Umbrella Academy fic: Thicker Than Blood (13/13)
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 could leave now, do this on his own. That was tempting; it was. To do the job. To just do the job.
That wasn’t how this was going to work, though. Not anymore.
Instead, he called a family meeting, signalling as an emergency, and waited in the living room while the others came in, dressed, ready and curious.
Diego waited until they were seated.
He waited until he managed to breathe.
Then, he spoke. “The next attack is in an hour -- less than that. At the rec center two blocks away.”
None of them hesitated. Speaking over each other, Diego couldn’t even listen to the full scope of the questions.
“How do you know?”
“Are you sure?”
“Has Guillermo contacted you?”
“What about the cops?”
“Are they already on site?”
“When can we leave?”
Diego held up his hand, shaking his head. He used to have no problem talking over his siblings. But then, he used to be a lot of things he wasn’t anymore.
He had to breathe. He had to just keep breathing.
“Guillermo found our radio frequency on the police scanner; he contacted me directly,” Diego reported.
“It’s a trap,” Luther said quickly.
“Of course it’s a trap,” Diego replied. “But it’s not one he’s lying about. He wants me to come there so he can kill me.”
“Us, you mean,” Allison corrected. She was unflinching next to Luther. “He wants to kill us.”
Diego wet his lips, hesitating.
“Wait a second,” Klaus said, eyes widening. “He doesn’t want us to come.”
“Not bring us would be suicide,” Five concluded, obviously cross at the notion.
“Or maybe bringing us is suicide for all of us,” Ben offered.
Vanya tilted her head. “He’s trying to protect us.”
It wasn’t a surprise that they’d figured it out. But that also didn’t change the conclusion Diego had come to six days ago. “I don’t want to do any of this, but there’s no choice.”
“So we go,” Luther agreed.
“Together,” Allison added.
Diego sighed. “There’s no way the Umbrella Academy is ready.”
Klaus’ mouth fell open. “But you were the one who said we were! You made us stop training! Right? He did, right?”
“I did,” Diego relented. “But only because I knew there was nothing more we could do. There was no way we were ever going to be ready.”
“You haven’t even calculated the odds,” Five said.
“The odds don’t mean shit,” Diego said. “I don’t need probability about how many people are going to die.”
“What about the people who will die if we don’t go?” Ben said. “I mean, you said it’s the rec center. “It’s a Saturday afternoon. The place will be packed, and we all know this guy has a history of taking civilian lives. You’ll never save them all on your own.”
“And I can’t save you if you come,” Diego said. He shook his head, feeling his doubt coalesce into something more certain.
“You don’t mean that,” Vanya told him quietly. “You don’t mean that you’re willing to trade innocent lives for ours.”
Diego drew a breath, taking a step back. He looked down, chewing his lip. Then, he looked up again. “Maybe I am.”
It was a weird thing, something he was simultaneously proud of and ashamed of all at once. He had a heart for helping people -- that was what he wanted. But he had come to realize how acute his need was for his family -- his absolute, unrelenting need. It was the thing that still him when his feet were restless. It was the thing that put air in his lungs when he couldn’t breathe. It was everything.
“You’re not,” Vanya said for him, and her smile was sympathetic.
“Because you made sure we were ready,” Ben added.
“It’s not like we’ve been idle at all,” Five insisted. “Weeks and months with all of our best effort and full commitment. You can’t underestimate that.”
“And it’s not like it’s even your choice to make, not exclusively or anything,” Klaus said. “Like, were following along and we’re taking your lead, but we all know that leaders aren’t perfect. This is a joint project. A joint decision.”
“Especially since you already told us the time and location,” Allison said coyly. “After summoning us in our gear to tell us not to go.”
Diego felt his cheeks redden and he closed his mouth.
Luther got to his feet, standing up tall beside Diego. “That’s it, then,” he declared with the ultimate ease of being the intended Number one. “We’re going. This is our responsibility, Diego.”
“And if our first responsibility is to family? To each other?” Diego asked, because he wanted to know. No, screw that, he needed to know.
Allison stood up as well, coming alongside. “And this is how we live the responsibility.”
Klaus was up now, sauntering next to them. “It’s so beautifully, ironic, isn’t it? Us talking you into doing the job?”
Five rolled his eyes, huffing as he took his place as well. “We don’t need to get sentimental about it,” he said, terse. “This is a matter of practicality. Going together is the only way to protect each other.”
Ben formed himself between them. “And that’s what we’ve been working for, training together, to compensate for each other’s weaknesses.”
Vanya was the last to stand, but she was as steady as the rest of them. “You have to face this,” she said. “It’s your family, and you’ll never make peace if you run away.”
They were right, of course.
They were right about everything.
Or almost everything.
He nodded back at them, finding his resolution, strong and steady and united at last. “No,” he corrected. “I don’t need to face my family to make peace.”
There was a flicker of surprise and uncertainty, but Diego didn’t let it deepen.
He smiled. Scared and terrified, he smiled anyway. “I need to face this with my family.”
It was a call to arms.
It was a call to action.
It was a call to unite.
It was a call to go, however it ended up, together.
-o-
It was surprisingly easy. The Umbrella Academy was, after all, well trained and rehearsed. Getting out the door was a seamless activity now, and no one needed to be reminded what to do or where to go. They were a perfectly balanced team now; a cohesive unit.
They arrived, armed, in full tactical gear, with minutes to spare.
Sitting outside the innocuous looking building, Diego found himself holding his breath. Allison anxiously checked her watch, and Klaus was actively fretting. Five paced, and Ben was practically pulsating. Vanya bounced on the balls of her feet, muttering reassurances to herself under her breath.
It was Luther who stood alongside him.
Diego felt like a mess, but next to him, Luther’s presence was unwavering.
“You know,” his brother said, like they weren’t standing outside another potential massacre. “When this is over -- when Guillermo is done, put away, whatever -- it’s okay if you leave.”
Surprised, Diego turned toward Luther. He made a face. “What?”
Luther nodded. “It’s okay if you leave,” he said. “That’s what people do. It doesn’t mean you don’t care about us or that you don’t love your family. Sometimes it’s just what you do.”
“Dude,” Diego said, his expression of surprise deepening. “Why would you say that? Now? Why would you say that now?”
Luther’s expression was unkind, but it was to the point. “We all know you’ve thought about it,” he said. “I know you still think about it.”
Diego let out a strangled breath. “All I’ve thought about in the last few weeks is stopping this asshole. Nothing else.”
“All the more reason to remember you have option,” Luther said, and he was emphatic now. “I’m serious. I support you. We all do -- no matter what the implications may be.”
He could only gape for a moment, dumbfounded by it all. All that time he spent hating Luther, and Luther was here, giving him the way out. All that time he’d spent wanting to go, and here he was, getting his departure all but blessed. It was a hell of thing to finally be presented with the one thing you thought you always wanted.
Just to realize it wasn’t what you wanted at all.
And it sure as hell wasn’t what you needed.
“Well, stop it,” Diego said shortly. He scowled, jerking his head toward the building. “We have a job to do.”
Luther was surprised, but pleasantly so. When Diego started toward the building, his brother fell in step beside him, the hint of a smile on his lips.
“Come on!” Diego said, rallying them to his side. “Let’s finish this thing.”
There was no debate about that.
The time for talk, after all, had passed.
This, you see.
This was the time for action.
-o-
They didn’t need to talk about it at this point. They went in and got right to work. It took mere seconds to assess the situation before they started to disarm the assailants. They started a quick and efficient evacuation, systematically clearing the building as they went. The help that Guillermo had hired were certainly more trigger happy than the previous crew, but it wasn’t anything that the Umbrella Academy couldn’t handle. Luther threw one of them out a window; Allison told a few that she heard they were tired of a life of crime and wanted to turn themselves in. Klaus levitated his way above a few more to allow more civilians to escape, and Five bopped in and out of space, taking out a few more with a couple of well placed hits to the head. When things were getting dicey with backups arriving, Ben solidified, unleashing the horror while Vanya ushered the rest of the staff and patrons safely out the front door.
