The morning for many people in Royal Woods began quite wonderfully, the sky was bright, and the birds were chirping. It was truly a perfect, peaceful way to awaken.
"LINCOLN, WE ARE ABOUT TO HAVE BREAKFAST, COME DOWN NOW!" Lola shouted from downstairs.
Unfortunately in one specific house, peace was impossible to obtain.
Since he became a vigilante, Lincoln would get up around nine or ten, but today his sister had had enough of him always getting up late, and decided they would have breakfast together, whether he liked it or not.
After hearing his younger sister calling him, Lincoln started to change himself and slowly started to walk downstairs towards the kitchen.
Once he reached the kitchen, he was greeted by his sister, but after this first little talk, an awkward silence fell in the room.
"Sooo what are you gonna do today?" Lori asked trying to reduce the awkwardness in the room
"Nothing special, just going to hang out with Clyde and the others at the Arcade." Lincoln replied, trying to not make his sister suspect anything.
"Aaand how are you feeling?" The oldest of the Loud siblings asked, trying to not seem too meddling "Is there anything you want to tell us?"
This question took aback all the siblings, who turned to face Lincoln.
"Well, I'm feeling fine, I mean it's still hard to think about this whole situation, but now I'm feeling better." The white-haired boy said as he took a spoonful out of his cereal "What about you girls? Is there anything you want to tell me?"
Hearing their brother's question, the sisters turned their heads awkwardly to face each other, trying to find a proper answer to give to Lincoln, they then replied saying that they too were fine.
As the seconds passed, and no one else spoke, all the siblings started finishing their meals.
"Well I'm going to the Arcade with Clyde, have a nice day girls." Lincoln said as he got up from his seat and left the kitchen.
One by one all the 9 loud sisters left the room, until there was only Lori and Leni sitting at the table.
"So what do you think?" Leni asked her older sister.
"I think you were right, something is going on and Lincoln is trying to hide it from us." Lori answered.
"So what are we gonna do?" Leni asked, a bit worried.
Lori stood quiet for a few seconds. "Leni, I think this time it's better if we don't do anything this time."
"WHAT?" Leni shouted with a hint of rage "How can you say something like that? Don't you care for our brother?"
"Of course, I care about him!" Lori shouted back, trying to reassure her sister. "It's just that Lincoln is going through a hard time, maybe we shouldn't press him too much and instead we should let him talk to us when he is ready. Ok?" Lori said in a calm and reassuring way.
Hearing these words from her sister, Leni nodded her head in approval.
After finishing speaking Lori got up from her chair and headed towards the living room, but, as she was about to exit the kitchen, she turned around to her sister.
"How are you doing anyway?" Lori asked. "You seem so worried about Lincoln, but is there anything you want to talk about?"
"Well, I'm a bit worried for Lynn, but Mom and Dad said she will wake up, so I'm pretty optimistic." Leni said with a big smile on her face.
Seeing the optimism on her sister's face, Lori simply smiled back, not wanting to break any of her hopes.
In the meantime, Lincoln and his friends were at the Arcade, right now Lincoln was playing against Clyde in a friendly match at a shooting game.
As the two friends finished playing and ceded the spot to Zach and Stella, Rusty rushed through the door of the building and approached his friends.
"You are late." Liam sarcastically pointed out.
"Sorry guys." Rusty said while taking a breath. "But I found something that you need to see." The ginger-haired boy said, holding his phone.
Intrigued by what their friend wanted to show them, the 5 children formed a circle around their friend's phone to watch the video.
It was a video recorded by a cellphone from a window, the scene was in complete darkness and there were only three figures, who were pretty far away. Nevertheless, Lincoln immediately realized what was going on, it was a video of the fight with the cyborg from a few days ago.
As the video went on, they reached the climax of the fight, and the darkness of the alley was irradiated by the energy emitted by the hero's punch.
"Did you see it? It is the hero they have been talking about on the news. He has real superpowers." Rusty exclaimed excitedly.
