25 November 1963

The last thing Five expected was for Luther to come flying in through the ceiling like a baseball through the window on a sunny afternoon. Actually that was a lie—he hadn't expected the sudden counter attack from Lila or whatever power(s) she appeared to hold. Had she been able to do that the whole time? He wondered as he scrambled out from beneath the bullet-stricken kitchen table in which he had used for meager cover. A quick glance was cast over the eastern wall overlooking the fields which had been turned into Swiss cheese, before he hurried over to where his brother lay groaning in a mess on the living room floor. "Luther?" Five worried, picking his way through the shattered glass and ceiling rubble. "You all right?"

"Oh! I think I swallowed my tongue!" Luther rasped blearily.

"Luther, if you swallowed your tongue, you wouldn't be talking, you big moron"

"Oh…"

"C'me on, on your feet" Five helped haul his big brother to his feet, although it wasn't that much help considering the difference between the two brothers. It was like a fly trying to help a horse up. Thankfully, Luther had enough sense to stumble to his feet with what little help Five could provide.

"Hey, what the hell was that?" Luther coughed once he was properly upright. "What was that?"

"She must've redirected Vanya's energy wave" Five mused aloud, brushing the dust from his brother before he spared a glance out of the furtherest window where the two women had been only moments before.

"Yeah, I know, but how?"

How indeed. Five chewed at his lip in thought, mind running at a million miles an hour as he tried to sort through what information had been presented to them. Somehow Lila had redirected Vanya's energy wave back at them with enough force to send his family flying like toys, but not enough force to kill them instantaneously as Vanya's had done.

His musings were quickly cut short however when the sound of falling debris from up above them caught his attention. Panic settled in his gut as the image of his (once) deceased family littered the broken & burning ground of the first Apocalypse burnt into his eyelids, making him react on instinct."LUTHER! WATCH OUT!" Five snapped, shoving his brother out of the way just in time as the rubble hailed down and buried him deep beneath the brick and mortar of the crumbling fireplace.

"FIVE!" Luther called, his voice just as faint as the sound of rubble being moved about above Five. Five couldn't respond, far more preoccupied with the heavy weight crushing him against the ground and the black spots dancing at the edges of his vision—or was that the trickle of blood leaking into his eye?

"Hehe" Lila chuckled as she suddenly appeared in the living room to find Luther digging through the bricks and concrete laden at his feet.

"What the hell are you?" Luther demanded, the floor beneath Five creaking and groaning as the blonde rose to his feet, making him wary of it giving way beneath him.

Dizzy and tired from being knocked about so much, Five waited amongst the brick and mortar knowing full well that he would likely hinder more than help in this situation (particularly with Lila gunning for him, for some currently unknown reason), despite how much it pained him to admit. For now he had to be content with just listening, until he could see straight, at the very least.

"Someone who wants to kill your brother" Lila replied nonchalantly.

"Well, that's understandable. Diego can be a lot to handle" Luther shrugged off the threat. Five grinned at the backhanded compliment.

"Yeah, I was talking about Five"

"…Him too" Luther acquiesced, making Five pout. "But unfortunately, they're family, so you're shit outta luck"

The following grunts and groans confused Five—they didn't sound feminine enough to be Lila's and there was no stereotypical thump that signalled the downing of their opponent, which meant that the baby assassin was giving his brother much more trouble than he was used to. "How…how is this possible?" Luther grunted out, backing up Five's thoughts.

"Gotta believe in yourself, big boy" Lila taunted before another explosion sounded, this time from across the room. From the tone of his sister's panicked shouts, Five could only assume that it was Luther who had destroyed even more of the Cooper's house.

Eventually when Five was able to open his eyes without feeling like he was going to vomit, he shakily pushed himself to his feet and knocked away the debris covering him in the process. Making his way over to the Luther-sized hole in the wall, Five found the panic prickling in his gut once more as he was faced with Allison in Luther's arms struggling to breathe and Lila laughing over the pair of them like it was the funniest thing in the world. There was panic there, but there was also protectiveness and rage bubbling beneath the surface like a furnace. No one—and he did mean no one—got to treat his family like pieces of shit. That was his job, and it was fine, he silently justified, for him to do so since they were family. But not for this two-timing stranger.

"Looking for me?" Five smirked, eyes just as hard and cold as his tone. Lila's reaction was instantaneous. Gone was the laughter and smirk, instead replaced with cold hard fury and soaring bloodlust.

"You little turd" Lila spat, eyes narrowed.

"Let's dance!" He called before blinking away with her hot on his heels. Disappearing further into the house, both Lila and Five fell into tangle of flying punches, swinging kicks and blinking bodies. It almost looked like they were dancing as the two traded blows.

