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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙ. ʙ. ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ sʟɪᴘ sʟɪᴅɪɴ' ᴀᴡᴀʏ ꒱　


❝ IT'S OVER, WE'VE LOST
& EVERYONE'S GOING
TO DIE ANYWAY! ❞

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Oatmeal for breakfast wasn't Eight's favorite but Reginald believed it was for children so that's what they had for breakfast— every day that he was home, anyway. Most of the Academy put up with it without a fight and soon moved on to complete the rest of their day. However, Eight usually snuck back into the kitchen to eat something more interesting before her training session. Sometimes, Seven was still sitting at the table as she stared at the cold bowl of her breakfast. Eight didn't remember when this started but it usually happened the same way every day.

As she entered the kitchen like usual, her eyes flicked to the newly-broken window. "What's up, Seven?"

The dark-haired girl gave her a solemn look. "I killed another one."

The blonde smiled at this. While she didn't condone her sister's actions, she did find them horrifically amusing. "Why don't you just eat the oatmeal and get it over with?"

"I don't like oatmeal. It's too mushy."

"If you ate it sooner it wouldn't be."

"But then it's too hot," her sister argued.

Eight rolled her eyes in amusement. "There's no winning with you, is there?"

Her sister shook her head as the blonde moved to their secret cereal stash— they'd had Five steal some after he lost a bet (on purpose.) Sitting down next to Seven, Eight offered her the box and the brunette took a handful, looking slightly happier.

"You don't have to kill them, you know, Sev," Eight said.

Her sister shrugged. "I can't control my powers that well and oatmeal makes me angry."

The blonde giggled at that as she nodded in agreement. "It's not the best. That's why we had Five get us this." She shook the box.

☂☂☂

Alexa blinked her eyes open to the van steadily getting lighter as the sun rose. She was lying on her side and rolled onto her back, uncurling from the small position she'd been in to stretch. As she moved her arms, her fingers brushed against soft strands of hair which caused her to jump, and she looked over to find Five curled in a smaller ball next to her. The blonde felt heat rise to her face as she remembered her moment of weakness from last night after their talk.

That can't happen again, she told herself sternly. I can't have feelings for him— that's just too gross. I'm thirty! Forget that he's fifty-eight in consciousness. 

Shaking her head to clear it, Alexa winced as she sat up and moved back towards the passenger seat. Trying to keep quiet to let the boy get some much-needed sleep, Alexa kept watch on the front of the building. Her eyes widened when she saw the (unfortunately) familiar figure. Reaching around to shake the boy awake, she said, "Five, wake up! That's our guy!"

Startled, he jumped up as if he'd been awake the whole time. "Grab the knife, let's go."

After getting the said knife from the glove box, Five grabbed Alexa's arm and jumped them both into Lance's car, which startled him. "Oh, Jesus!"

The boy held the knife to the man's throat while Alexa's attention turned to the dog as she scratched him behind the ears.

"One chance. That's all you've got. One chance to tell me exactly what's going on in that lab," Five threatened him.

"I— I manufacture prosthetic devices for fake patients. I bill the insurance companies and then sell them for cash — on the black market."

Alexa looked up curiously at this; she hadn't thought the doctor was black-market material. "Including eyeballs?" she asked calmly. Compared to the anger in Five's voice, her tone made the man even more uncomfortable.

"Yeah, they're my biggest seller. I mean, they sell like hotcakes. I— I've got a list, a waiting list, probably 20 buyers."

The woman snorted as she pet the dog. Who uses the term 'hotcakes' to describe eyeballs? she thought.

"So, the serial number I told you—"

"Uh, could've already been bought. Yes, off off the books."

The boy sighed in exasperation. "I needed that list, Lance. Names and numbers, and I need it now!"

"I don't have it. I mean, not on me. The only copy's in my safe at the lab."

"Well, you start the car, then 'cause we're going on a field trip."

☂☂☂

They pulled up to the building with Alexa feeling slightly nauseous. Lance was not a good nervous driver. As they walked towards the doors, the smell of smoke hit her nose and she instantly thought, that's not good. Looking up, she could see the source of the smell billowing out from upper story windows and jumped when Five sped towards the building.

Immediately, the hair on Alexa's arms stood up.

Danger, she thought, her mind going into its fuzzy-like state as her powers were almost instinctively activated, fire and chemicals cause explosions. She pulled her eyes away from the building to the boy running towards it and instantly her mind cleared and panic set in, "NO!" she screamed, thinking, I can't—not another— not him.

Before she even realized it, her legs were flying into motion and she was in front of him, her blue shield-bubble shining brightly against the soot stained streets as she wrapped her arms around his small body. The world seemed to slow down as her right fingers buried themselves in his hair as she pulled the boy closer to her, tucking his head against her shoulder. They didn't feel the blast of heat and fire as the building exploded thanks to her shield but they did fly forward several feet and Five landed harshly underneath Alexa. The blonde was pretty sure they'd both be cooked if they hadn't been protected.

After the shock of nearly being killed dissipated, Alexa groaned and sat up. She glanced worriedly at the boy next to her. "Are you okay, Five?" He was staring, horrified, at the exploded building.

Allowing him a few minutes to collect himself, Alexa stood up and brushed the dust as best she could. That's definitely a setback, she thought, but immediately pushed it aside in favor of thinking of another solution. She glanced at the doctor who had a similar expression on his face to the boy's. Rolling her eyes because it wasn't the end of the world for him (yet), she stalked over to the man, picking up the knife Five had dropped.

