Across Space and Time (Five Hargreeves)

Chapter 4

Five pulled up in front of Griddy's doughnuts. Both he and Greta had remained silent throughout the drive there. Greta was still terrified of where she was and still believed that this was just some cruel trick being played on her by one of the scientists. Greta was untrusting of the boy next to her as while he had shown a slight bit of warmth to her, he had a coldness surrounding him that she was afraid of.

The pair walked into the empty doughnut shop and took a sat in a stool at the counter. Greta's senses were immediately overtaken by a delicious new smell which made her mouth water. Five reached over and rang the bell just as another man walked into the shop. Five's eyes tracked the man assessing if he was a threat or not. He wasn't. The man took the seat next to Five before pulling out a newspaper and working on the crossword.

The waitress came out in a vibrant pink dress that Greta looked at with awe. The colour was so vibrant and full of life that she couldn't take her eyes off it. After living in a world of boring neutrals her entire life, the pink dress was breathtaking to her. The dress had the name 'Agnes' sewn into it.

"Sorry, the sink was clogged" she apologised "so what'll it be?"

"Uh, give me a chocolate eclair," the man said.

"Mm-hmm sure," she said jotting down the order "can I get the kids a glass of milk or something?"

Five scoffed "this kid wants coffee. Black. And she'll have... a glazed doughnut."

Agnes was taken aback slightly by Five's request. " Cute kid" she chuckled awkwardly before shuffling off to get the items.

Five sighed and glanced around the establishment. "Don't remember this place being such a shithole" he said to no one in particular "I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my brothers and sisters and eat doughnuts till we puked. Simpler times, huh?"

"Uh, I suppose?" The man sitting next to Five responded. Agnes came back with the items and placed them in front of their respective owners. "I got theirs," the man said, placing the money down on the counter.

"Thanks" Five nodded before noticing the logo of a towing company located on the man's jacket "you must know your way around the city."

"I hope so been driving for 20 years" the man chuckled.

"Good. I need an address" Five said. The man gave Five the address he needed before leaving the shop. Greta continued to stare at the doughnut that had been placed in front of her. "You can eat it you know," Five told the girl.

Greta delicately grabbed the doughnut and bit into it softly. It was like something awoke inside her when she bit down as she suddenly began shoving as much of this doughnut into her mouth as physically possible. Five raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in the normally dainty girl's behaviour.

He then noticed the sudden appearance of several armed men walking into the shop through the reflection on the service bell. Greta noticed them too and stopped her frantic eating. 'They look just like the guards back in the hospital' she thought panicked 'they mush be here to take me back!"

"That was fast," Five said calmly causing Greta to look at him. 'Why isn't he scared' she thought.

"I thought I'd have more time before they found me" Five continued ignoring Greta's panicked expression.

"Okay. So let's all be professional about this yeah?" One of the gunmen said his gun pointed directly at Five "on your feet and come with us. They want to talk."

"I've got nothing to say" Five shrugged. 'Wait, aren't they here for me?' Greta thought confused as to why this man was so intent on taking Five and not her.

"It doesn't have to go this way," the man said "you think I wanna shoot a couple of kids? Go home with that on my conscience?"

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that" Five said, finally turning to face the man "you won't be going home." Five grabbed a butter knife from the counter and spacial jumped behind the man, stabbing him in the back. Gunfire began going off in all directions.

Greta's hands, without thinking, began to glow read summoning a force field around her shielding her from the gunfire. Five looked at her almost impressed before spacial jumping to a table and loudly proclaiming "hey assholes!"

The remaining gunmen all began shooting the area where Five once was, only to stopped when they realised he had disappeared. The gunmen all turned and aimed at Greta before hearing a knock coming from behind them. There Five stood behind the glass door. He gave them a salute before jumping inside and began to attack the remaining men with skill and agility.

As Five focused on attacking one of the men, Greta noticed another sneak up behind Five. Before Greta could even think, she had dropped the force field and was holding the man against the wall. Five turned around to see what was going on and was amazed by Greta's powers. He grabbed a knife and threw it at the man's chest, killing him instantly. 

Greta blinked, her powers had always been tricky to navigate and use so the fact that she not only held a force field for so long but also was able to move and hold the man against the wall astonished her.

"Thanks" Five acknowledged.

Greta smiled shyly, a strange fluttery feeling swelling in her chest. "Don't mention it."

Five turned around to face then final gunman just as he fired his gun at Greta. "Look out!" Five cried. Greta held her hands in front of her face as a means of shielding herself just as her hands glowed red, stopping the bullet inches from her face.

Greta had never really been very good at any aspect of controlling her power but stopping fast-moving objects mid-motion was basically impossible to her. 'What's happening to me?' She thought staring at her hands. Five stabbed the final soldier and sighed as if bored by the whole ordeal. He noticed a device lying next to one of the men, he walked over and picked it up. He realised it was a tracking device. 'Of course, they've tagged me' he thought.

He grabbed a sharp knife and began cutting into his arm. Greta watched with concern. She spent her whole life getting hurt, why would he do it to himself willingly? Five reached into his arm and pulled out a beeping capsule.

"What's that?" Greta asked curiously.

"Tracking device," Five said, "that's how they found me."

"Who are they Five?" Greta asked worriedly. 'I don't want the only person who's ever shown me an ounce of care to get hurt' she thought.

"No one important" Five dismissed getting out of his seat "we need to go." Five grabbed Greta's arm and pulled her out of the shop. As they left Five tossed the tracker into the sewer.

Greta was deep in thought. 'Why can I control my abilities? Who are the people in the shop? Why are they after Five? Why does my stomach feel weird when Five looks at me? And more importantly, who is Five and where am I?'