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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘ. ᴘᴀʀᴋᴇʀ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚  ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇs ᴏғ ᴍᴇ
ᴀʀᴇ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇs ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ꒱


❝ I'VE WAITED TOO LONG
TO SAY / EVERYTHING
THAT YOU  MEAN TO ME ❞

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"This is a really bad idea," Alexa said worriedly, one of her hands tugging anxiously on her hair. It was later, Grace's party officially over. During cake, Five had convinced her to attend one Keepers' meeting— the one that was happening tonight. They were now approaching the building where the event was being held; while most of her was apprehensive about making an appearance, a small part of her was distracted by how weird Five looked in his disguise— she would never get used to seeing him with any kind of facial hair. (She didn't think it was really necessary but her boyfriend was the paranoid sort, so she didn't comment.)

The brunet sighed. "Lexa, it'll be fine, I promise. You being here isn't going to put anyone in danger. If it makes you feel better, I've been curating a fake story for you so my contact won't be surprised that you're here."

He reached over and freed her hand from her hair to force her habit away, taking it in his instead. She looked mildly reassured. "That's good, I guess."

When they stepped inside, another man was there, waiting by the door. He was bald, with darker skin, broad shoulders and dressed in business-casual attire. Five made his way over to him, nodding in greeting. "Aaron, this is my wife, Lily."

The man— Aaron— smiled politely at her as they shook hands. "It's wonderful to meet you at last; we've heard much about you in our group meetings."

Alexa did a double-take at the title of wife, her eyes going wide at the unexpected label. She coughed to cover her surprise. "It's nice to meet you too."

It would've been nice to know exactly what this 'fake story' of his entailed, she thought, giving him a 'what the fuck?' look. Five blatantly ignored her glance and gestured towards the stairs. "Shall we go up, then?"

As they followed Aaron up the stairs, he told them: "alright, just be cool, Jerome. Lily, I'm sure that comes naturally to you. Anybody asks, you're with me."

They paused in the entrance to take in the gathering, a much more subdued affair than Gracie's arcade party. Well-dressed people talked quietly amongst themselves, holding various alcoholic beverages. The dimly-lit room added an air of mysteriousness that was almost definitely intentional. Aaron nodded at the sight approvingly. "These are the real Keepers. Best of the best."

He quickly became preoccupied by someone he knew, leaving the two of them at the door. As Alexa's gaze scanned the room, she felt her heart drop to her stomach. Oh, damn. Of course Lila would be here. How could she have forgotten? Well, it wasn't so much forgetting as not putting two and two together. That made her feel better; she'd rather be stupid than absentminded. Unfortunately, before she could think of a plan to distract Five from noticing her, she saw his eyes zoom right to the familiar woman.

"Lila?" he hissed, leaning closer to her so that his warm breath fanned over her skin. "She's your person on the inside? You asked her before me?"

"Yes, husband," the blonde retorted pointedly.

He winced. "Maybe I should've told you about that."

"You think?" she huffed, grabbing his wrist to pull him towards the brunette.

As they passed Lila to get their name tags, Five muttered to her: "so this is book club?"

She let out a tinkling laugh, pretending to not notice the comment until she could excuse herself. Then, she made her way over to the couple, her features set in a stern expression. Alexa could almost picture her as a mother scolding her kids. Sure enough, she pinned that look on the blonde. In a low voice, she said reproachfully: "what's the point of having someone on the inside if you show up anyway?"

"Well, if you two had filled me in on what was going on, we might be having an entirely different conversation right now," Five grumbled.

She gave the brunet a disdainful glance. "You better not blow my cover." To Alexa, she added: "we worked too hard on this persona to let him ruin it, okay? Just. . . try to lay low. Nice mustache, by the way," she couldn't help but throw in the younger man's direction. "What are you supposed to be? A Greek serial killer?"

"Oh, good," Alexa remarked, "I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it looks like a caterpillar."

Lila chuckled at the comparison while Five gave them both a disgruntled look. "I'll have you know this is top-of-the-line horse hair. The real question is, Lily, why you chose Nancy of all people to be your spy. The reason you don't want Diego in the CIA is because of all the Keepers' business. Surely Nancy would have the same reasoning?"

