EUNOIA ━ diego hargreeves

06

CHAPTER SIX

──-ˋˏ☂︎ˎˊ-──

"WHEN IS it supposed to happen?" Luther was asking Five, who had finally woken up from his slumber, only to tell them that the end of the world was near. Freya was pretending not to listen from across the room as she examined the knacks Diego had on his shelf. She couldn't tell if Five had lost his damn mind or not.

"I can't give you an exact hour, but from what I can gather we have four days left."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"It wouldn't have mattered," Five answered, dejected.

"Of course it would," Luther argued. "We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing."

"Can't believe I'm saying this," Freya cut in. "But I agree with Luther. Five, we're some of the most powerful people in the world. That has to count for something, right?"

"For the record, you already tried."

"What do you mean?"

Five waited a moment before replying. "I found all of you. Your bodies."

"We die?"

"Horribly. You were all together. Trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world."

"Wait, how do you know that?"

Five slowly pulled something out of his pocket, and unfolded the paper covering the item in his hand. He placed the eyeball into Luther's palm, who looked at him, confused. "This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you. Must've ripped it out of their head before you went down."

"Whose head?"

"Like I said, I don't know."

"There's a serial number on the back," Luther said, examining the object in his hands. Maybe you can try—"

"No, no," Five interrupted. "That's a dead end. It's just another hunk of glass."

Diego suddenly bursted through the door, and all three of them turned in his direction. His jaw was clenched, and his shoulders were tight as he ventured further into the room.

"Piece of shit!" He lunged towards Five, but Luther quickly caught him by the arms. "Do you have any idea what you just did?! No! Get your ape hands off me!"

Freya had to cover her mouth with her hands to stop the gasp-chuckle from escaping.

"I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down," Luther said, looking bored, his hold on Diego not loosening at all as the other boy struggled against him.

"Fine," he murmured after a moment.

"What's got your panties in a twist, princess?" Freya asked, and Diego's narrowed eyes didn't move from Five as he answered.

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

"None of which is any of your concern," Five replied dryly.

"It is now. They just killed my friend."

"Patch?" Freya wondered, and her eyes widened when he sent a small nod her way. "Jesus."

"Who are they, Five?"

Five sighed. "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."