This was what Diego’s family did.
Diego had other priorities at the moment. He skirted the action, throwing a knife or two as necessary, before he wound his way through the melee to his singular target.
Guillermo was waiting for him, as expected. He was standing by the deep end of all places, in the shadow of the high dive. The back wall that exited to the wading pool outside had been fortified, lined with explosives. This time, Guillermo was clad in weapons. He was holding a trigger as he smiled.
“I have to admit,” Guillermo said. “I am a little surprised.”
“You thought I wouldn’t come?” Diego asked. “And you said you knew me.”
“No, I knew you’d come,” Guillermo said. “But you are letting those freaks do your job for you. I fully expected you to orchestrate the campaign.”
Diego shrugged, not even sparing a look back for a brief bout of gunfire that ended with a yelp. “It’s my family. I trust them.”
Guillermo feigned hurt. “You insult me, even now,” he said. He waved the remote at Diego. “Maybe I should just put us all out of our misery.”
Diego scoffed. “You like theatrics too much,” he said. “You’re not one to miss the finale.”
“I know you, brother,” Guillermo said. “But I’m afraid you don’t know me as well as you think.”
“I do, though,” Diego said. He threw his hands wide, maintaining a small but acceptable distance from the madman. “I came here for you, after all.”
Guillermo dared to brighten his expression. “Ah, so you have maybe changed your mind, yes?”
Diego stepped forward, casually as he could. “No,” he said. “I didn’t come to join you. I came to stop you.”
Guillermo sighed, deep and long. “That is disappointing, brother,” he said. He shrugged. “But not very surprising.”
Mere steps away from him, Guillermo held his ground. Diego took another stride forward, but there was no hesitation this time. All his trepidation about family, about where he belonged, but he had none about this. The restlessness was gone. It had been replaced with a certainty, a fortitude.
Guillermo didn’t flinch. His eyes were dark and blazing, and he stared right at Diego. He wondered if this was the look Guillermo had had when they were kids, when he saw Diego be taken away be a stranger who they would both grow to hate. He wondered how many years it took to turn that love into hatred.
But he and Guillermo had only been family for a matter of days.
What Diego had built with his siblings, his true siblings, had been a lifetime in the making.
With all that Guillermo knew, that was what he’d failed to grasp. With all that he could see of Diego’s life, this was the part he was overlooking. Guillermo had never separated family from the job. It might be possible to pity the man, were he not a murdering asshole.
“I know everything about you, Diego,” Guillermo said, voice lowering as Diego took another step forward. His fingers twitched, but he didn’t go for his guns or knives. The remote in his hand remained idle. “I know how scared you are. I know how restless you are. I know that family is a burden that you have been reluctant to free yourself from. You will bind yourself to them to spite me, but it will catch up with you. You will never make it last, Diego, because it’s not real. What you have with them isn’t real.”
Diego drew closer now, close enough to touch. He could see the sweat glinting on Guillermo’s forehead, the rise and fall of his chest, up and down, up and down. There’s a pulse throbbing at his neck, and it’s disconcertingly out of tandem with his own.
His eyes flicked to the water, the smooth reflection revealing the answer he’d known all along.
Smiling, he looked back at Guillermo. “You don’t know everything,” he said. “You don’t know my powers.”
“That you can bend air?” Guillermo asked, unimpressed. “Of course I do.”
“Not just bend it; control it completely,” Diego said. “I can make it do anything I want, just by thinking about it. In fact, thanks to the car accident you staged, I learned that I don’t even have to breathe. I can hold air in my lungs forever, just hold it there, waiting for the right moment.”
Guillermo tipped his head, eyes registering uncertainty for the first time since they’d met.
Diego found his own fortitude as strong as it had ever been.
“I kept asking what the point of that was, what the value might possibly be, so for that, I really have to thank you, I do,” Diego said.
“Why?” Guillermo asked, brows drawn together.
“Because I finally figured it out. I figured it all out,” he said. “And I never would have done it without you.”
And with that, Diego launched himself forward at Guillermo, tackling him bodily and throwing them both over the edge of the pool into the clear surface of the water reflected below.
-o-
Breaking the surface was a shock, and Diego’s survival instincts were strong. All the same, he overrode them ruthlessly. With Guillermo twisting in his grasp, it was all he could do to pin him down, pushing toward the floor of the pool. They were in the deep end, and Diego plunged them deeper, using Guillermo’s own momentum against him.
In the fight, the remote had knocked free and Diego saw it sink uselessly to the bottom. Guillermo thrashed, his shock giving way to anger. Viciously, he kicked and punched, but Diego had the clear advantage. He maintained his grip, pressing down with all his might, keeping the surface irrevocably out of reach.
It was still a surreal thing to be under the water. He remembered the stillness from before, the way it had closed in around him. When Five had been with him, it had been terrifying. This time, he found it somehow reassuring. The shit going on above him was distant, almost unimportant. Whatever it was, his family could handle it.
This was the only thing that mattered.
Just Diego, the gallons of water as they pressed in on him, and his own flesh and blood struggling to get lose.
There was some irony to that, and Diego could recognize more of himself than he cared to admit in Guillermo’s desperate form. How many years had he spent doing the same thing? How long had he fought against the weight of his family enclosing around him? All that time he thought he was suffocating.
And it turned out that he never needed to breathe anyway.
Guillmore, unfortunately, had no such super powers. Guillermo was just a man. Blood moved through his veins. Air passed through his lungs. Guillermo was a restless man, trying to take what he wanted, what he thought he needed. He didn’t see it yet; he didn’t realize that he needed to stop. He didn’t understand that what he wanted would never make him happy; it would never complete him.
He didn’t know that he had to stop.
He just had to stop.
In his grip, Guillermo’s anger turned to panic as the need for air mounted. His eyes widened as he started to flail now. He seemed to forget that he was armed, hoping to twist and turn his way to freedom instead. He was hard to hold onto, but that was how it was with family.
You had to hold on.
And you couldn’t let go.
That was a lesson some people had to learn the hard way. Maybe Guillermo and Diego had more in common than he realized.
Then, Guillermo’s eyes started to go dull. His movements started to weaken. He was failing, drifting listlessly toward the bottom of the pool. Diego held him there until his eyes closed, until the fight drained from his body and he finally went still.
He held him longer still, holding himself under at the same time. He let the other parts of himself die in the process, he let those parts drown, starved for oxygen. He let his old self go, sink to the bottom of the pool, along with all the things he’d thought he’d wanted.
He let it all die, every last bit of if snuffed out, until the only part that was left was the part forged by the Umbrella Academy.
No, the parts forged with the Umbrella Academy.
That was who he was, after all. He could fight it; he could hate it; he could deny it. He could run away. He could go off to Mexico and meet good people. But when you stripped him down to the core, this was who he was. This was where he belonged.
This was the choice he’d made.
That was more important than the air in his lungs.
That was more important than long lost siblings.
When you got right down to it, it really was more important than everything.
-o-
Finally, Diego surfaced.
It was funny to him, how far up it was. He hadn’t realized how deep he’d gone, how deep he’d been willing to go. Guillermo’s body was heavy in his arms, but he kicked doggedly toward the surface anyway.
When he broke through, the air in his face was unexpectedly refreshing but he didn’t inhale. Instead, he lifted Guillermo clear, quickly scanning the area for his family.
And there they were, lined up on the edge of the pool.
Waiting for him.
Diego grinned.
And then -- and only then -- did he finally take a breath.
-o-
Swimming to the edge, Diego hoisted Guillermo toward the deck. Luther reached down, snagging the limp body and effortlessly lifted it and placing it, dripping, onto the deck. Diego wasn’t even out of breath as he climbed out after him, water streaming off him. There were questions to ask -- were the civilians safe? Had the cops been notified? Were the bad guys neutralized? Were their bombs or other booby traps to worry about?
