{Chapter OST}

Bumblebee (2018) - Shutdown

Chapter XXII: Mountain Brawl

-Coleman Young International Airport-

To say that Antonio Vassallo was in a foul mood would be the understatement of the century. The man prided himself greatly on being tactful, efficient, and most of all successful for a Starwatch agent who had earned his rank through thick and thin, good and bad. But this day in Michigan was proving anything but successful for him, his agents and Starwatch itself as he and his strike team returned to the airport. There was nothing that made Vassallo more incensed than the aspect of failure, more so at himself than anyone else. This was his mission, his responsibility to bear for the sake of Starwatch and his country, and now Vassallo had to think of a way to get the ball rolling again for his team after such a disastrous turn of events.

It had felt like everything that could go wrong had indeed gone wrong for them. Nearly all of the Loud children had escaped from his grasp, save for the baby and the two parents, who were still in custody within the armored truck parked outside. Add on that Starwatch was now in the middle of a race against time with the damning fact that there was another force, one entirely unknown to him and probably the rest of Starwatch who were also gunning for the metahumans, only made him ever more frustrated. Just what had he and Starwatch had gotten into when he had decided to take on this mission, he could only wonder in his defeat.

As his SUV pulled into the hangar that served as their temporary base, he was finally able to witness the damaging results of their attempt to secure the metahuman family without the operation breaking out in violence, for all the good stealth did. He spied several of the destroyed Bandits that they recovered from the chase currently being loaded onto a carrier trailer, while the SUVs were being repaired nearby for minor damages.

What really made his stomach churn as he stepped out the van was seeing how many of his own agents sported new wounds from the endeavor. Normally it was exciting to get fresh scars while on the field, a bit of a trial by fire for some of the newer recruits, but there was no joy to be found in Vassallo at this moment. Several of the agents had bruises and cuts on their faces and hands, nothing too harrowing, but others wore casts on their arms, chests, and legs. Those who had been too close to the explosion that engulfed the Loud residence were being treated for burns at the improvised med-bay next to the communication hubs. This could have been all avoided if perhaps he had just done things a little differently, and maybe he would not have had to return almost empty-handed.

Vassallo knew that this horrid turn of events was going to be an utter nightmare once he made the report back to the Pentagon. Knowing Colonel Matthews, he was going to use this as an excuse to finally shut down his branch of Starwatch and keep him confined to a desk for good. The only saving grace that he had was that at least he had one of the kids and the parents in his custody. One out of eleven, of which he was able to see at the very back of the hangar bay, the mom and dad of the family led away in cuffs while their precious baby was placed within a hollowed-out glass carriage. As he surveyed the scene in silence, Aidan and Josh steadily stepped towards the troubled Major.

"Major Vassallo?" Aidan piped up to get his attention.

"Yes, Clancy?" He sounded almost distant to the two agents. "Are you giving me a status report of the day?"

"Um, yes sir. Well, bad news is that four of our Bandits are completely totaled, and nine of our agents have been placed in the med-bay, but there've been no fatalities, thankfully. We lost a couple rifles on the road as well, and our SUVs have minor scuffs to them. But other than that, both Rita and Lynn Loud Sr. are in our custody along with their youngest, Lily Loud, and are awaiting transport back to Washington, though we're currently trying to patch in a line to the Pentagon as we speak to give the report you wanted." Aidan said as she looked down at the tablet she held in her hands.

"And our equipment back at the house? Has any of it been recovered from the wreckage?" Vassallo was not one to let any Starwatch equipment be left behind, or worse yet, be stolen into public hands. If there was anything left to recover, that is. That explosion had blasted the old house into splinters.

"I've sent a team to return to the house already, sir. Hopefully there's still something there of ours that's salvageable."

Vassallo let out a breath of air that he had been inadvertently holding in once the agent was done reporting in. Aidan was a reliable agent with her handiwork. Truthfully, he had been expecting far worse news than what he was dealing with now. There have been no debilitating injuries reported from his team, and while he may have lost nearly half of his Bandits, they could always be fixed, and he would much rather have temporarily broken cars than permanently broken people. Though getting the word of his failure back to the Pentagon would be the biggest hurdle right now.

"Alright. Thank you, Aidan." He nodded towards the female agent. "And inform the loading crew to leave the baby here for the moment, but keep the parents locked up tight in the brig for now. I don't want anything going wrong here, not after what happened today." Vassallo said, beginning to formulate a plan that would surely entice the higher-ups back in DC to allow him more time and more firepower here in Michigan in order to rectify his mistakes.

"Sir!"

Vassallo turned his head after hearing the cry from another agent who was working at one of the computer terminals, standing up with her hands waving at him.

"What is it?" He asked as he, Aidan and Josh neared her desk.

"Sir, we've got multiple calls in regards to a partially wrecked van heading down the interstate pass. I think it might be a hard match on the vehicle the Louds used to escape. Hang on just a sec," The agent typed again on the keyboard, and soon several blurry pictures of a teal-white van with a shredded trunk popped up on screen, "There. Based on what I've been getting, they were last seen going eastwards along I96."

Vassallo leaned down to get a better look at the screen in front of him. The picture itself was slightly blurry, but he could easily identify the same vehicle that the Louds used to escape him. It was a miracle that the van was still able to drive in its near-totaled condition. But the question remained, if unsaid; why use the highway? If the Louds wished to go unnoticed by anybody, and especially from the eyes of Starwatch, then it would make sense that they would stay on the urban roads far away from any traffic or cameras that could spot them.

"They're headed towards the city." Joshua suddenly gasped, realizing where the Loud kids were going. It was the most obvious answer, and one that Vassallo knew could spell even more trouble for the pride-wounded Major and his Starwatch team. In comparison to the relatively open town of Royal Woods, where they had available space to utilize more of their valuable assets they had brought with them to Michigan, the Great Lakes City would be a far more difficult and congested place to try such plans. Attempting to navigate a maze full of traffic jams, skyscrapers and far more civilians than Vassallo was hoping for would make their attempts even more hectic. Starwatch would be horribly bottlenecked within the city, and unless he was given more militaristic options in regards to their capture from the Pentagon, fortune would be on the side of the Louds this time.

"How many people live in the Great Lakes City?" Vassallo anxiously asked the agent, who typed away on her computer. The answer popped up soon after.

"According to a recent survey, the city's population is about two and a quarter million."

"Two and a quarter-?! Good god, it'll be trying to find a needle in a haystack!" Aidan woefully groaned after hearing that piece of information. "We'll never be able to find those kids in there, sir."

"Not unless we find them first." Vassallo strongly said, turning to the foremost agents that he could trust with such a task. "Aidan, Josh, I need you to take a strike team and get to that city as fast as you can. Take the transport choppers, a couple of our cars and drones and scour every inch of Great Lakes if you can, in the air and on the ground. And send word to the mayor as well, let her know what's going on and get the police to assist you if they can. If they're gonna try and hide in the Great Lakes, then we'll sure as hell guarantee they can't leave too."

