The smell of coffee invaded his nostrils as Everett Hagreeves sat at a small table by the window of a café in the city, tapping his fingers against the mahogany table as waited patiently to conduct his business for the day.

Earlier that morning, Everett had received a desperate call from a man that required both his and his twin sister's services. The client was looking to hire them to follow his wife around and figure out if she was having an affair. It was a cliché case for a private investigator, but Everett didn't mind. As long as they got paid, he didn't care what the case entailed. His sister, however, was a different story. Estelle was very particular about the cases they worked, else she'd grow bored and complain the entire time.

It wasn't long before the client arrived at the café. Everett tried not to laugh when he saw the baseball cap and dark shades the man had decided to show up in. After reassuring his client that he didn't have to hide behind a pathetic and obvious disguise, they got down to business. The man provided all the details Everett and his twin sister would need regarding his wife and her whereabouts for the day, and then they parted ways.

Everett had called Estelle immediately after leaving the café, and she met up with him outside their shared apartment. She had one of her usual pink Starbucks drinks in one hand, her cell phone in the other. After briefing her on the case, the two made their way down the sidewalk, and it wasn't long before they located their client's wife heading to her place of work.

They kept tabs on her for several hours. It was boring work, Everett had to admit, as their mark worked a normal day and had an innocent lunch with two co-workers at noon sharp. After their client's wife finished up at work, however, she didn't go straight home. So, Everett and Estelle Hargreeves found themselves following the woman down a sidewalk at a quarter past five.

As they walked, Everett couldn't help but glance frustratingly over at his twin sister beside him. "Stop being annoyed so loudly."

"Stop taking these cases and I'll stop being annoyed," Estelle countered.

To anyone else, such conversation may have sounded odd. But it was a normal occurrence for the Hargreeves twins. Through their shared twin telepathy that most people could not even begin to comprehend, they could hear each other's thoughts and have conversations in their heads, sense the other's location, and even tell what the other was feeling. This, of course, is what made them stand out even more amidst their siblings growing up.

Their father, Reginald Hargreeves, had already found them quite interesting before, due to the fact they were the only twins born on that fateful autumn day. But once he noticed their twin telepathy, he began putting it to the test. More often than not, when they weren't training with their unique abilities, Reginald would have them stand at opposite ends of the rather large home they'd been raised in and locate each other while blindfolded. They always succeeded, of course, for it had always been easy for Everett to find Estelle through her incredibly loud complaints.

"If you want to keep affording your ridiculously expensive Starbucks drinks then I suggest you suck it up," Everett told her, mildly annoyed himself, if only because of the relentless complaints he could hear in her mind that he found to be rather distracting.

"We could have taken the job to track down that woman's brother..."

"We're not bounty hunters, Stell."

Estelle rolled her eyes before focusing her attention back on the woman ahead of them. Everett did the same, keeping his eyes latched on her movements as the woman walked down the sidewalk, talking on the phone with someone.

"I bet she's cheating," Estelle said confidently.

"You always think they're cheating."

"Not always," Estelle argued. When her brother stayed silent, his gaze fixed on their mark, she continued. "Loser buys dinner."

"We literally share a bank account, why does it matter who buys?" Everett asked.

"Because it means you lost," she said, innocently flashing her pearly white teeth at her twin brother.

This time, Everett rolled his eyes, shaking his head at her words. So typical of his twin. She was always making some kind of bet with him. When they were younger, Estelle was always assuming something about one of their adoptive siblings or their father, which would inevitably lead to some kind of bet between them. The loser would either have to help their robot mother, Grace, do dishes that night or clean their shared room and make the others bed for an entire week.

They soon came to a stop as the woman they were following changed direction towards a house and knocked on the door. She cast a look around her just before the door opened, revealing a man.

Beside him, Estelle quickly raised the camera that was draped around her neck, aiming it at the pair across the street. Everett was expecting them to greet each other with a kiss as they had seen so many times before with these types of cases. Instead, the man ushered the woman inside and closed the door, blocking anything else from their view.

Swearing, Estelle lowered the camera, and then glanced at her brother. The silent look exchanged between them was one of understanding. They knew what needed to happen next.

The entire reason they had established themselves as private investigators after leaving home many years ago was to make use of the powers they'd been born with. Although they mostly used Estelle's ability to astral project, which allowed her to follow people without being seen and getting behind closed doors for instances such as this, Everett had developed some damn good instincts over the years. He - and their father - didn't believe they were a superpower, but Estelle had always been convinced his instincts were somehow related to the powers he'd been born with.

With a sigh, Estelle passed the camera to her brother and glanced around them until she spotted a bench at a little bus stop some ways away. Everett put the camera around his neck and followed her over, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her as she leaned into him, closing her eyes.

