CHAPTER ELEVEN
crime's greatest enemy
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WHEN ASKED TO COME up with a plan, Nadine's contributions typically boiled down to 'punch them in the face'. After all, it was her go-to method of solving conflicts when she was younger—just stick the bully, homophobe, or sleazy douchebag in the nose, and they never bothered her again. And even now, even with her efforts to not always pick violence as her first choice, it still remained a fairly good option.
Unfortunately, it didn't work in every situation. Sometimes squaring up against someone a lot larger than her would not end up being the solution—rather, she could end up finding herself in scrapes far worse than the one she'd gotten into in the first place.
Now was one such example. Nadine couldn't exactly suggest 'punch them in the face' as a solution to the upcoming meeting with the Sparrow Academy, because the entire point of this all was to be diplomatic. The Sparrows were like wild animals, easily spooked. One wrong move—from Nadine or anyone else—and they would attack. Nadine wasn't particularly interested in that happening. She didn't want a repeat of what had gone down at the mansion, if only because she didn't want anyone to get hurt again.
So, when she and Viktor met up with Allison in the Games Room to discuss a plan of action, Nadine knew that, for once in her life, she would have to give a new suggestion.
She perched on the edge of the pool table, watching Allison pace back and forth. Even though she was still a little peeved-off that her friend had gone against their plan and lied to the Sparrows back at the Academy, she knew that Allison was the best person to go to when it came to negotiation. As an actress, she was used to both thinking outside of the box and conversing with people who might not have her best interests at heart. Plus, being married to a public speaker in 1963 certainly didn't hurt.
Viktor leaned on the table beside Nadine, his brow furrowed in thought. He was probably better at this than she was, as well—after all, he'd grown up believing he didn't have any abilities. In a household of six other superpowered children, he certainly needed to be creative when it came to resolving conflicts.
Still, he'd glanced to Allison for leadership. Which definitely turned out to be the right move.
"As long as the Sparrows think that we have Marcus, they won't attack," Allison said, continuing her pacing. Five steps to the left, turn, five steps to the right. "We have the advantage there. They'll have to hold their fire until he's back in their possession."
"But they're going to realize we don't have him," Viktor pointed out. "Didn't we discuss this earlier?"
"We did. But we're still going to have a window in which they still believe he's with us. We're going to take advantage of that. If we play our cards right, we can get our hands on the briefcase and get out of here before our time runs out."
"Hm." Nadine chewed on her lip, trying to come up with a contribution. "That sounds like a best-case scenario, though. What if we don't make it in time?"
Allison shrugged. "Well, we'll still have the briefcase. I sincerely doubt that they'll demand Marcus first. We've kidnapped someone—well, they think we have. And all we're demanding in return is something mundane. I doubt they'll risk their brother's life for an object they don't even know the true nature of."
"So, worst-case scenario, we still have the briefcase?" Viktor asked. Allison nodded.
"Exactly. And, honestly, we can take these chumps. I said it before. We're damn superheroes. The real superheroes. Last time, they just caught us off-guard. But that's not going to happen again."
Nadine cracked her knuckles. "Absolutely not."
"Your plan does make sense," said Viktor. "You're right—we do have the advantage. So, I guess, as long we keep our cool, we should be in the clear." He glanced at Nadine. "I really don't want to fight them, though. Let's hope that it's a last last resort."
"It will be, if everyone—especially Nadine and Diego—keeps their mouths shut," said Allison, crossing her arms. "Look. We can do this. We've still got two hours before the meeting, if you're really paranoid. But I don't think you have to be. In a few hours' time, we're going to set things right. No more end of the world, no more Sparrows. Just the timeline as it's supposed to be." Her face hardened. "And I'll get Claire back."
"You will," Nadine said, because what else could she say? She could tell that every day without her daughter was chipping away at Allison's soul. She needed Claire. She'd been away from her for far too long. And she wouldn't—couldn't—accept a world where she never saw her again. "I believe it, Allison. Even though all of this end-of-the-world shit terrifies me, I really believe it. You'll see her again."