"Yes, Major!" Josh gave a salute and ran off with Aidan towards the landing pads outside, calling for a couple other agents to join them. Vassallo hoped that those two would succeed without his leadership in capturing the metahumans before they could escape again.

"Sir!" Another agent shouted to get the Major's attention, this one holding a phone up to his ear as he spoke four dreaded words. "Pentagon's on line one."

Vassallo knew that this was coming. He mentally braced himself as he stared down at one of the wireless phones currently sitting on the desk in front of him. One soft, stress-releasing breath later, he reached down to pick the phone up and hit the 1 button, bracing himself for the inevitable.

"Major Antonio Vassallo here. Go ahead, sir."

"Just what in the Sam Hill's going on over there, Major?" Predictably, Colonel Matthews did not sound pleased in the slightest as Vassallo listened to his superior's scathing tone. "Have you seen the news coming out of that town you're in? It's practically all over national television; houses exploding, car chases, bridges going down? You were supposed to lead a successful extraction without running into any major problems, not to turn your mission into a goddamned action movie!"

"I understand that clearly, sir." Vassallo responded as evenly as possible. "Fret not, we have the parents and the youngest of the eleven children within our custody."

"And yet the rest of the kids are still out there after your little fumble blew literally any chance of stealth you had sky high." The colonel shot back, not sounding impressed at all. "This operation required ALL of them in your hands, Vassallo, and so far you've only got one of them, and the baby at that."

"I know that sir, and we're currently trying to rectify the situation as best as we can. But we've, how would I put this professionally, managed to run into a problem out here, sir. A significant one."

"And I'd advise that you drop the bullshit and tell me what's keeping you from spilling, Major. Your little Michigan adventure might just be cut short if you don't." Matthews hissed, not bothering to hide his threat. Vassallo knew the colonel had very, very high expectations of him and equally little time for wordplay, so he got straight to the chase.

"Sir, I don't think we're the only ones who know about the Louds. The explosion at the Loud residence? That wasn't us. And when we were trying to capture the kids on the road we were... ambushed by something." Vassallo dropped the proverbial bombshell on the colonel, and he swore he heard the man's brow crease over the phone. Vassallo continued to explain with what silence was given to him by Matthews. "It was some kind of vehicle, a small bulky car of unknown build, too small to be driven by human hands. We believe it may have been a drone, or a remote-controlled robot. Either way, it hit us, and it hit us hard. Several of our vehicles have been totaled and a number of my agents are out of commission for the time being. And, if what I think is true, it was after the Loud children as well."

"Hold up on that for a moment, Major." Matthews interrupted, "Are you saying that there's someone else trying to catch those kids?"

"Someone, something, we cannot know for certain, but whoever or whatever they are, they were incredibly well-coordinated and better prepared for us far more than we were for them. Hell, we were barely even an afterthought to them when they were chasing the kids. And if there's more than one of them, then we might be in for a bigger fight out here than we realized." Vassallo ran a hand over his face as he continued to talk. "We'll manage to work with what we can at the moment, but once things start getting dicey around these parts I'll be requesting for immediate additional reinforcements. The heavy-armored kind, bigger guns, gunships and tanks, and we'll need it stat."

"Think you can handle that sort of weaponry, soldier?" Matthews asked. Starwatch had the funding and the armor to match a large army, coupled with several hundred troops and agents ready for deployment if need be. What Vassallo currently commanded in Michigan was just a handful compared to what Starwatch could truly deploy.

"I've used them before in Syria, sir. I'm sure I can handle them now."

"Very well, I understand that answer quite clearly, Major. You make the call, and I'll send the guns over your way. Though I have to ask, have you got any proof of this vehicle you're talking about? Might be useful for our intelligence branches later on." Vassallo wondered if the colonel wished to see if he was telling the truth or not, or if he wanted to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Sending the photos we managed to capture your way right now, sir." Vassallo used his tablet to send what little yet undeniable evidence they had on the unknown vehicle to the colonel. All they had were pictures taken from the Bandit dashboard cameras, all of them blurry and discolored from damage, but the unmistakable shape of the gray car was clearly there. And back at the Pentagon, Matthews was able to see for himself, leaning forward in his chair as he got a good look at what had attacked Vassallo's Starwatch strike team through his desktop.

"What the hell am I looking at, Major?" Matthews sounded just as surprised as Vassallo expected him to be.

"I'd like to answer that myself. As stated before sir, I have no idea. But I hope to find out sooner rather than later. With any luck, we'll be able to snag the kids before they or anybody else get the chance to do so." Vassallo answered with a clear conviction. Though there was one other thing bugging him, something that started to form in the back of his head as he thought about the current situation and what happened some time ago back before he was sent to Michigan, with the unidentified object that had snuck in to Earth's atmosphere. Given the evidence of what had happened to him and the Loud family, he could not help but start to make connections between the two incidents.

"Sir? Might I speak freely for a moment?" Vassallo asked as he leaned back against the desk.

"Go ahead, Major."

"Do you remember when our satellites picked up that unknown object coming in from outer space, the one that suddenly vanished without a word?" Vassallo asked, and then spoke again when the colonel did not respond. He was there, after all. And he doubted that Matthews could ever forget it. "Call me crazy, but I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of connection between what's going on right now. The UFO, the Loud kids, and now this? This feels like just too much of a coincidence for me."

"You're saying there might be a relation between the Louds and whatever that ship was?"

"I'm not sure. But there might be, and I hope I'm wrong on that." Vassallo said, internally wondering if he was just being desperate. "That's all I can say for now, colonel."

"Alright then. Dismissed, Vassallo. And good luck."

"I don't believe in luck, sir. Only fate." Vassallo eased the phone back on the desk the moment he heard the dial tone. A sudden wave of exhaustion took him over, and the man let out a groan as he rubbed his eyes. Today had taken out a lot of him. Some coffee would do him good, and maybe a donut at that. He needed something to get his energy levels back up and raring to go again after the near-disaster of the first operation. In a hurry, he made his way over to the confectionary area and grabbed a cup, pouring in some lukewarm coffee that had been made this morning and gingerly sipped.

"Sir?" An agent piped up from behind him. "Another report just came in."

"Talk to me."

"We've got calls coming in from one of the local parks. They're saying they just saw a pair of kids fly overhead. We caught these posted on Twitter before we took them down." The agent replied, handing the major a tablet with several pictures of what appeared to be two children, a boy and a girl, one on fire and the other surrounded by a nose cone of air. Vassallo instantly knew who they were. Lincoln the poster boy for the entire operation and his sister, Lynn. And, from what he could see from the photo, they were still in Michigan.

His tiredness be damned, Vassallo was not going to have this second chance for snagging these kids slip away.

