"What do you know about how you got your powers?"

There was a moment of silence after her question. The members of the Umbrella Academy exchanged looks, holding their bloodied tissues. "It's an unexplainable phenomenon." Five answered carefully, repeating words he'd seen and heard describing their birth.

Rita tilted her head before turning to one of the shelves at the far end of the room. "That's the publicly known answer. Has your version of Reginald Hargreeves explained anything to you?" She glanced at them before returning to selecting certain books. "I see. He didn't explain anything to you as well. That's a similarity."

"Everything I'm about to tell you is the version of the story in this world. I think it's something you should know, but, keep in mind, there may be differences, whether big or small, between your timeline and ours." She spoke clearly with no hesitation, as if this was something she had been preparing for. "We'll have to go through this as fast as we can because we are under time pressure, but I know it's important that you know this is a possibility when you go back."

She brought the books to one of the less crowded tables and motioned for them to come closer. "Why were there 47 women all across the world that got pregnant and gave birth all in the span of less than half an hour? Children born with damn superpowers? None of you questioned it?" Rita spared them a look before opening up one of the books. "Nothing is unexplainable when it comes to Reginald Hargreeves."

"What are these?" Diego asked first, being closest to the table among his siblings. He saw endless words and numbers handwritten on the pages, some littered with newspaper clippings or photographs.

"These," Rita pushed one of the books closer to them, "are records by Reginald Hargreeves himself. Sometimes with Pogo's help. Explanations as to why a lot of things came to be, and it all starts with this one. His experimentation on a kid named Harlan." Vanya gasped loudly and it didn't go unnoticed. "You know him?"

"Yes," Allison answered in her sister's stead. "Vanya was close to him and his mother. When we were in the sixties."

"We talked to him." Klaus admitted. "Here, I mean. His ghost. Other-me said I could still communicate with ghosts if I wanted to even in timeout, and he was with us for a short while."

Rita nodded. "Klaus — our Klaus — and I, through him, have been able to talk with him once in a while. He's the only ghost that stayed here for some reason. Seemed like a nice kid." She looked to Vanya. "I'm sorry."

Vanya remained silent but moved towards the book where she Harlan's name is seen only once because he's not even referred to by his name for most of it. She skimmed the pages in horror until a hand takes it away from her gently.

"I don't think you should be reading this." Rita said in a soft tone that Vanya and Klaus have dubbed her 'therapist voice' between themselves during late night talks. "I can give you a rough outline."

"Harlan, referred to as 'The Subject' in these records, came to Reginald Hargreeves' care in 1965 after his mother died in a car crash. There's no explicit note about it, but reading between the lines made me think that Reginald had his eye on him for a while, even before the mother died. Now, it makes sense." Rita gestured to Vanya. "If he knew about you in the sixties during your time travel stunt, then he might have taken to keeping track of the people you encountered."

"It's not your fault." Luther murmured to Vanya softly, knowing what she was thinking when she stumbled back in shock. "This is all on Reginald Hargreeves. Not you."

Rita continued. "Speaking of reading things between the lines, Reggie sometimes talks in these as if he isn't from here."

"Not from here?" Diego asked.

"'Reggie'?" Klaus repeated incredulously.

Rita rolled her eyes, a hint of a smile when she looked at Klaus first. "Yes, Reggie, because it makes him sound less serious." She turned to Diego. "And yes, as in Earth. I have a suspicion Reggie is some sort of alien, but that's a bit I still need to research on." She paused and noticed the look on some of the others' faces. "Ah, I see I am losing credibility due to the alien talk. Let's go back to the original topic."

"Harlan was repeatedly tested due to his signs of powers. There's a note somewhere that says the kid mentioned being saved from drowning — as in died and then brought back to life." No one noticed Vanya freezing at her words. "It gave Reggie a sense of immortality? Or cure for death? I think that's why he was still interested in the kid even after he died because of a test gone wrong." Rita's dark eyes sought out Vanya's. "He stuck it out for a year, the brave kid."

Five furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "What do you mean 'still interested'? You don't mean…"

Rita sighed sadly, tapping on one of the other books but not bothering to open it up. "He was preserved. In every way possible." She shivered as if even saying the words disgusted her. "There's a record of his body being kept frozen and inspected once in a while in case of some new developments or whatever. Mostly, the focus of the experiments was on his blood. So," she paused hesitantly, "Reginald pretty much drained him of all of it and experimented on the limited supply for over twenty years."

