27 March 2019

When Theodore awoke that morning, it was to the sound of his phone alarm telling him to get ready for school. Which was odd only in the fact that he'd slept straight through his obnoxiously loud alarm clock and the several bangs on the bedroom wall, telling him to shut it off. Eventually peeling his eyes open, it still took him a full minute to realise that he was in the parlour room of the Umbrella Academy and not home in his bed. When it did finally dawn on him, he awkwardly leapt from the couch, letting the throw blanket (he suspected Auntie or Nana had placed it on him at some point) to fall to his waist and tangle in his legs.

After fumbling to his feet, Theodore was met with the sight of his Gruncle Pogo slowly dancing with the mop around the shards of the vase he'd broken last night in a fit of rage. Embarrassment coloured his cheeks as he quickly folded up the blanket & placed it back on the couch before he paused for a moment to put his shoes back on before he darted out the door. He called out a quick apology over his shoulder as he passed and ran to the subway, intent on making it home in time to do a quick change of clothes and head off to school.

The sparseness of the apartment didn't even register as Theodore hurriedly hopped about, shoving himself into his uniform and chucking his things into his school bag before he hurried off to his work studies. It wouldn't be until later when he wondered where his mother had gone.

When he arrived at Meritech Industries—after checking in with his teacher for roll call—he made his way over to the receptionist where a playful scolding was delivered by Cindy, who suggested to the pink-cheeked teen, that maybe he should tidy himself up in the bathroom before handing him several files that needed to be sorted and put away. Slapping the manilla folder of files on the edge of the bathroom sink, Theodore set about splashing water on his freckled face and finger-combing his curls into some sort of tidy hairstyle. He spent another quick minute readjusting his rumpled shirt and redid his tie.

Next, he visited the vending machines on that floor for a makeshift breakfast. "Mmm…roast beef or turkey?" Theodore mused, as he pursued the cold sandwich flavours before him. "What do you think?"

"As long as it's not egg and bacon" Loren replied, the alien language in his head soothing the last remnants of Theodore's embarrassment.

"Okay—uh, let's go with the roast beef today" Theodore decided, slotting the correct change into the vending machine before punching in the combination number for the sandwich he wanted.

"And a Crunchy bar too!" Loren added as the sandwich fell to the compartment at the bottom.

"Alright" Theodore chuckled, adding some more change and putting in the next combination for the chocolate-covered honeycomb.

After pocketing the chocolate bar, Theodore then got to work quickly devouring the sandwich as he moved to the filing room where he could finally start his first task of the day. That was until a sight made him stop in his tracks. A businessman and woman were dressed similar two-piece black suit and ties (ones that he half-pie connected to the man in the pig mask on the subway last night—only they held red gasoline cans rather than briefcases) as they chatted with one of the many posters that lined the hallways. The stocky man wore a blue cartoonic animal mask that bore a horrifying grin (Theodore couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a chipmunk or a bear or both), whilst the giggly woman wore a playfully cute pink puppy mask. Are they…circus? He questioned.

"I dunno, but let's keep going just in case—there's something 'bout them I don't like" Loren replied.

That's probably because they're high. Theodore noted. It wasn't hard to see—the two seemed to be having a meaningful conversation with the insurance poster on the wall like it was an actual living person. Quietly skirting around the two, Theodore continued on down the hall towards the filling room, dropping his sandwich wrapper in a nearby bin as he did so.

Nodding a quiet greeting to the snooty Hemmings as he passed, Theodore slipped into the filling room and began to comb the aisles for the right cabinet. No sooner had he located and unlocked the cabinet, was the world turned on its head. "Do you smell that?" Loren asked, making Theodore pause in his task.

"Smoke?" Theodore sniffed, glancing about the glass-encased room as he tried to find the source. "But whe—?"

KABOOM!

The sudden explosion of fire shook the building to its core. Rattling G\glass walls and windows until they blew outwards, showering people in harmful shards. Terrified screams, hacking coughs and wailing echoed around him. Theodore barely registered the hand hauling him to his feet as he tried to clear the ash from his eyes and cough out the smoke stuck in his lungs. Loren fluctuated beneath his skin as panic set in and the Human Garde registered the roaring inferno around them. Adrenaline rushed through him like a raging river as a soot-covered and bleeding doctor hauled him to his feet and out through the broken door, dodging flames as they did so.

BRRRRRIIIING! BRRRRIIIIIING!

The ringing of the fire alarm sounded late—although it could have been the ringing in his ears, Theodore wasn't quite sure. Blindly following after the doctor, Theodore merged with the other survivors on their floor as they rushed towards the closest emergency exit. The next few moments were a blur to the teen, who coughed, hacked and retched his way down the stairs and out of the flaming building.

At one point, the group were met with responding firefighters coming up the stairs; a few carried on and others helped to guide the group outside to the waiting police and EMTs. One moment, Theodore had been standing next a filing cabinet on the fifth floor, and the next he was trying to hack up smoke-clogged lungs as an EMT fitted an oxygen mask over his face, while the building went up in flames behind him.

