Ashes, lots of ashes.
Five coughed, squeezing the handle of the cart with his hand, he had to find something to protect his nose and mouth from the ashes or would soon die choking. Delores was perched on the wheelbarrow, wearing her new sequined shirt, and humming a song Five did not know as he walked through the rubble, looking for supplies ( and maybe his siblings ).
He had met Delores a week earlier, and when they finally started talking, Five's throat was hoarse with disuse. In Five's first six months in the apocalypse, he had not uttered a word, fighting for survival at the end of the world, looking for food and looking for his siblings from one side to the other.
Five knew there was a low chance that his siblings would be alive after all this time, but he could not lose hope, and even if they were dead, Five wanted to bury them properly. Because of that, he was walking around with Delores. Suddenly, Five stopped, spotting a bloody ball held by someone's hand.
It was a glass eye, and when Five followed his arm to the owner, he found an unknown but somewhat familiar face.
No, it couldn't be.
No, no...
Five looked around, desperate. This body had abnormal and impossible proportions for a human being to achieve, but...
He spotted another body. No… it couldn't be her!
There was another body nearby. It was Diego, only his brother had this specific type of knife, but Five could not believe it, the last time he saw his brother he had chubby cheeks of a thirteen-year-old-boy.
It was Klaus. Five looked horrified at his brother's body, the umbrella tattoo standing out on his forearm.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
They couldn't be dead! No!
Diego, wake up! Allison! Luther! Klaus!
No! No!
NO!
Five opened his eyes, panting, jumping out of bed with a knife in hand and looking around ominously.
It was all in the same place.
Nothing had changed, it was just a nightmare.
Five shook his head, turning away thoughts about the corpses of his siblings. That wouldn't happen, Five was going to stop the apocalypse, but for that he had to save Klaus first.
He thought of Klaus when they met. It seemed that a light had gone out on his once brilliant and talkative brother. He was wearing the last clothes Five would think to see in his brother, but that wasn't the worst part, no. There was a purple bruise on his neck that Five bet was from a hickey that The Handler had given his brother. Only the sight of that hickey had made Five clench his fists, but he resigned to have a touch of anger in front of his brother because Klaus did not need it.
Klaus was alone and vulnerable and Five was the only one who could save him.
The man behind him was annoying, and Five would punch him if it didn't get him in trouble.
"Hello, Mr. Five! I'm Herb, remember? I'm at the table next to yours!" Five refrained himself from yelling at him and kept walking down the aisle "Mr. Five! Can I have a moment with you?"
Five turned to him with his fists clenched and his worst look on his face.
"In case you're not seeing, you asshole, I'm in a hurry and I don't have time to talk out with idiots like you, so stop bothering me and leave me alone!" Growled Five, about to jump on top of the man and break his neck. He didn't have time to deal with this idiot, he needed to come up with a plan to save Klaus!
"I'm sorry!" The man seemed truly sorry, and fear appeared in his eyes briefly before a determined expression appeared on his face and he looked around before grabbing Five by the arm and leading him into an empty room "I didn't want to bother you Five, but I really want to help you!"
Five stared at him and ripped arm out of his hand "And what would I need help with?" Asked Five, raising his chin, disappointed when he provoked no reaction and the man remained strong.
"We know about your brother, Five" Said him and Five inspired deeply, not stopping a second before pushing the men against the wall and putting a knife to his neck.
"You'd better give me a reason why I shouldn't rip your throat in the next five seconds" Whistled Five, narrowing his eyes at Herb.
"All right! All right!" He exclaimed Herb, raising his hands "Look, we know about your brother" Repeated him, and stood a look of panic on his face when Five increased the pressure on the knife on his neck "We have a resistance group and we want to help you rescue your brother!" Said Herb quickly and Five froze.
"What do you mean by that?" Asked Five in a rough tone and the man stuttered for a moment before continuing.
"Look, we don't like Handler. Actually, no one from the Commission likes her, but I'm part of a small group that's against her, but we never had a chance or reason to do anything, but now that you're here, it's perfect!" Herb explained, and Five took a step back, frowning, and Herb sighed "We don't like what she's doing to her brother, and we know you'll need help saving him, we're willing to help!"
"What do you mean? What else is she doing with Klaus?" Asked Five, different scenarios coming into his mind, none of which he wished were happening.
"I can't talk about it here, but if you go to one of our meetings next week, we can explain everything you want to know!" Said Herb, and Five nodded, a serious expression on his face.
