|Doppelgänger| Five Hargreeves

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟖

Five and I had finally arrived at the Mothers of Agony private club. The entrance was full of bikers with heavy auras already glaring at us in confusion, and the sign at the door clearly said "members only", but the boy payed absolutely no attention to any of that, and just kept pulling me to get inside. I let him. I felt a bit too groggy to protest about anything going on.

The deeper we went into the club, the more unfriendly the ambience got. Most of the members didn't look at us in an aggressive way, just confused or worried, since we looked way too young to be there. The place just seemed very inappropriate for us to be in in many ways.

The place smelled like strong alcohol, gasoline and cigarette smoke with a tint of cheap cologne. Every single person with some skin showing was covered in blackwork tattoos, the only one not fitting in the description being the pole dancer on the small stage by the center of the room. Five ignored all of it, just exploring the place, trying to find something he was actually interested in.

_"You kids lost?"

_"What you doing here, baby?"

_"You too young to be here, girl."-Some of the members tried to talk to us, questioning our presence, but we didn't answer. I only looked at some of them with apologetic eyes, trying to avoid more trouble.

Five finally found something that caught his eyes. A door with another sign that warned us only members could walk through. And once again, he did not mind it. He opened the door, revealing what was on the other side.

The new room was very dimly lit, I couldn't see many details, except for the tattoo station right in the middle. A big, tough looking guy was in the middle of getting tattooed by someone we could not see the face of yet. There was also a line of people waiting for their own turns. But we weren't there to get tattooed, so hopefully they wouldn't mind us skipping the line...Right?

_"Been looking for you."-Five spoke, direct at the person sitting with the ink gun on his hand. Just then I noticed his silhouette seemed way too familiar.

Finally, he turned around and realized why he was so familiar in the first place.

It was Pogo. The friendly humanoid ape who I grew up with, and also the one who grew up with me in the 60s. His appearance was tougher and more hostile, he wore a leather jacket that had his name and his title in the gang, an "enforcer", his mouth holding a cigarette between his teeth, his body having visible, yet seemingly old tattoos. It was shocking to see him that way, when the last time I had seen him he was just a baby monkey, learning about the world.

_"I don't tattoo children."-He spoke. His eyes lingered on me for a few seconds, analyzing. He knew who I was. But I don't think he remembered me, the actual me, not this timeline's me. He was way too young at that time to be able to, probably. Although he knew that "me" that had died, and it probably made no sense that I was alive and standing in front of him, he didn't seem exactly...Surprised? I was terribly confused.

_"Swell. I'm not here for the ink. I'm here because you and I have a mutual friend. Sir Reginald Hargreeves."-Five explained, and Pogo didn't seem happy to hear that.

_"Whatever he wants, I'm not interested."-It was somehow interesting to see he maintained his accent and sophisticated way of speaking, even though it completely didn't match his appearance. He turned his back to us.

_"I don't think you understand. I'm one of his children. From another timeline."-I heard the sound of chains rattling, and realized the other members present in the room started to slowly walk closer to us. I grabbed Five's arm, trying to warn him.

_"We don't have much time."-I whispered in his ear, him only acknowledging me with a small nod.

_"Another timeline?"-Pogo chuckled, ironically. Even though he had seen powers before, he didn't seem to believe what Five was saying.