Those were pressing questions, but Diego already knew the answers. Because Diego knew his family.
Better still, they knew him.
“He’s out, but I think he’s still breathing,” Diego reported, wiping the rivulets clear of his face. “But you may want to check.”
Allison complied, using two fingers to take Guillermo’s pulse. Klaus looked up at Diego, slightly awed. “Did you really just drown him? Was that your plan all along?”
“It was a good plan, a smart plan,” Five said, the approval evident in his tone. “Effective and unexpected. No wonder it worked so well.”
Vanya smiled at him, coming closer to show her support. “And you thought your powers were useless. I told you not to be presumptuous.”
Diego’s lips tugged up. This was the best possible way to hear I told you so.
Allison looked up, nodding at Diego. “He’s alive.”
“And cops are on the way,” Luther said.
“We neutralized the vast majority of the bad guys,” Ben said. “We may have lost a few.”
“But everyone is safe. No collateral damage,” Five reported.
“And we even swept the place,” Klaus said, beaming a little. “It’s actually really easy when you have the power to move things with your mind. Who would have thought, I’m pretty good at this superhero thing?”
Diego scoffed, but he had no venom in it. “I would have thought,” he said. “I always knew it. You all thought I was crazy.”
Luther shrugged, slightly sheepish. “I think we all knew it,” he said. “We just didn’t know how to do it together.”
“Yeah, well,” Diego said, looking at Guillermo with a long, slow exhale. “I think we got it now.”
“As equals,” Allison said, getting back to her feet. “And we’ve all made our choice.”
“Equals, sure,” Diego said. “But I think for all his faults, Dad got a few things right. I’m no Number One.”
“You did a great job organizing this,” Luther said, as if in protest.
Diego rolled his eyes. “This whole thing was a disaster,” he said. “I had to finish this thing, I had to resolve it, but I’m a much better Number Two.”
“You just mean you like sitting back and being snarky,” Vanya mused.
“Criticism is your secondary power,” Allison agreed, sounding a bit bemused.
“I have my strengths; you all have yours,” Diego said. He didn’t deny it. He wouldn’t deny it. He didn’t even want to. “And it all comes together, right?”
It was a good moment. A resounding moment. The kind of moment that mattered.
Diego wasn’t drowning anymore.
He would never drown again.
And as long as the air was in his lungs, he’d make sure his family didn’t drown either.
“This is great, really,” Five commented, breaking the silence. “But, um, shouldn’t we wrap this up?”
It was only then that they all realized that they’d been standing around, smiling at each other like idiots. It was not only awkward, but probably wildly inappropriate considering the number of incapacitated criminals nearby. Somewhere, in the distance, there were sirens.
“Yeah, we should probably--” Luther started.
“I’ll just clean up--” Allison said, pointing over her shoulder.
“Oh, right,” Klaus remembered. “Things to do, always things to do.”
“I probably shouldn’t be here,” Ben said, making a small face.
“It will be good to put this one behind us, huh?” Vanya said.
“Yeah,” Diego said, reaching down to secure Guillermo’s hands. He grimaced with the dead weight, shaking his head. “It definitely will.”
-o-
Endings, though, were hardly neat and tidy. Things were never so simple; they couldn’t be wrapped up with a little bow on top. No, endings were messy. They took time and work. And there was always -- always -- an aftermath.
Truth be told, Diego had hated endings. That was one reason, among many, that he’d never made it in the police academy. Sure, everyone talked about his disregard for protocol and his total lack of restraint, but he also sucked at seeing things through. It was much easier to be the masked vigilante at night, sweeping in and out, getting the job done. It was easier to leave someone else to deal with the messy cleanup in the hard light of day.
That wasn’t a luxury he had anymore, however. If he was going to embrace this idea of closure, then he was going to have to see through the endings.
That was, after all, the only way to get to the next beginning.
The point being that the rec center was an active crime scene, and with cops arriving, it was up to the Umbrella Academy to make sure that things were safe and in order.
Without further discussion, Diego’s siblings knew what to do. Luther minded Guillermo, being the strongest member available. Five and Allison made sure the rest of the suspects were secure, and Klaus and Vanya worked with Ben to double check that there were no other threats lurking unseen. Explosive devices were marked and disarmed. Firearms were rounded up and contained.
By the time the cops did storm the building, the Umbrella Academy had centralized the suspects, rounded up the evidence and were standing with the hands clearly visible to greet the cops with a smile.
It was a little ostentatious, maybe, but Diego knew they’d earned it.
The job and the family: together, right where they belonged.
-o-
The cops, though shocked, couldn’t just take their word for it. It was a fact Diego actually respected about them, that no matter how neat and tidy the Umbrella Academy made things, they still had to double check their work. The problem was that they were slower and less efficient. Diego’s siblings were subjected to rounds of repetitive questions while suspects were taken into custody and areas of the building were secured.
Diego was mindful of how his siblings were treated, but it was clear that they could hold their own. Luther was unfailingly polite. Allison was patient and didn’t rumor anyone. Klaus managed to keep his stories mostly on track, and Five had the presence of mind not to murder anyone for being tedious. Ben kept conveniently out of sight, and Vanya managed not to apologize every other sentence as she gave her account.
As for Diego, Beaman took him aside to process him as a witness. Though Beaman went by the book as necessary, he clearly knew that something had changed.
“This is over, then,” he concluded. He laughed, almost in disbelief as he raised his eyebrows expectantly. “This is really over.”
Diego made no attempt to deny it. Usually, you had to be careful when you said shit to cops, but he owed Beaman the truth. “Yeah,” he said. “This is over. The guy over there -- the one being checked by the paramedics -- that’s the mastermind.”
Beaman watched. Guillermo was coming too slowly, though he was already strapped down and restrained. “One guy? He’s the cause of all this?”
“He had messed up priorities,” Diego said with a sigh. He looked back at Beaman. “It probably won’t take you long to figure it out: I was the target.”
Beaman looked back at him. “The Umbrella Academy?”
“Broadly, maybe,” Diego said. “But specifically, me. You’ll probably find out sooner or later. His name is Guillermo, and he’s my biological brother.”
It was an odd sort of confession to make, and he made it without the gravitas you might expect. All the strained emotions he’d experienced throughout this process, and he’d come to a simple acceptance of it. The facts had always been straightforward, and now that Diego had his own priorities in order, the emotions tied to it were simple as well.
Saying it like that was clarifying. Guillermo was his biological brother. There were no other ties between them, and DNA, when you got right down to it, didn’t actually mean as much as you thought it did.
Beaman, for his part, stared at Diego, perhaps waiting for a punchline. “Shit,” he said finally. “Are you serious?”
“We’re all adopted; everyone knows that,” Diego said. “I didn’t know this dude existed until he showed up, killing people at the mall. The break-in on Highland Street was the first time I’d talked to him. I knew then that this was personal, but it wasn’t until the attack at the clinic that I realized he was my brother. He wanted me to join him.”
Beaman’s eyes bugged a little at that. “He thought he could convince you to join him in a life of crime?”
“He thought he could convince me that we could do the job together,” he said. “He knew I liked being in the field; he knew I liked efficiency.”
“Uh, yeah,” Beaman said. “But you’re a good guy. You’re not a killer.”
Diego lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe that line isn’t as hard to cross as we like to think,” he said.
“What?” Beaman asked with a scoff. “You were tempted?”
“No,” Diego said. “But I was confused. I mean, I have thought about leaving. Working with the Umbrella Academy isn’t always easy.”
Beaman nodded sympathetically. “I can’t say that I haven’t thought they were holding you back some these last few months.”
“I know,” Diego said. “But that’s the thing. They did hold me back -- because I needed to be held back. If I had left, if I had gone back out on the streets like I wanted to -- then Guillermo wouldn’t have gone down to night. I needed my family to stop him. My real family.”