A moment later, Estelle stood up and turned back to look at her brother, gently holding her unconscious body against his side. To anyone else, she might look as though she was sleeping, with such a peaceful look on her face. But Everett was the only one that knew she wasn't sleeping. He looked up at his sister, holding her gaze for a moment as she stood in front of him. He had always been the only one who could see Estelle when she was in her astral form. They had never been sure if it was due to their twin telepathy or perhaps because their powers were entwined with each other, but Everett had always been grateful regardless.

Everett watched as his sister's astral form walked across the street to the house. She passed through the door without even touching it, disappearing on the other side. Now that she was out of sight, Everett focused his mind on hers, reaching out to her with their twin telepathy so he could sense she was well.

Everett could sense she was on the move, and then all of a sudden, he could hear her crying out. He stiffened, holding his sister's unconscious body closer to help calm her. That always seemed to work when he could sense something was wrong with her.

A minute later, he saw her astral form walk through the door without touching it once again. She quickly crossed the street toward them, sat down on the bench, and Everett watched as her astral form dissolved in a soft white glow until she was herself again, raising her head from his shoulder and blinking as her eyes refocused. He stared quizzically, waiting for her to say something.

"Well, she's definitely cheating," Estelle told him.

"Are you serious?"

"I wouldn't feel the need to wash my eyes with holy water if it wasn't true."

"Did you at least get our proof?" Everett asked.

"Yeah, I brought a camera with me while astral projecting... no, of course not!" Estelle replied sarcastically, causing him to roll his eyes. She then lifted a finger and pointed to the left side of the house. "But you can get a good shot if you climb that roof and aim the camera through the window."

Everett removed the camera from around his neck, handing it over to her. "Alright, here you go."

Estelle looked at him like he had grown four heads. "Uh, no, you're the one climbing to the roof to get the photos we need," she told him, refusing to take the camera from his outstretched hand.

"What? Why me?"

"Because I just witnessed two strangers having sex and will need Starbucks before I even look at another human again," she explained, cringing at the unpleasant images burned into her memory. "And secondly, because I won the bet and therefore, the loser climbs to the roof and takes the photo."

"I hate you," Everett said, standing up with the camera back around his neck.

Estelle leaned back against the bench, looking up at him with a grin. "Love you, too! Now go get our proof so we can get this over with already, I'm starving and you still have to buy us dinner, loser."

"Yeah, yeah," Everett grumbled, turning and walking away.

He crossed the street and began climbing the fire escape of the building next door to the house where their client's wife had been caught in the act. Once he was on the roof, Everett looked down and spotted the opened window his sister had talked about so he quickly raised the camera, capturing the proof they needed for the case to be yet another success.

After he was finished getting the pictures they needed for their client, Everett headed back down the fire escape and made his way toward his sister, who was still sitting on the same bench as before.

"Did you get it?" Estelle asked.

He nodded, lifting the camera. "I got it."

"Good," she said, jumping up from the bench and hooking her arm around his, "then let's get the hell out of here. I'm thinking chinese food for dinner tonight, extra dumplings this time."

　
❊ ❊ ❊
　

There was no doubt that Everett loved his sister more than anything in the world. She wasn't just his twin, she was his best friend, the most important person in his life. But he really did hate it when she beat him at something, because Estelle Hargreeves was the type of person that never let you live anything down.

Since capturing their photographic proof for their client, Everett hadn't stopped hearing about how he had been wrong and how his instincts were off today. He was certain the dull headache he had developed in the last half hour was from her relentless teasing, not to mention her ramblings about how hungry she was.

After contacting their client to set up another appointment at the same cafè they met up at today for tomorrow morning, they got chinese food and extra dumplings for dinner, then headed back to their apartment to settle in for the night.

Everett was carrying the bag of chinese food and immediately shifted the bag in his arms as they approached the entrance to their apartment building, opening the door for his sister as he always did. Estelle stepped inside and used her key to unlock the second door before passing through and holding the door open for him in return.

He half expected his sister to snatch the bag of food from his arms and run up the staircase to their apartment like a mad woman, as hungry as she was all day. But to his surprise, Estelle was calm as she crossed the room and approached their mailbox. She pulled everything out and started flipping through it as she joined him by the elevator, the both of them waiting for it to arrive.

Everett glanced over at the stack of envelopes in her hands, one in particular standing out to him the most. "That big one is probably from a new client."

Estelle pulled the one he was referring to out, bringing it to the front of the stack. Immediately, they noticed the envelope was considerably larger than the others. The stamp on the front also indicated that it had been rerouted from their PO Box, something which Estelle suggested they get considering their line of work - especially after the incident.