"Son of a bitch," he growled, handing the tablet back over, "Let's go get 'em! Ready the helicopters people, we're moving out!"

"Yes, sir!"

...

-In the air above Michigan...-

Lincoln didn't know how fast he was flying, nor if his sister was keeping up with him as the two of them soared through the skies over woods and towns. With the great heat emanating from her body, he presumed that she was there next to him, but it was difficult to know for sure thanks to the blinding winds at his current speeds. There was only one thing on his mind at the moment; to get as far away from his family, his lifeline in dire times, as he could.

And Lord knows how much he was hating himself for it now. Even if it were from a command from Lori, it still gnawed at him that he had no choice other than to fly away, leaving the rest of his sisters behind while he and Lynn flew to safer grounds. That horrid sensation of guilt, like a stone in his stomach. Here he was, off in the clouds while everyone else in his family were either fighting for their lives or already captured. And there really was nothing that he could do, except hope that Lori was right and they had made it to the city. He prayed that he was right with the latter, because he had no idea what he would do with himself if the former was reality.

His mood was beginning to affect him, which was something that Lynn was beginning to find out. Being an athlete, she knew when people were overexerting themselves, and her brother was beginning to show the signs. His jaw locked tight, and arms struggling to stay forward. The last thing she needed was for him to suddenly pass out this high up, and go this fast as well.

"Lincoln!" Lynn shouted over the winds, trying to get his attention. "Lincoln, slow down, would ya?"

It worked, to a degree.

"I can't, Lynn! You heard Lori, we can't stop!" He said back.

"Of course I did, but you-!" Lynn stopped herself from further talking when she realized that Lincoln was no longer paying attention to her. "Oh, dammit Lincoln, would you just freaking stop for a sec and listen to me? Lincoln!"

Stubborn as they both were, Lynn knew that her words would have little say in changing her brother's mind, so she opted for the next best thing: her innate power of being the older sister. And with an idea in mind, she stuck out her hand, reaching for her brother's leg slowly but surely. If she could not convince him to stop, then she'd do it by force. Though, if Lincoln were a little more rested, or perhaps less anxious, Lynn suspected that she would never have the chance to do what she was doing now. The sheer speed he was going at was astonishing, and Lynn was even surprised that she was able to keep up with him using her own powers at the moment.

Once she was close enough to feel the cotton of his jeans, Lynn managed to snag her brother's leg with a mighty yank and stop him from going any further. It caught him off-guard, and he barely had any time to react or even try to pry Lynn off before she enveloped him in a crushing hug. With both of them so high in the air, Lincoln initially feared that they would plummet to their deaths, but Lynn managed to hold them both aloft with her strength and the flames blasting out of her lower legs.

"Lynn, let go of me!"

"No, not until you park your ass in gear and start listening!" She shot back, still holding on to him even as he tried to squirm free.

"Lynn please!"

"No, bro. I mean it. You need to calm down. Right now."

"Look who's talking!" Lincoln vainly tried to push his sister away, but to no avail. "Every second we waste here, the more our family's in danger!"

"They can take care of themselves, Lincoln!" Lynn could tell that her brother was getting desperate, and she did not blame him.

"They need me!"

"And I need you! So quit," Lynn had to bring her hands around Lincoln's shoulders, "being so difficult!"

"Just let go of me! I said-!"

By now, Lynn's patience had officially run out.

"Lincoln, stop it."

And so he did, once that tone was used on him, the tone of the older sister's authority over the younger sibling. Lynn herself had used it only a handful of times on her brother, but every time she did, it was of grave importance. His rebellious nature now quelled, Lincoln slowly lowered his arms, and he allowed himself to be carried in his sister's grasp as she descended back to ground level. Thankfully there was a nearby clearing in the woods below them that she aimed for. As she went lower, Lynn made sure to angle her flames away from her brother's legs to not singe his flesh nor have the woods catch on fire.

The moment she felt her feet touch the ground, Lynn eased her arms, but still kept them wrapped around her brother's waistline just in case he got wise.

"Lynn..." Lincoln began, but was interrupted.

"I'm not letting go until you promise me that you're not gonna take off the moment I drop my grip." Lynn said, her hard tone of voice letting her brother know that she was not in the mood for him to try anything funny. "You hear me out, bro? I don't want to chase you again."

Lincoln sucked down what little remained of his stubborn streak before he answered his sister.

"Yes, Lynn." His voice was quiet, and soft, a sign of his submission. Lincoln doubted that he could go against Lynn at this moment. It was as if all the energy he once had suddenly evaporated the moment she demanded him to listen to her. With her brother cowed, Lynn then released him, taking a couple steps back to give him some personal space from all the grabbing she did, and to make sure he kept his word with a little bit of trust thrown his way. It seemed to work as Lincoln remained where he stood, his back towards her, with his expression unreadable.

"Okay, good. You didn't fly off." Lynn wiped the sweat from her brow. Using her powers that much had given her a surprising workout. "Thanks for listening to me, Lincoln."

A quick sniffle caught her ear, and Lynn noticed that her brother was shaking ever-so slightly as he rubbed his face with his hands and wrists. It did not take long for Lynn to realize that he was crying, desperately trying to cover up his tears and the sounds of his sobs as best as he could either out of embarrassment or shame. Lynn was not expecting Lincoln to start breaking down right in front of her. While she prided herself on being the strongest of her siblings both physically and emotionally, at least before they had superpowers, Lincoln was very in touch with his emotions. Surely this was not because she wanted him to stop, right?

"Lincoln? Hey, hey, what's the matter?" Lynn softly asked, gently turning her brother around so she could see his face. He had a look of misery and guilt, and Lynn wondered just what it might be about. "U-Um, if I squeezed you too hard back there, I didn't mean it."

"No, it's not that," Lincoln managed to choke out as Lynn listened, "It's - It's what you said just then. Thanks for listening to me. When you said those words, I just couldn't help but think how all this could've been avoided if I hadn't been s-such an idiot and listened to Lori and the others. A-And now look at us! Our house is gone, mom and dad are who knows where, and we just-just left everybody else behind to those... oh, God, I really am useless, aren't I? This is all my fault. I'm the worst..."

By the time he was done, Lincoln had slumped down to his rear and had pulled his legs up to his chest, tears still steadily streaming down his freckled cheeks. Lynn, on the other hand, remained standing as what Lincoln said reverberated in her brain. He was blaming himself, and he was going at it hard. There might be a bit of truth to his self-blame, but Lynn was not about to let him wallow like this. Tough on him as she might be, Lynn knew that there were times when a gentler touch was needed. That, and hearing her brother weep struck a deep nerve within her as a protective older sister.

After everything that happened today, perhaps a little sit-down would be good for the both of them.

