Both Diego and Allison watched on from the doorway as Grace sat by Five's bedside, placing the last of the medical tape around the square of gauze, keeping it in place after she had checked over Theodore's handiwork. Speaking of, Theodore had wandered off not long after Grace had taken over Five's medical care and had fixed up their nephew as well; gifting him with a generous helping of burn salves for his hands & a new medical eye patch to wear.
Theodore had seemed almost reluctant to leave Five's side, even as Grace shooed him off to clean up and when he eventually did leave, he had this look in his eyes like he was afraid that he might wither away when he wasn't looking. It was the same look that Allison wore whenever she was talking about Claire or one of her stubborn siblings. Which was odd because Theodore had only known Five for a couple of days and even though Allison knew that children could latch onto things/people with immense surety (particularly if they imitated the same feeling as a safety blanket), but it was still a little puzzling. How could he be so protective already? Maybe it wasn't Five he was seeing? That would make sense, considering this was likely the longest he had ever gone without seeing his mother.
"…Anything?" Diego sighed as he spared a glance towards his sister, before turning back to watch the domestic scene play out in Five's bedroom.
"There's still no answer at Vanya's place" Allison whispered in reply, as if she were afraid that raising it any higher would disturb their unconscious brother and his mannequin. "And the receptionist at her music school said she's been a no-show for the last couple of days"
"Tch" Diego clicked his tongue as he turned away from the doorway, eyes slanted and lips pulled tight with guilt.
"Hey, you okay?" Allison asked as her eyes trailed her brother's movements with concerned eyes.
"Yeah…I don't know. It—it's just surreal seeing her after everything…I just want to tell her that I'm so—" Diego replied quietly, before cutting himself off.
"Huh?" Allison furrowed her brows in confusion as she tried to figure out what he was about to say.
"—Look, we don't have enough time for this" Diego shook his head as he made to leave again. "We gotta go"
"I don't know, Diego" Allison murmured, "Five is laying there, unconscious and Theodore is still shaken up from everything that's happened. Not to mention, we still have no idea where Vanya is and Klaus & Luther have gone AWOL. If we're doing this, we need them"
"We can do this ourselves" Diego stubbornly retorted.
"We already did that, remember? And we all ended up dead" Allison calmly refuted, crossing her arms as she shifted in place. "I don't know, I'm just…I'm thinking maybe I should go back and see Claire before I—"
"—You can't run away from this Allison. That's what started this whole mess in the first place." Diego looked her dead in the eye, "…Luther was right"
"…I didn't think I'd ever hear you say those words; even under duress" She scoffed, turning to her brother as if seeing him in a new light.
"Yeah, well…" Diego shrugged noncommittally, "We gotta stick together"
"Where do we start?" Allison asked as the two turned to retreat back downstairs.
"There's no other addresses listed in the file" Diego explained, "But Teddy mentioned another relation: Jenkins' grandmother; the one who owned a place out on Jackpine Road"
"The cabin!" Allison's eyes lit up in recognition as the two began to descend the staircase, sparing one last glance back over their shoulders at their brother & mother before leaving. "You think Harold took Vanya there?"
"It's a good enough place to start"
They had barely made it out to the street before the next spanner was thrown in to the works, this time in the form of the police force that was trying to pin both of the Hargreeves siblings in and preventing them from escaping off into the night. It was like the world's slowest car chase and Diego would've laughed if it were any other situation; given what it was, he only allowed his lips to twitch slightly upwards at the slow-crawling vehicles which nevertheless earned a strange look from his accompanying sister.
"Nope" Diego redirected Allison back up the street when he noted the police cars blocking off the way to the car. "C'me on, this way"
"Wait, but the car's back that way" Allison puzzled, looking up from Jenkins' file (where she had been checking for any further information that they had missed) in confusion as her brother her led her by the elbow in the other direction.
"Trust me, okay?" He implored. "Just, c'me on"
"But what is going on?" She hurried to catch up to his forcefully casual pace.
"They're here for me" Diego replied, nodding to the police surrounding them. "Uh, they think I did something"
"What did they think you did?" Allison pursued in worry.
