CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE: CHANGE OF PLAN

----

Luther was standing by the side of the road with his thumb up, hoping that a car would past by while Diego was checking the damaged on the van.

You were sitting on the passener seat by the side doors while Five was dipping a rag around your forehead where a little cut was from the crash. You winced as the chemicals in the wipe made the cut sing.

"Sorry" he said "It's okay" you said and he then checking you for any other injures or bruises after the crash while the others was trying to regain back consciousness after the crash.

"I'm fine Five, I just need to gather my strength" you said "Here" he lifted his left hand "Take some of my stamina" he said "Are you sure?" you asked "Yeah" he nodded "Okay, only a little" you grab his hand and started to take some of his stamina so you could heal quicker which caused him to grunt.

 "Leave it to this clown car of a family to botch a simple search and rescue. For a second there, we had her" Ben said "Who were those weirdoes with the fanny packs?" Viktor asked as he was sitting next to you.

"Was it me, or did they smell like wet sheep?" Lila asked "Goats, I thought" Luther said "Mmm" Lila nodded "Maybe Llamas" Luther said "Who cares?" Diego asked before he looked at his wife "And why did they call you Nancy?" he asked and Five glanced at Lila who glanced at you and him. She didn't really know what to say to Diego.

"Their names are Gene and Jean" you started "They run an underground organization called the Keepers" Five said.

"Sex cult?" Diego asked "No, not a sex cult---" Five shook his head "Once you get to the top, it's always a sex cult" Diego said "Yeah. The man's got a point" Luther nodded.

"They're an extremist group who believe they have memories from an alternate timeline" Five said.

"Some of their memories are bang on" you said "Yeah" Five nodded "They're calling this phenomenon the 'Umbrella Effect'" he said.

"How do you know that?" Luther looked "They are one of mine and Five's cases. We were at one of the meeting, being undercover" you said.

"Ugh. How is this even possible?" Viktor asked "Well, you know we're still working on that" Lila said "What do they want with Jennifer?" Ben asked.

Five rub his hands together to keep them warm before rolling his shoulder.

"Great. You don't know that either" Ben said annoying.

"Oh, I'm sorry. At least we shared some knowledge about who they are while all you do is complain" Five said "Well, if it wasn't for this stupid family, we would have saved Jennifer by now" Ben said.

"What? You finally got some balls and finally got a girlfriend you just met a few hours ago? At leas we're actually doing something while you're just a plain old asshole" Five said "Oh, is that right" Ben walked closer to Five.

"Don't" you walked in to stand between Five and Ben "Do you need your little wife to defend you?" Ben asked

"No, he don't, but we look out after each other, have each other's back" you said as you stared at Ben "Don't forget what I can do now when my powers are back thanks to you" you said.

"Okay, easy" Luther got in between Five and Ben "Fighting is the last thing we need right now" he said and you step back before walking over to Klaus.

"Hey, hey, hey" you said to him as you could see that something was wrong with him.

"Are you okay?" you rubbed his shoulder "I'm absolutely fine, thanks to you" he glanced at Allison "Look. Are you made at me because I saved your life?" Allison asked "I was very clear, was I not? No marigold" he looked at Allison "I know, Klaus. What was I supposed to do? Let you die?" she asked "I know. It's just three whole years down the drain. Three years clean and sober. But this what you wanted, right?" he asked as he looked at Allison again.

Then suddenly Five places the back of his hand against your forehead and you glanced up at him "What are you doing?" you asked "Checking for a temperature, making sure you don't have a fever" he said and you rolled your eyes "I'm fine, Five, really" you said and he smiled "Okay, but let me know" he said and you nodded. 

Five wrapped an arm around your shoulders and started rubbing his hand up and down to keep you warm. 

"What are you talking about?" she asked "I'm talking about this. Our little parasitic relationship. The eternal screwup and his holy savior. As long as I'm around, you don't have to look directly at your empty pit of a life" he said "Wow! You know what?" she got up "Maybe you should take it down a notch" she said annoying "No. I think I'll take it up a notch, shall we?" Klaus got up.

"I mean, dysfunction is, after all, what we do best in this family" he turned to you and the others.

"We got daddy issues!" Klaus pointed at Viktor "Daddy issues!" he said before he pointed at Five "Chaos Junkie and Mr. grumpy pants, mr. pyscho" he said before pointing at you "Former killer and Mrs. pyscho" he then pointed at Diego "Mommy issues" he then pointed on Luther "More daddy issues" he then pointed at Ben "Obnoxious asshole issues" he said before he pointed at Lila "Then you..." he stopped himself when he couldn't figure out anything to say about her "You seem kind of weirdly self-actualized, as far as I can tell" he said before he turned around "Anyway, I'm just so done living, cowering in your little bubble of superiority" he looked at Allison.