"Y'know," she began, taking a seat next to him, "I honestly think it was kinda inevitable that we'd get caught using our superpowers, Lincoln. And yeah, it just happened to be you, though it was probably just a matter of time before one of us got snagged. Hell, if it hadn't been you, then it might've been me down the line. Or Lucy. Or maybe even Lori. That would've been a funny bit of irony right there."

"But it was me, Lynn." Lincoln insisted.

"Lincoln, I know. But that's not what I'm getting at here. I'm saying it doesn't mean that everything that's happened so far has been completely your fault because of that," Lynn argued back, "Take what happened to our house for example. When it blew up, I mean. Do you really think that you could have known that would happen to us? And what happened to Lisa, too! You could've predicted that too?"

"I don't know, maybe," Lincoln said as he demurely rubbed his shoulders. Lynn let out a sigh.

"C'mon Linc, I really doubt you could've seen that happening in a million years, even with all the comic books you read." Lynn said to him. "We still gotta save Lisa and our folks, Lincoln. And we can't do that without you."

"Well maybe you should. Find another dumb kid who thinks he's a hero when he's just an idiot who gets his siblings sent to prison." Lincoln bitterly spat as he glared down at the dirt below, now a reflection of what he thought of himself. The cries of Lisa calling out to him as she was taken away from her family still rung in his ears. Who knew where she was now, if she was even still alive at this point. And as much as he hated it, there was a good chance that Lynn hated it more.

"Look Lincoln we... We all make mistakes. And we all do dumb things. It's what makes us, us. And, if I'm being a hundred-percent honest with you, you're probably the best out of all of us when it comes to things like this. Yeah, maybe you can say that everything that happened was because of you and mope about it, but we can't make this better without you, bro." Lynn ever-gently said to him, using what little softness she had in her while putting her hand on his. "Listen. We're not out of this race yet. You can fix this, Lincoln. We can fix this. Together, just like you said."

Lincoln gave no verbal rebuttal, but the look in his eyes clearly showed Lynn that her words had touched him deep down. She still believed in him, even after everything that happened because of him. It almost made Lincoln want to start crying again out of glee rather than pity, but the soothing touch of Lynn rubbing up and down on his spine stopped him. Her hand was warm and so very comforting for the despairing boy, who was now finding out just how much he needed to hear those words of encouragement, especially from Lynn.

"You really mean it?"

"No duh, Lincoln! Who else has all the smarts on superpowers around here? Hint, he's sitting right next to me." Lynn offered him a smile as she spoke again, softer and more moving as she nudged him with her shoulder. A more driven look came to her then. "And we'll find her, Lincoln. We'll find Lisa, and get mom and dad freed too."

"Together?"

"Of course! We're the Louds, bro. We don't quit. Not on each other." Lynn said back, and then gave a soft laugh. "Even if they think they don't deserve it."

Whatever Lynn wanted to say next was interrupted by her brother hugging her, an action she gladly returned. It was like she could feel the tension leave his body as he embraced her. A good thing too, as she had just run out of inspirational quotes that she could remember her coach telling her.

"Thanks Lynn."

"No prob, Lincoln." Lynn responded, and felt a yawn escape her mouth. "Whew, long day for us, huh?"

"Yeah," Lincoln rubbed his tired eyes, "Really long day."

Just as Lincoln finished saying those words, the deep beat coming from the rotor of an incoming helicopter began to sound overhead. It was soft at first, but as they stood there in silence, the noise suddenly became more numerous, and getting louder as well. With the chase still fresh on their minds, both of the Loud siblings knew what those sounds meant as they turned their heads to the sky the moment they heard that dreadful noise, and with it came a great sense of fear. There was no reason for helicopters to be flying out here unless they were after two very specific people, creating a more grave picture for Lincoln and Lynn in that there was nowhere that they could hide, not even in the wilds of Michigan.

"Looks like it's about to get longer, Lincoln. We gotta move!" Lynn was ready to fly off and get some distance between the choppers and her, but was stopped by her brother grabbing her by the arm before she could make a move.

"No, no, wait! You can't fly out there Lynn, not with those helicopters overhead!"

"And what do you suppose we do, Lincoln? Run away on foot?"

"Well, yes! Yeah, that's precisely the point! If we stay beneath the trees, out of their sight," Lincoln explained as he pointed upwards, "We might be able to get away without them finding us."

Lynn, despite her stubbornness, opted instead to listen to her brother's idea for escaping. And it made sense the more she thought of it, as flying away while there were hostile air vehicles around them sounded like a really dumb idea.

"Okay, so where are we gonna go then if we can't fly outta here?"

Banking on a little bit of Loud family luck, Lincoln pulled out his phone with a hopeful plan in mind. The area around them was not as familiar to him, but Lincoln was able to remember one little bit of information that he had learned while adventuring some time ago with his friends.

"I think there's an old mining outpost about a mile away south from here! If we can sneak around them quietly, maybe we can hide in there and wait for them to leave before they can find us." Lincoln explained.

"South, huh? Then let's get going!" Lynn said, wasting no time at all as she grabbed Lincoln's arm and proceeded to drag him into a sprint while the sounds of helicopters and now the rumble of cars got ever-louder and even more numerous. Lincoln almost dropped his phone in a puddle, nearly tripping over his own two feet as he and Lynn sprinted as fast as they could through the underbrush of the forest with his sister still grabbing him by the sleeve of his polo shirt. Lynn then threw her brother in front of her, releasing him while still running. Both of the Loud kids kept their eyes and ears open, watching for anything that might come at them. Lincoln still had his phone out, using it as a navigator with what little signal he got.

"C'mon, just last us a little longer until we get there please!" Lincoln whispered to his phone, hoping that it somehow listened.

"Hey Linc, I think I see something!" Lynn shouted while pointing in front of her at what appeared to be a clearing.

Yet the moment they emerged from the woods onto a nearby trail, Lynn and Lincoln stopped dead in their tracks the moment they saw the familiar sight of a dark black SUV parked in front of them about a hundred feet away, along with half a dozen agents standing around, each armed with rifles and pistols. One of them, a broad-shouldered man with a trimmed cut goatee in a suit, seemed to be their leader with how he was ordering them around.

"O-Oh shit," Lynn hissed the moment she looked at them, realizing that she and her brother were out in the open with nowhere to hide.

"There they are!" An agent cried out, pointing at the two kids, letting everyone else know.

"LINCOLN! RUN!"

Lynn did not need to tell Lincoln anything further as the two broke into a mad sprint back into the woods as the agents opened fire, spraying the forest around the fleeing kids with shredded bark and leaves. Had they noticed, the agents were still using tranquilizers instead of bullets. Lynn and Lincoln found themselves running downhill over a dirt slope, and Lincoln decided to use the power of gravity to slide down as his sister bounded over any incline she could to avoid getting stuck on the ground. Lincoln checked behind him to see if the agents were chasing him, and saw that they had stopped at the border of the woods.

