Brain: Alright Siege. You've already decided you're going to take a break from Stupor, but you still want to write something. This is your chance to write whatever you want, what've you got?
Me: Loud House.
Brain: How original.
Me: And superheroes.
Brain: Daring today, aren't we?
Me: Shut up.
I had an idea that I thought was cool, and it was supposed to be a quick little self-indulgent thing. But the word count got away from me and now it looks like this. Least I had fun writing it. I'm being up front about the fact that there is no big overarching plot planned for this thing. If I wrote more of this, it would be short-ish, fairly self-contained chapters.
This will probably be the last thing I put out before my finals are over. Afterward, I'm planning on trying to do a little more Golden Age, but we'll see how my inspiration holds up. I also have another potential chapter or two of this thing planned out, so we'll see how it goes.
Oh, and this is an AU. Obviously, but the point of divergence here happened pretty early on, and some of those changes won't be readily apparent until they become relevant. Just FYI.
Growing up, Luna Loud had frequently heard the older members of her family discuss the "Family Business." It had been a phrase originally uttered only by her parents, often proceeded by a halting, pregnant pause. "The...Family Business." But in all fairness, there were a lot of topics that the Loud matriarch and patriarch were reluctant to discuss around their children, and it soon quickly became just another odd, but not especially noteworthy quirk of living in the Loud House. What had been noteworthy was the day her eldest sister, Lori, had begun employing the same phrase, pause included. And roughly a year later, the second eldest, Leni, adopted those same mannerisms. Albeit, with the added quirk of needing to read the phrase off her arm at first.
Luna had never put much thought into it, even after her older sisters were inducted into the strange social ritual her parents had perpetuated. Her dad owned a restaurant, after all, and someone was going to need to take over running it eventually, so Luna had simply concluded that was the topic of discussion. It made a certain amount of sense. Thanks to the sweat of his brow, and his impeccable culinary skills, her dad had made Lynn's Table into a fairly profitable venture, and should any of her siblings choose to undertake the sizable task of learning the restaurant trade, they would undoubtedly live quite comfortably. And should any of them decide to commit to that undertaking, Luna wished them all the best. But she had no intention of partaking herself.
Luna's dreams had been set in stone from an early age: become the biggest and most successful rock star of all time, and since then she had invested a great deal of time and energy into developing the skills that would allow her to achieve that dream once she was old enough to pursue it. However, she wasn't delusional. Making it in the music business would take time, effort, emotional support, and most of all, money, and the restaurant would undoubtedly be an opportune source for the latter resources. Her older sisters were already making time to help their dad by putting in hours at the restaurant, and Luna would undoubtedly be following suit herself once her parents deemed she was old enough. And frankly, she would welcome the opportunity. The restaurant was a warm, inviting, familiar place, a very literal home away from home. Working there, she'd be able to earn a bit of money under a boss she already loved and respected, and she'd be surrounded by her family while she was at it, making it the perfect opportunity to ween herself off of the trappings of adolescence as she transitioned into adulthood. So while she had no intention of attempting to claim the business for herself, she could absolutely appreciate the value the Family Business held for her in the short term. She just couldn't see herself committing to it much past that.
Those were the beliefs Luna held until the day she turned sixteen. And, to her surprise, it became her turn to join the Family Business. The surprise was multifaceted, but if she had to quantify her feelings with any sort of specificity, it'd likely come down to two major factors. The first was that she hadn't anticipated that it would be at sixteen that she'd be called upon to do her share. Mathematically speaking, at that point, she was closer to being an adult than a teenager, but maturity-wise, the distance still felt vast to her. The second, and far more prominent factor, was the nature of the Family Business once it was revealed to her, and the responsibilities that she was expected to fulfill as part of her new obligations.
Responsibilities such as the one which she was currently tending to. Which required her to be out on a school night, right in the middle of downtown Royal Woods. With her parent's blessing, unbelievably enough.
…And, also there was the part where she was currently floating about 800 feet in the air under her own power. That had definitely thrown her for a bit of a loop.
