Timeline X, Chapter Ten: Escape

2030

And Lincoln removed their helmets and killed them. Meli, Chad and Darcy were goners, life choked out of them, reduced to compost for the worms. Lori could have objected, but she silently feared him, as for Dylan, he did nothing but watch.

Lori had stared at him, but turned away when he caught her- and it was awkward if he made the connection, she didn't want him to either. She scratched the side of her head but it proved futile. He wasn't as dumb as she thought, but he was upfront confrontational just the same. "Something on your mind, Lori?"

And there was a thought that plagued her mind. From what Lori knew right up to the point of being captured, Lincoln was in the Freight-hunting business, and that put her, Chandler and Rebekka on the crosshairs, the latter two being dead. And she knew something he didn't, a complete misudnerstanding that had yet to come to light, and this mess had given her a way out of his deadly judgment. Judgment, not even what she could call it, Lincoln was not justified. Even so-

"Yeah, matter of fact, there is," Lori poked, not being afraid of him as he was now.

What Lincoln perceived as aggression from her was not. "Yeah? Spill it now."

"This is about back then, Lincoln," Lori let out, moving closer to him. "The hideout, the very place you brought down."

"You've no right to avenge them, if that's what you're thinking."

"What? No, it's not crossing my mind, but..." Lori had meant to apologize to him, long due for fourteen consecutive years. "I should have gone with you, Lincoln, I didn't know that you had made up your mind about leaving."

"All the evidence was there to suggest it," Lincoln pointed out. "They were evil, some cult composed of nothing but bomb-happy criminals."

"Linc- Yes, I see that we weren't saints, but we had no place else to go!" Lori exclaimed. "They took us in, Linc!"

He turned away from her, still waiting for Alex, wherever she had run off to. "Fuck all of them, and fuck you for... What you did."

"Linc... Y-you don't get it, do you?!" Lori grinded on her teeth. "I chose them because I figured you'd have to choose them, too! I didn't think- I didn't ever think it would make you go berserk and wipe them all!"

He did react, by jerking his body. This was new to him, this he did not know before. "You... You wanted to strip me of having a choice?"

"Linc..." Lori felt just as guilty as before. "This is all my fault... I- I hurt you more than I realized. Fuck, I've abandoned you when you needed me to be there for you-"

"You can shut the fuck up now."

He didn't hear it, but Lori let silent tears fall down her soft cheeks. She was truly guilty, responsible for the monster Lincoln was today. "I'm sorry, little brother."

"Enough of this, your words have no meaning to me," Lincoln forced out. "It's already done."

"Yeah- Yeah, maybe it's too late, Lincoln, but my apology isn't! I'm sorry and I wish- I wish that I had a redo. I'd have gone with you, Lincy. I'd have gone because I love you."

"Better start making up now," Dylan shared, waving his finger in between the siblings. "Don't know what this all pertains to but the tension needs to be resolved. Man, make up with the woman, look at her, she's crying for fuck's sake."

"Huh?" Lincoln turned around to see Lori shedding tears. "Oh, really?"

"I tried to get you to stay, and it backfired on me..."

"You stupid fuck!" Lincoln berated.

"Bro, don't be a fool!" Dylan groaned. "Go on."

"This isn't your affair, you," Lincoln hissed at the pale man. "Stay out of it."

Then, Lori swiftly moved forward, speedwalking to Lincoln. He thought of it as her ready to throw hands, so he raised his own in solid defense. It was just like Lori to fight- but to hug? She threw herself onto him in a wide hug. He resisted, but she didn't let up. "No, don't push me away!"

"Fuck off!"

"Lincoln, you can't push family away!" Lori continued. "I lost my right to call myself your sister, but I want to earn it again! I'm here, I'm here now, and I won't let you go off on your own from here on out!"

"You've forfeited all rights, now let go of me before-" Lincoln spun around, taking Lori with him. He tripped her down on her hands. "I should end you, that's what I should do!"

"Kill- That's all that I've seen that plagued that mind of yours-" Lori toppled over on her back, courtesy of him. "You're full of infinite rage and hatred, it doesn't take long for anyone to realize this!"

"Quiet!" He went down on her, sitting over and shooting his hands on her neck to squeeze the life out of her. "I hate you! I hate you so much, please die!"

"Enough of this folly!" Dylan went and put the albino in a chokehold, pinning him back away from Lori. "We're all allies here!"

"That's not what he sees in me," Lori rasped, coughing away. "Psychotic bastard knows he wants to finish what he started!"

"You too!" Lincoln threw a punch across his shoulder, striking Dylan in the face. "You're next!"

"That's it, Lincoln! Choose death and violence over the better ways!" Lori lectured. "I won't fight you, but if you have to kill me, then do it! Do it as I die begging for my redemption in your eyes!"

The young man returned to Lori, his strong arms reaching back to where they were just moments ago. "Believe I will!"

"I- I should have never-" Lori forced out, "-Rejected your advances!"

It was here that he stopped, hands freezing in place to slowly retract grip from Lori's throat. They stared at each other for enough time for Lori to see the shift of his facial expression. Mad, no longer, but gravely injured on the emotional level. Lincoln was breaking before her, fighting it as best as he could. He needed to deny it, to not feel what it was. To not ever acknowledge the incestuous, romantic feelings he had for her during their time among the Freights.

He loved her, one era- a lifetime- ago.

"Please, please stop," Lori yearned, pressing a hand to his face. "For me...? We can make it all right."

