apocalypsehow | Sissy's Farm

Well, it was probably a good thing that they all joined Vanya going to Sissy's farm. Because there was obviously something going on considering the snow...and the blue light emitting from the barn. Both things were weird.

"You think whatever's going on in the barn is causing the storm front?" Diego asked.

Five	That there was some Commission training talking, Diego. "The correlation is high," Five replied dryly.
Sissy	No, what was happening in the barn was totally normal! See, this woman coming out of the barn wielding a shotgun was also normal! Go away!
Vanya	"Sissy! Sissy!" Vanya moved forward to put herself between the shotgun and her siblings. "What's going on?"
Sissy	"Carl. He's--he's dead." Yeah he had been an asshole, but he was still her husband. "Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, same way you sent those policemen flying. What did you do to him?"
Vanya	Oh, shit. "No, no--"
Diego	"We don't have time for this," Diego mumbled before moving forward to get to the barn. Go ahead and shoot him, lady.
Sissy	Sissy turned the gun on Diego. "Where do you think you're going?" To be fair to her, why in the hell would she trust seven people she barely (or didn't) know all color coordinated in black?
Annie	Annie neatly stepped in front of Diego, holding her hands up. Again, a gesture of peace unless you actually knew Annie and what those hands were capable of. But she had no intention of blasting this frightened woman. "We're here to help your son," she pleaded.
Vanya	"Look, Sissy, I found my family," Vanya said, gesturing behind her. "These are my brothers, and my sisters."
Sissy	Sissy lowered the gun slowly. "Were you lying to me the whole time?"
Vanya	"Of course not. Look, I didn't know who I was. But I do now," Vanya said. "And we are not the monsters they say we are. We did not kill the president. We are not terrorists. We're not here to hurt anyone. We're the only ones that can help Harlan." Hopefully they could help Harlan. Vanya's words seemed to placate Sissy, since she was leading them into the barn a moment later.
Harlan	Harland was, in fact, just a scared looking little boy. Who also happened to be generating the blue vortex around him that was causing all of the weird weather. Again, they were all going to need to discuss how Vanya did this later.
Vanya	"Harlan, it's Vanya! Look, Harlan, I know you're really scared, but I can help you. I need you to listen to me, okay?" she said, moving closer. "Can you do that?" She let her eyes glow white as she entered the vortex to try to get to him.
Five	"Careful," Five said, having some experience on the receiving end of those powers there, Vanya. It wasn't very fun.
Klaus	Somehow Klaus heard that weird noise that Five's teleporting and that briefcase made over all that was going on there. Which was why he was looking around to see what the heck was going on over in that direction...
The Handler & Lila	Oh, look. Over there, far from the barn but not nearly far enough, a pair of angry-looking women had appeared. Wonder what they wanted.
Klaus	"Uh, guys?" Maybe those people were important?
Diego	"What?" Diego asked, moving to see what Klaus was looking at. "Ah, shit." That really wasn't good.
Klaus	"Wait, who are they?" Why was he out of the loop? It so wasn't fair.
Five	"One's the Handler, the other is Diego's little stalker," Five said, joining Klaus and Diego to look at them with an annoyed little frown. Of course she would be there to handle this personally.
Luther	"Which one is--" Luther shook his head. "You know what? Doesn't matter, they both look angry."
Allison	"Yeah, our brother has that effect on people." Was she talking about Diego or Five? Both. It was both.
Five	You know, that was rude, but fair. "I'm gonna find out what they want. You guys stay with Vanya and the kid."
Five	"I'm coming with you too." He hadn't left things great with Lila, but maybe he'd get through to her. "Come on."

The Handler	"Mmm, I love the smell of that fresh country air," The Handler greeted them, waiting until the pair of them were close enough to hear her. Drama, you know. "Don't you, darling?"
Lila	"Makes me want to vomit." So Lila was in a good mood, in case you were wondering.
Five	Yeah, yeah, it was roses all around. "What do you want?"
Lila	"To watch you suffer," Lila answered, enunciating her words coldly. Fun fact: Lila was mad at Five for a reason that had nothing to do with the shitshow Diego'd caused by escaping! It was a whole, brand-new (to her) shitshow! (She was also mad about the escape thing, too.)
Diego	"What about me?" Come on, surely she had a reason to hate him too.
Lila	Lila looked over to Diego. "You're not even worth my wrath." Good thing she said that all cool and emotionless and not, you know, like a person who had a whole lot of wrath to dole out at the moment.
The Handler	"Easy." The Handler didn't seem overly bothered -- she was acting downright pleasant, even, but that meant exactly nothing, as everyone here already knew. "We're here on official business."
Five	"And what business is that?" Five asked. Because yes, he was well aware of how she acted.
The Handler	She smiled at him. Such a waste, really. All of them. Oh, well. "As the head of the Commission, I've decided to eliminate the criminals responsible of the former board of directors."
