Latavia paces through the kitchen, coat drawn over her shoulders. 

After Reginald's 'funeral' none of the siblings bothered one another. Luther hadn't come down from his room at all. Vanya had left. The remaining five left each other alone and did their own thing. Via decided she'd overstayed her welcome.

She was glad to an extent to see her family. It was nice to see how everyone turned out, but Latavia doesn't think they're meant to truly be present in one another's lives. She'll leave the house and she doubts she'll see any of them until Pogo dies—if there's anyone to plan a real funeral. No one will text or call. They'll go back to being strangers until time proves it time for them to reunite once more.

Luther will go back to the moon. Diego will go back to proving himself with all he has. Allison will go back to her lie of a life. Klaus will go back to drugs. Five will go back to trying to fix himself. Vanya will go back to hiding. Via will go back to ignoring her past life.

In some messed up way, Latavia doesn't mind it. She's eerily okay not seeing any of the Hargreeves for another decade. It's better that way.

She hadn't packed anything, knowing she wouldn't be staying longer than the night. Latavia merely just has to say a quick goodbye and she can be free.

"Where's Vanya?" Allison's voice rings as Latavia steps into the kitchen to say goodbye to whomever was there. Klaus sits with their feet draped on top of the wood, holding a guitar. Five is crouched over looking for something. Allison is in a sleek black dress—she doesn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

"Oh, she's gone." Klaus answers.

"Why am I not surprised I didn't get a goodbye?" Via dryly comments, coming up beside Klaus. 

Five steps forward, holding an empty container for coffee. "That's unfortunate."

"Yeah," Allison agrees, before realizing her brother wasn't talking about Number Seven.

"An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee." 

Allison reminds, "Dad hated coffee."

"Well, he hated children, too, and he had plenty of us." Klaus rings with a shaky laugh, cradling the guitar—Via doesn't want to know where he found it or why he even has it. The boy stops laughing when he realizes no one else is. 

Latavia realizes helping Five could be her way out of the house without sounding rude. So, she offers out, "Five I work at a doughnut shop. I can take you there." She trails off, "I was already planning on getting out of here, anyway."

"Just give me the address and I'll go by myself." Five replies. Via holds back her sigh and moves to grab a sticky note to write down the address of Griddy's. 

It seems to click in Klaus' mind that his sister was leaving and they quickly sit up straighter. He was on good terms with her now. He could ask. "Where are you going, sissy?" 

"My apartment." Latavia dryly replies, pacing over to Five. She has the sticky note in between two fingers and the boy takes it without a word. "I have work tomorrow. I have a life to get back too." 

 "I'm taking the car." Five barely glances at his sister's handwriting. 

Klaus tilts his head. "And where are you going, Little Five?"

"To get a decent cup of coffee." Number Five deadpans. He narrows in on Klaus. "You're staying with Via." 

Latavia feels her eye twitch at the thought of Klaus following her home. As much as she loved her brother, they were just getting back on good terms. She couldn't deal with his bullshit. Wouldn't. 

She'd been living a decade without her siblings. She sure as hell didn't need them now. 

Allison crosses her arms, looking at Five with raised brows. "Can you even drive?"

"I know how to do everything." Number Five states before blinking away. 

"And he's gone," Latavia murmurs. 

Number Three shakes her head bemusedly. Number Four stands up out of their seat, walking towards the door for a moment before stopping. "I feel like we should try and stop him, but then again, I also just kinda wanna see what happens."

The engine comes to life. Latavia thinks he'll be fine.

"Alright," Number Two's voice pierces the air and the three siblings look back as Diego paces into the room, a duffel bag over his shoulder—yet still in his spandex. "I guess I'll see you in, what, ten years when Pogo dies?" 

Allison gives fake smile. "Not if you die first." 

