The Day I Tried To Live
~ Soundgarden

"One more time around (might make it)
The day I tried to live, yeah

Words you say
Never seem to live up to the ones inside your head
The lives we make
Never seem to ever get us anywhere but dead"

CHAPTER 8: A DISTINGUISHED PROFESSIONAL IN SCHOOLBOY SHORTS

        Nadine laid out in the back of a car with Luther driving and Five in the passenger seat. The bigger man had apologized to her now a few times for the window incident. He told her that he never planned on actually doing it and knew that she wouldn't get hurt.

         Still, Nadine would hold a small grudge through strategically placed reminders of his actions disguised as jokes.

        Five glanced back at her every couple of minutes, rolling his eyes at the sight of her falling asleep back there. When the car came to a stop, Five reached back and shook her to get her attention.

        Five sighed, looking out the window. "You know, I never enjoyed it." He spoke sadly. "What?" Luther questioned. "The killing. I mean, I was... I was good at my work, and I... I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure." He sighed again, turning to look out the windshield. "I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind."

        "Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It's the being alone that breaks you." Luther spoke from experience, nodding at his brother.

        Nadine cleared her throat from the back seat. "Well, never being alone is bad too. Imagine being haunted by a spirit who only sticks around to tell you what to do, shoot you snide remarks, and call you a brat." She spoke dramatically, placing the back of her hand against her forehead and closing her eyes. Five gave her a deadpanned expression while Luther raised an eyebrow in confusion.

        "You think they'll buy it?" Luther asked them after a second of staring at her in silence, waiting for an explanation that never came. "Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back." Five answered him.

        "Well, I should hold onto it." Luther nodded. The boy hummed in questioning, tilting his head slightly to look at the man. "In case they make a move on you." Nadine closed her eyes again, banging her head lightly on the cars seat. "Okay, Luther, but be careful. I mean, I've lived a long life, but you're still a young man. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it." Five smiled and leaned forward, looking back out the windshield.

         The sound of a car driving towards them made Nadine sit up quickly, grabbing onto Fives shoulder. He turned slightly and nodded at her before looking forward. "Here we go."

         Luther and Five got out of the car to meet Hazel and Cha-Cha, Nadine following them in the rear. Before they could get far the boy stopped and turned around. He walked up to Nadine and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her back to stand in front of the car.

        "What the hell, Five?" Nadine pulled his hand off her, crossing her arms. "Listen. You need to stay right here. I need to be able to focus on the plan and I can't do that if you're standing next to me while the people who hurt you are in front of us." Nadine pursed her lips, looking to the side slightly.

         "Also, another thing. If for some reason I go somewhere without you, I will be back soon. Never doubt that." The girl sighed and let her hands drop to her sides. "Okay, but if anything happens to you and I'm not there to help, I expect an apology. Like, a full YouTube style apology video. With tears and snot and begging." Five rolled his eyes and smiled at her before beginning to walk away.

         "Five?" The boy turned around, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Be safe." He nodded at her, sighing slightly. "You too." Nadine leaned against the hood of the car and exhaled. "You've been benched, brat."

        The girl rolled her eyes and turned around to spot Wren who was sat on the hood. "Shut up." Five walked up to Luther and turned to him. "If this all goes sideways, do me a favor and tell Delores I'm sorry." Luther nodded as they walked further away. "And Nadine. Tell her I'm sorry too. And keep her away from them." The bigger man smiled sadly at him before turning towards Hazel and Cha-Cha.

        "The masks really necessary?" Five questioned after walking further forward than Luther. The two of them sighed and took the masks off, throwing them to the side. "So where is it, kid?" Cha-Cha asked quickly. "Wow, that's how you're gonna start. You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day."

        "You won't even make it halfway there." Cha-Cha threatened. Nadine jumped up, going to stand with him but Luther grabbed onto her and locked her in place. She glared up at him, gritting her teeth. "Maybe. But as I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant." Five reminded them of the night they broke in.

