Umbrella Academy fic: Thicker Than Blood (9/13)
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT
PART NINE
PART TEN
PART ELEVEN
PART TWELVE
PART THIRTEEN
-o-
Diego’s forward progress had been completely thwarted. The shock of it threatened to bring him to his knees, and he felt his consciousness dim to a point. They were bound, his siblings, each with their hands over their heads, hanging from the ceiling. The containers were clear but obviously reinforced. Luther was able to stand with both feet beneath him. Allison and Klaus were on their toes. Vanya rocked back and forth uncomfortably, only able to just get her footing from time to time. Five’s toes brushed the ground, but he seemed to have gone utterly still, face fixed in what appeared to be anger.
“Family, huh?” the man asked, drawling a little with the words. “Always so unpredictable.”
Diego felt himself start to tremble. “Let them go,” he ordered.
The man shrugged, unmoved by the threat. “They did their job, by the way,” he continued conversationally. “They disarmed the assailants, tended the wounded and effectively cleared each floor. In fact, they were so effective with the evacuation that they helped the vast majority of my colleagues escape. Dressed in plain clothes to blend in with the hostages. It’s a little underhanded, but I don’t pay them enough to die. There’s a disturbing lack of integrity in the world today, don’t you think? Don’t people realize what it means to finish the job?”
The bastard was monologing like some damn comic book villain. Diego was numb, but his knife was still primed. He didn’t need to feel his fingers to aim his knife perfectly. But with his siblings literally hanging in the balance, now was not the time to be rash.
Which was a shame. Diego was good at being rash. In truth, that was what he’d always excelled at. All his talk about being a leader, and he’d always been prone to kneejerk reactions. He had never truly appreciated how one simple choice could affect who lived and who died.
Until now.
“Look,” Diego said, swallowing back his fear as best he could. “You don’t need them. You can tell me what you want without them.”
He glanced at his siblings, anxious. He worked his jaw, willing Luther to break the casing, for Allison to tell a perfect rumor. Shit, he’d settle for Klaus levitating across the room or Five blinking his way clear. At this point, even Vanya going nuclear would work. Anything to get them out of harm’s way so Diego could deal with this jackass.
“They can’t, by the way,” the man said.
Diego looked back at him, trying not to show how startled he was.
The man still knew, and he looked pleased. “They can’t escape. I mean, why would I go through all the trouble of capturing them if I didn’t think I could hold them?”
Diego all but growled. “You don’t know my family.”
“I do, though,” the man said. “Luther’s case is unbreakable. You could fire bullets at it, and it wouldn’t break. Dear Allison has a soundproof case, which I’m sure you can imagine is quite valuable against her. Klaus has been sedated -- mildly so. I can’t guarantee it won’t trigger his addiction, but it is a high enough dose to keep him from being unable to control his powers. Little Five was harder, and it took some time to get ahold of the dampening technology. But I needed it for Vanya anyway, so the money spent was put to good use, I assure you. I do not believe in wastefulness.”
Diego scowled, lip curling. “Just murder and destruction. No biggie, right?”
Inside the cases, his siblings squirmed. Luther clenches his fists, and Allison screamed invectives that could not be heard. Klaus looked mellow, at least, eyes glazed as he stared into the distance complacently. Five’s face was screwed up with concentration, but he couldn’t do more than muster a flicker of power to his curled fists. Vanya just looked terrified.
“Sacrifices are unfortunately necessary,” the man said, shaking his head in a facsimile of sympathy.
Diego snorted, uncontrollably angry. “Sacrifices? You literally murder innocent people. And for what? What reason could you possibly have to make your so-called sacrifices worthwhile?”
The question seemed to please him. “Why, to get your attention of course,” he said. He nodded to the cases that ensconced his siblings. “I mean, this took years of planning. I’m not sure you fully appreciate the amount of time and energy that went into this.”
Diego took another step forward, his fingers wrapped so tight around the knife that they hurt. “If you wanted the Umbrella Academy, then why bother with innocent victims?”
“Diego, you have to listen,” the man said, enunciating clearly. “There was no other way to get you to come to me.”
“You could have just attacked the house and been done with it,” Diego suggested bitterly.
“It would be too obvious,” the man explained. He tilted his head. “You, of all people, appreciate big gestures. You don’t settle for half measures. A simple attack would have made you underestimate me and overlook the point.”
“What point?!” Diego demanded. “We don’t know who you are or what you want!”
The man’s temper seemed to flare a little at that. “We? Why do you think I care about them?”
He jerked his head in the direction of his siblings. The look on his face drained of its bemusement, exposing something feral underneath.
“You just told me how much time and money you put into capturing us,” Diego said. “This is obviously about us.”
The man groaned, and this time, he was the one to take a step closer to Diego. “You are so blind,” he said. “If this was about all of you, then why are you the only one left standing? You don’t actually think it’s because you’re just that much better than them, do you?”
Diego hesitated, unable to come up with an answer that quickly.
The man rolled his eyes. “Diego, they’re collateral damage. They’re distractions. They’re leverage,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. He came closer still, and Diego’s hand was still primed on the knife but lay heavy at his side. “Diego, this is about you.”
The numbness spread, tingling in his hands and feet. He could feel it, rattling through his brain and churning in his stomach. “I don’t understand,” he said, unable to tear his gaze away from the man now. He couldn’t dare look at his siblings; not now.
The man groaned. “Oh, Diego,” he said. “You can’t possibly be this slow on the uptake. Not with your family.”
“My family--”
The man cut him off with a growl. “You know nothing about your family,” he said sharply, eyes glinting. He laughed, short and curt. “I’ve been waiting for this, though. I mean, that is why it’s worth it. So I have the chance to explain the truth to you. To make you understand.”
“You should give me a reason,” Diego said. “One reason not to embed this knife in your head right here, right now. Consequences be damned.”
The man didn’t flinch, no matter the severity of the threat. He came closer, eyes fixed on Diego and expression calm. “The reason is that you can’t make a choice until you know the options.”
Breathing heavily, Diego shook his head. “Enough damn riddles!”
“Your options, Diego!” the man yelled back, undeterred. “Why do you think I took the trouble to capture them alive? For you? So you could see what your choice actually was?”
“I swear to God,” Diego started, shaking his head vehemently. He was all but shaking now, tears burning in his eyes viciously. “Tell me what you want!”
They were face to face now. All Diego had to do was reach out and stab him to end this. There was no clear indication that his siblings would be in any danger if he did. They would probably all agree it was an acceptable risk, given the circumstances.
But Diego was paralyzed, transfixed somehow. He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t breathe.
Even if he wanted to.
He was drowning all over again.
“You have a choice, Diego,” the man said, and it was almost like he was pleading now. “You get to make a choice. That’s all I’ve been waiting for. For you to make the choice.”
“Then I choose for you to let them go,” Diego said. “Let them go!”
The man trembled, as if trying to control him. “If that’s what you want, then I will. In time, I will,” he said. “But you don’t know the other option. You can’t make this choice blind.”
“What other option is there?” Diego asked, incredulous now. “They’re my family. Let them go.”
With a sigh, the man appeared to be losing his patience. The withering look reminded Diego of his father when he fell short during training. Which was basically all the time. “I recognize your impulsivity,” the man commented with a sad shake of his head. “It’s not an attractive inherited trait. Not technically your fault, but you should probably learn to control it.”
The man had always been vague and obtuse. This was getting a bit nonsensical. More than Diego could parse at any rate. “What?”
“Diego, please, you’re smarter than this,” the man said. Implored, really. He had Diego’s siblings encased and captured and he was imploring Diego. “How obvious do I need to be? The well being of your so-called siblings? I don’t give a shit, okay? I don’t give a shit about them. I give a shit about you.”
They were face to face, nearly nose to nose. Diego could see the man’s chest rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. His own was stubbornly still. “Then let them go,” he said, voice even and quiet. “If you don’t care about them, then let them go.”
“Not until you hear the other option!” the man said, voice giving rise to excitement now.
Though at a disadvantage, Diego still had his limits. He knew he was supposed to be mature and exhibiting self control, but this was getting ridiculous. “What option!” he exploded, his arms flinging wide. The blade of his knife glinted useless in the artificial lights. “You still haven’t told me what the other option is! I’m waiting here!”
At Diego’s outburst, the other man seemed to collect himself once more. He gathered a breath, apparently to steady himself, and when he spoke, it was with renewed purpose. “You have no idea what it means to wait,” he said, and he almost laughed with a small, giddy breath of what might have been anticipation. “I’m the one who has waited. I have waited so long. The mall. The house. But I had to make sure the timing was right so you would finally understand.”
The irony was that the more this asshole talked, the less Diego understood anything at all. He was tempted once again to charge the guy. At this range, he wouldn’t even have to throw the knife. He could literally plunge it into his throat and watch the blood squirt.
But he could feel his family watching him. They stood, trapped behind the clear panels, pleading, angry, desperate, scared. This was about them, he reminded himself. He hadn’t come here for the job. He had come here for them. So he sure as hell wasn’t going to compromise on their safety, not even for his own personal gratification.
Besides, he was the leader now. He had to be. If he screwed this up, if he misplayed his hand, then there’d be no one else -- ever.
Restraint, he reminded himself.
Self control.
He forced himself to breathe, no matter how unnatural it felt. “Understand what?” he ventured cautiously.
The man pressed his lips together in a smile. “Understand why you should pick me and not them.”
Diego blinked. All thoughts of restraint were momentarily paralyzed. Restraint was rational, and nothing about this was rational anymore. This guy wasn’t just a maniac who went around killing people. He was actually crazy. If he thought Diego was going to pick some murderer over his family…
Well, there was no room for conversation there.
The man wasn’t offering a choice as much as he was inviting his own death warrant.
In a rush, Diego flung himself forward. He expected to make quick contact and have it be done with, but the man saw his sudden attack coming. He countered the punch easily, ducking out of the way. Diego threw his knife in the following split second, but he didn’t have time to aim its short trajectory. The man spun hard, sweeping Diego’s legs out from under him while the knife -- Diego’s last knife, for the record -- whistled harmlessly over his head.
Diego was caught off guard, but he was a trained fighter -- and a good one at that. Recovering quickly, he was back on his fight, fists up and primed to fight. He was invincible with his knives, but he wasn’t bad at hand to hand. In all, he liked his odds.
At least, he liked them until the man showed the device in his hand. At first, Diego thought it was another bomb, but he quickly realize that it wasn’t. He was confused for a moment when he depressed the button, but then he heard thumps against the casing.
Surprised, Diego turned toward the wall where Luther, Allison and Klaus were. Luther was contorted, his long limbs clattering against the walls. Next to him, Allison was also writhing, and Klaus looked to be almost having a seizure. On the other wall, Five and Vanya weren’t faring any better. Vanya was suspended off the ground as she convulsed, and Five’s body was rigid with the pain he was trying desperately not to show.