"So this is the thanks I get for taking care of you for the past five years?" she approached him "I think you've got that back-to-front Sweetheart" Klaus said "Oh!" Allison said "Who took care of you since Ray walked out?" he asked before he lifted his right hand "None of these guys gave a shit" he gestured to you and the others.

"Who took care of little Claire while you bombed every shitty audition in town?" Klaus asked.

"Come, sit down, Love" Five said to you as he help you sit down by the passenger seat "I'm fine Five. I heal quicker now when you gave me something of your stamina" you said and he kissed your cheek before he opened the door to the driver seat and sat down while Viktor sat down next to you.

"So you think that I like having a grown man living in my basement, covering my entire house in bubble wrap?" she asked out loud.

"You think I like picking your sorry ass up every time you hit rock bottom?" she asked "Bottom? Moi?" he said hoarsely "There's no bottom here, missy. No bottom at all. I'm the goddamn Mariana Trench!" he said out loud as you and the others just watch those two arguing.

"Wait till you see" he said "You know what? Fine. Fine. Jump off the deep end" she said "I will" Klaus nodded "Because that is so clearly what you wanna do. Have fun, and see if I give a shit!" she said "Thank you" Klaus nodded "Truly, thank you. Finally, a grain of honesty. It feels good" he inhales sharply "Feels refreshing! You wanted the old Klaus. You got him" he said before he turned around "Come on" Luther said "What are you doing?" you asked.

"Look out, Klaus!" Diego shouted as a car came driving towards him but didn't hit him.

Klaus just walk over the road not caring if he got hit by a car or not as the horn was blaring "Klaus come back!" you called out but he just kept walking.

"He is not wrong, we are a dysfunction family" you glanced at the others.

"You know what?" Allison turned to the others "Actually, while we're here, does anybody else have some shit they wanna get off their chest? Because now's the time" she said out loud but nobody said anything.

"No?" Allison glanced at you and the others "No takers?" she asked "Good. I'm done being the bad guy in this family" she said before she turned around and walked away.

"So what is the plan now?" you asked "Now that the show's over, what are we going to do about Jennifer? We need to find her" Ben said "We're not going anywhere in this piece of shit" Five sighed "He said I was the best one, so...Just saying" Lila said.

---

Diego's van had being driving to a repair place and now you and the others was all waiting for the van to be fixed.

"Careful" Diego told the guy that was repairing the van "Careful" he said "Yeah, sure" the guy nodded.

Luther walked over to Ben "Hey Ben" he said "What?" Ben turned to him "What do you want?" he asked annoying "Uh, it's three o'clock. Time to check in with your parole officer" Luther said "Oh, right. I can't wait to catch him up on what I've been up to. Crossing state lines, shooting up a whole town, flipping a Volkswagen. Good idea" Ben said sarcastically with a sarcastic smile.

"Moron" he said before walking away from him "All right" Luther said.

"I need a run on a Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country" you said as you were talking to someone over a phone that was hanging on the wall.

"'80, '81. Brown, simulated woodgrain sides. New Mexico plates. Look for matches with an owner first name Gene. That is Golf-Echo-November-Echo. Or Jean. That's Juliet-Echo-Alpha-November" you said.

"Hey, you know what's strange?" Luther asked and the others looked at him "All those people back in New Grumpson. They were wearing Hargreeves-Branded military gear" he said "Luther, the entire goddamn place was a Hargreeves town" Allison said "Yeah, it's like it was designed to keep Jennifer hostage" Ben said "What's so important about her anyway?" Lila asked as you hang up the phone.

"Isn't it obvious? She's one of us" you said "No. No way" Ben said "I mean, that would make sense. Why else would dad build a Truman Show around her?" Five asked.

"The guy played us, all right? Nothing Jennifer said jibed with Sy's story" Ben said "They're both gone now, so that leave us with two shitty options. We either go after the Keepers, or worse, talk to dad" Viktor said and everyone sighed.

"Come on, man" Diego said.

"Okay, change of plan. Think we need to split up. Me, Five and Lila will follow up with the Keepers" you said "Good idea. The rest of you go talk to dad" Five said.

"Uh-uh" Diego shook his head before getting up "I'm going with you" he looked at Lila and she glanced at Five who glanced back at her "Fine by me" he said "I don't have a problem with it" you said.

"And I'm going after Jennifer" Ben said "It's better if we stick together" Viktor said "No, it's not. And this little field trip proved it" Ben said "You're awfully gung ho for a person that didn't wanna go in the first place" Diego told him.

"You're all a bunch of clowns. I'm going on my own" Ben said before he turned around and walk away "Ben" Luther said but he just kept walking "Don't you walk away from me" Luther said but Ben ignored him.

