AN: I'd planned on getting this done quicker, but I've been working on my big writing assignment for the summer for a few weeks now, and that severely ate into both my free time, and my desire to write other things. Fortunately I was able to turn it in over the weekend, and after a few days of recovery I was able to finish this chapter up. Probably won't be putting out another one of these for a while, I've got finals coming up again and I'll be studying for those for the next week. If I end up writing anything, it'll probably be something short and lighthearted. Maybe a one-shot, or one of those bonus chapters I've been doing.
I was amused by the wide variety of characters people ended up comparing Ragna-Rock to, but I'm glad that the reception to her was positive overall. As I said, I've been holding onto that particular development for a couple of years now, so it's great to finally be able to include her in the story. Hopefully that positivity continues after this chapter. For the record, she's a bit of a Silver Age Thor analog, with some venom mixed in. But being Silver Age Thor also inherently brings a little Shazam with it, given what he was clearly inspired by.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Almost faster than Lynn could perceive the movement, Ragna-rock darted forward, bringing her electrified instrument up in preparation for an overhead smash. However, "almost", was the operative word at play. With a quickness that belied her size, Lynn stepped to the side while simultaneously tilting the left side of her body backward, neatly side-stepping the blow, a flash of heat streaking by as the weapon missed her by inches. At the same time, her right arm launched forward, a textbook perfect jab at the blonde's still grinning face. It was a test, an attempt to feel out her opponent's reaction speed, and even more importantly, her durability. Lynn had no illusions that she'd be able to end a fight like this in a single blow.
Despite these expectations, it came as no less of a shock to the Loud girl when the being that had been Sam effortlessly brought up one hand and caught the punch in her palm. All without the broken bones and spray of viscera that ordinarily accompanied what would normally be a suicidally stupid move to use on her. Nevertheless, the battle-hardened heroine quickly recovered and brought her free arm around in a blindingly fast haymaker—
—which was similarly de-fanged as Ragna-rock disarmed herself, with a flick of her wrist sending her weapon clattering to the ground, allowing her to seize Lynn's second strike in mid-flight. The situation seemed...impossible to Lynn, the other girl matching her strength for strength. She wasn't having an easy time of it by any means, both girls' arms were quivering, strained as unstoppable force met immovable object. But in spite of the stalemate, the blonde girl's grin only grew larger, and her laughter more raucous.
"You're strong for a mortal!" She shouted in delight. "Guess those muscles aren't just for show!"
Lynn snarled in response, and the two superwomen dug in, their fingers interlocking as their battle for dominance began in earnest.
A little ways away from the tussling metahumans, in a strange reversal of the events that had transpired only a short time earlier, it was now Luna who laying with her head cradled in Lincoln's lap. Passersby who were suicidal enough to risk the tremors and random strikes of lightning that were running rampant throughout the impromptu battlefield would undoubtedly have found themselves entranced by this strange calm amidst the storm; a blushing brunette and her fair-haired fellow. Had he been paying attention, Lincoln would have been chagrined by the very visible effects his tender ministrations were having on his sister…
"Luna?" Lincoln asked, his voice now adopting the same, flat, incredulity that usually came out when he was faced with his sisters' superhuman shenanigans. "What the hell is going on?"
...but his attention was fully focused upon the two titanic titanesses who were currently grappling for supremacy.
"Did the giant Viking lady come out?" Luna asked as she struggled to sit up. Seeing the difficulties she was having, Lincoln gently placed his hands upon the older girl's shoulders and assisted her with the best blend of delicateness and urgency he could manage under the circumstances.
"Ah," Said Luna, once she had gained sufficient verticality so as to see what was transpiring, her voice strangely calm in spite of the fact that between the storm clouds brewing overhead and the ground trembling beneath; heaven and earth literally being moved by the mighty, metahuman melee. "Yeah, that's her alright."
To say that Lincoln was nonplussed by her reaction, would be something of an understatement.
"That's all you've got?" He exclaimed, gesticulating at the titanic blonde, who, while still cackling her head off, had managed to work her way behind Lynn and was now trying to put the heroine in a choke-hold. "Your girlfriend's Lynn-sized, dressed like she walked out of one of your heavy metal albums, and looks like she could pile-drive what's left of my apartment building!"
"...Pretty hot, right?" She replied, smirking.