"Fine, but you better be serious or I'm going to really rip your throat this time!" He threatened Five, and Herb nodded frantically, a smile on his face.
"I won't let you down, Mr. Five!"
Five walks down the hall, a tube in his hand, heading to the Tube Room. For anyone who looked, he seemed serious and calm, but Five was anything but.
He had spent the last few days cataloguing everything he could about the Commission's head office, while doing the work in the office. He had breakfast every day with The Handler, who couldn't get tired a second of teasing him and talking about Klaus' cuteness. If Five hadn't known he was going to get his brother in trouble, he'd have crushed handler's perfect face by taking that smug smile out of her. But he couldn't do that and boiled in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee.
If it weren't for coffee, Five wouldn't be alive. He spent the nights in clear writing variable equations in his room, in addition to the times when he woke up from a nightmare. Dark circles were beginning to appear.
Five entered the Tube Room, looking for Gloria, who was talking to a spiky-haired woman. As soon as she saw him, the woman smiled at him and gave him a bright smile. Five made a grimace at her and handed the tube to Gloria.
"1885, case 992351" He said, ignoring the spiky-haired woman in favor of giving instructions to Gloria, who smiled at him, quickly reading the message on paper and sending the tube to 1885, leaving soon after to sit at his desk.
Five stayed for a few moments until the ping of the tube being delivered went off and headed out of the room.
"Wait, Five!" It was the woman, calling him. Five turned and raised an eyebrow at her, noting a badge on her chest that said:
EXPERIMENT 4 PRICIPAL GUARD
Five narrowed his eyes to the badge. He didn't like that. It didn't sound good.
"Yes?" He asked, stopping at a safe distance from the woman "And who would you be?" The woman laughed and shook her hands.
"I'm Lila, nice to meet you" She reached out and Five looked at her hand for a moment before staring her in the eye.
"Are you going to smile like an idiot and make me waste my time or do you have something to say?" Questioned Five, crossing his arms, wrapping his left fingers in the handle of the knife on his right sleeve.
"Oh, it's great to meet the little devil you are in person!" Exclaimed Lila and Five made a grimace.
"I'm fifty-eight years old, I'm almost three decades older than you" Answered Five "Now, if you have nothing to say but babble like a mental weak, I have more important things to do" Five gave her one last look before turning to the door, but before he could leave, one hand grabbed his wrist and turned him over. He found himself face to face with Lila.
"Hey, before you go, I have something that might interest you" Lila took a step back and took something out of her pocket. When Five saw what it was, he straightened up.
They were the dog tags he had seen Klaus wearing since he returned from any ten-month time travel, he had made. It seemed special to him and Five saw his brother hold up the dog tags several times with a lost expression and tearing looks. This asshole had no right to take something so valuable from her brother.
"Give it back" He growled, not daring to reach out and rip the dog tags out of her hands.
"I don't think so" Said Lila, smiling and passing her fingers by the current "Your brother Klaus seems very attached to this, and I don't intend to return it anytime soon, maybe I use it as blackmail, who knows?"
Five took a deep breath and counted to seven. He couldn't kill this woman, no wonder he wanted to. This would cause trouble for him and Klaus would be punished for his sake, and he wouldn't let Klaus get hurt for him any more than he already was.
"Who are you, anyway?" He asked, recomposing himself and looking at her. Lila shrugged.
"No one very important" She said, false indifference in the face, then laughed "Unless you tell me the fact that The Handler is my mother, of course"
Five held on to the max not to show shock and disbelief in the face "Oh, really?" He asked, with the right amount of indifference, contempt, and slight curiosity in tone.
"Yes" She smiled, holding the dog tags in her pocket "I've seen a lot of your brother Klaus lately, he looks so broken" She sighed dramatically, something in her eyes that Five could not identify, but which quickly disappeared.
"Yeah, well, stay away from him" Threatened Five, a growl in his voice. Lila laughed.
"Ha! And what are you going to do, present me with a seven-page document written with crayons?" She then frowned "Urgh, no, that wasn't good"
"In fact" Said Five, putting his hands behind his back petulantly and putting a smile that would make most people scare themselves in the face "I've seen much better than this, which was simply deplorable" Five analyzed the nails, continuing to smile "Anyway, if you have something else to say, spit, if not, as I said, I have other places to be"
Lila made an unpleasant grimace at him" I just wanted to say that your brother Klaus is very interesting" Five abandoned her activity of analyzing his nails to look deadly at her "He has extraordinary powers, he's very valuable to us, very much" Then she smiled "Well, anyway, have a nice day! See you around!"
