Chapter 21: Week 1: Countdown is Starting!
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the same night...
"Leni was sitting down on staring up at the night sky as tears streamed down her face
"I can't believe Lisa actually did that... What have we done?" She said before sobbing into her hands.
Suddenly, she heard someone climb the ladder to the roof, making her look over at who it was.
"Leni?" Luan asked. "What are you doing up here? You could fall off here and get hurt."
"No amount of pain I get will never compensate for the pain that we done to Lincoln." The fashionista said before she then glared at the comedian. "But then again, why do you care Ms. I-Don't-Take-Anything-Seriously?"
Luan flinched at what her older sister just called her, not she didn't deserved it. "Well..." Luan began. "Your argument with everyone earlier got me thinking long and hard about it. And it made me realize something."
"What?" Leni asked.
"After I was reviewing my tapes, I realize that you were right after I discovered something rather important in one of them."
"What are talking about?" The fashion lover asked. "If you're making another joke, especially now, I swear to God, I'll-"
"Wait, wait, I assure I'm NOT!" The comedian waved her hands defensively. "But I can't show it to you now, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow." Luan said, much to her elder sister's annoyance. "Now please get to bed before Lori gets worried."
Luan then descended the ladder as she went back to her room as Leni was about to do when she stopped to look up at the sky one more time with tears continuing to stream down her face...
"Lincoln... I hope that wherever you are, you're safe. I... I hope you can find your way home, even if it's not here... with us." She said sadly as she then climbed down the ladder.
As she entered her room quietly and got under her covers, the only question on her mind though was...
"What was on that tape that Luan seemed so fixated on?"
The next day, on Emperor Zing's Ship...
After having a day of meeting the Exiles, making enemies in the forms of Zing, Aquamarine and Eyeball and etc. and fighting for his life against the Xenomorph queen hours before and Jasper a few hours afterwards when she demanded one in exchange for her assistance, as well learning about his newly developed powers during both of those fights. The sleeping that Lincoln was doing was more or less well earned.
A few seconds later, Lincoln began to wake up from his peaceful slumber as he let out a yawn as he stretched his arms.
"Guys, guys, I just had the most realistic dream ever, I was shot into space and met some weirdos who I befriended and-" The young lad began to say before then noticed not just Leggy who was staring at him, but also Eclipsa, Dan, Milo, and Bridgette were in his room. "Oh... right." He then blushed in embarrassment at not noticing them sooner.
"Not a dream Lincoln." Dan said bluntly.
"I'm afraid all of that did happen to you." Bridgette said, sadly.
"Oh..." Lincoln said as he look down briefly before he shook off his depression with smile. "Well, hey at least one good thing came out of this whole dilemma."
"What's that?" Leggy asked him.
"I got to meet all of you." Lincoln responded, making all of them smile. "Speaking of all, where are the others?"
"Jasper's still outside and the others are still sleeping." Eclipsa said. "Now listen Lincoln, what I'm about to tell you is very important."
"Alright, I'm listening." The boy said, curious about what he was about to hear from Eclipsa.
"When you fell asleep and Roger warned you about Zing, I used a spell to spy on your former family and what your dream was about." Eclipsa stopped briefly before she then spilled the truth out. "It came true. The Louds, your former family) actually did clone you." She gently stated.
Lincoln's eyes widened in shock as he then looked down in order to digest this information. One part of him just could've believe that what he dreamed about was actually true. The other part of him kinda suspected this.
Lincoln clenched his fists extremely tightly as he imagined it now, his clone living his life, doing the stuff that he liked, meeting his friends and other members of his family that weren't involved in his exile. Just thinking and imaging made his blood begin to boil at a ferocious pace as he clenched his teeth at trying to conceal his anger... which he was starting to fail at doing.
He then began to speak in short breaths to signify his anger. With description he used increasing his anger by 5%.
"Those... self righteous... self serving... hypocritical... ungrateful... mob mentality using... self centered... irritating..."
Noticing that Lincoln was getting extremely angry, Leggy gently grabbed his arm, causing him to open his eyes and unintentionally glare at her.
"Lincoln, I understand that you're angry at those jerks for "cloning" you and I'll be honest that don't understand the process of that sort of thing." Leggy began. "But I do know that just sitting here and getting angry will not solve anything. So please, calm down and try to relax before you break something, okay?"
Hearing his little girlfriend's wise words caused him to let go of his raged a took a very deep breath before exhaling it. He proceeded to do this 5 more times before he finally calmed himself down to a more rational state.
"Yeah," Lincoln sighed a bit. "You're right Leggy. Thanks."
Milo then walked over to the two and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, making Lincoln look up at him.
"If you think that they're going to get away with this, don't worry. They won't." Milo declared. "When we get back to Earth, we'll make sure that they'll face justice for their crimes against both you as well as the rest of us."
"Not just them but the others who shot us into space as well." Eclipsa stated.
"By force if necessary." Dan commented as he pounded both of his fists together.
