As the Umbrella Academy stared in shock, Luther slowly moved forward.
"Is that really you?" he asked, breathless from surprise.
Rachel frowned as she watched the Ben before them. There were some differences between the one she had recently spoken with and the one here. First, Ben never styled his hair to be pushed up the front with gel. It was always styled to the side. He also hadn't sported a scar on his face. Finally, and the most striking, was that this Ben felt nothing like the one Rachel knew. This one simmered with a number of strong emotions from rage, jealousy, pride, and more. She felt something hiding deep below the negative feelings, but it was being smothered. Ultimately, this Ben's maintained a rather unpleasant aura.
Diego appeared to recover from his shock enough to address the group above them, causing Klaus to flinch from his shout.
"And who are the weirdos on the balcony?"
Something was off. These people all felt comfortable here and annoyed at their intrusion. It was becoming clearer to Rachel that this was actually their home. But was it also the Umbrella's?
"They are the Sparrows," Reginald Hargreeves answered from behind them," My children."
Eyebrows raised as they turned back to him.
"I'm sorry," Five asked, skeptical," What do you mean your children? That's not possible, old man."
"Of course it is! I think I'd know, wouldn't I?"
Rachel glanced back to see the so-called Sparrows filling in the space behind Ben. Sensing Reginald's honesty, a sinking feeling erupted in her stomach.
"Everybody else can see Ben, right?"
"Cute hat, Sundance."
Klaus tilted the brim of his hat at him in response. Rachel examined the now visible members in the space. Behind Ben was a bored looking woman with long brown hair beside a man whose face could only be described as sagging. Badly. The right side of his face was a good deal lower than the left, as if it had been punched far too many times. Beside Ben, taking the center of the group was a tall, dark-skinned man. His blazer fit his shoulders incredibly well as he stood chest out. Confidence radiated from him. Rachel could tell he was the leader, and proud of it. Also in the back was a woman whose clothes were form fitting, her blazer's shoulders leading out to points. Her shirt collar looked like a bird's wings about to take flight. She wore sunglasses. There was evidence that, behind them, scarring marred her face around the eyes and upper cheeks. Nearby her, the cube floated along, changing color based on the feeling they radiated. It struck Rachel that she understood what a cube was feeling. It was incredibly strange. Finally, there was a young woman with light brown hair near the leader. For an adult woman, she looked most like she was wearing a schoolgirl uniform to Catholic school. This one was more curious compared to the hostility sitting among the others.
"Seriously, though, why are grown ass adults wearing these kinds of uniforms?" Rachel muttered.
Klaus heard her comment and let out a little giggle.
"They call themselves the Umbrella Academy," Reginald told his Sparrows, "a group of scheming, perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of 1963 when I was away on business in Dallas. Be warned, they claim to be my spawn."
Allison moved toward her father hand held out before looking at her brother.
"Claim? Look, Five, what the hell is going on?"
"I don't know yet, but it's concerning."
Rachel moved closer to him.
"Did we mess up the timeline somehow?" she whispered.
"That would be my first guess, but I don't know how…" he responded quietly, "I need to get that briefcase…"
The leader of the team looked around at the Umbrellas, sizing them up. Suspicion was growing among the group and Rachel was fairly confident a fight was on the horizon.
"Is he telling the truth?"
"Not the part about us being perfidious," Vanya responded.
"No, we're amateur-fidious, at best," Klaus interjected quickly.
"But we are his children. This is our house."
Luther appeared to come to a bit.
"Yeah, yeah. We, uh…We grew up here," he input.
The man with the melting face mocked his words, making a number of his team laugh. The girl at the front tilted her head at Luther.
"I kind of think we would have noticed you," she stated in a soft tone.
Rachel's eyes narrowed as she felt Luther's emotions seem to freeze for a moment before sensing a dopamine and norepinephrine rush go through him. He clearly liked what he saw as he stepped forward to shake her hand.
"Hi. I'm Luther."
She didn't move, but Rachel sensed her feelings soften slightly as she gave a tiny smile. Disturbed that an attraction could be occurring in the moment, she was glad when Allison stepped up. The actress's anger was building.
"Okay. None of you belong here."
Rachel opened her mouth to protest her aggressive comment, but the woman with sunglasses was faster.
