Problem Solvers

tempus fugit

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

It was Ben's fault.

No matter how many times Five rewound their initial moments in the new timeline, Ben was always the single biggest distraction for the rest of the family. No one was able to put their all into the fight, least of all bring any harm to Ben directly, and with the pulled punches there was always at least one person who died.

Usually, it was Klaus. The idiot all but ran to his death, trying to embrace Ben as if he were the same brother they'd grown up with.

He wasn't.

This Ben didn't hesitate to rip Klaus apart with the Horror. This Ben easily incapacitated a horrified Vanya and then decapitated Diego for good measure while Five could barely dodge the swarm of blood thirsty birds in time to save Allison from a wayward tentacle.

That particular bloodbath clinched it. Ben had to die.

So Five rewound again, going back to the moment before Ben even had the chance to speak, and slit his throat.

"Ben?!" Luther gasped.

"Five, what did you do?" Vanya knelt at Ben's body and grasped his arm, heedless of the other Sparrows who were rushing down the stairs to attack.

Vanya died without even putting up a fight.

Five rewound again, earlier this time, and then teleported onto the stairs, catching Ben before he could even reach the fourth floor.

This time he stabbed Ben through the heart.

The look of surprise on Ben's face... he slumped to the ground again and Five stared at him. It was Ben, dead on the ground. It was Ben.

Five rewound again, jumped on Ben's back, and teleported them as far away as he could manage.

Unfortunate, he didn't have a plan beyond that. Nor the energy to defend himself from the angry not-brother he'd saddled himself with.

Oh well, Five thought. If I die, at least everyone else survives. They have a better chance now.

The boy kidnapped Ben out of his own home, managing to sneak up on him and teleport him to a giant cornstalk field in the same instant.

Disoriented by the change in surroundings, Ben was slow to switch gears into battle readiness. If he had been faster, he would have been able to convince himself that he had knocked the kid out.

But no. Ben had barely turned around to look at his mysterious attacker when the little shit was on his way to the ground.

Instinctively, Ben caught him.

"What the fuck." Ben looked from the kid to their surroundings, the glare of the sun overhead and the rustling cornstalks a sharp contrast from the Sparrow Academy stairwell he'd just gotten kidnapped from. "Why the- who the fuck are you?"

He was wearing a uniform not unlike Ben's own. And he had abilities... a competing Academy for superheroes, perhaps? The next generation?

The boy's eyes fluttered open and he managed to glare at Ben. "Shu' up, Num'er Six. You caused enough t-trouble."

Ben frowned. "Hey, I'm Number Two."

The little fucker was practically catatonic, eyes sliding back shut, so Ben gave him a firm shake.

"Who are you?" Ben insisted. "Who do you work for? Is this your first mission, or what? Because you're sure doing a bang up job."

The boy chuckled. "Five," he said.