Number Eight // Five Hargreeves

XIX

Tessa's POV

As soon as my feet hit the broken pavement of the torn apart street I instantly felt the power and chaos around me.  It was as though our entire world as we knew it was flipped upside down.  Building after building was crumbling, the rubble and debris hitting innocent bystanders as they tried to find shelter.  The inexplicable smoky taste in the air was enough to make you feel like you were slowly suffocating.  Everything that was falling apart before me was making me grow angrier by the moment.  I could already feel the surges of heat flowing up through my body, begging me to unleash them.  It wasn't until I saw red stilettos did I register that this was actually happening.  Not to be dramatic or anything, but the fate of the world kinda rests in my hands.  

I immediately turn around to my family to make sure they all made it here alight.  All six of them were observing the utter chaos around us.  I could see the hope flickering in their eyes with every piece of rubble flying through the air.  

I scan their faces one by one.  Luther.  Diego.  Allison.  Klaus.  Ben.  And Five.  

A feeling of hunger erupts within me.  A hunger for power and dominance and overall confidence as I stare at the two women in front of me.  The cause of the very downfall surrounding us.  The cause of my siblings fighting for their lives.  Little do they know that this cause will bring upon their own destruction, because there is no way I'm letting them hurt my family.  I'll go down in flames before I let that happen.

I begin walking towards the mother and daughter with an expression of confidence displaying throughout my body.  I want them to know that they will not bring me down without a fight.  Once I reach them I notice their undeniably evil smirks.  It sends chills down my spine but I refrain from letting that show in my face.

"I didn't think you would make it in time.  We had prior engagements so unfortuantely we did have to bump this event up to the nearest open time slot,"  the Handler says with a cheeky grin as she puffs out a cloud of smoke from the cigarette that sits within her 1920s holder.  Why she's dressed like she's ready for the Met Gala is beyond me seeing as how her daughter looks like she's ready to star in the remake of Tomb Raider.

"Cut the bullshit,"  I snap while maintaining the confidence in my voice, "We both know what's about to go down so I'll give you one last chance to call it off."

My words seem to make the pair of them only more interested causing their smirks to rise to the level of the infamous chesire cat from Alice and Wonderland.

"Tessa, darling, due to certain events being brought to my attention, I have taken it upon myself to bring in some extra... reinforcements as one might say,"  she finishes with a nasty smirk.  I don't know if it was her false sense of innocence or cheap red lipstick that infuriated me more.  

"Oh yeah?  Your odds aren't looking very good right now.  It's two to seven. Might as well pack up and go home now,"  I snap back letting some sarcasm drip from my words, not being able to help it.  Even in a situation as drastic as this, you can't blame me for not being serious when I'm looking at Cruella DeVil herself.  

"Oh right.  That reminds me." With the snap of her fingers, dozens upon dozens of men begin to show up behind her, possibly hundreds more than shown in the original footage.

"I had to pull a couple of strings to get these fellas here, but nonetheless,"  She says with a slight giggle while looking back amongst her minions.

Seeing more and more men pop up by the minute instilled a small sense of doubt that was not previously there.  Even from before in the tape, there were only a few hundred men and we were barely surviving just by that.  But now, the thousands of soldiers before me caused me to shrink in my skin just slightly.