[✓] 𝐼𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐿𝑈𝐷𝐸 | 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲. ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛. 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐕: 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐨

Word count: 3138

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘—𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 for Klaus— stood around the landing of the stairs at Elliott's place, their eyes fixated on the television that was broadcasting the news. Vanya's mugshot was displayed in black-and-white as the newscaster spoke.

"Authorities are asking for help identifying several persons of interest at Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination. The FBI believes they may have been acting in concert with the alleged shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald. Vanya Hargreeves, wanted in connection with the deaths of several FBI agents inside the federal building at Dealey Plaza. A Cuban exile known only as Diego—"

"Cuban?" Diego questioned incredulously as his mugshot appeared.

"—who recently escaped from the Holbrook Sanitarium." A picture of Luther tending to Jack Ruby came on. "A bare-knuckle boxer with suspected Mafia ties who fights under the alias 'King Kong.'" A picture of Allison protesting. "Allison Chestnut, a Negro radical responsible for instigating and organizing the recent riots at Stadtler's lunch counter." A painting of what seemed to be Klaus, with long hair and a flowing beard, in a Jesus-esque style. "And finally, Klaus, the controversial cult leader and known tax evader. The FBI is asking the public to be on the lookout for this unidentified boy and girl" —a picture of Valerie and Five behind the picket fence at JFK's assassination appeared— "who they believe is being held hostage by the suspected terrorist network—"

"Well, it's true." Five gave a small shrug as he leaned back against the railing, causing everyone to turn their attention away from the television and to him. "I do feel like I'm being held hostage most days."

"God, I hate that photo," Diego said lowly, his eyes on the television.

"They're saying I instigated the riot?" Allison scoffed as she leaned forward on the railing and clasped her hands together. "That's unbelievable."

"Look, the good news is that we restored the timeline and we stopped doomsday," Luther cut in, giving them a smile. "So—"

"Yeah, a bunch of real goddamn heroes," Diego interrupted. "We let Kennedy die."

"Yeah, and now we're officially the most wanted people in the world," Allison pointed out as she straightened up. "The FBI is after us, the Dallas police, the Secret Service. It's only a matter of time before they hunt us down here."

"Well, where are we supposed to go?" Vanya asked as Klaus came down the stairs.

"I have this yurt just outside Reykjavik," Klaus offered as he walked past them. "We could totally lay low there. Folks there are a little weird, but lovely."

"Hey, numbnuts," Five called after him, causing him to turn and face them. "Hiding's not gonna make a difference here. The Commission will hunt us down wherever and whenever we go."

"He's right," Diego agreed with a nod. "They'll never stop."

Five's eyebrows furrowed as he looked towards the other man and he scoffed, "I'm sorry, since when are you an expert on the Commission?"

"Since I got back from there," Diego replied coolly as he turned to face him.

Valerie's eyebrows furrowed, the baffled expression reflected on Five's face as he questioned, "What?"

"Yeah, they headhunted me, offered me a job," Diego explained lightly with a shrug. "Full-time with benefits, which I had to turn down."

"They headhunted you . . ." Five's words were filled with humour as he continued, "the village idiot."

"What, am I not allowed to be headhunted?" Diego questioned incredulously, a scoff escaping his lips. "Only the almighty Five needs to be in demand?" 

"Diego, you're not Commission material, all right?" Five pointed out as he rolled his eyes. "Got an obstinate nature to ya."

Diego took a few steps closer to Five, his voice rising as he responded, "Who do you think it was that figured out Vanya was the one that causes doomsday and stopped it? Me."

"Hey!" Klaus interjected.

"That's who," Diego continued, ignoring Klaus. "I figured it all out on the Infinite Switchboard."

"You were on the Infinite Switchboard?" Five asked, now seeming more confused as his eyebrows knit tightly together.

"Hell, yeah. I made that machine my bitch!" Diego exclaimed. "Y'all need to recognize I got shit going on y'all don't even know about."

"Oh, sorry," Allison scoffed, now sitting down on the stairs. "You've got things going on?"

