10. Chapter 10

AN: Another chapter down. This was a tricky one to write, but I think it turned out about as well as its going to at this point.

Mojoking: We're always happy to see new readers sharing their appreciation for the story, gives us a little extra motivation and makes it easier to push through trouble spots in the writing process. Also, I like where your head's at with the whole Lana thing. :)

Mr. Aanonymous: Not right now, we're still building the world and plot and whatnot. But there'll probably be lewds at some point. If we feel like writing them.

TigerJacob: Hey, another new reader. Glad you like the story, and I was also happy to get your review on Aces Wild. Hopefully this chapter will tide you over for a bit, and I hope you enjoy my other stories.

Whitescorpion: Thank you. I love writing Lenicoln stuff, they're one of my favorite couples. That's why Auto foisted this story arc off on me, hehe.

Sunblast X: I'm just going to fold my hands and nod politely. Because I don't wanna give anything away, but I think you'll like the way things develop.

SonicMax: I also like where your head is at. :)

Gabeclone: You mean in the now two stories I have, total that feature the duo? :)In Gigant I went through the trouble of trying to concoct a scenario that could logically lead from the friendship they have in the show, to the more adversarial one they have in that story. But they're still Frenemies at worst, and even that degree of animosity is wholly one-sided, Leni still ropes Fiona into hanging out with her between adventures. Fiona's just in a perpetually bad mood because the economy sucks (what a fantastical concept…), and her job requires her to get beat up a lot, mostly by Leni and friends.

Here…well, read the chapter first :)

Two teenage girls stood across from one another, antithetical to the core. Light and Dark. Fair, and less Fair. Lovely and irrit—

Fiona let out a low growl, one eyes twitching angrily.

—ahem. Lovely and prone to becoming intensely perturbed.

"I'm not irritable." Fiona grumbled as a sphere of crackling black flame began to form between her hands, preparing for a second blast. Fortunately the familiar sights and sounds of the Royal Woods Mall had long faded away, most Bystanders having learned at an early age that energy blasts typically signaled it was time to flee. Leni faced her opponent, wand readied in her hands and resolution set in her features. Though the stand-off was a relatively silent one, it was clearly building to an explosive and bombastic conclusion.

"Can you not?" A snide voice called out, cutting through the tension like a knife. As one, both girls jerked in surprise, and for the moment the spell was broken. Leni lowered her wand and Fiona allowed her attack to harmlessly dissipate. Lincoln let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, sagging in mild relief.

Out from a nearby service entrance swaggered a red-headed boy roughly Lincoln's own age. His cocky strut and the grating smugness in his voice caused Lincoln's fists to clench involuntarily. He knew this kid.

"You didn't need to drag me down here if you were just going to get in a stupid punch up!" The boy complained to Fiona. If looks could kill, the glance Fiona sent his way would have reduced the boy to atomic particles. Apparently, he noticed, as he suddenly seemed to lose a bit of his confidence.

"Chandler?" Lincoln asked, incredulously. "Chandler McCann?" Immediately the other boy perked up, being recognized seemingly doing wonders for his self esteem.

"The one and only." He proclaimed, strolling over to Lincoln with that infuriating swagger. "And you would be..." He drawled, giving Lincoln an unnecessarily rough pat on the back. "...I want to say, 'Larry?'"

"It's Lincoln." Replied 'Larry'. "It's always been, Lincoln."

"Can't be." Chandler waved dismissively. "I'd remember a name that stupid."

Lincoln sighed as quietly as possible. This was something he'd hoped to escape by transitioning to Archetype Academy. Chandler was popular and rich, largely as a consequence of being rich and then popular, in that specific order. He wasn't a "bully", per se, but he was self-absorbed to a fault, and with his social clout that made him insufferable to be around. Scientifically speaking, the kid was a wad, presumably of something nasty and prone to hurting one's feelings.

"Are you actually sidekicking for Lovely Leni." Chandler continued, letting out a low whistle of appreciation. "How the heck did you swing that, Lamar? That chick is top tier in numerous categories." The way his eyebrows bounced up and down gave little doubt as to what categories he might be referring to.

"I'm not her sidekick." Lincoln replied, flatly. "She's my sister."

