Part Two

Five instantly grabbed onto my hand and pulled me away as the three of us broke into a sprint away from Zara, Lila, and the Handler. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. The sound of overlapping battle cries from the Commission agents behind us motivated me into running even faster than before. Their loud footsteps sounded like a menacing stampede of wild animals. It was long before they started firing their guns at us. Bullets whizzed through the air, nearly hitting Five, Diego, and I as we dashed through the open land.

"We're not gonna make it!" Diego shouted over the rapid gunfire. Five reach out and grabbed onto his brother's shoulder. "What are you going?" Suddenly, Five teleported us further down the field. "Five, I think I'm gonna puke!"

"No time!" Five exclaimed. The three of us ducked down behind a red tractor. My hands shot up to cover my head as bullets ricocheted off the metal. "What now?"

"We blink into the house, man!" Diego replied. Five nodded and grabbed onto us again, but when he tried to teleport us, his powers didn't work. "WHAT?" Diego shouted in disbelief.

"Shit, I'm out of fuel," Five explained. "I'm too tired."

"Would now be a bad time to tell you guys that Zara's got x-ray vision?" I exclaimed.

Five and Diego stared at me with wide eyes as they both shouted, "Yes!"

"Alright, then just pretend I didn't say that," I added.

Diego shook his head. "Alright, go!" he shouted. "I'll cover for you two."

"No, Diego, I can just phase us through to the house," I said.

"Bad idea! You said it yourself," Diego retorted in disagreed. "Your friend's got x-ray vision, so she'll see you're every mood. You gotta get some distance before she comes after you." I knew Diego was right. Zara would hunt me down the minute she gets a chance.

Five and I stood up and immediately made a run for the house, while Diego stepped out into the open. He held his hands up and froze all of the bullets in the air. "What the hell?" I exclaimed. "Since when can he do that?"

"I'll explain later!" Five shouted.

The two of us ran up the stairs of Sissy's house as I phased us both through the door. We hid under the small table in her kitchen as bullets shot through the walls. Five wrapped his arms around my head as the two of us laid on the floor, praying that we wouldn't get shot. Glass from the windows shattered onto the floor, while the lights above blew out. My hands covered my ears from the deafening gunshots. My eyes were squeezed shut and I couldn't stop shaking from fear.

The familiar sound of a high pitch tone echoed throughout the area. It must have been Vanya because all of the shooting suddenly stopped.

Five and I slowly crawled out from under the table and carefully made our way over to the window. In the distance, every Commission assassin was laid on the ground, except for Lila, Zara, and the Handler, who were surrounded by a blue force field.

The Handler smirked and glanced towards Lila as she began to float above the ground. Her eyes turned pale white as her chest began glowing just like Vanya when she uses her own powers.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Five exclaimed. The two of us dropped to the ground once again and ducked from the wave of blue energy that was crashing towards us.

Luther suddenly came crashing through the roof. He broke the ceiling and made a dent in the floor as he landed.

Five stood up and walked over to his brother. "Luther, you alright?" He asked.

"Oh, I think I swallowed my tongue," Luther groaned through a raspy breath.

Five shook his head while I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Luther, if you swallowed your tongue, you wouldn't be talking, you big moron," Five remarked. He offered Luther his hand as he helped pull him up. "Come on, on your feet."

"What the hell happened?" Luther asked through grunts. He was covered in debris from the roof he fell through. "What was that?"

"She must've redirected Vanya's energy wave," Five explained.

"Yeah, I know, but how?" Luther asked.

The brick chimney above began to crumble from above. "Luther, watch out!" Five shouted as he pushed his brother out of the way.

"Five!" Luther and I exclaimed at the same time. He completely disappeared in the pile of bricks. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as I began to search through all of the bricks.

I heard the familiar sound of Five's teleportation, and glanced up with hopeful eyes, only to be let down when Lila was standing before me.

"What are you?" Luther asked in anger.

Lila smirked as she stared at Luther. "I'm someone who wants to kill your brother."

Luther kind of half shrugged in an uncaring manner. "Well, that's understandable. Diego can be a lot to handle."

"Yeah, I was talking about Five," Lila clarified.

"Him, too," Luther added.

I made a face and elbowed his arm. "Really?"

Luther sighed, "Unfortunately, they're family, so you're shit out of luck." He pulled back his arm and sent his fist flying towards Lila, who caught his hand midair. She glared holes into him as she fought back with just as much force, if not more. "How is this possibly?" Luther grunted.

"She's a mimic," I said.