Back with the agents, Major Vassallo bit back a curse as he watched the two Louds flee further into the forest. They had been right there, so close to them yet just out of reach. Thankfully the kids had decided to not use their powers to escape, or had run out of juice for their precious abilities. Either way, both they and Starwatch were on foot, and he was not about to let them escape so easily.

"The kids are heading southwards! Fan out and track them down!" Vassallo barked into his radio to alert the rest of the Starwatch agents in the area as he and his squad hastily returned to the SUV, with Vassallo sitting shotgun. "Don't lose them!"

"Aye, sir!"

Lincoln and Lynn managed to reach the bottom of the hill, breaking out into another run once they reached ground level with Lynn now taking the lead. Sure enough, coming down an embankment roared another SUV behind them, this one having an open canopy and a heavy, three-barreled turret built atop the vehicle. The mere sight of such weaponry made Lincoln involuntarily whimper as it got closer to him and Lynn. He could only run so fast.

"We've got eyes on them, Major!"

"Take them out, don't let them use their powers!" Vassallo's voice came through strongly, and the agent behind the turret heeded the major's advice and began shooting, this time with shock rounds made to incapacitate them with high-voltage delivery, strong enough to singe the ground black where they hit. Lincoln knew that there was no way to escape on a straightaway, and he spotted a gap in the woods that could just be their ticket out.

"Lynn, go left! Go left!" Lincoln cried out as both he and Lynn dived out of the way of the incoming SUV, falling into a tumble down another incline. Behind them, the SUV stopped at the edge of the hill with agents looking downwards to see where the runaway kids were going.

"Sir, they're headed towards the water!" One reported with a walkie-talkie.

"Get down there and flush them out! Use whatever you've got!"

The two Loud kids barreled down the hill, rolling over and over as their descent kicked up sticks, dirt and clumps of grass. Lincoln saw ground, sky, then ground again as he and Lynn finally came to a stop on the muddy banks of a small river. Lincoln felt his head smack against the mud once he was finished tumbling, groaning as a dull pain spread over his tired body. Lynn, on the other hand, managed to right herself onto her back and slide down feet-first following her brother as they reached the bottom near a muddy stream. While Lincoln was lucky enough to land on softer ground, Lynn halted right beside him on her rear and hissed in pain with how sore she felt after skidding over the rocky shore.

"Hss! Ow, that smarts! You good over there, Lincoln?" Lynn asked, soothing her sore skin.

"My head's spinning, but I'm okay. I think." Lincoln responded with a thumbs up.

Lynn and Lincoln had little time to sit down and tend to their injuries as they heard more voices coming from the forest around them, and Lynn quickly rushed over to haul her dazed brother up on his feet to keep running, not once stopping to see if there was anyone still chasing them. There was little cover where they landed, so all they could do was flee.

A sudden crack, and the water next to them splashed open. Both Lynn and Lincoln yelped in terror and covered their heads to protect themselves while they ran.

"We've found the kids! They're by the stream!"

"Move move move! Nail 'em!"

Lynn and Lincoln found themselves beset by more arriving agents, these ones clad in black armor and carrying guns. Several opened fire once they were close enough to start shooting with tranquilizer darts whizzing overhead, shredding through nearby shrubs as Lincoln and Lynn ran as fast as they could in their terror. Another incoming SUV rumbled across a trail to the kids left, and while this one had no turret, one of the agents was leaning out the window holding a blocky, scoped bazooka over her right shoulder. Lincoln barely had any time to react as the cannon blasted out a large mesh-net aimed right for him, diving forward into the water to avoid getting snatched. He could feel the powerful electric charge of the net as it wrapped around a tree next to him, singing the trunk with spots of charred black.

"Whew!" Lincoln was glad that it missed. A shock like that would have landed him a world of hurt.

As she ran, Lynn was beginning to realize that simply running away and hoping for the best was not going as well as they had both hoped. The further they continued to run, the more agents came after them, armed and ready to put an end to their little chase. With all the evading she was doing, Lynn felt like it was time once again to show these chumps what it meant to fight Lynn Loud and her family.

"Lincoln, get behind me!" Lynn shouted as she shoved her brother in front of her and stopped, facing the agents head-on like in one of her football games.

"Wait, Lynn? What are you doing?!" Lincoln yelled in terror as he watched his sister stand before the charging armored men.

But Lynn had a plan in mind. Once the platoon of agents got close enough, Lynn sucked in a great big breath of air, feeling the superheated energy within her body swell into her lungs. Had she or anybody close to her noticed, the back of her mouth and even her teeth had taken a burning red-orange glow. And for a moment, Lynn stood still, mouth agape before unleashing a stream of fire from her mouth in a blazing scream, bathing the path in front of her with flames. Her intention was not to incinerate the agents, who had all dropped to cover to protect themselves from the flames, but to create a barrier to buy her and her brother some time.

By the time Lynn finished, there was now a wall of fire separating them and the agents that stretched from one side of the stream to the other. Several of the trees that had been scorched by Lynn already began to crack and fall, forming more tinder for the flames.

"Woah." Lincoln blinked. He had seen that sort of ability from his sister before, but not at that level.

"C'mon bro, let's move!" Lynn coughed out some smoke as she turned around and began running again, with Lincoln taking one last glance behind him to check to see if any more agents had made it through, but none had. Lynn's little trick had worked.

Sure enough, the two Loud kids finally emerged from the forest as they reached the mines that Lincoln had pointed them towards. It must have been closed for the day, a small gracious mercy for Lynn and Lincoln as they found themselves alone here with several buildings and a garage nearby that looked like good places for cover, but Lincoln's eyes were on something else, which was the mine shaft that had been quartered off for some time, blocked by a chain-link fence. The opening to the mine was dug at the foothill of a tall, stony mountain, one of several peaks.

"There it is!" Lincoln gasped for breath. The poor boy had been running for so long, and he was nowhere near as athletic as Lynn.

Lynn let out a growl as she heard more engines coming their way.

"And there they are, too!"

Lincoln noticed the incoming SUVs the moment his sister spoke up. Two from the left, and one more emerging from the right through the outpost's main entrance. With their last hope for escaping in front of them, both of the kids made a rapid beeline straight towards the mine as the closest SUV started shooting at them. Overhead, one of the helicopters soared with the agent hanging outside the passenger seats observing through the lens of his sniper rifle, noticing where the Loud siblings were running to.

"Sir, they're going to the mines!"

"Cut them off! Don't let them reach the mineshaft!"

"We're almost there!" Lincoln cried out to his sister. For the first time since he fled Vanzilla, Lincoln could feel a small spark of hope grow within him. Maybe this one time he and his sister would be able to get away scot-free and leave these people behind them for the Great Lakes City to meet up with Lori and the others. He felt energized, invigorated even at the thought of reuniting with his sisters.

