The Great Unknown

Fortress - Lennon Stella

The team left the house in groups in the hopes that they would find Ben sooner if they split up, Luther and Diego had a few ideas on where the Murder Magician was waiting for them so they split up. Allison, Vanya, and Diego went in one way while Luther and Charlotte went a different way. Five and Klaus stayed together looking closer to home, the family had no clue if Ben left on his own or if he was kidnapped so they thought it might be best to keep two people near the house in case he came back.

"Tomorrow is April 1st." Five said breaking the silence that surrounded the two as they walked down the familiar alley.

"Yeah," Klaus said slowly as he rolled his eyes not understanding why his brother had to be so strange all the time.

"Klaus, you have a month until the apocalypse." Five said annoyed with his brother, Klaus stopped walking and looked at his brother through his eyelashes.

"Do you think I don't know that." He whispered out, his voice was barely audible of the passing cars. "Five I just don't know what to do. How am I supposed to stop this, we can't separate again not in the middle of all this." He said waving his hands around thinking over everything the family had been through in the past few days.

"Klaus I know it's hard but-"

"There's no but about it Five! Our life is a mess. Ben is missing, you and Luther are twins and everyone seemed to have just ignored that, Charlotte may or may not end the world in a month, and there's a band of criminals running around from the secret hotel prison our alien father had on another planet!" Klaus yelled his voice echoing off the walls that stood tall around them. His face and neck had turned red and veins were pushing against his skin. He let out a breath as his body relaxed.

"Okay." Five said a new tone in his voice. "We find Ben, send the criminals back and then deal with Charlotte." Five said with a strong determination in his voice. "As for Luther and I, well I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that as well." Five said offering Klaus a small smile which he returned.

"Okay," Klaus said visibly relaxing although his mind was still moving a mile a minute. "How do we even know that the warning will come true? Charlotte basically just died, what if that stopped it?" His voice was hopefully as he turned to look at his brother.

"I'm not so sure that stopped it." Five warned as the two looked towards the sky where dark clouds were forming.

---

Luther and Charlotte walked around the east side of the city looking for Ben while slowly making their way to the spot Luther and Diego thought the escaped criminals would be waiting. The pair hadn't talked much it was clear that the past events had been a large toll on both of the two. Luther looked visibly stressed, his brows always creased and his eyes swirled with determination and concern. Charlotte only seemed half there, she hadn't been able to shift since Allison blew up the back of her head and she had looming thoughts that she would never be able to use her powers again. Before either could try to fill the silence Luther grabbed Charlotte's hand pulling her attention as she followed his line of sight to the large clouds forming a few yards ahead of them.

"Ben," Charlotte whispered before the pair broke out into a sprint hand in hand running through the alleys of their hometown.

As the pair came to the clearing they caught sight of all their siblings running to the same clearing. Ben stood in the middle of the field, his shirt ripped and hanging down by his sides as large black tentacles stretched out from his skin reaching towards the sky for something to grab onto. His face was twisted in pain as the team caught sight of the thick headband around his head that had multiple bolts and wires coming from it, blue bolts of electricity visible as they moved along the wire into Ben.

"Ben!" Luther yelled as he let go of Charlotte's hand and running towards the man, soon escaped criminals tackled him to the ground. There were men and women holding down all members of the Hargreeves family as they were forced to watch Ben fall to his knees in pain.

"You're a monster!" Charlotte yelled to the Murder Magician who stood proudly watching the man fall. Her eyes moved past him as she saw that Pogo, Grace, and Sir Hargreeves sat tied up with three guards around them.

"He killed my brother!" The man yelled back, a wild look in his eyes.

Klaus fought hard against the man holding him down, as he pushed and pulled out of the man's grasp another man came to grab him. Klaus once again fought out of that man's grip before running across the field. Diego following behind him as he threw knives at men and women running to stop them. Luther soon pushed up throwing the three men that held him down high into the air. All three men were running towards their brother, Klaus reached him first grabbing his hand feeling electricity moving into his body but he felt it move through him as Diego grabbed onto his hand as well. Luther grabbed Ben's other hand feeling the same sensation. Five and Vanya were the next to join the chain, Five grabbing Luther's hand and Vanya grabbing Diego's. Allison and Charlotte were next, Allison grabbing Vanya's hand as Charlotte grabbed Five's. The two women then grabbed one another's hand as they felt the electric current flowing through them. As every sibling attached the pain grew less and less for Ben as he stood to his knees.

"We can't stay like this forever!" Vanya yelled into the circle.

"We have to get that headband off of him!" Diego yelled eyeing the tightly clasped band. They all looked back and forth trying to think about how they could help Ben. Klaus moved his hand up his brother's arm never breaking the connection.

"Klaus stop!" Charlotte yelled as she watched him grab the band. "If you take that off the sudden shock will kill you!" She yelled as the pair locked eyes.

"Between me and Ben. Ben should live." Klaus yelled back as he moved to grab the band. Luther pulled ben closer to him.

"None of us is dying!" Luther yelled glaring at his brother.

"Right you are Number One!" Sir Hargreeves yelled as he pulled the headband off Ben.

April 10, 2003

The eight teens sat outside in the courtyard under the large oak tree that was just beginning to bud. They all sat on top of a large checkered red blanket with a huge basket in the middle that Grace had been kind enough to pack with their lunch. Diego, Vanya, and Five were playing an intense game of cards while Ben, Klaus, and Charlotte sat sneaking extra snacks from the bag and chatting between the three. Luther and Allison were laying towards the edge of the blanket farthest from the tree to watch fluffy white clouds roll by. All the teens sat up straight when they noticed Sir Hargreeves walking towards them.

"I don't remember saying that you all could skip training." He said sternly eyeing the eight in front of him.

"Sorry, dad," Vanya mumbled looking down to her hands.

"We just thought it was such a lovely day..." Luther explained trailing off under his father's glance.

"I suppose." He said adjusting his monocle.

"Suppose what?" Allison asked furrowing her brows. All the teens looked between one another as the idea of going inside to train started to set in.

"I suppose it is a lovely day." Sir Hargreeves responded as he sat down with his children. The nine all formed a circle as they all played cards and passed around food. They spent the rest of the day playing and listening to their father tell them stories of his life before earth and everything he had done to get here.

Current Day

As Sir Hargreeves stepped back from the circle his body being filled instantly with waves of electricity, his body froze in shock as he fell backward, as he hit the ground the headband broke and Sir Hargreeves has dead.

"You killed him!" Luther yelled as he ran towards the Murder Magician with Five and Diego trailing behind him. Five trying to stop him from murdering the man and Diego running to aid him.

"Go stop him, I'll take care of Ben." Charlotte said as she kneeled next to the man who laid on the ground his body still shaking, her eyes connecting with Klaus'. Klaus nodded and ran after his three brothers leaving Charlotte to take care of his best friend. Vanya and Allison ran to untie Grace and Pogo so that they might save Sir Hargreeves or Ben.