"L-Lori-"

"Lincy..." She diffused the situation calmly, guiding his face down to hers so that she could kiss him, and she kissed him right on the lips, closing her eyes. "Let me finally show you what love is," she said once pulling away.

"Lori..." Lincoln was trapped in her sweet, tender kiss. "I love you-"

"What the fuck is this Alabama shit...?" Dylan sneered.

Lincoln helped Lori up, sitting her upright, where they then proceeded to exchange kisses just as Alex came back from her ordeal with Liberty. The Mexican woman skipped a heartbeat seeing both siblings engage in this affection. She said nothing but made a mental judgment of this, moaning about an incest child between them to be possible.

"You can have me, Lincy," Lori soothed into his ear in her sweet lullaby of a voice. "Please- No more of that hatred. I'll never abandon you again."

"I..." Lincoln fell into it somehow, ripped away from the darker nature of his heart. "I don't know, Lori, I don't- I want this-"

Alex felt disgust and anger at this. Why not my own mother, you piece of shit? This blonde white, but not Ronnie Anne?

Lincoln pushed himself off Lori. "We- We have another priority-"

"...Right..." Lori broke visual contact from Lincoln, clearing her throat. "Yeah-"

"Why'd you have to kill those guys?!" Alex screamed.

"Excuse me, but we're down to three- Our three!" Lincoln signaled at Lori and Dylan. "Well, I don't know what you're pulling, but you're not exactly on our side, as you claim."

"It was just you, Lincoln," Alex reminded. "A secret party thinks of you as useful, can't say the same about these two here."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't need to repeat that," Lori scoffed, "but we're just as useful as he is, we have a place!"

"Still wanna know how you are connected to that white-flaked princess," Lincoln wondered, "and how you both just disappeared in a heartbeat."

"I don't know how to answer that..." Alex believed it was then time to leave. "Fuck, hurry up and take hold, I don't wanna be here..."

Liberty, you gave me a second chance to complete what you know I had to succeed in... Alex could have never let the clone now of this gratitude. Not yet at least. Of course... Of course, you have what it takes. That's why I don't need you to prove yourself for me...

...Because I've already known you'd be a great Primer.

"Ditto!"

"What the hell was the point of coming here, though?" Lincoln began to narrow down. "This whole thing was a busy, we didn't get any of those pieces of shit that put us in that Goddamn prison."

"Our justice will come, I'm sure of it!" Dylan believed.

"Shut up and touch me!" Alex demanded. "Hell, grope my boobies if it'll get us teleporting faster!"

Lincoln and Dylan locked a hand on Alex's shoulders to silence her, and Lori hugged around the girl's waist. "Ready to go!"

Ugh, my battery is depleting... How long do I have to protect him?! Alex did her thing, taking the group away as the suit glowed its bright blue color to signify teleporting. "Don't let go!"

Elsewhere

Lana and Lola plowed through an Alliance Association checkpoint of two armored vans a group of six armed personnel, forcing them down to the pavement around them, just another regular weekday in the lives of the twins. In Lola's mind, Lily was riding on her back, breath held and arms tightened around her neck. "Hang on, baby sister, we've almost-!"

Lana could have never said anything about that yet, Lola was a bitch just as she was fragile- no telling how berserk she'd be when in the denial stage, it wouldn't likely be believable or real. Lana had known well, just by seeing it, that Lola truly believed Lily was alive. Whatever Lola saw was just too realistic, but the health in that was depleting mentally, if it hadn't already. Lola.

Lola...

No telling Lola the truth.

"Left!" Lana redirected them from the straight line they ran in, picking up in another direction to lose the guys that would never stop giving chase. "Zigzag maneuvers!"

"Lily, sorry for the movement!" Lola apologized. "We're going to-"

And just like that, things took a nasty turn for the worst in their favor; the third zoomer had suddenly came out of nowhere, running right into both twins, the person's arms extended outwards and slamming right into their heads, forcing them down. Lana was flung backwards into the window of a flower shop just behind her, while Lola got knocked back into the hood of a Trans-Am color blue, windshield cracking on impact. "L-Lily-!"

"I'm fine," the illusion played, defusing Lola's dreaded state.

"Lola, are you hurt?!" Lana staggered back out of the store, brushing away at the glass shards around her. "Hey, get up!"

"Agh, my back! Lana, I've hurt my back!"

"Don't move, let me help-" Lana encountered the unknown foe that cut right in front of her. "-You?"

"Tuh-tuh-tuh-time displaced! Universe displaced! Back to square one!" Lynnette was here, her suit having been torn on the waist all around, but otherwise still lingering onto her skin. The red eyes are there, her vile form- right up to that bullet hole in the center of her forehead, the killing shot by none other than one such Link-A from a world far from this one. "T-time- Universe! UNIVERSE IS CALLING FOR-!"

Lana shook away, taking a step back as Lynnette approached her. "Um-"

"M-M-MOROOOOOON!" The hole on her forehead leaked blood, scaring Lana that she lost the strength in her legs, toppling over.

"L-Lola... Lola!"

"I WILL NOT DIE AGAIN- I WILL NOT BE ERASED BY THE SILVER WOMAN!"

"The- S-Silver-?"

Lynnette flipped around and slipped over her legs, falling flat on her stomach. "HERE- HERE TO PREVENT THE NEXT WORLD DESTRUCTION! SHE DID IT ONCE, SHE'LL DO IT AGAIN!"

