POV: ASIA

On the morning of April 3, 1999, ten-year-old Asia was having a very bad day.

She had been kicked out of the library, had skipped breakfast (she believed that being homeless was no excuse for missing the most important meal of the day), and had been forced to beg for leftovers on the streets. Beg! For help from strangers! Like a lonely little girl who had been homeless her entire life!

To be fair, she was a lonely little girl who had been homeless her entire life.

But that was not the point. The point was that the famous Umbrella Academy was going to be whisked away to defeat another group of baddies, and Asia would most likely have to save their poor asses again.

You see, Asia had powers too. In fact, had she shown up on the doorstep of the Umbrella Academy, she would have been taken in immediately. But she didn't want to.

Why? We'll get to that later.

Asia sighed and kicked away the garbage bag hiding her only possessions: a crossbow and a worn blue backpack. She had found the crossbow in a pawnshop and bought it with some of her last coins. As for the tranquilizer darts (she had modified them to tranquilizer bolts) that she loaded it with (she hated the idea of murder), let's just say they didn't technically belong to her. But hey — technicalities didn't matter on the streets of Ontario.

Slinging the backpack over her shoulder, she spotted the long black car pulling out from the Umbrella Academy and ducked into a shadow cast by the tall brick buildings. She bit her lip, concentrating, and felt the familiar darkness seep into her body.

A small pop! sounded and the next second, she was on the roof of the car that held six of the Umbrella Academy students.

Asia cursed under her breath — even as a ten-year-old, she was quite creative with her words — and hurriedly flattened herself on the roof. Luckily for her, a cloud passed over the sun at that very moment and the entire world temporarily fell into a dark shadow. But that was all Asia needed to sink into the blackness and disappear.

Two minutes later, the car had stopped in front of a bank and six children — five boys and one girl — stepped out in crisp uniforms and masks covering their eyes. An old man stepped out after them, a monocle over his left eye and a cane in his hand.

A news reporter glanced toward them and said something excitedly into his microphone. All the cameras swiveled toward them and the six children ran up the stairs and into the bank.

No one noticed the small girl loading a crossbow. No one noticed her find the darkest shadows in the area, and certainly no one noticed the faint popping sound or her disappearance.

Inside, the bank was a mess.

A group of people, gagged and tied up, were sitting in one corner, their eyes wide with fear. At least four men with guns were barking orders at each other — but Asia knew it wasn't just those four.

Asia observed the girl whisper something to one of the robbers. He turned slowly and pointed his gun at one of his friends.

"Hey, man!" the robber said, stepping backward. "What — "

The next sound that came out of his mouth was a howl of pain. Asia smirked and slipped through the shadows to the back of the bank.

There were four more robbers there, all with stupid grins on their faces. Each one was carrying a sack of gold that clinked in the bags. Evidently, while the first four robbers were distracting the Umbrella Academy, they had sneaked around and stolen what they had come for.

Asia lifted the crossbow and stepped out of the shadows. To them, it would have seemed that Asia had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The robbers yelped in shock. The fine closest to Asia fumbled with his gun, but Asia had already aimed and fired. As soon as the tranquilizar bolt slammed into his neck, he collapsed.

Two other robbers pulled out their guns and fired, but Asia slipped back into the shadows and appeared behind them, her crossbow loaded. Asia shot one and slammed her crossbow onto the head of the other. They both crumpled.

Asia looked around, satisfied with her work, but she suddenly realized that the fourth robber must have gotten away somehow. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"

He couldn't have gotten far and there was only one way to go. Asia appeared again at the back of bank and immediately saw him.

The robber was raising his gun to point at the back of a boy's head.

Asia brought her leg up faster than she would have thought possible and kicked him right where it hurt. The robber yelled in pain and fell to his knees, giving her time to bring my crossbow crashing down.

The boy turned, startled, and stared at her. Asia looked down and realized she had stepped out of the shadows and wasn't cloaked anymore.

Asia swore angrily and looked the boy in his bottle-green eyes. "I don't exist. You never saw me. Go help your friends," she told him firmly before melting back into the darkness and popping back at the dumpster where she had started.

She sagged backwards, dropping her head in her hands. Asia had learned to gain stamina over the years, but shadow traveling really took a lot out of you. But that wasn't what she was really worried about.

She had slipped up and allowed one of the students to see her. Asia was almost certain that she would be revealed soon.

But she wasn't. For the next four or so years, she managed to stay alive and followed the Umbrella Academy whenever they went on a mission, saving their sorry butts more than once without them noticing her. Asia glimpsed the green-eyed boy a few times, but he never saw her.