Thea ran through the Academy halls trying to get to their meeting place as fast as possible, her long blonde ponytail swaying behind her with every step. Hargreeves had gotten intel from god-knows-who that there was going to be a bombing attempt on a monorail heading through town and that the Umbrella Academy was tasked with stopping it.

Why anybody felt kids were suited to stop a literal bomb-attack was beyond Thea. Adults are stupid like that.

She reached the foyer of the Academy, moving to stand beside Luther and Diego who were already waiting, masks covering their eyes and decked out in their black suits. Thea heard running footsteps and spied Klaus and Ben speeding toward them, and then a pop sounded from beside her and Thea turned her head to meet Five's wide grin.

"What are you so smug about?" she asked.

Five leant his arm on her shoulder, casually leaning against her, disregarding the fact he was out of order in the line and glanced at her twin and Ben. "I managed to get to you first, is all," he replied and gave her a wink.

Thea snorted at his remark and rolled her eyes, neither of them had put on their masks yet as Thea hated the scratchy material and would always leave it until last minute to wear it. "You three talk about me as if I'm a prize to be won," she shot back, narrowing her eyes at them all.

Ben looked down at his feet, his cheeks aflame while Klaus stuck his tongue out at her childishly. Five's grin seemed to grow smugger if such a thing were even possible. "I'll enjoy my prize then," he replied smartly but yelped when Thea smacked his arm at his comment, a glare on her face.

"Shut up, you're all gross. I knew Vanya was right, boys are weird," she muttered the last part under her breath.

Allison came rushing down the hallway, her curly hair framing her face as she panted from hurrying. Following behind her was Reginald Hargreeves and Vanya, both walking sedately, the smaller holding a notebook while Hargreeves held his regal cane beside him. All the children straightened at his appearance, and Five scurried back in line beside her twin, Allison making her way between Diego and Klaus.

Hargreeves stood imposingly in front of the children, his eyes hard and demanding. "Now, I have been given confidential and vital information regarding a planned bombing upon the central train heading towards the town centre. It will be the responsibility of the Umbrella Academy to stop this threat and successfully save the lives at risk. Do you all understand?"

The children all nodded seriously at his question, though a few shuffled nervously at the daunting task ahead of them. Thea wasn't too nervous, not because she was cocky. but simply because Hargreeves had raised them for this. She knew there was no other option and that any protests would be squashed immediately. She'd given up trying to speak her mind with her father and now simply went along with his plans, knowing he put them all in danger regardless.

Though, Thea knew one thing; she'd stopped caring for her own safety, but she was determined to protect Klaus no matter what. He was the most vulnerable during these missions, having no defensive or offensive powers and so Thea took on that responsibility herself. She had to.

"Come along then! You'll all be boarding the monorail before it leaves the station and will eliminate the threat once aboard. Work together and take this as a learning opportunity," Hargreeves instructed as he walked out of the Academy, the children all following him in their ordered line.

Thea narrowed her eyes at his back, her fists clenched at her sides. Learning opportunity my ass. Does he even care that he's sending a bunch of kids aboard a train where a bomb will detonate, with no way off if they fail? Is that it, failure equals death? What a fucked-up story this'll be to tell the kids. 'Oh, your grandad? Yeah, he used to send us on suicide missions before we'd even hit puberty. Doesn't that sound fun? Wanna try?'

Thea felt a warm hand on her shoulder and glanced behind her to see Luther looking straight at Hargreeves' back and not meeting her eyes, but his large hand felt comforting against her shoulder and she knew what he was trying to say. Calm down, this is what we do.

Thea patted the hand in gratitude and Luther slipped it away, acting as though nothing had happened. Thea knew he was the only one of them who actually enjoyed these missions, but he was mature enough to also understand that the rest of his siblings were being forced into these dangerous situations, and it was that he didn't like. Luther was a boy who'd had too many expectations thrust upon him by their father and dealt with it the only way he knew how; by trying to exceed them.

