CHAPTER EIGHTY: WHERE ARE WE NOW?

---

Diego followed after Natasha, Zach, Five and Lila who walked up the stairs and over to the door that lead to where the four were at that meeting.

"Welcome to the Keepers HQ, courtest of Jean and Gene" Natasha opened the door before the five walk in.

"Let's see what we can find" Five said before the five started looking around for anything that could tell them something.

"Jean and Gene didn't give us much to go on" Diego said "Stay focused for once, darling" Lila told her husband as she was looking in some draws as they all search around, trying to find something they could use.

"All the files are gone" Lila said as Natasha walked over to a desk before looking in the draws.

"Yeah, it certainly looks that way" she said "Yeah, nothing here" Zach said "While you four stand around twiddling your dinks, I got some recon to do" Diego said "There's nothing here, Diego" Lila told him.

"Our target left in a hurry, correct?" Diego asked "Yeah. So?" Lila asked "So...hates makes wast, mami" Diego said before leaving the room.

As soon as Diego was gone Lila looked at Zach and Five "Out with it" she approached the two as they were standing over by crouch "Why can't you two blink?" she asked "We can blink" Zach said before him and Five looked at Lila and blink their eyes "See" they said.

"You two damn well know that is not what I was talking about. I was talking about why you two can't blink like using your powers?" Lila asked.

"We can do that" Zach said "You know, we just..." Five opened a small thin book.

"Won't" Lila said and the two let out a sigh "You two gotta get back on that horse, kemosabe" she grab Zach's right arm while grabbing Five's left who quickly grab Natasha's hand.

"Don't!" Zach said but Lila mimicking his powers and she blink away with them.

"Don't!" Zach and Five said again as they all four stumbled backwards when they teleported to the underground subway.

"What the hell?" Five looked at Lila.

"Whoa! Where are we?" Lila asked as she looked around "A subway station" Zach said "Yeah, I can see that, numbnuts, but why did you two blink us here?" she asked "Believe us, Lila, it was not on purpose" Five said as him, Zach and Natasha started walking forward and Lila followed them "Ever since Ben spiked us with that janky marigold, when my dad and I blink, this is where we end up" Zach said and Lila chuckled "Yeah, same with me" Five said.

"Neat" Lila went up to walk in front of the three "Not really" Zach said as the four walked towards some stairs where a sign with a train and an arrow that was pointing down and was glowing red were.

"What's down here?" Lila asked "The train station" Natasha said before they walked down the stairs "Oh!" Lila said before she let out a wryly laugh as they looked around the train station.

"Okay, not the MTA. Not the Tub" Lila said "Trust me, this is unlike any subway you've been to" Five said "Well, where do the trains go?" Lila asked "That's the weird part" Zach looked at Lila before stopping "We took a westbound train" Five started "We went one station over" Zach looked around the train station "When we came up, it was the exact same day, exact same time, but a completely different timeline" Natasha said "Now that's interesting" Lila said "Yeah" Five and Zach nodded.

Then Lila spotted the strange map with the strange signs on.

"A map" she ran over to it "That's helpful, innit?" she asked "If I could understand it" Zach walked after her "I once navigated the Tokyo subway with a bullet wound in my thigh and on my period, so how hard can it be?" Lila smiled at Zach as she put her right hand on the map.

"Well, so did I, but I still don't understand it, but maybe we can figure it out together" Natasha walked over to the map

"Okay, so...North to south. This connects around here" Natasha's finger followed a path on the map.

"Fuck me, this is confusing" she said "Yeah, but we can figure it out" Lila said as the subway PA chimes was heard and the train arrived as a warped voice speaking backwards over PA was heard.

"Eastbound. Shall we?" Lila looked at Zach, Natasha and Five "We should get back to Diego" Zach pointed towards the stairs "Boring. Come on. Let's take a ride" she said as the train stopped.

"So you think this subway is your new powers? Did you create or did it always exist and your abilities now is to see it and access it?" Natasha asked "If I created it, I have no memories of doing so" Five replied "If the train really takes us to different timelines, does that mean we're getting paradox phychosis" Natasha said "You're making a great point. Another reason we shouldn't enter" Five said "Too late. We're going" Lila said.

"Listen we don't wanna be hopping on trains until we understand this" Zach said "He's right. This is a bad idea, we should wait until we can understand it" Five said "Yeah, or else we might get stuck in the timeline" Natasha said and Lila chuckled before grabbing Zach's hand.