"This isn't helpful," Valerie remarked as she folded her arms, rolling her eyes at the two men.

"Look, I met the Résistance in their secret lair," Diego said as Vanya began to head up the stairs. "All right? I went through orientation and I passed and I stopped doomsday."

"Oh, Jesus Christ." Valerie rubbed her forehead as she tuned out of the conversation, exchanging a look of irritation with Allison.

Diego scoffed as he took another step towards Five. "At least I wasn't busy playing with myself—"

"Can you dispense with the dick-measuring for five minutes?" Allison questioned in annoyance, leaning back against the stairwell behind her.

"Unless you can literally," Klaus piped up hopefully, "'cause Ben and I—"

"We don't have time for this," Luther interrupted as he rolled his eyes. "The Feds could be here any minute."

"That's what I've been saying!" Valerie exclaimed incredulously, turning on her heel to face Luther.

"I'm agreeing!" Luther threw his hands into the air, a sigh escaping his lips soon afterwards.

Five took a step towards him, raising a hand. "Okay, calm down, Hairy—"

"Hey, it's King Kong," Luther corrected angrily. "And I'm sick of your ass, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, you win." Diego reached his hand out towards the other man, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, we need to move, okay?" Luther continued loudly. "That is more important here. That is our only option."

"We need to box those windows," Diego corrected, "and stay here."

Vanya came down the stairs, her hands curled as she looked around at the arguing group. "I'm leaving."

"What?" Valerie turned to her, her eyebrows furrowing as she asked, "To go where?"

"Sissy's farm," Vanya answered, his voice quivering as she uneasily shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Something's wrong with Harlan, and I need to help him."

"Vanya, we need to stick together, okay?" Luther reasoned as he took a few steps towards her. "Now more than ever."

"That's why I'm telling you this," she responded. "Whatever's going on with Harlan, I think I might've caused it."

Luther's eyebrows furrowed as he questioned, "How?"

She gave a small sigh before explaining, "He drowned, and, uh, somehow I was able to bring him back to life. And now it's like we're connected."

"Wh . . ." Luther quickly glanced over at the group as Diego folded his arms. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know. I can't explain, but . . . I know that he needs my help. I need your help, too." She looked around them desperately, her expression earnest as she pleaded, "I'm scared. And for the first time in my life, I don't wanna do it alone." She paused, her eyes shifting over them. "I want my family by my side."

"Look, I'm sorry," Diego murmured as he walked towards her. "We have other priorities right now."

"Diego's right. For once," Five added, his forehead creased as he looked towards Vanya. "We need to make our stand here and now."

Vanya looked around at all of them to gauge their reaction, and upon getting no other response, gave a small nod. "Okay. I guess I'll see you when I see you."

She walked away and headed towards the back door, where her car was parked just outside, leaving them in silence.

"I'm gonna go with her," Klaus said loftily before he got up from his spot and followed her out.

"Well, not much of a loss." Luther shrugged as they heard the door close.

Valerie stepped forward and turned towards them, her hands settling on her hips as her glare was sent to each of them. "Are you guys stupid? Shutting Vanya out is exactly what caused the apocalypse last time!"

Diego's eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah, but if we—"

"No." She pointed a finger at him, causing him to silence. "We're going with her. And if you disagree," she continued as she raised her eyebrows, "I don't care, because I will bring you there before you can even blink an eye. And then I'm gonna slap you—after you finish throwing up, that is. So, would you rather go on a nice road trip with your family or vomit your guts out and then be slapped?"

Almost immediately, everyone headed towards the back door.

Luckily, Vanya hadn't left yet, and Klaus, Diego, and Allison were already in the car by the time Valerie and Five had made it there.

Valerie squeezed into the back seat, sitting in between Allison and Diego as Five opened the front passenger door, where Klaus was sitting.

"Five, you—you don't have to—" Vanya stuttered, her eyes flickering over his face.

"I know," he interrupted as a small smile came onto his face. "You owe me one, sis." He looked down at Klaus, who was nervously watching him, before stating, "Children ride in the back."

