What was the worst class you've ever taken and regretted?
The Hargreeves family didn't dally when they had their minds set on something. Within the span of a singular minute, everyone sticking with Five's idea was seated in the car and they were speeding forward towards the police station, Five at the wheel.
They followed most of the legal laws that accompanied driving but since Five was physically and logistically a young teen boy, they were already breaking the rule about letting 'minors' drive let alone rules about speed limits and stopping at red lights. If they ever survived this thing, Emery was never going to get into any sort of vehicle with Five Hargreeves ever again.
"I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record." Diego said when they rolled to a stop in front of a station. "We just gotta get our hands on his file."
"And your plan is to what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?" Allison asked, ever the voice of reason.
"I know the station like the back of my hand, sis. I've spent a lot of time inside."
"Handcuffed, perhaps?" Emery ventured.
"Whatever. Here's the plan."
"Plan?" Five intervened. "I'm just going to blink in and get the file."
Emery shrugged. "Easy." Whatever Diego's plan was, he hated to admit it but sending Five in would be the better choice for everyone involved.
"No, that's not... you don't know the ins and outs of this place, okay?" Diego said.
"I literally just did this yesterday."
"What?"
"You mean today yesterday?" Emery said, remembering once more about how Five managed to relive the same day twice. He ran a hand over his bandaged hand. "Yesterday today?" Everyone looked at Emery, confusion donning their faces.
"Yes, my yesterday. Not your yesterday." Five said. "It'll take me two seconds."
"Listen to me. You are not going in there. I made a call. That's what a leader does. He leads." Diego said, getting out of the car.
They all followed but the black-clad man was the only one who further advanced to the doors of the police station while Emery, Allison, and Five went to the street corner, Allison picking up the pay phone and dialing Vanya's number.
"Hey, do you uh, think I could borrow that after you?" Emery said when Allison finished dialing the numbers.
She looked at him, surprised before she let a gentle smile fall onto her lips. "Sure."
"Thanks." Emery said, moving to lean against the nearest building wall as he waited, Five joining his side a moment later.
Emery could feel the boy's curious gaze but chose to ignore it completely. He knew the boy wanted to ask who he was planning on calling and he knew the boy wouldn't like his answer so he ignored the prospect of the conversation completely.
"It's crazy how we always end up like this," Emery said instead. "Side by side even though we've both made it clear we would murder each other with enough reason."
Five laughed hollowly. "Yeah." A pause. "Hey, I'm sorry for being rude to you earlier. It was just- we finally have a lead and if you're not focusing one hundred percent, something is going to go wrong. And we can't afford that right now. I know I get in my head sometimes but you've got to understand this is important."
Emery laughed too though it was silent and the smile didn't reach his eyes. He crossed his arms. "We always end up like this too." He said. "Apologizing for the things we did in the last. And then we're going to fight again and then maybe apologies when we're feeling like our moral compasses are lacking."
Allison looked over then, finished with her conversation, and beckoned Emery over. He looked nice to Five and then pushed off the wall, more steady in his actions now that the pain had become but an incessant throb.
He muttered a quick thanks to Allison and then picked up the phone, dialing the same number he had seen Allison call. To no surprise, he was greeted with a voicemail.
"Hey," he said, refraining from saying the girl's name. "It's Emery, uh," he swallowed, words suddenly gone. "I followed you after you left the academy the other day. I know that sounds bad but- I don't trust Leonard. I caught him taking one of the figurines you guys have of yourselves and lingering around. At first, I only followed to see what he was up to because- I intuition be damned- something feels off about him but then I saw you- bend the street lamps. You aren't ordinary. You're anything but and I guess all I wanted to say was, you can trust me. I know you don't feel accepted within your family but that doesn't mean you're alone." He paused. "Stay safe." He said and hung up.
Emery didn't really know why he made the call in the first place but it felt right. He knew Vanya wasn't ordinary- and now that he knew he was right, something in his gut stirred. It was deep and unsettling.
His fingers hovered over the receiver and his body and readied itself to move back to the group but then he paused and stared at the keypad, tracing out the numbers in his mind. He could imagine dialing the sequence, could feel the pads sink down beneath his fingers as he touched each one and then he was holding the phone up to his ear once more, holding his breath as each ring rung out in succession, each one getting impossibly longer.
His heart beat loudly in his chest, his ears, his veins, louder and louder until finally, the automated voice came about, telling him to leave a message after the tone. He exhaled and moved to hang up but stopped.
"I-" the words lodged in his throat. Do where in the distance, a door banged over and Emery saw Diego walking out, a proud smile on his face and file in hand. "Even if the world ends, I still love you guys." He hung up quickly then and stepped forward to peer over Allison's shoulder as she read the file, ignoring Five's burning gaze. "Holy shit." He said, heart thudding impossibly louder.
"Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody," Allison said.
He saw an address and Emery was the first to the car, ushering everybody onwards until the vehicle was lurching forwards and Emery never once issued his concerns about the rate at which they were traveling.
The whole was spent cursing his intuition, about letting Cha Cha corner him when he should have evaded the woman's attempts a lot sooner and kept following Vanya and Leonard-Harold home. As if Five could read his mind, he said, "You couldn't have changed anything. There was just no way."
Still, the claim did little to settle Emery's inner demons.
"Be careful, okay? We don't know what Peabody's capable of." Allison said when they arrived at Harold's house and all piled out of the car.
"Yeah, he didn't seem dangerous when I first saw him." Diego dismissed Allison. "Looked kinda scrawny."
"Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murderers. I mean, look at him." Allison said.
"Thanks." Five retorted.
"Good point. So what's this guy want with Vanya?" Diego asked.
"I don't know. How about we ask him after we kill him? Five said.
"Or it could be that Vanya can literally control-"
"Woah, Woah, hey look. I'm gonna burst through—" Diego interrupted and Emery had never once been so confident in his ability to strangle a self-named superhero with his bare hands ever before. Would nobody stop to listen to him? "You know what? It would be nice for people to stick to—" Five disappeared in the blink of an eye. "the plan." Diego finished off sourly.
"Diego. Listen to me." Emery said but Diego shooed him off like a pesky fly.
"Not now kid." He said, bracing himself and then flinging his body through the door.
Glass shattered all around him as Diego collapsed to the floor with a groan.
Emery himself groaned but not for reasons of pain, but of mere annoyance. Maybe head the one who killed the Hargreeves family and not the apocalypse by decapitating one of them and using their head not as an amplifier but as something to truly catch everyone's attention so he could finally say what he needed to say without getting cut off. Be civil, he had to remind himself as he calmly opened the door and stepped through, walking over Diego and into the main room.
"Subtle." Allison said.
"You know the door was unlocked." Five said, noting the way Emery got in.
"Yeah well, my way works just fine." Diego said as he struggled into a standing position. "Spread out. Tell if you, uhh, you know, you're in trouble." Diego trailed off as he limped into the other room, leaving them behind.
"Ah, inspiring leadership." Five said.
"One of the greats." Allison agreed, moving upstairs.
Five followed the way Diego had gone but turned left where the older man had gone right. Emery took the liberty of following Allison and covering the rooms she passed by.
Nothing out of the ordinary for a seemingly middle-aged white man living alone. Several failed attempts at hobbies lined the various drawers Emery opened. The beds were made in the spare rooms he ventured into and once he found a broken glass loosely tucked away under the bed. Alone and lazy. Emery noted.
"Guys!" Allison's voice drifted towards him. "You should really see this!" She called out again and then Emery was back on his feet and moving towards the hallway where he found Allison opening a hatch on the roof that led to some sort of attic space.
Alas, the room where the supposedly normal front was burnt from Harold's reputation. Literally burnt.
"All our faces are burnt off." Allison was the first to speak. In front of her and littered across the walls of the room were several photos of the Umbrella Academy who indeed had their faces burnt off.
"Well, that's not creepy," Diego said.
Emery's eyes drifted to the tables around the dark crowded room and spotted figurines. Just like the ones in the academy, just like the one he had seen Harold take. An involuntary shiver ran up his spine. He hated obsessive people and Harold was the epitome of one. "This guy's got some serious issues."
Emery sucked in a breath when he caught sight of another figurine, this one all alone nearly missable. He walked over to it and ghosted his hands over the wax mold.
"What the hell." He said, a voice joining him alongside his own, muttering the same words. He looked over his shoulder to see Five. Lips pursed and eyebrows drawn together, Five spoke. "There's one of you."
Emery looked at the lifelike figure for a moment longer before he moved away from it, eyes looking at the thing for as long as he could before he tore his gaze away and rejoined Allison, Five trailing behind him.
"Shit." Five said.
"This was never about Vanya." Allison said. "This was about us."
Five exhaled and then Emery saw him collapse. He turned and let his instincts take over as he knelt on the ground next to the boy.
"Five." He said, worry lacing his words. "What happened." He asked.
Allison and Diego joined him then on the floor and only then did Emery see the red. Blood.
Hurriedly, he tore the layers away from Five's body until he reached skin. He sucked in a breath.
"Jesus Five." He said when he saw what looked to be a shrapnel wound. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"We have to keep going." Five managed to get out.
Emery shook his head. "Idiot." He scolded though it lacked the usual venom.
"So... close." Five gasped out and then he went limp. The breath going flat in his chest.
"Five. Five!" Allison said.
"We need to get him back to the Academy." Emery said, finding reason. "Now." He demanded.