The Silver Killer

Two: Escape

After two days straight it being locked in a tiny room with his siblings, Five had just about had it with the so-called 'Sparrow Academy'.

Klaus wouldn't stop humming, Luther and Diego kept whining, and he could see no use for Vanya at the moment, but maybe he was still pissed at her for ruining their chances to escape from 1963 the first time.

In his sleep deprived, starving mind, Allison was the only one worth any help here. She seemed to sense that she was the only one that he had any care for at the moment, and the two tended to whisper quietly, planning an escape, when the others were asleep.

Oddly enough, though, they weren't the ones to initiate an escape.

It happened during the day. Or the night. Try as he might, with zero windows in the room and no clocks, it was hard for Five to keep track of the days and the times.

The door swung open. Wide open. That was unusual in itself. The little food they were given was shoved roughly in through a tiny gap in the door before it was slammed shut. Of course, they could always hear voices on the other side, discussion plans and discussing this and that and that other thing that somebody had forgotten about, but they were always muffled and hard to make out.

Five had tried, over and over again, to teleport out of there, but he just couldn't do it. With the little food and water he was given, he just didn't have enough energy to make it happen. All he could do was sit around and wait and plan and wait some more.

But when the door swung open, none other than one of their captors stood on the other side.

"You guys tired of sitting around yet?" the woman asked. Her name, if Five could remember correctly, was Mae, and she was probably nineteen or twenty, with dark skin and the darkest, wisest eyes Five had ever seen. He knew she was a force to be reckoned with, though he'd never admit it.

And now ... she'd come to their rescue.

Diego was the first one on his feet, standing in front of the others as Luther stood up as well. Five was too tired to care at this point. If she wanted to torture them more, so be it. It felt like they'd been through hell, so what was one lash more?

"Whaddya want?" Diego said, his voice dangerously low, though scars and scratches were covering his skin.

A smile twitched across Mae's face, but it quickly disappeared. Odd, Five thought, recalling that she was usually the one with the dry humor, the one that was always quick to crack a joke and laugh for hours after it had been told.

"We need to go," she said quietly.

"Why-" Vanya started, but Mae glanced at her and cut her off.

"I'm sick and tired of watching you guys get treated like animals, tortured day in and day out and questioned about things that you clearly don't have answers to," she said, nervously looking over her shoulder.

"So you're helping us escape?" Allison said doubtfully.

"Yes, I am. It's not some angelic deed," she added at the Hargreeves' skeptical looks. "With you guys gone, I might actually get some peace around here, and maybe Grey'll be less antsy."

Grey was the man that was in charge of the 'interrogation', as the Sparrow Academy called the torture of the Hargreeves siblings. Five hated him with every fiber of his being that wasn't already hating his father. Or his siblings. Or the Handler and the Commission.

"Should we go?" Allison asked softly, looking at her siblings for their opinions.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Klaus said flippantly, waving his hand dismissively. "We get killed? Tortured?" He laughed darkly at the words, and Five's heart skipped a beat at the thought.

Klaus's words were met by uncertain and worried glances.

"You're either coming or you're not and I leave you here to suffer," Mae said flatly.

"Guess we're goin' then," Diego said, looking back his family one last time to be certain. "Five? You with us?"

He sighed and stood up, tucking his bloodied hands in his pockets. "Fine, I'm with you."

If they weren't in life-or-death circumstances where they had very little time to run for their lives, maybe the siblings would have stopped and listened to the absolute carelessness in his words. But they were terrified, and adrenaline was already kicking in, so nobody noticed.

"Alright then," Mae said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Let's go. Follow me as quietly as possible, and please just trust me. Like Klaus said, what's the worst that could happen?"

With that, she turned and started down the dark hallways of the mansion, leaving the siblings with no choice but to follow.

Five ended up walking with Klaus in front of his and Allison behind him, Luther behind her. Diego and Vanya were in front of Klaus, and in front of them, Mae, making her way along as soundlessly as a mouse.

"Just a little farther," she called back at one point, her whispers bouncing along the sterile hallways. Klaus flinched at the sound. "Then you'll be outside."

Outside. Hope it's not raining. Then again, what does it matter? Rain or no rain, it's out of this hellhole. Or maybe it's out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Klaus suddenly stopped, leading Five to assume that Mae had as well. He heard the tinkling of metal against metal, but different than that of a key sliding into a lock. Keys were silent until the click! at the end, but this was more like picking a lock. Why doesn't she just use a key? This is her house, after all.

There was a final click, and a sudden rush of cold air streamed into the hallway, along with a burst of faint moonlight. Five felt Allison's hand rest on his back, and he shook it off, feeling too tense to oblige to a bit of physical affection.

"Follow me, it's not far," Mae hissed over her shoulder, stepping outside. She stood the side of the door as the siblings filed out, but grabbed Five's sleeve when he appeared, dragging him to the side.

Before he knew what was happening, a pistol was thrust into his hands. "You're the only one out of them that I trust with this," the woman told him darkly. Her eyes were ominously calm ... calmer than they should have been. "Stuff's coming, my family won't rest until they've found you. So you need to run. And keep running, far away from here until your trail is so scattered there's no way we'd find you."

"Why're you giving me this?" he asked in a low voice, forever wary.

"Because I know you're tired of killing."

Her simple answer made his blood run cold, and he lifted his gaze to look at her again, his mouth opening to ask a question, but a gunshot rang out before he could form words.

"ESCAPING!"

"RUN!" Mae hissed, kicking his leg harshly before rushing back inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

Everything from there was an absolute blur.

Diego had come back for him, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. The pistol was shoved into his jacket as he stumbled alongside his brother, deeper into the city.

"Wait here," Diego finally said, stopping in an alley, panting. "Allison and the others went down the street, I'm gonna go get them. Whatever you do, don't move." He turned and bolted down the street.

Five swallowed and leaned against the wall, thens stood straight up and pulled out the pistol, studying it. He'd never been one to know much about guns, all he could tell was that it was new and nice, judging by the size and weight of it and how the metal glistened in the faint moonlight. It was also loaded.

He was careful to put it back in his jacket just as it had been when he pulled it out, and just in time. As the first wave of red and blue flashing police cars rushed by, he heard a soft thump from behind him.

Standing there was a person in a black cloak.