"Oh! Well, then. I guess we'll just pack our bags and move out."
The Umbrella's stared as the cube flashed multiple colors and insulted them. It made all of his siblings laugh.
"You slay me, Chris," Ben said, still staring down the Sparrows.
It was at that moment that Grace walked into the room wearing a floral dress with a blue apron. She carried a plate of cookies in front of her.
"I wasn't expecting company. This is the best I could do on short-"
She began to twitch, her voice going deep and robotic.
"Short-short notice."
Diego put the knife he had pulled out back into a pocket and stepped toward her.
"Mom."
The dark-haired girl in the back spoke up.
"Mom? She's a robot, you perv."
He turned to her with a glare.
"It's not a robot."
"Hey, don't you call him that," Luther responded insulted on his brother's behalf.
"Or what?" Ben pressed.
"Come closer and find out," was Luther's threat.
Both Vanya and Rachel stepped out, calling for Luther to stop. Everyone began speaking up at that point. Just as the leader of the Sparrows shouted out "Enough," the dark-haired girl spit dark liquid at Diego. It hit his cheek. Rachel frowned at the excitement coursing through him, before looking back at the leading man.
"I don't know what circus you people escaped from or how you got past our security, but we're done here. You got 30 second to get out of our house."
"And if we don't?" Allison asked, testily.
"Then we'll have to settle this the old-fashioned way."
Rachel turned more fully to Diego as she felt a sense of panic go through him. She found him sweating bullets before wiping at his face, freaked out.
"Diego, are you okay?" she asked him.
"F-Fine. I was just…hallucinating."
She watched him for a moment longer, wishing there was a moment do deal with that information, before turning her attention back to the group at large. Vanya was now addressing the room.
"This doesn't need to get ugly. Let's all just calm down, and let's talk."
She nodded around at the group as Klaus looked at the Asian man across from him.
"Psst. Ben-er-ino. You look so much better alive than you do dead. Am I right?"
Rachel looked over at him with wide eyes. Out of the entire opposition, their Ben was a ticking timebomb of rage on which Klaus was running down the fuse.
"Except that haircut."
"What the hell did you just say?"
"Come on, come on," Klaus continued as he moved forward, waving his hands in front of him," Stop with all the hostility, Mr. Grumpy Pants."
Looking over at Five, Rachel smacked his arm.
"Stop him," she hissed.
Five just opened his mouth before closing it and shrugging at her, clearly thinking "And how do you propose I do that?" Even Luther wanted to protest, but it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. It was coming, but stopping it is nigh impossible.
"Oh wow. Nice scar. Muy Macho."
"Shut your mouth!" Ben growled.
"You shut your mouth and just hug your brother-"
"Klaus!" Rachel shouted too late as Ben decked Klaus in the face.
The fool went stumbling backward, knocking into the coffee table, and falling over it.
"Hey! What the hell?" Luther demanded," You didn't have to do that!"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I did!"
"That's right, he did!" the guy in the back agreed.
"Hey, get back!" Marcus warned Luther.
Everyone was shouting again. Rachel sensed Reginald's intention to move out of the room, making his escape before things got ugly. She was just turned to look when Luther went soaring past her. Klaus, who had just gotten up off the floor, had no time to react as his gigantic brother went flying into him, knocking the couch and table behind them over. Clearly, Marcus also had superstrength. It was at that point that everyone scattered.
"Stay back and assess powers," Five instructed as he ran for Ben.
Rachel moved to the side of the room, taking stock of where everyone was. She mentally cursed at her arm that was useless. Luther had to deal with the leader, Diego faced down Chris the Cube, and the others all raced out of the room. Through the door, she could see Allison fighting the woman with sunglasses, a black bird hovering around nearby. She lost sight of Vanya as Klaus dazedly wandered out of the room.
"Be careful!" she warned Diego, as he squared off against the cube right in front of her.
The man held one of his knives, ready to fight.
"Come at me, litter box!"
"Bring it on, hippie. Steal your haircut from a hobo?" the cube reverberated at him.
"Hey! Listen, I have amazing hair, all right? And it was era appropriate."
Rachel jumped back as an orange/red beam shot out at Diego. It was as if he was being tased. She stumbled closer to the wall.
