Chapter Text
In a flash of blue light, Five was dropped onto the counter in the living room. He looked around. Where the hell is everyone?! It took two more seconds to realize that it was dark. He was supposed to show up on Wednesday, 8:15 a.m., during which time Luther said he would discuss the impending apocalypse with the family.
Five had wanted Luther to tell them right after the meeting with Hazel and Cha-Cha the night before, but Luther had not seen Allison since the morning prior to that, and he had wanted to tell everyone at once; plus, Luther had figured that Diego needed a little time to process the loss of his friend and their mom, and Klaus was obviously too messed up from wherever and whenever he had been for ten months. And what the fuck was up with Klaus literally crashing their meeting with that goddamned ice cream truck in the first place?!
Five quickly tracked down Pogo. "What's the date and time?"
"The 27th, Master Five," Pogo said. He pulled his pocket watch out. "8:15 p.m."
"Shit!" Five realized he had just shaved off twelve hours from his two-to-three-day deadline.
"Master Five!" Pogo's eyes narrowed.
"I don't have time for political correctness," Five argued. "Do you know if Luther had a family meeting this morning?"
Pogo nodded, but then dropped his gaze. "Yes, Master Five. Unfortunately your brother was unable to rally anyone to join him in the fight. And I'm afraid that he has since learned an inconvenient truth that he took rather poorly. Therefore, last I knew he left with Miss Allison, and I believe he might have gone with her to Los Angeles to be with her daughter."
" What?! "
"Your father never opened any of the research that Master Luther had sent from the moon," Pogo sighed. "Your brother discovered the unopened samples under a floorboard in your father's office earlier this afternoon."
Five rolled his eyes. "And let me guess: Number One decided to feel sorry for himself and have a meltdown. Where are Diego and Klaus?"
"Master Diego was with Grace a bit ago; her programming has been restored and she is now well again. I believe that your brother departed to avenge his fallen friend. I have seen nothing of Master Klaus since the meeting this morning."
Five chuckled snarkily. "Klaus is probably out there looking for every pill on the planet since no one wanted to stop the apocalypse. He's useless anyway."
"Master Five!" Pogo scolded him again.
"I don't have time to argue. I have the name of the guy responsible for the apocalypse." With that, Five zapped to the hallway and did a quick sweep of the bedrooms. Then he blinked to the back alley where the car was parked. As he got in he winced in pain at the shrapnel wound he had received at the Commission. He didn't know how long it would take for himself to become incapacitated. Hopefully he would at least find Diego in time, since he was Five's only hope. Five started the engine, knowing what he needed to do first.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
At the park, Diego stared at his mother in disbelief as she explained about Vanya's powers and how their father suppressed them with medication and made Allison rumor Vanya into believing that she was ordinary. "That sadistic bastard," Diego muttered.
Grace took Diego's hand into hers. "I'm sorry that we never told you the truth. Your father swore both Pogo and I into secrecy. But I believe that Vanya can be helped. Vanya was too young to know right from wrong, so she didn't realize that her power had killed the nannies who came before me."
Diego nodded. He could see that about Vanya. He then looked at his mother's wrist, stitched up from where he had shut her down two days before. "Mom, you're apologizing to me when-"
Grace smiled. "It's okay, Diego. But you need to go and find Vanya. And make sure you take Klaus with you."
Diego shook his head. "Klaus suddenly decided to get sober so he could conjure someone. He's going through gnarly withdrawals. He was a mess when I last saw him. I don't know how much of a help he’s gonna be to us or himself. I'm actually pretty mad at him right now."
Prior to miraculously discovering that his Android robot mother had her hardware restored (after Diego had previously made the difficult decision to shut her down himself due to her deterioration), Diego had spent the past hour helping his "younger" brother Klaus get sober by tying him up to a chair in the attic so to avoid temptation, in order to conjure someone he had just lost. Diego had managed to complete Klaus' request when Klaus had to take a piss; as Diego started the process again Klaus suddenly had second thoughts, so Diego had to resort to punching Klaus in the groin so that he could re-tie his then-violently temperamental brother. Klaus had attempted blackmailing Diego by offering to conjure his recently-fallen detective ex-girlfriend, Eudora Patch, and Diego had to leave before causing serious bodily harm. Klaus' overall behavior since returning from his accidental time-travel to the Vietnam War had been a complete one-eighty from the wide-eyed, eccentric and wisecracking flamboyant junkie as whom he had been known throughout their adult lives.
"Out of everyone, Klaus is actually best able to help Vanya," Grace encouraged him.