"You both need to move your ass!" she drag Zach into the train.

"Come on guys, or are you just cowards" Lila asked and Natasha and Five glanced at each other and they let out a sigh before they enter the train and the door closed as Lila laughed while the train began to move, driving into the tunnel.

---

The train drove out of the tunnel again before stopping by another station and the subway alert chimes before the door to the train opened as the warped voice speaking backwards over PA was heard while Natasha, Zach, Lila and Five step out.

"Come on" Lila said as they looked around the station they were in, it was different.

"Yucko" Lila said as Natasha, Zach, and Five pulled a notebook out from their inner pocket before opening them.

"Gross" Lila said as she looked around while Natasha, Zach and Five click on their pens before they started writing in the notebooks as Lila approached the three to see what they were writing.

"Dear diary. A chipmunk asked me my name today. Told him it was Joe, that lie will hunt me forever" Natasha joked as she looked at Five and he glanced at her, giving her a sarcastic smile

"Dear diary, why do I always wear the same old beanie?" Lila joke at Zach before looking at Five "Dear diary, why do I always wear suits?" she joke before looking at Natasha "Dear diary, how do I tell a guy I still love him" she joke which made the three glanced at her.

"Hmm" she said before looking around as the three continue writing in the notebook.

"What are you three doing?" she asked "Leaving bread crumbs" Five said "It's a broken vending machine" Natasha pointed at the vending machine "Stain on the floor in the shape of Australia" Fie said "Three burn-out light bulbs" Zach said before he looked at Lila "Then we know where we have being" Natasha said "Mm. Poetic" she said before looking towards the stairs.

"Yep" the three closed the notebook before putting it back in their pocket.

"Where do you reckon we end up?" Lila asked "My guess is back in Gene and Jean's apartment" Zach said "Same day, same time, different timeline" Five said as they walked towards the stairs that lead to the exit "Different timeline. I knew it" Lila said.

The sound of flames smoldering was heard as the three walked up the stairs but only to find the whole area destroyed.

It look like something from an apocalypse and it was.

"Holy...." Natasha's eyes widened.

"Shows what you know" Lila glanced at Zach and Five "You two must have jumped forward, ahead of time, to the end of the world" she said "No, no, no" Zach shook his head "We haven't jumped anywhere" Five said as the four walked around the area.

"Where are we now?" Natasha asked as she looked around the place. 

"We're not moving forwards or backward through time" Five said "We're just going to alternate version of now. This is Gene and Jean's apartment" Zach said as him, Five and Natasha was looking around as Five could recognize the broken and destroyed area.

"I've been here before. This is my apocalypse" he said as he remember that he was here, in this apocalypse back in the original timeline.

"Your apocalypse?" Natasha, Zach and Lila asked confused "Yeah, the original timeline. I was stuck here for twenty-five years. This is the timeline where Viktor blew up the moon and we didn't stop it" Five said "Well, this is a very shitty timeline" Lila walked over to him.

Then Natasha spotted something not far from them which caused her to hit her shoulder against Five who look at her and she gestured her head forward which made Five look forward and he also saw something.

As he narrowed his eyes, he moved his left hand into his inner pocket.

"Hold on a second" he took out some small binoculars "Binoculars?" Lila asked confused as Five lifted them up to his eyes to look better what it was he had spotted.

"What?" she looked at him "There is someone out there" Zach said as Five noticed someone peeking their head up behind some rubbles. And he saw the person pointed a rifle at them.

Then the sound of airy flatulence was heard which made Natasha, Zach and Lila to look at him "Did you just fart?" Lila asked while Five lowered binoculars while his eyes widened as he realized that it was this timeline younger version of him. That age he was when he landed in the apocalypse.

"Get down!" he grab Natasha before pulling himself and her down while Zach pulled Lila and himself down also taken cover as the sound of gunshot was heard and a bullet hit a wall right where you had being a few seconds again and Natasha would have being shot if Five wasn't pull her down.

The four quickly took cover behind a destroyed police car as the other Five kept shooting at them causing the sound of gunshot ricochets to be heard.

"Who the hell is shouted at us?" Lila shouted "I am" Five replied as the other version shot at the car they were hiding behind again "Well, you have just proof that even at that age you had anger issues" Natasha said.

"Okay. We need to get out of here. Go!" Five said before Natasha and Five started running with Zach behind them.

"Wait for me!" Lila shouted as she ran after the three while the other Five kept shooting at them which made Lila let out a yelp as she followed after the three back down into the subway.