"That's all you got?" Diego asked in a high-pitched voice, clearly not doing great.
Chris stopped long enough for Diego to run out of the room toward the foyer.
"Do we have to-?" she stopped, knowing Diego was too far at this point.
She looked around between the fights Luther and Five were in.
"I liked Vanya's idea of talking this out!" she shouted and waited for a response.
She got nothing, only Five appearing by her and stumbling back after a jump.
"You're alive," he told Ben," That's…great. Or possibly horrible. I'm not really sure yet."
"Okay. Is that some kind of weird smack talk?"
"It's more of an existential problem, really, Ben."
"Awesome. Well, here's your next problem."
Predicting where he was going with the statement, Five reached out and grabbed Rachel. He blinked as a tentacle came flying out of Ben's abdomen. They reappeared on the balcony where they first saw the Sparrows.
"You know, even though you're a total asshat now…"
They blinked again as two tenacles came toward them. They were once again behind Ben, Five grabbing him and punching him to the ground.
"…it's nice to see you again, really."
Five and Rachel jumped as Chris was back, just behind them. They turned to see Diego launch himself at the cube, riding it like a bucking bronco.
"Who's your daddy? I'm your daddy!" Diego grunted while punching at his opponent," Who's…your…daddy…"
The cube flew off with Diego in tow. Once upwards, it spun incredibly fast, sending Diego sailing somewhere upstairs.
The couple turned to look at each other.
"I have to help the others before they die," Five casually noted," Any chance of emotional sedation?"
"They all wanted to pick a fight. Well…almost all of them, so no. I can't muster enough emotion for all of them. Maybe one. I'll just focus on getting to your dad to figure out what is happening. Make sure you're in one piece when this is over."
"I always am!"
Five disappeared as Rachel took off running, dodging past Luther and his adversary. She dashed out into the hallway. Or at least she tried to. As she was just exiting the door, she was yanked back inside by her bad shoulder and tossed across the room again.
"Ow!" she protested, rolling to a stop in the middle of the carpet. She looked up to find Ben smirking down at her. She hissed as she adjusted to try and get off the floor.
"I don't usually beat up little girls, but your brother pissed me off."
Rachel gagged and shuddered, causing him to frown at her. Getting to her feet with effort, she straightened out her outfit by shaking herself slightly and bringing her good arm up to a fighting position.
"That's disgusting. He's my fiancé."
Ben's nose wrinkled.
"You're like…ten years-woah!"
Rachel had thrown a roundhouse kick to his side, causing him to leap backward. He wasn't ready when she adjusted her stance and came back at him by lowering to the ground by her working arm and coming back at him with the other leg. Her foot caught his heel and sent him sprawling onto his back. As she pushed back up to standing, she towered over him, one hand on her hip.
"I may look thirteen, but I'm almost sixty. And a better fighter than you would like, even one handed."
His eyes narrowed as he scrambled to his feet, launching himself at her. She ducked and buried her fist in his stomach. He took a step back, cringing, before grabbing her outstretched arm. He pulled her around into him and began to strangle her. The girl swiftly moved her left foot behind his and kicking forward while tossing all of her weight backward into Ben. He laughed as he managed to stay upright.
"Nice try, but you're weaker than me."
"But so much smarter…"
She turned in his arms thanks to her distraction and kneed him in the crotch. He hit the floor cursing.
"Sorry, Ben, but gotta go!"
She dashed away from him as quickly as she could. Rounding the corner into the hall, she sensed the girl with light brown hair behind her. As she moved to raise her hands, a grayish white light dancing between her palms, Rachel channeled every fiber of her being into the girl, all other emotions around her fading away. The only that remained was fear. The woman froze completely, her body trembling slightly.
"I can't hang around, hun. Maybe we can try again under better circumstances. Bye!"
Rachel took off toward Reginald Hargreeves' study. As she came around a corner, she sensed Klaus moving around the corner toward her. Just as he met her, he screamed, causing her to jump in surprise at his reaction.
"Oh my God, Klaus, calm down! Don't just run up and scream at people!"
"Sorry! They're just everywhere you turn. You going to see dad, too?"
"Yes, now come on!"
The two of them took off running, Klaus's long legs giving him the edge on her. The two of them stumbled into Reginald's office as he was opening a tin of shortbread cookies from his coffee table. Once Rachel was in, Klaus closed the door behind them.