"Okay." Klaus nodded quickly before turning around and climbing over the seat to reach the other three.

"Oh, Christ," Allison groaned as Klaus lay on top of the three of their laps, giving them a dazzling smile that didn't help in the least.

A sincere smile spread onto Vanya's face as she looked back at all of them and murmured, "Guys, I don't know what to say."

Suddenly, the trunk was opened, and Luther crawled inside. Immediately, the back of the car let out a loud crunch as it collapsed on the tire, causing them all to wince.

Luther shut the back of the trunk, on all of his fours as he quickly told them, "Anyone makes a fat joke, and I'm outta here."

—♫—

They approached the farm after about half an hour of driving and gave a collective gasp once they had seen what was happening.

There was a large storm-like cloud that was swirling over the farmhouse, and light pulsated through it, the electric-like shocks seeming to come from the middle of the house. Snow covered the grass over a fifty-feet radius around it, and the snowflakes were continuing to pour down as they drove into the driveway.

"You think whatever's going on inside is causing the cold front?" Diego questioned as they came out of the car, everyone's eyes fixated on the cloud.

"Well, the correlation is high," Five answered dryly as he shut the door.

A blonde, middle-aged woman burst out of a door at the side of the farm, a long gun clutched in her hands as she ran towards them.

"Sissy!" Vanya shouted. "Sissy!"

"Get back!" Sissy screamed as she cocked the gun, pointing it at them as she rushed forward. "All of you, just get the hell back!"

"Sissy! Hey! Hey!" Vanya raised a hand in defence as the woman came a few feet away from her. "What's wrong?"

Sissy breathed heavily, her eyes nervously shifting over each sibling as her grip on the gun tightened. She looked back towards Vanya as she breathed out, "Carl."

Vanya's posture straightened slightly as her eyebrows furrowed. "What did he do to you?"

"He's . . ." She shook her head quickly, her face screwing up. "He's dead. Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, same way you sent those policemen flyin'. What did you do to him?"

Vanya quickly protested, "No—"

"What the hell did you do to my son?"

"We don't have time for this, Vanya," Diego murmured as he began to walk forward.

Sissy pointed the gun towards him as she threatened, "Where you think you're going?"

Ignoring all of his siblings' pleas to shut up, Diego raised a hand in defence and quickly responded, "To help your son."

"Look, Sissy," Vanya quickly interjected, "I found my family. These are my brothers and my sisters."

Sissy slowly lowered the gun, her forehead creasing as she panted, "Were you lyin' to me the whole time?"

"Of course not," Vanya said softly, taking a step towards her. "Look, I didn't know who I was. But I do now. And we are not the monsters that they say we are. We did not kill the president. We are not terrorists. We're not here to hurt anyone."

"Then . . ." Sissy let out a small breath, her eyes nervously roaming around the faces in front of her as she inquired, "Who are you?"

Vanya was quick to answer, "The only one who can help Harlan."

Sissy gave a small nod, and almost immediately, the group rushed up to the front of the farm, Vanya sliding the door open and running inside.

The group's eyes widened as they huddled around Vanya in the middle of the room, seeing the disastrous sight.

Harlan, a brown-haired boy who seemed around eight years old, was floating mid-air, his head thrown back as he gasped and let out small groans. There seemed to be some sort of force-field whirling around him, and it didn't take them trying it to know that they would get hurt trying to enter.

"Harlan? Harlan, it's Vanya!" Vanya shouted, taking a step closer. "Look, Harlan, I know you're really scared, but I can help you. I need you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?"

She took a breath, looking down before looking back up to reveal that her eyes were glowing white, just as they had at the Icarus Theater.

As the others could do nothing but watch nervously, she took a step inside of the force field.

"Careful," Five called.

"Harlan? I don't know if you can hear me . . ." Vanya began.

"Uh . . . guys?" Klaus shouted, now peering out the opening of the farm.

"What?" Diego asked as the five of them walked over to him, letting out a groan once he saw what the problem was.

