"What have you done, Five?" The Handler asked as she looked between the two of them, the older one aiming a gun at her face whilst the one she thought she had driven off stood with his siblings, staring her down.
"I decided to make my own deal. Meet Five, he was very grateful to be allowed a chance to get out of the hell that is working for you." Five told her, watching her pale.
"Five, that guy is you?" Luther asked, looking at the man with the wild eyes and stern gaze, holding the gun.
"Yeah, he's me from before I went back to find you guys. Thing about time travel, is it's very tricky to manage just right but if you do what I did, and went back, it can be very useful."
"You know exactly what this means." The Handler said to him. Five glanced around before his reply.
"Oh yeah, I figure we've got, what, thirty minutes?"
"Yeah, I'd say around that." The older Five replied.
"Get him out of here!" The Handler cried as Five shook his head.
"No, we're going to make a deal. Here and now. You and us. A deal that I think you'll find more than reasonable."
"What. Do. You. Want." She spat at him, eyes venomous with rage.
"Simple. You stop, No going after me or my siblings. No influencing us. If the apocalypse does somehow still come around, you get us all out of there before it happens. Agree to this and we'll go."
"You know I can't just make decisions like that, that'd ruin the timeline!" The Handler protested.
"Well you know how it is. Twenty-nine minutes and the timeline is the least of your worries." Five said.
"What do you mean?" Diego asked, but Five ignored him.
"Tick tock." Five smiled as the Handler cursed.
"Fine, let me make a call."
/
"You want to tell us what the hell all that was about?" Ben cornered Five, flanked by the others, whilst Older Five and the Handler vanished into a room to talk.
"I made a risky move. I told you, my plan may involve causing the apocalypse after all."
"I thought you meant me?" Vanya asked, confused.
"You were never my play, V." Five told her gently. "I wouldn't risk you or the safety of any of the others on that. You should decide when and where you use your powers, not because I asked."
Vanya said nothing, rushing over to hug her brother, who patted her awkwardly.
"So, I jumped. I took the briefcase we already had and jumped to 1963, where I knew there was an older version of me, just before I came back the first time. I got his help and brought us both here."
"So, there's two of you here? That older guy is you?" Klaus asked.
"Yeah, and that's my play. More than one of you in any place can cause a paradox. Paradoxes can end all of existence if they're not dealt with quickly. We've got about fifteen minutes until the entire universe collapses, if we don't get either him or me out of the this place and time."
"Are you insane?" Luther asked. "How idiotic was that?"
"I know what I'm doing, Luther." Five growled. "I know how these people think, I just said the safety of you guys was my primary concern, why would I risk that if I didn't know I'd win? I spent forty five years struggling daily to get back to you guys, to be with my family, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure we all get out of here happy and most importantly, alive."
"I'm sorry, Five." Luther mumbled. "I wasn't thinking."
"What's new there?" Diego joked, the others smiling.
"So, I've made a decision." The Handler said, walking back out with older Five still covering her.
"That decision would be?" Allison asked.
"You're free to go. The Commission will no longer try and influence you nor harm you. Just go."
"I'll take him back to where he belongs once my siblings are safely home." Five told her as she glared at him.
"Just leave. Never return." The Handler spat as she walked off.
'How can I salvage this? Five has to be bluffing, he wouldn't risk everything, but how do I expose it as a bluff and get the upper hand?' The Handler asked herself as Dot appeared.
"What's happening?" Dot asked frantically, eyes widening as she saw older Five stood near younger Five. "How is he here? How is there two of them here at once?"
"Well it seems your ideas are as useless as you, Dot." The Handler growled, pulling her luger from her pocket. Her office had been trashed when she went back inside, but Hazel and Cha-Cha were nowhere to be seen. What had happened to them? Her luger was still sitting on her cabinet and she picked it up, determined that if she was to go down, she'd go down fighting.
"Your services are no longer required, enjoy your retirement." The Handler told Dot, aiming the gun between her eyes and pulling the trigger before Dot could react, watching the woman fall to the floor, as the Academy and older Five looked around to see her walking over Dot and away.
/
"So, what do we do now? We won." Vanya said.
"It's not that simple. We can't trust them, plain and simple." Five said.
"We need to make sure they never come after you again." Older Five told them.
"How do we do that?" Allison asked.
"We need to make sure the Commission burns, all of it." Five said.
