Word count: 3597

"𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆, Queen Elizabeth, is that science . . . sucks." 

Klaus blew a (very wet) raspberry as he threw his science textbook towards the bed behind him. The book bounced off of the mattress and landed on the ground with a loud thud, causing the three of them to wince. 

"Whoops." He shrugged. "Anyway, we shouldn't do it. Case closed. Does anyone want to go outside and slash Dad's tires for fun?"

"Klaus, could you please shut up for one second? I want to study, and you're talking way too freakin' much!" Ben said with exasperation. He suddenly realized what he had said, raising his hand to his mouth as he stared at Klaus with a horrified expression, and whispered, "Look what you've made me say."

"Oh, come on, boys. Studying isn't all that bad," Elizabeth chuckled as she pulled her book closer to her. She flipped to the proper page as she raised her eyebrows. "Science is cool! It's fun to study science!"

"Easy for you to say, you already know everything," Klaus pointed out with a pout before he stuck his tongue out at her.

"I mean, I have to read it all first," Elizabeth mumbled to herself before shaking her head. "Anyway, Klaus, grab your broken book and turn it to page two hundred and seventy-seven."

"It's not broken," Klaus protested as he picked up the worn book from the ground. He took a good look at the spine that was nearly unattached and the hundreds of stained pages that had tears at the edges. "Just . . . really used. And, God, we're almost in the three hundreds?"

"I mean, it's already August," Elizabeth replied with a shrug. "So, let's start. This chapter begins with the evolution of—"

"I mean . . . ," Klaus said as he raised his eyebrows, "do we need to know about evolution? We're here! We've evolved! Great! Done!"

"Klaus, just let her talk!" Ben groaned, leaning over and hitting the other boy on the arm. "We have a test at the end of the week!"

"Exactly! We have the whole week!" Klaus argued back. "That means we can relax and chill right now, and just stress over it the night before!"

"That's what we did last time, and you got a forty-six percent!" 

"Well, you shouldn't have—"

"Boys, just shut up and listen!" Elizabeth cut in, sending Klaus a glare that made him immediately shut his mouth. "So, as I was saying before, the chapter begins with the evolution of—"

Suddenly, the blare of the alarm went off, the red light visible through the cracks of Klaus's door—there was an emergency.

She shut her book with a groan. "Dammit."

"Hell yes! No biology!" Klaus cheered as he jumped to his feet and threw the textbook onto his bed—successfully this time.

"We're continuing this afterwards," Elizabeth warned, receiving a playful shake of the head from the boy and a nod from Ben.

She then sprinted out of the room, nearly knocking into Vanya as she headed towards the third floor.

"Ah!" Elizabeth gave a small gasp as she grabbed onto Vanya's arms and steadied her. "Sorry! I was just—are you okay?"

"I'm all good," Vanya reassured her with a smile. "Good luck!"

"Thanks! I'll be at your door right after," Elizabeth promised with a grin before picking her speed back up and continuing her journey.

Once she was in her room, she closed the door, too rushed to remember to lock it. She threw open her closet doors and grabbed the black suit that stood out against the normal school uniforms, and quickly slipped into it.

She buckled the belt and velcroed the collar, but then furrowed her eyebrows as she couldn't find her mask. She rifled through the closet drawers, looking between every uniform and pyjama to find it.

"Still not ready?" 

She straightened up, a scowl on her face as she (for the millionth time) told Five, who was leaning against her door frame, "You need to knock. I could've been in the middle of changing."

"Yeah, I know." He shrugged nonchalantly before entering and closing the door behind him. "What are you looking for? Why aren't you wearing your mask?" A look of realization then dawned on his face as he connected the two statements together. "Oh."

"Mhm," she sighed as she returned to her search. "I swear I saw it in here this morning."

"I can help you look for it." Five began to search through her nightstand, his eyebrows soon knitting tightly together.

She paused for a moment and smiled. "Thanks."

Only a few minutes later did the door swing open, and Grace peeked her head in. She swivelled her head around, and her eyes landed on the two that were now searching under the bed. "Children? Are you two ready?"

"Mom!" Elizabeth got to her feet and rushed up to her, slightly relieved. "Do you know where my mask is?"

"Ah, yes!" A smile spread onto Grace's face as she pulled out the familiar domino mask from her apron's pocket. She handed it to Elizabeth as she explained, "It was a little dirty, I thought I'd clean it."

