It was around seven in the morning in the city of Royal Woods, and Lincoln was having problems sleeping. Although he and Ronnie Anne were able to arrest the criminal who tried to frame them, he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the copycat was equipped with the same weapons they found in the warehouse. Did that mean the criminal rebuilt their supplying stock and returned to supply the criminals in town? Where are they hiding now? And most importantly. What were they plotting?
All these thoughts made it impossible for the 11-year-old boy to sleep peacefully and, as soon as the clock struck 8 a.m., he quickly got up and got to the bathroom before his sisters got up.
Once he finished, he got downstairs and turned on the television on the news channel right in time.
"Good morning, everyone," Katherine Mulligan said with a sad tone of voice. "Today our city is in mourning as the City Manager Charlie Williams was found dead in front of the city hall," she said as images of the crime scene were shown.
"WHAT?!" Lincoln shouted in shock as he heard the news, soon attracting his family members' attention, who quickly rushed downstairs, trying to understand what was the reason for his shock.
"The City Manager was found dead at around half past twelve, the cause of his death was a bullet that was shot at his head." the journalist continued speaking. "Now, a word from our mayor Theresa Davis. Mrs. Mayor, would you like to say anything to our viewers?"
"I just want to express my solidarity to the family of Charlie Williams, he was one of the best City Managers I could have hoped to have to help me, I also want to reassure all the citizens of Royal Woods that those responsible for this heinous act will be punished and brought to justice."
All the family members were in shock and didn't know what to say.
"Alright kids, why don't we go have breakfast?" Rita Loud said, trying to relieve the tension in the room.
As the siblings started walking towards the kitchen, Lincoln and Lisa exchanged worried sight, worried about the current events.
"Do you think this has something to do with the criminals that tried to smuggle weapons into the city?" Lincoln whispered to Lisa.
"I won't exclude this option, but it's better if we discuss this once our family members aren't around," The little girl enquired.
After having had breakfast, the two siblings left the room, headed towards the bunker, and waited for the arrival of the Latina girl, who arrived after a few minutes.
"Did you guys hear the news?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"The City Manager's death is the precise reason why we called you," Lisa responded, irritating the 11-year-old girl.
"Do you think it's the work of the criminals from the warehouse?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln.
"They definitely could be responsible, but I'm not sure," Lincoln replied, uncertain of what was going on.
"Lisa, do you have any brilliant theories that could help us find the criminals responsible?" The Latina asked.
"If our supposition is correct and the criminals were the ones responsible for the death of the City Manager then we can suppose it was for something he was working on. So, if we want to get to the end of this problem as soon as possible, you should probably go and start asking questions to the mayor herself, she is probably the one who can give us the best clues," the 4-year-old girl suggested.
"I don't know if this is the best thing we can do after what happened yesterday," Lincoln complained, referring to the police trying to arrest them.
"Yes, this would be just if we gave ourselves in," Ronnie Anne replied, not convinced by the little girl's plan.
"I know it's dangerous, but we need to collect as much information as we can if we want to understand the criminals' plan and stop them," Lisa pointed out.
The two kids looked at each other. On one end, they knew Lisa was right, and they needed to collect all the info possible, but, they also knew that if they tried to talk to the mayor, they would risk being arrested.
"What if we tried to talk to her in private?" Lincoln suggested.
"Would you like to elaborate brother?" Lisa asked, not sure what her brother meant.
"If we met with the mayor when she's alone, we may have a shot and discuss with her," Lincoln explained.
"I guess that could work," Ronnie Anne answered. "So what should we do in the meantime?"
"Want to hit the arcade?" Lincoln proposed in a joyful tone.
"Yeah, let's go," Ronnie Anne cheerfully replied as the two kids exited the bunker.
The two kids had spent the whole morning playing all the games at the arcade and were now enjoying a little rest while eating a few slices of pizza.
"Mhh, this pepperoni pizza is one of the best in the world," Lincoln said as he ate the last slice of his pizza.
"You said it," Ronnie Anne replied, "Should we return to play games?"
"Sure," Lincoln said joyfully, but, as he and Ronnie Anne were about to leave their table, they crossed paths with their afro-american friend.
"Hi, Clyde" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne greeted their friend.
"Hi Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, what are you doing?" Clyde asked, not expecting to meet with his friend.
"We were about to play a few games," Lincoln answered his friend. "Do you want to join us?"
"Sure but, before, can I speak with you for a minute?"
Lincoln was taken aback by his friend's question. He and Ronnie Anne exchanged a look that was a mix of confusion and perplexity. But Lincoln reassured her and told her to leave them alone for a bit and then started to talk with his best friend.
"So buddy, is everything alright?" Lincoln asked
"You should be the one to tell me that," Clyde replied with a worried tone of voice. "You have been acting strangely this last month. When we try to meet with our friends, you rarely come or you are late, you disappear without giving a proper explanation. I'm worried about you Lincoln,"
The white-haired boy didn't know what to say to his friend, he would have liked to reassure him but he couldn't let him discover his secret.
