It Will Always be You

(S1) Sixteen

Five and I are having lunch with The Handler at the moment. Me and Five sat beside each other in chairs while they were talking. I was staring off into space though.

"And that's how Phil determined that the archduke just had to go. Care for dessert?" The Handler asks as she finished her drink.

"We had a bad Twinkie in the apocalypse once. It kind of put us off desserts." I say.

"Please, indulge me."

Five grabs a piece of candy from a bowl and splits it in half. He hands one half to me and takes the other. We both put them in our mouths and chew on the candy.

"What's it taste like to you?" She asks.

"The 1950s?" Me and Five say at the same time.

"Precisely right. Our clever metaphysics division concocted a way to perfectly distill an entire decade into a single candy."

The Handler takes a piece of candy from the bowl and puts it in her mouth.

"This one's modeled after the Fudge Mutt, America's favorite in 1955."

"Remarkable." Five says.

"You'll be happy to know it's the very division that's building your new bodies. Oh, that reminds me. I have something for you two."

"Carla," She asks into an intercom on her desk.

"Yes?"

"Would you bring the boxes in, please?"

"Certainly."

A few seconds later a lady walks into the office with two boxes. She puts them in front of Five and me and then leaves the room. We just stare at the box not knowing what to do.

"Go ahead. Open it," The Handler says.

Five hands me my box and he grabs his. We open the boxes and look inside. Inside were clothes. Speciafficly clothes that would fit our older bodies. Five had a suit and so did I. Normally the women of the commission wore dresses, but I specifically asked for a suit. I'm glad they didn't forget.

I sighed leaning back into my chair.

"Clothes make the man, Five. And the woman Eight. Won't it be nice when you can actually wear it? Very soon, I assure you. They're perfecting your bodies as we speak!"

"Thank you. It's a very kind gift." Five says.

I look around the room trying to find something to talk about.

"Is that a Chinese flamethrower?" I ask.

"Good eye." She responds.

She stands up and so do me and Five. We walk behind her.

"War. Such a fascinating concept. A temporary salve for a permanent human flaw. Course, it's a bit easier to see from 30,000 feet. These are just some of the things I've collected in my travels. M26 grenades from the Vietnam War."

She picks up the grenade and tosses it in the air. She hands it to me and look at it.

"And this, the most noteworthy, perhaps. My Walther pistol. The very one Hitler used to kill himself. We're not supposed to take these kinds of things, but... he wasn't gonna use it anymore. Feel... how perfectly balanced that is."

The Handler hands Five the gun and he looks at it.

"We had some thoughts we wanted to run by you. Some suggestions to improve Commission protocol." Five says as he hands her the gun.

I give her back the grenade and she sets them back on the shelf.

"Mm! Shaking things up already. Admire that. Go on. Do tell!"