"Really?" Diego pondered the likely reasons for his mother’s advice. Quickly he drew a connection. "Because we always blew him off, too," he said guiltily, remembering that two days before, Klaus had been kidnapped and tortured by Hazel and Cha-Cha for around twenty-four hours before Diego got the message from Eudora that she had found him. When he had gotten to the motel room and found her dead and Klaus nowhere, Diego had assumed it was just a set-up until the next day, following Klaus' time-travel, when Klaus recognized Hazel as one of his attackers during Diego's stakeout.
"That's part of it," Grace said. "Klaus has actually had a very difficult life, but he will have to explain that for himself if he chooses."
Diego nodded. He knew more than enough of what went on in the streets to understand that Klaus never had it easy in their adult life, but he never knew what their "father" might have put Klaus through while growing up. Of course, Diego was pissed at Klaus that he brought up Patch's name during his temper-tantrum, but he also knew those were the withdrawals talking and Klaus would eventually come around, especially if he was successful in getting Dave.
"Okay. Well, we need to get you home before Pogo finds out that you're gone."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Five zapped into the darkened police file room, making certain he was out of view of the very outdated video cameras (at least outdated in comparison to Commission technology). He quickly found Harold Jenkins' file and was about to leave when he heard footsteps and quickly ducked behind one of the file cabinets as two officers entered the room. He couldn’t teleport out as that would make noise and the cops would review the surveillance footage. Of course, if the cops found him, Five was screwed. Not only because a "kid" had broken in, but a kid with a shrapnel injury would definitely raise questions.
"Of all the people to turn on us, I never would've thought it would be Hargreeves," one of the cops said as Five heard a file drawer open.
"I understand, Rodriguez; I know all evidence points to him because of the fingerprints in the motel room and his contentious past with Patch, but I still don't believe he did it."
"Think whatever you want, Beaman," the first voice snarled as Five heard the file drawer slammed shut. "That asshole killed a cop, and he's gonna pay."
Five heard footsteps again as the two officers left the room. He quickly teleported back to the car.
He didn't bother opening the file. He raced home as best as possible while obeying speed laws. Again, he would be screwed if he got pulled over. He hoped that Diego would be back home. Not only to warn him of his impending arrest; but again, Diego was Five's only hope.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Diego and Grace entered the foyer to face Pogo, glaring at Grace.
Grace guiltily nodded. "I had to tell him. This has gone on far enough. Vanya needs her siblings' help. All of our help."
Before Pogo could respond, Five appeared. "Good! You’re here," Five said to Diego.
"Where the hell have you been?" Diego snapped.
"Long story; no time for that." Five thrust the police file in Diego's hands. "This is the guy responsible for the apocalypse."
"Harold Jenkins?" Diego stared at the file tab. "Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?" Then he opened it and quickly sucked in a breath as he saw the picture. "Shit, this is Vanya's boyfriend." He quickly skimmed the police report which indicated that at thirteen years old Harold Jenkins was sentenced to twelve years in prison for killing his father.
"Holy shit," Five exclaimed.
Diego gave a brief recap of Harold having accompanied Vanya when she interrupted the family meeting about the apocalypse that morning. Five then explained that he had tried telling Vanya about the apocalypse on his first night back but she didn't believe him anyway.
"In all fairness, you have been acting strange since you came back," Diego pointed out. Right after Five's initial return on the day of their adopted "father's" funeral, he had babbled something about quantum physics and pretty much distanced himself from everyone (with the exception of his mannequin, and what the hell was up with that, anyway) until…well, right now. "And, how do you know so much about this guy, anyway?"
Five sighed impatiently. "You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?"
Diego rolled his eyes in snark. "Oh, you mean the ones who attacked us and kidnapped our brother while you were getting drunk? I think so."
"Yeah, them," Five replied, annoyed. "They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth."
"The Temps what? "
Five sighed again. "My former employer. They monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen, happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics: 'Protect Harold Jenkins.' So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."
Diego stared dumbfounded at Five. "And how the hell did you get caught up with all of this shit in the first place?"
Boy, Luther did a superb job explaining things, Five thought to himself. "The condensed version is that after forty-five years in the apocalypse, I was recruited as a temporal assassin for said former employer, and as such I had to time-travel and kill various people in order to preserve the timeline. After five years of service I would have retired, but during one of my assignments I thought I had the necessary calculations in order to return here and hopefully get us all to stop the apocalypse from happening. Needless to say, I didn’t do things perfectly, but here I am. And now the Commission is after me for breaking my contract and trying to save the world."
Diego continued looking blankly at Five, trying to wrap his head around all of this information.
"So, are we done here?" Five said impatiently. "We need to find this guy and kill him!"
