I straightened a little as Allison and Luther entered the building again. I could see shimmering tracks running down Allison's cheeks, though she attempted to wipe them away hastily, and Luther had a sort of sullen hunch to his massive shoulders. Although they seemed to be on better terms than when they left, but none of us really were in the right head space at the moment.
"All right, where's Five?" Luther pointed to the empty seat next to me, almost appearing accusatory.
"He left," I stated bluntly.
"Oh, for the love of... Where'd he go?" I raised an eyebrow at my brother, silently challenging him to keep pushing me. I wasn't in the place to deal with Luther's shit, and the fact he was talking to me as though it was my fault he had left only furthered my annoyance.
"He had something to take care of," I snapped, attempting to drop the matter. "The Commission beckoned, he went. He'll be back soon."
"Well, we're not waiting around for him. The concert starts in 30 minutes." I crossed my arms and stood, taking steps closer to him. Despite the staggering height difference, Luther flinched a little bit at my approach.
"Luther, we might need him. I mean, I think we all understand at this point that Five could be the difference between saving the world and living, and saving the world while dying." Despite my insistence, Luther wouldn't budge, forcing me to sigh and relent. "Fine. So what's the plan, huh?"
"Well, I think that, uh..." My confidence began to waver as Luther stumbled over his thoughts and words, attempting to form a plan on the spot. "We go to the Icarus Theater." I scoffed at my brother's proposal.
"That's a location, not a plan." He raised his eyebrow at me, as though he didn't understand what was wrong with that. "What? Is that all you got?"
What exactly had Dad seen in him that made him think Luther was leader material? In the grand scheme of things, he did so little, yet he had always been the one we had to take orders from. I had been forced to listen to him and pretend I didn't have a plan that could have worked better floating around in my head. We were stuck with him always thinking we should listen to him, but he needed to get his shit together if we were going to take him seriously.
"Look, you wanna be Number One, fine, but you're gonna have to get us on the same page because right now, we're all over the place." Luther's eyes flickered downward for a moment, before he glanced back at my face, almost appearing apologetic.
"You're right." I shifted back a little, shocked. Did he just... agree with me? "We need a plan."
Just as I started to mull things over in my head, I caught strange movement out of the corner of my eye. My gaze flickered over just seconds before strange men in red masks and bulletproof equipment crouched down and opened fire in our direction. I immediately reached for Klaus' arm and yanked him down beside me, crouching down under the cover of the ball rack. Glass shattered into little pieces and candies spilled down onto the ground as stray bullets ricocheted off of tables and ball returns.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Luther shouted, looking to me specifically. Deep down, I think we all knew they were related to The Commission in some way.
"Maybe they're here for Kenny's birthday!" Klaus suggested, cupping his hands over his ears.
"To attend Kenny's birthday, or to end Kenny's birthday?" It was a stupid question, and I knew that, but when it came to Klaus, I always needed clarification for what came out of his mouth. I reached out and squeezed his arm a little, the reality of why he suddenly shrunk down and started to tremble a little suddenly dawning on me. "No, I'm pretty sure they're here for us!"
We all pressed our bodies further under the counters as the bullets got closer to hitting us. Diego shot up for a split second and chucked one of his knives out, and I heard the blade strike through the protective gear of the assassins. As the body fell back, they managed to hit the stereo system, knocking out the regular lights and suddenly sending music blasting over the speakers. I furrowed my brow for a moment, recognizing the complete ridiculousness of the situation, before I forced myself to focus back on the fight. I could try and take one of these guys down, sure, but there was no way in hell I'd be able to get close enough without ending up littered with bullet holes. None of the others paused for even a millisecond, leaving us with no room to just jump in and start attacking. Not to mention that Allison and Klaus really were in no condition to fight right now. It was down to Luther, Diego, and I, and in all honesty, I didn't really like those odds. But we had to work with what we've got.
