No one could make sense of what they saw, not even the doctors. After everyone saw that Lincoln was okay, he was taken away by the doctors for examination. For hours, the Louds waited, relieved and confused as they waited, joined by Maria and Bobby.
"This doesn't make sense. I saw how badly he was injured, but he's just fine," said a confused Maria.
"All I can say is it's a miracle," said Rita.
"Actually, Mother, it was science," said Lisa.
Everyone turned to Lisa, who had a distinct happy expression, the kind she makes when her experiments go well.
"Lisa, what did you do?" Asked Lori.
"I used my nanites to heal Lincoln. I had Todd bring a large amount to the hospital while you all were asleep, and I injected it into his IV,"
Lisa's happy expression turned to confusion as Lynn Jr, Luan, Luna, Leni, and Lori looked angry. The others continued to look relieved, and Lynn Sr. and Rita looked conflicted.
"How could you decide that and not ask the rest of us!?" Berated Lori.
"Oh, a thousand pardons, eldest sibling. I didn't know I needed your permission to save our brother's life! Apparently, I should have just left him to suffer."
"You can't just use us as one of your experiments like that," said Luan.
"We thought you grew out of that!" Said Lynn Jr.
"You could have at least asked Mom and Dad," said Luna.
"Yeah," said Leni.
Hearing her sisters berate her angered Lisa, but before she could retaliate, Lucy spoke up.
"Why are you guys complaining?"
"Yeah! Lisa saved Lincoln, so what if she didn't ask for your permission!? If you were Lincoln, would you have wanted her to wait like that?!" Growled Lola.
"Instead of whining about not getting a say, why not focus on the fact that he's okay?" said Lana.
"Yeah," said Lily.
"Enough, all of you!" Said Rita.
Everyone stopped as Rita spoke up; turning to Lisa, she walked over and kneeled.
"Lisa, sweetie, your dad and I are eternally grateful for what you did, but I wish you would've spoken to us before you did it,"
"Mother, I didn't have time. Lincoln was dying,"
"What?!"
"I saw his charts and read his vitals; his body was shutting down; if I had waited, he would have been brain-dead by the time Luna arrived,"
Hearing that shook everyone as they looked at Lisa.
"I didn't have time to think; I just acted,"
"Well, she didn't act alone. I helped," admitted Ronnie Anne.
Everyone turned to Ronnie Anne, who was about to admit her part.
"I saw Lisa sneaking into the ICU, and I followed her; after I saw how bad Lincoln was, I helped her inject those things,"
"Ronnie Anne, you shouldn't have done that," said Bobby.
"Wouldn't you have done the same for Lori or vice-versa?"
Lori and Bobby stood there silent, knowing they would.
"I understand why you both did this, but what if those machines are detected inside Lincoln?" Asked Maria.
"My nanites are undetectable by any known medical equipment, and they are programmed to exit the body the next time Lincoln urinates,"
Suddenly, the detective from last night walked in, surprising everyone. The Louds instantly became nervous, unable to come up with an explanation for Lincoln when the need came.
"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, my name is Detective Ross. We met last night; I came to follow up on your son's condition. I called the hospital earlier in the morning and spoke to the doctors who were treating him; they told me his condition was grave,"
"Well, Detective Ross, about our son," said Lynn Sr.
Suddenly, multiple doctors walked in with Lincoln, all dumbfounded over how he returned from his injuries.
"I don't understand, you were at death's door…how?"
"Your guess is as good as mine,"
Lincoln left the doctors and returned to his waiting family.
"Hey guys, the doctors gave me the okay to leave,"
"Uh, Lincoln, this is Detective Ross,"
"Oh, uh, hi,"
"Wait, you're Lincoln Loud?"
"Yes, sir,"
"I called the hospital to find out about your condition, and I was informed that you were gravely injured,"
"I was, but there is an explanation to how this happened,"
"Why don't you start at what happened last night," said Detective Ross.
Agreeing, everyone relocated to The Casagrande's apartment; after shocking everyone there, they sat down to hear Lincoln's story.
"Okay, it started around midnight. I was trying to lock up for the night when someone pushed me," Lincoln started. "I stumbled back into the restaurant, and someone followed me in; he was dressed in all black, including a mask. We fought, but I beat him, and he was down on the ground,"
"Then what happened?" asked Detective Ross.
