"-Five. I work alone." Diego stood firm, staring at Five, who had just turned away from the computer in the study.
"Well, not anymore," Five shot back, his voice steady as his eyes met Diego's with equal determination.
"I can handle this by myself." Diego's frustration crept into his voice. He was desperate to make this trip to the bodega alone, but Five had perked up as soon as Diego mentioned Patch's latest intel.
"It's safer with two," Five muttered, clicking the computer again without looking back.
"Since when do you care about taking the safer route?" Diego snapped, incredulous. Five was hardly one to play it safe.
"Since I realized we have more to protect." Five abruptly stood, meeting Diego's gaze head-on. "Your kids, Diego. Lila. Me. You. We've got families now. This world is ours to protect."
Diego scowled, trying to wave it off. "It's fine. I'm not going to do anything reckless."
"I'm going. End of discussion." Five brushed past Diego, striding out the door without another word. Diego stood frozen for a moment, staring at the monitor displaying the email from Ben and the information on the bodega. His mind raced, but he knew Five wouldn't back down.
Five quietly slipped into their room where Lila was fast asleep, her breathing soft and steady. He quickly changed into more inconspicuous clothes and, before leaving, pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. She stirred but drifted back into a peaceful slumber.
He checked on the girls, still sound asleep, then quickly dashed down the stairs to meet Diego. They left through the back entrance, moving silently through the quiet night, catching the subway into Harlem. Both were lost in their thoughts, watching the platforms blur as they rode deeper into the city's underbelly.
When they arrived, the streets were empty, the moon partly hidden behind drifting clouds. It was 2 a.m. Diego led the way, weaving them through dingy alleys, their footsteps echoing softly in the silence. Rats scurried underfoot, but neither of them paid any attention. Soon, they found themselves two buildings away from the bodega. The streetlights were dim, but a single window in the basement glowed brightly.
They moved closer, trying to make out the shapes inside. Diego reached for the door's lock, focusing on it with his powers, when he suddenly felt another hand on the handle. He quickly released it, and both pressed flat against the brick wall, now listening closely.
A shadow passed the window, followed by the flick of a lighter. Smoke drifted from the crack in the glass as a man inside lit a cigarette and began a phone call.
"Heath came back with more information. I still don't trust it," the man muttered.
More indistinct voices responded on the other line, agitated.
"You say that, but you're never here to see it. This guy... I've got a bad feeling. He's brought FBI files, forensics, and some chemical bullshit he won't shut up about."
The conversation grew more heated until the smoking man barked to the phone, "Walker, what do you fucking want from me?"
Diego and Five exchanged a glance as they heard the name. The man finally grumbled a curse, flicking his cigarette out the window. It landed just inches from Diego's feet as the window slammed shut.
"We need more," Five whispered, nodding to Diego.
Diego closed his eyes, concentrating. "Two doors. Storage room is packed with something... not sure what. Four people inside. Armed." He focused, feeling the distinct metals of guns and knives.
"I'll blip inside," Five said, his voice low.
Diego nodded, watching as Five's shadow flickered and vanished to only appear through the frosted window. Moments later, Five was back, pulling Diego to the side just as the basement door clicked open. Two figures exited, heading in the opposite direction.
Five grabbed Diego's arm, and in an instant, they were back in their living room.
"What did you see?" Diego's curiosity burned.
"They've got a schedule, a list of targets. There's an attack planned for tomorrow. Times Square. They're going for media attention, making it a spectacle."
"It's another distraction," Diego muttered, rubbing his temples.
Five's voice grew darker. "Cults like this… when the leader falls, someone close always rises to take control. They know how to manipulate, how to keep the system running. There's something bigger going on. I'm just not seeing it yet."
Diego sighed. "We'll head out tomorrow. These attacks are getting more violent."
Five nodded. "We need everyone. The whole family. We'll split up and cover ground."
Before Diego could head to his room, Five abruptly asked, "Are you… pursuing Patch?"
"No," Diego said, voice low as he turned away, ready to retrieve back into his room.
"Good." He heard him nod and turn back to the study.
