My head pounded violently against my skull. I brought my hand up to hold myself in an attempt to make the aching stop but it was useless. I was definitely hungover from last night at the hair salon.

I heard Luther's voice. "Diego, this is a setup." I wasn't sure if my sudden irritation came from him or the hangover. Maybe a little bit of both.

"Maybe," Diego admitted. "But we should go anyway." I heard his footsteps stop in front of me. "Here, kid." My eyes opened slowly as I took the glass of water out of his hand, taking a sip. The blinding lights were excruciating and not even the round sunglasses Vanya had found for me were helping. I found it strange how she managed to get a pair the loosely resembled the ones from that old, sixties movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. I guess that became popular after everyone saw Audrey Hepburn wear them.

"Says the guy who's already been stabbed once this week," Luther remarked. He tossed the invitation on the coffee table.

"Oh, don't worry," Diego sighed. "Me and him are gonna have words."

Luther rolled his eyes and glanced at Vanya. "Would you tell him that he's nuts?"

Vanya just shrugged. "I think we should go," she admitted.

"See?" Diego said.

"Vanya," Luther stated. "Of all people, you should hate Dad the most." That was very true but I think he forgot that Vanya can't remember anything from her past.

"Come on," Vanya reasoned. "Can he really be that bad?"

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

"Kept you hopped up on pills," Diego cut in.

"And, he brainwashed you into thinking you had no powers," Luther added.

Vanya shook her head as she sighed, "Jesus, this guy!" She couldn't believe that her own father would do such a thing. "I mean, come on, I have to meet him."

Diego smirked as Luther's hand shot up to point at him. "You already know how this is gonna go. Dad is gonna play all his little mind games on us, get into our heads, and he's gonna turn us all against each other. You watch."

I laid my head back on the couch and sank down in my seat. I was so tired, physically and mentally.

"Luther, we're not twelve anymore," Diego pointed out. "Alright? We're grown-ass men. And women." Diego bent down slightly to reach Luther's eye level as stared at the ground. "Hey, we can handle him. Wanna know what's different this time?"

"What's that?" Luther asked, meeting his brother's eyes.

"You got me," Diego stated. He glanced around the room at his siblings. "We go in there as a united front. No more 'Number One,' 'Number Two' bullshit. From now on, it's.. Team Zero."

"Team Zero?" Luther repeated.

"Team Zero," Diego confirmed. "All the way." His lips pulled into a smile as he held out his arms for a fist-pump. Luther and Vanya didn't catch on though, so Diego embarrassedly dropped his hands. "Alright.. who's ready for dinner?"

★・・・★・・・★

I stepped into view as I stood in front of Five, who was standing in the elevator with a surprised expression. "Well, well, well," I said. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Nice to see you again," I remarked, stepping inside the elevator with him.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses?" Five asked. I could feel his pale gaze on me.

"I have my reasons," I replied, keeping my head held high. I didn't meet his eyes though, but I did accept his hand to hold. My dizziness was starting to affect my walking abilities a bit.

"Were you drinking last night?" Five questioned. "Without me?"

"If I said 'no,' would you believe me?" I asked. Five just shook his head. "Then, maybe," I said. "Is that all you have to say?"

Five sighed, "I'm sorry for you leaving you, especially with my delusional siblings."

"Okay."

"Are you going to accept my apology?" Five asked with furrowed brows.

"I may.. I may not," I trailed off.

Five smirked before he pressed a kiss onto my cheek. "Hm, jazz," he sighed. I raised my eyebrows and finally met his eyes, but he just shook his head.

Diego's hand grabbed onto the elevator doors just as they were about to close. The elevator slid back open as he said, "Wait up," and stepped inside with us.

"Hold it!" Allison exclaimed.

She moved quickly inside the elevator with Klaus right behind her. "Hey, everyone," he greeted us all.

"Excuse me," Luther mumbled. We all stepped aside so he could fit in the elevator with us.

"Good," Five spoke up. "We're all here."

