"Oh. Okay, I think I've got something, Delores." Five stated as he stood on his bed.
Right now, both me and Five sat on his bed while writing calculations on his wall. I recommended paper, but you all know how stubborn Five is, so he insisted that he wrote on the wall.
Plus, he wrote a lot. I wondered how he was going to erase this all later.
While he wrote, I sat there and watched. I felt sleepy and Five offered that I took a nap, but I kindly declined. I wanted to help him. Occasionally, he would ask me something he didn't know or would ask me for the millionth cup of coffee he drank that day.
From a far, I heard footsteps approaching. I turned around to see the one and only, Luther Hargreeves. "It's tenuous, but promising." Five continued, telling both me and the so called "Delores".
"What is all this?" Luther asked, snapping Five out of his focused mode. "It's a probability map." Five said, tapping the chalk on the wall. "Probability of what?" Luther questioned, confused.
"Of whose death could save the world." Five said. "And we narrowed it down to four." I added. "Are you saying one of these four people causes the apocalypse?" Luther asked, stepping more into Five's small room. "No, We're saying that their death might prevent it."
"Oh."
Five continued to write and finally circled a man's name. "I'm not following." Luther said.
"Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect. So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the time line, wherever they may be, and kill them."
As Five said that to Luther, Five got off the bed and took at something from under his bed. Meanwhile, Luther stepped forward and read all the calculations on the wall. "Milton Greene. So who's he, a terrorist or something?" Luther asked.
I stepped forward to Luther, also looking at the work written on the wall. I examined it to check for mistakes. "I believe he is a gardener." Five stated.
Apparently the black bag under his bed was a shot gun. "You can't be serious. Wait, this is madness, Five. You-" Luther said, before also noticing the gun in Five's tiny hands.
"Wh- Where'd you get that?" Luther stuttered as he saw the big gun. "In Dad's room." Five replied quickly, keeping his attention on the gun. He made sure it was ready to kill people.
"I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros. It's similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable." Five said, making me wonder why Dad would want to shoot rhinoceros.
"But you can't- This guy Milton is just an innocent man." Luther said. I rolled my eyes and continued to watch Five fix the gun.
"It's basic math. His death could potentially save the lives of billions. If he did nothing, he'd be dead in four days anyway. The apocalypse won't spare anyone." I said. Luther looked down at me and frowned before turning his attention back to Five.
"We don't do this kind of thing." Luther said. "We are not doing anything." Five sassed. "I am."
"I can't let you go and kill innocent people. No matter how many lives you'll save." Luther said. "Well, good luck stopping me." Five said before walking away. I laughed and as I was about to follow him in suit, I felt something else.
Monkey hands wrapped around my arm.
In a swift second, Luther had me hanging out the window, dangling. My eyes widened.
Luther sighed, "You're not going anywhere." Luther said. As Five turned around to say a mean comment back, he saw me dangling. His eyes also widened.
"Help Five!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.
I had no fear of heights, but I still felt my heart jumping out of my throat. I looked down and started getting tears in my eyes.
"Put. Her. Down."
He pointed the gun straight at Luther.
"Put the gun down. You're not killing anyone." Luther said.
I looked at Five as he was contemplating on whether to save me or save the world.
"I know she's important to you, so don't make me do this." Luther said. "Luther! I am your fucking sister! Let me down!" I yelled. He simply looked at me with a serious face.
"It's either her or the gun." Luther said. Five scoffed, still thinking while pointing the gun at Luther.
"You decide."
I soon felt Luther's grip on my wrist loosen, making me let out a ear piercing scream.
He dropped me.
Just as I thought that this was the end, I felt a pair of arms scooping me up. To my surprise, it was Five, who had picked me over the world.
He let out a sigh of relief. "Phew." Five panted. He brought me inside and let go of me gently, letting me stand up properly. "I can keep doin' this all day." Luther sassed, making me send death glares to him.
"Are you okay?" Five asked while holding my hands. "Yeah" I panted, continuing to send mean looks at Luther. "I know you're still a good person, Five." Luther sighed. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have risked everything coming back here to save us all."
"But you're not on your own anymore."
Five looked up from my hands and at Luther. He pursed his lips into a straight line and sighed. "There is one way. But it's just about impossible." Five said, letting go on my hands. "More impossible than what brought you back here?" Luther asked, dropping the shot gun.
