ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇɴ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪᴠᴏʀᴄᴇ
'ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴅᴇᴄᴀᴅᴇꜱ'

"To my Pursuers: I, Reginald Hargreeves, request the pleasure of your company for a light supper on the 20th November, 1963, at half past seven o'clock. 1624 Magnolia Street, Dallas, Texas" Inanna reread the invite she had been handed by Luther the night before when she returned to Elliott's drunk and alone after Vanya, Klaus and Allison had gone their separate ways for the evening.

Vanya had left to tell Sissy her true feelings, Klaus had gone back to his cult to tell them that he had got the date wrong and they only had six days until they died and Allison had gone home to Ray, ready to finally tell him the truth about her powers and her family.

Vanya had returned to Elliott's in the morning, finding Inanna hanging half off the bed as she took her a cup of hot coffee to wake her up.

Five was no where to be found, he hadn't come home that night and he was yet to show up after Luther had thrown him over the stairs. Inanna wasn't completely worried, it wasn't unusual for Five to disappear but if he didn't show up by that evening Inanna would start to worry.

"It's a set up, right" Luther spoke with a mouthful of egg. "It's a set up" Luther repeated as Diego came into the room pulling a shirt over his vest.

"Maybe" Diego said. "But we should go anyway".

"Says the guy who's already been stabbed once this week" Luther responded as Inanna placed the invite on the table. "You gonna take the girl who almost got stabbed this week?".

"Oh, don't worry, me and him are gonna have words" Diego said buttoning up his shirt. "And, hell yeah, Red's coming".

"Yeah" Inanna nodded. "I wanna have a word with him too" Vanya raised her brows knowing that Inanna wanted more than just to have a word with Reginald Hargreeves. "And I didn't almost get stabbed-".

"It's a little graze-".

"A little graze?" Inanna's head tilted as she repeated Luther's words. "I'll give you a little graze" Inanna muttered glaring at Luther as he continued eating, unfazed by her threat "I'm missing a chunk of flesh".

"A chunk of flesh" Luther scoffed, "You'll live".

"You wanna keep pushing it?" Inanna asked and Luther shrugged. Allison was wrong, Luther was an asshole. "I'll gouge your eyes out with-".

"I think we should go" Vanya interrupted Inanna, pulling the conversation back to the meeting Reginald was holding.

"Vanya" Luther turned his attention to his sister "Of all people, you should hate Dad the most" Luther said.

"Come on, can he really be that bad?" Vanya asked.

"Apparently" Inanna mumbled under her breath.

"Okay, well, let's see" Luther started. "He isolated you from the rest of the family-".

"Kept you hopped up on pills" Diego added.

"And he brainwashed you into thinking you had no powers" Vanya's eyes widened, she hadn't expected any of that.

Inanna only knew about Vanya being locked away from the rest of the Hargreeves siblings in a basement. But no story she had ever heard about Reginald Hargreeves was happy, so Inanna wasn't suprised.

"Jesus, this guy..." Vanya muttered.

"Yeah" Luther nodded.

Vanya looked to Diego "I mean, come on, I have to meet him" Vanya said, her tone more enthusiastic as she smiled.

Diego looked over his shoulder, smiling at Luther as he buttoned up his jeans after tucking in his shirt. "You-" Luther pointed at Diego "-already know how this is gonna go. Dad is gonna play all his little mind games on us, get into our heads-" Luther repeatedly poked his temple "-and he's gonna turn us all against each other. You watch".

"Luther, we're not 12 anymore. All right? We're grown-ass men. And women. Hey" Luther groaned as Diego crouched down to him. "We can handle him. Wanna know what's different this time?" Diego asked Luther.

"What's that?" Luther asked.

"You got me" Luther looked at Diego as Diego looked over to Vanya. "We go in there as a united front. No more 'Number One', 'Number Two' bullshit. From now on, it's..." Diego sat down on the couch next to Vanya. "Team Zero".

"Team Zero?" Luther repeated.

Diego nodded "Team Zero... all the way".

Diego held out his fists for Luther and Vanya to fist bump him. Both of them stared at his hands, their brows furrowing.

Diego looked from Vanya to Luther before slowly lowering his hands, placing them in his lap, his smile fading from his face.

When the sun set and the moon began to rise, Five had still not returned to the apartment and Diego had fully convinced Luther to go along with them to meet Reginald.

Somehow though, Inanna could only assume that Luther and Diego weren't the only ones to get letters as once they got to the elevator — with Luther suggesting that they called it quits and headed back — Five was already inside the elevator, his hands tucked into the pockets.

