Five's pov
After the encounter with Diego, I decided to continue my search for the rest of my brothers and sisters. And somehow, I got extremely lucky, as when walking on the street back to Elliot's place, I heard some fellow men at an alley talking about wrestling fights. The name of a particular fighter they mentioned was what caught my attention. It was pretty convenient how loud the men were being too, as I also got the location of where said fighter would be that night.
And that's where I went. A night club. Of course.
The club was actually pretty packed. Many men with suits sat at the tables, even more next to the stage where a young blonde woman danced. She was attractive, I had to say.
I sat at an empty spot I found, by the stage. I received some looks from the customers, as I expected since I still looked like a teenager prick. I only at least no one was trying to kick me out yet.
A few minutes later, another blonde woman using a soft pink outfit approached me. She seemed a little worried as she eyed me, probably thinking I was lost or something.
_"I'm sorry, sweetie, but we don't allow minors in this place. Where are your parents?"-She asked with a soft voice, leaning down slightly.
_"I'm fine on my own, sweetheart. However, if you're so bothered...At what time you're getting off work?"-I asked, giving her a smile. If Y/n was here she would 100% smack me. And I think I said that because I knew she would. I missed her.
The lady scoffed at my question, and shook her head as she left to continue her job. I shrugged, and looked at the woman on the stage. I wasn't exactly paying attention. My mind kept drifting to another person. Another girl.
More minutes went by, I was getting a tad bit impatient, but when I felt another presence by my side, I sighed in relief.
_"She's too young for you."-Luther said, leaning down pretty close to my ear.
_"Nice to see you too, Luther."-I scoffed.
_"What do you want?"
_"For you to stop hovering like an ambitious stripper and sit down with me."-He did as I said, and now we could actually look at each other's faces.
_"How long have you been here?"-I asked, adjusting myself on the chair.
_"A year, thanks to you."
_"I'm sorry, Luther. I know that couldn't have been easy."-And that was true. I was genuinely sorry.
_"I thought everybody was dead."-He said, and then looked at something, or someone, behind me.
_"I gotta go."-He got up, but I held his arm before he could actually leave.
_"Luther, wait! Look, I get it, okay? I know what it's like to be stuck in time...Thinking this is how you're gonna live out the rest of your life. On the run, and not knowing if you're ever gonna see the people you love again, and to be in an unfamiliar world. But Luther, you're not alone."-I actually was opening my heart to my brother, for once. I knew what he was feeling, so it only made sense I made him try and hear me. So he could help me.
_"We have to find the others because the world ends again in ten days. I have no idea how to stop it."-I finished, as Luther looked at me for some seconds. I thought he actually understood me. I assumed that too soon.
_"I don't give a shit."-He started to walk away from me again, but I wasn't going to give up so easily. I got up as well and went behind him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the side.
_"The hell is wrong with you, Luther? I just told you the world's gonna end in ten days."
_"Yeah, well, you're always saying that."-He tried to walk away again, and I stopped him with a hand on his chest.
_"And so far, I've been right!"
_"Look, you want to go save the world? Knock yourself out, all right? I already got a job."
_"Wait, you work in this shithole?"
_"Yeah. Well, my job owns the place. I'm his body man."-I furrowed my brows.
_"What's that? Like a masseuse or something?"
_"Okay, you can make fun all you want, but I take good care of Mr. Ruby."-That name. It was too familiar.
_"Wait, Ruby. The Jack Ruby, the gangster who shot Oswald?"
_"Yeah. The one and only."-I should probably call that hospital. Another one of my brothers went insane.
_"Well, it finally happened. That gorilla DNA has taken over your mind."
_"Hey, watch it, all right? Jack's a good friend."
_"And you're Number One. Número Uno, remember?"
_"There is no Number One. Not anymore. Not in 1963. Look, I've been stranded here alone for a year. What did you expect."-He really didn't hear anything I said earlier, huh?
_"I get it, all right? You watched Pogo die, the world exploded, and I marooned your big dumb ass in time. I'm sorry, okay? But I'm asking for your help, Luther. The Umbrella Academy needs you."-I tried to sound as calm as possible, but I was almost at my patience limit.
_"It doesn't need me. It never did."-That sounded extremely out of character of the ape man. What the hell happened in his year there?
_"Luther, honey, Jack's about to lose it on some half-wit. A little help?"-The blonde woman from before said from behind me.
_"Ah, shit."-Luther mumbled, and started walking off again. I was getting tired of stopping him.
_"Luther, wait."