"I can't believe it." Stella said
"It's so cool." Clyde added.
All Lincoln's friends were left excited after seeing the video, on the other hand, Lincoln was trying his best to be as natural as possible and not to say that could reveal his secret identity.
Fortunately for him, someone came right in time to help him get out of his precarious situation.
"How are you doing lame-o?" Ronnie Anne said, giving him a friendly punch.
"Ouch, Ronnie Anne? What are you doing here?" Lincoln asked his friend as he rubbed his aching shoulder.
"Well, I was going to play some games here. Say, would you like to join me?"
Lincoln turned to his 5 friends as if he was asking for their permission.
"You go on, we will come later." Stella said.
As Lincoln and Ronnie Anne headed to the game machine, Lincoln's phone rang.
"Yes, Lisa." Lincoln said with a worried tone.
"Dear brother, I hate to disturb your chat with your friends, but I have some news that you need to see immediately."
"Ok me and Ronnie Anne will be on our way home."
"What happened?" the Latina asked.
"Lisa might have something about those weapons dealers." Lincoln said under his breath to prevent other people from listening.
Hearing what her friend said, she nodded her head and turned to Lincoln's five friends
"Sorry guys but me and Lincoln have to leave."
"What?!" the 5 kids exclaimed simultaneously.
"There has been an unexpected turn of events, if you want we can continue tomorrow." Lincoln said as he and Ronnie Anne exited the arcade, leaving the five kids alone with their thoughts.
"Is it only me or Lincoln has been acting a bit… …odd?" Stella asked, narrowing her eyes as she watched Lincoln and Ronnie as they left the building.
"Now that you mention it, he has been leaving and diapering without explaining." Zach added. "It's not in his nature."
"I think he is up to something" Rusty theorized.
"What if he and Ronnie Anne are dating?" Liam suggested
Hearing their friend's idea, the other three kids started laughing a little.
"Come on Liam, be realistic" Stella said "Have you seen them? They can't stand those mushy things couples do, and they constantly remind us they're not dating, they are friends but nothing more."
"Yeah, you're probably right" Liam sighed "Come on let's get back playing." as the 4 kids started to head to the next gaming, Clyde was still watching the door, he knew something was going on and whatever it was, he had a feeling it would lead to no good.
After some minutes the two kids finally arrived home and, once inside their secret hideout, Lisa started to summarize the discoveries she had made.
"So Lisa, did you find something regarding the robot arm? Who might have built it?" Lincoln asked
"Well, I searched for all the crimes that were committed by a man with robotic harms and found his name." the 4-year-old said as she showed some images on the computer "Allow me to introduce you to John Smith, one of the most wanted criminals in America. Unfortunately, there is no way to know who gave him the robotic harms which, worst of all, doesn't match with any military and medical models, whoever built that thing doesn't want to share it with anyone else."
"So you called us to tell us you found nothing?" Ronnie Anne asked sarcastically.
"On the contrary my dear friend." Lisa said as she approached her desk "Yesterday I had a realization, whoever is supplying the weapons to the criminals definitely needs a place where to stock the weapons, so this morning I searched all the possible buildings that may be used for this purpose, the ones which are isolated, dismissed and or situated in the outskirts of the city. And I found 5 possible buildings. I suggest you start from the nearest and go to the furthest." Lisa said as she handed the two vigilantes a list of addresses.
"Thank you Lisa." Lincoln said as he took the list from her sister's hand. "Maybe next time tell us what you discovered already on the phone." the white-haired boy said as he and his partner exited the bunker.
It had been nearly 3 hours since Lincoln and Ronnie Anne departed from the base and they had searched 3 of the buildings Lisa had given them but they still hadn't found anything.
The two kids entered the building but found nothing but old rusty metal equipment and construction materials but no signs of criminal activity.
They kept searching, but the more they sought any trace the more they got sure the place wasn't the one they were looking for.
"I think we can cross this off the list." Ronnie Anne said as she turned around to her partner.
Lincoln, however, wasn't so sure, he began to inspect the inside of the building once again.
