After Luther's rather vocal rejection to lending aid for the upcoming doomsday, Five had tried again to get their brother to see reason. Thea had waved away her help, still upset at him for his apathetic response to such a clear threat.
Does he not realise that whether he likes it or not, this will affect him too?
She'd continued sitting at their little table, sipping on her fruity cocktail while watching the woman dance on stage. She'd adorned herself in fans now that were feather-tipped and bejewelled. Thea badly wanted to snatch them away for herself, unable to quell that small part of her that had developed a taste for unique or pretty things since living in the Malkins Emporium.
Great, I've turned into a bloody Magpie, eyeing up anything shiny within a ten-metre radius. So long as I don't stoop to kleptomania...
Five came trudging back to her and without a word spoken, grabbed her arm and began dragging her through the zigzag of crowded tables.
"Any luck?" she asked, already knowing the answer by his pinched frown. The lack of Luther's towering figure was also a big enough hint.
"Dad should have left him on the moon," was her only reply.
She snorted in agreement. "So, what now?"
"I have a new lead." Five revealed a small square box and Thea squinted in the dim lighting to better read the scribbled writing on the label.
"Frankel...footage?" she whispered, a little confused at what it was supposed to mean.
"I'll explain it all later, just trust me for now. We need to get this film developed."
"You know I trust you," she said with a smile.
Five spatial jumped them away without a response, though his smile was answer enough.
They landed in the middle of an open area, in what appeared to be somebody's living room. Ignoring the trash spotted around the room and the multitude of gadgets and technology, Thea spotted enough homely decorations to deduct as much. The sofa's looked ratty and worn and the windows were mostly blinded closed but it was obvious somebody lived here. She glanced briefly at Five but shook her head. He'd said he had only gotten here recently, so it was very unlikely this was his place.
Her confusion was soon answered as a middle-aged man rushed through the hallway, pausing at the frame as he panted, staring at them both with wide eyes. Thea cocked her head to the side, blinking innocently.
"Hello?"
The man looked taken aback by her simple greeting and Thea blinked again, turning to Five with raised brows. The boy sighed, as though put-upon greatly and gestured toward the man.
"Z, this is Elliott. Elliott, meet my sister, Thea."
The sound of her 'real' name coming from his lips was distinctly odd and it seemed Five felt the same, for she spotted the slight crease at his brow.
The man had stepped closer now, revealing his outfit which consisted of an awfully paired polo-shirt and blazer that made her eyes hurt just looking at the contrasting patterns and colours, though she supposed it was very of-the-time.
It's not like I have much ground to stand on when it comes to clothing...he must think I look horribly overdressed.
Thea automatically offered her hand in greeting, politely ignoring his stuttering and smiling lightly when he finally took her hand in his, shaking wildly.
"It's very great to meet you!" he said enthusiastically.
"Likewise..." she murmured, peeking at her brother from the corner of her eye. "And what, may I ask, are we doing in your...home?" she asked a little awkwardly.
Five sighed. "Elliott here has been tracking all of our family's appearances since the very beginning."
Thea's eyes shot open widely at that. "Holy shit, really?" she turned eager eyes on Elliott, who seemed a little taken aback. Whether by her casual use of such crude language or her eagerness she wasn't sure.
Thea smiled brightly, eagerly asking the man to show her anything he had regarding their siblings. Elliott paused momentarily, looking askance at Five, who only nodded his head, waving his hand for the man to hurry up and give his sister what she wanted.
Elliott guided Thea toward the pinboard that was hung up on his wall where she instantly spied photographs of all-too-familiar people.
"Oh my god...they're really here..." she whispered in awe.
With a newfound eagerness, her eyes traced across the slightly blurry – and in some cases, dark – images of the figures in the photos, matching them all up with her missing family. Her fingers traced the blurry face of Klaus almost reverently.
"Did you develop these yourself, Elliott?" Five asked, coming to stand beside her.
They both looked at the photographs as Elliott responded, stating his reasonings on possible government spies and how there were 'eyes everywhere'. Thea cocked a brow at his conspiracist mindset, though she guessed it wasn't an unwarranted concern.
