Chapter Text
Alex
(Friday)
Alex felt irrationally nervous, waiting at the end of the driveway with Sabina in semi-formal dress for the Hargreeveses to pick them up. He couldn’t keep his heart-rate from picking up every time a car drove up, though he couldn’t say why, either. If he didn’t know better, he’d say they were being watched, but that was ridiculous.
Right?
Alex tensed involuntarily when a dark-colored sedan pulled up to the curb, and relaxed only when the driver’s window rolled down. Then he frowned. “You can drive?”
Five shot him an exasperated glare. “Of course I can. Why does everyone ask that?” He twisted around in his seat and held up a hand at someone in the back. “No, don’t answer that. That was purely rhetorical.”
“I think the better question is why are you driving,” Sabina chipped in, pulling Alex toward the car. “Won’t you get pulled over?”
One of the back windows rolled down and Klaus grinned lopsidedly up at them. “Well, you see, it’s really the lesser of two evils. Either the underage old man drives —” Five made an irritated noise. “Or the guy who never learned to drive,” Klaus finished, gesturing to himself.
“Sabina, Alex, these are two of my brothers,” Five sighed. “Klaus is the loud one. Ben is the normal one.”
Alex blinked, puzzled, at the backseat.There was no one else there besides Klaus, who was currently imitating a kicked puppy. Five’s eyes flicked over their confused expressions and he sighed again. “Klaus!”
Klaus winced. “Sheesh, how did you two coordinate on that? Fine, fine —” He let out a long, calming breath, and Sabina gasped when his hands started glowing blue. A man shimmered into existence on Klaus’s other side, looking almost solid but for the faint glow lingering on his skin and leather jacket.
“Hi, I’m Ben,” said the ghost, waving.
Alex recovered first. “Hello,” he offered. “Nice to meet you, Ben.”
Ben grinned triumphantly at Klaus. “See? I am the normal one.”
“Ben, you’re dead, ” Klaus protested.
Five cleared his throat and jerked his chin pointedly. “Ignore them and get in, or we’ll be late.”
Sabina ended up shoving Alex into the passenger seat before sliding into the backseat next to Ben, with whom she quickly struck up a conversation. Five glanced over as he pulled away from the Pleasures’ house. “She’s taking it well.”
“She read Vanya’s book,” replied Alex. “Are you seriously the only one in your family who can drive?”
Five shrugged. “Vanya can, but she has to go early. Diego’s driving both Luther and Allison because, well… lawyers.”
“Ex-husbands,” Klaus added.
“Patrick didn’t let Claire come,” Ben elaborated. “Allison’s pretty broken up over it.”
(Later, Alex reflected that it was probably for the better that Claire had stayed safely away.)
Five dropped them off at the entrance to the theatre before pulling away to find parking. Alex immediately spotted Luther’s hulking figure standing next to Diego and a tall woman who could only be Allison. All three were gazing up at the illuminated letters proclaiming “Icarus Theatre” above the entrance.
“Why are we still standing around?” Five’s voice came from behind him, and Alex started. He told himself the prickling on his neck was just the startle reaction to Five’s habit of sneaking up behind him.
The adult Hargreeveses exchanged unusually serious looks before Luther ventured, “I guess we’re just worried. You know.” He indicated the theatre.
Five’s eyes narrowed, and Alex instinctively backed away and placed himself in front of Sabina.
“There’s nothing to be worried about,” Five stated coolly. “We’re here to support our sister, however we need to, not to dwell on bad memories. Got it?” He glared at his siblings before stalking into the building. Ben and Klaus were the first to follow him, then Diego shrugged and strode in. Luther and Allison exchanged glances before seeming to remember that Alex and Sabina were there.
“Sorry about that,” Allison said with a sad smile. “Like Five said, bad memories. I’m Allison.”
“I’m Luther.”
“Sabina, and he’s Alex,” Sabina said, returning Allison’s smile. “It’s amazing to meet you, Allison! I’m a huge fan of your movies, you know?”
