Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Five tried his best to bring his brothers and sisters with him through time but the story would have ended if it worked out as it was supposed to. No, The Umbrella Academy had another terrible and desperate journey ahead of them and it all started with the siblings having to find each other again. For when Five brought them through time, they were tossed and littered throughout the early 1960'2, none of them landing on the same day at the same time.
Klaus and Ben – February 11th 1960
Allison – February 11th 1961
Luther – February 11th 1962
Malia – July 20th 1963
Diego – September 1st 1963
Vanya – October 12th 1963
Five – November 15th 1963
The last thing I heard before being sucked into Five's blue time-travelling vortex was "Hold on tight! This could get messy!"
So, I held on for dear life before dropping from the sky. I tried to catch myself and land on my feet but I wasn't that graceful. Well, I did manage to land on my feet but I was so off kilter that I stumbled and bumped into the wall before falling on my ass. I groaned and sat up while running my hands through my knotted hair. My hair elastic that was holding my hair in its messy bun must have snapped during my... journey.
I looked around me and noticed I was in an alley at night and the others weren't with me. Why did my life always revolve around alleyways? I thought as I stood. When I got to my feet, I saw a flash go off from the roof top in front of me. Clearly it was motion sensitive but what was the purpose of having a camera like that, looking into such an unremarkable place?
The owner was either very paranoid or was looking for strange occurrences... like people falling from the sky. If I fell alone, then the others probably did too at some point today so I had to find them. First things first, I needed to find out when I was. I turned to leave the alley but two men came in before I could. One was a short stubby man with a lot of hair, the other was taller and cleaner cut. They were both wearing black trench coats. Perfect, I didn't have to go far for information.
"What's a pretty girl like you doing all alone in this dark dank place?" The shorter man asked with not even hello. It sounded like he had a Russian accent.
"I'm just looking for the date." I said, "You wouldn't happen to know it would you?"
"Now that's an odd question." The taller one said, also Russian.
"Odd or not, I still want to know." I said, tired of this conversation already.
"It's the 20th of July." The tall one spoke again, getting closer.
"Year?" I asked annoyed.
"1963." The shorter one said and then pulled something out of his pocket. It was an old school pistol – not so old school here, I guess. "Aren't you the curious one. What should we do with her Mac? Have a little fun?" These guys were disgusting and I probably wasn't their first victim. I was definitely going to be their last though.
"What's your name girl?" The tall one, Mac, asked.
"You don't need to worry about that." I said, walking closer, ignoring the way the shorter one raised the gun to point at me, "You should have to worry about what they call me."
"Who's they and what do they call you?" The short one asked, cocking the gun.
I smirked and made eye-contact with him, "Nightmare."
My hazel eyes flashed blue and the shorter guy looked around him before backing away in fear. He hit the wall and covered his face as the giant snake he sees inches closer. I turned to Mac as he went to pull out a gun as well but I took quick steps toward him, grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. I made him face his partner and pushed him toward the cowering man. The shorter guy was so wigged out that he thought the snake was coming at him and shot repeatedly.
Mac fell to the ground with multiple bullet wounds to the chest and I let the short guy out of his nightmare to see what he had done. He looked around for the giant snake but didn't see it obviously and looked back down at his partner and then the gun in his hand.
"Disconcerting, isn't it? Waking up from a nightmare." I said, picking at my finger nails.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked angrily, pointing his gun at me again.
"I already told you who I was." I said.
The man came closer until the gun was about a foot away from my chest. He was an idiot for not shooting me when he had the chance. Quicker than he could blink, I had taken the gun and pointed it at him instead. He backed away and put his hands up.
"Look, I don't know who you work for but you caught me. I'm a spy for the Soviets and I'll tell you anything you need to know if you just spare me." He pleaded.
"So you're not only a rapist but you're a traitor to your own country too?" I asked, "You really are the worst kind of scumbag, aren't you?"
"FBI! Drop your weapon!" I looked to the entrance of the alley and sighed; this wasn't good at all.
I set the gun on the ground and stood up with my hands raised, "Just so you know, this is a Soviet spy and he shot his partner in cold blood."
"And he just told you that did he?" The FBI agent asked as he came over and cuffed my hands behind me, "Why would he do a thing like that?"
I smiled at the agent who cuffed me. He was pretty handsome with his dark hair and blue eyes. He seemed to be around my age as well but he wasn't Diego. At the thought of Diego, my smile faltered and I looked away. I needed to get out of this mess I just made for myself and quick. Who knows what the others are doing right now?
"I just have a way with people I guess." I said quietly.
"Right. We'll see about that." He said and directed me towards his car while another agent cuffed the Russian – I mean Soviet. I have to remember that this is 1963.