Alexa finished writing her fake name and peeled off the sticker to place it on her blouse. Lila took her pen from her and capped it. "Go easy on her, Five. She didn't have a lot of competent options. She wanted to keep you in retirement and do you really think Diego could handle subtlety? No; I told her that I needed to get out of the house. The transition from full-time assassin to full-time caregiver to three small children is no picnic. She proposed the idea to me and I took it."

Before he could say anything in response, a deep voice spoke over the quiet murmurs of conversation: "if everyone can take their seats, the presentation's about to begin."

They found seats in the back, following the crowd's movements towards the rows of chairs that had been set up. As everyone got comfortable, a couple appeared in the doorway. The woman had long, dark hair that was tied in two braids while the man was taller with gray hair that was worn in a single braid. Those were their only differences; otherwise, they dressed exactly alike,  including having the same glasses.

Five leaned towards the blonde again. "Before you get any ideas, I would rather die than wear matching outfits."

She cast the pair a cursory look, her eyes lighting up at the thought. "Hey, that never even crossed my mind— thanks for the suggestion! Maybe it will be next year's Christmas card."

"Lexa, I swear—"

"Only joking," she promised, though the sparkle in her blue eyes still made him wary. She turned to Lila. "That's Gene and Jean, right?"

She nodded. "The very ones."

"Wow. Wowie!" Jean exclaimed happily as she and her husband reached the podium. She smiled at the crowd. "I mean, holy shit! Pardon my French, but look at all these beautiful shining faces. It is too much. Thank you for being here. We have a big night planned, because tonight, we will be discussing. . . The Umbrella Effect." The projector screen lit up with a slideshow with the aforementioned title.

After a dramatic pause, Jean continued: ". . .and how I believe we can return to a restored and correct timeline." The audience murmured their agreement with her words. She acknowledged their response, pointing a finger at a few of them. The screen began to show different items, all surrounding the Umbrella Academy. "Now, what do we mean when we talk about The Umbrella Effect? Well, some people refer to it as timeline sickness."

The trio exchanged knowing looks, Alexa's more hopeful than the other two. Maybe— maybe, they'd finally get some details about what the Cleanse was. Jean let her audience mutter their excitement to each other for a moment before regaining their attention. "These artifacts are from other timelines like the shared memories so many of us have experienced, huh?" When she received more nods of agreement, she smiled in understanding. "Yup. Memories the powers that be would have you believe are just figments of our imaginations."

Her husband picked up the speech as corresponding images flashed across the screen: "a dapper dandy holding an umbrella, standing on the grassy knoll. An obscure sex cult called 'Destiny's Children.' A litter of child superheroes in short pants, from which we derive the name of this phenomenon, The Umbrella Effect."

"Question is, who benefits from covering this up?" Jean asked.

An image of Reginald and an elegant woman with long, graying hair appeared. Gene glared at the picture as if they'd personally offended him. "The elites, of course. The ruling class has always been threatened by the truth. But they cannot stop the truth, now, can they?" The audience responded with an enthusiastic no!. He chuckled, pleased by their vehemence. "No, I didn't think so."

"These artifacts are proof that we're living in the wrong timelines," Jean declared. "And they're the key to bringing about the Cleanse."

"There it is again," Alexa whispered to Lila and her boyfriend. "But what is it?"

"Well, maybe if you let them talk, we'd find out," Five retorted. She rolled her eyes, not at all hurt by his tone as she knew how seriously he took 'missions.'

But Alexa didn't want to wait for answers anymore. Her hand shot up in the air. Immediately, the two ex-assassins made quiet but frantic efforts to get her to change her mind. The blonde stubbornly refused to acknowledge their attempts, her gaze fixed on the couple at the front. Jean smiled at her pleasantly. "Please hold all questions until the end of the presentation."

She stood up. "I'm sorry for the interruption, but I've been to a few of these meetings— none so formal as this one— and I've heard the Cleanse mentioned in passing a lot, but it's never been elaborated on. I was hoping that the pioneers of the theory would help me— us— have a better understanding of what it is."

"What's your name, honey?" Jean questioned her, still the depiction of graciousness. "I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Lily, Nancy's friend."

The dark-haired woman turned to her husband with a grin. "Oh, she knows Nancy, Papa!" She waved at the brunette, who'd shrunk in her seat to avoid the attention. "Hello, Nancy!"

Lila winced at waved back, forcing a bright smile on her face. Gene stepped forward to address the blonde. "To answer your question, some believe it's the end. Others believe it's but a great restoration."

