Empathy [Ben Hargreeves]

Episode Three. Part II.

"Extra Ordinary"

The front door creaked open and her light footsteps echoed across the foyer when Elle stepped onto the tiled floor. The blonde took a quick look around for any sign of life before hurrying up the stairs to her old bedroom. She bundled clean clothes into a ball from the bag that she had left on her bed.

Elle didn't even have the bathroom door closed when Allison popped up out of no where and stopped her. "Hey. Family meeting downstairs."

She groaned loudly and threw down her clothes on the counter. "Fine, but it had better be fast." The blonde followed Allison down the hall.

The Hargreeves siblings, sans Five, gathered in the living room of the Umbrella Academy once again. Luther and Allison had called a meeting to discuss Mom since they were insisting now that she may have had something to do with the Warden's death.

The conspiracy theories were piling up like Elle's bills on her coffee table.

Allison had the VCR set up with an old VHS tape. Luther pressed play on the remote in his hand. A small bulky CRT television played the black and white security footage of March 21 -- the night Sir Hargreeves mysteriously died.

The scene took place in the Warden's bedroom. Mom leaned forward towards him. When she stood straight again, he began to spasm and fell back onto the bed while Mom watched without making any indication that she realized he was having a heart attack.

"I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?" Vanya asked.

"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya," Luther reminded her.

"If he was poisoned, it would have shown up in the coroner's report," Diego insisted. Exasperation colored his tone.

"Theoretically," Elle mocked Luther's earlier words in a voice that was supposed to mimic his.

Luther narrowed his eyes at Elle, but his words were directed at Diego. "Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes," he retorted.

"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision." Diego reached forward to click the tape in rewind. "Look closer." He pressed play and pointed at a detail on the screen. "Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone."

"Oh, yeah!" Klaus chuckled while munching on a snack as he sat on the back of the couch.

"She wasn't poisoning him. She was... taking it," Diego explained. "To clean it."

"Then where is it?" Luther was skeptical about the last part. "No, I've searched the house. including her things. She doesn't have it."

"You went through Mom's things?" Elle questioned, then in indignant realization: "You went through all our things, didn't you?" Her toffee-colored eyes stared Luther down.

"I wasn't taking any chances! I had to find the monocle! None of you had it. Grace didn't have it."

Diego hesitated, then admitted, "That's because I took it from her. After the funeral."

All eyes in the room turned to stare at Diego. The monocle was such a big deal to Luther, and Diego pretended to not know its whereabouts.

"You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego?" Allison said.

"Yeah, Diego. Luther's been acting like a lunatic investigator because of the stupid monocle, and you just let it happen."

Klaus high-fived Elle for her moon joke after Ben repeated the punch line to him because he had spaced out.

"Give it to me," Luther demanded Diego.

"I threw it away."

"In the river," Elle realized under her breath.

"You what?" Luther's anger flared up like an erupting volcano in Elle's stomach. Embers licked her skin as he pulsated with fury at Diego's admittance.

Allison scoffed and sipped her alcohol.

Diego tried to defend himself. "Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing now." He pointed one of his throwing knives at Luther to emphasize each word.

"Diego, you son of a bitch!" Luther growled.

"Mom wasn't a bitch!" Elle cut in. She paused. "Unless you meant Dad." She was annoyed at herself for a moment for calling him that undeserving word instead of "The Warden."

Diego took a fighting stance with his knives ready.

"Hey, no. Calm down," Vanya said to her siblings that were getting all riled up. "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."

Eloise glanced at Klaus, thinking of Ben. If Mom had been there...?

"Well, if her hardware is degrading, then..." Luther hesitated slightly before he dropped the verbal bomb: "We need to turn her off."

Diego was aghast. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things! I've seen it!" He turned to Eloise. "Tell him!"

"Mom feels things," Elle agreed softly. "She loves us."

"She just stood there and watched our father die," Luther said firmly.

"I'm with Luther," Allison spoke up.

"Surprise, surprise," Diego said scornfully.

Allison rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

Diego turned to Vanya who stuttered "I--I don't--" before he butt in: "Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote."

"I-I was gonna say that I agree with you," Vanya said, slightly miffed.

"Okay. She should get a vote," Diego amended easily. "What about you, stoner boy?" he asked Klaus. "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.'"

Confusion swept through most of the siblings, even Elle. She knew that Klaus and Luther had gone to hunt down Five but didn't get the details. 

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."

Klaus hissed to the corner of the room, making Elle bite back a smile. Ben must have not agreed with Klaus despite his insistence. 

"Eloise?"

The blonde woman nibbled on her bottom lip as she fiddled with the clear glass of vodka in her hands. "Mom is more human than some humans I've met. She wouldn't do it. I'm with Diego." She met her brother's eyes and nodded once.

Diego nodded back in thanks and said, "Four to two." He held up four fingers on one hand and two fingers, plus a knife, in the other.

"Vote's not final yet," Allison insisted. "Five's not here."

"His vote won't sway the final results," Elle said matter-of-factly.

"The whole family has to vote. We owe each other that."

The group of super humans decided to wait before anyone did something rash.

Diego found Mom, watching and listening to the debate from the corner of an archway to the living room. "You all seem upset. I'll make cookies." She wandered off in her pink polka-dotted skirt to the kitchen. Diego watched her go with a sad look in his eyes.