Luther reached over and managed to get just enough of a window to chuck a couple bowling balls at two of the lackeys, knocking them onto the ground. That wouldn't render them completely useless, but they wouldn't be able to get up for a couple of minutes, which might give us some extra time.
"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get my brothers' attention. They both managed to spare a glance at me before ducking further down again. "If you two can cover for a couple of minutes, I might be able to get enough of a charge to take a few of them out."
"Mina, they'll shoot you before you can even turn once."
Luther was right, as much as I always hated to admit that. I couldn't charge out in the field, there'd be no point. I'd have to go somewhere else, otherwise this all would be for nothing.
My eyes briefly flicked over to the bathroom doors, bright white and slightly glowing against the neon lights. It was demeaning, sure, and definitely not an ideal space of operation, but it would have to do. I could hide out in there just long enough to build up a charge, and then really, I wouldn't have to get too close to take some of the armed men out.
"Cover me," I ordered, shifting my legs to stand. "I'll be right back."
For a second, there was a window between the waves of bullets as the men reloaded their guns. I forced myself up, and used the sudden rush of adrenaline to sprint into the bathroom and shut the door. It swung a few times, and from outside, I could hear Diego shout, "Now's not the time for a bathroom break, sis!"
I grimaced at the overwhelming stench that flooded my nostrils, then shook my head and took a preparatory position. The lack of space around me proved to be a bit of an issue, so rather than my regular fouettes, I had to settle for simple pirouettes that briefly touched on the ground. I could turn about three times before I had to set my foot down again, but despite the slower process, I managed to build up a pretty powerful charge. The sounds of gunfire came back to me just as I placed my hand on the door, and the second I swung it open, I shot my hand out in the masked men's direction. Blue bolts of lightning came down, striking three of the men. They seized in place, shaking and trembling before they collapsed to the ground. The smell of burning flesh replaced that of the bathroom stench, but strangely, I preferred the former to the latter.
"Nice shot!" Diego cheered, his tune now changed once he realized what I had gone to do.
I darted across the room and crouched down just as Klaus reached up onto the counter, slowly sliding the brightly-frosted birthday cake from the counted into his hands, He adjusted his grip on the thing, but just before he used it, I reached over and swiped a big thing of frosting from the top and ate it. Klaus blinked at me for a moment, incredulous, and I shrugged.
"It's about to go to waste. I wanted at least someone to eat it."
Shaking his head, my brother popped up for a moment and launched the cake at one of the men, causing them to stumble from shock. My eyes wandered back to the doors, noticing that despite the flocks of lackeys we had taken out, there still were men standing in front of the doors.
"They're blocking the exit!" I shouted to the rest of my siblings.
"So, what's the plan now, Luther?"
Allison tapped my arm to get my attention, then pointed toward the bowling lanes. I hesitated for a moment, realizing we were going to be completely exposing ourselves to the line of fire, but at this point, if we wanted to get to that concert in time to stop Vanya, it was the only option we had left.
"The lanes! Let's go!"
Each of us took to our own lane, sprinting as fast as we could to avoid being hit. Thankfully, we managed to run just a little faster than the line of bullets, and once we reached the end of the lane, all of us darted off to the left, making a mad dash for the exit over there.
Well, that is, everyone except for Klaus, who, in his typical fashion, decided he had time to try and slide through the lane. He lunged forward, belly-flopping onto the wood and gliding along on his stomach. Remarkably, he knocked down all ten pins, but then struggled to get back up. Sighing, I rushed over to my brother and yanked him up, dragging him along behind me as we made it to the stairs and out the door.
Any one of us would have loved the opportunity to stop and catch our breath, but those guys had seen where we went, and it was only a matter of time before they would pack up their shit and come follow us. We just had to make it into the theater, and then we'd be safe for at least a few minutes. We didn't have time to stop and formulate a plan until then.
