Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blur.

Everything was blurry right after Allison pushed that red button.

Five blinked his eyes rapidly, adjusting his vision so he could see clearly again. He then realized he was lying on rough ground. There was plenty of debris and the air was polluted with smoke. He swore he also smelled blood.

Dusting off his clothes, Five stood up and looked around. All of his siblings (Ben and Sloane too) were alive and conscious. They appeared to be as perplexed as he was.

“Are we in another apocalypse?”

Five almost thought that as well but it proved to be wrong.

The end of the world, just like it said, means the end of everything. The end of civilization, the end of every living and moving being. He knew it like the back of his hand. He’d been through it after all.

Therefore, he knew that countless wary stares weren’t a part of it.

“Get behind me,” Five whispered loud enough for his siblings to catch his order, his protective instinct kicking in. He must’ve looked ridiculous to these strangers but he didn’t really give a damn. Weapons were aimed at them and Five didn’t want any of them to become a corpse today.

All of them circled together with their backs facing each other. “What in the world is going on?” Diego asked, half-angry and half-scared. His hands were ready to grab his knives.

“Where are we?” Viktor clenched his fists, his body glowing slightly blue. “And when,” Lila added and mimicked his power.

“Let’s just get out of here.” Ben scoffed, “You shouldn’t have pressed that button.”

 “And you two shouldn’t fight,” Sloane warned them. She glared daggers at Allison and Ben to scare them from doing something stupid. Luther nodded and his arm was positioned in front of her protectively. He seemed to forget that his wife was more than capable of kicking ass. By herself.

A woman enveloped in golden light flew from the sky and landed in front of them. Her head was held high with pride and bravery, a nice way of saying that this person was powerful enough to beat them single-handedly. People might think that she was arrogant but no, she simply had faith in her abilities. She reminded Five of himself.

“State your names and your business here on earth.”

“Why should we?”

“Do you have any other choice?” Five cursed in his mind at that comeback. They were in a really tight spot. He needed a moment to think.

“Look, we mean you no harm. We only wanted to go home.” Viktor took over the conversation. Maybe it would be okay to let them keep these people busy.

“So you better get the hell out of our way.”

Or not.

“No.” The woman stepped closer, her hands started to glow. Ben also moved forward, ready to unleash the monsters inside him.

A fight was about to break before Five blurted out, “We’ll go with you.”

“What?” Everyone simultaneously asked.

“We appeared here out of nowhere and I’m pretty sure you have some questioning to do,” he ended with a sweet but forced smile. He used everything within him to stay calm and when the woman accepted his offer, relief washed over him.

It would’ve been an absolute defeat if they try to fight them now. They heavily outnumbered them and most of them seemed to have some kind of a superpower. 

So, the only possible course of action they could take was to go with them and acquire more information. Then, they could run away and come out with another plan. In order to do that, they need to let their guard down…

“Don’t tell them about our powers."

Chapter Text

Adrenaline was flowing through his veins. He punched and kicked, punched and kicked… He did what he could to take the stones from the Mad Titan’s hand. When he finally did, he was ready to end this war and make the ultimate sacrifice. Until…

Nothing. Nothing happened but Thanos and his armies were gone without a trace. The same fate befell the stones. Tony was happy, lost, and confused at the same time.

“Wait what?”

That was two days ago. The day the earth’s biggest threat (for now) disappeared and was replaced with nine human beings. Assuming they were indeed the aforementioned race. 

Their test results showed that they were biologically humans but different from the normal ones. There was some kind of unknown energy within them. He would have to run more tests tomorrow. For now, he would let them get a good sleep in their containers. Separated, obviously. 

Tony was sitting in front of a table full of files and a laptop that he used to watch the interrogation videos. There wasn’t much that they got since every single one of them was hiding things and lying to their faces.

Frustrated, he re-watched the videos again in case he missed anything.

Interrogation #1: Allison Hargreeves

“So, five out of eight people are your siblings, correct?”

“That’s right. Lila is Diego’s girlfriend while Ben is Sloane’s brother. Sloane is Luther’s wife.”

“How come Ben has the same last name as you then?”

“It’s complicated.

Interrogation #2: Sloane Hargreeves

“Oh, it’s because… from where I live there’s a tradition for a sibling of yours to take the last name of your life partner.”

