It had been nearly a week since Lincoln and Ronnie Anne left the hospital and, since then, the two young heroes had been constantly fighting criminals during the day and at night.
Right now the two young heroes were chasing a small gang of robbers who had managed to rob a store and were now escaping in a stolen car.
"Lisa, can you tell us a possible route that the criminals might take?" Lincoln asked her little sister.
"Give me a second brother," Lisa said as she started rapidly to inspect a map of the city. "You should go to the left, and after 300 meters turn to the right, and you should be able to intercept them and… Ronnie Anne, I hope you will appreciate my latest invention,"
Having said so, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne immediately turned to the left and ran to intercept the criminal's car.
After a few minutes, the criminal looked behind them to try to see if they were still being followed.
"Have we lost them?" one of the criminals asked surprised as he couldn't see the two heroes anymore.
As the criminal spoke, Lincoln jumped on top of the front of the car, causing it to overturn drastically.
As the criminals started to fly in the air, they landed on a pile of what seemed like gelatine.
Ronnie Anne's new gadget, in fact, consisted of a special glue that not only managed to cushion the fall of the vehicle but blocked the criminals as it started to solidify, so they would be ready to be arrested by the police.
"Good job," Lincoln complimented his friend.
"Thank you, I just wished I didn't need to use an entire cartridge though," The Latina girl said as she dropped to the ground her one and only cartridge. "Lisa, can you perhaps do something about it?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"I will do some research and try to improve it," Lisa reassured the girl.
After the little girl finished speaking, the two kids started heading back to their houses but, as they were jumping from rooftop to rooftop, they noticed a strange light coming from the top of a building.
"What's that?" Ronnie Anne asked, a bit confused.
"I don't know, but it would be better if we go check it," Lincoln said as they started heading toward the source of the light.
Once the two heroes arrived at the building, they found the police chief and Mayor Davis waiting for them near the source of the light, which resembled a light signal like the one in Batman or any other comics.
"I thought we were past the police trying to arrest us," Ronnie Anne sarcastically said to the police chief.
"I can reassure you that he isn't here to arrest you," The mayor calmly stated as she tried to reassure the two heroes.
The two kids then looked at each other, wondering what could have been the reason behind this encounter.
"Then, can you please tell us why you called us?" Lincoln asked with a hint of suspicion. "In a few days," the chief started saying in a salty tone. "there will be a night gala to raise funds for the city, and the mayor wants us to work side by side to make it as safe as possible,"
"And you're ok with it?" Ronnie Anne asked the chief as she raised an eyebrow.
"Whether I like it or not, the mayor asked me to do it and I cannot refuse it," said returning in a usual respectful tone.
"May I ask you for more information regarding the gala?... Just so we can cooperate better," Lincoln asked politely and calmly to not scare the policeman.
"As said before, the gala is designated to raise funds, mainly for the police department, and, as we have recently been informed, Jered O'Brien will come to it," The mayor stated with a worried tone.
"Sorry for my ignorance, but who is this Jered O'Brien?" Ronnie Anne interrupted the mayor as she wanted more information.
"Jered O'Brien is the CEO of 'Safety & Security' which is the company that offered to help us deal with the criminal," The police chief stated, a bit irritated by the interaction.
The two kids then exchanged worried looks, would they finally be able to see who was hiding behind all this criminal operation?
"I'm sorry, but why didn't you tell us his name earlier?" Ronnie Anne asked, a bit irritated.
"For what I care, you were just a bunch of freaks in costume, so I don't think you had the right to know about it," the police chief stated, irritated by the girl's actions and tone.
"We will do what we can," Lincoln said, as he tried to keep his friend calm.
"Very well…" the mayor said. "You can start by helping the police inspect the building tomorrow morning," She continued speaking as she handed the two kids a piece of paper with all the information they needed to know about the building plus two invites to the gala.
"Oh one last thing," Lincoln said as he walked towards the mayor and handed her an earpiece similar to his. "If you need anything else, you can call us instead of using that," Lincoln explained as he pointed at the light signal in front of him.
The two kids then bid farewell to the mayor and the officer as they headed toward home.
"Lisa, did you hear what happened?" Lincoln asked her younger sister
"Affirmative, do you want me to research the company S&S?" Lisa asked in advance.
"Yes," Lincoln replied as he and the Latina girl ran across the roofs to return to their houses.
Meanwhile, in the streets under them, something was going on. Two men dressed in black carrying two bags entered the back of a building where they were being waited on by other thirteen men.
"Did you find what we need?" One of the men asked to which the two men simply replied by putting the bag on the table revealing it was full of semi-automatic rifles.
The man took up one of the numerous weapons, pointed it at the opposite wall and inspected it.
"Yes, that is what we were talking about," the man smiled as he put the weapon down and headed to a door behind him where his boss was working on some sort of electric component.
"Boss, we got everything we need," the man said.
His boss, hearing those words, stopped his work and turned to watch his comrades.
"Good, now we can put our plan in motion," the boss stated.
"Do you think we will succeed?" The man asked as he was perplexed and worried about the mission they were about to partake in.
"It has to work, we are the only ones who can do what is right!" he replied stoically before he returned to work on his machine.
The next morning, Lincoln woke up at around half past nine, and after he dressed and went to the bathroom, he soon got downstairs and noticed that the only remaining sister in the house was Lori, who was currently watching her phone as she laid on the sofa.
"Had a good sleep, sleepyhead," Lori said jokingly.
