The Umbrella Academy

Chapter 2: Stakeout

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Five parked the van by the MeriTech building and watched as Lance walked towards the building carrying a tray of coffee cups. He took notice of how the doctor looked around, acting a little suspicious.

Five suddenly remembered Delores and turned to the back of the van where the bag was. "Oh, shit."

He unzipped the bag, and lifted her out, placing her between himself and (Y/n), along with a bottle of liquor.

"Sorry you were in there for so long...no, I'm not drunk. I'm working...yes, this is about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or...will be made. We just have to wait."

...

"I don't like this any more than you do, but she's hiding something." Luther insisted.

Allison still had trouble believing it. "Hiding? To me she just sounded confused."

"You saw the tape. Grace knew what she was doing." Luther argued.

Allison raised her brows. "Grace? This morning she was mom."

"She's a machine, Allison." He told her.

"Who read to us and cleaned up after us and put us to bed. And then we left her here, alone, for 13 years." She reminded him. "I mean, no wonder she lost her mind. To be away from your kids?"

Luther had a feeling she wasn't just talking about Grace and decided to ask. "Hey, what happened with...Claire? With Patrick? You never told me."

Allison looked down at the floor. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"It's just...when we were kids, we used to sit in here and tell each other everything." Luther reminisced.

"Yeah, and then we grew up." Allison snapped. Then she sighed. "Things got ugly between Patrick and me. Now the court says I have to do this mandatory therapy thing before I can have visitation."

"What for?" He asked.

Allison looked away from him in shame, and Luther figured out why. "You used your power on her."

"I mean, there were days where she'd have these epic meltdowns. And no matter what I said, she wouldn't stop. She was three then, and I...I know that's what three-year-olds are supposed to do. So I said I would do it that one time. Only it wasn't just that one time. I told myself, any parent with my power would do the same. That it wasn't wrong. I just had an advantage." She explained tearfully. "I mean, from the time I was little I used it to get everything I wanted. With dad, with my career...but now I know nothing in my life was real. So I'm starting over. I just didn't think it would be so hard."

"It'll get easier." Luther promised. "Some things just take time."

Allison scoffed. "Yeah. And some things just stay broken."

...

Back in the van, Five was holding the eyeball in his hand, fiddling with it. He stared out the window of the van and watched all the people that were passing by, blissfully unaware of the doom that was coming their way in a few days.