Replacement (The Umbrella Academy)

Chapter 3: Coffee and Guns

Ashlinn sat at the table beside Klaus as Five searched the kitchen high and low for something.

"Looking for something?" Ashlinn asks and Five sighs loudly.

"Is there any coffee in this damn house?" Five continues to search as Allison walks in.

"Where's Vanya?" Allison asks as she walks over to the table.

"She left," Ashlinn answers.

"An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms, but not a single drop of coffee." Five also joins them at the table with an annoyed look.

"I know right!" Ashlinn sits up in her chair. "I'd kill for coffee right now."

"Dad hated caffeine," Allison says as if it was obvious.

"Well, he hated children too, and he had plenty of us." Klaus laughs.

"I'm taking the car." Five begins to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Klaus sat up in his seat, suddenly interested.

"To get a decent cup of coffee." Five turns to face Klaus before his eyes shift to look at Ashlinn. He motions for her to follow him. "You come with me."

"Me?" Ashlinn asks, sounding shocked. Why does he want her to come with him?

"Yes, you. Now, come here." He says and Ashlinn quickly walks over to Five.

"Do you even know how to drive?" Allison asks as she crosses her arms.

"I know how to do everything." Five says before grabbing Ashlinn's hand and blinking out of the kitchen and into the car. Ashlinn held her stomach, she felt sick.

"You gotta warn a girl before you do that." She glares at Five as the engine starts up.

"If you're going to whine the entire way, I'll leave you here." Five says and Ashlinn rolls her eyes.

"Why did you want me to come?" She asks and Five shrugs.

"I want to get to know you more. See if you'll be any help to me." Five says and Ashlinn was confused.

"Help? What do you mean 'if I'll be any help to you'?"

"I'll tell you later. When you've answered all of my questions. Now, tell me, where are you from?" Five asks and Ashlinn gives him a look.

"What do you mean?" She asks and Five sighs.

"I didn't realise that it was such a complex question." He says and Ashlinn rolls her eyes.

"Your accent. You're not from here. So, where are you from?" He then asks and she looks at him again.

"Waterford, Ireland. I grew up there and my accent never changed I guess." Ashlinn answers as Five pulls into a parking lot. She looks out the window to see that they were at a place called Griddy's Doughnuts.

"Huh, nice. Ireland's a nice country." Five says as he exits the car and Ashlinn follows him into the doughnut shop.

"Who are you?" Five then asks as he sits on the stool at the counter.

"I've already told you that." She sits beside him and he shakes his head.

"No, not like that. How did you end up at the academy? You weren't there when I was. Where did you come from?" Five asks and Ashlinn looks at the counter.

"I...uhm, I was taken in after an accident involving my parents." Ashlinn was hesitant about telling him everything.

"When was that?" He asks but before she could answer a man sat up beside Five. She was about to speak when Five shushed her. The three of them sat in silence as the waitress walks out.

"Sorry, the sink was clogged." She walks over to them, taking out her notepad and pen. "So, what'll it be?"

The man places his order and the waitress turns towards Ashlinn and Five.

"Can I get the kids a glass of milk or something?" She smiles at the man.

"The kid wants a coffee. Black." Five says with a smug smile.

"Make that two," Ashlinn says and the waitress looks over at the man.

"Cute kids." She smiles at all of them and Five and Ashlinn both give her an innocent smile. She mutters an 'okay' before walking over to the coffee machine. Five made conversation with the man, but Ashlinn didn't care enough to listen. The waitress came over with the coffee and the éclair for the three of them. The man handed in money, also paying for Ashlinn and Five's coffee. They both thank him. Five continues to talk to the man until he leaves while Ashlinn remained silent the whole time. As the man left Five turned to face Ashlinn again.

"Back to what I was saying. When?" He leans forward and she hesitates.

"...two months after you disappeared, I think." She answers and Five nods but he remained silent. Ashlinn could hear an abundance of thoughts cross her mind signalling that they weren't alone anymore.

"Can you fight?" Five asks and Ashlinn nods.

"Hmm, that was fast. I thought I'd have more time before they found me." Five suddenly says and Ashlinn shuts her eyes. Great. There are people after Five.

"Okay. So, let's all be professional about this, yeah?" A man behind them says and Ashlinn looks at the reflection of the bell to see him pointing a gun directly at Five.

"On your feet and come with us. They want to talk." The man says and Five continues to look ahead with a calm demeanour.

"I've got nothing to say." Five says and Ashlinn silently sighs. What did he do?

"It doesn't have to go this way. You think I wanna shoot a kid? Go home with that on my conscience? And her too. I'd rather not." The man says and Ashlinn sighs loudly this time.

"Why am I getting involved?" She complains but Five dismisses her.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Five turns his head to look at the man pointing the gun at him. "He won't be going home."

Five slowly grabs a knife before blinking behind the man and stabbing him in the neck. Ashlinn quickly spins around and she runs off the chair. One guy tried to shoot her, but she dodged him before she kicked the gun out of his hands. She filled his head with thoughts and he collapsed with his migraine. She jumped out of the way as another guy went to shoot her, but he ended up shooting his teammate. She smiles to herself as she continues to help Five get rid of these people.

Soon enough, they were all sprawled out dead on the floor. Five slowly walks to one of the guys who was still alive and he snaps his neck before grabbing the device beside him. Ashlinn stared at him as he slowly walks up to the counter.

"Who the fuck were they?!" She storms up to him as he cuts his arm open.

"They were sent to kill me." Five states as he pulls a small pill-shaped object with a blinking green light out of his arm.

"And pray tell, why were they trying to kill you?" She asks and Five hops off the chair and starts walking towards the door of the shop Ashlinn follows after him.

"Because I want to save the world." He states and she looks at him as if he was crazy.

"Excuse me?" She says as they exit the shop. He throws the tiny tracking device on the ground."I'll explain more later. You could be of use to me, but as of right now I have some business to attend to." He starts walking towards the car.

"Wait!" Ashlinn runs up to him.

"What?"

"I deserve an explanation." She demands, but Five just puts his hands behind his back as he leans forward a bit.

"Listen, how about I tell you tomorrow? You can help me and I'll provide a more satisfactory explanation." He says before blinking into the car and driving off, leaving a very confused Ashlinn.

"I best get out of here before the cops get here." She mutters as she takes off running towards the academy. Her mind completely focused on what Five was on about and why those people were after him.

"Because I want to save the world."