"Why yes, thank you for asking," Lincoln said as he went to the kitchen to make his breakfast, causing his sister to laugh a bit.
As Lincoln sat at the table to eat a bowl of cereal, Lori got up off the sofa and soon she too sat on the table to keep Lincoln company.
"Sooo, what are you gonna do today?" Lori asked.
"I don't know," Lincoln replied. "I think I will probably read some comics and maybe hang out with my friend,"
"With all of them or someone precisely," Lori asked with a smirk, hoping to make his younger brother confess that he and Ronnie Anne were dating.
"I don't know, probably I will hang out at the arcade with Clyde," Lincoln replied, a bit confused by his sister's question.
Seeing that she couldn't obtain a precise answer from Lincoln and not wanting to push him too much Lori decided to let it go, for now.
"Well, whatever you are gonna do, I hope you have fun," Lori said as she patted Lincoln's head before she left the room.
Having finished his breakfast, Lincoln went to the bunker where he found Lisa studying numerous documents on her computers.
"What are you watching there Lisa?" Lincoln asked as she approached her younger sister
"Well, since last night, I have started to check any information regarding Jered O'Brien, and, the only thing I was able to make sure of is that there aren't two people that think the same thing about him," Lisa said as she rubbed her eyes. "Many people consider that man a philanthropist since he has made numerous donations to different organizations, but, on the other end, his business is under investigation on the suspicion of having committed numerous war crimes and violating human rights all around the world," Lisa pointed out which made Lincoln's blood freeze in his veins for a moment.
He knew at that moment that whatever was behind the criminals' attack was a human scum, but a war criminal? He would never think about that. Why on earth would a war criminal be interested in his city?
"Still, after all this research, the question of why he is doing all of this to our city still remains," Lisa remarked.
"Do you have any proof that can connect him to the criminals?" Lincoln asked
"I have searched for every possible information that could help us and studied the criminal's file of the police department, yet I couldn't find a single connection that could link the CEO to those criminals. Just a lot of diplomatic incidents and military intervention in third world countries," Lisa explained as she started listing some of the crimes the S&S was accused of.
As Lincoln kept listening to his younger sister's words, he couldn't believe who this Jered O'Brien was. It was bad enough that a possible war criminal was the one behind all of the criminal activity in the city but, as he heard all the crimes the organization had supposedly committed, well, it was like he had just unlocked a new fear that had just overshadowed all his worst fears combined. Fortunately, before the young boy could sink even deeper into his fears, he was brought back to reality by the ringing of his phone.
"Hello?" Lincoln asked as he answered the phone
"Hi, Lincoln it's me, Ronnie Anne, sorry if I couldn't come to the bunker today, Bobby is still being too cautious after the incident, is it okay if we meet at the address the mayor gave us?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"No no, it's fine. I will reach you in a few minutes," Lincoln replied.
"Alright, see you there lame-o," Ronnie Anne said before she hung up the phone.
After finishing the call, Lincoln said goodbye to her sister and exited the bunker as he proceeded to meet up with her friend.
After a few minutes of running across the roof, Lincoln finally arrived at the pre-established address, positioned himself on a nearby building, and started to inspect the building down below and noticed it was already teeming with cops.
"Do you think they will let us go inside?" Ronnie Anne asked sarcastically as she appeared behind the young hero.
"Well, we better hope so," Lincoln answered as he and Ronnie Anne got down from the building and started to approach the entrance.
The various agents soon turned around to face the two vigilantes, some of them seemed happy to see them there, others still were unsure about the situation, some even frustrated by their presence there. Thankfully for the two heroes, all the agents were already informed by the arrival of the two heroes from their chief, allowing them to enter the building before they returned to their duty inspecting the outside area.
Once inside, the two young heroes started to inspect the building starting from the wall and the ceiling, inspecting if there were any possible hidden explosives attached to them, and later passed to inspect the different tables that were positioned across the floor.
"Lisa, can you give us the size of the room?" Ronnie Anne asked, wanting to be sure there weren't again any kinds of extra rooms or fake walls that could be used to help the villains in their criminal acts. Fortunately, there weren't any of them.
"Do you think our job is done?" Ronnie Anne asked, not believing their task was so easy
"I think so," Lincoln said as he smiled under his helmet.
But, as the two young kids were about to leave the room satisfied with their work, a huge explosion came from the wall behind them, which blasted the two young heroes flying across the room.
"Que diablo!?" Ronnie Anne shouted as Lincoln and she got up and prepared themself for whoever they were about to fight.
As the two young heroes started to approach the destroyed wall, a figure started to appear out of the dust. It was a man covered in a sort of red armor like Red Devil, but this new foe was different, his helmet didn't have any peculiar characteristic, while the rest of his armor, especially his thorax and his gloves, seemed to be equipped with some sort of electronic component that emitted a yellowish light.
The armored man started to walk over the debris and stopped when he was a few feet from the two heroes.
"You are the two vigilantes, right?" The man asked.
"Yeah, and you are about to get your ass kicked," Ronnie Anne answered, causing the man to give a small chuckle.
"I respect what you two are doing to try and help this city, but I must ask you to step aside, let me work," The man asked the two young heroes.
"Sorry, but I don't think we are gonna do that," Lincoln stated as he activated his powers.
Hearing the kids' response, the man realized it would be useful to reason with the two young heroes and proceeded to charge against them as he tried to hit them without holding back. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, however, didn't stand still and started to back away as they tried to dodge and parry the incoming blows.