As quickly as he had attacked, he backed off. Arms up, he hated the idea of surrender, but he hated the idea of his family suffering more.
“Okay, okay!” he said. “I get it!”
The man pressed the button again, and Diego watched as his siblings slumped forward, breathless and pale. “I just need you to listen is all,” the man explained. “You never listen very well, do you?”
“I can listen,” Diego said. “But you still aren’t telling me anything. Like who the hell you even are.”
“No, Diego, no,” the man said, shaking his head in disappointment. “That’s still the wrong question. You need to ask who you are?”
“Dude,” Diego said. “I’m tired of the bullshit.”
The man was hardly listening. He cocked his head, curious. “You still go by Diego, don’t you?”
Diego was nearly pulsating with anger, even though he hadn’t been the one who had just been tortured. He had to clench his jaw, balling his fists to keep himself in check. “It’s my name, right? You got something better for me to go by?”
The man looked encouraged, as if the question was an invitation. “Yes. Rogelio,” he said. “Your name is Rogelio. That’s what your mother named you.”
Diego was torn between being confused and pissed. The angry confusion was a bad combination, and he couldn’t keep the incredulity from his expression as he wrinkled his nose. “You don’t know anything about my mother, jackass.”
“I do, though,” the man persisted. “I don’t know about the robot who raised you, but I know about the woman who gave birth to you. The one who held you in her arms when you were newly born, held your small, squirming body as you cried greedily for your first gulp of air.”
Well, shit. Angry, confused and a little creeped out now. “What the hell, man?” Diego asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Diego, don’t be so dense,” the man said. “The attack on the mall in your city. A break in on your family property. I’m speaking the only language you respond to. This is just my way of saying hello.”
He said it casually, like he was giving him a thumbs up or a friendly little wave. Diego swallowed back his horror. “But people have died. Innocent people. And you almost killed me and my brother.”
The man’s voice twisted virulently. “That little freak is not your brother,” he said sharply. “He was supposed to die. Not you. I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“Uh, you drove my car off the road,” he pointed out. “My brother’s the one who can blink through space; I was the one more likely to die.”
“He’s not your brother!” he yelled now, starting to fume. “And I knew he would have expended himself saving those people back at the house. He’s stupid about his powers, not like you. You are smart and resourceful. You know how to survive on your own. Your priorities are different, better. I always knew you’d survive.”
The logic was complimentary and horrifying. “Seriously, man, who the hell are you?”
“I’m your brother, your real brother,” he said, and he stepped forward, eyes burning earnestly now. He smiled, as if unable to contain himself. “My name is Guillermo, and I’ve spent my life looking for you. I’ve given up everything to find you so we can be a family like we were meant to be. That’s why you want to choose me and let them go. You want a real family, not this fake version. This flawed family that has never appreciated you. You want to choose me.’
As if things could get any weirder. Diego was so taken aback that he couldn’t even think to be angry. Instead, he blinked in confusion, scrunching his face up in a desperate attempt to make this situation make some kind of sense. It didn’t, though.
Not even a little.
Recovering just enough of his senses, Digo shook his head. “What?”
The man looked encouraged for some reason. “You don’t have to hate your family,” he said. “Let this fake family go -- let me get rid of them for you -- and you can embrace what family is meant to be for the first time in your life.”
Exhaling heavily, Diego scoffed. He looked from the man, turning his eyes back to his siblings.
His siblings.
Luther slammed himself against the case. Allison was screaming, fists pounding. Klaus was crying, curled up on himself, and Five’s face was drawn in concentration as he stared daggers through his case. Vanya was visibly breathing heavily, her whole body shaking with the effort of controlling her unpredictable emotions.
Those were his siblings.
He looked back at the man. A stranger; a murderer. “You’re insane,” he said. “You’re actually insane.”
“No,” the man said, almost pleading now. “I remember. I was there when you were born. I was five. I saw you come out, bloody and screaming. And I saw you for the last time when that twisted old man came and bought you.”
The man hadn’t thrown a single punch, but Diego still felt himself recoiling. “This is twisted shit, man. I don’t have time for this.”
He didn’t move, though, as the man continued. “You think I’m lying? You think I’m making this up?” he asked, eyebrows arching. “I’m not. I was there. For years, it had just been me and my mother, and it was hard, but we were getting by. One day, she was making lunch and then all of a sudden she was keeled over. We didn’t have any money, so I didn’t get the doctor. I stayed there, held her hand while she yelled. We wrapped you in a dish towel, swaddled you in the bed between us. I didn’t understand where you’d come from, but I was so glad, you see. Glad to not be alone.”
Frozen in place now, Diego knew he wasn’t breathing. At this point, he wasn’t even sure if his heart was beating.
The man was almost crying now, his eyes glistening as he locked on Diego. “Five days later, the man showed up. He offered money, and our mother took you from my arms to give to him,” he said, swallowing hard. “She took the money, and I asked when you were coming back. She never answered. She never talked about you again. She just cried and cried.”
It was something he had thought about. It was something they had all thought about. The idea of their birth families had always raised mixed emotions. Sometimes, they dreamed of those families like a refuge, the possibility of a better life. It had always been an illusion, though. Those same families were the ones that had sold them, that had traded them for a quick payday. Diego wasn’t quick to forgive, and for as much as he hated Reginald Hargreeves, he hated the people who gave him up more. Loyalty didn’t have a price as far as he was concerned. It had been his only way to understand family: by the choices you made.
“I didn’t know it then, not when I was so young,” the man added. “But there was no way she could afford to raise both of us. We were destitute as it was. She sold you to save us both. She sold you because she saw no other way for either of us to survive. She sold you because she loved you, she loved me. She loved us, her sons. Her precious sons.”
It was a compelling story.
It was also total bullshit.
It had to be total bullshit.
“You’re batshit crazy,” Diego said, voice low now.
The man barely heard him. He seized the moment and lurched forward again. “I have fought to find you, Rogelio. I fought to get you back. I have fought to give you this choice, this choice for your real family at last.”
“This is my family,” Diego said, but his voice was strained. He pointed to the cases along the walls. “This is the only family I’ve ever known.”
“So you don’t even know what you’re missing,” the man pleaded.
“A mother who sold me? A brother who killed people to get my attention?” Diego asked, skeptical now. “Not very convincing.”
The man shook his head, adamant. “A mother who loved you so much that she couldn’t live with herself for what she’d done. She killed herself out of her love for you. She killed herself when the thought of living without you was too much for you,” he said. “And a brother who has dedicated his life to finding you, to liberating you from the oppressive falsity that has dominated your life.”
Diego was trembling again, and he had to remember to take a breath in an attempt to steady himself. This man -- brother or otherwise -- was clearly unhinged. At this rate, Diego’s siblings were in great danger -- and the only thing keeping them from an untimely fate was him.
That was just about right, wasn’t it?
Diego could solve problems with knives, but words? Where was Luther’s diplomacy? Allison’s lies? Hell, he’d take Klaus’ rambling, Five’s logic or Vanya’s stammering.
But it was him.
Just him.
The job. His family.
He exhaled with purpose. “So that’s why you’re here? To kill more people for things they didn’t do? Will you kill me if I don’t agree? If I choose them?”
“I didn’t come to kill anyone,” the man insisted. How a cold hearted killer could look broken hearted, Diego wasn’t sure, but he figured it said little of the man’s mental stability. “I came her to reunite us. To make right what was made wrong all those years ago when you were taken from us.”
“Sure,” Diego said. “But I’m still not sure how you killing people is going to make any of that better.”
The man sighed. “Oh, I tried other stuff first, I did,” he said. “I was a victim once. Twice, even. And you did come. You did save me, but you don’t remember. It was just a job to you. You never even looked twice at me.”
Diego shifted, slightly uncomfortable at that one. He’d always taken great pride in his ability to help people, but the man was right. He didn’t remember. And for as crazy as this Guillermo might be, he wasn’t lying.
Not about that, anyway.
Maybe not about anything.
Diego didn’t trust this bastard, but he found he didn’t doubt him either. Because it made some kind of sense. You didn’t do the horrible things this man did without believing in something. The targeted nature of the attacks made sense in this context. Guillermo was a man obsessed. A man obsessed with family.
A man obsessed with Diego.
He drew another, carefully measured breath. “I saved lots of people,” he said. “There’s no way I can remember all of them. I can’t be out there to make friends.”
“I know,” Guillermo said, sounding almost sympathetic again. “I realized that early on. So then I tried to be your friend. I joined the gym, asked you to work out with me. We sparred once or twice, but every time the call came, you left. Never looked back.”
“It’s a lifestyle that demands compromises,” Diego argued. “I have to make those compromises.”
“I know that, too,” Guillermo told him. “I learned a great deal about you this way. I learned what your priorities I. This -- all this -- is the only way to communicate with you. I’m finally speaking your language. Not with personal connection or sentiment. But with the job. That’s what you understand, that is your only, singular priority: the job.”
The assessment wasn’t necessarily intended to be harsh. If anything, Guillermo spoke with affection. But the description was still jarring. Not because it wasn’t accurate.
Rather, because it was.
This unconscious struggle, the internal battle he had denied so long.
This man had seen it in him as plain as day.
Faced with this unsettling truth, Diego did the only thing he could think to do.
He denied it.
“You don’t know me,” he said, puffing his chest up in what would appear to be defiance.
The man, weapons still sheathed and holstered, didn’t buy it. “But I do,” he said. “I’ve watched you. I’ve studied you. I know how it is with this family. I know how they treat you, and I know how you treat them. I’d be doing you a favor getting rid of them. I know how hard that would be for you, which is why I’m giving you the choice. This way, I can do it for you. You can make a clean, easy break.”
It was spoken like an offer to quit a job, file two weeks notice.
Not an offer to murder his family.
He glanced to his siblings, but couldn’t meet any of their eyes.
Quickly, he shook his head. “Don’t you dare hurt them.”
Guillermo seemed to think that was a continued denial. “You’d be free, then,” he said. “And all the time I’ve spent studying you, I know how you work. You and I, we’d be the perfect team. Any job you wanted, I would be there at your side, no hesitation. Like a real family.”
“You’re a psycho,” Diego said, letting his voice rise. He was still holding the knife. Why was he still holding the knife? It was almost like he’d forgotten how to use it just as readily as he’d forgotten how to breathe.
If only this man was crazy.
If only he was a liar.
If only Diego didn’t believe every damn word he said.
“I’d follow your rules, anything you say,” Guillermo pledged. “We’d do the job the right way. We would save people. Your family -- they don’t want that. Luther went to the moon; Allison became an actress. Klaus prefers his drugs, and Five disappears when he wants. Vanya isn’t even ready, is she? She’ll never be ready, and you’ve always been ready. This is your calling, Diego. Let us answer it together. The way we were meant to before Reginald Hargreeves interfered.”
Most of the time, bashing his old man was a smart play. Today was a weird day, though.
Really weird.
