Empathy [Ben Hargreeves]

Episode Three. Part IV.

"Extra Ordinary"

The first thing that Elle did after leaving the bathroom was call work to tell them that her brother wasn't doing well after their Dad's death, and she couldn't come in to cover a shift. With lilac eyes from leaving her best friend short-staffed, Elle made her way down the stairs of the eerily silent house.

In the kitchen of the old umbrella academy, Eloise Hargreeves climbed on the granite countertop to reach the mugs from a top shelf in the hanging cabinets. She jumped down to the floor with a ceramic mug in each hand. She set them on the long oak table and hunted through the cabinets and drawers for packets of instant hot chocolate.

She found an expired box shoved behind some paper towel rolls and sighed; it would have to do until she could get more.

The reverberating sound of gunfire from the bedrooms made her spill milk over the edge of the mug when she startled. "What the hell!" Elle abandoned the mugs and gallon of milk on the counter as she sprinted towards the commotion. Glass shattered and wood splintered in between bullets raining down through the halls.

Two figures in creepy children's masks were shooting automatic weapons at her siblings. Luther, Diego, and Allison were on the scene. The living room was being torn apart when Elle came down the hall from the kitchen. Feathers from the pillows were fluttering around like snowflakes.

The broad intruder in a brown bear mask picked Allison up by her throat. Number Two jumped onto the man's back and smacked him repeatedly with his powerful fists. "Let her go!"

Number Eight realized that her powers weren't recharged after helping Klaus when she tried to weaken the man, and it only worked minimally. Thankfully, the moment of uncertainty that passed through the man was just enough that Luther could pick him up by his scruff and hurl him through the air until he crashed onto the ground beside the lady in a pink dog mask.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Number Three said hysterically. With everything happening so fast and unexpectedly, she hadn't used her rumor ability yet.

Diego and Luther got into a spat that was not necessary for the time and place. They were interrupted by a steady stream of bullets coming from the front foyer.

"Get out of here, now. Go!" Number One said to Allison. She hurried through the doorway where Elle was standing and tugged her blonde sister along behind her to the kitchen.

Elle pulled her arm free. "What is going on?"

"I don't know," Allison said, running a frantic hand through her long hair. "Luther and I were upstairs when we heard gunshots. They were shooting at Diego when we came down."

"Where are the others? Mom? Five? Vanya? Pogo?" Elle listed in worry. Klaus was hopefully hidden in the bathtub or preparing to help with the fight.