"𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑘."
—𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝑇𝑧𝑢, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑎𝑟

𝒟.

𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐓𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐒 knife through the air as he followed Natalia into one of the training rooms, a small grin on his face. 

Sure, he hated having to fight her, but then again, he got to spend more time with her—alone, at that. That was never something he could complain about. 

After Diego shut the door behind him, he turned to see that Natalia was already in the middle of the room, in the process of tying her hair up. He felt his heart rate spike for a moment as he watched her tug a few front strands loose, and prayed that she didn't see his nervousness grow.

With a sigh, Diego headed toward the middle of the room, still playing with the knife in his hand.

"Ready?" Natalia questioned as she let her hands fall to her sides, her eyebrows then raising as a small grin graced her face.

"To win?" Diego questioned innocently as he shrugged. "Always."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"We usin' powers this time or what?" asked Diego as he caught his knife and kept his clutch tight on its handle.

"We've done powers the past couple of times, so" —she gave a small shrug— "with no powers this time, I guess."

"Okay," he agreed, then shoving the knife into his leg holster and closing the top.

"Okay." Natalia nodded, her eyes narrowing as her knees bent slightly. "You count down."

"Three—two—one—go!" Diego said quickly before lunging forward and meaning to throw a punch, though she quickly side-stepped and pushed him back. 

"I didn't mean to count that fast, you idiot!" she sighed, then side-stepping once again to avoid the kick that Diego threw her way.

"You should've" —he ducked to dodge a punch— "specified, then!"

She managed to kick him in the side, causing him to grunt, though he quickly recovered as he sent a couple of punches her way.

"I didn't think you were that stupid!" she rebutted as she avoided a kick.

Diego rolled his eyes in amusement, though his amusement soon disappeared as he felt a sharp jab to his stomach, and he groaned as he clutched at it. He then took notice of the fist that was flying towards him, and, with widened eyes, he jumped out of the way.

Before he could realize, however, in the time it had taken him to recover from the little jump, Natalia had snuck up behind him.

She kicked him in the back, causing him to fall to his knees with a grunt, though he managed to quickly roll away before she could do any more damage to him.

Diego scrambled to his feet as Natalia circled around to face him, and he tried his best to not get distracted by the grin on her face.

"Tired yet?" she teased, her eyes flickering between his face and legs as she waited for him to move.

He scoffed. "You wish."

He lunged towards her with an outstretched fist that managed to meet her cheek, and he worried that it had been too hard for a split second as she groaned and stumbled back. 

He was swiftly reassured as she turned back to him with a glare, and he, having been slightly off-guard, was kicked in the side in retaliation.

Diego used his arms to block her next hits, feeling a slight sting as she hit with brutal force but ignoring it as he shoved her to the side and rolled his shoulders back.

Her eyes narrowed at him as he raised his fists and bounced on his toes, and his eyes shifted over her entire body as he anticipated her attack.

She then rushed towards him, throwing every punch and kick combination possible while he did his best to block and dodge every single one.

Natalia grinned as her fist met his forearm. "You can" —punch— "give up anytime" —kick— "you know!"

"Oh" —he ducked to avoid a punch— "I'm not giving up anytime soon, darlin'."

Natalia suddenly paused, her cheeks flushing a bright pink, and, using this to his advantage, Diego leapt forward and sent a kick into her stomach that knocked her onto her back.

Diego was quick to take his victory as he stepped over her and dropped to his knees before grasping her wrists, pinning her arms to the ground.

He tried to ignore the fact that their faces were inches apart, and that he was practically straddling her waist but those two things quickly evaporated from his mind as he realized that Natalia's face was screwed up in pain.

"Diego," she whimpered, her voice breaking, "my stomach . . ."

"What?" His grip on her wrists slackened as his eyes widened. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Natalia sniffled for a couple of moments, only causing his worry to increase.

Once his guard relaxed and his grip on her weakened, a grin grew on Natalia's face, and she quickly shoved him off of her before he could react.

"Oh, come on! Unfair!" Diego groaned as his back hit the ground. "You tricked me!"

"It's not against the rules," she pointed out as she put herself in the position he had previously been in and pinned his arms down before he could recover.

Diego's breath shortened as his gaze met hers, and his nose slightly twitched as a few of her loose strands of hair tickled his face.

"I win," she said softly, her lips twisting into a smirk as her grip on his wrists tightened. "Again."

Diego tried his best to ignore the lips that were right there as he gave a stiff nod. "Only because I let you."

She laughed as she released her grip on him and stood up, brushing off the pants of the unattractively coloured tracksuit. 

"You need to bring your knee a bit more up when you kick, by the way," she said as she fixed her hair, "it'll make it stronger."

"Yeah, yeah."

With a slight groan from how sore his body was now beginning to feel, Diego got to his feet and stretched his arms. His muscles were aching, and he was sure his skin was littered with bruises that would only worsen in colour, but beauty was never his first priority anyway. 