"This is Diego Hargreeves, you know what to do"

BEEP

"Hey Diego, it's Eudora. I've got your nephew here—he's fine, but the EMTs can't discharge him without a family member here. So if you could get off your ass, we're at Meritech Industries—oh, and don't wear your stupid knives"

It wasn't the first time Diego had arrived at a crime scene unannounced, nor was it the first time that Eudora had called him in to (privately) collaborate on a particularly nasty or difficult case. It was however, the first time (to his knowledge) that a family member had been involved—at least since his days as one of the six students in the Umbrella Academy.

The large black overcoat he was wearing overtop of his usual ensemble made him sweat like a pig, but as much as he knew that Eudora said she despised his outfit, there were only a select number of times she'd specifically requested he didn't wear it. Those times being when sensitive victims or subject matter were involved; in those times he knew he had to play by the rules least he be accused of something he (probably) didn't do.

Upon arriving at the crime scene at Meritech Industries, Diego easily pushed his way through the throng of media and ducked beneath the yellow police tape as he made his way over to where his ex-girlfriend & colleague stood next to the back door of ambulance, seemingly taking a statement from the person seated there. It was only once he got closer that he realised it was his rather sooty nephew.

Theodore sat on the back stoop of the ambulance with his legs dangling over the side and barely scraping against the concrete. His purple-trimmed school uniform was covered in soot & ash. What dust/soot and ash had been on his face had been half-heartedly wiped away, leaving little smudges here and there that bounced atop his freckles as he talked. Now and then, his chin would bump against the oxygen mask hanging around his neck and his hands fiddled with the edges of the emergency blanket someone had placed over him in the meantime.

Diego's concerned eyes trailed over the variously coloured band-aids that were plastered across Theodore's cheeks & forehead, to the barely-there scratches hidden beneath the mess which were deemed insignificant by the EMTs. Although he had not forgotten the confrontation from the night before, Diego couldn't help the worry that pinged in his heart when he saw his nephew sitting there. Nor could he fight the ghostly image of a young Ben garbed in mission gear imposing over the teen.

"Dora" Diego greeted, announcing himself as he pulled up next to the two, hallowing thickly.

"Diego" Eudora nodded, putting away her notepad and tucking the pen behind her ear as she did so. "Aren't you hot in that thing?" Her brows furrowed as she nodded to the overcoat he was wearing.

"No" He stubbornly denied, although he could feel the beads of sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

"Really?" Eudora quirked a brow, not believing him in the slightest.

"What happened?" Diego tried to ignore the hateful eyes of his nephew over her shoulder as said nephew slid the oxygen mask back into place.

"You know I can't tell you that, but the EMTs needed you to here to discharge him from their care" She sighed, turning to him with crossed arms.

"Why not call his mother?" He replied.

"We did—or we tried, weren't able to get in contact with her"

"What?"

"The kid mentioned something about a new boyfriend and family issues"

"Oh"

"Look, I need to get back to work. Just sign him out with his teacher and the EMTs"

"And where's his teacher?"

"Over there, with the glasses & duck tie" She nodded towards a middle-aged man fitting the description as he talked with another detective. "Try not to kill him"

Not two moments later—after talking to the equally sooty teacher—Diego found himself escorting Theodore back under the police tape and over to his car. At first Theodore had refused to get in, but the exhaustion clearly written on his freckled face showed that whatever adrenaline had been pumping through his system was finally coming down. Diego hadn't said anything at that point, even as the teen growled lowly, but gave in and slid into the back seat, slamming the door a little bit harder than necessary.

"Jesus!" Diego sighed, rolling his eyes skyward as he silently remarked on the stubbornness of teenagers before sliding into the driver's seat and tossing his overcoat into the passenger's seat beside him. He sat there for a moment, hands gripped on the steering wheel and eyes locked on the tired teen in his rearview mirror as he fought with himself over whether or not he would get any real answers out of his nephew about last night, or what had happened in the medical building. Anger roiled in his gut at how the teen had treated him after stating such a simple fact about Vanya—she was a liability, didn't he see that?—Anger that warred with his constant need to protect, to be number one. It was then, that said sibling's voice rattled through his head.

"You never know when to stop, do you?" Vanya's comment from the funeral floated through his head as he stared at Theodore's reflection, at the familiarly haunted eyes which stared out of the back seat window, seemingly lost. Eyes he'd seen in his siblings, eyes he'd seen when looking in the mirror, eyes he'd seen in Five whenever the Apocalypse was bought up or in Allison's whenever his niece was mentioned or…he could go on. The fact of the matter was, he knew those eyes and he hated seeing them on someone so young; they were the eyes of a haunted man, lost in his past regrets.

Diego tightened his grip on the steering wheel, letting a breath hiss out from between his gritted teeth before he restarted the car and drove off, this time knowing he had to stop in his pursuit. Normally he would've taken Theodore back to the academy for Mom to take care of him, but after the eventful evening the night before he knew it was no longer safe. There was only one other place he could think of.