A bell dinged every time we went up a floor in the towering building. It almost reminded me of the elevator back at the Order, only without the cliche music.

Finally, the doors slid open once again. We all stepped out into a tropical themed room with a sign above that read, 'Tikki Lounge.'

"Alright, when Dad gets here, I'll do the talking, okay?" Five said. All of us made our way over to the table in the center of the room.

"I've got a few questions for him myself," Diego spoke up.

"Hey, we don't wanna scare him off," Five remarked. He pulled out a chair for me as I sat down at the table. I was surprised that Reginald had an extra spot, considering I wasn't actually apart of their family. He was a very observant man so I assumed that he noticed my appearance with his kids, while we were tracking him. "He might be able to help us stop doomsday or get us home."

"No, Five, we need to figure out why he's planning to kill the president," Diego scolded his brother.

"This is a matter of life and death, you imbecile!" Five exclaimed. I winced at their argument that was growing in volume. My headache was still present and painful.

"Okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking," Vanya suggested. She turned around and picked up a large seashell off of the table behind her. "Here, whoever has got this conch shell gets to talk."

"Vanya, we don't have time for a debate, okay?" Five told her.

"Maybe I should lead," Allison spoke up. Vanya nodded and handed her the shell. "We all know I'm a much better public speaker than the rest of you."

"Okay, Daddy's girl," Diego remarked.

"Oh," Allison sighed. "Jealous, Number Two?"

"Hey, no more numbers," Diego stated. "No more bullshit. We're Team Zero. We're all Team Zero."

"Uh, Diego?" Luther interrupted. "You don't have the conch."

Diego nodded and put on a fake smile as he took the conch out of Allison's hand. Out of nowhere, he turned around and threw the shell, smashing it against the wall.

"Classic," Allison remarked.

Before anything else could be said, the elevator doors slid open and Reginald Hargreeves suddenly appeared. He walked swiftly to a seat at the front of the table and sat down. The old man held an old book in his hands and wore an unimpressed expressive. "Not only have you burglarized 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-"

Klaus took a seat next to his father, joining the rest of us with a drink. "Hey, Pop. How's it hangin'?" He interrupted.

"Dad," Reginald finished his previous statement. "My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so.. who are you?"

Everyone kind of glanced at each other. No one really knew exactly what to say. Just a moment ago, every sibling wants talking over each other, but now that the man with all the answers is finally here, none of them know what to say.

"We're your children," Five spoke up.

"Not me though," I added. Reginald's eyes bore into mine. "I'm still an orphan." I said with a uncomfortable smile. "Sorry.. Just wanted to get that out there. Anyway, continue on."

Five smiled slightly and shook his head. "We're from the future," he added. "In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world. Called us the Umbrella Academy."

Klaus held up his drink and then took a sip.

Reginald shook his head in disbelief. "Why on earth would I adopt six-"

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

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

"Yeah, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba," Klaus mumbled to himself as he glanced behind him. "Enough of that now." I had a feeling that he was talking to Ben, which meant that he lied when he said ghost couldn't time travel. I knew that made no sense.

"Regardless, what would possess me to adopt seven ill-mannered malcontents?" Reginald asked.

"We all have special abilities," Five answered.

"Special?" Reginald repeated. "In what sense?"

"In the superpower sense," Luther spoke up.

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

Allison rolled her eyes and grabbed a drink off the table. I was tempted to do the same as well. "Everybody wants to see powers all of a sudden," she said under her breath.

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

Suddenly, Diego threw his knife. It swirled around the table, nearly hitting Reginald, before landing in the wood of a wall behind him. Reginald immediately began scribbling notes within his book. Everyone leaned forward slightly to try and get a look at his words. "What are you writing?" Diego asked.

"You are zero for two, young man," Reginald replied. Allison sputtered as she drank her beverage.

Diego immediately stood up and made his way over to Reginald, but Five teleported in front of him and pushed him back. "Stop," Five whispered.

"Now, that is interesting," Reginald said.