Allison shot her a grateful look. "Thanks, Nadine."
Viktor held out his hands, one for each of them. Nadine and Allison both took one, their fingers slotting into place. Viktor smiled. "We can do this," he said. "We're powerful, we're amazing, and we're a team. The Sparrows can't take that away from us."
Nadine tightened her grip on his hand. No, they couldn't. Even if everything went to shit today, they would still have each other. They would fight for each other until the very end, because that was, at its core—even with the heaps of arguments and dysfunction thrown in—what the Umbrella Academy was. A family. A fucked up, extraordinarily weird family, but a family regardless.
Of course, if she'd known what was really about to happen, both today and during the next few days, she might not have put so much hope into that sentiment. But, alas, no one—except for maybe the goons at the Commission—could predict the future. Everyone stumbled through life oblivious. Their confidence climbed high right until it crumbled.
Now that they knew what they were going to do—or at least, what they were planning on doing—the three of them headed down to the lobby to meet Luther and Diego. To Nadine's surprise, she found them playing Scrabble. She had no idea where they'd gotten the game from—it certainly hadn't been the Games Room—but they seemed to have already made good progress with it. Even if their longest word thus far was GIANT.
There were only two empty seats, which Viktor and Allison promptly claimed. Nadine dragged a third over from another, vacant table—which, surprisingly, was the only one here today; every other one was clogged with tourists—and sat down, too.
"Hey," Viktor greeted. Allison idly picked up one of the Scrabble letters.
"So, what's the plan?" Luther asked.
"Jumping right into it, aren't you?" Nadine said. "The least you could do is say 'hi' back."
"Hi," Luther said. "What's the plan? What do we do when the Sparrows get here?"
"Just follow our lead," Allison said, folding her hands together.
"Which is code for shutting up and letting the professionals speak," Nadine added. "I'm not including myself in that, by the way. It's been made very clear that I'm horrible at negotiations."
"Uh-uh. Nice try. We don't take orders from you," Diego said.
"Uh-uh," Luther added.
"Mm-mm."
"Well, you're going to have to, unless you want all of us to be bird food," Nadine said. "We've got a plan. You don't. You literally asked us what the plan was. So, you're going to do things our way."
Diego opened his mouth to argue, but before he could, Luther's eyes widened. He scrambled out of his chair, nearly knocking it down in his haste. "Oh, shit. They're early."
"What?" Nadine's head snapped around, trying to see what Luther was looking at. It didn't take long for her eyes to zero in on the target. A hiss left her clenched teeth.
Because there, pushing through the revolving doors and looking as if he owned the place, was Ben Hargreeves.
He'd gotten dressed up for the occasion, switching his black, moody outfit from before in favour of a skin-tight spandex suit. Nadine recognized it immediately from the posters she'd seen around the city, and a muscle jumped in her jaw. It was something a real superhero would wear.
Ben was followed by the rest of his siblings, all of whom were wearing their own uniforms. Jayme, Alphonso, Fei, Sloane, Kadence, Christopher... glares were set on each of their faces (except for Christopher's) as they came in to line up beside Ben.
The Umbrella Academy came to face them, readying themselves. Nadine clenched her hands into fists. Diego flipped a knife in his hand. Viktor gritted his teeth.
The tense moment—in which Nadine's heart had begun to race, pulsing right into her temples—was soon ruined, though. The other patrons of the Hotel Obsidian had noticed the sight in front of them (and probably recognized the Sparrow Academy, too) and began to take pictures. The flash of cameras shuttering nearly made Nadine flinch, but she sustained her composure. She wasn't going to let herself be knocked askew so early on.
Viktor looked a little taken aback by the paparazzi, but plowed on, nonetheless. "Well, thanks for coming."
"Oh, yeah, super glad to be here," Jayme drawled. Sarcasm oozed as easily out of her tone as the venom she manufactured.
"Where are the rest of you?" Ben asked.
