The next morning, Lincoln woke up happier than ever, he was still pretty tired from spending the night before fighting crime, but he was happy he was able to do something to change this situation.
The night before, not only he saved that guy in the alley, but he also stopped many pickpockets and a few car thefts; petty crimes, but it was a start.
Looking at the clock he noticed it was half past nine, so he decided to get out of bed and get dressed.
As he passed through the corridor he noticed that the other doors were open and deduced he was the last one to get out of bed.
As he walked into the kitchen he saw that most of his sisters had already finished eating and were washing their plates in the sink.
"Good morning." said Lincoln as he sat down at the table.
"Good morning." his family said.
"Did you sleep well?" his mother asked, still a bit concerned about her only son.
"yeah but I still feel a bit tired."
"Well at least you have the rest of the day to rest dude." said Luna while giving her little brother a little head pat.
As Lincoln was finishing eating, the members of the family heard someone knocking at the door. Everyone was a bit confused as they weren't expecting anyone to pass by that day.
"Was anyone expecting a visit?" Asked Lori.
"I will go to see." said Lincoln as he went to open the door.
As soon as he turned the handle, he was surprised by a hug from his best friend Clyde.
"LINCOLN, ARE YOU OK FRIEND, LIAM AND THE OTHERS TOLD ME WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK, AND, OH MAN, I AM SO SORRY FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU."
"Clyde, what are you doing, shouldn't you be camping with your family?" said Lincoln, a bit confused about what his friend was doing at his house and why his friend was acting that way "ok calm down breath in, breath out, ok, now tell me what happened."
Clyde then started catching some breath and proceeded to explain the situation.
"While I was camping, Rusty called me, he told me about the robbery and that Lynn was shot and was in a coma; Lincoln I'm so sorry I can't even imagine how you feel right now and I'm sorry I couldn't help you before."
"Thank you Clyde, I appreciate it, and don't worry, I understand why you couldn't come here before."
"No problem, that's what friends are for, if it can help you feel better we organized a little activity that can make you feel better."
"What would it be?" Asked Lincoln curious about his friend's plan.
"What do you think of a day at the Arcade with your friends?"
"I think that it's a wonderful idea." Said Lincoln full of joy as he and his friend left the Loud residence to go to the Arcade.
"Fortunately he still got his friend." Said Lincoln's mom who had watched the whole discussion, now a little bit less worried about her son.
After walking for some time, Lincoln and Clyde finally arrived at the Arcade; at the entrance, the other Lincoln's friends were waiting for him and, as soon as they saw him, they ran to him and gave him a big hug.
They immediately started bombarding him with questions about how he was feeling if he needed anything, and how his sister was.
"Are you ok?"
"Do you need anything?"
"We tried to call you but you never answered."
"Can we help you in any way?"
As his friends kept asking him questions, Lincoln was starting to feel more confused, he couldn't distinguish the words properly, his head was starting to spin and he felt like he was suffocating.
"Guys please give Lincoln some space." Clyde said, trying to keep the situation as calm as possible.
"Sorry." the four kids said simultaneously while taking a few steps back.
"Guys I really appreciate your interest but I'm fine and, right now I don't want to think of what happened so it's ok if we go inside and play some games?"
"We understand that's why we are here." Said Stella.
"Yes, if you need anything just ask." Liam added.
After having understood Lincoln was feeling a bit stressed out about the event that occurred the previous week, his five friends realized that he needed all the help they could give him.
"What game should we play first?" asked Zach
"I think we should let Lincoln choose." said Stella
"What?" Lincoln said not believing What his friend just said.
"She is right." said Clyde "we are here to make sure you feel as relaxed as possible so it's natural that you choose the game we play."
"Thank you guy, you're the best." said Lincoln, giving a big hug to all his friends to thank them.
As they separated from the hug the group of six friends entered the building ready to help Lincoln as much as possible.
The six friends were having the time of their lives playing every single game in the building, having their friendly competition for not arriving in last position, winning some prizes, and for that time, Lincoln wasn't thinking about the incident.
It had been nearly 2 hours since the group of friends entered the Arcade and now they were waiting in line to get some chips and talking about what happened to them in the past days.
"And that's why you should never put a duck and a chicken in the same room." said Liam, finishing talking about an incident that happened to him some days prior.
"Who could believe two birds could birds cause such a mess." said his friend Zach
"It's like when my cat sees me with some snacks". said Clyde, having chills from all the scars his two cats gave him, causing his friend to laugh.