Alexa didn't like the sound of 'it's the end.' She frowned. "And what do you believe?"

Jean thrust an arm out to keep her husband by her side, her hand reaching up to pat him on the face. She spoke up before he could respond: "well, you're in luck, Nancy's friend, because we are preparing a very special lecture on just this topic. Aren't we, darling?"

"That's right, darling," Gene agreed. "If you're interested, give us your information. Address, phone number. We'll make sure to send you an invitation."

The blonde let out an easygoing laugh, her hand coming to rest on Five's shoulder. "Well, you see, my husband here is very paranoid; he doesn't like me handing our information out willy-nilly. It would be so much more convenient if you could just share a sneak peak of it with us now?" She paused, her tone taking on a challenging note as she finished with: "unless, of course, you don't actually know anything about what the Cleanse entails in the first place."

"Lily!" Lila and Five whispered in harsh unison. She felt a warning tug on her arm, which she ignored.

Jean's smile flickered ever so slightly, a hint of irritation flashing behind her bright eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. She leaned against the podium, clasping her hands together as if she was amused. "Oh, sweetheart, I admire your curiosity, but some things cannot be rushed. Trust in the process. The Cleanse will reveal itself in due time."

Lila stood up next to her, her smile looking a little more forced. "I'm so sorry about the interruption; this is why Lily doesn't come to many of these meetings. Thank you so much for entertaining her questions. Please, continue." To the blonde, she muttered roughly: "enough!"

Alexa sat down heavily by the brunette's forceful pull. Her boyfriend shot her an irritated look, muttering: "pull that shit again, you're sleeping on the couch."

She gave him a sarcastic smile. "What, in the apartment that my job pays the bills for? I don't think so, buddy. If it bothers you that much, you sleep on the couch."

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

They regrouped at a quiet restaurant after the presentation, slipping away before they drew Gene and Jean's attention any more. The trio sat in a window booth in the dimly lit room, looking out at the darkened streets. Alexa sat next to Five with Lila across from them; she'd ordered dessert, prompting the blonde to get her own as well.

Lila leaned towards them, talking in a low voice despite the room being mostly empty: "look, if these artifacts are from different timelines and now they're showing up. . ."

"It's possible the old man's reset didn't take," Five theorized. He held himself stiffly next to his girlfriend, still annoyed at her recklessness for putting them in the hot seat (he was one to talk, though she didn't think pointing that out would help.)

"What does that even mean?" the brunette asked.

"Well, you know Allison killed dad before he could press the button. Maybe this timeline wasn't done. . . I dunno, loading or something," Alexa offered.

He nodded at her suggestion. "Whatever this is, don't say anything to the family just yet. Alright? Not even Diego."

"Absolutely not. He'd kill all three of us if he knew Lexi had roped us into this, especially before he got a job at the CIA. He's pretty sore about that," Lila added at the blonde.

Alexa winced as Five commented, "thank god I can tell my partner anything without fear of retribution."

"Yeah, except for the fact that we're apparently married," she teased him.

This time, he had the decency to look a little embarrassed. "It was a believable cover story, alright? Can you move past this, please?"

To try and take the attention off himself, the brunet snagged one of the girl's powdered donuts. While he did have a thing against sweets (except for emergencies when he'd needed the energy to blink), he couldn't think of a better distraction tactic to use. The problem with powdered donuts, though, was the white dusting of sugar on top— it got everywhere. Lila smirked at him, aiming her observation at Alexa: "didn't your guys' dad teach any of the Hargreeves men how to eat?"

She laughed, though she reprimanded the brunette lightly: "hey, he was stuck in the apocalypse for forty-five years. Table manners aren't exactly important for survival. He's just a little out of practice."

Alexa turned to her boyfriend (who, as usual, was already on his way to getting over his irritation with her; whenever they did disagree about little things, he could never stay mad at her for long) and smiled at him fondly. "Would you take that Velcro off your face? It still freaks me out."

Rolling his eyes, he acquiesced, only grunting slightly as he dislodged the glue from his upper lip. Relieved to see the proper face of her boyfriend return, she reached out and gently brushed her thumb over his lips to wipe away the remaining powdered sugar. His green eyes heated and flicked down to her lips. If he hadn't been so aware of Lila's dark brown eyes watching them, tinged with a bit of disgust, he would've given in to the urge to kiss her— which hopefully would've turned into a very enjoyable make-out session.