"You know, I never enjoyed it." Five told us.
All me, Five, and Luther sat in the car while we awaited Hazel and Cha-Cha.
Our plan was to trick them to getting a fake brief case. We know that Hazel and Cha-Cha would do anything for it back since it was the only way they could get back.
It was the perfect trick.
"What?" Luther asked. "The killing. I mean, I was- I was good at my work, and I- I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure." Five told us.
Both Luther and Five sat in the front of the car, so I had to peak from the back. Five sighed. "I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind." He laughed a little.
Luther and Five stared into space as they sat in comfortable silence.
"Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough." Luther said. "It's the being alone that breaks you." I said. "Just sitting there, nothing to do, no one to talk to, no one to love" I said, sharing my own experience. Luther turned around and gave me a reassuring smile.
"You think they'll buy it?" Luther asked. "Well, what we do know is that they're desperate." Five said, staring at the road, waiting to see their car. "It's like a cop losing their gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit." I said.
You may ask, why do you know so much about The Commission even if you have never been there? Well, Five told me a lot so that I knew the same as he did.
"Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back." Five added on for me. "Well, I should hold onto it." Luther said. "Hm?" I asked, confused. "In case they make a move on you." Luther answered. "Okay, Luther, but be careful." Five told Luther. "I mean, I've... I've lived a long life, but... you're still a young man. You got your whole life ahead of you." Five said.
For some reason, this all reminded me of Dad's giving pep talk's to their young son's.
"Don't waste it."
Out from a far, I saw a old black car approaching. "Guys, look! There!" I yelled. Both Five and Luther turned and also examined the car. "Here we go." I said.
"If this all goes sideways, do me a favor and tell Delores I'm sorry." Five told us, earning both me and Luther to roll our eyes. We all stepped out and waited for their car to pull up on the side of the road.
"Stay with me, okay?" Five told me. "Fine." I rolled my eyes yet again.
I kept getting this tingly feeling that either Five doesn't trust me or is scared to loose me.
Five grabbed my hand and starting walking towards Hazel and Cha-Cha, seeing that we were all were all approaching to the middle.
This was the first time I saw them up close. I could still see the tear in Cha-Cha's blazer that I cut into when we were at the store shoot-out. They were sending death glares at me.
"The masks really necessary?" I said wittily. They sighed and threw the masks on either side of the road. "So where is it, child?" They spat at me. "Wow, that's how you're gonna start." Five said, stepping in the conversation too.
"You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day. You won't even make it halfway there." Hazel said sarcastically. "Maybe." I also said sarcastically.
"But as I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant." I said, looking at Luther, making them look too. "She's right." Hazel whispered to his partner. "You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up." Hazel continued.
"By the time you took him out, he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp." Five said with a sarcastic smile plastered on his face. "Probably us too, right?" Cha-Cha said, rethinking their words.
"So, how do we help each other?" I asked rhetorically. "I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her." Five added for me. "Face-to-face." I continued for him.
I know this is serious, but I couldn't help but blush at how we were both finishing our sentences.
"About what?" Cha-Cha asked. "Well, I don't believe that's any of your concern." Five said. "Just don't tell her about the briefcase." Cha-Cha said. I sighed, "Fair enough."
As Cha-Cha parted away, both me and Five did the same and walked back to Luther. "What happens now?" Luther asked. "Now we wait." Five said before leaning on the car.
"Look. I'll hold your hand the whole time. When The Handler comes, she'll stop time, and I want you to come with me." Five told me.
"You want me to come with you?" I asked, not believing him. "Yeah, of course. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you" He told.
Both me and him smiled at each other. It was just perfect. We were both holding hands, and were both staring lovingly at each other. It was pure bliss. . .
Till' we heard an ice cream truck coming. We both snapped from love and looked down the road. An small ice cream truck was coming slow. "What the hell" I muttered as I looked closely at the truck.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Five said.
As I looked closer, it turns out it wasn't just an old man selling ice cream. It was none other than my dear old siblings, Diego and Klaus. "Go faster!" Diego yelled from the inside. "It's a setup!" Cha-Cha yelled.
Luther stood in front of me and Five, protecting us. I felt Five's grip tighten on my fingers.
Just as we heard Hazel and Cha-Cha groan and shoot, it all stopped.
