A/N:Happy 2025 everyone! First Loud Heroes chapter of the year!
Candyman stood in an alleyway with Phantom, Virus, Tiger and Zoya behind him.
"Everyone remember the plan?" Candyman asks without looking at them.
"Of course lad." Phantom replied.
"Yeah yeah." Virus groaned while Tiger grunts.
"Excellent. Remember, stay put until the time is right." Candyman ordered. "Remember, this has to be perfect because we'll only have one shot at this. If we fail, the whole overall plan is ruined. So we cannot fail. Understood?" Everyone nods. "Excellent. Time to work." Candyman steps out of the alleyway and heads towards the building across the street. He steps inside and everyone in the building stare at him shocked. "Hello ladies and gentlemen. My name is Candyman and I'm here to change the game."
Lori sat in her room on her bed with Walt across from her.
"I just don't really know anymore." Lori says. "Am I selfish for going to get stronger and leaving my family to defend the city by themselves? Should I have stayed?"
"That's tough." Walt admitted. "I mean there's nothing wrong with wanting to be stronger especially if it's to protect your family and friends."
"But I had to leave my family behind to do it though." Lori said exasperated. "I hate that I had to leave them though. They went through so much while I was gone. On top of putting all the pressure of leadership on Luna and Luan. They shouldn't have to do that!"
"I admit they weren't ready." Walt said. "But they managed to pull through."
"What kind of a leader am I. I should have given more time to learn and how to lead." Lori said.
"Yeah but again, Luna and Luan handled it pretty good." Walt told her. "Don't forget Luna's been helping you lead this team since the beginning. She knows how to lead and has done a pretty good job on the missions you aren't leading. Hell even Leni's gotten better at leading. She's the one who led the team that took down Kavu."
"But what about Lincoln? Right when we found Mercer, he nearly released Irate and right when we caught him. He suddenly gets killed by Skull." Lori said.
"But Irate didn't get released." Walt reminded her. "Lisa stopped him and yes Ryker is still tracking Skull but we'll find him. Lori, I get you're worried but you're home now so you can make sure everything goes smoothly as you all track down the Terror Crew. Remember, relax. Everything will work out."
"We haven't even caught the Terror Crew since I left. They're out on the streets running a gang!" Lori said.
"Actually more of a criminal empire." Walt corrected her. "But that's besides the point. Lori, they're the only villians left so now they can have their whole attention. Lori as long as you all are on the same page then you guys can no doubt take them down."
"Yeah I guess you're right." Lori says with a sigh. "Just gotta trust my team. Thanks for the talk walk."
"It's why we're here." Walt replied. "Though, out of curiosity why talk to me about this instead of Soothsayer or Mr. Cuddles?"
"Honestly, sometimes those two get a little too cryptic with their advice." Lori answered with a chuckle. "I needed someone too just tell it to me straight."
"Yeah I get that." Walt said. "Even though you're taking to a bird."
"Just think of yourself as an emotional support animal." Lori said.
"An emotional support bird." Walt says. "Gotta be the first of my kind. But remember Lori, one step at a time. I'll see ya later." He then flies out of the room. Once he's gone, Lori sighs and lays down on her bed.
"Walt's right. Gotta take it one step at a time." She said. "But where would I even start looking for the Terror Crew? It's not like they'll walk into the police station and turn themselves in?" She then hears footsteps coming towards her room and looks to see Lynn, Lincoln and Lisa at her door panting. "What's up?"
"Cuddles just called." Lynn panted. "Candyman just turned himself in to the police."
"Wait what?! He turned himself in?" Lori exclaimed.
"Yeah! He walked into the police station and said 'I'm here to change the game' and then said he was turning himself in." Lincoln explained.
"Something's not right. This has to be a trap or something else?" Lori said. "We need to get some answers."
"Then I suggest we head to the police department." Lisa suggested. "From what I understand getting questioned by Haggar."
"Good idea." Lori nodded. "Let's suit up and head towards the police station."
"I'll have Cuddles meet us there." Lincoln added as they ran out.
When the L-Crew arrived at the station, they saw Cuddles already there waiting for them with Petty.