Diego caught the elevator doors before they closed and stepped inside as Five stared at him in confusion. He was expecting to go to the meeting alone.

Five stepped to the side as Inanna entered the elevator, with Klaus and Allison following after her, arriving to the building at the same time as the others. Vanya and Luther entered last, all of them squeezing into the small box as Five looked around at his siblings, surprised that all of them had turned up.

"Good" Five muttered. "We're all here" His lips tugged into a tight lipped smile as the elevator doors closed.

"You gonna tell me where you've been?" Inanna asked Five, her voice hushed.

"Later" Five whispered.

Inanna's eye twitched, sniffing as a horrid smell filled the elevator. "What in the-" Inanna lifted her arm burying her nose into her elbow, her words muffled as the siblings reacted to the smell, covering their noses and holding their breaths.

Inanna turned her head towards Luther who was staring up at the elevator ceiling, his brows furrowed deeply.

Luther.

"Luther" Klaus groaned wafting his hand in front of his face.

"Elliott told you to stop eating eggs" Inanna said, her voice muffled by her cardigan.

"Sorry, I'm nervous".

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Inanna pushed herself out of the elevator, fighting with Vanya and Five, their shoulders squished against Inanna's as they fought to escape the strong odour. Inanna got out first, shoving Five back before stumbling into the room as she took a deep breath.

"I'm never getting in an elevator with him again" Inanna muttered to herself as the others complained about the smell, filing out of the elevator and into the 'Tiki Lounge' one after the other.

"All right" Five started, getting straight to the point of why they were there. "When Dad gets here, I'll do the talking, okay?" Five said as he approached the large circular table in the middle of the room.

"I've got a few questions for him myself" Diego said.

"Hey, we don't wanna scare him off, alright. He might be able to help us stop doomsday, get us home" Five said.

"No, Five. We need to figure out why he's planning to kill the president" Diego argued, still hung on JFK.

Inanna sat down at one of the smaller circular tables, the chair scraping against the floor as she dragged it out from underneath the table. Her eyes setting on a conch shell. Inanna picked up the shell, lifting it to her ear like she did whenever she went on vacation with her family to the beach. The sound of the 'ocean' taking her back to when she was younger and her life was much simpler.

"This is a matter of life and death, you imbecile" Five said to Diego.

"Okay" Vanya extended her hand out to Five. "Yeah, maybe we should take turns talking. Yeah?" Vanya suggested.

Vanya glanced around the room, looking for something to use as a 'whoever holds this, can talk'. Vanya's eyes stopped on the conch that sat in front of Inanna. Vanya leaned across the table picking up the shell, missing how Inanna's small smile dropped into a frown.

"Here, whoever has got this conch shell gets to talk" Vanya suggested holding up the shell for her family to see.

"Vanya, we don't have time for a debate, okay?" Five said, placing his hands on the large table in the middle of the room.

"Maybe I should lead" Allison said, her hand extended out to Vanya as she walked across the room to her sister. "We all know i'm a better public speaker than the rest" Allison took the conch from Vanya.

"Okay, Daddy's girl" Diego muttered.

"Oh, jealous, Number Two?" Allison asked.

"Hey, no more numbers. No more bullshit" Diego spoke as he walked over to Allison. Luther and Vanya sat down at the table opposite Five who was still standing. "We're Team Zero" Diego stopped in front of Allison repeating "We're all Team Zero".

"Uh, Diego" Luther spoke up "You don't have the conch" Luther pointed at the shell Allison held.

Diego held up his finger, smiling sarcastically at Luther before he snatched the conch from Allison's hand and threw it at the wall behind him, shattering the shell into pieces.

"Classic" Allison muttered.

"I liked that" Inanna mumbled, sinking into the chair as the lounge doors were thrown open.

With a stack of books underneath his arm, Reginald Hargreeves marched into the room, uttering no words as he sat down at the table, sparing none of his child a glance as they followed him with their eyes.

The remaining siblings, except Klaus who was busy at the bar, sat down around the table and Inanna sat back up in her chair, turning her body towards the larger table as Reginald began talking.

"Not only have you burglarised my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me, but you have, on numerous occasions, called me...".

The chair next to Reginald scrapped across the flooring as Klaus sat down, an alcoholic drink in his hand. "Hey, Pop. How's it hangin'?" Klaus asked.

