Dan's body was shaken, bringing her back from the precious dream she was having. Her head ached and her throat burned a little, making her groan at the uncomfortable feeling. She opened her eyes, jumping back when she saw a giant figure looking down at her. Then, her mind brought some memories from last night, she was at the Hargreeves' house and it was Luther who had woken her up. "What are you doing here?" His voice echoed loudly in her head.
"Uhh. . ." her eyes trailed down to the floor, where she saw Klaus sleeping. She remembered him insisting she slept on his bed, with a joint in his lips and many pill packets scattered on the ground. They had gotten high. "Just because you don't want me to be here, Luther, doesn't mean your siblings aren't allowed to invite me over. Both Allison and Klaus agreed on it, okay?" He sighed at the mention of his sister, letting all the tension out of his body, "now tell me why you woke me up."
Luther softly pushed Klaus with his foot, trying to wake him up, failing. "Well, Klaus told me he didn't want to be left out of what we do, so I figured he'd want to tag along with me. Wasn't expecting to see you, though."
She blankly stared at him, too tired to even process what he had said, her mind felt like it was about to explode and her throat felt like a desert. He didn't really seem to notice, though, just imagined she wasn't a morning person or she totally disliked him. Shrugging, he tried to wake his brother again but not even a sound came out of him. Klaus could be dead for all they knew.
"Wake him up, okay? I'll make some tea," it might sound impossible for a man like Luther to look so innocent but she saw it with her own eyes as he exited the room, shrugging his shoulders to fit through the door, taking small steps for some reason. She giggled quietly, some effects of the drugs still affecting her.
"Hey, Klaus," Dan sat on the bed, head throbbing, and reaching for her glasses on the night table. She stood up and became dizzy, tried to sit on the bed but slid down to the floor, taking a few seconds to recover. Once she felt a bit better, her body leaned toward the man on the floor, shaking him awake.
After a few tries, his eyes shot open, scaring her a bit. Groaning, he mumbled "did we fuck?" to which Dan chuckled at, finding it funny it was the first thing that came to his mind.
"No, you idiot, we didn't fuck. Now get your ass up, Luther's waiting downstairs."
The man rolled on the floor, grunting until he was facing down. Dan watched closely as he sighed and began to hit his face against the wooden boards. She immediately stopped him, scared of his way of waking up. A sad smile appeared on her face when he looked up at her with a smirk, trying to forget what he had just done. Neither realized that they had been making eye contact for some seconds now since they both felt familiar with what they were looking at.
It wasn't until he coughed that they snapped into reality, Dan getting to her feet. Klaus rested his head on his hand and followed her with his eyes, "what does Luther want?"
"I don't know―" she stopped in front of the small mirror, analyzing her clothes and face, "for fuck's sake! You've got to be kidding me," frustrated, she pulled on the noticeable cigarette burn in her white shirt, ruining the only outfit she had. "Why did we even smoke? What the fuck!?" Her hands covered her sleepy face, pulling the skin a bit as the hands slid down.
She hadn't noticed that the man had got to his feet, glancing at her through the mirror, seeing the burn as well. When the fingers were away from her eyes, she opened them, watching through the reflection that he was searching for something in his closet. He took a shirt with dark grey and lighter tone stripes, which crossed over each other creating squares. He tossed it her way and she grabbed it, accepting that this was her only option. The shirt itself wasn't so bad, it was cool, but her favorite thing was that it smelled like him.
"Thanks."
Her hands went for her ruined shirt, ready to take it off when she realized he was still in the room. Turning around, she was ready to ask for the bathroom but he realized what she was trying to do, "I guess I should leave now. I'll knock on the door," he waltzed out, closing the door behind him.
Dan wasted no time and unbuttoned her shirt, tossing it to the side. Her eyes scanned her torso, catching a glimpse of a blue miniature bag hiding in her brassiere. She took it out, chuckling at the memory of Klaus insisting that she should try that one alone when she needed a boost of energy. Putting it back where it was, now feeling its existence, she shrugged on the shirt, buttoning it all the way up. She felt too private with the fabric covering all the way to her neck, so she unbuttoned one, then two. There was no need to look professional in front of this family, they were anything but.