"Who, what?!"

Lola pushed herself out from the hood of the old vehicle. "Hey, you! Stay away from my siste4!"

In the blink of an eye, Lynnette-2039 zoomed right up to Lola's face and pinned her down onto the road. "YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS, NOW YOU HAVE TO- YOU HAVE TO DIE!"

"G-get away from me!" Lola was met with a blood-curdling roar right in her face. The beastly Lynnette-2039 showed off her deadly jaws right before biting into Lola's neck, clamping on and taking a nasty bite out, effectively ripping her throat out. N-no! No, not like this! Lana! Lily!

Lynnette-2039 devoured the chunk of Lola's flesh down her throat, licking her lips. The blood, the savory taste of raw, human meat satisfied her inhuman appetite, and she wanted more. "Yeeeees! Yes, I will end your life for the restoration-"

The earth's calmer atmosphere went disturbed, the sound of great thunder suddenly stopping the blonde. Behind her, a black portal opened up, barely visible thanks to the streetlights, and coming right out of it were literal lightning bolts, flaying around to grip away at the alternate Lynnette. The strange occurrence worked to grab and yank her into the portal. Try as she might, Lynnette-2039 ran about, but her feet never managed to achieve the escape she wanted. "NO! NO! NO, I DID WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO! LOLA! LOLA, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Lana did not understand what was going on, or how this scenery was playing what should have never been imaginable. Lola was there among the ragged, bumpy road, bleeding out through the tear on her throat. Her fingers so weakly tried to compress against the gash, only giving her more painful grief as she tried to stop the bleeding. She struggled to breath, her breaths coming out all shakily and broken.

"LOLA!" Lana came to her and fell before reaching her, head right close to her face. The wound. The wound... "Lola... Hey, you're going to be okay! We can heal!"

But it wasn't like Lana believed; Lola's superspeed was not accounting for the regenerative properties here. Not like this, not when the wound was too great. Lola was dying here, right before the poor tomboy. The diva herself, hands already bloodied enough, gripped right onto Lana's left hand as tightly as she could. In her eyes, the tomboy could see the fear in her twin's soft blue eyes, the fear of the infinite unknown and the dimension beyond. Lola did not want to die.

Never.

"Wait, no-" Lana broke into inevitable tears, already understanding it by force. "D-don't you dare! Don't you dare leave me!"

"Lily-" Lola forced out through a croak, already beginning to lose conscious. "Lily-"

"Don't talk!" Lana instructed. "Save your energy!" She thought to help Lola, clamping down both hands on the torn throat. "Oh, my God... No, please, not you! Anyone but you!"

Lola redirected her hands to Lana's cheeks, her breathing declining rapidly. "Save- Save her-"

"Don't leave me! You're all I've got! Lola-!"

Around her, in both sides of the street, Lana was cornered by the forces of the Alliance Association heavily. The forces took their stand and aimed down their anti-phenos at Lana. Meanwhile, Lola was dying, leaving her distraught, and dreadfully angry at all and everything. "DONT LEAVE ME, LOLA!"

"OPEN FIRE, MEN!" the order came, allowing the two lines of armed forces to open fire upon the two. Where Lana once was had now been occupied by the shredded corpse of her remains. Bits and pieces flew out of her, shot clean through. The left hand barely dangled on, but beyond that, the poor twin was unrecognizable. Her face, reduced to slopping meat and blood spilling out until it would be all drained. But they died together, Lana falling over Lola, welcomed in her arms as they crossed into the welcoming arms of the heavenly afterlife. And where they went, Lily would be there, having waited for them.

This was always Lana's dream. For her and Lola to one day meet Lily up there. And now was the time. Now, the twins were done and out of the world's hellish playground. They were done, now able to be at peace. I'll see you soon... My sisters... I love you all.

Vial Corporation Facility - Washington, DC

Allie Taggart kept her shorts on for the most part, but the damn inconvenience had her on edge. How dare Alejandra Santiago, the woman in that cloaking suit, interrupt and humiliate her in front of uncle Peter, the U.S. President? The time of war was coming already, talked in silence. The criminals contained in Site Prime were busted out, leading to the containment protocols to be initiated, and guess what? The X-Elites not only failed, but were gradually beaten by the prisoners. And Allie was one of them, having fought them with her crew.

Her true grievance was being relieved of the battle. She proved her weakness, that she had more to learn and undergo in terms of training, just like the others. The phenos on the team. With Dana having fallen, no doubt they'd replace her, find another useful candidate, maybe another pheno. And even if it were the case...

Damn it, at no doubt are we going to be taken off of this. No, we didn't come all this way just to be told to fuck off and have more downtime. The prisoners-

Again, Allie scoured her eyes on the monitors, keeping everything and everyone in check. Nothing was happening, a total place of cooperation and no insurfency from within. This base, and plenty of more to go, as per master's orders.

The Prisoners are our matter to deal with! Damned if I lost my whole team, but I'm still in it, and I have to finish it!

Matter of the fact was that McMahon had been scared by Alex greatly that it provided him incentive to push Allie away from the frontlines. She had ideas already, and it involved phenos. Recruiting a few and leading a charge, and her best bet was to break into a facility and release the phenos for her control. And guess what? Allie was already inside a gold mine.

To go AWOL and lead her own unit of phenos against the loose prisoners, why, it would undoubtedly get her into trouble, but nothing was too much, nothing was overboard in these changing times.

