August 7th, 2030

"Kill them! Kill all of them!" Phoebe fired her entire clip down at the hostiles- and then at her pheno members when it was clear that the so-called Justice Teens were conspiring with the enemy. And lo and behold, you had Troy Lindemann shooting back. As quickly as it started, Lindemann dropped three of the other shooters, and for them, Leland Callaghan's life had ended when an anti-pheno bullet entered and excited his head. "HOW LONG WERE YOU ALL AT THIS?!"

Caroline ran around the close-quarters battleground to flank the lot, but Luna and Lyle both detected her footsteps and anticipated her movements. Luna broke from cover and chased to meet Caroline for a grisly death match following the death of Sam, which Luna felt was Caroline at fault. Meli, from cover, stretched her arm out and yanked all firearms from the soldiers' hands, including Phoebe, kept the suspended up while trying not to cry and mourn for her fallen teammate. "Do what you have to, Troy!"

Luna tackled the traitor, transforming mid-jump to add weight on her. Just as fast, Caroline had gone down for the count.

Loanne gave in to the demon in her head, telling it to give her a hand with this, to which it had complied, granting her the same berserk strength and power as before. With this, Loanne helped her side kick some butt and defeat Phoebe yet again. And when the gunfire and gunsmoke faded away, Troy, Leven and their secret Primers had huddled around Callaghan's corpse, with the clone having to close the kid's eyelids.

"Shit, Lincoln!" Luna's mind returned to prioritize Lincoln and the twins, running frantically to catch up to them. Only Carly and Lyle followed, and the others stayed around. "He's gonna get away!"

"Him and those two... Randoms!" Carly added. "Who knew he'd be here?!"

"I didn't come for my sisters just to let him kidnap them!" Luna had come a damn long way, had lost a great friend and lover and had been terribly afraid to lose more loved ones go out with that bang that didn't need to be. All these family members... All of these souls dropping like flies... Why was this the design set for her? No, maybe if it could be changed... "It's him, it's always something with him. That psycho... I'm... I'm going to-"

"He won't kill them, Luna," Carly believed, "he just needed to make sure we wouldn't follow them. He's said it before, he'd kill to protect you."

"By standing against us when we had that little fight over the clones?!" Luna spat in the face of the words Lincoln dared to speak. "Protect us by hurting us because he thinks he knows better?! He treated the clones like a disease, gave them no chance. And even worse?"

Luna turned back to tell Carly both verbally and physically. "He worked himself into Lynn."

Carly had a blank expression but had understood Luna's feelings. "Lynn, yeah..."

Luna detected the heartbeats of the twins nearby, and was elated to find them, they were harmed to a degree but otherwise alive. "Lana! Lola!"

"They're knocked out, just like-" Carly noticed Bethany and Lissandra lying on the floor as well. "Never seen them before, what about you, uh, Lyle, right?"

"Strangers to me, as well," Lyle confirmed. "Maintain distance, they could be dangerous."

Lana moaned, leaned up and rubbed her head to rid herself of the dizzy feeling. "Ugh..."

Luna looked to the exit, snapping her fingers. "Son of a bitch didn't get far if the twins are still here. Carly, watch the twins!"

"Sure!"

"Lyle, come with me, we're taking Lincoln down once and for all!"

Act VII: Revolution, Chapter VII: Blood Assault

Lupa kept Lynnette from running away, suspending her up in the air in a cross position, a crucifix waiting to happen. Meanwhile, Dylan Blood had brought Lemy down to his knees, showed him no such mercy as he delivered his punches and breaking his ribs more and more every single time Dylan shot his shin right into the body target area. Lemy choked more on blood and had earned a punctured lung as a result, and when he pleaded and moaned for it to stop, Dylan Blood did no such thing, not even slowing down at the very least. Fifteen attacks from the older male amounted to a victory with bloody knuckled and an aching pair of legs.