"Dad" Reginald finished his sentence, glaring at an unaware Klaus. "My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so..." Reginald forcefully placed his pen on top of his books that were sat on the table in front of him. "Who are you?" Reginald asked.

The siblings looked around the table at each other, unsure of how to start conversation. They were his child, from the future, it sounded crazy without even saying it.

"We're your children" Five answered. "We're from the future. In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world. Called us the Umbrella Academy".

Reginald Hargreeves looked disgusted. "Why on earth would I adopt six-".

"Seven" Allison corrected. "One of us isn't here".

"Dead" Diego added. "One of us is dead".

"Yes. Ba-ba-ba" Klaus looked over his shoulder, muttering away to the ghost of Ben "Enough of that now".

Klaus turned back to his family, waving his hands for them to continue.

"Regardless" Reginald continued. "What would possess me to adopt seven ill-mannered malcontents?".

"We all have special abilities" Five answered.

"Special? In what sense?" Reginald asked, his interest piqued.

"In the superpower sense" Luther said, nodding his head.

"Call me old-fashioned, but i'm a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence. Show me" Reginald said.

Allison picked up the cup in front of her twisting the straw. "Everybody wants to see powers all of a sudden" Allison scoffed.

"We're not circus animals, okay?" Luther argued. "We're not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap our hands like seals for your amusement".

Diego slipped one of his knives out of his pocket, throwing it towards Reginald, the knife bent around Reginald's head, and landed in a wooden beam behind him, with a loud thud.

Reginald opened one of his books, flicking to a clean page and took the lid off his pen before he started scribbling down words in the black ink.

"What are you writing?" Diego asked leaning forwards in his chair.

"You are zero for two, young man" Reginald said, referring to the night he stabbed Diego.

Allison chuckled and Diego stood up from his chair, scraping it across the floor in a rush. Five blinked out of his chair, appearing in front of Diego.

"Stop" Five whispered, his hands on Diego's shoulders to stop him in his attempt to murder Reginald.

"Now that is interesting" Reginald commented.

"All right" Five sighed as he stepped around Diego. "Luther: super strength" Five pointed at Luther. "Klaus can commune with the dead" Five pointed to Klaus. "Allison can rumour anyone to do anything-".

"Except she never uses it" Diego said as he and Five sat back down at the table.

Allison gave Diego a tight lipped smile "I heard a rumour you punched yourself in the face". Diego groaned as his fist collided with his nose, unable to stop Allison's rumour.

"Nice" Inanna mumbled, hiding her smile behind her hand as she rested her elbow on the table, holding her head up in her hand.

"Damn it" Diego buried his face in his hands, shoving off Klaus's hand when he went to comfort him.

"And you?" Reginald leaned forwards looking at Vanya next to Luther.

"Uh" Luther smiled, sitting his hand on Vanya's. "Maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run".

"Oh, yeah, that's probably not a good idea" Klaus agreed.

"Yeah" Luther muttered.

"It's fine" Vanya spoke up. "I can handle it" Vanya grabbed a fork off the table.

"Handle it?" Allison repeated. "Last time you handled it, you definitely blew up the moon".

"Vanya, I wouldn't-".

Vanya set her eyes on the cup in front of her as her siblings shouted for her to not do anything, afraid that she would do more damage than intended.

Inanna was curious as to what would happen, but the reaction in the room unsettled her, making her nervous, and her heart rate pick up a notch.

Vanya clinked her fork against the cup and Five blinked over to Inanna, his arms bringing her head into his chest, as Inanna let out a muffled scream, startled by Five appearing in front of her when she was already on edge.

The large platter of fruit in the middle of the table exploded, splattering pieces of fruit around the room, showering the siblings and Reginald.

"This is my favourite shirt" Klaus muttered looking down at his fruit covered shirt.

Five let go of Inanna. His eyes lingering on hers for a moment before he looked over his shoulder at the damage Vanya had caused. Inanna did the same, laughing quietly to herself as she watched them brushed the fruit off their clothes and picked it out of their hair.

"Oops" Vanya glanced down, unable to hide her smile.

"That was impressive" Luther muttered.

Five walked back over to his seat, stepping over the fruit as Reginald watched him, his eyes then moving to Inanna, noticing how her body phased.

"What are you, girl?" Reginald asked.

Inanna poked her thumb into her chest, unsure if Reginald was speaking to her, even with his eyes burning holes into hers. "Yes, you, girl, who else?" Reginald asked, earning a shrug from Inanna as she balled her fists up, her nails digging into her palms. "What are you?" Reginald repeated.