"Yeah, love you too, sis." Diego comes up beside her. He grabs a marshmallow from the bag that Five had left out but doesn't eat it yet, instead looking at Allison to say, "Good luck on your next film. Hope it turns out better than your marriage, huh?" 

Allison walks out of the room, tongue toying with the inside of her cheek. 

Latavia's totally okay not seeing Diego for another ten years. He's pissed her off for ninety-nine percent of the day. She wishes Luther gave him brain damage so he could restart. Did he have to say every thought that came to his head?

"What does d-i-c-k spell?" Latavia whips around to look at Diego, an unimpressed look on her face.

"I'm gonna miss you the most, Via." Number Two remarks sarcastically, Via returning a tight lipped smile. "Have fun waitressing for the rest of your life." 

"Have fun getting out of that spandex." Latavia retorts. She ushers Klaus up with her hand and smiles amusedly, "Klaus, Diego said he'll take you." 

Diego stares at Via hard. Number Four immediately gets on their feet, robe gliding as he comes over to his brother. "Are—are we leaving?" 

"No, I'm leaving. Me by myself." Number Two paces off without looking back. "You're going with—"

Klaus doesn't let him finish before cheering, "Oh, fabulous! I'll get my things."

"Okay, yeah, this is my cue to leave. I work at Griddy's still, if you need to see me." Latavia isn't sure whether she wants her siblings to show, but she offers anyway. She'll probably talk with them or help them. Probably. "Love you—"

"No, sissy! You're coming with." Klaus grabs a hold of her arm, pulling her closer. Whimsically, they whisper, "I can't leave you with the love birds."

The lovebirds. Luther and Allison. Ever since they were children, there had been something between Number One and Number Three. It never went anywhere really due to the siblings separation. Called it shared trauma, a forced bond—there was always something. 

Via hasn't seen any behavior between them herself, but she doubts Klaus is wrong. 

She supposes Diego can drop her off at her apartment—he knew where it was and it wasn't terribly far. She'd rather be with the brother she can tolerate than Allison and Luther until an Uber gets her. 

Via opens her mouth, "I—"

"Perfect!" Klaus exclaims before rushing out of the room to grab their things. 

Diego mentally facepalms. Latavia doesn't care to apologize.

Number Five and Number Eight walk outside together in silence—Via could care less about saying goodbye to Allison and Luther. She can email Pogo tomorrow. Klaus comes scrambling out behind them as Diego gets in the car. 

"Hey! Diego." Number Four slides on his heels, Diego flinching at the sound. He lets out a sigh as Klaus begins to enter the vehicle. Latavia purses her lips and opens the back door to be halted by her brother. "You actually can't sit here, Via." 

Latavia furrows her brow as she drawls, "Why?"

"Because someone's already sitting here?" Klaus states, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh." 

Latavia blinks. She looks at her brother and the empty seat next to him. She decides not to argue and complies, moving to get in the passenger seat. She makes sure to set her feet directly on Diego's luggage.

"You know," Klaus leans forward, clenching a hand on their brother and sisters shoulders. Latavia has to hold back her sigh. "Every time I close my eyes, I see a diarrhetic hippo about to shit on my face. It's terrifying!"

Latavia doesn't know why she said yes to following Klaus. She truly doesn't. 

Diego's eye is on the verge of twitching in annoyance. "Terrific."

The engine rumbles to life. Klaus shuts his eyes tightly, shaking his head. "No, no." 

"Lean back."

Klaus does as he's asked. Diego backs up before speeding off. Latavia looks out the window as Hargreeves manor disappears into the night.

She hopes she never has to come back.

Latavia sits, wishing she were back at her apartment.

Twenty minutes ago, Diego had stopped the car at the docks and had gotten out to stand near the water. Latavia would be all for his main character moment if it wasn't for Klaus sitting directly behind her chatting her ear off.

He hadn't stopped since Diego started the drive. Via wishes he would.