"Hey-" Leia ran up to Dylan and pulled at one arm. "Y-you'll kill him... You just defeated-" Leia began to project a sense of fear from it. "No more, please!"

Dylan complied to her moral demand and saw to it that he concluded his violent business and let Lemy fall and reel around. "The both of them will do just fine. Clone?"

Lupa dropped Lynnette from the height she was trapped in, leading to a pair of broken legs and a lump of mass too hurt to make a run for it. Lupa had both of them dragged across the plains right to her sides. Leia took note to make sure she never crossed this telekinetic albino, still petrified of her altogether.

A little over a hundred feet away, Lincoln had gotten himself on his knees and witnessed the entire ordeal. Things were really crazy today, especially with how many people had been joining in the big mess of blood and gunfire. A secret party right before him- and accompanying it was none other than one of the clones made after him. The very same one who fucked right out of America to hide and have a life free of the devil's desires. Or so she claimed. But he was more focused on the clear ringleader of the bunch, the nefarious Dylan Blood with an unrelenting taste for blood just as he was. Made him dangerous, undoubtedly.

"Lincoln Loud, as I live and breathe!" In the main timeline, they had already met, unbeknownst to them in this one. "I've come this far just to meet you, you know? Who could think that we'd see each other again?" Dylan slid out a revolver from his back, checked the chamber to make sure it was loaded, and then closed it back in. Gun clicked and it was a sure thing, Lincoln had seen the malicious intent through the pale hostile's eyes. "Well, truth be told, I don't expect you to remember me. Me... Of a hundred people running scared for their lives when..."

Lincoln made no move just yet. It was rather odd and familiar to him, as strange as it felt in his mind, when the younger adult had walked slowly and calmly, in no rush to get his kill. The gun was firm, he saw, fingers on the trigger and the hammer, hammer slowly being pulled back until a click was heard. Dylan Blood was so certain this was the end of Lincoln Loud. Of all places to have ever done it, to balance the equation and have his quest of personal vengeance finally completed, it seemed here was the best place. Here, in Boulder, Colorado, in a vast open space where society was far away from here. The screams and the yells and the fright of the public, when upon hearing the single cackle of the gun tearing through the air, would be spared from occurrence.

"For so long, I have wanted this..." Dylan began to share, placing the tip of the barrel right on Lincoln's forehead. "I wanted you on your knees, for you to be where I once was."

Leia hovered a hand near over her mouth, watching with fear and hoping her new master would not be as murderous as he appeared to be, but with what had been dealt with regarding Mayor Marzon Dillon of Greenwood, Pennsylvania, no way the Tacitus Kid wouldn't pull the trigger. "No... Please!"

"There is a sort of balance to grasp here, not that you could understand such a thing. The Freights were only ever investing their time in laying waste to the world one bomb at a time, and you've falsely justified it, self-deceiving yourself by simply telling yourself and all that they needed to be woken up. Indeed, but by such maniacs like you. Any last words?"

Lincoln blinked after the pale man's monologue, opening his mouth to utter two simple words to shut down Dylan Blood; "Isaac Sanger."

The second where the bullet should have gone off had happened, and then became the past. Leia covered her ears, anticipating an air-cackling bullet to erupt from its chamber. Of Blood, that much was certain. "Um..."

Lemy finally had the energy to rotate himself from his side, adjusting himself stomach side up.

"Nice to know I'm right," Lincoln grinned contented. "I've just happened to do my homework... Did you believe I simply didn't care?"

Dylan dared to put away his gun and turn his back on him, but never taking leave. Leia was right there in range, ears still covered by her hands. "Well, I must admit this is a nice surprise..." The calmness in his voice was there only to serve as a masquerade for the raging inferno that came about, not to be known by Lincoln Loud- yet the opposing adversary had known it to be. "Of course it is, when is it, if ever-"

Lincoln stood up again without a noise.

"-such a time when someone uncovers what I've tried my hardest to bury?"