Luna rubbed her bare arms as the wind began to pick up, but it was mostly out of habit. The chill night air didn't bother her one bit, in spite of the fact that her outfit was much less...practical, than she would have preferred. For tonight's excursion, Luna was dressed in a short-sleeved blouse, both in her signature shade of purple and trimmed with gold. A gold belt, boots, and a long, flowing white cape completed the ensemble, and upon her chest was emblazoned a large, stylized, gold L. It was a bit much for her sensibilities, even compared to some of the outfits she'd performed in, but she had been given many assurances that she wore it well.
"I take it you're still not thrilled about the outfit."
The sound of another human voice this high up in the air sent Luna's survival instincts aflame. She whirled around, one fist raised in preparation for an impending attack—only to find herself face to face with the blonde, bemused visage of her older sister.
"I…" Luna began, only to trail off as she noticed her still upraised fist. With a sheepish, self-deprecating chuckle, she lowered it. "Sorry, I didn't hear you coming."
"You wouldn't have," said Lori, smirking. "After all, I've been at this for a lot longer than you. And, it looks like you were preoccupied with something else."
She held out one finger, and following it with her eyes led Luna to the sight of her own hand, tightly griping the hemline of her skirt.
"Guess I'm still getting used to it," She said, forcing herself to let go, and deliberately folding her hands in front of her. "I told you guys it's not my style. But also, I'm pretty sure this…"
She gestured at the entire ensemble.
"Isn't anyone's style." She paused thoughtfully. "Except for Lincoln, maybe."
"Linky does love his capes," Said Lori, smiling fondly at the mention of their little brother. "But I get where you're coming from."
Lori's own outfit was a mirror of Luna's, save for the primary color being powder blue.
"I wasn't a fan either," She continued, taking a bit of her cape and rubbing it between her fingers. "But mom wouldn't hear it. Apparently, this was ceremonial garb on her home planet or something. Plus, this was what she wore when she was out in the field, so we're kinda stuck with it. Gotta maintain the brand identity, you know?"
"I still think it'd look way cooler if I could trade the cape for a leather jacket."
Lori shrugged. "If you can get it by Mom, feel free. But that aside…"
She crossed her arms and leaned forward, tilting her body at a 45-degree angle.
"How are you feeling, little sis?" She asked, softly.
"Like I might throw up," Luna answered, honestly, glancing down at the building below them. Royal Woods National City Bank, read the sign out front. "I don't think I'm ready for this yet."
"You're going to be fine," Lori replied, drifting closer and placing one hand on Luna's shoulder reassuringly. "You've shown some major improvement in your training. And, not that you'll need it, but I'll be right out here, just in case things go sideways.
"You're lucky," She continued, laughing softly. "My first time out, Mom made it very clear that I was on my own."
"Were you?"
"One hundred percent," She said, rolling her eyes. "I thought she might have just been saying that, like as a bit of tough love, but even after it was over I couldn't find her anywhere. Turned out she wasn't even on-planet. I eventually found her out over by Venus."
"What?" Luna's eyebrows shot up. "Why?"
"There's a cute little space bar out there. Good food, live music, and they don't even card. Apparently, Venusians don't have a minimum drinking age."
"Really?" One eyebrow lowered, while the other one rose a little higher.
"Don't get any ideas," Lori admonished her, waggling one finger. "I'd be happy to take you some time. We'll grab Leni and make it a girl's night, but nobody gets anything harder than space sodas."
"Aw!"
"Trust me, it's better for all of us that way."
Reaching for a pouch that was attached to her belt, Lori pulled out a phone that was decidedly not the one she used for day-to-day stuff, and glanced at it.
"Should be time," She said. "Assuming the intel we got from Mom's police contacts is good. Why don't you check it out? Just like I showed you."
"Right…" Luna licked her suddenly dry lips and focused on the building below them. Casting her senses out, as she'd been taught, she watched as the world around her turned a little more gray. The exterior of the bank faded away, allowing her to see little glowing figures milling around inside.