I wonder just how much he'd freak if he knew I could access all of his secrets better than any intelligence agency...
Five seemed to follow her train of thought as he sent her an amused look, his smile just the slightest tug of the lips. He turned to Elliott and presented the small cardboard box he'd shown her earlier.
"Can you develop this?"
Elliott took the box in curiosity, reading the label on the back. "A friend of yours?"
"Cousins on my robot mother's side," Five deadpanned. "Can you do it or not?"
To give Elliott some credit, he only paused briefly at Five's absurd comment before reassuring the boy he could develop it. He remained unperturbed at Five's pressuring demands in regards to getting it done as soon as possible. As the man began to ramble on about the intricacies of film development and the bus schedule in this part of town, Thea turned to Five.
"Who gave you the footage?" she whispered.
It was obvious that the footage contained something important if her brother wanted it developed so quickly, but she knew he'd only just arrived here. Just how did he get a hold of something so valuable so quickly?
Five paused for a brief moment, his expression a tad indecisive before he sighed. "Hazel."
It took a moment for her brain to recollect why that name sounded so familiar but when she finally did, Thea's eyes widened in shock. And a little hurt.
"The asshole that tortured me and Klaus? What the hell?"
Five glanced at Elliott, who was still rambling on and had now made himself a bowl of cereal of all things.
"Look, I'm sorry about that, I really am, I'm sure Hazel is too."
"Five, they shot me."
He grimaced at the reminder of her near-death experience, his eyes becoming a little distant as he recalled the horrible moment he'd been told the news by Diego. The blind panic he'd felt rushing into the Academy and finding Thea's unconscious form swaddled in blankets and medical gauze.
"I'm sorry, Z," he whispered softly, rawly. "I really am, but he saved my life. He didn't want anything to do with the commission by the end and sacrificed himself to deliver us that footage."
Thea pursed her lips, letting herself push aside her biased dislike of the man for a moment and truly take in his words. It wasn't so far-fetched to believe that Hazel may have distanced himself from the commission, after all, Five had done the exact same thing.
If Thea held no ill-will towards her brother for everything horrible he'd likely done during his time as an assassin, how could she hold it against someone else? It would be the height of hypocrisy...
With a sigh, she nodded her head. "Okay, I get it. I don't forgive him for what he did to Klaus but if he truly did change and even sacrificed himself to keep you safe, then I can accept that."
Five's smile was still a little strained and Thea brought an arm around his shoulders to bring him closer to her. "I don't hold it against you, Five. I know you're more pragmatic than the rest of us."
She didn't want her brother mistaking her acceptance for resignation. She knew Five's mindset and understood that the difficulties he'd lived through had hardened his heart, made him much more practical and less vulnerable to being emotionally compromised like the rest of them. Thea didn't hold it against him.
"Love you," she whispered softly into his hair.
"Hm. You too, Z."
Their emotional moment was rudely cut off by an intercom voice crackling throughout the room, announcing of a code 3-15. When Five pulled away from their impromptu hug to ask Elliott just what a code 3-15 meant, the man finally paused in his tirade, the spoon stacked with cereal already halfway to his mouth.
"Fugitives on the run," he mumbled.
Five moved toward the radio, cranking the volume dial up to better hear the news.
"Twenty-five patients still at large. Many are considered armed and dangerous."
Thea and Five turned to each other in unison and shared the same exasperated look. There was only one person they knew of who could cause such a big stir and the coincidence of it being related to patients who miraculously escaped? It was all too obvious.
"Diego," they muttered as one.
"Who's Diego?" Elliott asked.
"Imagine Batman, then aim lower," Five drawled sarcastically.
Thea guffawed at his words, stifling her giggles behind her hand at the imagery presented to her. It was such a perfect example that she couldn't restrain her amusement despite the rather serious situation.
With a determined expression on his face, Five regarded Elliott, pointedly ignoring the way the man continued to eat his bowl of cereal with complete disregard for the atmosphere.
"You get started on that film," he demanded before taking Thea's hand in his.
"Z, let's go."
"Roger that, Mr Five!"
She laughed heartily at his exasperated expression before they both disappeared once again.
