Chapter title is from the same song title by Echosmith

Unbeta-ed. Enjoy!

Klaus

"Klaus, wake up."

"Mmm… No."

A palm connected on Klaus's cheek. He found Ben's face hovering over his, unrepentant. "Wake up. Our sisters are missing."

"Okay!" Klaus exclaimed when he received two more slaps. "Geez, I like you more when you couldn't touch me," he grumbled, scratching the back of his head. He didn't mean it, obviously; out of the five of them, he knew he must be the sole person that wasn't affected by Ben's very much alive presence. Much. "What's wrong?"

"Allison and Vanya are not here when I woke up," Luther answered. "They might have been taken away."

"Maybe they're in the bathroom," Klaus suggested, glancing to his left. Huh, it was already evening. He was hungry.

Diego growled. "I swear if they touch them—"

"Nobody saw them leave?" Klaus asked. Luther and Diego tended to have that penchant for exaggeration.

"Who would? We were all passed out," Five replied flatly, adjusting his tie.

"Speak for yourself. You're the one who suddenly fell," Klaus said, yawning. "Not that I'm blaming you or anything since you just saved us, but maybe you should have laid back on your space jump for a while."

Five scowled at Klaus's direction. Ben cleared his throat. "What Klaus is saying is that you shouldn't have pushed yourself too much. You said it was your first time using your powers with others. You were already tired when you fought those men."

It didn't escape Klaus the way Luther, Diego, and, surprisingly, Five, stared at Ben when he spoke.

"Tried exploring yet?" Klaus interjected. "I mean, this place is more than the size of the mansion. Looks nicer in my opinion." He slumped back on the sheets, hands at the back of his head. His bed back at the mansion wasn't this soft. Ben shot him his best be serious look.

"It's a facility for people like us," Luther said, rubbing on his wrist.

Diego snorted. "At least what they think we are."

"Can't convince them either that we're anatomically human without telling the whole truth." Five began pacing, his face grim when he met Luther's eyes. "It's possible that they examined Vanya and Allison first, that's why they're not here."

Klaus's brows rose. Were they really experimental subjects to be opened up later? Well, for an ominous facility, this hardly looked like the one they show on TV, with dim lights, bloody scalpels, and grimy metal tables. There was also the distinct lack of ghosts to be seen around.

"If I may, I might be able to clear some misunderstandings regarding your situation."

"Is it just me or we all heard a brit?" Klaus asked.

"My name is Jarvis, and I'll be answering your questions to my utmost ability," the same British voice said, coming from above. The five of them all shared a look of surprise.

"This is a first," Klaus muttered. "Hey, Jarve, can you tell us where Vanya and Allison are?"

"Miss Vanya is in the kitchen, and Miss Allison is on the balcony of the 80th floor. Miss Allison does not wish to be disturbed at the moment."

Klaus grinned. "Thanks, mate." He turned to the rest. "Told ya they're exploring." He hopped off the mattress, stretching. "Shall we?"

"Jarvis, where are we?" Five asked.

Jarve told them they were in some tower owned by Anthony Stark. Five took it upon himself to inquire about the important details they have to know such as what happened earlier during the trip, who were the men who found them, and more about this Anthony.

"Mister Stark and Director Fury… came into an agreement that led to your stay here as his guests."

"What's Stark's connection with S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Five asked, thoughtfully digesting Jarvis's words. "And tell me more about the Avengers."

"Mister Stark is an associate of Director Fury, and by extension, S.H.I.E.L.D. Mister Stark is first and foremost part of The Avengers, an independent group of superheroes formed to defend Earth against extraterrestrial threats."

Luther frowned. "Like aliens."

"Correct. With the combined efforts of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., New York successfully resisted an invasion last May 4, 2012."

"We didn't know about any alien invasion seven years ago," Diego said confusedly. "Is this a hushed up news?"

The moment the words left Diego's mouth, Five facepalmed comically, hissing at Diego's slip of the tongue. Diego looked even more confused until the realization dawned on him, muttering oh shit.

Jarve was silent, though he didn't bring up the implication of what Diego just said. Was Jarve even capable of that thought process? "The news was, and still is, circulating around the world to encourage stronger defense and raise awareness."

"Jarvis, pull us up a news report of the invasion," Five ordered.

Klaus stared as the glass pane gradually became tinted like a TV screen. A video was then played, showing the local news of the aftermath of the said alien invasion. Disjointed clips of the battles were also shown, mostly displaying a man in ridiculously tight blue spandex throwing a shield on the ugly faces of those aliens, sometimes it was a green giant with torn jeans throwing away their enemies with a monstrous roar.