Beaman’s mouth pulled into a small smile. “So does that mean you’re back? All of you? The Umbrella Academy?”
It wasn’t hard to hear the hope that was laden in his voice.
It was the same hope reflected in his eyes.
The very hope that Diego could feel, filling his chest with every intake of air.
He smiled back, glancing toward his siblings. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re back,” he said. “And this time, we’re not going anywhere.”
-o-
The thing about doing the job the right way, however tedious and monotonous, was that sometimes -- just sometimes -- it paid off.
After a long day of helping the cops, giving statements and explaining the scene, the Umbrella Academy was released. There was a small implication that it would be nice if they didn’t leave town, but it was made clear that they weren’t suspects. No, it was made clear to everyone that they were allies. Just the way old Reggie had always intended it to be.
Still, it was mildly amusing to be asked to stick around.
Like they would go anywhere at this point.
They were finally -- finally -- home.
It was certainly a long time coming, and Diego had no excuses for that.
But it was, unequivocally, worth the wait.
-o-
It was a little awkward getting back to it, but that was what they did. That was what they had to do. There was some small talk, uncertain questions about how Diego was coping, but Diego was coping just fine. Guillermo was in jail with little hope of ever getting out as his case sped headlong to trial, and as far as Diego concerned that was that. The job was done.
Moving on, therefore, had to be perfunctory. It was Diego who started back up again, updating the schedule for security and starting up on his training. They all followed suit, and soon they were back at it, actively readying themselves for whatever happened to come next.
The job would come.
Life was already happening. Diego made sure of that as well. For every hour that he spent training, he made sure to spend just as much time dedicated to his family. He started watching From the Earth to the Moon with Luthet, and he went birthday shopping with Allison to pick out gifts to ship to Claire. With some reluctance, he modeled a sweater Klaus had made, and he allowed Five to teach him some of the techniques he’d picked up in self defense over the years. He ordered a slew of new board games to play with Ben, and he went ahead and purchased season tickets to the theater to share with Vanya.
As for his own interests, well, it turned out he had a certain affinity for swimming.
-o-
Then, one morning, Diego woke up early and prompt, as was his habit now. He got showered and ambled downstairs, ready to find himself something for breakfast. What he found, instead, was a family gathering in the living room.
Not a family gathering.
A meeting.
They were lined up, dressed, wide eyed and ready. Allison’s makeup was done. Five was drinking a cup of coffee. Luther was pacing anxiously at the head of the room, and they all looked up when Diego entered.
It was clear they had been waiting for him.
It was not clear why.
Wetting his lips, he crossed uncertainly into the room. “Something you guys need to tell me?” he quipped, hoping the lightness of his tone wouldn’t betray the fact that he really, really wanted to know.
Klaus almost squeaked but Ben hit him. Klaus must have been feeling pretty strong that morning; Diego could hear the impact.
Vanya closed her eyes.
Luther gestured to the couch, which was conspicuously clear while his siblings scrunched themselves into the other seats. “Take a seat.”
Diego did but warily. “It’s not Guillermo, is it? That bastard didn’t get out, because I just talked to Beaman--”
Luther waved his hand through the air. “No, nothing like that.”
“Guillermo’s still in custody and his trial is on schedule,” Allison said.
Diego heard what she said, but Klaus still looked like he was about to cry. “So, what then?” he asked. “Because you guys are acting weird.”
“Can we just tell him already?” Klaus all but exploded. “I can’t take this anymore! It’s bad for my nerves!”
The others groaned, but Diego straightened expectantly. “Tell me what?”
Five rolled his eyes. “We have a job.”
“An important one,” Ben added.
Vanya looked grave. “The most important one yet.”
Diego’s heart skipped a beat. He felt his breath stutter the way it always did anymore, when he was transitioning from family to work. “But you said Guillermo was still in custody.”
Luther shook his head, as if to clear it of distraction. “Yes, he’s not the job.”
Diego made a face. “But what could be more important?”
“This,” Luther said. He reached out, holding something to Diego. “This is the job.”
Diego looked at the papers in Luther’s hand skeptically, eyeing his siblings in turn before he accepted it. Self consciously, he turned it over, staring at it for several long seconds before he understood that it was a plane ticket. It took another few seconds to realize it was a plane ticket to Mexico.
Finally, it occurred to him quite belatedly, that it had his name on it.
Heat rushing into his cheeks, he looked back up at them. He was shocked, to say the least. So shocked that he didn’t quite have the wherewithal to be pissed off. “What the hell is this?”
Luther, the bastard, actually wavered. It was Allison who spoke up next. “You need to meet your birth family,” she said. “The non-crazy ones, anyway.”
The shock was wearing off more now, and the sense of being pissed as hell was easier to grasp. “No, I really don’t.”
Klaus winced, like the words he was about to speak might genuinely hurt him. “See, we really think you might,” he said. “I mean, finding out your long lost brother is a psychopath is pretty serious shit, and you need to know that that’s not everything. There’s more. A lot more.”
Five looked moderately bored by the whole ordeal. “In short, you can’t go around believing that your DNA is tainted when the statistical probability is that Guillermo is an outlier,” he said. “But you’ll lack confidence in the field unless you confront your doubts and reaffirm something more positive about yourself.”
Diego was moderately bewildered at this point. “I haven’t had any problems dealing with this Guillermo thing.”
“Denial isn’t the same thing as acceptance,” Ben told him softly. “Pretending like your biological family doesn’t exist isn’t any better than obsessing over them.”
“If you don’t do this, you’ll just get restless again,” Vanya explained.
“That’s bullshit,” Diego retorted, feeling offended now. He scoffed as he looked from one to the next. “I don’t need anything from those people.”
“Well,” Luther said, finding his balls again. “We think you do. In fact, we know you do.”
Diego had been better lately, but when backed into a corner, his response was still the same. His chest puffed out indignantly and he crossed his arms in defiance over his chest. “Well, screw that. There’s no way in hell I’m going to Mexico to meet these total strangers.”
“Diego, please,” Allison said. “They’re not all going to be like Guillermo.”
“Some of them look really awesome, they really do,” Klaus said.
“We’ve vetted them,” Five assured him. “Just to be sure.”
“I really don’t give a shit,” Diego said. He laughed, barely controlling his hysteria. “I don’t belong with them. I belong here, with you. All of you.”
“Yeah, we know that, too,” Ben said.
“That’s why we have these,” Vanya said, and she pulled something out of her pocket, holding it up in the air. It looked familiar, and Diego watched as his siblings each produced a similar slip of paper, one by one by one by one by one.
Plane tickets.
They were all holding plane tickets.
“Wait,” Diego said, trying to get his brain to compute these details in a way that made sense. “You’re coming with me? All of you? You’re coming to Mexico?”
Luther wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t shocked or pissed or anything else. No, Luther’s expression -- all of their expressions -- were ones of inevitability and certainty. Diego was sitting there, holding his breath, and the others have been just waiting for him to breathe.
The question really was why Luther -- why all of them -- had stayed now.
Even when Diego wanted to run far, far away.
They had followed him this far.
It was probably time for him to return the favor.
“Of course we are,” Allison said.
“I already have my passport!” Klaus enthused.
“Mine is forged,” Five said with an indifferent shrug.
“Fortunately I don’t need one,” Ben said.
“I’ve always wanted to visit Mexico,” Vanya said.
And Diego’s lungs were filling, so full they felt ready to burst.
“That’s the job of family,” Luther said. He tweaked his eyebrows knowingly. “Isn’t it?”
Diego looked at them again. He looked at Luther’s stupid smile and Allison’s done up face. He looked at Klaus jittery frame and Five’s fingers curled around a coffee cup. He looked at Ben just solidified enough to sit on a chair, and he looked at Vanya, sitting there like she’d been there all along.
This time, he exhaled, the oxygen coming out in a hot, ready burst. He smiled. “Yeah,” he said, fingers holding the ticket tighter now. “It is.”