After checking herself out one last time, she went for the door and opened it, being welcomed by the smell of a spliff. He was leaning against the wall, exhaling some smoke. He had thrown on a long, black jacket and a purple scarf as an excuse for an outfit, maybe if it wasn't so messy it would look good. Dan took the burning stick out of his mouth, making him believe that she was going to have some, and dropped it to the floor, stepping on it.
"W-what the hell?" He sounded hurt, sadly looking at the ashes of his drug, accepting that he wouldn't get another inhale from it.
"You're not starting your day like this," she nodded towards the stairs, signaling that they should go have some breakfast. Smiling falsely, he motions for her to go ahead, only to shove two pills in his mouth behind her back. They both make it to the kitchen, not having a word with each other.
Luther sat at the end of the table, arms crossed and two cups of tea in diagonal of him, one in front of the other. Klaus took the closest seat, making Dan walk around the table to the other chair. The junkie takes a bottle of what seemed like vodka and was ready to add it when the caring woman grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"Are you kidding me? First the blunt, now this?"
He only shrugs and gets out of her grasp, mixing the two drinks. Rolling her eyes, she took a sip from her tea, expecting some warm, sweet liquid to go into her mouth. Instead, it was cold, sour; and it ruined her morning. There's nothing better than an amazing, tasteful breakfast but she wasn't having one, maybe Klaus had a better experience with it since he added another flavor.
Dan forced herself to finish it, trying not to look rude. Luther must have noticed at some point though, but brushed it away, not really wanting to get his mind deep into other unimportant stuff. There was only one goal in his head: get the family together so they could discuss an important matter. The room was quiet until Klaus finished his mixture, letting out a loud exhale, "get some comfortable shoes, we're going to walk a lot," 'Number One' ordered them, standing up and taking their cups. Neither of the two moved, assuming their footwear was comfortable enough. "Guess we should start looking for Five now. Let's go," again, they stayed still but shot up when he coughed loudly.
"Wait," Dan quickly jogged her way next to Luther as they exited the kitchen, her short heels clicking against the wooden floor. He only gave her a hum as a way of telling her he was listening, " I'm going too? You know, I could use a few words with Pogo or maybe go to-"
He stopped abruptly, looking down at her. As much as she liked to mock how he always tried to intimidate everyone and somehow failed, the look in his eyes did make a shiver run down her spine. "Look, I don't trust you to come but I won't leave you to wander around the house. You're a stranger─ even worse, only Diego knows you," she frowned as the words sunk into her brain, not affecting her at all.
Was that supposed to be an insult? To be only known by Diego? Only because his brother met up with a lot of weird people during his job. She was more than that, even if the project she was working on was one of the many things her friend tried to fight. However, they were approved by the government to do this, it wasn't a solo project a gang was doing.
"Let's go," Klaus jumped happily and walked after his brother, unnaturally energized.
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes and threw her head back huffing, before following the two men through the house and out into the real world. There weren't many people outside, for a few minutes it was just them, even if Dan sometimes felt like she was alone. The two brothers were talking about something, she didn't really care what, only in getting some ibuprofen to get rid of the growing headache.
At least no cars were passing by, making annoying noises, neither were bicycles with those annoying bells that have a pitched ring. It was oddly deserted as if no one lived there anymore. She took it as something normal around this hour since she didn't really know how the streets were during her time inside the labs, but it wasn't until she heard a fourth pair of footsteps that her mind went in alert.
Both Klaus and Luther were walking ahead, not talking anymore. She used her senses and separated their footsteps and hers, there was definitely another person. Even though it's a normal thing for people to walk in the same direction as you, giving to the situation she started to get paranoid.
Diego's words he had told her a few months ago drowned her mind, he taught her what to do in case of stuff as this happens. Stay calm, breathe as normal as you can. Don't let them know you feel their presence but do get ready to fight back. Swing your elbow and try to blend in with more people. She hadn't noticed but she had taken a turn to the right. Her legs were stopped from moving when her body crushed against what felt like a wall, it was the literally big Hargreeves.