"Jesus," Diego ran a hand through his hair. "He's insane."

"People preferred to call it eccentric because he's rich and they didn't know the dark details." Rita said plainly as she placed some of the books back on the shelves. "I'll give you three guesses on why he stopped experimenting."

"Us." Five answered. "Or rather, the Sparrow Academy."

"Got it in one." She acknowledged, bringing their focus to another book. "But maybe not in the way you think."

"What do you mean?"

Rita breathed in deeply, as if preparing for their response. "On the last recorded experimentation of Reggie on Harlan's blood, there was an observation of some sort of powerful reaction that went unnoticed by all sorts of radars across the world except the ones Reggie specifically set up. That day was October 1, 1989."

"Fuck," Klaus cursed wholeheartedly, the sentiment echoed by his siblings as they watched Rita turn one of the books to a page with a newspaper clipping about the mysterious pregnancies.

"So, yeah," Rita nodded. "He stopped with the experiments because he finally got some sort of result. Because he got better subjects to test. Subjects that he triggered into existing." She turned the page and revealed a list.

"Forty-seven entries of locations." Rita explained before pointing to one. "That's me — Bangkok, Thailand. I was born there, but raised here because my actual father had science projects to attend to. It's how he knew Reggie."

The siblings crowded closer around the table to peer at the list. Beside Rita's location (numbered 32 because her name isn't even there), it was marked 'unnecessary', then followed up with 'Child of known associate; stay updated'. The list continued on, and they read through it despite not knowing exactly where they were born since they were never told.

"Look," Diego pointed out what was numbered 25. "'Sinaloa, Mexico – unnecessary; previous encounter was unimpressive'. Do you think…?"

"That it's you?" Luther continued. "We're the only two he previously encountered and found unimpressive." He pointed to number 43 on the list. 'Leicestershire, England – unnecessary; previous encounter was unimpressive'.

"You're all missing the point." Allison pursed her lips as her eyes scanned the document. "There's some other 'unnecessary' marks, but over half are 'collected'. Yet, there's only seven in the academy."

They looked to Rita for an explanation, and she looks back with tired eyes. Every suspicion Five still had of her was suddenly erased at that moment because he just knew she wasn't putting up a mask right now. She looked to one of the other shelves and they followed her eyes.

It was a shelf of more books, records, each labelled with the word 'subject' and a number on the spines. Five moved towards it and noted the layer of dust before gently picking out one of the books randomly. "Subject 11 – Mandaluyong City, Philippines." He read the cover aloud. "Animal Shapeshifting"

"That's Mariella." Rita says with a soft smile. "She chose the name."

"Is she still alive?" Klaus asked, still in a bit of shock after all the reveals.

"Trapped, just like you were." She answered with a pained look on her face. "Here, look at this." Rita walked to take the book back from Five and carefully place it back, then leading them to a book on one if the other tables instead. It was marked 'Subject 26', which Diego noted to be the highest number for the subjects, but Rita lightly peeled off the label to reveal —

"Number Seven." Vanya read in shock. "You said—"

"We don't have a Number Seven. That's right." Rita bitterly replied, and the sudden change of tone raised their defenses slightly until she just flipped the book open to a picture of a young boy with dark hair and startling green eyes. "We don't. Not anymore."

"None of you would even recognize him." She added softly as they inspected the photo. "I didn't too. The boy had talents with technology and electricity in general. He had such great potential that Reggie couldn't let go of, so, when he died," Rita turned the pages until they landed on one with a picture, "Abhijat became what he is now."

"The green box?" Allison asked with wide eyes. "Oh my god."

"Reggie somehow found a way to preserve him, or rather 'download' him, and still benefit from his powers." Rita's voice is smaller but filled with so much anger. "And the others don't even know."

"How do they not know?" Diego looked at the picture of the boy again. "He must be 8 or 9 years old in this picture."

"Nine," she replied, and there was a hint of tears in her eyes. "He was nine. So, it was before I arrived. And he made sure they wouldn't remember." She was looking straight at Allison at her last sentence.

