Missions were always dangerous, some more than other's.
So it shouldn't be too surprising that Diego wasn't the only one with scars marring his skin.
Five had been missing almost a year now and the Umbrella Academy were still struggling to adjust. Number Five was an integral part of their team dynamic, they all were, well maybe not so much Klaus as he usually found himself on look out duty. His absence, meant the team had to readjust, they didn't have him to zip around and take care of those who managed to slip past anymore, or jump to those on the far side of the room and take them out while the others focused on closer targets.
As skilled as Diego was he could only throw so many knives at once, which put a lot more pressure on him know that he was their solo ranged member. Sure Luther could toss objects across the room too but his precision was nowhere near as good as his brother's. It meant one less set of eyes to watch their backs and their surroundings.
Which was how they ended up where they were now, in an old warehouse taking on an armful of thugs. Allison had rumoured one of the men into restraining two of his allies, tying them to one of the sturdy structural beams near the entrance. Before Luther knocked the man out and tied him up next to them. They had then moved as a team through the building Diego and Luther doing most of the fighting, while the other's help where they could. They were at the back of the building now, Allison currently tying the hands of one of the men Luther downed behind his back, as Diego used his knives to keep others at bay while Luther was busy fending off two of his own.
Klaus, like usual was on look out. Perched on the catwalk of the second floor, overlooking the open level below where his siblings fought, Ben staying quiet in a corner until he was needed. He was lighting a blunt, which he usually never did on missions, because he had to be sober and alert. But the spirits screeching in his ears today were making it increasingly harder to concentrate, he only planned to muffle their screams. So he didn't see the enemies back up arrive until they had already flooded into the loading bay behind his siblings.
"Shit! Guys look out!" He called frantically, watching as the other's ducked for cover just in time to avoid the gunfire sent their way. Diego and Luther pinned behind old shipping creates across the room from each other as Allison managed to duck into some sort of office room on the far wall of the loading bay. Shit, shit, Klaus swore to himself, forgotten blunt slipping to the metal floor beneath him as he clung to the railing trying to make sure the other's were all safe.
"Ben!" Luther called over the gunfire. The men had yet to even notice Number Six hidden behind a structural pillar in the corner on their flank.
"I can't." Klaus heard his brother reply as he was closest, though he doubted the other's had heard over the racket. He sounded scared. He'd never used his power out in the open in front of everyone before, and Klaus new it was because he feared the monster lurking with in him, feared it could hurt those he loved.
"Ben!" Both Luther and Diego were shouting now. Number Two had the compact he'd swiped from Allison in hand trying to line up a shot as Number one tossed a smaller crate into the group of men. Making a mad dash to dive into the office Allison was stranded in, effectively drawing the attention of most of the armed men. Klaus stumbled back, hazel eyes widening as one of the men turned his weapon's aim up at him, he didn't have cover on the narrow catwalk.
"Klaus!" Diego yelled, rounding the corner of his cover lining up the knife in hand, only a thick dark tentacle, wrapped around the man and tossed him across the room before the thug could pull the trigger.
Another man cried out in horror as the boy who now had a mass of long powerful tentacles whipping around his body, stepped before them. The long limbs tearing through the group and flinging men like rag dolls, a couple opened fire and Klaus flung himself at the railing, calling his brother's name in worry as a bullet hit Ben's shoulder.
The pained and angered cry that drew passed Ben's lips didn't sound entirely his and the tentacles shot out with new vigour, whipping violently at anything that moved. Lifting crates and flinging them around the room, as they ripped men limb from limb.
"Ben stop!" Diego called, shouting in horror at his brother who was perched above the tangle of violently lashing appendages. "Klaus! Get out of there!"
His warning came too late however, as a long tentacle lashed through the catwalk where Klaus is standing, bringing the metal structure crashing down, with a screech of metal. Diego only just managing to dive out of the way as another crashed down, cracking the cement right where he'd been standing. Hearing Luther and Allison's frantic calls as he scrabbled for cover as one appendage crashed through the brick wall, another swinging into one of the buildings support beams. With an echoing groan of twisting metal and cracking of brick and glass a large chunk of the building came crashing down around them.
Klaus let out a small ruff groan as he slowly blinked his eyes open to a hazy world of dust and debris, his ears were ringing and his head was pounding. Squeezing his eyes closed to block out the light, he slowly lifted his right hand to his temple, trying to subdue the pressure building under his skull. Christ, he didn't even remember drinking last night, no wait they were on a mission. He blinked his eyes open once again, he was pretty sure the building was still standing last he recalled.
