Replacement (The Umbrella Academy)

Chapter 13: Sacrifices

An hour and a half or so later, Five's chalkboard walls were covered head to toe in equations. Ashlinn looked around the room as Five finished up the wall behind her. She didn't understand how using math could determine whose death could prevent the apocalypse.

"I think I've got something, Dolores. Ashlinn, take a look." Five steps back to look at the names scribbled on the wall.

"And if they die, the apocalypse can be prevented?" Ashlinn walks up beside him and Five shrugs.

"If my calculations were correct, which they always are." Five says with a cocky attitude, but Ashlinn looks at him with a perplexed look.

"What?"

"Always?" She looks him up and down. The fifty-eight-year-old in the thirteen-year-old body.

"You make one mistake" She hears Five mumble under his breath. "There is a 99.999% success rate."

"You seem to get the 0.001% end of that stick." Ashlinn snickers and Five rolls his eyes.

"Mhm, whatever."

"Now, who are these people? Drug dealers? Rapists? Murderers?" Ashlinn asks and Five thinks for a moment.

"No, I'm pretty sure they're all normal, standard, run-of-the-mill people."

"Five. You can't-"

"Please don't lecture me. I know what I'm doing" Five was about to hop off of the bed when Ashlinn stopped him.

"Five, think about what you're doing. You're not an assassin anymore. You don't have to kill innocents anymore." Ashlinn tries to convince him otherwise.

"I have thought about it. What're a few lives over seven billion?" Five shrugs off her hand and he gets off of the bed.

"And if it doesn't work? I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but that 0.001% is still a chance." Ashlinn follows after him.

"Then they would be dead in a few days anyway." Five was about to reach under his bed when Luther walked in.

"What's all this?" Luther asks and Ashlinn was going to answer, but Five held his hand up to stop her. She makes a face at Five as he answers.

"It's a probability map." Five looks at the walls again.

"Probability of what?" Luther walks further into the room, looking at the math equations surrounding him.

"Of whose death could prevent the apocalypse," Ashlinn says, crossing her arms.

"I've narrowed it down to four people." Five says, looking at his list again.

"Are you saying one of these people cause the apocalypse?" Luther points to the list.

"No, I'm saying their death might prevent it." Five was getting impatient. He wanted to get this over with.

"Oh...I'm not following." Luther whispers to Five and Ashlinn laughs.

"I told you that you're the worst at explaining." Ashlinn looks at Five who glares at her.

"Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum." Five explains to the best of his ability.

"Like the butterfly effect," Ashlinn adds in and Luther nods.

"All I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, where ever they may be and kill them."

"Milton Greene. So, who's he, like a terrorist or something?" Luther asks and Ashlinn crosses her arms and looks at Five.

"Go ahead, Five. Tell him."

"I believe he's a gardener." Five says and Luther turns to look at him.

"You can't be serious?" Luther says with disbelief.

"Believe me, he is," Ashlinn says, glaring at Five once again.

"This is madness Five. You-"

"Woah! Where did you get that?" Ashlinn exclaims and Luther turns to look at him as he takes out a rifle.

"In Dad's room. I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros. It's similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit, highly reliable."

"Five! Just calm down for a second." Ashlinn says, trying to wrap her head around everything.

"This guy, Milton is just an innocent man," Luther says and Five looks up at him.

"Guys, it's basic math. Like I said to Ashlinn, his life could potentially save the lives of billions. And if I did nothing, he's dead in four days anyway. The apocalypse won't spare anyone." Five gets ready to leave.

"We don't do this kind of thing," Luther argues.

"We are not doing anything. I am."

"Five, we can't let you kill innocents. It doesn't matter the cost." Ashlinn warns and Five looks at both of them.

"Yeah? Good luck stopping me." Five begins to walk away. Ashlinn looks at Luther before gesturing her head in Dolores' direction. Luther looks at the mannequin and the open window behind him and he nods at Ashlinn.

"You're not going anywhere." Luther grabs Dolores and holds her out the window. Five turns around and points the gun at Luther.

"Put. Her. Down." Five warns and Ashlinn takes a step back. She's not involved in this.

"Put the gun down. You're not killing anyone. I know she's important to you, so don't make me do this. It's either her or the gun. You decide." There was silence for a moment before Luther dropped the mannequin. Five blinked over to catch her. Ashlinn quickly grabbed the gun as Luther walked over beside her. She looks down at the gun before handing it to Luther.

"The gun is too big. I don't like it."

"But you're an FBI agent." Luther looks down at her.

"Yeah, and? I use small guns. Not fuckin' rifles."

Ashlinn and Luther look at Five who was sitting on his bed holding Dolores.

"Five, I've only known you a few days, but I can tell that you're a good person." Ashlinn walks over to face Five. "I mean, you risked everything to come back here a save us all. And, you're not on your own. Not anymore."

Five sighs. "There is one way. But it's just about impossible."

"More impossible than what brought you back here?" Luther says and the three of them look at each other.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's do this." Ashlinn smiles and the two boys look at her.

"What? Am I not allowed to be excited about saving the world?" Ashlinn looks at both of them with a defeated look.

"What we're gonna need is a black suitcase and some things to weigh it down." Five stands up, leaving Dolores on the bed.

"I think there's a suitcase in Dad's room." Luther runs off to find the suitcase. Five looks at Ashlinn before grabbing her hand and dragging her off.

"You've gotten into quite the habit of taking my hand and leading me places, haven't you? Ashlinn comments as they continue to walk down the hall. "What's next? You'll give me a cute nickname?"

"Maybe I'll start calling you Linn." Five jokes and Ashlinn scrunched her nose.

"Linn? Why Linn?"

"Klaus calls you Ash...you don't like it, do you? I'm so going to call you that from now on." Five smirks to himself and Ashlinn inwardly groans.

"Great. Anyway, what are we looking for?" Ashlinn asks as Five walks into the storage closet and pulls out a few items.

"Just something to add weight to the suitcase. Just in case."

They meet up with Luther and put the items into the suitcase and then they all head down to the car and drive off to some abandoned road.