Thea wasn't quite sure just how well Five managed to track down Diego in such a short amount of time but she allowed herself to be dragged along regardless. She didn't mind playing a supporting role to her brother, acknowledging that he was much more experienced in these matters than her.
Plus, is it so wrong for me to want to take a back seat, for once? Technically, Five is much older than me, so what's wrong in playing little sister for a while?
They were like brother and sister playing detective, only this was no role-play and the very existence of the world rested solely in their hands. No pressure.
Thea only caught a brief glimpse of a black car from the sidewalk before she blinked and they were now inside said car. Five had jumped them both into the back seats and Thea saw Diego sat in the driver's seat alongside a woman she'd never met before.
"Then why are you doing this?" the woman asked Diego, seemingly continuing on a conversation they hadn't been here for but Five interrupted them before Diego could answer.
"Because he is an idiot."
The woman's head swivelled around with impressive speed, her face openly displaying her shock at their sudden arrival.
Thea waved a hand in greeting. "Hello, sorry to intrude!"
"Who the hell are you guys!?" the woman said pressing herself against the dashboard and away from the two strangers.
Five's smile was sarcastic and overly friendly as he waved. "Hi, we're his loving brother and sister."
"Who left me to rot in the nuthouse," Diego pointed out with a glare. Thea frowned; her mood dampened by the reminder.
"I'm really sorry we left," she said honestly.
Diego glanced her way, his face unreadable before sighing. "It's fine, Thea." He pinched his brows together like he was debating whether or not to speak. "You...you put me under, right? Before they could?"
"Of course! I'm sorry for not asking first, but well...it was a split-second decision." She tried smiling but it came out a little awkwardly.
Diego's responding smile was small but it cheered Thea up, nonetheless. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest and she let herself grin at both of her brothers.
"I don't care how you got out of there, I'm just relieved."
"Yes, yes. It's one big happy reunion," Five drawled. "Look, lose the crazy lady and come with us," he demanded at Diego.
Thea smiled awkwardly at the woman, a little worried she'd take Five's words personally. She'd just been watching them all this time, wide eyes darting back and forth between them all as they spoke about things she couldn't understand.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Diego refused.
Narrowing his eyes at the man's stubborn refusal, Five clenched his jaw before his eyes moved toward the sidewalk, spotting the policeman that was conveniently walking by. Thea leant back as Five rolled down her window and shouted out towards the officer, his threat all too clear.
Diego hurriedly stopped him, looking toward the officer with panic evident in his eyes. He glared hotly at their brother and reached behind to grab a hold of his blazer. "What the hell are you doing!?"
Thea was unfortunately stuck between them both, awkwardly leaning back as far as she could go to remain free from their dispute. She met the woman's eyes through the small gap between both brothers and sent her a crooked grin, trying and failing to act like nothing was wrong.
The woman stared at her with wide eyes, an amused smile playing on her own lips. Thea's face practically screamed 'brothers, eh?'
Diego and Five continued their staredown until finally the former relented, realising that Five wasn't bluffing whatever crazy stunt he'd threatened to pull. "Fine, I'll go with you."
"What about me?" the woman asked, glancing toward Diego, who smiled crookedly at the attention. He turned toward Five, "And I'm bringing the crazy lady."
The boy just rolled his eyes, uncaring of what happened to her so long as Diego came along and behaved. Thea clapped, pleased with the turn of events.
Two down, five to go!
The four of them found themselves back in the home of Elliott, ascending the spiralling staircase up to his more private room upstairs to further ruminate on their next move.
The atmosphere was calm...that was until they were greeted by the end of a gun.
Thea blinked in shock, eyeing Elliott who held the gun with a frightened, perturbed look on his face. He was looking directly at Five as he screamed. "Where did you get the film!? The Frankel footage. I want the TRUTH this time!"
Five stared back, his face calm and an eyebrow raised. Thea had unconsciously moved to stand a little in front of the boy, unable to stop herself. She quickly pushed back her surprise and stared down the agitated man with a glare of her own.
"You know this lunatic?" Diego drawled.
Five sighed, "He's a new...acquaintance."
"ARE YOU, OR ARE YOU NOT AN ALLY OF THE PEOPLE?" he screamed deliriously.
