Chapter 4

The extra boost of energy from the day before allowed Lincoln to power through the obstacle course in gym class at school, but surprisingly he was able to stay calm and collected in the rest of his classes. Unfortunately, by the time lunch rolled around and he had an opportunity to tell the rest of his friends about it, it had mostly worn off. His friends were still fascinated by his story (especially Zach, whose parents worked for the Plumbers as researchers), despite the fact that he wasn't able to prove it.

Royal Woods Elementary was a pretty diverse school, with a fair number of children being of extraterrestrial origin and even a handful of human-alien hybrids. That observation needs to be made in order to understand the events that transpired next.

Lincoln and his friends noticed a commotion going on at the other end of the cafeteria. The school's resident bully, Chandler McCann, was threatening to beat up a young Kraaho girl named Nancy if she didn't take off her thick parka. As tungsten-based life forms, Earth's climate even at its hottest was mind-numbingly cold to the Kraaho, so Nancy needed her parka to keep from freezing to death. Extraterrestrial students were also forbidden from using any special abilities they may possess, so Nancy couldn't use her body's elasticity to defend herself. The longer Lincoln watched, the angrier he got, especially since Nancy was the same age as his sister Lucy. His temper boiled over when Chandler's goons grabbed Nancy's arms, allowing Chandler access to her zipper.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size, Chandler!" he yelled, marching over to the crowd that was gathered.

"Then who should I pick on, Larry?" Chandler taunted. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm one of the tallest ones here!"

"You've always picked on me, so keep picking on me! Leave her alone!" Lincoln responded, irked at Chandler deliberately calling him the wrong name.

"And pass up a chance to teach a lesson to these disgusting alien freaks that should go back to their own planets? Fat chance!"

"I'll fight you, then!" Lincoln challenged.

"Are you blind, Larry? I'm bigger than you and stronger than you! I have the upper hand!"

"We'll see about that!" Lincoln got into a defensive stance, but before he even knew what happened, he was lying on the floor with a dull ache in the middle of his chest where Chandler punched him. He looked up and saw the sole of Chandler's shoe hovering over his face.

"Say night-night, Larry," Chandler said with an evil smile. Lincoln screwed his eyes shut and heard the rest of the students gasp, but all he felt on his face was a gentle weight, like he was sleeping with his head under his pillow. He opened his eyes. Chandler's foot was on his face and the bully was straining to push down harder, but it had no effect. Lincoln raised his hands to push Chandler away and immediately saw what was keeping Chandler from turning his head into a pancake: his hands and arms were the same color, pattern, and texture as the floor tiles underneath him!

Chandler stepped back, allowing Lincoln to stand up and look down at himself. His whole body, inside and out, including his clothes, had morphed into the same material as the floor. He had read enough comic books to be able to recognize this particular ability as transmutation. His look of awe grew into a broad grin.

"Sweet! I can absorb matter, too!" he exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. "Who has the upper hand now, Chandler?" he sneered. Instead of a verbal reply, Chandler growled and tried to punch Lincoln's chest again, only to cry out in pain when his wrist snapped. Lincoln delivered a punch of his own, and Chandler went flying across the room. He transformed back to flesh and fabric right as Nancy threw her arms around his waist, thanking him profusely for saving her.

...

Lincoln's jumbled protests fell on deaf ears as both of his parents angrily dragged him out to the van. His mother finally had enough, and her clenched fist connected with Lincoln's left ear.

"WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING?!" she screamed at him. "The school had to call an ambulance because of what you did to that boy! A broken wrist, a cracked sternum, road rash, a concussion...what's gotten into you, Lincoln?!"

"He attacked first! It was self-defense!" Lincoln yelled back.

"Self-defense doesn't put people in the hospital, Lincoln," said Lynn Sr. "How did you do it, huh? Brass knuckles? Steroids? One of Lisa's inventions?" Lincoln stood up from where he fell when his mom hit him and scowled at his parents.

"You wanna know how I did it? Here's how I did it!" he yelled. He placed a hand on the side of the van, closed his eyes, and willed himself to become what he was touching. He felt a cool, tingling sensation race up his arm and envelope his body, and when he opened his eyes, he was made of the same blue-painted metal as the van. His scowl never faded, but his parents stared at him in shock. "Yeah, that's right. Your only son has superpowers. Powers that I used to protect another student from a bully trying to kill her. Let's just go home before any of us lose our tempers again." Lincoln allowed his metal body to dissipate, then climbed into the van without another word.

The silence during the drive back to the house was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Once indoors, Lynn Sr. and Rita told Lincoln he was suspended from school for a week and grounded for a month, then sent him to his room after confiscating his electronics and comic books. Naturally, his sisters were concerned when they came home from school and he refused to even open his bedroom door. Lucy and the twins had witnessed the cafeteria fight and were outraged that Lincoln was being punished for saving someone's life. It didn't matter that their parents had a strict "violence is not the answer" policy when it came to bullies at school, it only mattered that Lincoln deserved to be recognized as a hero.

Lisa was initially fascinated by the fact that Lincoln could absorb matter as well as energy, but rushed straight to her room when she heard the computer chime, signaling that the DNA test was complete. When she emerged, she had a look of worry and even a certain amount of fear etched on her features.

"What's wrong, li'l sis? You look like you just saw a ghost," Luna asked.

"Call an Emergency Sibling Meeting. Now," was Lisa's only reply. "And leave Lincoln alone. It might be better if he is not in attendance this time."

"Okay, Lisa, what's going on?" Lori demanded once all ten sisters were gathered in her and Leni's bedroom. Lisa pushed a large TV screen into the room and turned it on. Shown in white against a dark green background was the outline of Lincoln's body next to a DNA double helix and several complex mathematical formulas.

"Sisters, as you know, I took it upon myself to perform a DNA test on our sole male sibling to try to determine the source of his peculiar abilities. My first suspicion was that a mutation took place due to possible exposure to Corrodium during interactions with our Transylian neighbor," Lisa began. "However, as you can see here, that was not the case. Lincoln appears to have perfectly normal, perfectly human DNA. To minimalize the margin of error, I submitted the DNA of our parents as well, courtesy of the hair in Mother's shower cap and Father's shaving razor." Lisa paused and glared when a few of the sisters gave grumbles of disgust. She pressed a button on the remote in her hand, and the screen changed to show the outlines of their parents' bodies and two more double helixes. "As I was saying, I compared the DNA of both of our parents to Lincoln's and made a rather troubling discovery. Normally, the offspring of two individuals will have a fifty percent DNA match to each parent, having received half of their existing genes from the mother and the other half from the father. I ran the results twice in order to be fully certain, but there is no reason to doubt: the results show that there is a zero percent match between Lincoln and either of our parents."

It took a moment for Lisa's words to sink in, but when they did, all of the sisters gasped in disbelief.

"Lisa...are you literally saying what I think you're saying?" Lori asked with her hands over her mouth. Lisa just sighed and adjusted her glasses.

"I'm afraid so, eldest sibling. Lincoln is not biologically related...to any of us..."