"I was about to call the police when something struck me in the neck; it felt like a bug bite or something. I couldn't tell, but all I knew was that I couldn't move, but I could still feel because I fell to the ground like a ragdoll, and it hurt,"
"TTX," said Ross.
"huh?"
"Tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin that paralyzes the body but does nothing to blunt the pain," Lisa explained.
"Whenever a hit is put out, criminals use it to subdue a target they can't overpower," informed Ross.
"I know that toxin; it's derived from the liver of a puffer fish, but you can only get a little bit from them, so how could they use it daily?" Asked Carlos.
"There are organizations that farm those kinds of fish and breed them to harvest that toxin in larger quantities and sell it to whoever can afford it. What happened next?"
"I could see more men coming in, and the one I beat getting back to his feet; the rest was a blur as that was when they started beating down on me; I was going in and out of consciousness," Lincoln said as his fist clenched.
Everyone noticed Lincoln's anger building up, and Ronnie Anne sat beside him, taking his hand and helping him calm down.
Lincoln takes a deep breath and continues. "When they were done, I heard one of them say, "Oh shit, we went too far," then one of them got on a phone and called someone, I couldn't hear the other person, but I heard the one on the phone say "the boss wants us to make sure this doesn't get traced back to him," the next thing I heard was them deciding to make it look like a robbery, I heard them destroy my dad's restaurant before one of them said to "get the van," and then I was dragged out through the back and loaded into the back, and that's all I can remember, the rest was a blur until I woke up this morning,"
"Okay, that explains how you ended up in Great Lake City, but it doesn't explain why you're fine now,"
Lisa stepped in and explained her nanites and how she used them to heal Lincoln; Detective Ross was left dumbfounded.
"I just transferred here, and this is crazier than the rumors of giant turtles and rats living in the sewer of New York,"
"Mr. Ross, I humbly request you to keep Lincoln's assault and recovery a secret," asked Lisa.
"Sorry, what?"
"It will be the best way to ferret out those responsible as they would expect Lincoln to be still injured," Lisa explained. "Also, my nanites project is still in the testing phase; if word gets out before they're ready, someone will steal my research or silence me,"
Detective Ross thought, momentarily seeing the logic in the situation.
"Fine, luckily, the full extent of Mr. Loud's connection to last night is not public knowledge, and I will keep it that way for now,"
"Thank you,"
"But, is there anyone you think might be involved?"
"Yeah, try looking into a guy named Tony McCann," Lincoln said.
The Next Day
The following day, Lincoln got up groggy; he wondered what time it was, and his eyes flew open when he realized it was 7:10.
"Damn, why didn't my alarm go off? I'm going to miss the 7:15 bus!"
Lincoln rushed downstairs, wondering why no one woke him.
"Why didn't anybody wake me up?" Lincoln called out, but there was no answer.
Realizing no one was home, Lincoln figured they most likely wanted him to stay home and turned off his alarm. Although annoyed, he couldn't blame them, considering what happened over the weekend; in truth, Lincoln wanted to stay home, but since he had in-house suspension and had no valid reason to miss school anymore since Lisa saved him, he had no choice but to go and not give them another reason for them to ban him from the graduation ceremony. Deciding to just run to school, Lincoln threw on his orange hoodie and jeans before leaving the house. Locking up, Lincoln ran at full speed, hoping he wouldn't be too late.
"Okay, if I keep at this pace, I might be able to get there by 9:15,"
Suddenly, Lincoln's head started tingling as something popped into his head. For a brief moment, Lincoln saw an equation in his head telling him if he increased his speed more, he'd arrive at 8:15. Lincoln was confused since he was already running at his top speed, but he decided to try it. Pushing himself further, he realized that not only was he moving faster, he didn't feel tired.
"Woah, I'm moving like Lynn that time she beat a whole relay race team,"
Lincoln was excited; while he was more athletic than he was as a kid, now he felt like he was on Lynn's level.