_"Listen. You're the genius who said we should jump, right? You're the one who got us stuck here. And, you're the one who brought Vanya. So if there is a doomsday coming, she's probably the cause. And if I was gonna do something about it, it sure as hell is not gonna be with you."-Well, that kind of hurt. Another failed attempt to peacefully gather my family.
I watched as Luther dragged a drunk man out of the club, while I sipped on a drink I ordered myself.
_"Dad should've left him on the moon."-I said to myself, crossing my arms on top of the bar I sat. I went to get up, but heard a tearing sound from my blazer. I checked it, and felt something in my pocket.
I reached for the object, and took it out. It was a footage tape. On the back,"Frankel Footage" and a date was written in messy letters.
While I looked at it more carefully, I had a flash of memory of when Hazel died by the creepy blonde guys. He must've slipped this in my pocket on his last second. It had to be a lead. I hurriedly left the club, going back to Elliot's.
- ☂ -
_"Elliot, did you develop these photos yourself?"-I had arrived at Elliot's apartment last night, but only got to talk to him the next morning. I looked at the photos he took of my siblings arrivals.
_"Of course. Can't exactly drop that stuff off at the neighborhood Fotomat. Government has eyes everywhere."-He answered from behind me, eating cereal from a bowl.
_"I didn't see a darkroom."
_"Yeah, I converted the hallway closet."-I grabbed a pen from his table, and scribbled on top of the date of the footage. That date was from six days in the future. It would be too suspicious if he saw it.
_"Can you develop this?"-I handed him the tape, sighing.
_"Huh. 'Frankel Footage'. Friends of yours?"
_"Cousins on my robot mother's side. Can you do it or not?"-I wasn't in the mood for small talk with the crazy guy.
_"Sure I can."
_"How long?"
_"Well, I mean, I'm running low on acetic acid, Beeker's Cameras is open today, but it's two miles away. I mean, I'd have to take the bus. On the other hand, Gibson's is only ten blocks away, but I gotta cut through the park, and there's pigeons-"-I decided to cut him before he continued with his extremely unimportant rant.
_"Elliot."
_"It's like five, maybe six hours."-He answered, and then we heard his radio going off.
"Attention all units, we have a code 3-15 at the Hoolbrook Sanitarium."
_"The hell is a code 3-15?"-I asked, recognizing that name.
_"Hm, fugitives on the run."-I walked closer to the radio, so I could hear the report better.
"Twenty-five patients still at large. Many are considered armed and dangerous"
_"Oh, Diego."-I whispered, taking a deep breath so I didn't lose my marbles. Having an emotional support person would be good at that moment...
_"Oh, who's Diego?"-Elliot asked, already by my side.
_"Imagine Batman, then aim lower."-I don't think I ever gave such an accurate description.
_"You get started on that film. I'll be back as soon as I can."-I said and walked out of Elliot's apartment. One more attempt, we go.
- ☂ -
To be honest, it was quite easy to find Diego. After he told me his plan of saving Kennedy, and how he sounded so confident on it, anyone could assume he was following Oswald's steps. So he was at his job place.
I soon spotted a car parked at the front of the building, with a very not "subtle" broken window. God, if you're gonna steal a car, at least make it less obvious.
I spatial jumped to the backseat of the car, Diego and a random woman who was with him not noticing me.
_"Then why are you doing this?"-The woman asked, with a very present british accent.
_"Because he is an idiot."-I answered her, as she jumped in surprise and turned to look at me.
_"Who the hell are you?"-She asked, looking around seeming really confused.
_"Hi. I'm his loving brother."-I smiled innocently, but that really didn't match me like it matched her.
_"Who left me to rot in the nuthouse."-Diego said, bitterly.
_"To protect you from yourself."
_"That's quite sweet."
_"Okay, both of you, out."
_"Lose the crazy lady and come with me. We have important business."
_"I'm not going anywhere with you. Where's Y/n? She was your little friend back in the day, you two stuck like glue to each other."
_"...I didn't found her yet."-I answered, looking at my hands who started fidgeting nervously.
_"Boo hoo. Sadly for you, I'm not replacing her."
_"...Okay, fine."-I leaned on the window, as I saw a police officer passing by.
_"Officer!"-I called the man loudly, as I was yanked back by Diego.
_"Hey! What are you doing?"
_"I heard there's a reward out for you two."
_"He's bluffing."-The crazy lady said, and I mentally rolled my eyes.
_"...He's not."-Glad to see my little brother knew me so well.
_"Fine. I'll go with you."
_"What about me?"-That woman was really enjoying getting in the middle of our conversation.
