CHAPTER TWENTY: TOLD YOU SO

Five and Lotus trailed behind Luther and the other Five as they walked down an old bridge, slowly making their way to the grassy knoll. Lotus kept having to pull Five away from yelling at everything, he had just been heckling a pigeon.

"What are you looking at!" He yelled as they made it up the staircase, "See something funny!"

Lotus sighed, grabbing ahold of his blazer and yanking him back. "Come on."

"Mind your business!"

"Five." Lotus grumbled, shoving him in front of her. "Walk."

"I'll give you something to stare at!"

She didn't know who he was yelling at at this point, they were the only ones on the bridge.

"You wish you could pull of these shorts!"

He was itching his side, Lotus huffed grabbing ahold of his hands. She held them tightly, pulling him along again. "Stop itching."

"I'm not itching."

"Five, I'm gonna be honest." She glanced at him, "I'm very close to hitting you over the head."

Luther appeared beside them, raising his brows at Lotus who still gripped Five's hands in hers. She let go and they continued walking, "Hey, brother." Luther smiled, "What's up?"

They made it to the end of the bridge, Five hopped down the stairs and glared at his brother. "He's gonna kill me, isn't he?"

Luther scoffed, "What? Him— he's gonna kill you? Yeah, right. That's ridiculous."

"You're a terrible liar." Lotus chimed in.

"Worse than you are a spotter." Five hissed, "Lotus is the only one trying to help me."

Luther shook his head, "What good is having a spotter if you won't even listen to him?"

"So you admit you're conspiring against me?"

"Do... do you admit that you're suffering from paradox psychosis?"

Five laughed, "All I'm suffering from is bracing clarity about you and your murderous intentions."

His hand went up and itched his chest, Lotus rolled her eyes and punched him. He turned with wide eyes, "What was that for!"

"You're itching again." She shrugged.

Luther sighed, "Look, it's not like he's gonna "kill you" kill you. He just wants to kill a, um... version of you."

"But I am that version of me."

They landed on paved roads again, older Five still led the way. "Hey, I don't love it either, but he's actually got a pretty good plan."

"What?" Five seethed, "The one where you guys off me and then jump to 2019 to save the world?"

"Yeah, wait, how did you know that?"

Five was itching like crazy now, his chest, his neck and even his head.

"Because I'm him, and that is exactly what I would do if I were trying to kill me!"

"Ok, all I know is we got one Five too many, and you're the one acting like a maniac."

"Luther, so help me god if you even try to kill him I will shift into you and beat you with your own two ape hands." Lotus glared up at him, grabbing ahold of Five's hands once again as he scratched at his head. "And after I beat you I will shift back into my self and shove all the rocks I can find down your throat until you choke and—"

"Jeez, Lotus." Luther grumbled.

Five took a deep breath, "Did you call me a manic? If you want a manic, I will show you maniac!"

Lotus sighed, shoving him forward. Five wailed his arms and took off, glaring up at Luther.

"Ok, as your spotter, I think the best thing I can do for you right now is put you out of your misery."

"Luther!"

Five spun and grabbed his shoulders, "Listen, I know your feeble mind only responds to age and authority, so listen very closely. Yet again, you are experiencing daddy issues," he poked his chest, "This time with your own brother, which honestly is making me a bit crazy. But remember this: I am fourteen days older than him. I have seniority here, so it is me you should listening to, Luther."

"Five—"

"I'm the daddy here!" He yelled, raising his arms.

Lotus suppressed a laugh, "Sure you are."

"How's it going?" Luther addressed a few pedestrians who stared, he grabbed Five and pulled him along. "Five, please, you're being unseemly. Look at you!"

He scratched his chest again, "I admit there is a possibility that I may not be in my fully... right mind right now."

"Okay, good."

"But whatever I've got, he's got it too." He pointed at his older self, "He's got it too!"

"You three quit grab-assing. We're here."

Lotus hadn't even realized they were in a parking lot until they came to a stop in the corner where the fence met. On the other side was the route Kennedy was about to take, and unfortunately die on.

Adult Five bent over and placed both his cases down, slowly opening one and setting up a gun as let a few rip. She tried not to laugh, "Flatulence. Stage four." Luther whispered.

"See? What's your plan now, bucko?" Five clapped his hands, just as he also joined the party. They both stared at him, brows raised. "That was just lunch, all right? Shut up."

He turned and walked off, leaving Luther and Lotus alone. She turned to the large man, "You better not still be thinking about killing him."

"I'm not." He said, "Don't worry."

She glanced back at Five, who was now sweating even more and twitching. "Dear lord." She muttered walking over to him, pulling out a few napkins she took from the pub and wiped down his face.

"Thanks." He muttered, "Look, I want to tell you something in case we don't make it."

"You're gonna be fine. You're just paranoid."

Luther appeared at their side as she crumbled up the napkin and stuffed it in her pocket, she'd throw it away later when she found a garbage can. They all watched older Five finish preparing his weapon, "This is my favourite part." He said, "The calm before the storm."

Five's eyes landed on the briefcase that sat alone a pace away, "Look, the briefcase."

"No, don't." Luther looked at him, "You won't be able to get there in time."

"Of course I will! This is our only chance."

Lotus shook her bead, "And we're on stage seven already. That was quick."

"Yeah, just remind me what was the final stage of paradox psychosis again?" Luther questioned.

Five put a foot out in front of him, ready to run. "Homicidal rage."

"Right." Luther nodded, slowly shaking his head. "That's great."

Older Five loaded his gun and held it up, focused on getting his mission done. Five slowly crept forward, she went to stop him when Luther put his hand up, "Five, listen to me. I— no, no!"

Five crouched along, heading for the briefcase case. Lotus cursed under her breath, "Why is he always at stage seven?"

He vanished, but as he did, older Five did too. Young Five landed where the other used to stand, same as older Five.

Now he pointed a gun at the Five she knew, her eyes widened with shock.

"Bad idea, shit-heel." Old Five cocked his gun, aiming it at his younger self.

Luther sighed and stepped next to Older Five and simply grabbed the gun out of his hand, Lotus scrambled towards the young one. "Stop it! Both of you! Pull it together."

Five blinked wildly, scratching his neck while he stared down his older self.

"Kennedy is gonna be coming around that corner any minute. Okay? So, everyone, let's just take a deep breath." He paused, doing so. "Even you Lotus." He sent her a look.

She rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath before giving him the finger.

"Now, we're all family here, okay?" Luther huffed, "So can we all just try to get along for a few more minutes?"

Five looked around before nodding at himself, "You want it?"

"You go."

"Want what—" Luther began but was rudely interrupted as Five leaped forward and kicked his leg out at his brothers groin. He crumpled like an old man.

Lotus rushed at him as both Five's kept vanishing and reappearing around them, "Oh my god, Luther! Are you okay?"

His eyes were squinted as he shook his head, "Yeah." He mumbled, "Totally okay."

Lotus looked around as the two fought, always blinking in and out. She tried running to one place they appeared, but they would vanish before she could do anything.

"I swear to god, Five!" She yelled, "I will personally beat you into a new dimension if you don't quit it!"

They both reappeared on either side of Luther, kicking him in the shin and his side before yet again, disappearing. Luther stood up, fists clenched as he shook his head. "I am getting really sick of this!"

"Fives!" Lotus huffed, "I will put the old one in a wheelchair! Get a grip and stop!"

When they blinked back in, it was in front of Luther and Lotus.

"Getting tired yet?" Old Five questioned, "I can do this all day." The other replied.

Luther huffed, "Guys, this has to stop."

They both turned to him, "Eat shit, Ape Man."

"Both of you!" Lotus shouted, "Stop fighting!"

Older Five turned to her, "Since when do we listen to you?"

