TWELVE | THE JENNIFER INCIDENT

"So this is book club, huh? Nancy?" Diego taunted as they arrived at Gene and Jean's apartment. "Oh, shut up, Diego," Lila rolled her eyes as they hopped out of the car. "Oh, Jesus!" Diego said as he realized the damage the car had.

"You drive," Diego handed the keys to Viktor. "You sure? Wanda?" Viktor pointed to the car, taking the keys. "Yeah, I don't give a shit anymore," Diego stated as Tate stayed behind, waiting for Diego.

Diego turned around to walk in with Tate before he looked at Viktor. "She's pulling to the right a little," Diego started Viktor nodded. "And don't go over 40 or the muffler is gonna fall off," Diego informed his brother. "Got it," Viktor nodded, processing Diego's instructions before heading to the car.

"Welcome to the Keepers HQ, courtesy of Gene and Jean," Five said as Diego turned the door knob. "Jean and Gene didn't give us much to go on," Diego complained as he looked through the files.

"Stay focused for once, darling," Lila encouraged as she and FIve went through the drawers. Five started going through the books at the side while Lila and Tate pulled the empty cabinets. Diego picked up the empty trash can.

"All the files are gone," Lila informed as she leaned on the brown cabinet. "Yeah, certain looks that way," Five said as he pulled open the drawers of Gene and Jean's desk. "While you three stand around twiddling your dinks, I got recon to do," Diego said, causing Tate to stare at him.

"What?" Tate asked as Diego walked away from the coffee table. "There's nothing here, Diego," Lila said before Tate nodded. "Our targets left in a hurry, correct?" Diego asked, causing Lila to nod.

"So?" Tate asked while Lila stared at Diego. "So... haste makes waste, mami," Diego responded, smirking at Lila before Diego walked downstairs to the dumpster.

Tate cringed at the nickname before Lila walked over to Five. "Out with it, why can't you blink?" Lila asked as Five met her in the middle of the room. "I can blink," Five said, denying the fact he can't control his powers.

"You know... I just..." Five trailed off as he continued searching for more clues. "Won't," Lila stated as Five opened a notebook. "Oi, you gotta get back on that horse, kemosabe," Lila sighed before grabbing onto FIve's arm.

"Don't!" Tate and Five yelled in unison as she watched Lila and Five teleport away, leaving her alone in the room. "God... should've out that bitch when I had the chance..." Tate muttered before walking out of the room to find Diego.

"Oh I thought you were kidding," Tate muttered as she pushed the door to see Diego going through the dumpster. "Damn, it smells like ass," Diego dived into the trash bags. "Well, it's trash, Diego," Tate pointed out the obvious as she watched her brother search through the black trash bags.

"Jesus!" Diego muttered as he looked through the dumpster while Tate covered her nose with her jacket. "Up there," Tate pointed to the ceiling light being covered with something before Diego looked up.

Tate handed Diego a broom before he poked the stick of the ceiling light. Two trash bags came down as Diego called Tate over to look through the trash bags. "It's clean," Diego said as he ripped open one of the bags.

"Fine," Tate mumbled as she jumped up onto the step, and opened the other trash bags. There was a bunch of stray paper and files thrown into the bag. "Dr. Jean Thibedeau," Diego pointed to a report inside.

Tate picked up another file inside her bag, revealing a report with blackened-out parts. "The Cleanse?" Tate questioned, noticing the handwriting written in ballpoint.

"Are you sure that there is nowhere else I can find a way to hack a computer or anything?" Tate asked her brother as they walked inside the apartment. "Where did Five and Lila go?" Diego asked, causing Tate to fake a smile. "Maybe somewhere in the bedroom," Tate lied before she realized her poor choice of words.

"What..." Diego turned to his sister as Tate quickly tried covering for the two. "Bathroom... I said bathroom..." Tate trailed off before she nodded in defeat, knowing DIego's suspicious mindset. "Would you fucking stop, I know what you're thinking," Tate tried calming Diego down before Diego scoffed.

"I'm not thinking..." Diego lied, causing Tate to scoff as she picked up the red folder they found. "Is it me or do I have zero memory of this incident?" Tate asked, trying to read under the blackened parts before Diego snatched the folder from her.

"Hey! I was reading that!" Tate tried snatching the folder back before she heard a loud warp sound behind her, causing Diego and Tate to turn their heads to see FIve and Lila on the couch. "The hell are you doing?" Diego asked.

"Did you find something, love?" Lila asked, trying to remain nonchalant, crossing her arms on her lap. "Oh, I found something," Diego answered proudly before Tate rolled her eyes while her brother bragged.

"Something that's gonna blow this case wide open," Diego added as the two stood up from the couch, approaching the siblings. "Okay," Five sighed as he walked over to Diego., reaching out for the folder.

"Let's see," Five muttered, opening the folder. Lila walked over to the trio, causing Tate to scoot over a bit. "Umbrella Academy," Five gasped softly as the info. "That's impossible, there was no Umbrella Academy in 2006," Five reminded the difference in this timeline.

"Not this timeline," Diego informed before Lila spoke up. "It must be one of Gene and Jean's artifacts," Lila assumed before Tate spoke up, "Keep reading," Tate said before her husband looked down at the file.

"October 14th, 2006," FIve read out the date on the file. "Wait, what's so special about that date?" LIla questioned, unable to keep up. "That's the day Ben died," Tate responded before Diego added. "Our Ben,"

"That's a coincidence," Five said, tossing up the file in his hands. "Let us break it down for you," Diego said as Diego pulled onto Tate for help in explaining the situation.

"A random dry cleaner shows up out of the blue and hires us to go to New Grumpson, Maine, to rescue a girl named Jennifer," Diego started as the two looked down at the file.

"The whole town goes to shit, we get into a car crash, and the girl gets kidnapped by a pair of genes with their brown station wagon," Tate continued before Diego interrupted her.

"Now, in their trash, we find a foreign document that has something to do with Ben's death," Diego pointed to the red folder FIve was holding. "Hence..." Diego took a seat at Gene and Jean's desk before placing his legs on the wooden desk.

"Whatever is going on with Jennifer, it's got something to do with Ben," Diego concluded horribly, causing Tate to roll her eyes. "Ipso factors, mofos," Diego said before Tate reacted in a dumbfounded reaction.

"Bet you regret not sending in that resume?" Diego nudged his sister who stared at Five. "No, I did send that resume," Tate admitted truthfully as FIve sighed deeply. "What the hell is the Jennifer incident?" Lila pointed to the folder.

"That was a tragic accident," Five and Tate said in unison, however, Tate said in a more hurtful tone.

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IT WAS A TRAGIC ACCIDENT INDEED ALSO WHAT THE FUCK DID DIEGO MAKE THE DUDE FIX FOR HIS CAR IF IT WAS ONLY GONNA BEING THE FUCKING SAME? THE WINDOWS ARE STILL BROKEN, HIS GEAR IS FALLING APART?? ALSO JUST TO SAY YET AGAIN I WILL NOT BE WRITING THE FIVE AND LILA ARC ALSO I'M GONNA BE SHORTENING THE TIME THEY WERE, THEY'RE GONNA BE GONE FOR 4-5 YEARS INSTEAD OF 7 YEARS BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHY AND HOW DID THEY LAND ON THE NUMBER 7 FOR THEIR "ROMANCE" TO START??