[✓] 𝑃𝑅𝐸𝐿𝑈𝐷𝐸 | 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐭𝐞𝐧. 𝑏𝑟𝑎ℎ𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑧𝑡

It was dark outside, and it seemed to have rained in the time that they had been occupied inside the library, with puddles flooding the road and sidewalks.

The four of them entered an alleyway, lit only by the glow of the curtained windows in the apartment building next to them and the faint moonlight that peeked outside the dark clouds.

"Well, we can't go back to the house," Luther told them firmly. "It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment."

"Psychopaths?" Valerie echoed as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Diego gave her a look that caused her to slowly nod. "Right. Wait until Five wakes up. Got it. So, where are we going?"

Diego nodded before deciding, "My place is closer. No one will look for him there."

Five then woke up, immediately letting out a loud burp and drawing their attention to him. 

Luther looked down at him, his eyes narrowed as he warned, "If you vomit on me . . ."

"You know what's funny?" Five looked up at the sky, still a little drunk. "Aah! I'm going through puberty. Huh. Twice. And I..." he chuckled. "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." He looked towards Valerie, who was walking next to Luther. Five raised his hand and poked her cheek. "And, poof, you'll be gone." He then frowned as he stared at her, his finger still hovering close to her cheek. "But I don't want you to be gone. I love you."

Valerie felt herself blush and had to remind herself that he was still pretty drunk, so anything he said wasn't really valid. She looked up to see Diego giving her a smirk, knowing how she was feeling, and she leaned forward before slapping his arm.

"Shut up, Diego."

"I didn't even say anything!"

She gave him another glare before sighing. "Now that Five's awake, can you tell us what happened?"

"Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night," Diego explained, becoming much more serious. "They came looking for Five. And Mom—they . . ." He sighed, his face suddenly growing distressed. "They killed her."

That made Valerie stop in her tracks. A statement so sudden, so unexpected, made her heart much heavier in her chest. "She's dead?" 

"Yeah." Diego's expression hardened as he looked at Five and nodded. "We need to avenge her. So I need you to focus," he said sternly to the boy, pointing a finger at him. "What do they want?"

"Hazel and Cha-Cha," Valerie sighed, wiping her oncoming tears with the back of her hand. Five had told her all about the two hitmen and how they were after him during their long, boring stakeout.

"Who?" Diego asked as he turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You know, I hate code names," Luther stated with a scrunched nose, shaking his head.

"Ah, the best of the best." Five rested his head on Luther's shoulder, his words slightly slurred as he spoke. "Except for me, of course."

"The best of what?" Diego questioned, now more baffled than before.

"You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink," Five said airily. "She said it made me surly—"

"Hey!" Diego shouted as he stopped walking, turning around to face Five with an irritated expression.

"Hm? Yeah?" Five raised his eyebrows as Luther came to a halt.

"I need you to focus." Diego stepped closer to Five, pointing his finger toward him once again. "What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?"

An amused smile slowly spread onto Five's face. Clearly, he wasn't all too eager to discuss this with his brothers. 

Diego sighed. "We just wanna protect you."

"Protect me," Five repeated with a scoff. "I don't need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed?"

Diego exchanged a look with Luther before shaking his head. "No."

"I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming." Five then turned his head and vomited all over the sidewalk they were on.

"Oh, Five," Valerie sighed, shaking her head as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

They arrived at a boxing gym after about fifteen minutes of walking, and Diego led them to the boiler room. It seemed as though this was Diego's place of shelter, with a bed, posters of the Umbrella Academy, and training equipment piled up in various spots.

Luther gently placed Five, who had fallen asleep again, down onto the bed. The three of them watched his sleeping figure, his eyes closed peacefully as his head rested against the pillow.

"Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep," Diego remarked. He nudged Valerie as he raised his eyebrows and continued, "But I guess you probably would say that he—"

She clamped her hand around his mouth, effectively silencing him.

"Well, don't worry," Luther muttered with a small sigh. "He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self."

"Yeah, I can't wait that long," Diego shook his head as he turned and walked over to his desk. "I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies."

"All that stuff he was saying before . . ." Luther exhaled before shifting to face the other man. "What do you think he meant by that?"

Diego paused as a sudden thumping noise approached. He drew his knife and headed up a couple of stone steps before slowly walked towards the door. He carefully wrapped his hand around the doorknob before jerking it open and preparing his knife. 

Suddenly, an old man's voice called out:

"You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressin' charges!"

Diego's posture immediately relaxed, and he sighed as he opened the door. "What do you want, Al?" 

Al—a man who looked to be around his sixties—walked in, raising his eyebrows at Diego, who had tucked his knives away and gone down the stairs. "I ain't your secretary."

Diego nodded, muttering, "Yeah."

"Some lady called for you—said she needs your help."

"What lady?" Diego asked exasperatedly, looking up at him with lifted eyebrows.

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective." Al shrugged as he leaned onto the metal rails, pursing his lips together in thought for a moment. "I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin'."

"Patch?" Diego realized as he furrowed his eyebrows. A small grin tugged at the corner of his lips as he muttered to himself, "She needs my help."

"She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun," Al told Diego as he handed him a piece of paper while he approached.

"When?"

"About half an hour ago," Al answered as he walked out the door. "Uh, said she found your brother."

Diego looked over to see Five still sound asleep on the bed. "Well, that didn't make sense."

A look of realization dawned on both Luther and Diego's faces before they simultaneously breathed out, "Klaus."