The four ran down the stairs "I must improve my cardio" Lila followed after Zach, Natasha and Five into the train as the door closed and the train started driving into the tunnel and into the portal.

Lucky the train stop at the right subway "Let's not do that again" Natasha said "I agree with you there, Darling" Five said as the four got out.

"Okay, let's hope this is the right timeline" Lila said before she grab Zach's arm while Five grab Natasha's hand and the four blink away.

----

Diego had found a file and he walked back to the apartment before stopping by the desk as he looked at it.

Then Natasha, Zach, Lila and Five appeared on the couch behind him "Shit" Zach said and Diego turned around to looked at the four

"The hell are you doing?" he asked and the four cross their legs over the other as they acted like they have always being sitting there.

"Taken a break" Natasha said "Did you find something, Love?" Lila asked her husband "Oh, I found something" Diego looked back at the file "Something that's gonna blow this case wide open" he said as Natasha, Zach, Five and Lila got up before walking over to him.

"Okay" Five stretched out his right hand towards Diego, signal him to give him the file which he did.

"Let's see" Five looked down at the file while Natasha and Zach also looked at the file.

Something of the text was cross over with a black marker so you couldn't see what there was writing, but some of it you could see.

ANALIZA INVESTIGARII: HQ

NUMER DOSAR AGENTIEI: 37AA-65T

SUBJECT OFINCIDENT: JENNIFER

DATA NASTERII: 5-5-1987

LOCUL NATERII: NEDERTERMINAR

VICTIMA: 2

DATA RAPORTULUTI: 10/10/2006

INCIDENT: JENNIFER: CASUALTIES: 2 UMBRELLA ACADEMY 10/14/2006

"Umbrella Academy" Five read before he looked up at Diego "That's impossible. There was no Umbrella Academy in 2006" he said "Not in this timeline" Diego said "It must be one of Gene and Jean's artifacts" Natasha said "Keep reading" Diego looked at Five who kept reading the file.

"October 14th, 2006" Five read "Wait, what's so special about October 14th, 2006?" Zach asked "That's the day Ben died. Our Ben" Diego replied.

"That's a coincidence" Five said "Let me break it down for you. A random dy cleaner shows up out of the blue and hires us to go to New Grumpson, Maine, to rescue a girl named Jennifer. The whole town goes to shit, we get T-boned, and the girl gets kidnapped by two vigilantes in a station wagon. Now, in their trash, we find a foreign document that has something to do with Ben's death" Diego explain before he sat down on the chair by the desk "Hence..." he put his feet on top of the desk before crossing them.

"Whatever is going on with Jennifer it's got something to do with Ben. Ipso facto, mofos" he said and the three of you looked at him "Bet you regret not sending in that resume, huh?" Diego asked and Five rolled his eyes before letting out a sigh.

"The hell's the 'Jennifer incident'?" Lila asked "That was a tragic accident" Five said "Yeah, but what happen" they looked at Natasha "It most be something special since Gene and Jean is interested in it" she said "Well, then I think we shall go to Reginald where the others are and get some answers" Five said "Let's go then" Natasah close the file before walking towards the door and the others followed her.

"How are we planning in getting there?" Lila asked "I have a way" Natasha walked over to a car before hitting her elbow against the window, breaking it. She then unlock the door before getting in and hotwire the car.

Five smiled as he watch Natasha hotwire the car "You're not looking at her with what eyes?" Diego asked and Five looked at him "You still love her" Diego said "No I don't" Five shook his head "Come on Five, even we can see it. Man up and talk with her" Lila said "Can't we not do this now" Five said "You still love mom, dad, I know it" Zach said "Let's figure this one out first" Five scoff before walking over to Natasha.

"And yet he still didn't answer, which just proof that he still love her" Diego said before looking at Lila and Zach "Do you think that Natasha still love Five?" he asked "Of course. I know my parents. My mom still love my dad, but they are both only thinking about the negative and they are both stubborn to try again" Zach said "And scared that it will go wrong again" Diego said "I really hope they will give their relationship another chance they were so happy, plus they are also great together" Zach said "Yeah" Diego nodded "Me too" Lila said.

"GUYS COME ON!" Natasha and Five called out "Let's go" Lila said before her, Zach and Diego walked over to the car and got into the backseat while Five was in the front seat next to Natasha who was behind the wheel.

"I hope one of you three knows the address" Natasha said "I do" Five said "Good" Natasha said before starting the car.

A/N: Vote or comment