I don't own the Loud House.
Welcome back to another chapter. I'm sorry that I didn't post this yesterday, I had legitimately forgotten that it was friday. But better late than never, right? I did announce on twitter that I would be taking a 2 week hiatus after this post. I have some family stuff to take care of over the coming weeks and it won't leave much time for anything else. I will post again on the 28th at the earliest.
Now, this chapter continues Ace's backstory from the previous one. I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit of a tearjerker. Also I wonder if anyone can guess the names of all of the kids used in this chapter. Some are obvious while others aren't. I know that one of them no one will be able to guess unless you're part of the same discord server that I'm in. I only ever mentioned them there.
Anyways, enjoy!
Stupor Heroics: Incursion
Chapter 6
"After we had rescued Lisa from that prison, we went into hiding once more in order to help her recover. The Empire had not been kind to her and the only reason she hadn't been broken was because the Empire wanted her alive." Ace said as he began his story anew.
"What did they want from her?" Lori asked. She knew that her younger sister was a genius but she always felt like she never fully understood the gravity of that word.
"Their Emperor, a being with a hunger for knowledge and power unrivaled in the universe, wanted Lisa's knowledge. He wanted her plans for a weapon so powerful that anyone who used it could conquer the universe for all of time."
"What was it?" Lori asked, fearful of the answer. A weapon powerful enough to conquer the universe sounded terrifying and that was saying something since Lori was considered one of the strongest heroes alive.
"They wanted Lisa to build them a time machine." Ace told her.
Lori's eyes widened. If the enemy had been able to get their hands on that technology then they would be able to conquer the universe from the beginning of time and no one would ever be able to stop them. "Oh my god..."
"That's why they couldn't risk breaking Lisa, they needed her alive. But once we rescued her, we knew that we needed to go underground so that the Empire wouldn't be able to find us. And for 15 years, we remained in hiding until we were able to secure what we needed to build our own time machine to send one of my daughters back in time to prevent our world from becoming enslaved."
"Something happened to them, didn't it?" Lori asked, a feeling of dread already building in her stomach. She knew without him answering that all of his family must've died before he was sent back. The type of man that Ace was wouldn't have allowed them to die in order to save himself, no, Ace would gladly die to protect them. It's how she felt about protecting her own family.
"In order to get the time machine to work, we needed a huge power source in order to travel as far back as we needed. And in order to do that we had to attack and take over a power facility owned by the Empire. We gathered all of our remaining forces, everyone who could aim a gun was made to fight. This was our last chance to set things right and no one could be spared. Because if we failed then no one would ever be able to save the world." Ace took another drink from his bottle. "Many died but in the end we held it...and Lisa quickly began to divert the power to her machine. The only thing that we needed was time..." Ace chuckled without humor. "But time was the only thing that we didn't have..."
XXXXX
Lisa was quickly typing away at a keyboard on the main console. She was bloody and sweaty and looked like she had gone through hell and back. But the woman didn't dare take a moment to stop, not when so much was at stake.
"Ace, we need time to power the machine!" She shouted over her shoulder.
"How much?" Ace asked from his spot on the other side of the large room.
Lisa growled, she hated that she knew they didn't have enough time. "As much as you can buy! Once we have enough, I'll send Moonbeam back."
Ace nodded more to himself than to Lisa. They both knew that Lisa wouldn't be able to go back, her body would never be able to handle the strain. Ace left the room and made his way towards the entrance. As he walked, he could see the scattered remains of the robotic security force that the Empire used. The robots had put up a good fight but they hadn't been enough. Sadly, Ace knew that the Empire would now send a force that could conquer a planet to them. They wanted Lisa and they would destroy everything around them to get her.
"Dad!" A voice called out.
Ace turned towards the hallway he had just passed to see his oldest daughter heading towards him. He smiled as he stopped for her. "Hey, Priestess, glad to see that you survived."