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 could leave now, do this on his own. That was tempting; it was. To do the job. To just do the job.
That wasn’t how this was going to work, though. Not anymore.
Instead, he called a family meeting, signalling as an emergency, and waited in the living room while the others came in, dressed, ready and curious.
Diego waited until they were seated.
He waited until he managed to breathe.
Then, he spoke. “The next attack is in an hour -- less than that. At the rec center two blocks away.”
None of them hesitated. Speaking over each other, Diego couldn’t even listen to the full scope of the questions.
“How do you know?”
“Are you sure?”
“Has Guillermo contacted you?”
“What about the cops?”
“Are they already on site?”
“When can we leave?”
Diego held up his hand, shaking his head. He used to have no problem talking over his siblings. But then, he used to be a lot of things he wasn’t anymore.
He had to breathe. He had to just keep breathing.
“Guillermo found our radio frequency on the police scanner; he contacted me directly,” Diego reported.
“It’s a trap,” Luther said quickly.
“Of course it’s a trap,” Diego replied. “But it’s not one he’s lying about. He wants me to come there so he can kill me.”
“Us, you mean,” Allison corrected. She was unflinching next to Luther. “He wants to kill us.”
Diego wet his lips, hesitating.
“Wait a second,” Klaus said, eyes widening. “He doesn’t want us to come.”
“Not bring us would be suicide,” Five concluded, obviously cross at the notion.
“Or maybe bringing us is suicide for all of us,” Ben offered.
Vanya tilted her head. “He’s trying to protect us.”
It wasn’t a surprise that they’d figured it out. But that also didn’t change the conclusion Diego had come to six days ago. “I don’t want to do any of this, but there’s no choice.”
“So we go,” Luther agreed.
“Together,” Allison added.
Diego sighed. “There’s no way the Umbrella Academy is ready.”
Klaus’ mouth fell open. “But you were the one who said we were! You made us stop training! Right? He did, right?”
“I did,” Diego relented. “But only because I knew there was nothing more we could do. There was no way we were ever going to be ready.”
“You haven’t even calculated the odds,” Five said.
“The odds don’t mean shit,” Diego said. “I don’t need probability about how many people are going to die.”
“What about the people who will die if we don’t go?” Ben said. “I mean, you said it’s the rec center. “It’s a Saturday afternoon. The place will be packed, and we all know this guy has a history of taking civilian lives. You’ll never save them all on your own.”
“And I can’t save you if you come,” Diego said. He shook his head, feeling his doubt coalesce into something more certain.
“You don’t mean that,” Vanya told him quietly. “You don’t mean that you’re willing to trade innocent lives for ours.”
Diego drew a breath, taking a step back. He looked down, chewing his lip. Then, he looked up again. “Maybe I am.”
It was a weird thing, something he was simultaneously proud of and ashamed of all at once. He had a heart for helping people -- that was what he wanted. But he had come to realize how acute his need was for his family -- his absolute, unrelenting need. It was the thing that still him when his feet were restless. It was the thing that put air in his lungs when he couldn’t breathe. It was everything.
“You’re not,” Vanya said for him, and her smile was sympathetic.
“Because you made sure we were ready,” Ben added.
“It’s not like we’ve been idle at all,” Five insisted. “Weeks and months with all of our best effort and full commitment. You can’t underestimate that.”
“And it’s not like it’s even your choice to make, not exclusively or anything,” Klaus said. “Like, were following along and we’re taking your lead, but we all know that leaders aren’t perfect. This is a joint project. A joint decision.”
“Especially since you already told us the time and location,” Allison said coyly. “After summoning us in our gear to tell us not to go.”
Diego felt his cheeks redden and he closed his mouth.
Luther got to his feet, standing up tall beside Diego. “That’s it, then,” he declared with the ultimate ease of being the intended Number one. “We’re going. This is our responsibility, Diego.”
“And if our first responsibility is to family? To each other?” Diego asked, because he wanted to know. No, screw that, he needed to know.
Allison stood up as well, coming alongside. “And this is how we live the responsibility.”
Klaus was up now, sauntering next to them. “It’s so beautifully, ironic, isn’t it? Us talking you into doing the job?”
Five rolled his eyes, huffing as he took his place as well. “We don’t need to get sentimental about it,” he said, terse. “This is a matter of practicality. Going together is the only way to protect each other.”
Ben formed himself between them. “And that’s what we’ve been working for, training together, to compensate for each other’s weaknesses.”
Vanya was the last to stand, but she was as steady as the rest of them. “You have to face this,” she said. “It’s your family, and you’ll never make peace if you run away.”
They were right, of course.
They were right about everything.
Or almost everything.
He nodded back at them, finding his resolution, strong and steady and united at last. “No,” he corrected. “I don’t need to face my family to make peace.”
There was a flicker of surprise and uncertainty, but Diego didn’t let it deepen.
He smiled. Scared and terrified, he smiled anyway. “I need to face this with my family.”
It was a call to arms.
It was a call to action.
It was a call to unite.
It was a call to go, however it ended up, together.
-o-
It was surprisingly easy. The Umbrella Academy was, after all, well trained and rehearsed. Getting out the door was a seamless activity now, and no one needed to be reminded what to do or where to go. They were a perfectly balanced team now; a cohesive unit.
They arrived, armed, in full tactical gear, with minutes to spare.
Sitting outside the innocuous looking building, Diego found himself holding his breath. Allison anxiously checked her watch, and Klaus was actively fretting. Five paced, and Ben was practically pulsating. Vanya bounced on the balls of her feet, muttering reassurances to herself under her breath.
It was Luther who stood alongside him.
Diego felt like a mess, but next to him, Luther’s presence was unwavering.
“You know,” his brother said, like they weren’t standing outside another potential massacre. “When this is over -- when Guillermo is done, put away, whatever -- it’s okay if you leave.”
Surprised, Diego turned toward Luther. He made a face. “What?”
Luther nodded. “It’s okay if you leave,” he said. “That’s what people do. It doesn’t mean you don’t care about us or that you don’t love your family. Sometimes it’s just what you do.”
“Dude,” Diego said, his expression of surprise deepening. “Why would you say that? Now? Why would you say that now?”
Luther’s expression was unkind, but it was to the point. “We all know you’ve thought about it,” he said. “I know you still think about it.”
Diego let out a strangled breath. “All I’ve thought about in the last few weeks is stopping this asshole. Nothing else.”
“All the more reason to remember you have option,” Luther said, and he was emphatic now. “I’m serious. I support you. We all do -- no matter what the implications may be.”
He could only gape for a moment, dumbfounded by it all. All that time he spent hating Luther, and Luther was here, giving him the way out. All that time he’d spent wanting to go, and here he was, getting his departure all but blessed. It was a hell of thing to finally be presented with the one thing you thought you always wanted.
Just to realize it wasn’t what you wanted at all.
And it sure as hell wasn’t what you needed.
“Well, stop it,” Diego said shortly. He scowled, jerking his head toward the building. “We have a job to do.”
Luther was surprised, but pleasantly so. When Diego started toward the building, his brother fell in step beside him, the hint of a smile on his lips.
“Come on!” Diego said, rallying them to his side. “Let’s finish this thing.”
There was no debate about that.
The time for talk, after all, had passed.
This, you see.
This was the time for action.
-o-
They didn’t need to talk about it at this point. They went in and got right to work. It took mere seconds to assess the situation before they started to disarm the assailants. They started a quick and efficient evacuation, systematically clearing the building as they went. The help that Guillermo had hired were certainly more trigger happy than the previous crew, but it wasn’t anything that the Umbrella Academy couldn’t handle. Luther threw one of them out a window; Allison told a few that she heard they were tired of a life of crime and wanted to turn themselves in. Klaus levitated his way above a few more to allow more civilians to escape, and Five bopped in and out of space, taking out a few more with a couple of well placed hits to the head. When things were getting dicey with backups arriving, Ben solidified, unleashing the horror while Vanya ushered the rest of the staff and patrons safely out the front door.
