Golden |2| The Umbrella Academy

EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT: MAJESTIC TWELVE

They were all gathered in the living room, a weird sort of silence had settled over the group. Diego and Lila were on the couch, she was changing the bandage on his stomach while Elliott sat in a chair across from them. Five paced around the furniture, and Lotus sat on the floor with her knees to her chest. They had discussed Five's journey to find Vanya, and how he had let her go.

"So, what, you just let her go?" Diego asked again, a slight annoyance laced in his voice.

"Well, Vanya has a lot to process. She'll come around, I know she will."

"What about the guys that went after her?"

"The Swedes?"

Lotus glanced up, "The what now?"

Elliott pulled himself up and disappeared into the kitchen, Diego shook his head. "How do we know they won't come after her again?"

"We don't."

"Any idea who sent them?" Lila inquired as Elliott returned with two mugs of coffee, handing one to the woman and the other to Five.

"Oh, I have my suspicions." Five said, "But right now, our priority is finding Dad and getting answers,  'cause everything else depends on it."

Diego sighed, "Which, for the record, I found him already."

"And you let him go." Lotus chimed in, "But he did stab you, so."

"That's no excuse. You let him go before we could have a meaningful conversation."

"No excuse?" Diego scoffed, "He stabbed me."

Five leaned forward and raised his yellow mug, "I'm surprised he waited this long, Diego. We've all had the urge."

Lila and Elliott both started cackling, earning a glare from Diego. Lila extended her hand towards Five, "Good one."

He only shot her a weird look, placing his mug down. "Good thing I know where Dad's gonna be tonight." He pulled out the folded paper they had taken from his office building and handed it to Diego, who forcefully swiped it away. "Where'd you get this?"

"Found it at his office while he was busy stabbing you."

Diego glanced up at him with a sarcastic laugh, eyes going back to the sheet. "Hoyt Hillenkoetter and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas cordially invites you to a gala."

Elliott rocked back and fourth on his heels, "Woah, wait. Hoyt Hillenkoetter? Are you serious?"

"You know him?"

Lila gasped, "We should go. Says there's gonna be a seafood tower."

"No, no... Hillenkoetter is, he's one of the Majestic Twelve."

"The hell is the Majestic Twelve?"

"What? It's a... a secret committee. Uh, scientists, military, uh, deep state. No one knows what they really do."

Diego pulled himself up higher on the couch, "Wait, so they're government?"

"Shadow government. Yeah, Kennedy was the first president to try to push 'em into the light, but these guys are not to be trifled with." He made a beeline for one of his many desks, he dug through files before pulling out a photo and walked back towards them. "Oh, here we go. Right here."

He pointed at it, only Five could really see the photo. "That's Hoyt right there."

Lila leaned forward to take a peak, "I only count eleven."

"Well, that's because they've only identified eleven so far."

"Who's the twelfth?" Diego questioned.