36. Chapter 36 - Carol Arc

AN: Hey guys, Siege here. Which means I'm back in the driver seat again! It's Siege O'Clock! We're playing Siege Ball! And the first rule of Siege Ball, is there ARE, NO, RULES! The second rule is no outside food.

So, I'd started working on this chapter earlier than I normally would have, because with Hero's vacation plans, we weren't sure exactly when he was going to be able wrap up the previous arc. He still ended up getting it out way quicker than I thought he was going to, but I still had this mostly finished chapter very nearly ready to go, so I figured I'd post it and give you guys a double-update for Christmas. But don't expect the next chapter anywhere near as fast.

NoSoul01: Archetypes are generally not hereditary. Amazons are the exception, as a feature of their archetype is that an Amazon mother will always give birth to a female, Amazon daughter. There have been studies done to try and establish that there is at least a higher probability that a child will share their parents' Archetype, but nothing conclusive has been established.

Growing up in a house with twelve other people had taught Lincoln that anger takes many forms. The sound of anger, specifically, varied greatly from person to person, with a potential symphony of tones and textures that could be drawn upon to characterize that particular person's unique expression of outrage.

"Grrrrrr..."

At this specific point in time, Lori's anger sounded akin to what he'd imagine it would sound like if you chucked a few sacks of diamonds into a cement mixer with a pack of angry wolverines.

"Lori," he said patiently, patting the empty spot on the couch next to him. "Stop pacing and sit down. That's not going to make you feel any better."

"I'm not pacing, Lincoln!" She snapped back, briefly rounding on him before resuming her trek across the living room. Lincoln wanted to disagree with her, based on...well, their objective, observable reality, but the flapping of loose papers and magazines being flung around by the miniature windstorm left in Lori's wake seemed to make his point far more succinctly than mere words could. So, not wanting to needlessly antagonize his sister, Lincoln merely folded his hands in his lap, and waited.

"I just can't believe her!" Lori exclaimed as she stalked past Lincoln for the umpteenth time. Having grown accustomed to this routine, the younger Loud discretely slid down into his seat.

"I mean, honestly!" Lori abruptly stopped and whirled around to address him. In accordance with her sudden movement, her cape let out a loud snap as the abrupt shift in momentum sent it whirling around in a large arc, careening right through the spot there Lincoln's head had been resting only moments earlier. This time, at least.

"She said she'd be here at eleven, sharp!" Lori continued, throwing up her hands in frustration. "And now it's...what time now?"

"Eleven-fifteen," Lincoln obediently replied, glancing at the clock hung on the far wall.

"Eleven-fifteen!" Lori shouted. "Carol is fifteen minutes late! I swear, if that girl stood you up—"

"Her 'standing me up', would imply that we're going on a date," Lincoln pointed out. "Which we're not."

His palms suddenly felt a lot sweatier as that possibility, fantastical as it was, popped into his mind.

"It's not a date," he said, looking to Lori for reassurance. "Right?"

"No!" There was a rush of wind, and suddenly Lori was sitting beside him. He had just enough time to notice her presence before she pulled him into a hug.

"You're not going on a date with Carol," she said, her voice pitching upward on the operative word. "It's not a date!"

Lincoln allowed himself a small, sigh of relief. "Thank you, Lo—"

"Nobody, is dating my little brother!" Lori growled, their hug suddenly growing several degrees tighter than was strictly comfortable.

"Thank you, Lori," Lincoln repeated, slightly more exasperated this time. He understood her meaning, and he was honestly grateful to have his expectations properly grounded. Carol was gorgeous and far nicer than someone with her clout had any right to be, but he imagined that going on an honest-to-goodness date with someone like her would be a lot like suddenly being given an expensive sports car out of the blue. Nice to look at, definitely fun to have around and show off, but he'd have no clue how to handle it, and any attempt to actually do anything with it would likely end with a trip to the hospital.

Mercifully, at this point Lori released her hold on Lincoln, now placing her hands on his shoulders and looking him straight in the eye.

"It is not a date," she said, her voice wavering only slightly this time. "You're just going ooooowwwwwith Carol, so she can fill you in about that problem she needs your help with."

"The...uh," Lincoln swallowed, trying to suppress the heat that was beginning to gather in his face. "The one where I pretend to be dating her?" Lincoln was trying to be rational about this whole thing, but at the end of the day he was still a teenaged boy. Even if it was part of a grander deception, getting to claim he was dating Carol Pingrey was a pretty significant hormonal milestone for him, and his body was reacting accordingly.

"That's right," Lori said grudgingly, one eyebrow twitching in irritation. "But only to fool her parents."

