"Rapists can climb."
And one does.
"I'm sorry but you need to stop touching my sister. You see she's not a fan of the color red and I'm about to severe that arm from your body and staple your tongue to the hood of a semi."
After fighting off the dudes from the commission in the donut shop Five cuts out his tracker and heads over to a safe place, Vanya's, without thinking much about it.
She immediately notices the blood on his brow and arm and offers to patch him up with a few bandaids she has.
They talk about his lonley years. A conversation comfortably led by the sister with obvious therapy history and uncomfortably recieved by the brother. Still, he relishes being close to someone he trusts. He's obviously paranoid about the commission finding him but it's hard for Vanya to understand all the intricacies instead she offers him a xanax to calm his nervous so he can sleep. He says those kind of drugs mess with his powers but he feels safe with her and is willing to try it so his body can heal and rest.
He falls asleep on top of the covers on her bed. After covering him with an afgan from her couch she lays down next to him, under her covers.
Vanya goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night, where a man who snuck in through the window leaps out from hiding behind the shower curtain. He quickly covers her mouth so she can't scream but only gets a few moments with her when Five wakes up from a bad dream. He finds his way to the bathroom groggy and not noticing Vanya was missing from bed only to stumble in on the situation.
"I didn't know you were a babysitter!"
"I'm sorry but you need to stop touching my sister. You see she's not a fan of the color red and I'm about to severe that arm from your body and staple your tongue to the hood of a semi.
"Yeah ok, kid. Back off or I'll cut your babysitter's ear off!"
"I'm a highly trained assassin, trained by the same people who employ you. Don't they brief you guys before sending you out on a mission? Anyway, I'll make you regret underestimating me."
"Wooooow. Too many movies for this kid!"
That's when Five noticed her night shirt was uncharacteristically unbuttoned and the pearlessent glisten of a few of the missing curricular fasteners were on the tile floor.
Five's glare moved back up so slowly as he came to the realization of what was really happening that it drew a smirk from the would-be rapist who was up for the challenge. Vanya took the opportunity to elbow him. But she wasn't strong or trained like the others. Her limb did next to nothing to impeed him. On the contrary it made him grin.
"Oh, spunky!" As he moved the knife against her ear lobe.
"Wait... So you're here for her? You're not from the commission?"
Vanya yelled desperately. "Five!"
Something in her scream pulled at his heart and turned on a switch inside of him. Sure enough, he immediately teleported his body right next to the intruder knocking the knife out of his hand in the confusion. Vanya was pushed to the ground and she quickly crawled away down the hall while the two exchanged punches.
The sound of hundreds of glass pieces hitting stone tile pierced her newly cut ear. This made her whip around to see that the man had successfully rammed her brother's head into the mirror. Five was gripping onto the edges of the sink for support while the man picked up the knife off the floor.
"No!" Her scream came quickly.
Without calculating first, Five jumped through space and appeared a meer half an inch away from his nose.
"How'd? How the hell did you do that?" The man swore something was weird before but maybe he just lunged towards him super fast. The bathroom light was not turned on afterall. This time there was no reasonable explanation, the kid had actually teleported. For someone who took breaking and entering in as a hobby, he was very bad at hiding his expressions while his mouth hung open.
Five had no expression when he calmly stated. "Get. Out." Five closed the gap between them and narrowed his eyes as he finished his threat. "Before I take you out."
The illegal visitor's face was stricken with fear finally understanding the mess he put himself in. He clamored around for a moment before exiting out through the window rather ungracefully.
Five hadn't moved his feet. Vanya was still sitting on the floor in the hallway. A few long seconds past before Five spoke, his voice smooth and peaceful.
"Are you alright, Vanya?"
She couldn't get her mouth to work, to respond as fast as she wanted. Her legs weren't wanting to get her up either. She wasn't even sure if she had arms anymore, they were entirely numb so she had no way of knowing since she couldn't take her eyes off the scene framed in by her bathroom doorframe of her brother standing there all stoic asking about her well being after fighting off a terrible fiend. When the fight or flight in her brain triggered, all the blood from her extremities rushed so she could escape but the after affects were just as strong.
So she replied with a positive, "Mm-hmm.".
Her brother, not satisfied asked again. His voice now came with a slight quiver. "Did he hurt you? Did he..."
She felt the urge to put her brother's mind at ease and pushed herself more. "No, no. You came so... No, I'm okay. It's okay."
"That's good..." He sighed and continued. "Will you lock your windows now?"
"Uhh-YES! I um... I will!"
"Every night?
"Okay." She nodded
"Promise."
"Five..."
"Promise me!" He demanded louder. His sister flinched at the volume and he immediately regretted scaring her. He tried again, sounding much more apologetic. "Vanya... I'm-"
His words muddled together before he could finish and the floor tiles were suddenly against his face.
"Five!" He heard Vanya call out.
She closed the few yards between them on her hands and knees. Then once next to her sibling she promptly rolled him into his back by grabbing his boney shoulder.
He groaned at the movement and squeezed his eyes shut.
"What is it? What's wrong? Five? Tell me what's wrong! Five!" She wasn't breathing between sentences and was becoming more frantic.
"Hey..." He muttered. "Shhh-shh-shhh." His jagged breathing made the normally calming sound staccato. "Vanya, I'm fine. J-just fine. 'm tired is all."
"But-"
"What'da say? 'm fine." His breathing and slurred words did little to comfort her. He brought up his hand to take both of hers. She had been gripping at his jacket at his chest. Her knuckles were turning white until his warm fingers graced hers gently. He carefully maintained eye contact and tried his best at maintaining his own composure as well, for the sake of his sister.
He could feel the warmth of blood pooling under his suit jacket and sweatervest. He wasn't entirely sure it had happened until the tile surprised him and slapped him in the face.
Blood loss was a tricky bitch at times. Nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Just a knife wound from an asshole.
It was only a matter of time before she noticed and he could tell she wasn't ready.
He wanted to run away. Get back outside, in the streets and fend for himself. He knew what to do for his injury but the time he needed to patch himself up correctly and the amount of time he had left before passing out altogether were disproportionate.
The edges of his vision were turning black as he used his finger to caress the back of the hand.
"Seriously I'm fine. My powers just-"
"What happened? Why didn't you use them more?"
"That lil sh-shit ain't worth the j-jump-s."
She scoffed towards him. Only she could make him regret an attempt to joke. He didn't realize till now how much he missed their friendship.
"In allll honest-ty though. My powers need en-er-gy. He emphasized the syllables. "If I'm tired... That's it! Fineto!"
She chuckled.
He could feel her hands relax in his. This was as good of timing as he was going to get."Vanya, You..." Five squeezed his eyes tight and struggled to open them again. "You need to call... Call Luther."
"Oh. Yeah, okay. I will."
"Now." Five added.
"I will in the morning. Let's get you to bed."
"No..." His voice dragged. "You need help..." He whispered now. "Vanya...I missed you." Then he passed out.
"Five? Hey!" She let go of his limp hand to shake his shoulder. She looked down his body and even though the room was dark, the darkness of blood on white bathroom tile is hard to miss.
She scrambled to her feet and ran to her phone on the kitchen wall to call her brothers and sister.