"Clyde, I appreciate that you are worried for me. But I swear I'm fine. I'll admit, sometimes I have been feeling a bit down, but everything is fine, try not to stress yourself too much," Lincoln said, putting on a smile, trying to comfort his friend.
"Alright, if you said so. But, if you need anything, ANYTHING, don't worry about asking me." Clyde responded seriously, not convinced by his friend's words.
"Ok, I'll keep that in mind," Lincoln answered, wanting to reassure his best friend. "Now what do you say if we go play some game,"
"I'm right behind you," Clyde said as Lincoln and he joined Ronnie Anne, and the three kids returned to play games together.
As the day started to come to an end and the clock ticked 18:00 the two young heroes finally put their plan in motion as they waited for everyone in the city hall to leave so they could finally talk to the mayor in private and, if fortune assisted them, they might even be able to get some information.
"Ready to go?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln.
The white-haired boy took a deep breath and nodded his head, as they jumped off the building and proceeded to enter the city hall.
"Goodnight Harry, I will finish a few things here, and then I will go home too," Mayor Theresa Davis said as she entered her office. But, as she turned on the light, she found Lincoln standing in front of her. Taken aback by the hero's presence in her office, the mayor screamed and tried to run out of the room, but she found the Latina girl was blocking the exit. Without a way to run out, the mayor launched herself towards the phone and was about to dial the police number. She was interrupted by the heroes.
"Mayor Davis, we need to talk," Lincoln said, hoping this plan was gonna work.
"You are the two vigilantes, w-wh-what are you doing here? H-h-h-how did you get inside?... St-t-ay-y back, or I will call the police," The mayor shouted frantically in complete shock as she held her phone in her hand, ready to call for help.
"Mayor, we mean no harm," Ronnie Anne said as she tried to reassure the mayor and calm her down.
"Why should I trust you, you have already illegally broken into my office," Mayor Davis remarked as she was about to call the police.
"I know we may seem criminal, but we just want the good of the city, like you. So, we ask you to trust us, please," Lincoln said.
Hearing the kids' words, the mayor stood still for a few seconds before she put down the phone and started listening to the two young vigilantes.
"Ok, let's say I trust you, what exactly do you want to talk about?" Mayor Theresa Davis asked in a resigned manner and just out of curiosity.
"We would like to know any information involving the City Manager Charlie Williams's death," Ronnie Anne answered.
"Why should I tell you anything?" the mayor asked, still not trusting the two vigilantes and with one hand near the phone for the worst outcome.
"For the past month, we have been fighting with a criminal organization that has been smuggling weapons into Royal Woods, giving them to the criminals in the city, and we think they were involved in the city manager's death," Lincoln explained in a calm tone so as not to scare the mayor more.
"This would explain a lot," Theresa said in a rather sad and worried tone.
The two young heroes didn't understand what she meant, so Mayor Davis sat down on her chair and started to explain.
"Since the start of May, our city has registered an increase in the crime rate, ranging from car theft to assault with weapons and robbery on multiple occasions. We were, and still are facing a difficult situation, we were able to deploy extra funds for the police, but they aren't enough," The mayor paused and let her fall backward on the chair, feeling both tiredness for all that was going on rage for having been unable to see what was going on and the adrenaline starting to fade away.
"Then, at the beginning of June, we received a proposition from a businessman; he said that the companions he was working for could have helped us deal with the criminals. There were many different opinions, some wanted to sign the deal, others didn't like the proposition. Charlie was in the second group," Maria Teresa said in a frightful tone as she now feared for her life as she supported Charlie's opinion.
After the mayor finished speaking, they took a few steps backward and started to talk among each other.
"Do you think what I'm thinking?" Lincoln whispered to Ronnie
"If you think that businessmen and those criminals are working together and are trying to eliminate those who didn't support the project, then we are thinking the same thing," The Latina replied.
Having confronted each other, the two young heroes proceeded to ask the mayor for a list of all of those members of the staff who didn't support the proposition. The mayor, although had doubts regarding the two heroes' ability to deal with the problem, decided to do as asked and gave the two vigilantes a list of around 10 names.
"Do you know any other person who knew about this possible agreement and didn't support it?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Well, now that you mention it, there would also be Katherine Mulligan. She discovered it when she was researching information for one of her scoops and she clearly expressed her disapproval of the idea in one of her exclusives," the mayor replied.
"Thanks for the help," Lincoln thanked her as he and Ronnie Anne exited the building through the office's window.
"I just hope my trust isn't misplaced," Mayor Theresa said to herself as she watched out of the window into the direction Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were heading.
Two hours had passed, and the two heroes had nearly finished checking that all the people on the list were fine and safe, the only one that remained was the local journalist Katherine Mulligan.
The two young vigilantes had hidden on the roof of a nearby building and had started to inspect the house hoping to see if someone would enter or leave the house.
"Do you think those criminals will try and kill Katherine Mulligan?" Ronnie Anne asked as she tried to peek inside the house.
