"the world is filled with crazy people, and i'm one of them"

★・・・★・・・★

Ding!

The silver door slid open, so Five and I stepped out of the elevator. We walked onto the third floor of a hospital. I scanned the room and noticed that a lot of the patients had prosthetic limbs and other body parts. The memory of Five asking the man at Griddy's for an address popped into my head.

"Uh, can I help you kids?" A middle-aged doctor spoke to us with a confused expression plastered on his face.

Five faced the man and pulled out the fake eye he had been carrying around. "I need to know who this belongs to."

The doctor stepped forward to examine the eye better. "Where did you get that?"

"What do you care?" Five fired back.

The man continued to waited for an explanation.

"We found it.. at a playground, actually. Must've just," Five clicked his tongue, "popped out."

"We saw it under the swings!" I added. "We want to return it to its rightful owner." I smiled cheerfully and went along with the lie.

The woman at the front desk put her hands over her heart. "Awe, such thoughtful kids!" She beamed happily.

"Yeah look up the name for me, will ya?" Five was beginning to get impatient.

"Uh, I'm sorry, but patient records are strictly confidential. That means I can't tell you—"

Five cut the man off, "Yeah, I know what it means."

The doctor continued, "But I'll tell you what I can do.. I will take the eye off your hands and return it to the owner. I'm sure he or she will be very grateful! So if I can just—"

"Yeah you're not touching this eye." Five defended, clearly annoyed with the doctor.

"Now, you listen here, young man—"

All of a sudden Five grabbed the doctor's shirt collar and yanked him down.

"No! You listen to me, asshole. I've come a long way for this, through some shit your pea brain couldn't even comprehend, so just give me the information we need, and we'll be on our merry way."

The doctor nodded his head about to speak, but Five beat him to it. "And if you call me 'young man' one more time, I'm gonna put your head through that damn wall, and then she's going to throw you through it." Five motioned his head towards me. I crossed my arms over my chest, and shot threatening stares at the doctor.

"Oh dear.." The lady sitting behind the desk started to reach for the phone.

"Call security."

She picked up the phone and started dialing numbers.

Five angrily released the doctor's collar, and pushed him back. He started walking to the elevator, so I followed behind him and we left.

★・・・★・・・★

After our failed attempt to receive the information behind the fake eye, Five took me back to his house. The Hargreeves home was massive and insanely beautiful. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before! Not that I've seen much though.

I was sitting on Five's bed looking around his room. Toys and comic book pictures from his childhood were scattered throughout the faded green bedroom.

The closest thing I've ever had to a bedroom was my cell back at the Order. I could remember the dull, grey concrete walls, and darkness of the room vividly.

I sat cross-legged on my bed and looked over at the other girl in my cell. She was unconscious.

For the past few weeks, scientists have been taking kids and returning them like this. The process is completely random, so the only thing to do is to wait.

The door to my cell clicked open and I saw a stretcher in the hallway. One of the men addressed me sternly, "Subject A7, we are ready for you."

He motioned for me to lay on the stretcher, but I remained staring at my unconscious cellmate.

"Subject A7, come now."

I slowly turned my head towards the doctors waiting outside. I narrowed my eyes. "No."

"Inject her." The man spoke calmly and gave the guards behind him an order.

The guards walked into the cell and grabbed me. I tried to hold onto my bed, but they ripped my hands away from the frame.

"Let me go!" I screamed and attempted to fight back, but compared to the two adults I was helpless.

The guards put me down on the stretcher. I thrashed my body around as they tied me down tightly. All of a sudden I felt a sharp needle jab into neck. My tense body relaxed, and I started to lose feeling in my arms and legs.

The stretcher was being rolled down a long hallway. My vision blurred and then everything went black.

Vanya's voice broke me out of my daydream. I turned to look up at her as she walked into Five's room.

"Oh thank god," she sighed. "I was worried sick about you."

Five turned around and walked away from the window he was looking out of. "Sorry I left without saying goodbye."

"No.. look, I'm the one that should be sorry. I was dismissive, and I- I guess I didn't know how to process what you were saying. And I still can't, to be honest."

Five interrupted Vanya's apology. "Maybe you were right to be dismissive."

I tilted my head quizzically.

"Maybe it wasn't real after all. It felt real." Five strolled over to his desk. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned around again. "Well... like you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind." He smiled and nodded slightly.

Vanya thought for a moment before speaking again, "Then maybe I'm not the right person for you to be talking to. I used to see someone, a therapist. I could give you her information."

Five politely declined her offer. "Thanks, but I think I'm just gonna get some rest. It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep."

"Okay," was the last thing Vanya said before leaving the room.

Five walked over to the door, and looked down the hall. Suddenly, the closet to right of him shook and a man stumbled out. I jumped to my feet immediately.

Various items fell out of the closet. The man put his hand over his heart and looked into the distance.

