— 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀；𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆
— 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗑：𝖺 𝖽𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝖺𝗇𝗍𝖺 𝖼𝗅𝖺𝗎𝗌

𝗦𝗸𝘆𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹
𝖻𝗒：𝖠𝖽𝖾𝗅𝖾
" 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘪 𝘨𝘰，𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪 𝘴𝘦𝘦．𝘪 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪'𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺．"

AFTER EXITING THE ELEVATOR, the band of misfits separated to get situated with themselves. Then they all agreed to meet back up at the electrical room at the bottom of the hotel.

Which is where they were right now.

While Five hooked the jump starters up to the electrical wiring from the building, Gemini, Cleo and Lila stood in the room waiting for the inevitable to happen.

"Nice suit." Lila complimented.

"Thanks. The tailor in the lobby is a master craftsman." He explained.

"I don't think she meant for you to explain how you got it, you were just supposed to take the compliment." Cleo decided to share, knowing it would get on Five's nerves which it did.

Lila chuckled at the two's petty arguments. "Still, I will miss those pasty knees."

"Oh, don't tell me he wore his old academy's uniforms." Gemini huffed out a laugh. "I haven't worn those in ages." She elaborated.

Blinking Five moved on. "Yeah, well, we could all stand to be showing a little less skin these days."

"Speak for yourself Alfalfa." Cleo retorted.

Lila hummed, then held up the other end of the jump starters. "For you."

"Yeah." He replied, taking them in his hands.

"Ready to hot–wire this briefcase?" She questioned holding up a meter.

While Gemini and Cleo both took a step back knowing exactly how this part of the plan was just for laughs, well at least in their case it was.

Exhaling Five answered, "Let's do this."

And without a second thought, Lila turned the meter up letting Five talk all the energy it spewed.

"Ah shit!" Five cursed.

As Five wailed in pain, Gemini, Cleo and Lila were all having a laugh.

"Shit! Lila...Cleo...Gem-ini" He groaned.

Lila finally switched off the power, and the three girls opened up the room's door to walk out into the hallway, while they were still laughing.

"Shit!" Five cursed again, as he fanned the fire off the now damaged briefcase.

"Yeah, we were 99% sure that wouldn't work." Lila told Five.

"Well, I'm glad my pain amuses all three of you." Five sarcastically put it.

"It really does. Seeing you in pain makes me happy." Cleo agreed.

"Yeah, you have no idea. It's like my therapy." Lila quoted.

"I just needed a laugh and you did that for me so thank you." Gemini spoke.

Closing the door to the electrical room, Five faced all three women. "Well, now we are down to one half–dead briefcase, and my jumps are only accurate up to a couple minutes. So essentially, we're screwed."

"Yikes. I'm sure Delores was a lucky girl." Cleo joked.

Purposefully ignoring her innuendo, Five paid her no more attention.

"Maybe, maybe not." Lila hinted, with a sadistic smile printed on her face, as she referred back to Five's problem.

"Oh, I hate that smile."

"Listen, on your own, your jumps are rather pathetic." Lila began to say.

"Really pathetic." Cleo added.

"But if we powered up together, you blinking, me mimicking that blink–"

"While I maintained the balance of your chi–energy and merged your powers to become one." Gemini interrupted to say.

"Then, I think we all could create some kind of feedback loop and get enough juice to jump–start the case." Lila finished explaining.

"All three of us together." Five realized.

"We'd have to trust each other." Lila also pointed out.

Five scuffed, "Lila, you just spent the better part of the last ten days trying to end my life."

"If we'd met sooner I would've helped her." Cleo added.

"You killed my birth parents." Lila stated, recalling what happened.

"Oh yeah, I definitely would've helped now knowing the situation."

Five rolled his eyes at Cleo. "Fair enough." He responded to Lila's reasoning.

"And your entire family stood by while that greasy Swede put a cap in the woman who raised me." Lila continued to say.

"The Handler was going to kill you, Lila. In fact, she did kill you. Then I rolled back time and let the meatball do his work. Oh, and by the way, if you're leading Diego on as payback for what happened in Texas, you're pissing up the wrong ladder there 'cause that idiot may actually love you. The Handler never did." Five explained, rather thoroughly and then began to walk away.