Diego	"Yeah, right," Diego said, almost laughing at how ridiculous that was. "We didn't kill the board."
Five	...yeeeeah. About that. "Uh, Diego, that's not entirely accurate."
The Handler	"You didn't tell them." Amazing. A m a z i n g. "Oh, Five."
Diego	Diego whipped his head around to look at Five. "What the hell did you do?" You and your murdering have fucked them again, Hargreeves!
Five	It was just a little murder. As a treat. "What I had to get my family home," Five snapped. Because murder was clearly always the best way to go about it. He turned his attention back on the Handler in case anyone here thought he did it apropos of nothing. "Until somebody reneged on our deal."
The Handler	"Somebody wouldn't have reneged on the deal if somebody could've met a simple deadline," The Handler chided. "Alas."
Five	"You set me up to fail!"
The Handler	"You set yourself up to fail, friend," she replied. "You and your brothers and sisters. Kind of the running theme of your little life, isn't it?" And she was going to really enjoy watching him fail now, too.
Diego	"Dude, I can't believe you killed the board of directors," Diego said, shaking his head. "You have no idea how screwed up the Commission is now." Diego, you were there for like half an afternoon.
The Handler	"Messed up? Who's saying that?" She would have their heads. Maybe on spikes outside her office.
Diego	"Everybody. Christ, even the janitors think it's going to shit." Again, he was there maybe three hours. Four, tops.
Lila	"That's not all he killed." And while Lila was clearly thrumming with barely controlled emotion, she was also staring at Five in a way that communicated that she obviously thought he'd know exactly what she meant. She was not this upset about the board. Not remotely.
Five	"What are you talking about?" But, no, seriously. You'll need to be much more specific. He killed a lot of people in his time. Like. A lot.
The Handler	Oh, that wouldn't do. She needed to keep Lila upset at the correct people, here. "Enough," The Handler said briskly, setting her briefcase down. "The point is, all of you are going to die today. Hmm?" Capisce?
Diego	Those kind of threats were more on Diego's wavelength. Killing boards and deals...no, he'd just take old fashioned threats, thank you. "Oh, well, I don't like your chances," he said. "Seven of us, two of you."
The Handler	See, Lila? This one was cute, but arrogant and dumb as a box of rocks. Glasses, darling. "You know, you're right," she commented. "Let's change that." She lifted her hand and snapped it, and on cue, dozens upon dozens of individuals with briefcases -- many of them in animal masks, callback! -- appeared behind her in blue blips.
Diego	The masks were super weird...and one guy seemed to have a paper bag over his head. Diego winced as the sound of dozens of guns cocking could be heard. He definitely had asked for that one with his comment, hadn't he? "What do we do now?"
Five	Five inhaled deeply, balling his hands into fists as he tried to get an accurate count on them all. "Well we've got two choices: fight and die now, or run and die later."
Diego	"Preference?" Really, he was just hoping to keep the conversation going until someone thought of a better idea.
Five	"Wouldn't mind a few more minutes of breathing air through the ol' windbags," Five admitted. Also for his idiot siblings to survive this.
Diego	"All right," Diego said, already taking some steps back.
The Handler	"All right," The Handler called, checking her watch as though time mattered. "Let's get this over, shall we?" And with that, she pulled a bright red scarf from her pocket, waving it high like she was about to kick off a street race for pinks or something. She'd give them enough time to run a few feet before dropping it. Only sporting.
Diego	Diego didn't need to even see the dramatics of the scarf, he was already running. But it soon became obvious that sprinting was not either he or Five's forte. "We're not gonna make it!" And even if they got to the barn...it didn't look like the sturdiest structure. At least he knew Annie would be okay.
Five	They really weren't gonna make it at this pace, no. Which was why Five latched onto Diego's arm to teleport them ahead in a little spurt of speed.
Five	God damn it. "Five, I'm gonna puke!" The running and the teleporting and the fear of death all at the same time would do that to a guy.
Five	Just learn to get used to the nausea, Diego. God. "No time!" Five snapped, steering them toward a tractor that could at least absorb some bullets. Which still left them kind of in the open. "Now what?" Since Diego had all that Commission expertise to share...
Diego	It offered a little cover, but Diego still felt like he was about to clipped at any moment. He tried to look further ahead to see where their siblings and Annie were, but it was kind of hard with the hail of bullets... "Blink us to the house." Maybe there'd be another gun in there. Not that it'd help much against an army, but still.
Five	"Okay," Five said, visibly concentrating on that and... nada. Look, it had been a very long week for him, okay?
Diego	It happened to older men all of the time, Five. "What?" Diego asked. "What's wrong?" Shouldn't he be in the house and feeling nauseous by now?
Five	He was trying his best!" "Shit!" Five hissed, trying again. "I'm out of fuel. I'm too tired." And it wasn't a metaphor for anything, you little shit.