"I have done wrong, I have sinned so long ago, I know that-" Lincoln folded the fist of his left hand and raised it at waist length. "-and I may just never properly atone for it all, but I have decided otherwise in regards to the Freights. I had the choice to kill them, and yet I have never done so. I have walked away and I have allowed them to continue suffering, but I am-"

And Lincoln Loud had never seen the red in the eyes of his revenge-consumed foe, not while his back had been turned. "-putting myself to good use with all that I know."

But... But, you are evil, this is how- The trigger finger was just waiting, yearning to squeeze it away and make sense of the hellish world. Even then... In front of him, Leia displayed fear with that small, pale and adorable face where a perfect smile of radiating sunshine could be. He didn't help matters, or put her pleads into account. "I wish to kill you, so that there could be balance again! That's... That's what I wish, solely for the deaths of my family! Four for four...! You and three sisters-"

"What kind of balance would that be?" Lincoln spat in the face of his beliefs. "That would mean more of us to get killed. Do you even know that my own parents are dead?"

Luna and Lyle had appeared, passing right through the barrier that acted as a camouflage screen around like a dome. They both picked up on Lincoln's words while moving closer.

"And we're over ten of their children, how do you think this will end?" He scoffed in disgust at the pale man. "There will be crying, there will be mourning. Sure, there is sense in killing me alone if that's what you want, but an additional three more of us Louds? And random ones to you, ones who have never harmed you in any way. Hell, I doubt they knew you ever existed..."

Leia picked her moment and drew closer to her new boss and pulled the gun away from him. "You... Wanted to-?"

"You can still walk, there is no need for unnecessary bloodshed..." Lincoln eyed Lupa in the distance. "Yes, you've come prepped for war, I can see that, but that girl... That is of my blood, my kin."

Lupa landed on her feet, one arm still set to contain Lynnette. "L-L-Lincoln..."

Leia pointed the revolver downwards, careful to not aim it at anyone or to put her fingers on or around the trigger; she had no idea how to unload the live bullets. She saw this, his quest, as nothing but vengeance, and she had questioned it when he had saved her in a selfless manner not long ago when he had deduced and uncovered the basis of her situation. "You're not... You can't be like that! You're... You're a sort of hero to me! But you were on a personal vendetta?"

Luna and Lyle had reached and stopped at Lincoln's side.

"I could barely stomach it when you killed the crooked mayor..." Leia choked. "But this is too much... You're too much for me, you're too... Psychotic is what you are..."

Lemy coughed up blood as he struggled to lean up.

"And look at that kid!" Leia took it upon herself to try and help Lemy up. "You didn't hesitate to hurt this boy! Can't you see he's a minor? You... You monster! You bloodthirsty maniac! I can't believe-"

Lyle went over and gave Leia a hand in helping Lemy to his feet.

Now, Lupa dropped the immobile Lynnette and went to back the handler of her Medi-Sin concoction. "Kill?"

"Wait," Dylan denied her and faced the lot. "Let the records show that child was here and looking for a fight, same as the green zoomer over there! How can I think to myself that they're innocent? How can you think to yourself, Leia, that they are not worth the trouble?!"

Leia gulped and then felt the firearm in her hands again. She could have raised it to him to render him silent, defeat him. But all in all, she'd be just like him in a sense, an unholy beast doing an unethical action. As if her soul wasn't damaged enough. She surrendered her gun to Luna, "here, I can't trust myself with this, but I believe you can take care of this-"

Luna bent the gun's barrel and dropped it without hesitating; better safe than sorry when guns and a Lincoln were around too close together. "You're that Tacitus creep..." Luna observed, "but all I see is another nuthouse just like Lincoln."

"Nice to see you too, Lunes," Lincoln replied on the side.

"Lyle, take the boy and meet back with the others," Luna ordered in a motherly voice. "Leia, go with him."