Thea stepped forward and pointed a finger towards Elliott, her glare practically screaming 'death' if he didn't listen to her words, fire within her eyes.
"I don't appreciate you pointing a gun at my brothers, so unless you want me to fry your brain before letting it implode from the inside, you better put the gun down. Now."
Elliott's body moved on its own and the minute the gun was no longer aimed at them, Five spatial jumped towards the man and disarmed him, casually throwing the gun towards Diego who swiftly unloaded it of ammunition and throwing the weapon onto the couch.
The three did it with such a natural efficiency that the 'confrontation' lasted no longer than a couple of seconds. These kinds of occurrences had been the norm for their family since they were children.
Diego's friend had just watched on with a mixture of shock and amusement. She hadn't seen Five's initial jump as Diego had distracted her for the necessary second and while it was obvious to them that Thea had controlled Elliott's movements, to anybody else it would have simply seemed as though the man had been cowed by her threat.
All in all, minimal threat successfully sorted.
Five wasted no time and immediately got to work on restraining Elliott, who had only just come out of the induced haze Thea had forced him into. She'd quickly wrapped her mental shields once again to stop any unwanted thoughts from straying in, enjoying the lack of loud buzzing in the mostly empty room.
Compared to the real world where people occupied almost every corner, Elliott's large run-down building was relaxing.
Thea got herself comfy on a spare seat while Diego restrained Elliott some more and Five began the process of playing the developed footage. The woman, who Thea had finally asked the name of, sat beside her, her legs tucked beneath her like a child. When Lila caught her staring, she raised a brow in question.
"Do I have something on my face?" she asked in amusement.
Thea shook her head, unperturbed at being caught and pointed a finger towards the woman's face.
"I like your hair," she said honestly. "Especially your fringe. It's very...punk," she said for lack of a better word.
Lila looked surprised and fingered the ends of her hair almost shyly. "Really? You don't think it looks messy?" She brushed her fringe a little self-consciously.
"Not at all, I wish I could pull it off the way you do."
Lila looked pointedly at Thea's hair, which as she was sat on a plush leather armchair, was left to spill around her body like her own little golden blanket.
"I wish I was gifted with hair like yours."
Thea grimaced as she looked down at it all, wondering how she hadn't ripped it out of her head already. "I don't know how I've let it grow this long..." she muttered. "I want to cut it."
The other girl hummed, a finger to her chin as she leant back to get a proper look at Thea. Her stare was intense enough that it made Thea, who was pretty confident in herself, a little shy.
"Maybe you won't have to cut it...maybe just choose the right style?" Lila stuck her tongue out in concentration as she moved her fingers into a little square, framing Thea's face in her line of sight.
"Style?"
"Yeah, like wear it up, you know? So it's out of your face but then you get to keep the awesome length," Lila explained.
Thea hummed at her suggestion, fingering the ends in contemplation.
"What are you doing?"
Both girls turned to greet Diego, who was frowning at Lila's weird expression. The girl answered back easily, "I'm trying to decide just what hairstyle would suit your sister best."
"Hairstyle?" he asked, looking to Thea for clarity.
She brought a long strand of the golden locks into her hand as emphasis. "Diego, if I don't do something soon you can forget the apocalypse, I'll drown in my hair instead."
Her brother snorted at her over-exaggeration, rolling his eyes for good measure.
Lila was no longer paying attention to their conversation and had instead taken to move over to sit beside the tied-up Elliott, painting the man's toenails a lime green. Thea grimaced in disgust.
Diego was staring at Thea's hair in silence and Thea watched him with a wry smile. "I'm thinking of getting it cut, wanna join me?" she said teasingly, pointedly staring at his own messy locks.
"Oh, ha-ha. There aren't exactly many opportunities to get it cut in an asylum, you know," he pointed out dryly, taking a seat beside her.
"Hmm, suppose not."
Five walked into the room then, pushing along a table with a bulking projector sat atop. Thea blinked at the rather dated tech but watched intrigued as Five effortlessly set the entire thing up and before they knew it, the blank canvas was now filled with the coloured projection.
