[✓] 𝑃𝑅𝐸𝐿𝑈𝐷𝐸 | 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡

Word count: 2495

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐅 them quickly arrived in a nice neighbourhood, parking right outside the house of Vanya's boyfriend AKA Leonard Peabody AKA Harold Jenkins AKA the cause of the fucking apocalypse.

"Be careful, okay?" Allison warned as they headed up the lawn, her raising her hand in front of her eyes to block the sun. "We don't know what Peabody's capable of."

"Yeah, he didn't seem too dangerous when I first saw him," Diego remarked with a shrug as they neared the porch. "Looked kinda scrawny."

"Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murderers," Valerie pointed out before gesturing to Five with a small grin. "I mean, look at him."

Five gave her a sarcastic smile. "Thanks."

"Good point." Diego nodded, sending a wink towards Five, who only rolled his eyes in return. "So what's this guy want with Vanya?"

"I don't know." Five shrugged as they went up the stairs towards the house's entrance. "How about we ask him after we kill him?"

Valerie turned towards him, her eyebrows raised as she chided, "Five."

"Kidding, kidding," Five reassured her as he raised his hands in surrender. He then leaned towards Diego, shaking his head as he muttered, "Not kidding."

"Whoa, whoa. Hey, look, I'm gonna burst through . . ." Diego slowed down, leaning over to see that Allison had gone off in a different direction in order to get into the house before sighing. "You know what? It would be nice for people just to stick to—"

Five disappeared into a flash of white, spatial jumping into the house.

"—the plan," Diego sighed before looking at Valerie, who was approaching the door and sizing it up with her eyes. "Not you too."

"Me too." She grinned before phasing through the door and entering the foyer of the house.

She moved to the side just as Diego jumped through the glass of the door. The glass shattered into a million pieces, sprawling across the wooden floor as Diego landed face-first, crying out loudly.

"Subtle," Valerie commented as Five and Allison approached, looking amused at Diego's burst.

Five furrowed his eyebrows before wrapping his hand around the crystal doorknob and pulling the door open. He looked back to Diego, a smirk growing on his face as he commented, "You know, the door was unlocked."

"Yeah, well, my way works just fine," Diego groaned as he got up to his feet, brushing off the small fragments of glass that were sticking to his clothes. "Spread out," he instructed as he began to limp towards the kitchen. "Yell if you, uh . . . you know, you're in trouble."

Five inclined towards Valerie, his hands in his pockets as he murmured, "Ah, inspiring leadership."

She nodded seriously as she leaned towards him and amusedly agreed, "One of the greats."

As Allison went off towards the bedrooms, Valerie and Five made their way to the living room, though her attention was only focused on his slight limp as they headed there.

She had no time to question it, however, as they began their search, and her mind soon drifted towards finding clues. 

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Five questioned as he examined the room, his eyebrows knit tightly together.

"Anything suspicious." Valerie shrugged as she looked through the glass casings filled with china. "Stuff that proves he's a bad dude or what he wants with Vanya."