"Going to rock bottom, do you guys need anything?"
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE — MAY DEATH NEVER STOP YOU
The orchestra has already started playing inside when we arrived at the Icarus Theatre, battered, tired, and ready to crawl into a hole and cry.
I surveyed the venue, searching for the familiar Umbrella Academy uniform as we dashed up the stairs.
Allison held up a hand, running in front of Luther and stopping him mid-stride. She held up her notepad, "I need to go alone" was written in bold letters.
"Allison, I can't let you do that, all right?" Luther protested. "She's beyond reasoning."
"You hear the music?" Diego pointed towards the concert hall. "It's started."
"Do you honestly think she's gonna listen?" Luther reasoned with Allison. "After everything that's happened?"
Allison never broke the stern eye contact with him.
"We don't have time for this," Klaus fidgeted beside me.
Luther heaved a heavy sigh, nodding and saying, "Okay."
Allison gave him one last look before dashing past the four of us and into the concert hall alone. We all watched as she made her way through the heavy doors, disappearing into the theatre.
"You're using her as a distraction, aren't you?" Diego probed.
Luther didn't hesitate to nod, "It will be our best chance to incapacitate Vanya."
"Oh," Klaus voiced.
"She'll thank us later" Luther's lips were set in a grim line.
"So, what's the plan?" Klaus asked as we headed up the stairs.
Luther waved him back, "Uh, you wait out front."
"What?" Klaus and I said at the same time.
Luther shot me a dismissive glance before turning back to Klaus, "Yeah, you're the lookout."
Klaus was slack-mouthed. "The lookout?" He repeated.
"Zero," Luther cocked his head. "You can, uh, you can be back-up."
I looked at him like he grew a second head, pointing at myself, "Me? Back-up?"
Number One nodded, "Yes, back-up."
"Are you fucking with me?" I threw my hands up exasperated.
Luther didn't spare another glimpse, already heading inside.
Klaus and I glanced at each other before heading to our respective positions, him heading out front and I headed up to tail Allison from behind.
Vanya had begun playing her solo part when I walked in. She smiled when she spotted Allison standing in the aisle.
The music started speeding up as Diego and Luther bounded across the stage. They were inches away when Vanya suddenly stood up, waving her violin bow and causing a surge of bright white light that blasted across the concert hall, throwing Luther and Diego back.
Screams ensued as the music stopped abruptly. The audience stood up in unison, screeching and gasping as they trampled down the aisles to escape.
I run down the opposite direction of the flow, grabbing Allison's arm just as Vanya turned to her orchestra and waved her bow again, blasting the musicians back to continue playing the song.
The composition took an eerie turn as Vanya took her spot at the centre of the stage. Her violin playing never once pausing.
I pressed Allison down and we both stooped low to avoid the next surge of power that Vanya swooped across the theatre.
I dove beside Diego as we hid behind the empty middle section of the concert hall.
"She's stronger than expected," Diego stated, his back pressed against the half-wall stiffly.
"Yeah," Luther agreed before getting smacked across the head with an abandoned purse that Allison tossed at him.
We all turned to look at her, she cocked her head as if to ask "what the hell was that?"
"Yeah. we're fine, thanks for asking," Luther responded.
Allison's face morphed into annoyance.
Luther turned to her, "Look, I almost lost you once, all right? I wasn't about to lose you again!"
"Well, so much for the element of surprise," Diego interrupted. "What else you got?"
Allison thumped her fist against the back of a chair, grabbing our attention before gesturing about Vanya's violin.
Diego rolled his eyes, "No shit, Allison. Tell us something we don't already know."
"She's talking about the violin," Luther replied frantically, peeking behind to look at Vanya. "It's her lightning rod."
I rubbed my hands together, about to summon my shadows again, "If we can take it from her and stop her from playing-"
"We might have a shot!" Luther finished my sentence for me.
Gunfire sounded at the back of the concert hall and I gritted my teeth as the helmeted agents of the Commission flooded in, guns blazing. "Oh for fuck's sake, can't they just leave us alone?" I grabbed the edges of my shadows and threw them forward, aiming for the two closest to us. The boiling hissing substance melting through their suits and leaving them in a twitching bloodied pile.
Gunfire ensued once more.
We ducked as the agents came closer, their shooting never once halting.
The orchestra screamed as stray bullets flew their way. The musicians left the stage in a hurry, ducking and fleeing from the scene. Vanya's playing kept going.
"What the hell happened to Klaus?" Diego yelled over the noise. "He's supposed to be on lookout!"
"Yeah, you surprised?" Luther shot back.
"What's with all the lollygagging?" Five appeared along the aisle.
Fuck.
I leapt up without thinking, grabbing him and covering him as we ducked behind a row of seats.
"Shit," I panted, feeling a sudden jolt of pain through my body. I pressed my hand to my left shoulder and winced as I felt slick blood coming from my bullet wound.
"Zero!" Five inhaled sharply. "You stupid-"
I looked behind him and threw up my arm, a sharp spear of shadows emerging from the ground and impaling the agent behind Five through the base of his neck.
"Five, what the-I thought you bailed on us!" Luther shouted.
"I had an errand to run," Five replied quickly, tearing open my hoodie to examine the wound. He pressed a hand to the injury.
"Princess, I need you to drop the bullet okay?" Five said softly. "Oh, I'm gonna murder that son of a bitch."
I pursed my lips, closing my eyes as I let the bullet go through me. It dropped to the ground with a clink.
"Good girl," he smiled his trademark smirk. "Now, let's go kick some ass."
He looked around the theatre, "This is not good."
"You know these guys?" Diego asked.
"Yeah," Five replied. "We do."
"And?" Diego scowled.
"Well, we're screwed," Five shrugged.
More and more agents flooded into the theatre as we hid.
Klaus burst through the doors with wide eyes, yelling, "Guys, it's Cha-Cha! It's Cha-Cha, she-"
"Klaus! Get down!" Luther hollered.
With a grunt, Five whooshed away and on to an approaching gunman. A trail of bullets escaped their rifle as Five twisted, bringing three agents down at once.
All of a sudden, Klaus conjured up a glowing blue figure.
I gaped as I watched the figure materialise into a familiar figure.
"Holy shit, it's Ben!" I gaped.
I watched as Ben yelled, dragging his hoodie up and releasing eldritch tentacles that I never thought I would see again.
Five curled his arm around me and tugged me closer as we stared at Ben's ghost, watching in surprise as his tentacles took down agents left and right.
The monster in him squealed as Ben continued attacking the gunmen.
Five helped me up slowly, his wide eyes never leaving the glowing blue Ben in front of us.
"Oh, my God," Luther breathed. "It's him. Ben."
The gunfire died down as the tentacles broke through each and every one of the Commission's agents.
There was a terrible squelch when Ben pulled down his hoodie after the tentacles had retreated back into his body.
Klaus groaned behind him, his fists illuminating.
Ben turned to him as he returned to a normal shade of human. "Now who's the lookout?" Ben said with a grin.
Klaus laughed, waving at Luther and Allison hastily.
"Ben!" I cried with a grin, my arm tossed around Five as he helped me towards our brother.
"Hello, Zero!" Ben's grin widened, greeting me before dissolving into thin air.