CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX: YOU RUINED THIER LIVES

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Natasha and Five together with their son was sitting in Natasha's office with a projector next to them that was showing Sy's drive clean building. Five and Zach was holding a mug of coffee in his hand. Both of them not feeling well.

The door to Natasha's office opened and Derek enter the office as Five put his mug on the table behind him.

"Sy Grossman?" Derek asked as he saw what the three was looking at "He checks out. He's a legit taxpayer" Derek said before turning and walked towards the door "I'll be damned" Zach and Five got up but as they took a step forward they both suddenly blink away before they appeared in another place.

Natasha flinch when she saw Five and Zach blinking away.

Zach's and Five's eyes widened when they saw that it was what looks like to be a underground subway "What the..."

Then without controlling it like last time, they both blink again before appearing back in Natasha's office which made them both fall backwards on their chairs.

"What the..." Natasha looked at Five with widened eyes. Wondering how both Five and Zach could blink when they have lost their powers.

Derek turned around to look at Zach and Five who was grunting and they didn't look well, they both look pale.

"You feeling okay, Mr. Five?" Derek asked "No. I don't think I am" Five said weakly before him and Zach got up.

"Tell Lance I'm taking a sick day" Five grab his jacket "I will take care of them" Natasha rushed after Five and Zach.

"What the hell?" Natasha looked at them "I thought your powers was gone" she said.

"They are" Zach and Five replied "Then how can you two blink now?" Natasha asked "I don't know why or how" Zach said before him and Five let out another grunt "You two don't look so good" she said as she noticed how pale and sick they looked.

"Are you two okay?" Natasha asked "We're not" Zach and Five said "You two look worse than I did the first months into the pregnancy" Natasha said.

Then suddenly her phone started buzzing and she pulled it up to read a text from Lila.

"Lila saying that her and Diego are not feeling well, either and they also have their powers back" she said "Something is not right here" Five said "No shit" Natasha said.

"Let's go to Luther's place, to figure out what is going on" Zach suggested "Good idea, let's go" Natasha said before the three left.

----

The three arrived at Luther's place and they noticed how all the others except for Viktor and Ben was there. Everyone except for Natasha and Klaus looked pale and sick.

"It seems like we're all here, almost" Natasha said "Yeah, thanks for driving" Five said "No problem, you were both too sick to drive" Natasha said.

 "You don't know shit!" Lila shouted at Diego as the two were shouting at each other while Allison was sitting on the couch as Klaus was standing up with Luther next to him who was wearing a rob and you could see that he have gotten his monkey body back.

"I can see that you two are not the only ones that look sick" Natasha glanced at Five "No" he let out another grunt as he sat down on the couch while Diego and Lila kept arguing.

"So all of you are----?" "Yeah, sick and we have our powers back, isn't it great" Luther said sarcastic.

"Someone explain what the hell is going on here quick" Viktor said as he enter the living room, he look just as pale as the others.

"Well, Viktor, that's what we're all trying to figure out" Five said "Oh, God, don't look at me" Luther said "No one's blaming you, Luther" Diego said "No! I mean, don't look at me! I'm hideous" Luther said "Look at least you're back to your old self, alright. The rest of us feel like someone injected motor oil in our veins" Five said "It's so strange. Because I, for once, feel fantastic" Klaus said "I feel fine" Natasha said "Why are you not sick?" Viktor looked at Natasha "I don't know" she replied

"Yeah? Well, you think you got problems?" Lila looked at Klaus "Look at this" she said "No wait. No!" Diego warned.

But Lila didn't listen and suddenly green laser was shot out of her eyes and they blast around the room which caused everyone to dodged down while Five pulled Natasha and himself down as everyone exclaiming.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Not inside!" Luther shouted and Lila stopped her laser eyes while Five shielding Natasha's head.

"What? What the hell?" Luther asked and Diego stood up as he glanced annoying at Lila while Natasha, Zach and Five got up.

"Okay that one is new" Zach said. 

Then it happen again with Lila's eyes "I'm sorry" she said as she tried to control while everyone dodged again as Five pulled himself and Natasha down again.

"Whoa!" Luther said "Whoa!" Zach shouted as Five was holding Natasha down.

"TURN IT OFF!" Luther shouted "I don't know how!" Lila shouted back as the sound beams blip from her eyes was heard before the laser stop.

The others looked at her as Lila sighed "There" she said and the others got up again.

"Oh, sorry about that" she said "Be careful" Zach said as him, Natasha and Five got up.

"How do you do that?" Diego looked at his wife "A gun to my head, I couldn't tell you" Lila replied as she blinked a few more times with her eyes like her eyes was trying to get use to the light.

"Oh, come on! It took me months to find those original sconces!" Luther said as he looked at the sconces that was slash in half by the laser.

"I don't give a shit about your sconces. I want answers now" Viktor said out loud causing energy whooshing to be heard and suddenly some orange light started to appear around him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" everyone said as the whole place was shaking.

"Viktor, easy" Allison said.

Then they heard footsteps "Relax, Kodiak Jack" Ben said and Viktor powered down before they all turned around to see Ben enter the living room.