"Thanks guys." Lincoln thanked the group in his room. "That means a lot."
Suddenly, Lincoln's stomach growled... much to his embarrassment.
"Wow," Lincoln said in embarrassment as his face blushed. "Who knew that getting cloned by those you saw as family and also betrayed you without a second thought would make you hungry all of a sudden?"
"Is that another thing that humans do?"Leggy asked.
"Yeah." Lincoln responded. "Pretty much."
"Well you're in luck, my friend." Milo said. "We're about got get some breakfast. We'd like you to join us."
"Well that depends..." Lincoln said getting a little suspicious. "Do we have to pay for it? Cause I don't have any money on me."
"Nope, it's free." Milo said, making Lincoln sigh in relief. "So we don't have to pay for it. No need to worry."
With Lincoln then agreeing, the six of them left the boy's room... only to run into some guards.
"If you all want breakfast, it's over there." One of them said as he pointed at a kiosk that was open at the moment.
"Once you all finish, go and do your jobs." Another guard demanded.
"You can't tell us what to do!" Dan said harshly.
Dan suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, glaring over at said person, he saw that it was Eclipsa, who was shaking her head at him.
"Dan, remember." The dark monarch warned the sociopath, gesturing to her collar and then at Dan's collar. "We still have these around our necks. Starting a fight won't solve anything. Also, it's to early for this nonsense."
Dan muttered a few obscurities under his breath before sighing in defeat. "Fine."
With that, the guards left... with exception of one, much to the six's confusion.
Before any of then could say anything, the guard gestured them to follow him. Which they... reluctantly did. Although they had their guard up just in cast this random guard tried anything.
Entering a shadowy part of the ship, the guard then spoke.
"I get that you guys are wondering, "Why is this random guard want to talk to us." Well, maybe this will help."
The guard began to bubble form the inside and tear up its form at a molecular level. Lincoln and Milo had the sudden urge to throw up... until the guard's form manifested into the form of the bartender Zoe.
"Ta-da!" Zoe said. "I'm here bitches!"
"Wow, Zoe." Lincoln said as he sighed in relief. "You had me fool for a second there."
"Looks like you can use your powers." Milo said.
"Because of this damn collar, only for ten minutes of an hour." Zoe complained. "Stupid power suppressor."
"Let me guess. You're going to infiltrate Zing's ranks and give us any important information?" Dan said with a smirk.
"Yeah, now go on about your day." Zoe demanded. "I've got work to do,"
The bartender than shape-shifted back into her guard form, saluted them and went off to do her thing.
With her leaving, the others went to get breakfast.
Back on Earth, at 7 a.m...
Back at the Loud House, Leni slowly began to wake up from her slumber. Looking over at Lori who was still sleeping, she slowly and quietly got out of her bed and tiptoed out of their room.
At the same time, Luan had done the same thing after making sure that Luna was asleep. After making out of her room silently as to not wake her or anyone else up, she was now in the hallway before she accidently bumped into Leni, knocking them both on to the ground.
"Ow..." Leni said silently as she rubbed her forehead.
"Sorry Leni. I was watching where I was going." Luan apologized as she helped Leni up.
"It's fine." Leni said her comedian sister. "So what did you find out?"
Instead of responding, the comedian just gestured for the fashion designer to follow her as the two went downstairs as quietly as they could as they then entered the basement where there was an old but still functional television set and VCR player.
"You brought your old TV down here?" Leni asked.
"Yeah." Luan said as she held up a video tape. "For privacy purposes, cause what I'm about to show you is important. But before I play it, I need to ask you something first."
"Okay, what is it?" Leni asked.
"Remember when Lynn had that game before this all started?" Luan asked, to which her elder sister nodded, signifying that she indeed knew about it. "Well, this is what happened before that."
She then put tape in and turned the TV on.
The screen went static for a brief moment before showing what happened a few weeks ago.
The screen was black and white in presentation as it showed Lincoln walking upstairs to his room as he talked to himself (aka the readers).
"With ten sisters, my calendar's booked everyday with stuff. I'm supposed to go to rodeos, pageants, open mic nights...once in a while, a guy just needs some time to himself." He said as he reach the last step before he then walked down to his room.
"Wow, I had no idea that he felt that way." Leni said as guilt for what she (and by extension the rest of the family) had done to one of their own creep into her eyes in the form of tears.
The video then showed Lincoln about to enter his, but before he had the opportunity to do so, Lynn suddenly pops up from out of nowhere in front of him.
"Hey, Lincoln! You're coming to my softball game today, right?" Lynn asked.
"Dang it. Should've done a head count." Lincoln said before turning to his jock sister. "Actually, Lynn, I've got some important business to attend to. Like Ace Savvy VS the Card Shark." He said as he held out said comic.
"Lame. My team has won our last six games, and you're the only member of this family who hasn't come out to support me." Lynn whined.
"That's because I was supporting six other sisters at their things. Sorry, Lynn, I just can't do it today." Lincoln said, standing his ground.
