Raincoats | The Umbrella Academy

Abhorrence

Charlotte ate her donuts and drank her coffee in peace. It felt like forever ago that she last got to sit and relax. Every worry was promptly pushed to the back of her mind with a large bite of a jelly filled donut. 

But of course she was never really out of danger. At the other end of the counter, unbeknownst to her, stood a man in a blue suit, excitedly talking to the waitress. A briefcase sat between his feet. Not once did Charlotte see the man, not even when he walked past her, and headed towards the back door. 

She also didn't realize when the person she had set out to find that day met the man in the suit in the back. A full fledged fight broke out just a few yards away from here without her knowledge. To be fair, those donuts were really good.

It wasn't very long before she heard a metallic clang over the chatter of the donut shop. The noise came from outside, and she almost ignored it, but then it happened again. It didn't sound like trash cans closing, but more like something being slammed into a wall of metal, much louder. All Charlotte wanted was to eat breakfast without incident, but of course, her curiosity got the best of her. Chances were, whatever she heard was just somebody dropping something or some harmless action, but she had a bad gut feeling. What did she have to lose? Nothing, really.

After having paid and tipped the waitress with the money that she had gotten the morning before, Charlotte headed to the hallway that led to the restrooms. Once out of sight from the shop full of people, she took a deep breath and let the chill of invisibility wash over her. She opened the back door just enough to squeeze through and was almost startled back into sight when she saw what was going on behind the dumpsters.

Two people were engaging in some ridiculously artsy hand-to-hand combat. One of the men actually looked to be no older than fourteen- a boy -and the other was quite obviously a Commission field agent, judging by his bright blue suit and neat hair. It wasn't the person who had followed Charlotte the day before, but it was still startling nonetheless to be that close to someone who worked for the organization that wanted you dead. The teenage boy lifted his leg to kick the man, only to miss as his target ducked down, grabbing onto his ankle. 

The boy was wearing black calf socks and familiar shoes. The rest of his outfit was just as unfitting in the situation as his age. He wore black school boy shorts with a matching sweater vest and blazer, almost like he had just stopped by on the way to school to kick some older man's ass. Considering the way he righted himself directly after being thrown to the ground, already ready to keep throwing punches, he knew something about fighting, maybe not the same style as most Commission members, but he did.

One thing was for sure, though: this was the kid who had stolen her briefcase and consequently given her a concussion that Charlotte was still very much paying for. The anger from earlier was coming back. If it wasn't for this little twerp, she would have escaped this shitty timeline and gotten away from the man who had ruined her life. She could have gone back in time to the day after she originally left with Denis, gone back to her job, and grown up when she was supposed to, but this pubescent school boy took that chance away. He must've angered more than just Charlotte, though, because the Commission guy was really starting to look pissed off.

She crept forward, closer to where the two were still fighting, not sure exactly what to do. The fight would eventually end, whether one of them died or got away, but if the school boy somehow made it out of this, she was going to get that briefcase back. 

The man in the blue suit pulled his fist back, ready to hit his opponent pretty hard, when the teenager kicked at his stomach, sending him stumbling backwards. The kid took a few steps away to, what Charlotte assumed was, start running. She threw herself forward, hands wrapping around his thin torso to tackle him to the ground, only to shriek in surprise as they fell into a fluorescent blue light.