IGNIS : the umbrella academy [COMPLETE]

II

     CARLA WAS SAT IN THE BACK OF DIEGO'S CAR, next to Allison, behind Five who was sat shotgun. "I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record," Diego said, unbuckling his seatbelt.

     The redhead frowned, clearly troubled. Her Harold Jenkins wouldn't harm a fly. Carla tried convincing herself that, as Diego had said, there were dozens of Harold Jenkins in the state. The odds of it being her Harold Jenkins were incredibly slim.

     "We just gotta get out hands on this file," Diego said.

     Allison sighed, "And your plan is to- what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?"

     "I know this station like the back of my hand," Diego replied, "I spent a lot of time inside."

     "Handcuffed," Allison reminded him.

     Diego brushed her off, "Whatever. Here's the plan-"

     Five turned to Diego in confusion, "Plan? I'm just gonna blink in and get the file."

     "No, that's not-" Diego paused, "You don't know the ins and outs of this place."

     "I literally just did this yesterday," Five pointed out.

     Everyone in the car turned to him.

     "Well... my yesterday," Five amended, "Not your yesterday. It'll take me two seconds."

     "Listen to me," Diego butted in, "You are not going in there. I made a call, that's what a leader does. He leads."

     With that, Diego got out of the car, while Five let out a sigh of frustration as the door slammed shut, "This is bullshit. I could have the file by now."

     Allison looked at him in mild bemusement, "Yeah, yeah."

     There was a silence, and Allison spoke again, "I think I should call Vanya."

     "There's no phone-" Five began.

     "There's a payphone just there," Allison gestured to where the phone was standing on the sidewalk, before getting out of the car, Five and Carla following her.

     She reached the payphone, rummaging around in her pocket for some loose change, before slotting it in the mouthpiece and dialling a number.

     Five and Carla leant against the wall of the building just behind it, watching as Allison held the phone to her ear.

     "Five?" Carla asked quietly.

     He turned to her, "Yeah?"

     "You'll be honest with me," she paused, "How likely do you think it is that the Harold Jenkins we're looking for is my cousin?"

     The boy licked his lips, thinking before he spoke, "Well, I'm sure that there are loads of Harold Jenkins around... but it would be too much of a coincidence for him not to be, you know?"

     She sighed, nodding, "I don't think he'd hurt anyone, though. He was a nice kid, loved you guys, loved our powers. It was his dad who was a bit... off the rails."

     Five peered at her curiously, "In what way?"

     "He drank a lot," Carla said, "And Harold used to get these bruises, but he'd never tell us how he got them."

     Five opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Allison speaking into the phone, "Hey, Vanya, it's me. I just wanted to... things have gotten so messed up, and all I've ever wanted was to be a good sister to you. Guess I pretty much failed at that. But you need to call me, okay? I love you, sis."

     She hung up, as Diego walked around the corner. Five looked up at him expectantly, "So?"

     Diego pulled out a blue file, "You're welcome."

     Allison snatched it out of his hands, opening it impatiently, before stopping dead, "Holy shit!"

     "What?" Diego asked.

     Allison looked at them all, "Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody."

     "What?" Five, Carla and Diego exclaimed, all crowding around the file. That meant that the man Carla had seen earlier when Vanya entered the building, that was Harold. Her stomach lurched.

     Carla shook her head, taking the file in her own hands and rifling through the pages until she found the date of birth. 1st October, 1989. "Shit," she cursed.

     Five looked at her, "Is that him?"

     "That's my Harold Jenkins, alright," Carla cursed again, "I knew I recognised him when he came with Vanya this morning. And he must have recognised me; he looked like he'd seen a ghost."

     She paused, before sighing, "He probably thought I was a ghost, come to think of it. He probably thought I died in the house fire eighteen years ago."

     The three Hargreeves looked at her as she anxiously rambled on, eyebrows knitted, gloved hands fidgeting.

     Carla read through the file, before her eyes went wide, breath catching in her throat. No. She read the sentence, then read it again, and again.

     "What's wrong?" Allison asked cautiously.

     Carla looked up at her, in shock "He killed his dad."

     "What?" Diego asked.

     "He killed his dad," Carla repeated, "Beat him to death with a hammer when he was thirteen. Holy shit, he literally killed my uncle with a hammer. In prison for twelve years."

     Five took a step towards Carla, concerned at her trembling hands and wide, fearful eyes, "Carla, it's okay."

     She looked at him, lost, "Five, he killed my uncle. When he was thirteen."

     It must have been the year after Carla and Sarah 'died'. She could only imagine how alone he must have felt without them.

     "You said his dad was abusive," he pointed out.

     "Yeah, he was a piece of shit, but Harold still killed a man!" Carla felt helpless, the realisation slowly settling in. She would never have guessed that Harold Jenkins, her cousin Harold Jenkins, would murder a man.

     Five looked on, unsure of how to comfort the girl. A situation like this wasn't exactly common. He wanted to tell her things were okay, to take away her pain and panic, but he had no idea how.

     He had always been shit at calming her down.

     Allison stepped forward, "Carla, it's okay."

     Carla looked at the elder woman now, panic evident in her eyes.

     "It's okay. You're gonna be okay," Allison soothed, "I know it's a lot to take in, hell, this week has been a lot to take in, but you gotta stay calm for me, okay?"

     Slowly, Carla nodded.

     "I get that it's hard to believe Harold killed his dad, but something clearly went wrong after you two stopped talking. He's clearly become close to Vanya in order to do something to start the apocalypse," Allison said, "And it's our priority to understand what he's going to do, and how to prevent it."

     Carla nodded again, more surely this time, "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

     "If you want, you don't need to come with us to visit his house, if it's too much for you to take in," Allison said kindly.

     "No, it's-it's fine," Carla said.

     She had a new mission to focus on, an objective, and she tried to push her emotions to the back of her mind. She knew she had to prevent the apocalypse, and that was what was important. Emotions came second.

     Allison gently placed a hand on Carla's arm, "You good?"

     Carla did her best to smile, "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

     Five watched this exchange with a frown on his face, before snapping, "Can we go now?"