Klaus couldn't help but laugh. Hell, he didn't even know where exactly they were—he just knew Five made a mistake and landed them elsewhere, very far from the mansion and Dad.

Whatever. This world of superheroes, aliens, and secret organizations, wherever this was, sounded trippy as hell.

Klaus was starting to like it.

Five

"Turn back a bit and pause," he interrupted. A person wearing the same red metal suit from earlier was on the screen. "Who's that?"

"That is Mister Stark, or Iron Man, as they call him."

The Avengers, according to Jarvis, was the frontline of defense of Earth composed of a man wearing a metal, a super soldier, a huge green monster, a Norse god, and at least two more "normal" people but nonetheless capable. The idea of him and his siblings not the only superheroes in town reeled in his mind. Five was used to carrying the name of the Umbrella Academy, how they gained popularity at their young age. He never forgot the prestige of his public identity despite living for years in a post-apocalyptic future.

Then here they were in a world where superheroes were a commonality, with aliens dropping by unannounced, and men who appeared to have come from fiction.

To think that such an alternate reality existed.

The Multiverse Theory was at the forefront of mind before he could even wake. What confused him, though, was the fact that he jumped to another dimension with his siblings.

His powers were still growing, and the conclusion brought him both alarm and fascination. He was capable of more he was yet to discover.

"Mister Stark has arrived," Jarvis announced later, and while he didn't say that Stark would like to see them, they were both directed to the bathroom for a change of clothes and to refresh. The door turned out to be unlocked, and Five internally scoffed at how ridiculous Luther and Diego were jumping into conclusions earlier that Allison and Vanya were taken against their will.

"What now?" Diego asked, his voice low as he tried a maroon shirt. Five doubted Jarvis's presence extended to all parts of the tower. "You think we can return as soon as possible?"

His powers indeed need a rest for a while after the escape they pulled. "Not any sooner," he said, huffing. He didn't like the thought of being stuck either. "But fortunately for us, we're not in a race against time." Five supposed there was no point hiding from his siblings. "We're not even in our own dimension."

"Wait, what?"

"We're on Earth, but not the one we came from. Think of one of the infinite parallel universes," he explained, condensing the whole theory of multiple realities; the full lecture could wait. "Events here are not the same from ours. Most places, things, and their names can be the same as what we know, but people are another matter entirely. For example, these Avengers that are popular here. They don't exist in our world, clearly, or you would have heard of them."

His brothers' reactions were mostly confusion but otherwise calm; Five had to give them that.

"You can travel to alternate realities as well?" Luther asked after a while.

"I didn't know I could." It could be a fluke, but better that it wasn't. It would prove useful to understand the extent of his abilities. "Our situation is more complicated than jumping to another dimension. We are time travelers on top of it, our consciousness older than we appear. It's best that we keep this bit to ourselves," Five advised, eyeing Diego and Klaus in particular. "I won't be surprised if they already had the gist of us coming from another world, so that's a safe knowledge." Later, he would look up on this Earth's version of Multiverse Theory, if it even existed here. "We also prove that we're humans through and through that way."

"Do we stick with the back story you made?" Klaus asked, examining his nails. "Or do we just—I don't know, don't speak unless asked?"

"We only lie about our real age and the reason we escaped," Five decided. "We're thirteen years old, all of us born on October 1, 1999."

"And our powers?" Ben asked. There was a hint of worry in his face.

Right, there was still the matter of Ben's eventual death out of his uncontrolled ability. It wasn't only Vanya that was in dire need of control training. "We tell the truth if they ask for it."

Luther frowned. "Is that wise?"

For what Five has in mind, it would certainly be.

Tony

He barely remembered much from his childhood outside wanting to impress his father and despising a dead national icon that Howard Stark never gave up on.

Tony was hardly a normal child. Where his peers were learning to piece together Legos and puzzles, he was tinkering old radios and TVs. If there was one thing he shared in common with the other kids, it was being annoying and running his mouth without filter; the latter which he retained (and worsened) as he got older.

Frankly, he was surprised to find all seven of them presentable the moment he stepped into the receiving room. They sat together primly, with one of the two girls a little apart from the rest, regarding him with cautious eyes when he came in.

They stared.

He stared back.

"Hi," Tony simply said when he had enough of the tense silence, going straight for the minibar he recently installed. "Rough ride?" he asked conversationally, though his back was turned on them as he fixed himself a drink. He would be needing a lot of this in the coming days. "I don't blame you if it was. The longer you stay in the Quinjet the more you wish to get out of it."

