I don't own the Loud House.

Welcome back to another chapter of Incursion! I had a lot of fun writing this story and I'm excited to share it with you all. Also, I'm excited to share the artwork that I've been making for this story. I'm not a very good artist but I am trying to learn to be better. Last week I shared what Ace looks like in his hero and civilian clothes. And this week I'll be sharing what Lori looks like in her hero suit. Asked Siege for his input and he told me what his vision of Luminary was and I did my best to create it. I'll be posting the links on my twitter so be sure to go check it out. Next week I'll be posting what Lynn looks like as a hero.

Also, I am working on my other stories so expect updates on most of them soon. If you haven't checked out my other stuff, please do. And if you haven't checked Siege's stories then you're seriously missing out. Anyways, enough rambling. Enjoy!

Stupor Heroics: Incursion

Chapter 3

A little over a year into Lori's training, she had gone out with Ace to go see a bunch of senators. They were meeting them at some building in Los Angeles and she was basically going to sit there and look pretty while they talked about what they would do to move forward with the program. Ace had warned her that it was going to be boring and that she would have to endure it. Also Lori was given what would be the first iteration of her hero costume.

Much to her embarrassment, her costume was basically a glorified leotard. The leotard was sky blue with long sleeves that stopped at her wrists. She also had on a pair of white gloves and boots. Around her waist she wore a gold belt the same shade as her cape clasps with a single gold buckle. And to top it off, she wore a flowing white cape that was similar to the classic capes heroes in comic books wore.

You see, the costume she wore left her legs bare and while that normally wouldn't be a problem, Lori still hadn't gotten used to the idea of showing as much skin as she was now. Also, her costume had a…well, the best way to describe it would be a boob window on top of her chest which showed a respectful amount of cleavage.

When Ace had handed her her costume, she almost killed him. To think he expected her to be okay with being paraded around to a bunch of old guys like some prized show girl! But unfortunately, he had a reason for giving her the costume. She had learned a couple of months into her training that their planet would be invaded by a race of aliens that wanted the earth of its rich resources. And until the invasion began, Shield or the Strategic Hero Initiative and Encouraging Logistics Department needed the support of the senators for funding. So Lori had to wear the costume because it would certainly draw their attention to her and by extension, the hero program. She really hated the fact that men were such pigs.

"Senator Baldwin, a pleasure to meet you." Ace said as he shook hands with an older man with graying hair. "I hope your trip wasn't too exhausting."

"Captain Ace, it's good to finally see you face to face. So to speak, that is." Senator Baldwin said. "Allow me to introduce my colleagues who are also on this 'Hero' committee."

Lori watched as Ace shook hands with another man, this one a redhead named Steinbeck, a bald man named Winslow, a woman named Gardner, and another woman by the name of Flores. Each of the committee members glanced in her direction but they didn't comment on her just yet. Which Lori was fine with, she didn't really want to talk to them after all. Ace just told her that she wouldn't have to say anything at all unless directly asked a question.

Once they were all seated, Ace began the meeting. "Thank you all for being here, Senators. As you all know, the Strategic Hero Initiative and Encouraging Logistics Department or Shield for short, began due to the sudden rise of super powered individuals also known as Metas. These Metas are blessed with incredible powers and in some cases, destructive power. We know from our overseas intelligence that other foreign governments have also started their own meta recruitment programs and are likely to weaponize them for war."

At this, the senators began to whisper to one another and Lori wondered if Ace had done that intentionally or not. Was he trying to hint at the invasion?

"And while we could have done the same, we here at Shield had a different idea. What if we trained the Metas not to be soldiers but Heroes instead?" At this, the Senators gave Ace their full attention. "Heroes would not only protect us from any dangers both foreign and domestic but also it would give the public something to look forward to." He then motioned towards Lori and she took that as her cue to strike a heroic pose. "It's no secret that the public is scared at the moment. Some metas have already started to abuse their powers and our police are scrambling to play catch up. It's a new world and sadly, we can't keep on relying on old methods to respond to new threats. What we need are individuals that the public can look up to, individuals that people can feel safe with, that people can trust. What we need are Heroes."

