Word count: 2891

"𝐈 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 understand." Elizabeth stepped back from the green wall that was now covered in equations made by white chalk. "What is this for?"

"Listen," Five, who had been watching from the edge of the bed, replied with a dismissive wave, "I'll explain later, just keep calculating."

"It's kind of hard to solve problems when I don't know what I'm solving," she murmured as she continued writing on what was left of the empty space. She groaned as the line of the x-axis of her graph slanted and used the sleeve of her blazer to wipe it away and try again.

"Yeah, but you can do it." He nodded, chuckling slightly as she groaned yet again from yet another slanted line. "You're smart enough."

"Glad you think that now," she said lightly as she moved on to the next set of equations.

"I always thought that," Five pointed out, his eyes following as she moved towards the sloped wall just on the right of the bed. "Really, I'm the stupid one."

"You are." Elizabeth nudged his leg with her knee, silently telling him to move over, which he then heeded. She stepped up onto the bed, her feet digging into the mattress as she swiftly wrote at the top of the wall. "Very stupid."

"Thanks."

"Mhm." She stopped writing. "Who are the people that you said you wanted to be on this map?"

"Here." Five stood up on top of his bed, his eyes darting around the wall. He took the chalk from her, the moment-long brush of his fingers on hers instantly making her stomach fill with pins and needles. "I can do the rest."

"Okay." She sat down in the spot she had just been standing in, watching as he scribbled down names.

The tap of the chalk on the wall was the only sound that filled the room for the next couple of minutes. 

Suddenly, he paused, his eyes wide as he pulled the chalk away from the wall.

"Oh," he breathed out. "Okay, I think I got something, Elle. It's tenuous . . . but promising."

"I'm still confused." She furrowed her eyebrows as she stared up at the four names he had circled.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached from behind them. 

Luther walked in through the already open door, his eyes wide as he looked around at the equation-filled walls. "What is all this?"

"It's a probability map," Elizabeth answered as she turned her head back to watch Five continue to work.

"Probability of what?"

She shrugged. "No idea."

"Of whose death could save the world," Five finally answered for the both of them.

"Ah." Elizabeth nodded before muttering to herself, "Don't know why you couldn't have just said that before."

"We've narrowed it down to four," Five continued, ignoring her murmur as he tapped the chalk next to the circled names.

Luther stopped right before the bed, his eyes trained on what Five was writing. "Are you saying one of these four people causes the apocalypse?"

"No" —Five glanced back at him— "I'm saying that their death might prevent it."

"Oh." Luther nodded before furrowing his eyebrows. He leaned forward, whispering, "I'm not following."

"Time is . . . fickle, Luther," Five said with a slight tone of urgency as he wrote on the wall. "The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect. So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, wherever they may be, and kill them."

He jumped down from his bed and rummaged through the drawer of his nightstand. He pulled out a notebook and pen, and began to scrawl down the names, his eyes glancing from the wall to the notebook.

Luther walked up to the side of the bed, his eyebrows furrowed as he peered over the edge of the wall. "Oh, yeah . . . Milton Greene. So who's he, a terrorist or something?"

"I believe" —Five squinted his eyes as he continued scratching the names down— "he is a gardener."

Luther's head whipped around to face Five, just as Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. Although, Luther seemed much more bothered about this than Elizabeth was.

"You can't be serious. Wait, this is madness, Five. You . . ."

Five pulled out the leather case of a rifle from under his bed, setting it on top of the bed. He began to open it as Luther questioned him.

"Wh—where'd you get that?"

"In Dad's room. I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros." Five unzipped the case and pulled out the gun, fitting it in his grip. "It's similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable."

"But you can't . . ." Luther gestured towards the list of names as he stared at Five with wide eyes. "This guy Milton is just an innocent man."

"It's basic math. His death could potentially save the lives of billions. If I did nothing, he'd be dead in four days, anyway," Five said viciously. "The apocalypse won't spare anyone."

"We don't do this kind of thing."

"We are not doing anything. I am."

"I can't let you go and kill innocent people," Luther quickly refused. "No matter how many lives you'll save."

Five scoffed as he turned around, beginning to make his way towards the door. "Well, good luck stopping me."

Luther clenched his jaw, giving a restless sigh before his face showed that an idea had struck.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Wha—Luther!" Elizabeth exclaimed as he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off of the bed. He shoved her out of the open window, dangling her off of the side where only road was beneath her, about twenty feet down.

