The Loud House - Wild Card

Chapter 11 - Revelations

Lucy Loud stepped off her flight and made her way to the exit gate of the Royal Woods airport, walking at a brisk pace. She had received an email from Clyde that Haiku had collapsed suddenly and had to be rushed to the hospital. From what he said in the email, the situation was grim. She prayed to the spirits that her friend would recover, and at the very least, she wouldn't be too late to be with her in her final moments.

Being back in Royal Woods was bittersweet. In truth, she had missed her hometown. Budapest was a fascinating place to live, and her tour of Europe has been both enlightening and exciting, but her heart still longed for home every now and again. But at the same time, being here brought back such painful memories that it was difficult for her to stomach the strong emotions that she was feeling.

She reached up and clutched a small locket that dangled around her neck. Inside the locket was her most prized possession, the last photo of her and her brother together while he was here on the earth, before his untimely passing. She missed her brother terribly, and thought about him almost on a daily basis. He was the only person who truly understood her, who had always accepted her for who she was. Though her sisters loved her as well, they all harbored a hope that they could mold her into a new, happier version of herself, just as they tried to when she tried to impress her friend Rocky. But not Lincoln. He never wanted her to change. He was always happy to accept her and encourage her to be the best person she could be, as she was. Whenever she felt the darkness closing in around her, to the point that it was unbearable, she would look at the picture in this locket, and this little ray of sunshine was enough to get her through the day.

She stepped out of the gate, ready to find a payphone so she could call a cab. However, she noticed that there was a man in a suit that was holding a sign with her name on it. Curious, she stepped towards him. "Lucy Loud?" He asked.

"Yes," said Lucy slowly.

"Excellent," the man said. "I was hired by one Clyde McBride to take you to your destination. If you'll just follow me."

Lucy was a little confused, but didn't think too much of it. Since Haiku was in the hospital, it's likely he didn't want to leave her side, and hired someone to come pick her up. Still, he felt it was a little strange that he didn't ask one of his dads to do it, instead opting to pay for a total stranger to pick her up. The man grabbed her bags and they made their way to the parking lot, where a black Cadillac XTS was waiting for them. The man placed her baggage in the trunk and opened the door for her, where she noticed someone else was waiting in the seat next to her. He was wearing a balck suit like the man who had picked her up, and seemed professional, but something about him made her uneasy. As he looked up at her, she noticed that one of his eyes had a gray iris, with a large scar descending from his forehead, through the eye, and down to his cheek.

"Hello, Ms. Loud," said the man. "We've been expecting you."

Before Lucy had a chance to respond, she felt strong hands grab her from behind, and a wet rag was placed to her face. She gagged slightly before the world around her began to go black. Her body went limp, and she could vaguely make out the sounds of the men speaking to each other before she fell into unconsciousness.

Detective Peters made his way down the hallway of the police precinct. Wild Card was waiting for him in interrogation room 5. He had left him there to stew for over an hour while he ran checks in an attempt to identify the man behind the mask. So far, all his attempts were in vain. When they tried to get imprints of his fingerprints, they noticed that the man didn't seem to have any that were identifiable. Upon further inspection, he noticed that his hands had suffered severe burns to the point where his fingerprints were no longer there. This made searching through the criminal database difficult, as he had no other identifiable characteristics. His face was severely scarred and burned, leaving facial-recognition software useless, his suit was tailored and had no brand labeling, and when pressed about his real identity, he either avoided the question, told a bad joke, or ignored them outright.