"KIND OF, YEAH!" Lincoln shouted, "BUT I'M MORE INTERESTED IN WHY!"
"You're cute when you're angry," Luna murmured, trailing her fingers down Lincoln's cheek, following the mild emergence of stubble he'd been incapable of tending to before being swept up by the day's insanity. "Cute-er, I mean…"
"LUNA—" Lincoln caught himself and frowned in concern. "Are...you okay?"
"I...hit my cabeza pretty hard," She admitted, giving her head a quick shake. "That might be catching up with me."
She sighed. "Look, honestly there isn't much to tell."
Lincoln bit down hard, forcing down the outburst that was threatening to explode from him. But in Royal Woods, they say, Lincoln Loud's incredulity grew three sizes that day.
"I'm serious," Luna insisted, apparently noticing. "It's that shard of hers. The glowy one."
"That thing on her guitar?"
"Draws your eye, right?" She asked, nodding affirmatively. "It's...mystic or something, not really my department to know that kind of stuff. But yeah, I picked it up during a museum heist."
"That you were...stopping?" Lincoln asked, hopefully.
Luna sighed. "Come on, bro. Don't make me draw you a picture."
Despite her flippant tone, Luna averted her eyes, her gaze tilting downward.
"...Sorry, Lu," Said Lincoln, sliding his arm around his sister's shoulder. "I didn't mean it like that."
"It's fine…" She replied, softly, reaching up with one hand and gingerly threading her fingers through Lincoln's. Only the most devoted observer would notice the tell-tale tinge of pink in her freckled cheeks.
"A-anyway," She continued. "We weren't even there for that, so I don't have any intel on it. I didn't even mean to take it. Our plan fell apart, and while we were fighting our way out, I guess it somehow fell into my bag or something. I didn't notice it was there until I was doing an equipment check on my way home. And, while I didn't plan on taking it, I figured there wasn't any harm in giving something pretty to my best gal."
"And then...giant Viking lady?" Asked Lincoln. A well-placed elbow smash to her opponent's face sent the aforementioned Viking lady reeling, allowing Lynn to squirm out of her grip and turn the tables on her opponent, smashing her face into the ground, then clambering atop her fallen, armor-clad frame, fists clenched and upright in the punching position.
"Well, I went home that night and gave the shard to Sam, like I said." Luna continued. "The client wouldn't pay up because we'd botched the job. And...that hurt. We were counting on that money. Figured the least I could do was give Sam something nice, even if we ended up having to sell it later. But…"
"But?" Lincoln prompted.
"She loved it. Least, she acted like she did. I think she was overblowing things a bit for my sake, seeing as losing that payday wasn't doing much for my self-esteem. Anyway, she pulled out her guitar, said she wanted to play something to help me relax, and the shard..."
Luna held up her hands and pressed her palms together.
"...it, fused to the guitar. Couldn't budge it at all after that, it was like it'd just been built that way to begin with. Like a custom vanity job or something.
"Seems like that should have been a red flag." Suggested Lincoln, one eyebrow raised.
"Please," Luna scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I've seen way weirder stuff than that. I was just happy it didn't explode, or turn us inside out or something. Granted, now we couldn't sell it, but I figured a magic doodad just blinging up Sam's guitar was harmless enough. Course, it wasn't that simple."
The blonde lurched to the side, dislodging Lynn long enough to wriggle out of her grasp. Then, in a startling feat of agility, she rocked her whole body backward, tucking her long, shapely legs against her chest, and lurched upward, hurling her whole body into the air. Lynn climbed to her feet, and craned her neck upward—
WHAM
Leaving herself thoroughly unprepared when (Sam?) crashed back down, landing feet first on Lynn's shoulders and sending both girls tumbling back to the ground. Immediately they began to struggle, each repeatedly punching the other in the face with one hand as they fought for purchase with the other, each combatant attempting to pin their opponent to the ground.
"Sam tried out her guitar, trying to make sure it still worked." Luna continued. "And it did. Better than before, actually, because now it didn't need to be plugged in. Seemed like it ran off the shard's mojo now. And Sam quickly figured out that it responded to some notes. When she played the right ones in the right sequence, the shard would start glowing, sparking, all kinds of weird stuff like that. I told her to leave it alone, buuuuuut…"
"Nobody ever just leaves a magic artifact alone," Lincoln concluded with a roll of his eyes. "Nine out of ten implosions start that way."