"What, are you taking attendance?" Diego shot back. Of course, he'd immediately forgotten what Nadine said. Well, either that, or just simply chosen not to listen. "They'll be here."
"Where's the briefcase?" Allison asked.
"Where's our brother?" Ben deflected.
And Nadine couldn't help it. Even though she was being a complete hypocrite here, she couldn't resist opening her mouth. Though at least she didn't spew an insult. "He's... still safe," she said, even though the lie made her slightly uncomfortable. The Sparrows obviously didn't think the Umbrella Academy was above torture, and playing into it was disgusting. "We held up our end of the bargain. We didn't hurt him. But that could change."
"Oh, that's a load of bullshit," Kadence snapped. "We all know that."
Allison lifted her chin. She hadn't seemed too mad at Nadine for speaking, so she assumed she'd done the right thing. Then again, there was something manic dancing in her friend's eyes. "Maybe we should try this again before I lose my temper."
"Allison—" Viktor began.
"I got this," Allison insisted. Then, to the Sparrows: "Hand over the briefcase or no deal."
"Yeah, tiny problem," Ben said. "Deal's off."
Nadine sucked in a breath. Oh, shit.
Now that hadn't been one of the scenarios she'd expected.
Her heart pounded faster. If the Sparrow Academy didn't come for Marcus, then... what did they come for?
She really wasn't liking the looks on their faces.
"Oh, 'run'!" Luther suddenly blurted. But Nadine didn't even have time to shoot him a confused look. For, just then, a childish voice rang out across the room.
"Molotov this, bitches!"
Stanley surged towards the Sparrow Academy, flaming Molotov cocktail in hand. Nadine's eyes widened as the boy prepared to heave it at their enemies—and subsequently light the hotel on fire. But before he could, Diego shot out an arm.
"Stanley! Not now."
Of course, Stan then proceeded to drop the bottle onto the floor. The flames immediately caught onto one of the tapestries hanging on the nearby pillar and set the entire thing alight. Heat washed across Nadine's face, and she coughed, backing away slightly as the orange flames began to climb. The hotel's smoke alarm went off, the patrons leaped to their feet, clamouring and shouting, and Stan's face blanched with horror.
"Oh, shit," he whispered.
Ben was unfazed by the blaze. "Power up," he ordered, holding up an arm. A sneer formed on Kadence's face.
Christopher began to spin. Ravens burst free of Fei's back. Jayme readied her venom. Alphonso cracked his joints. Diego took his son by the arm and attempted to lead him away.
Kadence came forward, shifting the line-up the Sparrows had. Then, before Nadine could react, she twisted her wrist.
A part of Nadine had known this was coming, but it didn't make the sensation of the floor dissolving under her feet any easier. Trying to be more prepared than she had been back at the mansion, she yanked desperately up, trying to get herself out before she was completely locked in. But she was too late.
She went further than her ankles, this time. Instead, she sank right down to her knees. The panelling solidified around them as it had before, keeping her sturdily locked in place. And, judging by the surprised cries from her friends, she wasn't the only one this had happened to.
"Now, Chris," Ben ordered.
And that was the last thing Nadine heard before the shockwave rushed over her.
It was a pulse of bright red, tasting a little less like copper and a little more like blood, and it escaped the cube in tendrils, each aiming for a specific person. When it connected with Nadine's mind, there was a momentary blinding, gasping pain. It took over every single one of her senses, whiting out everything else until there was nothing but agony. In a way, this was like Viktor's powers.
What was not was what happened next.
The pain disappeared as quickly as it had come, which was a relief for Nadine. But it was quickly replaced by something far worse.
Fear.
Nadine was seven years old, and she was utterly defenseless. She had limbs like whittled-down sticks and her powers were a barely controlled whirlwind. She kept her hair out of her face with clips, wore Hello Kitty Band-Aids, and had light-up shoes. She was rosy-cheeked and young, though not innocent. She'd already had her fair share of the horrors the world could bring.
Even so, she opened the door for the stranger when she knocked.