He glanced over at the clock to see that they only had a few minutes left until training was over—they had just finished group training before this—and he couldn't be more glad; he was starving, and dinner came next.

Diego then walked over to the corner of the room, grabbing a water bottle and twisting the cap off before taking a long drink from it. Once the bottle was nearly half-empty, he closed it, keeping it in one hand while grabbing another water bottle with his other hand.

He turned around and walked back toward Natalia, and his eyebrows furrowed as he realized that she was inspecting the back of her hand with pursed lips.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly as he handed her the water bottle.

"I'm fine," she reassured him with a smile as she took the bottle with her other hand. She turned the back of her hand to face him, showing off the purple that was beginning to colour in her knuckles. "Just a bit bruised from beating the shit out of you, but nothing out of the ordinary."

Diego's lips settled into a frown as he saw the same shade of purple starting to reveal itself on her lower jaw, and he used his index finger to gently guide her chin in the other direction so he could get a better look.

"A bruise on your jaw too," he remarked with a small sigh. "Sorry. You should go to Mom and ask for ice."

"I'll survive," she said dismissively with a wave of the hand, only causing Diego to roll his eyes. "Also, don't apologize. This is literally what we're supposed to do, a few bruises on me just means you did a good job."

Diego wrinkled his nose as he processed her words, and, after a moment, he commented, "This is kinda fucked up, isn't it? What Dad makes us do for training?"

"Forcing your kids to beat each other up until they're covered in cuts and bruises?" Natalia raised her eyebrows as she opened the water bottle and took a drink before letting out a half-hearted chuckle, "Yeah. Very fucked up. But it's not like we can do anything about it, so . . ."

"Yeah," he sighed. He gave a small shrug before he asked her, "Wanna go get ready for dinner now?"

She glanced over at the clock before nodding. "Yeah, I don't think we can squeeze another sparring session in a couple minutes."

Diego nodded, and he headed towards the exit, opening the door and allowing Natalia to pass through before leaving himself.

Chatting casually about the test they were supposed to have the next day on the respiratory system, the two of them left the training complex and crossed over into the house. They headed up to the second floor and bid their goodbyes as they separated into their own rooms.

Diego quickly slipped off the tracksuit and tossed it into the laundry basket before quickly changing into the uniform. He stood in front of his full-body mirror, making sure that his tie was straight and that his button-up was completely tucked into his shorts; he wished he could wear less clothing—it was mid-June after all—but the complete uniform was mandatory, so . . .

Then hearing the ring of the bell that told him that it was time for dinner, Diego flicked his lights off and joined the rest of the siblings in heading down to the dining room.

He waited in front of his chair, as usual, exchanging a quick glance with Natalia.

After about a minute of waiting, the sound of heavy footsteps was heard, and, soon enough, Reginald appeared.

He stood in front of his chair at the head of the table for a moment as he looked around at them before he pulled his chair out and instructed, "Sit!"

Immediately, the sound of scraping chairs filled the air as everyone took their seat and began to eat what Grace had made them.

Doing as he usually did, Diego grabbed his fork with his left hand and took a bite of his salad while he picked up the butterknife with his other hand and began scraping it against the wood of the chair arm.

He could feel Natalia glaring at him—she did that during every single meal. And, as he did during every single meal, he ignored her and continued to carve into the chair, pleasuring in every splinter that fell to the ground and in every nudge she gave him.

As soon as he was finished with his salad, he moved on to the sliced turkey, though he kept his gaze on the chair arm that was growing thinner and thinner by the moment.

Diego suddenly paused as he felt a foot nudge his, and he looked up to see Natalia raising her eyebrows at him as she chewed on her food. Seeing that she had finally grabbed his attention, she quickly shook her head as she gestured to the chair arm with her free hand to tell him to stop.

He only gave her a mocking smile in response before resuming his carving into the arm, and, though he couldn't see her, he knew that Natalia was rolling her eyes at him.

Once dinner was over and the chair arm was significantly lighter, Diego followed the others to the second floor, where they would do their studying for the rest of the night. Or, at least, where they would pretend to do their studying.

He quickly trailed Natalia into her room, and she didn't seem surprised in the least that he had done so as she grabbed her notebook and gestured for him to join her in sitting on the edge of her bed.

Diego swiftly heeded, sinking into the soft mattress as he sat next to her, close enough that the heat of her body radiated onto his.

"Let's study for bio," she sighed as she flipped her notebook open to reveal her colourful notes, and Diego groaned.

"Do we have to?"

"Yeah," she confirmed as she swatted his arm and rolled her eyes in amusement. "Unless you want to fail."

"Maybe I do," he rebutted indignantly, folding his arms.

Natalia looked up at him, her eyebrows raised as she scoffed, "Then you can go. I'm gonna study."

