She put her face down to get a good look on the freaky driver who thought to conduct without lights- and saw the white hair had some sort of resemblance to her long-lost brother. "L-LINCOLN?!"
The albino braked hard, sending Luna rolling forward in a ragdoll fashion.
Luna's first instinct was to attack him both physically and verbally, to torture him for the choices he made in the time back when everything mattered. In her eyes, he and Lori were the shame of the family, just as Lisa was. The trio who left the family for whatever fucking reason... Left their sisters... Her.
Luna came back, humoring right onto the hood of the vehicle, breaking away the front windshield with her fists and claws. Lincoln drew out his double barrel, not hesitating to harm Luna. He knew it wouldn't be fatal, but he needed her to be downed long enough for her to hear what he had to offer. And what he had to offer was satisfactory to the cause; a campaign of revenge against the Vial Corp chain, and the Black Network. "Stay down, sister!"
Luna took both rounds to her chest, blood and chunks of her flesh flying out of her. It repelled her back for a few seconds- then, she clawed out the shells bsck out of her body, snarling angrily and violent. "So many years... And you greet me by shooting me?!"
"You're not exactly human, are you?" Lincoln rhetorically asked. "Why do you think I'm here?"
Luna rebounded to the side and yanked out the driver's door, exposing Lincoln to her. Pity he didn't have time to reload, but he drew out the spare Colt 1911 and unloaded the rest into her chest when she didn't seem to stop. "Luna!"
She slapped the gun away and tugged him out of the seat, throwing him right onto the road.
Luna became berserk and flipped the Hummer on its side, leaving Lincoln without a ride now. "Ngh!"
"How did you know to find me?!" Luna demanded to know. "Are you with them?! You are, aren't you?!"
"I'm with someone, alright," Lincoln gave out, thinking about Alexander Elmont and his fuckety Patriot Division, or whatever it was. "I know what's been going on back there, I know what Vial's done to you and all of those other ones."
"You..." The wounds on her chest sorely healed, and by that time, Luna had begun to listen. "I don't believe you-"
"Luna..." Lincoln never sounded like he was making jokes. "It's Lisa, Lunes. Lisa is behind this."
"Lisa- Our sister Lisa...?" It caught her by surprise, but she was quick to snap out of it and disregard it as lies. "Bullshit, she'd never!"
"She did," Lincoln insisted, looking down on the ground for the shattered glass fragments. He showed her by picking one up and then running down the shard on his cheek. She flinched, expecting to see a gaping cut with his blood race down. And it did- but the wound closed before any blood trickled away. "We're all victims of Vial, Luna," Lincoln deceived, playing the role of a kidnapped pheno.
Luna finally bought into it, overwhelmed and nauseous that it happened to him. She relieved herself of the monstrous green form, which exposed her body more openly with her clothes from Vial being dangling threads at this point. Her breasts were popping out, but she made no effort to hide them from him. "They really do that to you...?"
"Yeah..." Lincoln turned the vehicle back on its wheels with a hard tug. "I've gotten out, I've done the homework, I know where we should be going to."
He got into the whip, putting it into drive, then looking at Luna to board. She shivered in the cold and quickly hopped inside, riding shotgun. "We?"
"There is this place they call the Black Network," Lincoln explained. "It's the base that bridges the legal to illegal activities. They make weapons, they sell weapons, blood money becomes fund cash for research."
"Arms dealers?" Luna narrowed down. "Jesus, they're worse than I thought."
"Oh, believe me..." Lincoln reloaded his double barrel. "They all are."
In the short days that I've had after I woke up from my coma, I could never have imagined all of this. I never bothered to share my own thoughts and feelings when waking up to a new world that came about during my involuntary slumber. Everything was as messy as I was familiar with, give or take.
Luna turned on the heater to regain some of that lost body heat, still looking at her younger brother with wonder and curiosity. "You look older..."
Luna was as good a pheno to help me in the long run. I could not do this myself, as much as it pains me to admit it. She was a regular killing machine... If she accepted to take on the role, and knowing this was the same one, of course she'd not be crossing the line, but she could still be of use to me.
"Of course I do, I've aged quite a bit," Lincoln addressed. "Look at you with your long hair, I think it's a development."
"Haha, very funny..." Luna ran her fingers down her long brown hair. "I love my pixie cut, it defines who I am, always has. So, where is this Black Network?"
"In Maine, right above New York," Lincoln answered. "An underground base hidden beneath a forest. My guess it was some sort of fallout shelter that was put to good use."
"Underground..." Luna found the humor in it, laughed and shook her head. "Of course."
Hmmm... Lynn and the twins- Did I want to involve them? Considering the places they've chosen, and the fact that it would just be easier for me to wipe the board... No, not them, I'm not going to recruit them.
"What about those others?" Luna wanted to know. "Dude, they've kept so many others-"
"Once we..." He chose his words carefully as to not make suggestions around her. "-Handle the ringleaders of all this, we'll get to that, alright? Vial Corporation has multiple facilities, that means there are going to be too many for us to liberate, I suggest we take it to the authorities."
"Um..." Luna sighed in discontent. "Yeah... I just hope that they'll be safe, Lincoln. That's all I want."
He said nothing, that's because-
They will be, when they're all put away from society. Vial Corporation, your science division responsible for the creation of super-criminals. I know full well that they are victims, that they were subjected to a hell lot of mental torture, isolated within their own cells, but that enabled them to become ugly creatures due retribution, or, if they believed that the world owed them for this, they could fall out of line and misuse their pheno abilities on the people. Saying as I believed to Luna would strip me of the ally, hence I had to lie or steer clear of letting her in on my truth.
He said something. "Don't you worry a thing, it'll be corrected. They'll be at peace."