She turned and left, and Five stood still, his mind running at full speed.
Toc. Toc. Toc.
Five knocked on the door, his jaw strained and his left foot shaking in impatience.
"Come in, Five!" Handler's voice came. Five opened the door and saw her sitting at the table, serving a dark liquid that could be tea or coffee in a cup "Come in, come in!"
Five closed the door and walked up to her, examining the surroundings. Nothing different. There was no one in the room with them.
"I'm glad you decided to attend this meeting." She said, a smile that revealed second thoughts on her lips. Five gnawed his teeth.
"It's not like I have much choice, is it?" He whistled at him, sitting in the chair in front of her.
"No, you don't" She agreed, fun in her eyes while taking a sip of her cup "Would you like some coffee? I personally prefer a good tea, but as you said you prefer coffee, I had it provided for you" She pointed to a different teapot than she was using before.
"No, thank you." Said Five, although he really wanted a coffee now, he just didn't want to share a drink with The Handler of all people.
"Oh, well, what a pity" She shrugged, landing her cup on the teapot "Well, now that we've covered that part, let's get down to it"
"That would be... ?" Five raised his eyebrows, his hands at fists in his pants pockets.
"Your brother, of course, also the fact that I am satisfied with your behavior lately, you have been a good boy" Cooed The Handler. It looked like she was about to reach out and shake Five's cheek. He twisted his face.
"Your brother has also been a good boy" She said, then shrugged "Well, more or less. He didn't answer our questions the way we wanted, and I was forced to punish him." She sighed as if she were sad and sorry. Five mocked internally "These things happen, unfortunately. I hope it doesn't happen again."
"What questions?" Five resisted the urge to jump on the table and pull out the answers he wanted from the woman.
"Oh, that's been a few days, we tried something different, would you like to see?" She asked, and Five frowned.
"What do you mean?" He asked. The Handler smiled.
"You'll see, come on"
Five accompanied The Handler through the run res until they drove to another building down a glass walkway where he could see other people walking downstairs. They finally reached a door in a hallway, which opened to what looked like a control room with some scattered office chairs. Lila was sitting in one of them and waved to Five as he walked in behind The Handler, smiling brightly.
There was a glass that Five assumed was one-way that gave way to a small empty room at first glance, but Five soon located why he was brought there.
Klaus was cowering against one of the corners of the room, his hands in his ears, his eyes closed tightly and his mouth moving frantically, but without producing sound.
"Oh, yeah" The Handler was smiling as she sat in what appeared to be the most comfortable chair in the room "He's been there for some time now, with no results for now, unfortunately"
"Are y–" Five took a deep breath, not wanting The Handler to see how shaken he was, but if her rising smile was a statement, she had noticed "Are you experimenting with him?"
* A flash went through his eyes as he thought of his own experiments that was submitted while still working for the Commission. Flashes of needles being forced into his veins, the ghost feeling of leather straps tightening his wrists and ankles, the cold of a metal table on his back, the cloud of drugs in his mind as they moved with his body, changing his DNA, corrupting his mind...
Five closed his hands-on fists and looked at his brother. He barely survived it with sanity, he couldn't bear the fact that Klaus was going through something like what he went through and Five couldn't do anything to stop it. Despair took over Five, at the same time as anger, hatred, and a feeling that he was being uselessly stood still and that he should protect his younger brother. More than ever, Five wished he could kill The Handler right now.
Five was drawn from his dark thoughts by the voice of The Handler, who looked radiant, her hands crossed close to her chest, a shark smile on her face.
"Of course, we're experimenting on Four!" He exclaimed The Handler, as if it were obvious. And for her it was, of course "It is as rare a specimen as you once were, and he has even more potential to be explored!"
These words seemed like something his father had already said to Klaus, but Five couldn't remember, it had been forty-five years since he last saw the old man on that fateful day he had fled the Academy, the day he had abandoned his siblings at the mercy of his father's tyranny.
"What do you mean by potential to be exploited?" Asked Five, his eyes fixed on the tearful figure of his brother who was curled up in a ball and jumped from second to second, shrinking to the invisible, in Five's view.
"Oh, well" The Handler smiled, then pointed her to the chair in front of her "Sit down, I can't let a guest standing up in a conversation like this!"
Notes:
* For those who didn't read the comics, when Five went to work with the Commission, they did a lot of experiments with him, including changing his DNA and adding the DNA of the biggest and best killers that ever existed to make him the perfect killer for the Commission.