AN: Hey guys. I've fallen a little behind on my writing because of various, IRL things, but I'm still working on my stories. And this ended up being longer than my usual chapter length, so that's something. Hopefully the next update won't take so long, but we'll see how things go.

This chapter was going to play out a little differently, but Hero is currently doing his Lynncoln month on twitter (check his stuff out if you aren't already, it's fantastic, and there's at least a couple of drawings in the bunch that I'm certain fans of this story will enjoy), and that ended up inspiring me to take things in a slightly different direction. So if you don't like this chapter, it's his fault :)

Lincoln marveled at the strange moment of quiet that he currently found himself in.

It wasn't the first, or even the twentieth he'd experienced that day, given that he'd had the apartment to himself for several hours at this point, but considering how lively his day to day experiences had been since Lynn had literally burst back into his life, but it was different enough from what had become his normality that his brain refused to let the novelty of the situation go unobserved.

As his brain ran through this familiar cycle for the umpteenth time, Lincoln pulled his attention away from his phone, glanced around at his otherwise unoccupied living room. Most noticeably, the very, very empty couch he was currently sitting on.

It was a nice couch, far superior to the one he'd owned previously. Once Lori had begun visiting him on a regular basis, she'd wasted little time voicing her displeasure at the condition of his apartment, which wasn't exactly unwarranted. Lynn had done her best to adapt to living in a dwelling designed for people who were significantly shorter and possessed of a far gentler touch than her's, but her superhuman physique just wasn't compatible with Lincoln's living space. There were noticeable indentations in the ceiling and walls from times when she'd stood up or rounded a corner too quickly, all the doorknobs jiggled noticeably in their sockets, with several only vaguely resembling their original shapes, and his shower walls had long since been removed due to the sheer number of times she'd carelessly knocked them aside (though, considering the frequency with which she now joined him in the shower, he was reasonably certain that wasn't nearly as accidental as she'd claimed).

While she'd been able to accept much of the apartment's Lynn-related wear and tear, the couch was where Lori had drawn the line. It was the main feature of the living room and something that all three Louds and Stella would use, often at the same time, and it had fared significantly worse than every other part of the apartment since Lynn had begun living there. Put simply, Lynn was a gorgeous woman, but she was very tall and the density of her muscle mass made her body very, very heavy. That particular combination of traits had slowly ground down what had started as a perfectly serviceable couch for normal human beings into a disheveled mass of fabric, and cushions that did nothing of the sort. And so, Lori had taken it upon herself to procure a new couch for Lincoln.

It was much larger in terms of both breadth and length, and it sat quite a bit higher off the ground, with cushions that sank deeply into its couchy frame and lovingly wrapped themselves around the occupant in a tender embrace. All this was supported by a frame which the delivery man assured him was sturdy enough to survive at ground zero of any number of extraterrestrial impacts. In short, it was the greatest couch he had ever owned, and likely ever would own. Lori had, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that his bed was the next thing she was replacing, and in Lincoln's opinion, she was more than welcomed to do so. It would be nice to have proper bedding once again, seeing as how his current bed far more strongly resembled a futon these days.

But as enjoyable as it was to have his magnificent couch all to himself for the first time in a very, very long time, there was an unmistakable...wrongness, with the situation. That morning, Lori had gone off to work and Lynn had gone down to the Department of Metahuman Affairs, apparently to take care of something relating to the reinstatement of her hero license. Lincoln, with no obligations to meet himself, had found himself faced with the prospect of getting his apartment all to himself for a while, and had initially welcomed the reprieve from his current, far more active life. A return to his old lifestyle, however brief, where he didn't have to deal with metahumans and the often infuriating wackiness that came with them, where his responsibilities extended no further than maintaining his living space and meeting his scholastic responsibilities, and where he was free to pursue whatever indulgences tickled his fancy at any given time, so long as they didn't require venturing beyond the confines of his apartment, seemed incredibly appealing at the onset.

In truth, however, the novelty had worn thin almost immediately. It wasn't a perfect recreation of his pre-Lynn days. There were definitely some...needs, that had been far more pressing, and had occupied his mind far more fervently back when he was a solitary bachelor. And the greatest thrill he could look forward to back in those days, Game Night, was firmly off the table, since there was no way he'd be able to rally the guys on such short notice. Plus, that would also come with needing him to explain why he'd been blowing them off ever since Lynn had moved in, which wasn't something he was ready to deal with. Even so, he'd done his best to try to recapture some of the "glory" from those days.