"Which ones are you? Scruffy? Fatty? Sad Girl? I forget the rest."
Klaus wobbled toward his dad as Rachel kept an eye on the door.
"Who are these absolute psychopaths, and why are they in our house?" he asked.
"Simple. Once your oafish tribe showed me what a poor job I did with my first selections, I adopted them instead of you."
"Dad!"
"I'm not your father, young man. Not anymore. Biscuit?"
Rachel turned to stare at the man as he held the tin out to them. It made sense, but then what happened to them since they were born?
"And me? Did you every fund my father's research?"
"I never funded anyone's research aside from my own."
Rachel frowned. As she opened her mouth to speak again, Diego's voice cut through the room.
"Rachel! Klaus! We gotta go, man. Now. These guys are too good."
Storming into the room, he belatedly registered that his father was there. He looked over at him awkwardly.
"For you guys. I'm loving it. But you're probably gonna die. Come on."
As he grabbed two of them, Rachel gave him a look, knowing he was terrified. He stuck his jaw out at her as he pulled Klaus away from the cookies and pushed him out head of him before dragging Rachel along behind.
"Now isn't the time to make comments, Rach."
As the three of them hit the kitchen side entrance, they ran into Luther, Allison, and Five. Rachel paused in the kitchen as the others kept moving.
"But Vanya-"
Five ran back and grabbed her arm.
"Just knocked them all flat on their asses and will walk out of here just fine, unlike the rest of us unless we leave."
He blinked the two of them outside to where the others had just made it. The group ran for a couple blocks before slowing to a limping canter. Diego led the group to the nearest park. They made it to the center of the familiar location where a pond sat, a simple wooden deck with picnic tables and benches sat at the edge in the middle of the dirt path through the park. Everyone collapsed in different locations. Diego leaned against the railing of the deck, facing the bond. Luther groaned onto a bench near Allison. Five and Rachel sat and leaned back on one of the picnic tables while Klaus lay down on top of the other one.
"That didn't go well," Diego noted, annoyed.
He held his side, which was aching.
"No, not our best work," Five agreed.
An audible snapping came from Klaus's back and his stretched.
"Oh, I'm cracking."
"Well, you had Luther of all people land on you, so a treatment is probably necessary."
It was quiet among them for a moment before Allison looked at Luther.
"You all right?"
The man was pretty bloodied up, having had the tar kicked out of him by the leader.
"I don't know yet," he breathed, "I've just never had my ass handed to me like that before."
Rachel noticed Five working his jaw from being punched. She personally was rolling her good arm, hoping Ben's toss hadn't thrown out her shoulder. Her wound ached, but the stitches were still intact.
"It's like…Here you go," Luther continued, handing his imaginary ass to Allison, "It's your ass."
Allison stared at him with concern before turning to the rest of them.
"Okay, I think Luther's concussed."
"Humbled at the minimum," Rachel responded, slouching out and letting her head lie on the wooden table.
Klaus rolled off the table to sit on the bench connected to it.
"Luther, how many fingers?"
Number One just seemed to realize that they were missing someone.
"Oh my God. Vanya."
Rachel shook her head.
"She'll be here in three…two…one…"
"Oh. Thank God you're alive."
Vanya came down the path toward them holding her back.
"You okay?" Allison called out to her.
"Apparently, so is Ben," Klaus interjected, wanting to talk about the biggest shock to his system.
The others turned to him.
"Yeah. And he's a complete dickhead," Allison noted.
"They're all dickheads," Diego added.
"Dickheads who can fight," Luther pointed out.
"Okay, next person to say "dickhead" is getting a punch to the throat."
Everyone, including Rachel, responded with the word. Five just sighed in response. Diego moved in closer to the ring the group had created.
"Hey, did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?"
Klaus laughed while Rachel's eyebrows went up and she pulled herself back into sitting like normal.
"He sure did! You ready? Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas, that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so he didn't have to raise us."
Diego and Five looked over at Rachel who just nodded.
"And he never funded my dad's research, so…"
"Well, that's just peak Dad, huh, isn't it?"
Diego sighed and sat on the picnic table by Klaus.
"So he just didn't want us anymore?" Vanya asked.