Diego	Well that sucked. Diego had one other idea, though he hadn't actually tried it on this scale before. Only one way to find out if he could do it, right? "Go," Diego said. "I'll cover you." Maybe. He was either going to do it or die trying.
Diego	Excuse you, he might be an asshole, but he wasn't going to abandon his brother to die here. "Diego, what are you--"
Diego	"Go!" Diego shouted, shoving at Five's shoulder to encourage him to move. He was rolling out of cover a moment later, holding out both hands and trying to focus everything he had on the bullets flying towards them. He had done this before--with a champagne cork--so it only stood to reason he could do it with bullets, right? It took everything he had but it worked. Holy shit, it was working. He was stopping bullets. Did you see this, people?
Annie	Annie had been standing with Luther and Allison and Klaus, watching this all play out while Vanya tried to get Harlan under control in the barn, and she'd taken off in a dead sprint towards Diego and Five as soon as she heard gunfire start ringing out. Maybe she could get to them quick enough, maybe she could just take all the bullets -- And then she realized what she was seeing. It was like when she and Five had first landed in Dallas, when she'd been struck with a knee-weakening blaze of long hair and flips and bullets being turned back on the men who'd fired them. It was still hot now. But it was also knee-weakening in a relieving, amazing kind of way, and she couldn't help her reaction. Maybe a shouted, "Fuck yeah!" was less than appropriate at the moment? Whatever. That was so damn cool.
Diego	Diego would have been appreciative of the cheering if he had heard it. As it was, all of his energy was going towards the bullet stopping. He couldn't hold it for long, soon his limbs were shaking and he felt light headed. Suddenly he understood what Five meant when he had run out of gas. Using the last bit of strength he had, he diverted the bullets to his right. He hadn't meant for them to blow up a tractor but...still pretty cool.
Vanya	Goddammit, can't a person help a child having a superpowered crisis in peace? After a few moments of hearing gunshots, followed by an explosion, Vanya realized she'd have to settle this herself. She flew out of the barn window, feeling totally in control of her powers for the first time...in, well, ever. Vanya took in all of the sound around her, from the sound of bullets to the wind, and unleashed a blast of energy that took out every single weirdo in a suit and mask. You're welcome, siblings.

Allison	Oh thank god they had a sibling who could literally end the world with their power. "It's over," Allison said once it fell silent again.
The Handler	Except for how if it was over, would The Handler and her exceptional daughter still be standing under a protective bubble the same exact blue as Vanya's blast? Hmm. "Your turn, dear," The Handler said softly as the bubble around them burst.
Lila	Lila didn't need to be cued. Her eyes lit up white, a glowing light settling in the center of her chest as she rose, slowly, into the air. Surprise, everyone. Look what she could do. Sure looked a whole lot like Vanya wasn't the only one with a world-ending powerset, was she? But don't worry: it definitely wasn't as easy as, 'Oh, Lila has the same powers as Vanya.' That would be too easy to predict. For now, though, they probably ought to worry about how she was floating and clearly pulling power into herself from the ambient sounds, the same as Vanya had.
Luther	"Uh, how is she doing that?" Luther asked.
Diego	"That's not normal." No shit, Diego.
Annie	"Did any of us know she could do that?" Annie yelled, looking back at Luther, Klaus and Allison because she knew damn well Diego had not known. It was mostly rhetorical. If this was what it looked like -- Vanya 2.0 -- then they needed to take cover. Even bulletproof Annie wasn't going to do well with being on the receiving end of a blast like that.
Klaus	"Oh, that doesn't look good," Klaus said, totally going for an understatement here.
Lila	Well said, Klaus! It sure did not look good for them, did it? Considering Lila had mimicked pretty much everything else Vanya had done -- flying up into the air, white eyes, general ethereal spookiness -- it probably was easy to predict what came next, right? Your fault if you didn't duck, anyway, when she let loose all that energy in an enormous blast that spread out across the field towards the Hargreeves and the buildings.
Diego	Diego threw himself on the ground to avoid being thrown by Lila's blast. It worked, in the sense that he wasn't thrown. However it didn't stop a tractor from being thrown into the air and landing on his leg, trapping his foot. He was just thankful it didn't get crushed.
Luther	Luther had been on the receiving end of Vanya's powers before and you know what? It still sucked. He couldn't see where Klaus and Allison got blasted to, mostly because he was too busy being thrown into the house. Where Five also was. So...look out below. Ape man incoming.
Five	Yeah, he was very lucky to not get nailed by all 800 pounds of him. "Luther, are you alright?" he asked. Because he super couldn't drag your giant ass out of here if push came to shove.
Luther	"...I think I swallowed my tongue." And maybe broke his ass? Everything hurt.
Five	Was that sigh annoyed or relieved? It was both. It was definitely both. "Luther, if you swallowed your tongue you wouldn't be talking, you big moron," he said, trying to pull Luther to his feet. Oh yeah, it was goin' great. "Come on, on your feet."
