Up the stairs she went, faster and faster. This was fun, like it was part of some action-thriller spy movie. She always thought she'd be good in those. Fuck Bond girls. In any movie she was in she would be the star. She could beat that little English boy to a pulp any day anyhow. Well, more on that later. Right now time was of the essence. Quickly she spotted the door to the room that the manager said that a little boy with a hell of a lot of cash had rented. She tried the door. Locked.

Not particularly surprised she prepared herself to make a dramatic entrance.

"HIYA!"

With a shattering of wood and metal the door to .05's room was kicked open. He stared at the intruder with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"How did you find me?"

"You left your weird 3D eye glass in your room," Alchemist said as she tossed it to him, "It's cool, but freaky."

He glared at the monocle for a moment before directing his glare to her.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"Well," she said, "Do you know where my sister is?"

.05 rolled his eyes.

"Why do you lose your siblings and bother me about it?"

"You were the last one who saw her," said Alchemist, still smiling, "And no funny business or your niece gets a rather important organ ripped out. Savvy?"

"I don't give a damn about my niece," frowned .05, "Why should I?"

Alchemist cocked her head. She looked him up and down appraisingly.

"Your family really sucks," she said, "I mean, do you care at all about each other? Even a little bit?"

.05 rolled his eyes and turned around in his chair so that he could face her.

"You're one to talk," he said, "You care about each other a little too much if you know what I mean."

"Frankly I don't," she said, crossing her arms.

"The hell you don't," snorted .05, "If you ask me it's rather creepy."

Looking at her clock Alchemist realized that she had wasted two hours. Irritably she said;

"I don't have time to mince words about this. Now tell me whether or not you know where my sister is. You might not care about your niece, but I'm pretty sure that you're a selfish bastard. So do keep in mind that I can tell whoever I come across where you are, even if they do have masks like silly little cartoon characters."

Glaring coldly at her .05 said;

"I haven't seen her since she came and told me those freaks were coming after me."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Well then," she said, "That's that."

"Really?" he asked, "You just broke open the door for that?"

"Nope!" she said, popping the p, "I was going to ask you if you have any info at all that can help. It'd be grand if you did."

Getting up .05 said;

"Right now I think I'd do anything to get you away from me," he said, "So what would you consider useful?"

Alchemist considered for a minute.

"Well, to be honest, I suppose that you'd best just tell me everything."

.

.

.

Claire was terribly and horribly scared. She had absolutely no idea where she was. Her arms had been tied behind her and her legs had been tied to the chair. Her head was incased in a monstrous contraption with interlocking wires. There was no noise at all in the silent outpost, somehow making it scarier. Swallowing hard Claire tried to wake-up out of her nightmare. It wasn't working.

That morning she had gone to school, just like she always had. She'd gotten into her uniform and buckled her shoes. Her hair and teeth had been brushed thoroughly. Claire remembered that she had looked at herself carefully. Then she'd picked up her brush and tried to curl her bangs a bit. It didn't really work, but it did make them look a tad more bouncy.

Her class had gone to the library the day before. When she was there she had found an old picture of her mother when she was a younger in a book called; The Protectors of the Law. It was a book for older children. Only fifth graders could check it out. Claire had just lied to the librarian and told her that she was getting it for her sister. Who would think that the cute little kid with the winning smile was lying? Certainly not the librarian, so Claire had the book now.

She had it opened to the chapter entitled; The Umbrella Academy. It was a rather old book and had a picture of the team when they were children. She'd examined the picture intently. It had been fun trying to figure out which was which. Claire hadn't been able to find Aunt Vanya in the picture. Uncle Space had been especially hard to , she wasn't supposed to call him Uncle anymore. That was what she took away from the discussion she'd had with her mother a week before. Her mother had been very explicit in explaining 'adoption'. That meant they weren't really brother and sister so it was okay for them to kiss and stuff. It hadn't been too hard to wrap her head around. Apparently her mother had been very relieved about that for some reason.

Her mother hadn't been hard to find in the picture. From it she could deduce that her mother had curled her bangs as a child. Claire looked at her reflection with satisfaction. Now she looked quite like her mother in that old picture. Oh, the uniform was different and she wasn't wearing a mask, but it was still alright. Her hair was the same color and all. She was going to be just like her mother when she was older, except she was going to be a nurse, or a doctor.

Seeing the time she grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs.

"Goodbye!" she'd called.

"Lock the door behind you!" her father had called back.

She went out the door quickly and closed the door behind her. Standing on her tip-toes she had managed to turn the key in the lock. Sighing she put it back into her pocket and walk to the bus stop. In the old days her mother would walk her to the bus stop. Now she went by herself. Sadly she scuffed the sidewalk with her foot.

"Oh, are you upset?"

Claire had turned around to see a kindly smiling woman about her mother's age. She had taken a cautious step backwards.

"Mama says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she said.

"I can see how that would be bad," frowned the woman before brightening, "But I know your mother! You're Allison Hargreeves's girl right?"

Nodding Claire had taken a small step forwards. Yet, she wasn't entirely convinced.

"I can tell," she said, "You look just like her."

Smiling proudly Claire decided that this woman probably was friends with her mother or something.

"There's a smile," the woman had said, "Now here's a way to get an even bigger one."

The woman took a wallet out of her pocket.

"Just a wallet," said the woman, "Just a normal wallet. Now, poof!"

The wallet turned into a stuffed teddy bear. Claire had clapped her hands excitedly. The woman nodded as though she were pleased with herself. Looking down Claire once again saw the time.

"I'm sorry, but I can't be late for school!"

Turning around Claire had run into a solid wall. Well, what had felt like a solid wall. She looked up to see a man in a black hoodie staring down at her. His skin was pale like her Uncle Klaus's and he had the dark circles under his eyes. Unlike her Uncle though, his eyes were creepy. Nervously Claire took a step back.

Suddenly his hand had shot out with a cloth. He grabbed her shoulder and shoved it over her mouth. It was wet, damp with a funny smelling liquid. She struggled but she couldn't get out of the man's strong grip. After a few minutes everything started to go black. Just before she passed out she heard;

"Geez Reaper, kids are stupid."

Claire did feel stupid. She was scared and stupid and now she was crying. It was getting cold and shadows seemed to be everywhere. From a window she could see that the sun was starting to set in the sky. The lamp in the room wasn't on, so the light would be gone soon. She didn't know when the light would go completely. There was no telling when those weird people would come back either.

Claire had never really contemplated dying before. Oh, she'd done it in the childish way that kids sometimes do. Yet, she had never been serious in her contemplations. As the sun slipped behind the sky there was only one thought in her mind; she wanted her mother.