IGNIS : the umbrella academy [COMPLETE]

II

     CARLA HAD TAKEN ONE OF KLAUS'S TOPS, plain black with a large motif of a tooth on it, and had borrowed a pair of his ripped jeans.

     Her hair was still slightly damp, and as she headed downstairs she saw Luther, Five and Klaus already sat at the table.

     "Is this it?" Carla asked, sitting down, "An underwhelming turnout, I have to admit."

     "I have to agree with you there, Firecracker," Klaus said cheerily, pouring her a mug of coffee and throwing five small packs of sugar on the table next to the cup.

     He knew her and her unhealthy drinking habits too well.

     Carla shot him a grin, before pouring all the sugar in and taking off a glove to stir it in with a heated finger. Five took a drink from his own mug, before grimacing, "Jesus, who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee around here?"

     The redhead took a sip of her own drink, also pulling a face, before drinking some more.

     "Can we get started, please?" Luther asked wearily, hood pulled over his head, looking even moodier than usual.

     "Now, listening up! There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out," he paused, as though listening to someone speak, before sighing deeply, "Yeah...."

     There was a pause.

     "Klaus," Luther prompted, and the man snapped back to reality, blurting out, "I conjured Dad last night."

     Both Five and Luther looked suitably confused, and Carla couldn't help frowning herself. Hadn't he tried conjuring his father before? She supposed that being sober had heightened his abilities.

     Carla took a sip of her coffee.

     "Hold on, I thought you said you hadn't been able to conjure anyone in years," Luther said.

     "Yes, I know," Klaus said impatiently, "but I'm sober! Ta-da! I got clean, yesterday. I wanted to talk to someone special, and ended up having this conversation with dear old Daddy himself."

     There was another pause.

     "Has anyone got some aspirin?" Luther sighed, getting out of his chair.

     "Top shelf," Five answered immediately, "Next to the crackers."

     "Hey, hey, hey," Klaus said, waving his spatula, "This is serious, guys, alright? This really happened, I swear."

     "Alright, I'll play along," Five said, throwing his arms up in the air, and looking at Klaus with a wide grin, "What did the old man have to say?"

     "Well, he gave me the usual lecture," Klaus said, "about my appearance, and my failures in life, yadda, yadda, yadda, no surprise there, even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like Dad, right? But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because... he killed himself."

     Another pause.

     "Look, I don't have time for your games, Klaus, " Luther snapped, and Carla shot him a filthy glare.

     "No, I'm telling you the truth, Luther, I'm telling you the truth," Klaus pleaded.

     Five stared at Klaus with furrowed brows, "Why'd he do it, then?"

     "Because it was the only way to get us all together again," Klaus explained.

     Luther scoffed, "Dad wouldn't just kill himself."

     "You said it yourself," Five muttered, "he was depressed, holed up in his office alone all day and night."

     "There weren't any signs," Luther said harshly, "Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviours-"

     "Like sending someone to the moon for no reason?" Klaus interrupted.

     Luther stared at his brother for a long second, "I swear to god, Klaus, if you're lying..."

     "I'm not!" Klaus put both arms up in surrender, "I'm not, I'm not!"

     "Master Klaus is correct," a voice said from the doorway, and everyone turned around to see Pogo entering, "Regretfully, I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."

     "What?" Luther's voice was quiet, surprisingly vulnerable.

     "So did Grace," the chimpanzee confessed, "It was a... difficult time for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know. Prior to your father's death, Grace's programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night."

     "Sick bastard," Five muttered bitterly.

     Luther, however, seemed to be taking the news a lot worse, "So the security tape we saw..."

     "It was meant to further the murder mystery," Pogo confirmed sadly, "Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together, would reignite your desire to become a team again."

     Five frowned, "And to what end?"

     "To save the world of course," the chimpanzee said.

     Klaus let out a high-pitched chuckle that sounded positively insane, "Right."

     "First the moon mission and now this," Luther said solemnly, looking down, "You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you wanna share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?"

     "Calm down, Luther," Klaus said.

     "No, I won't calm down!" the monkey-man snapped.

     Looks like he's about to go ape-shit, Carla noted mentally, before almost snorting out loud at her own pun, and raising her mug to her lips.

     "We've been lied to by the one person in the family we all trusted!" Luther continued, as Klaus wearily sat down in a chair next to Carla, the duo exchanging a look.

     "It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther," Pogo pleaded, "I... I had no choice."

     Luther took a few steps forward, "There's always a choice."

     He walked out, shortly followed by Pogo, and then Five teleported away, leaving Klaus and Carla alone.

     "Well, that was something," Carla said, getting up and placing her empty mug on the countertop. Klaus let out a long sigh, "It most certainly was."

     "Do you wanna listen to some Bowie?" she asked.

     "You, Carla Jenkins, know me too well."