"What do you know? You spent decades shagging a mannequin." Lila shot back.

Making Five do a quick turn around.

"Ohhhh, she bad-mouthed Delores." Cleo instigated.

"Cleo, please stop." Gemini tried to say as she began slyly laughing off to the side.

"Do not talk about Delores like that, Lila." Five almost shouted.

"This is insane. There is no way we're gonna get past this to make it to the Commission."

"Okay, perhaps we can't get to trust, but there is a certain honesty in white–hot hatred." Five pointed out.

"He's got you there, love." Cleo stated surly.

Walking back over to the electrical room, Lila opened the door.

"Then come over here, you god–awful little shit. And hold my hand."

Five complied and held her hand, while Cleo went back into her headspace within Gemini's body since she wasn't needed for this part of the plan.

After making sure Cleo was secure, Gemini walked in the room and closed the door behind her.

Everyone soon went straight to work, making sure the proper wires were connected and that there was nothing left astray that may cause the output any harm.

Seeing that everything was in place, Lila clapped her hands together.

"Okay, relax."

"I can't. Your breath is terrible." Five stated.

"Garlic is for winners. Enough foreplay!" She chanted.

"This is so stupid." Five thought to mention.

Walking around them, Gemini placed both her hands on each of their shoulders as they held onto the briefcase.

"Power up shithead." Lila told Five.

"You alright back there, Gem?" Lila asked.

"Just fine, ready when you guys are." She answered.

"Alright." Lila said as she and Five started using their powers.

As they started, Gemini closed her eyes and concentrated on finding their different chi–energies throughout their bodies.

They were so different from each other she knew that she was going to have to use some of her own to balance it out.

Soon orange hues mixed with the bright blues as all three super–humans strained their powers to the max.

"Let me in!" Lila told Five.

"I can't, it's too much." Five grunted.

"I'm goin to add in some more of my energy to boost yours." Gemini said, as she began to feel some of her energy leave her body.

"Don't bitch out on me now." Lila said, purposely for Five to hear.

"I hate you so much."

"Then get this right, or it's you and me and let's not forget Cleo in the Stone Age forever!"

Saying that may have given Five a little bit more strength to boost his powers, seeing as he did not want to spend anymore time with Lila better yet Cleo any longer than he had to.

Seeing as they had both reached their max power, Lila and Five grunted feeling the surge of energy coursing through their veins.

"Now! Do it now!" Lila yelled.

Opening her bright electrified orange eyes, gave their powers a little more energy to boost and just like that they all transported away.

☂︎︎

Gemini didn't think the Commission would be in Hawaii or anything but she sure as hell didn't think it would be snowing where they landed.

"Oh, brilliant idea, Lila. Welcome to the Ice Age."

Neither Lila or Gemini said anything to Five as they were both looking behind them, with a smile on their face.

"Shut up and just look."

Turning around, Five looked to see and big almost abandoned looking building in his wake.

"The Commission." he muttered to himself.

Lila laughed and ran to the building, with Gemini and Five following right behind.

"Shit." Five uttered amongst no one.

Getting closer to the building, Gemini summoned Cleo to come out of her head space.

"Yeesh, the Commission couldn't have opted for their base to be in the Bahamas or something."  She started to complain.

Lila laughed at Cleo's words.

"Holy shit. I was just here. How long was I bloody gone?" Lila explained, looking around the place she grew at.

"It seems the grandfather paradox is affecting everything. Even places out of time." Five stated.

"Is that possible?" Lila questioned.

"Oh, I stopped tracking what was possible a long time ago."

Just then some debris fell from up top of the building.

"This place is a health and safety hazard." Cleo commented, dodging the falling debris.

"We better get moving. I'll check the Infinite Switchboard." Five said, as he began to walk up the stairs.

"And we'll check Herb's office. Little cockroach would survive anything." Lila stated, as she and the doubles also began to walk away from a leaving Five.

"Bye." She called out.

"See ya." he returned.

"Miss you."

"That's weird."

"Hate you." Cleo also called out.

"Feelings mutual." Five replied.

Walking around the empty halls Cleo and Gemini followed after Lila.