"What?" Inanna repeated. "A person?" Inanna's response sounded uncertain and she herself was unsure for a moment, her eyes darting to Five and then back to Reginald.

"Do you also claim to be one of my children?" Reginald asked.

"No" Inanna spoke quickly with a shake of her head. "Definitely not. No. No, definitely not one of your children-".

"Getting a little defensive, little Red" Klaus muttered.

"I'm not-".

"Inanna is my wife" Five spoke up and Inanna glared at Klaus.

"Your-".

"Wife" Five repeated. "I told you, we're from the future".

"You stabbed her too" Diego added.

"I do not recall" Reginald replied looking from Diego to Inanna. "But, I am sure it was well deserved-".

Inanna's eyes narrowed as she picked the fork up that was placed next to her hand. "Well deserved" Inanna muttered.

"Inan" Five sighed, shaking his head as he watched her. Any other time Five wouldn't have stopped Inanna, but they needed Reginald alive and without a fork in his throat.

"If Red wants to get her revenge now, I don't think you should stop her" Diego shrugged as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Personally, I think it would be well deserved".

"Time and place" Five repeated Inanna's words from the night at the gala.

Inanna turned her glare to Five. Five didn't break the eye contact, almost daring Inanna to go through with her attack, but Inanna knew that as soon as she stood up Five would use his powers and blink her out of the lounge.

"Don't use my own words against me" Inanna said, sitting the fork back down on the table, her eyes still locked with Five's.

Diego sighed with disappointment as he uncrossed his arms. Diego stood up, his attention turning to Reginald as he began to continue the conversation "Look, we know that you're involved in a plot to assassinate the president".

Inanna and Five broke their eye contact, Five turning his attention back to the conversation and Inanna pulled out the chair next to her, lifting her legs up onto it.

"You were recently hospitalised" Diego's face twisted at Reginald's words. "You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia" Reginald said.

"Am I?" Diego asked.

Diego pulled the folded up picture of Reginald Hargreeves out of his pocket, opening it up as he placed it on the table in front of Reginald. "Explain this. That's you" Diego pointed at the photo. "That's two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the president's gonna get shot".

Reginald picked up the photo to inspect it closer. "Well..." Reginald looked from Diego to the other siblings "I suppose you've solved it" Reginald said sitting the photo back down. "You've single-handedly unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear?" Reginald asked Diego. "You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion" Diego's face fell with every word Reginald spoke. "The sad reality is that you're a desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning. More succinctly, a man in over his head".

"Fuck" Inanna whispered, Inanna believed stabbing Reginald in the throat with a fork would be definitely deserved now.

Diego had sat down slowly, tears welling up against his water line. "You're wr...wrong" Diego stuttered as a stray tear fell down his cheek.

"Look, forget about the president" Five said cutting through tension in the room. "We have a catastrophic war coming in five days. We need to figure out how to stop it".

"War?" Reginald asked. "Men will always be at war with each other".

"No, this isn't just some war. I'm talking about a doomsday. The end of the world".

"Well, you're the special ones, aren't you?" Reginald asked "Why don't you just band together and do something about it?"

All of a sudden Klaus's arms shot up into the air and his body convulsed.

"Is he having a seizure?" Allison asked as Klaus struggled for a breath with choked gasps.

"Overdosing probably" Diego said, never lifting his eyes up from the table.

Inanna kicked her legs off the chair, eyes darting between Klaus and his siblings, none of them knowing what was happening.

"Should we do something?" Luther asked.

"Klaus!" Five whispered. "Now is not the time. What are you doing?".

Klaus turned to Reginald, struggling to force out words. "I'm..." Klaus's voice was rough.

"Out with it, boy" Reginald encouraged waving his hand at Klaus.

Klaus gasped as he fell out of his chair and onto the floor, his arms splayed out at his sides, his hand still holding onto his glass.

"Well..." Reginald collected his books "Thank you for coming" Reginald stood up. "I've seen about enough".

"No, I..." Reginald stepped over Klaus as Luther attempted to grab his attention.

Luther stood up from the table, his fist thumping against it. Luther ripped open his shirt and the buttons flung in every direction, clattering against different surfaces.

"Look at what you did to me" Luther shouted.

Luther's chest resembled that of a gorilla, and although Inanna had already partially seen what Luther looked like underneath all his layers that night when he lost the fight, it was still shocking and unpleasant.

"Look at it" Luther shouted.

"Oh, shit. Why?" Five groaned as he leaned back in his chair, a look of disgust that mirrored Inanna's as she struggled to avert her eyes.

