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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙ. ʙ. ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴜɴʟᴇss ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʀᴇ
sʜᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ꒱　


❝ YEAH, Y'KNOW— LIKE
BATMAN & ROBIN ❞

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Being crammed between her monkey-brother and her knife-wielding one was not a fun experience especially with the tense air of the car. All of them were worried about Allison and if anything were to happen to her, it would be Alexa's fault since she'd chosen to stay behind even when she'd known the danger her sister was walking into.

Luther lurched forward for what seemed like the thousandth time. "Hey— can you go any faster?" he asked.

"Ask me again and I'll burn you with a cigarette lighter," Five (who was driving) answered flatly.

Finally, they arrived at the secluded house and all of them scrambled out of the car as fast as they could while Luther rushed forward first. The door to Peabody's banged open as they entered and the five of them spread out around their sister's body. Their eyes widened as they took in the sight before them.

Alexa felt herself go numb. 

She'd failed. Again. Just like with Ben, just like with Five. Whenever someone she was supposed to protect was in trouble, she always made the wrong choice. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe— why was there suddenly less air in the room?

She stood frozen at the doorway with her eyes fixed on her sister's now-red shirt. Her memory flashed to another body with red-stained clothing, of a boy's scream as the monster took control—

Surprisingly gentle hands placed themselves on either side of her arms, causing her to startle violently. Her eyes refused to move away from the sight of Luther weeping over Allison's body though, as her brother held the woman in a horribly eerie rendition of a similar pair (although with different feelings attached) that had copied the position years ago.

"Hey." A quiet voice forced her attention away from her siblings on the floor and held a blurry focus on the boy in front of her.

"We need you here, Lexa," he said softly, his bright green eyes locked onto her blue ones. "It isn't too late— you can help her, you just need to focus."

The blonde woman blinked furiously as she tried to get the image of Ben— no, she thought wildly, don't think about that. Five was right; she had to focus on the current issue otherwise she'd never learn. Shoving all thoughts of the past to the back of her head as she was used to doing, she moved towards the door. Her voice was shaky when she spoke but it was loud enough to spur her shocked brothers into action: "come on, guys. We need to get her to the Academy."

☂☂☂

They scrambled out of the car with Luther worrying over the woman in his arms. For once, Alexa couldn't get mad at him; this was her fault, after all. She was almost surprised that he hadn't threatened to kill her or something.

Pogo and Grace jumped into action right away. "She has suffered a severe laceration to her Larynx. One of you will need to give blood."

"I will," came from all five of the Hargreeves.

"I'm doing it," Luther insisted.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, dear boy. Your blood is more compatible to mine," Pogo said.

"Hey— don't sweat it," Klaus jumped in. "I got this. I love needles." He patted his arm and held it out for Grace.

"Master Klaus," Pogo interjected, "your blood is too. . . polluted."

"I can do it," Alexa offered immediately.

"Miss Alexandra," Pogo started softly, "you know of your—"

"Right," the blonde woman said and drew back slightly. Needles couldn't puncture her skin.

"I'll do it," Diego finally said. He came forward only to faint at the sight of the sharp point.

Pogo nodded anyway. "Stick him."

After Allison was settled more securely in Grace's care, Alexa left the room to wait in downstairs. She sat on a couch and curled her feet up under her, finally allowing her gaze to glaze over as she remembered her panic from earlier. Ben, I'm sorry. It's my fault. All mine. She closed her eyes, remembering the splatter of warm blood that had fallen over the remaining siblings as they watched in horror as—

The couch dipped next to her, causing Alexa to open her eyes as she was jerked from her memory only to see Klaus sitting at the other end. He gave her a dorky wave that caused her to smile slightly. Diego and Five entered shortly after with the former saying: "the bastard that nearly killed our sister is still out there with Vanya. We need to go after her—"

"Vanya isn't important right now," Five answered, limping slightly as he paced.

"Hey, that's your sister. A little heartless even for you."

"I'm not saying I don't care about her," he answered through gritted teeth, "but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us. Harold Jenkins is our first priority."

"I agree, let's go," Diego said.