As soon as he saw an opening, Lincoln tried to hit the villain in the chest but, as the white-haired boy landed the blow, he realized the attack had been blocked by the man's armor. Making it worse for the young heroes, the man's suit was able to absorb the punch's energy, and the man was then able to release a shock wave that hit Lincoln in the abdomen with incredible force and sent the young boy flying across the room.
Although surprised by this turn of events, Lincoln managed to do a backflip mid-air and landed on his feet although a bit ungratefully.
"Are you ok?" Ronnie Anne asked him.
"Yeah, just a bit shocked, " Lincoln replied. "Do you have an idea what happened," Lincoln asked as he was still uncertain of what just happened.
"I may have an answer," Lisa answered him through the earpiece. "It seems this man's suit makes him able to absorb the kinetic energy of his enemy's attacks and use it against them. I suggest you try to disable his armor without hitting him," Lisa suggested.
"Well that should be easy, I already have an idea," Ronnie Anne said as she started to throw her special glue at the criminals, hoping to block him. The villain, however, activated his sonic blast which dissipated the substance before it could make contact, leaving the villain completely untouched and still able to fight.
"That wasn't what I had in mind," the Latina girl said as she noticed her plan flopped.
Seeing the two heroes were in a position of difficulty, the villain decided to launch his attack and, with all his fury, started to throw punches and sonic waves left and right, destroying everything that stood between him and the young heroes who, no matter how hard they tried, were constantly being pushed back with not a single chance of counterattack and forced to receive many blows from the criminal.
Not being able to take any more hits, Lincoln started to attack his enemy and started to throw punches and kicks one after another. His adversary simply stood still as he received the various attacks until, as Lincoln threw another punch, his suit reached his maximum capacity and the man jumped aside. Before the boy could realize his mistake, the villain proceeded to blast sonic waves from his hands, as he tried to hit the two heroes.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, caught off guard for a second time by the villain, started to run all around the building to avoid being caught by the criminal's attack and started to run around the room in all directions to dodge all the incoming attacks. After a few seconds of running, the villain's armor soon ran out of power.
The room was completely destroyed, the chairs and table reduced to splinters and the walls barely standing, seeing that the two heroes were still standing and seeing the amount of damage he had caused, the villain decided to leave the scene and ran outside one of the various holes in the wall.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne started to pant as the fight finally stopped and the police entered the building to find it completely in shambles with the tables destroyed and the walls covered by burns.
"What happened here?" One of the policemen said as he put his weapons down and started to inspect the scene.
A few hours later, Lincoln and her friend Ronnie Anne were back at the bunker discussing with Lisa to try and understand what happened at the building.
"Do you have any idea who that guy was?" Ronnie Anne asked the two Loud siblings.
"If I can advance a hypothesis, I think the criminal isn't working for the S&S but it's more likely this new antagonist who has his own goals and, since he has attacked the building where the night gala will take place, I think he will try to strike again but why, I don't know," Lisa said.
The two kids looked at each other a bit perplexed by the little girl's explanation but they had seen a lot of strange things in the last month and this explanation even seemed vaguely realistic.
"Ah Lisa, can I leave you the new gadget here to improve his precision?" The Latina girl asked Lisa as she put it on the table beside the invitation to the gala.
"I will check it as soon as possible," Lisa stated as the two 10-year-olds left the underground hideout.
The two kids then proceeded to enter the house from the main door to try not to raise any suspicion about why the two of them were in the backyard. Inside the living room, were Lori, Lucy, and the twins who were watching the TV to get more news regarding the two masked vigilantes.
"Hi girls," Lincoln said to his four sisters, who immediately greeted him back.
"Ronnie Anne," Lori started speaking with a smile on her face as she saw her boyfriend's little sister, "What brings you here,"
"Ah you know, me and lame-o were just hanging out and I offered to walk him home," Ronnie Anne said as she gave a friendly punch to his friend.
"I see," Lori said, as her smile got bigger. "Are you planning to stop here, or do you need a lift?"
"don't worry I can return home on walking," Ronnie Anne answered.
"Ssshhhh, the news is about to start," Lola said as she quickly shushed the two girls.
"Here is Katherine Mulligan speaking, less than an hour ago, a new fight ensued between the local heroes, the police, and various criminals, which led to the destruction of the inside of the building behind me," The journalist said as she pointed at the building behind her. "The building was going to host the gala night to raise funds for the police department, it's still not confirmed whether or not the attack was an isolated action or it was aimed at undermining the gala itself, but the police have sworn that they will do everything to assure the safety of the participant of the gala,"
"Woah, is it only me or does it seem like the situation in Royal Woods is getting crazier as time passes," Lori asked.
"Nah, probably it's just a coincidence, anyway I better get going smell you later lame-o," Ronnie Ann remarked.
"Not if I smell you first," Lincoln replied before he too got up the sofa and headed towards his room.
Seeing the interaction between the two 10-year-olds, Lori couldn't help but remember when she and Bobby started dating and smile at those thoughts.
Unfortunately for her, Lola noticed the smile appearing on her face.
"Did you see it?" Lola asked her twin, "She still has that smile,"
"I see it, you were right, something is going on," said Lana as she had to admit her twin was right.
A few hours later, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne met again in their hideout to try and understand what the villain's plan was and how they could stop him. However, as the three kids were trying to come up with an idea, they received an incoming call from the mayor.
"Hello?" Lincoln asked as he answered the call.
"Powerfist right?" The mayor replied
"Yes ma'am, how can I help you?" the boy asked energetically.