Ben! His brother was fighting off a group of armed men alone. Granted he was a wicked weapon of monstrous flailing tentacles, but he was under fire and had taken a hit. He moved to push himself up from the rubble to look for his brother, only to cry out in agony as fire erupted in his chest. He stilled immediately, drawing in struggled breaths through grit teeth as the pain continued to flair throughout his entire left side. His chest felt tight, it felt like he could barely draw a half-breath, let alone a full one.
A cough tore itself from his throat sending new waves of torture through his nerves, and he took a moment to regain his breath before moving again. Slowly and carefully lifting his right arm, his left was out of action, even the slightest twitch sending stabbing pain throughout. Gently running his fingers over his chest, he hissed in a breath as he hit a bump, the light touch sending a simmering burn around the area of the lump. Please be a rib, please be a rib. He chanted in his mind as he slid his fingers under his side, just below his shoulder blade. The agonising thunder that zapped through his nerves as his fingers brushed something rough and metal, had his lungs seizing.
His hand darted back away from the wound, fingertips painted red as a sob escaped him. Tears swamping his vision as he focused on trying to get his breathing back under control. "Ben!" He tried calling for the brother who had been closest before the building came down, except his voice barely cracked over a whisper. Resulting in another fit of coughing that had him avoiding further attempts.
He let out a frightened whimper as he resigned himself to wait for someone to find him.
"Klaus!" Diego's voice sounded through the ringing, and he turned his head to find his brother rushing to his side. "Klaus come on dude, we gotta find the others." His brother said frantically, grabbing him by the arm to try and help pull him to his feet.
Klaus opened his mouth to protest, to try and warn his brother, but the blinding pain that shot throughout his body tore a scream from his throat instead. Diego stopped pulling at his brother instantly, as Klaus batted at him weakly with his right hand as he sobbed and whimpered.
"I-I ca-can't... Can't" He gasped out, struggling to breath through the agony, wrapping his arm gently around his chest, hand spread over his left side in an attempt to somehow relieve the pain. "Can't move."
"What, do you mean? W-what's wrong?" Diego asked, eyes scanning over his brothers frame. The scraps and bruises were to be expected, considering, but he was only just now realising how much paler than usual his brother was and the thin sheen of sweat that covered his face. His eye's then paused on the way Number Four was cradling his chest, hand wrapped protectively around his side.
Ignoring the other's whimpered protests, he carefully pried the arm away, using a knife to cut the front of his vest and popping open the buttons on his shirt, gently shifting it aside. He out a quiet curse as he spotted the protrusion under Klaus' skin on the left side of his chest, a darkening bruise already forming around it. He thought it was just a broken rib at first, and was about to tell the other to grit his teeth and bare it -it wouldn't be the first time one of them had broken a bone. When he noticed dark red staining his brother's shirt from underneath and realised the injury was probably a lot worse than it looked.
"Shit." He cursed, shifting a little so he was closer to his brother. "Hey, I'm going to have to try and get a better look okay." He informed gently shifting his hands to Klaus' side as his brother muttered out pleas of protest between sniffles and strained breaths. But he had to try and get a look at his brother's injury to better access the situation.
He instantly regretted it though, the protrusion shifted under pale skin as he tried to lift the slender boy's side to get a clearer look. Diego was used to gore, he'd seen plenty of blood and broken bones in his life, but seeing the jagged lump shifting under Klaus' skin and then the pain stricken cry that accompanied it was enough to make bile rise. The wet cough his brother let out afterward, that left little flickers of red across thin lips was enough to stop him trying to shift the other again.
"Klaus! S-shit, I'm... I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He apologised, hands shifting unsure of how to help his brother. "Hey, its okay. Its okay." He assured, brushing Klaus' hair from his dampened forehead, before calling over his shoulder for help. "Ben! Ben!.. Lu- uther! A-a-anyone!"
"Diego!" A voice called back, and he looked over his shoulder to find their sister crawling from the rubble that was once the door frame to the office she and Luther had been in.
"Over here!" He shouted back, Luther was close on her heels, catching Allison by the arm when she stumbled on the mess of brick and rubble littering the floor. A soft cough from behind had Diego turning his head to find Ben watching frozen from where he stood. Covered in dust and dirt, scrapped and bruised like the rest of them, trembling hands covering his mouth and his skin almost as pale as Klaus'.
No doubt Number Six blamed himself, but the whole mission had been a disaster from the start. Ben wasn't use to doing his thing so close to his siblings, he always made sure he was either at a safe distance or in a contained area. Yeah Klaus was hurt, but they'd likely all be full of lead if Ben hadn't let the monster out.
"Is everyone okay?" Luther asked, as he and Allison drew closer.
"Klaus is hurt. Bad." Diego informed turning his attention back to the brother laying in front of him. His hand was still running calmingly through his fringe, though Klaus' face was still scrunched in pain. The rattle in his chest was getting louder and Diego could swear his lips were starting to tinge on the side of blue under the smears of red. "I think he landed on a rebar or something, its in his chest."