"I'm not sure, but it's better to check anyway," Lincoln replied. "Lisa, can you tell me if the camera in the area had caught something suspicious?" the boy asked her little sister.
"Unfor-at-y it doe-doe-'t a–a–app B-B-th-r can," Lisa said, but her voice was distorted, and soon Lincoln was unable to hear properly, and soon her voice was covered by interference noises.
"Lisa, Lisa, can you hear me?" Lincoln said as he tried to reestablish a connection with his sister.
"Is everything alright?" The Latina girl asked.
"I lost connection with Lisa," Lincoln answered in a worried tone.
The preoccupation of the two kids grew even more when the sound of heavy objects falling was heard coming from the journalist's house.
"Just our luck," Ronnie Anne remarked as Lincoln and she prepared to break into the house. "Ready lame-o,"
"Always," The white-haired boy replied as he launched himself forward.
Meanwhile, the situation in the house was dire, the criminals had already broken into the journalist's house and were now turning upside down the house, all while Katherine Mulligan could just watch while being tied up and gagged on a chair.
"Careful boys," The armored man said as he inspected his man's work. "We need to make it look like a failed robbery,"
"Sir, the upper floor is done. We are ready to go,"
"Alright, you three get out. We need to leave in less than two minutes, I will finish the job," the armored man said as his henchmen left the building.
Katherine is pleading with a rope blocking her mouth as tears start to flow from her eyes.
"I'm sorry lady, nothing personal, it's just good business," The man stated as he pointed a gun at the journalist's forehead.
Katherine Mulligan kept shouting and pleading for help, hoping someone would hear her and save her.
Fortunately for her, someone came right in time. The two young vigilantes broke through the window and landed in the middle of the living room, right in front of the criminal.
"YOU TWO? AGAIN?" The man said, a bit irritated to see the young heroes again and so soon nevertheless.
"We could say the same to you," Ronnie Anne sarcastically replied
"Why do you want to kill Katherine Mulligan?" Lincoln asked, hoping that the criminal might give away some information.
"Sorry kids, it's confidential. Anyway, it's time for me to go," Having said so with a smirk on his face, the criminal pointed his gun at the tied-up woman, but before he could fire a single shot, the Latina girl disarmed him by throwing one of her ropes at the man's arm.
Not wanting to waste any time in a pointless fight, the criminal jumped out the nearest window and ran outside.
"You help the journalist, I will try to catch him," Lincoln shouted as he chased the villain.
The criminal soon arrived at a small white van where his companions were waiting for him.
But, as soon as he entered the van to leave the scene, Lincoln soon arrived and tried to jump into the van.
"GO GO GO GO!" one of the men shouted, causing the van to start rapidly accelerating as it dragged Lincoln with it.
Lincoln was in a hazardous situation, if he had loosened his grip he would have lost the criminals, but if he hadn't gotten up, the street would have eventually peeled his lower body off, all while the car was turning left and right trying to shake off the hero.
Unfortunately for him, as he tried to climb inside, the armored man approached him and threw a kick right in his head, causing Lincoln to lose his grip and roll across the street, crashing into one of the light poles.
"Are you ok?" Ronnie Anne asked her friend as she approached him and helped him get up.
"I'm ok, come on, we need to catch those criminals," Lincoln replied as he got up and started to follow the van while the passersby started to take photos and film videos of the chase.
Meanwhile, the criminals kept driving away as fast as they could, wanting to arrive at their base in less than no time. But as the criminals thought there were no more problems, the driver noticed Lincoln jumping from roof to roof.
"Alright guys, the two heroes are still behind us. One of you needs to take care of them," the driver said to the men in the back of the van.
"Don't worry, I will take care of them," The armored man replied as he opened the van's back door. "You guys return to the base, I will arrive in a minute," The man said as he jumped outside, jumped on top of a car, and started shooting with his assault rifle at Lincoln who, undeterred, kept leaping forward, dodging the incoming bullets.
However, as the criminal was to focus on trying to take down Lincoln, Ronnie Anne took the opportunity to glide on top of the criminal and threw her ropes at the armored man's arm, causing him to lose his hold on the rifle.
"I forgot you could do that," The man said to himself, as he switched his attention to the Latina. "But you are not the only one with this trick," he added as he activated a jetpack he carried on his back.
Ronnie Anne landed on the roof beside her friend and asked if he was hurt but, before Lincoln could even answer, the two kids had to duck and resume their flight as the armored man appeared right behind them and soon started following them as he flew in the Royal Woods's sky.
"Could he always fly?" Ronnie Anne asked as she kept running.
"I don't know, but we better find a way to stop him," Lincoln replied.
But before the two kids could even come up with a plan to take the criminal down, an explosion set off a few meters from them.
The criminal had got tired of the chase dragging on and pulled out a grenade launcher and was now raining explosives onto the two young heroes.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were now having a more difficult time trying to dodge the projectiles and, as their breath started to run low for the chase, they were caught in the blast, and were thrown off the roof, and fell into the street below.