This was what Diego’s family did.
Diego had other priorities at the moment. He skirted the action, throwing a knife or two as necessary, before he wound his way through the melee to his singular target.
Guillermo was waiting for him, as expected. He was standing by the deep end of all places, in the shadow of the high dive. The back wall that exited to the wading pool outside had been fortified, lined with explosives. This time, Guillermo was clad in weapons. He was holding a trigger as he smiled.
“I have to admit,” Guillermo said. “I am a little surprised.”
“You thought I wouldn’t come?” Diego asked. “And you said you knew me.”
“No, I knew you’d come,” Guillermo said. “But you are letting those freaks do your job for you. I fully expected you to orchestrate the campaign.”
Diego shrugged, not even sparing a look back for a brief bout of gunfire that ended with a yelp. “It’s my family. I trust them.”
Guillermo feigned hurt. “You insult me, even now,” he said. He waved the remote at Diego. “Maybe I should just put us all out of our misery.”
Diego scoffed. “You like theatrics too much,” he said. “You’re not one to miss the finale.”
“I know you, brother,” Guillermo said. “But I’m afraid you don’t know me as well as you think.”
“I do, though,” Diego said. He threw his hands wide, maintaining a small but acceptable distance from the madman. “I came here for you, after all.”
Guillermo dared to brighten his expression. “Ah, so you have maybe changed your mind, yes?”
Diego stepped forward, casually as he could. “No,” he said. “I didn’t come to join you. I came to stop you.”
Guillermo sighed, deep and long. “That is disappointing, brother,” he said. He shrugged. “But not very surprising.”
Mere steps away from him, Guillermo held his ground. Diego took another stride forward, but there was no hesitation this time. All his trepidation about family, about where he belonged, but he had none about this. The restlessness was gone. It had been replaced with a certainty, a fortitude.
Guillermo didn’t flinch. His eyes were dark and blazing, and he stared right at Diego. He wondered if this was the look Guillermo had had when they were kids, when he saw Diego be taken away be a stranger who they would both grow to hate. He wondered how many years it took to turn that love into hatred.
But he and Guillermo had only been family for a matter of days.
What Diego had built with his siblings, his true siblings, had been a lifetime in the making.
With all that Guillermo knew, that was what he’d failed to grasp. With all that he could see of Diego’s life, this was the part he was overlooking. Guillermo had never separated family from the job. It might be possible to pity the man, were he not a murdering asshole.
“I know everything about you, Diego,” Guillermo said, voice lowering as Diego took another step forward. His fingers twitched, but he didn’t go for his guns or knives. The remote in his hand remained idle. “I know how scared you are. I know how restless you are. I know that family is a burden that you have been reluctant to free yourself from. You will bind yourself to them to spite me, but it will catch up with you. You will never make it last, Diego, because it’s not real. What you have with them isn’t real.”
Diego drew closer now, close enough to touch. He could see the sweat glinting on Guillermo’s forehead, the rise and fall of his chest, up and down, up and down. There’s a pulse throbbing at his neck, and it’s disconcertingly out of tandem with his own.
His eyes flicked to the water, the smooth reflection revealing the answer he’d known all along.
Smiling, he looked back at Guillermo. “You don’t know everything,” he said. “You don’t know my powers.”
“That you can bend air?” Guillermo asked, unimpressed. “Of course I do.”
“Not just bend it; control it completely,” Diego said. “I can make it do anything I want, just by thinking about it. In fact, thanks to the car accident you staged, I learned that I don’t even have to breathe. I can hold air in my lungs forever, just hold it there, waiting for the right moment.”
Guillermo tipped his head, eyes registering uncertainty for the first time since they’d met.
Diego found his own fortitude as strong as it had ever been.
“I kept asking what the point of that was, what the value might possibly be, so for that, I really have to thank you, I do,” Diego said.
“Why?” Guillermo asked, brows drawn together.
“Because I finally figured it out. I figured it all out,” he said. “And I never would have done it without you.”
And with that, Diego launched himself forward at Guillermo, tackling him bodily and throwing them both over the edge of the pool into the clear surface of the water reflected below.
-o-
Breaking the surface was a shock, and Diego’s survival instincts were strong. All the same, he overrode them ruthlessly. With Guillermo twisting in his grasp, it was all he could do to pin him down, pushing toward the floor of the pool. They were in the deep end, and Diego plunged them deeper, using Guillermo’s own momentum against him.
In the fight, the remote had knocked free and Diego saw it sink uselessly to the bottom. Guillermo thrashed, his shock giving way to anger. Viciously, he kicked and punched, but Diego had the clear advantage. He maintained his grip, pressing down with all his might, keeping the surface irrevocably out of reach.
It was still a surreal thing to be under the water. He remembered the stillness from before, the way it had closed in around him. When Five had been with him, it had been terrifying. This time, he found it somehow reassuring. The shit going on above him was distant, almost unimportant. Whatever it was, his family could handle it.
This was the only thing that mattered.
Just Diego, the gallons of water as they pressed in on him, and his own flesh and blood struggling to get lose.
There was some irony to that, and Diego could recognize more of himself than he cared to admit in Guillermo’s desperate form. How many years had he spent doing the same thing? How long had he fought against the weight of his family enclosing around him? All that time he thought he was suffocating.
And it turned out that he never needed to breathe anyway.
Guillmore, unfortunately, had no such super powers. Guillermo was just a man. Blood moved through his veins. Air passed through his lungs. Guillermo was a restless man, trying to take what he wanted, what he thought he needed. He didn’t see it yet; he didn’t realize that he needed to stop. He didn’t understand that what he wanted would never make him happy; it would never complete him.
He didn’t know that he had to stop.
He just had to stop.
In his grip, Guillermo’s anger turned to panic as the need for air mounted. His eyes widened as he started to flail now. He seemed to forget that he was armed, hoping to twist and turn his way to freedom instead. He was hard to hold onto, but that was how it was with family.
You had to hold on.
And you couldn’t let go.
That was a lesson some people had to learn the hard way. Maybe Guillermo and Diego had more in common than he realized.
Then, Guillermo’s eyes started to go dull. His movements started to weaken. He was failing, drifting listlessly toward the bottom of the pool. Diego held him there until his eyes closed, until the fight drained from his body and he finally went still.
He held him longer still, holding himself under at the same time. He let the other parts of himself die in the process, he let those parts drown, starved for oxygen. He let his old self go, sink to the bottom of the pool, along with all the things he’d thought he’d wanted.
He let it all die, every last bit of if snuffed out, until the only part that was left was the part forged by the Umbrella Academy.
No, the parts forged with the Umbrella Academy.
That was who he was, after all. He could fight it; he could hate it; he could deny it. He could run away. He could go off to Mexico and meet good people. But when you stripped him down to the core, this was who he was. This was where he belonged.
This was the choice he’d made.
That was more important than the air in his lungs.
That was more important than long lost siblings.
When you got right down to it, it really was more important than everything.
-o-
Finally, Diego surfaced.
It was funny to him, how far up it was. He hadn’t realized how deep he’d gone, how deep he’d been willing to go. Guillermo’s body was heavy in his arms, but he kicked doggedly toward the surface anyway.
When he broke through, the air in his face was unexpectedly refreshing but he didn’t inhale. Instead, he lifted Guillermo clear, quickly scanning the area for his family.
And there they were, lined up on the edge of the pool.
Waiting for him.
Diego grinned.
And then -- and only then -- did he finally take a breath.
-o-
Swimming to the edge, Diego hoisted Guillermo toward the deck. Luther reached down, snagging the limp body and effortlessly lifted it and placing it, dripping, onto the deck. Diego wasn’t even out of breath as he climbed out after him, water streaming off him. There were questions to ask -- were the civilians safe? Had the cops been notified? Were the bad guys neutralized? Were their bombs or other booby traps to worry about?