"Yeah," Lincoln interjected. "See, I know you've tried to explain this to me, but that's the part where you kind of lose me on this."

"How so?"

"Look at me!" Lincoln gestured to his short, pasty, Loudian self. "In what universe do I look like someone who could get Carol Pingrey?"

Lori's eyes flicked up and down, giving him an appraising once-over. "Seriously? That's the thing you find worrying about this?"

"Obviously!" Lincoln threw his arms up in exasperation, "Carol's a gorgeous, blonde superheroine. Why would someone like that ever want to date someone like me!?"

To Lincoln's surprise, in lieu of responding Lori merely stared at him, her lips flattened into a thin line.

DING DONG

And suddenly, the space where she'd been sitting was vacant, the older girl having seemingly vanished in the blink of an eye.

"CAROL!" Lincoln followed the sound of Lori's overly loud voice to the front door, where she was now standing. "PLEASE COME IN, WE"VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU!"

Lincoln's eyes widened in surprise as Lori stepped aside and revealed the lovely form of Carol Pingrey standing in the doorway. He'd been expecting her to be decked out in her Amazonian Battle Armor (which was, at most, two of those things), largely because to the best of his memory, ever since she'd become a full-time hero he couldn't recall seeing her ever wearing anything else. Instead, she was wearing a purple dress shirt, a plaid skirt, and brown loafers, with a purple headband tucked into her golden mane to complete the ensemble. It was a sensible and practical outfit, making it, in essence, the polar opposite of her hero costume. Almost, to such an extent, that one could conceivably have difficulty equating the woman standing before him with the far more daringly dressed, battle-ready superheroine that the greater public knew her to be.

He said almost, however, because while the outfit was almost certainly intended to avoid attracting attention, the clothing did nothing to distract from Carol's Amazonian physique. Her clothes were almost certainly designed for a girl with a more slight, slender frame, and the way they clung so tightly to her, making her taut, muscular frame clearly visible through the soft fabric, only served to highlight the discrepancy between the outfit, and the woman wearing it.

"Sorry I'm late, Lori," Carol apologized as she entered the living room. "I thought I gave myself plenty of time to get here, but traffic was a nightmare today."

It seemed a little weird that someone who could fly would be stymied by something as mundane as traffic, and Lincoln intended to articulate as much, but then Carol turned to her attention to him and favored the boy with a dazzling smile.

"Hello, Lincoln," she said kindly. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

"Ssss'fine," Lincoln replied, his voice several octaves higher than he'd intended. He quickly thumped himself on the chest and cleared his throat. "I mean, it's cool, C-Carol," he corrected himself, managing what he'd hoped was a much more neutral tone that time. To her credit, Carol didn't comment on his faux pas, but her eyes did crinkle in what he'd hoped was amusement.

"AHEM."

Suddenly Lori was at his side. Not quite standing between them, but close enough that both Lincoln and Carol needed to each take a step back. As he did so, Lincoln looked up at his eldest sister and saw...something. Irritation, obviously, Lori carried enough weight on her shoulders (figuratively and literally) that she was prone to irritability, the tension plainly visible in her jaw was a familiar sight to the pale-haired boy. And yet, there was something decidedly different about this particular instance. As befitting someone of her position, Lori had enough self-control to mostly refrain from actually acting on her frustrations, but at the same time, she wasn't one to mince words. When something bothered her, she dealt with it. Not with her fists, mercifully enough, but at least with her words. Diplomatically, if necessary, but tactfully and succinctly. That directness, that boldness of hers, was something Lincoln had always admired about his sister. Even before she'd gotten her powers, Lori had never been one to stand idly by when something seemed wrong. He'd always...loved, that, about his big sister.

This strangely aggressive passivity was alien, coming from her. She seemed frustrated, constantly on the verge of acting upon those feelings, but...not actually doing so. It was strange to see his sister seemingly so powerless in the face of...whatever this was. Lincoln didn't know exactly what was bothering his sister, but he knew he didn't like it. Trusting his instincts, he took a step towards the seething superheroine, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling his diminutive body against hers.

There was a brief moment of uncertainty where, after making contact, his sister flinched. Her shapely, powerful legs tensing, as if she was preparing to spring into action. Uncertain how to take this, Lincoln held his breath...and waited. Moments passed, and then, slowly, Lori leaned down and returned the gesture, pulling Lincoln into a secure, but gentle hug. Lincoln felt the tension leaving his sister's body, and allowed himself a sigh of relief.

"By the Goddess," Carol's voice cut through the comfortable haze effusing Lincoln's being. "You two are adorable."

