You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 1

Chapter 10: Invading the Safe Place

        "Mina?"

On instinct, I chucked the book in my hands toward the doorway, trying to hit whoever was there. I didn't stop to think about the fact that the only people here who knew my name were my siblings. After yesterday, I kept worrying those guys in the masks were gonna show up again, and I didn't know how I would explain them to the others.

"Jesus Christ!" Thankfully, Allison jumped out of the way in time.

"Oh, shit." I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. "Sorry, Allison, I thought... Actually, I don't know what I was thinking." She picked up the book and started toward me, holding the now-projectile out to me.

"You're fine. Today's been... tense."

"That's one way of putting it," I laughed. "I will never understand that whole dynamic between Luther and Diego. It's like they're just ready to start a fight with each other."

"They need to fight in order to prove their masculinity, because of course, that's so important," she deadpanned. We both stared at each other for a second, then burst into laughter, thinking about just how ridiculous our brothers could be. "How are you holding up?" I took a breath, stilling my laughs before attempting to answer her.

"I don't know. Everything's so confusing, I'm just trying to make sense of what's been thrown at me these past couple of days." I shook my head, smiling. "Then again, what did I expect when the famous Umbrella Academy golt back together?"

"The fact we haven't killed each other is testament enough to the fact we've changed." Allison reached an arm around my shoulders. "Still, you... I mean, I think it's no secret we were all worried about you. Things when you left--"

"--weren't great," I finished. "Yeah, I know. It was fine for a while, after everyone came back together, but now I'm just freaking out again. I don't know what I'm gonna do." Frustrated, I flopped back on my bed, staring up at my blank ceilings. It was pretty boring when compared to Allison's room, who had demanded her walls be painted pink and completed with posters.

Surprisingly, instead of getting up and leaving, she leaned back and looked at me, smiling.

"You'll figure it out. You've always kept Five and Klaus in line, I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with them." After a moment, she pat my arm, then sat up and started to walk out. "I'm going to find Luther. We'll talk about dinner later, okay?"

"Okay." Of course that's what she was doing.

I wasn't sure how long I had been laying there, staring at the ceiling and mentally attempting to sort things, when I heard more footsteps out in the hall. Whoever it was, they moved slowly, stopping every few seconds, about where our doors would be. I didn't recognize the walking pattern.

Curious, I got up and slowly stepped into the hallway, looking around in an attempt to find the source. I froze in place when I heard the sound of a gun cocking, and slowly, I turned my head down the hallway. My heart rate spiked at the sight of pink and blue masks, right above those same, dark-blue suits.

How the hell did they find us?

I whipped around as I heard more steps behind me, widening my eyes and flicking my hand across my neck as I met eyes with Diego. He slowed down a little, but still made his way over to me-- exactly what I was trying to prevent. His eyes wandered down the same hallway, and right as he spotted the masked hit men, they began to fire at us. As we ran, parts of the wall around us exploded out, shooting splinters out and onto the floor. Diego halted for a second, removing two knives from that stupid belt thing and throwing them in the intuders' direction. He followed me around the corner, and we both pressed ourselves against the wall, waiting for them to get a little closer. The moment the bigger one came around the corner, Diego lunged for him, while I went for the smaller one-- the one that was supposedly a woman. When I tried to kick her in the head, a throbbing pain suddenly overtook my foot.