"Ma'am?" The regular guard was there with her, on her left with a fresh cup of Joe. "Is there anything else?"

"Hmmm?" Allie turned to him. "Oh, no. It all looks to be in order."

"It is all under control, ma'am," the surveillance guard nodded firmly.

"I do have a question..., Allie slowly moved out of the room, leaning right under the doorway. "Who do I talk to about the cells? Suppose someone takes the place hostage and tries to bust out the phenos. Who exactly is it that they need to to through?"

"No one," the guard revealed. "The panel at the end of the room-" He then sensed the mistake and shut his trap. Of course, Allie declared takeover, flicking out her sidearm and firing away at the guard. It wasn't necessary, but she saw a man. And what was a man to her but a beast of sin?

Allie raced out, hurrying to build herself the team she wanted, planning to free them all to turn into her slaves. For the price of freedom, leadership under her. Ready or not, here I come! The one and only Allison Valeria Taggart!

Elsewhere

"I still have to know more," Lincoln desired, looking over the vast city of Los Angeles. "Who my enemies are and how to put them down."

"Twerp, it's literally the entire government!" Lori filled in. "We've all seen McMahon and Leak throw us into the hole, it's them."

"We're not exactly the good guys here," Dylan added in. "But then again, no one is. They saw us all as menaces lest you forget. They'll be after us, unless we wipe them out."

"Agreed."

"The man's right, we need more information," Dylan continued. "We know it's the Alliance Association but who exactly? Names, contacts, connections-"

"No, is that really necessary?" Lori had another idea. "What they're doing is illegal, I say we should expose them. Can't we try that?"

"Exposing them?" Lincoln winced. "Okay, Lori, tell me how exactly we can do that?"

Alex coughed to make herself visible again. "I do have one idea if you're down for it."

"You, an idea?" Then, Lincoln shared a laugh. "Of course you do. The so-called time traveler-"

"Why is that hard to believe?" Alex rolled her eyes.

"Time traveler...? What do you mean by that?"

Alex felt sweat just about to run down from her forehead. "Hey, that was between the both of us-"

"You can't be fucking serious, there's no way-" Lincoln insisted, believing that Alex was pulling his chain the whole time. "Not without us knowing."

"Right, because if you don't see it, it doesn't exist," she scoffed back. "It's hidden from the world, but what do I know?"

"Never mind that, tell me what you had in mind," Lincoln pryed.

"In this world, Kapacity Korp and Vial Corporation are linked together, operated by Peter McMahon, Jordan Leak, James Shepherd and-" The fourth one, it didn't matter if she told them, they didn't know, or maybe they did. Keeping track of the scorecard was virtually impossible. "There are four big dogs at the center of all this, and each Vial Corp facility has phenos. They kidnapped and turn people into those like the freaks we've been fighting."

"Hmmm..." Lincoln pictured the X-Elites. "That explains them, doesn't it? Granted..." Oh, how he wished he hadn't been stripped of his own pheno abilities. "I was one of them, too."

"I don't know about that," Lori shared, "but if we get into one of these facilities, we can capture it. Point the blame to them this way, right? This is what you're suggesting?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded. "It'll all go downhill from there. It has to."

"Hmm, so no attacking but exposing-?"

"It'll be clean, Lincoln," Lori snapped. "No need to turn this into a carnage show."

"It's tactically smart," Dylan agreed. "We defeat them without taking away any of the opponents. Genius move!"

"I'll humor you three," Lincoln reluctantly accepted. "One chance, should we fail..."

He knew what he wanted to do, needed to do. Always.

"Ugh," Lori groaned. "Get over yourself."

"After you."

"So, where is the nearest facility?" Dylan took to the skyline and shot his eyes in a clockwise position. "And do we have to go on foot?"

Alex left the ledge side and walked to the center of the roof- where she then folded her arms over her chest and made a high jump right over the window pane beneath her. She fell through, making Lori and Dylan quickly huddle around the busted glass hole. "We're already here!" Alex shouted from below, having landed at the top floor. "Here, jump down, I'll catch you!"

Near The Black Network

Luna and Lynn walked out with nothing and nobody. Alex and crew were gone, Liberty had departed with the SCX chip back to the future, and the three clones of Project Link had left the scene. Luna came across the open hatch that led inside, looking down into the darkness. "Should we?"

"I don't hear anything," Luna noted. "No heartbeats like out here, but... I smell blood. Actually, blood and flesh-"

"What- Down there?" Lynn twitched at the revelation. "I'm not going down there."

"Clean-up crew is right for this."

"You sure you can't-?"

"No," Luna moved away from the hatch. "Only an unknown amount of corpses... They've hit this place and eluded us, but just barely. Too bad about the other three..."

Lynn looked back to the direction of the three X-Elites' corpses. "Yeah... We were too damn late."

"We won't be again, damn it!" Luna announced upon the dirt, hand folded and slammed to her chest. "They'll answer to us."

"I hope so..." Lynn prayed.

"Don't start doubting this," Luna remarked. "It's a bunch of them versus so many of them, do you think they can get away?"

"It's not that..." Lynn shook. "I had a code of my own before. I never believed in cold-blooded murder, not the way it's looking to be all around me."

"Murder...?" Luna looked down past the hatch again. "We are not the ones killing here."

"Not us, Luna, but the guys... Those others, d-don't tell me you never got the deadly vibes from them."

Luna nearly narrowed her eyes. "We don't work for psychos."