Alex took one last look around, unable to shake the feeling of unease, before following Luther and the girls inside.
~.~+~.~
Five
The first thing Five felt when the armed men broke into the theatre was disappointment.
He just wanted to do something normal with his family for once, just wanted to attend his sister’s concert and listen to her play the solo she’d always wished for. Was that so much to ask?
But alas. Halfway through the first movement, there was a burst of gunshots followed by screams and general commotion until the angry man with the large gun (Five resisted the urge to tsk at his lack of a mask — did he want to be identified?) shouted for everyone to “shut the hell up and stay seated because we’ve rigged this theater to blow unless you cooperate!”
Five glanced at his siblings. Luther looked hesitant, Allison frowned, Klaus tapped his foot nervously, Diego tensed, and Ben raised his eyebrows at Five. What’s the plan ?
Five made a placating hand gesture. Wait and see what he wants.
Angry Man made his way on the stage, and from the seat next to Five, Alex cursed under his breath. Five was too occupied with his conclusion that these guys were definitely not Commission. For one thing, though it appeared that these guys had also had assassin and combat training, their equipment differed from standard Commission gear. For another, most active Commission field agents were dead and the remaining were operating under Herb’s administration, which was friendly to the Academy. And the most obvious point against the would-be terrorists: Angry Man stood within a few feet of Vanya, who still held her violin and bow at her shoulder, and turned his back on her .
If Vanya wasn’t still so unfamiliar with her powers, Five would have signalled her to end Angry Man where he stood.
As it was, Vanya was more likely to send a shockwave of energy that would collapse the theatre anyway, so that probably wasn’t the best course of action. Besides, Angry Man was speaking.
“Now let’s not make this any more difficult than it needs to be,” he said with a smile that showed too many teeth. “Step forward. You know who you are.”
The auditorium held its breath. Five caught his family’s attention and gave a little shake of his head. Even if these guys were former Commission, they didn’t seem to know about Vanya, nor did the goons seem to be specifically aiming at Luther’s enormous figure. Clearly, Angry Man wasn’t talking about the Umbrella Academy.
People hesitantly looked around, but no one moved. Angry Man’s face darkened, and he grabbed Vanya, jerked her in front of him, and put his gun to her head. “Now! Step forward now, or she gets it!”
Oh, hell no . Five leapt to his feet, his siblings close behind, ready to rush to their sister’s defense. Immediately every gun in the auditorium focused on them, and Five tensed, ready to blink —
“Stop!”
Five rarely listened to a command if he thought it was stupid. In any other situation, someone yelling stop would not have been enough to keep him from taking out the gunmen anyway.
In this situation, though, the voice came from right beside him . And that oddity was enough to give him pause.
Alex stood, face grimly determined. “I’ll come, just don’t shoot,” he called to the stage.
“No, Alex, you can’t!” hissed Sabina.
Alex shrugged her off and made to leave the row, but Five grabbed his elbow. “They’re after you ?”
~.~+~.~
Alex
Alex had known this moment would come. Scorpia never forgives, Scorpia never forgets — that’s what they always said, and if there were any Scorpia rogues left, they would all be gunning for the spy who’d taken down their organization.
He recognized the man holding a gun to Vanya’s head, of course: Walker, former CIA and Alex’s classmate at Malagosto. Alex had figured Walker would be the most likely to find him first — who better to track down someone in the United States than an ex-CIA agent?
He stood, intending to turn himself in. If his death would prevent the deaths of everyone in this theatre, then so be it.
Then Five grabbed his elbow. “They’re after you ?”
“Let me go, Five,” Alex murmured.
“Like hell I will,” the boy spat.
“Alex, please,” sobbed Sabina.
Alex grit his teeth. “I know what I’m doing.”
Five glared at him and tilted his head toward Sabina. “Clearly, Alex, you don’t. Don’t you see —” His voice caught for a moment, and he clenched his hands in fists. “Listen, if you go and get yourself killed, I’ll turn back time and then kill you myself. Got it?”