"You got here just in time." Mr. Cuddles said.
"Has he done anything yet?" Speed Queen asked.
"Not that we know of." Mr. Cuddles replied. "From what I understand, Haggar has been attempting to interrogate him but with no luck. From what I was told, he wants to talk to you."
"So he wants to talk to me?" Speed Queen asked. "Just me and him alone?"
"Apparently." Mr. Cuddles responded with a shrug. "Best talk to Haggar first. He'll have more information."
"Right." Speed Queen says as they all walked in. Unknown to them, the Terror Crew were in the alley across the street watching them.
"The L-Crew? This got more complicated." Tiger growled as Zoya nodded along with him on his shoulder.
"This doesn't change anything." Phantom told them. "We can't put this off any further. Once we get the signal, we'll begin phase two." He turns to Virus. "Did Rukes finish that program you asked for?"
"Yeah. He finished it a few days ago." Virus answered. "I already absorbed the data so I'll be able to do what I need to do with detection."
"Good lad." Virus says. "However for now we wait."
Haggar stood outside of the interrogation room looking at Candyman through the one way mirror. "Chief." Speed Queen called out as she walked towards him.
"Speed Queen. Thank goodness you're here." Haggar said.
"Has he said anything?" Speed Queen asked.
"Just that he wants to talk to you." Haggar answered. "Didn't ask for an attorney, didn't insult anyone. He's been surprisingly polite."
"I'm not surprised. Candyman has always been relatively polite when he fights us." Firecracker pointed out. He looks back at the villian sitting at the table. "But still, to just turn himself in like this. Something feels off."
"And I'm going to get the answer out of him." Speed Queen said. "One way or another."
"Just be careful sis." Parkour warned. "This guy is nuts. Don't let him get in your head." Speed Queen nods and heads towards the door. As she walks past Petty, she looks up at him.
"If he tries anything, you have my permission to charge in there." Speed Queen tells him. "Understood?"
Petty nods. "Petty understand." The rubber monster says. "Petty keep watch."
Speed Queen walks into the interrogation room. "Ah Speed Queen. It's nice to see you again?" Candyman asked.
"What's your game Candyman?" Speed Queen questioned.
"It's good to see you too my dear." Candyman responded, ignoring her question. "It's been some time since we last saw each other. I believe it was when we fought at Tetherby Industries if I remember correctly."
"Don't try to chsnge the subject Candyman." Speed Queen says. "Why did you turn yourself in?" Candyman sighs.
"I guess you're not in the mood for small talk." He says. "Well I guess we just get started."
Outside, Phantom stood up as he got his signal.
"Alright lads, time to start phase two." Candyman says before turning to Tiger and Zoya. "Remember, wait until you get the signal. Not before."
"Yeah we know." Tiger growled. "Good luck." Phantom nods before stepping out of the alley. He looks around before crossing the street and entering the police station. Once inside, Phantom approached the cop at the front desk who was doing some paperwork where he placed his phone on ths desk.
"'Ello there lad." Phantom greeted. "I'd like to report a crime."
"Alright sir, what crime is it?" The officer asked as he looked up from his work where his eyes widen when he sees Phantom.
"Body snatching." Phantom answered before grabbing the cops face and forcing him to look into his eyes. Once they lock eyes, Phantom's eyes flash and he takes over the cop's body. After moving his body around to get used to it, Phantom grabs his phone and places it next to the computer. "Alright Virus, we're in. You know what to do."
"Yeah yeah." Virus's voice said from inside the phone. Suddenly green data comes out of the phone and goes from the phone to the computer.
"Phase two initiated." Phantom says with a smirk.
Back in the interrogation room, Speed Queen and Candyman were staring each other down.
"Are you going to say something Speed Queen or you want to do a staring contest?" Candyman responded.
"Your endgame." Speed Queen replied. "Why did you tell yourself in? I doubt Johnny would be happy to know about this."
"You're not wrong." Candyman admitted. "But perhaps I'm in a position where I can do whatever I want with little consequence. I am the head of our Drug and Science division."
