Limitless - The Umbrella Academy

16. Our Little Psycho

We drive along the dirt road, as me and Luther sit in the front and Five in the back. I stare at the dying yellow grass and bare trees, and dirt around us. Five came up with this massive plan to get them out there, give them a fake briefcase which they so desperately needed, to get to the Handler. After Five talks to this Handler, he's supposedly going to make her fix this timeline, and then we go home, hopefully having it all solved. I stop where we said to meet, stopping the car and turning the keys. Five unbuckles himself, as do I.
"You know, I never enjoyed it." Five says, looking over at me.
"What?" I say, looking at him.
"The killing. I mean, I was... I was good at my work, and I... I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure. I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind." Five says, and I smile in empathy. I understood he never liked it. I knew Five was a good guy deep down, from all those years of talking and being friends.
"Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It's the being alone that breaks you." Luther says, sighing. "You think they'll buy it? The briefcase?"
"Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop loosing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Well, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back." Five says, and I take a deep breath, leaning back into my seat.
"Well, I should hold onto it. In case they make a move on you." Luther says, and I look back at him.
"I could take it." I say, and he shakes his head.
"You're too weak. I don't want something like what happened at the academy again, you'll die." He says, and I sigh, turning back around in annoyance. I'm trying my best here!
"Okay, Luther, but be careful. I mean, I've... I've lived a long life... but, you're still a young man. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it." Five says, as he leans forward. It felt so weird for Five to be giving Luther life advice, but he was a grown man technically. Five hums, as a blue car approaches. "Here we go." Five says, as we all get out of the car. The blue car approaches, as I stand by Luther. They stop a bit ahead of us, and Five comes over to me and Luther.
"If this all goes sideways, do me a favour and tell Delores i'm sorry." Five says, walking away. I turn to Luther.
"Who the hell is Delores?" I ask, and he scoffs.
"His little mannequin girlfriend I guess. Reminds me a lot of you." Luther jokes, as I nudge him.
"Shut up, I'm old enough to be his grandma, sicko." I see the two masked people who attacked the academy walk up to Five, taking their masks off and throwing them on the ground. I try to listen to them, but it was hard to hear them at some points.
"I wonder what they're talking about." I say quietly, as Luther shrugs.
"Your guess is as good as mine." He says, as the girl pulls out a gun. I whirr my powers, ready to tackle this bitch like it's a game of all star football. As she lowers the gun and walks to the payphone, I let it go, letting out a deep breath. Five walks back over to us, leaning on my car. "What happens now?" Luther asks.
"Now we wait." Five says, as the wind picks up, blowing my long brown hair behind me. It felt refreshing to me, in the city you don't feel much wind. I watch the two people in suits Five was talking to just stand there, waiting too. I hear the confusing sound of an ice cream truck pulling up, as the chime sounds out. We all look in confusion.
"Is that her?" Luther asks, Five just looking in confusion. As it passes, I see Klaus, waving to us from the window, blowing a kiss to what I was assuming me, and what looked like Diego driving. How in the hell did they get here?
"The hell is he doing here?" Five says, and I shrug my shoulders. As I hear the gunfire ring out, I whirr up my powers, Five hiding behind me and Luther. The gunfire continues, as the truck hits the two people, sending them flying. I see a bullet flying at us, jumping infront of Luther to try and save him, it barely misses him and hits the car. The truck smashes into the blue car, as Diego and Klaus get out. Luther turns around, as do I, not seeing Five anywhere. Damnit. We call out for him, seeing him nowhere. Mother fucker. Luther holds up the briefcase, as the two people look at him.
"You want it? Come get it." He says, as they run towards us, Luther throwing it into the gravel beside us. We run to get Diego and Klaus, trying to rush them back to my car.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Klaus asks, as I rush them to my car.
"No time to explain." I hurridly explain. "Get in the car! Go!" I scream, Luther shoving them in as I start the car, them piling in.
"Aleya! Go! Go!" Klaus says, as I switch the gears, and step on the gas. My engine revs, as we speed off, my tires screeching from how fast I booked it. That went horribly. Five's gone again and we have no idea where he went. It felt like a chore to miss him now, he was always gone out somewhere, dissapearing and never coming home. This wasn't the Five that I was best friends with when I was 13. I tune out all Klaus' whooping and cheering, and just drive, trying not to think about it too much.
--
Wednesday morning
I wake up to a faint knocking on my door, turning over in my bed, squinting my eyes to see Allison.
"Hey, what's up?" I say, stretching in my bed, swinging my body to sit on my bed.
"We all need to talk, Luther said something important. All of us. Meet in the living room, family meeting like old times." She says with a smile, closing my door to let me get ready. I brush my hair, getting some clothes to put on for the day and brushing my teeth. I walk down the stairs, getting ready for this family meeting, whatever that meant nowadays. I walk down the stairs, hearing Allison's voice again.
"Three days?!" She asks in concern, me knowing aready they are talking about our ultimate demise, the apocalypse that starts in three days. Nice to know they started without me, but to be fair, I already knew it all.
"That's what Five said." Luther says, and I sit down on the couch.
"Nice to know that you guys started without me, even though I knew this." I say with a sigh.
"The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it. He just left out the part about how soon." Klaus says, sitting criss cross on the couch. Allison hands me a coffee, which I nod my head in silence, thanking her for it. I let the warmth of the cup heat up my hands.
"But can we trust him? I don't know if you've noticed, but Five's a little.." Allison whistles, pointing to her head, indicating that he's out of his mind.
"Our little psycho." Klaus smiles, as I chuckle.
"He was pretty convincing." Luther says, as I nod.
"He's one of the most brilliant people I know." I say, remembering his equations on the wall.
"If he wasn't trying to stop an apocalypse, those lunatics wouldn't be after him." Luther says quietly.
"That's why they were after him?" Diego says, as Luther nods.
"Yeah." He says, almost in a whisper.
"What did Five even see?" Allison asks, Luther looking up at her.
"Uh... Apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible." Luther says, them all waiting for him to continue on. I knew he didn't want to break the news that all of us didn't survive. He was One after all, he should tell them. He stands up, ignoring the stares, as he clicks his tounge. "Okay. So, here's the plan. Uh, we go through dad's research-"
"Wait, what?" Allison inturupts, all of them butting in to say 'Hold on'.
"Wait a tick, wait a tick, wait a tick. What actually happened the first time around?" Klaus says, as I put my head down.
"Yeah. What are you not telling us? Come on, big boy, spit it out." Diego says, as I pitch in.
"We died. Sorry to steal your spotlight, Luther but they oughta know." I say quickly, sipping my coffee. He sighs, noding.
"Yeah, what she said." He says, also sipping his coffee. Everyone looks around at each other, lost for words.
That's exactly how I felt when I first knew too.