They couldn't escape the elevator fast enough once it stopped at their designated floor, a light ding signalling their arrival, the siblings tumbling out of the cramped space for much-needed air.
They walked out into what looked like a bar; a circular room that descended lower in the middle by a few steps. Above the steps was a sign that was meant to look worn-out and made from wood that read, 'Tiki Lounge'.
Reginald Hargreeves – the same man who wore nothing but three-piece suits and a bloody monocle – wants to meet for a secret, important meeting in a goddamn tiki lounge?
"All right, when Dad gets here, I'll do the talking, got it?" Five said, taking charge and walking forward with confidence.
"S'fine with me," Thea muttered, looking towards the bar with interest. The less she had to speak to their father the better, in her mind.
"I've got a few questions for him myself," Diego butt in and Five sent him a glower.
"Well forget it. We don't want to scare him off, alright? He might be able to help us stop doomsday – to get us home."
Thea watched Klaus head straight to the bar and followed suit, ignoring Diego's argument behind her. She leant over to peek at what concoction her brother was making and blinked at just how...colourful it was.
A blend intended to intoxicate, alright. Sign me up.
"Want anything, sis?"
She hummed, "Surprise me."
He nodded and began creating her own monstrosity of a drink, Thea watching his face closely for any signs of distress. She pursed her lips and came to a decision.
"Klausy..." she whispered, getting his attention. He paused in shaking the metallic cylinder and blinked up at her.
"You know, if you wanted to get drunk...really drunk, just for today, I wouldn't mind. Maybe it would help to take your mind off of things, just for a while."
He seemed surprised by her words but Thea was sure of her choice.
"Is that okay, Ben? I know we probably won't be able to speak but it's just for a while, right?"
If Klaus took her words to heart then she could see him capitalising on it and getting black-out drunk. Which meant no Ben for a while.
Normally the thought would upset her but after seeing Klaus' reactions to Dave, Thea felt like her brother deserved a little break. She'd keep watch over him to ensure he stayed safe, after all.
"Sure, love," Ben said and she could picture him smiling her way. "Besides, I can still see you, even if you can't hear me."
"Way to sound like a creeper, Ben," Klaus interrupted dryly and Ben coughed, arguing back.
"That's not-"
Thea giggled at their banter and quickly interfered, knowing they could go on forever if left unattended. Such children, honestly.
"Alright, alright. Don't start arguing now. There'll be plenty of that soon enough once Dad arrives."
Klaus sighed before knocking back his drink, sucking his teeth afterwards at the strength of it.
"Fuck, that's the spot," he moaned before making himself another one.
Thea grimaced and grabbed her own drink, intending on heading back to the table with the others.
"Come on, Klausy," she said and looked at the space beside her where she'd heard Ben's voice and still hoped he stood.
"Love you," she whispered and smiled when he said it back, her cheeks a little pink.
The twins hurried towards the round table to take their seats but Thea blinked when her arm was clutched and she was dragged into a seat almost opposite her twin.
She looked down and followed the arm to see Five, pointedly looking away from her, though his grip remained firm. Muffling her amused smile, Thea relaxed into her seat and looked at the table.
It was garishly decorated and once again, she questioned their father's reasoning for choosing such a...cheap place for a meeting.
Though, maybe that's his intention? Who would ever suspect Reginald Hargreeves of attending such a place? Especially with a bunch of misfits like us?
"Maybe we should take turns talking?" Vanya suggested to the earlier argument of who would be speaking to their father and she flicked her gaze around the room, in search of something in particular.
Her eyes finally landed on a large prop shell and Thea blinked.
"Here! Whoever's holding the conch shell gets to speak. That's fair, right?"
What is this? An episode of a kids cartoon?
"Vanya," Five stressed, his patience running thin. "We're not here for a debate. We don't have the time to waste."
"Maybe I should lead," Allison said with confidence, striding closer to come and sit in the empty spot beside Thea, a cocktail in her hands. "We all know I'm the better public speaker than the rest."
"Okay, Daddy's girl," Diego muttered and Allison sent him a sarcastic smile.
"Jealous, Number Two?" she stressed his old name and Diego's jaw visibly clenched.
"No more numbers," he said. "No more bullshit, okay? We're team Zero."
Thea blinked in surprise and looked up at Diego who had come to stand beside the table, arms crossed and pose confident.
"Zero? Does that make me team leader, then?" she asked with a bemused smile.
All of the siblings paused, Diego suddenly realising that Team Zero didn't just mean what he'd intended – wiping away all the scores and sticking at zero, nothing – but also referred to her own past name.