"Go to bed, Five. Big day tomorrow." Diego said, with concern.
"Can't sleep, even if I wanted to." Five pushed open the study doors with the window still open, blowing chilly air into the room, and easily slid it shut. He searched through the database to find 'Walker' or anything relevant to the bodega, but everything came up empty. He leaned back at the small question mark in the middle of the screen and muttered, 'No results found.' Frustration gnawed at him as he stared at the blank screen, the faint glow of dawn creeping into the room.
He trudged upstairs, slipping into bed next to Lila, who was still fast asleep. Wrapping his arms around her, he pressed his face into her shoulder, trying to quiet his restless mind. For a moment, he allowed himself to relax, to find solace in her presence. But even as he held her, his thoughts raced. He had too much to lose now, and the weight of that responsibility pressed down on him.
When Five snapped up from his dream, his eyes darted around. Lila was already up, dressed and fresh from the shower.
"You okay, love?" Lila whispered, sitting beside him.
"Just a weird dream," he mumbled, pulling her back into bed. He clung to her tightly, trying to shake the feeling.
"What was it about?"
"It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it." He buried his face against her chest, her fingers running through his hair. "We have a mission today."
"What mission? Where?" Lila asked, surprised.
"I'll explain later. Let's sleep more."
She laughed softly. "I've got to get the girls ready."
"Let Diego handle it," Five grumbled, tightening his grip.
"Come on, love. I'm in charge of breakfast. You have to help me, there's like a million people here to cook for." She tried and he finally pulled his head out of her chest to smile.
"What are we making?" He pulled back and loosened his grip.
As Diego rode the subway back alone after dropping the girls off, he sat watching the passengers around him, thinking about the upcoming mission. He clenched his fists, wondering if one of The Cleanse could be in the train car with him.
When he arrived back at the apartment, the family was already gathered in the living room, preparing for the day ahead.
"I'm still confused about everything that's going on," Luther said, halting Five's rapid-fire explanation.
Five sighed and picked up a napkin and a marker. He drew a simple figure on it. "Alright, people. How many times do I have to explain this?" He began, laying out their situation in terms simple enough for everyone to follow, and finished the rest of the water in a clear cup.
He sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, looking up at the group, now sitting slightly lower than everyone else.
"This is us," he said, drawing a simple stick figure with a smiley face on the napkin. The ink bled through the multiple layers. He ripped the napkin along the folded seams, leaving two identical figures in front of him. He drew an umbrella over one.
"We hopped into this timeline." He layered the second figure over the first. "Normally, we could jump in and out of timelines," he explained, "But when we landed here…" He overlapped the two figures and set the empty cup upside down on top of them. The remaining water dripped through the napkin, spreading the ink into dark, messy stains.
"…and severed the connection from the rest of the multi-verse. Erased all evidence of other timelines. No one goes in, no one goes out. It's like they never existed as far as this timeline is concerned."
He leaned back, letting the weight of his words sink in. "When we were in the capsule, we changed a massive part of the timeline continuum. When we cut the rest off, we suffer its consequences," looking at the bleeding figures, "No way out means, no way to erase what had already happened. People remembering their other timelines are just consequences to us existing in here. Especially the leaders of The Cleanse. They have documentation, photographs, information from the other timelines, from dreams or fading memories."
"Now," he pushed it all aside and placed the thick file of the coffee table and flipped through to find the medical examiner's ID photo from the FBI database. "This guy is the medical examiner, he reported to The Cleanse with any relevant information the FBI got. By getting The Cleanse everything the FBI knows are how they are coordinating attacks. And this guy here," he pulled another photo, "is one of the leaders that attacked in front of the school. We know because of him that there is an online platform where the numbers are growing. We also know somebody higher up is doing the clean-up, because they were all released to their lawyer this morning, a not a cheap one. We also know they're getting sloppier every attack."
Five looked up to see most of them nodding in seriousness. "Diego and I… visited… a bodega in Harlem and saw this schedule." He pulled another photo, shaky and barely readable. "I took this photo with my phone, not the greatest, but it's a map and schedule of the attacks." He pointed at the date for today. "Time Square, 1PM."