Her ears filled with different urban noises, digging into her skull louder than usual, she couldn't control herself anymore. If it wasn't for Klaus having an idea of what was going on with her, she would've broken. He dragged her into a quiet alley, instructing Luther to protect them from anything. Her hands pressed against her ears, trying to block the sound but barely worked. His voice was the only sound she thought her ears blocked but it was only covered by others.
"Did you take any other pill today," her eyes focused on his lips and every word became clearer. She shook her head, after a night like the two had her goal is to stop drugging herself or slowly leave it. "Then what is it? Abstinence?"
"Powers," she shut her eyes closed, trying to focus on her breathing. Her mind began to imagine calming sounds like a waterfall or rain. Her eyelids opened, the first thing she saw was the man taking a step back with a frightened face. Luther pushed him away and stood in front of her, lowering himself to her height. He opened his mouth but she cut him off, "I'm fine. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, it became too much for me. Normally I can take it but there was something else to it. I might have to dig into it. Let's just keep searching for Five."
Luther nodded slowly and they rejoined the busy streets once again, this time Dan felt much better. Even if her mind still reminded her of the strange presence she felt, she tried to push it away, focusing more on the weird glances Klaus had at her.
One of those times he looked at her over his shoulder, she caught him and locked eyes. He usually would try to make the situation fun or unintentionally awkward but his eyes were wide open as he looked to the front again, hands shoved into his jacket.
"There! That's Five's van!" They quickly crossed the street and stood next to it, relieved that it didn't take them so long. Inside the vehicle, the boy sat staring at nothing, probably lost in his own mind. As Luther tapped the window and called for him, the other Hargreeves took the opportunity to get in the back of the van. When the 'leader' decided to open the door, he shot his head in her direction, a little concerned.
"I will smoke here if you don't mind. 'Need to keep my head away from my powers," he nodded and tried to get in, smashing against the door and seat due to his huge body. Once the van had stopped rocking, she laid against it, taking her trusty cigarette from her back pocket. Her hand tapped for her lighter but it wasn't there, she must've dropped it somewhere in the house. Sighing, she removed her glasses and aligned them in the direction of the sun, the glass magnifying the light and heat.
After a few seconds, it began to smoke and eventually, lit up. Before placing the stick on her lips, she blew a cold breath to the glasses, doing so until it was back to the normal temperature. She slid the glasses on and took a long inhale of the drug, almost feeling herself closer to death by every bit of smoke that entered her mouth and made its way down to her lungs.
The feeling of someone staring at her came back, but for her own sake she stopped herself from using her powers, she had started to lose the ability to use them anyway. This time she did see it. A man. He was standing in the alley they were just a few minutes ago, looking at her.
Again, he became the only thing she saw and focused on. The pastel orange shirt he was wearing seemed to be covered in some red liquid, his hands pressing on the source of it. He was bleeding, probably calling for her help in a weird way. Before taking a step forward she analyzed his face, assuming by his looks that he was around his thirties and lived in good conditions. When her back left the van, the side door slid open and Klaus angrily stormed out.
"Fine!" He dug his eyes in hers, taking a deep breath and walking away.
Dan raised her eyebrows to the two men, or one and a half men, sitting on the front. Five glared at her and rolled his eyes, "what is she doing here?" She was taken back by the harshness of his voice, all this time she had thought he liked her.
"She's with me," Luther informed but his brother's glare hadn't changed. Maybe she thought wrong, the only one in the family who probably liked her other than Diego was Allison. Even Klaus treated her differently ever since that small event a few minutes ago. Or maybe today was the day everyone decided to hate her for whatever she did, even breathe.
Five opened his mouth and frowned at her, shooting his arm in her direction, "I don't care, shut the door!" Scoffing, she slid the door shut, making a loud noise. The only way out of this whole mess was the cigarette and its properties that calmed her mind. She heard Luther ask his small brother why he hated her, even if he wasn't so nice himself but in this family, they all believe they are better than the rest, no matter in what aspect. "I don't hate her─" the rest was unclear, almost inaudible. He was surely whispering, knowing that she wanted to know why he acted like that with her.
Not giving a fuck about them anymore, she turned around, remembering the man she had seen but he vanished. Great, everything was going bad for her on this stupid day. What else could make it worse? A bell softly ringed, probably coming from one of the shops.
