apocalypsehow | Elliot's Apartment and Beyond

The lack of Annie being there upon returning from dealing with his ape of a brother both should and would eventually be a concern for Five. But for now, he had something more important to deal with.

"Elliot, did you develop these photos yourself?" Because boy did he have a job for you.

Elliot	"Of course. Can't exactly drop it off at the neighborhood Fotomat," Elliot said, snorting. "Government has eyes everywhere." Things sane people said.
Five	Well, he wasn't wrong, but he also wasn't right either. Bust most importantly, it worked out for Five. "I didn't see a dark room," he said, palming the film thoughtfully.
Elliot	"Yeah I converted the hallway closet." It wasn't like he had guests over and needed to use it for their coats, let's be real.
Five	Ah, a man after Five's own shriveled heart. He snagged a pen to cover up the date on the film so as to not set Elliot off onto another panic attack or something. Then offered it over to the man. "Can you develop this for me?"
Elliot	Elliot was more than happy to be help to his new pals who could possibly melt his brain out of his head. "Frankel footage? Friends of yours?" Alien friends?
Five	"Cousins on my robot mom's side," Five said with a patently fake smile. "Can you do it or not?"
Elliot	"Of course I can," he said, a little defensively.
Five	"How long?" He had things to do and not a lot of time to do it.
Elliot	"Well, I mean, I'm running low on acetic acid. Beeker's cameras is open today, but it's two miles away," he said, sighing. "I mean, I'd have to take the bus. On the other hand, Gibson's is only ten blocks away, but I've got to cut through the park and there's pigeons..."
Five	"Elliot." Did he let a little homicidal annoyance filter in? Yes.
Elliot	"It's like five, maybe six hours." Probably less than that if he thought his life was in danger. Which he did.
Five	Before he could really drive home how much Elliot's life depended on it, the police scanner crackled to life with a delightfully old fashioned noise. "Attention all units, we have a code 3-1-5 at the Holbrook Sanitarium." "What the hell is a 3-1-5?" Five asked, feeling a touch of concern that something might have happened to Diego after leaving him there.
Elliot	"Fugitives on the run." So your concern was warranted, Five.
Five	Yeah, that concern just immediately turned to annoyance as the scanner continued with, "25 fugitives on the run. Many are considered armed and dangerous." "Oh, Diego." He was going to beat you to death with your own arm for this.
Elliot	"Who's Diego?" Elliot asked. Please say another alien, then he'd be even more right.
Five	"Imagine Batman, then aim lower." And just as alien adjacent as Five was, so... "You get started on that film, I'll be back as soon as I can," he ordered, teleporting away to go hunt down his idiot brother and probably find where Annie had gotten off to. Also because he couldn't let anyone get the last word in. Ever.

Diego	If you thought being away from the insane asylum for a little bit would clear Diego's head and have him drop the whole Kennedy thing, you were wrong! In fact the first place he ordered Lila to drive them was a book depository. The book depository. "All right, here's the plan. Oswald finishes his shift at 4:30 PM." Don't ask how he knew this. "Once he walks out those doors, we force him into the front seat."
Annie	"Honey." Oh, god. Honey might be even more of a tell than babe had been, as though Annie's concern wasn't written all over her face. "Do you maybe need a snack or something?" Because this plan was bad. For several reasons. Not the least of which being that Lila and Diego were both in the front seat -- he'd have to get in the back with Annie.
Lila	"I'm in the front seat," Lila contributed, cutting right to the heart of the issue as she idly chewed on her thumbnail.
Diego	"Okay, fine, in the back seat," Diego said, not catching on to Annie's concern. "Annie, you're gonna pin his arms, I'm gonna cut off his trigger finger and tell him he has 24 hours to get out of Dallas." Brilliant plan, that's what that was.
Annie	"Diego." Annie was actually reaching forward to gently touch his shoulder, now, as though comforting contact might somehow help her get through to him.
Lila	"That's your plan?" Lila clearly cared a lot less about trying to navigate this gently, based on the skepticism in her tone.
Diego	"What?" Diego asked, looking from Annie to Lila and back again. "What's the problem?"
Lila	"Why don't we just kill him?" Lila suggested. "You think he's going to shoot the president, right? So let's just kill him."
Annie	"Lila." Annie, that admonishing tone was not going to do a thing to help you, here. "He hasn't done anything yet. We can't kill an innocent man." She looked at Diego. "Or cut off his finger. Honey. Listen to yourself."
Diego	"But it would be his trigger finger," Diego argued. "You can't shoot a gun without a trigger finger."