Five immediately spun on his heel, directing the end of the gun towards Luther. "Put . . . her . . . down."

Luther let go of her with one hand, keeping the other gripped tightly around her waist. His hand was large enough to wrap around half her waist, so it wasn't difficult for him to hold her over the railing in a challenging manner.

"Put the gun down. You're not killing anyone. I know she's important to you, so don't make me do this."

"Luther!" Elizabeth groaned, trying to stay still so she didn't slip out of his grasp. "What the fuck, dude! Am I not important to you?! I'm your sister! You just talked about not killing innocent people!"

Luther ignored her, keeping his eyes on Five. "It's either her or the gun. You decide."

Five's hands quivered as Luther stared at him. Silence.

Then, Luther dropped her.

Five instantly threw the gun onto the bed and teleported onto the fire escape, grabbing Elizabeth and pulling her close to him before she could fall.

He let out a sigh of relief as his hands tightly grasped her waist, her hands on his shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She clutched onto Five's shoulders while she glared at Luther.

Luther, who had picked up the gun, smirked. "I can keep doin' this all day."

Elizabeth's grip on Five's shoulders tightened as she inched backward. "But . . . you shouldn't."

"I know you're still a good person, Five." Luther walked closer to them as they stepped inside from the fire escape, Elizabeth shutting and locking it as soon as they were both inside. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have risked everything coming back here to save us all. But you're not on your own anymore."

Five sat down on the bed and faced the wall, his eyebrows furrowed in thought as he stared at the equations. 

Finally, he turned to Luther, tentatively saying, "There is one way. But it's just about impossible.

Luther raised his eyebrows. "More impossible than what brought you back here?"

—☾—

Elizabeth, Five, and Luther all sat in the car, silent as Luther drove them towards where they would be carrying out the plan. What the plan was, exactly, Elizabeth didn't really know all too well.

What she did know, however, was that they were going to make some sort of bargain with Hazel and Cha-Cha. The fake briefcase that was going to be bait sat in between Luther and Five, waiting to be used. 

And these briefcases, which Elizabeth then learned, were supposed to be time-travelling devices issued by the Committee. One that Hazel and Cha-Cha needed desperately.

They had been driving for almost an hour, and the sun was high in the sky at that point. They were in the middle of nowhere, with only plain, empty fields and clear, blue sky to look at through the window.

Elizabeth, who was the only one sitting in the back seat, shifted up, resting an arm on the back of Luther's chair.

"Hey, Luther."

He raised his eyebrows as he kept his eyes on the unchanging road. "Yeah?"

"I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you care about me?"

"Of course, I care about you." Luther nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. "You're my sister."

She took her arm off of the chair and folded her arms, not quite believing him. "Then why did you try to throw me off a three-story building?"

"Well, I—uh—I thought you would just make a portal or something." Luther shrugged before glancing at the boy next to him, who was listening to them as he gazed out the window. "Plus, I didn't doubt that Five would try to save you."

"But what if it didn't work?" she questioned. "What if I splatted on the ground like a pancake?"

"Uh . . ." He frowned. "Then, that would've been my bad."

"Wow . . ." Elizabeth leaned back, tutting slightly as she shook her head.

Silence resumed afterwards, accompanying them for the rest of the ride. The car came to a stop at the side of the road. A couple of farmhouses were situated several miles away, the red paint of the buildings being bright enough to be seen from where they sat.

Waiting for the criminal duo to arrive, they all sat in an eerie calmness, each of them waiting for someone to talk.

Then, Five, who had been quite pensive throughout the entire ride, spoke, "You know, I never enjoyed it."

Luther furrowed his eyebrows as he questioned, "What?"

"The killing. I mean, I was . . . I was good at my work, and I . . . I took pride in it." He shook his head before turning to face the other man. "But it never gave me pleasure. I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind."

"Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It's the being alone that breaks you," Luther sighed. He then placed a hefty arm on the briefcase, his eyes inspecting the leather thoroughly. "You think they'll buy it?"

"Well, what I do know is that they're desperate," Five exhaled. "It's like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back."

"Well, I should hold onto it." Luther nodded.

"Hm?"

"In case they make a move on you."

"Okay, Luther" —Five's eyes flickered up from the briefcase and to Luther— "but be careful."

Just then, the bright headlights of an approaching car shone through their windshield, letting them know of their arrival.

"Hmm . . ." Five leaned forward, his eyes squinting as the car drove nearer and nearer. "Here we go."