After the 6 friends finished buying their food and drink, they returned to their table.
As Lincoln was turning around he saw someone he never thought he would see at that moment.
In front of him there was a Latina girl around his same age, she was wearing her usual purple hood.
"Lincoln" said the Latina.
"Ronnie Anne." replied the white-haired boy.
The two kids remained in awkward silence for a moment, although the two had become friends since they first met, they still had problems showing their friendship in public, even if it was just in front of their friends, for fear that people would think they were a couple.
"You guys go back to the table, I will come in a second." said Lincoln to his friends, they were uncertain whether to leave him or not but, in the end, they decided to follow his instruction.
After the two of them were alone, the two kids were able to speak freely.
"Bobby told me what happened to your sister, I'm sorry." said Ronnie.
"Thank you." responded the boy.
"So, how are you feeling?" asked Ronnie Anne.
"I'm fine." responded Lincoln in a reassuring tone.
"Are you sure? you seem a bit worn out."
"Ronnie Anne relax, I'm fine; I admit the last few days were a bit hard and I'm still elaborating on this but now I'm fine."
"if you say so" the girl said, giving a small friendly punch on his friend's shoulder "I would prefer if nothing happened to you lame-o."
As the two of them finished talking Lincoln heard his phone ringing in his pocket, as the boy watched the phone number on the screen he felt a shiver down his spine. It was a call from his sister Lisa, normally a call from one of his sisters wouldn't cause this type of reaction but, after they started fighting crime, he could only think about the worst.
"Lisa, is everything fine?" Asked Lincoln trying to stay as calm as possible.
"Dear brother, I hate to disturb you, but I want to inform you that, right now, the Royal Woods bank is currently being robbed. If you act quickly you may be able to stop them."
"I'm on my way." Lincoln said as he hung the call.
"Is everything all right?" Ronnie Anne asked, suspicious about her friend's behavior.
"Yes, it's just Lisa that needs a hand with an experiment so I have to return home."
"Do you ever think you are doing too much for your sisters?"
"It's a big brother job, can you say to the other I'm sorry I had to leave." asked Lincoln to the girl as he approached the exit to which the Latina replied simply by nodding her head.
As Lincoln exited the building Ronnie Anne kept watching him, still uncertain about how fine her friend was.
Lincoln had been jumping from rooftop to rooftop when he finally arrived on the opposite side of the road.
"Lisa, can you give me some information about the situation inside the bank?" asked Lincoln through the earpiece.
"From what I can see from the cameras, there are two guys in the back currently loading the money in bags, while the other two are controlling the 12 hostages; all of them are armed with a shotgun. I suggest that you deal with the one holding the hostages."
"All right, I'm going in."
After saying this, Lincoln jumped off the roof to the bank, crashing one of the various windows and lending in front of the main entrance.
Everyone inside the room turned in the direction of the sound of the shattering glass and they met the masked hero with their sight.
The two criminals quickly pointed their guns in the direction of Lincoln but, before even one of them was able to fire a single shot, Lincoln dashed to them and removed the gun from the criminal's hands before landing a powerful blow to the stomach causing the criminal to fall to the ground in pain.
The other criminal was completely shocked, he tried to run to the hostages to threaten them but Lincoln quickly ran in front of him and knocked him out with an uppercut.
As Lincoln finished dealing with the two robbers, he heard the sirens of the police car coming from outside the bank.
"EVERYBODY GET OUT!" Lincoln ordered the hostages who immediately rushed out of the building.
As Lincoln supervised the escape of the hostages he heard footsteps coming from behind him; he turned around to see one of the criminals who immediately opened fire against him.
The young hero jumped behind the counter to protect himself.
"Come on idiot, we gotta go before the police enter." said the fourth criminal to his partner before going out of the backdoor.
"Dear brother, I suggest you do the same if you don't want to explain your situation to the police."
"Alright, I'm leaving." said Lincoln as he jumped out of the windows right before the police entered the building.
Lincoln arrived home some minutes later, he immediately entered the bunker in the backyard where his sister was waiting for him.
"Well, I think I did pretty well." Said Lincoln as he deactivated his belt by pushing the orange stone, causing his suit to disappear.
"You nearly got shot and two of the criminals managed to escape." Pointed out Lisa.
"But all of the hostages are fine and the robbers weren't able to take anything with them as they escaped so I see this as a victory." Replied the white-haired boy.
"Well even if it was a relative success we still have two criminals free that need to be handed over to the police."