Annie	"What if he's ambidextrous?" Annie proposed, throwing a hand up in frustration. "What if he enlists a friend? He's married, right? Maybe he'll get his wife to help instead if we just mess up his finger."
Lila	Lila, who had just been about to ask about the ambidexterity issue, simply fixed Diego with a sad look. "How do you get through a day?"
Diego	Diego let out a frustrated grunt, thinking it very unfair that he had two people dogging on his brilliant plan. "Okay, whatever, I can do this on my own."
Annie	"That's not what I'm saying." Annie couldn't speak for Lila, but she was willing to help. She just -- you know. Thought they could put a little more time into the planning stage, here. "I just think we need to talk about how to approach this best, and I think grabbing a strange man and cutting off his finger isn't gonna get us anywhere, Diego."
Lila	"Dr. Moncton was right." Lila was just ignoring the backseat. These two were a pair of stupid peas in a stupid pod, clearly. "This hero complex is no joke."
Diego	Diego huffed. "That's not what this is about." Great, Lila, now Annie knew he kinda had therapy and the doctor kind of nailed it.
Lila	"Of course it is," Lila continued, almost sensitive about it. "You want to prove to Daddy that you're a big success."
Annie	"I don't think that's fair," Annie offered from the backseat, though yes, she was fascinated by the idea that Diego had gotten that much, much-needed therapy. "You're just trying to do the right thing." And, like, that also didn't exactly sound inaccurate but she also knew it wasn't really gonna go over well when presented like that, Jesus, Lila.
Diego	"You don't know everything about me," Diego said, giving Lila an 'I told you so' look. He knew Annie would have his back, even if she didn't have much faith in his awesome plan. "I'm not trying to be a hero."
Annie	"No, you're just naturally heroic," Annie said supportively. It was clear to her, anyway, that Diego wasn't trying to save Kennedy to cover himself in glory or whatever -- like, sure, it'd be impressive to his dad if he pulled it off, but this was also what they did. Even if, like. Annie kind of thought paradoxes were a thing they'd all agreed they wanted to avoid?
Lila	Vomit. "Then why're you doing it, then?" Lila asked, already kind of thinking about just starting the car and getting out of here before they were noticed.
Five	"Because he's an idiot," Five said, appearing next to Annie. Because you all brought this on yourselves. "All of you are idiots."
Lila	"Who the hell are you?" It took a fair amount to startle Lila, but a random appearance of a little boy in the backseat would do it. Even if it was entirely possible that she wasn't quite as surprised as she should have been.
Annie	Annie, who was pretty used to this, only jumped a little. "Hi Five. I've got this." Because she was pretty sure this was a job for good cop girlfriend, not bad cop brother.
Five	"I can tell," Five said, tone just dripping with sarcasm as he gestured at the book depository. Then he turned his focus on the stranger who he did not have time for, Diego. Straight up. "I'm his loving brother."
Diego	"Who left me to rot in the nuthouse." Oh, he wouldn't be forgetting that for a long time, Five.
Five	"To protect you from yourself." Clearly.
Lila	"That's quite sweet," Lila said, again juuuuust this side of sincere. Almost as though she'd been stuck in the nuthouse by a relative or something, hm.
Annie	"It is not," Annie assured her, shooting Five a dirty look. Even if it almost kind of was, in a....Hargreevesy kind of way.
Diego	"Okay, everybody but Annie get out." She was at least a little bit supportive even though she was looking at him like he was nuts.
Five	"Lose the crazy lady and come with me," Five said instead, getting an oddly familiar feeling of bullshit in this car. "We have important business." That did not involve Lee Harvey Oswald, you absolute loon. He was graciously allowing Annie to stay even after she pulled this idiot move.
Annie	"Dibs on driving!" Sorry, Lila. "What kind of business?" And like, how dare you, Five. She had totally busted these two out of the nuthouse in as discreet a way as possible. Which hadn't been discreet at all and had actually barely involved her, but at least it had been dark.
Diego	Diego held up a hand. "I am not going anywhere with you." You made him get stuck with a big needle!
Five	You were being crazy, Diego! Five stared at him for a moment before making that one face that a sibling did before they went for the nuclear option because you pissed them off just enough for it. "Okay. Fine," he said, looking out the car to spot a patrolman walking down the street. "Officer!"
Annie	Annie honestly was kind of impressed with her own speed as she flung herself across the backseat towards Five, trying to clap a hand over his mouth. "What the hell, Five?" Not cool! Like, Annie was willing to say she didn't understand sibling stuff a lot of the time, but trying to get your brother re-institutionalized because you were annoyed or whatever seemed excessive.