Had these words come from anyone else, Lincoln would have felt chagrined, but Carol's voice carried no mockery. And glancing over at the amazon, Lincoln saw not a hint of scorn or derision in her demeanor. Rather, she seemed bemused, but genuinely touched by the unscheduled display of sibling affection. Even so, Lincoln's kneejerk inclination was to pull away regardless, now feeling like he'd forced this upon his sister right in front of her friend and co-worker, which most people wouldn't consider to be a very tenable position. However, Lori showed no sign of pulling away, so neither did Lincoln. He wasn't certain exactly what he was providing his sister in this moment, but he wasn't going to stop until she'd gotten exactly what she needed.

Finally, Lori released Lincoln. She spared him a grateful smile, taking one hand and tracing it down his cheek, before removing herself from his person entirely. Lincoln resisted the surprisingly powerful urge to chase after her, to reinitiate contact, as Lori drew herself up to her full height once more, and turned her attention back to Carol.

"You're going to take care of him, right?" She asked, her voice much more subdued than it had been previously.

"Of course," Carol clenched one fist and held it against her heart. "Lincoln is under my aegis, and no harm shall befall him. May my body break before my word is broken."

The room fell silent. Lincoln looked to Lori and she covertly shrugged back at him, seeming as uncertain how to respond to that proclamation as he was. Lincoln gestured with his hands, coaxing Lori to speak anyway.

"Is...that some kind of Amazon...thing?" Lori ventured.

"More or less," Carol lowered her arm and relaxed her posture, a faint tinge of read coloring her cheeks. "The real thing is a lot longer, and there's some stuff about building a fortress from the spines of my charge's enemies and watering the fields with their blood. But that's the gist of it, basically."

"I...see," Lori nodded slowly, before reaching down and gently patting Lincoln on the back. "Alright lil' bro, you heard her. Go have fun. But not too much fun!" She quickly added as Lincoln started towards Carol. Glancing back at Lori, he saw the older girl was smiling as she said it, mostly. He pulled back, just a bit, and gave his sister a quick side hug.

"Later, Lori!" He called out as he jogged towards the door. Carol stepped aside to let him through, then followed in his wake as they left the relative safety of the Loud House, and set out into the world outside.

Lori watched as her little brother ran off with her best friend, a bit of the tension she'd been feeling all morning creeping back into her heart. Before they got too far, however, Carol turned back and shot her a reassuring smile, and Lori found herself feeling a little better. Finally, she closed the front door and locked it, resigning herself to the knowledge that at this point, all she could do was trust Carol. Which she absolutely did. Mostly.

As she was ruminating, Lori's ear perked up, the sound of air displacing, flesh scraping against wood filling her senses. She took a step back, pivoted to the side, and reached out with one hand, snatching at the oncoming threat. To her surprise, she was holding...a leg?

"Sup, Lori," said Lynn, seemingly unphased by Lori effortlessly holding her aloft. The younger girl's lower body was frozen into a textbook jump kick pose, while her attention was otherwise focused on the oversized free weight she continued to pump with one arm, even suspended as she was in the air.

"Lynn!" Lori groaned in exasperation. "Mom said to stop using the banister to surprise attack people!"

"She said to stop using it to surprise attack Lincoln," Lynn corrected her. "You can take it. And I'm so close to perfecting my Freeform Living Room Styled Martial Arts, I figured you'd be happy to help."

Instead of responding, Lori simply jerked her arm upward, sending Lynn hurtling towards the ceiling. As she'd expected, the martial artist tucked herself into a ball, kicked off the ceiling, and landed lightly on her feet in a stunning display of acrobatics. At no point, during any of this, did her workout falter even flightly.

"Fine, whatever," Lynn grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Hey, speaking of Linc, where's he at? I know he's not in any shape to train yet, but I wanted to run some idea by him for our training regimen."

"You literally just missed him," Lori replied, jerking her thumb towards the door. "He's spending the day with Carol."

Lori flinched as a sharp, metallic screech filled the room. A moment later, Lynn's weight crashed to the ground in two, neatly bisected pieces.

"Carol...Pingrey?" Lynn hissed, as a dull, red aura ignited around her body. "You gave him to Carol Pingrey!?"

Lori moved, propelling herself backward at subsonic speed, and stretched her arms out. An instant later, she was bear hugging a very irate Lynn Loud.

"Let me go!" Lynn roared, squirming frantically as she tried to escape Lori's grasp.

"Let it go, Lynn!"

"No!" Lynn snapped back, only redoubling her efforts. "It was supposed to be my turn! I was supposed to be next!"