☂︎︎

After some time had passed, Cleo, Gemini and Lila had found no one else here.

But Lila did stumble upon a hand book that could have some answers so she decided to bring it back so Five could look at it.

Making their way to the Infinite Switchboard, they found Five standing with a rather dampened mood on his face.

"You know, I could kill for some scrambled eggs right now." Lila said, trying to ease the tension in the room.

"This is bigger than the timeline, guys."

"What's bigger than the timeline?" Lila asked.

"The entire universe." Five answered.

"Yeah."

"Well that's great, you and your chaotic family time travel to our timeline only to mess it up." Cleo said, with a not so friendly look on her face.

"The missing dogs, people... It's the opposite of the big bang. Instead of the universe expanding, it's now collapsing in on itself."

"Like a prolapsing rectum." Lila compared.

Both Gemini and Cleo made a face towards the comment.

"That's a weird analogy, but yeah." Five agreed.

"Here then. This might give us some answers." Lila said, passing Five the book in her hands.

"Master handbook." Five read.

"The one and only."

Flipping through the pages, Five came to a stop.

"Here we are. Okay, protocol, "In the unlikely case of the grandfather paradox, the founder and any essential personnel should–"

"...be immediately remanded to the operations bunker." Lila finished reading.

"The founder. What founder?"

"I don't know."

"I guess we better start looking then, aye." Gemini suggested.

The group nodded their heads, then jumped out of the way as some more debris fell from the ceiling.

"We need to find that bunker..."

"ASAP." Lila and Five both said at the same time.

"Jinx. A-B-C-1-2-3, personal padlock." Lila spluttered out.

"Can you not–"

"You can't speak!" Cleo and Lila yelled at the same time.

☂︎︎

Now walking up the stairs in the Commission's building, Five continued to read the manuscript.

"This is just like a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit. There's no clear directives in here about the crisis management. You know, guys, I shouldn't even be here. I was... I was out. I was done, and yet here I am, swept back into the chaos. Why can't I just escape this hellhole?" Five huffed.

"Because you love it." Lila answered.

And then the most unexpected thing happened, Five farted catching everyone's attention.

"My bad."

"You are disgusting." Cleo stated, while she kept on walking.

"Face it Five, apocalypse problems are the only things that get your heart pumping."

"You know, I don't know why people keep on saying that. I don't actually like chaos. I don't want disorder. I... I want retirement." He shared.

Lila let out a laugh. "Yeah, right. What? A normal life of groceries and taxes? You would die of boredom."

"Yeah, well, you're not exactly cut out for domestic bliss either." Five said, while opening a big blue door.

Standing in her place for a minute, Lila thought about what Five said.

"Of course I'm bloody not, thank god." She exclaimed."

"You know if we weren't at the academy, Cleo and I would be yoga instructors." Gemini shared.

"No bloody way, you two yoga instructors." Lila questioned.

Causing both the doubles to nod. "It helps keep my powers calm, and if I'm calm then so is Cleo because we're connected. Plus we like it."

Lila hummed then went back to Five's questions at hand.

"Maybe it's a tone thing? I don't know, but you could really work on, like, the way you speak. It's very... it's irritating. I'm just saying it's something you can work on, you know? For the future." Lila stated, as they came to a stop.

"Why are you smiling, you little pisspot?"

"Cause of that." Five pointed in front of them.

"Well, you could've led with that." Lila said, walking towards the operations bunker entry.

Sliding the door open, Lila passed by Five.

"Exsqueeze me."

"You're excused.

"Operations bunker." Lila read, walking up to the door.

Looking over in Five's direction, Gemini and Cleo both found him pacing around acting weird.

"What is wrong with you, Five. You're acting like a bloody crackhead." Cleo questioned, quite off puttingly.

He however didn't answer.

After Lila had put her eye up to the door, an alarm went off.

"We're screwed." she stated.

"We didn't come all of this way just to not find anything, Five you give it a try." Gemini said.

"Jesus. You're sweating like a dodgy shrimp on ice. What's wrong?" Lila asked, as she had finally taken the time to look at Five.

Again, Five didn't answer instead he farted.

While scratching himself he walked up to the bunker door and let his eye be scanned by the mission.