But, as it was, the brunette threw a small piece of her cookie between them, disrupting the moment. "Boo! I am so not becoming a third wheel. This isn't a date, you two. No one wants to watch how sappy you guys are."

The girl smiled sheepishly, forcing her gaze away from her boyfriend's hypnotizing emerald eyes. Five cleared his throat and shifted in his seat in an effort to appear unruffled. One hand slid into the pocket of his leather jacket, his fingers wrapping around the rectangular box that sat nestled within. It seemed to sear into his palm, the heat racing up through his arm until it reached his mouth where the question that went along with the specific piece of jewelry burned on his lips. He pressed them together to keep himself from blurting it out right then and there, although it was looking like he was going to have to improvise; he had a strong, unpleasant suspicion that they were facing yet another end-of-the-world situation.

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

Ben was pretty sure he'd made the biggest mistake of his life. If he had known that Luther had actually pulled himself together to have a family, he might have grinned and bared it with Alexa and Five. Bradley was the worst. Within the first five minutes of them arriving at the house (a one-story, two-bedroom, moderately sized building in the suburbs; not as nice as Allison's place but happy enough to make a home out of) he began to play with his new toy robot, which only seemed to have one volume: loud. Luther smiled indulgently at his son, who took no notice of how his toy affected others. Ben sent the kid a death glare that would've had his siblings at least questioning their judgement; Bradley remained blissfully oblivious.

Sarah, on the other hand, was just as bad as Alexa if not, somehow, worse. She fluttered around him, all smiles as she tried to make him feel at home. Did he want anything to drink? Was he hungry? Did he want put his bag down? But, the thing was, he could never go home again. 'Home'— if he could even call it that— had been a foreboding manor with forty-three bedrooms and nineteen bathrooms, plus seven other siblings that, on most days, he would've preferred to have not seen at all (but at least it would've been his choice; instead, they were permanently gone.) He could never go back to that life; these Hargreeves had made sure of that. He transferred his death glare from the boy to his mother.

"No," he ground out, gritting his teeth so hard that his jaw hurt. "I don't need anything, especially not from you. And can you get him to shut that thing up?"

The woman's smile tightened around the edges but didn't falter. She turned to her son, laughing airily. "Brad, why don't you go play some video games? Your Uncle Ben needs a moment to settle in."

"I'm not—" he began furiously.

As Sarah shepherded the blond out of the room (who cheered 'alright!' with a fist pump), Luther turned on him, pointing a stern finger at his chest. "Hey. This is my home. You're living under my roof. I don't care how you talk to me, but don't you talk to my wife like that. Hate me if you want, but she didn't do anything to your family."

"Oh, I will," the Asian man said contemptuously. "But she's also to blame. Why does she get to exist while all of my siblings stayed dead? She probably wasn't even in your original timeline; she and her spawn are just a product of this one."

Luther's eyes flashed and he took a step towards the brunet. Even without his super strength or apelike stature, he was still taller than his sort-of brother. Ben, however, was not easily intimidated and stood his ground. "Look," the larger man started, "while you're here, you're going to be civil with my family. Otherwise, I'm gonna call your parole officer. I'm sure they'll be interested to know that all that good behavior went out the door as soon as you got out of prison."

Before Ben could respond, Sarah reappeared (thankfully without her devil child in tow.) Seeming to sense the tension in the room, she hurried over to the men and rested her hand on her husband's arm. "Luther, honey, have you told Ben the good news yet?"

The blond startled slightly, having completely forgotten about his previous promise to reward Ben if he behaved. He cast the other man a quick look, though his own features were tinged with guilt. "Al would be disappointed that she wasn't here to deliver the news, too. She was the one who did most of the work."

"I think she'd understand," Sarah told him gently. "It might make him a bit less. . . prickly."

The dark-haired man scoffed at her choice of adjective. Luther gave his wife a disbelieving look. "Is that really possible?"

"It's worth a try," she replied.

He sighed as Ben pinned both of them with a glare. "Are you gonna spit it out, Andre?"

"You. . . might wanna sit down for this one," he suggested. The brunet didn't move except to cross his arms against his chest. "Okay, fine. Well, you know how Al works in the CIA? She has resources for finding people. And, uh, we. . . she found Sloane and Deanira."