He'd read, he'd watched tv, he'd chipped away at the new Mountainess-themed event currently running in Hero Academy (idly wondering if the red-headed heroine remembered the time her friend's weird little brother had tried to impress her by literally dancing his underpants off, then deciding he was probably better off if she didn't), and he'd even tried getting a jump start on some assignments for work and school that were nowhere close to being due. And all the while, he'd found himself wishing that someone, that one of the girls would pop through the door and end his solitude. Because as much as he'd tried to convince himself otherwise during the years in which he'd been separated from his family, Lincoln Loud was not an island. Having people in his life was what made it worth living. And when it came to his sisters, magnitudes greater than even that. Sooner or later he was going to have to talk to Lori about reaching out to the others...

WHAM WHAM WHAM

As Lincoln's brain registered the now very familiar sound of something impacting against his front door, he realized he was already on his feet and striding, perhaps a bit too eagerly, toward the disturbance. He faltered, just a bit, as he noticed the door vibrating within its frame, and altered his path so that instead of walking directly toward the door, he was now circling around towards it. Purely as a precaution, just in case it went flying off its hinges...again.

Thankfully, no such thing had happened by the time he'd reached his destination. In the interest of self-preservation, Lincoln stood there, just off to the side of the doorway, and waited for a pause in the pattern of knocks. Then, as the wooden surface came to a rest, Lincoln reached out and opened the door with a flick of his wrist.

As the door swung open, it occurred to Lincoln that the safest thing to do would have been to see who was on the other side before throwing away what little protection there was between the inside of his apartment, and the outside world. Admittedly, given how noisy and how intense the knocking had been, it was reasonable to assume that whoever was on the other side was only knocking out of courtesy, and would have little trouble simply letting themselves in if the situation called for it. Which lead to the rather uncomfortable train of thought, that even if Lincoln had taken those precautions, all he would be doing was delaying the inevitable. Thus, it was to the young man's great relief when the door swung open, and revealed a familiar set of finely chiseled abs just barely contained within a red and white leotard.

"Lynn!" He shouted happily, dashing forward and leaping into his amazonian sister's arms. At least, that's what he tried to do.

Normally Lynn would catch him mid-leap, snatching him out of the air and pulling him in for a snuggling so intense that surviving it counted as his workout for the day, it had sort of become their thing once they'd cemented their relationship. This time, however, no such assistance came, a fact that Lincoln only realized mere nanoseconds before he collided with the larger girl.

WHUMF

Lincoln winced as his face slammed into Lynn's torso, just beneath the swell of her breasts, the girl's strange mixture of bulletproof skin, superhuman muscularity, and natural, feminine softness, providing a landing pad that was equal parts painful and welcoming. He managed to recover just before gravity managed to catch up with him and send him tumbling to the ground in an undignified heap, however, instead opting to wrap his arms, and then legs around the older girl's midsection. The end result was a slightly more dignified position bearing no small resemblance to that of a koala clinging to a tree trunk, but at least he was stable. For now.

Several seconds passed as Lincoln tried to figure out where he was supposed to go from here, having fully committed to this bit as per usual, but now for the first time, finding himself wanting. Thankfully, it was only a few beats later that the decision was taken out of his hand, as Lynn's powerful arms wrapped themselves around his comparatively small body, and yanked him skyward, effortlessly ripping him free from her person.

"Heeeeeey, lil bro," Lynn purred, pulling him close and mashing his face into her cleavage. "I miiiiissed youuuuu!"

Lincoln stiffened on multiple fronts at the sound of his sister's voice. However, it was mostly because there was something decidedly...off, about it. Her words were disjointed. Slurred, almost. Were it anyone else, he'd have suspected they'd been drinking, but in light of Lynn's superhuman constitution (not to mention her utterly ridiculously durable digestive system), he was reasonably confident that it was impossible for her to get drunk. Which was probably for the best, given how unintentionally destructive Lynn could be even while sober.

Lincoln kicked his heels and squirmed in his biggest sister's grip, trying to rise above the soft, tantalizing maiden flesh that currently engulfed him. Finally, he got the idea to swing his legs forward, brace himself upon Lynn's thighs, and push upward with all his might, harnessing his newfound leverage and Lynn's natural sturdiness to multiply his efforts. The superheroine was presumably fine, given her complete and utter failure to react to Lincoln's use of her lower body as a platform, but eventually, his endeavor bore fruit, and Lincoln was able to push himself upward just enough to get a proper look at her.