"I see five...no wait, six robbers." She said. "Can't see their faces though. They've got masks, but when I try to look past them I'm just getting skulls."
"That means the mask is too tight." Said Lori. Glancing at her sister, Luna could see the elder girl's irises illuminated with a soft, pale glow, which indicated that she was also using her X-ray vision. "With practice, you might be able to get around that in some cases, but most of the time you won't be able to see the skin layer if the person's clothing is too tight. Especially stuff like, boxers, briefs, that's a no-go."
"You've been checking someone out on the sly?" Luna asked. It was supposed to be a joke, her nerves were shot and a little laughter would have gone a long way in helping her loosen up. To her surprise, however, Lori's expression turned dour.
"Just...focus on the mission," She said. "Now come on, the clock's ticking. What else do you see?"
"R-right…" Luna muttered, turning her attention back to the bank. "Um, I see guns but...I'm only seeing small stuff. Handguns, I think. Doesn't look like they're carrying anything bigger…"
"It was probably an inside job," Opined Lori. "They got an employee to help them figure out a time when security would be thin enough that they could get their guys in position without getting into a shoot-out. It's a cute idea, but the only reason they've gotten this far is because I notified the police that we'd be here. Otherwise, someone would have hit the silent alarm by now and the place would be surrounded."
"Wow," Said Luna, her eyes widening in amazement. "That's some real Ace Savvy type deducing, sis."
"Comes with experience," Replied the blonde, waving dismissively. "Now come on, we're almost done. What about hostages?"
"They're in the back," Luna said, squinting. "Least, I'm guessing that's why those people are tied up. I'm counting…eight?"
"Not unusual, this late," Lori nodded in affirmation. "Probably a mixture of security guards, employees, and whatever stragglers might have been trying to do some late-night banking. And you're lucky that they're off in the corner like that. Means that as long as you don't do something stupid, like draw fire their way, you should be able to get this done nice and cleanly.
Luna winced at the mention of gunfire, which was not something she was all that comfortable with yet.
"Are you sure I can't wear a mask or something?" She asked. "Bad enough that people might be shooting at me when I'm dressed like this. But not covering my face at least...preferably with like, a helmet or something, feels like it's just asking for trouble."
"You do this right, and those bullets won't get anywhere near you," Said Lori, giving the brunette another reassuring pat on the shoulder. "And you don't need a mask. Trust me…"
She gestured at her chest. "Your face is going to be the last thing anyone's looking at."
Heat blossomed across Luna's face. She'd never really had issues with her appearance. It had been somewhat intimidating to be as lanky as she'd been with sisters like Lori and Leni, who'd always been supermodels by comparison. But Luna had learned to come to terms with that discrepancy pretty early on, and had come to take pride in her less conventional attractiveness. Something that was made much easier by having a girlfriend who made it very clear that she'd found Luna plenty attractive.
At least, that was how she'd felt up until her birthday a few weeks back. Which, among other things, had come with what seemed to be a second dose of puberty. If she'd had any lingering issues regarding her body image, they'd definitely be a thing of the past now. Course, those issues would have been replaced with the all-new issues she was currently dealing with. Namely that people...stared at her now, something that was still baffling to her, and was also something she wasn't sure she liked.
"For the record, I'm talking about your costume," Lori deadpanned, tapping on her blouse, which had the added effect of causing her chest to bounce in a manner that didn't exactly disprove Luna's earlier assumption. "Beyond mom's fashion hangups, there's a reason we use all these bright colors. It sounds dumb, but it actually works."
"Alright," Luna muttered. "Any last-minute tips you've got for me?"
"...Yeah, actually." Lori nodded. "This is something those movies Lincoln likes to watch always get wrong but don't go busting through the wall like you're the Flavor-Aid man. It looks cool, but the debris gets everywhere and might hurt someone you don't want to get hurt. And it's really pricey to replace a wall."
