Killer Queen

9.

< November 20th 1963 >

The Tiki Lounge felt creepier the longer that they were waiting for Reginald to arrive. They all took their seats at the table, Kate ensured that she was next to Diego because she didn't want him to lose his temper and knew how to calm him down. She had never seen his reaction to his father but knew from stories that this dinner was not going to end with fond memories and laughter. Five seemed more nervous than the others because he wanted real answers about the end of the world from their father but the others were more focused on standing up to him after years of being scared of what he would say or do. Now that they were adults and he was simply a past version of himself that they would never know, this was their chance to stand up to him.

"Alright, when dad gets here, I'll do the talking, okay?" Five checked with the others, hoping that they would agree with him.

"I've got a few questions for him myself." Diego said, his frown evident as he was not excited for this reunion but also wanted to stand up for himself.

"Hey, we don't want to scare him off." Five reminded his brother but Diego seemed to have his own plan for how the dinner would go. "He might be able to help us stop doomsday, get us home."

"No, Five, we need to figure out why he's planning to kill the President."

"This is a matter of life and death, you imbecile." Five snapped at his brother, not happy that they were both trying different motives with their father.

"Maybe we should take turns talking?" Vanya offered a solution, picking up a shell from the décor and holding it up. "Here, whoever has the conch shell gets to talk."

"Vanya, we don't have time for a debate, okay?"

"Maybe I should lead." Allison offered, taking the conch and ignoring what Five had said. "We all know I'm a better public speaker than the rest of you."

Diego rolled his eyes at her behaviour. "Okay, daddy's girl."

"Oh, jealous, Number Two?" She snapped back at him, knowing that it would annoy him.

"Hey, no more numbers. No more bullshit, we're Team Zero. We're all Team Zero."

"Uh, Diego." Luther interrupted his moment, pointing to the shell. "You don't have the conch."

Diego snatches the conch and throws it across the room angrily, Kate reaches for his hand and pulls him back to sit at the table because Reginald would arrive at any moment and they needed to look civilised to a certain extent. Allison sighed at her brother's actions, knowing that this dinner was not going to go to plan for any of them. "Classic."

The doors to the bar burst open and Reginald Hargreeves enters the room with a sense of urgency which the others watch intently. He has a stack of books under his arm and the siblings all take their seats, not wanting him to berate them like he used to when they were children. He didn't seem to be in a good mood which was expected because they hadn't made a good impression on him for every other time that they had bumped into him. "Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me, but you have on numerous occasions called me..."

Klaus interrupts his rambling to take a seat directly next to the man, holding a drink flimsily in his hand with a dazed expression on his face. "Hey, pop, how's it hanging?"

"...dad." Reginald finished, not happy that these adults that he had never seen before were calling themselves his children. "My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so, who are you?"