"And then there were seven" Lila said.

---

As soon as the van was fixed, you and the others got into the van before Diego drove down the road. Lila was sitting next to him.

You and Five was on the passenger seat next to each other.

"Come here" you whispered to Five, opening up your arms. He gladly accepts your embrace as your arms encircle him and his encircles your waist in a protective manner. Your right fingers was locked together with Five's left fingers as your hands were locked together while you reasted your head on Five's left shoulder while his head was rested on your head as you both fell asleep while Viktor, Luther and Allison was also asleep.

"Look" Lila started "The reason that they call me Nancy is---" "I already know" Diego cut her off and she looked at him "Know what?" she asked and he sighed "I followed you. The other night" he said "You what? What, so you're spying on me now?" she asked.

"I saw you" she looked at him "You were in the café with...with him" he said "With who?" she asked "Don't play dumb. The little Greek guy with the mustache" he said.

She started laughing as she realized what he was talking about "Is that funny to you?" he asked "Yeah, trust me. That is absolutely hilarious" she laughed "Our kids are gonna grow up in a broken home, and you're laughing" Diego said.

"Diego, the...the little guy, the little Greek guy, is Five" she said and he looked at her "Yeah. Y/n was there too. The three of us have been undercover investigating the Keepers" she said "You've been lying to me? And you're working undercover with the CIA?" he asked "See this is why I didn't tell you. Because I knew you'd have some bizarre reaction" she said "I'm not having a bizarre reaction" he said "You're acting like I had an affair" she said "No. It's worse than an affair" he hissed and Five opened his eyes before he saw your head on his shoulder which cause him to smile before he closed his eyes as he rested his head back onto your head. 

"Okay, as much as I would love to unpack whatever this is, we have much more important things to think about" she said "It's because he's in the CIA, huh? I'm just a dumb delivery driver" he said "No, Diego" she said "Then why?" he asked "Because I needed something for myself, okay?" she looked at him before looking forward again "Something other than changing diapers and wine moms and ballet class. At least you get to get outside the house every day. I'm just trapped in this unending suburban hellscape. So that is why I went there and Y/n and Five happed to be there" she said.

"I mean, that's good to know. That the life we built is so bad" he said and she looked at him "That's not what I meant" she said "You think I like delivering packages day in and day out? Busting my ass? Oh, trust me. I'd mean I rather be out there cracking skulls, but, I mean, somebody's gotta show up for this marriage, 'cause...it sure as hell ain't you" he said and she looked at him.

Then Diego hit the radio with his fist causing the song 'Baby shark' to start playing which made you and the others to wake up.

"Really Diego?" you groan "Yeah" Diego said a little annoying.

-----

Diego stopped the van next to an apartment building "So this is book club, huh? Nancy?" he asked as he stopped the van "Oh, shut up, Diego" Lila said annoying before you, her, Viktor, Five and Diego got out of the van.

"Oh Jesus!" Diego said before he pulled up his keys as he walked over to Viktor while you, Five and Lila walked into the building.

"You drive" he gave him the keys "You sure? Wanda?" Viktor pointed at the van "Yeah. I don't give a shit anymore" Diego turned around and was about to walk into the building but stop before he walked back to Viktor.

"She's pulling to the right a little bit. And don't go over 40, or what is left of the muffler's gonna fall off" he said "Got it" Viktor nodded before walking over to the driver seat, getting in.

---

Diego followed after you, Five and Lila who walked up the stairs and over to the door that lead to where the three of you were at that meeting.

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

"Let's see what we can find" Five said before the four of you started looking around for anything that could tell you 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" she said as you walked over to a desk before looking in the draws.

"Yeah, it certainly looks that way" you said "Yeah, nothing here" Five said "While you three 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?" she asked "So...hates makes wast, mami" Diego said before leaving the room.

As soon as Diego was gone Lila looked at Five while you were standing next to him.

"Out with it" she approached him as he was standing over by crouch "Why can't you blink?" she asked "I can blink" he said before looking at her and blink with his eyes "See"

"You know damn well that is not what I meant. Why can't you blink like in using your powers?" she asked "I can blink. You know, I just..." he opened a small thin book.

"Won't" she said and he let out a sigh "No, it just when he blink, it's different" you said "How?" she asked and you and Five glanced at each other, not knowing what to tell her.

"You gotta get back on that horse, kemosabe" she grab his right arm "Don't!" he said as you quickly grab Five's other arm before Lila mimicking his powers and she blink away with you both.

"Don't!" Five said again as you all stumbled backwards when you teleported to the underground subway.

"Whoa! Where are we?" she asked as she looked around "A subway station" you said "Yeah, I can see that, numbnuts, but why did you blink us here?" she asked Five.