He cast a nervous glance at his entrapped siblings, the knife all but quivering in his sweaty palms. A man of action, and they were silently pleading with him to stop standing around.
“It’s not the simple,” he said, eyes back on Guillermo.
“And it’s not that hard,” Guillermo said, he splayed his arms wide and disarmingly. The remote was still clutched loosely in his right hand.. “The cops are outside right now, but I have an escape plan. We’d get away before anyone could stop us. I’d let you go first, if you want. So you don’t have to see it happen. I know it would be hard for you just as much as I know it is for your own good. I know how they treat you, Rogelio.”
“My name is Diego,” he said, adding vehemence to his voice. This was going on too long. He had questions, but he didn’t need the answers. He needed to get the hell out. He eyed the control again, wondering if he could lash out with the knife, cut the hand off before this bastard could make a move. “And things are different now. I pick them, okay? You said I get to pick and I pick them.”
For the first time all conversation, Guillermo’s face darkened with menace. He drew back a step, fingers tightening around the control. “You pick them, and you lose your family -- your real family,” he warned. “You lose that and gain an enemy.”
Diego poised himself on the balls of his feet. He adjusted his grip on the knife, remembering how to take a breath. He could feel the air as it cycled through him, and he felt it quiver around his body. Controlling it was easy. The trick was controlling himself.
The eyes of his siblings at his back were a solidifying force. They were captives, but they weren’t idle. Luther was telling him to stay strong; Allison was telling him to commit to the truth that matter. Klaus was reminding him to face his fears, and Five was telling him that he had to pick his priorities without reservation.
Vanya’s tremulous hope was perhaps the most powerful of all.
The healing power of family.
From the end of the world.
To the start of something much more important.
“I already have an enemy. I’ve had one since you first opened fire in the mall. You cemented it when you tried to drown my brother,” Diego said, some of his vigor finally returning as his confidence solidified like a force in his chest. “What I need is my family.”
Guillermo’s face contorted, the earlier compassion dissolving entirely. “If that’s your choice,” he said.
“Give me the controller,” Diego said.
“This?” Guillermo asked with feigned innocence. “Sure?”
He pushed a button and then threw it to Diego.
Smiling, Guillermo said, “That was the auto-destruct by the way. You have five minutes before they’re all dead.”
Diego stared at Guillermo; he stared at the device.
Then, he turned his eyes to his siblings. They were panicking now, slamming against the glass. Klaus was screaming; Vanya was sobbing. Five was pulsating with desperating and Luther was kicking with all his might as Allison thrashed.
“They’re suffocating,” Diego said. His eyes flashed to Guillermo. “You bastard--”
“Tut tut,” Guillermo said as he backed up toward the rear of the building. “Don’t forget your priorities, Diego.”
-o-
Priorities.
Diego had them finally.
He just had to hope it wasn’t too late.
As Guillermo escaped at the back -- no doubt through a secured escape route -- Diego turned his attention to the cases. He tried in vain to hit a few of the buttons on the remote, but that only caused an electrical current to run through the cases. Vanya was visibly in agony now; Klaus looked like he had passed out. Hanging from the top with his feet dragging on the ground, Five was almost glowing blue from the exertion of trying -- and failing -- to jump.
At Luther’s case, the bigger brother scowled through his pain, shaking his hands frantically to the side. Allison nodded at him as well, tears in her eyes. The message was clear.
Save the others first.
Clearly unconscious, Klaus was Diego first concern. The drugs would have already inhibited Klaus, leaving him susceptible to all other side effects. Vanya, though panicking, was still able to get her feet beneath her, and Five had already proven himself annoyingly resilient.
He tried a few more buttons to no avail and finally threw the remote aside. There was no quick fix this time, he knew that. No, he would have to rely on his ability to get the job done the hard way this time.
More to the point, his knife.
He was still holding his knife.
Desperately, he slammed the blade against the casing. He wasn’t surprised when it didn’t crack it, but he was disappointed. Fortunately, he had been through this recently. If you couldn’t penetrate the surface, you would have to remove it. He and Five had had the right idea back in the car after the accident. Prying the windshield up would be the best escape. They had merely thought of it too late.
Not this time.
Diego moved to the side, looking for the seams. As clever and high tech as these cases were, they also had to be a homemade job. He found the seam, and he felt a grim smile cross his face as he noted the welding job. It wasn’t professional grade. It was an apt enough seal, but it wouldn’t hold with enough pressure.
It didn’t break at first, but Diego adjusted his grip and he adjusted his angle. There was a crack, small and hard to hear over the pounding of his heart. Another forceful movement, and it started to splinter. Moving down the seam, Diego added pressure at a lower point. This time it cracked faster. At a third point, the front panel started to break away, and Diego squeezed into the opening, using his knife to slice through the ropes holding Klaus to the ceiling.
With his brother down, Diego dragged him freet. He spared a moment to check for his pulse, and finding it still beating weakly, he turned his attention to Vanya next. She wasn’t exactly in more peril -- Five seemed to have expended his energy reserves and was close to passing out -- but her emotions were wildly out of balance. The last thing he needed was another apocalypse right now.
He started with the same tactic, but minimal results. This seam was better forged than the last, and Diego did what he could to ignore Vanya’s tear-streaked face as he shifted to another seam. That seam was also secure, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he moved to another. This one gave way quickly, and with three quick pops, he had leveraged it open.
“You’re okay,” he said, slipping inside to cut her down. He caught her trembling body, holding her close for a moment. “You’re okay.”
He stayed like that, using the steadiness of his own breathing to calm hers. After several moments, she had eased off her panic considerably, and Diego turned her to face him.
“You okay?” he asked. “I need to help the others, but I need to know you’re okay first.”
She was still crying, her breathing still somewhat irregular, but she nodded. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, pausing to gulp back a sob. “I’m fine.”
With that reassurance, Diego let go and slipped back out. With a quick assessment, he decided that Five had to be next. He had showed no sign of moving since the last time Diego saw him, and he had already watched Five die for a lack of oxygen once. He wasn’t about to do it again.
Diego had his plan of attack, but he was prone to restlessness. A lack of patience was a weakness, his father had always told him. He snarled in frustration as the first seam seemed impenetrable on Five’s case. He wasn’t going to admit his father was right.
Not now.
He had greater concerns.
Inside the case, Five showed no signs of awareness. Diego wasn’t sure he was breathing. The air moving in and out of his own lungs felt like a betrayal somehow, and he sucked in a breath and held it before moving to the next seam. He had better luck here, pulling at the crack, but he didn’t make much progress until Vanya showed up next to him.
With one of his discarded knives, she plunged the blade into the seam below him. With a grunt, she leveraged it back, and Diego belatedly rejoined her efforts. Vanya wasn’t as strong as him, but their combined force was formidable. Within seconds, the panel had given way. No more than several seconds after that, the panel had all but broken free, exposing Five to fresh air.
“I got him, I got him,” Vanya said, sliding her way into the shattered chamber. She was reaching up, standing on her tiptoes with the knife at the rope around Five’s wrists. “Help the others. Go!”
Trusting others to finish a job wasn’t in his nature.
At least, it didn’t use to be.
Tonight was putting a few things in perspective, however. And he had three surviving siblings, but he came in here with five. He fully intended to leave with all five as well.
Moving across to the other side of the room again, he came to Luther’s case. He started to feel out the seam, but Luther thumped his feet against the case.
Diego looked up. “What?”
Straining to breathe, Luther’s intention was clear. Head jerking to the side, his lips formed Allison’s name.
Diego glanced to the side, where Allison was forcing even breaths in and out of her nose. Her eyes locked with Diego’s, flashing dangerously.
Assholes. They both wanted him to save the other. Dad had done a lot of shit wrong, but raising siblings who still loved each other wasn’t one of them. Diego wasn’t about to give him full credit, but given what he’d learned about his birth family today, maybe some credit was due.
At any rate, Diego couldn’t make them both happy, but Allison was less likely to take a swing at him, so he went to her case first. He was lucky for once; the first seam gave way quickly. Allison gathered her strength, kicking from the inside while Diego leveraged it free. When he was able to pry the panel back, she slumped -- in relief and exhaustion. He was inside within seconds, slicing her hands free. She collapsed into him, but recovered quickly.
“Luther,” she said, sounding frantic. She didn’t wait for Diego as she slipped out and went straight to Luther’s case. She felt her hands along for the seam, pounding on the case for a moment while Luther started to visibly stumble. “Luther!”
Time was running out. There was no visible countdown -- how much time had passed? But Diego knew. He could see the life fading from Luther. Big and strong as he was, Luther’s body still needed oxygen. An inherent weakness, one they all took for granted except Diego.
Diego was the only one who could survive it.
Which figured. He was the only one who didn’t have to.
It was remarkable, then. How a man who could hold his breath forever felt like he was suffocating all the same.
Across the room, Vanya had pulled Five and Klaus closer together, hovering over them in concern. Allison almost sobbed, turning back viciously to him as Luther’s eyes started to close.
“Help me!” she screamed, sounding hoarse. “Or I swear to God, I will rumor you--”
Diego came back to himself, back to this moment. Back to his newly established priorities. Quickly, he crossed back over to her, easing her out of the way as he found the seam with his knife. It didn’t give, but this time, Diego didn’t accept that as an answer. Unyielding, he drove the knife in deeper. It was not his strength or his skill that made the difference. It was his persistence. His utter commitment.
Diego made his choice.
And he dared the universe to defy him.
Within moments, the casing started to crack. Soon, he was able to peel the panel back, slipping inside before Allison had a chance. Luther had stopped moving by then, hanging limply while Diego cut him free. Luther’s larger mass fell heavily on him, and he stumbled. Allison was there in an instant, and together they guided Luther’s dead weight clear.
Allison gasped as she leaned over him, her hands going to the pulse point on his neck. After several moments, she collapsed down on Luther’s chest. “Oh, thank God.”
Luther was alive. He looked back, and Vanya met his gaze. Still shaking, she nodded.
They were all still alive.
Beaten and bested, the bad guy had gotten away. Needless to say, it wasn’t a victory by any stretch of the imagination.
He watched his siblings breathe, inhale and exhale.
Somehow, he still felt like he’d won something much more important.
-o-
Getting his siblings free was the hard part, but that didn’t make what came next easy. His siblings were free, but they weren’t exactly up to snuff. Allison and Vanya were more or less mobile, but Luther and Five were still unconscious. Klaus was experiencing some level of consciousness, and while he was generally friendly when high, it didn’t make him easy to deal with. Worse, with the effect of the drugs, Ben was nowhere to be seen, and Diego missed his brother’s calm sense of self
He missed them all, actually. He missed Luther’s strength, which would have made clearing out easier. He missed Allison’s persuasive smile, but her vibrancy was muted in the aftmath. He even missed Klaus’ wisecracks, because a little comic relief would help right about now. It was unfortunate Five was around to blink them to safety, and Vanya’s mood swings still made everyone nervous.