He sighed, covering his face with his hand in order to hide the embarrassed grimace on his face. "Forget it. I said nothing."
Thea's lips tugged into a smirk as she watched her brother try and hide his shame. "Or did you forget that, Mr No-more-numbers?" she teased.
Diego quickly bounced back, however, as stubborn as ever and pointedly looked away from Thea when he declared, "We're all team Zero – and no, sis, you're not team leader. No more numbers, remember?"
The 'you're not Number Zero anymore' went left unsaid.
"Um, Diego...you don't have the conch," Luther pointed out with a mocking smirk which caused the man's eyebrow to twitch noticeably.
Thea almost choked on her drink when she snorted at his smart-ass remark. Luther...could it be? You're finally gaining a sense of humour?!
Diego snatched the conch shell out of Vanya's hands and launched it across the room where it smashed against the wall, likely destroying a few of the paintings hung up, too.
"Classic Diego," Allison muttered, taking an exaggerated sip from her straw.
Before they could argue the issue any further, the door was opened with a flourish and in walked the man they had all been waiting for so anxiously.
Reginald Hargreeves.
Their father.
He walked in without any concern for the disruption they had been making or even giving them much care at all. He barely looked their way as he waltzed in, carrying a stack of notebooks in one hand and as usual, adorned in one of his lavish suits and the infamous monocle.
Thea didn't think he looked all that different from the last time she'd seen him as a kid, or even when they'd announced his death on the tv and shown a more recent photograph.
It was like Reginald Hargreeves only gained more pretension as he aged.
The siblings were silent as they watched their father stride into the room and take a seat with perfunctory class. He had unintentionally seated himself besides Klaus and thus, was directly opposite both Thea and Five.
This gave the girl an uncomfortably clear view of his face and expressions, not that she felt it would give her an advantage over their meeting. It was obvious to everybody here that Reginald Hargreeves was leading the momentum of their meeting, the atmosphere thick with tension.
The others who weren't already seated hurried to do so and finally, once everybody's chairs were tucked in and their hands clasped in front of them, the seating was as followed.
On Thea's left sat Five and on her right was Allison. On Five's other side sat Diego followed by Klaus while besides Allison sat Vanya and then Luther. Sitting in the middle of both Klaus and Luther was the man of the hour, Reginald himself.
Thea only realised once she felt the warmth leave her hand that Five hadn't taken his grip from her arm since he'd pulled her over to sit beside him and she blinked at the sudden loss.
She hid her discomfort over the entire situation by sipping at her drink, which allowed her to watch their father over the rim of the glass with subtlety.
When he finally spoke, his voice brought back all of the repressed memories of a childhood filled with orders, rules and too-high expectations. It was as commanding as ever and demanded your undivided attention.
"Not only have you burglarised my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me," Reginald began, listing of their many 'crimes' against him with increasing exasperation and frustration.
"But you have, on numerous occasions, called me...Dad."
The final word was said with utmost derision and disdain and Thea sucked her teeth to stop herself from launching over the table and strangling the man with her bare hands.
"Damn, really left nothing out, huh?" Klaus muttered with an amused smile but the man ignored him, still staring pointedly at the rest of the siblings.
"My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, nor KGB, and certainly not MI5. So, the question still stands," he said, clasping his hands together in front of him and eyeing them shrewdly. "Who are you?"
The question was so blunt and forward that it left them all a little speechless.
Allison opened her mouth as though to answer but then paused, frowning when she realised it was much more complicated than she'd first thought. Luther tried too, along with Diego but they both fell short at verbalising their thoughts.
It was only Five who mustered up the courage to answer, his thick brows furrowed as he stared straight at Reginald, unwilling to back down. "We're your children."
Thea wished she could have taken a photo of the man's face once he registered those words and feeling a little spiteful, she tacked on a little something of her own.
"From the future," she drawled, clenching her jaw when those beady, hawk-like eyes settled on herself for a fleeting second.
She felt Five grip her arm again from under the table – the action hidden from everybody else by the tablecloth – as he explained further.
"In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world," he began, pursing his lips when only silence was his response. "You called us the Umbrella Academy."
Reginald looked fit to burst; his brows furrowed and his lips pinched like he'd eaten something particularly foul. "Why on earth would I adopt seven-"
"Eight," Thea snapped before she could think better of it, pointedly ignoring the man's stare.
From under the table, Thea moved her hand ever so slightly so that, instead of Five gripping her wrist, their hands were clasped and fingers entwined.
His hands were warm and she took comfort from the grounding action, especially when they were all displayed so openly against the father – the one man capable of breaking them down while they were vulnerable.