Luther	Aw, Five, look at you trying to lift Luther up. "What the hell was that?" he asked. He knew what it looked like but...that couldn't be possible, right?
Five	"She must have redirected Vanya's energy wave." Five was really not enjoying this ability of hers. Not at all.
Luther	"I know that, but how?" Was there gonna be another moon landing on them soon? That was important to know.
Five	"Luther, look out!" Was it just some big sibling instinct or the need to not admit that he had not idea how that happened that caused Five to give the big dope a shove as the chimney crumbled down on them? Hard to say. Because, reasonably, Luther really should have been able to tank that. And not, say, the teenage body that Five was stuck in. And now stuck under some bricks!
Annie	And as Lila stalked across the field towards the farmhouse and the barn, Annie managed to get back up to her feet. That hadn't felt any better than it had last summer when Vanya had flung her aside -- though, hey, no wall this time. Small favors, right? In any case, she was the closest between Lila and the house, and even if she couldn't stop her outright, Annie figured she could slow her down until the others were able to join her. So, without thinking much about it, she ran straight at Lila to close the distance between them enough to fire a bright blast of energy straight at the other woman. And some good news there, at least -- even with chimneys falling and children creating vortexes in the barn, something around here still had electrical power for her to use! That sure would have sucked if she hadn't managed to find any.
Lila	That was cute. Annie's biggest mistake, of course, was that she'd used her powers in front of Lila a few times by now, and so she was pretty easy to predict. And thanks to the loaned-out super-durability, Lila didn't even have a scratch on her when she pushed herself back up in the wake of the blast. She smiled unkindly over at Annie. "Sparkly," she commented dryly, before her own eyes lit up gold and she fired an identical blast over at Annie from both hands.
Annie	"What the fuck?" Annie didn't have a ton of time to register what was actually happening -- that Lila's eyes were gold, and not white like they had been when she'd been using Vanya's powers -- before she was being hit with the full brunt of a very, very familiar bright light. That -- what the fuck? It took her longer to understand than she was especially proud of, but Annie would blame the fact that she had never realized that her blasts hurt that much, and she was kind of reeling from having the wind knocked out of her. But she got it. Lila didn't have Vanya's powers. She had all of their powers. She was like a mirror. But at least she was a mirror who hadn't been training with this powerset for over twenty years, and Annie was banking on that as she flung a hand towards Lila's feet and then swiftly moved to avoid retaliation. "I knew I didn't like you."
Lila	Lila took the blast to her feet as gracefully as she could -- which is to say, it knocked her on her ass, but she sprang back up quickly and, seemingly, without any pain. (She was in a lot of pain. But you learned not to show that kind of thing where she was from.) "Aw." She put on a sad, pouty face that didn't even come close to being a genuine expression. "Break my heart, why don't you?" She didn't even finish the sentence before whipping her hands at Annie, pulling enough power to make the tractor pinning Diego actually sputter before firing off a blast strong enough to hopefully get this obstacle out of her way.
Annie	Annie had been all set with a little quip about how, like, not to be all regressive and Taylor Swift about it but Lila had literally stolen her boyfriend -- but Annie was also not really the kind of superhero who saved a lot of breath for bantering, either. She swallowed the remark, trying to feint out of the way and maybe give Lila the good punch in the face she deserved -- but for better or for worse, Lila's lifetime of training was going to win over Annie's lifetime of training, here. Annie would reflect later that it was probably because she hadn't been as willing to fight dirty or pull as much power as Lila was, but that was little comfort as she was flung through the air by one of her own signature gold blasts, and hit the ground near Diego and his tractor with a pronounced thump. She was gonna need a minute before she got up again now, now. Holy shit, those things packed a punch.
Diego	Diego could only see parts of that fight (and wisely shielded his eyes when necessary), but he definitely felt and heard Annie hit the ground next to him. "Babe, you okay?" Look at them, throwing 'babe' around casually now.
Annie	Annie kind of loved it. Trust these two to find new ways to be affectionate in the middle of all of this shit. "Yeah," Annie replied, the word coming out as a groan as she rolled to watch Lila continue her journey towards the house. You know what? Annie had held her off long enough. Luther or Five or someone could take over now. "Are you?" She wasn't so beat up as to not notice that Diego was very much stuck under farm equipment. But at least he didn't seem to be in pain? She would have been over here a lot faster if he'd seemed very hurt, Lila be damned.
Diego	"Well, I can't get out from under this tractor," he said. "But other than that I'm pretty good." He hadn't gotten thrown into a house or shot with electricity or anything so he was better than most people around here.