"Believe me, Lila, it was not on purpose" Five started walking forward and you and Lila followed him "Ever since Ben spiked us with that janky marigold, when I blink, this is where I end up" he said and Lila chuckled.

"Neat" she went up to walk in front of you and Five "Not really" Five said as the three of you 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?" you asked "The train station" Five said before you walked down the stairs "Oh!" Lila said before she let out a wryly laugh as you looked around the train station.

"Okay, not the MTA. Not the Tub" she said "Trust me, this is unlike any subway you've been to" he said "Well, where do the trains go?" she asked "That's the weird part" you looked at her before stopping "We took a westbound train" Five started.

"We went one station over" you looked around the train station "When we came up, it was the exact same day, exact same time, but a completely different timeline" he said "Now that's interesting" she said "Yeah" he nodded.

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

"A map" she ran over to it "That's helpful, innit?" she asked "If we could understand it" you both 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?" she smiled at you both as she put her right hand on the map.

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

"Fuck me, this is confusing" she 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 you and Five "We should get back to Diego" you pointed towards the stairs "She is right, let's head back" Five said "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?" you asked "If I created it, I have no memories of doing so" he replied "If the train really takes us to different timelines, does that mean we're getting paradox phychosis" you said "You're making a great point. Another reason we shouldn't enter" he said "Too late. We're going" Lila said.

"Listen I don't wanna be hopping on trains until we understand this" you said "She's right. This is a bad idea, we should wait until we can understand it" he said "Yeah, or else we might get stuck in the timeline" you said and she chuckled before grabbing your and Five's hands.

"You both need to move your ass!" she drag you and Five into the train and the door closed as she laughed as 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 you, Lila and Five step out.

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

"Yucko" Lila said Five pulled a notebook out from his inner pocket before opening it.

"Gross" Lila said as she looked around while you and Five click on your pens before you started writing in the notebooks as Lila approached the two of you to see what you were writing.

"Dear diary, why do I always wear suits?" she joke at Five before looking at you "Dear diary, my husband is a little shit of an asshole" she joke which made you and Five glanced at her.

"Hmm" she said before looking around as you and Five continue writing in the notebook.

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

"Yep" you and Five closed the notebook before putting it back in your pocket.

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

The sound of flames smoldering was heard as you, Five and Lila walked up the stairs but only to find the whole area destroyed.

It look like something from an apocalypse and it was.

"Holy...." your eyes widened.

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

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

"Five, we being here before, I recognize this place" you looked around before your eyes widened.

"We're back in the apocalypse Hon" you looked around.

"We're been here before" you said "Yeah, you're right, we have. This is our apocalypse" he said as you both remember that you have being here, in this apocalypse back in the original timeline.

"Your apocalypse?" Lila asked confused "Yeah, the original timeline. We were stuck here for 45 years" you said "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" she walked over to him.

Then you spotted something not far from you which caused you to hit your shoulder against Five who look at you and you gestured your 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" you said as Five noticed two people peeking their heads up behind some rubbles. And he saw they pointed a rifle at them.

Then the sound of airy flatulence was heard which made Lila to look at you and Five "Did you two just fart?" she asked.

Five lowered binoculars before he glanced at you as your eyes widened when you realized that it was this timeline younger version of you both. That age you both were when you landed in the apocalypse.

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

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

"Who the hell is shooting at us?" Lila shouted "We are" you and Five replied as the other version of you and Five shot at the car you were hiding behind again 

"Okay. We need to get out of here. Go!" Five grab your hand before you both started running "Wait for me!" Lila shouted as she ran after the two of you while the other you and Five kept shooting at you which made Lila let out a yelp as she followed after you and Five back down into the subway.

The three of you ran down the stairs "I must improve my cardio" Lila followed after you 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" you said "I agree with you there, Love" Five said as the three of you got out.

"This was so weird" Lila said "Told you this was not a normal subway" Five said "Can we get back now before the other version of us decided to chases us down here" you suggested "Good idea" Five said and you nodded before you grab Five's hand while Lila's grab Five's other hand and you all 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 you, Lila and Five appeared on the couch behind him "Shit" Five said and Diego turned around to looked at the three of you.

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

"Taken a break" you smiled "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 you, Five and Lila got up before walking over to him.

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

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

"October 14th, 2006" Five read "Wait, what's so special about October 14th, 2006?" Lila asked "That's the day Ben died. Our Ben" you 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 "But what happen?" you asked "I don't know. I wasn't there" Five said "Well either was I, but something must have happen that makes it so important to Jean and Gene" you said as you glanced at your husband and brother.  

"I think we need to go to dad and ask what happen" you said "Then let's hit the road" Five said and the four of you 

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