The last thing I expected when Five, Diego, the woman—whose name I had learned was Lila—and I returned to Elliott's place of residence was to be greeted with the barrel of a shotgun. On instinct, I stepped out in front of my younger brother, shielding most of him, as Elliott emerged from the shadows, shaking slightly while his weapon stared us down. Surely, the presence of two new people wasn't any more comforting after… whatever it was that got him so shaken up.

"Where did you get the film?" he demanded, his eyes primarily darting from Five to myself and back again. "'The Frankel Footage'. The truth this time."

"You know this lunatic?" Diego asked quietly as the man in question slowly inched closer to us.

"New acquaintance," Five sighed. "He's harmless."

"Are you sure about that?" Lila's voice wavered slightly, but I couldn't blame her. Her first experiences with our family hadn't exactly been the friendliest.

"Are you, or are you not, an enemy of the people?" Elliot screamed, blinking rapidly.

My brothers' and my gazes fell to each other, genuinely contemplating the question for a moment. We couldn't exactly say we weren't because, technically, that was a lie, but our intents certainly weren't to hurt harmless citizens.

"Such an open-ended question, yeah," Diego muttered.

"Really depends on the people."

"And the circumstances," I added. Clearly, that wasn't the answer Elliott was hoping for, because his hostility only grew the closer he managed to get to us.

"You move one more muscle, I will blow your brains out." He really was trying his best to intimidate us, but all threats just fell on deaf ears. We'd taken out far worse people than Elliott, and the three of us seemed to understand the moment we took his weapon away from him, he'd lose the sudden burst of bravery he was currently riding.

"You want to take this or should I?"

"Nah, we've got this," I assured Diego lowly. "You ready for a tiny jump?"

"Always."

In a literal flash, Five and I blinked up to Elliott, startling him into firing the round he had loaded on the shotgun. Immediately after it went off, I slapped my hands down on his shoulders, just enough to cause him to flinch, which allowed Diego to step forward and snatch the gun from his hands. Once the man in front of me seemed to come to, I whipped him around and pointed an accusatory finger toward him, causing him to lurch his head back.

"I think you'll find it wise not to point a gun at my brother ever again." I moved my eyes from Five to Diego, who were both staring at me with slight concern. "Either of them." Lila's sputtering directed me to turn and look at her. She had her hands raised up slightly, as though she needed to surrender, and she couldn't seem to pick which one of us to look at.

"What the hell just happened?" She still managed to laugh, even though she seemed genuinely terrified.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," I shrugged. "Now, since the film has obviously been developed, we should watch it—figure out whatever the hell we're supposed to see."

"Agreed." Five leaned around my side, waving his finger between Diego and Elliott, who remained frozen in fear. "Tie him up, just in case."

Though I wanted to protest the move, given that Elliott likely just had a little shock to the system (no pun intended), the fear he would try and attack either of my brothers again was enough motivation to keep my mouth shut. While Diego carried Elliott and tied him up in one of the dentist chairs lying around the condemned office, Five and I set up the projector and shut off the lights. It took a moment for the reel of film to fully wrap around, and once it did, the bright light of the images that exploded forth caused me to slam my eyes shut for a moment.

"Is it on?" The elderly woman in front of the camera spoke just above the lens, addressing whoever was on the other end. The pink scarf wrapped around her white hairs flapped gently in the breeze, giving her a sort of elegance that usually came with movie stars.

"I don't know," the man behind the camera responded.

"What do you mean? There's an 'on' button. Just—there's something over—the jigga-ma-thing, whatever." I laughed a little as the images being recorded on the camera titled suddenly as the camera was passed from one member of the couple to the other.

"I hit the jigga-ma-thing," the man insisted.

"Okay, well, just— Give it to me. I know what to do." With the camera now in new hands, the image lowered back down to an elderly man, donning a warm sweater and a big grin.

"They're so cute," Lila commented absentmindedly. "I love old couples. I'm always so proud of them for not murdering each other." As she spoke, I looked down at her, and a smile inched its way on my face as I watched her paint Elliott's toenails with an iridescent green polish—the same one on her fingers.

"Why are we watching this?" Diego groaned, growing impatient by the second.

"Shush," Five scolded, not even bothering to glance at his brother for even a moment. Carefully, I leaned down and rested an elbow on his shoulder, making sure I wasn't putting too much weight on my younger twin.

"Yeah, I… I'm Dan Frankel. And…"

"I'm Edna Frankel," the old woman called from behind the camera.

"…Edna Frankel. We are in Dallas, Texas, to see the president. Today's date is November 22, 1963." My eyes widened as I attempted to keep my gasp as quiet as possible. This was the day… and we were presenting it in front of two people who had no idea what was supposed to happen.

