"If I had a dollar, I'd throw it!"
"What?!" The drunken girl barked as three knocked came at the bar door, " Swear to..." S wobbled over to it, swinging it open, !What the hell do you want?" Echo growled at the wide-eyed old man who stood there, "Huh?!"
He reached into his blazer, pulling out a card, handing to her, then leaving." Weirdo.." Echo slammed the door shut, locking it. "What the hell is this...?" she read it. It was an invitation to dinner with Sir Reginald Hargreeves, "What could that asshole want with me...?" She cleaned herself up before exiting, large can in her grip.
-----------
Echo stumbled through the building and into the elevator, hitting a hard chest, "Luther...?" HE squinted up at the man. The man didn't respond, just turned her around.
"Good. We're all here." Five scared the girl, who flared her head around to find him, tripping back as the elevator moved. Echo removed the can from her mouth as a pungent smell filled the tiny box.
"Sorry, I'm nervous." Luther excused for his anxious farts, siblings groaning. Thankfully, the doors opened, everyone rushing out to fresh air.
"All right, when Dad gets here, I'll do the talking, okay?" The boys words were fuzzy to the red-head, she tripped her way over to the table, stealing a seat.
"Got a few questions for him myself." clashed Diego.
"Hey, we don't want to scare him off. All right? He might be able to help us stop the doomsday , get us home."
"No, we need to figure out why he's planning to kill the president."
"Fetch me a drink to, Sir Klaus!" Echo clicked her fingers at the lanky man who was at the bar, chugging down the last of her can.
"This is a matter of life and death, you imbecile." The boy protested.
"Okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking." Vanya tried to reason, "Yeah? Here, whoever has this conch shell gets to talk."
"Vanya, we don't have time to debate, okay?" Five shoot down the idea.
Allison strutted to the table, "Maybe I should lead. We all know I'm the better public speaker than the rest." She snatched the shell.
"Okay, Daddy's girl." Diego cheeked.
"Oh, jealous, Number Two?"
"Hey, no more numbers. No more bullshit. We're Team Zero. We're all team Zero."
"Uh, Diego. "Luther conveyed, "You don't have the conch."
Diego stole the shell, lugging it at the wall, shattering it. Then the man of the hour waltzed in, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, and the room fell silent. The man sat and began, "Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me, but you have, on numerous occasions called me..."
Klaus joined the table, sliding a drink over to the grateful ginger, "Hey, Pop. How's it hangin'?"
"...'Dad'." Reginald finished, "My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KBG, certainly not MI5, so...who are you?"
"We're your children." Five responded, "We're from the future. In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world. Called us the Umbrella Academy."
"Not me." Echo leaned on the table, "I'm just a family friend."
"Why on earth would I adopt six-..." Allison cut the 'Father' off.
"Seven. One of us isn't here."
"Dead." Diego informed, "One of us is dead."
"Yeah. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba." Klaus squabbled with the air behind him, "Enough of that now."
"Regardless, " Sir Hargreeves continued, "What would possess me to adopt seven ill-mannered malcontents?"
Five leaned forward, into the table, "We have special abilities."
"Special? In what sense?"
It was Luther turn to speak, "In the superpower sense."
"Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a stickler for a pesky thing called evidence. Show me."
"Everyone wants to see powers all of a sudden." Allison scoffed into her drink.
"We're not circus animals, okay?" Number One scowled, "We're not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap like seals for your amusement."
Going completely against that, Diego sent a knife at his father, just about missing. Reginald took interest in this and starting to write. "What are you writing?" Two tried to get a peek.
"You are zero for two, young man." Sir hargreeves remark set a fire in Diego, who charge at him, Five teleport, stopping him. "Now that is interesting." Reginald gaped at the boy's power
"All right, uh, quick rundown. Five circled the table, "Luther: super strength. Klaus can commune with the dead. Allison can rumour anyone to do anything."
"Except she never uses it." Diego mouthed off, returning to his seat.
Allison removed the straw from her mouth, "I heard a rumour you punched yourself in the face." and with that the man punched himself square in the nose.
"And you?" The old man turned to Seven.
"Uh, maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run." Luther worried.
"Yeah, that's probably not a good idea." agreed Klaus.
"Yeah."
"It's fine." Vanya smiled, "I can handle it."
"Handle it? Last time you handled it, you definitely blew up the moon." Allison reminded. Everyone screamed above each other as the woman tapped a glass, using the sound waves to explode the fruit platter all over everyone.