She easily put it to his neck in his startled state, allowing herself to use her power unnecessarily in order to look more intimidating with glowing eyes. He jumped as his attention was drawn to her. 

"This is the twenty-first century, Lance," she snarled. "You can't expect me to believe the bullshit lie that the only list is flammable paper in a building full of explosive chemicals."

The man stammered incoherently. Apparently being threatened twice with a knife was too much for him and Alexa threw the blade down in disgust before she changed tactics. After all, she wasn't sure she could pull off the threatening vibe that Five had. 

"There's got to be an online database, right? I mean, I'm sure a prosperous company like yours has had time to invest in some computers." She smiled sweetly at him which seemed to disarm even more.

But, at least he answered: "I— we— d-don't put th-the black m-market lists on-online. Hackers."

The blonde sighed in exasperation. Now she could see what Five meant by certain people being useless. "I'm just glad I'm not in your position, doc. I wouldn't want to be the person to tell my black-market buyers 'sorry, but the building burned. You can't get your eyes.'" She gave him a bright grin and patted him on the chest in mock sympathy as he stared at her in horror before she turned back to the boy who was still sitting on the ground. "C'mon Five," the blonde said when she was in front of him. She stuck her hand out to help him up.

The boy ignored it and stood on his own with a defeated expression on his face. "That's it, then."

She gave him a confused look. "What's it?"

"Our only lead! It's gone!" His voice rose, causing the woman to roll her eyes.

"There's no need to shout, Five. I'm right here. And besides, we'll figure something out."

He glared at her. "No, we won't. There's not enough time. Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to get back?"

Alexa shrugged. "So what? That's when you were alone. Now you've got me and if we tell everyone, the rest of our family. I'm sure—"

"You don't get it, do you?" he snarled. "It's over, we've lost and everyone's going to die anyway!"

She stared at him, starting to finally get angry. "What, that's it? You're just going to give up on the whole human race just because one lead didn't work? I mean, sure, go off, but don't expect me to join you. I still think we have a chance," Alexa retorted and she spun around to stalk back to their van.

Reaching into the back, she hunted around for Vanya's book. After tearing out a blank page and scribbling library on it using her pen, she left the note in the back and took her lesson plans with her to the designated destination.

☂☂☂

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting in the library trying to make sense of Five's equations, but she did know that she was tired and hungry. Alexa's eyes burned as she strained to look at the boy's cramped handwriting and transferred it to the giant chalkboard in front of her which was already covered with other equations. The blonde wasn't sure what she was doing but she had to do something and Five had always been confident in his math skills so maybe there would be something there. However, she'd understood nothing and was afraid that she'd wasted hours of precious time.

Luckily, though, she was interrupted by a familiar voice asked in surprise, "Alexa?"

She whirled around and her eyes widened as she saw Diego standing in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

He held up a piece of paper. "I found your note. We're looking for Five."

The blonde sighed. "What did he do now?"

Her brother smirked slightly. "Did you get into a lover's quarrel?"

Alexa blushed and glared angrily at him. "No Go-Go, that's gross! He just gives up too easily."

Diego groaned. "I thought I told you I hated that nickname?"

The blonde stuck her tongue out at him. "That's what you get for saying gross things."

He sighed and they fell into an awkward silence before he said, "do you wanna help us look or keep doing whatever that is?"

She shook her head and joined him as she repeated, "us?"

"Luther's here too."

An uncomfortable look passed across her face but neither one said anything as they met up with their brother on the third floor.

"Anything?" Luther asked.

"No, but look who I found." He gestured to their sister.

She grinned, forcing away her discomfort as she usually did. "What's up, Desmond?"

Luther sighed as he turned away. The three stood in silence for a moment before Diego broke it: "you wanna know why I left?"

This caught both of them by surprise and Luther asked, "what? What are you talking about?"

"Why I left the Academy," he clarified, then looked at Alexa. "Why we left."

"Yeah, 'cause you couldn't handle me being Number One," Luther said, believing that it was about him as usual.

"No," Diego corrected him. "Because that's what you do when you're seventeen. You move out, become your own person, grow up."

Luther scoffed. "Oh, yeah. You're real grown-ups."

"At least we make our own decisions. You've never had to hold down a job, pay bills," Alexa pointed out.

"You ever even been with a girl?" Diego questioned him as he smirked. Alexa hit his arm in annoyance.

Their brother shifted awkwardly. "I-I don't know what you're talking about"

Diego laughed at his embarrassment. "Look, you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving that's okay. But maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it's not about why we left. Maybe it's about why you stayed."

"I stayed because the world needed me."

"You stayed because you couldn't let go of the way things used to be. The Academy. Dad. With Allison. Well, Dad's dead. Mom too, now. We're orphans again, dude." The elevator dinged, drawing Alexa's attention away as Diego finished, "things are never gonna go back to the way they used to be."

"Do you ever stop talking?" Luther asked, irritated.

He didn't get a chance to answer as they overheard a woman ask, "where are his parents?"

Alexa ran towards the boy slumped on the ground as she ignored her brothers. Five was there, snoring loudly with books scattered around him and his arm thrown around Dolores.

"Is he, um?" Luther started.

"Drunk as a skunk," Diego nodded.