Lori was given the cue to use her powers. Her body glowed a bit and she hovered a few inches off of the floor.

"Shield has been training the first generation of heroes that we believe will not only give the people something to believe in again. But also to restore their faith in their government. Let's face it, trust in the government is at an all time low. Most of the population believe that the government has been dragging their feet in response to the sudden rise in Metas. But, if we give them heroes, we give them the answer to their problem. Because when we get down to it, Metas are people too. And if we train them, we can give them a sense of purpose. A sense that they belong in society as both citizens and protectors."

When it was clear that Ace had finished, Senator Baldwin cleared his throat.

"That was a wonderful speech, Captain. But I do have to wonder, how much will this cost us?" Baldwin asked.

"Training heroes isn't cheap." Winslow added. "The expense reports that we've gotten over the past year have eaten up a sizable chunk of our defense budget."

"I'm glad you brought that up, Senators." Ace said as he motioned for Lori to come next to him. "As you can see, our heroes will be outfitted with a hero suit that will be tailor made for them for maximum effectiveness out in the field. But! It will also be very appealing to the public audience."

Lori's eye twitched but she didn't say anything as she forced her smile to stay on. She knew that she needed to keep playing her part, no matter how demeaning it was.

"Shield has already begun drafting a whole lineup of merchandising apparels, toys, and even sports drinks. Our marketing team puts early estimates to be in the quarter million within the first quarter of the year."

This made the senators raise an eyebrow. "That high? Really?" Gardner asked.

"Of course. Once our heroes start patrolling their assigned cities and 'saving the day' on a regular basis, the kids will want to own their very own Luminary Action figures." Ace said. "Also, each of our heroes will be given a special code name to increase their appeal to young audiences."

The Senators talked amongst themselves and for a moment, Lori believed that Ace had convinced them to agree to continue funding them. But suddenly, Baldwin shook his head and the others seemed to agree with him. She couldn't be sure but she figured that they didn't think heroes would be a good investment in the long run.

"All this is well and good," Baldwin began but stopped when an explosion could be heard in the distance.

They all turned towards the high rise window from the skyscraper that they had met in and watched as a large airplane was heading towards them. One of the plane's engines had exploded and it was losing altitude fast. And from the looks of it, it was going to crash in the middle of downtown Los Angeles during the lunch hour rush.

Baldwin glared at Ace. "I swear to god, if you're responsible for this, Ace, I'll have your head on my desk on fucking platter!"

But Ace ignored him. The Masked man reached up to his right ear and began to nod. "Uh huh…yea…copy that…from orbit?" The masked man cursed. "Where's it heading?" Another curse. "Downtown, are you certain?"

"Um…captain? Should I try to do something?" Lori asked as she kept her eyes on the ever approaching plane which was still losing altitude.

"Send me the coordinates, I'll track it down." Ace said at last before releasing his earcoms. He turned towards Lori and said. "Lori, do your best to divert the plane's trajectory from hitting downtown. Try to aim it towards the ocean if you can. If you can't then aim towards the industrial sector, there's less people there."

"W-What about you?" Lori asked, stunned that she was given such a task.

"Something hit that plane's engine. I'm going to go see what it was. Our satellites say that it wasn't random debris. This was deliberate."

"Ah ha! So you were responsible!" Baldwin shouted but Ace ignored him.

"I know that you're scared. I am asking for a lot but I know that you can do this. Just remember your training and you will do great." Ace told her before he turned towards the glass pane and burst through it.

Then Lori watched as Ace did something that she had never seen him do before. He flew as small thrusters began to shoot from the soles of his boots and from the palms of his gloves. He began to fly towards the airplane but he wasn't aiming towards it, instead he was heading somewhere behind it. Lori glanced towards the senators who were still there and she cleared her throat.

"Um…s-sorry for this but um…I gotta go." Lori said lamely before she followed her mentor and jumped through the window that he had broken.