"Don't you think this place seems smaller on the inside than on the outside?" Lincoln asked as he approached the opposite side of the room. "Lisa, may you tell me the size of the building?"
"Give me a second dear brother." said Lisa as she searched through her files. "Here it says it should be 125x200 square feet."
"Maybe I'm wrong but I think this building is at least half of the size it should be."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne started to inspect the wall and, when they knocked on it, it emitted an echo meaning there was a hidden space behind it.
Lincoln charged his strength and threw his punch at the fake wall reducing it to debris. Revealing a warehouse full of wooden crates.
"Woah, how did you know there was a hidden room?" Ronnie Anne asked
"Just basic information you get reading comics, the criminal always has a secret room where to hide." Lincoln replied.
The two heroes entered the secret room and discovered numerous crates full of guns, assault rifles, bullets, grenades, and all sorts of heavy weapons.
"Woah, there are enough weapons to raze the entire city to the ground."
"Another reason we can't let those criminals have them."
"Don't you think we should let the police deal with this part of the job?" Ronnie Anne asked "I mean how are we supposed to prevent the criminals from retaking these weapons?"
"Yeah, you've got a point, we should let the police handle this part."
As the two kids were about to leave the building, a creaking sound was heard coming from the other side of the room.
The two kids quickly jumped behind the crates as three men entered the building.
"Which crates do we need to take this time?" one of the men asked
"I think we need to take the grenades and ammunition destined for the motorbike gang." the other one said
"Alright you two take the package of ammunition while I take the grenades." the third one concluded as they took the cratees and prepared to exit the building.
As the crooks were able to leave, Lincoln gave a signal to his friend and, in a blink of an eye, the two kids jumped out of their hiding spot and quickly put the criminals out of combat.
"Well, that was easy." Ronnie Anne said as she watched the three criminals laying on the ground in pain "ok, let's call the cops."
Unfortunately, things weren't going to be this smooth, as the two kids were celebrating their victory, a loud stomping noise was heard echoing inside the building. The two heroes were taken aback by this loud noise whose origin was unknown.
Then a loud crash was heard coming from the door, the two vigilantes quickly turned to face their enemy and immediately put themself into a fighting stance ready to fight this new enemy.
As the two kids turned around they saw the origin of the stomping sound. Their new adversary finally walked into the light passing over the door that had been previously shut down and, at that moment, the two kids were completely overwhelmed by shock.
The man in front of them seemed to be dressed in some kind of gray armor, his legs were equipped with some sort of metal casing while on his arms there was some kind of armament; but the most shocking parts were his face, it was cover by a gray mask, equipped with horns, black glasses, and a red gas mask and its shoulder pad were shaped to mimic two red skulls.
"So we finally met you two are the heroes that had been causing all the trouble around here." the man said as he slowly got closer "Well let me tell you some- wait, hold on ARE YOU KIDS?! ARE THEY KIDS!?" he exclaimed to the three crooks still on the ground
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood quiet for a few seconds as they saw the criminal arguing with his partner, not understanding if he was being real or was messing with them.
"DID YOU GET YOUR ASS KICKED BY SOME 10-YEAR-OLDS?" the man screamed
"they've got superpowers." one of the crooks said.
"THey'VE goT SUperPOweR." the man repeated in a derisively way as he helped him get up "I flew all the way from Somalia just to fight kids. Alright, you help these two idiots while I deal with this problem."
As the three crooks exited the room, the man in armor simply stood there, trying to understand how to deal with the situation he was in that moment.
"All right kids, it's time to go home shoo shoo." he said as he clapped his hands.
"Heck no, we are going nowhere." Ronnie Anne shouted.
Hearing the girl complain, the man simply rolled his eyes behind his glasses.