"Careful now!" Lila sang, blinking out of Five's hold and up onto the messy kitchen counter where she fiddled aimlessly with the discarded frying pan next to her. "Or you are going to tire yourself out!"

"How are you doing this?" Five demanded.

"Oh anything you can do" Lila smiled, twirling the frying pan once more. "I can do better"

"Heh" Five scoffed as both assassins blinked out of the bullet-riddled kitchen and out into the upper levels of the cold barn. The Coopers must've moved earlier as Five noted the absence of the overpowered boy and his mother. That was all he was able to note before he was met head on with the frying pan and a heeled boot shoved into his throat.

This seems familiar. Five mused absently as he tried his best to keep Lila from crushing his larynx in.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it?" Lila taunted, putting all of her weight onto his shaking hands.

"Eat shit…and die!" Five gasped in a rather raspy tone. Each word hurt to spit out, but it was worth it just to watch his inferior sour at the comment even if she did push down harder. At least that was until he shoved back. Locking his arms, he pushed Lila away from him with as much might as he possibly manage and rolled over to suck in lungfuls of sweet air just as the two scrambled to their feet once more, the Commission conditioning telling them the fight wasn't over until it only one was left standing. "C'me on!" Five sneered as he fell back into fighting stance with both fists raised and ready to fly. "What're you waiting for? Let's finish this thing!"

"No" Lila refused, setting her shoulders back as she stared him down. "This isn't gonna be quick. You're going to suffer for what you did"

"Lady, I got no idea what you're talkin' about" Five scoffed derisively as he tried to hide the curiosity that was pricking at his mind due to her constant accusations.

"Ronnie and Anita Gill" Lila shuffled closer with both hands clenched into fists at her sides. In turn, Five's own hands had dropped from their fighting stance, instead falling into something a little more open but no less relaxed.

"Mean nothing to me" Five retorted, warily eyeing the young woman before him.

"1993, East London. You hog-tied them and you shot them in the head" Lila steamrolled on, unperturbed by his comments.

"…The flower merchants" Five murmured as the job in question came to mind; he could still hear their weak pleading cries for mercy. Could still see the broken apartment and blood splattered skirting boards. "They were your parents?"

"And they never did anything to anyone. They didn't deserve to die like that—!"

"—You're right, all right?" Five hastily replied, his voice soft as Lila's cracked with each word she spoke. He couldn't blame—look at what he done to protect his own family. "I killed them—but I killed a lot of people over the years. It was just a job, all right? That was never personal"

"Never personal' my ass!" Lila chuckled darkly, "Yeah, I've killed and it's always been personal"

"That's why you're not cut out to be an assassin" Five shook his head.

"Bet your life on that?" Lila snarled drawing a knife from her boot and lunged for Five who quickly backpedalled.

"You wanna blame someone?" Five rushed out, raising his arms as if to calm a cornered animal. Which wasn't that far off, honestly; rage and vengeance did odd things to a person. "Blame the Handler, all right? She faked the kill order"

"Bullshit!" Lila snarled, "I saw the kill order: AJ Carmichael ordered it and you carried it out!"

"Lila, listen to what I'm telling you, all right?" Five tried again, feeling very much like he was trying to talk sense into a young petulant child. He did feel a little bad about crushing her view of her adoptive mother however; not because of who the Handler was to her but because of the pain and utter grief gleaming in her eyes."The Handler gave me the kill order. She came on the job, which she'd never done before. You're Commission, you know the execs never go on jobs. But that day in London, she was there. Ask yourself why"

"Stop trying to muddy the waters!" Lila snapped defiantly, although a little weaker than before. Five saw that she was starting to see sense and so kept going, kept ripping off the bandaid.

"I never realised what was up to at the time, but…now it all makes sense"

"What…?"

"She never cared about your parents, she was looking for you"

"Why?"

"Cause you're one of us" Diego interjected coming into the barn behind them, bring the rest of the Hargreeves with him.

Five's gaze roved over each of his siblings as he did a quick head count and made sure that they were all more or less intact. Diego was limping slightly and Vanya's hand kept straying to her shoulder as if it hurt, but otherwise they were more or less okay—a little worse of wears, but okay. He couldn't see Theodore however, but none of his siblings bore looks of panic or worry about this which made him wonder. But not for long.

ROOOOAR!

RAAAAAAH!

The twin roars that echoed across the farmlands somewhat told Five where his nephew currently lay, and what he was doing. If the animalistic growls were anything to go by, Five could only presume that he was taking care of the two monstrous beasts that had appeared earlier and had begun to devour the outer most reaches of the Commission agents, thinning their numbers if only a little. Apparently the two opposing energy attacks hadn't done much to deter them. A quick glimpse out of the door, passed Luther's shoulder showed a tangle of giant blue limbs and meaty muscles tumbling across the lawn like snarling pups fighting over territory.