Before anyone could move on, Echo uttered, "Hey don't leave me out! I have powers too!" She set her drink down, word slurring, "I can go invisible," She morphed her hand with the air, "Wow...I can faze through things, things can faze through me." The girls hand other hand went through her drink, "I can fly. And! Mm..." She stuck a cigarette between her lips, "I might be able to heal myself."
"Could you not smoke, right now?" Five groaned at her, turning his nose up.
She grinned at him, throwing her head back, "Could you not be an asshole, right now?"
"Look, we know that you're involved in a plot to assassinate the president." Diego changed the subject, rising from his seat.
"You were recently hospitalized, correct?" tested Reginald, "You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia."
"Am I?" Diego seized a photo from his pocket, slamming it down in front of the male, "Explain this. That's you. That's two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the president's gonna get shot."
"Well..." The 'Father' peered up from the image, "I suppose you've solved it. You've single-handedly unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and . That is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you're desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning. More succinctly, a man in over his head."
"You're wr...wrong." Diego stuttered, a tear rolling down his cheek, his family peeking at him in pity. Echo raised a warm hand to his back, rubbing circles.
"Look, forget about the president." Five moved on, "We have a catastrophic war coming in five days. We need to figure out how to stop it."
"War?" Reginald probed, "Men will always be at war with each other. "
"No, this isn't just some war. I'm talking about doomsday. The end of the world."
"Well...you're the specials ones, aren't you? Why don't you band together and do something about it?" There was a moment of silence before Klaus's hands were up in the air, body trembling.
"Is he having a seizure?" Allison questioned at her freaking brother.
"Overdosing probably." Diego commented.
"No, no...I've seen this dance move, they do for me at the bar all the time." Echo copied the druggies actions, "Yeah, get is Klaus."
"Klaus." Five whispered to him, "Now is not the time. What are you doing?"
Four let out distorted gurgles, "I'm..." He choked out.
"Out with is boy." Sir Hargeeves demanded.
"Ben..." WIth a gasp and a grunt, Klaus' body fell to the floor.
"Well...thank you for coming." The old man packed up his things, leaving, "I've seen about enough."
"No, I..." Luther tried to come up with something to stop him from going. Slamming the table, he rose, ripping open his shirt, "Look at what you did to me. Look at it!"
Echo whistled a catcall, raised her glass, "If I had a dollar, I'd throw it!"
"You in the culottes." Reginald pointed to Five, "A word, in private?"
-----------
The family, bar Five, and Echo, gathered in the elevator. The druggie and the teen flopped on the floor, one suffering from possession, the other from too much alcohol consumption. "Well, that went as well as any Hargreeves family function." Allison was the first to break the thick silence.
"I feel so violated." Klaus rubbed his body, "I need a herbal bath. You had no right to possess me." He claimed to no one.
"Congratulation." Three grinned at Luther.
"For what?" The man looked down at her.
"I think that's the first time you've stood up."
"Are you okay?" Vanya checked ln the huffing knife boy.
"So much for having my back in there." Diego grumble, exiting the elevator, "Team Zero, my ass."
The rest left, the floor buddies unable to move, until Luther came back for them, "Klaus." He grabbed his brothers ankle, "Echo." He grabbed hers, dragging them out.
"Just leave me." Klaus whined.
"Thank you, King Kong." Echo mumbled before falling into a fit of snores.
-----------
Luther and Diego stomped up the stairs to Elliot's appartment, Echo flung over the bulky males shoulder, passed out. "Blood." Diego pointed to the puddle on the ground as after they entered.
Luther lay the girl on the counter, going to inspect, dipping his fingers in the substance, "Shit."
"Elliot?" Diego's voice echoed aback to him through the empty apartment, going off to investigate.
Number One just continued forward, discovering a gory mess, "Diego?" He called his brother over.
Diego grimaced at the sight of Elliot's murdered carcass, following the trail of blood that left it. "Holy shit." 'oga for oga' was written in blood in the downstairs floor. It was a sign, a warning.
The thick tension was broke by a bang, Echo's sleeping self had rolled off the counter, now on the floor.
-----------
A/N: heyyyyyyyy
sorry if this is a little rushed, literally half way through writing I left to go have a panic attack in my brother bedroom lol, it's chill though, he helped before it could happen #healthysiblingrelationship
Anyways, thank you so so much for reading. can't believe I have written 5 chapters today, pun intended.
Peace out losers,
xoxo PansAreSmoken