"Thanks, Mom!" Elizabeth planted a kiss on her cheek before slapping the mask on and gesturing for Five to follow her to the main foyer.

Once everyone had arrived, Reginald informed Elizabeth, "There is a hostage situation at the public warehouse on 534 West, 58th Street."

"Got it." She nodded before pushing her hands out and creating a large portal.

The seven of them jumped through to land in a large, cold warehouse, that was filled with rows upon rows of packages, and man-lifts situated all over. There was no sign of life from where they were, but they were sure that this was the place.

"Shit," Luther breathed out, craning his neck to see if he could find either the hostages or kidnappers. "Okay, Allison, you're with me. Klaus, with Ben. Elizabeth, you're with Five. Diego, you're alone this time, but yell if you're in danger. Remember: Our priority is saving the hostages."

"No shit, Sherlock," Diego muttered before the group dispersed.

Elizabeth nudged Five and the two of them sprinted off towards the right, heading down the first aisle they found. 

The two of them rounded the corner as they got to the end and went to the next row, and did this for the next several rows. They heard a couple of shouts as they did so, leading them to assume that a few of their fellow siblings had found some of the criminals.

In the fifth row, they heard a clattering noise come from behind them, and they immediately whipped around. 

Standing there, was a man who seemed about a little over six feet tall, wearing a leather jacket and, of course, a black ski mask (couldn't criminals be more creative with their outfits?). He had a long, metal rod in his hand, which had caused the clattering noise when he had grabbed it from the shelf.

"Oh, so it's gonna be like that?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows as she eyed the rod. She stuck her hand out and willed for her energy to take the form of a rod of similar size. "Let's dance, big boy."

The man glanced down nervously at the glowing gold rod in her hand but charged forward nonetheless. He swung his metal rod at her, which she deflected with her own and then kicked him backwards.

This didn't stop him, however, and he continued towards her. He dodged a jab that she made with her weapon and punched her square in the jaw before she used the side of her rod to push him back.

Elizabeth rubbed her jaw, trying to get rid of any lingering pain, and she glanced at Five when he asked her: 

"You good?"

"Fine," she reassured him.

"Cool." Five grinned before spatial-jumping behind the man and kicking him to his knees. 

He jumped out of the way just as Elizabeth sent a concussive blast toward the man. 

The golden energy sent him flying back, forcing him to hit his head on the metal racks. Dazed, he tried to get up but was unable to.

She absorbed the energy of the rod to get rid of it before creating a thin rope with the energy. She bound his wrists before tying them to the metal rack, making sure that he wouldn't be able to escape even if he had the strength to.

"Hey, stupid man." Five crouched down so that he was at eye-level with the moaning criminal as he inquired, "Where are your stupid friends?"

"Ugh," the man groaned.

Five leaned in closer, his eyes threatening as he stared at him. "I said, where are your stupid friends?"

It seemed as though the criminal was processing his words very slowly as he blinked and stared blankly. Finally, he conceded, "Section . . . thirty-four."

The two of them snuck their way to the thirty-fourth section of the warehouse, uninterrupted. Peeking over one of the aisles, they saw six hostages bound and gagged, all of them watching their kidnappers with wide eyes.

Having been alerted by the Umbrella Academy's entrance, there were five men circling the hostages, large guns in hand as they watched for any disruptions.

"Let's go." Five nodded, clearly about to charge toward the men as he rolled his shoulders back and readied his stance.

"No!" she whispered, grabbing Five's arm and pulling him towards her. "Don't be idiotic, there are five of them! They might shoot the hostages!"

"What do we do then?" he questioned quietly with furrowed eyebrows, his eyes glued to the men.

"Uh . . ." Elizabeth thought quickly and soon came up with a plan.

She turned around and shot a blast towards the cardboard boxes that sat at the far end of the row. They crashed to the floor, immediately drawing the men's attention as they craned their necks to see what had happened.

Four of the men left the group and headed her way, their eyes narrowed and their fingers tightly gripping the trigger of their guns.

Elizabeth grabbed Five's hand and raced to the back of the aisle, and they hid behind a pile of boxes as they caught their breaths. 

Elizabeth felt her heart rate pick up; there was no way they were going to take on all four at once.

Two of the men went to the right while the other two went left, leaving the pair little time to make a decision. 

Five and Elizabeth looked towards each other, their foreheads creased as they tried to figure out what to do. 

"Split up?" Elizabeth suggested with a whisper, her head swivelling from left to right.

