Chaotic Good | the umbrella academy

TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE
' TO THINK IT
COULDN'T HAVE
GOTTEN WORSE . '

Eddie flopped onto the chair as she moved the plates across and kicked her legs up onto the table, crossing her arms. She gave Hargreeves a wide smile as she winked.

He sighed, folding his hands onto the table. '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-'

'-Hey, pops, how's it hanging?' Klaus asked as he lowered into a chair, sipping on a cocktail.

'-Dad.' Hargreeves did not speak for a moment before he sighed. 'My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so who are you?' Eddie let out a scoff, tucking some of her hair behind her ear as she glanced at Five. She gestured toward him with a small smile.

'We're your children. We're from the future,' Five stopped, grimacing.

Eddie pushed her feet off of the table as she leaned forward. 'You're going to have to listen, Hargreeves, and not ask questions until I've finished.' She left no room for argument as she began after waiting for a moment. 'In Nineteen-eighty-nine, you adopted eight children and trained them to fight against the end of the world, called us the Umbrella Academy.'

'But there's only seven-'

'-Nuh-uh.' Eddie wiggled her finger as she leant back. 'No questions.' Eddie glanced at the ground before continuing. 'One of us is dead.' Klaus shushed the air, and she smiled slightly. 'We all have special abilities.'

'Special? In what sense?'

Eddie sighed. 'Just one thing, I wanted just one thing,' she mumbled to herself.

'In the super sense,' Luther filled in.

'Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a stickler for a pesky thing called evidence. Show me,' he demanded.

'Everybody wants to see powers all of a sudden.' Allison took a large sip of her drink.

Eddie sighed, sharing a glance with Five before looking harshly in her sibling's directions. 'And I'd take you as a fool if you simply took our word-'

'-We're not circus animals, okay? We're not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap our hands like seals for your amusement.' Luther mockingly clapped his hands and Eddie closed her eyes, clenching her jaw. Diego launched a knife towards Hargreeves and curved it halfway.

'Why do I even bother?' Eddie shook her head as she kicked her leg over her knee, crossing her arms. She ran her tongue over her teeth with a heavy sigh.

'What are you writing?'

'You're zero for two, young man.' Diego jumped to his feet, glaring at Hargreeves with burning eyes. Five spatial jumped in front of Diego, preventing him from killing their father.

'Now that's interesting.'

Five sighed, moving back to his chair. 'All right, quick rundown. Luther: super strength; Klaus can commune with the dead; Allison could rumour anyone to do anything-'

'-Except she never uses it,' Diego butted in.

'I heard a rumour that you punched yourself in the face,' Allison retorted, taking a sip of her drink.

Diego launched his hand against his face and groaned, cradling it. Eddie's eyes flickered to Allison and gave her a small wink before they moved back to Hargreeves as his eyes landed on Vanya.

'Uh, maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run.'

'Oh yeah, that's probably a good idea.'

Vanya shrugged. 'It's fine. I can handle it.' Eddie squinted as she furrowed her eyebrows, sharing a glance with Five. Vanya picked up a spoon and hit it against a glass. The fruit began to float and then shake until the room went completely silent.

The lights flickered, and they all turned to face Eddie as her eyes glowed faintly. She blinked a few times, and the fruit dropped to their bowl and sound returned. She glanced down at her hand as it erupted into flames and she grimaced, shaking it out. It jumped across the table and fell into a glass of what she assumed was alcohol, judging by the outcome. It burst into flames before lowering into a blue hue as it consumed the fuel. She looked to Vanya, giving her a small smile as her sister shook her head.

'What is your ability, Mr Halen?'

Eddie's eyes flickered to his as she remained silent for a moment. 'Energy manipulation,' she replied. 'Look Hargreeves-'

'-We know you're involved in a plot to assassinate the president,' Diego butted in.

'For fuck's sake!' Eddie seethed, shaking her head as she looked away.

'You were recently hospitalized, correct? You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia,' Hargreeves challenged.

'Am I? Explain this.' Diego launched a file onto the table. 'That's you. Two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the president's gonna get shot.'

He picked up the photo, and his eyes flickered over it. They jumped to Eddie, but she was glaring at a wall with a fire burning within her eyes. 'Well, I suppose you've solved it. You've single-handedly, unearthed my nefarious plot.' Eddie remained quiet, shrugging to herself. 'Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you're a desperate man, tragically unaware of his own significance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning-'

'-That's enough,' Eddie spoke quietly, her eyes moving to stare at the table. Hargreeves glanced at her, opening his mouth before stopping, and lifting his chin. She was quiet for a moment before she shifted, glancing at Five with an emotionless face. 'We have a catastrophic war coming in five days.'

'We need to figure out how to stop it,' Five finished.

'War? Men will always be at war with each other,' Hargreeves dismissed.

'No, this isn't just some war. I'm talking about a doomsday. The end of the world,' Five corrected.

'Well, you're the special ones, aren't you? Why don't you band together and do something about it?'

'Because there's nothing we can do with thirty-five nuclear weapons flying at our faces. We might have abilities, Hargreeves, but we're not gods. No one could survive it.' She squinted at Klaus as he began to shake.

'Is he having a seizure?'

'Overdosing probably.'

'Should we do something?'

'I've had too long of a day to do CPR, someone'll have to substitute.' Eddie sighed, rubbing her eyes.

'Klaus! Now's not the time! What are you doing?' Klaus tried to form words as he shook before flopping.

'Well, thank you for coming. I've seen enough.' Hargreeves stood, nodding at Eddie. 'I expected more from this, Edward.'

'So did I,' she replied in a defeated tone. 'Sorry for wasting your time, Reggie.'

Luther erupted from his seat, slamming his hands on the table before ripping open his shirt. 'Look what you did to me! Look at it!'

'And to think it couldn't have gotten worse,' Eddie said aloud, not bothering to keep her voice quiet.

'Mr Halen, you in the culottes. A word, in private.'