Limitless - The Umbrella Academy

14. Time Changes Everything

We lay Five down on Diego's shitty bed in his shitty apartment, if you could call it that even. It was just a boiler room in the basement of a building, but hey, it was still somewhere. Diego puts the strange mannequin Five had down on a chair, and I sigh. I look at Five, passed out on Diego's bed, letting out a big huff. Shit, Five. Why do you do this to yourself.
"Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep." Diego says, standing beside me as we all look down on him.
"Well don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self." Luther says as they turn around, Diego walking away.
"Yeah, I can't wait that long. I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies." Diego says, as I sit down at the bedside next to Five.
"All that stuff he was saying before..." Luther starts, making me look up in surprise, eyes wide, before we hear a loud thump from upstairs. We all look up, startled. "What do you think he meant by that?" Luther finishes as I gulp. I knew Five didn't want me saying anything, but when they ask... it only felt right to fuss up. As soon as I think about it, Diego holds his finger up, to shush us so he could examine the thumping. We hear footsteps approaching, making my heart start to beat. Diego pulls out a knife, going up the tiny set of stairs towards the door. He points at Luther, before opening the door, knife ready.
"You throw another one of those god damn knives at me, I'm pressin charges!" An old man yells, Diego letting down his guard.
"What do you want, Al?" Diego says, opening the door up. A old man comes in, wearing a white shirt and a red button up, and a hat to cover his balding head.
"I ain't your secretary." Al says, walking in as Diego lets out a small 'yeah'. "Some lady called for you, said she needs your help."
"What lady?" Diego says, coming down the stairs.
"I dunno. Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was Blotch or somethin'." Al says, putting his hands on the metal railing.
"Patch?" Diego says with confusion. Al shrugs, and Diego stares at the floor. "She needs my help." He mutters out in surprise it seems like. He walks back up the stairs, going towards the door.
"She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun." Al hands Diego a paper, as he reads it.
"When?" Diego says, as Luther walks up to them.
"About a half an hour ago. Said she found your brother." Al says as he walks away, back up the stairs. Diego holds the paper, staring back at Five.
"Well, that didn't make sense." Diego says, before Luther and him look at each other, muttering 'Klaus.' Diego runs out the door, me standing up in concern. Klaus? What happened to him? Was he at this place?
"Go. I'll wait here with-" Luther starts before Diego slams it, Luther turning around towards us, as I turn back to Five. Klaus was in danger, and I couldn't even go. I knew Luther wouldn't let me, he knew it was trouble.
--
"When's it supposed to happen?" Luther asks, sitting by me and the now awake Five on the bed, letting Luther know everything that happened. "This... apocalypse?"
"I can't give you the exact hour, but... from what I could gather, we have four days left." Five says, sadly.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Luther says semi angrily, while Five shakes his head.
"It wouldn't have mattered." Five mutters out.
"Of course it would. We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing." Luther says, and I sigh.
"For the record, you already tried." Five says, shocking me.
"What do you mean?" Luther asks, and I nod in agreeance with him.
"Yeah, Five you never told me what happens to us." I say, leaning forward, my elbows on my knees. Five stares down at the ground.
"I found all of you. Your bodies." Five says quietly, looking at Luther.
"We die?" Luther says, and I purse my lips, trying not to think about it.
"Horribly. You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world." Five says, as I gulp and stare at the blank walls. I was going to die in 4 days.
"Wait, how do you know that?" Luther says, as Five pulls a cloth out of his pocket, unwraveling it.
"This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you." Five says, throwing a round white object at Luther. He catches it, as I look over to see a fake eye. "Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down." Five says, as I stare in disbelief.
"Whose head?" Luther asks, concerned as he stares at the eye.
"Like I said, I don't know." Five says, shrugging.
"Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try-" Luther starts.
"No, that's a dead end. It's just another hunk of glass." Five chuckles in anger, as Luther passes it back to him. The door busts open, as I turn around, shocked. An angry Diego stomps in the door muttering as he walks down the stairs. Luther and me stand up, before Diego comes storming in.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?!" Diego screams, before Luther picks him up, keeping him from Five, as he grunts and struggles to get out, "Nope let me, get your ape hands off me!" Diego screams, as I whirr up my powers.
"I can do this as long as it takes for you to calm down." Luther says, as I shakily breathe. What the fuck just happened? I was told I'm enevitably going to die in a few days then Diego comes ripping shit?
"Fine." Diego says, panting as Luther lets him go, and I let my guard down.
"Now, wanna tell us what you're talkin about?" Luther says, as Diego looks down at Five, who has the same blank stare as always.
"Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy's, and then at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the Academy looking for him." Diego spits out, pointing at Five.
"None of which is any of your concern." Five says.
"It is now." Diego says, panting. "They just killed my friend." Diego spits, as Luther gives Five the 'say something you idiot!' look. Five just stares back.
"Who are they, Five?" Luther says, trying to spit an answer out of him. Five gulps.
"They work for my former employer. A woman called The Handler. She sent them... to stop me. Then, soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game." Five says, as we stare at him with furrowed eyebrows, confused.
"And now their my fair game. And i'm gonna to see to it they pay." Diego says, walking away.
"That would be a mistake, Diego. They've killed people far more dangerous than you." Five says to him, as Diego continues.
"Yeah, We'll see about that." Diego says as the door slams, him running off. I sigh, turning back to Luther and Five.
"Former employer? What's this really about Five? And don't give me this 'it's none of your business' crap, alright?" Luther says, pointing to Five in a serious manner.
"Well, it's a long story." Five says, as Me and Luther sit down.
--
Five explains to us all of the shit he had been through in the years, The Handler offering him a job for 5 years at this place called the Comission, where he could work with the time and space continuum, making sure that everything happens like it was scheduled to. Like this empending apocalypse, and all other tragedies. He could go back once his 5 year contract was over, and see us again if he wanted to. He agreed.
"They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum, or "corrections" as they called them. I wasn't the only one, there are others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don't know how they got there. But I do know that none of them were as good as me. They didn't realize it, but I was biding my time, trying to figure out the right equation so I could get back. If I could just get back, I knew I could stop the apocalypse. Save the world. So I broke my contract." Five finishes, as I hand him some food.
"So... you were a hitman?" Luther says from his chair, and I look at Five, waiting for his answer.
"Yes." Five says blantantly, taking a coffee I made for him.
"Uh... I mean, you had a code, right? You didn't kill just anybody?" Luther says, as I sit down in my chair.
"No code. We took out anyone who messed with the timeline." Five says, holding his mug.
"What about innocent people?" Luther says, and I huff, taking a drink of the water I got myself.
"It was the only way I could get back here." Five says, as Luther leans forward.
"But that's murder." Luther says shocked.
"Jesus, Luther, grow up. We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys there's just people, goin' about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family." Five sighs, shaking his head. "Time changes everything."