"Starving, starving, starving." Klaus sings, swaying back and forth in the back of the car. For the past while, he's been talking. Not to anyone—anytime Latavia tried to open her mouth, he told her he wasn't speaking to her. Via deemed him higher than the moon and tried her best to ignore it, as weird as it was. "I am—" he drum rolls his hands against the back of Diego's seat, "—starving." 

Via sarcastically mutters, "I couldn't tell." 

Number Four leans to the side, opening the car door. He looks at the man standing alone at the water. "Yoo-hoo, Diego! I have to rush you through any kind of brooding moment you might be having but come on, man, we're starving!"

Latavia never said she was hungry. Why the fuck did he say we? 

"It's literally just you but okay." Number Eight can't help but reply.

Diego glances back at the car. Klaus tilts his head to the side and retreats back inside the vehicle, slamming the door close with a sharp exhale. 

"I'm craving.....eggs." Number Four clicks his tongue, "No! Wait, it's too late for eggs." 

"Klaus, I am a waitress." Via states, looking at him through the front view mirror. She doesn't want him at Griddy's but if he's so desperately hungry, she supposes that she can feed him. Agnes won't mind. "I can make you eggs—"

"I was not speaking to you, sissy—"

Latavia whips around to face him. "Then who are you speaking too?! I am the only person in this car!"  She doesn't mean to sound so annoyed but she is. 

"Shhh. I'm thinking." Klaus ignores her, causing Via to let out a frustrated sound. The Hargreeves boy ignores his sister, piping up again with, "Waffles, huh? You like waffles, right? Ah. Of course you do. Everyone likes waffles..."

"He's just really high," Via murmurs under her breath, leaning back in her seat and propping her feet up on the dashboard. She doesn't want to know what her brother is even on to be talking to himself so proactively. 

The radio sitting atop the hood of the car gives a static sound before a woman's voice sternly informs, "Gunshots reported on the 400 block of Milton Avenue, Griddy's Donuts." 

Latavia feels her face pale. Agnes.

Griddy's was never a spot of violence. It was a doughnut shop—people came in out to order a sweet treat and a coffee with their kids or with briefcases. A shooting seemed out of line in Via's head.

And without Latavia there to work nights, Agnes had to be the one working when it happened. Via could only hope her boss was okay. 

Diego returns to his car, clearly intrigued by what the woman had said on the radio. As he opens the door, Klaus is quick to open his mouth. "Diego, thank you for joining us, we have decided on, drum-roll—" they drum their hands on the back of his brothers seat. "—waffles." 

"I'm gonna drop you off at the bus-stop. Via, you can walk home from there, yeah?" Diego doesn't listen to his brother, merely glancing at his sister as he says her name. Latavia opens her mouth but he cuts her off, "I gotta get back to work."

The smile is wiped fresh of Klaus' face. "What, breaking bones and cracking skulls?" 

"Saving lives, baby."

If that's what he wants to call it. Latavia rolls her eyes and plops her feet back down onto Diego's shit, Number Two starting the engine.

"Well, I guess it's frozen waffles again." Number Four murmurs from the back. Diego moves the front view mirror to show his brother, brows furrowing when he sees the empty seat beside Klaus. He shifts his gaze to his sister, as if asking what was happening. Latavia just mouths 'I have no fucking clue' back at him. "Yeah, I could do egg and bacon, but I'm trying to cut down on my pig products." 

Klaus continues to talk to himself the entire drive to the bus stop. Latavia sits in silence, looking out the window. Diego doesn't speak. It's not odd for the siblings like it should be—they haven't spoken to each other in a decade before today. Silence was normal.

The bus stop isn't a far drive from where Diego had parked the car, just more into the city. Diego halts the car in front of the small sheltered bench. Someone is sleeping on one side of the seat—Via's going to assume homeless or on drugs, probably both. Cars honk and pass by. It seems like a reasonable spot to leave Klaus.