"What if we did?" Lynn brought into question. "Luna, I was onboard because you were, but I get the feeling- I just really get the feeling that we're only being used, and I can't shake it off."

"Then..." Luna began to growl. "Force it out, Lynn. No way, no way are we being fucked with. The Association has given me a chance for freedom if I gave my life to them."

"Y-you what?"

Luna hadn't yet told Lynn of the past day's events, but that didn't matter. "Nothing, Lynn, just know that I have a second chance and I won't fuck myself."

"Luna-" Lynn placed a hand on Luna's shoulder. "Y-you're working with them... Because you're afraid?"

Luna jerked Lynn's hand from her. "Don't say that."

"I don't get it, Luna. Why are you afraid?"

"I said don't-" Luna swing away, only for Lynn to block and redirect the attack. "Hey, no need to be defensive! Please, Luna, just tell me..."

"Why should I?" Luna went back to the bodies, trailed by Lynn. "We're not exactly the best of sisters, are we?"

"L-Luna, come on, don't be... Like that right now," Lynn solemnly pleaded. "I love and care for you just as I have back then. I've trusted you, but you can't trust me? Why are you being like this?"

Luna stopped, pressed back by an invisible barrier. "You wanna know, do you? You wanna know what the elephant in the room is?"

"Oh, so now there's an elephant?" Lynn raised her voice. "Luna, what are you on about?"

"You have no idea, do you?" Luna retorted angrily. "That one day, Lynn. That day you helped her exile me-"

"Exile-?" Lynn wheezed before breaking down in laughter. "Exile!"

"Why are you laughing?! You all cast me out-"

"Luna, you can't seriously be mad!" Lynn preached. "That happened years ago, and I just know you've changed. You... You did, right?"

"Suppose I have, Lynn... It doesn't mean this has, what Aunt Rinn-"

"Aunt Rinn saw you as a destructive alcoholic!" Lynn claimed. "And frankly, the others and I were worried about your habits. You were getting out of hand, what was done had to be! Don't be mad at us for washing our hands free of you, Luna! You pushed us to it!"

"YOU DARE LIE!" Luna gurgled out, whipping her tail to play. "EXCUSES AND EXCUSES FROM YOU!"

"Luna-" Lynn could see that the reptile-human hybrid was losing control of herself. The anger was becoming strong with her. "Luna, all of that is over! It's in the past, please-"

Luna abandoned her base human form, already transforming as she fell on all fours. "THE PAST- THE PAST IS ALL I'VE HAD LEFT!"

"Where are you?!" Lynn pleaded. "Where is that Luna who was more calm and rational back there?! You found me and you never truly lost your cool! Why, Luna?!"

Luna came back up on her hind legs, the yellow pair of deadly eyes fixating right on Lynn, the only life around for miles. The one that dealt that blow that ensured Luna's fate. All in all, and deep beyond the surface, Luna blamed Lynn and Aunt Rinn Reagan for how her life turned out. It was on them just as much as the others. Luna has forgotten this at first, and how did she? All the happiness to see Lynn again, it eluded her. "Lynn..." Luna growled in her deeper voice. "Lynn, y-you..."

"Luna, don't be crazy!" Lynn circled around Luna to maintain distance. This time around, Lynn had no help from anyone else. "I did it so that they could be safe! For Lily! The twins!"

"I will make youuuuuu..." Luna waved her claws around in the air. "I will hang you."

Lynn tripped over a stump that stuck out of the ground, instantly falling back hard. Luna crouched, and then made an insane jump of great height, coming in hot just like a true carnivore. Luna had lost in, intending to kill and possibly consume Lynn at this point. Her mind, broken down by the instability of her emotional state, thanks to the memories. Those hard memories...

Lynn wasn't prepared to go out like this, not in the hands of her own sister. The troubled one who held so much grievances in her heart. Hsd she known... Had Lynn only been able to detect it- "I- I'm sorry..."

Lynn pounced back up and caught Luna, who lost her train of thought after Lynn had let out her whisper. The ex-FBI agent worked to hug it out with Luna, consoling her. "Please... I am sorry for all of this, the pain this put on you- Everything, Luna."

"Why... Why didn't you side with me, Lynn? Y-you made me feel alone-"

Lynn's breath broke upon hearing this. "Sis... I didn't know- I didn't... I wish you came home, after Luan-"

"You... Wanted me to?"

"I did..." Lynn's eyes twinkled about. "We lost her, we weren't eager to lose you, either. Auntie had cooled down a lot by then."

"Maybe now, Lynn..." Luna forced herself back to her human form. "Maybe it's time you can bring me home."

"And Lily and the twins will be waiting for you, Luna," Lynn believed. "They'll be happy to see you."

"Do you think so?"

"I do... I do, Lunes." And Lynn ended her statement with a smile. "We can make it better, together."

"Together..." Luna repeated. "I like that. Together!"

San Francisco

Alex, Lincoln, Lori and Dylan took over the control room, having the drop over the team of guards on watch. Alex was the one who beat them into submission, then rummaging through the monitors. "There, sub-level one is where the phenos are housed. Check it out!"

She introduced the three of them to two rows of captives contained in cells in the similar fashion they've experienced by force. "It's as you said, they're-" Lori knew. "They've created-"

"This... All of this- These are crimes equivalent to war crimes. Kidnapping and turning people into guinea pigs..." Dylan rotated his head clockwise. "So many of them..."

"Will it be enough to simply get footage?" Lori suggested. "What if we release them?"