There was a moment of silence. Then, Ben's arms dropped to his sides, his face morphing into a mixture of disbelief and anger. "You what?" he finally demanded, his voice dangerously low.

Luther shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Sarah for support, but she remained silent, her eyes trained on the other man. "Alexa tracked them down," he repeated, a bit more firmly. "Sloane and Deianira. They're alive, Ben."

Ben's laugh was cold and sharp. "And you just went behind my back and dug them up like it's your place to do that? I didn't ask for this! I don't need you or her fixing things that aren't broken."

"You didn't have to ask," the blond replied. "That's what family's for."

Ben scoffed. "Family? What family? The ones you killed? The ones you—" He broke off as his fury got the best of him, clogging his throat so he couldn't speak for a minute. Once he'd regained some composure, he sneered out: "you don't get to act like you're doing me a favor by bringing them back."

"We were just trying to—"

Ben's voice rose. "You think finding them makes up for everything else?"

"No," Luther admitted quietly. "But maybe it's a start? They're here, Ben. They're alive. Doesn't that matter?"

"Not to me," he snapped. He felt satisfied at the hurt that flickered across Luther's face, but it wasn't enough. It didn't change the fact that they had gone behind his back, interfering with things they didn't understand. It was worse that Sloane and Deianira were alive somewhere in this timeline. They hadn't reached out, they hadn't made the effort to see if he was okay. They'd probably moved on and didn't even think about their dead siblings. He could just imagine them living some happy, picturesque life together, laughing at him. He took a step back, shaking his head. "They had six years to talk to me and they didn't. I don't want anything to do with them. And I definitely don't want anything to do with you."

He turned on his heel and stormed off, making a beeline for the nearest room. He wrenched the door open and stalked inside, slamming it behind him. The house rattled from the force of the close. In the ensuing silence, Sarah glanced at her husband apprehensively. "Um. . . how long should we wait to tell him that that's our room?"

(Needless to say, the nondescript white envelope that had been pushed through the mail slot on the front door bearing the name Ben in clear, capital letters, went unnoticed until the next morning.)

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

It was one of the rare mornings that Alexa woke up before Five. The sun was just rising, their apartment still mostly dark. The brunet next to her rested peacefully; it had been one of his better nights, his dreams free of the nightmares that often plagued them. While she took a minute to fully wake up, she admired her boyfriend's handsome features, unusually free of his trademark smirk or brows furrowed in concentration. She knew better than to reach out and touch him— that would wake him up for sure.

She slowly got out of bed and pulled on a bathrobe, not bothering to get dressed any further as she was sure that those clothes would come off soon enough. The blonde padded over to their small kitchen and started the coffee machine, knowing her boyfriend would want some once he was awake. As she waited for it to start up, she paced the short distance between the two opposite walls. When she reached their front door— the midway point— her bare feet trod on something crinkly. She let out a soft 'oh!' of surprise at the change in floor texture.

Bending down to retrieve it, she saw that it was a rectangular, standard issue envelope. It had no stamp or return address, just her name written in big, clear print. This was made stranger because the one amenity their building had was a central P.O. box system on the first floor; letters very rarely came through their front door unless it was a rent announcement. She didn't recognize the handwriting as their landlord's.

Alexa tucked it under her arm and went back to the coffee machine, which was up and running by now. She measured out the grinds and set up the filter before she pressed the 'start' button. As expected, the smell of his favorite drink brewing woke Five. It didn't take long for him to come over and stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder. His voice was slightly groggy (with that very attractive sleep-raspiness) as he greeted her, "good morning, love."

She smiled softly as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Love? That's a new one."

"Yeah, well, Gene and Jean kind of ruined 'darling' for me last night."

The blonde chuckled at that. "Well, I like it."

Ever observant even when he was just waking up, Five noticed that Alexa— who would typically turn around and hug him properly when he came up behind her— stayed facing the coffee pot, one arm trapped by her side. He pulled back slightly and saw the white paper sticking out from under it. "What's this?"

She tried to snatch it back from him but he easily held it out of reach as he smirked at her. The blonde glared at him half-heartedly. "I'll turn off the coffee pot."

"You wouldn't dare," he countered, not believing her for a second. He flipped the envelope over, frowning as he realized: "you haven't opened this yet?"