"Can't be." Chandler once again waved him off. "I did my research for this job. Her brother is some dope named Lincoln." Lincoln just stared at the boy incredulously, honestly uncertain if he was being made fun of or not.

"And you're here because...?" He prompted at last, trying not to seethe too visibly. This was elementary school all over again.

Chandler preened in delight. "Well, if you must know—", His tone left little room for argument that Lincoln must, "—I was personally scouted to partner up with this one, who had a need for my specific set of skills." Chandler smirked haughtily. "Granted, Fiona doesn't rate quite as highly as Lovely Leni—" Lincoln was growing increasingly annoyed with the emphasis the red-head kept putting on his sister's name. And the looks he kept shooting her. "—But everyone needs to start somewhere. And with my natural talent, it should only be a matter of time before I—"

"Slap yourself in the face." Fiona growled, shooting the younger boy a dirty look. Much to Lincoln's surprise, he did exactly that.

SLAP

It happened so quickly. One moment the boy was all piss and vineger, and the next he was staring dumbly at his own hand, a bright red mark of his own doing stamped across his cheek. It took every bit of self control Lincoln possessed in order to avoid laughing out loud.

"I—" Chandler began.

"Slap yourself again." Fiona instructed, smirking nastily at the red-head. "Harder."

SLAP

"Kid's a Minion." Fiona explained as Chandler reeled, dazed from his own blow. "It's why I allowed him to assist me in a very limited capacity. When someone with a strong enough personality gives him an order, he has to follow it."

"Slap yourself again." She called offhandedly, grinning broadly as the barely aware teenager was once again forced to comply.

SLAP

"Wanna try?" Fiona asked, gesturing to the Louds.

"Well, uh—" Lincoln began.

"Slap yourself in the face, Charles!" Leni chirped, cutting him off.

"It's Chand—" The red-head began replying, his words somewhat slurred by by the swelling in his cheek.

SLAP

But he was once again interrupted by his own traitorous hand.

"Again!" Leni called out, eyes wide with delight.

SLAP

"Oooh! This is totes fun!" Leni giggled, clapping her hands together. "Linky, you try!"

"M-maybe later." Lincoln mumbled, wincing at the murderous look the other boy sent his way. Honestly, at this point he kind of felt bad for the kid. Throughout elementary school Chandler had always been the center of attention, surrounded by sycophants who would never dare to offer an opinion, or an errant thought that differed from his own. It had to have come as a shock when he...

Lincoln blinked in surprise as his own train of thought began to trail off, little, seemingly innocuous details about the privileged boy's overbearing personality suddenly making a lot of sense in hindsight. No wonder Chandler had a history of never letting other people get a word in edgewise.

Suddenly, an idea manifested. "Remember my name!" Lincoln shouted, grabbing the other boy by the shoulders, and shaking him emphatically.

"I never forget a name, Leslie." Chandler slurred, swaying on his feet. Lincoln looked to Fiona, distraught.

She shrugged. "It's not mind control. You can't make Minions deviate from their nature too far."

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It's really easy to get Chandler to slap himself though—"

SLAP

"Kid must have some issues to work through." She concluded. Lincoln let out a long, disappointed sigh, and loosed his hold on the red head.

"I'm just gonna sit down for a bit." Chandler mumbled. Still swaying somewhat unsteadily, he slid to the ground, crossed his legs in front of him, and slumped forward. Hesitating only slightly, Lincoln stepped forward, worried that the other boy might have passed out, but the red head jerked one hand into the air and waved him off. Not entirely sure what to do with himself now, Lincoln turned his attention back to the magical girls.

"So..." He began, almost immediately trailing off, as Fiona turned her attention to him.

"What?" She growled, causing Lincoln to flinch. He couldn't help it, Fiona exuded intimidation from every orifice of her shapely body. She could probably give Lori some pointers.

"Fiona, be nice to Linky." Leni chastised the black clad girl. "He's new to this." Instantly the other girl rounded on the elder Loud, face twisted into a snarl. However, before she could rebut the blonde, she paused, taking a breath. Slowly, the brunette's body began to untense, inch by inch until she had eventually attained something vaguely resembling a relaxed posture.