Plus, Diego had no idea what had been done to his siblings to get them in those cases. Klaus was the one who had been drugged, but who the hell knew what that psychopath used to subdue them? Were there other drugs involved? Were their side effects from the electrical currents? Had oxygen deprivation cause any problems?
Those were problems for later. Right now, Diego was still tasked with the unenviable task of getting them home.
Coming out, they had been a well oiled unit.
Going back, Diego was going to have to get creative. Most of their exit plans involved them being mobile, and while some plans accounted for injury, none of them had contingencies for this many of them being immobile. His siblings would need support getting out, which made an escape cumbersome and poorly concealed. With a full police force out front, there was little way or Diego to pull it off discreetly.
“Watch them,” he said to Vanya. To Allison, he said, “Make sure our shit is gathered.”
She looked up from where she was still seated next to Luther’s prone body. “Where are you going?”
“This place was raided by armed terrorists and the cops are outside,” Diego said. “When they get in, who are the only armed people they are going to find?”
“But we didn’t do anything wrong!” Vanya insisted. She was crouched between Five and Klaus, tears still streaking down her face.
“I know that, and the cops will figure it out eventually,” he said. “But we don’t need the complication. Plus, put any of us in a hospital, and who the hell knows what happens. The mansion is the only safe place for us right now.”
“But what are you going to do?” Allison asked.
Diego cocked his head as he made his way to the front door. “You’ll see!”
-o-
Confidence was one thing Diego had always had in abundance.
The question of whether or not that confidence was justified was one he was just starting to address now. A little humility was probably good for him.
It wasn’t going to be useful now.
Now, he had to be the leader he always believed himself to be. His siblings were counting on him. He could not -- he would not -- let them down.
In the front entryway, he kept to the shadows to avoid being seen. From his vantage point, he could see that the cops were still gathered. Primed, ready and waiting. Given how long it had been, Diego was impressed they hadn’t stormed the place already. Even with Beaman running interference, it wasn’t long before it happened.
The place, moreover, had to be surrounded. Sure, there was a secure exit somewhere -- that was how Guillermo had escaped -- but it wasn’t an exit Diego knew enough about to pursue under pressure. Besides, Guillermo was a sadistic son of a bitch. There was no telling if he would booby trap it after their less than amicable parting.
No, Diego’s best bet was to leverage his assets.
Not his skill or his stealth.
His relationships.
He pulled out his phone, smirking a little. Their dad had eschewed modern technology. He said it made them lazy, and whatever, maybe it did sometimes. But other times, it made things way more convenient. Hell, it could even save lives.
With a few flicks, he scrolled through his contacts. As Beaman’s number started to connect, he put the phone to his ear and chewed his lip, stealing anxious glancing out the door.
“Diego? Is that you?” Beaman asked, sounding frantic as he answered on the first ring.
Diego turned away. The door was closed and the walls were thick, but he still ducked into a shadow deeper and lowered his voice. “We need to talk.”
“Dude, this situation is out of control,” Beaman hissed, obviously trying to lower his voice as well. “I know I said I’d help, man, but--”
“The side entrance at the stairwell,” Diego said. “Can you get there without being seen?”
“This place is surrounded--”
“Can you get there unseen?”
Over the line, Beaman sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “I can make it work. But you’re running out of favors, man.”
“Just come,” Diego said, licking his dry lips to no effect. He glanced back toward the room where his siblings were recovering. He sighed, too. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
-o-
As promised, Beaman met him at the side entrance without an entourage. They both spared a look to the back before Beaman crept inside, and Diego slid the door closed as silently as possible. Standing there, face to face, Beaman was sweating. He was breathing heavily.
Diego increasingly found the act of breathing surreal altogether.
He wasn’t sure why, but that seemed relevant.
To him.
Not to Beaman.
“What the hell is going on?” Beaman asked again. His voice pitched on the demand, undercutting its strength but enhancing its desperation. “The hostages have been clear for an hour, but given what happened at the mall, we’re waiting for a bomb squad to come in and square things.”
“Probably a good idea,” Diego said.
Beaman’s wild gaze didn’t abate. “That doesn’t explain what’s actually been going on in here,” he said. “Did you catch the guys who did this? Is it tied to the mall job?”
“It is linked, but they got away,” Diego reported grimly.
Beaman looked ready to cry. “They got away? How the hell did they get away?”
Diego felt his cheeks start to flush. “It’s complicated,” he said. “A long story.”
It was meant to deflect, but Beaman was in no position -- and no mood -- to be deflected. “Then you might want to tell it to me before the building is swarmed and you are taken into custody.”
Quickly, Diego shook his head. “I can’t go into custody,” he said. “Not with my siblings.”
“Well, I can’t just let you go!” Beaman said. “At the very least -- and I do mean the very least -- you have to be processed as witnesses.”
“I’ll answer your questions, I promise,” Diego said. “Just not here. Not now.”
Beaman was clearly about two denials away from losing his shit entirely. This was moderately annoying, but considering how much Diego had asked of the man, he probably needed to be more sympathetic. Beaman had been an essential ally; if the Umbrella Academy was going to prevail in anything, they would need that ally.
“Diego, look around you!” Beaman hissed at him, sounding increasingly unhinged. “This is an active crime scene! It has to be here and now!”
“No,” Diego said, patient and emphatic all at once. “That’s why it can’t be here and now.”
Beaman stood back a step as if to gather himself. “We know the Umbrella Academy is involved. You can’t hide that, and we know your identity. You think a warrant won’t be issued?”
“I’m not playing to leave you high and dry here,” he reasoned. “But my siblings -- they’re in no condition to be processed right now. And if we’re going to be an effective crime deterrent, we need to have minimal police interference. We can’t operate as part of your jurisdiction. You know that won’t work.”
“Then how does it work?” Beaman asked, sounding mildly incredulous now. “I’m going to need you on record sooner rather than later.”
“Me, of course, yes,” Diego said, seizing on that point. “But just me. Allison is PR, but I’m the one who knows how to deal with all that red tape. I’ll be your man when questions need to be answers, on the record or off.”
Skeptical now, Beaman let out a long breath. “You really do want to protect your siblings, don’t you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because listen to you,” Beaman said, nodding toward Diego. “Offering to play by the rules. Not even Patch could make you do that.”
The reference to Eudora still made his heart clench, but Beaman was right. “So you know I’m serious,” he said. “I’m good for my word. Give us a few more minutes to get clear, and I’ll come in tomorrow, do it all up official at the station. It’ll be just like Patch would want. You can have anyone question me, as long as you want. But just me. Tomorrow.”
It was a good offer, and they both knew it. It was probably a little too good, which was why Beaman looked hesitant.
Still, the guy wasn’t stupid. He knew a good deal when he saw one. “Tomorrow?” he clarified.
“Tomorrow,” Diego agreed. “Today, my family comes first.”
Diego had made a habit of persuading people with his fists.
As it turned out, he could be persuasive in other ways, too.
After a moment, Beaman exhaled long and slow. He nodded. “You promise?”
“Of course,” Diego said. “Come on. You don’t trust me by now?”
Beaman snorted, but he also laughed. “I never got what Patch saw in you, but maybe now I do.”
“Dude,” Diego said. “I’m not into you like that.”
Beaman rolled his eyes now. “Just hurry up and get the hell out of here. I can only hold the rest of the force off for so long.”
Diego nodded in agreement. “I know, I know,” he said, making his way back to the clinic through the small, dark stairwell. He paused before he opened the door. “Thank you.”
“This just better pay off, Diego,” Beaman said.
“It will,” Diego promised, opening the door.
As it closed behind him, he hoped that time didn’t make a liar of him.
For Beaman’s sake.
As well as his own.
-o-
Even with all the prep, even with all the accommodations, there was still no way to escape the hard work. By the time he got back to his siblings, they looked somewhat better. Klaus was still giggling intermittently about nothing, but Allison had Luther semiconscious and sitting up. Five was still out of it, but Vanya said he’d opened his eyes a few times.
While it might be possible to describe his siblings as okay at the moment, that didn’t say anything about their mobility. Allison seemed to have recovered the quickest, and she was strong, but she was never going to be able to support a semiconscious Luther. Instead, he had her pick up Five before directing a marginally more self possessed Vanya to herd Klaus. The side exit was his only option now, and it wasn’t far, but by the time he had Luther leaned up against him, it seemed far enough.
Their progress, therefore, was slow, a fact exacerbated by the reality of their situation. Diego knew that they had limited time to get the hell out. But speeding up with his half-monkey brother was easier said than done.
Which was to say, it wasn’t possible.
By the time they got to the exit, Vanya was visibly struggling with Klaus. Allison was pale, and while she didn’t show any signs of distressed, Diego knew her well enough to know that she was still in fight or flight mode. As for himself, he was sweating badly, and he had to readjust his grip on Luther’s arm to try to keep Number One from crashing down.
Not only would they never get Luther back up again, but there was a good chance the fall would crush Diego in the process.
Instead of risking it, he eased Luther down against the wall before checking out to see if their escape was clear. He had not specifically asked for Beaman to clear the exit, but he was relieved to find that he didn’t have to. No doubt, the detective had mobilized at the front of the complex with a contingent at the rear. Police protocol would dictate that if the other exits were secure, it might be better to target your resources accordingly. Beaman had probably told the others he secured the exit during his chat with Diego.
Whatever the case may be, it gave Diego an exit.
Not a perfect exit -- the car was on the other side -- but he wasn’t about to be picky.
“Okay,” he said. “Masks off, weapons away. There’s no time to change, but we want to be as inconspicuous as possible. We have to blend into the crowd if we are going to get out of here unseen.”
“How is that even possible?” Vanya asked. “This has to be getting live coverage.”
“Nah, they’d keep the helicopters at bay after what happened at the mall,” Diego said.
Allison hoisted Five up a little higher in her arms. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
Diego’s mouth opened, ready to remind them about escape plan D, which involved stealth in difficult circumstances, but that was the job.
This wasn’t supposed to be about the job.
He closed his mouth, inhaling through his nose. Then he looked at his siblings again. “We can do it,” he said. “As long as we work together.”
To that, there was no argument.
Diego was too busy opening the door to lead them out to contemplate the odds that there should have been.
-o-
It wasn’t easy getting his family out and secure in vehicles.
Then again, most of the things in life that matter weren’t easy.
Diego wasn’t sure that was much comfort, but it was the only comfort he had at the moment.
No, that wasn’t true. He glanced in the mirror, where Vanya was watching Five in the backseat. In the other car, Allison had Luther propped up in the front seat with Klaus in the back. Allison had had to rumor a few police officers and a pair of reporters to get here, but once they had made it to the crowd, no one appeared to notice them. The timing had been perfect, with police moving in to clear the structure the instant Diego unlocked the car door.
Now, here he was.
His family was safe.
Okay, so maybe not safe.
But alive.