"So you have a lot of sway." Speed Queen says as she leaned in. "But you turning yourself seems unorthodoxed. Even for you." Candyman smirks at her.
"I've always loved being unpredictable my dear." Candyman responded. "It's what makes me, me."
"You're hiding something. I know it." Speed Queen said.
"You can have Prodigy read my mind. But there's no point of having her read it." Candyman said.
"I wouldn't subject her to the horrors that are inside your head." Speed Queen retorted. Candyman let's out a chuckle.
"Do you know why I am the way I am?' He asks. "My father owned a candy shop. It was he paid the bills especially considering he was providing for my mother, my brother and myself. My brother hated the candy shop but I loved it. To me it was magical. My father told me that one day the shop would be mine along with everything that came with it. I was thrilled" He pauses. "However one day, something changed. I arrived at the candy shop where my father told me that the bank now owned his shop because he couldn't afford the mortgage anymore. I was furious. That shop was supposed to be mine and he ruined it. So I felt like I needed to show my dissatisfaction with my father's mistake. I grabbed my father and I slammed his head on the counter. And I did it again. And again. And again. Until finally he lay on the ground dying. He tried to beg for me to stop but no words came out and brought my foot down on his neck."
Speed Queen couldn't respond she stood there in disgust and shock. "You're a monster." Speed Queen responded.
"That was just one time. But that didn't last long." Candyman said.
Outside the interrogation room, the remaining L-Crew looked on in horror.
"What's wrong with this guy?" Parkour murmured.
"He's a psychopath." Prodigy says in a shaky tone while Firecracker rubbed her back to relax her. "Psychopaths tend to show no remorse for there own actions or have any care for others. Candyman shows all the psychopathic tendencies that most psychopaths have." She turns to Mr. Cuddles. "Do you agree?" The bear looks up at her with an unreadable expression.
"You're definitely not wrong." Mr. Cuddles said with a sigh. "Candyman has always been a little out there but I didn't think he was this bad." He turns to Haggar. "You know anything about his father?"
"Not much." Haggar admitted. "I was still fresh from the academy at the time so they didn't tell me a lot. However, it was a very high profile murder at the time because of how brutal it was. Weirdly enough, no one was arrested for it because there wasn't enough evidence so the case went cold. I don't even know if Candyman was even a suspect at the time."
"Wild." Mr. Cuddles says as he was now being held by Prodigy. "Is this helping Prodigy?"
"A little." Prodigy admitted.
Back in the interrogation room, Speed Queen managed to process Candyman's backstory. "What happened to your mother and brother?" Speed Queen asked.
"I have no clue." Candyman shrugged. "Never spoken or seen them again after I murdered my father."
"And here I know you're lying." Speed Queen tells him. "Parkour and Firecracker literally told me that you told them that you killed your brother. So you might as well confess." Candyman looks at her before smirking.
"You're really pushing for answers aren't you." Candyman says. "Very well. Not long after my father's funeral, I was confronted by my brother. At the time he was a big time bank manager so he had all the records. He told me that he was well aware that the bank had repossessed the candy shop and he knew how much I loved that shop. That's where he asked the million dollar question. He asked me if I had something to do with our father's murder. Of course I told him I didn't but unsurprisingly, he didn't believe me. He said I was a monster and didn't want to see me again. With that I left." Candyman paused and stared at his reflection in the mirror. "Three years later I had assembled a group to rob a bank. You see, I had been in hiding and decided I needed some funds. After forcing everyone in attendance to the ground I went looking for the manager. Imagine my surprise to discover that the manager was none other than my brother."
"You weren't happy to see him as a bank manager?" Speed Queen questioned.
"I was furious. But I can guess you two guess on what happened next." Candyman smirked.
"You killed him." Speed Queen says.
"Right between the eyes." Candyman says. "Of course that was after I had him open the vault for me."
"Of course you let him live for that." Speed Queen said. "What happened to your crew?"
"Once I got what I wanted they outlived their usefulness." Candyman explains. "Once we got back to the hideout to divide our loot, I decided to show them my appreciation by giving them each a bullet a bullet to their skulls. Once they were taken care of, I decided to visit my mother."