"Listen, in response to the recent attack by this new criminal, me and the city council had no choice but to change the location of the gala, the new location is at 30th Avenue," The mayor informed the hero. "I would also need you and your friend Oscurada to come there and inspect the building,"
"It will be done," Lincoln said as he finished the call.
"Who was it?" Ronnie Anne asked him.
"It's the mayor, she wants us to inspect the new building where they are going to host the gala. We better go now," Lincoln said as he started to climb the stairs to leave the bunker.
"Let's just hope nothing bad is gonna happen this time," Ronnie Anne said.
But, as the two kids exited the bunker, they found Lori standing on the back door threshold. The three kids seemed surprised to bump into each other.
"Lori," the two 10-year-olds greeted the oldest sibling of the Loud house.
"Lincoln, Ronnie Anne,'' Lori greeted back. "What were you doing in Lisa's bunker? '' the girl asked as she tried not to look too suspicious.
"NOTHING," the two kids quickly screamed together, trying to prevent Lori from unveiling their secret. "It's just that, ehm, Lisa needed help with an experiment," Lincoln said with a nervous smile.
Lori immediately understood something was off but, knowing about his 'sessions' and not wanting to press her brother too much, Lori simply nodded.
"And what were you doing here?" Ronnie Anne asked, trying to move away from the subject.
"I was gonna ask Lisa to fix a problem with my phone," Lori said sheepishly.
The three of them stood in silence for half a minute, none of them sure of what to do. But then Lincoln bid farewell to his oldest sister and they went their separate way.
As she saw Lincoln and Ronnie Anne leaving the house, Lori started to descend the stairs and entered the little girl's bunker.
Fortunately for Lisa, Lincoln was able to keep their oldest sibling occupied for enough time for Lisa to remove any sign of the heroic activity the three kids were partaking in.
"Lori, what a pleasant surprise, may I assume you are here to know how Lincoln's therapy sessions are going?" Lisa asked.
"Kinda, just for asking, this session required Ronnie Anne's help," Lori asked with a smirk.
"I was trying, how can I put it, I was thinking that if Lincoln was in her presence, he would have been more calm and would open up more easily. However, this session wasn't different from the others," Lisa explained.
"I see, well I hope you will be able to find a way to make him open up," Lori said.
Having said so, the oldest siblings started to leave the underground room but, as she passed by a table, she noticed the paper with all the information for tonight's gala. Not realizing what it was at that moment, Lori decided to take it to better inspect it.
"Hey Lisa, what is this?" Lori asked confused, as she showed her younger sister the paper.
'OH NO,' Lisa thought, her eyes wide open as she desperately tried to come up with a reasonable excuse as fast as possible.
"Can I trust you won't tell our siblings about this?" Lisa asked still a bit unsure of what to say
"I promise," Lori said as she got more curious with each passing moment.
"You see, a few days ago, Lincoln told me he wanted to take Ronnie Anne on a date today and asked me to help me find any place where he could take her out, so I printed everything I found. Obviously, he discarded the idea of the Gala immediately," Lisa stated.
"ARE YOU TELLING ME LINCOLN AND RONNIE ANNE ARE OFFICIALLY DATING?!" Lori asked her, not believing the young girl's words.
"Yes, and please remember to not tell anyone else," Lisa remarked.
"You have my word," Lori swore with a hand on her heart as she left the bunker with a giant smile on her face.
"and then they wonder why I'm the smartest in the house," Lisa said to herself under her breath, disappointed at her sister's low deductive skill but reassured her and Lincoln's secret was still safe.
As soon as she walked out of the bunker and entered the kitchen she started to squeak out of pure joy, a bit too excited not even noticing her younger sister standing behind her.
"What happened?" Lana asked curiously, wondering why the eldest sibling was so excited, scaring Lori a bit.
"N-nothing, it's just, ehm, Bobby told me he organized a surprise date, I don't know what it is but I hope it will be romantic, just the two of them,"
"Of them?"
"OF US! I wanted to say of us," Lori said with an awkward smile before she walked away.
The little handyman, however, wasn't convinced at all by Lori's explanation and she quickly ran to her room to tell her twin Lola what happened.
"Lola, I need to tell you something," Lana shouted as she stormed into her room, interrupting Lana's tea party.
"Lana, if just for some 'cool' mud, I'm not interested," Lola said as she poured some tea into a cup for one of her puppets, ignoring her twin.
"It's not mud. I may have discovered what Lori has been hiding from us," Lana said as she grabbed Lana by the shoulders and started to shake her violently.
Understanding the urgency of what her twin had to say, Lola quickly turned around to face Lana.
"Lana, go call Lucy," Lola said in a serious tone, which made her twin slightly worried about what was going on.
A few seconds later, the three sisters were in Lucy's room and were waiting for Lola to speak.
"Alright, before I speak, is there anyone who wants to speak first," Lola said to which her twin sister Lana raised her arms
"Is it ok for Lily to stay here?" Lana asked as she pointed at the little girl who was in the room's corner playing with her blanket.
"Yeah, sure, she can stay," Lola stated. "Anyway, back to the reason for why I asked you two to come to this meeting, a few minutes ago, Lana told me she has found a possible clue on what Lori has been hiding from us," she said as she gave the word to her twin who then told them the exact same discussion she had with Lori.
"This proves my theory that Lori is hiding something from us regarding Lincoln and, furthermore, we now know he has a date with someone later today,"
"What made you say so?" Lucy asked as she was a bit perplexed by the little pageant
winner's explanation.