Those feelings were quickly dashed when an incoming SUV slammed into Lynn from a blindside right in front of him, sending the unaware Loud sister flying backwards before rolling to a stop face-first on the ground. The sole brother felt his blood run ice cold.

"LYNN!" Lincoln shrieked, horrified at what he had just seen before briefly using his powers to launch himself over to check on his sister. He turned her over to reveal a long bleeding gash on her forehead, but at least she was still alive at the moment. "Lynn, speak to me!"

"...mmgh. Lincoln..." Lynn winced, pain clogging her head. She felt something trickle down her temple that was too warm to be water. Slowly cracking her eyes open, she saw the concerned face of her brother looking down at her, and remembering where they were and what sort of danger they were in, attempted to push herself up but found no strength to do so thanks to the impact of the car. Craning her vision, she let out a gasp at seeing how many agents there were now. Lincoln held her close, realizing that he and his sister were now trapped by whoever these people were.

"Oh no..."

"Stop right here, and make sure they don't go anywhere." Vassallo said into his radio as the three SUVs and the Starwatch ground troops moved in to secure their targets. The girl was obviously the more dangerous of the two, and with her now out of commission, all that was left to deal with was the boy, one Lincoln Loud who was obviously protecting his battered older sister. Vassallo had to acknowledge that it was a risky ploy to use one of his own cars to stop them, but these kids evidently were tough and durable to take such a hit and not be splattered over his reinforced bumper. Though he was still dangerous, as any cornered man would be. Those wind powers were no joke.

Feeling a little triumphant at the moment, the major stepped out of his SUV with pistol in hand while another agent got behind the car's mounted turret, aiming the twin barrels right at the kids. Vassallo was unwilling to take any chances while the rest of his squad formed an armed circle around the Loud brother. The Starwatch helicopter swooped down some distance away from the scene with the sniper outside ready to take a shot per Vassallo's command.

With what he was facing, Lincoln knew that he was in serious trouble. He could fly away just as he had before, but then he would be forced to leave Lynn behind while he escaped to the city. He'd be damned if he left his sister defenseless and injured at the mercy of these people.

"Attention Lincoln Loud and Lynn Loud Junior!" Vassallo boomed through a loudspeaker. "You are currently surrounded! Surrender immediately, or we will be forced to use less civil means to bring you in. Do not test me, because we will fire."

And Lincoln knew they would, with how feverous they hounded him and his sister.

"Please, this is a mistake!" Lincoln managed to find his courage and his voice, hoping that they would see reason. "We haven't used our powers to do anything wrong or hurt anyone with them! We're not the bad guys here, I swear!"

"Haven't hurt anyone? That's funny, kid. Did you decide on that before or after you turned your whole house into a bomb and tried to blow us up to kingdom come?" Vassallo shot back, putting his megaphone down. It was clear that he did not believe the Loud boy.

"T-That wasn't us, you chumps! We wouldn't do that in a million freaking years!" It was Lynn that spoke up this time, furious at the accusation. Her hair caught fire again, and some of the agents took a step back, redirecting their guns at her. Lincoln eased a gentle hand on Lynn's shoulder, calming the enraged girl down just enough for her flaming hair to die down a little.

"Easy, easy. Stay cool." Vassallo gently ordered his startled men. Even with their backs figuratively pinned against the wall, these kids still continued to show Starwatch just how dangerous they could be.

"We... We don't want to hurt anyone. We never meant to hurt anyone." Lincoln softly said to them with pleading eyes. For the briefest of moments, there was a part of Vassallo and his agents that wondered if the boy was in fact speaking the truth. This was not the act of a fighter biding his time as Vassallo would believe from what he saw during the car chase. The Loud child could have attacked them, blown them all away with his wind and made a run for it with his sister, but instead he chose to stay and beseech mercy for him and his family while he protected his injured sibling. It was almost admirable to an extent. Deep down, Vassallo knew that he would never intentionally hurt children, but his foremost duty demanded that he capture metahumans to be brought to the Pentagon no matter what the cost, even if most of the metahumans were under fourteen years old.

He could not help but wonder if his responsibilities to Starwatch were worth staining his soul...

[OST - 0:01]

Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn to the incoming sound of an engine soaring overhead. Their heads turned to see what appeared to be a dark gray fighter jet with forward-facing wings flying in from around the mountain bend, leaving behind twin contrails of bright lilac-white energy as it flew. Vassallo peered at it, wondering where it came from, and what kind of unrecognizable design it sported. It certainly had no markings that belonged to any branch he knew, if there were any at all. Perhaps it was more reinforcements coming in from the Pentagon, fresh under orders from Colonel Matthews to come and help him out.

"Who called in the Air Force?" One of the agents piped up.

The jet banked again, this time veering down closer to ground level, passing over the forest as it turned back around gunning straight towards them. Had anyone been able to look closer, four narrow ports opened underneath its broad wings.

"That's not the Air Force."

It was Lincoln that spoke, and some turned their heads back to the sole brother of the Loud family. Lynn noticed that Lincoln's face had morphed into one stark with terror, eyes wide and full of fear as he saw the shape of an all-too familiar jet made itself known again, the same one that had stalked him when he snuck out, returning from wherever it had been lurking to hunt him again. And this time there would be no flying away from it as it got closer and closer to him, Lynn and Vassallo's squad, all aside from him apparently unaware of the incoming danger.

The only thing Lincoln could do was wordlessly throw himself over Lynn to protect her as best as he could as the plane that haunted Lincoln's nightmares suddenly let loose a barrage of laserfire from the cannons that emerged from the underside of its wings. The bright purple beams struck the SUVs and the helicopter with a force powerful enough to blast them off their tires, destroying their onboard computers and electrical systems entirely as the shockwaves rattled the screaming agents like an earthquake. One wrecked SUV was hit hard enough to fly over both Loud siblings, smashing into one of the management buildings. The agents that were closer to the cars were knocked around from the blast, Vassallo included, while the others who were lucky dove for safety as the jet flew off.

"Sir, my engines shot! I can't control it!" The unfortunate pilot cried, the helicopter spiraling out of control before it crashed into the ground below. Vassallo, dazed from the blast with his ears ringing, watched from where he landed in horror as his copter crew kicked up a cloud of dust from the impact. His cars now totaled, his men in an unknown state, the major had a strong sense of déjà vu kick in, as with the same thing that happened at the Loud home as all it took was a couple of seconds before everything had gone wrong again for him.

"Anybody hurt?! Is everyone okay!" Vassallo shouted as loud as he could as he slowly stood up, still disorientated from the attack. Right now his main concern had shifted from capturing the Louds to making sure his squad was alive. Thankfully a chorus of replies came after him.

"We're good over here, Major!"

"Vasquez is hurt, sir! Her leg got stuck under the car!"

"Did anybody else see what hit us?"

