𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 ~ 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴

~ 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙊𝙛𝙛 ~

The majority of the ride back to the hotel was full of silence and concentration as the roads had become considerably eroded and cracks were beginning to consume the road. The thought of falling into a large pothole crossed Astrid's mind a few times, but she kept telling herself that they just needed to get her siblings and finally end the kugelblitz nonsense. They pulled into a parking spot and walked through the revolving door.

Chet was still at his place near the front desk, still waiting for any possible guests. Astrid couldn't help but feel sorry for him as whatever precious time he had left was being wasted. She concluded that secretly Chet might be hoping for at least one or two people to come in, even as the world crumbled around them. Maybe he didn't want to believe this could be the end yet.

"Trid? What are you guys doing here?" Luther questioned. "I need you to come with us back to the Sparrow Academy," The Shadow Girl explained, adding that she'd catch him up to speed on the way there. While Luther was hesitant, he knew this had to be about the truce. "Alright, I'll meet you by the car," he nodded. But just as he was about to walk outside, Sloane called out to him, asking where the rest of the family was.

"I haven't seen Klaus since last night. But my guess is Diego and Lila are upstairs, same with Five," He answered. "What about Viktor?" Astrid questioned, realizing she might have to break the news to him if he was worrying about Harlan's whereabouts. "I haven't seen him either," The Ape-man shrugged. Great. I guess the truce will have four of them, then. Astrid and Sloane got into the elevator, pressing the button on the level where the Umbrellas had booked their rooms.

But as they checked the rooms, neither Five, Diego, nor Lila could be found. "Where else do you think they could be?" Sloane asked. "I don't know. Hopefully not kugelblitzed!" Astrid worried. But just one level above her, she could hear the sounds of someone calling out for Stanley, and the voices quickly resembled The Kraken and his on-and-off girlfriend. As they followed the voices, Sloane and Astrid poked their heads into the White Buffalo Suite as Diego and Lila argued. Meanwhile, Five kept staring at the collage-covered wall and what appeared to be a secret door.

"The monkey said Dad spent years training the Sparrows for a super-secret mission into..." Five explained, pointing at the opening. The monkey? Pogo's still alive?! Astrid wondered, remembering how he tried to be the better father for the Umbrellas. The kind of father the old man could never be. "Everything's leading to Oblivion, so we have to go in there," Five added. "No way! We barely got out of there alive!" Diego and Lila shook their heads. Sloane looked back to Astrid, wondering if this would be the best moment to step in. But Astrid put a finger to her lips, mouthing they should wait another minute.

"This is more than about you two. This is about all of us!" Five squinted. "Says the guy who has all his fingers! I didn't get this by giving a mummy a hand job, alright? I went in there and lost all my fingers to this thing with a knife on a chain!" Diego held up his bandaged hand, which made Astrid's eyes widen at the sight of the bloodstained cloth. "Hey look, Diego may be 90% moron and 10% pelvic thrusts, but he's right about Oblivion. We're just not gonna waltz back in there just because you say so.

 Astrid and Sloane came out of the shadows and entered the room. "You don't have to walk in there. Cause you guys are coming with us," Astrid spoke up, making the three of them turn around. "Well, this should be interesting. Where to?" Five asked. "Sparrow Academy," Sloane answered. "The world's ending. So I think it's time we put the petty bullshit aside and work together on the Kugelblitz," Astrid added. "Yeah? Or what?" Diego glared.