Her eyes were glassy, and her gaze unfocused. She was looking in his general direction, but she wasn't looking at him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that there should have been little cartoon birds flying around her head. Considering how absurdly tough Lynn was, seeing her in this state was more than a little unsettling. The state of her costume only added further questions. Lynn's leotard, like most high-end superhero costumes, was made of Span-X, which was nearly indestructible. It had an odd tendency to consistently rip and tear only in ways that would be considered tasteful, yet sexy, but otherwise, it was resistant to nearly all manner of trauma and would expand and contort to fit pretty much any body shape or size. There was a reason Leni was making a mint off the stuff. And yet, by the standards of Span-X, Lynn's costume was nearly torn to shreds. It wasn't in danger of falling off, as per the Span-X guarantee, but the super-powered athlete was showing a lot more skin than she normally did. Which was saying something.

"HELLO?"

A booming voice pulled Lincoln's attention from his musings, and he looked around, searching for its source. Then he did a double-take as he realized where it was coming from.

Looming over Lynn, and utterly dwarfing the Loud girl's already considerable height, was Stella. So large was she, that she was forced to crouch at what seemed to be a very uncomfortable angle, with her back pressing right up against the ceiling. Her obvious discomfort begged the question, why did she not simply shrink herself down to a more comfortable size? But as Lincoln was about to articulate that thought, he noticed that the polymorph's large hands were clenched tightly around Lynn's broad shoulders, the way one might attempt to steady a toddler. And upon further inspection, and noting that Stella's hands were trembling with obvious strain, he concluded that the oversized girl's support was very likely to be the only reason Lynn was currently standing.

"Hey, Stella," He said, jerking his head at the taller girl in greeting since his arms were still bound. "Pardon my french, but what the hell is going on here?"

"LYNN NEEDED HELP GETTING HOME, AND APPARENTLY I'M ONE OF HER EMERGENCY CONTACTS," Stella replied, grunting with exertion, clearly feeling the strain of her duties in a very literal way. "WHICH IS SOMETHING I'M GOING TO BE REALLY, REALLY HAPPY ABOUT LATER ON. BUT RIGHT NOW I KIND OF FEEL LIKE MY ARMS ARE GOING TO FALL OFF. ANY CHANCE YOU COULD TAKE HER FROM ME?"

"Muscle weighs more than fat," Lynn slurred, raising one finger in the air.

"Uh uh," Lincoln said absentmindedly as he took advantage of the opportunity to slip out of Lynn's grip, and land lightly on his feet. Just in case Lynn was feeling grabby, he took a few steps back, which also helped him get a better look at the spandex-clad heroine currently clogging up his hallway.

"PLEASE?" Stella added, now noticeably wobbling.

"Not that I wouldn't like to help," Lincoln said, gesturing at Lynn, "But if you can barely handle her, what makes you think I could? If I try to take her from you, she'll probably just topple over and crush me."

"Don't pretend you wouldn't love that," Said Lynn, giving him what was probably supposed to be a seductive grin. It...didn't quite stick, at least partially because she immediately began to sway forward, forcing Stella to redouble her efforts to keep the older girl aloft, but much to his frustration, Lincoln felt his cheeks begin to heat up anyway. He suspected it was largely due to...muscle memory.

"I GUESS THAT HADN'T OCCURRED TO ME," She admitted, wincing. "BUT IT'S BEEN A LONG TRIP. I'M PROBABLY MISSING SOME OF THAT...STUFF. YOU KNOW, IN MY BRAIN?"

"Oxygen?" Lincoln suggested.

"YEAH...THAT," Stella nodded, finally steadying Lynn with one massive yank. The whole thing would have been a lot more humorous if it wasn't for the omnipresent worry that all this strain on the building was going to send the pair crashing through the floor. "COULD YOU AT LEAST HELP ME GUIDE HER?"

"Sure," Lincoln stepped around to Lynn's side and slipped one arm around her shapely waist, trying, however futile it was, to ease the burden on Stella. Once in position, he gave Lynn a couple of slaps on the back. She didn't react at all, but Stella seemed to understand his signal, and slowly, the two of them began walking Lynn into the apartment.

"So what happened to her?" Lincoln asked, glancing up at the black-haired girl. "She looks like she lost the battle and the war."

"APPARENTLY SHE HAD TO TAKE HER PHYSICAL DOWN AT THE DOMA," Stella explained, as she struggled to walk Lynn through the apartment door. "ITS A REQUIREMENT FOR GETTING HER HERO LICENSE REINSTATED."

"When you say 'physical', you mean..."