"Sorry." She muttered, making eye contact with Lincoln for only the briefest of moments before turning her attention back to Leni."

"I'm...confused." Said Lincoln, blinking slowly.

"See?" Leni waggled her finger at the black-clad girl. "It's his first day. Go easy on him."

"Well warn me next time!" Fiona growled back. "How was I supposed to know you were going to have a ride along!?"

"I sent you a text!" Leni protested, pouting.

"I didn't get any—" Fiona's retort was abruptly cut off as a chorus of beeps and boops resounded from somewhere on her person. She sighed in annoyance. Lincoln reddened slightly as Fiona tugged at her neckline with one hand, and fished around with the other, producing a phone several moments later. She looked at the screen and sighed again.

"...Reception, apparently." She muttered, angrily shoving the phone back down the frotn of her dress.

"Told ya."

"Shut up, Leni."

"So...not that I'm complaining, but...are you guys done fighting?" Two sets of eyes turned to Lincoln, blinking in surprise.

"Who's fighting?" Fiona asked, confused. She turned back to Leni. "Are we fighting?"

"Nope." Replied the blonde, who had produced her own phone from...somewhere. "I have you next Sunday."

"Sounds about right. You're bringing those finger sandwiches, right? From that new place downtown?"

"Totes. And some of that chai tea you like."

"You two were fighting!" Lincoln blurted out, trying to establish some semblance of sanity. Much to his frustration, the girls merely exchanged worried glances.

"Is your brother alright, Leni?" Fiona asked, giving Lincoln a sidelong glance. "He seems kinda high strung."

"You attacked us!" Lincoln was surprised to find that he was shouting now. "With fire!"

"I did no such thing!" The older girl replied, crossing her arms indignantly. In place of a retort, Lincoln merely gestured to the second-floor walkway, still burning, albeit faintly, with smoldering, obsidian embers.

"Ooooh! That's so cool, Fiona!" Leni exclaimed, delighted. "They didn't do that before!"

"Yep." The black-clad girl preened proudly. "I figured out how to make my darkfire burn like actual fire."

"So awesome! I bet it really hurts!"

"Well, you'll find out for yourself next Sunday."

"Shot at us!" Lincoln shouted, gesturing emphatically at the flames. "With fire!"

There was a brief pause.

"Oooooooh." Both girls intoned in unison.

"I think I see the problem here." Said Fiona.

"Ya huh." Leni nodded in agreement before turning back to Lincoln. "That wasn't an attack, Linky, that's just how magical girls say 'Hi.'"

Another pause. At some point, Lincoln realized that he was supposed to talk now."

"B-but." He stammered, gesturing weakly to the now almost extinguished flames. "Fire."

"Its a really cutthroat field." Fiona interjected, shrugging slightly. "Very toxic social environs."

"Great parties though." Leni added.

"Okay, okay!" Lincoln shouted, holding up his hands to forestall any further inanity. "You!" He pointed at Fiona, then at Leni. "You two aren't fighting?"

"Nope."

"Uh uh."

"But you're going to fight?" He pressed. Again uncertain glances were exchanged.

"I mean..." Fiona drawled. "I personally wouldn't label it as such."

"Will you be throwing energy blasts at each other?" Lincoln deadpanned.

"Absolutely." Fiona replied.

"Pew pew." Leni added, pointing her wand at Fiona and pantomiming a firing motion. "Sometimes I hit her with my wand too." The blonde gave a demonstrative practice swing with the instrument in question.

Wordlessly, Lincoln flung his hands up in the air. The frustration on his face spoke volumes.

"Linky..." Leni put one reassuring hand on Lincoln's shoulder, and instantly the pale-haired boy's body sagged, all the tension in his body suddenly gone. "We're not really going to fight. Fiona and I are friends."

"More like peers." Fiona interjected.

"Best friends!" Leni continued as if the brunette hadn't said anything. "We're doing that thing...um..." She floundered a bit, searching for the right words. "It's like that thing birdies do."

"Pecking order." Fiona supplied, clearly familiar with the girl's Leni-isms.