The bright lights of the Icarus Theater almost served as a beacon of hope, reminding us we were one step closer to maybe being able to prevent all of this. Thankfully, the doors had been left unlocked, allowing us to get upstairs to the right venue without much issue. You'd think, in the modern day, they'd have a hell of a lot more security in a place like this, but maybe they figured no one would want to try anything at an orchestra concert. After all, the audience was likely just made up of elders and rich, snobby men and women within our age group. This wasn't some high school orchestra, and the tickets certainly weren't cheap. I almost felt bad ours weren't going to use, but saving the world from an impending apocalypse was more important.
Just before we could rush through the doors, Allison stepped in front of all of us, holding up her legal pad for all of us to read.
'I need to go alone.' I gawked at her statement a little. At the very least, I should be allowed to go in there as well. Vanya would know that I was just there to make peace and help her, even if she wasn't completely herself.
"Wha—Allison, I can't let you do that, all right? She's beyond reasoning," Luther tried to argue.
"You hear the music? It's started," Diego hissed.
"Do you honestly think she's gonna listen? After everything that's happened?" No one answered, and my eyes drifted to the ground for a moment.
"We don't have time for this," Klaus scoffed.
Suddenly, I looked up and rushed to my sister's side, squeezing her arm. She glanced at me with slight shock, unsure of how to approach me offering her a supportive gesture.
"I do." I glared up at Luther, not daring to back down now. "She's still Vanya. Besides, if any one of us can talk her off the ledge, it's going to be Allison—even if she can't actually talk. She hasn't seen her yet, I'm sure knowing she's alive and able to walk around will be enough." My brows furrowed as a new thought entered my mind. "You've got to start believing in the rest of us, Luther. We know what we're doing, and we know what we are and aren't capable of. We don't need you to tell us."
His hardened expression changed a few times as he went through the stages of processing what I said, before he finally relented and backed up a bit.
"Okay."
Allison offered me a small nod as I released her arm, then she turned and headed into the theater. The music swelled as the door opened, then muffled again once it slammed shut. There was a part of me that wanted to see those people's reactions when a woman dressed completely in leather with a bandage around her neck walked through the aisles, but I knew I needed to let her do this.
"You're using her as a distraction, aren't you?"
"Our best chance is to incapacitate Vanya." My blood began to boil at Luther's words. Of course my pleas had fallen on deaf ears. I don't know why I thought I could have actually made an impact. "She'll thank us later."
Neither Luther nor Diego spared a glance toward me for even a moment. There was part of me that wanted to stay here, protest their terrible idea and prove a point. But now wasn't the time for stubbornness, and if they didn't have all the help they could get, it would be pretty likely they wouldn't make it out of this at all. As much as I hated the idea, I needed to follow them and charge up.
"So, what's the plan?" Klaus asked as all of us headed up the last flight of stairs that led to the theater.
"Uh, you wait out front," Luther ordered. I stopped in my tracks and stared at him in disbelief.
"What?" Klaus and I both whined at the same time.
"Yeah, you're the lookout."
"Luther, you've got to be joking." He wouldn't even acknowledge me at this point. I shifted my eyes back to Klaus, furrowing my brows in an apologetic way. "I'm sorry."
With guilt weighing down my heart, I followed my brothers up the stairs and tried my best to do some turns as I did, charging myself up. I'd have more time and space in front of the doors, but I needed to at least get a head start. I hesitated as Luther and Diego headed for the stage doors, but at this point, they'd elected to just ignore that I even existed. I tried my best to ignore the sadness that now set itself next to the guilt of leaving Klaus behind and start charging up for when things went wrong. I was used to Luther brushing aside my presence, but coming from Diego, it stung.
I touched my foot down and pushed through the crowd as they began to run out, screaming and pushing each other to be the first to get out the doors. After rolling my eyes at my brothers, I gave one last shove, and burst through into the nearly empty theater. Vanya stood on the stage, using what looked like a shockwave to force the rest of the orchestra to sit back down. The music had changed from a somber, slow tune to one of urgency, indicating we'd just started something we might not be able to finish.