I looked around confusedly and realized that only Five was standing next me moving. He sighed, "The Handler is here"
We peaked from Luther's side and saw a deranged looking lady standing there with huge sunglasses on. She didn't look that harsh, to be honest.
"Neat trick, isn't it?" The Handler said. Never mind, her voice sounded godly. "Hello, Five. You look good, all things considered." She said. Both me and Five and walked out from Luther. "Now who's this? She looks cute just like you!" She said excitedly. I walked behind Five shyly. I was never good with new people.
"It's good to see you again. Feels like we met just yesterday." She said. I looked up at her like a giant. "Do you want your girlfriend to stay or do you want her to leave while we chat? I've got some tricks up my sleeve."
Five gripped my hand tighter and pulled me close to him, "No" He said blandly.
"It's good to see you again. Feels like we met just yesterday." She said while looking closely at Five.
"Course, you were a little bit older then."
"Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever." She praised Five. "Threw us all off the scent." She said with a smile that would haunt my dreams. "Ah, well, I wish I could take credit." Five said with a sarcastic smile.
"I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and- Well, you know."
"Here I am."
She looked down at Five with her villainous smile. "You realize your efforts are futile. So why don't you tell me what you really want?" She asked. "I want you to put a stop to it." Five said. By "it" he meant the apocalypse. "You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me." She said.
"What's meant to be is meant to be."
"That's our raison d'être." The Handler said, meaning that it was there rule or the quote they stand by. "Yeah? Well how about survival as a raison?" Five asked with yet another sarcastic smile.
"I'll just be replaced." She replied quickly. "I'm but a... small cog in a machine." She said, using her hands to represent what she means.
"This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse- is just that. A fantasy." She said, making me grit my teeth. "Oh don't get angry little girl, I'm just teasing" She laughed, seeing my angry self.
Five turned to me and squeezed my hand, telling me that it was fine. "I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your- stick-to-itiveness, really quite- quite something." She said. It was quite hard to understand this lady sometimes. She praises Five and also brings him down? What the fuck?
"Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management." She said with a bright smile. "Oh, bring your girlfriend too, we've also watched her do her works" The Handler giggled.
Wow. I hate to say it, but the way she was telling me how good I was, was making me smile oh so little. I liked it how someone actually appreciated my presence. Most usually, people would ignore me in conversations.
"Sorry, what's that now?" Five asked, confused as hell. "Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong." The Handler said. Five sighed. "Well, it didn't work out too well the last time." Five said.
"But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer." Five said, remembering how Five used the brief case to escape last time. "I'm talking about- the home office." The Handler sighed, seeing how Five kept asking questions.
"You'd have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel." She said, making me think of how Five would look like as a old man. He would probably look like one of those cute seniors, to be honest.
"You're a distinguished professional in- schoolboy shorts." The Handler said.
Yes, I know I've said this many times but, this is a serious conversation. But, it was very hard to fight the urge to say that he was wearing cute shorts.
"We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean, you- you can't be happy like this." The Handler said. As she did, she also used her long boney finger to touch his sharp jawline.
"I'm not looking for happy." Five stated, backing away, also seeing The Handler's finger. "We're all looking for happy. We can make that happen. We can make you- yourself again." The Handler said.
Five sighed, seeing that he kind of agreed on that. "And what about my family?" Five asked. "What about them?" She asked carelessly. "I want them to survive." Five told her.
She sighed and looked at all of them. Luther, standing, still trying to block us from the shots. Diego, a scared boy sitting, hoping not to die. And lastly, Klaus, who actually seemed to be enjoying this. "All of them?" She said, continuing to talk in a bored voice.
"Yes, all of them." Five repeated. "Well- I'll see what I can do." The Handler said. "Y/N's coming with me" Five added on. "Y/N. What a nice name. Well, if you love her so much, you can bring her" The Handler sighed, making my cheeks light up pink once more.
"One more thing" Five told The Handler. He walked over to the gun that was laying on the ground and took out the refill and through it across the field. As he was coming back, he noticed a bullet that was close to hitting Luther straight in the chest.
"Mm- no." He grunted softly as he moved the bullet so that it went straight past Luther's shoulder. "Ah." The Handler said, seeing that Five was ready to jump. I, seeing that too, gripped onto Five's shoulder so that I went with him and The Handler.
Poof.
3059 words.