While the Umbrellas were downstairs chattering with their thought-to-be dead father, A young woman was sitting on her ceiling, reading through the travel guide she had read dozens of times, admiring the scenic locations and all the fun facts and information they had to offer. Each location was marked with different colored sticky notes, ranging from the places she wanted to visit as soon as possible like Greece and Spain, to the ones where she figured she could wait to visit maybe during the holidays.
But if only leaving were that simple.
Since her birth, Sloane was bound to the Sparrow Academy. And every time she thought about packing her things and leaving, she couldn't stop thinking about her siblings, and how much she would miss them, no matter how many times they might've gotten on her nerves. We're a family, we stick together. Marcus always said. That quote ran through her head a dozen times a day. Suddenly, an alarm blared, pulling Sloane out of dreamland and back to reality. Exhaling a quiet breath, she flipped upside down and tossed the book onto her bed.
Fei, what's going on?" the brunette questioned as she stepped into the hallway, catching glimpse of her sunglassed sister. "I don't know, Sloane. But we need to check it out," Fei responded before continuing down the hall. What is going on? Does father have another mission for us? she wondered. Sloane followed close behind, and as she stood next to the balcony that peered down into the living room, she could see seven individuals, mostly dressed in black talking to their father. "Who are these people?" She whispered to Alphonso. "Beats me," Sparrow Four replied with exasperation.
"This is the Sparrow Academy," Reginald announced. The group turned around, their eyes widening at the sight of the Sparrows. "Dad, who the hell are these assholes?" Ben demanded. The Umbrella's mouths dropped at the sight of him, and they all said one word, "Shit." A man with large muscles stepped closer to Ben and asked if it was really him. To this, Ben just squinted and crossed his arms.
"And who are the weirdos on the balcony?" Diego shouted towards the Sparrows. "Uh, Dad just told you. Is your hearing aid not working?" Jayme replied. Some of the Sparrows snickered at her comment. With a skilled hand, Marcus told them to follow him to the main level, and they all trailed close behind. "I'm sorry, what do you mean by your children? That's not possible, old man," a boy wearing a school uniform scoffed. "Of course it is! I think I'd know, wouldn't I?" Reginald responded.
"Everybody else can see Ben, right?" a man with a goatee and cowboy hat pointed to Ben. "Cute hat, Sundance," Ben replied with a fake smile as the man slightly tipped his hat in his direction. "Who are you, and what are you doing in our home?" Marcus questioned. Before the Umbrellas could speak, Reginald explained on their behalf. "They call themselves the Umbrella Academy, a group of scheming perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of 1963 while I was away on business in Dallas. Be warned, they claim to be my spawn."
A scoff came from the woman with long black hair and a cape. "Claim? Look Five, what the hell is going on?" She looked toward the teen. "I don't know, but it's concerning," Five responded. Part of Marcus didn't want to think the Umbrellas were stalkers, but since he was the leader of the pack, he couldn't risk any of them getting hurt by the sudden visitors. "Is he telling the truth?" he asked.
The Umbrellas talked over one another, trying to make their father's statement a little less harsh. "We're amateur-fidious at best," the man in the cowboy hat explained. "But this is our house, we grew up here. All of us," the blonde Umbrella spoke up. "I kind of think we would've noticed you," Sloane said, catching glimpse of the woman standing a foot or two away from the ape-man.
Astrid looked in her direction and briefly locked eyes with Sloane. All the other Sparrows appeared to be rude and distrusting, but Ast thought she was different. She was dressed in a burgundy-red uniform, her curls hung just over her shoulders, and her eyes were the color of milk chocolate. Sloane slightly smiled at her before her lips formed back into a thin straight line as the conversations between the two households continued.
"Okay, none of you belong here!" Allison insisted. "Oh! Well then, I guess we'll just pack our bags and move out," Fei spoke sarcastically. Christopher chattered behind them, taunting the visitors in his cubic language and making his siblings crack up. "You slay me, Chris," Ben briefly smiled before it faded back into nothingness. Grace, the Sparrow's housemaid stepped into the room with a plate of chocolate chip and raisin cookies. "I wasn't expecting company. This was the only thing I could make on sh-sh-short notice," one of her eyes twitched.
"M-mom?" The knife-wielding man stuttered at the sight of her. The last time any of the Umbrellas had seen her was right before the Academy came crashing down, killing her and Pogo in the process. "Mom? She's a robot, you perv," Jayme gagged. "Hey, don't you call him that!" Luther jumped to Diego's defense. But Jayme's comment alone was enough to set off a firestorm of individual arguments. Sloane and Marcus tried to calm everybody down, but no amount of physical intervention could calm the tension.