"Do we know anything about them?" Asked Lincoln.
"I'm currently doing research." said the 4-year-old "I will call you when I find something."
As the two of them finished talking they heard someone knocking on the door of the bunker.
"Were you followed!?" Asked Lisa fearful that somebody might have already discovered their secret.
"No." Lincoln replied, sure that nobody noticed him as he returned home.
The white-haired boy then went to the door of the bunker and he was frozen on the spot once he saw who was knocking at his door.
It was Ronnie Anne; the boy didn't know why his friend was there and tried to stay as calm as possible to try to not look suspicious.
"H-h-hey Ronnie Anne, what are you doing here?"
"Well you seemed a little suspicious when we were at the Arcade, I mean, I know you would do a lot to help your sisters but, leaving all your friends at the Arcade just to help one of them? That's too much."
"W-well Lisa needed my help as soon as possible." said Lincoln ending his statement with a nervous laugh.
"Sure…" said the Latina still a bit suspicious. "So you don't mind if I stay with you for a few minutes."
"NO, I MEAN YES, I MEAN EHM-EHM GIVE ME JUST A MINUTES." said Lincoln panicking as he closed the door of the bunker and rushed towards Lisa.
"LISA RONNIE ANNE IS HERE."
"WHAT!? Dear brother, would you care to explain to me why your girlfriend is here?"
"First of all don't call Ronnie that way second I don't know just pretend we are experimenting ok?"
After having closed all the computers and organized a sort of plausible excuse, the two siblings opened the door allowing Ronnie to enter the underground bunker.
"So, Lisa, what kind of experiment were you doing?" asked Ronnie as she entered the underground building.
"I wouldn't call it an experiment, it's more of an analysis of the effect a dramatic experience has on a brain in its development phase and how to contain it's damage"
"So you're having a therapy session?" Asked Ronnie Anne.
"Well that would be reductive to call it this way, but yes"
"I see, this therapy consists of jumping from one roof to another in a black and orange costume?"
As the two siblings heard the question of the Latina their blood froze in their veins, realizing their secret might have been already discovered.
"W-w-wh what are y-you talking about?"
"Oh come on Lincoln, stop acting as if you don't know what I'm talking about. I've seen you jump into your bunker dressed like the protagonist of one of the superhero stories you read."
"I told you it wasn't a good idea to come here still in the suit." Said Lisa, angry at the fact that their secret had been discovered because her brother hadn't listened to her.
"I thought no one had seen me!" responded Lincoln, trying to defend himself.
"So can one of you two explain what you two are doing?"
Hearing his friend's question Lincoln started to explain to her everything that happened to him, from the incident at the gas station to the discovery of the stone powers and the week-long training.
"Let me get this straight, you have become a vigilante? Have you gone insane?"
"Ronnie, I know this sounds crazy but trust me, I know what I'm doing is dangerous, but I think I can use these powers to help the city and there is nothing you can do that will make me change my mind."
Ronnie Anne remained silent for some seconds, she had never seen his friend so determined to achieve anything, she was thinking about what to say next until an idea popped out in her mind.
"Ok lame-o, I will go along and let you play the superhero but I want to be part of this thing."
"WHAT no way, Ronnie Anne this isn't a joke, today two robbers shot at me and sorry but without superpowers, you wouldn't last a minute."
Ronnie Anne was infuriated and outraged by the comment of his friend who dared to doubt her skill.
"Oh is that so?" Asked Ronnie trying to keep her anger under control. "Well then, hit me."
"What?!"
"You heard me, if you hit me right in the face and I will leave you alone and I won't tell this to anyone, otherwise I am helping you, for a superhero this isn't going to be a hard task."
Lincoln was shocked at the beginning but he soon decided to play along, he got into position and threw an uppercut at her.
But the Latina blocked the blow, she then proceeded to twist his arm behind his back and, to add a bit of humiliation, pull down his pants.
"Do you still think I couldn't last a minute lame-o?" She said with a smug smile.
"Alright you have proven your point." said Lincoln as he raised his pants "But it's still too dangerous, right Lisa?" Added the white-haired boy trying to get some help from his sister.
"To be honest, I think that it would be helpful if your friend joined you."
"What!" Exclaimed the young boy, not believing what his sister said.
"Dear brother, as much as I believe in you, you can't do this alone, and I believe your friends will be of great help."
"That may be true" said Lincoln "But it's still too dangerous to let her go on patrol without any sort of powers."