"Good thing we're not conscious during the whole ride," said a brunet boy offhandedly before slumping his back on the cushion.

"Drugged?" Tony gulped a mouthful. It went down more bitter than usual. "Just another day with S.H.I.E.L.D." He raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Your name, kid?"

"Klaus Hargreeves," the boy replied, face splitting in a grin. Tony got the impression that Klaus would be one of those difficult to handle. "Pleasure to meet you, Mister Stark, sir."

He smirked. "Tony is fine." He gestured at the four more boys and the two girls. "Same with you lot. Got names?"

"I'm Luther," said the blond boy with a serious expression, not so different from Cap's.

"Ben," came the other boy with Asian features, almost as laidback as Klaus but not overtly so.

"Diego," said the other boy sitting at Luther's left. His expression closely mirrored Luther's, though his body language was more vigilant.

"Allison," a girl with curly hair said, smiling prettily. Ah, this was the girl Jarvis mentioned hanging alone around the balcony.

"Vanya." When Tony's eyes connected on hers, she was unable to hold eye contact. Not quite like her sister then, nor the rest of her siblings.

His gaze landed on the boy who they said basically spat on Fury's face. Good times. "You're the kid with the weird name. Five, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir." The smile that Five gave was all teeth, almost feral. "And you're the person who flew late to the scene."

"That's why your old Nicky loves me, amongst other things," Tony said coolly. "You should have seen us. It was quite a spectacular custody battle."

"Pray tell how it went," Five sat back, his smile not leaving his face. "We're curious."

Tony went to the opposite side, resting his feet on top of the coffee table as he tried to get comfortable. "I admit there was no explosion. But he had an array of insults, and in return, I mentioned that I may have a tattletale mouth. He doesn't want to look bad to his favorite, so here we are."

The answer seemed to have cracked the boy's expression. "That's it?"

"More or less." Tony shook his glass a bit. "Might have implied that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cyber protection unit is trash."

It was funny how the kid didn't believe that. "Why exactly are we here?"

"You got a better place to go?" Tony shot back.

Five took a moment to answer, practically sneering. "No. Unless you know a man named Reginald Hargreeves. Eccentric billionaire type; I'm sure you'll get along."

Christ, Tony liked the kid already. The moxie of this boy. "That your dad?"

"Yeah, adoptive father," Klaus piped in. "Bought us, more like."

It was somewhat unsettling how casual that sounded. Tony tried not to linger in that thought. "Guy has too much money than he could spend. Can relate." He took another sip. It tasted vile.

"Why, you collect kids too?" Diego said testily.

"Kids? No. Fury said I'm a disaster, and he's not wrong." He pretended not to be affected by that. "I got this whole place and penthouses, Stark Industries, Iron Man suit, Jarvis, my lab, cars." Tony opened his jacket, just for the heck of it, to reveal the bluish glow that managed to be visible underneath his black shirt. "This replacement of a heart I got." He then raised his glass. "This whenever I feel like it." He was glad, though, that he got Pepper and Happy not through the same way he got everything he owned. "All I'm saying is a single kid is worth triple the trouble than all these."

"Then why convince S.H.I.E.L.D. to transfer us here?" Allison asked, eyes flickering at his chest. "If we're twenty-one times the trouble."

Tony snorted. "Nobody loves S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury for their personality. And after the invasion, I don't think they'll be cordial to anything else new not from this world. You are all humans, as you said, just like me and most people that live here on this planet, but you're not from around here, am I right? Don't expect them to hear out your story because they don't have the time for that. Not now when the topic of aliens is in heat." He shrugged. "As for me, I don't care as long as you're not here to subjugate mankind."

Should Fury bother to point out that Tony's sympathy was out of their appearance as children, he wouldn't disagree. They were closely alike to mutants, he decided after making sure they were human in composition—one heart, two lungs, two kidneys, DNA and all that—there were a relief and less anticipation of another round of nightmares that would instead feature special kids committing transgressions.

"You're here as my guests," he continued. "I'm sure one billionaire of an adoptive father is enough for you."

The way they quieted down spoke for itself. Even Five looked thoughtful.

The daddy issues were bound to be stifling in the oncoming days.

What a messy group they make. Tony included.