Dan was about to ignore it when Klaus's voice echoed on her head, "Hey, bitches!" Her eyes searched for him to find him running down the street, a man yelling after him to stop. The sound of tires screeching scared the living shit out of her, thinking he must've been hit by a car or something, but it was relieving to see him yelling at the driver, safe and sound, "out of the way, asshole!"
"Hey," she called for the cop that was taking Klaus away from the stuff he had stolen and the car that almost hit him. "Hey!" This time she did get their attention, "I'll pay for what he took. He must have thought it was one of those places, you know?" She didn't even know what places but tried to pull it off, coolly taking a few dollars from her front pocket. "So, how much is it?"
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
So, here she was again. Standing with six of the Hargreeves, looking at the small screen with incriminating footage.
What her eyes showed her from a few feet away was their mother reaching to Sir Hargreeves and when she moved away, he began to struggle, fighting for his life, and then, he died. Grace, as Luther now called his mother, stood next to the bed, not doing anything. It was the third time they watched the video, only one was confused enough to speak up, "─do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?"
"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya," Dan kept watching the video, slowly leaning closer to get a better sight. Every time it got far from being a murder, Grace had only touched him for a second and the man started to die. Something was off about this whole thing, "maybe you don't know Grace anymore."
Her view was blocked by Diego, who stood in front of the screen to face Luther. Moving her eyes away from the screen, all she wished was for them not to start fighting again and ruin yet another calm meeting. "If he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroner's report," again, he had a point. Why would they cover up death like that? The man was old and it was his time to leave, why did Luther had to be such a bitch about it?
"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes," Luther said back, looking back into the screen.
Diego, with his sassy tone, explained and showed them the clip again, "maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision," the button clicks and the video starts once more, a finger pointing into the old man's face, "look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up," in the footage, all he's saying happens as he points to it, making sure Luther sees it with his own eyes. "Monocle's gone," and he was right, it was gone. She looks up at Luther to hear what he had to say about this but he kept looking at the screen. "She wasn't poisoning him. She was taking it. To clean it," he suggested.
"Then where is it?" Her head now moved to look at Diego, who had taken a few steps closer to the couch. He stayed quiet and closed his eyes when Luther kept talking, "I've searched the house, including her things. She doesn't have it."
And then, when they thought things couldn't get tenser between the two, Diego revealed something that made them all shift positions, clearly surprised, "that's because I took it from her. After the funeral," Allison was the first one to talk, mad that he kept it a secret, and worse that he ruined Luther's unofficial investigation. Said big man demanded him to hand it over to which he got an angering answer, "I threw it away."
"You what?"
Dan sighed, looking to her left to see Allison gulp down her drink, "look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing right now."
"Diego, you son of a bitch─"
They both charged forward, ready to start another fight over something as pointless as a monocle. Luckily, Vanya stepped between the two, her small figure surprisingly making them stop or maybe it was the cold tone she used, "hey. No. Calm down," Diego lowered his fists slowly and looked down at her, "look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but also as a protector," again, Allison beat some of them on asking what did the short woman mean. "She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy."
"Well, if her hardware is degrading, then─" all eyes were on Luther once more, he couldn't bring himself to say it but he had to. That's what a leader always did, take the hard decisions and make them for the team, then they get the chance to vote whether to do it or not. "We need to turn her off."
And now Diego was back at his defensive mode, pointing a knife at Luther. "Whoa, wait."
Dan got it, even if she wasn't really into a talking mood, she showed her support by scowling at the big man. Grace was their mother, the woman who had raised all seven of them and made her feel welcome when she first took a step into the house. The term 'turn her off' did sound a bit weird for some seconds but it all slowly made sense. The non-aging, constant hardware, and battery conversations. Their mother was a robot. Her face lit up but immediately became dull again, even if she wasn't human, she was still their mother.
"She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things, I've seen it!"
"She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die," sometimes he didn't make sense, he would be watching his mother die too, no matter if it was different because she was a machine. So, why put all the blame on their mother when he had the idea of doing the same with the woman who gave them all, including names.
Allison twirled her glass around, "I'm with Luther."
