|Doppelgänger| Five Hargreeves

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝟕

_"What I'd like to know is how the daughter of some random dry cleaner ends up with a jar of marigold in the trunk of her car."-Five spoke, looking at the glass jar. We were now all gathered at a sushi bar, talking out about the situation we had put ourselves in. Well, that Five put us in, actually.

_"How do we know that's not just a jair of glow stick juice?"-Diego asked. I realized how often I had to really think through if he was joking or not.

_"Why don't you take a sip and find out, tough guy?"-Ben dared him, and my brother seemed to be actually considering it.

_"I will if you will."

_"Don't even think about it."-Lila had to stop him once again, and he obeyed. As he should.

_"Okay, for the sake of discussion, let's say this is legit. Does anyone here actually want their power back?"-Five asked, looking around. I shook my head.

_"It was useful but I rarely used it, anyways."

_"No, siree, Bob. For the first time in my life, I'm sober. And...happy. But most importantly, 100% poltergeist-free."-Klaus was also not interested in it. Of course he wouldn't be. His powers brought him more pain than anything else, physically and psychologically speaking.

_"Free? You rarely leave the house. And when you do, you're wearing surgical gloves in public."-Allison retorted, and I furrowed my brows.

_"I think that's a little better than being on drugs 24/7 and dying 30 times a day. I might be wrong, though."-I added, before eating a salmon sashimi.

_"Yeah. And at least I'm in control."-Klaus agreed, feeling a bit sad now for being attacked all of a sudden. I gave the man a small smile, trying to cheer him up.

_"Showtime."-The chef interrupted our conversation, and I noticed Five, who was sitting by my side, hiding the jar back in the box.

The man behind the counter started making a small show with his knives and spatula. He twirled and tapped them together, which was pretty cool, but Diego seemed to be bothered with it for some reason. I couldn't hear what he was whispering to Lila, but his expression made it pretty clear. I just hoped the chef hadn't seen it too.

Once he was finished, we clapped and cheered.

_"Good job, sir."

_"Nice."

_"He is so good."-Five, Viktor and Luther audibly congratulated the guy, and then, we were back to our conversation from before.

_"Look, guys, it's a hard no for me too. I've got a bar to run, friends. Like, a real life."-Viktor also didn't want his powers back, which also made sense, since he ended the world with them. Twice. Thrice, actually, if you count Harlan.

_"You're all nuts, all right? We should be mainlining this shit right now. Look, come on, big guy. I know you want it."-Ben said, and tried to convince Luther of agreeing with him too.

_"Wait. I mean, that's a tough one."-Luther, on the other hand, wasn't sure yet.

_"Come on. You don't need that, Luther. Your life is fantastic."-Klaus also tried to convince him, but of the contrary.

_"I don't know about fantastic, but you know, I'm...I'm managing."

_"Is that where the bar is set these days? Managing?"-Ben provoked, and I let out a sigh.

_"Ben, your life wasn't amazing because you had powers, it was amazing 'cause you were rich."-I said. In my opinion, Ben just missed the luxury of being known as a powerful person.

_"Look, I'll do whatever the group decides, alright? How's that?"-Luther gave his verdict, and that was good enough.

_"Yeah, I'm with Luther. Majority rules."-Diego also agreed, but he seemed like he really wanted his powers back, and was just saying that to somewhat please Lila.