The vigilantes were quickly able to get up just as the armored man quickly descended from the sky, and landed right in front of them, ready to continue their fight but, they were soon interrupted by the arrival of five police cars and, soon, the two heroes and the armored man were surrounded by ten police agents.
The agents started to shout orders and demanded the three of them drop their weapons and lay on the ground.
"Are you guys back at the base?" the man whispered into the microphone, wanting to know if his henchman was at the base, if he still needed to delay the police for a little bit more time, or if he could return to the base.
"We are fine boss, you can return," one of his men answered him.
Hearing the man's answers, the armored man exhaled a breath of relief, activated his flamethrower, and made a 360° turn, causing the policeman to back away, giving the man the chance to turn on his jetpack and fly away.
Seeing the situation unfolding, the two kids took the opportunity to run away from the police and hide in the alley, where they changed back into their normal clothes.
"This went rather horribly," Ronnie Anne said.
"Agree, we will need a better plan when we will fight him again." As the two kids exited the alley, Lincoln received a message from Lisa, who urged him to return home as quickly as possible as it was now nearly half past eight, and the Loud kids were still expected to respect the curfew. Hearing the little girl's message, the two kids said goodbye to each other and returned to their respective homes.
It was around five to nine when Lincoln arrived in his backyard and, before he could enter his house, he was welcomed by his sister Lisa.
"Mother and Father are very worried, I hope you have a good excuse, or you are probably gonna end up grounded for an indefinite amount of time," Lisa said in a stoic tone of voice.
Lincoln took a deep breath and opened the backdoor, preparing himself to get scolded by his parents as soon as he set foot into the house.
"LINCOLN LOUD! Where have you been?!" his father shouted as he noticed the kid entering.
"Just because your father and I told you we would think about removing the curfew or not, you still need to be at home by half past eight, not a minute later," Rita added.
"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry, I was just at the arcade playing a few games with my friends, and when I realized what time it was, it was already late and I tried to return home as quickly as possible." Lincoln tried to defend himself, hoping his explanation would have reassured his parents.
Lynn Sr and Rita look at each other, a bit unsure if they could trust their son.
"Alright," Lynn Sr started saying. "We are gonna close an eye this time, but it better be the only time," Having said so, the two parents left the living room and resumed preparing the dinner while Lincoln joined his sister on the sofa, who had listened to his reproach and, although they were still a bit skeptical about the reason why Lincoln arrived late at home, had no time to ask him any questions as the news finally started after the break.
"Breaking news," a male journalist said. "Just an hour ago, an assassination attempt was made on the life of the local journalist Katherine Mulligan. The main suspect is a man in armor who has been seen fighting against the two local vigilantes. The police are still unsure why that criminal tried to kill the local journalist. All that is sure is that this criminal is still on the loose so we ask all the citizens of Royal Woods to be as cautious as possible until this criminal won't be put behind bars,"
"Do you think that criminals will try to hurt us?" Lola asked, a bit scared.
"Don't worry Lola, I'm sure that criminal will be literally behind bars in less than no time," Lori said, trying to reassure her little sister.
"And there are those two heroes that will protect us," Leni said, with innocent intentions, although she received a glare from her older sister.
Fortunately, before any fight could break out between the sisters, all the siblings were informed that the dinner was finally ready, and all the 10 siblings ran towards the kitchen cheerfully, except for Lincoln and Lisa, who were left behind thinking about how to deal with the criminal.
"Brother, may I ask you how are you feeling?" Lisa asked, worried for her brother.
"I'm just thinking about how to deal with this guy," Lincoln said with a concerned tone of voice.
"My only advice would be to keep on training, but I advise you to have this thought tomorrow morning when you are rested," Lisa replied as her brother and she entered the kitchen.
Meanwhile, the criminals were trying to explain to their boss why their mission didn't succeed.
"What do you mean you didn't kill that journalist? '' Their boss shouted on the phone.
"It's not our fault, those two damn kids were there earlier than we could ever expect." the armored man said as he tried to justify himself and his comrades.
"Those two damn heroes," his boss complained. "Anyway, this is not an excuse for the chaos you caused. I expect you will be stealthier the next time you will eliminate one of the targets,"
"I don't think there should be a next time," the armored man complained.
"And what do you mean by that?" his boss angrily asked him.
"I mean, those two kids knew we were gonna kill that woman, ergo they know who are our targets which now will be put under the police's protection and, if you want us to be stealthy, I wouldn't try another assassination attempt,"
His boss remained quiet for a few seconds, trying to understand how to deal with this unexpected turn of events.
"In this case, if we want to continue our operations, we need to remove those heroes from the equation," the boss said as a grin formed on his face. "Find a way to permanently remove those two kids from the scene. I don't care how you do it, I just want it to be done as quickly as possible,"
"Sir Yes sir," the armored man said in a bittersweet tone as he hung up the phone and started to plan to defeat the two kids.
The next morning went rather smoothly for Lincoln, he and Ronnie Anne passed the hours training in preparation for the next encounter with the armored man.