It showed a close-up of a disgruntled woman who was berating her husband, the couple arguing back and forth for a few moments before the context behind the film was revealed.
"We are in Dallas, Texas, to see the President. Today's date is November 22nd, 1963."
That successfully perked Thea's attention and she leant forward in her seat eagerly, eyes riveted to the screen that was showing the future.
"But...that's six days from now," Lila said with disbelief, pausing in her painting.
"Is this what I think it is?" Thea asked softly. She'd remembered enough in their history lessons to understand the significance of this particular date and place.
"The grassy knoll. Kennedy's about to get shot," Diego breathed out in shock, confirming her suspicions.
"It must be the key to stopping doomsday," Five said with confidence.
When Diego asked how he'd gotten it, Five waved away his question with a mutter of 'old work colleague.'
"And what exactly did this old work buddy of yours say?" Diego asked.
"Well, he was killed before he could properly explain anything to me," Five said casually. "But whatever it was he wanted us to see, it'll be on this very film."
None of them had taken their eyes off of the screen while they talked, not wanting to miss even a second of detail for what could possibly be the key factor in determining their next move. The sound of gunshots was heard and the perspective of the film suddenly skewed at an angle as the woman filming likely dropped the camera in shock.
It was swiftly righted again but Five muttered an expletive beneath his breath before skipping the footage and manhandling the projector into a better position, effectively zooming in on the image, giving them a much clearer look at whatever clue they were supposed to find.
It didn't take long for all three of the siblings to freeze in mounting shock and dread when the image on screen focused, revealing a single figure.
Almost as one, the three stood from their seats and walked closer to the screen, disbelieving expressions upon their faces at just what they were seeing.
"This can't be..." Five whispered into the silence.
"You're fucking kidding me," Thea mumbled, a little numb.
"Okay, are you guys gonna fill me in on what exactly is going on, or what?" Lila asked while Elliott continued writhing in his ties from beside her.
The three ignored them, however, too stupefied by the painfully familiar man holding a thin black umbrella blown wide onto the screen in front of them.
"Dad..." Diego finally muttered, loud enough for everybody in the quiet room to hear.
Thea could only stare up at the projected image, blinking fast as though the clear figure of her late father would disappear if she wished it hard enough.
Dad...what the hell have you gotten us into, now?
After the rather stupefying revelation of their father's involvement – or at least, coincidental linking – to the assassination of the President, the three Hargreeves children were taking it in much different ways.
"I should've known dad had something to do with the assassination," Diego muttered, his eyes narrowed.
"No, you're jumping to conclusions," Five refuted, pacing back and forth.
He looked more stressed than usual, which was obviously due to the surprise revealed in the film. It was clear this kind of twist was something he hadn't considered.
"Then what the hell else is he doing standing on the grassy knoll holding an open umbrella in broad daylight!? Huh? And on the exact same day, the President gets shot!" Diego was shouting at Five, his anger taking over as he pointed toward the screen madly.
Thea quickly got in between them both, placing a hand upon his chest to halt his approach. She understood his frustration but was unwilling to stand by while her brothers argued. Again.
Could this family not discuss anything without resulting in arguments or violence?
"Diego, cool down, okay? I understand you're mad at Dad but don't take it out on Five. He's just as confused as we are," she said softly, trying not to rile him up any further.
It was always a shot in the dark regarding Diego and Luther when it came to de-escalating the situation. Both were prone to lashing out first and thinking later and could just as easily take her involvement as another sign of attack against them.
"It doesn't look good, I admit," Five said sarcastically, not helping the matter in any way.
Thea sent him an exasperated look before turning back to Diego, who was clenching his jaw tightly while glaring daggers at Five.
"I won't refute the likeliness that Dad was involved," Thea started off slowly. "But maybe he was there to prevent something but couldn't?"
It was a total spur of the moment guess but it was better than throwing out baseless accusations.
"No, he must have been the signalman for the whole goddamn thing," Diego theorised, doing exactly as she'd just warned against!
"Woah, easy there, Diego," Five said in incredulity.
Diego looked nonplussed at their surprise, his mind running too fast to truly realise just how outlandish and quick his accusations were becoming by the minute. Sure, Thea knew their father wasn't a great person – the worst, in fact – but what exactly would he gain from involving himself in something so monumentally fucked up as this?