"Haul ass, Klaus." Diego mutters, sparing a glance at his brother. He's sure Number Four knows his way around the city well—he probably traveled all over to find baggies of coke or other crushed up substances, dealing in the shadiest corners and alleys. He could find his way home from here.

"See you never, Number Two." Klaus teases, sliding to open their door. A brush of cold night air enters the vehicle as he does so. Latavia doesn't shift in her seat. "Have fun breaking bones."

Diego doesn't react to his brother's words, instead glancing at his sister, who had yet to even unbuckle her seat belt. "Via, you too. I have work to do." 

Latavia doesn't shift. "I'm coming with." 

"Uh, no, you're not." Diego crosses, reaching to unbuckle her seatbelt for her. He had work to do and, by wasting time arguing with her, he was losing valuable time—real cops would be there by the time he did at this rate. "I have shit I need to do—ow!"

Latavia slaps his hand away from her buckle, "I work at Griddy's. I want to make sure my boss is alright." 

"You can make sure your boss is okay tomorrow. I have shit I need to do. Alone." Diego stares at his sister hard, wanting to get his point across.  Via wants to roll her eyes at his whole 'lone wolf' attitude. "Latavia, haul ass. Now."

Via feels her eye twitch at her full name but she just crosses her arms. "I am coming with you."

Diego clenches the wheel. "Fine." 

"Thank you." Latavia says, though her words hold no gratitude whatsoever. She looks out her window to Klaus, who's standing on the sidewalk. Whether he's waiting or thinking, she doesn't know. "Klaus, I'm staying with skull breaker."

Number Four drawls, "Have fun."

"Do not crash in my apartment, please." 

Klaus holds up two fingers, crossing them together. "No promises, sissy." 

Via rolls her eyes and sits back in the seat. Diego takes this as his cue to start driving, and hits the gas. Klaus disappears into the distance—Via isn't sure when she's going to see him again. Would she be rude to say she isn't sure she wants too for a while? Klaus had problems, ones that Latavia didn't want to deal with. Just because they were good again didn't mean she wanted him crashing in her apartment every other night. She doesn't want to be his safe space, as selfish as it sounds.

She had a real life she needed to get back too. Klaus had never been a part of it. 

Griddy's isn't a far drive from the bus stop, and Diego makes his way there relatively fast. A few cop cars sat in parking spots, red and blue lights flashing to show that more were coming in. This doesn't excite Number Two in the slightest, and he's quick to park his car and hop out.

"Keep low." the Hargreeves boy murmurs as Latavia follows him out of the car, shoving her hands into her pockets. They pass by authoritative figures of all kinds, Diego looking down at his shoes to avoid attention. "I'm not supposed to be here." 

"Yeah, well, this is my job. So I have a reason." Latavia shrugs, pacing in front of him to the front doors. 

She steps inside and her heart immediately skips a beat at the state of the doughnut shop. She had just cleaned it this morning, yet chairs are thrown all over and sugar containers and different items sitting upon tables have been knocked over and spilled. The lights above struggle to stay on, flickering madly. Different men sit hunched over on tables or limp on the floor and Latavia doesn't even want to look at their wounds. There are a thousand bullet holes piercing the wall.

"Via?"

Latavia looks back to see her boss sitting in a booth, lips trembling. Agnes looks even frailer amidst all the violence surrounding her, her bright pink uniform looking horribly wrong in the dark atmosphere of the shop.

Number Eight scurries towards her boss, "Agnes. I heard what happened and had to come check on you—are you okay?" Not like she'd use her powers if Agnes wasn't. 

"Oh, I'm okay." Agnes reassures, though she doesn't seem as upbeat as normal. Her soft motherly smile is wiped away. She was clearly shaken. "How did your little family gathering go?"

Latavia doesn't really want to speak about today, especially within a crime scene. "We don't have to talk about me right now—"

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Both women look to the side as Diego approaches, cautious yet determined. He sits himself down in front of Agnes without asking. "Detective Hargreeves—" 

Diego got kicked out of the police academy. That's a lie. 