"I'm in," Diego said abruptly, with newfound determination. "We already lost one person this week, and we almost lost another. I'm gonna go get Klaus."
"He's here?" Five then objected, "Of what good is he going to be?"
"Hey. That's your brother who, by the way, was tortured by this Hazel and Cha-Cha while Luther and I were out looking for your drunk ass." Diego then looked at Mom. "Can you explain to Five what you told me while I go deal with Klaus? Probably going to take me a few minutes to get him down here, anyway.
"We don't have time for this!" Five exclaimed.
"Shut up," Diego snapped as he headed up the stairs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Klaus had been lying on the floor, tied up in the chair, about fifteen minutes into his reunion with Dave when he heard a knock at the bottom of the stairs. "Please, not now," he whined. He looked into the eyes of his lover, not wanting to ever be separated from him again.
"Klaus," Diego called from down the stairs. "I'm guessing you're with Dave. Have him hang tight for a couple of minutes. Vanya's in trouble and needs our help. We just found out her boyfriend is a convicted murderer, and according to Five is responsible for the shit that’s supposed to go down. There are other things I'll explain, but first I want to give you a minute to say goodbye to Dave. Then I'll come back to get you."
It took a few seconds for this info to register to Klaus. He vaguely remembered seeing the couple when they had interrupted the family meeting and Vanya had blown up at everyone for not being included. Klaus had felt like shit as he had just started the withdrawal process so he could do the task which brought the very result standing before him. Now his sister was in trouble, and a family member was finally asking him to help.
Klaus looked longingly at Dave, whose smile grew even brighter as he nodded in approval. So Klaus shouted to his brother, "Okay. Thanks, Diego." He heard the door shut.
"We have a minute," Klaus reminded Dave. "You never told me how you found me in this timeline."
"You can thank your brother, Ben. He found me after overhearing your conversation here with Diego."
Klaus felt a twinge of guilt. He had vaguely seen Ben storm out and figured Ben was upset with Klaus for going to Diego for help instead of him. And, of course, he pissed off Diego, too. The only siblings who gave a shit about him. Diego talked of letting Patch and Mom down; Klaus had let two people down himself. "Is Ben mad at me?" Klaus asked Dave.
Dave shook his head. "He didn't seem to be. But it took me fifty years to find you, so I really didn't pay attention. But you should go be with your family. You always said they thought you were useless, but now they need your help. You and I will see each other again."
Klaus smiled through his tears. "I love you, Dave."
Dave smiled back. "I love you, too, Klaus." Then he vanished.
"Okay, Diego," he called out.
Diego came up the stairs and observed the scene. "Wow, you were really desperate to get loose, weren't you?"
Klaus nodded. "I'm glad I didn't."
After Diego untied Klaus, Klaus stood up to face his brother.
"Diego, I'm sor-"
Diego cut him off and grabbed his brother by the shoulders. "Forget it, bro. I'm glad it worked. 'Cause now I know you're never gonna try that shit with me again."
Klaus quickly pulled his brother into a bear hug. "Thanks, Diego."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
While Klaus was in his room putting on his shoes and socks, Diego brought Klaus up to speed regarding Vanya's powers and what little he knew of Five's involvement with the Temps Commission. By the time Diego and Klaus made it down the stairs, Grace and Pogo had briefed Five about Vanya as well, and then they told Diego and Klaus of Luther and Allison's absence following Luther's own discovery.
"Shit, how much did Dad keep from us?!" Klaus exclaimed.
"So, Luther's given up after all this time," Diego rolled his eyes. "We need his help. Do you have the number to Patrick's?" He asked Pogo.
"Indeed, I do," Pogo said. "I will make the call for you." He turned and walked away.
"Lemme see the file," Klaus grabbed it from Five and opened it. "Uh, guys? Did any of you notice his birthday?"
Diego peered over Klaus' shoulder and followed Klaus' finger to the date: October 1, 1989 .
"Shit" Diego muttered. "You don't think he was part of those forty-three births, do you? And that he has superpowers, too?"
"If that's the case, then we need to be prepared," Five pointed out.
"Isn’t it a bit too coincidental that he’s hanging out with Vanya, in that case?" Klaus said.
"Your second shockingly correct observation of the day," Diego replied. "Sobriety is really looking good on you. Well, aside from you looking like shit at the moment."
"Thank you so much for the compliment, dear brother," Klaus smirked before doubling over. Diego touched Klaus' arm as he stood back up. "I’m good, I’m good."
"Guys!" Five exclaimed. "While we’re all here lollygagging, Jenkins is that much closer to causing the apocalypse!" Then he looked at Klaus, sweaty and trembling. "Are you sure you're up to this?"