Her body was engulfed in a brilliant yellowish white aura that imbued Lori with the power of flight. It was always an exhilarating experience to fly but when she sped past what she considered the normal limits, she felt incredible! The plane was still a few dozen thousand feet away from her high above the city though it was rapidly approaching. She broke through the sound barrier without breaking a sweat and she closed the distance between them in a matter of moments.

Later when she was shown video footage of her approach, Lori would see that she resembled an orb of light that was shooting towards the falling aircraft. But she slowed down considerably once she was within a thousand feet from it. The plane was still flying at incredible speeds and despite its attempts to slow down, its momentum was already set. Lori knew that she wouldn't be able to just slam into it to try and stop it, this wasn't a carton. If she did that, the plane would most likely be destroyed.

In her training, she had been able to divert falling planes successfully but those had been simulations. It was time to see if she was truly worthy of being a hero. Taking in a deep breath, Lori focused herself for what was to come. She allowed the plane to shoot past her and then she took off after it. Matching its speed wasn't too big of a deal, she could definitely fly faster than it. But as she got close, Lori was able to inspect the damage to the plane. And what she saw surprised her.

The engine that she thought had exploded was completely destroyed. And that wasn't all, a chuck of the left wing was also gone. Lori wasn't sure how the plane was able to remain in a directed fall. The pilot must've had an iron will and strength to match her own if they could keep a falling plane steady. The damaged wing would complicate things but it wasn't impossible.

Lori reached up to her right ear and activated her coms. "Operations, do you copy?"

"This is operations, come in." Her com said in her ear.

"What's the status of the plane? Are the passengers and crew alive?" Lori asked. The smoke made it difficult to see inside since the fire had begun to spread towards the cabin as well.

"The pilot is alive. Several passengers had suffered from smoke inhalation and some burns but they're alive. If you're going to land the plane, the pilot urges you to do it quickly. He can't control the descent for much longer."

Lori cursed. Now that she knew what the situation was, she knew what she had to do. Charging up an attack, she flew underneath the aircraft and blew off the remains of the tattered wing. What was left was a stump that was about ten feet long. Before the plane could lose too much control, she quickly blasted the other wing as well in order to even out the plane once more. She could almost hear the people inside screaming in fear as the plane shook from the force of her attacks. Then as the plane started to lose control, Lori flew in close to the nose of the plane and began to force it towards the ocean.

She had to be careful not to break the plane in two but also use enough force to overcome the momentum of the falling aircraft. Her glowing hands began to sink into the metal as the plane's undercarriage groaned and shrieked from her attempts to redirect it. She could feel the pilot's attempts to aid her and together they made the plane change its course. And as Lori could see the ocean in the distance, she became hopeful that she might succeed.

And then she felt the plane lurch and Lori lost her hold on the plane. Without its wings to stabilize it, the plane soon lost its equilibrium and so began to spin out of control. Now there was a giant metal tube spinning out of control that was still heading towards Los Angeles. Lori watched it fall for several moments in shock as it continued to spiral downwards.

"Lori!" Ace's voice barked in her ear.

The blonde girl jumped in midair as she heard the older man's voice shout in her ear.

"Get your ass in gear and save those people!" Ace shouted through their coms. "It's time for you to show yourself just what you can do!"

"R-Right!" Lori said before she pushed herself forward and sped down towards the falling plane.

As the air rushed through her hair, Lori wracked her brains to try and figure out how to salvage the situation. In all of their training, the plane had never just spun out of control like that! Especially not when the buildings were getting closer and closer and growing in size! But as she neared the plane, she jammed her shoulder into the side of the nose and forced it to stop spinning. Once that was done, she glanced inside of the cockpit and she cursed. The pilots were both passed out and it was full of smoke. She could still see inside but it was clear that things weren't okay in there. She could see the stewardess struggling to make her way towards the pilots and place their oxygen masks on. Lori wasn't sure why they hadn't placed their masks on in the beginning but that was the least of her concerns.