Lila glared at them both but focused back on the photo as Five continued. "Diego also found out these attacks are a distraction to something. I'm guessing something big… We heard a phone call last night, too. Walker. I think he might lead us to the big guy."
"There's a lot of people in times square. How are we going to do crowd control without causing a scene?" Klaus asked, anxious and unsure.
"I think, Five, Diego, and Viktor should go together to find the distraction. The rest of us will blend in and help with crowd control." Allison spoke up, thinking rapidly at the large space that opened to Times Square. Too many people, too many buildings, too many possibilities of people getting hurt.
"Ben also has leads with the lab equipment. They think there's a separate private lab that Gene and Jean didn't know about. It makes sense that there'd be sub-groups with those that didn't like their style of leadership." Diego muttered to the group.
"Alright. We should get there early to scope out the place. Everyone get ready. We leave in 5." Five got up, shuffling the papers back into the file and dropped it off in the study. He took a deep breath, staring at the roses blooming outside the bay windows. Anxiety rose up to his neck and it was drowning him. He was heading upstairs and met Lila changing to something light and watched her push open a wooden plank from the closet to pull out weapons.
Five reached above her to pull a white shirt and pulled out a blazer jacket instead. He finally felt comfortable in his usual clothes, a slick black suit.
"Hand me one too." He muttered, looking at the mirror, to Lila. She flicked a knife past her shoulder, and he easily caught it. She stood quietly and handled a small Glock, checking the barrel and snapping it loudly. She tucked it behind her waist and covered it with her jacket.
"Where did you get that?" Five staggered back, "Lila. Why are you packing a gun?" Still faced away from him, no answer.
"Lila." He tried to look at her face, but she turned to slide a knife into her vest. "Are you mad at me?" He felt the similar creep of anxiety as they rode their subway home, her faced away and angry, all without showing her face.
"Lila-" He called out again, but she sharply turned to face him, with silent anger boiling in her eyes.
"Do you not trust me, Five?" He was taken aback by her tone and the way she spat out his name.
"What? Of course, I do. Why are you mad?" He tried to chuckle to break the tension to no avail. She just looked angrier.
"Five! You went with Diego to a lair without telling anyone! You didn't tell me about your wound that made you bleed out and almost die! You didn't tell me about the way home! You- You- you act like I don't need to know! Like I'll be better off or something! But why are you deciding that for me?" She waved her arms around while whisper shouting. Rage burned her bright red. Five blinked back at her sharp tone and frustration.
"It's like… you're waiting to die at the right moment, so we'd be safe without you. I fucking hate that." She turned and let the door slam shut.
Five stared at the door and felt blood draining from his head, down the back of his neck, turning everything cold as it left him. He realized that he thrived in chaos. It was beyond a craving, but the decades of constant anxiety and doom made it a norm. In here, he was making breakfast and lunch, reading bedtime stories, and planning with the family for a tomorrow he knew it'd come. He just thought he would never have the privilege; in chaos, it's easy to live. Every morning, there's one objective: live until tomorrow. There was no hiding it, Lila was right. He'd been unknowingly looking for small fires to put out to feel regulated and normal.
He broke his distant gaze to the present. He went to reach for the door, but suddenly, his vision went ash white. Everything from the Capsule suddenly came back to him, and a splitting headache started to form.
He saw his dream from this morning again, with color and clearer sounds. He saw a billboard that flashed by 1:06PM and a Coca-Cola ad slid past. There was chaos everywhere, people screaming, cars honking, police sirens blaring, and a child with a purple headband, clung to his legs. He was pulled forwards and dropped behind a building and saw a figure slip by the alleyway. Three more followed with large duffle bags, he saw his own legs as he turned the corner, following them. He squinted his eyes to see more, but he was snapped back to reality. Cold sweat was already dripping down his sides and he was breathing heavily. He blinked to see his hand on the door again, not even open yet. He let go of it to wipe his forehead and take the time to catch his breath. Still panicked, he ran downstairs to drink the water straight from the tap, dipping his face under it.