Wordlessly, the pair took Lemy away, cautiously walking back to the base, leaving Lincoln and Luna to stand off against Dylan and Lupa. "I didn't understand what the reason was for your involvement in this," Luna spoke up, shifting between both men. "Of course it'd be my brother's doing, it's always something with him."

But he didn't hear his sister talking. It was an aggressor instead, and in the words of Bethany Chang, Luna would go rogue with her powers. Her and the rest of the Louds, and that time had yet to come, and by nature, was preventable if he decided- No, Lincoln had a funny thought, and it was funny and it was purely ironic to say the least. His actions, before meeting Bethany and Lissandra, were all in the name to protect and defend his family by his way. They disagreed with those methods, time and time again, they could not stomach to see this grown-up of a brother going around and taking lives. These moral compasses might have been intact and as pure as ever, but that was, to him, a weakness.

It was funny that he had spent his time trying his best to save them when they had turned out to be the enemy of the future. And he remembered something so obvious, but something that he had turned a blind eye for. Maybe in truth, they were his moral compass, what little there was left of it. He remembered that they were phenos, the superior to an everyday human being, a fact that had some value in it now that he was in this position. Kill Luna. Kill Lynn. Kill the twins and that was it. Four brand new targets of high value, three in proximity, and one right next to him. "Because you can do no wrong, is that right, sis?"

"In comparison to you?!" Luna shot back and pushed him from the side. "I am innocent! I don't go around trying to murder everyone! I've only ever acted in self-defense, but I'd never go as far as to kill the clones! Remember them, Lincoln? Some didn't want to fight, we left those ones alone-"

Lupa opened her mouth, shuddering. "Sisters... Sisters..."

"Hey, what's the deal with her? Why... Does she look like that?"

"Bastard did something to her."

Luna formed a disgusted face but nodded. "Sounds about right. Two madmen who use artificial clones to do their bidding. You're both cowardly assholes-" Luna lifted her hand and propped her claws out. "-and you've come to the wrong place today."

Lupa's arms begun to tremble, mind focused on Lynn II and Luan II. "S-s-s..."

Luna stuck her hand out to Lupa. "Hey... Lucy, c-come here, you're gonna be fine."

"L-left them-" Lupa drooled from the corner of her lip. "Grimm-Grimmtown-"

"Huh?"

Lincoln didn't need either adversary to find out about Grimmtown, so he lunged forward and fell on top of Lupa, covering her mouth hard. Their eyes met, and in the glimmer of his blue eyes did she see the red flag signal he gave off. She understood as much as possible and nodded once, allowing him to get off of her. This is too crazy...

"Okay, that's enough toying around," Dylan had reached a conclusion. "Clone, you can stay, but give me an exit?"

Lupa grabbed Lincoln by his shirt and tossed him right into Luna, allowing Dylan to teleport away empty-handed, and that was that. She remained on the ground, suddenly tearing up and feeling broken, possibly due to being away from Lacy and Liby this long. This and the dangers that were revealing themselves rather quickly- and not to mention her turning. She was entranced, could still see and think, but could not properly speak with the Medi-Sin corrupting her system. "Mmm- mmmmmfff-"

She sat upright just to go on her knees and strike against the grass field beneath her feet.

Luna pushed Lincoln off quickly. "You're almost too heavy!"

"Leave me alone..." Lincoln only helped himself, eyes set to Lupa. "Hey-"

"Ah-ah-antidote-" Lupa stammered, face seeping with tears, shaking her head as if to ward off an invading bug that had just entered her hair. "Promise!"

"Did he?" Lincoln faced the empty field, occupied only by the overturned vehicle on the right. "Do you know where he is?"

"Buh-buh-birthplace-"

"B-birthplace...?" Luna pondered pensively. "Royal Woods?"

"Birth-" Lupa choked on herself.

"I don't know what-"

"The Black Network base," Lincoln ultimately concluded, "is that where he's set up shop?"