"Well, it was obvious she was lying oh and she had the same silly smile she had for a few days every time she saw Lincoln," Lana remarked.
"And since she used the word them, we can suppose Lincoln will meet up with someone else," Lola added, which soon was able to convince Lucy something was going on.
"OK, what do you think we should do then?" Lana asked.
"I say we search all the places Lincoln usually goes or where he might go, it's not the best way to understand what it's going on but right now it's our only way to understand what Lori is hiding from us," Lola stated.
Lucy and Lana still had their little doubts but they were too worried for their brother's safety, so they decided to support Lola's plans and so the three girls started to discuss the details of their plan.
As the evening started to come to an end, the two heroes were able to complete the inspection of the second location in time, although a bit more hastily, and the gala was able to start right on time. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne took position on the roof of a building that was situated right in front of the main entrance from where they could get a better view of the situation and inspect the situation at the gala.
Right now the situation was pretty calm, the cars came and went, leaving the guests in front of the entrance letting them walk the red carpet as they were photographed and interviewed by a swarm of journalists that surrounded them.
The two kids were starting to get bored as they were waiting for something interesting to happen.
"For how long have we been here?" Ronnie Anne asked, already bored.
"Nearly an hour," Lincoln stated, causing his friend to let out a growl of frustration.
Fortunately for them, Lisa gave them a call advising them that Jered O'Brien's car was about to arrive.
"Finally, something interesting," Ronnie Anne said cheerfully, as she and Lincoln leaned from the roof to have a better view of the situation.
A few seconds later, a black and over luxurious limousine arrived and soon a man got out of it. He was around thirty years old, he was wearing a navy blue suit, a red papillon, and a blue cylinder hat. He had short brown hair and brown eyes although he was pretty young, he seemed to already have problems walking so he had to be supported by a cane.
As soon as the man stepped out of his vehicle he was immediately assaulted by the journalist who started to take as many photos as possible and started to bombard him with questions.
"Please, one at a time," The man said as he kept walking towards the entrance while smiling for the cameras.
"Mr. O'Brien, what prompted you to come to this event?" one of the journalists asked.
"I just want to help the community of this great country in every way I can," The man said as he kept walking forward.
"Is it true that you had offered to help the police department by having some of your employers deal with the criminals?" another journalist asked.
"As I said before, I'm trying to help the city of our country in every way possible,"
"Mr. O'Brien, how do you pledge against the accusation that your corporation has actively supported the criminals that plague our city?" Katherine Mulligan asked.
Hearing that question, the man stopped walking, a bit shocked by hearing such an accusation, he turned his head to face and smile at and smiled at the camera directly and with a calm voice said "Let me assure you dear, those are nothing but mere lies created by those who want to damage my public image," O'Brien stated as he then proceeded to enter inside the building.
"Mr. O'Brien, may I escort you to your table?" A waiter asked him, as he guided the CEO to the table where he was greeted by Mayor Theresa Davis and members of her staff, and the chief of the police department.
At the same time, something else was going on outside the building.
"For how long have we been walking?" Lana asked, a bit tired.
"I don't know, but we are halfway from the arcade," Lola answered.
The three young Loud had been searching in all the places their brother might have been and now they were going to the arcade, however, as they did so, they had to pass right in front of the building where the gala was being held. Lana and Lucy weren't particularly interested in it, Lola on the other end, was hyped to see so many celebrities coming up, which caused the other two sisters to have to wait for her to calm down before they could keep going on with their search.
Back on the rooftop, Lincoln was working on a strange-looking walkie-talkie.
"What's that?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Lisa suggested that I put a microphone under Jered O'Brien's table," Lincoln explained. "this thing should allow us to hear what they are saying," Lincoln explained as he turned on the machine and started listening to the conversation.
"So Mr O'Brien, may I know why you are here, I thought we made it clear that we weren't interested in your offer." The Mayor asked, clearly irritated to have to deal with that man again.
"I know but, seeing the unceasing chaos and rampaging criminality, I want to lay the offer on the table again,"
"And as I told you before, we aren't interested in your offer. Besides, we have our way of dealing with the criminals in the city," Theresa said.
"What, those two heroes?" the man asked as he gave a small chuckle cheerfully before he noticed the mayor's serious expression. "Come on, those heroes cannot be a permanent solution. Yes, they may be good to deal with small crooks but, as I have seen from the incident at the bank, they are not reliable. My employees, on the other hand, are specialized to deal with this situation." Jered O'Brien pointed out with a cocky smile.
"Better to rely on those vigilantes than on a criminal," the police chief remarked angrily and at the same time glaring at the man, taking by surprise all the members of the table who didn't expect such a response.
Jered O'Brien took a deep breath while clenching his fists and tried to stay as calm as possible.
"I'm not a criminal," The man said with his teeth clenched. "I'm a businessman and I do what I must do so that my business can flourish and beat the competition. Now if you want to excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," he excused himself as he stormed out.
"He seems like a nice and calm guy," Ronnie Anne said ironically, causing Lincoln to give a small laugh.
Minutes passed and nothing new seemed to be happening inside and Lincoln had the feeling something was out of place.
"You good Lincoln?" Ronnie Anne asked as she noticed Lincoln's concern.
"Yes, just let me check one thing," Lincoln said as he called his sister Lisa. "Hey Lisa, can you tell me if you see anything wrong from the safety cameras?"
"Dear brother, let me assure you there is nothing wrong going on. The only thing that I can see are the waitresses walking around, wait…give me a moment," Lisa said frantically as if she noticed something that was out of place.