"That's so touching! All that stuff about family and Dad and time. Wow!" The man sat stood next to me and draped an arm across my shoulder.

"Would you shut up? She'll hear you," Five whisper shouted.

The oddly dressed man faced me. "Why, hello there!" He smiled widely.

"Hi?" I smiled slightly. "Uh, who are you?"

Five spoke again. "I thought I told you to put on something professional." He rolled his eyes.

"What? This is my nicest outfit!" The man hugged me. "I would've dressed nicer if you told me you had company! I'm Klaus by the way, Five's favorite brother."

I laughed, "I'm Alexa, Five's favorite friend." Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Five smiling.

★・・・★・・・★

Five told Klaus and I his plan to get the information on the prosthetic eye as we raided their father's closet. After finding a nicer suit for Klaus to wear, we went over what we were going to do one last time.

"Okay, but just so we're clear on the finer details," Klaus clarified, "I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your guy's dear old dad, correct?"

"Yeah. Something like that," Five said.

"What's our cover story?" Klaus asked excitedly.

"What?" I asked.

Five also questioned him. "What're you talking about?"

"I mean, was I really young when I had you two? Like, 16? Like, young and," Klaus took a dramatic pause, "terribly misguided!"

"Sure," Five said uninterested.

"Your mother, that slut!" Klaus announced crazily.

I laughed as he continued describing the cover story.

"Whoever she was. We met at... the disco." Klaus chuckled. "Okay, remember that you two. Ohh, my god, the sex was amazing!"

"What a disturbing glimpse into that thing you call a brain!" Five snickered and started to walk down the staircase.

"You guys can be twins!" Klaus announced joyously.

"But, we look nothing alike," I said.

"Fraternal, obviously silly!" Klaus and I both laughed.

Five shouted from downstairs, "Would you two hurry up?"

Klaus tried to be serious. "Don't make me put you in timeout!" He pointed his finger at Five.

★・・・★・・・★

We were back at the hospital, but this time the doctor was being even more frustrating than before.

"Like I said to your children earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential." He sighed and repeated our conversation from before. "Without the clients consent, I simply can't help you."

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. This is useless! We're getting nowhere and we've been debating with this guy all day.

"Well we can't get consent if you don't give us a name," Five growled. Hopefully this doctor gives us the information soon because things get messy when Five is impatient or irritated.

The man simply shrugged. "Well, that's not my problem. Sorry. Now, there's really nothing more I can do, so—"

Surprisingly, Klaus spoke up. "And what about my consent?"

"Excuse me?"

"Who gave you permission.." Klaus started to cry. "to lay your hands, on my children." He pointed to Five and I.

The doctor, Five, and I simultaneously spoke with complete confusion, "What?"

Klaus continued, "You heard me."

The doctor became very defensive and claimed, "I didn't touch your children."

"Ohh really?" Klaus stood up from his seat. "Well then how did he get that swollen lip? And how did she get that bruised cheek?"

The doctor responded obviously, "Neither of your children have those injur—"

In an instant, Klaus punched Five in the mouth and then swung his fist across my cheek.

"What the hell?" I mumbled, putting a hand to my throbbing cheek.

Klaus inhaled sharply and leaned forward on the doctor's desk. "I want it. Name, please. Now."

The doctor stuttered, "You're crazy." He pointed his shaking finger at Klaus.

"You got no idea." Klaus chuckled.

He picked up a snow globe that was sitting on the man's desk. Klaus examined it for a moment before looking back at the doctor. "Peace on Earth. That's so sweet." He smiled eerily before smashing the snow globe on his head. Glass, sparkles, and water covered his hair as he groaned.

"God, that hurt!" Klaus yelled.

The doctor's hand reached for the phone immediately and began dialing. "I'm calling secur—"

Klaus snatched the phone out of his hand. The doctor yelled, "What are you doing?!"

Ignoring his question, Klaus spoke into the phone. "There's been an assault in Mr. Big's office, and we need security, now. Schnell!" Klaus slammed the phone back into its holder.

"Now, here's what's going to happen, Grant."

"It's... Lance."

Klaus finished his previous statement, "In about sixty seconds, two security guards are gonna burst through that door, and they're gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they're gonna wonder 'what the hell happened?' and we're gonna tell them that you beat the shit out of us!" Klaus dramatically exclaimed.

Five seemed proud of his brother, while I questioned why I just let him punch me.

"You're gonna do great in prison, Grant. Trust me, I've been there. Little piece of chicken like you. Oh, my god," Klaus twirled his hips around, "You're gonna get passed around like a.. you're just— you're gonna do great. That's all I'm saying."

Lance was absolutely startled. "Jesus, you're one sick bastard."

"Thank you." Klaus spit out glass that was still in his mouth.

Lance lead us to filing cabinets in the hospital. Finally, we were getting some answers.