March 30, 1986

Once the communicator was tucked away Claire had flung herself down the stairs. She landed clumsily at the bottom of the flight before running. The rest of the halls were a blur to her, they just occurred one after another. She hadn't really even been sure where she was going; she just knew to stay in that direction. Everything would become apparent soon enough; she just needed to keep going.

When she heard the scream her mind came back to her. It was very definitely a female voice, possibly Vi. Of course, she had never heard her friend scream before so she wasn't one hundred percent sure. Still, it was the only thing she had to go on so she followed the echo of the shrill sound until she came onto a platform over-looking a large storage area.

She arrived just in time to see some odd looking man in a suit emit flames from his hand at her friend. Vi dropped to the ground and scuttled away. In all the fire and smoke she couldn't make out just where she'd run to. There were far too many places in that room to hide after all. Apparently the man couldn't figure it out either judging by his irritated expression. He lowered his hand but stood tensed.

"Where are you?" he laughed, although it didn't reach his eyes.

Almost casually he tossed a large knife up in the air, catching it and throwing it in turns. Very slowly Claire closed her eyes. She wasn't going to mess this up, not when her friend needed her. She didn't know who the hell the bastard with the knife and the fire was, but she did know one thing. He was about to get fried.

Stretching her hands out she exhaled slowly. Then she let the highest voltage she could go up to pump itself out of her hands. From the man's screams she knew it hit him, but she just let it flow. The smell of burnt flesh wafted to her nose but she ignored it and kept the power up. Only when he stopped screaming did she pull back.

As soon as she opened her eyes she saw his sizzled form on the floor. Both disgusted and satisfied she raced down the stairs into the area.

"Vi?" she called out, "I got him. Where are we? Some sort of storage area or-?"

"Get down!" Vi shouted.

Not able to see her friend she looked from side to side.

"Behind you!"

Whipping around she saw the blackened form get up. Watching in horror the skin and cloth stitched itself back together into a baby-faced man.

"Wonderful," he said, "Simply wonderful. Two for the price of one."

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.

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Across the complex the members of the Umbrella Academy stopped and listened to everything that had happened. Kraken finished with the person he who he'd just stabbed and grabbed his communicator out. He adjusted the dials on it, opening two channels.

"Space?" he asked, "Are you hearing what I'm hearing?"

"Only the little pixies," replied Séance.

"Affirmative," he replied, "Ben, where's the storage area?"

There were some frantic clickings on the lap top. They were only doubled when Jormungand voiced his threat.

"I've got it," he said, "Follow my instructions."

.

.

.

In shock she watched as he raised his hand. That voltage had once out electrified an electric fence, how the fuck could he still be alive? Nonetheless alive he was. Flames curled around his hand and Claire quickly tried to summon up some more electricity for some sort of defense. However, she was interrupted by a large loading tractor. Or, more specifically, a large airborne loading tractor that smashed into him and left a dent in the far wall.

Before she could even process what happened she felt someone grab her arm and pull her behind some crates. She had just enough time to notice it was Vi before her friend said;

"He heals. Big time."

"Did you throw the tractor?" she asked weakly.

Vi blinked at her.

"Uh, yeah," she said, "My powers are kind of…accelerating."

"How long have you-?" she started.

"All of two hours," Vi said, peering quickly in front of the crates, "I think the accident was some sort of catalyst. How'd you get here?"

"The Academy's helping," she said.

Vi raised her eyebrows.

"A team-up?" she asked.

"I guess so," Claire shrugged.

"Go figure," Vi said, "Guess the comics are right about some things. But really, that's not important now. He's going to be up in a few minutes."

Claire nodded. She couldn't be focusing on this stuff right now. Plenty of time to tell Vi about her father later. She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the instincts pounded into her from months of training with Kraken take over. When she opened them up again, she was ready to go.

"What are we dealing with here?" she asked.

"Teleportation, telekinesis, regeneration, and pyrokinesis," Vi said, "And that's just the stuff I know about. He could have some other shit hidden up his sleeves."

"That's great," Claire muttered, "Any plans?"

"Nope," replied Vi.

"Excellent."

"Well, I do have an idea how to kill him," Vi said, "But it's pretty gross."

Claire eyed Vi warily.

"How gross?"

"Damn gross."

"It can't be that bad."

"I think we have to cut him in half," Vi said.

"Horizontal?" asked Claire hopefully.

"Vertical."

"That's damn gross!" Claire exclaimed.

"Told 'ya."

Vi peered around the boxes again.

"We've got to figure out something. He's nearly out," she said.

Thinking hard Claire looked around the storage room for something, anything that they could use. Her eyes lighted on the large, criss-crossing metal beams that went across the ceiling. Quietly she assessed her power level, took into account the distance, and made a few other calculations.

"I've got a plan," she said, "It's a little rough, and it'll probably need some improvisation. Everything's probably going to go to hell with it though."

Vi turned back to her, amused.

"But that's when we work best."