“Mind giving more details about that?”

“The… tradition?”

“Your home.”

Interrogation #3: Klaus Hargreeves

“We came from an abusive household. Our father was a crazy scientist that used us for experiments. Meanwhile, our mother was a robot. Oh and we had a talking chimpanzee.”   

 “Okay… let’s talk about your father. What kind of experiments did he do?”

“Just some stuff to improve our- strength! Yeah, he wanted strong children.”

“Anything else we should know about him?”

“He was an alien.”

Interrogation #4: Diego Hargreeves

“That’s bullshit,” he continued, “Klaus was a drug addict. You shouldn’t trust a single word from his mouth.”

“And we can trust you?”

“I was a cop once. So yeah, shoot your questions.”

“Good. What happened to your parents?”

“Can I skip that?”

Interrogation #5: Luther Hargreeves

“They died on… what year is it?”

“2023, why did you ask?”

“No reason.”

Interrogation #6: Ben Hargreeves

*Cursing in Korean*

Interrogation #7: Viktor Hargreeves

“Are you feeling uncomfortable here?” 

Viktor stopped for a moment before continuing to tap the floor with his foot. “I don’t like being trapped in a small room.”

“Childhood trauma?”

“You can say that.”

Interrogation #8: Lila Pitts

“How did you manage to get involved with these siblings?”

“Through my mom, my job, and a mental hospital. Funny isn’t it?”

“Please elaborate.”

“My mom ordered me to eliminate my boyfriend and his siblings because they were such a pain in the ass, and still are. But then she died so now I’m stuck with them.”

“What kind of problems did they make?”

Interrogation #9: Five Hargreeves

“Let’s just say we hated each other so much to the point we tried to kill one another.”

“Aren’t you a little young for that?”

“Oh yeah no, I was just a spectator.”

“Next question. You and your siblings, except Viktor, have a matching umbrella tattoo. What is the meaning behind it?”

“It’s a symbol.”

“Of?”

“The Umbrella Academy.”

Tony paused the video. No matter how many times he listened to it, that sentence always sent a chill down his spine.

The Umbrella Academy, he was sure it was the key to solving this mystery. Unfortunately, just like everything else, he found nothing about it. Not even Carol or Thor had heard about it. It was like it never existed in this universe.

He was going to do more digging before he heard footsteps approaching him. It belonged to his daughter.

“You have to go to bed, dad.”

“So do you,” he shifted his attention to the small girl who was walking toward him.

Morgan and Pepper were currently staying in the Avengers Headquarters. Tony almost lost his life and that pushed him to spend more time with his family when he still could. Because time is a fickle thing. We never knew when we are going to run out of it.

“That’s why I’m here. We’re gonna sleep together.”

“Is that so? Whatever you say, Maguna.”

He stood up and walked hand in hand with his daughter to the bedroom. He was lucky that only one of his arms was injured by the infinity stones. Sadly, the recovery would take weeks or perhaps months. He was a billionaire that needed to be protected until then, how annoying. 

Lying on the bed with his daughter by his side, Tony’s brain still refused to shut down. He replayed the interrogations in his mind and then the files, the test results…

“Wait a sec,” he mumbled, “those test results… it was similar to Peter’s. He’s a human with super abilities.” 

With that, Tony rushed out of the bed.

Chapter Text

Quiet. 

Viktor sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed. Taking deep breaths, he calmed his mind and focused on the sounds in his surroundings. He could hear the wind, the snoring people, and rustling footsteps?

His brows furrowed. It was the middle of the night, nobody should be that noisy. His breathing was rapid and he could hear him shouting things.

“Capt! Rhodey! Everyone else, wake up! I found something about our mysterious guests.”

“It better be something good.”

“It is, well more like a possibility. But listen, I’m pretty sure they have powers.”

Viktor’s eyes shot wide open. He stood up and began to pace around the room. Terrible thoughts were flooding his mind. He had to tell the other about his discovery. 

“Screw this.” Using his power, Viktor broke out from his cell.

Alert! Alert! 

Allison jumped from her bed at the sound of an alarm. Before she had the time to assess the situation, the door of her cell burst open. Actually, the correct word was destroyed. 

"Viktor? What's going on?" 

"Hi. No time to explain, follow me." 