He heard everyone file down the stairs and tried to look normal, but he saw Lila notice him struggle and shot him a concerned glare. He shook his head and silently led them to a circle to blip away. He'd pass by Times Square so many times, he barely had to think about it, before he saw the blue flash through his eyelids and opened them to a sunny day in Time Square. They only scared some pigeons; glad it wasn't a passerby. But it was New York, and truly nobody would care about some light teleportation. All of them in civilian clothes to blend, nodded as they looked around.
"You guys just split off and hang around until something happens. You all have your comms?" Five had to clear his throat to speak again. They all nodded, "Just don't get arrested. I'm not bailing anyone out."
Allison and Lila linked arms as they walked around pretending to peruse the windows and displayed clothes, while looking around for any signs of potential chaos. Klaus sat on a café seat and casually stoke up a conversation with a man sitting alone. He looked confused when Klaus started with, "Did your grandmother just die?" but when Klaus said, "Judy says Hi," the man looked invested and continued the conversation with him. He took his time looking around the crowd for any suspicious people or activity. He answered all of his questions and sighed to pat his shoulder when he started crying. Far away, Klaus had to pretend he wasn't laughing when he saw Luther standing next to the off-brand figures and taking photos with tourists. He looked incredibly excited at the attention, even if they thought he was a character.
Five told himself that Lila could get out of any situation if it ever arose. She was the type of person that wouldn't leave witnesses or sloppy mistakes. 'She'll be fine. She'll be fine,' he muttered to himself as he led Viktor and Diego through the familiar alley. He realized what he had seen was a vision, a small fracture of time slipping through him. As all of time emerged into him, it made sense that he'd experience time differently now. There was no continuity or linear passage of time; but moments ago, he had seen a possible future.
He remembered where he had stopped to check his surrounding and saw the same graffiti tagged on the wall. He looked around to see no one, not yet at the time they arrived in his vision. He walked towards the thin opening in between two buildings. Three doors, but Five had no clue which one they entered through.
"Hm… weird." Diego muttered as he touched both sides of the wall. "I feel the same thing I felt in that bodega. There was a lot of it in the other room. I still have no clue what it is. I feel the metal but it's in particles."
"Where?" Five snapped back.
"Both of them. More through the sewer grate." He peeked his eye open and pointed underneath Five's feet. The grate opened to a large tunnel with water trickling through. "Let's take this one. I don't want them to know we were here." Not wanting to leave even a footprint.
Diego easily lifted it with his hand, using his powers to hold the weight evenly and hovered it above him as he dropped down. The crate rattled but settled back into place. Diego led the way, feeling the strange object calling for him. It was just a bigger room, still like a tunnel and encased in cement, except the whole open space was filled with tightly wrapped packages. Five pulled a package out from the back, making it unnoticeable that one was missing. He tore the top just a little, afraid of something unsettling. But he felt the weight and said, "Is… this a rock?"
He used the plastic to push the rock closer to the opening. "Don't touch it." Five warned as he showed them. Viktor flashed his light on it and specks of orange ores shined brightly.
"Why would they create a distraction that big, to move rocks?" Viktor asked Five, genuinely puzzled.
"Let's bring this with us as a sample." Five said and looked at Diego. "Can you pull some out?" He nodded and started to hover his hand over the small opening. He felt it a drop of it drip upwards and hover right above it. He soon had a stream gathering into a ball, depleting the bag as he gathered it under his hand.
"That's good." Five muttered, and Diego let out his breath he didn't know he was holding. He solidified it but it was cratered and oblong. He held his hand under it as Viktor shook off his jacket to wrap around it. Diego let his powers dissipate and it dropped a little in Viktor's arms. Five wrapped the plastic inside of itself and haphazardly shoved it back into place. They were walking back to the entrance when he heard approaching footsteps and shoved them back to stay out of sight. He nodded silently at them, and closed his eyes to blip them above ground. They landed behind the corner, just outside of the grate and had to shuffle in to stay hidden from the approaching figures. Just like his vision, he saw them disappear through the narrow alley.
