Diego & Five Hargreeves January 20th | Merc Mission Planning Diego recruits Five for a little recon
RATING: PG | Warnings: None
Diego was a little bored with this “normal” life shit. What the hell was normal, anyway? Maybe a part of him had thought he craved it; just going about a day to day routine without having to avert an apocalypse or whatever, but the truth was he didn't know what to do with himself in a world where no one needed saving. He had a job, sure, but it felt like there was something missing. That's probably why he’d jumped at the chance to do a little mercenary work. Someone had a job that sounded right up his alley.
It took some digging to figure out his first move. Diego was new to this dimension and this time and there was a lot he didn't know about what was going on here. The news pieces made it obvious that something nefarious was going on here, but even his fellow refugees were really tight-lipped about what. Stupid, he thought. It was like they all had a secret they didn't want to tell. Well, screw that. He'd just figure it out for himself.
He dug up what he could on his target and was studying some of what he'd found when he heard the door up the apartment open. A moment later, he saw his brother walk in and the decision was easy. Even Diego wasn't too stupid to know when a little backup might be a good idea.
“Hey, Five,” he called out. “You wanna make some money?”
“I’m not selling Boy Scout cookies,” Five said immediately, glancing over at his brother. He highly doubted that was actually the method Diego intended to employ to make money -- hell, he didn’t even know if Boy Scouts were still a thing or if Girl Scouts still sold cookies in this future -- but the quip came out without much thought on his part. He knew he could have avoided any of this by simply bypassing the door and majority of the house altogether, though there were times he liked walking. He couldn’t be sure this was one of those times, though he continued in the direction that would lead him away from his brother and whatever stupid thing he was thinking about doing.
Except, if Diego were doing something stupid, he’d likely get himself hurt. Or arrested. Or detained in some other manner. And while it might be fun to watch him flounder around, he also didn’t want his brother to get into serious trouble. It’d been bad enough when he’d been in jail and accused of killing his girlfriend. That had least been fixable, if not entirely erased. But doing something stupid and dangerous here where no one would even tell you the rules of the game? Where they kept secrets and dangers from innocent people until well after a threat had been presented and detained? Where someone with a good heart and good intentions and poor impulse control could find himself in serious trouble? No, Five reasoned as he came to a stop. If nothing else, Diego needed someone who could literally pull him out of danger if it presented itself.
“I want half,” he said, sighing and looking over to his brother. “And to know what it is we’re doing.” Because that was also important. Really, more important than the money, but Diego didn’t need to know that.
Diego rolled his eyes at his brother and it was anyone’s guess as to which of his remarks had earned that. Probably all of them, but that wasn’t anything new. Five had always had a smart mouth on him, even when they were kids - really kids, not this man trapped in a child’s body who frequently still acted like the bratty little shit Diego had as a boy. It could be easy to forget that Five wasn’t really a teenage boy, even now, but Diego knew better than to underestimate his brother. Most people who’d made the mistake of doing so at home weren’t alive to tell the story.
“Got a job,” he said, shrugging as he looked up from his research. “Related to that bullshit in the news no one will explain, I think.” Diego didn’t really understand the politics, even after researching the people he’d been assigned to track down and check up on, but he wasn’t being asked to kill anyone or anything else nefarious and even with his job in the compound, the extra money would be nice.
He decided not to signify the demand for half with a response.
Resisting the urge to make a snappy remark about how he assumed Diego had found some kind of job in order to be asking if he wanted to make money, Five let his brother continue, more curious about what sort of trouble he might be getting into than in giving him a hard time. For the moment, at least. His eyebrows rose a bit as his brother spoke, and he shifted to face him more fully. Anything related to the news no one would explain but everyone seemed to know about couldn’t be good. While he might have normally made a comment about Diego not getting more information, or at least not telling him more, Five suspected whatever he did know was likely just as limited as what the news reported, specifically if it were related to anything the news reported.
“All right,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s the job?” Idly he wondered if it were something they’d need an alibi for.
