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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀʀᴛʏ ᴍᴄғʟʏ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ ᴏғ
ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ꒱　


❝ NUMBERS DON'T WIN A WAR ❞

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The good feelings didn't last as long as she would've liked them to. As they pulled up to Sissy's farm, Alexa's eyes widened at the snow-covered ground and giant storm cloud surrounding the barn. Not good.

"You think whatever's going on inside is causing the cold front?" Diego asked as they tumbled out of the car.

"Well, the correlation is high," Five said.

As they made their way to the barn, a woman burst out of the side door with her gun raised. Vanya started towards her worriedly. "Sissy!" 

"Get back!" the blonde woman ordered. "All of you just get the hell back!"

Alexa took a few quick, large steps until she was next to her sister with hands raised and ready to produce a shield if need be.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?"

"Carl," the woman whispered.

"What did he do to you?"

She shook her head hysterically. "He's-he's dead. Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, the same way you sent those policemen flyin'. What did you do to him—"

"No—"

"Vanya, what the hell did you do to my son!"

"We don't have time for this," Diego said, stepping forward.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sissy directed her gun towards him. "What do you want?"

"Look, Sissy, I found my family," Vanya explained. "These are my brothers and my sisters."

The gun lowered as she stared at them and Alexa raised her hand to give her a little wave.

"Were you lying to me this whole time?"

"Of course not," Vanya said breathlessly. "Look, I didn't know who I was but I do now and we are not the monsters they say we are. We did not kill the president, we are not terrorists. We're not here to hurt anyone."

"Then who are you?"

"The only one who can help Harlan," she answered simply.

☂☂☂

What they saw was definitely not what they were expecting. The boy, Harlan, was suspended in midair with a swirling vortex around him and he was shaking slightly from the velocity of the wind.

Alexa's skin prickled immediately and she fisted her hands, trying to ignore it. Of course her family was in danger.

"Harlan!" Vanya called to the boy over the wind. "I know you're really scared but I can help you. I need you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?"

There was no way the boy could hear her.

"Harlan?" Vanya called again once she was inside the swirling power.

Off on the other side of the barn, Klaus' attention got pulled away by a bright flash in the middle of the field. "Um, guys? Who're they?"

Everyone except Vanya made their way to the doors to see what he was seeing. "One's The Handler and the other's Diego's girlfriend," Five explained.

"Ex-girlfriend," the man insisted.

"You know what, it doesn't matter," Luther said. "They both look angry."

"Our brother kind of has that effect on people," Allison observed.

"Both of them do," Alexa put in, earning her a glare from Diego.

"I'm gonna find out what they want. You guys stay with Vanya and the kid," Five ordered them as he took a step forward.

The blonde reached out a hand and quickly grabbed his wrist, preventing him from going further. He turned, annoyed. "Alexa—"

"You promised," she reminded him fiercely. "And there's no way in hell that I'm letting you go see people who want you dead by yourself."

"I'm coming with you, too," Diego announced. "Come on."

Five opened his mouth to argue but decided against it and sighed. "Good choice," Alexa said easily. She fell into step with him, keeping her hand on his wrist— both for support and in case she needed to quickly share her power.

As they approached, The Handler sighed. "I love the smell of country air. Don't you, darling?"

Lila's expression darkened. "It makes me want to vomit."

"What do you want?" Five demanded.

"To watch you suffer," Lila seethed.

Diego met her gaze. "What about me?"

"You're not even worth my wrath," she replied carelessly.

"Easy," The Handler said. "We're here on official business."

"And what business is that?"

"As the head of The Commission, I've decided to eliminate the criminals responsible for the assassination of the former board of directors."

Alexa gave the woman a look of deep dislike. Despite her fancy clothes and old-fashioned veil covering her face she was just a conniving little witch.

"Yeah right," Diego said. "We didn't eliminate the board."

"Uh, Diego, that's not entirely accurate."

Their brother stared at the boy. "Is that what you did?"

The Handler laughed. "Oh, Five, you didn't tell them?"

"He told me," the blonde said unhelpfully.

"Only because you forced it out."

"You could've very well not said anything," she shot back.

"Oh, like you'd let that happen."

"Five!" Diego cut in. "What the hell did you do?"

"What I had to do to get my family home until somebody reneged on our deal."

"Somebody wouldn't have reneged if somebody could've met a simple deadline," The Handler sighed, "alas."

"You set me up to fail," Five insisted.

"You set yourself up to fail." Her gaze moved to the blonde and she smirked. "Kind of a running theme in your little life, isn't it?"

What? What did she have to do with anything? Next to her, Five stiffened slightly.

"Dude, I can't believe you killed the board of directors," Diego said, "you have no idea how messed up The Commission is right now."

"Messed up?" The Handler echoed as she switched her attention to the long-haired man. "Who's saying that?"

"Everybody. Christ, even the janitors think it's going to shit."

"That's not all he killed," Lila said, speaking up finally.

"What are you talking about?" Five sounded genuinely confused.

"Don't play dumb, you prepubescent piece of shit."

At the woman's aggressive tone, Alexa shifted slightly to push Five behind her. The boy let out an irritated scoff.