"Before we start throwing Dad under the bus – which trust me, I'm usually all on board for. Hell, I'd be driving the bloody bus – can we just take a minute to wonder why he might be there?" she asked.
"Why? What do you mean why? Isn't it obvious?"
She gave Diego a flat look but it was Five who answered for her.
"What's Z's trying to say you monumental dimwit, is that Dad never did anything unless it benefited him. So 'why' is the crucial question here."
"It doesn't matter why," Diego shook his head, his eyes glinting madly in the dark room. "What's important is that we have to stop Dad from killing the President."
Thea facepalmed. Literally.
She couldn't stop herself! After she and Five had explained their reasonings Diego was still wilfully ignorant and adamant on his theory, refusing to listen.
I t doesn't matter if Hargreeves really was involved! That doesn't help us get any closer to stopping him at all! What we need to know instead is why he's involved.
Once again, the age-old rule of the importance of information has come into play. Hargreeves had told them countless times that while they may be superpowered beings with immeasurable abilities, it was all useless if they could not gather and utilise information in order to aid said powers.
Your worst opponent is he who can outsmart you. And that was exactly who they were up against regarding Reginald Hargreeves.
While Thea wasn't necessarily scared of their father growing up, she'd kept a healthy dose of wariness around the man that was separate from his abhorrent treatment of them as children. The man had always had a glint in his eye that Thea had hated, and while she was able to control him easily enough, she'd always had the sneaking suspicion that in many ways...he'd allowed her to.
It had always seemed too easy, especially for someone of a calibre as Hargreeves.
Thea wasn't blind to just how off their father was and was gleefully vocal about her hatred of the man, but she knew in the pits of her soul that to go against him blindly and without a shred of information would be monumentally stupid.
"Dad's clearly in Dallas now, right? How about we just talk to him. Maybe he'll be more than happy to help us fix the timeline," Five suggested, effectively snapping Thea out of her thoughts.
The two brothers had finally moved away from one another's personal space and Five had gone back to pacing back and forth, thinking of an idea to help move them forward.
"Do you think he'd listen?" she asked quietly and Five paused momentarily before huffing. "I don't know. It's worth a shot."
"Dallas is a big place. How the hell do you suppose we find him in the first place?" Diego asked sceptically.
Thea had a lightbulb moment, smacking her fist into her palm. "The phonebook!"
She'd become way too familiar with the god-awful things during her time stuck here, scouring through them for any sign of young adults by the surname Hargreeves.
Five cocked a smirk, sending a wink her way. "Exactly."
Diego hurriedly found a thick phonebook upon one of Elliott's many shelves and flipped it open, searching fervently for any sign of the Hargreeves' name. Thea frowned and bit her lip in indecision, but ultimately spoke up.
"You won't find anyone under Hargreeves in there, trust me. I've checked. Multiple times."
Diego and Five paused to look at her, sadness evident in their eyes at the meaning behind her words but she waved their concern away. "Does Dad have anything else to his name? That isn't registered under Hargreeves?"
"Try his company, D.S. Umbrella Manufacturing Co." Five instructed and Diego complied, flipping through the pages until they came to the correct page.
"Holy shit," he said, finally spotting the bold listing they'd been searching for and a corresponding address.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Five asked rhetorically, quickly walking toward the door. The other two quickly followed behind him.
Thea pursed her lips at the thought of possibly meeting their father again, not particularly enthused about the idea but she pushed the concerns to the back of her mind.
They had important questions that needed answering and the only lead they had was their father, who was dead in their future but who now, alive in the past, was somehow connected to one of the most infamous assassinations of all time.
As if this family wasn't messed up enough, already.
England has been hit with a serious heatwave and I now have a horrible headache as well as being too tired to even do anything. Take that as reasoning for why this chapter took longer than I'd like...
The trip to the freaky warehouse will be in the next chapter because this was already hitting 5k words plus I have a little Thea introspection written out already for that part. I hope this satisfies, regardless. Also, I have plans for Thea's hair and it will be both amusing and pretty ;)