"That thing." Leni nodded enthusiastically. "Magical girls are totes competitive, and everyone was always hurting everyone else's feelings. But everyone gets along much better now that we...um..." She held up one hand and surreptitiously pulled off the glove, squinting at her palm. "Adhere to a rigid social hierarchy reinforced by strict meritocracy, and the occasional bout of savage violence."

Lincoln was at a loss for words. "Leni, did you write that on your—"

"Nope!" The blonde abruptly shoved both hands behind her back.

"Right." Lincoln trailed off, trying to reorient his thoughts. "So you're all able to get along because...all of you know who can beat up who?

"There are...other considerations." Fiona replied, her eyes darting back and forth in a manner that seemed uncharacteristically nervous from what little he knew of the girl. "But mostly, yeah."

"That seems kind of extreme." Lincoln opined.

"It's a oppressive system that could only be concocted by one both crazy enough and brutal enough to consistently stand at the top of the pack of sociopaths who need such a system to function" Fiona replied, shrugging. "But you can't argue with the results."

"Huh. I thought I was the one who came up with it." Leni mused stroking her chin thoughtfully.

Lincoln glanced at the brunette, waiting for confirmation of was clearly intended to be a hilarious joke. She met his eyes, but there was no humor in that gaze.

"Imperius Regina." Fiona said, softly, nodding at the blonde, still lost in her thoughts.

Lincoln sighed, reluctantly accepting that there were apparently occasions, however infrequent, when this world full of heroes and villains the the occasional attack by monstrosities beyond the ken of mortals, simply didn't make any sense.

"Fine." He gestured towards the girls. "But you two...aren't fighting."

"No fighting." The girls said in unison.

"Alright then." Logic be damned, if this is what it took to get Leni and him back home without having to go through another terrifying, super powered fight at the mall, he'd take it.

"But I am here to defeat Leni." Fiona added. "And prove myself to be the strongest magical girl once and for all."

Lincoln realized his mouth was open. He tried to muster the willpower to shut it, but he couldn't quite manage. Instead, he turned to Leni, still gaping like a dying fish. To his surprise, the blonde looked more annoyed than anything else.

"But Fiona!" Protested Leni. "I always beat you!" She then looked around, seemingly very disappointed.

The brunette's eye twitched angrily. "I wouldn't say always—"

"Sometimes with my wand." Leni interjected, again giving a demonstrative swing with the weapon in question.

This time, Fiona's entire body twitched. "Leni—"

"I even beat you that time you challenged me on opposite day." Leni barreled onward, heedless of the other girl's mood. "Which was really confusing!"

"Shut up, Leni!" Fiona roared, very much living up to her name. "You may have gotten the upper hand a few times—"

"All of the times." Leni loudly whispered to Lincoln, her voice echoing in the stillness of the long-vacated segment of the mall they were occupying.

"But that was then!" Fiona began to cackle, rubbing her hands together in a very sinister fashion. "And now I have...this!"

"Chandler!" Fiona shouted, rounding on the younger boy. "Detonator! Now!"

The red-head's body jerked to life, fishing around in his pockets before finally producing a small device, which he then tossed to Fiona.

"She's right." Said Leni, nodding slowly. "She didn't have that before."

"Fiona, wait!" Lincoln shouted, waving his arms around, emphatically trying to get the older girl's attention.

"What?" She growled, glaring at him. "I'm kind of in the middle of my moment of triumph."

Lincoln flinched, both at the vitriol exuding from the girl, and from the terrifying implications of the thing she was holding. "Look, I get where you're coming from. It sounds like you have every reason to be mad—"

"Irritable." Leni interjected.

"Regardless!" Lincoln pressed on, before Leni could make things worse. "You're not going to solve your problems by blowing up the mall!" Much to his surprise, the black-clad girl's face crinkled up in confusion.

"Wait...what?" Leni shrieked, looking mournfully at her frenemy. "Fiona, how could you!?"

"Who said anything about blowing up the mall?" Fiona asked, clearly perturbed at the thought. "What, just because I dress like this—" She paused to indicate her form fitting, hip-hugging outfit. "—You think I'm some kind of lunatic?"