She gestured toward the front of the building. "Go through the front door. By which I mean, crash through. A door is way easier to replace, and you should still catch them by surprise."
"Noted." Luna took a deep breath. "Alright. I think I'm ready."
"Go get 'em, sis," Said Lori, giving Luna an encouraging thumbs up. "You've got this."
Nodding, and trying to ignore the way her heart was hammering in her chest, Luna allowed herself a few more breaths. Then, unwilling to put it off any longer, lest the anxiety overwhelmed her, she lunged forward.
Flying was trickier than Luna would have imagined, but fortunately, this situation didn't call for much artfulness. She flew a little way down the street to give herself plenty of room to maneuver, then looped around, lining herself up with the door. One last moment of hesitation, and then...she charged!
The world around her blurred as Luna sped up, everything around her seemingly slowing down in response to her acceleration. She felt a brief flash of fear seeing the big, ominous glass doors of the bank flying right at her, but she fought down the urge to alter her course. An instant later, she was upon it, the glass shattering around her...and bouncing off her skin with little more effect than a light drizzle would. That was...one worry down, now for all the others…
Clearing the entryway, Luna pulled up and came to a halt, hovering just below the high ceiling of the bank. Taking a few heartbeats to make sure the number of occupants currently in view matched up with the numbers she'd discussed with Lori, and finding it satisfactory, she said a quiet prayer, pleading with whoever was listening that she wouldn't screw this up, and inhaled deeply.
"ALRIGHT, ROBBER DUDES!" She bellowed, pointing at the closest masked felon with what she hoped looked like authority. "HANDS UP, GUNS DOWN! YOU GUYS ARE BUSTED!"
"It's one of those Legionary girls!"
"When did they get a purple one?!"
Luna sighed internally. Apparently, Lori was right. Before she could get too bogged down in ruminating on that particular aspect of her already weird reality, however, her ears picked up a flurry of movement. She glanced around, hoping to find that was what surrender sounded like, but the guns being leveled at her suggested otherwise.
"Bollocks," She muttered to herself, mere moments before the first trigger was pulled.
BLAM!
Luna inhaled as time slowed and she surveyed her surroundings, remembering that her sisters had stressed the importance of keeping calm above all else. Then, she picked her targets and made her move.
It was...easy. Incredibly so, given how badly outnumbered she was. But with time practically standing still, it was child's play to dart from person to person, pluck each bullet out of the, and disable the corresponding gunman with a light smack to the back of their head. Upon delivering the final blow, she gave one last look around to check her handiwork...and exhaled.
A series of thumps as time resumed its flow and bodies began hitting the floor. In her hyper-accelerated state, it had felt like the ordeal had taken about a minute, but by all indications, in actuality, it had only taken seconds.
"Can't believe it," Luna murmured, marveling at the handful of bullets she was now clutching. "Just how fast am—"
BLAM!
Luna pitched forward as something kicked her in the back, hard. It was the hardest she'd ever been hit by anything in living memory. She whirled around, her heart racing as she looked for the source of the attack. There, off to the side. Another man. Another gun. She'd missed one.
"You..shot me?" She muttered to herself, dumbfounded. She herself having trouble processing the words.
The barrel raised once more. Finger beginning to squeeze the trigger.
"You...shot me!" She snarled, her face growing hot, her eyes narrowing at the one who'd tried to hurt her.
In an instant she was before him, seemingly having appeared out of thin air. The trigger was still in motion. She didn't move to stop it.
BLAM!
She didn't even try to dodge. Again she felt the impact, but that's all there was. Just the kick against her chest, followed by the metallic sound of the spent bullet hitting the ground. It hadn't hurt. He couldn't hurt her.
But he had tried.
"My turn," Luna growled, covering the gun barrel with one hand, and squeezing, finding it hard not to smile, at least a little, at the resulting sound of metal shrieking as she squeezed the device into a useless lump of slag. She tore what remained of the gun out of the man's hands, then grabbed him by the throat with her other hand, lifting him into the air as if he weighed nothing.
