CHAPTER NINE

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"I DON'T know," Five admitted, responding to Diego's question, aimlessly throwing his coffee cup onto the floor behind him. It landed with a light thud. "Yet. But I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now."

"How is he connected to all of this?" Luther asked.

"It's kinda like the butterfly effect, right?" Freya piped up. "One small change in the timeline could fix or ruin everything."

"Precisely," Five told her. "It starts with something small, but each action leads up to one another."

"I feel like I'm in Men in Black," she mused.

"What's gonna happen?" Luther spoke again, his brows raised.

Freya leaned against the bar on her forearms, her hand brushing Diego's, but she hardly noticed as she tuned into the conversation.

"I don't know."

"Wait," Diego interrupted. "You just know his name? That's it?"

"That's enough," Five defended.

"There's probably dozens of Harold Jenkins's in the city."

"Well we better get looking then."

"I'm sorry, am I the only one who's skeptical here?" Allison asked. "I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about whats his name?"

"Harold Jenkins," Five repeated. "You know those lunatics in masks that attacked the house?"

"Oh yeah..." Klaus started sarcastically. "I think I remember them."

"Yeah," Diego agreed. "The ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk."

"I have a sexy scar on my back because of them, too," Freya nodded her head.

Five sighed. "Yeah. Them. They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back to prevent the end of the Earth."

"Wow, they suck at their job," Freya pointed out.

"Very funny," Five responded, giving her a sour look.

"The Temps what?" Allison questioned.

"My former employer," Five explained, sounding annoyed. "They monitor all time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen, happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. 'Protect Harold Jenkins.' So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."

There was a brief moment of silence, before they all began to bombard Five with more questions. The living room erupted into voices as they yelled over each other to get answers.

"Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?" Allison demanded once Five rolled his eyes and they all began to settle down.

"You know what else is insane? I look like a thirteen year old boy! Klaus talks to the dead, Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat, and Freya can control the elements. Everything about us is insane. It always has been."

"Okay, the last time we tried to stop this thing, we all died," Allison said, flaring her arms around dramatically as she spoke. "Why is this time any different? Why shouldn't I go home to my daughter?"

"Because this time you have me. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people. Including Claire," he added after a moment. Allison straightened from her stance, staring at him in surprise.

"You know her name?"

"I do. And I would like to live long enough to meet her."

"All right," Allison nodded. "Let's get this bastard."

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"I know this Jenkins guy has to have a record," Diego mused from the front seat of the car. The sound of the motor tutted quietly in the background as Freya stared out the window, peering around Allison's head so she could see the building in front of them better. "We gotta get our hands on this file."

"And your plan is to what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?" Allison questioned.

"I know the station like the back of my hands," Diego replied, watching something in his side mirror with narrowed eyes. "I've spent a lot of time inside."

"Handcuffed," the two girls retorted in unison. They shared a matching grin from the backseat, both high-fiving one another as Diego rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Here's the plan."

"Plan?" Five echoed. "I'm just gonna blink in there and get the file."

"No, that's not—you don't know the ins and outs of this place, okay?"

"I literally just did this yesterday," the other brunette boy cut him off.

"What?"

"My yesterday. Not your yesterday."

"Huh?" Freya asked. "There's different kinds of yesterdays?"

"You're all so naive," Five announced. "It makes my brain hurt."

"Listen, you are not going in there. I made a call. Like a leader. That's what a leader does. He leads."

"Take a shot every time he says the word 'lead,'" Freya mumbled to Allison, who lifted her lips up into a mischievous smile.

"We'd be drunk within minutes."

"Be careful, alright?" Allison ordered as the four of them stepped out of the car. Freya eyed the suburban house warily, and she stepped onto the sidewalk. "We don't know what Peabody is capeable of."

"Seemed harmless to me," Diego muttered. "He looked pretty scrawny."

"Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murderers," Allison replied as they made their way closer to the house. She gestured to Five who was walking next to her. "I mean, look at him."

"Thanks," he muttered dryly.

"Good point. So what's this guy want with Vanya?"

"I don't know. How about we ask him after we kill him?"

"Very morbid," Freya noted with a sarcastic thumbs up.

"I'm gonna burst through," Diego declared.

"Oh that's not obvious at all. I'm sure he won't notice the fact that the window on his front door was busted open. Maybe the broken glass shards on the floor will give him a hint."

"You know, it would be nice of people would just stick to the—" Five suddenly teleported away, cutting Diego off from finishing his complaint. He quickly glanced back to Freya, who was watching him with an amused grin. "What?"

"Nothing. Carry on."

Almost hesitantly, Diego lunged forward, breaking the window as he fell through into the house. The sound of glass shattering filled the air, and Freya rolled her eyes as she carefully climbed through the open hole in the wall. She narrowly avoided stepping on Diego, who was laying on the floor, and she curiously looked around the interior of the house.

"You know the door was unlocked," Five informed.

Shrugging off the remaining debris, Diego pushed himself up. "Yeah, well my way works just fine. Spread out," he ordered, beginning to limp towards the opposite direction. "Yell if you know...you're in trouble."

Five smirked. "Inspiring leadership."

"One of the best."

Freya continued to peak around the house for the next half hour, but she ended up coming short. Nothing seemed to be lying around, nothing was out of place. It was almost too perfect, actually. She noticed how there weren't any framed photographs around the house. No sign of any family, nothing of the sort. Freya thought it was weird, but besides that, she couldn't find anything.

"Guys," Allison's voice called from upstairs, making Freya straighten in alarm. "You need to see this!"

She rushed up the steps, Diego following closely behind her as they came to stop in front of an attic entrance. Reluctantly, she climbed up it. Freya had a deep hatred for attics. There was no reason behind why—they were just creepy as fuck.

"Holy shit," Freya mumbled, staring at the scene in front of her, shock written all over her features. Dozens of posters of the Umbrella Academy kids were crossed off, action figure faces were burnt in, and on the edge of the table, was a small framed picture of her and Diego sitting on a ledge of a bridge.

She felt her lips part as she continued to stare at it. They were about fourteen there. That had been the day before Diego kissed her. It had been the day before everything changed between them. Diego went from holding doors for her, to tripping her as she walked by. Diego's face was scribbled out, but hers was circled.

That only made the pit in her stomach grow deeper.

She could feel Diego standing behind her, he was so close she could practically feel the anger and confusion rolling off him. His presence was a reminder that she was still okay. It was weird, but having him so near made her feel.. Solid again.

"This was never about Vanya," Allison realized, turning to face the three of them once again with wide eyes. "This was about us."

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authors note:

rewritten as of 2/5/22