"I am Sir Reginald Hargreeves, I have adopted seven children with abilities far beyond the ordinary. I give you the Umbrella Academy!"
"What is the goal of the Umbrella Academy?"
"How did the children stop the robbers?!"
"But sir? There are only six children!"
"The Umbrella Academy has been formed to handle threats beyond the ordinary. The children all have individual and unique abilities that will be disclosed in a private interview, later."
"And the seventh child? Who are they?!"
"My ace."
line
Reginald watched the children mingle quietly. They were all reeling from his announcement, but disciplined enough to not contradict him in from of the others.
Now that they were in his private van, he expected the questions.
"Vanya... Vanya has powers?" Number one asked quietly, keeping his eyes down. The other children looked to number one in anticipation.
"Yes." Reginald looked at his watch. The children had done well for their first mission. But he would not be as forgiving during their second. They needed to vastly improve their time, fourteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds was unacceptable for a simple bank robbery.
Reginald noted something odd. Number six was watching number four instead of number one.
"How?" This time number five spoke up. His face was twisted into defiance. Reginald frowned at that. If number five exhibited anymore signs of rebellion, he'd have to change his training schedule.
"I suppressed her powers until she could control them herself. It seems her becoming mute had some benefits." Reginald observed their reactions and pulled his notebook out.
Numbers one through three seemed to only exhibit concerns for a new competitor. Number four was out of it, barely listening. Number five was seething, but spoke no more. Nor did he make any action that could be interpreted as rebellion. Number Six was only frowning. Based on his close relationship with number seven, he likely already knew this.
Reginald made sure to jot down 'observe number four and six for further odd behavior'.
line
Vanya waited by the door after the broadcast ended. Mom went to the kitchen to make energy boosting snacks for the others. Pogo had left with the van to pick them up.
Vanya waited. Father had included her with the others. He had called her his ace.
She absentmindedly picked at the sling holding her right arm. She technically didn't need it anymore, but there was no feeling in that arm. She could move it almost normally, but the precision that normally lay in her fingers was gone. She couldn't write with her right arm without it looking like chicken scratch.
Her left hand's hand writing wasn't much better, but her left arm wasn't a liability.
She shook her head. No thinking like that. Her physical therapy was going well, but her right arm could never be used to do delicate or precise work again.
Father had only tutted at that and demanded that she use her left arm as her dominate arm from now on. It was hard. Her works took twice as long to grade compared to her siblings. Push ups were impossible for now, so was lifting anything heavier than a milk jug. She hated that her independence was taken away by a stray bullet.
"Vanya?" Her head snapped up. Ben was standing in from of her, he had his hand resting lightly on her left shoulder. She tilted her head at him in question.
"I've been trying to get your attention, but we need to talk." She nodded, and let him lead her to the kitchen. All of her siblings were sitting at the table eating.
Ben snagged a plate for both of them, and dragged both of them to the library. She ignored the looks her siblings shot her.
She sat down next to Ben on the comfiest couch. She let her plate sit on her lap, and waited in silence while he finished his food. She wasn't hungry right now.
"Are you okay with speaking here?" Vanya blinked at him and considered him. Vanya has slowly started speaking more (only with Ben though). He always asked her that before they talked. But only whenever they were alone. Regardless of her answer, he always made sure there was a notebook in reach.
The library was empty. Father had retreated his study. Mom was in the kitchen with her siblings. Pogo was... not here. Maybe...
She nodded. Ben smiled. A little bit of her discomfort was worth it. Ben put his plate on the floor, out of reach and turned his knees towards her.
"Klaus has woken up." Vanya hummed. She wondered why they were waking up in the order that they did. If anything she would've thought that Five would wake up first. She shook her head, no use dwelling on it now.
"Should we, we approach him now?" Her stutter was getting better.
"Tonight?"
"Yeah."
line
They knocked on Klaus' door together. Thudding start up, followed by Klaus yelling out that he was coming. The door whipped open and he eyed them both.
"Hmmm?" Klaus leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed carefully. Under further inspections, his nails were painted black. Vanya's lips quirked up at that. It seems it only took one time for him to remember, like Vanya.
"Can we come inside and talk?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, sure. Make sure to close the door on your way in." Klaus drew back and waved his hand. Vanya grinned at his familiar behavior.
They all ended up on Klaus's floor, him painting Vanya's nails a deep blue. He'd initially suggested white. That was quickly shot down by both Ben and Vanya.
They were dancing around the topic they came here to discuss. Klaus had finished her second middle finger by the time Ben broke the easy atmosphere.
"Klaus..." Klaus quickly swiped the polish over her last two nails and capped the bottle.
"Yeah, I figured. Finally got the recognition you wanted eh?" Vanya paled at that. She didn't want it. Not anymore. She knew the cost of her powers, but didn't want to live a half live again.
"That's not cool Klaus." Klaus waved his hand flippantly at Ben's angry expression.
"And you got your body back. Dave is alive again. The world isn't ending anymore. Pretty sweet life we got here if you ask me. Except for father dearest. I'm not going to fuck up anything we got, be more worried about Luther or Diego on that front." Klaus leaned back and watched them with half lidded eyes. Vanya reached for her notebook but stopped halfway. Her nails were still wet.
Ben seemed to get her intentions.
"Klaus, that isn't why we're here."
"Then why? We all know I'm the resident fuck up."
"We're here to ease you in, to hide the most obvious changes so you don't get noticed like Vanya! So no one dies, gets drugged half to death, and the world doesn't end! And I'm pretty sure we're doing great with the last two!" Ben waved his hands around, "So will you get your head out of your ass and listen to us?" Ben huffed and crossed his arms. Vanya sent a pleading look towards Klaus.
Klaus sighed.
"Fine."
line
you guys wanna take a stab at why they're waking up in the order that they are (and maybe what the future order will be)? the first people to get either of it right, gets to put a scene in here, OR will get to pick a scene for me to illustrate.
for all intents and purposes, vanya is selectively mute, and will not be speaking to her other siblings for a while.
