MEGALOMANIAC. five hargreeves [2]

twenty eight. kamikaze dive

EDITED DECEMBER 13, 2021

FOR THE PAST NINE MINUTES, all Eight wanted to do was to kill Reginald. Granted her thoughts were violent, too violent, but it was true. The longer she stared at the man, the more bits of her childhood she started to remember, to more she got pissed at him.

"You two seem to be the sensible one of the bunch," Reginald commented. Island music was playing over the speakers which let out a peaceful vibe in the area, unlike the extremely chaotic one that had been going on minutes ago.

"That's because we're the oldest. You know, technically, we're older than you right now." Five did the talking since he knew Eight might not be that comfortable around Reginald. It was obvious - Eight was quite literally biting her lip so hard so that she won't do anything stupid and let her anger get the best of her.

"Cognac? You?" Reginald faced Eight, who let out a lazy nod. "Just a smidge."

"The other night you quoted Homer at me. Why?" he asked Five.

"You forced us all to learn it as kids. In the original Greek, no less."

"Anyways, we really need your help." Eight decided to push her issues with Reginald, since saving the world was way more important than her spite. She had plenty of time to kill him if they stopped the end of the world. "This world ends in five days if we don't get out of the timeline."

"Worlds end. Paleozoic, Jurassic, and so on." Reginald replied

Eight rolled her eyes in pure annoyance. "No shit, sherlock. That's why we're asking for your help. We can do something about this one. We can stop it."

"Man's greatest flaw: the illusion of control."

Eight huffed, taking a big gulp out of the cognac the bartender had gave her. Maybe Five should do the talking. She might rip his head off if he kept on talking like a fucking prophet.

"I need your help. All right? You're our last sane option. Otherwise, we gotta make a deal that we really don't wanna make. What do you know about time travel?"

"In theory?"

"In practice."

"I know it's akin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing waters and reappearing..."

"As an acorn. Yeah." Five nodded, taking a drink out of his own beverage.

Reginald leaned towards the boy in interest. "What transpired when you tried traveling before?"

"I botched it." Five sighed, remembering what had happened to him and Eight.

"How?"

"I jumped too far forward, got stuck in the future for 45 years in an apocalypse. Bought along Eight with me." he sighed. "Then I jumped too far backward... except this time I brought my entire family with me."

"Maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities. Start small. Seconds, not decades." Eight started to listen to him more since Reginald was making sense.

"Seconds?"

"Mmm."

"Look, no offense, but I need a bit more time for what I'm trying to accomplish."

"So much can change in a matter of seconds," Reginald mumbled. "One could overthrow an empire. One could fall in love. An acorn doesn't become an oak overnight."

"Hey, what do you know about possession?" the girl questioned, leaning forward towards the old man. In all the years she's known him, Eight only saw Reginald as a trainer, but hearing his intellect - she had to admit, it was a bit fascinating.