That was comfort enough for Diego to do whatever it took to keep them that way.
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT
PART NINE
PART TEN
PART ELEVEN
PART TWELVE
PART THIRTEEN
-o-
Diego’s forward progress had been completely thwarted. The shock of it threatened to bring him to his knees, and he felt his consciousness dim to a point. They were bound, his siblings, each with their hands over their heads, hanging from the ceiling. The containers were clear but obviously reinforced. Luther was able to stand with both feet beneath him. Allison and Klaus were on their toes. Vanya rocked back and forth uncomfortably, only able to just get her footing from time to time. Five’s toes brushed the ground, but he seemed to have gone utterly still, face fixed in what appeared to be anger.
“Family, huh?” the man asked, drawling a little with the words. “Always so unpredictable.”
Diego felt himself start to tremble. “Let them go,” he ordered.
The man shrugged, unmoved by the threat. “They did their job, by the way,” he continued conversationally. “They disarmed the assailants, tended the wounded and effectively cleared each floor. In fact, they were so effective with the evacuation that they helped the vast majority of my colleagues escape. Dressed in plain clothes to blend in with the hostages. It’s a little underhanded, but I don’t pay them enough to die. There’s a disturbing lack of integrity in the world today, don’t you think? Don’t people realize what it means to finish the job?”
The bastard was monologing like some damn comic book villain. Diego was numb, but his knife was still primed. He didn’t need to feel his fingers to aim his knife perfectly. But with his siblings literally hanging in the balance, now was not the time to be rash.
Which was a shame. Diego was good at being rash. In truth, that was what he’d always excelled at. All his talk about being a leader, and he’d always been prone to kneejerk reactions. He had never truly appreciated how one simple choice could affect who lived and who died.
Until now.
“Look,” Diego said, swallowing back his fear as best he could. “You don’t need them. You can tell me what you want without them.”
He glanced at his siblings, anxious. He worked his jaw, willing Luther to break the casing, for Allison to tell a perfect rumor. Shit, he’d settle for Klaus levitating across the room or Five blinking his way clear. At this point, even Vanya going nuclear would work. Anything to get them out of harm’s way so Diego could deal with this jackass.
“They can’t, by the way,” the man said.
Diego looked back at him, trying not to show how startled he was.
The man still knew, and he looked pleased. “They can’t escape. I mean, why would I go through all the trouble of capturing them if I didn’t think I could hold them?”
Diego all but growled. “You don’t know my family.”
“I do, though,” the man said. “Luther’s case is unbreakable. You could fire bullets at it, and it wouldn’t break. Dear Allison has a soundproof case, which I’m sure you can imagine is quite valuable against her. Klaus has been sedated -- mildly so. I can’t guarantee it won’t trigger his addiction, but it is a high enough dose to keep him from being unable to control his powers. Little Five was harder, and it took some time to get ahold of the dampening technology. But I needed it for Vanya anyway, so the money spent was put to good use, I assure you. I do not believe in wastefulness.”
Diego scowled, lip curling. “Just murder and destruction. No biggie, right?”
Inside the cases, his siblings squirmed. Luther clenches his fists, and Allison screamed invectives that could not be heard. Klaus looked mellow, at least, eyes glazed as he stared into the distance complacently. Five’s face was screwed up with concentration, but he couldn’t do more than muster a flicker of power to his curled fists. Vanya just looked terrified.
“Sacrifices are unfortunately necessary,” the man said, shaking his head in a facsimile of sympathy.
Diego snorted, uncontrollably angry. “Sacrifices? You literally murder innocent people. And for what? What reason could you possibly have to make your so-called sacrifices worthwhile?”
The question seemed to please him. “Why, to get your attention of course,” he said. He nodded to the cases that ensconced his siblings. “I mean, this took years of planning. I’m not sure you fully appreciate the amount of time and energy that went into this.”
Diego took another step forward, his fingers wrapped so tight around the knife that they hurt. “If you wanted the Umbrella Academy, then why bother with innocent victims?”
“Diego, you have to listen,” the man said, enunciating clearly. “There was no other way to get you to come to me.”
“You could have just attacked the house and been done with it,” Diego suggested bitterly.
“It would be too obvious,” the man explained. He tilted his head. “You, of all people, appreciate big gestures. You don’t settle for half measures. A simple attack would have made you underestimate me and overlook the point.”
“What point?!” Diego demanded. “We don’t know who you are or what you want!”
The man’s temper seemed to flare a little at that. “We? Why do you think I care about them?”
He jerked his head in the direction of his siblings. The look on his face drained of its bemusement, exposing something feral underneath.
“You just told me how much time and money you put into capturing us,” Diego said. “This is obviously about us.”
The man groaned, and this time, he was the one to take a step closer to Diego. “You are so blind,” he said. “If this was about all of you, then why are you the only one left standing? You don’t actually think it’s because you’re just that much better than them, do you?”
Diego hesitated, unable to come up with an answer that quickly.
The man rolled his eyes. “Diego, they’re collateral damage. They’re distractions. They’re leverage,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. He came closer still, and Diego’s hand was still primed on the knife but lay heavy at his side. “Diego, this is about you.”
The numbness spread, tingling in his hands and feet. He could feel it, rattling through his brain and churning in his stomach. “I don’t understand,” he said, unable to tear his gaze away from the man now. He couldn’t dare look at his siblings; not now.
The man groaned. “Oh, Diego,” he said. “You can’t possibly be this slow on the uptake. Not with your family.”
“My family--”
The man cut him off with a growl. “You know nothing about your family,” he said sharply, eyes glinting. He laughed, short and curt. “I’ve been waiting for this, though. I mean, that is why it’s worth it. So I have the chance to explain the truth to you. To make you understand.”
“You should give me a reason,” Diego said. “One reason not to embed this knife in your head right here, right now. Consequences be damned.”
The man didn’t flinch, no matter the severity of the threat. He came closer, eyes fixed on Diego and expression calm. “The reason is that you can’t make a choice until you know the options.”
Breathing heavily, Diego shook his head. “Enough damn riddles!”
“Your options, Diego!” the man yelled back, undeterred. “Why do you think I took the trouble to capture them alive? For you? So you could see what your choice actually was?”
“I swear to God,” Diego started, shaking his head vehemently. He was all but shaking now, tears burning in his eyes viciously. “Tell me what you want!”
They were face to face now. All Diego had to do was reach out and stab him to end this. There was no clear indication that his siblings would be in any danger if he did. They would probably all agree it was an acceptable risk, given the circumstances.
But Diego was paralyzed, transfixed somehow. He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t breathe.
Even if he wanted to.
He was drowning all over again.
“You have a choice, Diego,” the man said, and it was almost like he was pleading now. “You get to make a choice. That’s all I’ve been waiting for. For you to make the choice.”
“Then I choose for you to let them go,” Diego said. “Let them go!”
The man trembled, as if trying to control him. “If that’s what you want, then I will. In time, I will,” he said. “But you don’t know the other option. You can’t make this choice blind.”
“What other option is there?” Diego asked, incredulous now. “They’re my family. Let them go.”
With a sigh, the man appeared to be losing his patience. The withering look reminded Diego of his father when he fell short during training. Which was basically all the time. “I recognize your impulsivity,” the man commented with a sad shake of his head. “It’s not an attractive inherited trait. Not technically your fault, but you should probably learn to control it.”
The man had always been vague and obtuse. This was getting a bit nonsensical. More than Diego could parse at any rate. “What?”
“Diego, please, you’re smarter than this,” the man said. Implored, really. He had Diego’s siblings encased and captured and he was imploring Diego. “How obvious do I need to be? The well being of your so-called siblings? I don’t give a shit, okay? I don’t give a shit about them. I give a shit about you.”
They were face to face, nearly nose to nose. Diego could see the man’s chest rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. His own was stubbornly still. “Then let them go,” he said, voice even and quiet. “If you don’t care about them, then let them go.”
“Not until you hear the other option!” the man said, voice giving rise to excitement now.
Though at a disadvantage, Diego still had his limits. He knew he was supposed to be mature and exhibiting self control, but this was getting ridiculous. “What option!” he exploded, his arms flinging wide. The blade of his knife glinted useless in the artificial lights. “You still haven’t told me what the other option is! I’m waiting here!”
At Diego’s outburst, the other man seemed to collect himself once more. He gathered a breath, apparently to steady himself, and when he spoke, it was with renewed purpose. “You have no idea what it means to wait,” he said, and he almost laughed with a small, giddy breath of what might have been anticipation. “I’m the one who has waited. I have waited so long. The mall. The house. But I had to make sure the timing was right so you would finally understand.”
The irony was that the more this asshole talked, the less Diego understood anything at all. He was tempted once again to charge the guy. At this range, he wouldn’t even have to throw the knife. He could literally plunge it into his throat and watch the blood squirt.
But he could feel his family watching him. They stood, trapped behind the clear panels, pleading, angry, desperate, scared. This was about them, he reminded himself. He hadn’t come here for the job. He had come here for them. So he sure as hell wasn’t going to compromise on their safety, not even for his own personal gratification.
Besides, he was the leader now. He had to be. If he screwed this up, if he misplayed his hand, then there’d be no one else -- ever.
Restraint, he reminded himself.
Self control.
He forced himself to breathe, no matter how unnatural it felt. “Understand what?” he ventured cautiously.
The man pressed his lips together in a smile. “Understand why you should pick me and not them.”
Diego blinked. All thoughts of restraint were momentarily paralyzed. Restraint was rational, and nothing about this was rational anymore. This guy wasn’t just a maniac who went around killing people. He was actually crazy. If he thought Diego was going to pick some murderer over his family…
Well, there was no room for conversation there.
The man wasn’t offering a choice as much as he was inviting his own death warrant.
In a rush, Diego flung himself forward. He expected to make quick contact and have it be done with, but the man saw his sudden attack coming. He countered the punch easily, ducking out of the way. Diego threw his knife in the following split second, but he didn’t have time to aim its short trajectory. The man spun hard, sweeping Diego’s legs out from under him while the knife -- Diego’s last knife, for the record -- whistled harmlessly over his head.
Diego was caught off guard, but he was a trained fighter -- and a good one at that. Recovering quickly, he was back on his fight, fists up and primed to fight. He was invincible with his knives, but he wasn’t bad at hand to hand. In all, he liked his odds.
At least, he liked them until the man showed the device in his hand. At first, Diego thought it was another bomb, but he quickly realize that it wasn’t. He was confused for a moment when he depressed the button, but then he heard thumps against the casing.
Surprised, Diego turned toward the wall where Luther, Allison and Klaus were. Luther was contorted, his long limbs clattering against the walls. Next to him, Allison was also writhing, and Klaus looked to be almost having a seizure. On the other wall, Five and Vanya weren’t faring any better. Vanya was suspended off the ground as she convulsed, and Five’s body was rigid with the pain he was trying desperately not to show.