With the Louds, Lincoln still kept his grip on Lynn as the wind kicked up from the blasts breezed over him. Once the brief sense of reprieve arrived he let got of his sister to see if anything had hurt her, but fortunately Lynn seemed relatively unharmed from the blasts.

"You okay there, Lynn?"

"Yeah, I think. Thanks for the save, Lincoln. I owe-" Lynn's expression fell to terror the moment her eyes strayed away from her brother, "O-oh God, it's coming back!"

Lincoln followed to where his sister was looking, and sure enough the jet was coming back for another run, beelining right towards them again. Only, instead of firing any more lasers at them, the jet instead did something else, something even more heart-stopping to both Lincoln and Lynn.

All of a sudden, the jet began to shift its dark gray metal body around, still managing its breakneck speed. The crystalline blue glass cockpit and nose cone folded downwards across what appeared to be the formation of a broad-shouldered chest on a ridged, segmented body, followed by two arms that emerged from the sides of the jet complete with metal hands that reached forwards and equipped with angular missile pods placed on the back of its shoulders. The rear of the jet where the turbines lay split in half, changing into a pair of heavy, armor-plated legs with the exhaust nozzles situated on the ankles, and the broad gray wings compressed into the center of its back as with the horizontal and vertical rear stabilizers followed suit, creating what appeared to be a multi-winged thruster pack with two hexagon-shaped boosters that blasted out those purple-white contrails.

But what truly made them feel fear was the emergence of a head from out of its body, right behind where the cockpit once was. Instead of gray, it was a metallic crimson, complete with two pairs of curved, upward-facing black horns, the larger ones at the side of its head with the smaller two right behind them. It had no mouth, but what appeared to be a metal gas-mask apparatus instead with a glowing yellow interior. And the orange-yellow optics in its black eyes... Lincoln recognized them, and he let out a gasp. He had seen them before.

The exact same ones he saw peering at him on that dreaded night.

Only, with no time to react, this incoming machine-jet-thing snatched Lincoln in its reaching hand at high speed and slammed the stunned boy into the base of the rocky cliff behind him, blasting Lynn aside as the impact kicked up a cloud of dust. Lincoln swore he felt the rock crack beneath him as he gazed up at the jet monster, realizing just how massive it was compared to him as it pinned him with a clawed hand on his chest.

It leered at him, and then it spoke, the mask apparatus flexing as it did.

"No more running, boy!"

[OST - 0:27]

Lincoln, who had just gotten sick of being tossed around and shot at for no good reason, spun himself around in its grasp while using what little fighting instinct he had and kicked the machine across its face, inspired by the countless comic books he had read. He managed to get himself free with just enough time to try and make for his sister, but the machine caught him again by the foot and slung its arm around, hurling Lincoln towards one of the busted cars, sending it skidding back a few feet while the poor boy became a cannonball.

Shaking off the shattered glass from the door he had inadvertently crumpled, Lincoln tried to stand up and fight back but found himself narrowly dodging a metal fist coming his way. As the machine retracted its arm, Lincoln rolled away and grabbed the nearest blunt object to him, an axle from one of the SUVs, and swung it as hard as he could at the robot. It raised its arm, blocking the blow, before it grabbed the axle and tossed it away. A powerful upwards backfist followed, sending Lincoln flying back again, landing on his stomach some distance away from the carnage.

"Allow me to reunite you with your sister." It said to him as the plating on its right arm opened up, the metal hand retracting inwards to reveal a six-barreled rotating cannon that it aimed right at the boy, targeting lasers pointed at his defenseless chest as it spun up with a whine.

Lincoln felt a chill after he heard the robot talk. It - he? - had mentioned a sister...

Lisa?

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Lynn roared as she finally arrived at the battle. The flaming tomboy shoulder-charged into the robot's arm before it could make mincemeat out of her brother. The robot stumbled, his shots going skyward, before he shifted the cannon back into an arm and flung the enraged teenager off its chassis. Unlike Lincoln, Lynn managed to stay in the air, keeping herself airborne with jets of superheated gas forming beneath her legs, melting the tarmac below. In her anger Lynn blindly charged again, but the robot caught her by the throat and slammed her into the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

"Like the rest of your race, weak and undisciplined!" The robot angrily growled at Lynn before it punted her towards her brother with a powerful kick, sending them both skidding away.

All the while, Vassallo and a couple of his agents managed to get themselves up and watched in both fascination and terror behind one of the SUVs as the ten-foot-tall shape shifting robot thrashed the young metahumans with ease. Whoever or whatever this death machine was or had come from, it certainly was not one of his.

"Are you getting this?" One mumbled to another, who was holding a camera.

"Sir?" The agent to his left whispered. "What do we do?"

Vassallo had no answer for her, as nothing had ever prepared him for this.

Back in the fight, Lincoln and Lynn managed to get back to their feet before Lincoln once again found himself in the grasp of the robot as it launched itself at the two kids. Lincoln attempted to pry himself free from the metal fingers squeezing around his neck as the engines on the robot's legs blasted both it and the boy up the side of the mountain. As it did, it reared back its arm and smashed Lincoln into the mountain side, dragging him along the stone cliff with his back against it. His shirt was instantly shredded on impact, leaving it attached by the sleeves alone with his bare flesh now exposed. Had Lincoln not been crying out in pain, eyes closed as he tried to free himself somehow, he would have seen the robot glaring down at him as he was mercilessly trawled through rock and dirt.

"Leave my brother alone!"

Lincoln was once again saved by the arrival of Lynn, using her superheat to turn her into a human missile as her fury ignited again at the sight of her brother in pain. Latching on to the robot's spine, Lynn climbed up to the robot's head and put her feet on its shoulders while pulling on the larger horns as if she was at a local rodeo. With it now dealing with the arrival of Lynn, Lincoln finally got himself free and joined his sister in fighting back, with him going so far as start punching its face even if it made his knuckles bruise while Lynn ripped one of the stabilizer wings off its back and shove it into one of the hexagonal engines, causing it to sputter and die.

The robot attempted to get the Loud children off him, but any chance to regain the upper hand was dashed as it quickly started to spiral out of control as they fought the top of the mountain. With its turbines damaged and two fighting-mad metahuman kids on top of it, there was little they could do as the robot unintentionally soared towards a wooden fire lookout tower built on the peak.

The watch tower stood little chance as they smashed into the building at high speed right through the cabin, cleaving it open. Lynn and Lincoln were thrown away from the impact as the tower began to fall, the support beams snapping into timber as it collapsed like a house of cards as the kerosene in the gas-powered stoves ignited into a fireball. Lynn managed to land on her feet after performing a safety roll that she learned from her parkour days after jumping off the robot's back, while Lincoln smacked against a tree and fell to his side.