"Can you guys count me out? I-I— no offense or whatever, I just feel like this is a whole lot of stress for newly-sober me to go through," Klaus protested.

"You're coming," Diego demanded. "You too, Alexa. Get up."

"No-no— I think we can all agree that my power is— it's pretty much useless. I'd just be holding you guys back."

"Klaus, get up."

"You can't make me," the man responded easily.

One of Diego's knives inserted itself into the space between his legs, prompting him to cave. Alexa sighed, knowing that she couldn't stay if even Klaus was going. 

☂☂☂

When they returned from Peabody's— Jenkins— (she wasn't even sure what to call him anymore but she supposed it didn't matter anyway), Alexa made a weak excuse and removed herself from the Vanya Search Party. If her sister was in the house, her brothers would find her; Alexa needed a break.

She chose a seat at the bar and slumped slightly, resting her arms on the wooden surface of the table and bent her head so that her fingers could bury themselves in her short hair. The stress of the last few days was finally cracking her and she hadn't even had time to process everything that had happened.

She jumped at the sound of glass breaking from the other room and raised her head slightly in confusion. Five limped in, clearly pissed about something but that wasn't new. What was new was that he made his way to the other side of the bar and, glancing at her, asked, "you want anything?"

Alexa blinked at him uncomprehendingly for a second before she shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

As he moved around the bar with surprising ease, he said, "so, the apocalypse is off, obviously."

"Really?" It seemed almost too good to be true but if Five thought that it was then it had to be, right? He nodded in response, focused on whatever drink he was making. When he was done, he set the glass down in front of her and sat on the empty stool to her left. She studied him for a moment. "What are you going to do now?"

The boy took a sip of his drink before he turned to her. "I hope 'you' means 'we.'"

Alexa hid her smile by copying his gesture. She gave a surprised response when it was actually good. She thought for a moment. "Well, I guess you could come live with me," she finally said hesitantly, "and you could be my-be my—" God, she couldn't even say it out loud, not with him. Alexa forced the phrase out: "be my brother."

Five's reaction was instantaneous as he flinched away from her at the word and his face screwed up in disgust. "Ew, no thank you—" He spluttered as he tried to recover from his surprise.

His response would've been funny if Alexa hadn't been so relieved he'd reacted that way. "Oh good," she said. "I should probably be offended by that 'ew' but at least we're on the same page." She finally gave him an amused smile. "You could be my ward."

He gave her a puzzled look, still recovering from her suggestion. "Ward?"

Alexa shrugged. "Yeah. Y'know, like Batman and Robin."

Five snorted. "I'm Batman."

The blonde woman rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, obviously in this situation you are but it's not like I can be your ward. I'd probably have to pretend to home school you as well just so I don't get arrested for not providing you with education even if you could teach me things."

Alexa saw a smile curve on his lips even as he tried to hide it by taking a sip of his drink. "So," he said, almost uncertainly, "you'd want me to live with you?"

She shrugged. "I mean, if you want to. It would probably be better than living with monkey-man or anyone else. But, y'know, I'm biased."

He didn't bother hiding his smile that time as he looked at her. "Yeah, well, I'm biased too. If you'll have me, I'll take it."

Blue eyes met green ones and stayed there, neither able to look away. Alexa felt the years between them— both physically and mentally— yawning before them as a giant chasm, threatening to take everything away but past memories, the ones that they shared, kept them from falling to an inevitable end. 

The moment seemed to stretch on forever and yet no time at all, and Alexa was sure that they would've stayed like that for much longer except for the loud knock on the door that broke them from their trance.

"I'll get it," Five said reluctantly. He pulled his focus away from her and towards the door as he got up.

Alexa sighed and slid off her own stool to follow him. He got to the door first so she stood behind him as he pulled it open. When she saw who was on the other side, her stomach dropped to the floor. One of her hands automatically to the boy's shoulder and a sudden flash of blue lit up the area as she transferred all of her invulnerability to him in a single burst.

There was no way in hell that she was going to take any chances with him, not while Hazel stood on the other side pointing a gun in their faces.