Priestess laughed as she wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face into his chest and just held him for a moment. She then looked up at him and smiled. "Of course, I might be a healer but I can also fight. I've already patched up the others as best as I could. I just wanted to see you before I went to take a short rest."
"Good. Go and rest up, the Empire will be here shortly." Ace said as he patted her head. She seemed to enjoy the feeling of him rubbing his hand on her head despite her age. Considering that she never got to know her mother, Priestess never grew out of her need for parental affection. Unlike Moonbeam, Priestess still loved getting hugs.
"Okay, Dad, I'll go. Make sure to have something to eat while we still have a chance." Priestess gave him one last hug before she ran back down the hall.
Ace was amazed that despite being in her late 20s, Priestess still had so much energy. He was already in his 50s and thanks to Lisa's enhancements he was still able to fight in his prime. But without them, he shuddered to think what state his body would be in now.
With another shake of his head, Ace continued his way towards the entrance. Along the way he saw some of his other children helping what remained of their forces. Justice Boy was moving some debris to make a type of defensive barrier. His older sister, Queenie was using her powers to remove the hundreds of destroyed robots and shoving them aside, they would need to be able to move without worrying about tripping hazards. Not that far from them was Pinkie, she was using her powers to strengthen the morale of the others. Some of them were scared, rightfully so, but thanks to her powers they would be able to fight on. Beast Girl was currently transformed into a large gorilla and she was pushing the large vehicles that had been destroyed into strategic positions to act as cover. The one directing her was her older brother, Haxor, who was in charge of the resistance second to Ace. Haxor was the only other son that had survived of Ace's besides Justice Boy.
When he arrived at the entrance of the building, he could see that Haxor had done well with their defenses. Most of the breaches that they had done had been covered up and those that couldn't were set up as choke points. The power plant was built in the middle of a large city that used to be Los Angeles. This had been where the aliens had first landed as part of their invasion force. From here they had spread to the rest of the world like wildfire. It seemed appropriate that this place should also be humanity's last stand to make things right. And Ace felt that it was appropriate that he also fight and die where three of his sisters had also died fighting in the first invasion. He hoped that they would be with him and give him strength during his last moments.
"Father, have you come to inspect the defenses?" A voice called out to him.
Ace turned to see Haxor coming up to him. The younger man looked almost exactly like him except that his eyes were brown just like his mothers. "No." Ace shook his head. "I just came to see if they were here yet."
Haxor stopped beside him and looked towards the horizon. "Not yet. But it shouldn't be long now. I sent Static and Pyra to scout the perimeter and they haven't found anything. The city has been evacuated and soon it will likely be overrun by Empire forces."
"How many of your siblings died in the battle?" Ace asked. He hadn't been able to see who had made it since he had been busy helping Lisa. She didn't trust anyone but him to help her.
Haxor lowered his head. "We lost Mystic, Tangles, and Demon. Aqua lost a leg but she can still fight and Hex lost her arm but she assures me that it wouldn't stop her from fighting either."
Ace looked up at the sky. He could feel his heart break just a bit more at the knowledge that three more of his daughters had been lost to this war. And he knew that before the day was done that he would lose more if not all of them. Tears threatened to form in his eyes and he reached up to wipe them. It seemed like fate was always dealing him a cruel joke. Make powers a reality but exclude him from getting them. Allow his sisters to become heroes but make them die fighting. Allow him to fight back but always have him survive while his family died around him. But not today, he would not allow all of this to go to waste. All of the sacrifice and death would finally be worth it. They would send Moonbeam back in time and she would put an end to all of this.
"Damn rain..." He muttered as he wiped his eyes. "It always gets in my eyes."
Haxor nodded his head. "It got into my eyes earlier too, Dad..."
Ace turned towards his son and embraced him in a brief but tight hug. It would likely be the last one he would ever give him. "Let's just do our best to hold the line. Lisa needs as much time as we can give her."
"You can count on me." Haxor said.