The ride to FBI headquarters in Dallas was relatively short. The agent brought me in and stuck me in an interrogation room. It was cold and the lights were blinking while they buzzed. The conditions were awful but I'm thinking that's on purpose. They left me in the room for a while by myself and I tilted my headed back to look at the dank ceiling. They needed to hurry this along so I could find the others; find Diego.
Finally, the handsome agent from before came into the room and sat across from me with a folder. No idea why he has a folder, it's not like there was any information on me in this time period. Maybe it was a scare tactic? That was lame, they obviously haven't met Mr. Hargreeves. He desensitized all his children to most fears so we wouldn't be debilitated during missions.
"Let's start off simple, shall we? My name is Special Agent William Cross. You are?" He asked.
I shrugged.
He sighed, "Look, I'm trying to be nice and just have a conversation with you. It would be nice if you could cooperate so we could all go home."
He had a point. The more stubborn I was, the longer this would take and I had shit to do. "Malia Hargreeves." Fuck, should I have given a fake name? Too late now, I guess.
"It's nice to meet you Malia Hargreeves. Can you tell me what you were doing in that alley at 11:27pm?"
"I was supposed to meet my family there." Not completely untrue since we were supposed to show up together, "They didn't show up like they were supposed too, so I waited."
"And then what happened?"
"It was cold and dark, so I was about to leave but those two guys came in and cornered me. They said they wanted to have a little fun." This is where I truly had to lie, "The taller guy said he didn't want to share so the short guy shot him a few times. He said I made him do it and then he came at me."
"How did you end up with the gun?" Agent Cross said.
"I had a very strict father who wanted me trained in everything you could think of. I am highly skilled in combat because of this. He chose the wrong victim Detective Cross."
"Agent Cross."
"Whatever." I shrugged.
"You said he told you he was a Soviet spy."
"Yeah... when I pulled the gun on him, he seemed to shake in his little boots. I didn't even ask him. He just told me who he worked for and that he would tell me anything I wanted to know if I just spared his life. If that's all it takes, the Soviets should choose their spies better or they don't have a chance." I thought about what I just said and then added, "Not that I want them too..."
"And that's it?"
"Yeah, and then you guys showed up. Good thing too or I would have shot point blank." I admitted.
Agent cross chuckled at my blatant admission, "Wanting to kill someone is not something you should be telling an FBI agent."
"The dude was a rapist. Tried to make me a victim. Then fully admitted to being a spy. I'll admit to wanting to kill all the bastards like him if I want to." I said as if it was no big deal. Which to me, it wasn't, since that's what I was trained to do since I was eleven years old.
"You're an interesting character Miss. Hargreeves."
I grimaced, "For the love of god, please call me Malia."
"Alright Malia. I feel no need to hold you here but I would like to make you an offer if you're up for it."
I eyed him suspiciously, I couldn't help it, the guy was a stranger, "What kind of offer?"
"A job offer."
"You've known me for all of five minutes. You pretty much only know my name, so how could you possibly be ready to offer me a job without talking to your superiors first and with so little information?"
"You're smart, quick on your feet, very intuitive, and don't think I don't know that you managed to get out of those cuffs before I even entered the room." Agent Cross said and I brought my hands in front of me to rest them on the table with a raised brow. The guy was good. "We've been following those two guys for a while now and haven't been able to pin anything on them. You're alone with them for ten minutes and you have one dead and the other ready to spill all his secrets. So yeah, we want you on our team."
"What would I be doing?" I asked.
"You'd be working in Terrorism and National Security."
I leaned back in my chair as I drummed my fingers on the metal table. Now THAT is interesting. Working for the FBI is not something I ever considered when I left the Academy at eighteen. I fought a life of crime already and wanted to help people in a different way. Recently I did discover that I missed being part of the Academy though. Yes, I missed my family but I also missed the action and the adrenaline rush it gave me.
I had to find my family though. That was first and foremost important. However, if I was to live in this time for an indeterminant amount of time, I WOULD need a job and the FBI database would give me access to a whole slew of information which might come in handy at some point. I flicked my eyes up to Special Agent William Cross and contemplated. This is a decision I might need to make with my family.
"Am I allowed to think about it?" I asked.
"I can give you a week before the offer expires." He said and handed me the file he brought in with him. Makes sense now, it was the job offer. "My card is in there too. I'd like to hear from you no matter what your decision may be."
"So you have a chance to convince me if I say no?" I asked as I stood up.
"To wish you well in your future." He said and held out his hand.
I shook it, "The future... what a fickle thing that is."
I left the FBI building and walked a few blocks. I should go back to that alley but it was two-o-clock in the morning and I needed to rest. My family wouldn't go and stick around there in the dark anyway. I changed my course and found a little motel instead. It was gross and runned down but it would do for now. I walked to the front desk and rang the little bell, waiting for the attendant to appear.