"Right?" Luna agreed, shaking her in annoyance. "She got obsessed with it. Every time she had a free moment, I'd see her plucking at that thing, trying to coax out 'The Song'. That's what she called it. Proper noun, capital 'T', all that stuff. Took her a few months, but she finally got it. We were holed up in our latest apartment, trying to lay low, and suddenly she belts out this really rockin' riff. Real toe-tapper. I was a little freaked out at first, but I started getting into it after a few bars, even tried to come up with some lyrics to go with it. But then she hit what I'm guessing was the end, and then...kaboom!"
"What happened?"
"Basically that," Luna said, pointing up at Lincoln's apartment, now easily visible due to the holes that had been punched in it during their dynamic exit. "Except way, way worse. Rags...doesn't really do restraint, you see."
"And you let her out!?"
"Hey!" Luna protested. "I'm not a powerhouse like Lori or Lynn, alright? Or your freaky friend over...hey, where did she go anyway?"
"Don't change the subject," Lincoln chided her.
She sighed. "Look, bro. My powers aren't worth a damn if someone gets the jump on me. Or I'm outnumbered, or...a lot of things, alright? I can get hurt. It's dangerous out there, and when our asses are on the line, we bring out the big gun. She's our edge, one of the few good cards I've ever been dealt. She just comes with some...collateral damage.
"HAAAAAA!"
THOOM!
"I noticed," Lincoln said, wincing at the new crater that now adorned the battlefield, desperately trying to figure out how liable he was for damages occurring outside of, but arguably resulting from his apartment.
"This would be a dumb question in any other context," He went on, giving his sister a sidelong glance. "But...is that Sam in there?"
"Believe it or not, yeah."
The crater was smoldering, and while its occupants couldn't be seen from their current vantage, the air was thick with the meaty sounds of fists smashing into faces.
"And you're...sure about that?" Lincoln asked. "Because she seems a lot more—"
"Dude! Trust me!" Luna's face reddened visibly. "I can say from experience, it's definitely Sam. But Ragna-Rock's in there too, and whatever she is, she's...well, she's a pretty bad influence—"
ZAAAAAP!
"...Yeah," Lincoln said, wincing again as he craned his head upward. "That's a bit of an understatement…"
A few minutes earlier….
Lynn snarled in frustration as she cocked back her fist, and for the umpteenth time, delivered a thunderous blow that would have pulverized a normal human into a fine powder, and cratered just about anything else (much like the one they were currently standing in). Instead, her fist merely struck her opponent's face with a meaty thwack. Ragna-Rock snorted in amusement, and responded in kind with a wide grin, thankfully with similar results. It didn't hurt all that much, thankfully, but Lynn couldn't remember the last time she'd needed to throw so many punches in the same fight. And this far into the battle, she was starting to take the negligible effects of the butt-whopping she was delivering as a personal insult.
And then, in a strange break from their routine, the other girl cocked her head to the side, her face suddenly growing thoughtful.
"Hmm," She mused to herself. "That's definitely an interesting idea. We could try that…"
"What are you TALKING ABOUT?" Lynn snarled, winding up and delivering another powerful haymaker—
—only to find herself swinging at air. The blonde warrior suddenly was nowhere to be seen.
"Just this…" Came an infuriatingly familiar voice from beneath her. Lynn glanced downward and blanched as she saw her now crouching opponent snake her arms around Lynn's waist.
"H-HEY!" She half stammered half shouted. "Leggo! That whole area's off limits to everyone but—EEEEEE!"
Her protest was abruptly cut short as the other girl simply wrapped her arms around Lynn, and flung her into the air, sending her hurtling upward.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, something with as much muscle mass as Lynn rarely stayed airborne very long. Even when propelled by superhuman strength, gravity didn't take kindly to being defied, and the heroine quickly found herself hurtling back toward the ground face-first.
As she descended, she saw Ragna-Rock hold out her arm and beckon with one hand. Moments later, her discarded guitar leaped into her hand, seemingly of its own accord, sliding into her palm as Ragna-Rock wrapped her fingers around its hilt. A flick of her finger to its strings sent a fresh current of obsidian lightning crackling through the instrument as the blonde bombshell gripped the guitar in both hands and settled into a batter's stance, a broad smirk blossoming across her face.
