Vide Noir | The Umbrella Academy

Ten

Chapter Ten:

Five and Diego bickered the whole way. Diego was mad because they both got to sit upfront, lecturing them about how kids weren't supposed to be driving cars, that they should leave the leading to him. Della made sure to make the seat belt dig into his stomach until he had trouble breathing, that seemed to shut him up.

"Seems empty." Della said when they got out of the car, she was peering through the dark windows before any of them were at the sidewalk. A giant umbrella was plastered in metal on the side of the building, the name in bold font on the top and bottom. "Good thing the work day ends at five, right?"

Diego snorted, "Do you ever stop talking?"

"You know, Five told me you had an attitude problem, it's worse than I thought."

"You say a lot for someone who can't even talk to me without looking all the way up."

"Mandar a alguien por un tubo." She glared, "Both ways."

Diego's eyes widened, "Did you just tell me to shove it?"

"Or send you down a tube." She added, "Whatever one works."

Five sighed, shaking his head.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Five said, "I just..."

Diego shook his head at her as he walked up to the door, slipping out a pocket knife. He knelt on the cement, picking at the lock. "How long has it been since you've seen the old man?"

"Forty-Five years."

"That's a trip."

"No kidding." Five sighed, "You know, when I was out there, stuck in the apocalypse, there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't hear his voice in my head."

"What was he saying?"

Della watched Diego hack at the lock, even dropping the knife clumsily. Did he realize how easy it was for either of them to open it? Five could pop in, or she could make the lock click open. She figured it was more for the small talk now, two brothers catching up after a long time.

"I told you so."

"Well, if dads here, he's never met you. So, he can't say that."

"I'm sure he'll find a way."

Della looked to Five, "Was it nice having a dad?"

He blinked, "What?"

She shrugged, flicking her eyes to the door where Diego still struggling. She nodded, the lock clicked open in the quiet nights air.

"I mean, what was it like having a dad? Or, I guess someone that you could call a dad."

"Terrible." Diego said, swinging open the door, "We were experiments."

"But you had a roof over your head?"

His eyes narrowed, "What are you trying to get at?"

Della shrugged, ducking under his arm and into the building. "Nothing, really. We just all had shitty childhoods, I guess. You all lived with a terrible father, Five was stuck in a future apocalypse and until I was twenty five I never knew if I was gonna find food before I starved or froze— you know what, it would be a lot easier to just blow up when the world does."

Diego pursed his lips, giving her a strange look. He turned to Five, "Where'd you meet her again?"

"Not important." He huffed, "What's important, is finding dad and asking him about what he knows."