Ace continued walking the grounds as he waited for the inevitable to come. He met with each of his children and gave them all one last hug. He fully expected to die that day and he would be fighting on the front lines. He could see the remains of the skyscrapers from within the grounds of the power plant. The Empire had refused to rebuild the city, they instead left it in ruins and only cleared a small area to build their facility. The outskirts of the city had been rebuilt but the center of the city where downtown was located had not been. After all, who would think to look for a power plant within a destroyed city?
About an hour later, Ace had found his daughter, Moonbeam, standing in the shadow of the powerplant. He walked over to her and pulled her into a hug and to his surprise, she returned it. "Hey, MoonBeam, how are you holding up?"
Moonbeam wiped her eyes. "I'm hanging in there..."
Ace pulled back and looked down at the young woman before him. She looked exactly like her mother except that she had his white hair. And as he looked into her eyes, he saw that she had been crying. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Moonbeam shook her head. "What's there to talk about? My sisters are already dead and before the day is done, more of my family is going to die. A-And I'll lose everyone once I go back in time..."
"Honey, you know that this is the only way to-" Ace began but was cut off by his daughter.
"No, Dad, you don't get it! Even if I go back in time and do everything right, I'll still lose everything!" Moonbeam shouted. She pulled away from Ace and walked a couple of feet away. "I won't even be born when I arrive in the past, my mom won't be my mom and you won't be my dad!" She had been waving her hands around as she spoke and then she pointed a finger at him. "And most importantly, you're going to die while I get to live."
"Is that what's bothering you the most, baby girl?" Ace asked.
Moonbeam deflated before his eyes. "I don't want to lose you, dad."
"I don't want to lose you either, Moonbeam. But if we don't do this then all of the sacrifices that we've done would have been for nothing." Ace said gently. He approached her once more and pulled her into another hug. He kissed the top of her head and just held her for a moment. "It's not too late to send someone else..."
Moonbeam shook her head. "None of the others will be able to survive the trip...Aunt Lisa says that it's too dangerous for them."
"Haxor could probably survive the trip." Ace reminded her. Lisa's calculations gave Moonbeam the highest chance to survive the trip. If they had time then the method of travel through time could be made safe. But they didn't have time, which was ironic.
"Aunt Lisa said that it should be me." Moonbeam said with a sigh. "I know that it has to be me...I just...don't want to lose everything."
Ace was about to respond when they heard the sound of an explosion. Both of them turned toward the entrance and they saw that Static and Pyra were flying back towards them. Behind them was a swarm of flying drones that were firing their weapons towards his children.
Ace turned towards Moonbeam. "Go to your Aunt Lisa. Once the device is ready, leave!"
With a nod, Moonbeam flew towards Lisa's location and Ace hurried towards the entrance. But as he did, he heard shouts coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw that the enemy was attacking from all directions. The power plant was completely surrounded and there would be no escape. Not that they planned to escape anyways. Ace continued towards the entrance and he stopped just as Static and Pyra rushed past. Both of his children were out of breath but they didn't seem wounded.
"Dad! The Empire sent out some new robots, there's nothing that we could do to stop them!" Static shouted as she pointed towards the direction she had come from.
"Yea, they absorbed our powers and used them against us!" Pyra added.
Frowning, Ace figured that they finally figured out how to use the nanotech that Lisa had created. The same tech that was keeping him in his prime was now being used against them.
"How many of these new robots were there?" Ace asked. The fighting had already started and all around the power plant shots were being fired in and out of the facility. The resistance fighters that remained were making their last stand, both with and without powers.
"We only saw five but there could be more." Static said.
Just then a metallic sound came from the nearest building and from inside a large robot burst forth. It was easily ten feet tall and its body was a smooth metallic grey and its body resembled that of a human man. The face was designed to be smooth with only red menacing eyes and no nose or mouth. And as it locked eyes with Ace, Ace saw its eyes narrow into a glare. They seemed to have a bone to pick with him.