"Release?" Lincoln crossed his arms. "We've agreed to expose them-"

"It's still the same thing, but on a bigger scale!" Lori proposed. "We didn't know how big this would be! Look, if this place, just one facility of a hundred, has this many of these... What did you call them, phenos? We're dealing with maybe half a million."

"You're not proposing wasting my time to bust out strangers-"

"No, this idea is actually not bad," Dylan seconded. "Why should we do the work when we can free them and reveal the truth unto them? They'll all go and fight the battle that the three of us can't win, not even with invisible girl's help here."

"I can handle the board."

"But the genius in winning a fight isn't to depend on sorely muscle, but tactics and strategies. These phenos can rally together and march down the gates of the fortresses of these fiends and attack in groups. An army of them, up against the commoner!"

"Well, that's not entirely a bad idea..." Lincoln agreed. "But what comes after for them?"

"Relief centers, Lincoln," Lori answered. "There should be mercy, they're victims."

"That is truth."

Alex was the only one who kept watch- And had a mini heart attack when Allie Taggart came into the picture, teleporting into the facility along with a horde of other strangers around her. "Hey, I don't mean to interrupt, but we've got company!"

"What-? Not them again!"

"Isn't that the girl we've seen before?" Lori squinted.

"The last one out of those brats," Lincoln nodded. "And who are these guys behind her?"

"We've got trouble..." Alex stormed out of the control room. "We're going to fight our way down!"

Allie had already taken the main floor with the help of her newfound friends. "All of you, kill anyone not in a security uniform or a lab coat! There's well over five, last I've checked!"

She led the charge, running rampant alongside the dangerous phenos of various gifts and curses, going around in her own key effort to hunt her enemies. First thought was the control room- and the immense satisfaction of the next battle filled her with glee and everlasting wonder when the four of them ran out into the main lobby of the place. Allie drew her sidearms and raised fire upon them, yelling amidst the loud bangs. "OVER THERE! BRING ME THE HEADS OF THE SCUMBAGS!"

"The stairwell is over there!" Lori sighted the only entrance to the lower level past the waves of phenos. "Can we make it?!"

"Not without me!" Alex already started engaging the new opponents, punching and shoving aside. That's right! Feel the power of the anti-pheno suit!

"TARGET THAT SLUT IN THE SUIT!" Allie fired upon Alex in akimbo. "I WANT THAT THING SHE WEARS!"

"Not even in your dreams!" Alex locked onto Carly's shoulders, grabbing and spinning around, momentum picking up so that she threw the young Asian girl right into Caroline Pingrey, knocking her off balance with a hard "oof". Next, Lyle Jefferson swung his arms around, trying to gnaw at Alex. She moved back for half a second, then rushed in and punched him square in the face, then did a leg sweep to cut him down to size. "Keep them coming! Give me more phenos to beat!"

"Right here!" Lindsey Sweetwater did her thing, absorbing the element of the floor into her body. "Can you match this?"

"Let's see for ourselves!" Alex challenged, meeting the young girl in the heart of the battlefield. Swinging a punch from her left, and with Lindsey doing the same thing, their fists connected only to exert a massive force that flowed around, shattering the windows and pushing the phenos around them down. "You, I like you!"

"Did we just become best enemies?!" Lindsey pulled back and kicked away at Alex, but not in a perfect swing. In turn, the older girl tugged her leg forward then upwards. "Dang you!"

Alex punched right into Lindsey's stomach, feeling her fist shatter the hardened skin of the minor. "Not so tough as you thought, huh?"

Lindsey threw both arms over her stomach, folding them with pain. "Ughhh..."

"Stay out of this, shrimp."

Lindsey toppled over on her side, defeated with that one single blow. "I want my mommy..."

Allie picked herself up, head shaking to brush away the sensation of dire dizziness. "What, can't you do anything right?! You're all upgraded with the perks to that of gods! You are literal superiors, yet dare to be beaten by a bitch of a nothing underneath that?!"

Alex had over nine phenos swarm her, all of them paying no mind to Lincoln, Lori or Dylan. In that, they carefully maneuvered around, sneaking to the other end.

"Don't just stand there!" Allie reloaded her guns one at a time. "Get her! Grab her, kill her! There's only one of us-"

Alex performed a back flip, landing behind a pheno and kicking them in the back.

"USE YOUR POWERS, YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!" Allie wailed.

Samantha Sharp pushed to the front and opened her mouth, emitting a red beam of scorching heat that engulfed Alex in its center, to also burn a few of the phenos at the oppose side, setting them ablaze. Alex's suit changed color when being hit by the beam, but the fabric didn't catch fire. "Fireproof, blondie!"

Sam grunted, feeling less hot and confident. Try this!" She shot out her second beam, mouth opened wider this time.

"THAT'S IT!" Allie cheered for Sam. "TAKE NOTE, ALL OF YOU!"

Lincoln and Lori caught sight of Alex looking like she was in trouble. "Have they forgotten about u"

"Lincoln, you have to help her," Lori chittered. "We'll go free the others, then it's game on!"

"Sounds like a plan..." Lincoln waved them away, heading back to Alex and the group of phenos. "Hey, you! Hothead!"

Sam closed her mouth, turning her attention to the albino. "Hothead?"

"Over here!"

"NO!" Alex rammed into the distracted Sam, shoving her down and delivered a headbutt. "Fiery bitch!"