"Lisa, is everything alright?" Ronnie Anne asked as she was confused by the little girl's statement, but there was no response.
"By Galilei's beard," Lisa said in a low tone of voice.
"Lisa, what did you find?" Lincoln asked.
"Lincoln, someone has hacked into the cameras, the images I'm seeing are in the loop. You need to go inside now,"
Hearing that the criminals had broken in, the two kids soon started to devise a plan to try and stop the criminals, but before the two young heroes could think of anything, two criminals started to blindingly fire from inside the building on the crowd, not wanting to kill anyone just to cause enough panic to turn the mass of journalist at the entrance into a frenzy which worked. As the first gunshot was fired, the journalist started to run in all directions as they tried to save themself, making it impossible for the heroes and the police to understand what was going on.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, however, were able to make their way, jumping over the mass of people and crashing inside the hall, inside there were just five men armed with rifles who, as soon as they saw the kids, started to open fire on the two heroes who quickly dodged the bullets.
Ronnie Anne soon blocked two of the criminals on the wall with her special glue while Lincoln knocked the other two unconscious by hitting them right in the middle of the face. Seeing his four companions being so easily defeated by the two heroes, the fifth man quickly jumped out of the window and started to run outside, being followed immediately by Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. However, as they kept chasing the man, the criminal started shooting in the air, causing the people around him to run away.
The two heroes prepared to jump at the criminal; however, as the man turned around, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were forced to stop in their tracks.
"STAY BACK OR THIS GIRL DIES," the criminal shouted while pointing a gun at Lola's head.
The little pageant queen got separated from his twin and his older sister once the first shots were fired and, as she tried to find them, she was grabbed by one of the criminals.
The two young heroes stood still as they tried to come up with a plan to save the young girl. However, as Lincoln kept looking at his young sister, the gun pressed against her head and her eyes full of tears. The boy soon felt a rush of anger and, without thinking, the boy rushed towards the criminal.
In a blink of an eye, Lincoln appeared in front of the criminal who, before he could do anything, Lincoln punched him right in the face and sent him flying to the opposite side of the road.
"ARE YOU OK?" Lincoln asked frantically as he wanted to make sure the young girl was fine.
"Y-y-yeah, thank you," Lola answered as she hugged him.
Lincoln was a bit shocked to see his sister hugging him, especially given the fact she hated the two vigilantes.
"It it was nothing," Lincoln answered as she hugged her back. "I should go now, I think your sisters are waiting for you," The hero added as he pointed to Lucy and Lana standing behind them.
Lola then ran towards her twin and hugged her, gratefully they were both fine and together. However, Lana wanted to troll her a bit.
"So, still think those heroes are evil?" Lana asked joking with a smile.
"OK, they're not so bad, now shut up," Lola said as the three sisters went back to their house.
In the meantime, although the heroes were able to divert the criminal attention and rescue most of the hostages, they weren't able to arrest the armored man, and, worst of all, O'Brien had gone missing. Wanting to understand, Lincoln asked Lisa to check the camera around the area to see what had happened and, after a few seconds, Lisa discovered O'Brien had been kidnapped by the criminals and dragged away.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked at each other confused about what the armored man could have wanted from O'Brien. However, whether the two heroes liked it or not, they had to find the CEO and save him. Lisa kept inspecting the cameras around town to try and understand where the criminals could have taken O'Brien and, after some time, Lisa informed the two young heroes of a possible location where the criminal could be hiding.
After a few minutes of running around across town, the young heroes finally arrived at the location Lisa had given them. Before the two heroes could even question if this was the right place, they were fired upon by some criminals, forcing the two young heroes to hide behind the nearby cars. However, they were not stuck in place without the possibility to move even an inch.
But then, the sound of firing bullets suddenly stopped, and the two kids slowly started to poke their heads out of their hiding spots. They were surprised when they saw an old acquaintance right in front of them.
"You?!" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne shouted surprised once they saw Red Devil in front of them.
"What the hell are you two kids doing here?" Red Devil replied, shocked to see the two kids, as he started to clean the gun he had just used.
"We were asked to keep an eye on the gala and now we are here to save O'Brien," Powerfist explained. "And you?"
"Let's just say I have unfinished business with their boss and I've got paid to deal with him," Red Devil explained. "Listen, I have an offer, I can deal with the guy in armor quickly but not until he is protected by his crooks. So I propose we make a truce until those guys are out, you and your girlfriends deal with the crooks while I deal with their boss,"
"First of all, I'm not his girlfriend," Ronnie Anne said irritatedly. "And second, how do you plan to deal with him since his suit protects him from every blow?" Ronnie Anne asked not to be convinced by the man's plan.
"His suit has a capacity limit, if I manage to overheat it with my flamethrower, it will become useless. So, do we have a deal?"
Red Devil asked as he stretched his hands toward the kids. The two kids stood quiet for a moment, not even a week ago they fought with the bank where he nearly killed them and now he was asking for their help?! But, even though they hated him, they knew alone they stood no chance of winning the fight. So, having no choice, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were forced to accept this strange alliance.
The new strange allies soon entered the building, moving fast yet swiftly trying not to alert any of possible enemies. As they walked further inside the building, they entered a room where they found the armored man holding the CEO of the 'S&S' by the throat in the air.
"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," The armored man said with a malicious laugh.
The two heroes and Red Devil quickly came up with a plan in which Lincoln would have acted as a diversion, distracting the criminals giving Ronnie Anne and Red Devil the element of surprise to attack the various crooks while their guard was down.