Agnes perks up, "Hargreeves?" 

"He's my brother." Via wishes she didn't have to say that. Rarely had she spoken of her seven siblings to Agnes—everyone already knew who they were. Via doesn't want to tarnish the public's view of their favorite superhero family. 

"Would you mind telling me what exactly happening here?" Diego is quick to begin questioning. Latavia doesn't bother asking why—what he's going to do with the information is beyond her. She's also curious as to what had went down.

"I didn't exactly see anything happen." Agnes begins quietly, recalling the event as it went down. "It was a slow night. My last two customers were this older guy who worked for Ishmael's Tow Truck service and....and his kid."

Latavia totally forgot that she sent Five here earlier that night. But she had and then there was a sudden shooting. She wants the two to be completely unrelated, but something tells her that Five brought chaos with him wherever he went. 

"The man had an....an éclair. And the kid had a black coffee, which I thought was odd. I mean, he was a little boy in a school uniform." 

Diego and Latavia share a look. That kid was totally Five. 

"I gave them their order and I went into the back room, just to get some more change. But then I heard his truck start up and they drove away. They were gone." 

While Via has no clue who this older man was, she doubts Five would just drive off with him. Number Five worked by himself. All the Hargreeves did, really. They were a bunch of lone wolves forced to be in a pack.

"The shots happened after that. I hid under the desk in my office, waiting it out." Agnes explains, voice growing more shaky.  "When it ended—by the time I got back in here—everyone was....was, you know...." She struggles to say the word dead. 

Diego intently nods. He stands up. "That's all I need to hear."

"That's horrible, Agnes. I'm sorry." Latavia offers little solace, reaching out to pat the older woman's hand. "I'll be back at work tomorrow. I'll even take some more of your shifts, if that makes you feel better." 

Agnes manages a sad smile. "You're a sweetheart."

More cops start to enter the shop, and Diego paces off towards the Employee Only! door. He wasn't lying when he said he wasn't supposed to be here—Latavia heard his lie about being a detective. He wasn't wanting to be scene by any actual authority.

Via offers her boss a final sympathetic smile before hurrying off after Number Two, trying not to look at the dead bodies or bullet holes. 

She makes it up to her brother and asks, "So, what exactly are you planning on doing with what Agnes told you? Given you have no correlation with any authority whatsoever." 

Diego pushes the door open, "I was in the police academy." 

"And now you're a vigilante. Cute." Via muses, following after him out the back door. "Well, we both heard what she said and I doubt any kid other than Five is ordering—"

"Shit." 

Latavia closes her mouth and looks forward to see a woman standing in front of them. She has a scowl on her lips and a taser in her hand. 

Diego seems to know who she is, because he steps forward and raises his hands in defense, "Hang on, let me—"

The woman presses her taser to his chest and a jolt of electricity buzzes against his skin. A sound leaves the back of Diego's throat at the electrocution, and she steps away, letting Number Two drop down to his knees. He face plants limply on the pavement.

Latavia would have laughed if she wasn't technically illegally inside of a crime scene, too. This woman, in her slicked back ponytail and bulky jacket was clearly an authoritative woman of kinds. And, clearly, she wasn't dealing with anyone's bullshit. 

"Detective Eudora Patch." The woman—Eudora—doesn't have to show a badge for Latavia to believe her. "I'd recommend following me unless you want to end up like him." 

"Via Hargreeves." Latavia introduces herself, sparing a glance down at her brother on the pavement. She'd rather not. "And I will gladly follow you."

"Good." Eudora huffs, before pulling out a pair of cuffs. "Now put your hands being your back."

Latavia wants to tell the woman that she'd listen without needing to be cuffed, but she had been in a crime scene illegally. She does as she's asked and doesn't bite as Eudora cuffs the metal around her wrists, securing her hands there. The metal is cool against her pale skin. 