Thea shook herself from her thoughts once she realised they'd all made it to the monorail station, and Hargreeves left them to it, Vanya trailing behind him and sending worried glances behind her at her siblings. The children huddled together, ignoring the curious glances from people at their matching attire, likely chalking it up to kids playing dress-up. The Umbrella Academy wasn't famous enough yet to be instantly recognisable, though, Thea wondered how long that'd last once they saw Five teleporting and Ben's tentacles.

Thea wanted to snort at the irony of the situation. They were kids playing dress-up, that's all they'd ever be. Despite having powers beyond imagination, they were all just kids being dressed up into superhero costumes and pushed towards danger.

"We need to find the bomb and defuse it, that's our main goal. However, there's bound to be people aboard that'll give us some trouble, so we need to take them out too," Luther said, taking charge of the situation.

"So what's the grand plan?" Klaus asked, though his head was tilted away from the group and toward the station, already bored.

Luther looked at them all seriously, it was hard to tell with the mask covering his eyes, though his clenched jaw gave it away. "Me, Diego, Klaus and Five will take care of anybody we run into along the way. Allison," he turned to the girl, "it's your job to keep the passengers calm."

The mentioned all nodded in understanding and Thea poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue in annoyance, understanding what he wasn't saying. "S-so what about the bomb...?" Ben's voice chimed in and Thea's eyes narrowed as he stuttered from nerves.

Luther looked to Thea and winced at her murderous glare, before he could speak up she cut him off, "That's my job, and I imagine you're playing bodyguard." Ben glanced at her then looked back to Luther for confirmation, an uneasy grimace on his face at the thought of Thea being so close to the bomb.

Luther nodded his head but tried explaining himself. "You're our best bet. There's bound to be someone guarding it and you can get the information on how to stop it from his head." All the Hargreeves children looked uncomfortable at the thought of her taking the biggest risk, but Thea just nodded in understanding and began walking away to board the train. "Come on bodyguard, protect me," she winked at Ben.

The children all boarded the train as it announced it was leaving the station, and Thea watched as they passed the city's buildings. She could see all the people through their windows getting on with their day-to-day jobs and bit her cheek in envy at their mundane lives. No powers, no missions, no expectations.

Ben's hand linked with her own and Thea turned and smiled at the boy, smiling at him in thanks before pulling him through the train, keeping their fingers intertwined. Ben's cheeks were red as he saw the fond smiles an old couple wore as they watched the two children walk hand in hand - ignoring their unusual attire - and he looked back at their clasped hands, the tips of his ears burning hot.

Thea dropped her mental shields to let in the magnitude of thoughts surrounding her, wincing as they all came to her at once before she quickly limited her range, only wanting to hear the thoughts of the passengers, not everyone in the city. Ben took Thea's arm once he saw her dazed eyes, realising she was concentrating on locating a singular person through the horde of buzzing voices. She tilted her head as a particular voice stood out among the rest. It wasn't the tenor or gender or even the intensity of the voice, it was what the voice was saying.

They were counting down.

The train shook violently, and Thea almost fell to the floor if not for Ben swiftly catching her and pulling her into his arms. Thea frowned and turned at the sound of her brother's voice shouting their names frantically. Luther ran up to them both, hurriedly explaining his plan as he looked out the windows worriedly. "The trains about to derail, I'm going to try and stop it. You need to find the bomb quickly, we're losing time," he said, and Thea took a shaky breath as the situation just got worse.

Thea narrowed her eyes in determination. "I'm on it. We'll stop the bomb, no matter what," she said and pulled Ben along to where she'd heard the voice, focusing in on it as she hurriedly sped through the train and to a bathroom door. The thoughts were loud and clear, and Thea knew she'd found the culprit. Without hesitation, she kicked the door handle sending it flying off its weak hinges and the bathroom door flung open, the man inside looking toward the two children in shock.