Annie	"You know, I know I've said it before," Annie said as she pushed herself up and went over to survey the tractor, "but I'm really sorry about that time I blasted you into a wall. New appreciation for it now." They had apparently reached the 'when this is over, I'm sleeping for a week' portion of the adventure. That part always seemed to come around eventually. She found a grip on the tractor, shooting a little smile over to Diego as she settled into a deep squat. "I'm gonna lift on three, okay? One, two --" Less 'three' than a lot of grunting as Annie lifted the tractor up, but hopefully he got the gist.
Diego	Diego scrambled out from under the tractor, not wanting Annie to hold it any longer than she had to. But-- "That's pretty hot, by the way." Of course he'd think that. He caught sight of Luther, Allison and Klaus heading their way. Allison and Luther looked like they'd been through some shit. He guessed Lila got to them too.
Annie	Annie wished she knew how much that tractor weighed. It seemed like more than a car! Was this a new record?? Important things! "You would think that," she murmured as she carefully replaced the tractor, but given her smile she didn't seem to mind, you know, at all. She turned to the others, shielding a hand over her eyes. "Where's Va -- oh, wait, I see her over there. Are you guys okay? Where's Five?"
Luther	"Got hit with a ton of bricks. Literally," Luther said. "But he'll be okay." And neither he nor Five will acknowledge that Five saved his life ever again. "Lila can blink like Five, by the way."
Annie	"She can also do my light show," Annie contributed, nodding and crossing her arms around herself. She hadn't yet realized Lila also had her invulnerability, but she would eventually put it together given the lack of burns.
Allison	"Yeah that bitch rumored me so I couldn't breathe," Allison added, sounding like she was ready to murder her for it.
Klaus	"And destroyed half the farm in a shock wave," Klaus said. "So unoriginal." You totally did it better, Vanya.
Vanya	Appreciate the support, Klaus. "If she can do what we can...she might as well be one of us."
Luther	Wait. No, no...wait. "That can't be." Surely their father wouldn't lie to them!
Vanya	Oh no, did old man Five reinvigorate the trusting in Dad thing again? "It's a reasonable conclusion."
Klaus	"But there were only seven of us," Klaus said. "And Annie." Waaait a minute. "Maybe she's like Annie."
Vanya	... In what universe would that make sense Klaus? "Maybe we need to consider there's more of us."
Allison	"Are we surprised?" Allison asked. "Dad never told us the whole truth about anything." Vanya being the prime example of it.
Luther	Luther didn't even have the brain capacity to deal with that right now. Let's focus on the person trying to actively kill them, hmm? "Okay, if she can mirror our powers, whatever we throw at her she can match." Which was the definition of mirroring, Luther. "How do we get past that?"
Klaus	"Yeah, but she can mirror only one of our powers at a time," Klaus said with literally no proof of that. None. Zero proof. But he was saying it anyway.
Allison	"You sure about that?" Allison asked, really not liking the thought of all of their powers being used at once.

Five	Once Five got out from the completely unnecessary pile of bricks, he was pretty pissed off. But that was also just his base state of being. But he was totally going to use it to keep himself charged enough to do this. "You looking for me?" he asked to give his idiot siblings some time to get their shit together here.
Lila	Lila had been having fun tormenting the other Hargreeves but she was, indeed, here on a mission. And this one was pretty personal. "You little turd," she murmured, her expression shifting from a gleeful smile to one of menace as she caught sight of Five.
Five	Again, super lost on why it was so personal. "Let's dance," he said, knowing this was going to turn into another teleport off.
Lila	You knew perfectly well why this was personal, you little shit. Obviously! Lila blinked after him, teleporting inside the house for a good, old-fashioned kick fight. She was more prepared for him this time, but it was still an uncomfortably even match.
Five	Don't make him M. Bison this shit! The fact that they were so evenly matched was not at all helped by both their, ah, connections to The Handler. But that was just not going to be addressed. Except how it definitely was. Hopefully sooner rather than later because he was already exhausted from everything else this week.
Lila	"Careful, now," Lila cautioned, teleporting over to perch on a counter and pretend she wasn't entirely out of breath, herself. "Or you are going to tire yourself out." Not her, though. She could do this all day. Totally.
Five	"How are you doing this?" Because it wasn't cool at all!
Lila	"Oh, anything that you can do," Lila informed him, picking up a handy cast iron frying pan, "I can do better." Which was sort of the crux of it, though the 'better' part was arguable
Five	Maybe with enough practice she could get there! He eyed that frying pan warily, knowing full well how bad it would be to get caught by it. Which meant it was time to play a little more defensively for the moment before taking off back to the barn to keep her off balance with a teleport.
Lila	The funny thing about teleporting was how inexact it appeared to be. Which meant that while Lila, by all appearances, left the house after Five, she still showed up in the barn with the half-second head start that she needed to lob that frying pan at his appearing form. Again, 'better' was not the term. Maybe 'dirtier'? 'Less fairly'?
Five	Ohhh, and down he went when that frying pan connected the moment he reappeared. Because his powers sucked when used against him. Seriously, was this what it was like growing up with him? It sucked.