"Sure you won't reconsider?" The jock said as she holding her bat threateningly at him.
With that, Luan turned her TV off and stood in silence in order to give her dumb sister some time process this new found information as Leni's eyes widened in shock at what she just saw. Did Lynn really just threaten Lincoln with a baseball bat in order to make him come to her game? She just couldn't believe that one of her own sisters actually threatened her little brother to do what one of them wanted without even giving him a choice in the matter.
Then, she then thought back to when Lincoln explained why he lied on the megaphone when he was outside and now it all made sense as to why he did that and it made the blonde feel even more guilty about her role in banishing Lincoln from their home in the first place and not stopping from happening to begin with.
She deserved to be in jail right now despite the fact that she too pretty for it.
Suddenly as she remembered watching the video, all of Leni's guilt and remorse for her sin was soon replaced with something else, something that was clawing from her mind and wanting to be let free.
It was the feeling of being absolutely pissed at something or someone.
Leni suddenly clenched her fists as tightly as she could as Luan watched in surprised as she backed away a bit.
"That... sports loving... arrogant... BULLY OF A SISTER!" Leni screamed out in anger as Luan backed away even more.
Leni then began to march to the stairs but before she set her foot on the first bottom step, Luan grabbed her arm tightly with both of hers.
"Leni, stop!" Her unfunny sister said. "We can't confront Lynn about this yet."
"I don't plan on confronting Lynn, my little comedian." Leni replied. "I plan on confronting Lisa because it was her cameras that caught it and she chose not to speak up about it!"
"I understand that you're angry sis and believe me I'm angry too." Luan replied. "But we need to do this properly."
"How?!" Leni asked irritably. "Give me one good reason why shouldn't march up their and confront those two about this right now?"
"Do not worry, my fair Leni." Luan said as a creepy smile appeared on her face. "I have a plan that will ensure that our family never does this again."
Hearing this made Leni confused. "But won't we go to jail?"
"Well maybe Mom and Dad..." Luan said a bit unsure. "Some of us are too young for the big house, so I don't know where the rest of us will when this gets out. Cause it will get out eventually. I don't know how but we can rest assure that it will."
"Who knows?" Leni said. "Maybe Linky will somehow find a way to return to Earth and in our arms again."
"If he even wants to come back." Luan said. "If he wants to stay in space. I wouldn't blame him."
"Me neither. Some family that we turned out to be. I mean why would Lincoln want to come back to us." Leni said before she sat down on the steps. "My god Luan, why did we do this?!"
Luan then hugged her older sister as tears of remorse streamed down her face. "I DON'T KNOW! We were just swept up in it before we had a chance to think properly!"
The two then sat in basement in silence as tears streamed down their faces. They stayed like that for two minutes before they settled down.
"A-Anyway." Leni began. "What's this plan you have for Lynn and Lisa?"
Luan responded with malicious intent. "We're not going to enact it now of course. We'll wait a bit. Let's just say that when were done, Lynn will think twice before she threatens someone she loves. And Lisa will think twice before she decides to play God again."
Zing's ship... 6 days later...
Inside of Zing's throne room, the Emperor was on his throne trying to come up with a plan for something that the Exiles will try to do to escape as the guards and even Aquamarine and Eyeball were keeping a close eye on them as best as they could.
Suddenly, Foster and the Zoe disguised guard came in.
"Forgive the distribution sire." Foster said. "But you appeared to be distressed."
"Thank you Capt. God Damn Obvious!" The emperor yelled at the two before sighing in frustration. "I'm sorry, that was unprofessional. Is there something you need to tell me?"
"Y-Yes." The guard began. "Over the course of the week, our squads have returned with some big attractions for the Exiles or anyone else to fight against." He then siged. "We lost many of our men because of it cause who and what we caught were putting up such a fight."
"Okay, that good." Zing said cheerfully. "Some action might help get me out this weird mental block that I have." He then began to think before he then asked the two. "Is the coliseum fixed now, caused it won't be fun if one of them falls out of the ship during the fight."
"Yes sir, they been reinforced with the strongest metal we could get out hands on." Foster responded.
"Are the creatures that have been captured been collared?" Zing said.
The two nodded as the alien sighed in relief. "Good, good. I wish too see what we've got."
Foster then reached into his uniform and pulled out a remote and pressed a button which caused a hologram of the room above them to appear.
The prisoners he saw made him smile with malice.
"This just got a whole lot more interesting." was his only response before he then began to laugh manically as the two then left the room.
What sort of plan are Luan and Leni going to do to Lynn and Lisa (and the rest of the family as well as each other) and will the consequences of that plan will follow in its wake?
Will Zoe's infiltration work out for her and work in the Exiles' favor or will something go wrong while she does it?
And what kind of prisoners does Lincoln and crew will have to fight in the next round in the newly reconstructed coliseum when they get the news?
The countdown continues...
Next time on "The Exiles"!