"No," Allison muttered upon realization. "No, he… He used my powers again."

"To make them forget." Vanya added, the horror sinking in further as she remembered what happened in their own past.

"He used our Allison to make sure they don't remember what Abhijat went through. To make sure they don't start doubting him." Rita breathed deeply, attempting to calm down as she started to clean up the other books that she had taken out. "There's no record of that in this room. But I told you, Mom has always been on the right side of things… She remembers and cares for each one like her own child because it's how she was programmed, so when I found out about all this, she encouraged me to try and make things a little better at least. She was so angry talking about Abhijat."

"Then your Allison is on Reginald's side." Five observed. "She was also 9 at the time. It's not possible for her to just forget about erasing an entire sibling from the family. She can't have erased her own memory?"

Rita shook her head. "You forget that we have Lila. Apparently, all that needed to be done was to force Allison to read off the script, and one of the 'rumors' is that Lila would mimic the powers and erase Allison's own memory." She looked around the room and walked towards another shelf. More books, but thicker ones, filled it up.

"These are our files." She tapped on the shelf lightly and they could see the labels of each number on the spines. "Mine's the thinnest because I was usually just a part of helping test their powers instead." She pointed to the books at the leftmost side of the top row. Her finger slid down to the middle. "Number Three, your powers were always so important because it helped him have more of a control on things."

Allison didn't realize tears had been running down her face until Klaus placed his arm around her shoulder, attempting to comfort her. "You're good. We're here. He's not gonna get to you."

"I don't know how Reggie managed it, but when I first got here, Mom said he also pushed her to do the trick on me. About the rules of the place. It's why all the members of the Academy don't know anything about this room." She gestures with her hand. "He made her make everyone subconsciously aware that this is a forbidden room."

"That's why it hurt when we entered." Five was quick to follow. "The nosebleed and everything."

"How did you figure it out?" Diego looked up at her with narrowed eyes. "You say you were also rumored out of this room. Did Mom let you in?"

"No," she smiled softly, "Mom loves us all like her children too much to actually put us in possible danger. I just… The rumor Reggie made didn't take into account the fact I've overheard him and my father talk about seven children in the academy, or my habit of writing things down."

"When the rules were set in place, the others were just babies. Too young and too easy to manipulate. When Abhijat was erased, they were able to hunt down all the photographs and all the secret journals and diaries that might have been kept because they were always heavily monitored.

"When I came in, Reggie didn't know everything about me, and that was his mistake. I hated the blanket I was given and the view out of my window terrified me on my first day, so I made a note to look for possible alternative rooms and even a checklist of places I would explore in this gigantic place." She let out a small, lifeless, laugh. "And he also didn't account for my complete disregard of nosebleeds since I was one of those kids that got that a lot when I was younger."

"So, one day, I just wandered. Found myself here. Didn't realize what I got into until I went through the books." She stared blankly at the shelves. "I was a bit lucky. It was one of those missions where Reggie wanted to monitor the situation closely and Pogo went with him and the team. Only Abhijat and Mom were home and Abhijat was the one who found me, reading through the files with my nose bleeding and all."

"Did you know by then that he was…" Vanya trailed off, looking back at the records they were shown.

"He entered the room at the exact time I finished his file." A look of amusement crossed her face. "Mom sat me down and we had a talk about it, Abhijat would chime in from time to time. But since then, they'd just help me sneak around at nighttime and understand the situation more by reading everything in this room. They thought I'd be helpful."

"Helpful?" Allison repeated. "For what?"

Rita was about to reply but was stopped when the click of the door unlocking snatched all of their attention away, and everyone was quick to stand ready at defense. Luther was the first to move and was about to hold the door down until he was stopped by Rita.

At the sound of the doorknob creaking as it turned, she turned to them and pointed to the piles of books and spaces between shelves.

"Hide," she whispered.

Rita frantically motioned for them to move to the direction of the stacks of paper and books that they could easily hide behind of. She moved to stand by the door as they waited for it to open.

Five hid by one of the tables closest to the door, grasping the letter opener he had secretly snatched the moment they walked in the room. Klaus and Diego were hiding by one of the piles of paper, while Luther successfully hid behind another. Allison and Vanya watched from behind one of the other tables.