Chest warming with some emotion he couldn’t identify, Alex pried Five’s fingers off his shirt sleeve. “Noted.” As he made his way slowly out toward the aisle, he could see Five and his siblings murmuring out of the corner of his eye.
(Maybe that warm feeling was hope. Because for the first time, Alex wasn’t alone in facing the fire.)
The audience’s eyes felt like leaden weights on his shoulders as he took measured steps toward the stage. One foot in front of the other. Ascend the stairs. Then soon, too soon, he stood before Walker.
“Hello, Alex,” the ex-Scorpia agent said with faux friendliness.
“Walker,” Alex replied tersely. “You have me. Let her go.”
Walker aimed his gun at Alex but didn’t release his hold on Vanya. “I have a detonator,” he warned. “If you try anything, we all die. Understand?”
Alex nodded. “Let her go.”
“If you insist,” Walker sighed and, keeping his gun trained on Alex, shoved Vanya away.
There was a faint whooshing sound, and Alex’s eyes widened when Five appeared behind Walker in a faint flash of blue light. “Hey, asshole!”
Walker whirled around, firing, but Five vanished. He blinked back into existence already aiming a strike at the assassin’s arm, readily relieving the man of his weapon. In the audience, the other Hargreeveses had sprung into action as soon as Five blinked to the stage. Diego held his hands up, deflecting bullets back at their shooters; Allison rumored and drop-kicked goons in equal measure; Luther was apparently bulletproof, because he was knocking down gunmen like bowling pins; Klaus’s hands glowed as blue as the numerous ghosts that had appeared to shield the fleeing civilians while Ben’s honest-to-God tentacles reached out of his abdomen to swipe at attackers.
As Walker spluttered in uncharacteristic bewilderment, Alex took the opportunity to back away toward Vanya.
“You all right?” he whispered, voice almost lost in the screaming and gunshots from the fight going on in the seats.
“I should be asking you that,” she replied.
Walker snarled. “You’ve brought your death on yourself, freak!” Before Alex could cry out a warning, Walker raised the rectangular object clenched in his hand and pressed it. Alex froze, waiting with bated breath, but… nothing happened. Walker frowned and clicked it again.
Five smirked. “That’s one bad-ass stapler.” He dangled a rectangular box from his fingers. “Looking for this?” Because somehow, Five had indeed replaced the detonator in Walker’s hand with a regular office stapler.
“What — how did you —”
“Should have done your research, I see,” Five sighed. “Really, what are they teaching kids these days?”
To his credit, Walker recovered quickly and sneered. “To always carry a backup.”
In one fluid motion, he drew a second gun and fired. Five disappeared, but Walker anticipated the side-strike this time and blocked it before launching into a flurry of counterstrikes. Alex gaped at the way Five expertly matched Walker blow-for-blow, almost too fast for the eye to follow, until he blinked out of view. Walker spun, clearly expecting an attack from behind, but Five reappeared in the same spot and chopped at Walker’s exposed neck, knocking him out.
Alex was still frozen with shock when Five strolled up to them as casually as if he were out for a walk in the park. Beside him, Vanya gave him a light smattering of applause, and Five quirked an eyebrow. “What’s that for?”
“You didn’t make a mess,” she said matter-of-factly.
Five rolled his eyes. “I don’t make messes, Vanya.”
“Griddy’s Doughnuts, Five? The Commission board?”
“You weren’t even there for that!”
“Diego was, and he said you came back covered in blood.”
Five waved her off. “My choice of weapons was limited that time.”
Alex’s jaw finally unstuck, and he said faintly, “Five? I think I’m ready to ask my question now.”
“Believe me, you’re not the only one. But it’ll have to wait.” Five gestured to the mostly-empty auditorium and the bloody and unconscious gunmen lying on the seats and in the aisles. “We have to clean up first.”