Five squeezed her hand once before turning back to Reginald. "One of us isn't here."
"Dead," Diego muttered and Thea pursed her lips at the blunt explanation, however true it was. "One of us is dead."
Thea was almost glad that she couldn't hear Ben right now, and hoped, however futile, that the boy wasn't listening in on their conversation.
Just the thought of knowing the two of them might be in the room together set her blood boiling.
Especially when faced with this version of Reginald, who was clueless and had yet to adopt a group of children only to endanger them so flippantly. That one of them would die under his watch.
Die under his ever-so-wonderful care.
"Z," Five hissed, bringing her out of her thoughts and she glanced his way, following his pointed stare only to see that she was practically crushing his hand.
She blinked before grimacing. "Sorry," she whispered softly, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles as an apology.
"Regardless," Reginald drawled, gaining their attention again. "What would possess me to adopt eight ill-mannered malcontents?"
I'll show you malcontents, you colossal bastard. I wouldn't even need powers to deck you in that smug face.
"We all have special abilities," Five explained with more patience than Thea thought possible. Certainly more than she possessed right now.
Though, now it was him who was almost crushing her hand in an attempt at keeping up his polite mask. Especially as Reginald gave the boy a look of complete scepticism and disbelief.
"Special? In what sense?" he drawled.
"In the superpower sense." Luther was the one to answer this time and the siblings all eyed him warily from the corner of their eyes, knowing just the kind of ticking time-bomb he was, sitting so close to the man that had singlehandedly crushed his entire being.
Not once, not twice, but three times.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence," Reginald drawled with an eyebrow raised, almost mockingly.
Thea could see where this was going and didn't need to see Diego's pursed lips or Allison's sarcastic chuckle to realise what the old man was up to. His next words only proved her right.
"Show me."
"Look – we're not just a bunch of circus animals, alright?" Luther said with an irritated frown, managing to look the man in the eye. "Parading our powers about for show. What next? Balancing balls on our heads and clapping our hands like seals? For who's amusement?"
Despite Luther's scathing comment, Reginald hardly looked deterred and instead, there was an evident glint in his eyes that the blonde was all too familiar with.
This is going exactly as you wanted, isn't it, old man? Thea grit her teeth in mounting anger at the man's obvious manipulation of the more susceptible of the Hargreeves children.
He saw almost immediately that the weakest links were Diego, Allison and Luther and went straight for the goddamn jugular.
Thea's eyes strayed to glance ever so briefly at her quietest sister and they narrowed at the meek posture displayed.
You can likely tell Vanya is easy too, huh? I wouldn't be surprised if she caves as well. Too eager to show off her 'new' powers...
Diego almost immediately caved in and threw a silver dagger with faux carelessness, allowing it to curve just at the right time so that it avoided piercing Reginald. It landed, embedded in a wooden pillar behind them with a dull thud.
When Reginald began writing in one of his notebooks, his expression complete nonchalance, Thea grit her teeth.
"What are you writing?" Diego asked, leaning forward to try and peer into the book. His brow was twitching in irritation at their father's unimpressed reaction to his little show.
"You are zero for two, young man," Reginald mocked and Diego lasted barely a second at the blatant taunt before attempting to launch himself across the table.
If she were in a better mood, Thea would commend her brother for finally doing what she'd been imagining herself.
However, her mood plummeted even further when Five spatial jumped across the table to halt Diego's movements, thus revealing his own ability, too.
"Now that is interesting," Reginald commented, eyeing the boy keenly.
"All right, then let's do a quick rundown," Five began but Thea quickly cut him off.
"Five," she hissed, getting his immediate attention.
When they met eyes she tried communicating how awful of an idea she thought this was but the boy was just as stubborn, if not more than her.
"Z, you said you trusted me," he reminded her quietly, though the entire table was watching them anyway.
Reginald's beady eyes were watching the interaction between the two with particular sharpness but Thea only allowed herself the briefest second to meet his stare before she pointedly looked away, pursing her lips.
"Fine, but don't blame me if this blows up in our faces," she warned.
She didn't trust their father one bit.
While she didn't particularly think of him as some criminal mastermind or even an evil being in general, he had neglected them all enough for her to soundly judge his character to her own liking. If their childhood was a bias, then Thea would hold her hands up and admit to it wholeheartedly.
Even if the man believed that they were instrumental in some world-saving event and this was the reason for his tough-love as children, Thea couldn't care less.
No children deserved to be raised the way they did – to be held to such high standards and given no indication of love, or hell, satisfaction with their progress even when they surpassed what they'd initially been asked.