Those were pressing questions, but Diego already knew the answers. Because Diego knew his family.
Better still, they knew him.
“He’s out, but I think he’s still breathing,” Diego reported, wiping the rivulets clear of his face. “But you may want to check.”
Allison complied, using two fingers to take Guillermo’s pulse. Klaus looked up at Diego, slightly awed. “Did you really just drown him? Was that your plan all along?”
“It was a good plan, a smart plan,” Five said, the approval evident in his tone. “Effective and unexpected. No wonder it worked so well.”
Vanya smiled at him, coming closer to show her support. “And you thought your powers were useless. I told you not to be presumptuous.”
Diego’s lips tugged up. This was the best possible way to hear I told you so.
Allison looked up, nodding at Diego. “He’s alive.”
“And cops are on the way,” Luther said.
“We neutralized the vast majority of the bad guys,” Ben said. “We may have lost a few.”
“But everyone is safe. No collateral damage,” Five reported.
“And we even swept the place,” Klaus said, beaming a little. “It’s actually really easy when you have the power to move things with your mind. Who would have thought, I’m pretty good at this superhero thing?”
Diego scoffed, but he had no venom in it. “I would have thought,” he said. “I always knew it. You all thought I was crazy.”
Luther shrugged, slightly sheepish. “I think we all knew it,” he said. “We just didn’t know how to do it together.”
“Yeah, well,” Diego said, looking at Guillermo with a long, slow exhale. “I think we got it now.”
“As equals,” Allison said, getting back to her feet. “And we’ve all made our choice.”
“Equals, sure,” Diego said. “But I think for all his faults, Dad got a few things right. I’m no Number One.”
“You did a great job organizing this,” Luther said, as if in protest.
Diego rolled his eyes. “This whole thing was a disaster,” he said. “I had to finish this thing, I had to resolve it, but I’m a much better Number Two.”
“You just mean you like sitting back and being snarky,” Vanya mused.
“Criticism is your secondary power,” Allison agreed, sounding a bit bemused.
“I have my strengths; you all have yours,” Diego said. He didn’t deny it. He wouldn’t deny it. He didn’t even want to. “And it all comes together, right?”
It was a good moment. A resounding moment. The kind of moment that mattered.
Diego wasn’t drowning anymore.
He would never drown again.
And as long as the air was in his lungs, he’d make sure his family didn’t drown either.
“This is great, really,” Five commented, breaking the silence. “But, um, shouldn’t we wrap this up?”
It was only then that they all realized that they’d been standing around, smiling at each other like idiots. It was not only awkward, but probably wildly inappropriate considering the number of incapacitated criminals nearby. Somewhere, in the distance, there were sirens.
“Yeah, we should probably--” Luther started.
“I’ll just clean up--” Allison said, pointing over her shoulder.
“Oh, right,” Klaus remembered. “Things to do, always things to do.”
“I probably shouldn’t be here,” Ben said, making a small face.
“It will be good to put this one behind us, huh?” Vanya said.
“Yeah,” Diego said, reaching down to secure Guillermo’s hands. He grimaced with the dead weight, shaking his head. “It definitely will.”
-o-
Endings, though, were hardly neat and tidy. Things were never so simple; they couldn’t be wrapped up with a little bow on top. No, endings were messy. They took time and work. And there was always -- always -- an aftermath.
Truth be told, Diego had hated endings. That was one reason, among many, that he’d never made it in the police academy. Sure, everyone talked about his disregard for protocol and his total lack of restraint, but he also sucked at seeing things through. It was much easier to be the masked vigilante at night, sweeping in and out, getting the job done. It was easier to leave someone else to deal with the messy cleanup in the hard light of day.
That wasn’t a luxury he had anymore, however. If he was going to embrace this idea of closure, then he was going to have to see through the endings.
That was, after all, the only way to get to the next beginning.
The point being that the rec center was an active crime scene, and with cops arriving, it was up to the Umbrella Academy to make sure that things were safe and in order.
Without further discussion, Diego’s siblings knew what to do. Luther minded Guillermo, being the strongest member available. Five and Allison made sure the rest of the suspects were secure, and Klaus and Vanya worked with Ben to double check that there were no other threats lurking unseen. Explosive devices were marked and disarmed. Firearms were rounded up and contained.
By the time the cops did storm the building, the Umbrella Academy had centralized the suspects, rounded up the evidence and were standing with the hands clearly visible to greet the cops with a smile.
It was a little ostentatious, maybe, but Diego knew they’d earned it.
The job and the family: together, right where they belonged.
-o-
The cops, though shocked, couldn’t just take their word for it. It was a fact Diego actually respected about them, that no matter how neat and tidy the Umbrella Academy made things, they still had to double check their work. The problem was that they were slower and less efficient. Diego’s siblings were subjected to rounds of repetitive questions while suspects were taken into custody and areas of the building were secured.
Diego was mindful of how his siblings were treated, but it was clear that they could hold their own. Luther was unfailingly polite. Allison was patient and didn’t rumor anyone. Klaus managed to keep his stories mostly on track, and Five had the presence of mind not to murder anyone for being tedious. Ben kept conveniently out of sight, and Vanya managed not to apologize every other sentence as she gave her account.
As for Diego, Beaman took him aside to process him as a witness. Though Beaman went by the book as necessary, he clearly knew that something had changed.
“This is over, then,” he concluded. He laughed, almost in disbelief as he raised his eyebrows expectantly. “This is really over.”
Diego made no attempt to deny it. Usually, you had to be careful when you said shit to cops, but he owed Beaman the truth. “Yeah,” he said. “This is over. The guy over there -- the one being checked by the paramedics -- that’s the mastermind.”
Beaman watched. Guillermo was coming too slowly, though he was already strapped down and restrained. “One guy? He’s the cause of all this?”
“He had messed up priorities,” Diego said with a sigh. He looked back at Beaman. “It probably won’t take you long to figure it out: I was the target.”
Beaman looked back at him. “The Umbrella Academy?”
“Broadly, maybe,” Diego said. “But specifically, me. You’ll probably find out sooner or later. His name is Guillermo, and he’s my biological brother.”
It was an odd sort of confession to make, and he made it without the gravitas you might expect. All the strained emotions he’d experienced throughout this process, and he’d come to a simple acceptance of it. The facts had always been straightforward, and now that Diego had his own priorities in order, the emotions tied to it were simple as well.
Saying it like that was clarifying. Guillermo was his biological brother. There were no other ties between them, and DNA, when you got right down to it, didn’t actually mean as much as you thought it did.
Beaman, for his part, stared at Diego, perhaps waiting for a punchline. “Shit,” he said finally. “Are you serious?”
“We’re all adopted; everyone knows that,” Diego said. “I didn’t know this dude existed until he showed up, killing people at the mall. The break-in on Highland Street was the first time I’d talked to him. I knew then that this was personal, but it wasn’t until the attack at the clinic that I realized he was my brother. He wanted me to join him.”
Beaman’s eyes bugged a little at that. “He thought he could convince you to join him in a life of crime?”
“He thought he could convince me that we could do the job together,” he said. “He knew I liked being in the field; he knew I liked efficiency.”
“Uh, yeah,” Beaman said. “But you’re a good guy. You’re not a killer.”
Diego lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe that line isn’t as hard to cross as we like to think,” he said.
“What?” Beaman asked with a scoff. “You were tempted?”
“No,” Diego said. “But I was confused. I mean, I have thought about leaving. Working with the Umbrella Academy isn’t always easy.”
Beaman nodded sympathetically. “I can’t say that I haven’t thought they were holding you back some these last few months.”
“I know,” Diego said. “But that’s the thing. They did hold me back -- because I needed to be held back. If I had left, if I had gone back out on the streets like I wanted to -- then Guillermo wouldn’t have gone down to night. I needed my family to stop him. My real family.”