"Wow, I've never been this fast,"
Lincoln quickly picked up the pace, moving like an Olympic runner without breaking a sweat; suddenly, his eyes started to feel strange, like something was in them. As he kept blinking to fix them, Lincoln noticed his vision began to change; everything started to get darker around him as if an eclipse were happening, and things became even stranger when every person he saw now looked like a glowing blue skeleton.
"What the hell!?"
Lincoln looked around, trying to understand why everything seemed so strange when he locked onto one person. Suddenly, a HUD screen showed the person's heart rate. Lincoln was confused even more, but before he could try making sense of what was happening, Lincoln heard a loud horn snapping his vision back to normal. Lincoln realized he was standing in the middle of the street and a car was coming at him; thinking fast, Lincoln jumped out of the way but ended up jumping 7 feet before landing on the sidewalk.
"Woah, how did I?"
Before he could question what he had just done, Lincoln saw the time and realized he had to keep moving,
…Later…
The action news team, minus Lincoln, was waiting outside the school; they were all concerned since they had heard about Lynn's Table and couldn't contact Lincoln or any of the Louds.
"Has anyone been able to contact Lincoln? The bell is about to ring," asked Stella.
"I haven't been able to contact him all day yesterday, and if he's not here now, he must've missed the 7:15 bus," said Clyde.
"That's bad; the buses are bad on Mondays and have been getting worse," Stella replied.
"Plus, what happened to his dad's restaurant might have also slowed him down,"
"I just know that asshole Tony had something to do with that," commented Rusty.
"We'll have to prove it first," said Zach,
"Hey guys, wait up," called Lincoln.
Everyone looked to see Lincoln running up to them fast. Much to everyone's shock, he ran up to them.
"Tarnation, how did you get here so fast?" asked Liam.
"I just ran after I missed the bus, and the next thing I knew, I was moving like Lynn, and that's not even the weirdest thing this morning,"
Before his friends could ask about that, they heard a car horn and a blue Ferrari pull up and park. Stepping out was Tony; at first glance, he looked fine, but Lincoln knew he was wearing makeup to hide his bruises.
"Guess there isn't a need for the nice guy act anymore,"
"Stella, did he drive that thing when you were dating him?" Asked Rusty.
"No, he used to tell me guys that drive those kinds of cars are either full of themselves or overcompensating,"
"Looks like he's doing both," said Liam.
Tony immediately started walking towards the group, but the guys formed defensive positions around Stella.
"There's no need for that; also, Stella, I hope you considered what we talked about," Tony said.
"There's no way I'd ever take a scumbag like you back!"
"You little!"
Tony became angry, but Lincoln interrupted him before he could say anything.
"Your mascara is running. Might wanna take care of that,"
Realizing the cover-up was running, Tony decided to walk away before anyone saw his bruises.
"By the way, Loud, I heard about your Dad's restaurant; very tragic, but hey, look on the bright side, maybe he'll sell that dump, and this town will finally get some real food," mocked Tony, walking away.
Lincoln wanted to punch Tony so badly, but his self-control stopped him.
"Guys, I gotta head to the principal's office, I'll see you guys online later tonight,"
Lincoln walked off, leaving his friends for the day.
Lincoln spent the day helping the janitor staff fix the damages to the gym. While Lincoln was more than sure Tony was responsible for Lynn's Table and him nearly being killed, it was the second thing on his mind. The first thing was his run to school and how things got weirder.
"How did I do all that, and what was up with my eyes?"
Lincoln realized there was only one explanation for the sudden weirdness.
"Lisa's nanites,"
It was then Lincoln realized that Lisa's nanites had done more than fix his body, to what extent he wasn't sure, but he knew he'd have Lisa do a complete examination later. Until then, it didn't hurt to experiment on himself. Lincoln looked around, ensuring no one was around, before trying to make his eyes do it again. Eventually, Lincoln succeeded; however, unlike the first time, what he saw was more detailed, as if the world around him was one giant 3D blueprint. He could see through walls and everyone in his proximity and tell who was who, although blue auras surrounded them. Focusing more, Lincoln realized he could see a person's heart rate and emotional state, and if he focused on one person, he could hear what they were talking about. Lincoln felt he was finally grasping what was happening to him. Suddenly, he noticed a person with a red aura pacing close by. Confused, Lincoln noticed the heart rate was fast, and his emotional state was angry. Curious, he locked in on the person, hoping to hear whoever it was, and to his shock, it was Tony. Tony was pacing back and forth, still enraged over Stella's refusal to take him back.