"The Handler stole you, Lila" Diego continued, piecing together what Five had been trying to tell her this whole time. "Just like out asshole father took all of us"

"No, it's not the same thing" Lila denied, suddenly on guard with knife raised in defence as she became surrounded by the seven original Hargreeves.

"You're right because he didn't have our parents murdered. Listen to me, Lila, you were born 1 October 1989, the same day as all of us—"

"—Stay back!" She swung the blade wildly, trying to clear some space around her.

"Hey! Hey, stop! Wait—wait! Hey!" Diego jumped away as their siblings fanned out further around the girl, all of them wary and battle ready.

"Lila? Lila, stop—"

"—I trusted you! I got a job, I even introduced you to my mother! And then you just took off on me!"

"Because I needed to save the world!" Diego fired back making Five roll his eyes at the sudden domestic turn the situation had taken. "She's using you, Lila, the Handler"

"You're wrong" Lila refuted weakly, "She raised me, she loves me"

"Yeah, y'know what?" Luther interjected from across the room, "Love shouldn't have to hurt this much"

"…Eurgh!" Lila stuck out her tongue in reply, fake gagging at the sentimentality displayed by the big oaf.

"All right, I tried"

"He's right" Five spoke up as he closed in again. "We have to kill her"

"Hey! Five! Five, stop! I got it" Diego snapped, pulling his smallest brother up short with a roll of his eyes. "Hey, Lila, the truth? She's dangerous and you're scared of what she'll do with all that new power. That's why you dragged me to the Commission—"

I knew it! 'Headhunted', my ass! Five grinned internally in petty vindictiveness.

"—Because I know what's it like to love dangerous people. Difference is…" Diego suddenly paused, eyes roving each and everyone of his siblings individually, who silently responded to the sappy confession in different ways. Both Klaus and Allison looked like they wanted to hug him, Vanya looked happy to be recognised as family and Luther puffed his chest up in pride whilst Five softened only slightly. Diego was only a breath away from Lila by this point, if she wanted to the blade in her hand could easily lodge itself in him and there would be little he could do about it. "…They love me back—"

"Shut up!" Lila raised the knife threateningly once more.

"—The only thing she loves is power. Now the minute she can't use you, she will turn on you and deep down I know you know that"

"…You don't know me, Diego" Lila whispered.

"Don't I?" Diego took a step forward until the tip of the blade was pressed against his exposed clavicle. "I know that we can be your family…if you just let us"

There was a beat of silence as Lila seemed to consider the offer, her glistening eyes roving over each of the Hargreeves who still circled her, although less aggressively than they had before. Something which would soon become a problem. Five only noticed because the farm had gone deathly still with a quiet that was almost deafening, like the calm before the storm. A sense of wrongness roiled within him and that was all the warning he got before the barn was lit up with rapid gunfire and a familiar piercing pain bloomed across his forehead before he hit the floor alongside his siblings.

"…It's true, isn't it?" Lila sniffled from where she had collapsed next to Diego's fresh corpse.

"Darling" The Handler cooed, "I need to know that we can get passed this and be a happy family again. Hm?"

"…They were my real family" Lila rose to her feet. "Did you even love me?"

"Mm" The Handler merely hummed, neither confirming nor denying the accusation before she raised her firearm and pulled the trigger, killing her surrogate daughter with a single flick of her finger. Not a single tear was shed. "Que será, será"

"Ngh!" Five groaned softly, trying to combat the pain in his head at least enough to get out and figure something out, but he couldn't move—couldn't do anything as the Handler strolled over to where he lay sprawled out.

"Oh good" The Handler chirped, "You're still alive, lucky you. You got to see how this all played out"

The Handler shoved the firearm into his face, taking great pleasure in the emotions flickering rapidly across Five's usually stoic face like a predator playing with their prey. At least that was until the Handler fell too, as more gunfire lit up the rickety barn and the last remaining Swede stepped inside. Bodies littered the ground like fallen leaves and with the barrel of the Swede's gun shoved into Five's face once more he found himself in retrospective state as flashes of the last few weeks flashed before his eyes.

From him telling his family that there was a way out of the burning world of the first Apocalypse as they stood surrounding the blue rock that was their nephew who had encased Vanya within his bejewelled arms, to Luther's accusations about scattering them across the Dallas timeline and their father's advise to time travel in seconds rather than decades. Familiar energy thrummed around him in his last ditch attempt to defy death again. It crackled and fizzed, enveloping him like a second skin as he tried to take baby steps—to rewind time by seconds and not decades as he had done previously. It was hard and it hurt like hell, but Five would do—had done anything for his family, and nothing would change as long as he had air in his lungs. This would work—it had to.