"Listen here kids, I have no time to waste and I don't want to hurt you too much." said the man as he approached the two heroes "So now we are all gonna pretend nothing of this ever happened." He said putting his hands on the hero's head and turning them 180°. But before he could do anything else, Ronnie Anne grabbed his arm and slammed him into the ground.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood quiet for a few seconds watching each other, trying to understand what had just happened
"That was…weird." Lincoln said
"Yeah, it's better if we leave now before things get more complicated." Ronnie added as she and
Lincoln started to get away from the criminal. But, before they could take a few steps, they heard coughing coming from behind them.
The two kids quickly turned around and saw their enemy getting up like nothing happened.
"Alright, I will admit I underestimated you two." the man said as he got up and revealed a long blade that was attached to his right wrist "but I won't make this same mistake again."
Hearing the criminal threat, the two heroes put themself into a defensive position while Lincoln activated his powers, engulfing his hands with blue flames.
"Now that is something interesting." the man said as he charged head-on against the two heroes.
The three soon engaged in a bitter hand-to-hand fight with the villain trying to slash them with his blade while the two heroes tried to find an opportunity to strike back.
But their enemy's defense was too strong to be defeated. No matter how hard they tried, their adversary was able to dodge every blow and those few that hit him weren't able to do any damage as they were blocked by the thick armor.
On the other hand, the criminal didn't seem to be tired no matter how long he fought, not a drop of sweat was shed; but he was holding back, he seemed more interested in just knocking the two kids out, rather than killing them.
At one point during the fight, Lincoln tried to hit his enemy in the abdomen at full strength, with his fist engulfed in fire; but the man, although with some difficulties, was able to catch the blow, and he and Lincoln, because of the momentum, slide across the ground and the villain counterattacked as he tried to sweep his blade across his helmet.
Lincoln, however, was soon to react and place his flaming hand between his helmet and the blade and, when this last one impacted with the burning fist, it shattered into thousand pieces.
The criminal stood quiet in disbelief, watching what remained of his weapon, but not too long after, Ronnie Anne quickly jumped into the fight, throwing a flying kick at the man and causing him to fall to the ground.
The man, however, once again got up as if nothing happened.
"Alright, you two wanna fight hard" the man exclaimed as he got up, smashing some buttons on a display on his left arm "THAN LET'S HAVE A FIGHT!" The man screamed as he pointed his arms at the two kids, revealing a flame thrower attached to it which soon unleashed a hellfire on
the two young heroes.
The two kids tried to dodge the incoming beam of fire, but the projectiles were far too and were coming from all sides making it only a matter of time before they would get hit. The two kids were finally caught by one of the projectiles and were sent flying across the room.
Lincoln tried to get up and continue the fight, but the man was now on top of him, pointing his weapons at his head.
"You two fight well kids, I'll give you that, but you're going up against something way bigger than you can imagine." he said as he put his weapon down "Go to your home, continue your life, and forget what you saw"
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne soon got up and, although the boy was still determined to fight, the young heroes had no choice but to flee the building.
The man stayed in place observing as the two kids left, before walking away and rejoined with the crooks from before.
"sir sorry for the inconvenience, we din-" The man's excuses were cut short by a slap
"SHUT UP" the man ordered "The integrity of this plan has been undermined, if we don't act fast we will have to restart from scratch, so, if you care about your well-being, I suggest you immediately start to activate operation phoenix. Did I make myself clear?"
"c-cr-crystal" the man trembled in fear.
Meanwhile, at the loud residence, the young vigilantes were licking their wounds.
"Who the heck was that guy?" Ronnie Anne asked as she put a bag of ice on her head.
"I don't know." Lincoln said "But he isn't just some random crook, this guy knew what he was doing, he knew how to fight"
"Whoever he was, I suggest you continue your training this afternoon" Lisa replied "Now you should go upstairs and rest."
Following the little girl's advice, the two young heroes exited the bunker and entered the house from the main door to not raise any kind of suspicion in his sister, soon they were welcomed inside by Lori, Luna and Luan who were watching the television.
"Hi Lincoln." The sisters greeted him.
"Hi girls." he said as he and Ronnie Anne entered the house.