"Fine," Diego sighed, giving a small glare to the notes in her hands. "I'll stay. Whatever."

"All right," Natalia agreed, the corners of her lips tugging upwards. "What's—"

"Hola, mi amigos!"

Diego's attention turned to the door that had just burst open, and he rolled his eyes in amusement as he watched Klaus stride in, closely followed by Ben.

"Are you guys here to study for bio, too?" Natalia asked hopefully, though the doubtful expression on her face told them that she already knew the answer.

"Why would we need to study for bio?" questioned Klaus with a wrinkled nose.

Ben raised his eyebrows at him as he answered, "We have a test tomorrow."

"We do?" Klaus squinted his eyes before shrugging and waving a dismissive hand through the air. "Eh. Don't care. What I do care about, however" —he managed to squeeze himself between Diego and Natalia— "is pranking Luther. So let's do that."

Natalia sighed as she climbed over to the back of her bed, "You guys do that, I'll study."

"Fine, but we're using your room as a base," Klaus called, getting a shrug in response from the girl.

"So, what do you want to do?" questioned Diego with a grin; not only did he love pranking Luther, but he needed an excuse to get out of studying.

"A couple of things," Klaus told him as he rubbed his hands together, a devilish grin twisting his lips. "First: replace his deodorant with cream cheese. Second: fill his drawers with glitter. Third: steal all his underwear."

Both Diego and Ben wrinkled their nose at the last one.

"Where are we gonna put it?" Ben asked, exchanging a look of disgust with Diego.

Klaus shrugged as he answered, "Just hide it in a random cabinet or something."

"All right," conceded Diego with a sigh as he slipped off the bed and nodded. "Let's get to it."

"Perfect," Klaus giggled. He clapped his hands together and then placed them on his hips. "Okay, Diego: you get the cream cheese, Ben: you get the glitter, and me: I'll find a good cabinet."

"Your job doesn't seem that difficult," Diego complained.

"Are you kidding?" Klaus questioned in disbelief, though his offended expression was incredibly feigned. "Mine is the hardest of all!"

"You wanna come with me to the kitchen, Nat?" Diego asked as he turned around towards her, the other two boys already making their departure.

She shook her head, her eyes glued onto her notes as she mumbled, "I'm studying."

"You can quiz me on the way there," he offered, his eyebrows raising. 

Natalia looked up at him and squinted her eyes for a moment as she considered. She tilted her head slightly, causing his hopes to raise, but she then shook her head. "Nah, I'm good. I don't wanna be associated with this when you guys get in trouble."

He shrugged, and gave a dismissive wave before muttering, "Whatever."

Shutting Natalia's door behind him, Diego then set off towards the basement, knowing that his mother would probably be occupying the kitchen on the ground level.

To his relief, no one was in the basement kitchen, and he quickly opened the fridge. His eyes roamed over the many foods inside before catching onto the silver wrapping, and he grabbed the bar of cream cheese.

Diego glanced around to make sure that no one was watching, and, after that was confirmed, he slipped the bar into the pockets of his shorts and shut the fridge.

Klaus was already back in the room by the time Diego had gotten there, though Ben was still gone.

Klaus raised his eyebrows, eyeing the bar in Diego's pants. "Is that the cream cheese in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Ignoring the snort of amusement Natalia gave, Diego pulled out the cream cheese and tossed it to the other boy, who caught it with a grin.

Ben joined them only a minute later, a package of red glitter in his hands.

"We're all set, boys," Klaus declared as he put his hands on his hips. "Let's go prank the worst one of us. Nutella, you gonna come and enjoy the show?"

"Nope," she instantly answered.

"Your loss." Klaus shrugged before beckoning the other two to follow him.

Knowing that Luther was studying with Allison for the biology test, the three of them had no worries as they stepped inside Luther's room and switched the light on.

"Okay, first . . ." Klaus walked over to Luther's desk, where his deodorant sat in the corner.

He took a tissue from a nearby tissue box and laid it on the desk before picking up the deodorant and uncapping it. He twisted the bottom, causing the white deodorant to continuously raise out of the container until the full thing popped out, and he quickly rested it on the tissue.

Klaus then took out the cream cheese that he had stuck in his pocket and unwrapped it before fitting it into the container.

With a grin, he looked over to Diego and stretched a hand out toward him. "Knife, please."

Reluctantly, Diego withdrew one of his knives from his leg holster and handed it to him.

Klaus took it and then began to carve the top of the cream cheese, rounding it out so that it imitated the white deodorant that had previously been inside.

He then put all the cream cheese shavings on top of the tissue before folding it all up and tossing it into the half-full garbage, letting it blend in with all the crumpled papers and tissues.

Klaus quickly slid the cap back on and then gestured for the boys to follow him to Luther's dresser.