Lupa wiggled an index finger at the Ungodly Stormbringer's direction. "Place-place-place-"

"You're okay now, we'll find him, we'll get that antidote and restore you as you were-" Luna used her sweet tone of voice and submitted her vow to help the clone out, but what she got instead was Lupa locking both hands with the one Luna used to caress the Lucy clone warmly, and Lupa squeezed it to a state of uncomfortable red. "YEOW!"

"Find him, find Dylan Blood!" Lupa slithered her anger right through Luna's skin, getting her soul rattled. "Find him..." Her eyes moved sideways, meant for Lincoln. "And kill him."

Luna reacted negatively to the vile word, a vein on her forehead suddenly aching and acting up. She shut her eyes and viciously jerked her hand sliding freely from Lupa's hard grip. "K-kill-" Yet she had that internal issue with them and their way of handling things. "-and nothing else... You both-" She knew better to have given up, and for the right reasons, for all the reasons, she should have, but the better way worked and she believed that so that she'd never know for herself if and how effective his way was. Maybe, quite positively, she had known it would have been easier. She, with inhumane upgrades that could so easily separate her from mankind- and it wouldn't matter if she had the cure at the end of the day. What she would go on and do would prove to define her character, reveal her own true self in front of that mirror she need not imagine. God, it was so easy to stoop to their level...

But was it really?

She gave up on them, saddened, ashamed and gravely stupefied. "All the time, Lincoln. All the time."

Leia tried not to look at the beaten Lemy, but his quiet, weak moans still led her to peek every five to ten seconds, and she'd see his blood-soaked face and feel sorry for him to the point she wanted to apologize for the actions of the true offender; that she might have felt a tad responsible for even associating with someone like that, and for turning a blind eye on the red flags that were out for show. They were there since the beginning and her pals Gwen and Marsha booked it when they had enough of it. And then, Leia felt sorry for herself for not joining them when she had a chance. She stayed with him and let that young brunette she had affections for get away. All of this was just too much, and it wasn't even drama as she'd be used to. Punches, shooting, and the faces of death hiding behind those she'd seen and met. Loanne Wardell might have been one. The zoomer twins, the ones she had seen taken away, might've been a pair as well. And Dylan Blood had turned out to be one. And if he was one, who wasn't? Now she had herself wondering; she could never be one such thing, so did that mean she was a victim waiting to be taken by one of them? Would Dylan Blood have led her to her death? Would sticking to these Patriot affiliates do that instead of him? Did she have a date with the Grim Reaper down the line?

"I shouldn't be here..." Leia fearfully confessed, trembling as she held onto Lemy's arm wrapped around the back of her neck. "I don't know you but Luna does..."

"Luna was the one who freed me and my friend," Lyle replied back. "I owe her much more than she could know. "I'll help her when she needs me to, but you... You're not one of us, are you?"

"N-no..." Leia shook. "I'm nothing special, I shouldn't be here."

"You took the man's gun, that's gotta mean something. Bravery and courage, I'd say."

"I didn't want him hurting anyone, not after..." Her eyes signaled Lemy in a flash. "Didn't ever think he was this vicious..."

"Did you really make friends with him?" Lyle asked.

"No, not friends, all he did me was a great favor and I figured I'd owe him many in return..." She shook her head again. "Forget all that... I just want to stay away from that psycho now."

"For the better," Lyle agreed. "He isn't good news, I know that for a fact. He tried to kidnap me before, and that's how I got separated from my friend."

"Separated..." Leia felt it to be mutual in a sense. "Sounds about right, geez."

"So, uh, what's your name?"

"I'm L-Leia," she shuddered. "Leia Prescott."

"Cute name," Lyle thought. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lyle, and this is Lemy. All L names, that's funny, don't you agree?"

"I g-guess, yeah..." With Lyle, she heaved an exasperated sigh. "I wish I was home again, out of anything I could want in any given time of my life."