"So, house rules," Tony said, changing the subject. "Top ten floors are for research purposes, and aside from my lab, everywhere is free to you. You clean your own litter and flush the toilet after use. I don't mind fisticuffs, but there's a place for those. Ask Jarvis. He will let me know if you leave the premises, and he'll know what time you returned. I won't set curfews, but you're my responsibility, and I'd rather not let you kids out very late at night." Klaus snickered at that. "Comments, suggestions, violent reactions?"

"Actually, I have one more suggestion," said Five, surprising no one.

"Yeah?" Tony muttered distractedly as he checked his phone. It had vibrated and numerous files came through from S.H.I.E.L.D. containing the data they managed to gather in the short span of time they met the kids. Tony's lips twitched when he noticed that the longest file belonged to Five. He would read them later.

"Train us."

Had Tony heard that right? "Train you," he repeated carefully.

"Us. We want to be trained by The Avengers themselves," the kid elaborated, crossing his arms with a smirk.

Tony gauged him; the kid looked smug, but he seemed determined. "Why, for the people coming after you?"

"I doubt they could follow us here. No worries," Five replied confidently. "It's us who are in need of training." He glanced briefly at Vanya.

"We need to learn control first and foremost," Ben seconded. He wasn't saying a word since he introduced himself. His statement greatly reminded Tony of Bruce and the Hulk who remained struggling with how to live together, though after unleashing the Hulk against the Chitauri, Bruce was beginning to have his peaceful days.

"Really," Tony said, noncommittal. They didn't look like they had an amateurish issue such as control if Tony's gotta be honest. He understood that they weren't being completely truthful. Fury mentioned the three of them displayed promising reign on their abilities, and then there were the four who were yet to show what they were capable of. "Tell me why we should agree with that."

"Additional arsenal for us, and we could be valuable," Five reasoned. "Kind of like having a backup team."

"Uh-huh. Child labor is a thing here, kid, and it's scary for the adults." But while Tony could hardly consider these kids as a backup, the idea of having young protégés could be an effective distraction for him and would keep the team occupied, assuming, of course, that like he and Bruce the others have a lot of free time in their hands.

Fury would love to have two of his employees keeping a close and watchful eye on the kids.

Cap would berate him for even considering it, but he would come around after seeing their eager faces.

Bruce would definitely not let himself be a part of it out of fear of harming them.

Thor would be Thor.

Tony would say yes.

"On second thought, lemme hear what the others will say."

Luther

"Why would you even suggest that?"

"Do you even have to ask, Luther? We need to stop the apocalypse; therefore, we need Vanya to learn how to command her ability," Five told him as if speaking to a younger kid.

"I get that, but why even us? It's like showing all our cards to them," Luther pointed out.

"It isn't," Five insisted. "In fact, it'll be beneficial to us. Back then it was Dad but he didn't have powers like we do. He did his best to be our mentor, but we could only scratch the surface of our abilities. The Avengers are superheroes of this world, and they've fought against larger enemies; they've been on the frontline. Who do you think is more fitting to teach us?"

"But we don't know them."

"We will if they agree to that, and I think they won't pass up the chance. Stark, especially." Luther's uncertainty must have shown on his face. "Stark is the kind of person who can't be idle for too long and let boredom kill him. Yes, he's a busybody, but he craves movement and action that also stimulates him mentally. He needs an obsession."

Five's impression of Stark could be a total miss, but clearly he read the man better than they did. Luther didn't have to ask how he arrived with that profile. "And you're fine with us being his 'obsession'?"

"No, because it's highly likely to turn into a symbiotic relationship." Five gave him a pat on his back, and Luther had never felt so small. "Now let's just rest and prepare for tomorrow. It's already decided, and I'd like it if you refrain from thinking too much about it. Leave the decision-making to me, seeing as you turned out to be… unreliable in that department."

That jab was more painful than a punch in the face, and Luther didn't even have the energy to be angry—Five has every reason to call him out on his stupidity.

"Besides, ask Diego. I'm sure he'll tell you that he has been meaning to stretch his bones."

They had all returned to their shared room after a meal made by a person named Pepper, according to a post-it note they found on the set dining table that had Stark looking dismayed to have missed Pepper. The dinner was a placid affair overall, considering, and Luther had forgotten the appetite of a prepubescent boy. Stark said that he would be making bedroom arrangements tomorrow, and he would be leaving it up to them to settle.

Across the room were Allison and Vanya's beds, with Vanya wordlessly slipping back under the covers. Luther briefly caught Allison's eyes. She smiled tightly, not offering him any words before she turned in for the night.

He was yet to be forgiven.

TBC