Luna smiled, but he didn't look at her, nor was he able to feel her joy. "I've missed you... As much of an asshole move that was. What you and Lori did-"
Right... Lynn's absence means Luna doesn't find out that I am an ex-Freight. That's good, no more tension between us. Not yet, at least. Here's to hoping it lasts as much as I can make it last.
"I'm here now, Luna," Lincoln soothed her. "We can make all this right, together!"
"Together!" Luna was onboard with it, aiming to acquire justice for her new state, and for Chunk and Tabitha. "For my old friends!"
From what I know now, the twins are crimefighters in New York, and Lynn is an FBI agent. That's a place I know I'm sure to avoid for my own good... Lincoln tapped his fingers about on the steering wheel. "All the right people will be avenged, Luna."
"Yes, I so very much want this."
Lincoln drove on for a bit before he pulled into a dirt road, driving a mile deep into a Colorado Forest before stopping. It brought upon confusion for Luna, having her raise an eyebrow in dear wonder as to why he drove them here, away from the main road. "Uh, dude-?"
"Get out," he coldly hissed, putting the vehicle to park and setting the engine off. Then, he moved out with the double barrel in one hand.
"What, why?" Luna tried to grab him, but failed. She burst through the passenger door and cricket around the Hummer. "Bro, what gives?"
Lincoln ripped off his blue shirt, opened the gas tank to stuff the shirt in, and went back inside to take put the cigarette lighter plug. "Stand back."
I was never here, and no evidence should ever exist of this. Don't worry, I'll travel back to August of this year. By then, things will have to have been simplified, way in our favor. In mine.
He lit up the shirt, letting it catch on fire as he and Luna moved away from the Hummer. It blew up after they strutted away fifty feet from it, and Lincoln slowed down to reveal two Matrix Portals to Luna, giving her one. "Follow what I do exactly."
"Hmm?"
"Long Island," he whispered onto the device, then tossed it out two feet in front of it. The second the blue portal opened up, he jumped in. "Repeat as I did! Follow me!"
Long Island
He landed on a grassy field that stretched for miles, night vision goggles still intact. He stood there, in the damp cold, waiting for Luna. You better have done this right.
One second passed, followed by another second. Five. Seven. Eight and nine... Where was Luna?
Jesus fucking Christ, Luna, you cannot be-
She finally entered the scene through the second portal, rolling right next to him. "L-Lincoln, you'd better tell me what those were and what exactly you know-"
"You're about to find out yourself," Lincoln vaguely responded, walking towards the entryway. "There should be a tunnel that leads down to a special-"
And the ground ripped open, the special entry appearing before them. Lincoln didn't hesitate to move towards the Patriot Division bass, but Luna hesitated to move. "What the fuck is that?"
"The only good force there is, Luna," Lincoln barely explained. "I'm not waiting for you..."
"Wait, wait, h-how do you know all of this?!" Luna demanded. "Dude, you'd better start explaining!"
Lincoln sighed, stopped walking and turned back to her. "I am playing with the powers of gods now, Luna."
Behind him, a wave of heavily armed forces came running out in tactical maneuvering, lining up side by side and taking aim at the pheno duo with their carbine rifles. Lincoln raised his hands up, suddenly sensing that something was off when he noticed the style of their gear did not match up with the guards of the Patriot Division. For one thing, these guys were more concealed and sporting heavier plating. More protection, might have been nothing serious.
"Hands up, on your knees!"
Lincoln complied, not thinking much of the key differences. "Luna, don't give them a reason to shoot!"
"Uh, y-yeah- Whatever you say..." Luna fell on her knees and lifted her hands in the air. "I trust you... I trust you, little bro."
Lincoln was so positive to have won, to believe that it would be in his favor. That it would work out, never to be any sort of folly, a flaw in his character. Arrogant and cocky was the albino, and tonight, it all came crashing down when the lead man in charge came slowly moving from behind the line of men. "And who are our special guests in this lonely night in May, I wonder?"
The voice never matched Alexander Elmont's, from what Lincoln could recall. No, totally not his, and these guys were not of the Patriot Division brand. And by then, it was too late to reassess the choices made, right when Lincoln and Luna Loud were looked down upon by none other than Jordan Leak, the ex-president of the United States, seemingly affiliated with the replacement of the Patriot Division.
"Where is Elmont?!" Lincoln roared out. "I wish to speak to him!"
"Elmont?" The bald man, clad in a nice black business suit, simply laughed with a wheeze. "That clown is of no more, I made sure of that."
"So then-" Lincoln stuttered for some reason. Maybe it was the fear. "I've come with information to put the mastermind criminals of Vial Corporation down for good!"
"L-Linc..." Luna didn't know how to feel about all of this, especially when she was missing so much context. "I'm getting scared..."
"Oh?" The seemingly controller of this version of the Division tilted his head. "Is that so?"
"There's a network base not far from here, and that's where-" He stopped, Leak put a hand up to silence him, which only confused him. Did he already know?
"I've heard enough..." Leak stepped back from the sightlines of his goons. "So you know about the work of my partner..."
Lincoln let out a sharp gasp. Partner?!
"Men..." Jordan Leak pointed at them and gave the order. "Open fire!"
If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with
AN: We're going back to day one, and then some. New foes, new battles! A more dangerous landscape has been set up for this arc. Speaking of, here is the roster for Timeline X, which isn't exactly in order;
1. Timeline X: Carnivore
2. Timeline X: Alliance Association
3. Timeline X: Death Angel
4. Timeline X: Patriots
5. Timeline X: Momentum And Velocity
6. Timeline X: Adrenaline
7. (Locked for spoiler)
8. (Locked for spoiler)
9. Timeline X: The Darkest Night
10. (Locked for spoiler)
11. Timeline X Special
Things will become trippy now, more than enough to make anyone's head spin so horrendously.