Sam went out cold as fast as she had come in attacking, the flame that was put out, moaning in her unconscious state. Allie tried again shooting away, this time at Alex's head, but to no avail. "Fucking bulletproof! You're nothing but a pussy behind that mask! Take that off and show me an honorable formidable foe!"

Alex met the mustard-green haired girl directly, placing her hands right onto Allie's face. "Feel this!"

The suit had absorbed Sam's fiery rays, built up and stored for Alex to expel it back as a special. She unloaded all the heat right into Allie's entire head, melting it away. The poor girl screamed her most agonizing screams yet up until the end, when the falling skin and the coat of lava-like substance covered her mouth, muffling it out. In the end, Allie was reduced to a headless body with a burnt stump right on the neck, ashes of her skull scattered around much to the horror of everyone.

"You... All of you can be granted amnesty!" Alex voiced. "Your leader here was nothing more than a child blind of ambition and anger!"

Lincoln stood in place, calculating around the scene. It seemed to him that Alex had the situation under control- maybe she could actually turn all of them to their side if she thought of it. And, as luck would have it, she was already preaching it. Interesting woman, this one...

"I realize she promised you something, but I have a better offer!" Alex was a damn brave Mexican woman at that. "I know who you want! Matter of fact, I've come here to free the other phenos! You're all in need of dire justice! There is debt that must be paid back to you by the criminals on the high throne! Stand with me, stand with the Primer Prisoners, and you will be led to the golden path! The golden path to righteous justice!"

She brought them down, made them go silent. And in the length of their silence, in the turning of their allegiance, the beasts of nature that only had one collective goal at the moment. She worked for it, to get into their vulnerable minds just as Allie. Only, Alex offered more to them. She'd win their hearts and minds.

"We'll take over, all of us! All of you, and all of them!" Alex hailed. "Your countrymen created you, now it's your time to take over!"

And they cheered for her, swapping out the dead Allie for the fierce Alejandra Santiago. Lincoln had no reason to provide aid at this time, laying witness to Alex's power and influence up close, and it was a grand spectacle, and that was it. That was her handling the phenos, and not through utilizing her fists. Not with violence. Well done, girl, well done.

"Out these doors lie the other facilities that hold captive numerous people! Take them all, free them, and kill those that stand in your way!"

Lori and Dylan came back up with this facility's own experimented phenos, leading them all to the main floor. "We've got them all, Linc- What is happening?"

"This way!" Dylan led the phenos behind. "To freedom, to victory, to avenge the dead they disposed of, and yourselves!"

Both groups of phenos hurried out into the world, a marvelous stampede, causing havoc among the entire floor, knocking everything down, crushing everything beneath their feet. And to the four, this first step vast exceeded their expectations. Even the ones that Alex had beaten attempted to follow the crowd with no hesitation, to quickly leave the place empty apart from the four and the corpses of the staff and guards all over.

Lincoln spat upon Allie's body and looted it, taking one of her guns. "Perfect."

"Is that it?" Lori scratched her temple. "Tell me that was it..."

"I believe it was..." Lincoln decided, heading back up. "If you don't mind, I'd like to know more now that we've concluded our business."

"Know more what, Lincoln?" Lori asked, confused.

"Everything we can acquire on them," he answere, intending to leech out all information- and more than he knew he'd find. This place could be a damn gold mine for him. "A playbook will be made here."

"Best bet is the office," Dylan assumed. "Check their database, clean them out."

"Damn right we'll do an info wipe."

"We don't have a lot of time here," Alex suggested. "Reinforcements are always certain, and they've got more than I can handle! We've all been lucky that the minimal of forces have come into contact with us! The next guys might introduce us to our own Waterloo."

"How many times will you keep adding?" Lori exhaled wearily. "The second we finish one thing, you shove another mission down our throats!"

"This isn't another one, Lori! Package deal, we've made extra time!"

"We don't even have five minutes!" Alex roared at the albino.

"Twerp, the girl's got a point-"

"Not here!" Alex then threw in. "Not here, but I know where you can get it! Here, just trust-"

The red light started outside, filling into the darkness before them. Lincoln, Lori and Dylan, all three mesmerized by the sparkling layer of red light that covered the ground, over the parking lot and the vehicles, the fields too, even. And it only went brighter, followed by a high-pitch sound. Alex broke into a run, trying to evade the beam strike with Lincoln. "HURRY, GRAB- GRAB ONTO ME, LINCOLN!"

"What is that? What is that, Alex?!"

The Mexican woman tackled him with a hug, then teleporting them both away right before the strike laid waste to the entire building, vaporizing everything in its path, killing both Lori Loud and Dylan Blood in seconds.

Kapacity Korp Facility - Elsewhere

Alex let go once sensing the pair had escaped the danger. She hit a call too damn close for her taste, and with no Liberty to provide another handout...

"What- What the fuck was that, Alex?" Lincoln looked around. "Where are the other two?"

"They- They're dead, I'm afraid..." Alex revealed. "That was a laser strike from just one satellite of many."

"A... Weaponized satellite?" Lincoln went into awe. "They have those?"

"They have so much, unlike me right now..."

The night breeze passed through Lincoln, blowing away at his long hair, making him brush it out of his face. The city around them, quiet and dark, filled only by dimly lit streelights and neon signs of stores. "Where are we?"

"Kapacity Korp, the only place I could think of."

"Only?"