For the entire first year of their career, they had used their apartment mailing address for business use as well as personal. They hadn't thought it would be an issue for their work. Until one day, when an angry client showed up at their door unannounced and, well... they clearly didn't know what the name Hargreeves meant as they had been totally unprepared when Everett used his abilities to defend them.

"We can review it while we're waiting for the photos to print," she said.

The elevator arrived and they got inside, Estelle pushing the button for their floor and then leaning back against the wall as she continued flipping through their mail. Everett repositioned the bag in his arms as he stared up at the slowly ascending floor number display. But when his sister pulled out a crisp gold envelope with their names and address written in perfect and elegant cursive on the front, he turned away to inspect it closer.

"What the hell is that?" Everett asked.

"I have no idea..."

Estelle quickly flipped it over and opened it, pulling out the single piece of cream-coloured cardstock inside. His eyes instantly widened as he recognized the names written on it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Everett asked.

"I think it might be," Estelle said, pulling it fully out of the envelope.

Once the cardstock was completely out of the envelope and he was able to see every bit of it, Everett's mouth fell open in surprise and he stared slightly wide-eyed.

"Allison and Patrick are getting married!"

"Holy shit..."

"I know," Estelle said, equally as shocked as him.

"This is..." He was struggling to find the right words to say.

"I know," she repeated.

Before they could say another word - not that they had anything to say in the first place, as they had been rendered speechless by a single piece of cardstock - the elevator doors opened and they walked out.

As his twin continued to stare at their adoptive sister's wedding invitation, Everett adjusted the bag of food against his chest while fishing out his keys and unlocking the door to their apartment, opening it and allowing Estelle to enter.

Without even looking up, Estelle entered their apartment. He could hear her mumbling things like of course it's a black-tie event and I wonder if our father approved of her wedding and is paying for it as he shut and locked the door behind them before heading into the kitchen.

Everett set the bag of food on the counter and proceeded to grab two plates from the cabinet and some chopsticks. As he began taking out the containers of food and arranged them on the counter so he could separate everything, Estelle walked over and grabbed two beers from the fridge. She removed both caps and then passed one to him before kicking off her shoes by the door and heading into the living room to put something on the tv.

"Make sure I get those extra dumplings," Estelle called from the next room as she leaned down to grab the remote.

Everett rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

As soon as he heard the television turn on, Estelle shrieked and dropped her beer, the glass shattering and contents spilling all over their area rug.

Everett immediately bolted into the next room, and before he could ask what was going on, he saw it for himself. Right there, sitting in their arm chair, was a bald-headed man dressed in all black, an eyepatch covering one of his eyes.

"Who the fuck are you?" Everett asked, protectively moving in front of his sister. "And how the fuck did you even get in here?"

The man stood, not at all bothered by the fire raging in the eyes of Everett Hargreeves. "The name's Nick Fury. I'm from the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. Or, as we prefer to call it, SHIELD."

"Never heard of it," Everett said. "Now what is it you want?"

"I'm putting together a team," Nick Fury explained. "I'd like the two of you to be on it."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Estelle spoke up. "The last team we were on didn't exactly end very well." She then folded her arms, an irritated look on her face. "Also, why would we join your team when you've ruined my beautiful area rug?"

Fury glanced at the rug, noticing the stain from the beer. With a sigh, he pulled out his wallet and handed over a twenty dollar bill. "That should cover the damage."

Estelle didn't hesitate to take it. "Funny how you think that rug cost twenty bucks. But I suppose it'll do... for now."

"Now, about The Umbrella Academy," Fury said after a moment. "I understand the hesitation after what happened with your family. But I can assure you, this team will be quite different."

"Look," Everett started, lowering his guard only a little now that he was ninety percent certain Nick Fury wasn't a threat to them. "We appreciate being considered for your team. But it's just not going to work out. We don't do that stuff anymore."

Estelle nodded in agreement.

"The way I see it, you both haven't stopped being heroes to this city," Fury said. "Isn't that why you became private investigators? To help people by using the abilities you were born with?"

Everett couldn't deny the fact that Nick Fury was right. While they weren't on a team anymore, they still used their powers to help people. They weren't exactly the superheroes they'd been when they were kids, but they did use their abilities for good and that meant something.

"Why do you even want to recruit us to your team, anyway?" Estelle asked the question that Everett himself had been itching to know the answer to.

"We've been keeping tabs on your family for a long time," Fury began. "The others are a bit... eccentric."

Everett could hear his twin snort within her mind, which was tethered to his own as she spoke to him through their twin telepathy, saying, understatement of the century. He fought back a smirk at her words.