"Access Granted." The mission said.

"I guess you're essential personnel."

Watching the door unlock, they all took a look inside.

"Wow." Was all Lila could say.

Walking over to the most obvious machine in the room, Cleo, Gemini and Lila looked in it.

"Old bastard is holding on by a string." Cleo said.

"That's him uh, the founder." Five asked.

"Looks like tinned beef. I was expecting more man less...can." Lila stated as she knocked along the side of the machine.

Gemini watched Five walk over to the old man with this look on his that she couldn't describe.

"It can't be."

"What's wrong?"

"It's me." Five said.

Cleo looked from younger Five to older Five then back again. Then let out a laugh.

"You aged badly." She stated, finding pure joy in this scene.

Lila then started laughing maniacally. "So this whole time you've been complaining about the Commission, and you're the one who founded it. Classic."

"Somehow, I can actually believe that." Cleo agreed.

"If I did, I have no memory of it."

"So here I was thinking you were a maverick but you're a company man, down to the bone. I mean you...you literally cannot breathe without this place." Lila laughed.

"Somethings not right. I don't have paradox psychosis. I could feel it outside but in here, it's...nothing." Younger Five analyzed.

"Never were too bright, were we?" Elder Five stated, as he had woken up from his slumber.

"Oh great, now I have to deal with two Five's." Cleo rolled her eyes, while shaking her head.

"The operations bunker is a paradox–proof. I constructed it as a panic room in case of a collapse in the time continuum. In this room, all permutations of yourself can exist." Elder Five explained.

"You must be here because of a...kugelblitz." He guessed.

"Is that like a cheese blintz?"

"Or maybe the ballroom blintz?" Cleo asked.

"It's German for "ball of lightning." It's an extra kinky kind of black hole." Young Five stated.

"The kind that can suck up entire timelines." Lila concluded.

"Bingo." Elder Five, answered.

"So how do we fix it?" Younger Five asked himself.

Elder Five let out a raspy chuckle which turned into a sickly cough.

"You don't." he put it simply.

"Well, here we have it. All Five's are completely useless." Cleo fretted.

"If you created all of this, then you must have created a solution."

Elder Five wheezed before his next answer. "All that will be left is...oblivion."

"Oblivion? What do you mean?" Lila asked.

"Guys, I know this is really bad timing but doesn't he look like Santa Claus but this one – specifically – is on his deathbed." Gemini stated at the most inopportune time.

Causing Cleo to laugh and agree.

The machine that was holding Elder Five started to open up.

"This is what you have coming." He said.

"Hate to tell you Five, but your future does not look bright." Cleo pointed out.

"Listen to me you ass, I just spent the last 20 days running around saving the world from apocalypses, only to keep trying to save the world. Now I am stuck in this pubescent body, my hormones are raging, and all I wanna do is go out and buy a 1970's Corvette Stingray." Five started to digress.

"Take it easy on him, Five."

"Lila, this is between me and myself, so stay out of it. Thank you."

"Now, you know how frustrating it is to talk to you." Cleo stated.

Younger Five looked at Cleo with a glare, then back down to his elder self.

"Now, this kugelblitz, it is not some tiny leak that we can simply fix by patching a couple of pinholes. It is a giant trash compactor which is grinding up the universe and consuming it whole. So tell me how you stop it!" Five raged.

"Whatever you do... don't save the world." He warned.

"Oh, and Cleo, Gemini. My younger self couldn't say it before you left but just so you know we do actually miss your presence when you both disappear." Those Were his last and final words before he died.

Leaving behind a very confused Cleo, Gemini and Five.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gemini asked Cleo who just shrugged not knowing either.

"What do you mean, don't save, disappear – Five!" five yelled, trying to get his elder self's attention.

"How do I fix this?" He questioned but received no answer.

Checking his pulse, Lila announced. "He's dead, Five."

Five sharply inhaled.

"Can I have the room?" He asked.

"Er...I don't think I should leave you two alone." Lila questioned the situation.

"Lila, I need the room."

"Fine by me, we'll be outside." Cleo said walking out of the room with Gemini and Lila.

Next chapter will have trauma, fair waring so be ready.