Building a robot was Five's idea.
At first it had been about Mom. Luther wanted to understand how she worked and Five had emphasized the mechanics of her body, so that they could repair her if she was ever injured in a fight. If she lost an arm, say, Luther would know how to build a new one from scratch.
"We've never seen her in action," Five had said. "But Dad programmed her to defend the house against intruders. That'll be useful if the Commission turns up."
Even before the younger Five had arrived from 2002, the older was always preparing for a potential war against the Commission. Luther was proud to share the burden with him.
"I'm better with software," Five had said. "You're in charge of hardware, alright?"
Luther took to the "hardware" side of things like a fish to water. Five said he was talented, a natural, which was a pleasant surprise. Mr. Ruby had said the same about boxing, but Luther knew talent had nothing to do with it. He was cheating. The other fighters didn't have super strength. They never stood a chance.
And beating people up for sport and money felt scummy. Hell, even beating up criminals felt scummy now.
Building things was the opposite. It was pure, in a way. It was almost heroic.
He tried to explain it to the younger Five.
"Dad said the world needed us, right?" Luther said. "Because we have all these powers, so it's our responsibility to use them to defend the masses."
The younger Five was examining the robot leg, fiddling with the knee joint.
"But the thing is, the criminals are also part of the masses," Luther said. "Like, a guy doesn't just wake up one day and decide to rob a bank because he's an ass- because he's mean."
Five rolled his eyes. "You can say 'asshole.' I'm not a four year old."
"Right," Luther said. "Sorry. Anyway, the people who rob banks, they're not... they're not assholes. They're desperate people. Usually."
"But sometimes they are assholes," Five said. "Some of them are career criminals and they don't even need the money."
"Some of them," Luther admitted. "But you can't tell just by looking, right? It's... the world is complex."
"Besides, even if the robbers are desperate," Five said. "Does that mean we just let them steal? What about the people they've stolen from? Aren't they desperate people, once they've lost everything?"
"If they're civilians," Luther said. "But a bank doesn't actually lose anything. An insurance company will recoup their loss."
"Recoup," Five repeated.
"Yeah," Luther said. "They reimburse them."
Five glared at him.
"I know," Luther said. "I was mad about it too, when I first found out."
"What?" Five said. "Why?"
"Because Dad sent us to so many banks!" Luther said. "And they didn't even need us. He should have sent us to do, I don't know, hurricane relief aid? Or, or, to help firemen? My strength is really useful in disaster zones because I can lift cars and building debris off of people."
"Reimburse," Five repeated. "So insurance companies... the banks are imbursing them."
Luther blinked. "Imbursing? What does that mean?"
Five pointed the robot leg at him like a sword. "A coup is a mutiny!"
"Huh? Like... a pirate mutiny?"
Five shook the robot leg in obvious frustration. "The hell does any of this have to do with building extra robots?"
Luther gently tugged the leg out of Five's hands. "Hold on," he said. "First we should... um... address your anger."
One of the good things about the younger Five: he was easy to understand. Whatever he was feeling, Luther could see it.
"I'm not angry," Five said.
Luther tried for a reassuring smile. "You don't have to lie."
Five huffed.
"The thing with the banks," Luther said. "it kind of feels like a betrayal, doesn't it? We thought we were saving them from criminals, but we were just saving the insurance company from losing a little bit of money."
As Luther spoke, he noticed Five was gradually relaxing. He looked thoughtful, instead of angry.
"And they have a lot of money," Luther added. "It really doesn't matter if they lose a bit. It's their job! We were wasting our time instead of helping people who actually needed us."
Five frowned at his shoes. Luther decided to shut up and wait patiently for a response. Five deserved time to grapple with this awful reality.
After a moment, Five straightened up and announced, "I'm going to ask you a question."
Luther grinned. "Great! Go ahead."
"So the insurance company," Five said. "It has all this money, which it gives to the bank to... to reimburse them for unexpected... losses."
"Yeah?" Luther said. "That wasn't really a question."
"Okay, here's the question," Five said. "Where does the insurance company get the money from? Why does it have to pay the bank?"
"Oh," Luther said, chuckling. "The banks pay them every month. The insurance, it's like a safety net. It can be used for all sorts of stuff. Like, if there was a tornado and it tore the roof off of the building, the insurance money would fix it."
Five nodded. "Understood."
"Sorry," Luther said. "I forget Dad never taught us anything about finances. I must have confused you."
Five's hands briefly flickered with blue light, but it was just for a second. He shoved them into his pockets when he realized Luther was looking.
"I wasn't confused," Five muttered. "Look, are we done here? Can I go now?"
When they were younger, Luther thought the teleporting was random. He was starting to realize it wasn't random at all. Most of the time, Five blinked away when he was embarrassed.
"Thank you for asking," Luther said. "Yes, you can go."
Five didn't need to be told twice. Immediately, he warped away.
Luther was left alone with the robot leg. He looked down at it and realized he forgot to tell Five what his point was: building things is better than catching criminals.
I'll tell him next time, he thought.