As quickly as he had attacked, he backed off. Arms up, he hated the idea of surrender, but he hated the idea of his family suffering more.
“Okay, okay!” he said. “I get it!”
The man pressed the button again, and Diego watched as his siblings slumped forward, breathless and pale. “I just need you to listen is all,” the man explained. “You never listen very well, do you?”
“I can listen,” Diego said. “But you still aren’t telling me anything. Like who the hell you even are.”
“No, Diego, no,” the man said, shaking his head in disappointment. “That’s still the wrong question. You need to ask who you are?”
“Dude,” Diego said. “I’m tired of the bullshit.”
The man was hardly listening. He cocked his head, curious. “You still go by Diego, don’t you?”
Diego was nearly pulsating with anger, even though he hadn’t been the one who had just been tortured. He had to clench his jaw, balling his fists to keep himself in check. “It’s my name, right? You got something better for me to go by?”
The man looked encouraged, as if the question was an invitation. “Yes. Rogelio,” he said. “Your name is Rogelio. That’s what your mother named you.”
Diego was torn between being confused and pissed. The angry confusion was a bad combination, and he couldn’t keep the incredulity from his expression as he wrinkled his nose. “You don’t know anything about my mother, jackass.”
“I do, though,” the man persisted. “I don’t know about the robot who raised you, but I know about the woman who gave birth to you. The one who held you in her arms when you were newly born, held your small, squirming body as you cried greedily for your first gulp of air.”
Well, shit. Angry, confused and a little creeped out now. “What the hell, man?” Diego asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Diego, don’t be so dense,” the man said. “The attack on the mall in your city. A break in on your family property. I’m speaking the only language you respond to. This is just my way of saying hello.”
He said it casually, like he was giving him a thumbs up or a friendly little wave. Diego swallowed back his horror. “But people have died. Innocent people. And you almost killed me and my brother.”
The man’s voice twisted virulently. “That little freak is not your brother,” he said sharply. “He was supposed to die. Not you. I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“Uh, you drove my car off the road,” he pointed out. “My brother’s the one who can blink through space; I was the one more likely to die.”
“He’s not your brother!” he yelled now, starting to fume. “And I knew he would have expended himself saving those people back at the house. He’s stupid about his powers, not like you. You are smart and resourceful. You know how to survive on your own. Your priorities are different, better. I always knew you’d survive.”
The logic was complimentary and horrifying. “Seriously, man, who the hell are you?”
“I’m your brother, your real brother,” he said, and he stepped forward, eyes burning earnestly now. He smiled, as if unable to contain himself. “My name is Guillermo, and I’ve spent my life looking for you. I’ve given up everything to find you so we can be a family like we were meant to be. That’s why you want to choose me and let them go. You want a real family, not this fake version. This flawed family that has never appreciated you. You want to choose me.’
As if things could get any weirder. Diego was so taken aback that he couldn’t even think to be angry. Instead, he blinked in confusion, scrunching his face up in a desperate attempt to make this situation make some kind of sense. It didn’t, though.
Not even a little.
Recovering just enough of his senses, Digo shook his head. “What?”
The man looked encouraged for some reason. “You don’t have to hate your family,” he said. “Let this fake family go -- let me get rid of them for you -- and you can embrace what family is meant to be for the first time in your life.”
Exhaling heavily, Diego scoffed. He looked from the man, turning his eyes back to his siblings.
His siblings.
Luther slammed himself against the case. Allison was screaming, fists pounding. Klaus was crying, curled up on himself, and Five’s face was drawn in concentration as he stared daggers through his case. Vanya was visibly breathing heavily, her whole body shaking with the effort of controlling her unpredictable emotions.
Those were his siblings.
He looked back at the man. A stranger; a murderer. “You’re insane,” he said. “You’re actually insane.”
“No,” the man said, almost pleading now. “I remember. I was there when you were born. I was five. I saw you come out, bloody and screaming. And I saw you for the last time when that twisted old man came and bought you.”
The man hadn’t thrown a single punch, but Diego still felt himself recoiling. “This is twisted shit, man. I don’t have time for this.”
He didn’t move, though, as the man continued. “You think I’m lying? You think I’m making this up?” he asked, eyebrows arching. “I’m not. I was there. For years, it had just been me and my mother, and it was hard, but we were getting by. One day, she was making lunch and then all of a sudden she was keeled over. We didn’t have any money, so I didn’t get the doctor. I stayed there, held her hand while she yelled. We wrapped you in a dish towel, swaddled you in the bed between us. I didn’t understand where you’d come from, but I was so glad, you see. Glad to not be alone.”
Frozen in place now, Diego knew he wasn’t breathing. At this point, he wasn’t even sure if his heart was beating.
The man was almost crying now, his eyes glistening as he locked on Diego. “Five days later, the man showed up. He offered money, and our mother took you from my arms to give to him,” he said, swallowing hard. “She took the money, and I asked when you were coming back. She never answered. She never talked about you again. She just cried and cried.”
It was something he had thought about. It was something they had all thought about. The idea of their birth families had always raised mixed emotions. Sometimes, they dreamed of those families like a refuge, the possibility of a better life. It had always been an illusion, though. Those same families were the ones that had sold them, that had traded them for a quick payday. Diego wasn’t quick to forgive, and for as much as he hated Reginald Hargreeves, he hated the people who gave him up more. Loyalty didn’t have a price as far as he was concerned. It had been his only way to understand family: by the choices you made.
“I didn’t know it then, not when I was so young,” the man added. “But there was no way she could afford to raise both of us. We were destitute as it was. She sold you to save us both. She sold you because she saw no other way for either of us to survive. She sold you because she loved you, she loved me. She loved us, her sons. Her precious sons.”
It was a compelling story.
It was also total bullshit.
It had to be total bullshit.
“You’re batshit crazy,” Diego said, voice low now.
The man barely heard him. He seized the moment and lurched forward again. “I have fought to find you, Rogelio. I fought to get you back. I have fought to give you this choice, this choice for your real family at last.”
“This is my family,” Diego said, but his voice was strained. He pointed to the cases along the walls. “This is the only family I’ve ever known.”
“So you don’t even know what you’re missing,” the man pleaded.
“A mother who sold me? A brother who killed people to get my attention?” Diego asked, skeptical now. “Not very convincing.”
The man shook his head, adamant. “A mother who loved you so much that she couldn’t live with herself for what she’d done. She killed herself out of her love for you. She killed herself when the thought of living without you was too much for you,” he said. “And a brother who has dedicated his life to finding you, to liberating you from the oppressive falsity that has dominated your life.”
Diego was trembling again, and he had to remember to take a breath in an attempt to steady himself. This man -- brother or otherwise -- was clearly unhinged. At this rate, Diego’s siblings were in great danger -- and the only thing keeping them from an untimely fate was him.
That was just about right, wasn’t it?
Diego could solve problems with knives, but words? Where was Luther’s diplomacy? Allison’s lies? Hell, he’d take Klaus’ rambling, Five’s logic or Vanya’s stammering.
But it was him.
Just him.
The job. His family.
He exhaled with purpose. “So that’s why you’re here? To kill more people for things they didn’t do? Will you kill me if I don’t agree? If I choose them?”
“I didn’t come to kill anyone,” the man insisted. How a cold hearted killer could look broken hearted, Diego wasn’t sure, but he figured it said little of the man’s mental stability. “I came her to reunite us. To make right what was made wrong all those years ago when you were taken from us.”
“Sure,” Diego said. “But I’m still not sure how you killing people is going to make any of that better.”
The man sighed. “Oh, I tried other stuff first, I did,” he said. “I was a victim once. Twice, even. And you did come. You did save me, but you don’t remember. It was just a job to you. You never even looked twice at me.”
Diego shifted, slightly uncomfortable at that one. He’d always taken great pride in his ability to help people, but the man was right. He didn’t remember. And for as crazy as this Guillermo might be, he wasn’t lying.
Not about that, anyway.
Maybe not about anything.
Diego didn’t trust this bastard, but he found he didn’t doubt him either. Because it made some kind of sense. You didn’t do the horrible things this man did without believing in something. The targeted nature of the attacks made sense in this context. Guillermo was a man obsessed. A man obsessed with family.
A man obsessed with Diego.
He drew another, carefully measured breath. “I saved lots of people,” he said. “There’s no way I can remember all of them. I can’t be out there to make friends.”
“I know,” Guillermo said, sounding almost sympathetic again. “I realized that early on. So then I tried to be your friend. I joined the gym, asked you to work out with me. We sparred once or twice, but every time the call came, you left. Never looked back.”
“It’s a lifestyle that demands compromises,” Diego argued. “I have to make those compromises.”
“I know that, too,” Guillermo told him. “I learned a great deal about you this way. I learned what your priorities I. This -- all this -- is the only way to communicate with you. I’m finally speaking your language. Not with personal connection or sentiment. But with the job. That’s what you understand, that is your only, singular priority: the job.”
The assessment wasn’t necessarily intended to be harsh. If anything, Guillermo spoke with affection. But the description was still jarring. Not because it wasn’t accurate.
Rather, because it was.
This unconscious struggle, the internal battle he had denied so long.
This man had seen it in him as plain as day.
Faced with this unsettling truth, Diego did the only thing he could think to do.
He denied it.
“You don’t know me,” he said, puffing his chest up in what would appear to be defiance.
The man, weapons still sheathed and holstered, didn’t buy it. “But I do,” he said. “I’ve watched you. I’ve studied you. I know how it is with this family. I know how they treat you, and I know how you treat them. I’d be doing you a favor getting rid of them. I know how hard that would be for you, which is why I’m giving you the choice. This way, I can do it for you. You can make a clean, easy break.”
It was spoken like an offer to quit a job, file two weeks notice.
Not an offer to murder his family.
He glanced to his siblings, but couldn’t meet any of their eyes.
Quickly, he shook his head. “Don’t you dare hurt them.”
Guillermo seemed to think that was a continued denial. “You’d be free, then,” he said. “And all the time I’ve spent studying you, I know how you work. You and I, we’d be the perfect team. Any job you wanted, I would be there at your side, no hesitation. Like a real family.”
“You’re a psycho,” Diego said, letting his voice rise. He was still holding the knife. Why was he still holding the knife? It was almost like he’d forgotten how to use it just as readily as he’d forgotten how to breathe.
If only this man was crazy.
If only he was a liar.
If only Diego didn’t believe every damn word he said.
“I’d follow your rules, anything you say,” Guillermo pledged. “We’d do the job the right way. We would save people. Your family -- they don’t want that. Luther went to the moon; Allison became an actress. Klaus prefers his drugs, and Five disappears when he wants. Vanya isn’t even ready, is she? She’ll never be ready, and you’ve always been ready. This is your calling, Diego. Let us answer it together. The way we were meant to before Reginald Hargreeves interfered.”
Most of the time, bashing his old man was a smart play. Today was a weird day, though.
Really weird.