"I don't know, but I'll do my best. I don't want to let you guys down." After Klaus said that, Diego gave him a quick pat on the shoulder.
Five was slightly shocked at Klaus' statement. Wherever he had gone for ten months seemed to change him for the better.
"Okay, let's roll," Diego ordered. "If he's not at the address here in town, his other address is at his grandmother's cabin in Jackpine Cove."
"We will want to take the back roads and stay off the main streets," Five warned Diego.
"Why? The faster we get there, the better."
Before Five could answer, Diego and Klaus saw blood gushing down Five's leg. "Five?" Klaus said weakly, as Five collapsed. "Shit!"
Diego knelt down and lifted Five's shirt, revealing a shrapnel wound. "Jesus, Five. Why didn't you say anything?"
"You… have to keep… going. So… close," Five managed to spit out before he lost consciousness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Klaus helped Diego carry Five to the infirmary. As Diego watched Mom sew Five up, Klaus made attempts to contact Vanya. He reported back to Diego that she wasn't picking up at home and the receptionist at her music school said she was a no-show for classes. Diego nodded, staring distantly ahead at his mother.
"Hey," Klaus said gently. "Are you okay, bro?"
Diego nodded sadly. "It's still so surreal seeing her. I just hope she knows how sor-" Then to Klaus' confusion, he cut himself off. "We don't have time for this. Let's get going."
"Hold on." Klaus quickly grabbed the glass eye on the nightstand.
"What is that for?" Diego stared at it.
"Five thinks that whoever owns this eye causes the apocalypse," Klaus said as the two headed down the stairs. "He had me pretend to be his dad so we could get the information about the eye's owner at that lab, and we found out that it hadn't even been manufactured yet."
Diego stopped Klaus in the foyer. "Wait, he told you about this, too?"
"Too?"
"He told Vanya first. She didn't believe him."
"I didn't take him seriously, either," Klaus admitted. "All he said was that within seven days someone would lose their eye and bring the end of life on earth as we knew it. I just wanted my twenty bucks from him so that I could go get high." The irony now , Klaus thought to himself.
The two brothers headed out the front door, but within a few moments Klaus and Diego noticed a line of police cars slowly following them.
"What the hell?" Klaus exclaimed. "You don't think they're after us for stealing that ice cream truck, do you?"
Diego stared at the procession. "No. I think they're here for me. I guess that was what Five was trying to tell me. They probably think I killed Eudora."
" What? "
"'Cause I was a dumbass and took my gloves off in the motel room when I found her, and it's not exactly a secret in the police department that we had a heated relationship."
"Shit."
Diego quickly took off his knife harness and handed it to Klaus along with his gloves, the police file and car keys. "Klaus, you're gonna have to go."
"Damn it, I still feel like shit!" Klaus whined. He was sick to his stomach and sweating profusely.
Diego placed his hands on his brother's shoulders. "We have no choice. Vanya needs you. Just, please be careful. I don't know how I'm gonna get out of this, but I'll do whatever I can to get back home as soon as possible. And hey. I'm proud of you." Diego hugged his brother, and then Klaus walked back up the steps and in through the front door. He left it open a crack as he sadly watched his brother get arrested for the murder of the detective who had saved Klaus' life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After the scene had cleared, Klaus shakily made it to the car and started the engine. It was then that Ben appeared in the passenger seat.
"Hey, bro," Klaus said with a wavering voice.
Ben smiled back at Klaus as they drove away.
"Thanks for what you did," Klaus told his ghost brother. "I'm sorry if I've been a dick to you."
"I wasn't mad at you," Ben assured him. "I just felt bad for what you went through. But you hadn't told me where exactly you had fought until you told Diego, so that was how I found Dave. I knew that seeing him was the only way you'd stay sober."
"Well, maybe not today, then; but I know I have in the past. And I was a dick to Diego after all of the help he's given me the past couple of days, and now he's going to jail for the cop who saved me."
Ben stared at Klaus, who was an entirely different person from the crazed, wide-eyed man he observed at the motel just two days before. "Diego's not the only one who's proud of you."
"Thanks. I just hope I don't let you guys down anymore."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When they arrived at Jenkins' home, Klaus peeked through the front window and saw Jenkins lying on the floor dead with multiple sharp objects in his chest. Klaus tossed his cookies while Ben cased the house.
"No one else is here, but you need to put on Diego's gloves and come check out the attic," Ben told him.
They walked in on a display depicting numerous photos of all six Academy children with their eyes gouged out, as well as Academy figurines with their heads burnt off. "Holy shit!" Klaus exclaimed. "This was never about Vanya, but about us! What the fuck?!"
