𝙒𝙄𝙇𝘿║𝙁. 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙨

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CITY JAUNT

They had a traditional plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns for breakfast. Everything you need to keep your bodily functions optimal throughout the day, their mother always said.

Feliks grimaced as the taste of orange juice battled with his freshly brushed teeth. He set down his cup gingerly, silently leaving it for the eggs that tasted weird but significantly less offputting with the mintiness that lingered on his tongue.

After he had scraped up the last bit of his hash browns, he placed his fork on his plate and was careful to make sure it didn't rattle against the porcelain. He couldn't survive another one of Pogo's lectures on table etiquette.

It was silent, which wasn't unusual in the morning. The only one who seemed to be able to rub two brain cells together this early was Luther. The blonde boy was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and eager to please their father. As usual.

"Freakin' narc..." Klaus muttered from beside him. The boy had his stash taken by Mother and had been in a bad mood all week. The numbers displayed on the clock and the blinding white-tinted color of dawn's sun certainly weren't helping.

Feliks might have reprimanded him, but he was simply too tired and trying to soak up what little recreation time he had before Father came in to start morning training. And well, Luther could be a bit of a narc sometimes. The rest of the meal went by too quickly to be considered humane.

But, a voice whispered to him, the sooner you get started, the sooner you'll be done.

Feliks promptly told the voice to shove it up its zhopa.

"Today, we will be conducting an experimental field test." Reginald Hargreeves began, speaking with his trademark self-righteousness, pompous vigor. A hand was raised, and their father sighed.

"Yes, Number Four?"

"Will there be snacks? I hear cheese toasties are the in thing this month." The boy said, completely serious. Feliks held out some hope that the Fates would turn in his favor and grant their father a smidgen piece of a human heart to his lacking chest cavity. His power always took up the calories he consumed so quickly that it became inconvenient, especially since their Father had them on a strict diet.

His stomach rumbled, and he frowned, rubbing at his abdomen absentmindedly. A warm hand curled around his wrist; he looked over to see concerned green eyes peering at him through a floppy, brunette fringe.

You okay? Five asked silently as Klaus bickered with their father over the importance of sanctioned nutrition.

Am fine, Feliks smiled with a tad bit of force behind it.

I am fine. Five corrected.

We are not talking, how...

Five smirked, I'm just that brilliant.

And arrogant, Feliks scoffed.

Reginald's voice rang out, stopping Klaus from his tangent and snapping them from their silent communication.

"Enough, Number Four. You all will be assigned in groups of two. You will be dropped off at various locations with naught but your intuition to aid you. I will relay a different location to each of you, which you will reach before the sun sets. You shall report back when you have arrived." He didn't offer an option for failure.

Feliks the inside of his lip, swayed closer to Five, and grabbed hold of his hand. He felt along the boy's weathered fingertips, perceiving the blank skin. None of them had fingerprints anymore. Reginald had them all burned off of their hands. If they were to run a stealth mission, they couldn't be leaving any hint as to who they were.