"You and I both," Lyle agreed. "But don't worry, you're among friends now, we'll help you solve your current predicament, however bad it is."

To her, it sounded like a promise, cheap maybe, but it was a promise by a sweet boy with a gentle soul. "Thank you, Lyle."

Carly, Loanne and Darcy became visible after the minors passed through the dome barrier. "What the-?" Leia believed a magic trick had been performed. "H-how-?"

"Told you she wasn't paying attention," Darcy lightly joked. "Pay up, Loanne."

"I will when this fucking day ends..." Loanne then cupped her mouth. "Excuse the profanity."

"Can you help us with him?" Lyle asked of them. "Do you two know any medical knowledge?"

"He's just been ass-kicked hard," Darcy evaluated, "I'm sure he'll be fine, but he needs rest. Here, I'll carry the kid, you two have done enough."

"What's the deal, Leia?" Loanne patted on her fan's petite head. "Too boring-?"

"Our ride's gone," Leia said, pointing a finger over her shoulder. "New pheno with white hair just showed up with Mister Blood..."

"Blood-?"

"Damn, I should have volunteered to stay with you..." Darcy lamented. "I'm sorry, girl, but at least you're not dead."

Leia had little energy to berate or diss the adult, so she said nothing.

"So what's going on over there?" Darcy became occupied with Lemy in her hands, but agreed to drop him down if a fight broke out again. "Luna got the Tacitus guy, right? Him and the pheno he came with?"

"Looked like a stand-off, but I think she has it handled," Lyle put in. "It is the Superbeast of Dadetown after all, you know."

"The Sup-" Lemy gagged as he tried to repeat Lyle's words. "The Sup-"

"Stop calling him mister," Darcy added, snapping her fingers at Leia. "He's no saint."

"Y-yeah-" Leia nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry, I should have known better."

"You will next time," Loanne said with warmth. "Gifts on me later on."

"This little punk here-" Lincoln had his unfinished business with Lemy yet. "-and that Lynn copycat must be put down."

"Stop with the murder suggestion!" Luna howled. "Does that face look like the face of a threat?!"

"Yeah, Blood just beat him to a pulp," Lyle defended. "I don't know what's happening, what's been happening but we're all on the same boat, are we not?"

"Lincoln, come on-"

The albino man strolled to the downed Lynnette and bent down to pick her head up. "You could say we're on the same boat, but that's out of straight ignorance, kiddo. This girl isn't Lynn, I'd suggest you start the questioning-"

Lynnette shot a hand forward, silently pleading for their aid and safety.

"Leave Nyla alone!" Lemy managed to squeal out.

"There's that name he gave out again..." Luna whispered among the group. "Nyla..."

"Back then, back when you all left me and Lynn and the dead clone-" Lincoln narrowed his eyes at Lupa and had indeed wondered how she survived the fatal shotgun blast. "-we were captured by these same guys and this one broke us out during the transportation. Her and that punk kid were the ambush party, waiting to kill me. The three of you-"

Lemy gasped. "Wha- Three-"

"Put her down, we can handle this from here," Luna insisted. "Me and these old and new allies together!"

"For fuck's sakes, stop being an idiot!" Darcy cringed. "You haven't really changed, have you?!"

"What... What did you do to Allison?" Lemy requested to know from the albino. "Where is she?"

Lincoln faintly released the tightened grip on Lynnette, sent back to the dark night where he had but shot and thrown Allie over Niagara Falls- and the night where it was too close to be in Allie's favor. "What I had to..."

"Who is Allison?" Luna had then made it her business to know. "Linc, what the hell did you do?"

"I've been just as busy as any of you, maybe more," Lincoln spoke, "taking down our enemies and these others set in play! I keep finding myself in the crosshairs of enemies unknown, and what else am I to do but to shoot right back, Luna?"

"You did it again-"

"Girl-" Lupa murmured. "Girl attacked us, he left with herrrrr..."

