Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Luther and Diego, scrambling to get to a safe place. Vanya's body began to take on an eerie, white glow, almost as though she were building up energy the longer she played. I tried my best to push through the last of the people, attempting to get a little closer to Allison, when Vanya suddenly swung her bow out, causing another wave of energy to fly out. All of us ducked down just in time, barely missing getting our heads cut off by whatever that was. The glow she had taken on faded away, as though she's lost the charge she'd been building up. It almost reminded me of how my lightning worked, but something told me if she hit me, I'd get discharged. Fingers of lightning still danced down my arms just waiting to be released from their confines. But now wasn't the time.

I crouched down behind some seats, directly across from Allison and only a few rows away from Diego and Luther. I could hear their mumblings, despite how much the orchestra's music now swelled.

"She's stronger than expected," Diego gasped out between breaths.

"Yeah."

I stuck my hand out, using a little of my powers to give Luther and Diego tiny shocks. They cried out and glared at me, as though I'd hurt them far more than I actually did. Their eyes met mine, and both of them shrugged their shoulders, as though they hadn't done anything wrong. I looked to Allison, who rolled her eyes as well, and the two boys' jaws fell a little.

"Yeah, we're fine. Thanks for asking."

"You two are the biggest idiots I've ever known," I hissed. "Did you really think running at her wouldn't piss her off? That's probably the worst plan any of us have ever had." Rather than addressing me, Luther looked to Allison.

"Look, I almost lost you once, all right? I wasn't about to lose you again."

"Luther, that's touching and all, but now is not the time!" I shook my head, lowering it down slightly to look at my hands.

"Well, so much for the element of surprise," Diego sighed. "What else you got?"

Thankfully, I still had enough of a charge to maybe surprise her and at least stun her for a few seconds, if she didn't figure out what I was trying to do beforehand. But that really wouldn't do us much good, she'd likely get up and just start trying to attack us again.

The white glow that encapsulated her had grown stronger the longer we'd allowed her to play her violin. It was almost as though...

It dawned on me just as Allison made a gesture like she was playing the violin. We were both, for once, completely on the same page.

"Yeah, no shit, Allison. Tell us something we don't already know," Diego deadpanned.

"She's talking about the violin," I explained as everyone turned to look up at Vanya. "It's her lightning rod. If we can take it from her and stop her from playing, we might have a shot."

My hands flew over my head as a flurry of bullets suddenly came flying toward us, creating a cacophony among the otherwise beautiful music. Those guys in the masks had caught up to us, and from the looks of the way they were firing, they had absolutely no intention of trying to stop Vanya. Thankfully, she didn't try to stop the rest of her orchestra from fleeing this time, meaning they would hopefully be allowed to get to safety.

"What the hell happened to Klaus? He was supposed to be on lookout!"

"Yeah, are you surprised?"

"This is what happens when you give him a job a child could do," I scolded. "Of all our siblings, you underestimate him the most. Of course he's not going to pay attention, he's hurt!"

Before I could yell at my brothers any more, there was a bright flash of blue light, and Five appeared in the aisle in front of me. I breathed a large sigh of relief, thankful to see my brother wasn't hurt.

"What's with all the lollygagging?" he asked casually, making his way closer.

I popped up just for a second and grabbed onto his shoulders, yanking him down to hide behind the seats with me as a new wave of bullets started to fire. We both simply nodded at each other, acknowledging that there was no time to get caught up in my usual line of questioning to make sure he was all right. He had come back from his meeting with The Handler, and that's all that mattered to me right now.

"Five, what the… I thought you bailed on us!" I sighed. I'd already explained this to Luther, but I guess he didn't want to believe me the first time.

"I had an errand to run."

"Did you get her?" Five shot me an unamused look, and I shook my head, looking back toward Vanya. "Right, not the time."

"This is not good," he muttered, looking around at the men in the masks.

"You know these guys?" I demanded, though at this point, it really didn't surprise me.

"Yeah."

"Oh, good. I'm glad you've got some decent work friends." I saw Five smirk at my annoyance for just a second, before focusing back on the more pressing issues. Diego threw two of his knives at the masked men who burst through the door at that moment, while I used what was left of my charge to take out one more.

"Guys, it's Cha-Cha!" Klaus shouted as he used the railing to propel himself around the corner.

I could see what looked like rice on the corner of his mouth, and rolled my eyes. He'd stopped at that burrito truck across from the theater when he was supposed to be out lookout. I wanted to badly to defend him, but he made it so hard sometimes. Still, at the end of the day, he was my brother and I loved him to death. I just didn't want that death to come sooner than it had to, not if we could prevent it.