Lila	Everyone was kind of getting a taste of their own medicine today, weren't they? But Lila hadn't really wanted to kill any of the others. Those were just orders. This, though? This was for her. She made her way over to Five and pressed her foot down on his windpipe. "Doesn't feel so good, does it?"
Five	No. No, it did not. "It shit and die," he hissed, grabbing her ankle to throw her off of himself. See, that was how you got out of someone choking you of with their foot! Free lesson. He scrambled away from her, ready for round two. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Let's finish this thing."
Lila	"No," Lila said. Her voice was scratchy, and it could have totally been because she was not nearly as indestructible as she was pretending she was, but it definitely wasn't because of that. "This isn't going to be quick. You are going to suffer for what you did."
Five	"Lady, I've got no idea what you're talking about." He really would need more details, okay? Like, way more than vague accusations.
Lila	"Ronnie and Anita Gill," Lila said, breathing hard and staring at him. "1993, East London. You hog-tied them and shot them in the head." Ringing a bell, yet? Maybe the family resemblance could do some heavy lifting for her, here. Lila was starting to get more emotional the more she thought about that night.
Five	Okay, that helped, actually. "The flower merchants," Five said slowly, remembering the job now. Because there was a very specific irregularity during it. "They were your parents?"
Lila	"And they never did anything to anyone," Lila supplied, sniffling though she'd deny it. "They didn't deserve to die like that." At least the Hargreeves hadn't known their birth parents. Lila had been four when The Handler had taken her home.
Five	Oh, things made way more sense now. "You're right, alright?" Five said. "I killed them." No point denying that. "But I killed a lot of people over the years. It was all just a job. It was nothing personal."
Lila	"'Nothing personal' my ass," Lila laughed. "Yeah, I've killed. It's always, always personal." It was one of the most personal things you could do, killing someone.
Five	"That's why you're not cut out to be an assassin." Like, real talk, Lila.
Lila	You know, maybe not. But she was pretty sure she still wanted to be one for the next couple of minutes. She reached down, yanking a knife out of her boot. "Bet your life on that?"
Five	He meant a successful assassin! "You want to blame someone?" Five asked, holding up his hands to protect himself while dropping some truth bombs here. "Blame the Handler. She's the one that faked the kill order."
Lila	"Bullshit. I saw the kill order," Lila replied, too fast to have actually thought about whether it could be true. It was a self-protection thing.
Five	"Lila, listen to what I'm telling you," Five said more firmly. "The Handler gave me the kill order. She came on the job, which she had never done before." It hadn't been right, but he had been a little too tunnel visioned to get back to his family to care. "You're Commission, you know execs never go on jobs, but that day in London, she was there. Ask yourself why."
Lila	"Stop trying to muddy the waters," Lila shot back, resisting what he was saying. Why would her mo -- why would The Handler have had her parents killed? It didn't make any sense.
Five	Five gave a little huff that could be called a laugh as he looked her over again. "I never realized what she was up to at the time, but now it all makes sense."
Lila	"What?" Lila was too smart to actually be confused on this point. She was just stalling because she didn't want to hear him say what some part of her already knew.
Five	She was going to hear it anyway. And so were his siblings. He had to trust that at least one of them would figure it out. "She never cared about your parents, she was looking for you."
Lila	She knew the answer to this one, too, but she was still resisting thinking about it. Resisting it so hard, in fact, that she'd gotten pretty lazy about paying attention to her surroundings. Blame the truth bombs, plus the fact she was still looking at her parents' murderer even if he apparently hadn't made the call himself. "Why?"
Diego	"Because you're one of us." Kind of hard not to see and hear where all the fighting was what with all the blue glowy teleportation. Diego had managed to get to the barn in time to hear the more important bits of the conversation. "The Handler stole you, Lila," Diego said. "Just like our asshole father took all of us."
Lila	"No," Lila insisted, turning around to look at Diego and the others in dismay. She was also still holding her knife out, but she'd gotten a lot less deliberate with it. "It's not the same thing."
Diego	"You're right. Because he didn't have our parents murdered." Well. Not that he knew of. He held up his hands, showing he was totally unarmed right now. "Listen to me, Lila. You were born October 1st, 1989. The same day as all of us." Except Annie. But that took away from the dramatics of the spiel.
Lila	Annie would at least be the first to yell out her own birthday if anyone even began to suggest she might be at all related to Diego. Take comfort in that, everyone. But that was beside the point, because Lila was starting to panic and it showed. "Stay back!" she screamed, waving the knife wildly.
Diego	"Hey, wait," Diego said, looking back his siblings and then back to Lila. "Wait. Just stop." Let's allllllll be cool here with their...sibling? Is that what she was?
Lila	"I trusted you," she snarled at Diego, all the hurt and confusion from the last day coming out in a rush. "I got you a job, I even introduced you to my mother -- and you just took off on me!" Like. She had kidnapped him, sure, and just declared him her boyfriend as a unilateral decision, but could no one see this misplaced affection for what it was? Come on. Lila even communicated her feelings like one of them.
