Chapter Text
Klaus stumbled and almost fell over as he landed on the cold marble of the lobby. Around him, the gunshots had gotten louder, now mingled with the sounds of fighting. He looked over to his left at the living room and saw Allison nursing a lump that was already starting to swell on her jaw. It was obviously hindering her rumouring abilities, which was probably what the lady in the pink mask had been aiming for, but Allison was still an intimidating blur as she lethally whipped through the air, perfectly manicured hands scissoring towards Pink’s abdomen. A gun lay discarded a few feet away. The contents of the magazine were spilled over the floor.
Luther was swinging towards Pink’s head, but she was fast. A knife came out of nowhere, and Klaus looked up to see Diego on the staircase, throwing the knives that were scattered over his body and around him on the steps. She dodged every one. Klaus charged towards her and delivered a sweeping kick, pulling her legs out from under her. She landed on her back, winded. Diego and Luther both stared at Klaus – (did they think he could be homeless for almost half his life and not know how to fight? Or did they think he’d forgotten the gruelling hours of hand-to-hand combat as children?) – and launched themselves at Pink.
She spun, dodging Luther’s shove and Diego’s fist, and twirled right into Klaus’ fist. He pummelled her stomach, leaving her hunched, and landed a solid kick on her lower spine. She was sent spinning to the floor.
Dragging her hand across the centre table, she pulled herself up with a wheeze. Luther ran towards her like a bull, but she dodged and used her momentum to shove Klaus into the wall, hitting his head. He watched dazedly as Five, who had been collecting Diego’s knives for him, blinked into the space directly above Pink’s head. He dropped onto her upper back, pulling them both towards the floor, and blinked out of the way before her head connected, the mask making a resounding crack.
Five was already off running towards Viktor, who was doubled over, the large man with the blue mask advancing towards him. As Klaus watched, he blinked towards the man and landed behind him. He winced as Five skittered around him, teleporting on all sides and landing a hit before disappearing to another side of the man. But Blue predicted where he was going to go and grabbed his arm, and although Five was strong, he was in his 13 year old body and couldn’t pull his arm out of Blue’s firm grip. He struggled as his arm looked like it was almost wrenched out of his socket. Blue pulled him towards the stairway, towards the door that Klaus knew led to a hallway eventually connecting with the alley outside.
Five was out of blinks. Klaus could see it in the way he was slumped, even as he tried to pull his arm free; he was exhausted. The path was open – they were nearly out the door and nobody had noticed, too preoccupied with their own fights. Luther and Diego were still battling Pink, but Diego was almost out of knives again, and Luther couldn’t do much because of how fast the lady was. She weaved through the attacks sent her way like a fish in water. Allison was lying by the staircase, unmoving; she had clearly been thrown there, and Viktor was crouched over her, trying to wake her up and shielding her from the gunshots still scattering throughout the lobby.
Klaus shoved himself up and ran towards Blue and Five, jumping onto the man’s broad back. He knew it was a dumb move but he couldn’t think what else to do – they were almost out the door and then it would have been practically impossible to find Five, without the briefcase the man was clutching. The man growled and tried to shake him off, letting go of Five, who dodged the man’s flailing arms and started trying to punch him. The man flung himself backwards, sending Klaus crashing to the ground, but he immediately got back up and started trying to pummel Blue. His head pounded and he could feel blood trickling down the back of his neck. He thought about his funny shirt, which was probably now ruined.
The mask splintered and the man hissed, pulling his gun from the holster on his belt and aiming it at Klaus.
He pulled the trigger.
Pain ripped through his leg and Klaus collapsed, holding his hand to the blood gushing from the perfectly round, agonising hole in his leg.
“Shit! Klaus!”
Five dropped to his knees beside him, trying to stem the flood, but the man pointed the gun at him and jerked the barrel up. Five slowly rose to his feet, and Klaus almost saw his face go red at the knowledge that he couldn’t blink away. He glanced down at Klaus, already pale from the blood loss, and backed away. The lady in the pink mask had finally been pinned by one of Diego’s knives and the boys were advancing on her, Luther glancing to the side at Allison as she lifted her head towards Blue, confusion clouding her eyes. Klaus saw the moment she registered what was happening and she pulled herself up on the wall, leaving a streak of blood behind.
“Stop!” shouted the man. His gun was still trained on Five, Klaus bleeding out at his feet. “Stop now!”
All the siblings in the room froze when they saw Five held at gunpoint. They knew he wouldn’t kill him, because they needed him, but he had all the time in the world to heal, didn’t he? Really, there was nothing stopping him from shooting him in the gut and just fixing him later, leaving him incapacitated in the meantime. The man reached down and grabbed Klaus’ arm and pulled him up, forcing a pained breath from his lips. Blue aimed his gun at Klaus’ head, his arm around his throat. Klaus watched his family with a practiced eye as their backs stiffened minutely and their fingers flexed into a fist, as Pink finally yanked Diego’s knife out of her jacket and stalked over, holding the sharp blade to Klaus’ throat.
“Don’t.” the man growled as he saw Allison open her mouth. “I’ll shoot.” Diego’s fingers twitched towards his knife tucked into his sleeve. “DON’T!” Blue roared.
Five’s hands curled into fists. The blue glow that always accompanied the jumps was starting to accumulate around his white knuckles. But he needed to gather all his energy to jump, which took more time, and those extra split seconds served as a warning to Blue.
The knife was cold against his skin.
Klaus felt his arm tense as he straightened the gun towards Five’s head.
He shoved away the arm around his neck and ignored the stinging pain as the blade scratched his throat.
He jumped into the bath of the bullet singing towards an unprepared and unprotected Five.
His chest hurt.
He didn’t think about what that meant.
He heard yelling, and two dull thuds as the assassins dropped to the ground, knives embedded hilt-deep in their hearts.
A short burst of pain, and then everything rushed towards him, and the blackness consumed him.