As Powerfist jumped out of his cover all the criminals quickly switched their attention to him and soon surrounded him, pointing their guns at him. Seeing the arrival of the young hero, the armored man decided to deal with the young hero first and let go of O'Brien, who quickly started to crawl away.
While the criminals were distracted by Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Red Devil jumped at the criminals taking them off guard; the two kids started to deal with the crooks, blocking them to the ground with their glue, tying them up, and knocking them unconscious.
Their boss tried to help them, but before he could do anything, he was tackled to the ground by the Red Devil. The two armored criminals stood still, looking at each other for a few seconds as they finally stood face to face, then they opened fire at each other with Red Devil using the full power of his flamethrower while his adversary activated the sound cannon.
The two blasts met each other, none of them stronger than the other and soon the two criminals found themself in a stalemate, however, the power of the man's cannon soon started to go down, and was engulfed by flames.
Seeing his enemy had lost his main weapon, Red Devil activated his jetpack and flew over him, and kept firing at him. Unable to properly defend himself and seeing his armor was absorbing too much energy, he was forced to turn it off, to prevent his suit from exploding. It was at that moment that the Red Devil charged from above, landing punches left and right causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground unable to get up.
"I told you you should have updated this piece of junk," Red Devil said sarcastically once he defeated his enemy. "Did you kids deal with those crooks?" Red Devil asked only to find out that the two heroes had already defeated all the crooks and had tied them up together.
"What do you think?" Lincoln said with a cocky smile under his helmet.
"Well then, there is one thing to do," Red Devil said as he loaded his flamethrower and pointed at his enemy's head.
"Woah woah woah, what are you doing?" Lincoln shouted as he lunged forward putting himself in front of the Red Devil.
"I told you, kid, my boss hired me to deal with him and I intend to finish the job, now move aside please," Red Devil stated,
Lincoln was perplexed about what to do, he knew that man was a criminal and had tried to harm innocents but didn't he have the right to live and be judged under the law? Was he gonna turn around and let him die? So Lincoln did what he thought was the right thing to do in that situation, he took Red Devil's arm and threw the man against the wall, and prepared for the fight.
Understanding that the young hero wasn't gonna let him do his job, Red Devil soon started to fight him in close-quarter combat as the two exchanged blows, punches, and kicks at each other.
Taking advantage of his two enemies fighting against each other, the armored man started to crawl to the exit to escape but he was stopped by Ronnie Anne who threw a rope at his leg stopping him.
"Going somewhere?" Ronnie Anne asked as she pulled the rope towards her and soon started to fight him.
Meanwhile, Lincoln continued attacking the Red Devil who seemed to have decided to stay on the defensive. The two continued to throw punches at each other but, since the last time, Lincoln had learned his adversary type of attacks and was now able to dodge most of them and even land a few punches, although none of them were decisive attacks that could have ended the fight and, as the fight dragged on, Lincoln started to feel more tired and had to stop to catch some breath.
As Lincoln was catching a break, Ronnie Anne bumped into him and the two kids found themself back to back.
The Latina girl had managed to land a few hits on the man thanks to her increased agility and speed but, since the criminal was protected by his armor, those blows weren't able to do much damage and she was soon forced to back away under the pressure of her enemy's attack.
"Now would be the perfect time for a plan," Ronnie Anne pointed out as the two heroes were sandwiched between the two villains, soon the two criminals rushed towards them but then they jumped on top of the heroes and started to fight among each other ignoring Lincoln and Ronnie Anne.
"Du verdammtes Stück Scheiße," The armored man said angrily, as he tried to hit his adversary in the face.
"E tu sei uno stronzo bastardo che non sa convivere con le conseguenze delle sue azioni," Red Devil replied as not only he managed to block the attack, but was also able to hit his adversary right in the liver, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Zumindest habe ich es gewagt, das Richtige zu tun," The man said as he got up and soon started to fight again.
Although the two criminals had similar equipment, Red Devil had the upper hand as he managed to block nearly all of his enemy's attacks and land even more attacks, and, even if his adversary had his special armor, the numerous hit soon took their toll and the Red Devil managed to send his enemy to the ground and pointed a gun right at his head.
However, as he was once again ready to execute his target, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne jumped into the fray with Lincoln catching Red Devil's hand preventing him from firing his gun while Ronnie Anne was able to immobilize the other man thanks to her glue.
"Hey, just a quick question, what is the deal between you two?" Ronnie Anne asked, wondering why those two seemed to be hating each other so much.
"That's none of your business," Red Devil replied angrily.
"We used to work together," The second man said. "But I grow tired of the operation we needed to fulfill,"
"Wait, did you work for S&S?" Lincoln asked to which the man replied with a nod of his head.
"That's perfect," Ronnie Anne said. "You can help us fight them and you can act as a witness to prove their crimes,"
"It won't work, I have tried it before. Nobody listened to me and they will not do it now. The only way to stop them is by killing O'Brien," the man stated.
"Listen, we have reason to believe that all the crimes in the city are caused by the S&S and, if you worked for them, you can help us prove it, please," Lincoln pointed out.
The man pondered his choice. He knew that if he was to accept this request he was gonna get killed but he would also encounter the same fate if he were to continue his crusades alone. So, wanting to stop the criminal activity of the 'Safety & Security' he decided that the best choice was to cooperate with the heroes. But, before he could give any information to the two heroes, a bullet passed through his skull and soon the lifeless body of the man fell to the ground emitting a loud metal noise.