"I was in the cell with both of them," Lyle explained, "long enough to learn they were three but Lincoln kidnapped the third one, a teenager named Allison Taggart. I can only make an educated guess as to what he did. If it happened the way it did..."

"Tell me you didn't, Linc... Tell me you didn't k-kill a minor-"

"Jesus..." Darcy peeped. "You crossed that line..."

Loanne and Leia made disgusted faces, too morbidly stunned to add to the collective commentary.

"I did," was his cold reply that shook the world. "I shot her in the face."

And the words entered through everyone's ear drums and gave them a chill and a fright, but Luna was quick to act up and swiftly move, daring to attack the demented cold-blooded psychopath. "NAGHHHHH!"

Lincoln let her get close enough to swing a punch when he appeared to have his guard down. Once Luna lifted a leg to go for a rage-driven kick, Lincoln used Lynnette as a shield, putting the blonde zoomer's head in between them. Lynnette had her nose broken with all of Luna's force. Lincoln then proceeded to fall on his back, set his feet placed on Lynnette's back and shot her up to throw right at Luna. Both girls lost balance, stumbled and fell about long enough for the lone wolf to subdue Luna with both knees firmly pressed on her back and one of her arms. "Game over."

"If you..." Luna moaned, struggling about underneath him. "If we had known how sick you've become-"

"I see things for what they are, and thanks to some new friends, I understand something I have been ignorant to see." Naturally, he pressed his knee harder on Luna's back. "You are as dangerous as any other pheno."

"...What did-?" Luna sharply exhaled and widened her eyes in fear; she understood the hostile intent he somehow had. "Where did you get the funny idea-?"

"Powerful beings able to kill hundreds, maybe thousands if they'd ever turn on the rest of mankind!" Lincoln claimed. "You're going left unchecked while the rest of society and the government is in a state of controversy on the stance of phenos. Long ago, Luna, you were a victim, and I've acknowledged that fact, but you're free and you can do whatever you want! Who the hell could succeed in stopping you and them all?!"

"YOU NUTHOUSE, WE ARE NOT GOING TO BECOME ENEMIES AGAINST HUMANITY!" Luna yelled, face turning heavy red. "YOU'RE PLAYING YOURSELF, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE DOING, ISN'T IT?! YOU JUST WANT US DEAD BECAUSE WE DISAGREE ON THIS AND WE, TOGETHER AND UNIFIED, CAN STOP SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

"That base, that Prime Federation shit show there," Lincoln continued, "you've gone in and resurfaced without so much as a scratch. A group of phenos took down an entire infrastructure-"

"Not us alone!" Lyle corrected, "We've had help from some inside contacts!"

"What's that?" Lincoln noted. "Inside help from them?"

"Courtesy of me," Leven announced from behind the group. "I've made an arrangement with the defecting party within the Prime Federation ranks. Today, the base has fallen right into our hands with no heavy casualties. A grand victory, if anything." He stopped just before passing the line of the Louds' new allies, raising a hand. "It's over, we have defeated the Prime Federation once and for all, there's no need for further violence and aggression."

"I'd be so inclined to agree, if not for two factors..." Lincoln found himself cornered but had not made his concern known to them. Bethany and Lissandra were out of commission, no soul could save his sorry ass here on out. "You had to be dead, I believe that at any rate. Your significance to anyone is too dangerous to oversee-"

"I'm well aware of what I could become," Leven nodded to, "but I chose to fight for my own rights as a person. With Link-A's help, I found myself seeing and understanding this-"

"As a person..." Lincoln wanted to laugh.

"I chose this so I would not wind up dead just yet. I was needed where I am now, if I hadn't, our alliance with my Primers squad would not have been possible."

Primers? As Lincoln looked on, he missed to see Lynnette react to the word, her eyes wincing away aimlessly.

"Let Luna go, she has done nothing but right by us all."