It was because of these reasons that Thea didn't think divulging everything to their father, especially their powers – which had plenty of faults and loopholes, thank you very much – to someone who they couldn't be sure was trustworthy.
Who's to say that Reginald wouldn't fancy the information a useful bargaining chip or blackmail? This version of the man held no significance or responsibility for any of them, as he wasn't yet their 'father'.
All any of them were in this current time were a bunch of orphaned misfits with powerful and dangerous abilities. Ripe for the taking.
Five had begun naming them all and labelling their power as he went, starting with Luther. "Basically, super-strength," he said before moving on.
"Klaus can commune with the dead, Allison can rumour anyone to do anything..." he'd finally made his way back into his seat and beside Thea, but she had clasped her hands together and so Five kept his hands to himself this time.
"Except she never uses it..." Diego muttered, rolling his eyes.
Allison, who was sipping on her cocktail through a bendy straw narrowed her eyes towards the man and with a smarmy smile, opened her mouth.
"I heard a rumour that you punched yourself in the face."
Diego's eyes bled white and without preamble, his fist smashed into his face, smashing his nose and earning a painful groan as the effect wore off.
"Fuck- damn it," he hissed, clutching his face in his hands.
The others all watched on in mixed exasperation and amusement whilst Five gestured towards both siblings to Reginald as though to say, 'there's your demonstration'.
Allison slurped her drink with dark amusement shining in her eyes.
"And you?" Reginald asked directly at Vanya, who Five had yet to introduce.
The girl was sitting particularly meekly and Thea supposed she looked like a much easier target than the heated glare directed his way by herself.
"Uh...maybe we don't take Vanya out for a test run?" Luther chuckled nervously, placing a hand upon Vanya's arm like he was restraining her from blowing up the entire building.
"Yeah, probably not the smartest idea," Klaus slurred, raising his drink in a toast her way.
"It's fine," Vanya said with a confused smile, shrugging her shoulders uncaringly. "I can handle it. Trust me."
She reached over to pick up a spare fork on the table and while Allison and Luther were attempting to stop the girl from making any kind of focused noise, Thea was leant back in her chair, watching it all go down with a blank expression.
Honestly, you could take down this entire room and I wouldn't even blame you. Gets us all out of this awkward situation, doesn't it? Though, maybe if you targeted Dad in particular...two birds, one stone, right?
Vanya had already picked up the cutlery and while the others all freaked out, Thea had a seconds notice to pick up one of the spare menus on the table and shield herself as the centrepiece exploded, sending chunks of fruit everywhere.
If the sight of the mini-explosion shocking Reginald enough for his pretentious monocle to fall from his face wasn't enough, then the sight of Vanya attempting to hold in her laughter and muttering a quiet 'oops' beneath her breath was too much and Thea snorted, muffling her amusement behind a hand.
That noise, however, was her first mistake because it was enough to gain Reginald's full attention.
He gazed across at her shrewdly as he effortlessly rested the monocle back onto his eye, wiping down his suit with a handkerchief.
Thea boldly met his stare and refused to feel any sense of inferiority or long-repressed inadequacy.
"What about you, then? I do hope you won't be blowing anything else up while demonstrating your particular...ability?"
The tone he used on certain words, speaking them as though dripped in derision and sarcasm agitated Thea to no end and she withheld the grimace she felt tugging at her lips.
When she spoke, she let just as much acidity leak into her tone, feeling once again like the petulant girl she'd been as a child.
"Unless your brain counts, then no, I won't be blowing anything up," she spat back, letting the venom flow despite her best efforts at attempting civility.
"Z can control minds," Five chipped in, giving her a concerned look from the corner of his eye.
Probably thinks I'm going to snap and fry his brain before he can get anything good out of him.
Five needn't have worried. Thea didn't plan on actually invading their father's mind anytime soon – not unless she was pushed to the absolute limit.
Going up against Reginald Hargreeves was like playing chess against a master. As a beginner.
Blindfolded.
Thea knew from experience that she couldn't just force the man to do as she wished. The few times she'd done so as a child, she now had the hindsight to understand was purely due to Reginald's whims and not a testament of her own skill.
No, it was much more likely that the man allowed Thea some semblance of dominance; an illusion of control to further boost her confidence and willingness to use her ability on others in order to gain what she wanted.
A proclivity to selfishness and indifference when it came to others san herself.
I mean, look at Allison. While Thea loved her sister to death, her tale was one of due caution and something Thea always used – if only to herself – as an example of just why somebody shouldn't abuse their power if not necessary.
"Z?" Reginald repeated the nickname like it was something foul and Thea rolled her eyes, fed up with his pompous attitude.