"Surprise, surprise," Diego moved on from his famous sister, now looking at the short one, waiting for her to choose a side. Not only he was looking straight and intimidating but also Luther. Those two, if they agreed on something for once, could make a great investigating team, the best to get information out of people. Vanya stuttered, definitely intimidated by both, but eyes locking with the bigger one. Diego scoffed and moved on, "Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote."
Vanya angrily followed his gaze, "I was gonna say that I agree with you!"
"Okay. She should get a vote," his eyes quickly ran over Dan but shifted to look at Klaus, who was leaning against a round column, "what about you, stoner boy? What do you got?"
He glanced at both of them, his features still calm and tired of everything in life. He was definitely high again, or perhaps he never stopped, always recharging with more and more. "Oh, so, what? You need my help now?" His eyes closed are reopened to look at Luther, trying to imitate his voice, "oh, 'get out of the van, Klaus!' 'Well, welcome back to the van,'" he sounded so upset that they only cared for his opinion when there was a fight and they had to see which side was going to win. If no one needed an extra point, he would be literally kicked 'out of the van'.
"What's it gonna be, Klaus?"
The 'stoner' frowned at Luther and pointed at his opponent, "I'm with Diego because screw you!" Dan let out a sigh, wanting to just get out of the situation. Bad for her, one of the short-tempered brothers saw her and was ready to use it as his advantage but was interrupted by Klaus, "and if Ben were here, he'd agree with me."
"So that's three?" Diego lifted three of his fingers, a small smirk forming on his face. "To two," he raised only two fingers, on the other hand, giving his brother a fake pity look.
Luther took a step closer to Dan and she already felt it coming, so she gave an answer before it was even asked, "I'm not voting," her voice was raspy due to the fact she had barely said some words during the day. Clearing her throat, she kept talking, "your mother, Grace, she raised you, Luther. It doesn't matter if she isn't human, you are killing her too, getting rid of the only one who gave you love. A goddamn name!" By now he was avoiding her gaze, regretting having the intention to ask her, "at least not in a moment like this. You just lost your father, don't rush another funeral. If he's dead, he's dead, turning your mother off won't bring him back," she took a deep breath, feeling that she was about to pass out from letting out too much air.
There was a moment of silence until Klaus started clapping at her words, no sarcasm involved. She just glared at him and he stopped, raising his hands in defeat.
"Vote's not final yet," Allison said, getting her attention. Diego still had five fingers up, pressing on Luther that he had the numbers but when his sister said this he looked puzzled. "Five's not here. The whole family has to vote. We owe each other that."
Both Luther and Vanya agreed on that, leaving the room until the sixth member of the family came and voted what did he wanted to do with their mother. Dan took a few steps closer to Diego, rubbing his arm, "I'm sure five wouldn't want anything happening to your mom," just as she said those words, said woman appeared under one of the arcs, smiling at them. When his eyes met her, most of his muscles relaxed and he turned to look at his friend. "Go, big boy," she smiled warmly and pushed him slightly away, "I will find my way to your room."
He gave her a thumbs-up as he walked towards his mother. Her eyes fell on Klaus who was eyeing her, she took a step forward towards him but he took off, walking to where he only knew. Sighing, she decided to go to the room. As usual, the way to her destination got harder with every incorrect turn she took.
A two-minute way to the rooms turned into seven minutes lost in the labyrinth that the Hargreeves called a house. She even found two sets of stairs that seemed unused and caught her attention but who was she to explore the house when Luther was probably watching her every move. She walked past another hallway but this one seemed familiar, so she took some steps in reverse with a grin. This was it. Following the steps she had once taken with Klaus, she found herself close to the rooms.
The floor creaked behind her, forcing her head to snap in the direction of the noise. There, coming out of one room was Diego. A smile materialized into her exhausted face. Sighing with relief, she began moving closer when two masked figures came into view. Guns raised in their way.
Diego saw her expression darken and turned over just in time. He lurched himself to the ground and Dan raised her hand, utilizing her powers to protect herself and her friend.
Adrenaline overpowered whatever she had in her system and she was able to use her gift. When the first shots were fired, they quickly turned into dust before they reached them. Diego looked at her amazed before throwing two knives at the intruders. He seized the opportunity and grabbed her hand, escaping from the intruders. Dan never let her hand down, powers still working.
So, today wasn't over, it was worse.