Five frowned, and he shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"It'll be fine," she quickly reassured him. "I'll go left."

Conceding with a small sigh, Five dashed off towards the right.

Elizabeth turned invisible and quietly headed towards the left, and it took only a few moments for her eyes to catch sight of one of the men.

He crept along the edge of the row, probably thinking that he was being sneaky and going unnoticed. Boy, was he wrong.

Elizabeth turned herself visible again and kicked the gun out of his hand. While it was still flying through the air, she sent an explosive blast towards it, and gunpowder and ashes rained down onto the floor.

The man turned to her with wide eyes and slowly begin backing up, his hands raised in defence.

A smirk grew on her face. She wasn't going to just take the easy route and blast him, oh no. She wanted to put a couple of bruises on his stupid face first.

Elizabeth went towards him, immediately landing a good punch on his masked face. 

The man grunted as he began to fight back, kicking in her direction but missing every time. 

She side-kicked him into the row of cardboard boxes, knocking a few of them off of the shelf. He slumped to the ground, unconscious after hitting the back of his head on the metal. 

Doing the same as she did with the last man, Elizabeth created a rope and tied him up with it. As she did that, she heard one of the other men scream in terror while Klaus's laugh rang out. She assumed that Ben had—ah—unleashed the beast, and Klaus was enjoying the scene as it played out.

With a small giggle, she headed back to the middle of the warehouse. There, the two men were on the ground, unconscious, while Five, Luther, and Allison freed the sobbing hostages.

Elizabeth rushed up to them and began helping out. Once they were all freed, Luther and Allison guided them towards the exit as Five came up to Elizabeth.

"Hey, you good?" he asked worriedly. "Did you get hurt?"

She sighed, rubbing the back of her head as she felt her tensed shoulders relax. "Ugh, I'm a bit tired. I don't know, maybe I used too much energy. Other than that, I'm fine," she reassured him. "You? And did you get both guys?"

"I'm all good. I got one guy, I think Ben and Klaus got the other," he comforted her with a smile. "And you better take a nap when we get home."

She gave him a thumbs up. "You got—"

Elizabeth suddenly paused, realization dawning on her. Four men had followed them. She fought one. Five and Ben fought two of the others.

There was still one left.

She shut her eyes. That was just perfect.

"Elle?" Five questioned, noticing her sudden halt in her sentence, his eyebrows knitting tightly together. "You okay?"

Elizabeth immediately sprinted in the direction that the man had originally gone to, ignoring Five as he called out to her.

She went through each aisle, her eyes searching every nook and cranny for the man dressed in black. 

She had gone through about fourteen aisles when she skidded to a halt, far too tired to continue. She rested her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath.

Her breath hitched in her throat when rushed footsteps approached from behind.

Elizabeth turned to see the last man rounding the corner, glancing over his shoulder as he ran. He came to a stop when he saw her, his already wide eyes widening further.

She blew him a small kiss and then sent a blast his way, immediately knocking him to the ground.

Then, a glimmer of silver flew towards her before she felt a sharp pain in her upper right stomach. She gasped in pain, clutching her hands over the area as she felt warm liquid soak through. Elizabeth looked down to see a knife protruding from her suit, one she instantly recognized.

Diego's favourite knife.

"Elizabeth?"

Diego sprinted towards her, catching her just as her knees gave out.

The pain was only increasing, blooming greatly throughout her stomach as if a million needles were stabbing her over and over. She tried to take deep breaths, but her lungs did a complete one-eighty, each breath shorter than the last.

"No, no, no, Elizabeth!" Diego began to sob as he dropped to his knees and cradled her close to his chest. His left hand cupped her right cheek, quivering against her skin as he used his thumb to sweep a few strands of hair away. "I'm sorry, I didn't—I didn't mm-mm-mean to!"

Elizabeth gazed up at his tear-filled face as she struggled to breathe. She swallowed before softly breathing out, "Di-Diego."

"No, please, Elizabeth, I didn't—" Diego cried as he took his mask off, his face soon screwing up. "Help! So-someone come help!"

The sound of footsteps grew as Allison jogged up to them. Her tone was at first exasperated as she sighed, "Diego, what are you screaming—" She stopped short as soon she saw what had happened, and exclaimed in horror, "Ellie!"

She dropped to her knees next to Elizabeth, her eyes wide in shock as she took a good look at the knife in her stomach and the blood that was staining the suit. Her hand gingerly came to Elizabeth's hip as she gawked at the injury, giving it reassuring pats in the hopes that that would make her feel better.