Diego hesitantly sat back down in his seat, while Five roamed around the table to sit back down beside me. "Alright, quick rundown," he spoke. "Luther: super strength. Klaus can commune with the dead. Allison can rumor anyone to do anything."

"Except she never uses it," Diego muttered.

Allison shot him a glare. I heard a rumor, you punched yourself in the face."

Diego's eyes turned to a hazy white as her powers worked it's magic. Then, he punched himself. "Aah!" Diego groaned. "Damn it!" His hands held onto his face to deal with the pain.

"And you?" Reginald questioned Vanya.

"Uh, maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run," Luther suggested.

"Oh, yeah, that's probably not a good idea," Klaus said in agreement.

"It's fine," Vanya said. "I can handle it." She picked up a fork from the table.

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

"No, Vanya, don't!" Five exclaimed. My eyes widened as she prepared herself to show off her abilities. Five grabbed my shoulders and pulled me down under the table in an attempt to shield me from what was about to happen.

Vanya tapped the fork against the glass cup and an explosion of fruit bursts everywhere within seconds. Five and I slowly sat up from under the table, glancing at the mess Vanya had just created. "Damn, that looked really good," I said, staring longingly at the destroyed fruit.

"This is my favorite shirt," Klaus complained. "Wow!"

"Oops," Vanya said with a mischievous smirk.

"That was impressive," Luther admitted.

Reginald met my eyes now once again. "I take it you're just ordinary."

I shook my head. "Long story short, I have intangibility." The old man nodded curtly and jotted down a few more notes.

"Look, we know that you're involved in a plot to assassinate the president," Diego said.

Reginald ignored the accusation. "You were recently hospitalized, isn't that correct?" Diego was about to say something but his Father beat him to it. "You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia."

"Am I?" Diego asked. He pulled out the image of Reginald standing on the grassy knoll. "Explain this." Reginald barely glanced at the picture. "That's you. That's two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the president's gonna get shot."

"Well," Reginald sighed. "I suppose you've solved it! You've single-handed my unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do-gooder?" Suddenly, I got about idea about where this conversation was going. "The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. 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."

Diego had sank back down in his seat slowly and inevitably. He was shaking a bit from his father's hurtful words. I watched as a single tear dropped from his eye as he stuttered, "You're.. wr-wrong."

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

"War?" Reginald repeated in disbelief. "Men will always be at war with each other."

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

"Well," Reginald breathed. He held his arms out and motioned to us. "You're the special ones, aren't you? Why don't you band together and do something about it?"

Out of nowhere, Klaus's hands were thrown up into the air as his entire body started shaking. Allison gasped as she stared at her brother. "Is he having a seizure?"

"Overdosing, probably," Diego remarked.

"Should we do something?" Luther asked.

"Klaus," Five whispered. His body continued to shake as he struggled to speak. "Now is not the time. What are you doing?"

"I'm.." Klaus turned towards Reginald as he tried to say something.

"Out with it, boy!" Reginald exclaimed, growing impatient.

"Ben!" Klaus gasped. His body fell to the ground as he panted to catch his breath.

"What the hell did I just witness?" I spoke quietly to myself. I swear, you see something weirder with this family everyday passing day.

"Well," Reginald huffed. He slammed his notebook shut and began to stand up. "Thank you for coming. I've seen about enough."

Suddenly, Luther stood up from his seat and ripped his shirt open. "Look at what you did to me!" Luther exclaimed. My face dropped at the sight of him shirtless. Five's hand instantly shot out to cover my eyes as he looked away himself. "Look at it!"

"Oh, shit," Five breathed. "Why?"

"Is it over?" I whimpered. "Please tell me it's over, Five!"

"You in the culottes," Reginald spoke up. "A word, in private?"

Five sighed and nodded. He picked up my hands and moved them in front of my eyes in substitution of his own. "Do you want me to wait for you?" I asked Five. My hands were still placed over my eyes.

"It's okay," he replied. "Go back to Elliot's and get some rest." I nodded as I heard Five's footsteps leave the room, along with Reginald Hargreeves.

"Check, please," Allison stated with a sigh.