Beaman’s mouth pulled into a small smile. “So does that mean you’re back? All of you? The Umbrella Academy?”
It wasn’t hard to hear the hope that was laden in his voice.
It was the same hope reflected in his eyes.
The very hope that Diego could feel, filling his chest with every intake of air.
He smiled back, glancing toward his siblings. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re back,” he said. “And this time, we’re not going anywhere.”
-o-
The thing about doing the job the right way, however tedious and monotonous, was that sometimes -- just sometimes -- it paid off.
After a long day of helping the cops, giving statements and explaining the scene, the Umbrella Academy was released. There was a small implication that it would be nice if they didn’t leave town, but it was made clear that they weren’t suspects. No, it was made clear to everyone that they were allies. Just the way old Reggie had always intended it to be.
Still, it was mildly amusing to be asked to stick around.
Like they would go anywhere at this point.
They were finally -- finally -- home.
It was certainly a long time coming, and Diego had no excuses for that.
But it was, unequivocally, worth the wait.
-o-
It was a little awkward getting back to it, but that was what they did. That was what they had to do. There was some small talk, uncertain questions about how Diego was coping, but Diego was coping just fine. Guillermo was in jail with little hope of ever getting out as his case sped headlong to trial, and as far as Diego concerned that was that. The job was done.
Moving on, therefore, had to be perfunctory. It was Diego who started back up again, updating the schedule for security and starting up on his training. They all followed suit, and soon they were back at it, actively readying themselves for whatever happened to come next.
The job would come.
Life was already happening. Diego made sure of that as well. For every hour that he spent training, he made sure to spend just as much time dedicated to his family. He started watching From the Earth to the Moon with Luthet, and he went birthday shopping with Allison to pick out gifts to ship to Claire. With some reluctance, he modeled a sweater Klaus had made, and he allowed Five to teach him some of the techniques he’d picked up in self defense over the years. He ordered a slew of new board games to play with Ben, and he went ahead and purchased season tickets to the theater to share with Vanya.
As for his own interests, well, it turned out he had a certain affinity for swimming.
-o-
Then, one morning, Diego woke up early and prompt, as was his habit now. He got showered and ambled downstairs, ready to find himself something for breakfast. What he found, instead, was a family gathering in the living room.
Not a family gathering.
A meeting.
They were lined up, dressed, wide eyed and ready. Allison’s makeup was done. Five was drinking a cup of coffee. Luther was pacing anxiously at the head of the room, and they all looked up when Diego entered.
It was clear they had been waiting for him.
It was not clear why.
Wetting his lips, he crossed uncertainly into the room. “Something you guys need to tell me?” he quipped, hoping the lightness of his tone wouldn’t betray the fact that he really, really wanted to know.
Klaus almost squeaked but Ben hit him. Klaus must have been feeling pretty strong that morning; Diego could hear the impact.
Vanya closed her eyes.
Luther gestured to the couch, which was conspicuously clear while his siblings scrunched themselves into the other seats. “Take a seat.”
Diego did but warily. “It’s not Guillermo, is it? That bastard didn’t get out, because I just talked to Beaman--”
Luther waved his hand through the air. “No, nothing like that.”
“Guillermo’s still in custody and his trial is on schedule,” Allison said.
Diego heard what she said, but Klaus still looked like he was about to cry. “So, what then?” he asked. “Because you guys are acting weird.”
“Can we just tell him already?” Klaus all but exploded. “I can’t take this anymore! It’s bad for my nerves!”
The others groaned, but Diego straightened expectantly. “Tell me what?”
Five rolled his eyes. “We have a job.”
“An important one,” Ben added.
Vanya looked grave. “The most important one yet.”
Diego’s heart skipped a beat. He felt his breath stutter the way it always did anymore, when he was transitioning from family to work. “But you said Guillermo was still in custody.”
Luther shook his head, as if to clear it of distraction. “Yes, he’s not the job.”
Diego made a face. “But what could be more important?”
“This,” Luther said. He reached out, holding something to Diego. “This is the job.”
Diego looked at the papers in Luther’s hand skeptically, eyeing his siblings in turn before he accepted it. Self consciously, he turned it over, staring at it for several long seconds before he understood that it was a plane ticket. It took another few seconds to realize it was a plane ticket to Mexico.
Finally, it occurred to him quite belatedly, that it had his name on it.
Heat rushing into his cheeks, he looked back up at them. He was shocked, to say the least. So shocked that he didn’t quite have the wherewithal to be pissed off. “What the hell is this?”
Luther, the bastard, actually wavered. It was Allison who spoke up next. “You need to meet your birth family,” she said. “The non-crazy ones, anyway.”
The shock was wearing off more now, and the sense of being pissed as hell was easier to grasp. “No, I really don’t.”
Klaus winced, like the words he was about to speak might genuinely hurt him. “See, we really think you might,” he said. “I mean, finding out your long lost brother is a psychopath is pretty serious shit, and you need to know that that’s not everything. There’s more. A lot more.”
Five looked moderately bored by the whole ordeal. “In short, you can’t go around believing that your DNA is tainted when the statistical probability is that Guillermo is an outlier,” he said. “But you’ll lack confidence in the field unless you confront your doubts and reaffirm something more positive about yourself.”
Diego was moderately bewildered at this point. “I haven’t had any problems dealing with this Guillermo thing.”
“Denial isn’t the same thing as acceptance,” Ben told him softly. “Pretending like your biological family doesn’t exist isn’t any better than obsessing over them.”
“If you don’t do this, you’ll just get restless again,” Vanya explained.
“That’s bullshit,” Diego retorted, feeling offended now. He scoffed as he looked from one to the next. “I don’t need anything from those people.”
“Well,” Luther said, finding his balls again. “We think you do. In fact, we know you do.”
Diego had been better lately, but when backed into a corner, his response was still the same. His chest puffed out indignantly and he crossed his arms in defiance over his chest. “Well, screw that. There’s no way in hell I’m going to Mexico to meet these total strangers.”
“Diego, please,” Allison said. “They’re not all going to be like Guillermo.”
“Some of them look really awesome, they really do,” Klaus said.
“We’ve vetted them,” Five assured him. “Just to be sure.”
“I really don’t give a shit,” Diego said. He laughed, barely controlling his hysteria. “I don’t belong with them. I belong here, with you. All of you.”
“Yeah, we know that, too,” Ben said.
“That’s why we have these,” Vanya said, and she pulled something out of her pocket, holding it up in the air. It looked familiar, and Diego watched as his siblings each produced a similar slip of paper, one by one by one by one by one.
Plane tickets.
They were all holding plane tickets.
“Wait,” Diego said, trying to get his brain to compute these details in a way that made sense. “You’re coming with me? All of you? You’re coming to Mexico?”
Luther wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t shocked or pissed or anything else. No, Luther’s expression -- all of their expressions -- were ones of inevitability and certainty. Diego was sitting there, holding his breath, and the others have been just waiting for him to breathe.
The question really was why Luther -- why all of them -- had stayed now.
Even when Diego wanted to run far, far away.
They had followed him this far.
It was probably time for him to return the favor.
“Of course we are,” Allison said.
“I already have my passport!” Klaus enthused.
“Mine is forged,” Five said with an indifferent shrug.
“Fortunately I don’t need one,” Ben said.
“I’ve always wanted to visit Mexico,” Vanya said.
And Diego’s lungs were filling, so full they felt ready to burst.
“That’s the job of family,” Luther said. He tweaked his eyebrows knowingly. “Isn’t it?”
Diego looked at them again. He looked at Luther’s stupid smile and Allison’s done up face. He looked at Klaus jittery frame and Five’s fingers curled around a coffee cup. He looked at Ben just solidified enough to sit on a chair, and he looked at Vanya, sitting there like she’d been there all along.
This time, he exhaled, the oxygen coming out in a hot, ready burst. He smiled. “Yeah,” he said, fingers holding the ticket tighter now. “It is.”