She did as he told and followed him outside where she saw the others. They were bickering on a high volume, it was a wonder they had not been found yet. 

"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" In a second, everyone's eyes were focused on her and Allison gulped. Their stares, their burning stares, reminded her of all the things she had done. She remembered her nasty words and her selfish behavior. For the love of God, she even almost killed them all. 

And here she was, having the audacity to speak as if nothing happened. How stupid of her to think they would accept her back- 

"Those people figured out we have powers." 

"And this guy here decided to just blow up his cell and triggered the alarm." 

"I don't have any other choice." 

They were nonchalant, which was unexpected for Allison. Somehow, she even felt guiltier now. If they were angry, then let it out, scream at her. She preferred that action more than this charade. 

"What do we do now?" 

"What else? We have to get out of here!" 

“And go where? We know nothing about this world.” 

“What did you say?” Luther shut his mouth after he saw what he had done to his sister, triggered her. She was like how Viktor used to be, unstable and hurt. It made her dangerous. Unfortunately, Klaus seemed to not pick that up.

“Five thinks we are in a universe where there are these cool superheroes and no dad! No Umbrella Academy or the Sparrows either! Awesome, right? It probably has something to do with what happened at Hotel Obliv- Ouch!" Klaus rubbed the part of his arm where Luther just pinched. He gave him a stern look to stop his ramble, which initiated another quarrel. 

Meanwhile, Allison’s brain was processing that piece of information. Soon, she spiraled into panic and worry. She blamed herself for putting them through this and for getting herself even farther away from her beloved daughter, Claire. How are they supposed to go home now? Could they even do that?

Their conversation was cut short by a missile heading at them. Diego didn’t waste any second coming forward and changed its trajectory. It hit the wall not far from them instead, creating a large hole.

“It’s a good thing I’m still able to do that.” Through the smoke, they caught sight of the perpetrator. It was a man in a black metal suit. His appearance would remind you of those evil robots you only saw in the movies. How terrifying.

“You guys go, I’ll handle this.”

“But-“

“I said go!” Ben shouted at them, his face was lit up with irritation (directed at them of course) and determination to fight. He wanted to protect them. No, he had to. He couldn’t afford to lose his newfound home. 

Having no other choice, the others ran, and so did Allison. She kept going on and when she stopped for a moment, she noticed that nobody was with her. She was separated. In a room full of equipment and scientific projects, she timidly walked around.  

“Guys?” 

No response.

She was all alone, which also means there were no bad guys near her. Still, she didn’t let her guard down. A surprise attack could come at any minute. 

"Hello, how can I help you?" 

Allison jumped in surprise and frantically looked around. Nobody was there. Did she hallucinate or something? 

"Hello?" 

"Yes, hello. How can I help you?" 

Her heart skipped a beat once again at that voice. She needed to stop getting startled so easily. 

Then, she realized she was talking to an AI. How advanced this universe was really amazed her. It was nothing like hers. To be fair, they were a few years ahead of them and didn't experience multiple apocalypses. 

"I have some questions, do you think you can answer them?" 

"I'll try my best." 

"What is this place?" 

"This is the Avengers Compound. The Avengers Compound, also known as the New Avengers Facility, is a Stark Industries warehouse renovated by Tony Stark to become the Avengers' primary base of operations following the Ultron Offensive." 

Her nose scrunched up in confusion. She was unfamiliar with the terms it used. The Avengers? Stark Industries? The Ultron Offensive? 

She shook her head. Baby steps, let’s start with her first new question. 

"Please tell me more about the Avengers." 

A screen appeared in front of her and images and words were flashing like fireworks in the night sky. Allison spotted a pen and a paper, she took them and began to write as fast as she could.

Chapter Text

“So, superpowers huh?” Bucky said as he cocked his gun.

“Yup,” Sam responded. He then flew off the ground to spot their runaway prisoners.

“I’m not even surprised anymore.”

Bucky looked around with a gun in his hand, ready to pull the trigger. If Sam was their eyes on the sky, he was theirs on the land.

“How dangerous do you think they are?”

“We’re about to find out.”

Sam motioned Bucky to follow him as he headed towards their targets. The man sighed. It would’ve been nice if he could fly too instead of running around like what he was about to do.

“How big is this place?!” Klaus screamed in frustration. His hands were thrown in the air.

After going to plenty of doors and rooms, Klaus and Lila found the exit of the building at last. They thought they were free but no, not yet. They were met with more buildings and a grassy field instead. Since Klaus was about to break down on the spot, Lila immediately suggested for they to follow the road and see where it lead. She convinced him (with a forced smile) that it would show them a way out.

So here they were, walking side by side towards the unknown. They were tired, stressed, and grumpy. It would’ve been the right choice to leave them alone for the moment.

Unfortunately, the universe decided to play them once again.

“Hey, what is that? Is that… a bird?”

“I don’t think there’s a bird that big.” They both squinted their eyes. Eventually, they realized it was a man in a suit equipped with wings. How many suits does this world even have?

“No, you don’t.” Lila pulled Klaus back, thwarting his attempt to escape. It was better to confront them.

The man landed on his feet and put away his wings. Soon, another man joined in. A gun was in his possession but Lila was pretty sure he brought more.

“Look, we don’t want to cause any trouble. Let’s just go back inside and we can figure something out.” Lila and Klaus took a step back, not trusting them for even a little bit.

“Klaus, do something.”

“Okay, okay. I have an idea.” They joined hands and Klaus activated his power, followed by Lila. Together, they summoned an army of dead people. The dead started attacking the two armed men, catching them off-guard.

“What the hell-“ They tried to defeat them but nothing worked. Physical attacks and weapons had proven to be useless against them. Well, they were fighting ghosts after all. Their guns should have been filled with Holy water.

Taking their chance, Lila and Klaus ran away. But, their pursuers managed to notice them.

“Buck, they are running away!”

With a little bit of luck, Bucky escaped the ghosts’ grasps and chased after them. He grabbed the woman’s arm and sent a punch to her head, which she dodged.

Lila hit his stomach multiple times before ending it with a kick to his face. Bucky stumbled back and he felt a liquid dripping from his nose.

Blood.

He chuckled and his gaze darkened, “Not bad.”

Round two began with Lila throwing a punch at him. Her jaw fell when he caught it with his hand, his metallic hand. He then grabbed her neck and pushed her to the ground.

Sitting on top of her, Bucky was going to knock the lights out of her. But, Lila wouldn’t let him succeed.

“Is this how you treat a pregnant woman?”

His grip on her neck loosened and she smashed their heads together. They groaned in unison.

“Lila, come on!”

 She began to sprint towards Klaus. She could hear the man yelling at her but she didn’t dare to look back. She had to get away.

Switching to a more aggressive approach, Bucky took the gun he previously kept and pulled the trigger. Lila froze on her track. She waited and waited but she still didn’t fall bleeding to death. She didn’t feel any pain at all. So, she turned around and saw those two men levitating in the air.

“Hello, guys!”

With a sweet and lovely smile, Sloane approached them. Lila let out a loud laugh. She was completely baffled and amazed.

“Nicely done.”

Sloane then used her power to slam them harshly to the ground. Pained by her action, they screamed. It seemed they got some broken bones, judging from how they were unable to move freely now.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Five looked around. He was in the middle of the road with tall trees surrounding him. He could also see the place he and his siblings just escaped from.

Oh yeah, where are they?

As if right on cue, a car came up. The sound of its horn made him aware of its presence.

“You guys stole a car?” Five got in and sent a grin to the driver, Klaus. The girls were sitting in the back.

“Stealing is kinda my thing.”

After that, Allison interrupted their conversation, “And I obtained some information regarding those people. Here,” she dumped a handful of papers on Five’s lap. “You’re welcome.

“This is great! You guys are finally useful.” They rolled their eyes.

“Also, where are the others?”  

Chapter Text

Diego ran, ran, and ran. So did Luther.

The two brothers were running around with no definite destination. Anywhere would be nice as long as it wasn’t a prison. 

“Wait!” Luther stopped abruptly and pulled out his hand to grab Diego’s. The man was going to yell at him for surprising him but held back his tongue when he saw what he was doing. Luther was pointing at something, or someone to be precise. 

A man in a blue outfit stood not far from them. He was holding a round shield with a white star in the middle of it. Diego didn’t see any more weapons except for that one.  

“What is he doing?” Luther whisper-yelled at him, crept by his action. That man literally didn’t do anything else. He seemed like he was waiting for them to make the first move. No, he knew they would make the first move. 

“He is alone, we can take him down together.” 

“You sure?”

“Since when did you become a pussy, Luther?” He scoffed. If they were all alone right now, a silly banter would’ve broken out. Luckily, they still had some sense of what kind of situation they were in now.

So, they attacked. Luther charged straight at him but was easily knocked back with his shield. Diego threw some knives at him but they didn’t do any damage since he blocked them. 

He threw the shield at him but he dodged it. Taking his chance, Luther punched the man in the face. They got into a fist fight and Diego believed that his brother would come out victorious because he had super-strength. He didn’t know that his opponent had the same thing. 

Steve was a super soldier. His durability, strength, and athleticism were enhanced. He also had countless battle experiences to back him up. He was much more skilled than Luther in terms of fighting, which gave him an advantage. 

Finishing the fight with an uppercut, Luther fell to the ground with a loud thud. He was no longer unconscious.

“Shit,” He took more of his knives and threw them at him. Steve didn’t have his shield so some cuts were inevitable, but that didn’t stop him. Due to their distance, Diego shifted from long-ranged attacks to short-ranged ones. 

He threw a punch at him but Steve caught it without any difficulty. Diego gulped before he got punched in the face and lost consciousness. 

“Stark, I got two of them.”

Steve observed the two men in front of him after reporting. On the outside, they looked just like him (except for Luther I suppose), human. But to think they were from somewhere unknown to him... 

He knew they were not alone in this world, something he had learned the hard way. He fought aliens and time traveled, he thought he had seen it all. 

Now, he wasn't sure anymore. 

Threat after threat kept coming after his Earth and he feared that he wasn't strong enough to protect it forever. In the end, he was nothing but a mortal being. He had his limits. 

Steve shifted his gaze to the night sky and whispered, "When is this going to end..." 

One step forward, two steps forward... 

Walking cautiously, Wanda searched for their escaped prisoners. She couldn't believe they managed to run away from Stark's advanced cells. This means underestimating them would be a terrible mistake. 

"I know you're in here," A table was thrown back, clearing a path for her. "Come out." 

Whoosh. 

An energy force swiftly came forth, sweeping the room's interiors and Wanda off the ground. She was flung away and hit a wall. Groaning in pain, she stood back up. Her anger was visible on her face. 

"Not bad," She praised the man in front of her. He was alone but he didn't look terrified at all. He appeared to be confident and fearless. Unfortunately, he was going to need more than that. 

The two of them activated their power simultaneously, a clash of red and blue. Neither of them wanted to back down. 

An explosion was created and Wanda took that opportunity to lift Viktor into the air. He was struggling under her grasp. 

"Let. Me. Go." 

Viktor shouted, using all of his strength to form a mass amount of energy. Wanda was alarmed. She slammed him down to knock him unconscious. Luckily, she succeeded. Viktor's attempt to attack was a failure. 

"You're strong," Wanda lifted his chin, "but lack control. You should've trained more." Wanda's power flew to Viktor's head, his eyes went red for a split second. 

"Night, night." Viktor's eyes were slowly fluttering closed. Darkness clouded his vision. 

"Hello?" 

He was in a dark and empty void. There wasn't any wall no matter how far Viktor searched for one. Then, he saw people on the ground. They were just lying there, lifeless. 

They were his siblings. 

"Guys!" 

He checked every single one of them, searching for a pulse, searching for any sign that they were still alive. 

But he found nothing. 

"No, no-" 

He was spiraling. Fear consumed him wholly, making him hard to breathe. He took a few steps back before he stepped on something. 

It was a rubric cube, covered in blood. 

He picked it up and observed it, figuring why it was even there. It was so out of place. Then suddenly, his head throbbed in pain. It hurt so much. 

"Viktor!" 

He could hear someone calling for him, but it was hard to recognize the owner of that voice due to the loud dog's howls. Why a dog? 

"Viktor! Viktor!" 

Viktor jolted awake.

Chapter Text

Bruce poured the freshly-made coffee into his (large) cup. His lack of sleep made him crave caffeine. He needed it to jumpstart his brain since they got an important matter to discuss right now. It couldn’t wait ‘till morning, how annoying.

“So, what are we going to do?”

No response, as expected. The earth’s heroes or some might say the ‘mightiest’ ones, just got their asses kicked. Bucky and Sam were beaten up quite badly. Moreover, most of their prisoners escaped right under their watch.

This whole situation was ridiculous. 

If only he had helped them instead of just standing around, waiting for everything to be over. With his injury from the snap, it was impossible to fight. 

“We should try to question them again.”

“Is that even a good idea? We can’t figure out whether they are lying or not since we know absolutely nothing about them in the first place.” Bruce objected.

“Then we use a different approach.”

“Like what?”

“This,” Clint showed live footage from one of their surveillance cameras, revealing Bucky limping towards one of the prisoners’ cells.

With a gun in his hand.

Bruce, Steve, and Tony immediately rushed to the scene to prevent anything horrid from happening. Clint, on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity.

Off he went to Luther Hargreeves’ cell. The said man was sitting awkwardly on his bed. His gigantic body made him look like an elementary school kid. He wasn’t intimidated though, he had seen worse unworldly things, gods and a mad titan who wanted to be like them and reset the universe. His experiences would surely be a great help in this situation.

“What else do you want?” Luther coldly asked after he noticed Clint through his cell’s glass.

“More information, considering you all only told us so little about what we want and should know.”

“It doesn’t matter anyways. You won’t be able to comprehend a single word I say.” 

“Then, you won’t cooperate?”

Luther straightened up his back and folded his arms. He shook his head as a way to say no. Clint could only chuckle.

“You might want to see this.”

Hesitantly, Luther took a look at his tab, and what he was witnessing shocked him. His brother, Diego, was being held at gunpoint. 

“What do you think you’re doing? This is illegal, we have the right to protection!”

“Do you think anyone will protect you? People here have gone through hell because of visitors like you. Trust me, they’ll kill you the moment they lay their eyes on you.”

Luther gulped. He was used to being interrogated, even tortured. But he never broke, he never gave in. His father made sure he had proper training for this kind of situation. 

But that was in the past when he was still his father’s golden child. And what did he get in return? An ape-shaped body and a pointless trip to the moon. On top of that, he lost his family as well. He couldn’t bear to lose them again.

Not like this.

“Okay, fine! How about a deal?” Clint raised an eyebrow and motioned him to continue. 

“We give you information, real and honest information and you give us protection, no matter what.” 

No response.

“Remember, you need this.”

Clint pondered for another moment before finally relented.

“Alright, it’s a deal.” And as if right on cue, the others pulled Bucky out of Diego’s cell before he managed to pull the trigger, making it seems like he got everything under ‘control’.

“It was nice talking to you, Luther Hargreeves. Have a good day.”

EXTRA! Warning: Contains some swear words

A grunt escaped Diego’s lips. He banged the door out of frustration. What is the point of being born with a superpower if one couldn’t even use it to get out of prison? To be fair, this was a special kind of prison, but still… 

It irked him

He heavy-heartedly stepped away from the door and sat on an iron chair. He looked around, there was nothing much here. His cell had white wallpaper and there was only a bed, a chair, and a table inside. Beside the door, there was a large glass window. He couldn’t see anything through it right now, he had to wait for them to show themselves to him.

Bam!

The door slid open. Entering his cell was a man with a metal arm. He appeared to be irritated but still trying to preserve his composure. That was what you ought to do when you need to shoot somebody after all.

"Woah, woah! Easy there man."

"You will tell us everything we want to know or you'll be dead in 3 seconds."

"You really think some bullets would've been enough to kill me? I'm offended."

"If not, then I could just beat the living shit out of you."

"I'd like to see you try." Bucky scoffed and threw him a menacing glare, "you'd regret ever messing with us."

"Stop talking and just FUCKING DO IT!"

Bam!

The door flew open once again. Two men came in and tried to push Bucky out. Another man, if you could call him a man, apologized for the inconvenience from the outside. His huge (and green) body must have prevented him from being able to enter this room. 

They were all finally gone, leaving a dumbfounded Diego.

Meanwhile, Viktor jolted awake. He was panting heavily and his mind was trying to process everything, his dream, and the reality.

But a voice interrupted him. It belonged to the woman he previously met. 

"What did you see?"