Ben thought of something. "Hey! Remember that kid who tried to talk to Dad when we came back from that one mission? The one who said his birthday was the same as ours and wanted Dad to help him discover his superpower?"
Klaus searched through the fog of memories and soon recalled the kid, tearfully pleading to Reggie that he could not go back home. Of course, Sir Reggie was his usual charming self. Klaus figured that Harold's dad probably beat the shit out of him, which led Harold to kill him; and thanks to Reggie treating him like shit, he had it out for the Academy, too. "We need to find Vanya."
As they headed back down the stairs Klaus said, "Wait." He pulled the glass eye out of his military shirt pocket and held it next to Harold's eyes, both of which were intact. "Same eye color and pupil size." He looked at Ben. "Maybe the apocalypse already got averted before Harold lost his eye?"
"Maybe," Ben agreed.
Klaus looked at the clock. It was now close to eleven p.m. and Klaus was still feeling sick and now exhausted. But he needed to find his sister and know that she was safe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Vanya stumbled into her apartment in a daze, clutching the red journal that she had found under Leonard's bed. She couldn't believe she killed him. He obviously deserved it, but she shouldn't have been able to do that.
Vanya flashed back to the horrific scene of Leonard trying to convince her that her family was against her, particularly Dad using Allison to rumor Vanya. She told herself this wasn't intentional and reminded Leonard that they were only four, too young to understand. After attempting to further convince Vanya that he was the only one who had ever truly accepted and embraced her, Leonard revealed that he had killed Helen Cho, the First Chair violinist in Vanya's chamber orchestra, so that Vanya would audition for that position; she indeed had just been awarded First Chair for the orchestra's upcoming concert the night before. Vanya then declared that Leonard was sick and she was leaving. Leonard repeatedly slapped the journal cover, screaming that she was weak, nothing and ordinary, soon triggering her powers. She remembered the satisfaction of watching Leonard repeatedly beg, "Please not me," as her powers lifted him from the ground and the tornado of knives and other sharp objects pierced his chest. As Vanya had slowly made it back to her apartment, however, she felt nothing but fear that she was able to do this.
Vanya rewound her phone messages as she tearfully sat down on the couch, and with hands shaking she put the journal on the coffee table. First message was from her neighbor, Mrs. Kowalski, once again looking for her cat, Mr. Puddles; the other was someone from the Icarus Theater reminding Vanya that her guests could pick up their complimentary concert tickets at the box office.
Shit . I don't deserve to play at the concert . Vanya put her face in her hands and sobbed. She soon pulled her hands down and stared at the journal. She hadn't read much else besides the entries about her sedation and the fact that at four years old she killed several nannies . She was dangerous. Dad locked her in a vault. He was afraid of her. Maybe she needed to be relocked.
There was a knock at her door. Vanya stopped her crying, hoping that Mrs. Kowalski would go away. After a moment, more rapid knocking. "Mr. Puddles isn't here," Vanya tried to say with a steady voice.
"Vanya?" That wasn't Mrs. Kowalski. That was Klaus. What the hell was he doing here? Trying to apologize for this morning? Last thing she needed to deal with was his smartass commentary. She was afraid of what she might do to him if he pissed her off. "Go away, Klaus."
Klaus rapped on the door again. "Vanya, I could hear you crying. I know you're not okay, and I really need to talk to you."
"Please. Just go away."
And damn it, Klaus didn't go away; he opened the front door and barged in.
Vanya stood up to face him. "Just go. Please," she repeated.
Then Klaus eyed the journal on the coffee table. He slowly picked it up and stared at it.
Vanya narrowed her eyes at Klaus. "Did you know about this?"
"Not until about three hours ago; I promise. None of us did. Mom and Pogo just told us. I swear."
"How did Leonard get this, then?"
"Leonard?" Klaus asked, confused. "His name is actually Harold Jenkins."
Vanya stared blankly at her brother. In the split second she realized that was why Allison barely found any info on him. But that didn’t matter now. "How did he get it?" Vanya repeated.
Klaus stared at the floor. "I might have tossed it in the dumpster out of a box I pawned a few days ago." He faced Vanya with pleading eyes. "Please, you have to believe me. Damn it, I really fucked up this week in so many ways." Tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm so sorry about all of this…my part in this, Harold or Leonard or whoever he was, and how we all treated you. You're our sister, and we want to help you."
Vanya felt a painful lump in her throat. She knew this was Klaus talking to her, but the words didn't match the usual sound of his voice, or his appearance.
Klaus held out his arms as tears spilled down his face. "Please, Vanya. I love you."
That was what broke her. She ran into her brother's arms, sobbing in his shirt as Klaus stroked her hair.