Chaotic Good | the umbrella academy

TWO

CHAPTER TWO
' AN ANGSTY SHIT BAG . '

Eddie's eyes flickered over the surroundings as she moved through the city. The highrises she'd come to love were still there, but she knew if she looked hard enough, she'd find differences. She stopped in front of one, the glass building reaching towards the sky and a frown formed on her face. Before dwelling on it for too long, she turned on her heel and continued through the busy streets. Her eyes fell on a park, trees blooming in the centre of smoke and pollution.

Shoving her hands into her pockets, she followed a path and picked up the chatter she recognised easily.

"Luther, how many fingers?" Klaus asked.

"Oh my God, Eddie," Luther looked away from Klaus and towards Eddie with a bloody smile.

"I'm alive, don't wet yourselves," she replied, stopping in front of them.

"Apparently, so is Ben," Klaus added.

"Yeah," Allison added. "And he's a complete dickhead."

"They're all dickheads," Diego corrected.

Luther grunted. "Dickheads who can fight."

"Okay, next person to say "dickhead" is getting a punch to the throat," Five snapped.

"Dickhead," the rest of the siblings deadpanned in reply. 

"Hey, did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?" Diego looked at Klaus.

He laughed, sitting forward in anticipation to tell the siblings his findings. "He sure did! You ready? Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so that he didn't have to raise us."

"That's just peak Dad," Diego replied.

"Isn't it?" Luther agreed.

Vanya shifted. "So he just didn't want us anymore?"

"Did he ever?" Allison asked with a scoff.

"See?" Luther sat forward. "I told you we shouldn't have asked him for help in '63."

Five sighed. "I think you're all missing the big picture here. If Dad didn't adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline. So who knows what else is different now."

Allison looked at him. "Shouldn't you know?"

"Sorry, Allison, but it might take me more than 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this all out. Is that okay with you?"

"No, actually, it's not."

Eddie sighed, falling onto the bench next to Vanya, who glanced at her and began, "Guys, look, it's fine. We still have the Commission's briefcase, so worst case, we can just go back in time and fix it."

Klaus snapped his fingers at Vanya. "Great."

Eddie let out a small chuckle, and Five glared at her. "Okay. There are two problems with that statement. First off-"

"-Here we go," Klaus mocked.

"Time travel is a complicated thing, people."

"Yeah, we get it. Your job is so hard," Luther groaned.

"Just... what?" Diego snapped.

"And secondly..." Eddie sang as she relaxed on the bench, sun catching her face. "We no longer have the briefcase."

"Five," Allison got to her feet. "Where the hell is the briefcase?"

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