Five	"I hear there's quite the reward for you two," Five said, squirming away from her hand to keep speaking. "And anyone who helped you escape." He'd burn this bitch to the ground if that's what it took to fix it again!
Lila	"He's bluffing," Lila said immediately, with absolutely zero evidence that he was. It would actually make a lot of sense if there was a reward out for them.
Diego	"He's not bluffing." Unfortunately, he knew Five extremely well and what kind of a dick he could be. "I'll go with you. And I'm taking the crazy lady with me."
Five	This was dumb, Diego, This was so dumb. Five sighed and nodded in acceptance because it got Diego to stop this ridiculous plan for now. He could always kill her later. "Not Annie. I need her to do something for me."
Annie	Guess who super didn't want to do any favors for Five right now? And, like, Annie was secure, Annie was fine, but Annie also didn't really...trust Lila. Fortunately, it didn't seem like Five did, either. "What?" she asked flatly.
Five	Well, tough titties, Annie. They all had to pitch in. "Luther," Five said, almost willing her to get what he was saying just with his other idiot brother's name. "I need you to talk to him. Inspire him to be heroic again or whatever."
Annie	"Oh, good, you did find him." Relief won over everything else, at least. Even her skepticism, though Diego and Lila were both treated to a little look from her. "I...sure. Your pep talk didn't work, huh?" So weird. Had he also gotten Luther sedated against his will or something?
Five	No, no. Luther was just a huge baby about being isolated from his family. Five managed it for decades and he was doing just fine! Five just raised an eyebrow at her for that. Because why did she think he was asking her?
Annie	"I'll talk to him." Because the other options were already-established failure, probable failure (with a bonus of possible fistfight), and a crazy woman. "But don't do anything reckless while I'm gone." This was directed to the whole car. No Kennedy-saving until she got back and they could workshop that plan some more.

Diego	You know, Five might have ragged on Diego about Lila but at least he had known her for more than a day. He personally did not like the sound of going to some rando place that some dude was at. "I don't like this." He didn't like anything that wasn't taking down Oswald right now, for the record.
Five	"Elliot's harmless," Five said, completely undeterred. Because he had way better instincts about this than Diego. Clearly.
Elliot	Was he harmless while wielding a shotgun? What about that? Yes, he probably was. "Where did you get the film?" Elliot said, attempting to sound and look threatening. "The Frankel footage. The truth this time." How dare you lie to him, alien boy!
Diego	"Harmless," Diego said, looking over at Five.
Five	Five shrugged as he continued on into the apartment, heedless of the shotgun. Because this? This was adorable. More than you could say for Lila, Diego.
Lila	Rude. She was charmingly abrasive. "Doesn't seem like it."
Elliot	Why weren't you all afraid of him? Look at him, he had a gun and an angry face! "Are you or are you not an enemy of the people?" Elliot shouted.
Diego	... "That's a really open ended question."
Five	Five put his hands into his pockets, looking at Diego and then back at Elliot as he nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, it really depends on the people."
Lila	Lila was tempted to answer, but she also had a cover to maintain here, so she was flicking glances between Diego, Five, and this strange man and his shotgun. She wasn't especially worried about him, even if she was trying to seem like it, but it would be a mess she didn't really feel like dealing with.
Elliot	Just--just stop with your mind games, aliens! "You move one muscle and I'll blow your brains out!"
Diego	Okay, he was officially done with this. He looked over at Five. "Do you want to take this, or should I?" This might be the one situation where Five might be the nicer option.
Five	Weird! "No, I've got this," Five said like poor, poor Elliot was a misbehaving pet who'd made a mess.
Diego	Diego nodded before turning to Lila to provide distraction. "Hey, Lila..."
Five	Five immediately teleported into Elliot's personal space, shoving that rifle up toward the ceiling. Good luck with these angry aliens.
Elliot	Before Elliot knew what was happening he was shooting his rifle up in the air and next thing he knew he was being forcibly disarmed by the alien with the sweet long hair. So...that hadn't ended well.
Lila	And because Lila was a fantastic actress, she was frozen across the room, her arms going up in a defensive posture as though this was all very surprising. "What the hell just happened?" she asked, snorting out a nervous little laugh to go with the question.
Diego	It really did not take long to subdue Elliot, and they were even nice enough to let him watch the Frankel footage with them. Sure he was bound and gagged, but they could have just shoved him in the closet. That was rather nice of Five and Diego. "It just looks like someone's shaky vacation footage."
