Memories of the Past, Chapter V

"Domicile scum! Toss your weapons and surrender!" Lynn, suited up in her red costume, had neared the coordinates of the location when her younger self was due to be displaced on the timeline. That Lynn had only herself to get back to the proper time as fated, but only herself, forced to leave her unit of three behind, and for years tried her best to try and solve the puzzle on how to change their fates. "This is your last chance! Put your weapons down and hands up, or we will fire upon you!"

Even now, Lynn could still hear those words enter her ears back when she first heard them. The intensity of the setting having made her nervous and unclear of what to do. The large war vehicle was vastly intimidating, a true beast of iron with a turret manned by a Prime Federation soldier. And when that soldier fired, it mean loss of life-

Margo was reduced to cannon fodder in seconds, one of the hardest things Lynn had to sacrifice and accept, in a world where it was duly possible, but with a price. And that very thing, done by one of her own, whom had paid that price which not only affected him but her as well- and every single person, animal and insect on the planet. Such a thing she wanted and could not be allowed to do, to avoid the repeating of the dark history.

The way it went after had eluded her memory well, for she had tried to recount her past actions so that she could move where she was supposed to so that she could keep her face concealed from the displaced trio. Currently, Lissandra Mercer made her maniacal introduction, standing on top of the war vehicle and revealing herself as some sort of figure just above the soldiers. And she was a sort of monster that would not only help clue Lynn in as to whom she'd be looking for, but was also the sort of monster that, only in secret, had given her a sort of nightmare, and it went beyond Lissandra; so there could have been more like her, and in this future, surely, a sort of future she didn't know she'd live long enough to see today. So there could have been more like her, but in the present? That type of monster sewed into Luna Loud? Why, that was crazier than what Lynn had seen, but she let her guard down, believing Luna could be no threatening menace of ragged, edgy teeth and the other inhuman body features, all the lethal and perilous kind.

Never again. Never would she ever let her guard down, she would never go soft again for it, which also served as a sort of curse; she had her eldest daughter go with Luna's only kid back in time under the guise of assassinating Lincoln Loud, the poor gullible things. Her daughter of green, left behind and damned to live free of the world's end even if it was for a short time.

Funny...

That Lynnette could have circled back and met Lynn today, but it had never happened at any point, which could only either mean she died sometime after Lyra or she went into hiding from all of this. Either way, Lynn had given her some credit where it was due, but had not thought too much about her.

Lynn reached the street where the BTR-70 had stopped, running up to the solo Primer and grabbed Lissandra's legs, dragging her roughly on the concrete and asphalt, saving her younger self from any potential harm, fleeing the area with the lone pheno, racing away from the city and into the countryside, where she slowed down and tossed Lissandra onto a miles-long stretch of grassy field, staying to confront her as a means of distraction. Young Lizy rolled to her feet and glared up against the zoomer Loud, angered but scared at the power gap that put her at the clear disadvantage; Lynn could end Lissandra Autumn Mercer's life right here and now, but Lissandra didn't know Lynn's thought process as she was still a child at heart.

"If we had ahselves a zoomer-" Lizy croaked in her monstrous voice. She blinked- and Lynn was right up in her face and delivered a right hook to knock her back down.

"Wouldn't do much, you little bitch!" Lynn had read the file on Lissandra- whatever wasn't redacted in black- and found the Mercer family tree was mostly composed of racist rednecks from around West Virginia as far as the internet could track. Why, Lynn wouldn't be surprised if previous generation Mercers were KKK members or even Confederate soldiers back in the early American days. What stood- sprawled- before Lynn was a gruesome monster worse than either of those, capable of losing her mind for the animalistic instincts inside of her, just like Luna had been reprogrammed to. "For over thirty years have I been running circles around a lot of evil men and women, and that includes your wretch of a boss when he was nothing! You bunch can create your own zoomer, but what's that mean when I have all the experience in the back of my head?"

"How dare you-"

"Even now, the bastard Blood sends little girls to do his bidding!" Lynn snorted and chuckled lightly, finding the humor in the facts. "Back in the day, he was running around making moves on his own, like- Ha, when did he decide to become lazy? God, I'm-" Lynn pressed a hand to her face, covering her eyes. At this point she had a laughing fit, shaking her head like she had just found out for herself. "I'm sorry but I'm-"

Lizy had grown humiliated to a devastating level that she didn't do anything but turn angry red and stare her adversary with daggers flying from her eyes. "Cocky bitch..."

Lynn finally relaxed herself, taking a deep breath but still otherwise smiling. "Oh, my God," she went, concluding. "Anyways, I'd better get going now. I have no time to waste with you, so good luck getting back to the city!" Lynn waved mockingly at Lissandra and went on her way, racing away from the Eastern seaboard to get back to Royal Woods, Michigan.

Lynn had followed an individual not familiar to her, whom had been following Luna- and when this stranger had caught up to Luna out of a stairway that led to the subway, the stranger had so easily hoisted Luna up and threw her onto incoming traffic. Luna t-boned a yellow taxi and wound up flipping it over completely while burrowed into the metal, bleeding away but otherwise not fatally injured. Yet.