Diego	Diego could definitely see it as some weird and misplaced affection. Unfortunately the keywords were were "weird" and "misplaced". "I needed to save the world!" Come on, you were in the asylum with him for months, you knew about the weird hero complex. "She's using you, Lila. The Handler." The lady didn't even have a real person name, clearly you couldn't trust her. No offense, Five.
Lila	Maybe she did! Maybe she did have a people name and it would be lost, tragically, to the ages. "You're wrong. She raised me," Lila said, lifting her chin defiantly. "She loves me." Don't mind the way she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Luther	Luther decided to pipe up, because this happened to be a subject he was an expert in. "Love shouldn't have to hurt that much." If they sent you to the moon, it was generally a bad sign, just for the record.
Lila	Lila had one thing to say to all that beautiful sincerity, Luther. She shoved a finger down her throat and made a pronounced gagging noise.
Luther	Luther rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I tried."
Five	"He's right, we have to kill her." FIVE, STOP SUGGESTING MURDER TO FIX YOUR PROBLEMS.
Diego	"Five!" When has you murdering anyone ever helped? Case in point: This Lila thing right now. "I got this." He hoped so anyway. It'd be a shame to kill someone who was just confused. "Truth? The Handler's dangerous. And you're scared of what she'll do with all of that new power. That's why you dragged me to the Commission. Because I know what it's like to love dangerous people." Yeah, he loved all of you. Shut up. "The difference is they love me back."
Lila	"Shut up." Lila was definitely crying right now, but she would sooner stab someone than actually deal with how this was all making her feel, and how right Diego was. See how she had her knife out in front of her? Pointed at him? Totally willing to stab you to make you stop talking, Diego. She definitely would.
Diego	As someone who was basically a professional in both knife threatening and crying, Diego knew when someone really meant to stab him. This wasn't one of those times. "The only thing she loves is power," Diego said. "The minute she can't use you, she will turn on you. And deep down I think you know that."
Lila	"You don't know me, Diego." Except for how right now, she was an absolutely open book. Maybe even one written for exceptionally stupid children.
Diego	"Don't I?" Because these issues all looked eerily familiar. "We can be your family, if you just let us."
The Handler	What a touching scene. You didn't get as far in the Commission as she had without being a crack shot. So while plenty of bullets flew as soon as The Handler appeared in the doorway and lifted her submachine gun, she was careful with them. Some for the Umbrella assholes, a couple for their unaccounted-for blonde friend, and none for Lila. She was definitely more generous with her fire than necessary, though. Had to make sure they went down
Annie	The thing about that unaccounted-for blonde was that she really wasn't like the rest of them, and not just because she had been born on December 21, 1996. Getting shot hurt, as it always did, but Annie barely felt the pain so much as the force of being gunned down to the ground. And since she didn't even bleed, she was rolling onto her side to get to her feet, and as soon as she could breathe she was shouting. "Diego? Five? Lu -- oh my God, Diego!" They were all dead. She could tell that by looking, but her brain wasn't cooperating, and she was still kneeling uselessly next to Diego's side and frantically grasping at his wrist. "No, no, no, no, no -- "
The Handler	Well, that was interesting. She hadn't really taken note of this one, but look who was bulletproof! Hmm. She was kind of old to take home, though. Probably had her own thoughts and opinions and things. Pity. "Aww," The Handler said insincerely, looking down at the sad girl.
Annie	Annie was completely numb, so she was glad her body still knew what to do. She sprang up, making an incoherent sound of grief and rage as her eyes illuminated, and she charged at the woman who had just stolen everything from her.
The Handler	And glowy eyes, too! Well, she might just have to take this one back with her, after all. All kinds of surprises, here! It'd be easier now that The Handler had neatly smacked the impulsive little thing across the face with the barrel of her gun, anyway. Lay still for a bit, dear. Get those emotions under control.
Lila	Lila had been sitting on the floor, her arms drawn around her knees and shaking slightly. She'd half-expected to get shot, too. As it was, her eyes were glued on Diego's lifeless body. "It's true, what Five said, isn't it?"
The Handler	"Darling." She was not going to sit here all day while Lila had a whole emotional fit. Not the time or the place. And besides, it was ancient history, anyway. "I need to know that we can get past this, be a happy family again. Hmm?"
Lila	Lila slowly rose to her feet, looking around at the dead Hargreeves littering the barn. "They're my real family," she whispered, looking over at The Handler. She held the other woman's expressionless gaze as she crossed over closer. "Do you even love me?"