Lincoln gestured to the device still clutched in Fiona's hand. Fiona glanced down, irritably, then back to him. Then back down to her hand.

"Oh." She intoned, understanding seemingly dawning upon her. "I was like, 'Chandler! Detonator!' And you thought..." She shook her head, bemused. "I'm not gonna blow up the mall. That would be crazy."

"Oh thank goodness." Lincoln breathed, sagging with relief.

"This is connected to a bunch of breaching charges." Fiona explained. "I'm gonna blow those up."

And there went that all too fleeting sense of relief.

"Why?" Lincoln asked, every ounce of his willpower being expended towards keeping his voice at a reasonable level.

"Aw, shoot." Fiona grumbled, drumming her fingers on the detonator, coming distressingly close to activating it. "I didn't think I was gonna get a chance to explain my brilliant plan. I wish I'd prepared something."

"Open with a joke." Leni suggested, flinching at the bewildered looks she received from Lincoln and Fiona. "What? That's what Luan always says."

"...Gonna just ignore that." Fiona remarked, after several moments had passed, turning specifically to address Lincoln, who had pulled Leni into a comforting hug.

"You know about Soulless pods?" She asked the younger boy. Lincoln nodded in affirmation.

"Husks pop up in unexpected places and continue to grow in numbers, that's called a 'pod'." Lincoln recited. "Once the pod gets big enough, they go on a rampage. That's why combat archetypes are all tasked with finding and destroying as many pods as possible before they can get to that point.

"At least you know that much." Fiona replied. "But with a sister like Lori Loud, I guess you'd have to. So we have a system with only two outcomes. One, the pod is destroyed quickly enough and things continue on their merry way. Or two, the pod bursts and we have an outbreak of Husks, which is a really messy and normally requires a coordinated defense effort to fight off. But..." She trailed off, flashing Lincoln a smirk. "What if there was a third outcome?"

"Which would be?" The younger boy prompted.

"A Husk pod forms in a place where nobody can find it. But, also in a place where the Husks are unable to escape from." Came the brunette's response. "The Husks are allowed to build up, undisturbed, but they can never get to that second stage. So, they just keep multiplying. Over and over, in perpetuity." Fiona thrust her hands to the sides, as if to say 'ta dah!'. "Neat, huh?"

The siblings exchanged worried glances. "How could that even happen?" Lincoln asked. "Lori can see through walls and hear for miles. And its not even just her, this city is full of psychics, oracles—"

"Not to mention dedicated patrols using specialized equipment specifically designed for finding Soulless." A familiar voice cut in. It took Lincoln a moment to realize the speaker had been Leni. Looking up at his older sister, he was surprised to find no trace of the blonde's usual ditziness or good humor. Leni was frowning in concern, completely and utterly serious. That was...unnerving.

"Here's the real kicker." Fiona added. "It's here." She stamped one foot on the ground. "Inside the mall" She paused. "Well, more specifically, it's underneath the mall."

"That's impossible!" Leni retorted; the immediacy of her response undercut by the traces of fear those words carried. "This is one of the city's biggest population centers! Even if it were somewhere in the basement, how could something like that go undetected for so long!"

"Because nobody bothers to patrol here for exactly that reason." Explained Fiona. "Why bother? You have tons of eyes and ears all over the place, surely somebody would see something." She adopted a knowing smirk. "Here's the problem. When I say 'underground', I don't mean a basement, or even a sub-basement. We're talking way, way down."

"This place isn't exactly a relic, Leni." Fiona gestured to the mall around them. "Pretty much everything in this section of the city was built within living memory, building built on the foundations of older buildings. Before this was a mall, it could have been anything. A vampire's castle, a pharaoh's tomb, a wizard's tower, anything. There's some really crazy stuff down there if you go deep enough."

"Then how did you find it?" The blonde pressed. "What were you doing that deep underneath the mall?"

"I...uh..." Suddenly the brunette seemed to lose a bit of her swagger, her eyes darting back and forth, nervously. "That's not important."

"Does this have something to do with Jackie issuing that challenge to you a while back? And then you disappeared for a week?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it Leni!" Fiona growled, tightening her grip on the detonator.