"Yeah, Z. Short for Zero or Number Zero," she explained with waning patience. She left out the 'you utter dick' from the end of her sentence and reminded herself she was playing nice for Five's sake.
"You know, because we weren't given actual names until preadolescence."
Reginald actually paused at that little nugget of information but Thea wasn't surprised to see that instead of looking concerned or regretful for the knowledge that none of them had even had names, he looked thoughtful.
How much do I wanna bet he's considering us all and what the numbers signify? Are you trying to figure out why I'm called Zero? Good luck, dick – not even we know that. You never told us, just numbered us like products and carried on your merry way.
It seemed like Diego had had enough of their back and forth and the entire charade of a family meeting because he rose from his seat and leant forward on the table, looking directly at the man.
Thea zoned out his accusations and met Klaus' stare instead.
'You okay?' he mouthed sloppily; his eyes entirely too dazed for him to be sober. The lack of Ben's running commentary was another indicator.
'Fine,' she mouthed back. 'Such a dickhead' she nudged her head subtly towards Reginald, only to break their stare when Klaus laughed loudly, getting baffled looks.
When Reginald started berating Diego, however, Thea paid full attention. Especially when he began psychoanalysing him without any regard for the man's mental health or feelings.
As he continued on with a bland tone of voice, recounting Diego's many 'failures', her blood felt like it was boiling beneath her skin and she was clutching her hands into tight fists, her nails biting into skin.
"...tragically unaware of his own insignificance-"
"Shut the fuck up," Thea hissed, slamming her hands on the table and sending her most hate-filled glare the man's way.
Reginald abruptly stopped in his tirade, taken aback at her rude interruption.
Diego had sat down as the man verbally tore into him and she was incensed to see a single tear running down his cheek. When her brother spoke and actually stuttered, she said a mental 'fuck it' and narrowed her eyes, cold blue awash in protective fury.
"Don't you dare finish that sentence. Are you satisfied now?" she hissed.
"Picking on someone younger than you – someone who proclaims to be your own son? I'm sure it's easy to sit there, all high and mighty and feel like it's the easiest job in the world to claim zero responsibility for any of us, but news flash old man, you're the exact reason we're all so fucked up."
Reginald's lips had thinned progressively as Thea continued verbally dressing him down and while the rest of her siblings were watching with wide eyes, Thea wasn't done.
Oh no, she was far from finished.
"If you're so high-strung on understanding one's own insignificance, then how about taking a look at yourself and realising that you somehow managed to adopt eight kids – eight – and none of them could care less about you. Eight children and not a single one would care if you dropped dead."
Her words were harsh and blunt and ruthlessly biting enough for her satisfaction.
Luther was attempting to stop her, his mouth opening and closing as she spoke but Thea ignored him. She ignored Five, too, whose hand had gripped her wrist tightly moments ago.
I'm sorry, Five, but he went too far this time. I can take the disbelief and the scepticism but to humiliate one of us in order to make himself feel better? Pathetic.
She voiced such thoughts aloud.
"I only agreed to even meet you because I trust Five, but honestly? Right now, just the sight of you is enough to make me yearn for the goddamn apocalypse to come sooner," she joked with a bitter chuckle.
Rising from her chair and smoothing down her outfit for nonexistent wrinkles, Thea morphed her face back into one of politeness and neutrality, turning to look down upon Reginald from her standing advantage. She made sure her stare was as mocking as possible.
"I hope you have a nice day, father," she drawled the title out condescendingly.
Turning to Five, she quirked a brief, guilty smile. "I'm sure you'll survive without me. I'll leave the room before everybody's caught in the crossfire and their brains turn to mush."
As she walked around the table in order to reach the stairs that they'd initially entered from, Thea paused upon reaching Diego. Leaning down and pressing a strong kiss upon the crown of his head, lips against the soft curls, she pulled back and smiled fondly down at him.
"I'll see you all outside once you're done."
And with that, Thea Hargreeves walked out of the room, not looking back as the door swung shut behind her.
Done with the man who'd called himself their father for so long, she felt the anxiety and fear leave her body, leaving a weightlessness behind that she could get used to.
Despite the dramatic ending, I regret not a single thing.
Thea Hargreeves was protective when it came to her family, and she wouldn't let anybody – not even their own father – ruin their bond.
It's always been us against the world, and always will be.
Thea said fuck Reginald Hargreeves and became the leader of the 'Protect Diego Club'.
She will be taking sign-ups for membership - responsibilities include beating up anybody who even dares look wrongly at her precious brother as well as at least one daily head pat.