Lila seemed completely unfazed by Luther. "Gotta believe in yourself, big boy." Then, she sent him flying through the wall. I watched with wide eyes as Luther crash landed on the ground once again.

I saw Zara step into view now. She was stood behind Luther and Allison, who had just arrived at the scene. "I think you've got company," Lila spoke up.

I walked out of the house through the hole in the wall that Luther created. Zara and I stood face to face now. "I see you haven't changed your look," she remarked, glancing at the Horror Order uniform I was wear. I had put it back on the night after the gala. They were the only clothes I had.

"I see you have," I retorted.

Zara chuckled softly. "Tell me, did the mask remind you of your parents? Did I scare you into having those faceless nightmares again?"

I held my head high as I created fists with my hands. "You wish," I spat.

"Oh, Alexa," Zara sighed. She copied my stance and shook her head. "You've always been a shitty liar."

Zara dashed forward and immediately sent a fist flying towards my face. Her punch hit the side of my jaw, causing me to stumble backwards from the surprise impact. Her left hand sent another punch to the opposite side of my face. I was so taken aback by her actions that she was able to hit me with an uppercut that knocked me onto my back.

I inhaled sharply as the wind was knocked out of me. "Someone's been keeping up with their training," I groaned.

Zara sent me a sly wink. "Wish I could say the same about you."

She went to stomp her foot down on my chest, but I phased through the ground before she could kick me. I pulled her right down with me and then reappeared behind her. I kicked Zara's knees in and forced her to fall onto the ground. My hands wrapped around her neck as I put her into a chokehold. "Does this mean we're still not friends?" I questioned her.

My grasp on her tightened. She grabbed onto my arms and tried to pull me off of her neck. "We're.. not even.. acquaintances," she said through short breaths.

"Fair enough," I remarked. The conversation was way too ironic based on one of the last times we spoke to each other.

Zara wrapped her arms around my neck now and flipped me over her own body. I landed on the ground and stared up at her with wide eyes. She pulled a knife out of her belt loop. She attempted to stab my chest, but I was able to see her move and roll over. The knife cut through the leather material of my jacket. She stabbed the blade deep enough that I could feel the cool metal break through a layer of my skin. 

Zara pulled the knife up out of the ground and stabbed it through my chest this time. I gasped as I glanced down at the sharp weapon that went completely through my body. "Bitch," I breathed. I have never been more thankful for my intangibility until now.

"Guilty," Zara said in agreement. She lifted the knife again as rolled over and quickly got back to my feet.

I spun on my heel and sent a kick to into the side of her face. Zara fell over slightly but regained her composure since her leg was still phased into the ground below.

When her nose started to bleed, Zara wiped the crimson color off with the sleeve of her shirt. I stared at her with an empty expression, while she looked back at me full of hatred and anger. I sighed and dropped my fists. "How did we get here?" I asked softly.

Zara halted her struggling for a moment to answer my question, "You did this to us. You did this to me!"

"I never meant to hurt you or anyone else, Zara. You have to know that," I replied. The Asian girl was frozen as she stared at me. "I know it might not mean much to you, especially now but.. I'm sorry."

For a brief moment, I saw all of that rage and despise towards me in her eyes disappear. It was almost like we were still those same orphans at the Horror Order. It was almost like we were actually friends again.. But like I said, that look on her face only lasted for a brief moment.

Once I saw her eyes flash back to all that pent-up-anger she had before, I turned around and began to walk away from her. The last thing I wanted to do was kill Zara. Even after all she told me, I still thought she deserved better than this. By leaving her behind, I'd be giving her a choice to make on her own. I just hoped that she would make the right one.

I finally rejoined the rest of the Hargreeves siblings as we all walked into the barn, where we found Lila and Five. The two both appeared to be bloodied and bruised from fight of their own.

"I never realized what she was up to at the time, but now it all makes sense," Five explained. "She never cared about your parents. She was looking for you."

"Why?" Lila asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Cause you're one of us," Diego spoke up. He limped his way inside the barn, along with the rest of us following after him. "The Handler stole you, Lila. Just like our asshole father took all of us."

Lila held up a blade in her hand and waved it around as she glanced at all of us. "No," she stated. "It's not the same thing."

"You're right," Diego said. "Because he didn't have our parents murdered.. Listen to me, Lila. You were born October first, 1989, the same day as all of us."

"Stay back!" Lila shouted.

"Hey, hey, wait!" Diego exclaimed. He put his hands up to show that he wasn't here to attack her. "Lila? Lila, stop!"