It was at this point, that even Lynn's scientifically inept brain was able to make the correlation between how fast she was falling, and where her trajectory seemed to be taking her.
"SPORTS BALL!" Ragna-Rock shouted with glee, as she swung her makeshift bat, landing the blow just as Lynn entered her strike zone.
ZAAAAAP!
"Ooof," Lincoln groaned sympathetically, as he saw his sister rocket into the sky a second time, crashing through several buildings as she rapidly disappeared into the distance. "Lynn's going to be tweaked. She hates being on the receiving end of that kind of thing."
"Serves her right," Luna muttered, snuggling into Lincoln's side. "It's about time someone...oh bollocks!"
"What're you—" Lincoln began to ask, only to catch sight of the black and gold blur that was arching through the sky. Alarmingly, not in the same direction in which Lynn had been sent flying.
"She's...coming to us, isn't she?" He asked, numbly, as the free-falling figure rapidly descended toward their location.
"It'll be fine, bro" Luna replied, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. The calmness in her voice would have been much more reassuring had he not been able to feel her hand trembling. "Just be cool."
"Luna, you've seen my comic book collection!" He hissed. "I have never been cool!"
Before Lincoln's incipient freakout could progress any further, something large and heavy slammed down only a short distance away, causing a short, violent tremor to shake the surrounding area. Acting purely on instinct, Lincoln pulled Luna towards him, his arms encircling her protectively. A small part of his adrenaline-stricken brain pointed out that at this time, Lincoln was very likely the only person for miles without superpowers, rendering him laughably incapable of protecting anyone, even Luna in her current condition. It was immediately told to be silent, as Lincoln pulled Luna so close that she was very nearly sitting in his lap now. He turned to his sister, an apology for his rough handling of her already forming on his lips—
—only for the words to die in his throat, as he suddenly noticed just how close their faces were now. A distance measured in mere millimeters, so scant that in the moments that followed, there seemed to be little else to the world beyond her big, brown, beautiful eyes.
"A-hem!"
Sadly, that was the thing about moments. They were so very, very short. Unlike their new arrival. At the sound of a voice that was most certainly not Luna's, Lincoln finally took notice of the shapely, yet powerfully built legs that now occupied his view in the other direction. Against his better judgment, he craned his head upward, and upward...and up farther still...
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Said Ragna-Rock, arms folded across her chest as she peered down at them.
Despite standing at an extremely respectable 5'11, Lincoln had long grown used to being the shortest person in his social circle. It wasn't that he was actually short by any means, he just happened to hang around with taller women. When she tried, it was Stella, whose height could measure in stories when she was so inclined, but the rest of the time Lynn was very much queen of that particular castle.
Lincoln wasn't intimidated by Lynn. When she looked down on him, it was only in the literal sense. Powerful and imposing though his sister could be, Lincoln knew in his heart of hearts, that his big sister would never hurt him (on purpose). And because of that, even with her enhanced stature, being with Lynn as she was now honestly didn't feel all that different than it did back when they were kids. Being with her filled him with warmth and comfort. In her presence, he felt safe, confident that if anything attempted to happen to him, Lynn would do her best to pummel it into a fine, Lincoln-safe pulp.
This was not the case in his current situation. Ragna-Rock possessed a physique (and a sense of modesty, apparently) rivaling Lynn's, but that was where the similarities ended. That it was Sam's face atop that body did surprisingly little to mitigate matters, because in her mannerisms there was little of the cheerful, optimistic girl he'd known in his youth, and had briefly become reacquainted with over the events of the day. Ragna-Rock stared down at him coolly, and dispassionately, seemingly barely aware of his presence. It stood in stark contrast to the boisterous, maniacal woman who had been all too eager to throw herself heedlessly at Lynn, and most alarming of all, had come out of the experience almost completely intact, save for some displaced tufts of hair, and some minor tearing in her cape. Comparing the two versions, it was hard to determine which was more frightening, but he was inclined to think is was this current incarnation of the woman, given that she was the one standing before him.
Lincoln's ruminations were cut short as the woman suddenly descended, so quickly that he may have failed to register them entirely, had it not been for the audible flapping of her cape that her movement caused. Lincoln involuntarily tensed up, preparing, perhaps in vain, to fling himself away from whatever was forthcoming.
