Bloodshot - the umbrella academy

Chapter 10 - It's not me, it's you

THUD THUD THUD. "Darcie! wakey wakey." A somewhat muffled voice spoke from the other side of the door. Darcie clearly didn't want to wake up as she pulled the duvet covers right over her face, hiding from her unbearable brother. The door swung open and Klaus appeared. He shuffled into the room and put a hand on his hip. "Where the hell did she go? I guess she won't be able to see that really funny thing I wanted to show her." He sighed and turned towards the door. "Why would Luther even put on that stupid costume? Should've known we'd make fun of him." Klaus began to chuckle.

"What." Darcie poked her head out of the duvet. "Did you get any pictures?!" They both started uncontrollably giggling. The girl finally got out of bed. "What is it really, Klaus, Or did you just wake me up for the fun of it?"

"Oh, no, Luther and Allison claim they've found some dirt on mom. I took it literally at first though." Klaus chuffed. Darcie furrowed her eyebrows in response. "I can't be arsed to listen to their bullshit."

"C'mon, it'll be funny to see Luther's superiority complex shine through." She grinned. Okay I'll be down in a sec."

"Great! I'll tell them you're on the way." Klaus left as well as leaving the door wide open. "Klaus close the door!"

"Sorry what was that?!" He just kept skipping along the corridor and down the stairs

****

"I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?" A small voice echoed from the living room. Darcie entered the room to be met with all of the family and an old TV showing a film.

"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya." Luther turned to reply. "Maybe you don't know Grace anymore."

Darcie drifted beside Klaus, they raised they're eyebrows at each other as a greeting. "If he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroner's report." Diego mumbled.

"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther pointed to the TV.

Darcie rolled her eyes. "And we don't need you two to have a big 'epic' battle again, alright?"

They both ignored her and carried on. "Maybe all that low gravity in space messed up with your vision." Diego clicked a button on the TV, moving it back in time. "Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone." He turned away from the TV and walked to the other side of Klaus. "She wasn't poisoning him. She was..taking it. To clean it."

Luther furrowed his eyebrows. "Then where is it? No, I've searched the house, including all her things. She doesn't have it."

Diego looked down, sighing. "That's because I took it from her. After the funeral."

Allison let her mouth drop. "You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego?"

"Give it to me." Luther rushed, putting out his arm. "I threw it away."

"You what?"The large man scoffed.

Darcie and Klaus smirked at each other, they found their sibling's fights entertaining.

"Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing right now." Diego pointed his knife and started manically grinning.

"Diego, you song of a bitch." They had gotten into a fighting stance. "Hey. No. Calm down." Vanya attempted to ease the mood. "Look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but also as a protector."

"What does that mean?" Allison asked. "She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy."

After all that Vanya had said, Luther still tried to speak up. "Well, if her hardware is degrading then..We need to turn her off."

Darcie squinted her eyes at the large man and Diego began to talk. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in the closet. She feels things, I've seen it!"

Luther had yet another knife pointed at him now. "She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die."

"I'm with Luther." Allison replied. "Surprise, surprise."

"Shut up."

Diego and Luther turned to Vanya. "I-don't-."

"Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote." Diego remarked.

"I was gonna say that I agree with you."

"Okay. She should get a vote." He pointed at Klaus. "What about you, stoner boy?" What do you got?"'

"Oh, so what? You need my help now? Oh, 'get out of the van, Klaus!' 'well, welcome back to the van.' "

"What van?" Darcie snickered. Luther scoffed, "What's it gonna be, Klaus?"

"I'm with Diego, because screw you! And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me." He nodded his head as Darcie shook hers. "What about you, Darcie?"

All the attention was on her since she was the last to vote. "I mean, it's pretty obvious. She's not gonna agree with us." Allison assumed.

She was gonna pick Diego - that is what she thought was correct. He kept looking at her for any sign of approval. But then, she remembered the day before. What? So he'd just act like nothing happened? "No, actually, I'm with you." You could see Diego's mood going down even lower now. She didn't actually agree with Luther and Allison, she was just pissed off at Diego. Now she was wondering if it was the right thing to do, she looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"So it's 2/3." Luther carried on. "Five's not here. The whole family has to vote. We owe each other that." Allison was right.

"Right."

Vanya then suggested they should wait but everyone just left in response. Diego looked back at Darcie, who still had her eyes concentrated on the floor. "Wow."

He left to go see Grace, she was standing just in the entry way.

"Hey." He placed his hand on his mother's shoulder. "How long you been here?" The robot finally looked up before replying, almost as if she was in a confused stance. "You all seem upset, I'll make cookies." She walked off.

Vanya was at Diego's side, Darcie still where the previous argument took place. The other two began to mutter to one another whilst Darcie went to go get a drink from the bar.

**

After Vanya left, the girl stumbled to Diego - still in the doorway. "Is Mom okay?" She took a swig from her bottle, waiting for his reply. "What do you care? You want her to be dead anyway."

She didn't respond. "And don't you think you've had enough of those already? He stared at the bottle gripped in her hand with a blank expression. Diego left without looking back.