He cast a nervous glance at his entrapped siblings, the knife all but quivering in his sweaty palms. A man of action, and they were silently pleading with him to stop standing around.
“It’s not the simple,” he said, eyes back on Guillermo.
“And it’s not that hard,” Guillermo said, he splayed his arms wide and disarmingly. The remote was still clutched loosely in his right hand.. “The cops are outside right now, but I have an escape plan. We’d get away before anyone could stop us. I’d let you go first, if you want. So you don’t have to see it happen. I know it would be hard for you just as much as I know it is for your own good. I know how they treat you, Rogelio.”
“My name is Diego,” he said, adding vehemence to his voice. This was going on too long. He had questions, but he didn’t need the answers. He needed to get the hell out. He eyed the control again, wondering if he could lash out with the knife, cut the hand off before this bastard could make a move. “And things are different now. I pick them, okay? You said I get to pick and I pick them.”
For the first time all conversation, Guillermo’s face darkened with menace. He drew back a step, fingers tightening around the control. “You pick them, and you lose your family -- your real family,” he warned. “You lose that and gain an enemy.”
Diego poised himself on the balls of his feet. He adjusted his grip on the knife, remembering how to take a breath. He could feel the air as it cycled through him, and he felt it quiver around his body. Controlling it was easy. The trick was controlling himself.
The eyes of his siblings at his back were a solidifying force. They were captives, but they weren’t idle. Luther was telling him to stay strong; Allison was telling him to commit to the truth that matter. Klaus was reminding him to face his fears, and Five was telling him that he had to pick his priorities without reservation.
Vanya’s tremulous hope was perhaps the most powerful of all.
The healing power of family.
From the end of the world.
To the start of something much more important.
“I already have an enemy. I’ve had one since you first opened fire in the mall. You cemented it when you tried to drown my brother,” Diego said, some of his vigor finally returning as his confidence solidified like a force in his chest. “What I need is my family.”
Guillermo’s face contorted, the earlier compassion dissolving entirely. “If that’s your choice,” he said.
“Give me the controller,” Diego said.
“This?” Guillermo asked with feigned innocence. “Sure?”
He pushed a button and then threw it to Diego.
Smiling, Guillermo said, “That was the auto-destruct by the way. You have five minutes before they’re all dead.”
Diego stared at Guillermo; he stared at the device.
Then, he turned his eyes to his siblings. They were panicking now, slamming against the glass. Klaus was screaming; Vanya was sobbing. Five was pulsating with desperating and Luther was kicking with all his might as Allison thrashed.
“They’re suffocating,” Diego said. His eyes flashed to Guillermo. “You bastard--”
“Tut tut,” Guillermo said as he backed up toward the rear of the building. “Don’t forget your priorities, Diego.”
-o-
Priorities.
Diego had them finally.
He just had to hope it wasn’t too late.
As Guillermo escaped at the back -- no doubt through a secured escape route -- Diego turned his attention to the cases. He tried in vain to hit a few of the buttons on the remote, but that only caused an electrical current to run through the cases. Vanya was visibly in agony now; Klaus looked like he had passed out. Hanging from the top with his feet dragging on the ground, Five was almost glowing blue from the exertion of trying -- and failing -- to jump.
At Luther’s case, the bigger brother scowled through his pain, shaking his hands frantically to the side. Allison nodded at him as well, tears in her eyes. The message was clear.
Save the others first.
Clearly unconscious, Klaus was Diego first concern. The drugs would have already inhibited Klaus, leaving him susceptible to all other side effects. Vanya, though panicking, was still able to get her feet beneath her, and Five had already proven himself annoyingly resilient.
He tried a few more buttons to no avail and finally threw the remote aside. There was no quick fix this time, he knew that. No, he would have to rely on his ability to get the job done the hard way this time.
More to the point, his knife.
He was still holding his knife.
Desperately, he slammed the blade against the casing. He wasn’t surprised when it didn’t crack it, but he was disappointed. Fortunately, he had been through this recently. If you couldn’t penetrate the surface, you would have to remove it. He and Five had had the right idea back in the car after the accident. Prying the windshield up would be the best escape. They had merely thought of it too late.
Not this time.
Diego moved to the side, looking for the seams. As clever and high tech as these cases were, they also had to be a homemade job. He found the seam, and he felt a grim smile cross his face as he noted the welding job. It wasn’t professional grade. It was an apt enough seal, but it wouldn’t hold with enough pressure.
It didn’t break at first, but Diego adjusted his grip and he adjusted his angle. There was a crack, small and hard to hear over the pounding of his heart. Another forceful movement, and it started to splinter. Moving down the seam, Diego added pressure at a lower point. This time it cracked faster. At a third point, the front panel started to break away, and Diego squeezed into the opening, using his knife to slice through the ropes holding Klaus to the ceiling.
With his brother down, Diego dragged him freet. He spared a moment to check for his pulse, and finding it still beating weakly, he turned his attention to Vanya next. She wasn’t exactly in more peril -- Five seemed to have expended his energy reserves and was close to passing out -- but her emotions were wildly out of balance. The last thing he needed was another apocalypse right now.
He started with the same tactic, but minimal results. This seam was better forged than the last, and Diego did what he could to ignore Vanya’s tear-streaked face as he shifted to another seam. That seam was also secure, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he moved to another. This one gave way quickly, and with three quick pops, he had leveraged it open.
“You’re okay,” he said, slipping inside to cut her down. He caught her trembling body, holding her close for a moment. “You’re okay.”
He stayed like that, using the steadiness of his own breathing to calm hers. After several moments, she had eased off her panic considerably, and Diego turned her to face him.
“You okay?” he asked. “I need to help the others, but I need to know you’re okay first.”
She was still crying, her breathing still somewhat irregular, but she nodded. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, pausing to gulp back a sob. “I’m fine.”
With that reassurance, Diego let go and slipped back out. With a quick assessment, he decided that Five had to be next. He had showed no sign of moving since the last time Diego saw him, and he had already watched Five die for a lack of oxygen once. He wasn’t about to do it again.
Diego had his plan of attack, but he was prone to restlessness. A lack of patience was a weakness, his father had always told him. He snarled in frustration as the first seam seemed impenetrable on Five’s case. He wasn’t going to admit his father was right.
Not now.
He had greater concerns.
Inside the case, Five showed no signs of awareness. Diego wasn’t sure he was breathing. The air moving in and out of his own lungs felt like a betrayal somehow, and he sucked in a breath and held it before moving to the next seam. He had better luck here, pulling at the crack, but he didn’t make much progress until Vanya showed up next to him.
With one of his discarded knives, she plunged the blade into the seam below him. With a grunt, she leveraged it back, and Diego belatedly rejoined her efforts. Vanya wasn’t as strong as him, but their combined force was formidable. Within seconds, the panel had given way. No more than several seconds after that, the panel had all but broken free, exposing Five to fresh air.
“I got him, I got him,” Vanya said, sliding her way into the shattered chamber. She was reaching up, standing on her tiptoes with the knife at the rope around Five’s wrists. “Help the others. Go!”
Trusting others to finish a job wasn’t in his nature.
At least, it didn’t use to be.
Tonight was putting a few things in perspective, however. And he had three surviving siblings, but he came in here with five. He fully intended to leave with all five as well.
Moving across to the other side of the room again, he came to Luther’s case. He started to feel out the seam, but Luther thumped his feet against the case.
Diego looked up. “What?”
Straining to breathe, Luther’s intention was clear. Head jerking to the side, his lips formed Allison’s name.
Diego glanced to the side, where Allison was forcing even breaths in and out of her nose. Her eyes locked with Diego’s, flashing dangerously.
Assholes. They both wanted him to save the other. Dad had done a lot of shit wrong, but raising siblings who still loved each other wasn’t one of them. Diego wasn’t about to give him full credit, but given what he’d learned about his birth family today, maybe some credit was due.
At any rate, Diego couldn’t make them both happy, but Allison was less likely to take a swing at him, so he went to her case first. He was lucky for once; the first seam gave way quickly. Allison gathered her strength, kicking from the inside while Diego leveraged it free. When he was able to pry the panel back, she slumped -- in relief and exhaustion. He was inside within seconds, slicing her hands free. She collapsed into him, but recovered quickly.
“Luther,” she said, sounding frantic. She didn’t wait for Diego as she slipped out and went straight to Luther’s case. She felt her hands along for the seam, pounding on the case for a moment while Luther started to visibly stumble. “Luther!”
Time was running out. There was no visible countdown -- how much time had passed? But Diego knew. He could see the life fading from Luther. Big and strong as he was, Luther’s body still needed oxygen. An inherent weakness, one they all took for granted except Diego.
Diego was the only one who could survive it.
Which figured. He was the only one who didn’t have to.
It was remarkable, then. How a man who could hold his breath forever felt like he was suffocating all the same.
Across the room, Vanya had pulled Five and Klaus closer together, hovering over them in concern. Allison almost sobbed, turning back viciously to him as Luther’s eyes started to close.
“Help me!” she screamed, sounding hoarse. “Or I swear to God, I will rumor you--”
Diego came back to himself, back to this moment. Back to his newly established priorities. Quickly, he crossed back over to her, easing her out of the way as he found the seam with his knife. It didn’t give, but this time, Diego didn’t accept that as an answer. Unyielding, he drove the knife in deeper. It was not his strength or his skill that made the difference. It was his persistence. His utter commitment.
Diego made his choice.
And he dared the universe to defy him.
Within moments, the casing started to crack. Soon, he was able to peel the panel back, slipping inside before Allison had a chance. Luther had stopped moving by then, hanging limply while Diego cut him free. Luther’s larger mass fell heavily on him, and he stumbled. Allison was there in an instant, and together they guided Luther’s dead weight clear.
Allison gasped as she leaned over him, her hands going to the pulse point on his neck. After several moments, she collapsed down on Luther’s chest. “Oh, thank God.”
Luther was alive. He looked back, and Vanya met his gaze. Still shaking, she nodded.
They were all still alive.
Beaten and bested, the bad guy had gotten away. Needless to say, it wasn’t a victory by any stretch of the imagination.
He watched his siblings breathe, inhale and exhale.
Somehow, he still felt like he’d won something much more important.
-o-
Getting his siblings free was the hard part, but that didn’t make what came next easy. His siblings were free, but they weren’t exactly up to snuff. Allison and Vanya were more or less mobile, but Luther and Five were still unconscious. Klaus was experiencing some level of consciousness, and while he was generally friendly when high, it didn’t make him easy to deal with. Worse, with the effect of the drugs, Ben was nowhere to be seen, and Diego missed his brother’s calm sense of self
He missed them all, actually. He missed Luther’s strength, which would have made clearing out easier. He missed Allison’s persuasive smile, but her vibrancy was muted in the aftmath. He even missed Klaus’ wisecracks, because a little comic relief would help right about now. It was unfortunate Five was around to blink them to safety, and Vanya’s mood swings still made everyone nervous.
