♠ ʙɪᴛᴛᴇʀꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ♠ | ꜰɪᴠᴇ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴇᴇᴠᴇꜱ | ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1

|♠ 𝖿𝗋𝖺𝗇𝗄𝖾𝗅 𝖿𝗈𝗈𝗍𝖺𝗀𝖾 ♠|

"I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

FIVE LEAD US INTO SOME BIG APARTMENT WITH FANCY LIGHTING AND GRAND WINDOWS ABOVE THE ENTRANCE. Behind the immediate room were two staircases, leading up and meeting at a landing, which spread into a full room up ahead. We climbed the stairs, looking around curiously, Lila and Diego mostly sticking together.

Five glanced at me. "How old are you, exactly?"

I gave him a smile without humor. "I'm thirty."

I could tell he wasn't sure if I was joking or not. He did make me drive all the way to whatever this place was.

When we were at the top, we looked around, seeing a nice, well lit room, with stacks of papers on wooden tables, some leather chairs and couches, and a coffee table in the middle. There was even a dentist's chair in the corner, for some reason. Behind the couch was a kitchen. On the far wall was an entrance to further rooms, and coming through that entrance was a man, who looked to be in his forties. He had brown hair, pale skin, and wore a horrified expression. He was carrying a gun. It was pointed at us.

"Where did you get the film?" he asked, inching closer, the gun aimed menacingly at all four of us. "The Frankel Footage. The truth this time."

"You know this lunatic?" Diego asked Five, who sighed in turn.

"New acquaintance. He's harmless," he added reassuringly.

"Are you sure about that?" Lila asked, her eyes showing some concern.

"Well, he does have a gun, but perhaps–" I began, about to say something along the lines of, perhaps it's unloaded.

The man cocked the gun. "Are you or are you not an enemy of the people?" he shouted.

Diego and Five glanced at each other without panic or worry, speaking at the same time.

"Really depends on the people."

"Such an open-ended question, yeah."

"You move one more muscle," the man warned, "I will blow your brains out."

Diego looked down, fiddling with his fingers mindlessly. I glanced at Lila, ready to use my powers, but she gave me a look, telling me to step down. "You want to take this or should I?" Diego asked.

"No, I got him," Five offered.

"Hey, Lila," Diego started, causing Lila to turn her attention to him. I, however, had full attention on Five, who disappeared in a blue flash, warping the air around it and reappeared right in front of the man, disarming him immediately. The gun was shot, but up at the ceiling, causing some dust and debris to fall down as Diego stepped forward and snatched the gun away, unloading it.

Lila and I glanced at each other. "What..." I stammered, laughing in disbelief, trying to make it believable. "What...the hell just happened?"

"IS IT ON?"

"I DON'T KNOW."

An old lady wearing thin rimmed glasses frowned, her face all up in the camera. The footage was old, very old compared to the other TV's I had seen in the future. The quality was grainy, the coloring was desaturated, but still, it was clear enough to see what was going on.

"What do you mean?" the old woman asked, throwing her hands up in exasperation and squinting. "There's an on button. Just–"

The camera shook violently, and the woman stepped forward past our vision, making it evident that the old couple were trying to figure out how the camera operated.