"Well, that's six days from now." Lila's observation was strangely calm, as though she didn't see anything wrong with the fact she was viewing something that, for her, hadn't happened yet.

"Holy shit. This is it." Diego leaned forward, as though getting closer to the screen from where he sat would reveal some new detail. "The grassy knoll. Kennedy's about to get shot. How do you have this?"

"Hazel died to get me this footage," Five answered casually. My brows knitted together as I glanced down at the top of his head, completely unaware of the fact Hazel was no longer around. "It must be the key to stopping doomsday."

"Hazel?" Diego questioned.

"Long story."

"What's doomsday?" I offered Lila a sheepish grin.

"Longer story." My attention moved back to Five, who flashed his eyes up to me for a moment.

"What exactly did he say to you?" I hadn't had the chance to further press Five when he first brought up the footage, but now, the opportunity had been passed to me on a slightly-bloodied platter.

"Well, he was killed before he could explain. But whatever he wanted us to see, it's on this film."

"This is very exciting."

Before Dan Frankel could finish whatever he was going on about, the infamous three gunshots popped in the background, and the camera fell down for a moment—likely when its operator ducked to avoid potential fire. People on the footage screamed and cried out about the president before booking it as fast as they could. But just before the couple filming took off, my eyes caught the man in with the black umbrella… sporting an all-too-familiar face.

"Oh, no." I broke away from my brother and crept closer to the screen as the footage was rewound, unwilling to believe what was presented right before our very eyes. Trembling, Diego slid off the counter he'd been perched on and came to stand at my side, studying the frozen image just as intensely as I was.

"This can't be…" Five muttered, pushing through the two of us so he could get a better look.

"Okay, you gonna fill me in now, guys?" Lila sighed from behind us. "What the hell is this shit we're watching?"

"No, that's impossible," Diego denied.

"Clearly, it's not," I countered, unable to break my stare away from the man standing tall on the film.

"What… what is it?" Elliot managed to ask, despite the gag shoved into his mouth.

"Dad," the three of us answered breathily.

After allowing ourselves another moment of disbelief, Diego, Five, and I began to pace, each in different, but equally frantic, patterns. The fact Dad could somehow be in 1963, looking the exact same as he did the last time I had seen him made absolutely no goddamn sense, but there wasn't another person that could be; the vague monocle chain against the background sealed that. But of all the terrible things I could see Dad engaging in, this… just didn't seem like one of them.

"Of course Dad would be involved in the assassination," Diego seethed as he plopped back onto the counter. "I should've known."

"No, you're jumping to conclusions." The second after the words left Five's mouth, Diego jumped up and strode toward him, causing me to stiffen and move closer to the younger of the two out of fear the latter would completely lose his shit.

"What else is he doing standing on the grassy knoll, holding an open black umbrella on a sunny day in Dallas the exact same moment the president gets shot?" Diego fumed, pointing furiously at our grainy father.

"It doesn't look good, I admit."

"No, he's the signalman for the whole goddamn thing." I couldn't bring myself to buy what Diego was fervently selling.

"Easy, Diego," Five cautioned. "Seriously."

"No, it makes sense," he insisted. "This is what Hazel was obviously trying to tell you. We have to stop Dad from killing the president."

"Did Hazel even know who dad was?" I mussitated, spotting an immediate hole in Diego's entire conspiracy theory.

"Diego, calm down, all right? Dad was no boy scout, but presidential assassination? It's never been his thing." Though I admired Five's efforts, reasoning with Diego was like trying to convince a steel pole to get up and walk away.

"How would you know?" Diego's voice had turned to a hostile growl. "You skipped out on his golden years."

My breath immediately caught in my throat, causing me to choke slightly. For Diego to throw that out so casually, as though it had been some sort of pleasant experience was just asinine. Granted, I hadn't been there, but having to deal with the loss for 17 years was enough for my frustration to shoot up into rage.

"Skipped out?" Five's voice cracked a little as he slowly stomped closer to his brother, who just continued to stare like a madman. "You think I had it easy, Diego? I was alone for 45 years." Unable to handle the thoughts swirling in my head, I pushed my brothers apart, unable to look at either of them as a few hot tears pricked the corners of my sockets.

"Okay, look, I think there's more than one party here that would rather not relive the experiences that came with that, so if we could just… drop it, forever?" I pleaded.

"You know what? We don't have time for this," Five dismissed, turning away. "Dad's clearly in Dallas, right? Let's just go talk to him. Maybe he can help us fix the timeline."

"Dallas is a big place. We need to find him first." Although Diego was right, that wasn't going to be as hard as he made it out to be.