The Handler and Lila stood about a hundred feet away, watching them. The Handler had a thick briefcase clutched in her hand, no doubt the way that the two of them had gotten there.

"Ah, shit," Diego sighed.

"What, who are they?" Klaus questioned nervously.

"One's the Handler," Valerie responded with a groan, "the other's Diego's girlfriend."

"Lila," Diego corrected as Allison and Klaus turned to stare at him in confusion, "That's my ex-girlfriend."

"What? You know what? Doesn't matter," Luther cut in, his eyes fixated on the two. "They both look angry."

"Our brother has that effect on people," Allison commented as she and Klaus turned back to stare at them.

"I'm gonna go find out what they want," Five told them, glancing back. "You guys stay with Vanya and the kid."

"I'm coming with you, too," Diego stated, Valerie nodding along. "Come on."

The three of them turned around and headed towards the side door, leaving through that exit.

"Hm, I love the scent of that fresh country air," the Handler chuckled as they approached them, "don't you, darling?"

"Makes me want to vomit," Lila replied, her eyes fixed on Five as the three of them came to a halt.

"What do you want?" Five questioned.

"To watch you suffer," Lila spat.

Diego's eyes flicked over to Lila as he softly asked, "What about me?"

She gave a small scoff as she looked over to him, "You're not even worth my wrath."

"Easy." The Handler raised her eyebrows at them as she explained, "We're here on official business."

Five shifted in his spot as he turned to look at the older woman, an untrusting look on his face as he sneered, "And what business is that?"

"As the head of the Commission," the Handler started as her eyes flickered between Valerie and Five, "I've decided to eliminate the criminals responsible for the assassination of the former board of directors."

"Yeah, right," Diego scoffed, an amused grin on his face. "We didn't kill the board."

"Uh, actually, Diego," Valerie murmured as she leaned towards him, "that's not entirely accurate."

"You didn't tell them," the Handler inquired as she lifted her eyebrows at them.

"Five, Val," Diego muttered, "what the hell did you two do?"

"What we had to to get our family home. Until somebody " —Five turned his glare to face the Handler— "reneged on our deal."

"Somebody wouldn't have reneged if somebody could've met a simple deadline." She gave a small shrug, an unapologetic expression settling on her face. "Alas."

"You set us up to fail," Valerie pointed out as she folded her arms.

"You set yourselves up to fail, friends," the Handler responded swiftly, "you and your brothers and sisters. Kinda the running theme of your little life, isn't it?"

"Dude, I can't believe you guys killed the board of directors." Diego leaned towards Five, shaking his head as he continued, "You have no idea how messed up the Commission is right now."

"Messed up?" the Handler echoed incredulously, her eyebrows furrowing. "Who's saying that?"

Diego turned his head back around to face her as he answered, "Everybody. Christ, even the janitors think it's going to shit."

"That's not all he killed," Lila interjected.

Five's face scrunched in confusion as he looked over to her and questioned, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, you piece of shit," she spat, her glare worsening.

"Enough," the Handler commanded as she set her briefcase down next to her. She straightened up, her eyebrows raising as she sighed, "The point is, all of you are going to die today. Hmm?

"Oh. Well, I don't like your chances," Diego remarked lightly. "Eight of us, two of you."

A smile crept onto her face as she nodded. "You know, you're right. Let's change that."

She snapped her fingers, and immediately, hundreds of Commission workers with briefcases began appearing behind her, wearing the same blue suits that Hazel and Cha-Cha wore. Some of them wore animal helmets as well, but some remained barefaced. But they all had guns in their hands, and they all looked like they were ready to kill them.

"Why did you say that?" Valerie breathed out, her eyes fixated on the hundreds of workers that were still coming as she hit his arm.

Diego swallowed as the sound of guns cocking filled the air. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we got two choices: fight and die now or run and die later," Five answered quietly. "Either way, we're food for worms."

"Preference?" Diego queried as he raised his eyebrows.

He shrugged. "Wouldn't mind a few more minutes breathing air through the old windbags."

"All right," the Handler said lightly, raising her wrist to check the time on her watch. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"