You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 1

Chapter 28: Birthday Cake Projectile

        I straightened a little as Allison and Luther entered the building again. I could see shimmering tracks running down Allison's cheeks, though she attempted to wipe them away hastily, and Luther had a sort of sullen hunch to his massive shoulders. Although they seemed to be on better terms than when they left, but none of us really were in the right head space at the moment.

"All right, where's Five?" Luther pointed to the empty seat next to me, almost appearing accusatory.

"He left," I stated bluntly.

"Oh, for the love of... Where'd he go?" I raised an eyebrow at my brother, silently challenging him to keep pushing me. I wasn't in the place to deal with Luther's shit, and the fact he was talking to me as though it was my fault he had left only furthered my annoyance.

"He had something to take care of," I snapped, attempting to drop the matter. "The Commission beckoned, he went. He'll be back soon."

"Well, we're not waiting around for him. The concert starts in 30 minutes." I crossed my arms and stood, taking steps closer to him. Despite the staggering height difference, Luther flinched a little bit at my approach.

"Luther, we might need him. I mean, I think we all understand at this point that Five could be the difference between saving the world and living, and saving the world while dying." Despite my insistence, Luther wouldn't budge, forcing me to sigh and relent. "Fine. So what's the plan, huh?"

"Well, I think that, uh..." My confidence began to waver as Luther stumbled over his thoughts and words, attempting to form a plan on the spot. "We go to the Icarus Theater." I scoffed at my brother's proposal.

"That's a location, not a plan." He raised his eyebrow at me, as though he didn't understand what was wrong with that. "What? Is that all you got?"

What exactly had Dad seen in him that made him think Luther was leader material? In the grand scheme of things, he did so little, yet he had always been the one we had to take orders from. I had been forced to listen to him and pretend I didn't have a plan that could have worked better floating around in my head. We were stuck with him always thinking we should listen to him, but he needed to get his shit together if we were going to take him seriously.

"Look, you wanna be Number One, fine, but you're gonna have to get us on the same page because right now, we're all over the place." Luther's eyes flickered downward for a moment, before he glanced back at my face, almost appearing apologetic.

"You're right." I shifted back a little, shocked. Did he just... agree with me? "We need a plan."

Just as I started to mull things over in my head, I caught strange movement out of the corner of my eye. My gaze flickered over just seconds before strange men in red masks and bulletproof equipment crouched down and opened fire in our direction. I immediately reached for Klaus' arm and yanked him down beside me, crouching down under the cover of the ball rack. Glass shattered into little pieces and candies spilled down onto the ground as stray bullets ricocheted off of tables and ball returns.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Luther shouted, looking to me specifically. Deep down, I think we all knew they were related to The Commission in some way.

"Maybe they're here for Kenny's birthday!" Klaus suggested, cupping his hands over his ears.

"To attend Kenny's birthday, or to end Kenny's birthday?" It was a stupid question, and I knew that, but when it came to Klaus, I always needed clarification for what came out of his mouth. I reached out and squeezed his arm a little, the reality of why he suddenly shrunk down and started to tremble a little suddenly dawning on me. "No, I'm pretty sure they're here for us!"