Eudora then crouches down and, with ease, she whips out a pair of handcuffs and cuffs Diego's hands, too. She barely gives him a moment to recover before hauling his ass up off the ground.  Latavia has to give her credit for being able to put Diego in line like that.

Looping one arm around each Hargreeves sibling, Eudora starts pacing forward. Latavia doesn't drag her feet but she's embarrassed. Was she really about to be in custody? Red and blue light reflect on the three faces as they pass by cruisers and officers.

"You don't talk to my witnesses, understand?" Eudora pays little attention to the girl and instead speaks to Diego, voice filled with annoyance. "And you sure as hell don't bring other people and involve them too."

"For starters, it's my sister. I'm not just bringing people in, Eudora—"

"Don't call me that!"

"Right, Detective Patch." the Hargreeves takes the reminder with little consideration, clearly finding no reason for the formalities. He knew Eudora. "What, are we gonna keep things professional?"

Diego nods at a cop who calls out his name. Clearly, the boy was well known in the police department, though Via doesn't know if that's because of his former place within the academy or because of how many times he's been found doing this. 

"I don't know if we ever agreed on much." Eudora halts in her steps, pushing Latavia over so she stood shoulder to shoulder with her brother. She begins to pat down Number Two, ignoring Number Eight.

Diego counters, "We agreed on some things."

"Did we really, though?" Eudora retorts with a sarcastic smile. She pats down his pockets before pulling out the walkie that had told him about the shooting at Griddy's. "I'm confiscating this."

"Military surplus, practically giving them away." Diego responds, casually. 

Eudora pulls out another item. "And this."

"No skin, super cheap, bought it on eBay." 

Diego stares at Eudora hard as she searches his jacket. Eudora stares right back.

 Latavia rocks on her heels, somehow feeling like she's interrupting something despite this being a authoritative pat down. 

The detective pulls out Diego's black mask before tucking it back in his jacket. "That you can keep."

Diego smirks. "You used to like that." 

Latavia is definitely third wheeling something. She glances between the two detectives, sensing that there was clearly something between them in the past—something more than just being co-workers or partners. 

"Not anymore." Eudora rings as she grabs hold of both Hargreeves again, pacing off towards the cop cruisers. 

"By the way, this thing might look like a botched robbery, but my gut's telling me something else is going on here." Diego explains as Patch leads them under police 'do not cross' tape. Patch doesn't answer. "Look, the waitress, she mentioned that Ishmael's Tow Truck guy. Maybe they saw something."

Eudora looks him in the eyes sternly, "You're not police, Diego. Remember?"

Diego turns around so he can be un-cuffed. A glimpse of the future he almost had passes through his head. "Yeah. I know."

"Do you?" Eudora huffs, annoyed. She shoves him down into the back of the cruiser and turns Latavia around to take the cuffs from her wrists, too. Via is shoved in right next to her brother. "Because you show up and act like you can be a part of this. And you can't. Not anymore." 

"I'm good at this." Diego moves so he's closer to the window, looking at the detective with softer eyes. He got kicked out, but he knew what he was doing. He looses the cockiness in his voice as she says, "You know I can help you."

"I know you give me agita." Eudora crosses, not letting his words get through to her. She knew Diego. He was good at what he did, but she couldn't work with him. "And I do not need—I do not want your help. Okay?" 

Eudora hits the top of the crusier and it starts to drive off. Diego looks away like a rejected puppy. 

Latavia sighs. So much for going home. 

mara's misc!

low-key didn't even realize it's been a month since i updated this book but i'm backkkk

these episodes go by SO SO SO slow but this chapter marks the end of episode one!! istg if i have forty chapters for one act i'll tweak but it might look like that because there's SO much to pack in when it comes to tua. 

i loved writing patch, even if she isn't lasting long. GOING to give latavia some more trauma when it comes to her.....

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 5!!