"But you two are the most reliable, the most stable," Fury continued. "Not to mention you work well together. We need that."

"That's not what she meant," Everett said. "You're obviously desperate to put together this team, but what for? What is so important you've broken into our apartment to recruit us at what I can only assume is the last possible minute?"

"His name is Loki," Fury explained. "He's... not from around here. I'm sure you remember his brother from the news in Mexico." He pulled out a manila folder and tossed it onto their coffee table.

The news in Mexico? Everett thought. Does he mean that guy Thor?

Isn't he a God? Estelle thought, her voice echoing within his mind. Does Nick Fury want us to fight a fucking God?

I think he does.

Lovely.

Let's see what this is all about, Everett said, his voice echoing within her mind as he bent down to grab the manila folder. He opened it up and shifted closer to Estelle so she could see as well. Inside, there was a photo of Loki and a glowing blue cube that was surely of some importance.

"That there is the Tesseract," Fury said, referring to the blue cube. "It was fished out of the water with Captain America some time ago. Loki stole it from us. I can't stress enough how important it is. We want you to help us find Loki and get the Tesseract back."

"If it was fished out of the water with Captain America, I'm sure he'd be of more help to you than we ever would," Everett told him, handing the manila folder back to Fury.

"We used to fight bank robbers and people with guns," Estelle said, folding her arms over her chest. "Not a God empowered by some magical cube. Now, if you'll excuse me, I haven't eaten all day and you've ruined not only my favourite area rug, but my appetite as well with this ridiculous offer."

Turning on her heel, Estelle left the living room and headed for the hallway closest to grab some cleaning supplies so she could get to work cleaning the beer stain and shattered glass. Everett watched his sister leave before turning to face Nick Fury again.

Fury reached into his long, black trench coat, pulling out a business card. Everett grabbed it from the man's outstretched hand and looked down at it. He could see Fury's name, a phone number to contact him, and the SHIELD logo. Nothing else.

"Give me a call if you both change your mind," Fury said. "We could use the help."

Everett only nodded and stuffed the business card into the pocket of his jeans as Nick Fury brushed by him, leaving their apartment without saying another word.

With the stranger who had broken into their apartment gone, Everett got to work helping Estelle clean the carpet with the supplies she had gathered. After twenty minutes of scrubbing, they managed to get the stain out and although he couldn't smell anything except the cleaners they used, Estelle insisted it still smelled like beer and so they spent another fifteen minutes scrubbing the same area of the carpet until she felt satisfied with their work.

While Estelle put all the cleaning supplies back in the hallway closet and threw all the dirty towels and scrub brushes in both the laundry basket and skin to be cleaned themselves, Everett headed for the kitchen to heat up their chinese food, which had certainly gone cold by now.

When he was finished, Everett grabbed their plates and met Estelle in the living room. She was already lounged on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table with a random sitcom playing on the television. He handed over her plate and sat down, the two of them digging into their meal in silence, simply enjoying one another's company and occasionally laughing or commenting on the sitcom she had turned on.

With their stomachs full and the photos printed and sealed in an envelope to be delivered to their client in the morning, Everett and Estelle headed into the kitchen to do the dishes together. As always, he would wash and she'd dry.

"Everett," she said, thoughtfully, while drying one of the plates he had passed to her. He hummed in response, indicating he was listening. "Do you think we've made a mistake?"

He furrowed his brows in confusion. "About what?"

"Not accepting Nick Fury's proposal," Estelle clarified. "I can't help but feel that, perhaps, we should have said yes. And I know you felt something, too."

"You're right, I did feel something," Everett said. "The only reason I didn't kick his ass was because I felt he was trustworthy. But you're the one who said we shouldn't work with another team again. And you were right because I sure as hell don't want to go through all that shit again."

"Neither do I," Estelle sighed. "But you have to admit, this seems like a pretty good opportunity to do something with our powers."

Everett stopped scrubbing a plate, turning slightly to face her. "You seriously want to go through with this?"

"I think I do," Estelle admitted.

"Alright," he said, without any hesitation whatsoever. "If you think we should do this, I trust you. But if anything goes wrong..."

"Then we'll leave and come back home," Estelle promised.

"God, today's been one hell of a day," Everett sighed. "First Allison and Patrick are getting married, now this..."

"Tell me about it."

"I'll give Fury a call, first thing," Everett said, turning back to continue washing the dishes. "But only after we've delivered the photos to our client. I'm getting paid before we leave to save the world."

"Agreed," she said. "I didn't witness two strangers going at it like rabbits for nothing. And besides, I'll need to grab a Starbucks before we go save the world."

Everett rolled his eyes, a faint smirk on his lips. "Of course, you will."