As the three girls saw the Latina with their brother, grim started to form on their faces
"Soo, how was your day? Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't you going to play at the arcade with Clyde?" Luna asked, raising one of their eyebrows.
"It was fine, I hung out with the gang then Ronnie Anne showed up and we spent some time together."
"I see" Luan added "We could say you switch your game partners hahaha, get it?" she said while laughing at her own joke while the others in the room rolled their eyes in disapproval.
"Ssshhhh the program is starting." Lori said as she noticed the local journal was starting.
"Hello everybody, it's Katherine Mulligan speaking. New information started appearing regarding the two vigilantes, this morning a new video of the masked hero appeared online." Having said so, they showed the video Rusty had shown Lincoln that morning.
"The public support for the mysterious hero seems only to grow as some people started calling him Powerfist" Katherine added "In response to this news, the police's chief has stated that the Royal Woods department will increase its efforts to stop the vigilantes."
"Well thank god someone is doing something about that guy." Lori said as she switched her attention from the tv to her phone "I can't believe there are people praising him."
"What are you talking about?" Luna asked shocked by what her older sister said
"Come on Luna, don't tell me you think he is right." the oldest sister said, raising her eyebrows.
"I think he's doing the right thing" Lincoln shouted as he tried to control the anger he felt in that moment. "He's just trying to make this city a safer place"
"Lincoln we have the police to do this, we don't need some kind of freak dressed up with a strange black costume running around doing what he wants, putting citizens and himself in danger because he wants to be a vigilante."
"Well the police can't be everywhere sometimes, I thought you realized it by now especially after what has happened" Lincoln stormed as he went upstairs, soon followed by Ronni Anne.
"What's your deal?" Luna asked Lori
"What's my deal? You should be the one to tell me why he acting ike that"
"Don't you get it? He is still shocked about the whole situation, and he feels safer thinking that there is a hero in town so no one ⁰will get hurt"
"But this doesn't explain why he got so angry, I just gave my honest opinion"
"I must be more shocked than we thought" Luan enquired in a worried tone "Maybe someone should talk to him"
"I will go to talk to him, but I think we should give him some time to calm down before" the oldest of the Loud sisters stated.
In the meantime, Ronnie Anne was heading toward Lincoln's room to talk to her partner
"Hey Lincoln?..." the Latina girl said as she peeked inside the boy's bedroom, finding him lying on the bed, his face sunken in his pillows. "...Are you okay?"
"Oh I'm feeling wonderful, my sister just called me a freak and just mocked the most important thing I have ever done and the one I care more in my life." Lincoln said as he slowly sat up beside his friend.
"Hey." Ronnie Anne said as she put her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look her in the eyes "Don't listen to that idiot, we are doing the right thing out there, YOU are doing the right thing. Yes, there are gonna be people who will not support us but you know what they say 'Haters gonna hate', the only thing you need to care about is how to defeat that villain ok?"
"Ok." the boy said, nodding his head.
"Alright." the girl said as she got up and headed towards the door "See you tonight and, don't worry, we are gonna catch that freak, smell you later lame-o"
"Not if I smell you first" Lincoln replied, a blush forming on his cheeks.
The hour passed and soon the sun set, that night, since their parents were busy at work, the 11 siblings decided to order pizza.
One after the other, all the siblings entered the kitchen but as soon as Lincoln set foot into the room, he was blocked by his sister Lori as she put a hand on his shoulder.
"You girls start eating, we will come in a minute." Lori said to the other sisters.
After saying so, Lori took Lincoln to the other side of the living room far away from the other sisters' ears.
"We need to talk." Lori said in an assertive and worried tone
"Look, if it's about what I said before, I want to say I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted that way." Lincoln answered, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
"No, it's not about that" Lori quickly reassured him "Well it's about but that is literally the last of our problem, we need to talk about what happened that night"
Hearing those words Lincoln was left paralyzed, his blood froze in his vein, and his eyes were wide open as the images of his sister lying on the ground flashed before his eyes.