Plus, Diego had no idea what had been done to his siblings to get them in those cases. Klaus was the one who had been drugged, but who the hell knew what that psychopath used to subdue them? Were there other drugs involved? Were their side effects from the electrical currents? Had oxygen deprivation cause any problems?
Those were problems for later. Right now, Diego was still tasked with the unenviable task of getting them home.
Coming out, they had been a well oiled unit.
Going back, Diego was going to have to get creative. Most of their exit plans involved them being mobile, and while some plans accounted for injury, none of them had contingencies for this many of them being immobile. His siblings would need support getting out, which made an escape cumbersome and poorly concealed. With a full police force out front, there was little way or Diego to pull it off discreetly.
“Watch them,” he said to Vanya. To Allison, he said, “Make sure our shit is gathered.”
She looked up from where she was still seated next to Luther’s prone body. “Where are you going?”
“This place was raided by armed terrorists and the cops are outside,” Diego said. “When they get in, who are the only armed people they are going to find?”
“But we didn’t do anything wrong!” Vanya insisted. She was crouched between Five and Klaus, tears still streaking down her face.
“I know that, and the cops will figure it out eventually,” he said. “But we don’t need the complication. Plus, put any of us in a hospital, and who the hell knows what happens. The mansion is the only safe place for us right now.”
“But what are you going to do?” Allison asked.
Diego cocked his head as he made his way to the front door. “You’ll see!”
-o-
Confidence was one thing Diego had always had in abundance.
The question of whether or not that confidence was justified was one he was just starting to address now. A little humility was probably good for him.
It wasn’t going to be useful now.
Now, he had to be the leader he always believed himself to be. His siblings were counting on him. He could not -- he would not -- let them down.
In the front entryway, he kept to the shadows to avoid being seen. From his vantage point, he could see that the cops were still gathered. Primed, ready and waiting. Given how long it had been, Diego was impressed they hadn’t stormed the place already. Even with Beaman running interference, it wasn’t long before it happened.
The place, moreover, had to be surrounded. Sure, there was a secure exit somewhere -- that was how Guillermo had escaped -- but it wasn’t an exit Diego knew enough about to pursue under pressure. Besides, Guillermo was a sadistic son of a bitch. There was no telling if he would booby trap it after their less than amicable parting.
No, Diego’s best bet was to leverage his assets.
Not his skill or his stealth.
His relationships.
He pulled out his phone, smirking a little. Their dad had eschewed modern technology. He said it made them lazy, and whatever, maybe it did sometimes. But other times, it made things way more convenient. Hell, it could even save lives.
With a few flicks, he scrolled through his contacts. As Beaman’s number started to connect, he put the phone to his ear and chewed his lip, stealing anxious glancing out the door.
“Diego? Is that you?” Beaman asked, sounding frantic as he answered on the first ring.
Diego turned away. The door was closed and the walls were thick, but he still ducked into a shadow deeper and lowered his voice. “We need to talk.”
“Dude, this situation is out of control,” Beaman hissed, obviously trying to lower his voice as well. “I know I said I’d help, man, but--”
“The side entrance at the stairwell,” Diego said. “Can you get there without being seen?”
“This place is surrounded--”
“Can you get there unseen?”
Over the line, Beaman sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “I can make it work. But you’re running out of favors, man.”
“Just come,” Diego said, licking his dry lips to no effect. He glanced back toward the room where his siblings were recovering. He sighed, too. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
-o-
As promised, Beaman met him at the side entrance without an entourage. They both spared a look to the back before Beaman crept inside, and Diego slid the door closed as silently as possible. Standing there, face to face, Beaman was sweating. He was breathing heavily.
Diego increasingly found the act of breathing surreal altogether.
He wasn’t sure why, but that seemed relevant.
To him.
Not to Beaman.
“What the hell is going on?” Beaman asked again. His voice pitched on the demand, undercutting its strength but enhancing its desperation. “The hostages have been clear for an hour, but given what happened at the mall, we’re waiting for a bomb squad to come in and square things.”
“Probably a good idea,” Diego said.
Beaman’s wild gaze didn’t abate. “That doesn’t explain what’s actually been going on in here,” he said. “Did you catch the guys who did this? Is it tied to the mall job?”
“It is linked, but they got away,” Diego reported grimly.
Beaman looked ready to cry. “They got away? How the hell did they get away?”
Diego felt his cheeks start to flush. “It’s complicated,” he said. “A long story.”
It was meant to deflect, but Beaman was in no position -- and no mood -- to be deflected. “Then you might want to tell it to me before the building is swarmed and you are taken into custody.”
Quickly, Diego shook his head. “I can’t go into custody,” he said. “Not with my siblings.”
“Well, I can’t just let you go!” Beaman said. “At the very least -- and I do mean the very least -- you have to be processed as witnesses.”
“I’ll answer your questions, I promise,” Diego said. “Just not here. Not now.”
Beaman was clearly about two denials away from losing his shit entirely. This was moderately annoying, but considering how much Diego had asked of the man, he probably needed to be more sympathetic. Beaman had been an essential ally; if the Umbrella Academy was going to prevail in anything, they would need that ally.
“Diego, look around you!” Beaman hissed at him, sounding increasingly unhinged. “This is an active crime scene! It has to be here and now!”
“No,” Diego said, patient and emphatic all at once. “That’s why it can’t be here and now.”
Beaman stood back a step as if to gather himself. “We know the Umbrella Academy is involved. You can’t hide that, and we know your identity. You think a warrant won’t be issued?”
“I’m not playing to leave you high and dry here,” he reasoned. “But my siblings -- they’re in no condition to be processed right now. And if we’re going to be an effective crime deterrent, we need to have minimal police interference. We can’t operate as part of your jurisdiction. You know that won’t work.”
“Then how does it work?” Beaman asked, sounding mildly incredulous now. “I’m going to need you on record sooner rather than later.”
“Me, of course, yes,” Diego said, seizing on that point. “But just me. Allison is PR, but I’m the one who knows how to deal with all that red tape. I’ll be your man when questions need to be answers, on the record or off.”
Skeptical now, Beaman let out a long breath. “You really do want to protect your siblings, don’t you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because listen to you,” Beaman said, nodding toward Diego. “Offering to play by the rules. Not even Patch could make you do that.”
The reference to Eudora still made his heart clench, but Beaman was right. “So you know I’m serious,” he said. “I’m good for my word. Give us a few more minutes to get clear, and I’ll come in tomorrow, do it all up official at the station. It’ll be just like Patch would want. You can have anyone question me, as long as you want. But just me. Tomorrow.”
It was a good offer, and they both knew it. It was probably a little too good, which was why Beaman looked hesitant.
Still, the guy wasn’t stupid. He knew a good deal when he saw one. “Tomorrow?” he clarified.
“Tomorrow,” Diego agreed. “Today, my family comes first.”
Diego had made a habit of persuading people with his fists.
As it turned out, he could be persuasive in other ways, too.
After a moment, Beaman exhaled long and slow. He nodded. “You promise?”
“Of course,” Diego said. “Come on. You don’t trust me by now?”
Beaman snorted, but he also laughed. “I never got what Patch saw in you, but maybe now I do.”
“Dude,” Diego said. “I’m not into you like that.”
Beaman rolled his eyes now. “Just hurry up and get the hell out of here. I can only hold the rest of the force off for so long.”
Diego nodded in agreement. “I know, I know,” he said, making his way back to the clinic through the small, dark stairwell. He paused before he opened the door. “Thank you.”
“This just better pay off, Diego,” Beaman said.
“It will,” Diego promised, opening the door.
As it closed behind him, he hoped that time didn’t make a liar of him.
For Beaman’s sake.
As well as his own.
-o-
Even with all the prep, even with all the accommodations, there was still no way to escape the hard work. By the time he got back to his siblings, they looked somewhat better. Klaus was still giggling intermittently about nothing, but Allison had Luther semiconscious and sitting up. Five was still out of it, but Vanya said he’d opened his eyes a few times.
While it might be possible to describe his siblings as okay at the moment, that didn’t say anything about their mobility. Allison seemed to have recovered the quickest, and she was strong, but she was never going to be able to support a semiconscious Luther. Instead, he had her pick up Five before directing a marginally more self possessed Vanya to herd Klaus. The side exit was his only option now, and it wasn’t far, but by the time he had Luther leaned up against him, it seemed far enough.
Their progress, therefore, was slow, a fact exacerbated by the reality of their situation. Diego knew that they had limited time to get the hell out. But speeding up with his half-monkey brother was easier said than done.
Which was to say, it wasn’t possible.
By the time they got to the exit, Vanya was visibly struggling with Klaus. Allison was pale, and while she didn’t show any signs of distressed, Diego knew her well enough to know that she was still in fight or flight mode. As for himself, he was sweating badly, and he had to readjust his grip on Luther’s arm to try to keep Number One from crashing down.
Not only would they never get Luther back up again, but there was a good chance the fall would crush Diego in the process.
Instead of risking it, he eased Luther down against the wall before checking out to see if their escape was clear. He had not specifically asked for Beaman to clear the exit, but he was relieved to find that he didn’t have to. No doubt, the detective had mobilized at the front of the complex with a contingent at the rear. Police protocol would dictate that if the other exits were secure, it might be better to target your resources accordingly. Beaman had probably told the others he secured the exit during his chat with Diego.
Whatever the case may be, it gave Diego an exit.
Not a perfect exit -- the car was on the other side -- but he wasn’t about to be picky.
“Okay,” he said. “Masks off, weapons away. There’s no time to change, but we want to be as inconspicuous as possible. We have to blend into the crowd if we are going to get out of here unseen.”
“How is that even possible?” Vanya asked. “This has to be getting live coverage.”
“Nah, they’d keep the helicopters at bay after what happened at the mall,” Diego said.
Allison hoisted Five up a little higher in her arms. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
Diego’s mouth opened, ready to remind them about escape plan D, which involved stealth in difficult circumstances, but that was the job.
This wasn’t supposed to be about the job.
He closed his mouth, inhaling through his nose. Then he looked at his siblings again. “We can do it,” he said. “As long as we work together.”
To that, there was no argument.
Diego was too busy opening the door to lead them out to contemplate the odds that there should have been.
-o-
It wasn’t easy getting his family out and secure in vehicles.
Then again, most of the things in life that matter weren’t easy.
Diego wasn’t sure that was much comfort, but it was the only comfort he had at the moment.
No, that wasn’t true. He glanced in the mirror, where Vanya was watching Five in the backseat. In the other car, Allison had Luther propped up in the front seat with Klaus in the back. Allison had had to rumor a few police officers and a pair of reporters to get here, but once they had made it to the crowd, no one appeared to notice them. The timing had been perfect, with police moving in to clear the structure the instant Diego unlocked the car door.
Now, here he was.
His family was safe.
Okay, so maybe not safe.
But alive.
That was comfort enough for Diego to do whatever it took to keep them that way.