        "He's right. You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up." Hazel nodded. "By the time you took him out, he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp." Five smiled at them. "We could probably get away with it if it was just your girlfriend, though. She didn't have too much fight back." Cha-Cha spoke with a glare.

        Five gritted his teeth. "Don't think I've forgotten about all of that. You're lucky I didn't kill you the moment you stepped out of that car." Five glared at them, his jaw clinched. "So, how do we help each other?" The man asked.

        Five switched his previous glare at the female to a sarcastic smile at the male. He needed to calm down. His temper was spiked and they knew it. That's what they wanted. "I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her. Face-to-face." Cha-Cha raised an eyebrow in confusion with the gun still drawn and pointed at Five. "About what?"

        "Well, I don't believe that's any of your concern." Five responded. The woman shook her head with a sigh. "Just don't tell her about the briefcase." Five tilted his head. "Fair enough."

        The boy watched as Hazel and Cha-Cha walked away, beginning to make his own way back to his brother and Nadine. Hazel stared at her as he backed away, the girl staring directly back at him.

        Five made his way to stand beside Nadine, who had jumped up onto the hood of the car after being forced to stay there. "What happens now?" Luther questioned his brother. "Now we wait." Five spoke as he put his hands in his pockets.

        Nadine tapped Five's shoulder, the boy putting out a hand so she could grab it and jump off the car. She walked in between them and looked down the road behind them. "Does anyone else hear an ice cream truck?" Five and Luther turned as well, listening to the song.

        "Okay, Ride of the Valkyries? That's a strange song to pick for an ice cream truck." Nadine stuck an eyebrow up, crossing her arms over her chest. It had now gotten Hazel and Cha-Cha's attention as well. "Is that her?" Luther asked Five.

        The three watched as Klaus waved from the drivers seat of the truck, Diego in the passenger. Nadine grinned, putting a hand over her mouth as she started to laugh. "What the hell is he doing here?" Five asked the two of them.

        "It's a set up!" The gunmen started firing at the three stood by the car. Five grabbing onto Nadine and pulled her back while Luther jumped in front of them. Time slowed to a stop, the bullets freezing in midair.

        "Neat trick, isn't it?" The Handler spoke with a smile. He turned at the sound of her voice, walking up to the woman. "Hello, Five. You look good, all things considered." She smiled again, nodding at the boy.

        Five stuck his hands into his pockets. "It's good to see you again." The Handler took in a breath, grinning. "Feels like we met just yesterday. Course you were a little bit older then. Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever. Threw us all off the scent."

        "Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and... well, you know. Here I am." The boy motioned to himself with a fake smile. "You realize your efforts are futile. So why don't you tell me what you really want?" The woman swung her briefcase as she spoke.

        "I want you to put a stop to it." Five locked his hands behind his back, his head turning slightly. "You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be. That's our raison d'être." Five glared, pulling a gun out of his waist band and pointing it at the Handler. "Yeah? Well how about survival as a raison?"

        "I'll just be replaced. I'm but a small cog in a machine." The woman's smile dropped. "This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse... is just that. A fantasy. I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your stick-to-itiveness, really quite... quite something." She nodded, walking closer and beginning to smile again.

        Five glanced to his right, looking at the figures of his brother and Nadine. He frowned. He had to stop the apocalypse.

        "Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management." The woman raised a hand in emphasis.

        Five scoffed. "Sorry, what's that now?" He asked as his eyebrows came together. "Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong." The woman stepped closer as she spoke.

        "Well, it didn't work out too well the last time." He glared at her. "But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer. I'm talking about the home office. You'd have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel. You're a distinguished professional in... school boy shorts. We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean, you... you can't be happy like this." The Handler put her hand on the gun, pushing it down to face the ground.

        "I'm not looking for happy." He muttered. The woman reached up and touched his face. "We're all looking for happy. We can make that happen. We can make you yourself again." He let out a sigh, tilting his head. "And what about my family?"