"Who does she think she is? She's lucky I was willing to give her a second chance!" He growled. "I'll deal with her later, but first I have to teach Nikki a lesson,"
Pulling out his phone, he brought up a folder with two dozen photos of Nikki in various costumes and lingerie. Tony had convinced Nikki to take these photos, encouraging her to be more adventurous. Eventually, he settled on a photo of Nikki dressed as a bunny girl.
"Enjoy your 15 minutes of shame, bitch!"
Just as he was about to highlight the photo and upload it to the internet, it's suddenly deleted, to his confusion. Slowly, the rest of the photos begin deleting, shocking Tony.
"What the hell? Is my phone being hacked!?"
"Damn straight asshole!" Thought Lincoln.
A few moments earlier, Lincoln heard everything Tony was about to do; his first instinct was to run out of the gym, take Tony's phone, and destroy it. But that would solidify his ban from the graduation ceremony and give his father a stronger case against him; however, he still wanted to stop him.
"Dammit, if I can just access that phone," thought Dipper reaching out.
Suddenly, Lincoln felt a tingling in his fingers as he felt something leave them, taking the form of a black shimmer; as it flew towards the direction where Tony was passing through the wall, it flew into his phone without him noticing. Another screen popped up, informing Lincoln he was now connected and access was granted. One more screen popped up, resembling a person's cell phone folder. Lincoln quickly realized he was accessing Tony's cellphone due to the photos of Nikki. Shaking off his embarrassment, Lincoln deleted the photos until they were all gone. Hearing Tony cussing in frustration helped Lincoln realize Nikki was safe. Lincoln then realized he could access Tony's data and find proof of his involvement. Somehow, Lincoln began downloading the phone data into his head but realized it was starting to hurt.
"There has to be a better way to do this!"
Lincoln felt a ping in his head before a screen appeared, informing him that he was connecting to The Loud Cloud.
"Am I connecting to The Loud Cloud with my mind?"
Lincoln realized that he was connected to the Loud Cloud when he started seeing all of his family's folders and was informed external storage was enabled.
"I hope whatever this is works," thought Lincoln. "Copy all of the phone content and store it in the Loud cloud under the folder named: Lincoln Loud, sub-folder: "Asshole,"
Suddenly, a notification popped in his head that all content had been copied; another notification appeared saying he was now disconnected from the phone. Lincoln realized that Tony had left his proximity. Lincoln didn't care; any way to stick it to that asshole was okay with him.
For the rest of the day, Lincoln practiced with his new abilities, having figured that the color of someone's aura is tied to how they apply to him, meaning non-hostile were blue, friends and family were green, and hostiles and enemies were red. Lincoln also discovered the nanites were still in his body, and he could project them as a black cloud and reshape them into any form he wanted.
"This is crazy. I can literally create anything; this is crazy,"
Lincoln suddenly noticed an icon telling him he was at 80%. Worried, he stopped practicing, not wanting to know what would happen if he reached 0%.
…Later…
After school, Lincoln was heading to The Burp N' Burger; he had to stay a little longer due to his in-house suspension and wanted something to eat since he missed lunch. Lincoln wanted to use his abilities to go even faster; however, he wanted to avoid risking the percentage going even lower. Suddenly Lincoln heard someone calling him, as he turned around, to his surprise Ronnie Anne was running towards him.
"Ronnie Anne? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you, Lame-O, and ask Lana for help with my car,"
"What's wrong?"
"The engine started failing on my way here, and I need her to take a look at it,"
Ronnie Anne's car was originally Lori's car: Eliza; however, after she and Bobby got married, they upgraded to something more reliable for them both and could allow them to have kids someday. So Lori sold Eliza to Ronnie Anne when she turned 17 years old.
"Wait, where's your car?"
"I managed to park it in your driveway before it conked out on me. No one was home, so I started to walk around until I found someone,"
"Well, I'm heading to The Burp N' Burger to get lunch; why don't you come along,"
"Sure, I could use a big belly Belcher,"
The couple went to The Burp N' Burger; while Ronnie Anne ordered one meal, Lincoln ordered three large ones.
