[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝐹𝐴𝑆𝑇 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗

𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄
"𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑."
—𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟

𝐈
— 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑎 —

𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑, they found themselves in front of the Super Star bowling alley, breathing heavily as they calmed their racing hearts and headed inside.

The room was submerged in a deep blue glow, and light music played in the background as a birthday party for a teenage boy took place on the left side of the bowling alley.

Five was already there, leaning against the wall as he stared off in front of him, his hands slipped into his pockets as usual. He looked up at them as they walked in, his jaw clenched and his eyebrows knit together tightly.

"Where are the others?" he asked, craning his neck to peer past them.

Luther and Allison arrived only a moment later to answer his question, panting and wiping the sweat off their foreheads as they nodded in greeting.

The group quickly paid for a lane before sitting in a semi-circle, ignoring the full set of bowling balls that waited to be used on the ball return.

"Look, I hate to be the one to say this," Luther spoke lowly, his arm swung over the back of the chair next to him, "but everyone needs to prepare."

"For what?" Diego asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

Luther turned his gaze to him as he answered, "To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya."

Allison, who now had a piece of white gauze taped over her neck wound, hit Luther's arm with the notepad she was using to communicate and glared at him.

"I . . ." Luther exhaled as he turned his head towards her before shrugging and continuing, "We may not have a choice, Allison."

"Bullshit," Mara scoffed. "There's always choices."

Five looked to her, his eyebrows raised. "Yeah, like what?"

"Like . . ." Mara pressed her lips together in thought as she glanced over to Diego, who was sitting next to her, before sighing and shrugging. "I don't know."

"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya," Luther said determinedly as he stood up and looked around at everyone. "And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."

"Or . . . here." Klaus shifted his gaze upwards at everyone as he shook the newspaper to indicate something inside. He got up from his chair, then kneeling in the middle of the group as everyone crowded around and peered over his shoulder. "Look at this."

In the midst of an article that elaborated on protecting nature was a generously sized, rectangular advertisement for the St. Pluvium Chamber Orchestra. It emphasized a photo of Vanya, who was clutching her violin at the bottom right, declaring her to be the new first chair. At the top was the address of the concert: the Icarus Theatre.

"That's right." Diego nodded, looking towards Mara as the memory of the ad on Leonard's fridge came back to both of them. "Her concert is tonight."

"Hello," a young woman interrupted, giving them all a tight smile as they turned away from the newspaper to look at her. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave."

They looked past her to see the manager, who was a stout, middle-aged man, slam down a pair of bowling shoes onto the counter, his eyes hardened as they set on the group.