Lori flew underneath the plane and began to try to push it upwards in order to level it out. Because if it kept going down, they would crash into a building and cause another disaster. But despite her best efforts, the plane wasn't leveling out. She couldn't use her full strength against it because the plane would snap in half and make a bad situation worse. She could feel the plane begin to slow down, she knew that if given enough time she could probably land the plane in the water. But downtown was in the middle of her and the ocean and she could not clear the buildings and still land the plane. Any direction that she went to try and avoid the buildings would make her and the plane crash into a populated area.

Lori didn't mean to do it but she couldn't help it. She began to tear up. The overwhelming feeling of dread because she felt like there was nothing that she could do. It was growing deep inside of her and she could feel her grip begin to loosen.

"Lori…"

Lori's eyes snapped open as she heard Ace's voice come quietly in her ear.

"You can do this. I believe in you." Ace said calmly.

"I-I can't…I'm not strong enough…." She sobbed.

"Breathe…breathe…feel the air…feel the wind on your face. Feel the energy coursing through your body…feel its powers as it pushes you up off of the ground. And power, Lori, feel the power…it's like electricity pumped into your veins…crackling through you, traveling through every nerve in your body like a shock. You're no longer just you, Lori, you're more than yourself. You aren't just limited to your body. Use that power…let it spread out and make everything around you become a part of you. Because you're part of something greater…a part of a force…a light force."

As Ace was speaking to her, Lori closed her eyes as she tried to focus on what he was saying. She focused on her power, that energy that coursed not only through her but through all living things. Lori had learned to be somewhat aware of that life force energy that was all around them. It was because of that energy that Lori learned to recharge herself from other living things, namely the Sun. But that wasn't what she was focusing on right now. She could feel her power coursing through her, it felt like water being let out of a fire hydrant. All of that energy was pushing to be released under heavy pressure but Lori had learned to contain and control its flow.

And now, as Ace tried to guide her once more, she could feel her energy begin to pulse. It wanted to help her, she could feel it. As strange as it was, her power knew what to do even if she didn't. Perhaps it was instinct…perhaps it was fate but whatever reason, Lori gave into that feeling and allowed her power to flow. She felt it rush past her fingertips and quickly expand over the metal plating of the aircraft. Lori suddenly became aware of everything within the plane as her power flowed throughout it. She could sense the people inside, feel their rapid heartbeats as their own inner energy was in flux from their panic and fear. It was a feeling that she shared with them but magnified as her senses added another person with each passing second. And once her power covered the entirety of the plane, Lori could feel the emotions of all 230 people on board.

"Now do it." Came Ace's command.

Lori's eyes snapped open once more, having closed them as her instincts kicked in and her energy covered the plane. As one, Lori began to fly upwards and to her surprise, the plane began to level out. The buildings were much closer now and Lori knew that she didn't have much time before things ended tragically. She flipped herself around, not daring to fully end her contact with the plane, and pushed upwards. The metal groaned once more but it didn't break. Her power, which now covered the whole plane, was holding the aircraft together and Lori used that to her advantage. Still, Lori struggled since the plane's own momentum hadn't been negated by her efforts. She could only direct it and her direction was up and over the buildings that dared to touch the sky.

But to her great relief, Lori was able to clear the buildings and avoid one national disaster. Once on the other side, Lori flipped back around, pressing her back to the hull of the plane and began to direct it once more towards the ocean. It was then that Lori noticed that she wasn't alone up there. At some point during her struggles, several news choppers had joined them in the sky and Lori could see them ahead of her, no doubt trying to cover the ongoing story that was her current task. Now she definitely couldn't fail her mission since it would be on National TV!

Luckily for her, once she cleared downtown, the rest of the flight, while nerve wracking, was smooth sailing more or less. She managed to crash land safely in the water and keep the aircraft from sinking until rescue crews were able to safely evacuate the passengers and crew. Once that was done, Lori was asked to drag the remains of the plan to the sandy beach and she left it there for the city to deal with. It wasn't her problem anymore.

