Everyone stood surrounding Allison's body as Grace attempted to save her. Worried looks donned all of their faces and Five kept his hands on the wound. She had remained unconscious the entire drive home. A drive which probably would have taken twenty minutes if it wasn't for Five going 100 miles per hour.
"She's suffered a severe laceration to her larynx. One of you will need to give blood" Grace explained.
In rapid succession all of them said they would, only to be stopped by Luther. "I'm doing it." He rolled up his sleeve, only to be stopped by Pogo.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, dear boy. Your blood is more compatible with mine."
Klaus was the next to volunteer, "Hey don't sweat it. I got this, big guy. I love needles!" He made his way around the medical table, only to be once again stopped by Pogo.
"Master Klaus. Your blood is... How shall I say this... too polluted."
Liv's hand shot up into the air, "I can do it. I have a great health record." She shrugged off her blazer, showing off her veins, before being interrupted by Luther.
"She's from 1912, her blood hasn't even been exposed to polio yet. She'll kill Allison."
She scoffed as Diego walked around the table, "Move. I'll do it." Grace readied the needle, showing it off to him. As soon as he saw the needle, his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he hit the floor.
Pogo nodded, "Stick him."
***
Diego, Five, Klaus and Liv all stood in the main living room. Some pacing back and forth, others biting their nails out of stress. Allison was being tended to upstairs by Grace and Luther, she would be fine. Fine without them, not fine in general. Her vocal cords could have been slit. She could wake up and not be able to talk. The thought of it was scaring everyone.
"The bastard that nearly killed our sister's still out there, with Vanya. We need to go after her."
"Vanya is not important," Five said.
"Hey, that's your sister. A little heartless even for you, Five," Diego criticized.
"I'm not saying I don't care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us. Harold Jenkins is our first priority."
"I agree, let's go."
As the others walked towards the door, Klaus did not. "You guys count me out. I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It's just... I kind of feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so..."
"You're coming."
"No, no, no. I mean, I think we can all agree that my power's... I mean it's pretty much useless. I'd just be holding you guys back."
Liv scoffed, "I don't have powers and I am still of use. Don't blame your bad work ethic on your ability to talk to the dead."
"Klaus get up," Five ordered.
Klaus refused, "You can't make me." Suddenly a knife went flying through the air, landing just under his crotch. "Okay! Then again, a little exercise couldn't hurt. Yeah."
***
The four stood above a body. A dead body. The body of Harold Jenkins, himself. Anything sharp found in a house was stuck inside of him. Knives of various sizes, kitchen scissors, medical scissors, and plates were stuck from his stomach. Around him was broken pieces of wood and more plates, blood was streaming from his head.
Liv was the first to notice his patched up eye, remembering back to the thing Five used to roll around his hands. She called attention to it, "Five, look. His eye. How much do you want to bet that it isn't there anymore."
Five approached the body, pulling the eye out of his pocket. He pulled back the patch over the man's eye, the only thing left being a gaping hole. He forced the eye into the socket, looking at it, then back to the others.
"Same eye color, same pupil size. Guys this is it. The eye I've been carrying around for decades, it- It's found its rightful home."
"We got the guy we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse."
"Yay!" Klaus celebrated, "Let's go."
Klaus began leaving the room before Five stopped him, "No, no. Wait, wait. It can't be this easy. Look, this is the note that I got from the Commission. The one that says 'Protect Harold Jenkins', aka Leonard Peabody. But who killed him? Who did this?"
Liv looked down at the body, realization hitting her, "Vanya. It has to be Vanya."
"Vanya doesn't have powers," Five explained.
"I know, but so what? No one in the Commission would have done this, no sane person would either. So unless it was one of us, it was her."
"Why don't we just find Vanya and ask her?" Klaus suggested.
"If she isn't here she must be headed back to the Academy."
***
The four searched the entire house, high and low, searching for Vanya. She was nowhere to be found. That was what worried them the most. If she wasn't here, where was she?