After nearly four hours of training, the two returned to their respective homes and had lunch, giving each other an appointment to the hideout at seventeen o'clock to start their search for the criminals.
After having lunch, he went to the sofa and started reading his comics when he heard the doorbell ringing.
"LINCOLN! SOMEONE IS AT THE DOOR GO OPEN IT," Lola shouted from upstairs.
Hearing his little sister's complaint, Lincoln got up and went to open the door and found his friend Clyde.
"Hi Clyde, what brings you here?" Lincoln asked as he let his friend inside.
"Well, I was about to go to the Arcade, and I wanted to ask if you would like to come with me and have some fun together," The afro-american boy asked as he put a smile on his face.
"Sure, let's go," Lincoln said as he was about to exit his house before being stopped by his friend.
"You should take an umbrella, it's probably going to rain," Clyde advised his friend, pointing at the black clouds that were forming in the ski.
The two best friends then spent the next hours having fun, playing one game after the other. All in all, the day was going great.
"That was fun," Clyde said as the two kids finished their last game.
"Wanna play another round?" Lincoln asked.
However, before the two kids could start the next round, they were interrupted by the ringing of Lincoln's phone.
"Who is it?" Clyde asked
"Let me check," Lincoln answered as he took his phone out of his pocket, realizing they were messages from Lisa that asked him to come home, quickly followed by a video link.
"What's that?" Clyde asked, a bit curious regarding what video it was.
"I don't know," Lincoln replied, as he was oblivious as his friend as he played the video.
As the video started, Lincoln's blood froze in his veins as the first thing he saw was an image of the armored man he fought.
"Hello, Royal Woods," The armored man greeted "A few of you might have already seen me while fighting the two local heroes: Powerfist and Oscurada. Now I would like to properly introduce myself, you can call me 'Red Devil'. I would also like to send a message to you heroes. You have been meddling in my affairs for too long. So, I have an offer, me and you, meet me at the Royal Woods Bank no later than 7:30 pm. If you come later or decide to not come at all, well, we get there when we get there," The man said as he pointed the camera behind him, revealing 10 other men wearing black ski masks and pointing guns at the heads of the hostages.
"Oh my god, is that a real supervillain, he's in our city and is gonna hurt people, oh my God, I think I'm gonna have a panic attack," Clyde said as he started to take deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
"Ok, I'm fine. Lincoln, sorry if I ask, but why did your sister send you that video?" Clyde asked his friend but, as he turned around, he noticed that Lincoln wasn't there anymore. As soon as the video ended, Lincoln ran outside the building straight to the secret hideout, hoping Ronnie Anne was going there as well.
The white-haired boy quickly jumped over the fence and into the backyard, where he met his friend Ronnie Anne.
"Did you see the video?" Lincoln asked as he entered the bunker
"Yeah, I don't know how we are gonna solve this situation," The Latina said, a bit worried about the situation they were about to face.
Inside the bunker, Lisa was currently frantically working on the computer.
"Hey Lisa, what are you doing?" Lincoln asked as he approached his little sister.
"Greetings brother, I'm currently studying the floor plans of the bank. I believe there might be a way that will allow you and Ronnie Anne to enter the bank and free the hostages,"
"Do you have an idea of what to do?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln in the hope her friend might have already thought of a possible solution for the situation.
"I have an idea, but you're probably not gonna like it," Lincoln replied.
"Come on, I've heard this phrase a hundred times and, in the end, everything goes smoothly," The Latina said.
"I think we should work with the police," Lincoln stated.
"Ok, you were right, I don't like this idea," Ronnie Anne answered. "Come on Lincoln, how did you even consider this as sensate thought? Do I have to remind you that just two days ago, we were actively escaping from the entire police department, and now, you want to work with them,"
"I know we don't go on the best term, but they were onto us because they thought we were responsible for the homicides. Now that they know we are fighting against those criminals, maybe they will let us help them, and we need their help. Even if we were able to defeat the armored man, alone we won't be able to prevent the hostages from being hurt. Ronnie Anne, I think it's time we get out of the shadow," Lincoln said, trying to convince her friend.
Ronnie Anne was puzzled as to what to do, she didn't want to risk being arrested but deep down she knew her friend had a point.
"Alright, we are gonna go with your plan but, if the police will try anything funny, we will do it my way," Ronnie Anne stated as she exited the bunker, soon followed by Lincoln. "Lisa, you keep studying the building and call us if you find something,"
As the two young heroes exited the building, the police were having a difficult time at the bank. They had formed a perimeter and patiently waited while being constantly harassed by the criminals inside the bank.
"Here Katherine Mulligan speaking from the Royal Woods bank," the journalist said. "Here a man that goes by the name of Red Devil has taken the bank hostage and has published a video online in which he demanded that the two vigilantes come here and fight him. The police chief has stated that the police have everything under control and will deal with the situation without the need for the heroes' intervention,"
Having finished speaking, the journalist turned off the camera and started to approach the perimeter, as she tried to get a better understanding of the situation. However, she was soon approached by an officer.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you will have to step backward," the agent said.
