Chaotic Good | the umbrella academy

TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE
' TWO  BROS CHILLIN ' 
IN   A   HOT   TUB  .  '

Eddie stared at the closet ceiling, her head resting against the back of the chair, breathing slow and heavy. A sheer of sweat covered her body, blood dripping from a gash on her cheek and her busted lip. Her eyes were blank - her best attempt to prevent dissociation was no match against the masked duo's determination to find Five.

They'd stuffed the siblings into a closet, and while they'd taped Klaus' mouth shut, they decided it made no difference with the state Eddie was in whether they did or not.

He stared at Eddie in concern, causing his eyebrows to furrow, the outline of her completely exhausted body nearly invisible through the darkness. She suddenly twitched, and she blinked slowly.

"Klaus?" she whispered.

He writhed against his restraints, whining under the tape.

"Klaus?" Eddie slowly picked up her head. She inhaled sharply, the movement unleashing the cascade of pain throughout her body, from her broken fingers to the bruises and cuts on her face to the throbbing of her throat. It hurt to speak and breathe. It hurt to exist.

She registered the darkness and Klaus' fear of it somewhere in her foggy brain. Then she detected Klaus' rapid breathing behind the tape.

She needed to be brave.

"Klaus, listen to me." Her voice was quiet, almost intelligible from the exhaustion layering it. "Just like old times, hey? When a dog sees its owner, their brain releases oxytocin. That's the same chemical released when humans are in love or bonding with friends," she paused, squeezing her eyes shut before continuing. "Snail teeth are the strongest natural material on Earth. They can withstand pressures high enough to turn carbon into diamond."

Klaus' breathing began to slow, but Eddie's eyes were no closer to focus.

"There's a legendary demon cat which is said to haunt the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The cat allegedly appears before major tragedies and was reportedly seen by the White House guards shortly before JFK and Abraham Lincoln were assassinated. Though the cat hasn't been seen in years, some say a set of paw prints on the floor by the Old Supreme Court Chamber are proof of its existence."

Eddie inhaled choppily, tears brewing in her eyes as she continued to fight the fuzziness.

She needed to be brave. Her brother needed her.

\_|_/\_|_/\_|_/

Eddie had forced her emotionless face on as soon as she'd heard the door open. The masked duo hauled them out of the closet without their masks on.

"Jesus, put the masks back on," Klaus spoke as soon as he saw them. The woman struck him while the man hit Eddie.

"Hey!" she protested. "I didn't say anything!"

"Well, technically, we want your brother and is your brother here now?"

Eddie sighed. "How many times do I have to say he's not coming for you to understand he's not coming? Do you really think our siblings care enough to notice our absence?"

Klaus nodded in agreement.

Sure, they'd faced the siblings individually, but together? Well, they had their work cut out.

"Guaranteed," Klaus continued. "If they, firstly, knew we were gone - let alone care about it - you wouldn't even have gotten to this shitty motel."

"Secondly, you picked the worst of us to take. You should have taken Allison, and then Luther would've come running. Hell, Luther would have come running for Diego, too. You chose the one sibling Luther and the others wouldn't risk anything for, and the other sibling that no one would even notice had left." Eddie leant forward as much as her restraints would allow. "And guess what? You're stuck with us, and we're easily the most annoying ones! Right, Klaus?"

"Right, you are!" They let out bubbles of laughter, smiling widely at their captures.

"Well, Number Five knows now. We left him a message. And when he comes for you, we'll be ready."

"Don't say we didn't warn you," Eddie sighed in reply.

The two kidnappers switched off the lights and moved away.

Klaus huffed. "You know what they remind me of, Ed? You know that thing? 'How do you know what's good for me?'"

"That's my opinion!" she finished his reference, which caused them both to erupt into laughter. "Wait, are they in the bathroom?"

"Two bros... chillin' in a hot tub, five feet apart 'cause they're not gay!" Klaus sang as Eddie joined in after a moment.

The woman poked her head out of the bathroom and pointed her gun at them. She shot, and it just missed Klaus' legs. He let out a small screech as the assassin glared at them. "Keep singing, and I'll actually aim next time."

Eddie bit her lip as she trembled. Her eyes watered before she burst out, "This is why mum doesn't fucking love you!" Klaus wheezed with laughter while Eddie threw her head back, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The two kidnappers stormed out of the bathroom, both holding tape as they sealed their mouths closed. "God, you're both insane!"

Klaus began to speak under the tape, and the woman groaned, glaring harshly at him. She pulled it off and raised an eyebrow. "You know what? I'm about to say it."

The two assassins furrowed their eyebrows, and tears cascaded down Eddie's face as she tried to contain the laughter filling her. "What?"

"I don't care that you broke your elbow." The sound from Eddie couldn't be deemed human, and she stamped her feet on the ground to try.

The woman struck Klaus with her gun and covered his mouth with the tape again. She grabbed Eddie's hands and clenched her fist around her broken fingers, causing a scream of pain to escape her taped mouth. "Continue, and I'll move on to breaking more indispensable limbs," she growled before following her counterpart into the bathroom.

Eddie trembled, body shaking with the pain radiating through her body, short gasps leaving her mouth as she grappled with the pain and the panic which crawled back through the defences she'd built.

She just had to be brave.