If you were an ice cream flavor, what flavor would it be?
When Emery got into the car, he let his head fall back against the headrest. He blew out a long breath and closed his eyes. Diego would be out in a moment. He just had to talk to Lila before joining them. But in the meantime, it was just him and Five.
"How are you holding up?" Emery asked, cracking his eyes open.
"I'm fine." Five replied, drumming his hands across the driving wheel, his eyes intently focused on the setting sun.
Emery looked too, watched the sky as it was painted with a multitude of different colors that joined effortlessly together to create something beautiful.
"This is your tenth day straight of saving the world, Five. You haven't gotten a break. Answer me truthfully now when I ask how you are holding up."
Five sighed, strength draining from his face. He opened his mouth to respond, tearing his eyes away from the sunset and towards Emery but then the back door opened and Diego clambered in with a sigh.
"Lila's okay watching over Elliott for a bit." He said.
"Great." Five said emotionlessly as he shifted into drive, his face back to that cold and reserved front so often seen on him.
They drove in silence as the sunset gave way to a dark night sky and they approached D. S Umbrella; an old white building just outside the city.
"D.S Umbrella. This is it." Diego said as they got out of the car and approached the front doors. "You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, fine. Just..." Five trailed off and sighed as he peered inside.
"How long's it been since you've seen the old man?" Diego asked, kneeling down to work at picking the lock.
"Fourty-five years." Five said.
"That's a trip."
"No kidding." Five said, leaning against the side of the building. "You know, when I was stuck out there in the apocalypse, there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't hear his voice in my head."
"What was he saying?" Diego asked.
"'I told you so.'" Five recalled bitterly.
"Well, if he's here it will be the first time he's seen you. So he can't say 'I told you so'." Diego said.
Five scoffed. "I'm sure he'll find a way."
"Not this time he won't," Emery promised.
Five looked at him under the moonlight and then pulled his gaze away to the door, teleporting and reappearing inside from where he held the door open for them to enter.
"Right." Diego cleared his throat and stood up. "Gotta remember that." He said, passing through the doorframe.
"Thanks," Emery muttered, bushing past Five and inside, the boy following behind. They entered a room and looked around in the dark of night. Five went to turn on a lamp and they were greeted by a few seconds of its gift before it flickered out again.
"Shit." Five said.
"Guess Dad wasn't much for home decor." Diego said, looking around.
The room itself was mostly bare, a couch and a few lamps set astray. It was something you might find in Emery's old home, not the one of the eccentric Reginald Hargreeves.
"Feels more like a front." Five said, agreeing with Emery's thoughts.
"A front for what?" Diego asked.
"I don't know." Five turned to him.
"Well, I'll take the left." Diego said, opening an adjacent door. "Yell if you, uhh.. get in trouble." Diego said, walking through and leaving them behind.
Emery exhaled as he moved to the other side of the room and opened the door, stepping inside to reveal a long hallway poorly lit and with many joining doors on either side. He cast a glance behind him to Five who was also donning a similar expression of wariness.
A small nod was all that was given from Five and then Emery was cautiously pushing open the first door, revealing a room of black. He traced along the wall for a switch and then the room was flickering into light.
In the room, there sat a family with a view of the neighborhood beyond a painted window. Only the people were nothing more than plastic life-sized dolls, positioned in a way that sent chills up Emery's spine.
"What are you up to?" Five asked the ghost of Reginald's presence softly, wondering around as he joined Emery by his side. The light in the room went out, plunging it back into darkness.
They moved on down the hallway, the rooms revealing much of the same before they were plunged back into darkness and they moved on. Now in a room with yet another family deliberately poised this time around a table, Five and Emery started looking through a desk of things set off to the corner.
With knitted brows, Five picked up an envelope and opened it, pulling out its contents.
"Mr. Hoyt Hillenkoetter and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas." Emery read aloud, frown etched onto his face.
Five folded the slip and tucked it into his short pocket, whirring around when a sound echoed through the room. The pair made their way cautiously towards it, creeping up towards the corner of the room where the sound was coming from.
"Hey," Five whispered quietly, kneeling down when he saw the source of the sound. Pogo. "It's all right little buddy. Pogo. It's good to see you." He whispered, opening his arms. But then the monkey screeched and struck Five before he was scampering away, out from Emery's grip and through the window where it broke the glass and escaped into the night.
"Diego!" Five groaned, covering where he had been hit. "Diego!" He shouted with more vigor, clambering up onto his feet and back out the door.
They rushed back down the hallway and when they still couldn't find Diego, back to through the other door Diego said he would go.
"He's not here." Five said, giving up.
"Maybe he went back." Emery said. "Here. You're bleeding." He said, handing Five a cloth he fished out of his pocket.
"Thanks. But there's no way Diego went back. He's probably out there doing something stupid right now."
"Let's go find him then." Emery said, walking back into the main lobby and out the door, Five at his tail.
Together they circled around the building and then even further through the fog that had built up. It was so thick they could hardly see even when Emery tried to manipulate the light particles around it. He must have been more tired than he'd thought for it didn't work out in their best interest.
Ultimately, when they couldn't find Diego, they circled back to the front of the building and paused, shoulders deflating as they looked at the empty space where the car used to be. Diego must have taken the car.