"It's ok, agent," Mayor Davis said as she approached the two.
Hearing the mayor's words, the policeman stepped back.
"What are you doing here?" Katherine asked, a bit surprised to see the mayor on the scene.
"I could ask you the same questions, you were nearly killed yesterday, you should be resting." the mayor said, a bit worried.
"That man, inside there, is the one that nearly killed me. If the police can arrest him, I want to be there when it happens," The journalist stated.
"Then do you want to come inside?" The mayor said to which the journalist simply answered with a nod as the two women crossed the perimeter.
The two women soon entered the main tent where the policemen were currently working on a plan of action.
"Hey hey hey, no journalist here," the police officer shouted as she noticed the journalist.
"Don't worry officer, Katherine isn't here to take information for a scoop, she just wants to make sure that you will be able to catch the criminal," Mayor Davis reassured.
"Well we are working on it and let me assure you, we are gonna catch the criminal," The police chief stated, hoping to get rid of the journalist as quickly as possible.
"Do you need help?" Lincoln said as he and Ronnie Anne appeared behind Katherine Mulligan.
As the policemen inside the tent saw the two young heroes, they pulled out their guns and pointed them at the two kids, ordering them to put their hands in the air and then lay on the ground.
"Whoa, calm down, we just want to help," Ronnie Anne said, trying to calm the situation.
"Someone puts handcuffs on them and takes them away," The police chief said as two policemen started to approach the two heroes to arrest them. But, before the agents could approach the two kids, Katherine Mulligan stepped in, putting herself between the kids and the police.
"What do you think you are doing?" the police chief asked the journalist.
"These heroes want to help, I suggest we give them a chance to explain themself and, if you don't like what they said, you will arrest them,"
"I, too, think we should give them a chance to speak," The mayor added.
The police chief rapidly moved his sight between the four figures in front of them and, not wanting to cause a scene with the mayor, he angrily accepted to let the heroes speak, making it clear however, that they should have been quick and not expect anything.
"Thank you," Lincoln said gratefully to the journalist.
"No, thank you for saving my life. It was the least I could do to help you," Katherine Mulligan stated.
The two kids then walked towards the police chief and walked outside the tent to talk alone.
"Alright, what do you want?" The chief asked, not too happy about the idea of having to work with the heroes.
"We can help you," Lincoln stated. "We have fought the red devil before, and we can do it again, but we need the help of the police to evacuate the hostages."
"Why should I trust you two," the chief said, not trusting the heroes.
"Listen, we don't ask you to trust us," Ronnie Anne replied. "We just need you to not try to arrest us while we fight that guy and you save the hostages. Can you do that?"
The police chief stood in silence for a few seconds, pondering his choice of what better to do.
"OK, we are gonna work together for this time but, after we deal with the situation, we will return to the old routine. Do you agree?" The chief said as he extended his arm, and Lincoln wasted no time and shook his hand
"So, what's the plan?" Lincoln asked.
Inside the bank, the situation was deteriorating quickly.
"Why are we here?" one of the henchmen asked.
"I already told you, the boss needs to kill the two heroes, and we are taking these people hostage, so they will have to come here," his friends answered him.
"Yes, I understood that part. What I meant was why did we agree to this?" the man said, as he started to question most of his life choices.
"CAN YOU SHUT UP?" The Red Devil shouted as he checked his clock "A quarter to eight and not a sign of those heroes, well let's make it clear that our threats are real," Having said so, the man gave a sign to the two henchmen to shoot one of the hostages.
"Please, don't do it. Please, I beg you let me go," The hostages begged, but the henchmen ignored his pleading for help and pointed their weapons at him.
Before the criminals could kill him, however, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne broke through the window and jumped on top of the criminals, disarming them and knocking them out.
"Augh finally, you two are here, I was starting to think you two wouldn't have come. It's rude to make people wait for this long, don't you think?" Red Devil said with a grim under his gas mask while the other 8 criminals surrounded the two heroes.
"You know you are not so smart to enter here alone," one of the henchmen said, causing his friend to give a small chuckle.
"Who said we are alone?" Ronnie Anne responded as the police broke inside from both the main entrance and the back door, soon surrounding the criminals while also helping the hostages to get out.
"I would say we are 5:1, sure you don't want to surrender?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"In my career, I learned that what is important is not the numbers but the deception. Where you see just a man I see four," the armored man said.
The two heroes were a bit confused by the man's statement but everything became clear when a few charges positioned on the bank's upper walls were set off, causing some blocks of cinder to start falling. Fortunately, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were fast enough to jump in the fray and prevent anyone from getting stuck under the rumbles.
Using the explosion as a distraction, the criminals had a chance to escape being followed by some police agents.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, on the other hand, threw their ropes at the Red Devil, hoping to block him. But this strategy backfired when the man activated his jetpack, and the two heroes were dragged by him. The man broke the ceiling over their heads and dropped them on the roof.