Ben stayed back but watched Thea carefully, ready to jump in at a moment's notice as she launched herself at the man, wrapping her legs around his waist and clutching his head between her hands, sifting through his thoughts frantically for the answer to their problem. She felt the train shake violently and gripped onto the protesting man tighter, unwilling to fail in her mission now. If she failed, she'd be putting not only herself and innocent passengers in danger, but her family too.

After another minute passed and still no answers, Thea grit her teeth and dived in deeper, the man shouting in pain as his head was rifled through mercilessly. She was being sloppy with her actions, not caring for his mental state afterwards and only focused on finding the answers. But, it was after another minute and the train finally coming to an abrupt stop that Thea came to the horrifying realisation.

He doesn't know how to stop it. He never did.

This seemed to be their plan all along. If nobody knew how to stop the bomb, then there was no chance of the plan being foiled. She bit her lip till it bled and yanked her hands from the man's temple in frustration, not caring when he fell to the floor with blood dripping out of his nose and eyes rolled back into his head.

"What's wrong? Can I help?" Ben asked worriedly, watching Thea pace angrily. She turned to look at Ben at his question and a light bulb seemed to go off above her head, her eyes widening as she stared at him. Ben shifted uncomfortably at her stare, not because she was staring at him - that was something he loved - but because he knew the look in her eyes boded nothing well for him.

"God, Ben, this is why I love you. You're a genius!" Thea exclaimed, and her eyes glittered in hope. She hurriedly - yet very very carefully - picked up the bomb that had been sitting on the countertop and left the bathroom, making her way back toward the others with fast steps. Ben was left standing to stare at her back, his cheeks flaming at her exclamation before he jolted from his embarrassment and quickly followed her.

Thea met up with the others, holding the bomb out in front of her and steering clear from her siblings. She noticed the passengers had left now Luther had stopped the train, and she guessed Allison had rumoured them all to leave calmly, as she'd heard no screams. Klaus' eyes widened at the sight of her and the bomb, stumbling forward with his arms held in front of him, looking bewildered.

"Thea! What the hell, I thought you were defusing that thing?" Allison's high-pitched voice shouted at the sight of the girl holding such a dangerous weapon. Luther and Diego both looked at her in shock and horror too, while Five was watching her with narrowed eyes, his gaze focused as though he was getting ready to spatial jump over at a moment's notice.

"I know, I know. But the guy had no clue how to defuse it, he never did! And Ben had the most brilliant thought, well, it was me really, he's just brilliantly inspiring and-" Thea rambled in her excitement at knowing how to fix the situation, but Luther cut her off. "Get on with it!" he shouted as he looked at the ticking bomb in fright.

"Relax, it has, like, loads of time left, I checked. Anyway, I have an idea on how to stop it," she said and they all stared at her with matching blank looks that screamed 'hurry up and explain'. Thea huffed and shifted in her place, her arms aching from holding the bomb out in front of her.

"Ben will take us both up the buildings and then he'll throw the bomb up into the air just before it's set to detonate. It'll go off but only in the air, missing all buildings and people and voila! Perfect plan!" she exclaimed, waiting for their reactions.

There was a moment's silence before they all replied back at once, shouting their refusals and protests.

"What the hell kind of plan is that?"

"Are you insane? Do you want to become chopped mince from killer tentacles?"

"That's the most idiotic plan I've ever heard."

"Perfect plan? Perfect plan? That's far from perfect!"

Thea rolled her eyes at the protests, not in the mood for their comments as she gazed at the ticking bomb that read 4 minutes 23 seconds remaining.

4:23.

"Okay, look! I lied, we don't have time, we have, like, 4 minutes to get rid of this bomb before we all become tiny pieces splattered on this train so if you don't mind, I'm going ahead with my plan since none of you has any bright ideas," she sassed and turned to Ben who'd gone pale the longer she spoke, cupping his face in her hands and staring into his worried eyes.