"Shit." Luther swore, "We have to get him back."
Klaus let out a murmured plea of "No, no no no, p-please." Between tears and rattled breaths, as Luther moved to lift him.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing." Diego growled at the blonde, pushing Luther's hands away from the injured boy. "You can't just move him, if the rebar comes out it could end up doing more damage."
"Well do you have a better idea, because we can't just leave him here." Number One shot back, slapping the other's hand away.
"Yeah, cause ripping him up off the piece of metal embedded in his chest is such a brilliant idea." Number two bit back, getting to his feet in challenge as he stare his brother down. "Do you know how much pain that will cause him. We don't know the extent of the damage its caused."
"You'd rather leave him here to bleed out or suffocate, while we wait for help to come!" Luther snarled, the two in each other's faces as they so often ended up.
"Stop! Both of you!" Allison shouted. Their hot headed brother's going at each other's throats wasn't helping anyone. Especially not Klaus, he was struggling enough to draw in air and his growing panic was only making it harder.
"Klaus. Klaus, look at me." She said, cupping her brother's face as the other two finally simmered down, drawing his waning focus to herself. "Hey." She smiled softly down at him, despite the tears in her eyes, she wasn't expecting the smile to be returned, though her brother tried. "I heard a rumour, Klaus. I heard a rumour that you're going to go to sleep, and you won't wake up until you are back safe at home."
She watched in relief as the pain and tension left her brother's features as his eyes slipped shut. Because Luther was right they had to get him back and that meant moving him. But there was no way they could do that without causing Klaus immense pain while he was still conscious. Diego's intense dark gaze had turned to her, she knew he strongly disapproved of her using her powers on her siblings, but he also couldn't argue that this wasn't necessary.
Luther moved then, carefully sliding his arms under Klaus' body before Diego had the chance to attempt to stop him. Allison held no doubt that the sound made as their brother was lifted off the metal bar and the quiet tortured mewl the unconscious Number Four made, had her brothers stomach's churn just as much as her's did. Seeing the jigged rebar slicked with Klaus' blood was too much though and she had to avert her gaze, her eyes catching on Number Six who still stood frozen in horror a couple meters away, silent tears trailing down his cheeks.
"Ben." She called softly as she made her way over to him, careful not to trip on the lose brick and metal beneath her feet. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders as she reached his side, ignoring the way Luther and Diego were starting on each other again. Even as Number Two held his tie to the wound on Klaus' back to stem the bleeding, griping that his breathing was worse now he'd been moved.
"It's okay, Ben. He'll be okay, but we gotta go. We have to get him home." She reassured, gently guiding him to follow. It was moments like these, scrapped and bruised, covered in dust and surrounded by rubble, one brother injured and another obviously blaming himself. That she envied Vanya for being ordinary, being normal and getting to miss out on all of this.
He didn't want to wake up, he was warm and comfortable but the screaming was getting louder. It had been so quiet up until now and he wished it could just stay that way. He couldn't remember the last time the ghosts had been had been that quiet, actually yes he could, when he had broken his jaw a couple of years back. When he had first discovered that drugs could muffle their cries and washed them from his vision. He must have been on the good stuff again, hospital grade drugs always worked best.
Blinking open his eyes -because he knew the chances of him getting back to sleep now were slim- to find himself tucked up on a bed in the medical room. Yep, he'd definitely been on the good stuff. Lets see... They had been sent out on mission, they were in an old warehouse and he was lighting a blunt- god he was in for a world of pain if father found out about that. Looking to get high while standing look out on a mission, what the hell was he thinking. But then that was it wasn't it? He didn't think, he rarely did, then again it's next to impossible to think when you have a dozen dead screaming in your ears.
It was the sharp pain that shot through his chest as he tried to sit up that had him recalling Ben and the catwalk he'd been keeping lookout from collapsing beneath him, falling, and landing on something sharp and pointy. Letting out a soft groan he reached his arm around his chest feeling the back of his bandaged ribs.
"Whoa, easy there." Number two's voice sounded and then there was a hand on his back, carefully helping him to sit up against the pillows. He hadn't even realised anyone else was in the room with him.
"Diego..." He hissed out a breath at the twinge in his side as he shifted to look at his brother. "So, how bad was it?"
"Skewered on a metal rebar bad." His brother replied, "A couple of shattered ribs and a punctured lung, lots of bruising. It wasn't pretty. You've been out for like three days now, though you where somewhat coherent yesterday for about an hour, but considering your question you obviously don't remember."
"And Ben? How is he?" Klaus asked, Their brother had been shot before the building came down.
