Fifth Avenue - The Replacements
Chapter Twenty

Hartley awoke as she did every other day, but today when her eyes opened she found Doc leaning against a wall across from her “Doc?” she yawns tiredly.

Doc pushes himself from the wall and sits on the edge of Hartley’s bed, his face grim “Trix is gone” he pulls a note from his pocket “she left a note on her bed saying that I had obviously chosen my favourite and that she has no use anymore”

Hartley runs her hands through her hair and groans “I-I am sorry, I don’t know why she would think anyone had to choose” Doc pats her knee in fatherly manner.

“Trix was” he hesitates “is- she is a little unstable, I’ve known that since the moment I received her and we all know she had a little thing for me, for some reason she felt the need to be jealous over you, nothing was your fault” Hartley smiles and wipes her face free of tears “Now get up and get ready we mustn’t keep the team waiting” with that Doc pulled himself up and left the room.

Hartley hurries and changes into clothing fit for exercise before meeting up with the team in the dining room.

“And she lives!” Flicker calls as he lifts her up and spins her around the room. Hartley squeals and laughs as he puts her down “I was sure Trix would have cut your throat or smothered you in your sleep” he says and Flutter bumps him jokingly.

Flutter hands Hartley a cup of hot tea “Don’t mind him, he’s been up all night watching his crime shows” she taunts.

Flicker raises an eyebrow towards her “and you would know that how Miss Flutter?” he asks with a huge smile “stalking me again are we?” Flutters face goes bright red.

“Shut up you dweeb” she laughs hitting him “our rooms are right beside each other and surprisingly enough, bowling alley basements don’t have any sound proofing and much to my dismay, I hear everything” she rolls her eyes and this time it was Flickers face that went red.

Doc pushes through holding an overly large cup of steaming coffee “get a room” he says with a small hint of humour in his tone.

All the humour and fun came to a halt for Hartley as her eyes found Bullet standing outside the room, pale and with a giant lump in her neck, just her appearance sent shivers down Hartley’s back.

“Are you okay?” Flutter whispers and Hartley moves her eyes to her and gives her a tight smile.

“Fine” she says as her eyes glance back to where Bullet was, the space which was now bare “Totally fine” she repeats laughing it off and Flutter shrugs.

After they finish messing around everyone left the bowling alley and headed towards the Big Joes just down the road for some breakfast.

“Alright so what’s up with Trix leaving I mean where’d she go” Flutter asks as she munches down on a piece of toast in front of her.

Doc clears his throat “I believe that she has joined up with The Association” he answers honestly “she had a grudge against a certain team member” Flicker chuckles.

“Yeah well it wasn’t one of The Replacements” he says winking towards Hartley and she glares at him playfully before throwing a piece of toast at him. “Ow, don’t hurt the merchandise” he whines.

Flutter grabs a handful of her scrambled eggs and smooshed it into his face “how’s that going for the merchandise” she laughs and he squeals like a girl and dramatically storms off to the restroom.

Hartley laughs and Doc smiles as he reaches for his phone in his back pocket. His smile fades as he looks to the screen.

“All good?” Hartley asks and he looks up from his screen to her.

“I was right about Trix” Doc turns his screen to show both Hartley and FLutter the picture on screen, it was Trix wearing a bright blue hoodie which mostly covered her face, she stood beside Reaper and Shooter as Wisdom had her hand on Trix’s shoulder, her other one was handing Trix a gun.

“Damn that girl is an idiot” Flutter mutters to herself “excuse me” she says excusing herself from the table.

When she was gone Doc lent forward to Hartley “Look, I didn’t want to tell the team but the reason we went out for breakfast this morning, other than the reason of Flicker and Flutter’s horrendous cooking” he sighs “Look Trix left meaning it is only a matter of time before-” he was cut off by the sound of his phone buzzing “before she tells Wisdom and The Association where we were and The Association where we were and the pass codes to get in” he slides his phone over to her.

It was flashing red with two big bold words flashing on screen ‘Security Breach’.

“There in then” she whispers and he nods.

“I wanted to be sure everyone was out, I don’t want to repeat from last time they broke into the basement” he gives her a serious look and her hand goes to the bullet wound from her and Justin’s last encounter.

She smiles “that’s sweet” Hartley leans in slightly “but you have to tell them” she whispers before leaning back into her chair.

Flutter and Flicker both sit down with sceptical looks between themselves “what are we missing?” Flutter asks but both Hartley and Doc both give them slightly reassuring smiles.

“Nothing” Doc says before Hartley kicks him in the shin and he jumps flinching slightly “Ouch” she curses grabbing his sore shin “Okay fine, fine” he growls shooting Hartley a small glare “Trix has told Wisdom everything, from our bank details to our personal ones”

Both Flicker and Flutter curse “so what the hell are we supposed to do now” Flicker says angrily as his hair runs through his hair stressed.

“My first priority is to protect my team” he says slightly angered “we will work out what to do afterwards but I was not allowing anything else yo happen, I am not, I mean I will not lose anyone else” Doc walks away from the table knocking over Flutters coke.

Meanwhile Trix stood in her old base watching over as her new team tore it apart, oddly she didn’t feel anything, no remorse, no pain, but she felt no joy either, she felt nothing.

“Welcome to the family kiddo, with all of this information you’re going to make me a very happy person” Wisdom says as her bony hand wrapped itself around her arm “Very happy” she repeats