"Light them up!" Ace shouted as he aimed his rifle at them, shooting freely at the incoming robots.
The drones in the air weren't very large, just floating orbs with a central eye that doubled as its weapon as it shot lasers from it. The infantry that was marching towards them were the standard clunky robots that they always used. Among them were the more advanced super robots that had a more humanoid shape and could move more freely and stood at seven feet tall. These were sprinkled in with the standard skeletal looking robots. And among them were the large assault robots that looked like tanks and acted like them too.
Ace was focused on the new robot and as he fired upon it, he could see its armor ripple as he shot the nanites. It looked solid but it wasn't completely. And as it neared, Ace threw down his rifle and raised his left arm. A large round shield appeared and he braced himself for the robot's attack. But before it could strike him, his son, Haxor, intercepted it and he knocked it aside.
"Your fight is with me, tin can!" Haxor roared. The younger man had activated his powers and he no longer looked human. His son's powers were that of transformation and he could turn into a dragon man creature that was ten feet tall, had a powerful frame, had a pair of wings, a tail, and claws. His skin was now covered in dragon scales and he glared at his new opponent.
The robot rose up to its feet and it focused on Haxor and nodded. "Your challenge is accepted, mutant. Prepare to face Sentinel."
Ace was surprised to hear it speak but he didn't have much time to think about it since the rest of the robots were already at the walls. Ace fought alongside the resistance fighters while Haxor fought against the Sentinel. Haxor fought fiercely but Ace noticed that something was wrong. The Sentinel no longer looked like it did when it first started. He wasn't sure when it changed but it now looked like a robotic version of his son's dragon form. And as they continued to fight, his son was losing. He was being pushed back and had numerous wounds across his body.
Ace shouted the order to fall back but Haxor couldn't leave. He was being beaten into the ground and it was clear to all of them that Haxor would die. But before they could help, a second Sentinel landed beside Haxor and Ace watched as it reached down, grabbed his son's arm and then copied his appearance. That's what Static and Pyra had meant when they said the new robots could use their powers against them. Then before Ace could do anything, he watched as the second Sentinel lifted his son by the throat and then snapped his neck. Even before his son turned back to his human form, Ace knew that he had died.
Static had watched the scene unfold as well and when her brother was killed, she let out an anguished scream. She launched herself towards the Sentinels that had killed her brother and she blasted them with everything that she had. A massive bolt of lightning erupted from her hands and it struck the two robots. The Sentinels fell to their knees but they weren't destroyed. They began to crawl towards Static, their form changing back to their original design and then their eyes began to glow blue. They rose to their feet and raised their hands towards Static. It quickly became clear that they were absorbing her powers but in her anguish, Static couldn't see clearly. She kept unleashing everything that she had until the Sentinels were close enough that they were able to charge at her and stab her through the chest as their hands transformed into spikes.
Ace used his shield to block incoming fire as he shot back. Their forces were quickly getting overrun and he knew that Sentinels were attacking them from all sides. But there was nothing that he could do except continue to hold them off. Lisa hadn't let him know that she was ready so they needed to keep buying her time. Ace was forced to watch as Justice Boy was launched across the courtyard as another Sentinel was battling him. His son rose to his feet and was about to fight back when the first Sentinel landed beside him and used Haxor's dragon form to tear his throat out.
An angry roar erupted from the other side of the courtyard and a large T-Rex came barrelling towards the Sentinel that killed Justice Boy. Riding on top of Beast Girl was Queenie and she looked as furious as Beast Girl sounded. The two of them attacked the Sentinels and Ace joined them to fight the third one. He used his shield to block the stab from the Sentinel's arm spike. The shield had been designed by Lisa to absorb the kinetic energy from the impact and used it to strengthen the shield and make it virtually indestructible. In theory, the harder it was hit, the harder the shield became.