"I might have the solution to this problem." said Lisa as she went to a shelf on the other side of the room "some time ago, our fifth sibling, Lynn, asked me to create something for you Lincoln, she said 'something to make stinkin stronger so he doesn't pass out as soon as I hit him' if I recall correctly, ah there it is" said the 4-year-old as she took out a black suit from a drawer.
"What is that?" Asked Ronnie
"It's a strength-agility enhancing suit. Lynn wanted this so you could help her with her kung fu practice, give me an hour for some change and it should be ready for a test."
"Lynn sure asked you a lot of help with her sport." said Lincoln.
"To be honest, I had to build at least 2 or 3 inventions to help our family members with their activities."
"Fair point, wait a minute you never built what I asked you." Lincoln said, outraged.
"That's because our other family members didn't ask me to build floating underwear so they could read their comics while taking a bath."
"You read your comics in your underwear?" Ronnie Anne said as she was trying to not laugh.
"IT'S MORE COMFORTABLE!" Lincoln shouted, irritated.
After some more minutes, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne got out of the bunker and headed back inside the house through the backdoor.
As the two walked to the exit, they noticed all of Lincoln's sisters with their eyes glued to the screen.
"We are watching the news about the superhero at the bank robbery."
As Lincoln heard the word hero, he and Ronnie quickly rushed towards the TV.
"Katherine Mulligan speaking from the Royal Woods bank, just a few minutes ago a robbery was stopped by an unknown superhero." The local reporter said as she showed footage of the cameras in which Lincoln was seen fighting the criminals.
"I can't believe it's a real superhero." Lana said, not believing that Royal Woods had a real vigilante.
"Shh, I'm trying to listen." her twin quickly shushed her and kept listening to the news
"The police are currently searching for the two robbers and the masked man, now a word from the head of the police department."
"Although some people may think the act of that 'hero' should be praised" said the officer " no one should take justice into their own hands, an arrest warrant has already been issued so, if anyone should see him, he's please to inform the police."
"Perfect as if we didn't have enough problems." Lori complained as she shut down the television
"What are you talking about, I think it's great that our city has a superhero." said her sister Luna
"Yeah yeah, I just don't like the idea of having someone dressed like it was halloween going around, I have literally a bad feeling about this".
After Lori explained her worry, the 11 siblings all left the couch to return to their activity, leaving behind Lincoln who was now more worried than before.
"Hey, are you ok?" Ronnie asked him.
"Yes I'm fine, I just can't believe the police are now trying to arrest me." the boy replied.
"Hey, keep calm, we will deal with this problem along the way." the Latina said, trying to reassure him before leaving the house.
That afternoon Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were inside Lisa's bunker to try to understand where the last two robbers might be hiding.
"So Lisa, any idea where those two crooks may be hiding?" Ronnie Anne asked, eager to start her new life as a superhero.
"I'm happy you are so enthusiastic, unfortunately I still have no idea where they might be hiding but, I think I found a track that could lead to them" Lisa said as she started to digit something on her computer. "Those robbers were able to open the safe in a record time but, for some reason, they didn't care about disabling the cameras or taking the values."
"That's because I stopped them." said Lincoln with confidence.
"I also thought that at the beginning, but then I saw this news." Lisa then proceeded to show an article "after the robbery, the bank decided to transfer the money to the Great Lake City"
"Ok, that seems a pretty reasonable thing to do." Ronnie Anne said, not quite understanding where the problem was.
"It's reasonable and predictable, I think those robbers wanted to fail the robbery so they will assault the truck as the money is transferred."
"Do you already have an idea regarding when and where they will try to assault the truck?"
"I think that the best place is this road." said the 4-year-old as she pointed her finger to screen which showed a map of the city "It's isolated, with nearly no camera and for the criminals it would be easy to surround the truck; I suggest you and Ronnie go there immediately and wait for those criminals to arrive."
"So if we are going to leave, may I see my suit?" Ronnie Anne questioned, not being able to contain her enthusiasm.
"I was waiting for you to ask." said Lisa as she stood up and went to a shelf and took the black modified suit. The 4-year-old girl handed it to Ronnie who immediately tried it on.
"The suit functions in the same way, it will make you faster and more agile, and your strength will also be increased. I strengthened the materials so you will be able to withstand more blows, and the boots will allow you to make higher jumps. I also added a little upgrade, can you please extend your arms sideways?"
As Ronnie Anne did as she was asked, she noticed that there was a piece of fabric attached to it.