"I-I-I don't understand what your talking about, I told you guys I am feeling better"
Lori wasn't convinced by her brother's explanation, she knelt down so she could watch him in the eyes.
"Listen, it's clear that you don't want to tell us right now, and it's normal, I just want you to know that if ever need anything or you need to talk to someone, just remember, you can ask us. Okay?"
Lincoln didn't know how to answer, the words were stuck in his throat so he leaned forward and embraced her older sister in a hug and said thanks in a low tone of voice.
"That's the least I could do" Lori answered as she got up "Now let's go and eat or there will be none left"
After eating, the siblings went to their respective rooms, and when they were sure none of them would have noticed their absences, Lincoln and his sister Lisa headed to the backyard where Ronnie Anne was waiting for them.
"What took you so long?" the Latina asked.
"I ask for your pardon, but it's very hard to keep a low profile in a house of 13 units" The 4-year-old sarcastically replied as she headed inside the bunker soon followed by her brother.
"Fair point." the Latina said as she followed her friends.
Once inside the three kids started to think of a way for taking down the armored enemy from the morning before.
"Do you guys have an idea of where to start our research?" Ronnie Anne asked the two siblings
"Well I think we should start from that old buildings, we may not find them, but it's the only place we had seen him so we may find some clues of who he is and what he wants"
"Fair enough" the Latina replied "Do you also have a plan on how to fight him, because the last time we fought against him he wiped the floor with us."
"For that, I may have a possible solution; I have been working on this one for a long time." Lisa said as she put some kinds of ropes in front of them "I present you my newest invention, these metal ropes should be strong enough to block him"
"Thanks." the two kids said simultaneously as they changed into their superhero costumes and equipped their new gadgets before exiting their hideout and heading toward the abandoned warehouse.
After some time the two young vigilantes arrived at the warehouse, they climbed the wall and peeked inside one of the windows. The scene inside was completely different from the morning, the crates inside were nearly completely removed and the only ones that remained were being removed by the men they had beaten in the morning.
Luckily for them, fortune was on their side as, inside their buildings there was also the man with the armor, he seemed to be messaging someone on the phone and giving orders to his subordinates.
"This was the last one sir." one of the crooks said as he positioned a crate on the ground near many others
"Very good, you start leaving, I will arri–" Before he could finish his sentence, the two young heroes broke the window and landed inside.
"Oh shit" the crook, who still remembered the beating he had received the morning, ran terrified outside the building without turning back.
"Well, well, well, look who's back the two lovebirds have come to another beating." the villain said, trying to irritate the two heroes.
"We aren't a couple" the two kids shouted, their faces turning red of irritation and embarrassment
The villain gave a small chuckle, a grim form under his gas mask. He then positioned his foot back a few centimeters and rotated it to have a more solid stance, he raised his arms and clenched his fist.
"So, are you going first?" the man said
Without a second the two kids immediately charged at full force. They tried to diversify their attacks to better suit their strengths with Lincoln focusing his attacks on his arms as he tried to break his defense while Ronnie Anne tried to make him lose balance and kept attacking him on multiple sides thanks to his higher agility.
Although this strategy was good on paper their enemy was too strong and even this strategy wasn't having the desired effect, luckily for them their enemy didn't have his blade anymore and, for some reason unknown to the two heroes, he wasn't using his flamethrowers.
Although the criminal wasn't able to land any significant blows on the two of them, the two kids were growing more tired and were in desperate need of a new plan.
"Lincoln, I may have an idea." Ronnie Anne said
"Are you sure it's gonna work?" the young boy asked his friend
"I will say it has a 70% chance of success, you need to jump and land a fist on top of him as hard as you can"
Lincoln was still a bit unsure, but he decided to trust her, he charged at his enemies and, before making contact, he jumped upwards and, when he came into contact with the ceiling, he extended his leg to push himself downwards.
As the two of them collided a huge flash of blue light was released and soon engulfed the whole building.