And with that hardness, Ace used it to smash through its arm. The Sentinel looked down in surprise to see that it had been damaged. While it did, Ace threw his shield towards its head and watched with satisfaction as it was sliced off. But to his horror, the Sentinel simply regrew its lost body parts and glared at him. Now without his shield, Ace was forced to dodge and move around it so that he could recover it. As he did, he watched from the corner of his eye as his two daughters were taken down and killed by the Sentinels.
All around him, Ace watched as other fighters were overwhelmed by the large number of soldiers that had swarmed the facility. Many chose to make a last stand but it didn't matter, the enemy kept on coming and with each passing moment, they were losing ground. Ace knew that it wouldn't be long now before they were completely overrun.
As Ace prepared to make his own last stand, he was surprised when a portal opened behind him and Moonbeam stepped out. She pushed her father through the portal and they barely made it out of there before the three Sentinels caught them.
"Moonbeam, what are you doing?" Ace asked once he was able to stand again.
"I had to save you, Dad!" Moonbeam cried as she clung to him. She was sobbing on his and he instinctually wrapped his arms around her. "I lost most of my siblings already but I can't lose you!"
Ace could hear the sounds of battle still ongoing outside of the building. But to his dismay, they were growing closer. "Moonbeam, you know that I have to be out there fighting. I have to buy you time so that you can save the world."
"But I don't want to save the world! I just want to be with you!" Moonbeam was still clinging to him and he could tell that she wasn't going to be able to leave him.
But before he could say another word, the sound of the door being broken came from down the hall and he watched as the Sentinels made their way inside. The remaining fighters tried their best but none of them were able to do much.
Ace moved his daughter off of him and he ran towards the room that Lisa was still in. He would make sure that Moonbeam went to the past even if he had to throw her through time himself. As they ran, he watched as the brave fighters rushed forth to intercept the Sentinels. These creations of the Emperor were made for one purpose and that was to destroy anyone with powers. And for those who didn't have powers it didn't matter since the Sentinels were too powerful for them to stop anyways.
As Ace burst into the main room where Lisa was still powering up her machine, he was amazed to see that Priestess was still alive. She had been wounded but she had already healed herself. She looked up just as her father came in and she immediately ran up to him, wrapping her arms around him.
"Oh my god, dad! You're still alive!" She cried.
Ace ignored his daughter though he did return the hug. He looked towards Lisa and asked. "How much longer do you need? The Emperor has some new toys that were made to kill anyone with powers."
Lisa cursed. "So he finally made the Sentinels..." she turned away from her console and looked at him. "The Sentinel is a machine made from pure nanotech with the ability to absorb and mimic any power that they come in contact with. Whether it's used on them or if they come into physical contact with the user, it doesn't matter. They only have one main weakness and that's to destroy their power core in their chest."
"That would have been useful to know 10 minutes ago!" Ace shouted angrily.
"I didn't know that he would use them!" Lisa shouted back, her anger matching his. She was furious with herself for not realizing that he would use the Sentinels against them. "That bastard is using my own tech against me!"
"Dad!" Priestess shouted.
Ace turned back towards the entrance and he wasn't surprised to see that a Sentinel was already at the door. The robot raised its right arm towards them and shot a torrent of fire at them. Priestess took a step forward and extended her hands out in front of her. A barrier made of purple translucent light appeared in front of them and protected them from the fire. Priestess grunted as she held the attack back and Ace wondered if she'd be able to keep this up for long.
From above, another Sentinel came crashing down towards them and Moonbeam used her powers to make the shadows rush up and tear it to pieces. In that brief moment, Ace saw the power core that Lisa was talking about and he threw his shield towards it. To his amazement, the power core was destroyed on impact and the nanites fell like skittles from a pinata.
This made the Sentinel that was shooting fire at Priestess increase its output. It raised its other hand and was now shooting two torrents of flame. The added power to the fire forced Priestess down to one knee. She glanced over to her remaining siblings and gave them a weak smile. Ace knew before she did it what she was going to do. She aimed one of her hands towards them and made another barrier of light that pushed them back towards Lisa. The barrier behind her flickered and then vanished and Priestess was engulfed by the incoming fire. She let out a brief scream of pain before she was silenced forever.