Emerging from the flames was the robot, its arm once again taking the form of a rotary cannon now aimed at the Loud girl. Lynn had just enough time to grab a refrigerator door that had been blown off from the explosion the moment it fired, explosive rounds shredding the heavy stainless steel that protected her into metal bits. The power from the rounds were also pushing Lynn towards the cliff's edge, and before she could potentially fall to her death as her ankle found itself slipping into open air, the robot wrenched the door from her hands and clutched her by the throat, lifting her towards its face.

"Tell me where the rest of your sisters are hiding." He glowered at her, those yellow optics beaming down at her with unbridled focus.

So it was hunting them, as Lincoln now discovered as he tried to help Lynn, but the pain that wracked his body stopped him from doing anything aside from watching his sister make a one-woman stand against their latest foe.

"Go to hell. I'll never talk." Lynn spat at it. The mere mention of her sisters caused her blood to boil again as she glared defiantly at the robot, brave until the end.

"Is that so?" Its masculine voice took on a slightly humored tone as its other arm changed, metal shifting and turning as another device emerged from its forearm, a dual-pronged taser with its rounded tips bathed in sparks. Lynn felt what newfound bravery she had faltered at the sight of it, eyes going wide. Surely he wouldn't, she was just a kid. Right?

"Then let's make it official."

And then, without a hint of mercy, the robot shoved the taser right into Lynn's neck with both prongs pressed against her jugular. The sporty Loud let out a hellish scream of agony as her throat was fried by the high-current voltage that coursed through her, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her voice was nearly drowned out by the shrill electric warbling as the machine continued to press the taser onto her skin to make sure it did not miss its mark. The sheer pain was nothing like she had ever felt before, like her nerves were suddenly replaced with molten oil.

Down below, Vassallo and his Starwatch crew spotted a sudden brightness on the mountain peak.

The robot retracted the taser back into its arm the moment Lynn stopped screaming and started burning, and not from her powers. Lynn looked just as horrible as she felt, with small wisps of smoke billowing from her singed clothes and wiry-shocked hair, whimpering as she tried to fight the sheer pain. It might have been painful and somewhat quick for Lynn, but for Lincoln it had felt like an eternity, watching helplessly in horror as his older sister was mercilessly tortured by this death machine, and him yet again unable to do anything to save her.

With her vision fading, Lynn gave her brother one final glance with tear-stricken eyes, trying to find her voice to tell her little brother to run yet found she could not say anything as she slipped into unconsciousness, finally going limp in the robot's hand.

But instead of flying away with his prisoner, the robot leaned his head over the cliffside to peer down at the human agents still scrambling at the foot of the mountain. His optics zoomed in, revealing that he had seen them before during the attack on the Loud residence and the subsequent vehicle interception, with the one male in the center being their apparent leader. It was the emblem on their break pockets embroidered on their suits that truly made these humans stand out to him, with the image of the planet Earth being held inside a golden halo with a white star overhead. Such a design momentarily intrigued him.

He knew that these agents were after the children themselves, but for what specific reason they did he had yet to discover, for it had been a long time since he had ventured back to Earth. And with how this hunt was going, perhaps it would be wise to find out for himself before these humans started becoming more of a hassle.

"Hmm…"

An idea formed in his head, one that set to intertwine their shared goals. With curiosity now guiding him, he gave a look at the unconscious girl in his hand…

…and then threw her off the cliff.

"NO!" Lincoln gasped, horrified at seeing his sister mercilessly tossed away, watching as she got smaller and smaller.

Vassallo managed to find a pair of binoculars to check what was going on at the top of the mountain between the metahumans and the machine, and spotted something small falling down from the peak. It remained as a little brown-black smudge in the sky before it came crashing down in front of them where the fight had taken place, kicking up dust and debris. Vassallo and his men slowly approached the crater where it landed with guns in hand, and as the dust cleared, it revealed the badly-wounded form of one Lynn Loud Junior.

[OST - 1:51 End]

"Oh my god…" Vassallo mumbled, unsure if he was looking at a corpse or a knocked-out human girl. She looked like she had tried to fist-fight a lightning storm. One of the agents slowly knelt to check on her condition, only to get weakly zapped by some remnant voltage still in her.

"Ah!" The agent stuck his arm back and shook his hand from the strong shock. Still he went again, and after nervously pressing his fingers to her neck to see if he would get shocked again and did not, felt a weak pulse.

"Is she alive, Tristan?" Vassallo asked, hoping that he was right.

"Yeah, she's alive, but she's not in a good spot. We'll need to bring her back to HQ quickly to treat her wounds before she gets any worse than she is now." The agent, Tristan, plainly said back. "But hey, at least we got one of them, right?"

"That girl just got dropped off a frickin' mountain…"

"And she's still kicking. These kids are tough as hell, man."

"That's not a good thing."

Ignoring the chatter, Vassallo kept his gaze on the wounded girl lying there in a crater. As the commanding officer of this mission, it was his responsibility to ensure the capture and containment of each of the metahumans. With his duty in mind, the Major leaned down and scooped her into his hands, carrying the tomboy bridal style. Without any working vehicles, it would be quite a while before reinforcements came to find them. He was barely able to hear a weak, pained moan escape her lips, and felt a sense of sympathy towards the Loud teen. As he gazed down at Lynn, Vassallo could only wonder what happened between the Loud kids and whatever that robot was on top of the mountain.

And the more important question, what did this mean for him and his mission here now with a machine of that caliber after the kids as well.

Vassallo felt his phone buzz with an incoming text message, and the major reached into his pocket to see who had contacted him at this time. He had hoped it was the incoming alert of nearby agents coming to help them out. What he saw on his screen was something else entirely, a single sentence and a line of numbers beneath it.

If you wish to know the truth, find us at these coordinates.

"Hey Evaline." He said to the agent nearest to him.

"Yeah boss?"

"Find out where these coordinates lead," He handed his phone over to her, "I think our newest friend just decided to tell us what the hell's going on with these kids."

Back up the peak, the robot watched on as the agents left with their metahuman prize after flickering away the holographic keyboard on his arm, his missive sent to their leader with hacked data. Once that was done, he reached to his back and plucked the stabilizer where it had been stabbed through one of his warp drives, holding the gray wing in his fingers. Unsurprisingly, these children were getting stronger by the day. And while the Loud girl was indeed one of the children that his boss's power seed had altered, there were nine others that still needed to be found before any greater plays could be made. Though if this plan of his worked to fruition as it should, then he would have all of them soon enough.

Speaking of which, he turned his head to face the boy now that he was finally alone only to find that he was long gone, carried by the wind he now used. Either he left by fear of him or elected to leave his sister behind at the mercy of the other humans, the boy was once again out there on his own. With the boy now vanished, the robot jumped back into the air, changed back into his jet form and blasted off, returning to his ship hiding in the lake intending to make some repairs and a few adjustments.

He felt no worry. Lincoln and his family would be found eventually.

After all, where else could he go?