"Let's see how you like it," She muttered, cocking back her fist and aiming for his chest.
Only to stop, mid-motion, her body trembling, longing to go through with it.
"You need to keep calm, Luna," Lori's words, a half-remembered training sermon echoed in her mind, one of many. "It's hard, I know. Emotions run high in a fight. You're going to get scared. You're going to get angry, but you can't let those emotions control you. You're better than that. You need to be, because you throw that first punch in anger, and you're going to regret it forever. Trust me."
Biting her lip, Luna lifted her gaze, looking her opponent in the face. Still masked though he was, she could clearly see his eyes. Open, wide with terror, and looking straight at her. He was afraid. And she, was what he was afraid of.
Luna let out a long, shuddering sigh, and lowered the disarmed gunman to the ground. He was taller than her. She hadn't even noticed. Then she brought her fist around, put it right up against his face...and flicked him in the forehead with her finger.
He flew...just a little. Bounced...a bit more than she'd planned, but when he finally came to a stop he was still breathing. So...that was probably alright.
First taking another look around to make sure no other surprises awaited her, and seeing none, she raised her eyes to the ceiling. And spoke.
"Hey, sis," She said, softly, knowing that Lori was listening in. "Think I'm done here."
It was late when Luna trudged into her bedroom, shoulders stooped and head hanging low. She'd still had the presence of mind to try and keep quiet as she did so, but Luan's snoring revealed that to be a fairly pointless endeavor.
Luna dragged herself to her closet and fished out her pajamas. Lori had shown her this cool trick where she changed clothes nearly instantaneously by just spinning around really fast for a bit, but the one time Luna had tried it herself, she'd ended up with her panties on her head and her everything else everywhere else. So for the moment, she chose to just do it the old-fashioned way.
Now appropriately garbed for sleep, she returned to her bed, climbed into the top bunk, and collapsed onto her bedding, allowing her eyes to drift shut, and waited for sleep to take her.
...Several minutes later, sleep had not come. It was partly due to the snoring, because super hearing and a roommate with that particular habit made for a terrible combination. But her brain wasn't doing her any favors either. She remembered the rage. The thrill that had gone through her as she'd crushed that puny gun with her bare hands, and...that look in that man's eyes. That fear. Every time she closed her eyes, it was there.
With a quiet groan, Luna opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. She needed sleep, but the sleep wasn't forthcoming. She was still too riled up over what had happened. She needed to get her mind off things. She needed to...calm down…
There was...something, that had proven effective in that regard in the past, or so her brain reminded her. But...she'd promised her parents that she'd stop resorting to that. And herself, to a lesser degree. They'd told her she was getting too old, and on paper, at least, she'd agreed with them.
"Why do keyboards never sleep?" Luan murmured to herself between snores. "Because they have two shifts! HAHAHA!"
...on the other hand, a growing girl needed her sleep. And age was just a number anyway, right?
As her ostensibly slumbering sister laughed herself silly over her own sleep joke, Luna rolled off the bed and arrested her fall just before she hit the ground, hovering just above the floor. Still floating, she drifted out of the room, and after a quick glance to either side to make sure she was alone, she made for her destination.
The room at the end of the hall.
Luna slipped inside her brother's room, closing the door behind her, and breathed a sigh of relief. There he was, slumbering in the corner of his bed, alone. It would have been so much more awkward if she'd had to deal with one of the younger girls having picked this night to bunk with Lincoln. Or Leni, again.
Floating over her little brother's slumbering form, and praying that he wouldn't pick this particular moment to open his eyes, she drifted down on the opposite side of the bed, and slipped under the covers. For a moment she hesitated, reminding herself that it was entirely possible to just slip back out at this point, maybe try sleeping on the couch...or the roof...or...something. But almost of then own accord, Luna found her arms reaching out, for the younger boy, and though she had plenty of opportunity to stop them, she failed to do so.
She encircled her little brother's smaller frame, and after one last moment of hesitation, gave him a little squeeze.