What fourcame, in fact, was Ragna-Rock taking a knee. His immediate, knee-jerk observation was that even kneeling as she was, she was still at least twice as tall as he was while sitting. But following that, was his realization that she wasn't looking at him.
"How do you feel, Sweetling?" She asked, her voice suddenly soft, and concerned, as she reached out and gingerly placed one hand atop Luna's shoulder, mere inches from where Lincoln's currently lay.
"H-hey, Rags," Luna rasped, her voice more stilted than it usually was. It suddenly occurred to Lincoln that this might be due to the tightness with which he was embracing his sister. As discretely as possible, he surrendered his grip on Luna. To his surprise, she did not leave his now deflated embrace, but her breathing immediately stabilized.
"I'm fine," She continued, shooting Lincoln a partly grateful, and partly bemused glance. "After all, I've got Linc here taking care of me."
"He'd better be," said the blonde, now turning her attention to Lincoln, her tone growing more severe as she did so. "After all, that's my wo—OUR...woman?"
Lincoln blinked in confusion as the large, imposing woman suddenly stiffened, her eyes becoming glassy and unfocused. It almost looked like she'd...shut down, for lack of a better word, like a computer that had suddenly crashed, ceasing all of its processes. However, her lips were still moving, and while it initially seemed as if she was merely pantomiming the act of speaking, Lincoln could feel the telltale tickling sensation of whispering on the edge of his hearing. In spite of his trepidation, Lincoln leaned closer, straining his ears as best he could.
"You're going to give him the wrong idea!" Lincoln could barely hear her murmuring to herself.
"Good!" She immediately responded to herself. "I don't want him to have any ideas!"
"Well, I do! She needs this!"
"Is that the only reason?"
"There doesn't need to be more than that."
"Stop deflecting!"
Her jaw tightened.
"It doesn't matter! He—"
"Doesn't deserve her! Or us!"
"T-that's not your call to make!"
"Isn't it?"
Ragna-Rock's gaze suddenly sharpened, her attention fully focused on Lincoln. In the intervening instant, whereupon his brain had begun to make an impassioned plea as to the merits of suddenly making himself very, very scarce, her arm shot out and grabbed him by the neck, superhumanly powerful fingers wrapping themselves around his throat. His breathing wasn't inhibited by anything other than his now rapidly increasing heartbeat, but the unspoken message was quite clear. Should she wish it, Ragna-Rock was more than capable of snapping his neck, as if he was one of those rabbits in that book Leni hated.
Knowing, on some evolutionary level, that attempting to pull back at this point would almost certainly in one of the few injuries that Super Science had yet to find a cure for, Lincoln fought down his almost overwhelming urge to flee and stared back at the woman who, quite literally held his life in her hands.
Her gaze was that of the lioness considering her prey. Frantically searching his brain for some sort of response, and finding nothing, for lack of any better options Lincoln simply stared back at her. The seconds stretched on, each spaced out by a small eternity, but finally, mercifully, she spoke.
"He does not cower," Said Ragna-Rock. "I suppose that's...impressive. For a mortal."
Lincoln wanted to be relieved by the assessment, but her hand was still very much wrapped around his neck.
"HEY! THUNDER-BITCH! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!"
Daring to pull his gaze away from the imminent peril before him, Lincoln looked past the blonde and saw the familiar, leotard-clad form of his sister trudging back onto the battlefield. He trampled down the sense of elation that began to bubble back up within him and looked back to his captor. She was smirking.
"Well," She said, "Back at it then."
Ragna-Rock released her grip on Lincoln. But rather than pull her hand back, she pressed her palm against his cheek.
"Hurt her," She added, her tone suddenly severe once more. "And I hurt you."
Not trusting his voice, Lincoln simply nodded as best as he was able.
"Good," Said the blonde, climbing to her feet and raising her guitar to the sky. A static discharge of black lightning, and she was soaring up into the sky once more.
Lincoln stared, dumbly, as she streaked through the sky, her trajectory clearly taking her back to where Lynn waited. And given the turbulence of the last few minutes, it's likely he would have remained that way had it not been for Luna's elbow lightly jabbing him in the stomach.
"Well look at you," She chuckled, as she allowed her head to rest on his shoulder. "Mr. Master of Convincing. You've still got it."
"Got...what...now?" He asked, haltingly, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he was still alive.
"Rags," Luna clarified, snorting in amusement. "I think she likes you."