The two young heroes soon got up, ready to fight the criminal who landed in front of them while thunder could be heard in the distance.
"For being a super-criminal you planned a robbery pretty badly," Ronnie Anne pointed out.
"Well, I got you lovebirds here, I think I got what I wanted," the man replied as he slowly advanced towards them. "What do you say if we talk for a moment?"
The two kids looked at each other, not knowing if they could let the villain speak.
"What do you want?" Lincoln asked.
"You probably already know the connection between me and the company that wanted to help the police. What I ask you is just to leave the scene for some time until we finish this deal," Red Devil proposed.
"Sorry, but we cannot let this happen," Lincoln replied.
"Well, in this case, I guess I've got to convince you," the man said as he was cracking his knuckle.
"You know how it went the last time, why don't you just surrender peacefully," Ronnie Anne said as Lincoln activated his power, engulfing his fist into blue flames.
"Well the last time was a draw, but I have come better equipped this time," The man stated as he pointed out his pair of new metal gloves.
"We'll see about that," Lincoln said as he and Ronnie Anne charged at him head-on.
However, the three of them were interrupted by the arrival of a helicopter that wanted to film the fight.
Red Devil seemed kind of irritated by the presence of cameras but he soon got an idea. He got out of his pocket two emp and threw them in the air deactivating the heroes' earpiece and causing the helicopter to lose control as it started falling downwards.
Seeing the disaster unfolding, Ronnie Anne threw many ropes at the helicopter and knotted them to the roof, giving Lincoln the time to jump inside and save the crew, dropping them on a nearby fire escape before the helicopter fell downwards.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT," Lincoln stated, angry and in shock that the criminal tried to hurt some civilians for no apparent reason.
"We are fighting, I don't want the cameras to spy on us," Red Devil replied while smirking under his mask.
The two kids tried to run towards him and attempted to hit the criminal in the abdomen with multiple fast-speed blows but their enemy was fast and managed to parry all the blows,s and was able to land a few blows himself onto the heroes, sending them flying across the floor.
Although the start wasn't one of the best, the heroes didn't lose heart and soon got back onto their feet just in time to dodge an incoming punch from the Red Devil, which made a crack into the concrete floor.
Taking advantage of this little moment of weakness of his enemy, Lincoln successfully threw a punch right into the enemy's face.
"Good job," Ronnie Anne complimented.
"Thanks, but we are not done yet," Lincoln answered as he noticed the man getting up.
"We need to destroy those gauntlets," The Latina stated.
But before the white-haired boy could respond, the criminal descended on them with his jetpack while shooting at them with his flamethrower; however, the heroes were able to jump backward, and Lincoln even tried to hit him, but the criminal was able to parry the attack with his right hand.
As the hero backed away, he noticed his enemy checking the gauntlet to check his condition after the impact.
"I may have an idea, try to distract him," Lincoln said
The two heroes then charged at the villain with Ronnie Anne, who used her agility to harass the villain by gliding on top of him landing a few kicks and punches, and keeping his attention focused on her, while Lincoln continued landing punches on the man's hands trying to break his gauntlet.
This strategy started to prove successful, and the two heroes started to get optimistic, especially when a cracking noise was heard from the gauntlet.
Understanding he could stay on the defensive for much longer, the villain decided to pass on the offensive, and, when Ronnie Anne tried to hit him again, the villain was able to catch the young heroine by the leg and threw her with all of his strength, causing her to slide across the floor.
"OSCURADA!" Lincoln shouted as he ran towards her friends.
"Hey are you ok, partner?" Lincoln asked as he raised the girl's head, but no response was given, the impact was so strong that caused her to pass out.
Lincoln shook his friend gently, trying to wake her up, but it was of no avail, Lincoln was starting to panic, and his eyes began to fill with tears. This was all his fault, he shouldn't have let her friend get hurt, and he should have kept her safe. After all, wasn't this the reason he had become a hero in the first place? The only thing he could do now was to make sure to protect her and arrest the villain.
As Lincoln got up, raindrops started to fall from the clouds above and flow on his helmet.
"Still not done?" Red Devil asked as Lincoln started walking towards him.
Lincoln quickly rushed towards the criminal and, as he did so, the fire on his fists began to extend to his entire arm. The young heroes then dashed under the man, hitting him in the legs, causing him to fall kneeling and, before he could get up, Lincoln hit him on the back of the head, causing him to fall on the ground.
Lincoln then tried to land another blow on the man's back, but, unfortunately for him, the man was able to turn around and kick the hero right in the chest, sending the kid flying in the air.
Lincoln managed to land on his feet and used the momentum to increase his jump, landing a punch in the man's gut, soon followed by an uppercut that removed his gas mask from the rest of the man's helmet and sent it flying across the roof.
The man slowly got up and adjusted his helmet, his lower face now exposed.
"Ok, no more nice guy," The villain said
Lincoln, not caring too much about the man's statement, simply resumed the fight, but as he threw another punch at the man, the latter blocked the blow and then proceeded to throw numerous punches at the boy's chest in rapid succession.