"A bullet grazed his shoulder and he feels guilty as hell. Blames himself for loosing control of that thing inside him, even though no one else holds him responsible. He's spent just about every minute of his spare time in here watching over you with Vanya, he's currently in special training. He's been given extra training sessions for the next two weeks."
He could hear the soft notes of Vanya's violin from where she was currently playing it upstairs. He'd have to remember to thank her for looking out for him while he was out, when she came down next.
"That's completely unfair, its hardly Ben's fault, he was being shot at by half a dozen bad guys. He didn't exactly have many other options." He huffed, Ben totally didn't deserve to be punished for what happened.
"Try telling Dad that." Diego scoffed back, before giving his brother an angered, exasperated look. "Oh, you'll be joining the extra training train once mum clears you from here. Luther found your joint Klaus. On a mission, are insane, what the hell is wrong with you. Dad was furious when he found out, so you'd better enjoy those painkillers while you're on them because he had Luther and Pogo do a sweep of your room and cleaned everything out."
No, no, no, no. God he hoped they didn't find everything, please, please don't let them have found the bag of weed in his shoe. It was his best hiding place, he'd found carving out the foam rubber under the insole worked wonders in stashing little baggies.
"Thanks Digs, I'm really looking forward to dad's visit now." He groaned sarcastically,he really hated Luther sometimes.
"Hey you get no sympathy from me, we all got an hour long lecture thanks to your habits. Followed by one of Number One's own nag sessions." Diego replied unapologetically, as he turned to leave the room.
"What, ditching me already?" Klaus pouted, he didn't want to be left alone just yet, the ghosts were always loudest when he was alone.
His brother just shrugged as he continued to the door. "Mum wanted to be informed when you woke up."
When mum came in a few minutes later to check on him Number Two hadn't returned with her. He relished in their robot mother's fussing as she brought him hot soup, fluffed his pillows and hummed to him. And may have played up the pain just a bit, so she would give him another dose of meds, to quiet the spirits back to a murmur. She eventually had to leave to start dinner for his siblings and he was just about to try and settle down and try to sleep some more while it was still peaceful, when Ben stepped into the room.
Dishevelled and sweaty from his training session, Number Six seemed to freeze in place as he realised Four was awake. Arms wrapping nervously around himself as he let out a sotf apology. "I-I'm sorry, Klaus. I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you."
"What? Sorry I can't hear you from all the way over here." Klaus replied, cupping his hand to his ear with a small hiss of pain. Okay, left side was still very tender.
Ben hobbled forward a little, still mumbling his apologies, his brother pretending to strain to hear until Number Six was close enough to grab. As soon as Ben was within reach, Klaus lent over snagging his brother's wrist with his right hand and pulling him in for a hug. "Ow, ow, ow." He bit out through clenched teeth, holding strong despite the burn in his chest, as Ben tried to pull back with another apology.
"You got nothing to apologise for idiot. You didn't stab a metal rod in my back and through my chest, I managed to do that all on my own thank you very much." He stuffing as much false pride as he could in that last part. Technically he did fall on it, making it his own doing in a way. Finally letting go of Six, as he helped him back into the soft pillows.
"I lost control, Klaus, I took out the half the building I could have killed you all." Ben stated, with watery eyes.
"And I was trying to smoke a joint. I'm pretty sure we both we both have issues." Klaus chuckled. "I was lookout and look where that got us."
"I wasn't exactly doing much at the time of the ambush, I could have kept a better eye out as well." Ben pointed out.
"Come on if anyone's to blame here it's gotta be Number One, he's supposed to be our mighty leader after all. He's supposed to lead us to victory not disaster." Klaus joked, tough he really didn't mean it, this wasn't any ones fault, not really, sometimes things just go to shit. "I don't know what it is but group dynamic just doesn't seem to gel like it did any more now that Five's gone. Who knew he was the glue holding our dysfunctional hero sandwich together."
"Wow okay, peanut butter, jam or really any actual type of sandwich topping would have made a far better metaphor, considering we are talk metaphoric sandwiches." Ben scoffed in reply, a smile finally working its way to his lips and some of the stress lifting from his features. "Maybe it's because he had the brain cells that made up for the ones Luther and Diego lack."
Klaus laughed at this, the sound causing Ben to show his own amusement, up until Klaus started coughing and finished up with a small "ouch". Ben opened his mouth to apologise once more only for his brother silence him with an accusatory finger.
"Don't you dare." He ordered, giving his brother a pointed look. "If you keep saying sorry you're going to make me feel bad, and mum always says smiles and laughter are the best medicine. Your guilt and apologies are counter productive to my recovery, so from now on only fun and positivity are allowed in here. Got it."
He gave his brother the biggest smile he could muster then, even though he knew his siblings all knew his smiles were rarely as innocent as they looked.