It was a tired, overweight woman, wearing a shower cap and a nightgown that came out of the back. I'm assuming that this office was connected to a small apartment because it looked like she just pulled herself from bed. I felt kind of bad about that but she IS the one that chose this business.
"What can I do for you?" She asked quietly.
"I'd like a room please. Just a single."
"Just for tonight?" She eyed me suspiciously.
I don't blame her. Not only did I look a little ragged but my clothes were too modern and had little spots blood. I was going to need to do something about that first thing in the morning. New clothes sounded amazing considering I've been wearing this outfit for two days straight. I could really use a shower too.
"Yeah. I'm from out of town and came in late." I said and then pulled out my wallet. I only had two hundred dollars cash to work with. Luckily their counterfeit detection isn't great in the 60's because these bills probably haven't even been produced yet. "How much?"
"Twenty dollars." She said.
"What?!" I looked up in shock, that was so cheap!
"What do you expect missy?" The lady chuckled, "It's Dallas. The big cities are always a little extra."
"Uh right, of course." Handing over a twenty as she passed me a room key.
"Room 10. The last door on the main level."
I thanked her and went back outside to get to my room. When I opened up the door, I stood in the doorway with a frown. There was a thin double bed pushed into the corner made with ugly orange blankets. There was a nightstand beside the bed with a telephone and a lamp settled on top. The lamp was severely outdated even for this time period. Across from the bed, on the other wall was a rickety armoire that looked like it would fall apart with a single touch. The carpet was green and faded as well. Despite the room only costing twenty bucks, I still felt like I was being ripped off.
I stepped into the room and closed it behind me because regardless of the filthy conditions, it was still a place to sleep. I didn't really have another option. I stripped down to my underwear and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, I woke up early and found a store. I wanted to get some clothes and some essentials so I could shower and change before I checked out of my room. I did not like my options though. The first few stores I've been in were a bust. They were mostly all dresses with floral patterns or bright colours. I wanted something a little more practical.
The last store I went in has much more of what I was looking for. Pants made for women, excellent. I grabbed a few pairs of high-waisted ankle pants in my size – black, burgundy, tan, and dark green – and a few shirts. Sleeveless turtle necks in various colours, form fitting button down t-shirts, and a few blouses. I also grabbed a black, poplin trench coat that fell below the knees and cinched at the waist. Once I grabbed some proper flat footwear - simple black loafers because that's all they had – and undergarments, I went back to the motel.
The water was only lukewarm but I managed. I washed my hair and body and it felt amazing. The only down side was I didn't have anything to do my hair with when I got out so it looked like I would be letting it dry in its natural frizzy waves instead of the usual sleek ones I preferred. I put on my tan ankle pants, blue t-shirt, and stuffed all my new clothes in the small duffle I bought. I dropped my key off in the empty office as I left. Now that I've properly acclimated, it was time to find my family.
I got back to the alley around noon and began to look around. If they've arrived yesterday, then they may have left some sort of clue on where to find them. There was nothing though. I even waited there for hours hoping they would just show up to check like I did but nothing.
With nothing left to do and no leads to go on, I went to the dinner down the street to collect my thoughts and put something in my stomach because I was starving. I tried to think about what my next move would be as I gorged on as much food as I could stuff myself with. First, I needed a home base, so I would have to go back to that shitty motel, then I needed a plan.
I gave the motel lady fifty bucks to let me stay the week, leaving me with ninety bucks to live off of. She wasn't impressed but I can be very 'convincing' when I need to be. I would have to use my powers a little more to get by, so I could stretch my money out. I went back to that alley every day for the next five days and waited for hours but still no one showed.
On the fifth day of waiting, leaned back against the brick wall of the alley, looking up. I straightened when I saw movement in a second story window. I looked further up and saw the camera and antenna set up on top of the building. That's right, I forgot about the camera. I walked up to the metal door that had a sign that read 'Morty's Television Radio' and knocked. There was no answer though and I looked around again.
Getting an idea, I ran to the diner I was at the other day, borrowed a paper and pen and wrote a note. I lodged it in the door and backed away as I looked up to the second story window again. The curtains were moving, so someone was watching me and they were watching this alley. So maybe they've seen something. Only time would tell.
I went back to the motel and plopped on my bed. It could just be possible that I was alone in 1963 Dallas but I hoped to god that wasn't true. I didn't want to be alone again. I wanted my family. I wanted Diego. They had to be somewhere and if they did appear in that alley, I hope whoever was watching it would contact me for information. In the meantime, I had to bide my time. I needed money and resources.
I glanced at the file resting on my nightstand and picked it up to flip open. A card fell on my lap and I read the contact info for Special Agent William Cross. I turned it over in my hand as I made my decision and picked up the telephone that rested beside the lamp.
"This is Special Agent Cross." The man said on the other end.
"Hi Agent Cross, this is Malia Hargreeves. We met a few days ago. I'm calling to hear more about this job offer."