"No sign of Vanya."
"She's not in any of the rooms," Diego said.
"She's not downstairs either."
"Maybe she is at her apartment? We could try there next."
Diego patted Klaus on the shoulder, "Well I'm out."
"Where are you going?" Five asked as Diego started to walk away. "Vanya's still out there, and so are Hazel and Cha-Cha."
"I know. I'm gonna get my things and then I'm outta here. I got some unfinished business with those fools."
Diego began to walk down the stairs, in his gruff, about-to-murder-three-people way.
Five turned towards Klaus, "Hey, did Dad say anything about the apocalypse when you spoke to him? Any clues on to how it happened?"
"No. No clues. Truly terrific shave. But no clues."
Five scoffed in response, "Jeez," and began to walk down the main staircase.
Klaus and Liv filled after him, "You know, come to think of it, he did mention something about my potential, and how I've barely even scratched the surface of my-"
"How did he know about the apocalypse?"
Liv listed off possibilities in rapid succession as Klaus continued to rant, "Uh- maybe he can predict the future. Maybe he is your real father and time-travel is a hereditary trait. What if he is one of those end of the world predictors and he just happened to get it right?"
Five turned to her, "I think I would know if he could time-travel."
"This whole jumping through time thing of yours, how did.. How did you know how to do that?"
"I didn't. You would know that if you were sober."
"Hey, I am sober. I've been sober for two- almost two days now."
"Yeah, two days," Five mocked.
Klaus sighed, "Feels like 45 years."
"Who are you kidding, Klaus? I've seen you fidgeting all day."
He laughed, "Well I guess we're both fighting our addictions then."
"I'm not an addict."
"Yeah, you are. You're addicted to a drug called the apocalypse."
"You're wrong."
"First sign: Denial."
Five's energy rippled through the air, teleporting him to Klaus's left. "You and I, we're not the same."
"Look, let's just all calm down. We don't want this getting out of hand," Liv warned.
The two boys chose to ignore her. "I've seen that look in the eye of someone who doesn't know who they are without their high anymore. Trust me. You gotta just let it go."
Five's arm moved faster than his brain, chucking Harold Jenkins's eye into the ground, shattering it into a million tiny pieces. He walked out of the room, still limping, heading towards the bar area. Liv filled after him, concerned about his present state.
"Are you okay, Five?" she asked. Once she turned the corner two things occurred to her. Firstly, Five was rummaging through the alcohol, finding various liquids to drown his sorrows in. The second thing was the fact that Delores was sitting firmly on the bar, unmoving.
"I'm making a margarita," he said, holding up the blender, "Want one?"
She shook her head, taking a seat at the bar. "You know he is only doing that to get under your skin, right? He doesn't mean it. You shouldn't let it affect you too much."
"I am not an addict-" Whatever he was attempting to say was cut off by the loud sound of the blender mixing together his drink. "Just because I don't think the world is over doesn't mean I am crazy. What do you think?"
"Well I-"
"Exactly, Delores! Exactly. I should have let him die on that stupid mission." He poured the two of them drinks, that two being him and his mannequin wife.
As soon as things got hard he was back talking to her. Back to acting like Liv didn't exist. It was his and Delores's world and she was just living in it.
"Well do you think we really did it? Think we actually stopped the apocalypse?" He looked at Delores, as if she was speaking. "Now what? I don't know. I'm open to suggestions."
Liv heard a knock on the door, taking it as the perfect opportunity to leave. "I'll get it." She walked towards the door, opening it up quickly, only to be greeted by Hazel. Hazel with a gun, pointing said gun at her. "Five!"
"Hey old timer."
Five slid into the front entrance hall, noticing their ex-co-worker. "Do you have my sister? And.. if not, would you like a margarita?"
Hazel considered it for a moment as Five walked to lead him into the living room. He closed the door shut behind him, although it didn't lock properly.
"Are you here to kill us?" Five asked.