Her lips formed a straight line, "Since if you work a little more, I can kick your ass into having a stroke!"

"I'd like to see you try little girl—"

Five charged at him, but instead of vanishing, a wave of blue exploded and sent them both sprawling backwards. Luther bent down and picked up the gun, "Hey! Assholes! I'm done listening to you both. I'm in charge now."

He waved the gun between each Five, both scrambled to their feet yelling at Luther to shoot the other one. Luther brought the gun and trained on it on younger Five.

"Oh hell no." Lotus charged forward, standing in front of him. "You are not gonna shoot him!"

"Luther!" He huffed.

"I'm sorry buddy."

Lotus shook her head, genuine fear shining in her eyes. She backed up until she could feel Five against her, "Luther— no, I swear if you shoot... please don't, I can't do this again with you and your stupid guns—"

Luther turned and used to butt if the gun against older Five's face, he fell to the ground, out cold.

"Open the portal!" Luther yelled, "Now!"

Five nodded, looking around. He froze and clenched his fists, panting as blue light emitted from his hands. He grunted as the vortex grew bigger, staring at his siblings faces on the other side.

"Don't you think about it." Luther's voice rose, they turned to see older Five inch towards the briefcase.

"Into the vortex you go, asshole!" Five yelled.

"Fine, just give me the math! So I don't end up looking like Tiger Beat over here."

"You stand next to the vortex and I'll tell ya."

He limped over, staring at his younger self with anger. "Now tell me!"

"It was a typo."

"Typo?"

Five nodded, "We put the decimal in the wrong spot in our proof of the existence of a bound for the number of limit cycles of planar polynomial vector fields of fixed degree. We wrote down five-point-seven. It should be—"

"Zero-point-five-seven." They both said.

"Son of a bitch!" Adult Five yelled, "I knew it didn't look right. All right. I guess this is it."

"This is it!" Five yelled back, "Go!"

Just as the other Five went to go, a fire extinguisher came flying from the vortex and nailed Luther in the head. He fell, causing both Five's to leap and fight over the briefcase.

"It's shrinking!" Luther pointed at the vortex.

"Shit." Lotus spat, racing at the Five's and jumping on the older ones back. "Let go!"

She struggled, hands wrapping around the case as they all spun closer to the vortex. Luther scrambled to his feet, running and kicking older Five.

Lotus yelped as they went flying, she tried to let go but he grabbed ahold of her foot. She heard her Five yell before the world went dark around her.

"No!" She screamed, closing her eyes. "No- no, no, this isn't happening."

She clenched her fists, picturing Five in her head. Picturing Luther and the parking lot, the fence that lined it. "Please." She whispered.

The world was to bright as she came crashing back into it, landing on the cement at Luther's feet.

"Holy shit!" She heard Luther say. "Five—"

Arms pulled her up and wrapped around her, she was to stunned to move. "Oh my god." Five whispered, "Holding her tight. "Thank god."

Voices cheered and they pulled apart, "I'm fine." She told him as they rushed to the fence, Five grabbed the brown case from the grass and laid it down, they both stepped onto it even though she could still hardly see.

"Look— there's Dad." Luther pointed to a man dressed in all black, a matching umbrella open and facing the sunny sky.

"Uh-oh." Five muttered, "Diego."

She jumped up trying to get a glimpse of the action, she saw a blur she thought was Diego, running full speed their way.

"Here." Luther said propping her up on his knee, she sent a glare for how ridiculous it looked.

Diego sprinted like his life depended on it towards his father, he was making incredible time.

"Oh shit." Lotus whispered as he tackled the man, but flinched when the sound of gunfire echoed. "Oh shit."

"Kennedy's dead." Luther whispered.

Five jumped off the briefcase and helped her down from Luther's knee, "We got to get out of here."

"I agree."

He grabbed ahold of her hand and held on tightly before grasping Luther's arm, "We jump on three. One, two..."

"Three." Lotus gave him a reassuring nod.

The world dissolved at their feet.