"I need you to trust me, Ben. I wouldn't put you in danger, you know this," she said softly. Ben shook his head, explaining his frightened state. "I don't care about that...what if I hurt you?" he whispered with a pained look in his eyes.

Thea smiled at his comment, her chest tightening at his worry for her. She stroked his cheek as she spoke, "That's why I'm coming with you. I'll help keep you in the right state of mind, so you can control yourself, okay? I just need you to try, I can't do this without you."

Ben stared into her determined eyes, the light flickering off the pale blue and sighed, nodding his head in agreement. Thea grinned happily despite the tense situation and looked back at her siblings, who were watching the two with mixed expressions. Five's raised brow made Thea want to blush, his clear insinuation as he glanced between them both made her abashed, though she pushed it down resolutely, concentrating on the task at hand.

"Luther, I'm gonna need you to open the roof and give us a lift," she asked her brother. Luther sighed in resignation and lifted himself onto a seat before gripping the rooftop panel and ripping it from its hinges, leaving a crude hole above them. Thea gestured for Ben to be let up first as she brought the bomb closer, glancing at it in concern.

3:14

Thea's eyes widened, and she hurriedly walked over to her brother, letting him pick her up and lift her to the hole where she gently lay the bomb before pulling herself up and onto her feet. She glanced back down at her siblings and tried reassuring them with a grin. "Be right back, gotta save the world! Or rather, this tiny insignificant train station..." she trailed off pursing her lips in thought, before turning back to Ben at her failed attempt of a pep-talk.

"So what am I doing again?" he asked as he stood there awkwardly, clutching the bottom of his shirt. Thea walked over, the bomb in one arm and lay her hand on his clenched fist. "I need you to take us above the buildings and throw this as high as you can once it's ready to blow. Don't worry, I'll keep us both safe," she assured him. Ben glanced down at the bomb's timer and his eyes widened at the time it showed.

2:35

Thea carefully handed the boy the bomb and walked behind him to jump onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and delicately cupping his temple in her small hands. The contrast from the unnamed man earlier was obvious as her thumb stroked his soft cheek. She leant down to his ear, "Whenever you're ready, Ben. I've got you, just let go."

Ben took a deep breath, his body tense but lifted his shirt to let the monsters out, trusting Thea would help control him. Thea closed her eyes in concentration, focusing in on Ben's mind only, ignoring the outside world, trusting Ben to get them where they needed to be. She enveloped his mind in calming waves of love and serenity, not allowing his nerves or fright of the monster to cloud his judgement. She repeated the same mantra within his thoughts to help him stay focused.

'Trust me. We'll keep each other safe. You can do this. I trust you.'

Ben's mind felt fuzzy as he allowed the tentacles coming from under his skin to scale the building's wall, helping the two children to ascend further and further above the ground. They were high above the monorail and soon reached the rooftop of the high-rise building. Ben felt unnaturally calm as he gazed at the tentacles that were agitatedly flickering around his body, the long arms twisting and extending, one even coming to wrap around Thea's head, thankfully leaving it safe much to Ben's relief. Though he frowned in confusion as it seemed to almost caress the girl's golden hair.

Thea's eyes were still closed in concentration, though she spoke aloud when she felt they'd stopped moving. "What time does the bomb say, Ben?" she shouted over the wind from being so high up.

Ben looked at the object in his hands - almost having forgotten he was holding such a dangerous weapon - and held his breath at the timer.

0:36

He repeated the time back to her and Thea nodded to herself, shifting slightly where she still clung to his back. "Right, I need you to concentrate and use a tentacle to take hold of the bomb - carefully! - and throw it as far as possible once it reaches 5 seconds, okay?"

Ben agreed, and he slowly focused on bringing the tentacle closer to himself, sweat beading his forehead at the effort of controlling such a monstrous force. Thea helped as much as she could, her eyebrows furrowed as she determinedly forced down Ben's anxiety and self-doubt and replaced it with her own trust and confidence.