"Funny, because that's what you said when I asked you back—"

"The point is, I found them!" Fiona roared, waving the detonator at the siblings. "I had the boy blunder over there—" She paused to indicate Chandler. "Rig the room they're trapped in to break open when I trigger this thing. The Husks will swarm out and towards the nearest living things—" Again, she paused to gesture around them. "And I will destroy them all, single-handedly. Thus proving once and for all that I'm the strongest, and therefore best magical girl in the city!" The black glad girl crossed her arms arrogantly and favored Leni with a smug smile. "So what do you have to say to that?"

"That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard." Came Leni's immediate reply. There was a beat of silence as two pairs of eyes immediately snapped to the blonde.

"Did..." Fiona began, haltingly, confusion clearly apparent upon her face. "Did Leni Loud just call my plan stupid."

"Of course not." Was what Lincoln wanted to say. Leni Loud was the sweetest, kindest person on the planet. She'd never entertain the thought of tearing someone down even to that minor degree. And yet, looking at Leni now, Lincoln couldn't just produce the words. The elder Loud had always worn her heart on her sleeve, and this occasion was no exception, but what he saw written plainly on her face unnerved him to his very core. Fury, far beyond anything he'd ever seen on his sister's normally serene face. And underneath that, terror. Pure, unmitigated terror.

"Yes, Fiona!" Leni exclaimed, stamping her foot in anger. "This is a very stupid plan! The stupidest plan! You're being stupid, Fiona!"

"I literally don't know how to respond to this." Fiona intoned, turning her cross-eyed gaze to Lincoln. "Help me make words, little boy."

"L-leni…" Lincoln began, tugging worriedly at his sister's dress.

"Not now Lincoln!" Leni snapped, before rounding on the brunette. "There are people here, Fiona!" Leni shouted, swinging her arms around. "It's, like, an all you can eat buffet for Soulless in here!"

"I made them go bye bye first." Fiona insisted.

"They just went to another part of the mall!" Leni shrieked. "They probably think we're having one of those big, stupid superhero fights over here! All the Husks have to do is go to them! And if the sub levels are as big as you say they are, they probably don't even have to get past you to do it! Speaking of which..." She jabbed her wand angrily at the brunette. "Have you ever seen how big a fully formed Husk pod is?"

"I feel like you want me to say 'yes'..." Fiona began.

"They're huge!" Leni spread her arms wide, as if to say 'The rampaging horde of monsters was thiiiiiis big.' "And you said this one's even bigger! How are you going to stop them all by yourself."

"I-I make fire." Fiona protested, conjuring up a ball of black flame in her hand. She looked down at her hand, inspecting the floating ball of flame. "I make bigger fire." She corrected herself.

"You make big stupid!" Leni screamed "The kind of fire you'd need to fight off a horde like that would burn down the mall!"

Fiona's body began to tremble visibly. "Did..." She began, haltingly. "Did I really misjudge the situation that badly?"

"Yes!" Roared three voices. Lincoln blinked in surprise. Wait, three?

"For the record..." Chandler slurred, rising to his feet, still swaying. "I told her it was a dumb plan from the beginning."

"You did not!" Fiona retorted, rounding on the punch-drunk red-head. "You just started screaming incoherently—"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

All four teens winced in unison as a loud, piercing shriek cut through the air, the distinct sound of squealing of rusted metal being torn asunder.

"Y-yeah." Fiona stammered, a moment later. "Kind of like that."

Lincoln opened his mouth, intending to ask the question that was obviously on everyone's mind, when he heard a second sound. It started off faint, but quickly began to grow in volume and intensity. An incessant thumping, the telltale sound of one object being struck against another, but on a grand scale. A veritable symphony of pitter and patter, in inexorable stereo.

"What is that?" Lincoln asked, unable to keep the quavering from his voice.

"H-hypothetically—" Chandler began, and winced, immediately cut off as a low, discordant chorus of moans began to resound from the ground beneath them. "I'd say that sounds an awful lot like a poorly, and inexpertly reinforced door shattering as an impossible number of Soulless finally proved too much for it to take.

The red head took a quick glance at the terrified faces around him. "But that's just a theory" He continued, gulping audibly. "Obviously."