"We'd best enter in quietly, or they'd incinerate this place as well!" Alex turned invisible, taking charge and entering through the staircase on the roof. "Let's go, this place might have a brain appetizer for you!"

"Whatever you say-" He followed her, bursting into the top floor where Alex had already started ghosting on the patrolling pair of guards fast and swiftly. "You're not bad, where'd you learn to fight?"

"Weeks of training, actually!" She flipped the last guard to the wall hard. "Hey, I'll go around covering you, try not to be seen!"

"Read you loud and clear," Lincoln brushed away, not feeling eager to be confined from the violence.

Alex wandered away, leaving Lincoln to do a sweep of the rooms. And from front to start, there wasn't of anything useful to him. Not until he came to the near-end, the room on the far end left. He saw it and he didn't understand the significance of the large mechanism, this metal contraption. A grand scientific creation that took up most of the room, save for the average desktop occupied by a computer monitor and files.

He looked upon the files to learn of it. The name of it, an Ulti-Matrix Portal.

Temporal displacement, it said. Time. Time travel.

A time travel machine...?

The files, both the explanatory notes and the blueprints-

What is it? What has to be changed to make this a better world?

The blueprints, the literal recipe to brew one of these bad boys up was right there. And surely it had to mean something. And he made it mean something, and fast. When Alex was busy, while she was, he turned it on, blueprints now folded and tucked beneath his arm, stuck in between it and his side.

Jordan Leak... Your humble patriot was president years ago. Him, he has to go first... One fine day in 2015 sounds nice... Back when you were in office still...

And the Freight way had helped him in that regard; the way of the bomb, homemade.

Yes, that has to be it. The future must be cemented properly... One fine day in 2015.

Lincoln set the date coordinates into the screen pad. The machine did its magic, activating on a whim, the large, swirling oval of perfect blue. It was there, right at hand's reach, all he had to do was enter-

"Stop, Lincoln!" Luna held him back, pulling him away from the portal. "You're done, you and your ragtag buddies are all done."

He lost his footing and the blueprints, having them fall out into the floor. "Urgh!"

"Little bro..." Lynn shot her hand out and helped him up. "Is it really you?"

"Little-?"

"Get him down, Lynn!" Luna boomed. "Keep him down!"

"Lynn-" Lincoln slapped his sister's hand away, stumbling back up. "No way-"

"Where are the others, Lincoln?" Luna demanded, tail whipping out again. "Don't make me beat it out of you."

"Geez, Luna, I thought you had super sense of smell, what gives?"

"He's the only person I picked up on!" Luna tried sniffing the air. "Yeah, just him."

"What is this thing?" Lynn circled both Lincoln and Luna, observing the time machine. "What were you doing?"

"No, not now!" Lincoln raged. "Not here!"

"Lynn!" Luna had to grab Lincoln herself. "Shut that thing off, we're cutting our losses!"

"They wanted all of them!"

""This is the best we can do for now," Luna accepted. "But we'll have the rest soon enough!"

Alex returned with a glass base of acid, applying it right into Luna's face. It shattered away, the liquid splashing right into Luna's face. The fragments also got around, sticking into her face. It burned her entire face in a matter of seconds, her vision deteriorating rapidly. She screamed like never before, the peak of her high pitch presented upon the audience. Next, Alex worked and slashed Lynn's throat with the broken handle, then repeatedly into her abdomen.

Lincoln made a dive for the blueprints. "Damn right, you're good!"

"MY FACE!" Luna's hands, twitching right in front of her melting face, didn't care connect upon it. "I CAN'T SEE! I CAN'T- LYNN?!"

"L-Luna-" Lynn drooled and gagged on her blood, helpless to help Luna. "Hang-"

Alex led her on a spin and directed her right onto Luna. "Know defeat through me!"

Lincoln made a break into the portal. "Thanks for all your help, I'll take it from here!"

"What-?" She saw the portal and lost. "NO, WAIT, WAIT, DON'T YOU DARE!"

He went in, disappearing into the portal, leaving the color of her face to be drained. "NONONONO, COME BACK! COME BACK HERE!"

Luna... Lynn pulled her older sister close to her. Your face...

"What's happening, Lynn?!" Luna was lost, shifting her head frantically. "I can't see anything- My eyes, my eyes hurt so much..."

"You're okay, Lunes, you're fine-"

Acidface.

"LINCOLN LOUD!"

2015

Before Jordan Leak would enter his office, before the explosion and untimely death happened, blame panned on the Freights, there was that very special guest who snuck in and entered into the White House. This was a younger Lincoln Loud, the one still embedded within the Freight faction, of a fresh scar, the one and only, that was engraved onto the side of his forehead. This very one set the bomb, ready for the future to be paved.

This was how the fated Lincoln Loud came to be.

Except... The other Lincoln showed up- Specifically, the one ahead from the same timeline. The one where Luna, Linka, Leven and more have died. The one where Dylan Blood had become the victor, besting the Louds through bloody means. This was the one the Timeline X Lincoln was here to stop. And when the first two Lincoln were arguing about this, about changing the timeline/keeping the timeline without their intervention, the third Lincoln- Him- Had come into the party.

This Lincoln, from a timeline just as bad as the main one, eager to ensure there would be a better timeline. Why couldn't it be possible?

Timeline X's main story arc has ended, but the Timeline X special is all that's left. Three Lincoln Louds, meeting in the very same night as shown on the first chapter.

Next arc is American Albino, the complete eleven-chapter arc that will reshape the main timeline. You'll come to see.