Lost Without You

24.

Suddenly, the door bursts open, making me jump. "Piece of shit," Diego says, making me raise an eyebrow. He storms towards Five, making Luther stand up, continuing. "Do you have any idea what you just did?" He tries to lurch towards Five, but I hold out my hand, stopping him. "Jasmine, I swear to God. You better lower your hand," He orders. 

"Nope, I can do this as long as it takes to calm you down," Luther says.

"Fine," Diego sighs, making me lower my hand.

"Now, you wanna tell us what you're talkin' about?"

"Yes, please, enlighten me on why you just almost tried to kill Five," I hiss, angrily. From the corner of my eye, I see Five smirk to himself.

"Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy's, and then, at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the Academy, looking for him," Diego hisses, angrily.

Oh... I see why he's angry.

"None of which is any of your concern," Five rolls his eyes.

"It is now. They just killed my friend," Diego admits, making my eyes widen.

Patch? The woman who called before and said she needed help?

Shit. I totally get why he's angry.

"Who are they, Five," I question, making him glance over at me.

"They work for my former employer. A woman called the Handler. She sent them... to stop me. Then, soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game," Five says, making my mouth drop open. I rip my hand out of his, making him look at me sadly.

I can't believe Five just said that about someone.

Asshole.

"And now they're my fair game. And I'm gonna see to it they pay," Diego says, walking back towards the door.

"That would be a mistake, Diego. They've killed people far more dangerous than you," Five admits.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." He leaves, and I sigh.

"Former employer? What's this really about, Five? And don't give me any of this "it's none of your business" crap, all right," Luther questions.

"Well, it's a long story." Luther sits down, and I scoot a little further away from Five, leaning against the wall. "They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum. Or "corrections," as they called them. I wasn't the only one. There are others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don't know how they got there," Five starts, as we listen intently. "But I do know that none of them were as good as me."

So... he was basically a hitman.

Shit. That's rough.

"They didn't realize it, but I was biding my time, trying to figure out the right equation so I could get back. If I could just get back, I knew I could stop the apocalypse. Save the world," He continues, glancing at me. "So I broke my contract..."

He continues to explain the story, as Luther makes him something to eat.

"So...," Luther starts, handing him the plate, "you were ahitmann?"

"Yes."

"Uh... I mean, you had a code, right? You didn't kill just anybody?"

"No code. We took out anyone who messed with the time line," Five admits.

"What about innocent people?"

"It was the only way I could get back here."

"But that's murder."

"Jesus, Luther, grow up. We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There are just people goin' about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die. Including our family," Five says, making a couple tears roll down my cheeks.

I don't wanna die.

"Time changes everything."