I do not own The Loud House. All rights belong to Nickelodeon.
Chapter 9
In the far future in a faraway galaxy…
Mankind's technological advancement has brought them to reach new planets to colonize. New land, new opportunities, and new beginnings. However, it's a new age of the Wild West. Provinces or even entire planets are lawless countries full of criminals, bandits, and outlaws. Rival gangs with warlords fight violently over land, resources, and control.
Due to understaffing of law enforcement and the army, the value of bounties on outlaws is worth a fortune. Few bounty hunters live a long career. One bounty hunter sparks absolute fear into the hearts of all outlaws, and only a small handful have lived to see him.
He is called "The White Death" or "The Space Ghost." Some say he is called that because he is so fast, you see a white flash before he kills you. Others say they call him that due to his natural snow-white hair, even though he is young.
Halo City was a mix of Seattle and Philadelphia with new features, including buildings with 3D advertisements. However, it had more crime than anyone could shake a stick. The city glowed brightly with all its lights against the night. The streets were crowded for Halloween month, even in the cold air. On the west side, near the more abandoned part of town, hired guns patrolled the streets and rooftops to safeguard the mob boss inside.
"Holy crap, it's cold out here!" one guard shivered.
"Quit bitching and keep your eyes open," another guard said.
"What's the matter? You scared?"
"Of course, I'm fucking scared. The White Death is out there somewhere."
The guard laughed it off as he walked toward the railing, "Come on, you don't really believe all that, do you?"
No answer.
"Hey! I asked you a question—"
When he turned around, the other guard was gone.
"Hey, where did you—"
Before he could finish that sentence, a man snuck up behind, snapped his neck like a twig, and threw him so hard and so fast he flew down twenty blocks down the street and crashed into an old billboard. His body splattered as it got crushed and slowly slid down, leaving an absolute bloody mess. The man with superhuman strength was a tall and very strong man built like Shazam. He wore black military pants and boots, a grey T-shirt, and a dark grey trench coat with a black hoodie that covered his snow-white hair. He had a cloth mask to hide his face and beard, along with some electric goggles with night vision, infrared, x-ray, etc. His forearms had metal gauntlets that had all sorts of weapons and gadgets. One of them was projecting a hologram map showing all the guards and their locations.
The White Death quietly flew with lightning speed killing other guards on the roof. Then he placed bombs on the vehicles in the streets before making his way to the front door, where there were five big rent-a-thugs with guns. He marched to them, and they saw him coming.
"Hey, asshole! This place is private property. Now get lost!" one of them ordered.
The White Death kept marching.
"You deaf?! Get lost before I fuck up your—"
The White Death grabbed his arm with one hand and threw him overhead, slamming him hard into the pavement and then into the wall, breaking nearly every bone in his body, with his head and whole torso bloody. The others freaked out and reached for their guns. The White Death raised his hands, making them glow bright blue before shooting lightning beams out his palms. They zapped at two thugs making flew away with big burnt holes in their torsos. You could see pieces of the bones of their ribs sticking out of their flesh. The last two pulled out their guns, but the White Death raised his right hand, making it glow white and grey. Then like a magnet, their guns were forced out of their hands and hovered over his hand. The White Death grabbed one of their guns and shot them both in the head.
He snuck inside but heard explosions from the cars in the back. They were trying to get away, but he knew that they would, which was precisely why he rigged them to blow. As he saw it coming, the mob boss somehow survived. Half his body was burned, and he only had one arm and one leg as he crawled away, bleeding. The White Death walked past him and picked up the shiny metal briefcase. He typed in the passcode to unlock it, shocking the mob boss.
"Who sold me out?" he asked.
The White Death turned to him, "What?"
"You know the passcode. Who told you what it was, White Death?! Those are my power crystals!"
The White Death approached him and zapped an energy beam that blew his head into oblivion.
The White Death took his mask and hoodie, "No one. I see things before they happen. That's my curse."
"Lincoln!" Eddy called out, hovering above on his hoverboard.
Lincoln groaned, "Eddy, for the last time, it's Leon. Leon. Not Lincoln."
"Right, sorry! I was almost going to call you White Death, but whatever. Did you get the power crystals? I told you he'd have them!" Eddy spoke.
Lincoln opened the case and grabbed some crystals that glowed brightly of different colors.
"Yeah, I got them. You were right," Lincoln said.