He was holding the jar of Marigold and with two tentacles that was coming from his back was dragging behind him. He looks just as pale and sick.

"It was me" he said "What?" Five asked "I know you're all too terminally emo to do what had to be done, so I made an executive decision and spiked your sake with the marigold" Ben said "You poured it in the shot?" Five asked and Ben nodded which made Luther gasp and Allison groan.

"Why am I not surprised?" Zach asked.

"You had no right to do that, asshole!" Viktor hissed "Oh, trust me, you'll thank me later" Ben said "Yeah, or I'll kick your ass right now" Viktor said "Oh, yeah. Now, that I would love to see" Ben chuckled before walking over to the couch Allison was sitting on "Ugh!" she said as Ben came with the two tentacles.

"What is with the tails?" Diego asked "I don't know. They won't go back in!" Ben replied and Luther poke to one of the tentacles but Ben hit him in the face with it "Oh! God. Why is it cold?" Luther asked "The real question is, why would you touch it?" Natasha asked.

"Forget about my tails, all right? I haven't felt this good in years. Maybe you guys need to take some more" Ben said "Okay, you know what?" Zach got up as he approached Ben "Give me that" Zach reach out for the jar at the same time Diego did also but Zach slap his hand away before grabbing the jar.

"Wait a minute. Hold on. Klaus, why aren't you sick?" Allison looked at Klaus "Well, because one sake bomb is too many, and a thousand is just never enough" he said "You didn't drink" Allison said "No" Klaus shook his head.

"Wait, Nat, why are you not sick?" Allison asked as she looked at Natasha "Because I didn't put the marigold in Nat's shot" Ben said "But you put it in all of ours?" Zach asked and Ben nodded.  

"You ruined their lives!" Natasha snapped at Ben "I made it all better" Ben said.

"How do you politely tell someone that you wanna hit them in a face with a brick, several times?" Zach asked "One wishes to quaint your face with a rigidly edged object that is commonly used for the construction of walls. Repeatedly" Five replied "Wow. That was poetry" Natasha said "No. That was a therapy cry for the three of you" Diego said.

Viktor then glanced angry at Ben "Do you realize what you've done?" he hissed before he suddenly started punching him.

"Hey. All right!"

"Hey, get off!"

Luther and Diego tried to get Viktor off Ben.

As they pulled Viktor off Ben some black venom came out of him which made the others reach to dodged out of the way.

"Dude! I live here!" Luther looked at Ben.

"The fact is you're all too busy living in loser mindset to realize we're much better off this way" Ben got up "That wasn't your decision to make" Viktor said "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't have our powers back" Ben snapped "I don't know, Maybe because we ended the world three times" Allison said "We also saved it three times" Diego cut in proud.

"Well, that's party's highly debatable, Diego" Five said "Forget about saving the world. I just spend six years building a life for myself. A real life" Viktor snapped Ben as he looked angry at him "Away from all this, away from Dad, away from our past. And you had to go and fuck it all up with one sake bomb!" Viktor said out loud as he pointed his finger at Ben.

Silence took over the room.

"Look. I was trying to help" Ben said "No, no, no. Viktor's right. None of us asked for this. I could have lost my job" Luther said "Did you?" Natasha asked as Zach and Five was sitting on the couch.

"Wha.." Luther turned to Natasha "Well, actually, no. My boss bumped me up from brunch buffet to prime time. And I have been booked in Atlantic City next weekend" Luther smiled before his face change to angry "But still!" he snapped at Ben.

Ben just patted him on the chest "Come on, Allison" he approached Allison "You can't tell me you're not a little bit glad to have your powers back after all those years?" he asked "Now, why would I be, Benjamin? Why would I want my powers back?" Allison asked him while a little yellow rubber duck was on Lila's left palm as she was looking at it, trying to control her laser eyes.

"Maybe you can rumor your way out of those corny-ass laundry commercials you do and finally get off the B-list" Ben said "The..." Allison looked at him and he let out a smarmy laughter before he lifted his hand for anyone to give him a high-five but nobody did.

"The B-list?" Allison asked him as Ben high-five himself "Excuse me. I...I am the face of a national campaign, something that i made happen out of nothing while you were too busy playing backgammon with Bernie Madoff" Allison said "Tell him, sister" Klaus said.

"Wow" Ben turned to Klaus "All right, all right, Klaus. Come on, Klaus" he approached Klaus who back a little away from him like he didn't wanted Ben to touch him.

"My brother, it's not too late for you to get in on this action" Ben said "I told you. It's not gonna happen" Klaus said "Why not?" Ben asked "Maybe with your powers back, you won't have to keep living life like a human sippy cup" Five said. 

"Huh?" Ben looked at Klaus again "It's a slippery slope. All right?" Klaus said "Into what?" Five asked "Powers, ghosts, drugs, sex, oblivion. It's one big spicy gumbo of bad, and I'm not going back to that old Klaus. I like this Klaus. 'Hey he collects coupons. He's frugal, respectable, reliable. And most importantly, he's a Klaus that Claire likes. And trust and looks up to" Klaus said.