The bomb read 10 seconds remaining and the tentacle arched backwards ready to strike as the two children counted down in anticipation.

9...8...7...6...

"Now!" Thea shouted and watched as the monster's arm launched the bomb high into the air with such strength that it almost became lost to the skies.

4...3...2...1...

Thea held her breath as the countdown ended and nothing happened, but let out a shout of joy as she saw the explosion, safely away from all civilians and buildings. The flames lit up the sky, the orange inferno contrasting against its baby-blue canvas.

Ben gasped in shock and happiness at their success and Thea jumped from his back and pulled the boy into a crushing hug, both of them wearing wide grins as smoke fell from the sky and was lost to the wind.

"We did it! We did it! I can't believe we did it!" Thea cheered, forgetting all the stresses and worries of the day and simply allowing herself to celebrate such a close encounter. They heard a pop behind them and turned to see Five, who stood with his arms crossed wearing a wide smirk. Ben coughed in embarrassment as he let go of Thea, where they'd been previously wrapped in one other's arms. Thea was oblivious and jumped toward her brother, grinning at his familiar smug expression.

"Five! I never thought I'd be so happy to continue seeing your stupid smug face!" she exclaimed and laughed at his affronted glare. She pulled him into a hug, genuinely relieved everything had gone as she'd hoped, and her family was okay.

"The world wouldn't be complete without this 'smug' face, thank you very much," Five sassed back. Thea and Ben laughed at his comment and the girl threw her arms around both her brother's necks, walking them toward the rooftop doorway.

They'd soon made their way down and out the building to meet the rest of the Hargreeves children, Thea exhaling as the air was knocked from her lungs when Klaus crushed her in a hug. His tall lanky body enveloped her petite frame completely, making a comical image to those who watched on.

"I was so worried," Klaus whispered, his voice uncharacteristically soft. Thea clutched him back tightly, understanding the worry he'd likely felt watching his twin in danger. If it had been Klaus putting himself in the firing line, Thea wouldn't have been able to stay put. She kissed Klaus' cheek and rubbed his back soothingly before they both pulled away.

Diego grinned toothily at his sister and gave her a thumbs up, "Good job sis, glad you didn't die and everything." Thea gave him a sarcastic smile and slapped his shoulder lightly at his remark and he laughed before patting her back, muttering a soft 'glad you're both safe' under his breath.

Hargreeves soon walked over to the children, Vanya trailing behind him dragging a large duffel bag in her small arms. Luther helpfully took it from her hands and zipped it open to reveal their Academy coats, Vanya handing them out to her grateful siblings.

Thea took her dark blue fleece coat from Vanya with a smile, who bit her lip and gave a small smile in return, though Thea took note of the girl's slight shiver despite wearing her own large coat. Thea had just put on her woolly scarf around her neck but began unwrapping it and walked toward Vanya, looping it around the girl's neck and pulling her closer by the ends, delicately wrapping her in the soft maroon fabric.

"You look like you need this more than me, sis. Looking like Rudolph," she joked, gently tapping Vanya's red nose with her finger playfully. Vanya's cheeks flushed at the actions, feeling warm at the caring attention from her sister. Thea chuckled at her flushed face and watched her sister scurry off to the end of the line.

Thea buries her nose into her Academy coat, upturning the collar to keep off the slight breeze that had broken out and sent her into shivers. Her coat smelt like home and Thea sighed in content, putting their dangerous mission behind her and looking forward to going home.

"Who wants to go to Griddy's after this?" Five asked aloud, smirking as he already knew their responses. He chuckled as he got seven unanimous yells of agreement back, all excited at the mention of their favourite place.

The Eight Hargreeves children stood in line as their father spoke out to the gathered crowd, all looking forward to spending a happy time together and scoffing their faces with sugary goodness.