"IT'S JUST LIKE A NORMAL PHYSICAL, THE POINT IS TO CHECK YOU OUT AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE FIT TO DO HERO WORK. BUT SINCE METAS CAN VARY SO WILDLY, THEY HAVE TO TAILOR THE EXAMINATION TO YOUR SPECIFIC POWER SET," Stella paused as a shudder ran through her enlarged frame. "MINE HAD LASERS. LOTS OF LASERS."

"To force you to...change your shape on the fly, or something?"

"PRETTY MUCH," Stella nodded. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO LYNN, BUT SHE'S PRETTY UP THERE IN THE RANKINGS. SO I GUESS THEY HAD TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING PRETTY EXTREME TO PUT HER THROUGH HER PACES?"

"More extreme than lasers?" Lincoln asked, dryly.

"Explosions," Lynn interjected, "Everything was an explosion. Even the dinosaurs."

The trio came to a halt as Stella and Lincoln exchanged glances.

"Well that explains...nothing," Said Lincoln,

"NO," Stella agreed, "BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, DO YOU REALLY WANT TO—WOAH!"

Lynn abruptly began to topple forward. Stella grunted in exertion as she tried to steady her friend, but clearly her fatigue had finally caught up with her. Lynn slipped from her fingers and with nothing left to support her, the brunette's knees collapsed under her and she fell. As Lincoln was still attached to her, he quickly found himself caught up in his sister's wake and lost his own footing. However, his fall was suddenly arrested as a force yanked on the back of his shirt, pulling him backwards just as Lynn hit the ground—

THOOOM

—With a mighty crash that set his teeth to chattering.

Lincoln glanced backward and saw his t-shirt pinched between Stella's oversized fingers.

"Thanks, for the save, Stel", he said, looking up at her.

"YOU'RE...WELCOME", She wheezed, smiling down at him in spite of her obvious fatigue. "THAT WASN'T QUITE WHAT I PLANNED BUT...SHE'S INSIDE NOW, RIGHT?"

Lynn's amazonian frame was indeed within the confines of the apartment now, leaving just enough space to close the door. Which was probably sufficient as a resting spot until she was able to walk under her own power again.

"Yeah," Lincoln said, nodding in agreement. "I think we're good."

"COOL," Stella's shoulders sagged with relief as she rapidly began shrinking in size.

"Oh man," She groaned as she reached her natural height, wincing as she placed one hand tenderly against her side. "I'm gonna be feeling that one in the—EEP"

Lincoln threw his arms around the still-taller girl, and gave her a heartfelt squeeze.

"Thanks for getting her home, Stella." He said. There was a pause that felt entirely too long, and for a moment he began to fear that he'd overstepped their boundaries. But finally, he felt Stella's arms encircled his waist and return the gesture. She was shaking, presumably from exhaustion, but he was relieved she wasn't pushing him away.

"N-no problem, Linc," She murmured, softly, resting her head against his. "Anything for you...guys."

Unsure where to go from here, Lincoln just there for a while, he and Stella holding each other in a mutual embrace. Until finally, the hug seemed to reach its natural stopping point, and the pair slowly drifted apart.

"You...uh..." Stella gestured at Lynn's fallen form. "You gonna be okay. With her?"

"Yeah, I can take it from here," Lincoln reassured her. "Clock out. You look like you need a good, long rest."

"I do", She agreed, wincing as she gingerly rubbed her shoulder. "It wasn't so bad when we were outside, there's a lot more room to grow out there. But in here there's nowhere near as much space to work with. Getting her up the stairs was awful."

She looked like she was going to continue, but she abruptly cut herself off, her face turning bright red.

"...Please don't tell Lynn I said that," She pleaded.

"It's cool," Lincoln chuckled, waving her off. "Now go get some rest."

Stella gave him a grateful smile, then turned and headed back down the hallway. As Lincoln watched her go, he couldn't help but notice there was a certain...lightness to her gait. A very nearly literal spring to her step. He shrugged, chalking it up to the satisfaction of a job well done, and stepped back into his apartment, closing the door behind him.

Lynn hadn't moved from where she'd fallen, nor did she give any indication of acknowledging his presence. So it seemed like the wise thing to do would be to step around her and retire to his bedroom, giving her a chance to sleep off...whatever this was.

That was the plan, anyway. However, just as Lincoln had begun circling around his fallen sister, her hand shot out and wrapped around his ankle, holding him in place.

"Linky?" She asked, her voice sounding pitiful, "Help your big sister."

Lincoln held back the sigh that was bubbling up in his throat, instead opting to silently roll his eyes. "Sure Lynn. What do you need?"

"Backrub. Please."