_"And I'm bringing the crazy lady."-Fair enough, I guess. Diego started the car, and I gave him directions to Elliot's apartment, which I decided by myself that it would be my family's meeting point.
- ☂ -
Me, Diego and the random crazy lady, who's name apparently was Lila, arrived at Elliot's apartment not too long after I found them. This time, we entered by the front entrance, climbing the stairs that led to his "living room".
As we got to the top of the stairs, we were welcomed by Elliot in a pretty peculiar way. He was holding a gun in our direction.
_"Where did you get the film? 'The Frankel Footage'? The truth this time."-He raised his voice, coming closer to us still aiming his gun. Me and Diego couldn't care less about his attempt on being threatening, Lila seemed a bit tense, though.
_"You know this lunatic?"-Diego asked, raising an eyebrow.
_"New acquaintance. He's harmless."
_"Are you sure about that?"-Lila asked, with that strong accent.
_"Are you, or are you not an enemy of the people?!"-Elliot screamed at us, and I had to think a bit about the answer.
_"That's such an open-ended question."
_"Really depends on the people."
_"Yeah."
_"You move one more muscle, I will blow your brains out."-I wanted to sigh at his behavior, but was busy thinking about how to distract the crazy lady so I could deal with him.
_"You want to take this or should I?"-Diego asked. He could handle Lila for me.
_"No, I got him."
_"Hey, Lila-"-He got the woman's attention, and that was my cue to spatial jump in front of Elliot and raise his gun forcefully so it pointed at the ceiling. The gun went off accidentally, but didn't do any harm to any of us.
Diego grabbed the gun from Elliot and disarmed it quickly. I patted some dust that fell from the ceiling off my clothes.
_"What the hell just happened?"-Lila asked, snickering as she looked completely lost.
- ☂ -
We all sat at Elliot's living room as we watched the footage he revealed for me earlier. The guy was tied to a dentist chair, his mouth being muffled by a tie, as Lila painted his toe nails with an eye catching green color. I didn't pay much attention to that, since I was watching the film, Diego by my side, sitting on the kitchen counter, doing the same.
At first, the video only showed an old couple trying to figure out how to make their camera work.
_"They're so cute. I love old couples. I'm always so proud of them for not murdering each other."-Lila randomly said. Didn't care either.
_"Why are we watching this?"-Diego asked, his voice showing off his boredom.
_"Shush."-I said to him, continuing to watch the film. The couple started to introduce themselves, but what got my attention was the date they mentioned.
"Today's date is November 22, 1963."
_"Well, that's six days from now."-Lila pointed out the obvious.
_"Holy shit. This is it. The grassy knoll. Kennedy's about to get shot. How do you have this?"-Diego asked, and I glanced at him for a second.
_"Hazel died to get me this footage. It must be the key to stopping doomsday."
_"Hazel?"
_"Long story."
_"What's doomsday?"-Lila chimed in.
_"Longer story."
_"What exactly did he say to you?"
_"Well, he was killed before he could explain. But whatever he wanted us to see, it's on this film."
The film completely grabbed our attention again, as the gunshot was heard. The recording got a bit messy, as the old couple probably were terrified and trembling. Whoever, I saw a glimpse of something at the footage that made my breath hitch.
_"Oh, no."-I whispered, and turned to rewind the footage so I could see that again, better. I paused the tape at the best image I could, moved the machine so that the image would zoom, and got closer to the screen, Diego joining me by my side.
_"This can't be."-I whispered again, wide eyed at what I saw.
_"Okay, you gonna fill me in now, boys? What the hell is this shit we're watching?"-Lila asked from behind us, but I couldn't bother to answer through my shock.
_"No, that's impossible."-Diego said, almost as a whisper as well.
_"Clearly, it's not."
_"What...what is it?"-Elliot tried to say, his voice coming out muffled.
The footage showed a man in a suit, holding an umbrella as he watched the people run in panic, since Kennedy was just murdered. The man was Reginald. Our dad. And he wasn't alone.
By his side, stood a shorter girl, in a puffed typical 60's dress with a flower pattern. She kept her hands in front of her body, showing long white lacy gloves, and even though her face was quite blurred, I knew who that was. The one I've been thinking so ceaselessly about for the past days. Y/n.
_"Dad...and Y/n."-Me and Diego whispered at the same time, both in complete shock.
A/N
Ooh that was a great cliffhanger, I think. So what do ya'll think? Is Y/n working with their "dear old daddy"? Lemme know your theories! I find it so entertaining to see your reactions on the comments <3
bbye <3