"It's Cha-Cha, she—"

"Klaus, get down!" I warned. He threw his hands up over his head as one of the men fired at him before crouching down in another row. That really wouldn't help us against the men that were up high, but at least it provided some cover from the bullets.

Five suddenly jumped out from beside me, appearing on one of the necks of the masked men. He clung tight and started to choke the man, causing him to turn in circles and fire his gun out in all directions. I couldn't just sit here while my little brother remained vulnerable, so I got up myself and tried my best to avoid the gunfire as I turned down the aisle. The man Five choked managed to hit two others, clearing the way for me to build up a charge that could take out a significant number. Once I'd reached the very end of the carpeting, I stuck my hand straight in the air, aiming for the men that were all the way up in the balconies. I managed to hit three of them, but it wasn't enough. There were still too many of them too high up for us to reach, and in all honesty, I was starting to get dizzy from all this spinning and running I had been doing today.

Just as I started to catch my breath, another blue glow emanated from behind me. I whipped around just in time to see Klaus' fists become overwhelmed by a strange light, and as his arms extended out, a ghostly-looking Ben appeared. My jaw dropped as tears welled in my eyes, overwhelmed by seeing him for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Everyone watched in awe as the tentacles emerged from his chest and actually grabbed onto the masked men, throwing the remaining few from their places. As the distractions lessened, the chances of us actually being able to pull this off grew. However, we'd need to act fast. We were racing against Vanya's clock, and it was likely only a matter of minutes before she blew.

Diego suddenly shot up and charged toward the stage, screaming with rage. I managed to steal a glance in that direction for just a moment, and spotted the bloodied, cut-up figure of Cha-Cha standing on the stage, looming over us as though she were a god. Barely a second later, Diego got the jump on her and slammed her body against the back wall before dragging her back stage.

I guess he was going to deal with that.

"Oh, my god," I heard Luther mutter.

"It's him," I gasped out. "It's Ben." I paused for a moment, thinking over what I just said. "Wait, I already knew he was there."

"You what?" I smirked down at Five. I had to admit, there was something almost thrilling about knowing more than my brother- the one who seemed to think he was smarter than all of us.

"Yeah. Who did you think Klaus was talking to all this time?"

"I honestly just thought he was high off his ass." I shrugged.

"Makes sense."

With the last of the guys taken care of, Ben's tentacles retracted back into his chest, and just like that, the image of him faded away. The glow left Klaus' fists, and although he looked a little weaker than a few moments ago, overall, he seemed unharmed. Instead, a big, giddy smile stretched onto his face at the realization of what he had just done.

"Now who's the lookout?" he shouted, laughing. Everyone was too busy trying to collect themselves after that display to respond, so Klaus just waved his hand, dismissing the question altogether.

I turned my attention back to the stage, and my eyes widened. Vanya had become completely engulfed in what looked like a wave of energy, and with nowhere for the large amounts she was generating to go, her suit and violin began to turn white, as though by some sort of magic. I had to admit, if this didn't mean we had to get our shit together and come up with a plan right this second, I'd think this was pretty cool.

I flinched and moved to cover Five as the ceiling began to crumble around us, dropping large piles of dust down—just like back at the Academy. Cracks slithered down columns, causing them to shake and threaten to tumble down at any second. Thankfully, at that moment, Diego wandered back to us, limping slightly.

"Oh, welcome back," Luther deadpanned. "Where were you?"

"Honoring a memory." Five and I exchanged a quick glance, remembering where those exact words had come from.

All of us moved closer to each other, huddling together. I reached over and squeezed Five's shoulder while Klaus wrapped an arm around mine. So what if it took the potential end of the world to bring us all together? I'd never seen any of us be this close to each other without someone threatening someone else since we were little.

Actually, scratch that. The end of the world is not a 'so what' moment, even when said moment is meant to be touching.

"So, how do you want to end this thing?"

"We surround her, all right? We come at her from all angles." My eyes widened as I registered just what Luther was asking us to do.

"So it's a suicide mission?" I tried to keep my voice steady as I spoke.

"Yeah, but one of us could get through," Five tried to reassure me. "It's the only chance we've got."

I really didn't want to give in, but Five had a point. What other choice did I have?

"Well, this has certainly been an eventful family reunion." Everyone got a little chuckle out of what I said, and strangely enough, it brought me some form of confidence.

"Are we all in?"

"Yeah," everyone agreed. I reached over and pulled my younger brother against my side for what could possibly be the last time, and he returned the gesture to the best of his ability, really only reaching my waist due to the height difference. With slight reluctance, I took my position.