The force of the impact forced the villain to kneel on his left leg but, as he tried not to break his guard, he was able to push back the young hero. In this instant, however, he lost his balance for a few seconds and Ronnie Anne was fast to catch this opportunity, she threw her rope at his leg and pulled it back, causing him to fall to the ground.
The villain quickly tried to get up but Lincoln soon grabbed him and tried to hold him in place while his adversary tried to do everything he could to dislodge him.
"Ah screw it." the man said as he activated his flamethrower.
Lincoln was forced to let him go as he and Ronnie Anne had to dodge, although this time, his attacks were slower, their enemy seemed to be more cautious in his attacks.
The two kids were running all around the buildings, unable to get close or to come up with a plan.
"Are you guys ok?" Lisa asked through the earphones
"Lisa, this is not a good time." the two heroes said simultaneously.
"May I suggest you divert his attention and try to disable his weapon?"
"O woah why didn't I think of that" Ronnie Anne replied sarcastically "Can you also tell us how to do so?"
"May I suggest you glide from above and try to knock him out"
Ronnie Anne stood quiet for a few seconds pondering her possibility and chance of success, she turned her head to find Lincoln's advice. The white-heard kid simply nodded his head, the young heroine threw her rope at the ceiling and, as she was hoisted up she let the rope and, as she was falling, she spread her arms out and, thanks to the piece of fabric, she started gliding towards the criminal while Lincoln charged forward as well.
With this double front assault, from ups and front, the villain was forced on the defensive and was losing ground, having difficulties blocking the attacks that were coming from all sides. And then Lincoln was finally able to land a decisive hit on his enemy's left harm.
The man faltered back, nevertheless, the man kept on fighting but, as he tried to shoot another fireblast, from his weapon a few sparkles came out, he then examined it and noticed that it had badly damaged, most of the internal parts had been destroyed and the fuel was leaking.
Understanding the peril of the situation he was in, he quickly detached it and threw it away before it caught fire mid-air and landed on top of some barrels, and was in this moment he realized his mistake.
"Oh porc-" After a few seconds a big explosion, provoked by the explosive that the criminals have placed to destroid all the possible traces of the operation, shook the foundation of the building which was now on fire.
The two kids were taken aback by this sudden turn of events and immediately started to run toward the nearest window.
Unfortunately, as Ronnie Anne was flying, she was caught by a nearby explosion, causing her to lose control and fall downwards.
Seeing the scene unfolding before his eyes, Lincoln quickly jumped, catching his friend mid-air and exiting the building through the broken window.
"Woah that was close." Lincoln said as he and his friend safely landed outside the burning building.
"Nice." Ronnie Anne said. "You can put me down now." The boy looked at the girl and realized she was still in his arms.
"Oh, sorry about that." Lincoln said as he placed her down, his cheeks became a bright red "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, do you think that guy is still inside?" she asked as the two of them turned their heads toward the burning building.
As they were about to leave, they heard a loud crash and, as they turned their heads to the source of the sound, they saw the man coming out of the building and landing in front of them
The two young heroes made a few steps backward and raised their hands into a defensive position.
The man raised up and turned off the flames that engulfed him.
"Well, that was unfortunate." The man said, turning back "I would stay longer but there are places I must be, have a good night I think we will meet again" Having said so the man walked away leaving behind the two kids who were too tired to pursue and were forced to let him get away.
A few hours later the villain was back at his hideout where he was having a discussion with his boss.
"Would you care to explain why the warehouse was set on fire?" His superior asked, clearly irritated.
"The site had been compromised, those two superheroes found it and we were able to save all the merch by the skin of our teeth, something that could be avoided if you didn't put some crooks in charge of the situation"
"So what are you gonna do?"
"I'm gonna let the situation boil down and you need to send here a few assets, if we want to succeed we need to stop relying on some street scum."
"Ok, but you better solve this problem as soon as possible, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"
"Don't worry, they won't escape next time." he reassured as he started thinking about the next moves to make to defeat the two vigilantes.
A.N: Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will answer them and publish them in the next chapter. See you next chapter.