Lincoln was taken aback by this turn of events. He stepped a few feet backward to catch some breath, but the villain was relentless in his attacks and landed a left hook, followed soon by a right hook, before kicking the kid to the ground.
Lincoln was in pain, his entire body screamed to stop and rest, but Lincoln wasn't going to surrender, he couldn't let the villain escape him. So taking advantage of the fact the criminal was distracted as he was getting his gas mask back on his face, Lincoln got up and charged at full speed at the criminal, he had just one shot to take down the criminal. Noticing the hero running towards him, the criminal decided to run towards him preparing to block the hero's attack.
The two fists clashed mid-air, and a huge blast of blue light was emitted from the impact, which could have been seen from blocks away.
The impact raised a cloud of dust that engulfed the whole roof and no one could see anything. The boy took this opportunity to catch some breath and started to massage his hand, which was aching from the impact to ease the pain but, from the dust, came the Red Devil which fly-kicked the hero, making him fall to the ground, before kicking him once again making the kid roll.
The boy slowly sat up and noticed the villain pointing a gun right at his chest.
"You've got guts kids, I will give you that, and for this, you have my respect kid. But if you want to live you've got to leave." as he
Lincoln, however, either because he was too stubborn or too determined, started to get back to his feet, but he was kicked right in his face by the man's gun.
"LAST WARNING!" the man shouted as he was about to pull the trigger.
However, as the villain was about to take the hero's life, the man's hand was tied by a rope, which was then pulled, causing the man to drop to the ground.
As the Red Devil freed himself and got up, he noticed Ronnie Anne, now conscious standing right between him and Lincoln, a few drops of blood falling on her head.
"O-osc-" Lincoln started to mumble in a feeble tone of voice.
"It's ok, Powerfist, I've got your back," Ronnie Anne replied with a smirk.
"Get out of the way kid," The villain shouted.
"I'm not gonna let you hurt him," The Latina said as she positioned herself into a defensive stance.
The villain was about to fight the Latina when he received a call on his earpiece.
"BOSS, THE SITUATION HIS GETTING OUT OF HAND, THE POLICE HAS US ON THE BACK FOOT, WE NEED TO RETREAT," one of the criminals shouted, causing the villain to take a deep breath, clearly irritated by the inability of his subordinate to deal with the situation.
"That's what I got for letting amateurs do the job," he whispered among himself "Well, it's your lucky day," Red Devil sarcastically said "I've gotta go but, remember, one day, sooner or later, we are gonna meet again and I don't know if I will be so nice," he threatened as he took the flight with his jetpack.
"Come on, we have gotta go," Ronnie Anne said as he took Lincoln's hand and put it over her shoulder, she then threw one of her ropes on a nearby building, and swung off, leaving the scene.
"The rescue mission at the bank was a success," The police chief said, as he was being interviewed by the journalist. "Yes, we weren't able to capture the Red Devil and most of his henchmen, but the hostages have been rescued and prevented useless bloodshed,"
"Now that the heroes have helped you, will the Citizens of Royal Woods see them and the police fight side by side?" Katherine Mulligan asked.
"I cannot say for sure what the future will hold for those heroes, me and the mayor will have to talk about this. But even I can't deny that the hero's help was priceless, and there would have been more casualties if it weren't for them,"
"That's everything for now, we will keep you informed on the latest news involving the two vigilantes," The journalist said as she finished her interview.
Hearing the journalist's words, the Loud sister's turned off the TV. Most of them were calmly waiting for their brother's arrival except for Lisa, who was walking across the room, too worried for her brother and Ronnie Anne to stay calm.
"Lisa, would you please calm down?" Lori asked, a bit irritated by the little girl constantly walking around the room.
"Well excuse me, older sibling if I'm preoccupied with our male sibling's lateness," Lisa said, a bit irritated.
"Ah, don't worry Lisa, I bet he's just late," Luan said, trying to reassure her little sister.
"Well, that young man better be here as soon as possible, it's already half past eight," Lynn Sr said a bit irritated by his son's lateness.
As Lynn Sr finished speaking, the doorknob began to turn and silence fell on the room, with all the Loud sisters, except for Lisa, who didn't want to miss their brother getting scolded.
"LINCOLN LOUD! WE NEED TO TALK!" the father said as he noticed the two beaten and battered kids entering the living room.
"What happened?" Rita asked, as her husband and she walked towards the two kids to check their conditions.
"We were mugged by a few creeps while returning from the Arcade," Ronnie Anne answered.
"Lynn, go get the car's key, we need to take them to the hospital. You girls stay here Lori, you are in charge, and try to call Ronnie Anne's mother to inform her of Ronnie Anne's condition," Rita said as she and her husband exited the house with the two kids.
The 9 girls of the loud house were left speechless as they were still processing what just happened.
"Is Lincoln gonna be okay?" Lanna asked Lori worried for her older brother's safety but her oldest sister didn't know what to say, leaving her and the other sisters to wait for an answer in vain.