The two kids turned their heads to Red Devil, thinking he was the one responsible for pulling the trigger but he was as confused as them. The three turned their heads to their left and noticed Jered O'Brien standing in front of them with a rifle in his hands.
"WHAT THE HECK DID YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" Lincoln furiously shouted.
"Me? Nothing. I am nothing but a victim who got held hostage and was saved by the intervention of the Royal Wood's vigilantes who, however, weren't able to prevent Red Devil from killing the criminal," Jered O'Brien said with a calm voice as he stood back up thank his cane and still with the gun in his hand. "And if you say otherwise, well it will be your words against mine. Now I think it would be better if every one of us leaves" the businessman stated as he left the room.
Lincoln was about to lose it and go straight to hit the man at his full strength but he was stopped by Ronnie Anne who grabbed his arm and made him realize that, since they hadn't anything against him, they would have been the criminals of the situation
Red Devil stood still for a few seconds watching the dead body of his enemy and then he left without saying a word, leaving behind the two kids who were shocked and outraged by what just happened in front of their eyes. After a few minutes, the two young heroes also decided to leave the room and soon went to their underground base.
In the meantime, Lucy, Lola, and Lana were heading back home, although the three of them were happy to be back all in one place, they couldn't lie they were a bit sad, after all, they weren't able to achieve their goal to try and help their brother more.
"So, what should we do now?" Lana asked as they entered their house and headed to their rooms.
"About what?" a voice asked, causing the three girls to stop in their tracks and, as they turned around, they found Lori standing in front of them. "What were you three doing outside?"
The three sisters looked at each other frantically as they tried to come up with a plausible excuse to justify.
"We-we-we were at the mall. There was a discount and Lola wanted to go there," Lana said.
"Nice try, if there was a discount Leni would have told me,"
"Couldn't you have come up with a better idea," Lola asked as she slapped the back of her twin's head.
"Spill the beans, where were you," Lori said glaring at them.
"You tell me first why were you hiding the fact that Lincoln should have met someone today," Lola asked
"WHAT?!" Lori asked, a bit shocked by the fact her younger sister knew about it.
"Lana told us you were hiding the fact Lincoln was going to meet someone and that you were acting rather suspicious," Lucy explained.
"So tell us now, who was Lincoln supposed to meet," Lola asked angrily wanting to know what she was hiding.
"Oh he was about to meet his friends," Lori said, being able to come up with an excuse
"WHAT!" The three young sisters shouted.
"You told us she was hiding something," Lucy said, clearly irritated.
"She seemed excited," Lana said as she tried to defend herself.
"ARE YOU TELLING ME WE JUST WASTED OUR AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR NOTHING!?" Lola shouted furiously.
"Wait, did you just spend the evening trying to make sure Lincoln was fine," Lori asked, to which the three sisters answered by nodding their heads.
"Aww, come here you three," Lori said as she got down and hugged them, although she thought her search was a bit exaggerated, she couldn't deny she was proud to see them trying to help their brother.
Back in the Loud's backyard, the three young heroes were trying to understand if they had anything to use against Jered O'Brien but, unfortunately, they soon realized the videos from their cameras were badly damaged and none of the footage could have been used in any sort of way.
"Well then it's a good thing I found his phone," Ronnie Anne said as she gave Lisa Jered O'Brien's phone hoping she would find some information to use against him.
"Where did you find it?" Lincoln asked, a bit perplexed by the way Ronnie Anne took it.
"I saw it falling from his pocket as he ran away and I got it before we escaped. I thought that it may have been useful," Ronnie Anne said.
Lincoln wasn't quite convinced by the girl's explanation but realized that the phone could be a huge advantage and decided to not say anything to the girl and soon the two kids decided to leave the bunker and return to their respective homes.
As Lincoln stepped into his house, he found Luan and Luna in the living room watching what looked like some sort of talent show.
"Hi Linc," "Hey dude," the two roommates greeted their younger brother
"Hi girls," Lincoln replied with a rather tired tone of voice.
The two sisters noticed Lincoln's tiredness and, being worried for him, decided to try to cheer him up
"Wait, wait, wait, what's that long face? Something bad happened?" Luna asked as she and her younger sister got up from the sofa and went to Lincoln's side.
"Nothing, I'm just tired," Lincoln replied, not wanting to make his sisters worried.
"Then why don't you tell it to us," Luan asked as the three of them sat on the sofa.
"Have you ever felt like no matter what you do you feel like it's worthless?" Lincoln asked
"Sometimes," Luna answered. "And you know what I do? I take a break and a deep breath and start again and I keep in mind that there will always be people that will always love me," Luna said as she tousled Lincoln's hair causing him to have a small laugh
"Hey wanna hear a joke?" Luan said wanting to make him happy to which Lincoln decided to agree.
"A driver is afraid of speed bumps, but he is slowly getting over them. HAHAHA get it?"
Although the pun wasn't that great it still managed to make the boy chuckle a bit and so, Lincoln went to his room, ready to take on whatever Jered O'Brien was gonna throw at him.
In the meantime the CEO of the 'Safety & Security' was heading back to his headquarters although he was still uncertain of where he had put his phone, oh well, he would have to buy a new one.
"Is everything alright sir?" his driver asked him.
"Yeah I'm just thinking," O'Brien said.
The businessman was thinking about the events that unfolded at the gala and he realized that, like at the bank, Red Devil showed too much mercy for the two heroes. He started to think that the best thing was to call someone to work with him, someone who was less inclined to hold back.