"Those will help you glide from one building to another, the attachment is magnetic so it won't get in the way during a fight and, last but not least, I have made you two some gadgets." the little girl said as she approached a table on which there were several smoke grenades, a grappling hook, and throwing stars. "I think these will help you in your next fight, now you should go if you want to catch those criminals."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were waiting on top of a nearby building for the truck to arrive.
"What do you think we should do?" Ronnie asked.
"What?" Lincoln said a little bit confused about his friend's request.
"I mean when the truck arrives what should we do?"
"I…ehm… I think" Lincoln mumbled as he tried to think of a plan causing Ronnie to chuckle a little.
"Well for being 'the-man-with-the-plan' it seems like you don't have a clue of what you are doing."
"I know what I'm doing!" said Lincoln, a bit frustrated about his friend's comment.
As the two friends were starting to discuss, they began to hear the sounds of a vehicle coming from the distance, and leaned towards the edge of the building and saw the police vehicles right under them.
The two kids kept watching as the truck drove away without being attacked by any robbers.
"Well that was easier than I thought." said Ronnie.
"Yeah, maybe Lisa was wrong about the robbery." said Lincoln but right then a huge explosion was heard from the street, the two kids immediately turned their heads and saw the front of the truck in flames and one of the two criminals was standing in front of it with a grenade launcher in his hands.
"I think we talked too soon." said the Latina.
"It doesn't matter, now we need to stop them." said Lincoln as he jumped off the building soon followed by his friend who flew down the street.
The criminal was heading to the back of the truck but, as he was about to take the money, he was hit in the head and slammed to the ground by Ronnie Anne, who had flown from the roof, as the criminal was getting up from the ground, he received another blow in the stomach by Lincoln.
"Well that was easy." said Ronnie as she watched the criminal lying on the ground in pain.
"Yeah, wait, where is the other one?"
Before Ronnie could even elaborate on the question of her friends, the other criminal came out of a nearby corner and opened fire against them with an assault rifle, the two kids moved away just in time, hiding behind the truck.
"Bro are you ok!?" The criminal asked his partner who only mumbled in pain "Don't worry, I have got this" he said as he continued to fire against the two heroes, trying to make them leave their hiding spot.
"This would be the perfect moment for one of your ideas." said Ronnie Anne to Lincoln.
"I have an idea, you try to distract him, and I take him out, got it?"
"Count on me." After saying this Ronnie jumped out of her hiding spot and tried to flank the criminal who kept on trying to shoot her, but, after a few seconds, the robber ran out of bullets.
Lincoln seized this opportunity, ran towards the criminal, and landed a blow to his abdomen, knocking him to the ground.
After having neutralized the last criminals, the two vigilantes heard the siren of the police getting closer and decided to get away.
After sometime the two heroes were in their secret layout watching the news and celebrating for the success of their mission.
"Katherine Mulligan speaking from the site of the last vigilante appearance, just a few moments ago, the hero prevented another robbery and was able to capture the two Jhonson brothers already wanted for many other robberies all around the nation and, for what some witnesses say, this time our hero had a partner and, even if many people may agree that nobody should take justice into their own hands, no one can deny the contribution that they are bringing to the city."
"I think we did a pretty good job out there." said Lincoln with a smile on his face.
"I agree, you aren't that bad at fighting." said Ronnie, giving a punch to his friend's shoulder.
"Alright, I know that we were able to stop those criminals" said Lisa "but we still have a problem."
"What is it now?" asked Lincoln.
"Those criminals had a grenade launcher and a military assault rifle so, where did those criminals find those weapons?"
The two kids were taken aback by Lisa's question, could it be that those two were just pieces of a bigger puzzle?
Meanwhile somewhere else a man was running down a hallway, he soon reached the end of the corridor where there was a big metal door.
As he opened it, the man found himself in a big office room with big windows on all three sides of the room. Opposite to him there was a big oak desk and leather chair in which his superior was sitting, sipping a cup of coffee.
"Sir, I don't want to interrupt you" the man said, his voice full of fear "but it seems like the two Jhonson brothers were arrested by two vigilantes."
"I have heard the news." the man behind the chair said, putting his cup to the desk.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I have already found a possible candidate that will help us solve our little problems, the documents are on the table, let's try to resolve this problem as soon as possible."
A/N: quick note, the idea behind this story was inspired by a published story on deviantart by the user KHXhero, go check it out, I personally enjoyed it