"Diego that son of a bitch." Five cursed, fists clenching at his sides. "Well, if we want to make it back before dawn, we'd better start walking." He sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I don't want to be here longer than I have to."
"Sure just... wait a moment." Emery said, trailing off as his eyes picked up on something in the corner of his peripheral. He made his way towards it and whistled lowly in appreciation as the fog moved way to reveal another buggy tucked away. He tested its door handles and when it gave way, he cheered a triumphant 'yes' under his breath as he got in and ran his hands along the dash for the keys.
"What are you doing?" Five asked, rounding to the front of the car and crossing his arms.
"Shh. Just, get in." Emery said, adjusting his posture so he could reach beneath the wheel. Just because he couldn't find the keys didn't mean he was discouraged. "I've done this before." He said, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he felt around in the dark for the wire panel. He found it and pulled it open, running his hands along the wires to feel their size and length, piecing together what it might look like in his mind. "I've worked on cars like this for the past few months, and I've gotten quite good at it if I do say so myself. The things you learn as a mechanic." He said, smiling when the car tumbled to life and he sat up.
"You know how to drive?" Five asked when they pulled away from the corner and out onto the road. "Jeez, what else did I miss."
Emery scoffed. "Not much beyond that. I barely left the city I was so broke."
"I'm sorry." Five said as they drove. "For dropping you all off in time with nothing to go off of."
"Hey, you've already apologized, Five. Don't worry about it. We're supposed to be focusing on the end of the world right now, right?"
"Right." Five said, settling into a silence that wasn't quite awkward enough to make Emery want to break it as he drove them back to Elliott's.
And true to their hunches, Diego was there moaning and then furthermore passing out on the couch as Lila fought with him to manage a knife wound he had received. How it had happened and who had given him it was beyond Emery but he just couldn't help feeling Reginald had something to with it one way or another.
"Oh. He isn't dead." Five noted blandly.
"Disappointed?" Lila asked.
"Oh, to see you? Always." Five sardonically.
"So much hostility in such a tiny package. Did you cut yourself shaving" She said when she saw Five grab a new cloth and hold it just below his jawline. "I could teach you to shave like a big boy."
Five sighed. "No, I just ran into an old family friend." Five said.
"More like 'walked' into and then got beaten by someone an eighth of your size." Emery said, moving to the kitchen and pouring a glass of water. The jar of light he had put here before when they were watching the film lay opened and empty now. Lila must have unscrewed the lid to let the light deep back into the apartment.
"Ha, you're funny. I like you." Lila said.
"Thanks, I try." Emery responded.
"Shut up." Five said, rolling his eyes. "You didn't untie him?" Five asked when he saw Elliott still roped to the chair, gagged, and passed out.
"Was I supposed to?" Was all Lila asked.
"Untying would be the molar human thing to do, yes." Emery said as he turned the tap off and went to undo the ropes that bound the man. Elliott woke with a start to rub at his jaw. "Here." Emery gave the man the water. "Drink. You must be thirsty."
"Thanks." Elliott said, taking the glass and hesitantly raising it to his lips.
Even a blind man would notice his apprehension. "Do you honestly believe I would poison you?" Emery asked.
"A little bit yes. You did gag me and tie me to a chair." Elliott said though he downed the glass in a manner of seconds after deeming it ordinary enough.
Emery scoffed as he took the glass and moved to refill it. "For all intensive purposes, it was our only choice."
"You did threaten to shoot us." Five noted absentmindedly as he dabbed the cloth to his wound and made his way around the place, searching for the washroom to dispel any blood that may have surfaced.
Elliott just grumbled and stood up, taking his glass of water and heading back to his desk area surrounded by a bunch of equipment Emery would not be able to name.
He began tapping away at his keyboard, monitoring the different screens and when he became emerged in his work, Emery let the man be and headed back to the main area where Diego was still passed out and Lila was tiredly waiting for him to wake up while she bantered with Five.
"Jesus, how do you put up with him?" The girl asked when she saw Emery.
He shrugged. "You get used to it. Honestly, it's the most steam I've ever blown off in years, fighting with him. Very therapeutic." Emery said, moving to lean against the banister that overlooked the television shop.
"Therapeutic my ass." Lila muttered as she turned back to Diego when he moaned in his sleep.
"How'd you end up in the nut house anyway?" Five asked.
"I was seeing things. Things that didn't make sense so I checked myself in. Best decision of my life." She said.
Five narrowed his eyes. "I have a hard time believing that."
"You don't question if someone is crazy, Five. That's gotta be like one of the top unspoken rules of humanity."
"No, I think that would be more under not buying the most expensive dish on the menu when someone takes you out, and repaying people before they ask if they give you money." Five stated.
"Hey, we got one." Elliott's voice wrung out, putting a stop to their conversation. "One of those machines you asked for is going crazy." Emery and Five glanced at each other before they were moving in synch towards the man.
"Which one?" Five asked.
"It's the, uh, atmospheric radar."
"Good." Five said, peering over the man's shoulder.
"I don't get it. What are you tracking? A hurricane? A storm front?"
"Sound waves."
"Sound waves." Elliott echoed. "Wow, what did-" but Five was grabbing Emery and then they were gone in a flash of blue before the man could finish.