"So, does that mean that you—?"
"Yes . . . and here's your pay."
Lincoln tossed him a small bag full of gold clips.
"Yes! Thanks, man. Now, I gotta split. So long!" Eddy said before taking off.
Once he was gone, Lincoln spoke to himself, "At least he didn't say good luck."
Lincoln looked at the power crystals.
"Now . . . let's see if my hunch is true."
He took the crystals and absorbed their power. He groaned and grunted as the energy flowed through his body, making him flex his muscles. The veins in his body and his eyes glowed with different colored lights. Once the energy powered down, Lincoln looked to the stars and stared at the one that was Earth.
"I've traveled far into the future, collecting power and strength. Now that I can finally travel backward in time let's see if I can change the past. Let's see if I can fix my life," Lincoln said aloud.
Hank and Hawk were about ready to turn Clyde and some little kids into human pretzels. They held up one kid by his underwear, giving him a wedgie, and Clyde up by his shirt against the locker. They were doing their big dumb laughs.
"Bro, you see this twerp's face?" Hank laughed.
"He looks so dumb when you hold him off the ground," Hawk replied.
Lincoln growled a grunt.
Zach held him back, "Whoa, Lincoln! You can't just charge in there against those two."
"Yeah, we saw you take on Chandler and his thugs, but none of them are as big or as strong as those meatheads," Liam added.
"But it's Clyde! We gotta do something!" Stella protested.
"But what can we do?" Rusty asked.
Lincoln thought for a moment as he looked around.
"I got a plan. Here's what we need to do," Lincoln instructed.
After explaining his plan, everyone got into position. Lincoln marched over and got within view of the two meathead bullies.
"Oh, look who it is, bro. The town hero," Hank pointed.
"I heard he's the one who gave Chandler a beating," Hawk said.
"Is that right? You like beating kids, twerp?"
Lincoln said nothing as he smirked. Then he turned around, bent down so his head was upside down and between his legs. Lincoln blew a raspberry while spanking his butt, mocking them. Both bullies were shocked and taken by surprise.
"What the?!" Hank spoke.
Hawk growled, "Oh, that is it! Let's teach this freak a lesson!"
"You got it, bro."
They both cracked their knuckles. Lincoln ran down the hall as they chased after him into the gym. Lincoln slipped past the door to the gym's storage room, where Stella was waiting. She nodded with a grin, and Lincoln returned the same. When Hank and Hawk opened the door, their eyes widened as Stella deployed a giant inflatable clown that sent them flying across the gym. Zach and Rusty had just finished putting all the flypaper on the wall where the two bullies landed, stuck to the sticky paper-like flies.
Then they slowly peeled off and landed in a garbage dumpster. The garbage from the cafeteria was fresh and wet, making it extra stinky.
"This reeks! I think I'm gonna puke!" Hank said.
"Oh, man! If you're gonna puke, I'm gonna puke!" Hawk replied.
Lincoln and Stella quickly ran over, climbing up the bleachers, each carrying a bucket of glue. They both had devilish grins as they smiled upon their prey.
"Oh no!" Hank cried out.
"Don't! No!" Hawk screamed.
As soon as Lincoln and Stella got into position, they flung the glue all over the bullies. Liam then pulled the rope, releasing manure down on them. The bullies were now covered with trash and undesirables. They then closed the dumpster lid and wheeled outside just as the garbage truck pulled in. The garbage truck hooked in the dumpster raised it and dumped everything onboard. The two bullies screamed as they fell in, and the truck drove off. Lincoln, Stella, and their friends cheered in victory. Clyde came and Lincoln him.
"You okay, Clyde?" Lincoln asked.
"I'm better than okay. Lincoln, you saved me again! You really are a hero!" Clyde praised.
Lincoln confidently stood straight, his chest puffed up, "I can't take all the credit. I had loads of help from our friends. So today, I'm not the hero. They are."
"That's a load of baloney!" Zach stated.
"Yeah, this was all your idea. We never would have come up with something this clever," Liam added.
'Oh, I borrowed a few ideas from Luan's pranks,' Lincoln thought to himself.
"Yeah, that was amazing. Besides, all of us were scared to go up against those two brutes. But you, you didn't even think twice before doing something about those bullies. You're really brave, Lincoln. It's no wonder that you saved your sister's life," Stella complimented.
Lincoln blushed as she held his hand. They forget that the others are around.