Reginald turned to Inanna without a word to Luther. "You" Reginald pointed to Inanna, snapping her focus away from Luther. Inanna pointed at herself. "Yes, you" Reginald already regretted his choice. "A word, in private?" Reginald pointed over to the bar, receiving a hesitant nod from Inanna before he made his way over to the bar.

Inanna stood up and Five mouthed for her to hurry up as she straightened up her cardigan and brushed her hands through her hair.

"You're not going on a date with him, Inan" Five commented, watching Inanna cross the lounge, still fixing her hair as she followed after Reginald to the bar.

"Wouldn't that be interesting?" Inanna said glancing over her shoulder to Five.

"Check, please" Allison raised her hand as Inanna sat down with Reginald at the bar.

Reginald didn't start talking until everyone but Five had left the lounge, all of them wanting to get as far away from Reginald as they could. Five kept his distance, keeping a watchful eye on Inanna and Reginald from his seat.

"I assume you must be wondering why I have requested a moment alone with you?" Reginald didn't give Inanna a moment to answer "You were the only one, except your husband, who did not completely make me question my sanity. Although, I assume you questioned your own-"

Inanna raised her brows. He wasn't completely wrong, Inanna had wondered for a moment if she was even a person, which is something that never crossed her mind before.

"-I take it that your husband is the sensible one of the bunch... sensible enough to not take his eye of you" Reginald looked over his shoulder at Five.

Inanna followed his line of sight to Five and Five raised his hand to them with a tight lipped smile directed at Reginald.

"Yes" Inanna nodded. "He's the oldest, that's probably why" Reginald's forehead creased as his brows furrowed deeply. "I'm six years older than him" Inanna muttered with a shrug, missing Reginald's glance to Five as she watched the bar man set two glasses in front of them.

"Cognac?" Reginald offered.

Inanna shook her head no. "I think I drank enough last night to make up for a little while, though Klaus will disagree" Inanna smiled weakly.

Inanna's smile faded suddenly as she remembered that she was sat with Reginald, the man who had stabbed her a couple nights ago. "No, thank you".

The bar man poured Reginald a glass of cognac, leaving Inanna's glass empty.

"Do you care to tell me why you have been searching high and low for a moment with me?" Reginald asked.

Inanna rolled her shoulders back. Five had already told Reginald that. "The world is going to end in five days if we don't leave this timeline".

"Worlds end. Paleozoic, Jurassic, and so on-".

"We can do something about this one, Five believes so-".

"And you believe him?" Reginald asked. Inanna nodded. "You know, Man's greatest flaw: the illusion of control".

"We need your help, that's why we have been searching high and low for you. It seems like you are the only option we have".

Inanna didn't think Five had any other options but he had been MIA for an entire day, anything could have happened in that time.

Inanna glanced to Five who had been waiting for her to look at him again. Five pointed to his watch in a rush, mouthing "Time travel", he wasn't sure if Inanna had mentioned it yet, but hoped she had done. She hadn't even thought of it.

Inanna gave Five a quick nod as she turned back to Reginald, placing her laced hands on the bar. "Do you know-" Reginald leaned slightly towards Inanna, waiting for her to continue. "Do you-".

"Yes?" Reginald pushed.

"What do you know about time travel?" Inanna asked, dropping her hands back onto her lap as they began phasing again.

"Time travel?" Inanna nodded. "I know it's akin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing waters and reappearing-"

"As an acorn..." Inanna had heard the same words muttered by Five more than once, when he had recalled the events that led to him landing in the apocalypse. "Yeah, i've heard that" Inanna mumbled. "It hasn't gone right, the times that Five has travelled" Inanna's voice dropped in volume. "The first time, he jumped too far and ended up stuck in an apocalypse with me for 40 years, the second time, he jumped too far back and scattered his siblings across the 60s".

"Has he ever thought that maybe his appetite is disproportionate to the size of his abilities?" Inanna shrugged. "How about this, and I assume you will be telling him afterwards, correct?" Inanna nodded. "Start small. Seconds, not decades".

"Seconds? I don't think he can do much with sec-".

"So much can change in a matter of seconds" Reginald argued "One could overthrow an empire. One could fall in love. An acorn doesn't become an oak overnight".

Inanna nodded slowly, taking in the words she would soon be repeating to Five in hopes that they could help save the world in anyway. "Seconds, not decades" Reginald repeated.

inanna's conversation
with reginald is going
to play a big part in
this fic...