Except, this time, it wasn't a stranger. This time, Nadine knew exactly who the white-curled, steely-eyed woman who stared back at her was. She knew what the smile that formed on her perfect, cherry-red lips really meant. She knew that her tone of voice wasn't just curiosity, but hunger.
"No," she breathed. "Please, no."
The Handler reached out, cupping her cheek. The touch was cold against Nadine's skin, and a shudder ran down her spine at the sensation. She flinched away, closing her eyes.
They flew open at the sounds of screams.
"No, no, no—"
She couldn't see anything. She had no idea what had really happened. But her entire being was throbbing with wrongness, and unpleasant images danced across her mind. Her parents, splayed out on the ground, blood puddling underneath their prone forms. Their eyes open and glassy, staring at a sky they couldn't see. Their skin tinged blue with rigor mortis. Their flesh riddled with bullet holes.
The hand on her cheek slid down to grip her chin, forcing her head up. But Nadine didn't meet the eyes of The Handler this time. Somewhere in her haze of dark imagining, The Handler had disappeared.
Hazel and Cha-Cha, blue bear and pink dog, took her place.
They raised their guns, and Nadine already knew what was going to happen, because it had all happened before. She tried to back up, to move, to scream, but she couldn't do anything. There were three instincts when it came to finding yourself in a life-or-death scenario: fight, flight, or freeze. And it seemed that, in her all-consuming horror, Nadine had chosen the third one.
Hazel and Cha-Cha's faces flickered, morphing into the Swedes. Blood splattered their faces, their clothes, and somehow, Nadine could tell that the fluid belonged to Molly and Elliott. Another flash—this time of Molly, strapped down and screaming, shrinking away from the pliers that rapidly approached her mouth—surged through her.
Oh God oh God oh God.
Nadine had never felt so afraid in her life. It was a paralyzing agent, rooting her to the spot, both in her ravaged mind and in reality. It consumed everything and everyone she'd ever loved and twisted it, warping it into something terrible. The world was going to end. Her friends and family would all die gruesome deaths, choking on their own blood, eyes bugged out of their head. And she would watch it all, because that was worse than dying herself.
She may have had a closed heart, but it had opened just enough to let a few people in. And that would be to her detriment.
Trapped within the floor, Nadine pressed her hands against her ears desperately, trying to keep both the images and the fear from leaking through. It happened, anyway, and it was worse than anything she'd dealt with before.
In reality, the end of the world had never been personal. It took everything, good and bad. It didn't care if you were a Nobel Peace Prize winner or a capitalist feeding oil into the mouths of whales. It didn't care if you owned a five-storey mansion or lived in a box on the street. It didn't care if you were a hundred years old or had barely gasped your first breaths. Under its wrath, everyone died. And, in the end, nothing but a husk of a planet was left behind.
In Nadine's mind, though, taken over—of all things—by a floating cube, it was personal. It saw Nadine and zeroed in on her. It saw who she loved, who she'd do anything to protect, and ripped them all away from her. They all went up in flames, in a spiralling, whirling inferno. They died with horrible screams, snarling accusations on their lips. Your fault.
And, with each one, Nadine's body became more and more encased in ice.
Molly. Beau. Viktor. Allison. Klaus. Diego. Luther. Elliott. Even Five and Lila were there, only to die slowly, torturously, their limbs snapped off one by one. They couldn't speak, but their eyes spoke volumes. That, if not for Nadine, this would have never happened.
Because out of everything in the universe, this was Nadine's worst fear. That she would lose the ones she cared about, and it would be her fault. Somehow, she would pull the strings. Somehow, she would be the catalyst that sent them all to the pits of Hell.
Christopher saw that, burrowed deep inside of her, and he enhanced it. He doubled it, tripled it, continued to multiply it until it took over everything else. Until it was real.
Or, at least, it felt that way.
And he might have gone on like that, gleefully exploiting the one thing that might have pushed Nadine over the edge. He might've kept her trapped within her own mind, lost, oh so far away, right until his siblings came to finish the job.