"Enough," The Handler said calmly as she placed her briefcase on the ground. "The point is, all of you are going to die today, hmm?"

"Oh, well, I don't like your chances," Diego mused. "Seven of us against two of you?"

"And it's not going to happen if I have anything to say about it," Alexa put in. A brief flash of blue appeared behind her.

"Alexa!"

"Shut up," she shot back and released his wrist. She reached for Diego's and clasped a hand around his. Another flash of blue appeared.

"You know, this protective instinct is very annoying," The Handler observed. "I just don't know how you put up with it. Ah, well, you're right you know, about the odds. I say we change that." She snapped her fingers.

Alexa's stomach dropped as hundreds upon hundreds of people suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

She turned to glare at her brother. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"

"What do we do now?"

"Well, we got two choices: either fight or die now or run and die later. Either way we're food for worms."

The blonde raised her hands. "Like I said, not if I can help it."

"You can't hold them all back," Diego protested as he eyed their rapidly multiplying opponents.

"Numbers don't win a war. You guys run."

"I wouldn't mind a few more minutes breathing air through these old wind bags," Five admitted. "Are you sure—"

"Yes," she snapped. "Now stop wasting time!"

The Handler sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with." 

Diego and Five turned and raced towards the house as the members of The Commission let out war cries. Alexa closed her eyes and spread out her hands. She put her palms flat by her sides and focused on the sudden prickles that raced across her skin.

Distantly, there was the frequency of her power moving farther and farther away as Diego and Five ran but she ignored it. Instead, she concentrated on the pull deep inside her stomach, the same place that had tugged when she was about to disappear into Five's portal.

Light blue emitted from her hands, surging on both sides like a wave as it ate up the grass and stretched higher and higher before it disappeared into the stormy blue expanse of sky. Thuds rattled against her wall as people crashed into it and the bullets vaporized against the blue as it grew steadily darker and more opaque.

Closer to the house, Luther, Klaus and Allison watched with wide eyes as Diego and Five ran towards them, the brilliant sheen of blue outlining their rapid approach, "she's holding them back," Luther said, almost awed. He'd seen his sister's domes and brief flashes but never something so entirely massive— and it was holding steady, too.

"Get to cover!" Five shouted as they neared, knowing that Alexa couldn't hold them off forever.

Luckily, everyone seemed to understand that there was no room for discussion as they scrambled for safety. 

☂☂☂

In the barn, the sudden collision of Vanya's and Harlan's power sent everyone flying. The boy tumbled to the lower level while Sissy hit a bail of hay and Vanya flew over another one.

Once the brunette recovered, she noticed the light filtering through the windows of the building had changed to a familiar, dark blue. Something was clearly very wrong.

"Sissy!" she called out frantically, worried for the woman she loved, "are you okay?"

"Yeah! But Harlan!"

"Go check on him!" she instructed.

"What are you gonna do?"

Vanya pushed herself upright against the hay bail and glanced out the window. "I'm gonna help my sister and end this thing!" 

☂☂☂

Alexa could feel her hold on the wall weakening at the constant barrage of bullets and she grit her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut. Now is no time for weakness, Number Eight! her father's voice barked in her ear, your siblings need you to protect them. Failure is unacceptable!

The blonde shook her head. Get out! she thought fiercely.

And then, everything was still.

Alexa opened her eyes tentatively, which widened at the sight of the felled agents. Turning, she saw her sister float gently down from the sky, her pale-white complexion returning to its normal color.

The blonde released her wall and her body threatened to collapse right there, but she ignored it and ran towards her sister. "Vanya!" she cried and once she was close enough, leapt into her arms. Vanya caught her and hugged her tightly. "You did it, Vannie," she breathed against her sister's familiar hold. "You saved us."

"Hey," the brunette said. "We saved us. Together." Then the familiar humming of Vanya's powers sounded and Alexa gave her sister a confused look. "It's not me."

A feeling of dread washed through her and they both turned to see Lila mimicking Vanya's power.

"Oh, shit."

"Go!" Vanya said, pushing the blonde towards the house. The white appeared in the center of her sister's chest again and she was already lifting off her feet. Alexa turned and ran, not willing to argue. She wasn't sure if she could contain Vanya's power anyway.

Alexa barely made it halfway when the shock wave of Lila's power sent her flying against the house, making her grunt as she landed on the porch. She forced herself to her feet and yanked the door open as Luther fell through the roof. Eyes wide, she ran over to Five who was by the window. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he reassured her. He brushed her gently away to check on Luther.

"I think I swallowed my tongue," he groaned.

"Luther, if you swallowed your tongue you wouldn't be talking you big moron." Five leaned down and helped him up. "Come on."

"What was that?" he asked.

"She must've redirected Vanya's energy wave."

Alexa turned away from the window and shook her head. "That was Vanya's energy wave."

"What do you mean?" Five asked.

She didn't answer as the familiar feeling of prickles raced over her skin. Her gaze jerked to the chimney where bricks were loosening, falling down—

"Luther look out!" the boy cried before he pushed his brother out of the way.

"No! Five!" Alexa called seconds later and she raced towards him. Her hands found purchase on his arm and she sent him stumbling in the same direction as Luther.

The bricks fell.