"Your mother?" Speed Queen repeated.
"Yes, she was happy to see me, but it was short lived once she found out I killed my brother and robbed the bank." said Candyman. "We argued for nearly an hour and she threatened to call the police."
"What did you do?" Speed Queen asked even though she knew the answer.
"I tried to talk sense into her but she just wouldn't see reason." Candyman responded. "It got to a point where she started to shout and swing at me. So I put my hands around her neck to get her to stop. Eventually she did. Permanently."
"You really are a monster?" Speed Queen responded in horror.
"I will take that as a compliment." Candyman smirked.
Outside, everyone stared in horror.
"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" Firecracker asked. "Killed his family and his associates."
"This guy makes me wish we still had the death penalty." One of the officers says.
"So you're the last of your bloodline?" Speed Queen asked.
"Yes I am. You can already guess I used to money to not only open my dream job and run a drug circuit at the same time." Candyman said.
Speed Queen goes quiet. She had gotten a lot of info out of him. Some she wished hadn't heard. But something wasn't sitting right with her. Candyman had admitted to multiple crimes including multiple murders that he committed. Three of which were his own family members. However, she didn't feel like she should push the issue just yet. She had other questions first that perhaps he would answer.
"Where are the Terror Crew?" Speed Queen asks. Candyman looks at his hand now suddenly uninterested.
"Around." He answers.
"I want a clear answer now." Speed Queen glared at the nutjob.
"I already gave you my answer." Candyman shrugged.
"Well it's not good enough!" Speed Queen shouted as she stood up. "You've already admitted to literally multiple murders but you refuse to answer this simple question of where your partners are?" Candyman refuses to look at and stares at the wall.
"I'm not sure if I can do this much longer." He says.
Back at the computer, Phantom stood by the monitor waiting for Virus when he heard Candyman.
"How much longer lad?" Phantom asked. "I think we're running out of time."
"Just need a couple more minutes." Virus answered from inside the computer. "These things ain't small you know." Phantom groans.
"Fine. Just need a couple minutes." Phantom says.
In the interrogation room, Candyman let's out a sigh.
"I actually have a question." He says catching Speed Queen by surprise. "Do you believe you're making a difference?"
"Of course I am. Putting scum like you in prison makes the world a better place." said Speed Queen.
"Yes but you never truly get rid of the scum." Candyman says. "If anything, you only create more scum. Scum is forever. No matter how long you fight it, scum will always be around." Speed Queen scowls before sighing.
"Who's Skull?" She asks. However for the first time since she walked into the room, Speed Queen saw genuine surprise on his face.
"I don't know." Candyman answered. "He randomly appeared one day, said he wanted to work for us. Who are we to say no? He does good work and wraps things up nicely."
At the desk Phantom continued to stare at the computer.
"How much longer?" Phantom asked. "We need to wrap this up?"
"Relax Irishman." Virus responds. "Believe it or not I'm finished." Data pops out of the computer and goes inside Phantom's phone. "Mission accomplished." Phantom nods and separated from the cop's body.
"Thanks for the body lad." He says before kicking the cop in the stomach. He grabs his phone and walks out of the police station before pressing his fingers to his ear. "We're done here lad. Time to wrap."
In the interrogation room, a smile forms on Candyman's face.
"Speed Queen. I'm afraid i have to confess something." Candyman says. "I actually have no intention of turning myself in. In fact this whole time, I've actually been playing you this whole time. You see as you and I were having this lovely conversation, my associates were hacking into the police database."
"It was a set up!" Speed Queen gasped.
"Indeed." Candyman says. "It was all apart of my genius plan. You see the thing we stole may not be valuable to others. But to us, it's one of the most valuable things in the world. You see Speed Queen, the time for heroes is coming to an end. When we're done, the L-Crew will be nothing more than memory." He sits back in his chair. "We're done here." Speed Queen scowls.
"We're not done yet." She growled. Candyman let's out a chuckle.