        "What about them?" The woman questioned. "I want them to survive." The Handler looked over at Luther who stood guarded in front of Nadine. She sighed before turning towards the ice cream truck that Diego and Klaus were in. "All of them?" She asked.

        "Yes, all of them." The Handler looked over at Nadine who was frozen with wide eyes and a hand in front of her face. "Even the girl?" Five rolled his eyes, glaring at her. "Especially the girl."

        "Well, I'll see what I can do. Do we have a deal?" She put her hand out for him to shake. He looked down at the hand and then back up at her. "One thing." He muttered, walking towards the ice cream truck.

        He picked a gun up off the floor and took the ammo out of it, throwing them in separate areas. He started walking back to her when he remembered something. "Mm... no." He walked back and grabbed a bullet that was stopped in midair, moving it to miss Luther.

        "One more thing." He walked over to Nadine and helped her stand up straight so she wouldn't fall. He put something in her hand, and tapped her head. "I'll be back. I promise." He whispered to her. Five then walked over to the Handler and took ahold of her hand, zapping away.

        Nadine tripped over nothing, catching herself with a breath. All of the bullets missed them. The ice cream truck smashed into the back of the gunmens car. "Luther, where's Five?" The girl looked around, confused. "Five? Five!" Luther screamed.

        Luther smirked, lifting the briefcase. "Come get it!" Cha-Cha started running towards him when he whipped the thing out into the grass. He took ahold of Nadine's arm, trying to get her to focus. "We'll find Five soon, but we have to get out of here alive first to do that." He muttered to her. The girl nodded and jumped into the car, starting it up. Luther nodded back and ran towards his brothers.

        Klaus and Diego grunted as they fell out of the ice cream truck. "Wait. My shoes hurt." Diego whined. Luther grabbed onto the two of them and ran them to the car. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" He asked them.

        Hazel found his gun in the grass and picked it up, going to shoot them. No bullets. "Get in the car." Luther commanded and pushed them into the back. He then opened the drivers door. "Move over." Nadine pouted, holding onto the steering wheel. "But I want to drive."

        Luther rolled his eyes. "Have you ever even driven a car before." The girl tilted her head and sighed. "Okay, valid." She scooted over into the front middle seat, allowing him to sit. "Luther, go! Go!" Klaus screamed at him.

        "Let's go!" Ben yelled, making Nadine look over at him with a smile. "Can't you scoot over a little more?" The bigger man asked. She rolled her eyes. "But that seat is already taken." She defended herself.

        Luther looked over at Nadine in confusion. "By who? A ghost?" A snort from the back made her turn her head. Wren was stuck between Diego and Klaus, her body tilted forward slightly. "On the nose, that one." Klaus chuckled before looking out the back window and flipping Hazel and Cha-Cha off.

        "Ghost can have a negative connotation to it. I prefer the word spirit." The girl nodded, smiling. "Excuse me, sorry." Nadine stood up slightly and stepped over Ben, sitting down closer to the window as the man scooted into the middle. "Thank you." She smiled at him before leaning her head out the window.

        Ben turned around in his seat and rose an eyebrow at the spirit behind them. "Who are you?" He asked. The girl, who was watching Nadine with a small smile, turned towards him and tilted her head. "I'm Branwen. I'm her guide."

        The man's eyebrows came together, looking between them. "What's a guide?" Wren cleared her throat and looked at everyone in the car. "It's basically a spirit, usually someone related to them, that watches over a living person and puts them on the right path. Helps them make decisions and figure stuff out. So, who are you?"

        Ben smiled at her and glanced at Klaus. "I'm Ben, I guess you could say that I'm his guide." Wren smiled at him and raised a hand. "Nice to meet you, Ben." He shook her hand, smiling as well. "Good to meet you as well, Branwen."

        Nadine grinned at the conversation before feeling something in her hand. She had been playing with it since she sat down and didn't question what it was until then. It was a small, smooth rock. Almost like a pebble.

        She smiled, knowing it had to be him that gave it to her. A small reminder that he'd be back. Be safe.

.