She was exhausted by the end of it and a number of reporters wanted her statement but Lori just flew out of there after saying that she was just happy that no one was seriously injured. Sadly, her cape did not survive the whole ordeal, somewhere along the way it was torn up and all that remained was a tiny section that made it look like she had a tiny cape. A fact that was later shown to her as footage of her and her…boob window was plastered all over the internet. She had refused to show her face in public for a week after that but that's a story for another time.

While all of that had been happening, Lori had wondered where Ace had gone. She eventually found him outside of the city near the San Gabriel Mountains. The area in which the masked man was in looked like a small scale war had broken out. And it also looked like the Men in Black were quarantining the area. There were helicopters, trucks, and dozens of people running around investigating and taking readings and whatnot. Lori wasn't sure what they were doing but she did see that Ace was talking to the five senators from before.

"…worry, we'll take care of everything." Baldwin was saying as Lori approached them. By the sound of it, he was singing a completely different tune.

"Ah, Luminary, good work out there." Gardner said as she shook Lori's hand. The older woman was smiling appreciatively at her which told Lori that the Hero program suddenly looked like a very profitable business.

"Thanks…I did my best out there."

"More than your best, I'd say." Flores commented. "With you as the face of Shield, Metas will be lining up to become heroes now."

"Wait, what?" Lori asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean, face?"

"Yes. With your spectacular save, you've just become the face of the Strategic Hero Initiative and Encouraging Logistics Department. Congratulations." Steinbeck said with a clap on her shoulder.

Lori just stared dumbly at the senators as Baldwin finished speaking with Ace. Once they left, Lori got her first good look at the older man. He looked like he went twelve rounds with Lynn while blindfolded and his arms tied behind his back. Which he had actually done and the older man regretted it immensely since Lynn had been pissed. He had several bandages wrapped around his body, his clothes had been replaced since she assumed the ones he wore before had been destroyed, and he had sweat, blood, and dirt all over his hair. But what made her eye twitch was that his mask was still as pristine as ever.

"Lori…I saw what you did out there. Good job." He told her once they were relatively alone.

"What the hell happened here?" Lori blurted out once she finally got over the fact that she was apparently the face of Shield.

Ace chuckled. "I came here to ensure that our visitor didn't get a chance to report back."

Lori was more confused than before but she followed the Masked Man's gaze towards the edge of the small clearing that had been turned into a battlefield and she gasped.

"Is that…?" Lori began but couldn't finish. She recalled when Ace told her the truth about why they were training. And while she had trusted that he was telling her the truth, seeing that he was being honest still shocked her.

"Yes."

Lying against a broken tree trunk was a large metallic torso that was missing its legs and it's right arm. The head had a hole that Lori assumed had been made by a super powered fist judging from its size. It looked like a robot to Lori but its exact make was hard to describe since Ace had quite literally torn it apart.

"W-Why didn't you call for back up!?" Lori rounded on the masked man, her expression hardening into a glare. "I could have been here sooner if you'd have called me!"

"I had it handled." Ace said with a shrug. "Besides, if I couldn't have taken that automaton down, I would have called for backup"

Lori pointed a finger towards his left arm which was in a sling. "You call getting the shit kicked out of you 'handled'?"

"Yes." Ace nodded, seemingly not bothered by her reaction. If anything, he looked nostalgic if his posture was anything to go by. "I'm still standing aren't I?"

Lori pinched the bridge of her nose for a few moments before she forced herself to calm down. "Okay…fine…can you at least tell me what it was doing here?"

"What do you think it was doing here? It came to do a preliminary survey of our planet and its defenses." Ace told her. "I intercepted it before it could send a message back."

"And how do you know that it hasn't sent word back to its homeworld?" Lori asked.

"Because I destroyed its landing pod just as it set foot here." Ace answered. "But now we have proof that our planet is being targeted by enemies from above. Now we have proof that the Empire is coming."

End of chapter.