"I just found it. I didn't recognize the handwriting and it's too early in the morning for whatever it probably contains," she replied.

The brunet handed it back to her. "Well, it would probably be a good idea to see what's inside, anyway. If it's a noise complaint from the neighbors we can just toss it."

Alexa felt her face heat up a bit despite herself and her lips curled into a shy smile. "Oh, god. If it is I'll never be able to face them again."

He shrugged. "That's why I've been proposing that we move."

She shook her head and opened the envelope as Five poured himself a cup of coffee. Her good mood quickly evaporated as she saw the words that greeted her on the page:

Alexandra,

Your brother Viktor has been kidnapped. Follow my exact instructions and no harm will come to him. He is being held captive at Sy's Dry Cleaning on Fifth Avenue. Come alone. Make sure you aren't followed.

Seeing her face fall as she read the paper, the brunet asked with concern, "what is it?"

"Viktor," she murmured, looking guilty. "He was kidnapped, probably yesterday. We never even realized—"

"Hey, it's okay," Five said hastily, knowing that she was immediately blaming herself for not acting sooner. "What does it say we have to do to get him back?"

She silently handed the note over to him, feeling the sting of tears behind her eyes for just assuming that Viktor had decided not to come to his niece's birthday party. She saw her boyfriend's hand tighten on the paper, crinkling it. After he finished reading, he gave her stern look. "Like hell I'm letting you go alone. This is obviously a trap."

"No, Five, you read it!" Alexa pointed to the specific lines. "It says come alone. If I don't do exactly as it says, Viktor will get hurt!"

He scoffed. "Ransom notes always say things like that. I'd still come with you even if we had our powers; there's no room for discussion when we don't. But don't worry, I'll stay out of sight— they won't even know I'm there."

The blonde looked like she wanted to argue more, but she glanced at the clock and thought of how long their brother had been in. . . whoever's hands. "Fine. Just. . . can we go now?"

He nodded, glancing over her bathrobe with faint amusement. "Yes, but we better get dressed first."

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

When they arrived at the designated location, Alexa was surprised to see that they weren't the only ones there. ". . . Ben?"

The Asian man whipped around at the unfortunately familiar voice. He tried to sound angry, but it only came out as confused: "Blondie? What are you doing here?"

She held up the letter that they'd gotten, still giving the man a once-over. "You. . . came to help save Viktor?"

"What? No," he said, holding up his own letter. "I was promised a lead on how to get my powers back."

Five looked between them thoughtfully. "One of you was lied to. Someone knows your motives well enough to get both of you here. This is definitely a trap."

Ben barely glanced at him as he scolded the blonde, "it said to come alone. You couldn't lose your shadow?"

While she had been initially against Five coming (mostly because she hadn't wanted to put either family member at risk), she bristled at the question now. "Actually," she corrected him crisply, "I thought backup would be a good idea. Y'know, because I have experience with this sort of thing, working in the CIA and all?" She turned her nose up at him and, grabbing Five's wrist, she stalked past him towards the door.

Her boyfriend smirked a little at the fact that she was singing a different tune now. He leaned towards her to murmur, "so my coming along was all your idea, hm?"

"Shut up and get out of sight," she grumbled, opening the door.

He gave her a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."

Ben pushed his way ahead of them irritably. As Five slipped away to hide amongst the clothes racks, the blonde took in the store, noting that it was dark and empty; it must have been their day off. She walked as quietly as she could between the aisles of clothes until she came to an opening towards the back where the cleaning process took place. She gasped in alarm at the sight of a figure sitting, tied to a chair, with a bag over their head.

Alexa began to run towards him, solely focused on getting to her brother, but she let out an 'oomph' as she collided with a sturdy arm. Ben glared at her. "Don't go rushing out into the open like an idiot." Begrudgingly, he admitted, "Five's right; it could be a trap."

She huffed impatiently but stilled, letting him assess the area for a moment. When he deemed it safe enough, he dropped his arm and let her continue forward. She quickly took the bag off his head and tossed it aside as she watched her brother worriedly. Thankfully, Viktor started moving immediately, squinting as even the dim lighting of the shop seemed bright to him. "Vik? Are you okay?"

"Lexi?" he mumbled, seeming to be coming around— had he been taking a nap?

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm sorry it took so long; we kinda just thought you were being an asshole by not showing up to your niece's birthday party," she explained, her words tripping over themselves in their urgency to get out.