Diego heard the distant sirens and screaming and started running towards it. Five hearing the fast footsteps, turned to do the same.
"What do I do with this?" Still holding the rock in his arms.
"Uh… right." Five turned back to take it from him. "I'll be right back." He only took a second to think about the lab in the safe house, slightly worried about how far away it was, but after the capsule, his powers came back easier to manipulate. He knew how to control it and stop it at his free will. He thought about Ben and Abigail, imagining them working hard under the fluorescent lights. He leaned forwards into the portal and saw eyes snap to him and silence fell. He heard a pencil drop and Five cracked a smile. He spotted Ben working on a desk, startled and confused to see Five. He walked over to drop the heavy rock on his desk.
"Hi. Just dropping this off. We're in Times Square right now, dealing with it." He gave a thumbs up and leaned back to blip back. Viktor staggered back at the sudden disappearance and appearance.
"I just dropped it off with Ben." He shrugged and smiled at the sudden rush of adrenaline. "Come on, let's help with the crowd work." He started running and pulled Viktor by his sleeves.
"You know, what's ironic?" Viktor was running full speed next to Five, "I would have killed to join a fight like this as a kid, but now I never want to fight anyone, ever again."
Five laughed with hair jumping behind him as he matched his speed.
They split off to help people stand to their feet and clear barricades over sidewalks. The swarm of people chanting were throwing objects at every direction. A firework passed right by his shoulder and exploded behind him on a dumpster. It exploded lights everywhere and Five's ear rang through the noise. He tried to look for Lila, but he couldn't make out anything in the crowd.
Diego was pulling an unconscious man out of a car, with a massive cut on his leg. He struggled to pull the steering wheel away but managed to get him free. He tried to wake him up, but he was out cold. He sat him on an alley and flagged a nearby stranger to help him. He kept going back for more. Opening more cars with his powers and pushing cars over with his hands to pull out a scared kid in the back seat.
Lila tried hard not to openly start killing. Watching the small group cause unnecessary violence boiled her with rage and through gritted teeth, she pulled people away from the flying object. She found a baseball bat peeking out of a dumpster and starting to hit the oncoming fireworks straight into The Cleanse leaders, causing small screams as it burned them. She walked closer to the chanting group, but saw a woman stuck underneath a sign that had fallen on her. She grabbed a piece of debris and wedged the metal baseball bat to level it open, as a nearby stranger pulled her out. She thanked her profusely, but Lila kept her eyes on the violent group as she pushed on. She saw a smoke bomb heading her way, and with a small excitement, she battered up, twirling her bat in her hands and she swung hard, using Viktor's powers to push the bat. The smoke bomb split open as it pushed into the large group, leaving a streak of smoke, but it exploded in one of their faces. Lila laughed loudly and watched the group fall to the floor in a fit of coughs.
Viktor found Klaus, with arms pushed out and a slight blue hueing around his eyes. Viktor followed his gaze to a see a ghost step into a rioter's body and start tazing people around him. The man started to pull all his smoke bombs out and yank the pin all together, and throw it in front of him, hitting a man square on the head. The crowd was dissipating, but Klaus kept pushing his controls to taze the group, slowly piling unconscious bodies on the floor. Viktor patted Klaus' shoulder to say, "Good job, buddy," and ran towards the building that just broke into a large flame. He saw a bottle with a rag, fly and crash into a bookstore.
He saw books already with large flames, already covering a quarter of the room. He climbed through the window, making sure no one could see him inside, and thought about pushing out his energy. He held his breath as he thought about all oxygen leaving the small room, using his energy to let out a small blast. When he opened his eyes, the room was quiet, no longer rumbling with fire, and thick black smoke filled the room. A book on the floor caught fire again and Viktor stomped it out. He grabbed the nearby fire extinguisher to blast the rag and nearby area before he pushed through the front door and stepped back into the chaos. The Sun still in its peak, seemed to only make visibility worse. Walking along with the crowd, Viktor pushed his power again, pushing slightly at a chanting man, tripping him and causing a small domino around him. It soon started a fight with the man he had just tripped, and infighting roared among them. He flicked his finger to push the man's shoulder, enjoying it too much, and he bumped into the large man again. Rage rose in him as he punched the man across the face.