"YEOWCH!"

"Sorry, babe," Sam apologized, wincing. Luna had come back from her job looking like three kinds of hell warmed over. Her clothes were torn, she was covered in bruises and cuts, and her hair had been smoldering in places. Miraculously, however, her mask had somehow survived the ordeal completely intact. She'd been trying to give her some basic medical attention, but it was proving difficult with how tender her girlfriend was feeling.

"Just try to be a little gentler," Luna pleaded, slumping back down on the bed. Sam tried to comply, gingerly dabbing Luna's wounds with an anti-bacterial-laced cotton ball as gently as she could, but Luna continued to spasm at her every touch.

"So you say a guy with a...what was it? A soda cannon, did this to you?" She asked, hoping to give Luna something else to focus on.

"It wasn't the canon," Luna corrected her, groaning softly. "That dope was on my team, if you can believe it. Lamest friggin gimmick I've ever seen."

"I dunno," Sam mused. "I mean, cola's acidic, right? I guess it could probably cause some damage if you hit someone with enough of it."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just defend a guy who called himself the Soda Jerk," Luna grumbled. "Anyway, it wasn't the canon. The problem was that he fired it while we were taking cover in an aisle loaded with Fizzle Rocks. You know, the candy?"

"I thought that was just an urban legend."

"Apparently not. The chain reaction took out most of the store, and half our team." Luna shook her head, frustratedly. "Thankfully, the heroes trying to stop us got hit just as hard as we did, so those of us who could still walk were able to get out of dodge before anyone else showed up."

"Well, that's something." Sam set aside her swab and began to bandage Luna's arm. "At least you got paid, right?"

"I did." Luna wearily waved her phone around. "Not sure how much more of this D-grade crap I can stomach though."

"Shouldn't be too much more, we're not planning on staying here too much longer. But I'm pretty sure we'll be okay if you want to take tomorrow off and rest up."

"Thanks, Sam", Luna said with a grateful sigh. "Think I'll take you up on that."

"And," Sam continued, sliding off the bed and scurrying over to the nightstand. "I think I know what'll help you feel better."

Luna's head shot up, her eyes suddenly wide and alert, "You mean..."

"Yep!" Sam fumbled around in the draw for a bit before she found what she was looking for. The transmitter.

"Ta da!" She announced, presenting her prize to a very grateful-looking Luna.

"Awesome!" Said the brunette, struggling to sit upright. "But wouldn't they have thrown out the last set of bugs by now?"

"I sent in a fresh set," Said Sam. She almost gave Luna what was intended to be a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but changed her mind at the last second, and instead opted for a gentle side-hug. "When I was scoping out the place, I noticed that Lincoln gets a lot of things delivered, for some reason. So I just hung around out front, hoping I'd get lucky, and I did. I schmoozed the delivery girl a bit and planted a few more bugs on the boxes without her noticing. Easy peasy."

"Seems like that would have been a really amusing thing to watch." Luna mused, thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it was," Sam nodded, "Shame there isn't any way I could just...show you how it played out."

"I guess I had to be there," Luna concluded.

"Mhmm," Sam replied as she made some adjustments to the device. "Alright, it should be good to go. Just do your thing when you're ready, and we'll see what's happening in Lincolnville tonight."

Squinting in concentration, Luna raised one hand just as she had before, and began twisting it back and forth, doing whatever it was she did that let her fine-tune the signal. For a while, all that could be heard was static, rising and falling in pitch as Luna continued her manipulation. It had gotten to the point where Sam was just about ready to conclude that something had gone wrong with her special delivery, but then—

"Ooooooh..."

Lynn's voice rang out of the transmitter loud and clear.

"Just...just a little to the left bro," Lynn panted. Sam could feel her cheeks start to head up at the very distinct tone in the girl's voice. "Just a little more, you're almost there!"

"Uuuuh..." Sam uttered, glancing at Luna to see how she was reacting to this oddly candid moment they'd inadvertently intruded upon. Her expression was blank, but the way her hand was trembling, furiously, suggested that she wasn't feeling quite so serene under the hood. "Lunes? Maybe we should—"

"Yes! Lynn squealed, cutting her off. "Yes! Right there! No, don't stop! Use both hands—"

"RAAAAARG!" Luna roared, her hands clenching into fists. Immediately, the transmitted let out a loud screech, powered down. The acrid smell of smoke wafting up from the device suggested that they wouldn't be doing any more listening tonight. Sam took in the state of her furious girlfriend, and searched her mind for some response that might help clear the air.

"Oh my," Was what she settled on.