"Did he ever?" Allison groaned.
Rachel took in the anger and hurt coming from the group around her. Luther put a hand out to the group.
"See? I told you we shouldn't have asked him for help in '63."
Five, thoughtful as usual, spoke up.
"I think you're all missing the big picture here. If Dad didn't adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline. So who knows what else is different now."
Allison narrowed her eyes at Five and Rachel.
"Shouldn't you two know?"
Rachel shook her head with a sigh while Five leaned back against the table.
"Sorry, Allison, but it might take me more than twenty minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this all out. Is that okay with you?"
"No, actually, it's not."
Vanya stepped in to mediate at that point.
"Guys, look, it's fine. We still have the Commission's briefcase, so worst case, we can just go back in time and fix it."
"Great!" Klaus agreed.
Rachel looked over at Five who had a peeved look on his face. He heaved himself up to standing. Looking around, she realized he didn't have the briefcase. Turned to sit more on her side, she leaned an elbow against the table and watched Five's pacing.
"Okay. There are two problems with that statement. First off-"
"Here we go," Klaus sighed, "Just let Rachel explain for once. When you talk it is so condescending."
Rachel gave the man a smirk as Five continued.
"Time travel is complicated, people."
"Yeah, we get it. Your job is so hard. Just…what?" Diego pushed him to the point.
"And secondly…I no longer have the briefcase."
This news did not sit well with the group. Allison stood up and stepped toward her brother.
"Five, where the hell is the briefcase?"
Five struggled to answer so Rachel heaved herself up.
"Look. The most likely case is that the briefcase is now in the hands of the Sparrows and they probably won't be keen on giving it back just this minute. I can tell you this, a lot of them hated us by the time we left. To that end, we should try to keep moving in case they decide they don't want us to even be in this city."
The response to her comment was deafening silence before Luther heaved himself up.
"Alright, lets…just do what she suggests."
Everyone groaned to standing and the group shuffled off through the park. After walking for a few minutes, Allison rolled her head back.
"What are we doing?"
"Ruminating," Five responded.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" Klaus wondered.
"Because we look like the damn Village People just lost a fight."
Rachel let out a short laugh at Diego's words as he stole Klaus's hat. His brother protested and fought for it back. Five looked over at Rachel.
"Except you, actually. Did they reinjure you?"
Guilt went through him at only just remembering this fact. Rachel patted his back as if to toss out the guilt.
"No, I'm good. Ben did give me a good toss on the floor, but nothing too bad."
It was at that moment that Klaus's back rammed into her from struggling against Diego. She yelped, making Five pull her away and push at his brother.
"Cut it out!" Klaus whined.
"You know what?" Allison turned to them all angrily, "I need to go find Claire. I will catch up with you guys later."
"Hey, Allison, no," Vanya went after her sister who had turned away.
They all stopped in the middle of the brick path on which they walked.
"First, let's get somewhere safe, clean up those cuts, and then we'll go find her."
"Man, I hate those guys," Luther suddenly said.
They all looked up at the tall business buildings outside the park. On two of them before them were two posters for the Sparrow Academy. One in particular only had the leader and Ben and read "Crime is the problem. We are the solution."
"Look at 'em with their…stupid smug…"
Klaus quietly gave Luther encouragement to finish his thought, but it didn't seem to come out loud enough for the group.
"But honestly, what are we doing?" Allison asked again," 'Cause we can't keep standing here bleeding out in the middle of this park."
"I don't know, but we better gear up fast before they come for round two, like Rachel suggested."
Vanya looked between Diego and Rachel.
"What makes you think they'll come after us just because they hate us?"
"Because I would," Diego told the group.
"I mean…yeah, we did break into their house…" Klaus agreed.
"Our house," Allison noted.
"It's really not anymore, though," Rachel reminded.
"…bust up all their nice antiques and shit."
Luther nodded.
"Yeah. I don't think the crime-fighting…super nerds are gonna let that go."
Five stepped into the middle of the group again.
"Let's just think of some place off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention."
"What kind of a weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention?" Diego asked skeptically.
All heads turned toward Klaus who, at the moment, was spinning himself around in circles. He stopped when he saws them all watching. After a moment, he flooded with a feeling of confidence.
"I do know a place!"