"We destroy it, good, but then what? You escaped last time after doing it and they rebuilt." Klaus asked.
"Allison." Ben realised. "You could do it."
"How?" Allison asked.
"Ben, you're a genius." Five said. "Allison, rumour the Handler, get her to stay right here, get her to order everyone in the building to here even, we blow the place, make sure they stay in the fires, and we get out."
"Five, you're not seriously advocating mass murder, are you?" Luther asked, scandalised.
"If it's the only way to keep our family safe, yes." Five said bluntly. "Allison, will you do it?"
"If its the only way to ensure our family is safe, yes." Allison said, looking away from Luther's judging scowl.
"Then we best be quick." Older Five said. "Handler!" He called, the woman turning to him.
"GET OUT!" She screamed, Allison walking towards her.
"Don't you want to know a secret?"
"What?" The woman asked, confused.
"I heard a rumour." Allison started, getting closer to her. "That you called everyone in the building to here and ordered them to wait here for the next half an hour."
The Handler's eyes misted over and she walked into her office, announcing to everyone to come to her office, that the situation was over. Walking back outside, the Handler stood and waited as confused Commission employees, largely case managers, walked in, most of them appearing from hiding places.
"What's going on?"
"Why are they here?"
"Is it over?"
"Handler? What's wrong?"
"I heard a rumour you all waited here quietly and didn't try to leave no matter what for the next half an hour." Allison announced at large to them, seeing them all stand still and shut up.
"We've got about two minutes." Older Five told Five, as he nodded to his counterpart.
"Right, everyone, grab the briefcase. It'll take us out of here."
"What about older you?" Vanya asked.
Sighing, the older Five headed over to where the kids were standing and knelt down, so that he was closer to their height.
"It's been a pleasure seeing all of you, knowing that my plan works, in a way at least. Even if I don't know it, seeing you all will keep me going. Even if its only a few hours until I see you all again."
"What do you mean, you won't remember?" Ben asked.
"We need to preserve the timeline. Allison, you need to Rumour me to forget all of this, meeting younger me, coming here, all of it." Older Five told her.
"I'll do it." Allison said, shaking her head. "I just don't want to do anything that'll hurt you, Five."
"It won't. Rumour me, then younger me will get you all out of here, I'll use my own briefcase once I've finished up here."
"Finished up?" Vanya asked.
"Someone has to set this place to blow. Once Five is gone, the paradox will be alright again, different places, different times. I'll be able to set this place to go and then head back to 1963, you need to Rumour me so that I'll forget all of this the minute I reach 1963."
"One minute!" Five called out, looking a little panicked now as Vanya rushed over to hug older Five.
"Goodbye Five." She told him. "We all love you."
"I love you too, Seven." Older Five smiled at her as he looked over at Allison.
"I heard a rumour that you forgot all of this once you went back to 1963." Allison told him.
"I'll see you all real soon." Older Five winked as he walked past the standing Commission members, whistling as he pulled out a grenade from his pocket.
"Vietnam war. Does the job." He smiled as Five opened their briefcase, taking him and his siblings away.
/
"Did it work?" Diego asked as they all landed.
"I have no idea. Probably." Five said.
"Probably?"
"Do you want to risk us ending everything by going back for a quick check?" Five asked.
"So, what do we do now?" Luther asked.
"We become a family. We've come a long way since we got back here but there's still lots to do. Without the Commission, who knows what will happen, what new threats will be out there for us." Five said. "Personally, I'll be glad, not knowing what the future will bring, or at least knowing it shouldn't bring the apocalypse."
"Well, whatever it brings, we'll face it, as a family." Vanya told him.
Smiling, Five gestured for the others to come over and hug him, after a moments hesitation, they all headed over, wrapping their arms around each other in one messy group hug.
"So, we did it." Five told them, smiling into Vanya's shoulder as he felt Diego patting his back. "It's over."
/
"So, what do I do now?" Harold asked himself as he looked around. He'd spent weeks preparing the cabin for himself and now he was ready to start getting his revenge on the Academy for abandoning him. His first need was to get into the Academy itself, find out their secrets and expose them. Once he had an idea of where their achilles heel was, he'd strike at it. Once he had them on the back foot, he'd destroy them.
They'd rue the day they didn't think Harold Jenkins was anything but extraordinary.