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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙ. ʙ. ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴄʟᴇᴀʀ & ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀ ꒱　


❝ I MADE A CALL. THAT'S
WHAT A LEADER DOES ❞

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Wednesday, 8:15 a.m. (again)

"Hold on. Hold the phone. We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?" Klaus asked.

"Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?"

Just then, blue light shone around the room and startled the Hargreeves siblings. Alexa almost dropped her coffee cup in shock. As the blue light faded, they stared at the fifteen-year old boy in surprise as he had seemed to appear from nowhere.

"You guys, am I still high or do you see him too?" Klaus asked.

"Five, where have you been?" Luther demanded.

The boy tumbled off his precarious landing and Alexa— being the closest to him— immediately leapt forward and helped him up gently. As he stumbled to his feet, she asked worriedly, "are you alright? Who did this?"

He barely spared her a glance and shook off her concern in favor of retrieving the untouched coffee cup from her hand. "Irrelevant," he commented. After downing the entire cup of coffee, he turned back to his siblings. "So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us."

"The Umbrella Academy," Luther clarified.

Five snorted. "Yeah, but with me, obviously. So if you don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead. I know who's responsible for the apocalypse. This is who we have to stop."

Allison took the paper he was waving around and opened to read the name. "Harold Jenkins?"

"Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?" Diego asked.

"I don't know yet but I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him and we have to do it now."

Alexa frowned at the lack of information as she ran her fingers through her short blonde hair— an act she only did when she was supremely agitated. None of her siblings noticed her habit, though as Luther asked, "how is he connected to what's gonna happen?"

"I don't know," was the response.

Alexa studied the boy with a calculating look. "These are a lot of unknowns, Five. You only know his name, that's it?"

Five rolled his eyes at the woman's concern. "That's enough."

"There's probably dozens of Jenkinses," Diego pointed out helpfully.

The boy seemed unconcerned as he answered, "well, we just better start looking, then."

"Am I the only one that's skeptical here? I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what's his name?" Allison asked.

"Harold Jenkins," Alexa provided.

"You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?" Five asked.

"Oh, yeah, I think I remember those guys," Klaus murmured.

"Yeah, the ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk."

"Yeah. Them. They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth."

"The Temps what?" Allison asked.

Alexa sighed; she should've known that any semblance of organization would quickly fall apart as her siblings got sidetracked. Now they had to explain— again— Five's background on their already limited time. Already, she was itching to go to the library or anywhere, really, to start looking up who 'Harold Jenkins' might be instead of doing Debate Club with her siblings.

Five's explanation was apparently too difficult for her siblings to grasp as they all started asking questions at once until Allison spoke more loudly: "do you have any idea how insane this sounds?"

"You know what else is insane?" Five cut her off. "I look like a fifteen-year-old boy. Klaus talks to the dead and Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat. Everything about us is insane. It always has been."

"He's got a point there," Klaus spoke up from where he was lying half-draped over the arm of the couch. Alexa shot her brother a concerned look. He always looked pale but there was definitely something not right about his complexion now.

"We didn't choose this life, we're just living it. For the next three days, anyway."

"But the last time we tried to stop it we all died."

"Why is this time any different? Why shouldn't I go home to my daughter?" Allison demanded.

"Because this time, I'm here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people. Including Claire," Five added as he looked towards his sister. 

"You know her name?" Allison asked, surprised.

"I do, and I'd like to live long enough to meet her."

A sudden image popped into Alexa's head at the thought of Five trying to talk to their adopted niece and it made a small smile curve on her lips. He had never been particularly friendly with their other siblings but around her (as a child at least) he had the ability to be a really good uncle. She'd been feeling less and less like trying to fight the inevitable but suddenly, she wanted to succeed more than anything. Sure, the last several days had been some of the worst— and best— in her life, but she wouldn't have anymore if the world ended when it was supposed to.

"All right. Let's get this bastard," Allison decided.

"You had me at Gerald Jenkins," Diego agreed.

"Harold Jenkins."

"Whatever. I've already lost two people this week, I'm not losing anyone else."

"I'm in too," Alexa added. She tried not to feel too happy when she noticed the boy stand up straighter at this.

"And Luther?" he prompted his brother.

The man shook his head. "Yeah, you go. I'm gonna stay and go through Dad's files. I still think this has something to do with why he sent me to the Moon."

Alexa's patience snapped. "Seriously?" she demanded. "Now you wanna make the end of the world about you and Dad?"

"No. 'Watch for threats.' That's what he told me. You think that's a coincidence? This all has to be connected somehow."

The blonde snorted at how misguided her brother was. 

"No, we should all stick together," Allison protested.

"We don't have time for this."

"Let's roll. I know where we can find this asshole."

☂☂☂

Alexa forced herself not to squirm in her seat. Working with her siblings again was a very uncomfortable experience especially when they'd had years to nurse bad feelings and disagreements.

"I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record. We gotta get our hands on this file," Diego said.

"And your plan is to what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?" Allison's tone was disbelieving.

"I know the station like the back of my hand, sis. I've spent a lot of time inside."

"Handcuffed."

"Whatever. Here's the plan."

"Plan? I'm just gonna blink in and get the file."

"No, that's not it. You don't know the ins and outs of this place, okay?"

"I literally just did this yesterday." Five was clearly getting agitated and Alexa didn't blame him at all; their siblings were all talk and no action.

"What?"

"My yesterday, not your yesterday. It'll take me two seconds."

"Why don't I just go?"

"Or I could go," Alexa broke in. "You know, 'cause I'm one of the ones not wanted by any organization."

Diego ignored her. "Listen to me. You are not going in there. I made a call. That's what a leader does."

In the end, Diego won and the three remaining Hargreeves waited outside the police building. Allison was on the phone as she tried to reach their sister. "Hey, Vanya, it's me. I just wanted to— things have gotten so messed up and all I ever wanted was to be a good sister to you. Guess I pretty much failed at that. But you need to call me. Okay? I love you, sis."

Alexa snorted softly as she leaned against the building. Where was Allison wanting to be a good sister to her? Sure, they'd never truly gotten along when they were younger but they were older now; surely that should've made it better, right? Or maybe not, Alexa considered, but still. It would be nice of her to try even if she is shit at it. It's not like I would be any better, anyway.

Before she could even think to broach the subject aloud, Diego returned. Five turned to him. "So?"

"You're welcome," the dark-haired man showed the file and gave it to Allison.

She opened it and her eyes widened as she took in the picture clipped to the corner. "Holy shit."

"What?"

"Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody."