Limitless - The Umbrella Academy

13. Drunk as a Skunk

I figured out where Five was, something about a fake eyeball he found? And how it leads to the end of the world? I didn't know, but what I did know was that Five was outside some Lab, and he was in a plumbing truck. I start to head there, getting in my black car, starting it up and driving. I didn't know how far away this place was, but i would drive till I saw it, I pass the streets of New York, seeing all the walkers and cars driving down the streets, noticing 3 kids running down the street, playing. Kinda weird out in the streets, but it reminded me of us as kids, the good times we had. Sometimes, all any of us could think about was the bad things, all the terrible stuff we've been subjected to, and it makes it hard to remember the sliver of good we had. I find the place, pulling into the parking lot across the street, seeing the two assholes rolling up to it with me. I get out of the car, walking up to them. They see me, stopping infront of the van.
"Aleya? What are you doing here?" Luther asks, and I smile.
"The same thing as you, but better since I figured out where Five was in 10 minutes." I say, as they look to the ground. "Look, I wanted to stay out of your bullshit, I didn't wanna deal with your guys' married couple bickering. If you don't bicker, we can work together on this, like a real family. Deal?" I say, crossing my arms.
"Why would we wanna work with you?" Diego says, and I chuckle.
"Because I'll find him 10 times faster than you ever could. If you really wanna find Five, you'll get there faster with me. I knew him more than you assholes did." I smirk, as they come to the other side of the van, knowing I was right. Luther tries the door, seeing it's locked, as it rattles. He sighs, standing back from it. Diego grabs something from his belt, unlocking the door with it. They open it, both trying to get in at the same time, like idiots repeatedly. I cock an eyebrow, waiting for one of them to just get in.
"I'm One." Luther says, pointing his finger at himself, before Diego sighs, moving to the back door and unlocking it as we both climb in, Luther struggling to get in the front passengers seat. We all look around, me finding a duffel bag with stuff inside, seeing Vanya's book with a whole bunch of equasions and formulas written in it, as I see something on the front cover.
THIS BOOK IS PROPERTY OF
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
ARGYLE STREET BRANCH
"Hey guys! I got something." I say, as they all look at me, and I point to the library stamp. "That's where we find Five." I say, as they both smile at each other.
---
We walk into the library, seeing all the people going about their day, bussling around.
"Let's split up." Luther says, as Me and Diego look at him.
"Wow. Good thinking." Diego says, as I chuckle.
"What's next? Look for clues, gang? Jump in the mystery machine?" I say, as we all split up, going floor by floor, trying to find him. I look everywhere, knowing he wouldn't be in one specific place. Going floor by floor until we all meet up again, then going up the next floor. Rinse and repeat. I looked in the sections, in the labs, everywhere. It was seeming like he wasn't here, but damnit I knew he was.
"Anything? Luther says, as we hit the final floor. I sigh as I shake my head.
"No." Diego says, looking over the ledge of the floor, back down to the main floor. Luther sighs, starting to walk away, as do I, when Diego starts talking. "You wanna know why I left?" Diego says, as I groan.
"What? What are you talking about?" Luther says, turning back around.
"Why I left the Academy." Diego says, turning around as I huff.
"Diego I said no bullshit and there's no time!" I say, gesturing towards the hall before they both blow me off.
"Yeah, because you couldn't handle me being Number One." Luther says, as I roll my eyes.
"No. Because that's what you do when you're 17. You move out, you become your own person, grow up." Diego says.
"Oh yeah. You're a real grown up." Luther taunts.
"At least I make my own decisions. You've never had to hold down a job. Pay bills. You ever even been with a girl?" Diego says with a smile.
"Guys we seriously don't have time for this shit." I say, as I start to walk away, as Luther stammers.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I hear Luther say, as Diego chuckles.
"Look you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving, that's okay. But maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it's not about why we left, maybe it's about why you stayed." I hear Diego say, as I keep walking, hearing women talking in the distance. I start to walk towards them, as I hear the talking and whispering growing closer. I go down a hallway, seeing Five passed out, a manniquin with him, and a whole bunch of notes with a whole bunch of girls around him giggling. I sigh, starting back towards the boys. I see them still talking, and yell out.
"Hey, dipshits! While you guys were getting all serious about your own problems, I found him." I yell, as they sprint off towards me, walking with me down the hallway. We get to where I was, as they see Five. All the girls had dispurted, and I could hear his drunken snores and see the bottle in his hand. Was he... drunk? God, Five.
"Is he.. um.." Luther says, and I nod.
"Drunk as a skunk." Diego says with a smile, as the bottle falls out of Five's hands.
"Alright, let's scoop him up. Don't want his ass getting thrown out by security." I say, walking over to him. Oh Five, you godamned idiot.
And you thought I was dumb, huh?
--
We walk down an alleyway, taking the back roads for Five to not be seen. Luther carries Five and his manniquin, as he fades in and out of conciousness. We walk, just trying to find out where to go until Five is sober.
"Well, we can't go back to the house. It's not secure, those psychopaths could come back at any moment." Luther says, and I nod.
"My place in Maine would be safe, but it's a few hours away. I guess that's safer but a pain in the ass." I say, as we continue walking.
"My place is closer, no one will look for him there." Diego says, as I nod. Five belches, sounding like he's ready for a drunken puking session, then sighing, as Luther looks down at him.
"If you vomit on me..." Luther threatens, as Five leans his head back.
"You know what's funny? Aah! I'm going through puberty." He scoffs. "Huh. Twice. And I... I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof. It's gone." Five says drunkenly, as I sigh. He didn't tell these guys about the world ending. "What are you guys talkin about?" He says, as Luther sighs.
"Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night." Luther says.
"And they came looking for you. So I need you to focus. What do they want?" Diego says back.
"Yeah and I almost died." I say out under my breath.
"Hazel and Cha-Cha." Five whispers out, as we turn around.
"Who?" Diego says.
"You know, I hate code names." Luther says back.
"Ah, the best of the best." Five says back to Diego. "Except for me, of course." He chuckles out drunkenly.
"The best of what?" Luther spits out, staring at him.
"You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink." Delores? Who was that? "She said it made me surly--" Five starts, giggling, before Diego turns around.
"Hey!" Diego shouts, as I furrow my eyebrows.
"Diego, he's drunk give it a rest-" I say, grabbing his arm before he whips it off.
"I need you to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?" Diego says to him, as Five smiles at him. I give Diego a worried look, before he turns back to Five. "We just want to protect you."
"Protect me. I don't need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed?" We all look at each other in confusion. Five killing people? What kind of drunken nonsense? "No. I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming." Five says, puking over Luther's arm. We all look away, sighing. It was going to be a especially long night.