Number Eight // Five Hargreeves

III

Tessa's POV

It's them. That's not possible. Mr. Hargreeves said they all died? That was the reason he needed me. I don't understand. How are they... here?

I shiver as a chill runs through my already soaked clothes, and wrap my arms around my body.

"Here sweetie, this should warm you up," The only girl brings me a towel and wraps it around me. I thank her, and sit back on the chair a little further, attempting to put some room between me and the guy with the knife.

"Come on Diego. Put the knife away you're being ridiculous," the girl says, sending him a dirty look. He eases back slightly, but makes no move to lower his weapon.

"How do you know our Dad? Who are you?" The abnormally large one asks. I start recognizing them, from the stories he told me. I attempt to put names to faces, and for the most part, I believe I'm successful.

"Tessa. My name's Tessa." I bluntly state, not willing to give that much away. The guy with the knife, I think that's Diego, gets closer to me.

"You need to do better than that. Who the hell are you and how do you know us?" He says again with anger dripping from his words.

"Back off Diego, she's a kid. And from what it looks like, one of us." The kid that is closest in age to me says. I look at him, seeing compassion in his eyes.

"But he is right, we do need some answers. If you help us with that, I'm sure we can probably answer some of the questions you have too," The youngest continues with a certain softness in his voice, while handing me a glass of water. I take it and slowly nod my head.

"Alright good. First question, how do you know our father?" I hesitate. These kids, I grew up on the stories about them. They are the reason Mr. Hargreeves started the experiments, they are the reason I am the way I am. I fight with my mind on whether to tell them the whole truth, but seeing as how they do have the tattoos, I think I might just have to trust them. 

I take a deep breath and remind myself: they are just like me.

"There was an experiment, one that would create the ultimate weapon. He wanted to take every ability that the Umbrella academy possessed and put it into one body. Well, that 'one body' just happened to be... me." I stop to look at them. Each one looking as though they didn't believe what I was saying.

"I'm sorry he what?" The one with the pink umbrella says.

"Wait wait wait, so you have all seven of our abilities?" I think Luther says.

"Well, not exactly. He attempted to put all seven abilities into me, but only some of the trials were successful." I comment, noticing them hanging onto every word.  I'm careful with my words, I don't wanna give away too much. The last thing I want is a bunch of strangers feeling sorry for me.

"So, what abilities do you have?" Allison asks me curiously. I look down, debating whether or not I should answer.  I look at them thoroughly one more time, and see the genuine curiosity in their eyes. I take a deep breath and continue.

"Limited telekinesis and precision accuracy, the ability to alter and jump through time and space, and communication with the dead. He told me those powers were inherited from Diego, Klaus, and Number Five, I think?" I'm scared I might have mixed those up on accident. The three of them who I originally matched those names with, raised their heads.

"Oh my god twinsies!" Klaus says as he jumps up and down, spilling his drink in the process. I notice the rest of the team roll their eyes.

"I think I remember the rest of you. Allison. Luther. And Ben. Right?" I ask as I point to each one. The last guy, who I called Ben looked at me as though I was talking in a foreign language.

"Wait, You can see me?" He asks as he steps forward. I nod slowly as I notice Klaus is the only one who's eyes are following him. Oh shit. I remember this story. He's dead.

"Oh my god. No way this is incredible!" A smile bright enough to light up the whole city spreads across his face. That little ounce of happiness caused me to smile just a bit.

"You don't understand how amazing this is. Now I don't have to spend the rest of eternity just talking to that asshole," He points back to Klaus as he's busy counting the beads on his necklace. I return his smile.

"It's nice to meet you Ben," I say. Everyone in the room looked at me.

"BEN?" They all shout in unison causing me to flinch. Yeah, not really a fan of loud noises. Diego steps forward to Klaus, getting uncomfortably close to his face.

"Ben has been here the entire time? When were you planning on sharing that our own brother has been here with us the whole time?" He spits at Klaus. I can feel the tension instantly get thicker in the room.

"Well uh, yeah you see, about that. I was planning on saying something and then it started raining, and my horoscope was very negative today so I just thought maybe this isn't the right time," Klaus rambles to Diego who looks like he's ready to throw him through a wall.  Luther luckily steps in between them.

"So you have three of our abilities? How did he even manage to do that?" Allison asks, desperately trying to change the subject to avoid a family throw down.

"Well uh, I'm not really sure."
Lie.
"I don't really remember much."
Another Lie.
"All I know is that there was a side effect with the experiment. I gained some of your abilities, but after, he began using medieval tactics, involving nature. And well uh, I guess..." I trail off and look at them. I really hope they can't see through my lies. I truly don't feel like sharing the traumatic details of my past with a bunch of strangers. I guess in the process I started pacing, because I hadn't even noticed that I got up. They all look at me encouraging me to say more, but I'm suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion. Oh no. Not again.

This tends to happen after a long jump. My eyelids are threatening to close. I think my legs are going to give out. I really need to stop over exerting my power.

"Uh guys, she doesn't look so good." I hear Klaus say as I stumble towards back towards the chair, feeling myself fall before I reach it. I brace for impact but I feel arms catch me before I hit the floor. Too tired to look up, I just let my eyes shut as I drift off.