The Loud House - Wild Card

Chapter 17 - New Life

As for the Loud house, after ten grueling years of suffering, happiness finally began to return to the family. Because of Lisa's various patents and the money received from Luan's buyout of her company shares, the family experienced a financial windfall. With this liquidity, they were able to finance a new business venture for the family: a family restaurant, which they lovingly dubbed as "Lincoln's Table." It had seen moderate success after both the mayor and her new assistant mayor were seen eating lunch there. Luan was fitting into the assistant mayor role like a glove. Brooks, the previous assistant mayor, was actually found to be on Bianchi's payroll, responsible for keeping his criminal activities from ever being tied to him. But now with his boss behind bars, he was facing criminal conspiracy and fraud charges of his own.

When it came to taking down Bianchi, Lisa had completely outdone herself. Because she was forced by Wild Card to hack into his records and obtain a papertrail to his criminal activities, she knew exactly where to look to find those records again. After "anonymously" providing it to Lynn, she was given the permission by the Chief Roxberry to be the one to collar him. It was an intense boost to her career, earning her a promotion to detective.

With Bianchi's arrest, his assets were seized and his business interests divested. The wayward children's home that once served as a recruitment center for his organization was purchased by Lisa and transformed into a boarding school, where she, Lori, and Luan served on the board of regents. They were hoping to turn around its reputation and give these poor children the second chances they deserved. They were determined to do everything in their power to prevent what happened to Lincoln from happening again with any of these kids.

As for Lincoln, his recovery was slow, but steady. Having your therapist also be your best friend helped, but he still suffered from night terrors. Several nights he had woken up screaming in a panic, prompting the family to come rushing to his aid. It took Lynn Sr., Lana, Lynn, and Lisa all of their strength to restrain him. The nanomachines in his blood system had caused him to grow a lot stronger in a short amount of time. Already he was able to lift double his body weight, and he was getting stronger every day. Several times he had accidentally broken a glass in his hand by squeezing it too hard, but he barely felt any pain, even when it had sliced his hand open. The wound didn't even require stitches, and it healed completely overnight. Lisa surmised that the nanomachines had amplified his healing ability as well, and took a vial of his blood for analysis. Lynn had noticed that his physical appearance began to change as well. He looked stronger, larger and more muscular than a boy his age should. His white hair had returned, but it was no longer combed and parted neatly as he used to do it before, simply leaving it disheveled and messy.

The poor boy was a shell of his former self. He rarely smiled anymore, and didn't like to converse with the family much, choosing to spend his time in the isolation of his room. Lynn and Lucy had decided to move back into the Loud House for the foreseeable future so they could be close to him during his recovery. Lynn was especially concerned about her brother, often checking on him several times a night, and when she wasn't at work, she was usually seen around the house, keeping a close watch on her brother.

The only one Lincoln was able to truly relax around was Lily. She was only a baby at the time the incident happened, so she was hardly to blame for it. Additionally, he found a kindred spirit in her, as she had saved and read all of his comics and developed a love for pop and nerd culture, just as he had. Considering they were now roughly the same age (with Lily being slightly older than him, having turned twelve before he did), they had become very close. She had introduced him to her group of friends at Royal Woods Junior High, all of whom were surprised that she had a brother they never knew about. Luckily, they all bought their cover story and left it at that.

Lynn actually found herself slightly envious of how easily Lily and Lincoln got along, but she could understand it. Lily and Lincoln had shared interests, whereas when Lynn and Lincoln got older, their interests diverged to the point where they practically had nothing in common. Still, she didn't let this deter her, and she continued to watch over her little brother at a distance, giving him the space he needed, but still letting him know that she was there for him.