He never got the chance, though.
Nadine didn't see it. She hadn't even seen the Sparrow Academy approaching, readying themselves to end the Umbrella Academy's lives.
But she did feel it.
A burst of energy—something that was somehow alike Viktor's power but completely different at the same time—rushed over her head, bringing a little bit of heat back to the world that had become so cold. It connected with a crunch that felt like teeth biting into a bottom lip—pain, and blood bursting free. It shoved everyone and everything back.
And it knocked Nadine right out of her mind as surely as a slap to the face.
Her eyes shot open with a gasp, and she blinked rapidly, trying to remember where she was. Her heart was still beating faster than it had ever been—so much so that her vision was becoming clouded. Tears were streaming down her face. Her face felt like it had been pressed into a snowbank and held there.
Then she remembered. The Hotel Obsidian. The wrong 2019. The Sparrow Academy. Kadence. Christopher. Trapped within the floor...
She shook her head, trying to clear it, and greedily sucked air into her lungs. It took an alarmingly long time before her vision cleared. Once it did, though, a part of her wished it hadn't.
There, lying right in front of her, were the bodies of Jayme and Alphonso Hargreeves.
It looked like they'd been skinned alive. Their faces were a mess of mangled and torn-up flesh, their eyes nothing but sunken pits in their heads. They were gruesome, monsters out of a horror movie, rotting and dead, mouths open in a final, drawn-out scream.
Oh, my God. Nadine tried to turn her head. It turned out to be a Herculean effort. What just happened?
"Jayme!" Fei screamed. "Alphonso!"
"No!" came Kadence's wail of anguish. "No, no, no, no!"
"Pull back!" Ben ordered.
The remaining Sparrows—Ben, Kadence, Fei, and Christopher—all pulled themselves to their feet, wincing all the while. Then, without bothering to attack again, they stumbled through the revolving doors, exiting the Hotel Obsidian. Leaving the Umbrella Academy be.
Finally, Nadine was able to pull herself free of her restraints. She sprawled forward onto the floor, wincing, feeling as if she'd just been wrung out. Viktor's groan beside her told her that he'd done the same. He reached out for her.
"...Nadine?"
"Right... right here," Nadine hissed. She couldn't forget his screams rattling in her mind. She was still so afraid. "Oh my—Oh, my God. What just—what happened?"
"I don't know." Viktor inched himself forward until he was in Nadine's line of sight. His face was pale, almost gaunt. He was obviously as shaken as she was.
"They're dead. Jayme and Alphonso—they're dead."
"I know. I don't know—"
Viktor cut himself off abruptly, staring at something Nadine couldn't see. She forced herself to turn her head again, almost whimpering at how difficult it was. It was like trudging through molasses.
But then she saw who Viktor was looking at. An old man stood above them, wearing a cream jacket, brown pants, and headphones around his neck. He was trembling slightly, mouth partly open.
And somehow, Nadine recognized him.
She got to her feet, leaning against Viktor all the while. He'd gone completely silent, too shocked to even muster up any words. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off the old man. It was obvious that he recognized him, too.
But from where?
Then, he finally spoke. "Oh my God. Harlan?"
Nadine sucked in a breath. Oh. That was where she knew him from.
This was Harlan Cooper, son of Sissy Cooper, the young boy Viktor had brought back to life—and inadvertently transferred some of his power to. The boy that had become overwhelmed with it all, spiralling out of control, until Viktor had managed to crawl back inside his bubble and draw him out again. The boy that Nadine had made a beach for when Viktor was taking his abilities back. The boy who had watched the seagulls with more wonder than Nadine had ever seen on a young face before.
He was still alive. And, by the looks of it, he'd just saved them all.