 Then suddenly Ben's stomach started rumbling "Guys, Ben don't look so hot" Lila said as she noticed how sick Ben looked

Ben let out a retching noise before throwing up "Come on" Luther and Diego walked over before helping Ben up.

"It's okay. I just need to lie down" Ben said "Get him on this. Lay him down" Klaus said as Diego was holding Ben's hair while he was pulling him over to the couch.

Then suddenly Ben's body started jolting a lot "Whoa! What do we do? Call 911?" Luther asked as him, Diego and Klaus move away from Ben.

"No, no, no, no! No cops!" Ben gags as some yellow vomit was dripping from his mouth.

"All right. We need to go back to the dry cleaners and get more information" Natasha said "Agreed. I'll drive" Diego said and Five and Zach walked after Natasha.

"Let's roll, mofos" Diego said "Let's get him out of here, quick" Klaus said and him and Diego help Ben up "Watch the tentacles" Ben said Klaus was lifted up the tentacles.

"The state of the place" Luther let out a exasperated sigh before he looked at Viktor who was sitting on the couch.

"Hey" he approached Viktor who looked at him "You okay?" she asked and he let out a sigh "No, not really" he said and Luther sighed "Yeah, I know" he nodded.

"Come on. Let's go figure this out together" Luther said and Viktor smiled before he got up "You wanna get changed first?" Viktor asked and Luther looked down at himself "Right" he nodded with a small laugh.

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Natasha, Five, Zach and the other arrived at the building where Sy was working and they got out before walking towards the door.

"Just...just let me do..." Diego started as he opened the door but stopped himself when they saw that the place was empty.

"Well, looks like Sy flew the coop" Allison said as Natasha, Zach and Five spotted some folded paper that was stuck to a machine that was moving the clothes around in circles "Or somebody got to him" Zach said as he grab the paper.

"He did say he was in danger" Natasha said as Zach unfolded the paper "Look at this" Five and Natasha looked over Zach's shoulder to see what the paper said.

"New Grumpson, Maine" Five said as he was looking down at a map where a red circle was drawing around the town 'New Grumpson'

"The hell's in New Grumpson?" Diego asked "Maybe Sy's daugther, Jennifer" Lila said "Or maybe that's where our dry cleaner scampered off to" Allison said "Or maybe this all one big setup" Viktor said.

"Well, there's only one way to find out" Five said "Hell yeah" Diego pulled up the keys "Road trip" Zach said before letting out a sigh.

"Well, if that is what it takes, let's go" Natasha said.

---

"Really? Are we really doing this?" Viktor asked as they all walk out of the building.

"Hell yeah, we're doing this" Diego smiled "You do realize we have three small children, yeah?" Lila asked her husband "Lila" Diego snapped his head as his wife before walking over to her.

"Look, hey. Today's Wednesday, okay? The twins have garden club, and Grace has gymnastics, okay? Uncle Lenny can pick 'em up, okay?" Diego said "Yes" Lila nodded and Diego was about to leave but Lila stop him.

"But wait, that's not the point" she said "That is the point. Look, I spend all day every day with your family, all right? And I never ever complain, all right?" he said "You complain all the time" she said "Okay, okay. Well, look, this is...my family" Diego pointed at Five and the others that was standing over by the van.

"I only have one spare pair of underwear" Klaus said "You'll be fine" Five told him "It might not be enough" Klaus said.

"All right? And I want you to come with me" Diego wrapped an around Lila before he lifted her head up with his free hand.

He smiled and she let out a sigh "Uncle Lenny, huh?" she said "Just you and me. Like the old days. No kids" Diego smiled but then let out a gagging as he felt he was feeling nausea.

"No kids" he said and the two nodded "Okay" she sighed.

"Listen, people!" Diego approached them "Road trip?" Klaus asked "First mission back, baby!" Diego smiled "We're back" he said "Car" Five gestured to the van.

"Out the way" Diego push his way past Five before he unlock the van and rolled the side door opened.

"Get in!" he said out loud "I'm in the front!" Lila said "No, I'm in the front" Natasha push Lila away before they got in the van.

Then Five sat down next to Natasha which cause her to look at him "I'm in the front" she said "Too bad, I want to be in the front too" he smirked at her which made her roll her eyes.  

"Everyone in!" Diego shouted "Why are you yelling?" Allison asked "First mission back!" Diego smiled.

"Shut up!" Ben said as they all grunt while trying to get in the van.

"Get in the car and turn on the heat" Allison said as Diego got into the driver seat where Natasha and Five was sitting next to him on the front seat while Zach was sitting in the passenger seat together with Lila, Viktor, Klaus and Allison. 

"Okay" Klaus said "All right" Zach said "We're doing it" Lila said.

"First mission back!" Diego shouted before banging the van's roof with his fist.

"Why are you so loud?" Five asked while Lila clapped as she was cheering "Yeah" she said with a smile while Klaus was breathing into a brown bag.

"Hell yes! Let's go kill this bitch!" Ben shouted which cause everyone to look at him while Natasha rolled her eyes.

"This is a rescue mission" Zach said "Right" Ben nodded "Yeah, sorry" he said "Idiot" Natasha mumbled.

Diego started the van before driving off.

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