The Handler	She didn't answer. And that was answer enough, wasn't it? She'd known Lila was going to raise her knife even before it happened -- she raised you, darling, she knew everything about you -- and The Handler fired a single round straight into her adopted daughter's gut. "Que sera, sera." There you go. Join your family, then. There was a soft noise from a few feet away, and -- oh, did she dare to hope? "You're still alive!" she squealed in delight, crossing over to the not-quite-dead body of her best frenemy. "Lucky you. You got to see how this all played out."
Five	Oh yeah, living his biggest nightmare was super fun. And he wasn't trying his very best to kill the Handler with his eyes as he bled out there on the floor of some Texan barn in the wrong point in time. Honestly, kind of how he thought he'd die. Not so much his siblings.
The Handler	God, she was going to miss him. But she had also wanted to do this for a long, long time. And thanks to his tenacity, she got to look in his eyes while she shot him this time. She raised her gun, staring down the barrel -- and then a bullet sailed through her midsection, taking blood spatter with it. The Handler gasped in shock, the injury not catching up with her quite as quickly as it had most of the other shot people in this barn, and she spun to look at her assailant. Popular day for dramatic entrances through that barn door.
The Swede	He had kind of been Chekov's Swede. Y'all should have expected him. Kind of a shame he didn't get to kill those other people, but he did get to shoot the woman who had set him and his brothers up for failure in the first place. Bye, eccentrically dressed lady.
Five	Oh riiiiiight. They'd left one of those guys alive, hadn't they? But right now, Five was unfortunately stuck with his father's voice in his head and the advice he'd given after that shitshow of a family dinner. Seconds, not decades. It sounded stupid then, but right now... He clenched his fist and really tried to do just that, using everything he had left in order to finally make that breakthrough as he watched everything happen in reverse with him moving independently of it all to find that moment just before the Handler entered the barn. This time he'd get it right as he positioned himself next to the door she'd entered through.
Diego	Diego, meanwhile, was back to being very much alive and trying to talk down Lila. Again. For the first time, if you were him. Second time if you were Five. Time travel was nuts. "We can be your family, if you let us."
The Handler	Why, look! Right on cue, here was a fabulously-dressed woman, casually strolling in with a gun to kill them all! Again! Honestly, she'd probably be thrilled if she realized she potentially got to do this twice.
Five	Surprise, motherfucker! It was Five, coming into the ring with the steel chair! Or just coming in from her side, twisting the gun out of the Handler's hands and turning it on her before she could do all of that again. When had he gotten over there? Don't think too hard about it.
Lila	"It's true, isn't it?" Lila was much more sure of herself, this time. Perhaps because no one had been shot yet, or possibly because the woman who had raised her was standing there with a gun pointed at her and her hands raised in surrender. "What Five said." When The Handler paused, breathing hard and clearly trying to think her way out of it, Lila pressed harder. "Answer me! Is it true?"
The Handler	Drat. She wasn't going to be able to move fast enough to grab the gun from Five, probably. She'd have to buy some time. "Well," The Handler began.
The Swede	Well nothing, because here comes the final Swede again! Much like the first time, he wasted no time in gunning down The Handler. So. You're welcome, everybody.
Lila	A credit to Lila's upbringing: she was an opportunist, through and through. So while she was shocked for perhaps one whole second at seeing the woman she'd spent the last twenty-odd years with gunned down and clearly dead at her feet, she immediately sprang into action, making a beeline for the briefcase that had brought them here.
Luther	Oh no, Luther had been kneed in the groin too many times trying to get a briefcase lately, he knew how important it was. "The case!"
Diego	Without really thinking about it, Diego ran to tackle Luther to the ground to stop him from getting to Lila. She had been through enough, she had deserved to make her escape. Even if it was losing another chance at getting back home. They'd figure it out.
Lila	And with the path clear for her, Lila grabbed the briefcase and blinked out of sight. 'Til next time, friends.
Five	How chivalrous of him or something. Five, meanwhile, was in a bit of a stare down with the remaining Swede. It took him a moment to not, you know, try to solve this with more murder. But he was putting his gun down after a moment to say, "Enough." You know. Assassin to assassin.
The Swede	...okay, fine. But he wasn't happy about it. Still, the Swede gave Five a knowing assassin bro-guy nod before leaving. Possibly back to Sweden.
Klaus	"Who the hell was that guy?" Klaus was just so out of the loop, you guys.
Vanya	Vanya opened her mouth to explain when she heard Sissy calling from the lower level. Right. Harlan. The reason they were there in the first damn place. She rushed downstairs where Harlan was still creating a vortex around himself, though it wasn't as large as it had been before. Once again she phased herself through it, getting down in front of him, and placing her hands on his knees. "Harlan. Whatever it is I gave you, I can take it back, okay?" She wasn't sure how she knew that, but she just did. "We just--we just need to stop this." Vanya closed her eyes and concentrated, willing whatever it was that she had instilled in the poor kid to come back to her. It felt like it was working, and soon the fading vortex proved that it had. She stepped out of the way to allow Sissy to rush towards her son. Then it finally felt like she could breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in ages.