"Murder" Diego stated over the sound of the murmuring sirens telling them to stop.
"…Did you?" Allison blinked dumbly, taken aback by the admission.
"No, no, no! Of course not, okay?" Diego hurried to reassure his sister. "Why would you ask that about me, anyway?"
"I mean, you do carry knives with you everywhere" She reasoned.
"Yeah, okay" He acquiesced with a nod. "Listen, we're gonna have to split up, okay?"
"What? Diego—!"
"—I'm in charge, remember? Besides, Vanya needs you"
"…Fine" Allison eventually agreed, easily allowing her guilt-ridden heart to push her back towards the side street which would eventually loop back around to the car. Parting with a comforting pat on her brother's shoulder, Number Three made a quick escape as the police closed in on their target. "Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"
"Mm" Diego nodded absently as she fled.
He watched from the corner of his eye as his sister hid herself behind a particularly chunky dumpster in one of the side streets so that she could, in turn, keep an eye on him as this scene played out. Diego stalked forwards, striding towards the oncoming vehicles with unwavering stubbornness—chin tilted upwards in defiance—and faith that his sister would be able to get the job done without him. It was habit, more than anything, that had him plucking a knife from its sheath as he strode down the path of least resistance (for once).
"Drop it!" Came the cry as Diego raised his one good hand (& knife) in the air, neither surrendering nor threatening the officers. Though with his history & skills, it could go either way and they—his old colleagues—knew that. "Weapon on the ground, Diego!"
"Ah…!" Diego acquiesced, dropping to his knees on the asphalt. "I expected better from you, Chuck"
"I've got orders. Don't make this harder than it already is. " Chuck replied as he (armed with a gun) & several officers moved forward to cuff the ex-hero. Heaving a sigh, Chuck then straightened himself up to his fullest height and then explained to which Diego was being arrested for. One he was expecting, the other he should have. "Diego Hargreeves, you are under arrest on the suspicion of murder of Detective Eudora Patch and harbouring a known LANE"
"Ah! Rodriguez, I thought we were friends…!" Diego winced as the cuffs were tightened just that bit too tight.
"You killed a cop, asshole!" Rodriguez retorted, his tone all fire & brimstone. "And then let your little LANE pet slaughter an entire school!"
"…You have the right to remain silent" Chuck continued as Diego was hauled to his feet, "Anything that you say can and will be used against you"
"…Psst!" Diego ever so maturely spat on the ground between as he was frog-marched over to the nearest cop car. "Use that against me!"
Diego could only hope that he had bought Allison enough time to flee and find Vanya before the whole world turned to shit.
30 March 2019
Driving throughout the night, Allison eventually arrived on the outskirts of the city—after paying a rather hefty & unnecessary toll at the border and having her car throughly searched for any kind of sign of a LANE—arriving in the wee early hours of the morning. It was a good thing that Theodore had been left at the Umbrella Academy because she wasn't sure what she would do if they had found him—or any sign of him—in the car. Now, however, she found herself stuck in a chain of traffic that was practically parked along the road because, it seemed, she wasn't the only one trying to get out of the city. Which was understandable, given the turmoil of the last few days.
At first, Allison had intended to go into town and ask around for directions to the Jenkins' cabin because Theodore's directions had been vague at best (although he had been rather young when he had last been there), but that had been before all of this hullabaloo had played out. As she drew closer to Jackpine's Village, she found out just what had caused so much traffic: police tape which cordoned off a section of the village and had attracted a sea of passersby, interested in the goings on of the small village.
There was a gaggle of reporters huddled off to one side, whilst a singular officer was forced to corral all the onlookers whilst still investigating his crime scene. But that wasn't what caught Allison's attention, no that belonged to the navy & white scarf which she knew to be her sister's which hung off of a nearby street sign. Scrambling from the car, Allison (like many of the others in line) fled from her car and over to the village; only she was more intent on retrieving the scarf of her long-lost sister and finding out what had happened to her; because something had clearly happened.