Allison murmured at a small crouching crowd, trembling with fear, "I heard a rumor, you all evacuated to the nearest subway station." They all stood up together and matched the pace of the running people, away from the violent group. She turned to see the group already thinning. The family had been clearly fighting back, and there were either fighting each other or still chanting through the street. She fought the urge to go charge at them, demanding them to stop and go home, but it would leave the FBI with more questions. She instead whispered under her breath, looking straight at the leader, "I heard a rumor, you forgot how to speak," tired of hearing him shout. She saw groups of people inside a waiting area and went to help them, but someone threw a brick right at the window, shattering it in front of her. She covered her face and heard it crumble behind her. Checking to see if everybody was alright, she instructed them to go through the back and find the nearest underground location to hide in. She was truly about to boil over and start maiming. It was fine if she had to stay the night in jail, Five would be pissed at her, but right now, every motherly instinct, every moment as Number Three, every experience as a woman, she wanted to rip them apart and watch them burn under her.
Luther realized he was too noticeable in the middle of the scene. Anyone would be able to spot him, so he slowly trailed behind the crowd, helping people out from crumbled walls, wrecked cars, and various injuries from the shattered glass. He passed by Klaus controlling another ghost as it stepped into someone in the middle of the crowd.
Five set up triage again. He pushed people into narrow alleys, lining them up with degrees of wounds, keeping watch behind him. He saw the long line of The Cleanse move through the street, still pouring in, still shouting. He tied off another arm, placed a pen through it to twist it. The blood trickled down to a small stream instead of the earlier gush. He was covered in blood again. He saw Diego pull another guy in, with a leg cut clean off.
"Here. Lay him down here." Five rushed to him to check his pulse. "What happened?"
"He was standing in the middle of two cars when it crashed. There was an explosion, and the driver didn't see him." Diego had his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "That's most of them. How do you even know how to do all this?" Five pulled off his belt and tied it high on his thigh and started chest compressions. He was equally breathless as he spoke.
"I had a lot of time in the original apocalypse. I found a medical library that survived. Spent a good decade there, before the Chimpanzees took over." He was counting under his breath. He stopped to give him mouth to mouth, but there was no pulse. He tried again, pumping harder, sweat gathering in his eyebrows as the shouting continued. Another rescue breath, but nothing. He clasped his hands again to try again.
"Five." Diego scratched his eyebrows, knowing where this was going. "Five. Stop. He already lost a lot of blood." He tried to grab his arm but snatched it away and glared.
"No." He pumped again. Another rescue breath. Nothing. Diego went to protest again but stopped when his hand swung in front of him.
"What are you doing?" Diego watched five slammed his fist down, aiming for the dead center of his chest, he slammed it down again. "Five!" Another hard punch, and when he went to raise it again, the man coughed as he took in a big breath. Five checked his pulse and nodded.
He asked for a marker or pen, and started scribbling on the man's arm, 'heart stopped, cpr, CRITICAL.' He told the people next to him to keep an eye on him and make sure he got seen first. He pushed through Diego with a hardened look and went to look for more injured.
"Five! What is going on with you?" Diego tried to follow him, watching him do more than anyone would to save a stranger. Five was never the type to rush to someone in need. He would let others handle that. It was more in his brand to hurt than to save.
"Nothing. I'm just trying to save as much as possible." He muttered, scanning the area for signs of life or blood.
"I get that. But you seem off." Diego stared at him, trying to find the right words to describe Five right now. It seemed like he was desperate to set this right, today, and now.
"This is just what I'm used to okay? I'm used to chaos. I'm used to the injured and dying. I'm used to fixing everything, until nothings left. Is that okay with you?" He snapped, annoyed at the drilling. He pushed past him to pull a man stuck in a car, but he heard the police sirens approaching them, that stopped him dead in his tracks. He couldn't risk showing his face again in yet another Cleanse riot, and slowly backed away towards Diego. He ran and grabbed his arm to blip him across the street in an alley. He touched his earpiece to trigger the microphone.