As for the being who attacked, Lynn could not see them for their appearance, as they were wearing heavy clothing that concealed their entire body until she had reached them and begun to manually rip off whatever she could while struggle to dodge the unknown enemies attacks in normal speed. Something was suppressing her zoomer powers, and it could not have been her... Could it have?

Lynn dodged around the fighter's swings, managing to unveil whoever it was underneath this incognito attire. At this point she knew it had to be a pheno with some serious strength- or so she thought, up until the point that Luna had made her comeback and pulled the pheno's arm and performed a high kick to their head.

They fell, and at last the two girls could finally see that it wasn't a pheno they were fighting, but-

Lynn barely reached the town when she slowed down to walking, her body acting on its own accord by swinging both her arms up. Her knuckles seemed to have good memory, for Lynn could still feel just how great the agony was when she first fought the one foe in her life that she could not take upon by herself. All her speed and the fighting experience could not match, and when it called for her, Luna and their many allies, they barely proved victorious against the adversary- and it wasn't a clean victory either. "Ahhh..."

Lynn's arms shook in utter fear. She huffed repeatedly, receiving a lightheaded state. The first time she found herself begging for mercy like a bullied schoolgirl since her time as a zoomer, where she was guaranteed invincibility, to be but untouchable when she willed it. Bad enough that there were anti-pheno psychos who aimed to use anti-pheno weapons on them in the name of purging America of super powers, but now there existed such evil persons who didn't need to expel the powers. As is, Lynn- No, not Lynn, but all zoomers now, were nothing special apart from fast runners. Lynn, Lana and Lola were no longer-

Lynn threw up on herself and berated herself mentally. She could not afford weakness or fear, but had still a long way to go before perfect ascension- the place where the real beasts belonged to. And yet-

I could only be so lucky... When will it run out? Or am I meant to-?

She breathed, therefore she could continue the fight alongside the Domicile, but that particular war against the reigning Prime Federation remained a stalemate yet, casualties dropping from both sides, and even when the Domicile forces had a terribly disadvantaged size gap in comparison to the Federation, the latter had been stretched thin of resources these days, deploying about half of its army overseas in another war locked in with foreign powers. Still, the advancements continued in their labs, where robotic scouts were filling the empty spaces. And it was only a matter of time until a repetition of the past followed. The events of secret history would emerge and land right in front of Dylan Blood, and from there, a Compound C model superbot to be the end of the Domicile here on America soil.

The greatest fear that kept Lynn frantically running in circles so not as to give them that chance. Speed and strength were not the major factors to win the war-

Am I meant to relive it again? Is it going to come again so that it can kill me? And...

Lynn Loud III was straight ahead, sound asleep but having slept while waiting for her mother to make her safe return back home. Dear sweet Thirdie-Birdie who, yet having tearful nights without the comfort of big sister Lynnette, hadn't adjusted to the new change in the family. The lie there told to her was that Lynnette would return as obligation. Bedtime tales, tucking into bed, and the dutiful role of babysitting while Lynn and Luna took off for up to days at a time. The weight had fallen on the grieving Luna who brushed carefully through her niece's messy brown hair, spending her time to stay away from the war until she got her head right, whereas Lynn-

"Oh my God..." Lynn succumbed to it now, losing balance of her legs, sobbing with a warm hand suddenly grabbing and squeezing at her heart from the inside. The smell of her barf wasn't helping either, and she gagged dryly and fell on herself right over the narrow road, and she was as angry as she was mortified, losing her sense of rationality and intact sanity, so suggested when she slapped her arms against the tarmac on a loop. She averted her eyes to the sickening reality that was and never should have been. The blaming was done, she saw no reason to bother pointing the finger at Lincoln for his greatest burden and sin that spread out and over.

She was done, war-weary and longed for her own end. What if she stopped here and turned back? What if she decided to abandon everything, to let her loved ones venture their life journeys from here?

She had felt done, the enormity of her burdens and the heaviest of guilt had worn her out and dragged her out to this moment, the lowest point in her life. Never mind all those other times where she was down and alone to collect her thoughts and develop questions that she didn't need answered by herself. All the words told to her, she heeded out of reasoning necessity, that just maybe things could make sense across the finish line. All this time shedding blood and facing loss so that she could, at long last, relax at the end. Relax, with so little to have left by the time her time had come, what sort of life was that to have? How could she truly live with herself accepting the amount of fallen friends and allies like they earned a premature death? Them versus her who signed herself up for the frontlines and managed to elude the Grim Reaper.

She lived long enough, mourned and missed the dead, had kids, and the younger one was in the care of Luna at the moment. Should she run and take herself out of the equation...

You're in good care, sweetheart... I've brought you into a world of danger, and I'm...

She turned around.

I never apologized to you for my role in your hard life, and I don't think I could ever...

Ran from Royal Woods.

I hope Luna understands.

Never closed her eyes.

Because I never will.