He gave her a little smile. "Yeah, well, I kinda got waylaid." The blonde began to untie him as he looked around, asking, "where are the others?"

"There are no others," she replied. "Well, except for Ben. We got the same note— sort of. Someone promised him a way to get his powers back."

"Looks like I'm the sucker here," Ben grumbled, annoyed. He glared at the empty shop as if it had personally offended him.

As Alexa helped Viktor to his feet, they startled as a new voice spoke up, belonging to the same woman who had been responsible for the kidnapping: "au contraire, my dear; you will both get what you were promised."

The trio whipped around, trying to locate the source of the voice. They still didn't see anyone. She continued: "do you see that box on the table? Take a look inside."

They exchange a glance, then noticed what she was talking about. Alexa made her way over to it curiously, mumbling, "how did we miss that?"

She took the lid off. Her eyes widened as she immediately recognized the first item inside: "Cha-Cha's mask?"

"What's with the creepy kids' mask?" Ben asked. "You know who this belongs to?"

Alexa nodded absentmindedly, moving the mask aside to see what else the box contained. As she looked, the woman's voice sounded again: "Alexandra, I know you have an interest in the Keepers; you have learned that paraphernalia from other timelines have been leaking into this one. Most of what they have found is trivial compared to what I present to you now."

"You mean a way to get my powers back?" the Asian man guessed.

"Yes—" She broke off as the blonde came across a small mason-jar-like object with glowing particles inside. "A way for all of you to get your powers back."

Viktor tensed. "And what if we don't want them back?"

"Then you need not worry, my dear. I must apologize; you were only meant to be a stepping stone to my next play. In fact, in a gesture of my good will, you may leave now if you'd like. There is, after all, a reason why I only requested Ben and Alexandra to meet me here."

The brunet's eyes narrowed in the direction of the voice. "Like hell I'm leaving." He turned to his sister, worried by the look he saw in her eyes. It wasn't exactly the greed that Ben gazed at the container with, but it was a sort of longing. "Lexi, listen to me. You don't need your powers. You can't let. . . whoever this is tell you that you do."

Her hand tightened around the jar. "Why did you ask for only me and Ben? I'm not even the leader in our family; I'm last— number eight. What could you want with me?"

The woman spoke more gently, almost fondly, as she addressed the blonde: "my dear girl, you have always been a part of this, whether you realize it or not. Both of you have been chosen to play pivotal roles in resetting the timeline to its original state."

Alexa shook her head, trying to make sense of it. "Chosen? By who? The Keepers?"

There was a soft chuckle. "The Keepers are merely foot soldiers, Alexandra. They serve a higher order. You've been investigating them, yes, but you're not seeing the full picture. This jar you hold. . . it contains more than just the means to restore your powers. It's the catalyst that will help you return the timeline to what it was always meant to be."

She hesitated, staring down at the glowing particles inside the jar. A catalyst? She felt the weight of the decision pressing down on her. On one hand, there was the promise of regaining what she had lost— her purpose, the ability to protect her family again— but on the other, her brother's warning echoed in her mind.

Ben, however, was less conflicted. His eyes flicked from the jar to Alexa. "Look, Blondie, you don't get it. I need my powers back. I don't care what this Cleanse is. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes?" she repeated doubtfully. "That's what gets people killed, Ben."

But her eyes stayed trained on the jar. Her thoughts were in turmoil. Could she truly risk everything to regain her powers? Did she even want them back after everything that had happened? She finally had the life she'd always wanted with Five; getting mixed up in this would certainly put that in jeopardy.

The woman's voice returned, more insistent now: "the Cleanse is inevitable. You can either help restore balance or you can watch the world burn. The choice is yours."

Alexa met Viktor's anxious gaze and he gave a slight shake of his head. When she looked at Ben, she could see the eager hope in his eyes, which were fixed on the glowing particles. With such disparate responses to the issue at hand, she knew she had to take everyone's feelings into account. Since she couldn't see the speaker's face, the blonde spoke to the room at large: "this. . . feels like a family decision; I'd want the others to give their opinions, too. Can you give us twenty-four hours to decide?"

There was a pause that was heavy with disappointment; the woman had obviously wanted them to agree immediately. "Very well. Take the entire box with you; it is necessary for the next phase of the plan."