"I trusted you," Lila said. "I got you a job, I even introduced you to my mother, and then you took off on me!"

"Because I needed to save the world!" Diego cut her off. "She's using you, Lila.. The Handler."

"You're wrong," Lila declared. "She raised me. She loves me."

"Yeah, you know what?" Luther spoke up. "Love shouldn't have to hurt this much." Lila took one look at Luther and make a gagging noise. "Alright, I tried," Luther gave up.

"He's right," Five said. "We have to kill her."

"Hey, Five! Stop!" Diego yelled. He put his hand up to stop his brother. "I got it." Diego averted his eyes back to Lila once Five took a step back. "Lila, truth?  She's dangerous. And you're scared of what she'll do with all that new power. That's why you dragged me to the Commission. Because I know what it's like to love dangerous people. Difference is.." Diego glanced around the barn and met each of our eyes. "They love me back."

"Shut up," Lila said. She brought the knife back up and held it towards Diego. I could see the tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"The only thing she loves is power," Diego continued. "Now, the minute she can't use you, she will turn on you, and deep down, I know you know that."

"You don't know me, Diego," Lila said, shaking her head.

Diego took a deep breath as he stepped forward. His chest was right at the tip of the knife. "Don't I?" He questioned her. "I know that we can be your family.. if you just let us."

Lila looked around the room as tears began to fall from her eyes. Each of us offered her a warm smile. Just when she looked like she was about to give in, a gun fired out suddenly. I used my intangible powers to phase the bullets through my body, but the others weren't as lucky because bullets from the machine gun shot into every Hargreeves sibling, killing everyone almost instantly.

Lila dropped to her knees as her voice trembled, "Diego, no!"

"Five!" I exclaimed. I was about to run over to him, but an arm wrapped around my waist and a knife was pressed to my throat. My breath hitched as I felt my eyes glaze over. "Zara, please, let me go," I begged.

She snickered in my ear, "Sorry it has to end this way."

The Handler slowly strolled into the barn with the machine gun still in her hand. She stopped right in front of Lila and stared at her as if she wasn't her daughter anymore.

"It's true," Lila spoke up. "What Five said, isn't it?"

"Darling, I need to know that we can get past this," the Handler replied. She sent Lila a fake smile. "Be a happy family again. Hmm?"

"They're my real family," Lila said as she stood up. "Do you even love me?" When the Handler didn't reply, Lila made an attempt to stab her, but was shot in the process.

My jaw dropped as I watched Lila's lifeless body collapse onto the floor. "NO!"

Zara pressed the knife into my skin slightly, drawing blood from my throat. "Shut up or I'll cut your tongue out!" She threatened.

"Que será, será," the Handler sighed. From beside me, Five gasped as his eyes snapped open. "Oh, good!" The Handler exclaimed. "You're still alive. Lucky you. You got to see how this all played out." She aimed the gun at Five's head, but before she could pull the trigger, a different set of shots rang out.

The Handler turned around just in time to see the last living Swede to shoot her several times in the chest. Then, he switched his aim and sent bullets into Zara's head. Both women fell to the floor as their bodies began to bleed out.

I was frozen in my place. I felt like I had just gotten whiplash from all that had just happened. When I finally snapped back into reality, I found myself kneeled beside Five, pressing my hands onto his wound in an attempt to stop him from bleeding out. "Everything's fine," I assured him. "You're going to be okay." I knew it was probably too late though, but I think I was only trying to convince myself.

I closed my eyes and focused on finding the metal bullets lodged inside of him. Once I was able to locate them, I used my powers to phase the bullets out of his body. I glanced down at my hands and saw that they were stained in red blood.

"Lexa," Five breathed. His voice was soft and raspy from the pain. I hummed in response as a single tear fell from my eye. "What was.. the secret ingredient?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I shook my head. "Only you would want your last words to be about coffee, Five Hargreeves," I chuckled dryly. He tried smiling as he awaited my answer. "It was just sugar," I whispered.

"I- I should've.. know," Five replied humorously. I could see the life begin to drain out of his pale eyes.

I bit my lip to stop myself from crying but I couldn't help the tears that began to fall from my eyes. "I just thought you needed something sweet in your life."

"That's why.. I have you," Five croaked out. "Don't worry.. I'm going to fix this."

I tiled my head. "What do you mean?" I asked. Five didn't answer though.

Instead, a bright, blue light began to shine from his hands and time seemed to unravel itself right before my very own eyes.