"Benerino, open the glitter," he instructed as he pulled one of the drawers open.

Ben heeded, tearing the packaging open before spilling all of it over Luther's folded clothes, a grin on his face as the three of them squinted at the glitter that shimmered in the light.

"Beautiful," Klaus murmured as the last of the glitter was dumped, and he quickly shut the drawer.

He moved on to Luther's underwear drawer, and he took a crumpled plastic bag out of the pocket of his shorts before opening it.

"Now, put them all in," he ordered.

"There's no way in hell I'm touching those," Diego scoffed as he glanced down at the underwear with a look of revulsion. "That's disgusting."

"Fine," Klaus sighed, handing Diego the bag to hold.

He grabbed fistful after fistful of underwear and shoved it into the bag until it was full. The sides of the bag bulged out from the amount of stuffing, threatening to split open, but maintained its hold even after they were done.

Giggling quietly, Klaus led them out of the room and onto the other side of the second floor, where a few hutch cabinets were lined against the walls.

Klaus grabbed the bag and opened one of the cabinet doors before tossing the bag in and shutting the door with a rather loud slam.

He grinned as he put his hands on his hips. "Mission accomplished."

𝒩.

Natalia's eyes shot open as her ears registered the blare of the alarm.

She groaned as she slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she glanced over at her clock and sighed; it was a little past midnight.

It was terribly annoying whenever a mission occurred in the middle of the night, but, as much as she hated whenever it happened, it wasn't like she could control the actions of the criminals. Besides, it honestly made more sense to her that they'd do it at this time rather than the middle of the day.

A little drowsy, she pulled her blanket off of her, already missing the comfort of it as she slipped off her bed and headed over to her dresser, where she pulled her mission uniform out.

She quickly swapped her soft pyjamas for the snug suit, and she tied her hair in a tight ponytail before slapping the mask on.

There was a knock at her door, and she quickly called for the person to come in.

Diego stepped in, already changed and ready to go, and he quickly questioned, "You good?"

"Mhm," she hummed as she tightened her ponytail and flicked her light off. "Let's go."

Once they had joined their siblings, the Umbrella Academy was swiftly whisked away to a nearby museum—the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of all places—and they stood just at the entrance as they made their plan.

"Okay, guys, be careful; some of the security guards have already been shot," Luther murmured, peering through the glass. "Teams: me and Allison, Klaus and Ben, Natalia and Diego. Go!"

"C'mon," Natalia whispered to Diego, and the two of them sprinted inside.

They kept their footsteps as quiet as possible as they headed up the stairs, and it wasn't long until they heard low voices as they approached the next floor.

Following the voices and keeping their steps tentative, Natalia and Diego entered a room with grey walls, that were lined with renaissance paints framed in gold. A few bronze statues sat on top of white display boxes, with only a couple of them being encased in bulletproof glass as the others sat in the open.

The lights were dim, but it didn't take long for the two of them to spot some of the robbers.

The three of them were in separate corners—which would make it more difficult—large duffel bags in hand as they attempted to carefully remove the paintings. The outline of a gun could be seen attached to a holster in all three of their belts, which also wasn't wonderful.

"You ready?" Natalia whispered to Diego as they peered around the corner. 

"Mhm," he hummed softly. "Be careful."

She grinned. "Always."

Instantly, the two of them sprung out of their hiding spot, causing the three robbers to turn their attention to them. 

The one straight in front of Natalia reached for his gun, but before he could pull the trigger, Natalia dropped to the ground and swept her foot into his leg, prompting him to fall to the ground with a grunt. 

She jumped out of the way as the one in the middle began to fire at her, and she swiftly reached her hand out, using her telekinesis to grab a hold of the gun. The magenta energy that both cloaked her hand and swirled around the gun then pulled the weapon out of the man's clutch and tossed it to the side.

She ducked to avoid the punch he swung at her and quickly lifted her forearm to block another punch that was thrown her way. 

Natalia then grabbed his arm and tugged him forward, then kneeing him in the stomach before throwing him to the ground.

The first one had managed to get back onto his feet, and his fumbling fingers reached for his gun as his breathing became unsteady and his wild eyes focused on Natalia. 

"Nat! Catch!"

Natalia turned and quickly caught the knife that Diego had tossed over to her, and, once again, right before the robber could shoot any bullets, Natalia hurled the knife toward him. 

The blade of the knife sank nicely into the man's chest, and he gave a loud gasp as he stumbled back, grasping at the smooth wall before sliding down to the ground. Blood pooled around him as his body grew limp, and his eyes rolled back. 

Natalia turned to see that Diego had just finished taking care of the third robber, along with giving an extra kick to the middle one to make sure he wouldn't be a problem.

Seeming to feel her gaze upon him, he looked up, and, with worry, asked, "You okay?"

Natalia grinned. "Better than ever."