"—Hey! Pardon me! Hey!" The officer (Sergeant D. Cheddar, as named by the label on his lapel) called as soon as Allison had ducked under the yellow tape, so used as she was to ignoring such things to get her way.
"Oh—!" Allison paused in her stride as she was confronted by the sheriff.
"I gotta ask you to stay behind the lines" Sergeant Cheddar shooed her back behind the tape, much to her chagrin. "We had an accident here last night"
"A—What kind of accident?" Allison asked, nervously shifting in place. If Vanya—with her newly revealed powers—had been here (as she had clearly been), then this destruction was most likely her fault. But Number Three had to wonder if Harold Jenkins still somehow played a role in this, and if he had somehow pushed her far enough to this kind of damage.
"Ma'am, the line, please" Sergeant Cheddar sighed, hands on hips.
"Okay, yes, sorry" Allison apologised, throwing her hands up in surrender as she finally ducked back under the yellow tape.
"Got a lot of stuff on the ground, okay? Stuff to be wary of" Sergeant Cheddar chased her back under the tape; he was clearly tired of chasing others off of his crime scene (others, being those vulturous reporters lining the other side of the village).
"What happened?" Allison pursued.
"We're trying to figure that out. As soon as we do, you'll be able to read it in the newspaper with everybody else. So have a nice day" He dismissed, before spinning on his heel and turned to leave.
"Look, officer, if there is any way—" Allison tried, hoping to follow this one lead to the end of the thread.
"Wha—?" Sergeant Cheddar sighed, turning back to face her with an exasperated expression that quickly morphed into one of absolute awe when he took in her face; bare of the sunglasses she had flipped up onto her crown. "Holy shit!"
"…Huh?" Allison blinked, taken aback by the sudden turnaround.
"You're Allison Hargreeves?"
"Mm…"
"I saw you on TV two nights ago!" Sergeant Cheddar beamed, excited at meeting such a famed celebrity. "In that Sandra Bullock movie about underpaid teachers that rob a bank!"
"Yeah, that's me" Allison chuckled dryly, forcing a smile.
"Oh! Wow! Hey! If I'm being honest, my wife and I, we prefer you in the romantic comedies"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, y'know, The Love on Loan trilogy"
"Oof"
"Yeah, we just can't get enough!"
"…Copy Cheddar?" A woman's voice trickled over the walkie talkie, catching Sergeant Cheddar's attention. Mercifully, it sliced through the awkward-and-slightly-creepy silence which had settled over the pair and pulled the man's starry-eyed attention away from her.
"Oh!" Sergeant Cheddar blinked, before smiling sheepishly at Allison and moved to answer the call. "Yeah? What do you got, Fred?"
"Hospital called" Fred replied, relaying the information. "Perp from last just regained consciousness"
"Copy, I'll be right over" Sergeant Cheddar smiled brightly, "Allison freakin' Hargreeves! Wow! Ah, my wife's not gonna believe this! Anyway, I—I—I gotta go…"
"Oh" Allison brightened, happy to be done with this interaction.
"Um…work stuff, yeah…" Sergeant Cheddar shifted awkwardly on his feet before he ducked under the tape himself and disappeared off to his car.
"Yeah, of course, sorry" She waved him off, at least until a thought occurred to her. "Actually—! That's why I am here. I'm—I'm researching a role—a law enforcement role"
"In Jackpine Cove?" Sergeant Cheddar puzzled, brows furrowed in a thick line over his eyes. "We haven't had a murder here in years"
"Oh, uh…it's about, um…a, uh, small-town cop who…uh, takes down a drug cartel" Allison blubbered, trying to think quick on her feet. "In fact, maybe I could tag along while you conduct some official police business? I promise I won't get in the way! I just…I think you could really, um, help me develop my character; if I could live a day in the life, y'know?"
"…Day in the life, huh? Eh, c'me on, follow me"
Allison smiled innocently. It was a smile that was all teeth and full of lies.
The drive to the hospital was less than ideal; one filled with awkward tension on both sides and side-eyes that revealed equally tense figures sat side-by-side. When they eventually did arrive, both parties quickly fled from the vehicle, but Allison made sure to stay close to Sergeant Cheddar because, at this point, he was the closest thing to a proper lead that she'd had in days.
"…Dr Hamilton, please report to room 4Q" The hospital PA greeted the unlikely pair as they made their way through the hospital and down to the perp's room in question.
"Mr Luntz?" Sergeant Cheddar prodded, hoping to gain some sort of answer out of Luntz now that he was supposedly awake. "Mr Luntz? Can you hear me?"
"Nngh!" Luntz groaned pitifully as he blearily peeled his eyes open, swallowing hard. "Who, um…? Who are you?"
"I'm Sergeant Cheddar, and this is…this is my…associate" Sergeant Cheddar introduced the pair, stumbling a little over Allison's introduction. "We just have a couple of questions for you"
"Am I in trouble?" Luntz asked whilst Allison shifted nervously on her feet. She found it hard to look at the man. Mostly because she knew that his injuries were likely the result of Vanya's explosive powers and it made her wonder just what Luntz had done to push Vanya to that point where she had wrought this man with so much pain.
"No, no trouble; nothin' like that" Sergeant Cheddar hurried to appease him, "I—we—just wanted to ask you about the accident in the Bearskin Tavern parking lot last night"
"…Y-you're a cop" Luntz sighed shakily. "You—you gotta protect me no matter what, right?"
"It's my sworn duty" Sergeant Cheddar nodded, his words firm and promising.
"…It was no accident" Luntz shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Sergeant Cheddar puzzled.
"This guy—the one that used to live out in Granny J's ole place—he hired us to start a fight. He wanted us to rough him up in front of his missus; guess he wanted to play the hero or something. Anyway, he paid real good, up front too" Luntz swallowed hard as he found himself unable to look either of them in the eye, "We got drunk; took it a little too far and started to hassle the girl too. And then…all hell broke loose. Girl must've been one of those LANEs they're always going on about, 'coz there's no other explanation for it"
"The guy who paid you, what did he look like?" Allison piped up in interest much to Cheddar's chagrin. "Brown hair, light scruff, slight build?"
"Yeah, yeah that's him" Luntz nodded.
"Well, that's a…a really good guess"
"Is—is this the wife?" Allison pursued, showing the hospitalised man one of the photos that she'd nicked from Jenkins childhood home; it was one of the few genuine ones containing Vanya, Harold and Theodore as a family unit. Folding the edges of the photo over, she showed the image to Luntz who seemed to recoil at the sight of her.
"Hey, uh…Just, um, just a moment!" Sergeant Cheddar quickly bounded around the bed and shooed Allison back out in to the hallway, much to chagrin. Once out of Luntz's hearing range, Sergeant Cheddar turned on Allison with a disappointed glare, his tone just as disapproving. "Hey, by any chance, is your movie called Small Town Cop Falls for Hollywood Superstar's Bullshit?"
"…I am sorry for misleading you—" Allison began.
"—I believe the word you're looking for would be 'lying" Sergeant Cheddar interjected.
"…I'm sorry I lied" Allison amended, not fully apologetic in her approach to tracking down her wayward sister. "But I didn't know how else to get answers"
"This" Allison held up the folded photo for Sergeant Cheddar to see, emphasising her point as some of her worry leaked into her tone. "Is my sister. The guy he was talking about is her boyfriend and we think that he took her. No one's seen her in a few days and we're just worried"
"I could get fired for just bringing you down here with me!" Sergeant Cheddar retorted, although it was clear that his disappointment was starting to wane.
"Please, I think she's in trouble! I need your help!" Allison pleaded. "Everyone in the city's more focused on finding the LANEs who've been causing trouble over the past couple of days"
"Well, why didn't you say something sooner?" Sergeant Cheddar shifted in place, "We—I—would've helped"
"Would you?" Allison scowled, a sour expression upon her face as she crossed her arms.
"Hey—hey now!" Sergeant Cheddar appeared affronted, "Look, this is completely off of the table; but you could try Granny J's place out on Jackpine Road"
"…You got an address?"