"I wasn't talking to you." Candyman says. Suddenly the wall comes crashing down. When the dust clears, Speed Queen sees Golden Tiger with Zoya sitting on his shoulder.
"Interview's over." Tiger growled. "Kid you know what to do."
"Yep." Zoya replied as she hopped off of Tiger's shoulder. Once she's off Tiger charges at Speed Queen while Zoya went to Candyman.
Speed Queen dodged Golden Tiger's attack. "Okay it's time to meet the Terror crew short staffed." Speed Queen glared.
"Don't get cocky Speed Queen." Tiger growled as he swung his fist at her again.
"Speed Queen needs help!" Parkour shouted.
"Petty on it!" Petty says before kicking the door in.
"This thing again!?" Golden Tiger snarled.
"Petty, Parkour! You guys deal with Golden Tiger!" Speed Queen ordered.
"Right!" Parkour says as she runs in and kicks Tiger in the gut while Petty punches him in the head.
"Firecracker, Prodigy go and see if any other Terror Crew are out there." Speed Queen ordered.
"We're on it!" Firecracker said as he and Prodigy ran off.
Speed Queen turns to Zoya who just broke Candyman out of his cuffs. "Thank you my dear." Candyman says as he massaged his wrists. "I think it's time we take our leave."
"You're not going anywhere!" Speed Queen shouted. She speeds towards Candyman but Zoya gets between them and blocks Speed Queen's strike but it sends her flying.
"Zoya!" Candyman shouted. Speed Queen grabs him by his shirt and slams him against the wall.
"Using a child as a human shield?" Speed Queen growled. "How low can you sink?"
"In my defense, she did that on her own." Candyman says. "Secondly, I would defend myself but sadly my cane was confiscated from my possession. But you're right about one thing, I seem to be in a bad spot. Time for plan B." He presses his finger to his ear. "Gentlight, it's tea time."
"Tea time?" Speed Queen thought but shook it off. "I don't know what you're planning but I'm ending it!"
Suddenly the light in the interrogation room starts flickering until the light bulb explodes. Before Speed Queen can react, she's hit by an energy beam sending her flying sideways and causing her to drop Candyman. Speed Queen sits up with a groan and looks out the hole in the wall and sees a man in a suit standing just outside.
"I do hope I'm not too late for tea Candyman." The man says.
"Nope. In fact you're just in time Gentlight." Candyman says as he stands up. He goes over to Zoya and picks her up in his arms. "I believe it's time to leave Tiger. Stop playing with your food." Tiger looks up from where he's locked in a struggle with Petty before letting out a groan.
"Fine." Tiger growled before swinging Petty into Parkour and joining the rest of the Terror Crew.
"I believe this is goodbye Speed Queen." Candyman says. "But rest assured we will meet again." Gentlight forms a small light ball in his hand shoots it at the ground blinding everyone. The light dissipates, the Terror Crew are gone.
"Damn it." Speed Queen grunted before she called Firecraxker and Prodigy. "Status report!?"
"We found no one yet." Firecracker responded.
"It seems that they are long gone." Prodigy adds.
"Damn it." Speed Queen cursed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I should have read Candyman's mind and knew it was a set up." Prodigy sighed.
"No it's my fault. I let my guard down." Speed Queen said. She hears footsteps and sees Haggar stepping into the room.
"It's not your fault Speed Queen." Haggar says. "If anyone is to blame it's me. I brought all these officers over here and left no one to keep watch for possible Terror Crew attacks so if anyone is too blame, it's me."
"We're both to blame for letting our guard down." Speed Queen sighed.
"Do we know what they stole yet?" Mr. Cuddles asked.
"Not yet. We should go up and check." Haggar says.
"Good idea." Speed Queen said. "Prodigy and Firecracker can start looking."
"Already did." Prodigy tells them. "The officer over there was already looking when we got there. Apparently, Phantom took over his body and if we're talking hacking it's safe to assume Virus was there as well."
"Figures." Speed Queen groaned. "Any idea what they stole?"
"According to the officer, it seems that they stole criminal data surrounding our enemies." Prodigy reported. "On top of that, they stole some schematics of some sort."