As Ace rose to his feet, he watched as the burning remains of his daughter fell to the floor. Anger filled his heart and he created a sword using the nanite in his right gauntlet. With a battle cry, he charged towards the Sentinel. The Sentinel aimed its hand towards Ace and shot another torrent of flames towards him. But to its surprise, the fire went through a portal that opened up in front of it and the fire suddenly struck it from the side. The Sentinel ended its attack and looked towards Moonbeam who had made the portal. The Sentinel changed its form into Haxor's dragon form and it let out a metallic roar before it charged towards her.
But Ace was still charging towards it and he slid down beside it and sliced off its left leg, causing it to fall face down. The Sentinel turned to face him and using it's nanites, it regrew its leg. Ace picked up his shield from the ground and turned to face the Sentinel. Then a wall was breached beside them and another Sentinel came through. Another wall was broken and another Sentinel came in. Ace was surrounded by three Sentinels and he knew that this was it.
He glanced over at his daughter and he gave her a brief nod. He hoped she knew that he loved her. With a mighty roar, Ace charged at the Sentinel in front of him and prepared to finally join the rest of his family in death. But before he could take more than three steps, a fourth and final Sentinel burst from the ground below and rammed its spike arm through Ace's chest. He coughed up blood as he looked into the red eyes of the Sentinel in front of him. He knew that this was it, he would die. But before he did, Ace was going to take down one of this fuckers with him. With a roar, he brought his shield down on the Sentinel's arm and severed it. As he landed on his feet, he forced himself to take a step forward and he aimed his blade towards the spot where he knew the power core was. And before the Sentinel could stop him, Ace stabbed his sword forward and pierced the core. The Sentinel let out a metallic cry before it fell to pieces. And with that, Ace fell down to his knees as he was left with a large hole in his chest.
As he looked on, Ace watched as Lisa pulled off a device from the console in front of her. She turned towards Moonbeam and she waved her over. But Moonbeam shook her head. Her eyes began to glow white and the shadows around them grew darker. They lashed out and wrapped the Sentinels up, restraining them for a moment. Then Ace felt himself fall through a portal and land in front of Lisa. She took one look at him and quickly fell down to her knees in front of him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe. She stuck it inside of her and to his surprise, she began to suck out her own blood.
"You're not dying today, Ace." Lisa told him as she injected him with her blood.
She repeated the process a couple of more times and Ace felt himself regaining his focus. He was no longer dying and as he looked down at his chest, he saw that it looked as though his body was regenerating. But he knew better, he knew what was going on.
"Lisa, what are you doing?" Ace asked once he was able to speak again. "You're going to die if you do this!"
"I'm already dying, Ace." Lisa said as she coughed up some blood. "I knew that this would be it...but something that I never told you was that it had to be you..."
"What do you mean?" Ace asked, confused.
"It was you, Ace. You're the one who needs to go back in time." Lisa confessed. She injected another syringe full of her blood. He could feel himself become fully healed by her blood and he knew that the nanites made from her blood were the ones repairing his body. "It was never going to be Moonbeam, she would never be able to integrate the technology into her body. And I could never go back in time because I wouldn't be able to train them to become the heroes that we need. And that's what they need, Ace, they need heroes, not soldiers. So go back and create the heroes that the world needs to defend itself from Brainiac."
Ace was about to respond when Lisa leaned in and captured his lips in a final loving kiss. Then he felt her press something against chest and his whole body began to vibrate.
"I love you..." She whispered before she fell down onto the floor, her eyes closed for the last time.
The last thing that Ace saw before he was consumed by a white light was the sight of his last daughter being skewered by three Sentinels. Her eyes were locked onto his and she had given him a weak smile and that image would haunt him for the rest of his life.
End of chapter.