"Police is here. Let's go. I'm in between the barber shop and… the bakery. In the alley." He let it go and heard Klaus mutter 'copy,' Allison just clicked twice as a yes, Viktor shouted through the crowd 'On my way!' while Luther said, 'Where's the barber shop?'
Five kept waiting for Lila to respond, but there was nothing.
"Lila? Did you get that?" Silence and his heart dropped. "Lila? Anyone see Lila?"
Diego next to him started to panic, "Nobody saw Lila?"
"Not since the riot broke." Allison said, clearly running.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." Five muttered, both his hands on his head. He charged to the open street, looking around for her. He skipped past the hooded masks, the injured group he set up, and the running crowd. "Fuck!"
"I don't see her." Diego looked around, running away to see more. Five staggered forward, trying to see more faces, but it all blurred together. But then, he heard her scream. He snapped his head towards the sound, and two blocks away, he saw two men grabbing her arms down and pulling her towards a black van. She thrashed and managed to bite the arm holding her. He was already running towards her and hated that he couldn't blip to her, weary of the many eyes that would see him. The grip was back on her as she kicked the man trying to grab her legs. As if in slow motion, he saw a knife pass by his eyes and head straight for the man gathering her legs. It lodged right in his shoulder blade as he screamed in pain. He ran full speed to kick the knife further into him as he dropped to his knees. The man holding her torso dropped her at the sudden attack and pulled out a knife to defend himself. But before Five could take the knife from him, Lila had shot up from the floor and turned to kick it out of his hand and pull this weight down with her leg. His face hit the concrete and slumped over.
"I packed the gun for a reason. I had it under control." She huffed, still mad at him.
"No. You really didn't." He smirked instead.
"Did you forget I was an assassin longer than you?" She frowned, determined to finish this fight.
"I know you were!"
"-So why keep me in the dark? You don't think I can handle myself or something?" She shouted through the noise. The man under her, grabbed her leg but she kicked his head. She was glad she was finishing this conversation where she could shout. Where chaos surrounded them, and she could be as angry as she wanted.
"NO! That's not what I'm doing here!" Five cut her off, too, glad he could shout this out. "I just thought MAYBE, you didn't want to see more of the ugly!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? All I've seen is ugly. You don't think I can handle some more?" She was fully squared off with him, screaming with her hands in the air, circling each other over the two bodies.
"EXACTLY. You expect me to be OKAY TO SHOW YOU MORE?" Five kicked over the man for more space.
"I CAN DECIDE THAT FOR MYSELF, FIVE!"
"I'M JUST TRYING TO PROTECT YOU! I'M TRYING TO DO FUCKING EVERYTHING TO FULFILL MY PROMISE TO YOU! THAT WE'RE GOOD AND SAFE. WELL, LOOK AROUND LILA!" Five shouted back, pulling his lips, waving around at the crowd.
"AND WHAT ABOUT THE PROMISE WITH ME? HUH? I THOUGHT YOU WERE STICKING AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO GET MARRIED! BUT YOU KEEP FINDING FIRES TO PUT OUT, LIKE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN DOING IT LONG ENOUGH." Lila was truly exasperated.
"DON'T YOU SEE? IT'S MY FAULT THE FIRES ARE SPREADING. I'M TRYING TO PUT THEM ALL OUT BEFORE I MAKE IT WORSE, LILA!" Five said as he grabbed her shoulders. This whole conversation has been from the top of his head, not holding back, not carefully choosing his words. He softened his eyes when he got close, hating what he said out loud. Looking away, he asked, "Where's you comm?"
"I lost it when these guys grabbed me." Lila muttered back.
"Let's go. Others are waiting." Five walked away, stopping to pull the knife out of the man's back. He wiped it on his shirt and looked forward but pulled his free hand back, waiting for Lila to take it.
She did.