The three of them got out of the car, Luther clutching onto the briefcase tightly in his right hand. The car passed by them, stopping at the side of the road about ten feet away from their car. 

The two soon got out, wearing their cartoonish helmets, with Cha-Cha's dog-like one missing a droopy ear.

They met Five in the middle, while Luther and Elizabeth stayed next to the car, watching tentatively.

"The masks really necessary?" Five questioned as he pushed his hands in his pockets.

The two of them pulled their masks off, revealing their faces for the first time. 

Hazel had a bit of a baby face, which was covered by a scruffy, brown beard, and his curly hair was of similar colour. 

Cha-Cha was darker-skinned, with uneven, brown hair that reached her chin, and bangs that reminded Elizabeth of the ones Vanya had when they were younger.

"So where is it, kid?" Cha-Cha asked in exasperation.

"Wow, that's how you're gonna start." Five glanced back at the car. "You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day."

Cha-Cha pulled out a silver gun from the back of her pants, pointing it straight at Five. "You won't even make it halfway there."

Elizabeth watched nervously as Luther shifted his weight from one side to the other. However, Five kept his cool.

"Maybe. But as I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant."

"He's right." Hazel nodded as he leaned towards his partner. "You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up."

"By the time you took him out," Five continued, "he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp."

"Probably us too, right?" Hazel questioned, his gun now in his hand. "So, how do we help each other?"

"I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her," Five answered simply. "Face-to-face."

"About what?" Cha-Cha questioned, her nose wrinkling.

"Well" —Five gave her an irritated smile— "I don't believe that's any of your concern."

She hesitated for a moment before giving in. "Just don't tell her about the briefcase."

"Fair enough." Five nodded.

He turned and began to walk back to them, and the duo headed back towards where they had come, Hazel walking backwards while he kept his eyes on Luther. 

Cha-Cha headed over to the payphone that was planted a few feet from their car, beginning to press numbers into it.

Five leaned against the trunk of the car, watching them.

"What happens now?" Elizabeth questioned.

Five's eyes shifted towards her. "Now we wait."

All of a sudden, the soft chimes of an ice-cream truck approached, immediately causing them to turn their heads to look down the road.

Sure enough, a tall, white-and-blue ice-cream truck was headed their way.

"Is that her?" Luther turned to Five, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Just then, the truck passed them. And through the window that was below the announcement of popsicles and above the diagram and flavours of slushies, was Klaus, who was waving at them with a big grin on his face. Next to him was Diego, his face much more serious than Klaus's as his eyes narrowed in on Hazel and Cha-Cha.

The three of them stared at the two siblings in horror, Luther slightly raising his hand to wave back to Klaus.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Five breathed out, his angry stare on the truck as it accelerated.

"It's a setup!" Cha-Cha screamed as she and Hazel lifted their guns out. They began to shoot at the truck, the clanging sounds of the bullets ricocheting immediately filling the air. 

Luther moved in front of Elizabeth and Five, his arms spread in an attempt to shield them from any stray bullets.

The truck suddenly hit Hazel and Cha-Cha, causing them to fly off and hit the ground with loud groans of pain. But the truck didn't stop there; it slammed into the stationary car, bringing the chaotic vehicle to a stop.

Elizabeth let out an annoyed groan before realizing that there was a missing presence next to her. "Five?" She whipped her head around, peering at every area near and far, but the boy was gone.

"Five!" Luther had joined in on the calling, his brows furrowed as he turned in his spot.

Noticing that Hazel and Cha-Cha had scrambled to their feet, Luther lifted the briefcase up for them to see. "Come get it!" he shouted before throwing it several feet away, the metal they had filled it with clunking as it hit the ground.

Cha-Cha sprinted towards the briefcase while Hazel ran in the other direction for the gun that had flown into the field. Using this time for their advantage, Luther and Elizabeth ran over to the entrance of the ice-cream truck, where Klaus and Diego stumbled out.

"Come on. Come on," Luther egged as he grabbed onto Klaus.

Noticing that Diego's arm seemed to be hurt, Elizabeth was careful as she wrapped an arm around him and swiftly guided him back to the car.

"Wait. My shoes hurt," Diego groaned.

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows before tugging him along.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Klaus moaned as they reached the car.

"Get in!" Luther shoved the two of them into the back seat before he got into the driver's seat, Elizabeth taking shotgun.

Luther instantly drove off, Klaus sending the middle finger to the hopeless Hazel that watched them leave.