"Gah!" Lincoln exclaimed, bleary eyes blinking rapidly as his brain booted up. "Whazzat?"
He looked down, seemingly noticing the arms wrapped around his chest.
"...Luna?" He asked, softly, craning his head to see behind him. "Is that you?"
Luna smiled as a pleasant warmth began to radiate through her. He'd immediately recognized her. That felt...nice.
"Hey, little bro," She whispered, inching a little closer. "Hope I didn't surprise you."
"N-no, no," Lincoln assured her, blushing slightly. "It's just...it's usually Leni doing this, that's all."
A bit of Luna's good cheer fled as her smile twisted into a scowl. Though...for the life of her, she couldn't explain why, exactly.
"Listen, Linc," She said pushing past the feeling and trying to ignore the strange knot that was forming in her stomach. "I know it's kinda sudden, but...I'm having a really bad night. So, think I could bunk with you? At least for a little—"
"Of course."
She blinked, surprised at the suddenness of the response.
"Just like that?" She asked, uncertainly.
"Just like that," He acknowledged, nodding as he lay back down. "Anything for my big sis."
"...Thanks...bro," Luna replied, her face flushing, pleased, as she sidled up behind him, and prepared to take another stab at actually getting some sleep tonight.
...Except...seeing as she'd already gone this far…
"Hey, Linc?"
"Yeah, Lunes?"
"It's…" Another moment of doubt, but she pushed through. "It's been a really bad night. And...if you're okay with it, I...I could really use a hug."
"Oh, yeah, sure thing." Seeing him start to shimmy in place, Luna loosened her grip on her bro to allow him to maneuver. "Like I said, anything for my—"
As he was speaking, Lincoln flipped over to face her...and abruptly cut off, his eyes growing big as saucers.
Something about that reaction tickled Luna.
"...Something wrong, bro?" She found herself asking, resting her head on her hand as she gazed at the gobsmacked boy. "What, are you too grown up to give your big sister a hug?"
"Of course not!" Lincoln protested. His face turned bright red. "It's just...I mean, you've...um…"
He trailed off, still looking at her. Still, looking at, her.
"It's okay, bro," She said, softly. Tacitly giving him permission. "...Please?"
Lincoln could never say no to his sisters. It was one of his biggest flaws, something they all used against him without hesitation. But...it was also something they all loved very dearly about their brother. Determination settling on his face, Lincoln scooted closer, threw his arms around Luna, and pulled her close.
Which, naturally, left his blushing, bright red face, resting right atop her breasts.
"H-how's that?" He asked, twisting his head to the side. Away from her.
Before responding, Luna returned the gesture, encircling her little brother's waist with her arms, and hugging him back. Which had the added effect of causing his adorable, snow-crested head to fully submerge itself in her waiting bosom.
"Mmm," She cooed, softly. "Yeah, that's the stuff. Thanks, Linc,"
"S-sure."
Clearly, he was waiting for her to surrender her hold on him so they could return to their original positions, but Luna had no intention of doing so. She lowered her head, resting her cheek against her brother's hair.
Moments passed, and soon Lincoln's breathing became...somewhat more regular, presumably signifying that he'd resigned himself to his fate. Good.
"...Love you, lil' bro," She whispered, placing a soft kiss on her host, before closing her eyes...and finally feeling her body begin to relax.
Since her birthday, Luna had become capable of doing incredible, amazing things with her powers. But it was in that moment that she finally found herself truly grateful for them.
Being here with her brother was not an unusual scenario. She'd been here before, and undoubtedly she end up here again. Thanks to her enhanced senses, it was on this occasion that she'd found herself the recipient of a new gift. The sound of her brother's heartbeat.
It rang clearly in her ears, a pitter-patter of sounds and tempos that was unique to the special guy resting in her arms. A song that was completely and utterly unique to one of the people she loved more than anything else in the world.
She lay there, and closed her eyes, listening to the song that was Lincoln, and silently committed it to memory.
And then, she slept.