"Geez, Linc, did you forget to eat today?"
Lincoln was barely listening; his mind focused on the meter rising to 100% as he ate in his head.
"Guess eating food recharges me," Lincoln thought.
"Lincoln, are you listening to me?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was distracted,"
"I'll say, but listen, there is another reason I'm here; I need your help,"
"Huh?"
"When Sid and the rest of our friends were talking with Nikki, she confided that bastard got her to pose in various costumes and lingerie and took pictures with his phone,"
Lincoln's eyes widened, and then he started to chuckle, which instantly pissed off Ronnie Anne.
"This isn't funny, dummy; he can use those photos to humiliate her!"
"No-no-no, I'm sorry; I'm laughing because I already took care of that,"
"What?"
"I hacked his phone and erased the photos without touching it or him seeing me,"
"How did you do that? Did Lisa give you some kind of device?"
"In a way," he said with a smirk.
"Lisa's nanites didn't leave my body; they changed me somehow, how much I'm not sure,"
Ronnie Anne was skeptical; she knew Lincoln wouldn't lie to her, but it seemed far too far-fetched.
"Lincoln, are you sure?"
"I'll show you; you see that couple over there by the condiment stand and that big guy sitting by the trash cans behind me?"
"Yeah,"
"Check this out,"
Lincoln then closed his eyes and began focusing while Ronnie Anne watched; after a few minutes, he opened his eyes with a smirk as if he were ready for something.
"The guy by the condiments is searching his phone for engagement rings, and the big guy is about to break the all-time high score on the Princess Pony mobile game,"
Ronnie Anne was still skeptical until she glanced at the Man by the Condiments phone and saw he was indeed shopping for an engagement ring. The big guy jumped up and said, "Yeah, new high score in your face, Lucinda." Ronnie Anne was left in shock; however, there was still a tinge of doubt.
"Okay, I might be willing to buy this if you do one more,"
"I thought you might say that, so I did one more phone,"
"You did?"
"Yeah, you have a folder named butt growth and many pictures of your butt,"
Ronnie Anne's face turned red with embarrassment, forced to accept that Lincoln was telling the truth as he saw something she didn't want him to see.
"You wanna talk about that?"
"I was worried my ass was getting bigger, so I was taking pictures to see if there were any changes; dang it, you weren't supposed to see that!"
"Ronnie, I've seen you naked dozens of times; we've been together since we were 16 and having sex since I turned 17,"
"I know, but I thought I was getting fat, and I was embarrassed,"
Lincoln chuckled a bit but realized there was something else he forgot to show Ronnie Anne.
"I almost forgot there's more,"
"There is?"
"I got this weird vision that makes everything I see around me look like a 3D blueprint and see people's emotional state through their heart rates, and it pops up like a stats screen from a videogame," Lincoln explained. "I think I can also tell friend or foe since regular people had a blue aura, and Tony had a red one based on their heart rates, too,"
"Is there anything else?"
"Well, there's this,"
Lincoln showed his right palm; Ronnie Anne watched as something formed above his palm. A shimmer started appearing before it solidified into an orb floating above his hand, and then it turned into a cube before dissolving back into Lincoln's hand.
"So what do you think?"
"I think we need to go see Lisa right now,"
After finishing their food, they returned to the house; Vanzilla was already parked outside when they arrived. Meaning Lucy had picked everyone up, and they were home. Lincoln's younger sisters were waiting in the living room as they entered.
"Lincoln, where have you been?" asked Lucy.
"School, I ran into Ronnie Anne on my way to The Burp N' Burger, and we had lunch,"
"Told you guys, turning off his alarm wasn't going to stop him," said Lana. "oh, and Ronnie Anne, when I saw your car in our driveway, I figured something was up, so I looked. Your carburetor and spark plugs need to be replaced,"
"Dang it,"
"I can get the parts from Flip tomorrow and get you back on the road,"
"Maybe I can help," said Lincoln.
"Sorry, bro, unless you can make the parts appear out of thin air, I doubt it," joked Lana.
Before Lincoln could say something, the door opened again with Rita and Lynn Sr. walking in; the latter looked distraught.
"Oh, hello, Ronnie Anne," said Rita.