"Gee, if only we had a magical, old-timey way of finding people and their addresses." Shaking his head, Five made his way over to one of Elliott's cabinets and pulled out a thick, blue phonebook, slamming it down on the table with a definitive 'thud'.

"Let's start simple," Five suggested as Diego practically threw the book open and began to furiously scan through the names listed. "His name." Not one of the 'HAR' names matched, meaning we'd have to go for something else.

"Try his company. D.S. Umbrella Manufacturing Co." The way Diego turned to look at me made me back up a bit.

"Yeah. I know the name." Without looking, he flipped perfectly to the 'D' section of the book. "Thanks." I followed the point of his finger all the way down the page, until it landed on the exact name I had just recited a moment ago. "Holy shit. 'D.S. Umbrella. Eighty-two Olive.'" Clearly not wanting to waste another second, Diego moved away and pulled up the screen the film had been projected on. "Let's go." From behind us, I could hear Elliott grunting and struggling, attempting to get free.

"He okay to leave here like that?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Five assured me before he shifted his eyes to Diego. "What about the girl?" The three of us stopped in our tracks and looked back, finding the chair Lila had been sat in abandoned.

"Shit," Diego groaned. He sounded pretty reluctant to deal with her, but I didn't mind stepping in his place.

"I can talk to her, if you want," I offered. "I mean, I know we don't really know each other all that well, but I'm sure I could still do a better job than you." Electing to ignore the obvious jab, Diego lamely gestured his hand back toward the room we'd just left, as though granting me permission.

After a bit of searching, I wound up finding Lila curled up in Elliott's makeshift darkroom, trembling slightly. I debated, momentarily, whether or not it was right for me to do this, but it also wouldn't look good if I backed out. Sucking everything up, I moved all the way in and offered her a gentle smile.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked carefully, trying my best not to come off as hostile.

"Nothing, just…" She sniffled and wiped her right hand against her dress. "…you know, getting some air."

"In a closet?" Though I intended that to be a joke, Lila's expression remained as terrified as before.

"There's a draft." I cast my eyes back to my brothers, making sure they weren't trying to rush me, then moved further into the darkroom.

"All right, Lila, Diego wanted me to let you know we have to take off with Five, okay?"

"It's happening again, isn't it?" she trembled, asking as though I had a reference.

"What is?" I kept my voice relatively calm. Lila twirled her finger around next to her head, looking at me with terrified eyes.

"Cuckoo." It only took me a second to realize what she was referencing.

"Right, because you were…" I sighed, wanting to brush that off. It wasn't important to me, in all honesty.

"That home movie. Doomsday. Mina, the last time I started seeing things, they put me away. Maybe I shouldn't have left."

"Stop," I interjected, speaking purely on instinct. Though I knew I was running out my brothers' patience, I hopped up on the counter with her and smiled again.

"Do you… Do you believe there are things in this universe we're never meant to understand?" It was pretty philosophical for someone I didn't know all that well, but I hoped when I got to the point, it would help her feel better.

"Well, I failed remedial school. Most things I don't understand." Not quite the answer I was expecting, but it still worked. "Like yogurt. How does it know when to stop being milk?" I bit my tongue, fighting back the urge to laugh at something so unintentionally cute.

"Okay. Like yogurt. We don't have to understand shit about it for it to be real. Right? Doesn't make us crazy. That home movie… it's just that. It's like yogurt." Lila sniffled again, then shook her head.

"Look, no offense, but I don't know you well enough to take your word on that." I didn't blame her on that at all.

"Well, as long as you don't have any reservations… I'd like to change that." I watched the fear trickle away for a moment, causing my chest to feel warm again. "Everything's going to work out, Lila." Cautiously, I reached out and wiped a couple tears from her cheek, hoping I wasn't stepping too far over any boundary. Thankfully, she didn't try to hit me, instead opting to hold her hand out, pinky raised in the air.

"Pinky promise?" I happily reached up and linked my own finger with hers.

"The pinkiest." The tears finally seemed to stop, reassuring me enough to get up and start toward the door. "We've gotta leave you here with Elliott, okay?"

"Why?" I paused in the doorway, reveling in what I was about to say for a moment. This felt like the first time these words weren't completely drenched in a negative connotation… only mostly.

"I've got a family thing."

With that, I made my way back to my brothers, who were both waiting for me with the same suspicious, yet knowing, expressions on their faces.

"What?" I laughed a little, trying to shrug off the awkwardness of the moment. "She's pretty. Besides, she doesn't seem crazy to me at all. Just… scared."

"All right, come on, lover girl," Diego taunted, pushing me forward a little to get me to walk with them down the stairs.