Untimely

- VI -

Five couldn't understand why he was feeling this way.

He tossed and turned all night in the makeshift bed on the floor as he couldn't seem to get the thought of her out of head.

He dismissed it as distrust and suspicion on her word.

Aside from Elliot, no one had cared to help him without having their own personal motive. On second thought, maybe Elliot was helping them so that one day he would be able to prove that he wasn't crazy. So why would she? 

He bounced up from his sleep early in the morning and quietly walked out the door without any notice from his siblings. Five really didn't want to explain his sudden leave. He skipped coffee for this, dammit.

In no time, he found his way back to the Academy and blinked himself in from the side of the building. He landed in what he recognized to be first floor bathroom. If the house layout was still the same, then he figured he would find Mara around the second floor where most the bedroom spaces are.

And so he warped to the second floor, not realizing that person he was looking for had found him first.

When she had him backed up against the wall with a knife to his throat, he felt a rush surge through his veins. He couldn't place what exactly the feeling was, but he'll be dammed if he said he wasn't enjoying it.

"No doubt his office is going to be tight-locked." He said, holding a hand up to his chin and completely masking his confused emotions.

"Obviously." She blew a strand out of her face and her bangs messed up in the process. "I can take us there, but you have to get yourself in. I can't use my power to places I haven't seen."

"Good plan. Except that we're not the only ones in the house." Five crossed his arms. "I can take both of us there, considering that maybe your way of moving around isn't the best choice."

"No way. I'm good, thank you very much."

"Yes way."

Five didn't take no for an answer.

Without a second to spare, he grabbed her gloved hand and blinked themselves up a floor in a storage room. If his memory was still valid, then the office should just be next door.

"Fuck's sake, Five. At least warn me next time please." Mara leaned forward with her hands on her knees.

"You okay?" He couldn't see her face from the dim light that was in the room, but she looked ready to hurl.

"Yeah, I don't think my atoms are real jazzed about splitting from each other." Mara leaned on the cabinet beside her, clutching her stomach, and Five gave her a toothy grin.

"C'mon. We don't want anyone finding us here."

Five opened the door ever so slightly, and after finding no one, he quietly pushed it open all the way and walked out.

The halls were nostalgic with its faded green wallpaper hanging across the walls and intricate wooden frames. It all looked the same, and it still looked in need of a dire interior update.

He paused in front of the black double doors. Compared to most, this one was less ornamental and completely metal. It was a door that he remembered before that fateful day. Even though it was still the same height as the rest, this door had always loomed over him. It felt taller, more ominous. He knew what every room in the Academy looked like, all except for this one. He had just never dared to.

Five turned his head to look at Mara, who only nodded back in response.

"Go. I'll keep a look out."

He didn't need to be told twice.

He blinked himself inside and he wasn't surprised by the lack of light that hit his face. Rows of black screens hung on a wall and a map was spread across beside it, a single red thread stretched on pinned locations. On the other side, a desk stood in front of glass cabinets and metal cabinets.

Five blinked to the desk first.

"Organize your desk, old man." He muttered quietly and started rummaging through the files laid on top of the wooden surface.

Most of the files just held outlines and logs on each of the individual Sparrows' training and development. There were others that were just records of all the different missions they took with different accounts from the Academy.

He dropped the papers back on the desk. They were all useless.

Five squinted in the dark, trying to catch anything peculiar. A particular blue folder stuck out from in between books under the map and he blinked to get there. He plucked it out and read the bold white letters etched on the front.

Project Genesis.

He flipped the cover and started skimming the words for anything useful. 'New world order', 'government control', and 'technological anomalies' crossed his line of sight and oh shit, this is not good.

Five looked up the at the map and followed the red line to where most of them seemed to lead, a building in between Spring Avenue and Victoria Park.

"What are you up to, Dad?"

A knock and a shuffle knocked him back to his senses.

"Can't you see I'm trying to harness the power of not minding anyone's business?" He could hear Mara's annoyed voice through the door.

"Yeah, but you're never around here." a male voice that he didn't recognize spoke quietly.

Five hurriedly put back the folder and blinked out into a corner between the hall and a staircase. He peeked behind him and saw the long back of a brunette and Mara's intense face looking up at the man.

He waved his arm out to try and get her attention, and she very subtly caught his eye.

"If you dont leave me alone, I'm telling Dad you sneak out every night to go your dealer." she said, already turning to walk towards him, and Five hid back into the wall.

"Dont be a snitch Mara."

It almost sounded like a threat and Five was worried things might escalate, but he heard the man's heavy footsteps fade away just as Mara rounded the corner he was hiding in.

"Find what you need?" she asked.

"Yeah." he rubbed his hands together. "Amongst other things."

"Like what?"

Five paused and turned away slightly. Such a subject should be discussed in an area where she can curse out her frustration.

"How about we talk it over back at the apartment?"