"Guys, what's wrong?" Asked Lincoln.
"Your mother and I went to City Hall to file a claim with the business owner association,"
"I know that, that's the insurance policy you signed up for that Mayor Davis created for business owners in Royal Woods,"
"Well, they denied our claim!" Cried Lynn Sr.
"What? Why?" Asked Lisa.
"They suspect foul Play and won't process our claim until the case is closed,"
"So they're accusing us of staging everything!?"
"Yes," Rita replied calmly.
"This isn't right; I read that policy; the rules state that the BOA is supposed to pay once a police report is filed," said Lisa.
"That was before Vic added on some rule: if police suspect foul play, the BOA doesn't have to pay," replied Lynn Sr.
"It had to be those police officers from the other night,"
"So because a couple of beat cops think they know everything, we can't get the money to fix the restaurant,"
"We're going to talk to Detective Ross tomorrow," informed Rita.
Lincoln couldn't help but feel his blood boil; after everything he'd been through, the legal system was trying to make him and his family look guilty.
"If I could get my hands on the bastards who attacked me, I'd… I'd!"
As Lincoln raised his fist, a pair of brass knuckles manifested on them, shocking everyone, but calmed Lincoln as he made them disappear,"
"Sorry about that,"
"Son, how did you do that?"
"Let's just say Lisa's nanite did more than just fix me,"
…Later…
Everyone had moved to Lisa's Lab, formerly Lincoln's old bedroom, as Lincoln lay on a table in only his boxers, scanned by Lisa's machines multiple times. Lisa compiled every bit of data with each scan.
"This is amazing!" Said Lisa.
"What did you find?" Asked Rita.
"Not only did my nanites remain in Lincoln's body, but they've been multiplying through a form of mitosis,"
"You mean like cells?" Replied Lincoln.
"Correct, not only that, but they've integrated themselves throughout your body,"
"What?"
"I'll show you,"
Lisa then typed on her keyboard before projecting a 3D image of Lincoln's skeleton. To everyone's shock, it looked metallic and cybernetic.
"And it's not just your skeleton; your muscles in organs are also infused with my nanites,"
"Am I a robot now?"
"Actually, you're more bionic than robotic," Lisa explained. "All your organs and muscles are still organic, but now they're being cybernetically enhanced in protecting by my nanites; off the top of my head, I'd say you're max strength now could be about 10 to 20 tons,"
Everyone was shocked to hear that Lincoln essentially had super strength.
"Also, the nanites infused in your brain seem to have granted you technopathic abilities, which is why you were able to connect to the loud cloud and hack that phone psychically; you were even able to transfer the data you copy directly to The Loud Cloud,"
"What about this weird vision?"
"As you said, you're able to see a person's heart rate and emotional state, and subconsciously, the nanites must apply how it relates to you, which is why you see people with glows, red for threats, blue for non-threats, and green for allies,"
"But what about making things out of thin air?" Asked Ronnie Anne.
"It seems the nanites react to Lincoln's thoughts; they can project themselves outward and take on whatever form Lincoln wants; it seems they can even mimic other textures like rubber,"
"So if I wanted to create a rubber ball, it wouldn't actually be rubber; the nanites would just mimic it?"
"Theoretically, you might actually be able to create clothes with the nanites,"
How is any of this possible? Don't these things run out of energy?" Asked Lincoln.
"If I had to guess, the nanites amplify your bioelectric energy, and they're using it to sustain themselves, sort of like a symbiotic relationship," Lisa explained. "Probably explains the little icon you see in your head; the more you use your new abilities, the more they draw on your bioelectric energy,"
Lincoln thought about his situation as a kid; the very thought of having superpowers excited him, but now he thought, what good could they really do?
…Later…
After dinner, Ronnie Anne was given the okay to stay the night. Since she was on the honor roll, she had already finished whatever remaining school work was left, so going to school was completely voluntary. Sleeping on the couch, Ronnie Anne heard sounds from Lynn Sr. and Rita's room around midnight and decided to listen in.