Five	Five rolled his eyes because you had to keep watching, Diego. This was probably important. He waved Diego off, keeping his focus on the film as the old couple on the screen bickered with each other.
Lila	"They're so cute," Lila offered, looking up from what she was doing. What was she doing? Painting Elliot's toenails, obviously. Something to do with her hands, what? "I love old couples. I'm always so proud of them for not murdering each other."
Diego	Diego was regretting let Lila come more and more. Would never admit it, however, because that would mean Five was right. The old coot on the screen started talking straight to the camera. "I'm Dan Frankel and this is Edna Frankel. We are in Dallas, Texas to see the president. Today's date is November 23rd 1963."
Lila	"That's six days from now," Lila observed, actually pausing in her nail-painting. Oh, right. Sound surprised. Sound confused.
Five	"Shh." Diego, control your guest.
Diego	"Holy shit. This is it." Oh no. "The grassy knoll. Kennedy's about to get shot." He looked over at Five. "How do you have this?"
Five	This was really only going to fuel Diego's delusions, huh? "Hazel died to get me this footage. It must be the key to stopping doomsday."
Diego	"Hazel?" Wasn't he dispatched in the last apocalypse they found themselves in?
Five	"Long story." It was very tragic. Not the time to get into it.
Lila	"What's doomsday?" See, that seemed like a question worth answering, at least. Lila thought so, anyway.
Five	"Longer story." That he wasn't going to share with you, Lila.
Diego	"What exactly did he say to you?" And more importantly, did he mention Kennedy?
Five	"Well he was killed before he could explain. But whatever he wanted us to see, it's on this film." So, if you people could just let him focus here, that would be great!
Diego	Diego opened his mouth to say something else before becoming distracted by the sound of gunfire coming from the film. "Oswald."
Five	Would you stop with the Kennedy thing?! "Oh no..." Five was focused on elsewhere on the screen, pausing the film to confirm it. "This can't be."
Lila	Okay, Lila might have known more than she had been letting on this entire time, sure, but at the moment even she was at a loss as to what this had to do with anything. "Okay, you gonna fill me in now, boys?" she asked, staring at the screen. "What the hell is this shit we're watching?"
Diego	Diego didn't want to answer Lila's question because that would mean he'd have to admit what he was seeing out loud. "That's impossible."
Five	"Clearly it's not." This was all new levels of ridiculous even for them.
Elliot	Well now even Elliot was curious. Not that you could really make out him questioning what was going on considering he was currently gagged. Come on, guys.
Five	Five looked over at Diego before looking back at the screen to answer in unison with him, "Dad."
Diego	"Of course Dad would be involved in the assassination," Diego said. "I should have known." His father couldn't let him have anything, could he?
Five	"No, you're jumping to conclusions." Because you were singling out the wrong family member here. Kind of.
Diego	"What else would he be doing standing on the grassy knoll, holding open a black umbrella on a sunny day in Dallas the exact same moment the president gets shot?" Diego asked.
Five	"Diego, calm down, alright?" Because he still hadn't found any of the others yet, so he was sort of depending on you here. "Dad was no Boy Scout, but presidential assassination? It's never been his thing." Crippling emotional abuse, on the other hand...
Five	"How do you know?" Diego snapped. "You skipped out on his golden years."
Five	"Skipped out," he repeated like he couldn't even believe Diego here. "You think I had it easy, Diego? I was alone for 45 years." Nope, nope. Not getting into this with Lila here. "You know what? We don't have time for this right now. Dad's clearly in Dallas, right? Let's just go talk to him. Maybe he can help us fix the timeline."
Diego	Oh yeah like Dad ever helped them with anything. Still, Diego wouldn't mind finding the guy and confronting him about Kennedy. "Dallas is a big place. We have to find him first."
Five	"Gee, if only we had some magical, old-timey way of finding people and their addresses." Hint, hint, Diego. Well, they might have to yank off Elliot's gag to find out where he kept the phone book.
Diego	No way Diego was going to allow that guy loose. He managed to find the phonebook himself, and started with the H's. Seemed like the place to start. "Not seeing any Hargreeves here..."
Five	"Try the company," Five suggested, peering over his shoulder at it. "D.S. Umbrella Manufacturing Company."
Diego	"Yeah, I know the name, thanks," Diego replied, flipping back to the D's. "Holy shit. D.S. Umbrella. 82 Olive. Let's go." Now the nerves at the thought of seeing his father again set in.