"Y-you heard him, Linc," Luna mustered, "let me go."

"Our zoomers are out cold or occupied," Leven assessed, "no way to split him apart from Luna. This didn't need to become a hostage negotiation."

"Oh, you're right about that," Lincoln seconded. "I didn't come here to pull a pointless stunt. In fact, my mind has been made up, and I am mainly here to kill all of you."

"What has changed, Lincoln?" Leven questioned.

"Everything," the Ungodly Stormbringer let out just as two blue portals opened up at either side of him, bringing in Lissandra and Bethany to aid him in the next battle, both girls unscathed and ready to fight again.

"Wait, th-those two were just-?" Loanne turned her head back and forth between the base and where the three foes stood. "What is going on?"

"Shit, those guys back there!" Darcy alarmingly amped. "We'd better go check on them!"

"Don't think for a second you can get away!" Lissandra challenged in her Southern accent, circling around the gang. "Gotcha all where we want y'all!"

Bethany swung out her blades from the cross-shaped scabbard packed firmly behind her. "Enough talking, Lizy, just start the massacre before the back-up arrives!"

"Got it, babe!"

Right that second, Lynnette had recuperated completely and pounced right on her feet like a professional gymnast. She ran behind Lissandra and performed a leg sweep to kick her off her feet before she could kill any of them. "All of you, fall back to the base!" she fiercely instructed, eyes then setting on Bethany and Lincoln.

"Fucking zoomer!" Lissandra went for a comeback and moved her arms to where Lynnette had been a nanosecond ago- hitting nothing but the air that her hands felt in rush. "FUCKING ZOOMER!"

Lincoln stood up and fell next, forced backwards and stumbling momentarily. "Should have broken them more," he regretfully stated, "but I'll get you."

"You mean... We will," Bethany corrected him. "We have personal quarrels with this one."

Lincoln turned his eyes to Lupa. "You there! Put an end to this now! Kill the fake Lynn! Kill her and I can help you!"

Lynnette panicked and ignored Lincoln and the female Primers of the future, exchanging them for Lupa. "DON'T YOU THINK ABOUT IT!"

Lupa evaded the zoomer, soaring higher than eight feet in the air. "N-noooo..."

"That's it," Lincoln hoped. "Yes, do it! Kill her!"

"NO, DON'T DO IT!" Luna roared out, crawling away to her group. "LUCY, YOU KNOW LINCOLN, YOU HAVE TO SEE HE MEANS NO GOOD!"

"Yughhh..." Lupa garbled. "I..."

"Shit!" Lynnette had her window narrow in, giving her less time to make her primary kill. "LINCOLN LOUD!"

Bethany sliced away at Lynnette once the blonde had come close enough to be in damage range, and her defense attack had missed; the blades merely cut at the air. "Ka-saw, no effect on target, as expected...!"

"Come at me, once and for all!" Lincoln welcomed his future daughter, stretching his arms out. "Here I am!"

Lynnette rammed into him the way a striking football quarterback would, buffing out her offensive shoulder rather quickly with her acceleration. She pushed him further away from the perimeter, working to get him isolated before she moved in for the kill, constantly pushing him and then adding in punches and kicks into the mix. "At long last..." Lynnette took the time to bask in her glory, smiling widely, almost crazily. "The Prime Federation ends here."

"So you say..." Lincoln had been beaten, left standing on only a knee and both hands pressed on the field. And just when it seemed he and the two girls met their mutual fate, to be beaten to a pulp by Lynnette while Luna and company were allowed to fall back away from them, Lupa seized hold of her from the air, arm formed as if she were holding an invisible cup, and raised it up to pluck the girl from the fight. "N-no kill Lincoln-"

"NOOO!" Lynnette pleaded. "DON'T DENY ME!"

"YES!" Lincoln applauded joyfully. "WELL DONE, CLONE! WELL DONE!"

And thus marked four opponents fighting against the protagonists of this long tale.