The door slowly opened and everyone held their breath.

"What the fuck?" Rita cursed. "What the fuck. Abhijat, you scared me, you little shit." Then she turned and signaled to everyone that everything was fine. The green box — Abhijat, Allison corrected in her mind. He deserved to be referred to by his name — produced a series of clicks that she (and, perhaps, her entire family) could instinctively translate in her mind as she was brought up learning all sorts of languages and modes of communication, like the Morse code he was doing.

"Don't laugh at me." Rita snapped, albeit not strictly. "This is serious. I thought we were gonna get caught." A series of clicks replied to her. "I did not have my guard down. Did you not see that everyone was hiding?" The clicks came at a faster speed.

"We don't have time for arguing, Abby." Rita rolled her eyes before focusing back to the others who were obviously understanding the entire conversation. "Come on, we have to go."

.. / - - .-.. -.. / -.- - ..- / -. - - / - - / -.-. .- .-.. .-.. / - . / .- -... -... -.- .-.-.- / - -.- / -. .- - . / .. ... / .- -... ... .. .- .- - -..- / .. - / .. ... / -. - - / - ... .- - / -.-. - - .-. .-.. .. -.-. .- - . -.. .-.-.-

"Are we good to go?" Rita asked as they moved to the end of the room, ignoring Abhijat's clicks. "Did you check on everyone? Bring everything with you?" An affirmative reply followed and Rita nodded in acknowledgment before moving her finger along the edge of one of shelves and triggering something.

The entire bookshelf released itself from the wall, revealing a passageway that they didn't know was there. They followed Rita carefully through it, Abhijat coming in last and managing to close the bookshelf again with a claw that was retracting back into himself.

Through the passageway and a bit of stairs, they found themselves in a place that really looked more like a lab with the scientific instruments and the scattered papers. "I can't believe none of us knew about this." Diego murmured as he and his siblings looked around.

"There's a huge chance you were made to never figure it out." Rita replied. She didn't bring them to any of the tables or show them any of the ongoing experiments this time, but rather headed straight for a door and slid it open. "Get in. No time to waste now."

"What is this?" Five asked, less suspicious than before but still a bit cautious. "Why won't you give us our powers back yet?"

Rita pointed to the open door, revealing a small elevator sized room. "When we get out of the house, I'll give it back. Now, get in."

They shuffled inside and managed to fit despite Luther's large frame and how the space seemed to be so small. Upon closer inspection, there were familiar buttons at the side of the door from the inside. Rita started tapping them in a certain sequence as she explained. "This is the Televator. As you can guess, it's because it's an elevator and—"

"Because it's also a telephone?" Klaus guessed. "Who are we calling? Ghostbusters?"

Rita looked back at them with a grin. "No. It's because it can also teleport." The doors slid shut. "Hold on tight."

Whatever teleporting was supposed to feel like, this isn't what was any of them expected. Sure, there was always the possibility of dizziness or throwing up, but that's because of the spinning that they show on movies or the disorientation because of a new place. (Five, someone who can teleport, expected it to just be quick even though he suspected some more headaches.) This one though… The Televator?

It's terrible.

Absolutely no balance whatsover. It felt like they would have been thrown around the walls and ceiling if Rita hadn't given the warning to hold on to the bars at the sides. At the first sudden movement, all of them were already crouching to the floor, trying to regain some sense of balance. Familiar maniacal laughter and fast clicking noises echoed through the room with their surprised screams as Rita and Abhijat managed to stay stable and watched them with amusement.

It was just a minute, but it felt like it was going on for hours. Allison has a bruise in her arm from hitting the wall too hard and Klaus' hands were cramping up with how tightly he held on to the bar. "What the hell was that?" Luther asked when it ended and he had taken a second to catch his breath.

"Were you trying to kill us?" Five was quickest to stand and fix himself.

She giggled (the sheer fucking audacity) one last time before smiling at them. "Sorry. It just looks funnier now that it's not me suffering. Come on, we're here."

The doors slid open and they stared in awe at the sight.

"Could be wrong, but something suddenly made a bit more sense." Diego murmured. "At least now we know there might be a reason he sent you here."

Luther snapped out of the trance he fell in. "Is this the fucking moon?"