"Is it true that you two are dating?" Rusty asked, crossing his arms.
"Uh . . . um," Lincoln spoke nervously but didn't know what to say.
He remembered the pact they had made with each other. The boys, except Clyde, all gave Lincoln disappointing looks at Lincoln with their arms crossed.
Stella intervened, "Yes. Yes, we are. I asked him out because I have feelings for him, just Liam has feelings for Tabby."
Liam coughed as he looked away while blushing.
"Just like Zach has feelings for Giggles."
Zach smiled sheepishly with his hand rubbing the back of his head and blushing.
"And just like you, Rusty, have feelings for Polly Pain."
"What?! I-I uh-I don't know what you mean," Rusty said while blushing.
Stella gave a hard stare at the boys seeing right through them.
"Come on, guys. I have eyes, and I follow you on social media. Liam, you've been going to rock parties and concerts with Tabby. All those selfies you and her take together, you two always look like you're having a blast," Stella pointed out.
"It's true. I do have fun with her, and hanging out with her is the highlight of my day," Liam agreed as he rubbed the back of his head.
"And Zach, you and Giggles do make-up tutorials of how to put on clown make-up together while cracking jokes. You make her laugh as much as she makes you laugh," Stella stated.
"Yeah, you're right. We were dying of laughter in that video where I was wearing that rainbow wig. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, and I really like hearing her laugh," Zach smiled.
Stella then turned Rusty last.
"And you, Rusty, you're always happy to see Polly Pain, and you look forward to her teaching you how to roller skate. On top of that, you show up to all her roller derby games. Not just some of them, all of them! You're always there to cheer her on."
With a sigh, Rusty looked down in defeat, "Oh, who are we kidding? Guys, Stella's right. We're not exactly in a position to object to these two dating each other, especially when we got crushes on other girls."
"Yeah, you're right. Even if we didn't, who are we to object to these two dating each other? We made that pact so that things wouldn't get awkward between us friends, but we didn't even ask what Stella wanted. We've been idiots," Liam said in shame.
"Guys, it's okay. Lincoln and Stella may be dating, but that doesn't mean we're not friends anymore. We'll always be friends," Clyde stated.
"Yeah, whether we're dating or not doesn't change your friendship with her," Lincoln pointed out.
The others smiled at that, feeling better.
"Besides, Stella pointed out whom you guys have crushes on. So, maybe it's time to work up the nerve to ask them out?" Clyde asked.
Their smiles vanished with nervous moans and doubtful stutters. Lincoln stepped forward.
Lincoln explained, "Guys, let me tell you something. When Stella confessed her feelings for me, she said she didn't say anything before because she was afraid that things would get awkward and ruin our friendship. However, she was more afraid of not saying anything at all because living with regret can really dawn on you. So, I know you're nervous about confessing your feelings, but trust me. Telling your crush how you feel is way better than not telling at all because you may never get another chance. You just gotta . . . you just gotta—"
"Be brave. Be brave, like I was telling Lincoln. Be brave, like how he saved us from Chandler and how we went up against those two brutes," Stella said.
The three boys let those words sink in. Then they looked at each other and nodded.
"You're right. We gotta tell them," Liam said confidently.
"Yeah!" Zach and Rusty agreed in unison.
"Of course, tell them under the right settings—the right time and place. You just waltz right up to their faces; they're gonna be weirded out. So, ease into it. You know, like tell them how they make you happy, how you enjoy being around them, and you want to make them happy," Lincoln suggested.
"How you enjoy spending time with them and how amazing they are to you. Say good things and how you feel. You don't have to exaggerate about it. Just say what you feel. Then work up to the point where you confess your feelings to them," Stella added.
The three nodded in understanding.
"That makes sense. If you want to ride a new horse, you don't just jump on right away, you'll spook it. You gotta give it a gentle approach. That's how we gotta do it with our crushes. Gentle approach, fellas," Liam said.
Rusty and Zach nodded.
With that, they headed back to class. Lincoln looked at Stella with a smile, and she returned the same before delivering a kiss.
"That went well. You were great," Lincoln said.
"Eh, I have my moments," Stella shrugged.
"Wait, what about those two meatheads? Will they be all right?" Clyde asked.
"They'll be fine," Lincoln answered, then whispered, "They get out of the truck but are so humiliated that they don't show their faces for like two weeks."
"Well, that's good to hear."