"Rita, I don't know what to do without that money from the claim. We can't start fixing the restaurant or even paying our suppliers or the mortgage; we're really in trouble, sweetie,"
"It'll be okay, I'm sure Detective Ross can clear this whole thing up,"
"I hope so, honey,"
Ronnie Anne couldn't help but feel sorry for the Louds; she wanted to think of a way to help but couldn't think of anything.
"Maybe I should talk to Lincoln,"
Heading upstairs to Lincoln's bedroom, formerly Lori and Leni's room, she heard noises coming from the room as if someone was rummaging through it. Walking in, she found Lincoln looking through his closet, tossing things aside as he looked.
"Damnit, where is it!?
"Lincoln, what are you doing?"
"Looking for something that's going to help me track down the bastards who attacked me,"
"What? Are you crazy, Lame-O? What good will that do?"
"It's the only way to help my family; the police aren't helping because they think I did it, but if I find them and bring them in, I can clear this up,"
"Lincoln, even if you did find them anyway? The moment they see you, they'll try to finish what they started,"
"Which is why they won't see me,"
"Huh?"
"Remember when we were 13, and we tried to sign up for that sleep-away camp for the summer?"
"Yeah, our friends got in, but we couldn't because they ran out of space, so we spent the whole summer hanging out,"
"Remember when we signed up for that building your superhero contest?"
"Yeah?"
"And do you remember the superhero we made?"
Wait, you can't be serious?"
"I am, " Lincoln replied. "I should be able to make this work with my nanites,"
"Lincoln, you'll still be making yourself at Target,"
"But at least it won't put my family in danger,"
"Lincoln, this is a bad idea,"
"I know Ronnie Anne, but I have to do something; I can't let my dad's dream be destroyed like this, not when I can do something about it,"
Ronnie Anne was still reluctant; the fear she felt when she thought she would lose Lincoln was creeping up, but she also wanted to help him.
"You better come back okay, Lincoln Loud,"
Thank you,"
The couple shared a brief but loving kiss before Ronnie Anne broke it.
"There's a picture on my phone, I'm surprised you didn't see when you were going through,"
"I tried not to pry too deep,"
Ronnie Anne pulled out her phone, scrolling through all her photos until she found the one she was looking for. Holding her phone out to Lincoln's face, he studied the picture until he memorized every detail.
"Okay, stand back.
Lincoln began focusing as a black shimmer of nanites started forming around him. Ronnie Anne watched in awe as Lincoln disappeared in the shimmer and some nanites turned orange. Suddenly, the nanites solidified around Lincoln before they began reshaping them into what he was molding them into. Ronnie Anne was shocked at how amazing he looked. Lincoln was now decked out in an orange and black suit, with a hood and cape and full-on face mask to conceal his identity and orange-tinted eye shields to see through.
"How do I look?" Asked Lincoln in a deep voice.
"Cheesy and badass, but the voice is a nice touch,"
"I'll be back before sunrise,"
"So, what are you going to start,"
I'll start where it all started. Maybe I can find evidence that the cops didn't see or ignore,"
"You know we never did figure out a name for this guy,"
"I can't think of one right now, but I feel like a predator on the prowl,"
"Well, how about Apex?!"
"I like it,"
End of Ch. 2
Author's notes
I figured I should explain a few things about Lincoln's powers
Lincoln's new suit: despite it being made of nanites, it works similarly to a symbiote so that he can create weapons and projectiles.
Lincoln's strength: while Lincoln does have super strength, he can adjust his power level, like One For All, to keep from using excessive force; in other words, at max level, he's about as strong as Spider-Man, and at the lowest level he's about as strong as Batman.
Lincoln's Apex voice: Lincoln can change his voice due to the spy training from Myrtle, who taught him precise muscle control in his throat through pressure points. Think sounding like a cross between TMNT 2012 Shredder and Venom when he's being intimidating.
Lincoln's Vision: Lincoln's new vision is a cross between Batman's detective mode and Ezio's eagle vision.
Lincoln's technopath: due to the nanites in his brain, Lincoln can now hack electronic devices psychically by injecting nanites into them; however, his range is limited, and he cannot store the data in his mind. However, if he is connected to The Loud Cloud, he can use it for storage or channel his ability through it to extend his range. However, because Lisa's computer in her bunker is the central hub, she can access Lincoln's mind through The Loud Cloud and see whatever he sees.