It didn't, but still, Elizabeth appreciated the effort.

Everything she heard was beginning to echo around her, and a sharp ringing soon sounded in the inner sections of her ear. This is only brought on a pounding headache, which most definitely did not make anything better in the least.

"No, no, no, please, no" —Diego's shaking hands clutched her tightly as his tears fell down onto her— "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, I'm-I-I'm sorry!"

"Ellie, it'll be okay, just hold on." Allison swallowed quickly. She got to her feet, cupping her hands around her mouth as she called out in a panic, "Guys! Come here! Now!"

Elizabeth heard the hastened footsteps of the rest of her siblings as they ran towards them. And then she heard the sound come to a stop.

"Allison, what's—" Luther paused, his eyes growing wide upon being set upon Elizabeth. "Shit, Elizabeth!"

"Elizabeth," Five breathed out as he dropped to his knees next to her and ripped his mask off, his eyes immediately becoming glossy as he stared at the knife. He took her mask off, his eyes searching hers frantically as the material crumpled in his hand. "No, no, Elle, don't—just stay with us."

"Take . . . ," Elizabeth groaned, her ears ringing louder than ever, ". . . knife . . . out."

"What? No!" Luther exclaimed, shaking his head furiously at the request as he grabbed the unconscious criminal and threw him out of the way. "You'll lose more blood!"

"Take the goddamn knife out!" she moaned, her nose scrunching as her headache grew worse.

"No" —Ben shook his head quickly— "you'll just die faster!"

"If you leave it in, and my-my self-healing kicks in . . . ," she spoke in between gasps of pain, "the wound wi-will heal with the knife in it."

Klaus's eyes widened. "We should take it out."

Luther murmured words of apology to her as he carefully took the knife out of her stomach, causing more blood to immediately gush out. Diego watched in horror as he did so, and Five rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he tensely watched. 

Luther pocketed the knife as Elizabeth groaned in pain, which only worried everyone further.

"Home . . . Mm . . . Mom . . ."

"How are we going to get home?" Allison questioned urgently, looking around at the group to see if anyone had any ideas. "She definitely can't make a portal now!"

"I–I don't know," Luther admitted, his bloodied hands trembling at his sides.

"Well, come up with something!" Five sprang to his feet and jabbed a finger into Luther's chest. "You're Number One, aren't you?! Do something!"

"Oh, sorry that I can't think of a good solution to a nearly impossible problem on the spot!" Luther exclaimed with just as much irritation.

"You should be able to, you're the leader!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Luther, stay focused!" Allison shouted, slapping him on the arm.

"Sorry!" Luther closed his eyes, grimacing as he tried to come up with some sort of plan. "We could . . . Ah, shit. I don't—I don't know."

Elizabeth's vision was beginning to darken. Her ears were ringing harshly. Her head was growing dizzier and dizzier. Her breaths were getting shorter by the second. The pain was increasing exponentially. There was one thing she could do to get them home, but she knew it would only worsen the pain. Nonetheless, it was the only way.

While the others continued to bicker, Elizabeth took her bloodied hands off of her stomach and pushed them out towards an empty space to the left of the group. She could feel her energy drain from her body as the gold shot out of her hands and created a portal, to which everyone's attention was immediately turned to.

Five's already furious expression worsened as he whipped his head towards Elizabeth and shouted, "Are you out of your goddamn mind?!"

"Why the hell did you do that?" Allison's eyes widened as they took in the girl's weakening figure.

Luther exhaled, "You idiot!"

"Shut . . . up . . ." Elizabeth breathed out, her eyelids fluttering. "Home . . ."

Diego got to his feet, holding onto her tightly, and was the first to jump through the portal, the others following. They arrived in the main foyer and immediately began to run up the stairs, heading towards the infirmary on the second floor.

Elizabeth could tell that she was about to pass out, and, frankly, she was quite grateful.

She swallowed, feeling her head pound in sync with every step up the stairs Diego took. "Hey, Eggo?"

"Y-yeah?" He looked down at her as he reached the second landing, tears still pouring down his cheeks.

"Remember . . . remember when I said I could probably self-heal after getting stabbed?" she croaked out, blinking rather slowly.

He sniffled, giving a small nod as he hummed, "Mhm."

"I think I was wrong."

Her eyes then closed as she fell unconscious, unable to hear the pleas from her siblings for her to stay awake.