"ENOUGH!" Marcus eventually shouted, silencing everyone in the room. "Listen, I don't know what circus you escaped from or how you got past our security, but you have thirty seconds to get out of our house," he warned. "And if we don't?" Allison crossed her arms. Marcus took a menacing step forward. "Then, we'll have to settle this the old-fashioned way,"
Luther and Marcus's hands clenched into fists. But as the two men took a step forward, the Umbrellas who were in no mood for a fight, spoke up. "Guys please, stop!" Astrid pleaded. "We just fought an army. This doesn't need to get ugly," "Trid is right. Let's all just calm down and talk," Vanya added. The Sparrows seemed to consider that, but as Klaus called out to Ben, the Squid Boy looked at him with irritation. "Ben-er-rino, you look so much better alive than you do dead. Except for that haircut!" Klaus chuckled.
"What the hell did you just say?" Ben hissed. Klaus, now's not the time to poke fun! He's not our Ben... the junkie continued, telling him to stop with all the hostility. "Wow, nice scar. Muy macho," Astrid felt her stomach tighten as a bad feeling spread throughout her. And it proved to be correct as Ben eventually had enough and punched Klaus hard enough to make him topple over the coffee table.
"Hey, what the hell?! You didn't have to do that!" Luther shouted. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I did!" Ben retorted. And with that final outburst, the battle between the Sparrows and Umbrellas began. Astrid's hands released black smoke, and as the big-bellied Alphonso charged towards her, she disappeared with a puff of smoke. He ran through the black cloud and was confused. How in the... But when he turned around, he saw the outline of a dark shadow taunting and laughing at him.
"Too slow!" Astrid called from the balcony, making him growl and vow to get her. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught glimpse of Vanya struggling as Jayme pushed them into the wall. Astrid teleported back to the main level and grabbed the Sparrow with all the strength she had, throwing her towards one of the pillars. "You okay?" Astrid asked, helping her sibling stand back up. "Look out!" Vanya pointed over the blonde's shoulder to see Alphonso approaching her. "Hit me," He gestured to himself.
Astrid didn't know how to respond to that. It had to be a trick. If she tried hitting him, she might not be able to teleport away so easily. But if she didn't, he'd still swing at her. "No," Astrid shook her head. "Come on, hit me in the face!" the Sparrow persisted. Astrid kept shaking her head, and as she was about to teleport away again, Alphonso grabbed her arm rather harshly, pulling her toward him.
"Get off of me!" She growled, trying to pry his fingers off. And when that wasn't working, she tried to kick him in his crotch. But to her shock, the pain did not affect him. Instead, it reversed back to her and she fell to the ground, clutching her aching body. "Bet that hurt, huh?" He sneered. He lifted his foot in an attempt to stomp her, but even in pain, Astrid rolled out of his way, mustering enough strength to teleport back upstairs. She crawled on her hands and knees, still feeling the pain coursing through her body.
Shit, these Sparrows are stronger than I thought. As she flipped onto her side, finally regaining control of her legs, Astrid heard grunts of pain from the living room. And as she peered through the black metal bars, she could see Marcus stomping on Luther's chest, hearing the loud fracture of his ribs. "Luther, you got to get out of there!" she shouted, drawing the Sparrow's attention. She quickly moved out of their line of sight and slid down the stairs railing, desperate to help her other siblings escape.
She searched through the hallways, hoping to find Diego, Klaus, or Five hiding in one of the rooms. But the more she searched, the more she couldn't find them. Suddenly, Astrid heard footsteps coming from behind her, and she quickly whipped around and whoever was following her crashed into the wall. She heard a feminine grunt, and turning around, she saw she hit one of the female Sparrows.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry," She whispered, stooping down to help her. As she flipped the Sparrow's hair to the side, Astrid realized it wasn't Fei or Jayme she hit. It was the brunette who smiled at her earlier. "Are you okay?" Sloane wiped the blood dripping from her nose onto her sleeve and looked up at the Umbrella, surprised by her sudden kindness. "Y-yeah," the brunette nodded, pressing her back against the wall and sitting up. "Hi, I'm Sloane." Astrid felt a smile of her own tug at the corner of her lips.
"Hey, Sloane. I'm Astrid."