Hazel looked down, suddenly remembering the gun, "Sorry. Old habits. Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know."
He returned to sipping on his margarita as Liv took the seat next to him. "Well you attacked our house, tried to kill my family, and kidnapped my brother."
"Well there's not much I can do about the past. I'm not the only killer in this room. You two have a very long, bloody, history. Speaking of which, that Calhoun job, that shit's legendary. Can't believe I'm actually sittin' here talkin' to you, after all-"
"Calhoun? What mission was that?" Liv turned to Five, pleading for him to answer. It would make zero sense for Five to have anything to do with Agent Calhoun's death. Zero at all. Which made her trust him. Perhaps he simply went on a mission in Calhoun that she didn't go on. But she went on all of his missions, every last bloody one. But she couldn't remember Calhoun.
He did not answer her. "Hazel, why are you here?"
"Well, I'm, you know-"
Suddenly, a pissed off Diego kicked Hazel in the back and began fighting the man. Punches were thrown, knives even.
"You know before you kill him, you might wanna hear what he has to say."
Diego grabbed a knife from his vest, getting ready to stab anything in sight, "I'm gonna kill you for what you did to Patch."
Five sighed, leaning back into the bar, "Or don't. See how that goes."
The two continued to yell at each other in between punches before Diego took a knife and planted it in Hazel's upper thigh. The Commission had taught them how to handle stuff like that, so Hazel took the knife right out of his leg without a moment's pause.
Diego continued to land punch after punch, proving his status as 'Number Two'. As soon as Hazel attempted to get a hold onto the situation, Diego began biting off his ear, causing Liv to have to put a stop to the situation.
She stood up, going to attempt to get Diego off of Hazel, as Five stood up as well. Before she knew it, a glass vase shattered over Diego's head, effectively forcing him to the ground.
"I draw the line at biting. Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes round."
Hazel stood proudly above Diego, "I left my partner, quit the Commission, came to volunteer."
"For what?"
"To help stop the apocalypse." Five let out a small laugh, attempting to hide it behind the straw in his mouth. "What on Earth could be so funny to you right now?"
"It's a bit late for that," Liv answered.
"Look, I know what I have done is bad. I have vested interest in a doughnut shop. I want to help you two."
Five laughed once more, "You're a day late and a dollar short. The fact that you're here right now means, without a shadow of a doubt, that the apocalypse is over."
"Really? How do you know?"
"The mark is dead. Found him this morning. You were the last known unknown left in the equation."
Hazel smiled, "Shit. Really?"
"And if you're out, then Hell-rider ain't riding."
"All right!" he cheered, making his way over to the bar. He quickly grabbed the blender and drank the liquid inside, foregoing a glass. He sighed, "So now what?"
"You know to be honest, I don't know. I've been chasing this thing for so long, I .. I never really thought about the day after. I don't know what about you?"
"I'm done with all this madness. Time to start over. You two should do the same."
"Easier said than done," Five complained.
"It doesn't have to be hard. I mean, think about it like this. If you never time traveled, you never got caught up with the Handler, what would have happened?"
Liv thought for a moment. What would her life have been like if Calhoun never had saved her. Perhaps she would have died when the ship went down as so many others had. Maybe she would have gone back home and gotten married, had a few kids. She probably wouldn't have traveled, most likely she would have stayed home every day caring for her husband. Being the good housewife her mother had raised her to be. Her life would have been lavish, but it would have been hell.
Now that she thought about it, Calhoun had been right. The Handler had been right, everyone at the Commission had been right. Liv was lucky. Lucky to be alive. That was the first thing they taught her, she was lucky. Lucky that they saved her. Saved her from a bullet in the head. She was alive and that was what mattered.
She didn't know much, but without the Commission she was nothing. She would be dead, long gone. She would be alone and sad. And now that Five was going back to his normal life, she would have to as well. Her normal life wasn't here, it was permanently in 1963. Permanently with the Commission.
----
Word Count: 2,405