DESPITE BEING A SUPERHERO for seventeen years, Kadence had never lost anyone before. Oh, sure, she'd come close—with all of the villains the Sparrow Academy had gone up against, there had to be a few near-death experiences here and there. Dr. Terminal, for example, had been quite the foe, and Kadence, Ben, Sloane and Jayme had all very nearly lost their lives going up against him. Gustave Eiffel had been another doozy, and it was thanks to him that Alphonso's face started to warp. Marcus had been in and out of the hospital far too many times when his leadership bordered on self-sacrificial. Fei had her eyes pecked out by her own birds. Sloane had once been held hostage for nearly a day.
But, in the end, everything turned out all right. The villains were defeated with minimal casualties, either killed or locked in prison to rot away for the rest of their lives. Marcus was discharged from the hospital with only a new scar or two to serve as a reminder of what had happened. Fei learned how to see without her eyes. Sloane's siblings set her free.
Perhaps, because of this, a part of Kadence had thought her family was invincible. Oh, sure, other people around them died—she'd once cradled a little girl in her arms as she took her last breaths—but never any of them. They could get knocked down, but they would always get back up again. They could walk straight through Hell and come out with scarcely a scratch.
But now, in the span of just a few days, four of Kadence's siblings were dead. Marcus, Jayme, Sloane, and Alphonso were all gone, and there was nothing she could do to bring them back. They'd finally met an enemy that was stronger than them, that could best them. They were finally hit just hard enough that they couldn't get back on their feet.
The Umbrella Academy.
Kadence didn't know who the man who had killed her siblings and almost killed her was. She'd been too busy dropping under the blast, shielding her head. But she did know that he had been protecting the Umbrella Academy. He'd seen them right about to die, each one of them, and shot back.
So, really, it was the Umbrella Academy's fault that Jayme, Sloane, and Alphonso were dead. And, considering their presence had brought the glowing orb that had killed Marcus into existence, it was safe to say that they could be blamed for that one, too.
This was the Sparrow Academy's biggest threat yet. But Kadence was not going to let them win.
As she fled the Hotel Obsidian, wiping tears off her face, thinking about Alphonso slinging his arm around her shoulder and Jayme sharing candy with her and Sloane giving her a book on flowers and even Marcus, thirteen years old, patching up her scrapes, anger began to boil up inside her. How dare they? How dare those Umbrella imposters go up against the only people keeping the city from falling into ruins? How dare they bulldoze over all of the progress they'd made in the last seventeen years? How dare they bring chaos and pain and death to the people who were only trying to help?
They weren't going to get away with this. Kadence's plan for taking them down might not have worked, but it wasn't the only one she had in her pocket. Her father had trained her for this. She just hadn't realized it at the time.
Some of your enemies, he'd said, straight-backed and proper, elegant as he always was before they'd started shoving pills down his throat, hold too much loyalty towards each other. This is a factor you need to exploit. Taking down one might be the difference between taking down them all. You need to figure out which is the weakest link. And you need to use them against your foes.
Kadence had been twelve years old, standing in the training room alone. And she hadn't understood why her father had singled her out, why he sometimes looked at her as if she was someone else. But she knew now. He was thinking of Nadine. He was trying to make her the one who could take her down.
Ben and Fei had believed that Number One was the one to target. He was the leader of the group, after all, meant to be the one to bring everyone together. But they'd been so blinded by their hierarchy of numbers to remember that things wouldn't be the same for their opponents.
So, no. It wouldn't be Luther Hargreeves that Kadence would target this time. Nor would it be the Umbrella Academy's psyches, fragile as they were.
This time, she would go for the one she'd seen the others care about. The one the others rallied around to protect, no matter the power they possessed on her own.
She was going to go after Viktor Hargreeves. And this time, she wasn't going to get her siblings' permission.
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HAVEN: rip to jayme and alphonso y'all were real ones!!! i'm genuinely so upset they died so early; they had so much potential. fortunately, this fic is going to remedy that ;)))) this may not be the last you see of them!!
next chapter is literally all arguments so get ready for that lmao. these bitches (both the umbrella academy and the sparrow academy) can never get along. this is also the start of allison's corruption arc, so :(((( i hope you enjoyed the peace while it lasted.