“Tracking down some big shot family from Atira. They’re living on Earth. We just gotta figure out where and report back.” Diego wasn’t going to hold back any information he did have from Five, but he’d pretty much been left to his own devices in figuring this shit out. No one seemed to be too forthcoming around here, not even the person he’d talked to about this job. Pulling out some papers, he pointed a few things out to his brother before pointing at a few points on a map. “I’ve got their probable location narrowing down to these three. Hope you’re not afraid of flying.”
The last part was a joke. Diego honestly didn’t think there was much Five genuinely was afraid of.
Moving closer to his brother and the information he seemed to have gathered, Five wondered who wanted to keep tabs on this family and why. And what kind of information they were after. He doubted any of it was good, and he almost told Diego to throw it all away and to not bother getting tangled up in whatever mess this future had. But he knew Diego well enough, even after all this time, to completely believe he’d still do it unless Five had a very good reason he shouldn’t. And, honestly? Five didn’t have one. Maybe if he’d had a better understanding of things that no one spoke about, he could have come up with something. But he didn’t. So the options were really go with him or let him go on his own, and Five didn’t want Diego to go alone.
Five rolled his eyes at the comment about flying but otherwise didn’t respond. “Well, if they’re big shots, they can’t be that hard to find. They’ve got money and resources, and most people with money tend to have far greater security measures in place than the average Joe,” he reasoned. “And if they’re in the spotlight at all, gossip rags’ll probably report on it,” he added, briefly thinking about when they were kids and rising in fame. People were people in any time, and they tended to enjoy keeping track of the whereabouts of anyone they found interesting, especially the rich and famous.
“What’s your plan to narrow it down to one? Or are we going to all three places you think this family might be,” asked Five, looking up at his brother, tone serious. This was Diego’s job, and he’d let him take point on it, though it wouldn’t stop him from putting in his two cents if he thought it was needed.
Diego nodded. Human nature didn’t seem to have changed much, no matter how much else had, but there didn’t seem to be much of a recent digital footprint - at least nothing obvious. It was like these people were in hiding, but from who? From the guy who’d hired him to find them or someone else?
“We could keep looking for money trails or social media presence or we could just pick one and start there,” he answered after a beat. He wasn’t sure how many more answers they were going to find in New York.
“Do you have the funds to pick a place and start there only to discover it might be a dead end,” Five asked, seriously but not condescendingly. He knew his own funds were quite limited, and, if he were honest, he didn’t know much about how much it might cost to travel. Theoretically, he could get himself to almost any place he wanted, but there were things even he hadn’t attempted yet. And that meant relying on more practical, and slower, transportation. And the costs that might go into it. He doubted it would take too long to discover whether or not the family in question were anywhere near any particular location once there, but they still had to get there. Mentally he made a note to work on his own mode of transportation.
“I’ve got no problem doing that, of course,” he added, leaning against the table. “Just don’t want to get stuck somewhere. Allison already thinks we’re up to something, and all I’ve done lately is window shop at a few bookstores and debate on getting a library card.” He still couldn’t figure out why she’d thought they were up to something, but, given they were now, he didn’t really want to deal with the fallout of potentially being stuck in another country. Then again, depending on the city, maybe he could swing it into something like a boys’ weekend. It’s not like Five had had anything like that since he’d arrived. Or ever, though he chose not to think about that fact at all.
“Though,” he glanced down to the places Diego had narrowed down, “Madrid’s got a nice nightlife. Maybe we got curious and wanted to see something other than New York.” He shrugged. “But I don’t do bullfights,” he said, ignoring the fact that bullfighting had a season, and January was firmly out of that timeframe.
Diego considered it. They’d have more travel options once they got overseas, but wasting too much time in the wrong spot could set them back, too. He was getting antsy just sitting here doing research, though. There was a part of him that wanted to do something and maybe it would be nice to get away from the compound for a while.
“Don’t worry, I can cover our expenses,” he said. He’d already given some thought into what they would tell Allison after she’d already voiced suspicions about them being up to something. A boys’ weekend was the best he’d been able to come up with, himself. Whether Allison would actually buy that remained to be seen.
Glancing at the research again, he made a quick decision. “I have a good feeling about Madrid,” he said, pulling out his phone to start making some arrangements. “We’ll start there.”