"Schematics?" Speed Queen questioned. "What kind of schematics?"
"I'm checking." Prodigy replied.
"With the data they stolen. They could increase their numbers." Haggar said.
"No I don't think that's it." Mr. Cuddles says. "I think they stole that info for another reason. Not sure what that reason could be though."
"Speed Queen, it looks like the schematics that were stolen were for the Dungeon itself." Prodigy reported.
"The Dungeon?" Speed Queen repeated. "Why would they want that?"
"No idea." Haggar says. "We have those in our system in case Brock needs our help dealing with less than ideal criminals causing trouble. Not sure why the Terror Crew would want them."
"Perhaps to break out other criminals for recruiting or something worse." Speed Queen said.
"Either way, we failed." Parkour says with a sigh. "We had several members of the Terror Crew right in front of us and we couldn't get any of them."
"Speaking of which." Speed Queen said as she turned to Haggar. "Who was the guy with the light powers?"
"Lawrence Stevens aka Gentlight." Haggar replied. "An upper class criminal who basically does crime out of boredom."
"Great we got a teleporter." Parkour rolled her eyes. "This will make things a lot harder."
"He'll must likely have a weakness. They all do." Speed Queen said.
"Teleporter?" Haggar repeated confused before snapping his fingers. "Oh you must mean James Linco aka Port. Former enforcer for the Maragenio Family. Real piece of work that one is."
"Why is he working for the Terror Crew?" Speed Queen questioned.
"His boss Don Maragenio was found dead one day." Haggar replied.
"Doesn't take a genius to put two and two together." Speed Queen muttered. She then turns to the hole in the wall. "What are you up to Johnny?"
Back at the Terror crew hideout, Candyman's team have just arrived. "Welcome back boys and Zoya." Johnny greeted. "Did you get the schematics?" Johnny asked.
"We got it." Virus replied.
"Excellent." Johnny says. "Not gonna lie Willy, when you first told me your plan I thought you were crazy. But I should've known you'd make it work."
"I always find a way Johnny." said Candyman. "I even broke Speed Queen mentally."
A smirk forms on Johnny's face. "Mow THAT is something I wish I could've seen." He says. "Now because of your actions, I'm ordering you all to lay low for a few days. You did just embarrass the police department after all."
"No worries lad." Phantom said. "I'm sure Port can deal with my duties for the time being. If necessary, we have Skull handle things for us as well."
Skull walked towards the group and nods. "I bet your jobs are fun and hard." Port said.
"Now lad, you know as well as anyone that you and I share the same jobs." Phantom reminds him.
"Yeah yeah." Port says with a groan. "But we're still gonna have to be on the lookout. Both the cops and L-Crew are gonna be hunting us."
"Not to mention the cowboy who's searching for me." Skull reminded them. He reaches into his jacket and puts a hand on his gun. "If you want I could put him down."
"No." Johnny replied. "Your job is to take our dealers and thugs and ensure our businesses continue to thrive. As for the L-Crew, we'll be dealing with them soon. But we can't deal with them if we're in prison. However we still need one more thing." He looks at Skull. "And I think you're more than capable of getting it for us." Skull nods and gets to a knee.
"It will be done." He says.
Elsewhere, Tetherby is sitting in his office, enjoying a nice Scotch until Stuart walked into his office. "You better have a good update on our latest projects." Tetherby growled.
"Yes sir. We're just running final diagnosis on him." Stuart said.
"Good." Tetherby says. "As soon as it's ready, let it loose."
"Will do sir." Stuart said.
Stuart then ran off as Tetherby smirked. "Get ready L-Crew. This time, this monster will be the one to kill you all." said Tetherby.
Smoke: Hey everyone, first off yeah this was a no action chapter. But we will get back to that soon, I promise. But next time a certain Aussie will return and we'll get to know more about him.
Zachlor16: The next chapter will also serve another purpose that I don't want to say because it'll spoil everything. So stay tuned and we'll see you soon. Also expect big things from us this year because 2025 we got a lot of stuff planned for this fic so press that follow button so that you don't miss a chapter.
Smoke: alright please read and review.