[28] snow in texas

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chapter twenty-eight: snow in texas

As the former Umbrella Academy members drove up to Sissy's farm they were all shocked, to say the least. For starters, the farmer was covered in a small layer of snow which was unheard of in Dallas, Texas. And secondly, there was a giant blue vortex coming out of the barn.

"You think whatever is going on inside is causing the cold front?" Diego asked as they all clambered out of the car.

"Well, the correlation is high," Five said as he helped his girlfriend out of the car. The girl suddenly wished she had worn a jacket or anything with sleeves since they were now standing in the middle of a mini snowstorm.

"Sissy! Sissy!" Vanya called as she ran towards the woman. While that was happening Five noticed how Nova hugged her arms close to herself and shivered slightly.

"Here, Nove, take my blazer," Five said as he took off his blazer and helped the girl put it on.

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Nova asked, concerned and the boy shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, darling," Five said as Nova leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Get back! All of you get back!" Sissy yelled pointing her shotgun at the group.

"Hey! Hey! What's wrong?" Vanya asked the woman who had a crazed look in her eyes. Five angled himself protectively in front of Nova even though she couldn't be killed by a bullet.

"Carl," The woman said shortly.

"What did he do to you?" Vanya asked the woman worriedly.

"He's... he's dead," Sissy stuttered. "Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, the same way you sent those policemen flying. What did you do to him? What did you do to my son?"

"We don't have time for this, Vanya," Diego said as he started forward but Sissy moved her gun so the barrel was pointed at the man.

"Where you think you're goin'?" Sissy growled.

"To help your son," Diego said calmly.

"Sissy, I found my family. These are my brother's, my sister, and my brother's girlfriend," Vanya said as she gestured to the group of people behind her.

"Ma'am," Luther said with a small wave to Sissy.

"Were you lyin' to me this whole time?" Sissy asked Vanya.

"Of course not. Look I didn't know who I was but I do now. We're not the monsters that they say we are. We did not kill the president. We are not terrorists. Diego is not Nova's dad and we're not here to hurt anyone," Vanya said to the woman.

"Then who are you?" Sissy asked.

"The only one who can help Harlan," Vanya said and the woman nodded. Hurriedly they all followed her into the barn.

"Holy shit," Five breathed as they all stared at the boy surrounded by a swirling vortex of energy.

"Harlan! Harlan, it's me, Vanya!" Vanya yelled over the noise. "Look I know you're scared but I can help you. I need you to listen to me ok? Can you do that?"

Nova watched in fear and fascination as Vanya's eyes turned white before she stepped into the vortex with a convulsing Harlan. Five's grip on the girl's hand tightened as they both watched the scene in front of them unfold.

"Uh, guys," Klaus says from the other side of the barn.

"What?" Nova asked as she turned and walked towards the man. Her eyes widened when she saw the Handler and Lila standing in the field.

"Ah, shit," Diego groaned as he walked up behind her.

"Who the hell are they?" Klaus asked.

"One's the Handler and the other is Diego's girlfriend," Five answered and Nova noticed that the others, minus Vanya, were now watching too.

"Lila, my ex-girlfriend," Diego corrected.

"You know what it doesn't matter they both look angry," Luther says.

"Yeah well, our brother has that effect on people," Allison said and Nova wasn't sure if she was referring to Five or Diego but the girl guessed that she was probably referring to both of them.

"I'm going to find out what they want. The rest of you should stay with Vanya and the kid," Nova said as she hurried out of the barn. She really hoped this didn't have anything to do with her deal with the Handler.

"What do you think they want?" Diego asked as he and Five caught up with the girl.

"One of us probably pissed them off," Five shrugged as they neared the two women.

"I love the smell of fresh country air, what about you darling?" The Handler asked her daughter.

"Makes me want to vomit," Lila grumbled.

"What do you want?" Five asked.

"To watch you suffer." Lila snapped at the boy.

"What about me?" Diego asked in a hurt voice and the woman just glared at him before rolling her eyes.

"You're not even worth my wrath," The woman scoffed.

"Easy, we're here on official business," the Handler said.

"And what business is that?" Nova inquired as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the Handler.

"As head of the Commission, I've decided to eliminate the criminals responsible for the assassination of the former board of directors," the Handler said as Nova's eyes widened.

"Yeah, right," Diego laughed.

"We didn't kill the board members," Five growled and the Handler just smirked.

"Oh mija, you didn't tell them?" the Handler cooed and Nova glared at the woman as she seethed with anger.

"What is she talking about? Nove?" Five asked the girl with concern in his eyes.

"Nova, what the hell did you do?" Diego asked her and the girl bit her lip as she thought about the best way to approach this. She figured the cat was already out of the bag so she might as well just be honest about it.

"I made a deal with the Handler. In exchange for a briefcase I had to take out the board of directors," Nova said quietly as she glared at the Handler. She wouldn't dare glance over at Five. She didn't want to see the disappointment on his face. "I did what I had to do to get our family home until somebody reneged on our deal."

"Well somebody wouldn't have reneged if somebody could meet a simple deadline," the Handler countered.

"You set her up to fail," FIve growled angrily and the Handler just rolled her eyes.

"She set herself up to fail. Oh mija, You and your desperate attempt at a family. Kind of the running theme of your lives isn't it?" the Handler chuckled.

"Dude, I can't believe you killed the board of directors! You have no idea how messed up the Commission is right now," Diego whispered to Nova who just crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Messed up? Who's saying that?" The Handler asked.

"Everybody!" Diego snapped. "Christ, even the janitors think it's going to shit."

"It makes sense a killer would fall in love with another killer," Lila snapped and they all turned to her confused.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Five asked Lila in annoyance.

"Don't play dumb you prepubescent piece of shit," Lila growled.

"Enough the point is, all of you are going to die today," the Handler said as she set down her briefcase.

"Oh well, I don't like your chances because there are seven of us, two of you," Diego said with a smile, and the Handler grinned evilly.

"You know you're right. Let's change that," the Handler smirked, and as she snapped her fingers literally every single one of the Commission's assassins appeared. They filled the whole field with their navy blue suits and cartoon masks. Worst of all they all held very large machine guns.

"So, what do we do now?" Diego muttered as the teens looked at the crowd anxiously. Nova's hand quickly found Five's as she looked around nervously. The girl was convinced this was going to be the end of the road for them.

"Well, we got two choices: fight and die now or run and die later," Five said shakily as his hand gripped Nova's tightly. "Either way we're food for worms."

"Preference?" Diego asked and Five shrugged.

"I for one wouldn't mind a few more minutes breathing through the old windbags," Five said and a terrifying thought dawned on Nova.

The Handler didn't know that she couldn't die so she would probably torture Nova for eternity as a prisoner. Even worse was the knowledge that she was about to watch her family and the love of her life die horrifically painful death's without her.

"Yeah, a few more minutes together would be nice," Nova breathed shakily as she willed the tears not to form in her eyes.

"Alright let's get this over with shall we?" the Handler asked as she held up a red scarf.

"Run!" Five yelled as he began to pull Nova with him. The sound of millions of assassins screaming filled the air and Nova knew they were being chased. The trio did the only thing they could do. They ran.