Chapter 5

The insertion of Five into the role of Bruce Wayne had been an enviable success. He'd managed to fool everyone at the manor for the span of nearly five months. Of course, he had some help under the guiding tutelage of Kathryn, but even she had to acknowledge that he did sell all the mannerisms of his host that he had picked up and could muster - with the exception of two separate encounters:

The first was when he'd been invited out for dinner by a Wayne Enterprises board member - something about the public representation of his parents. He'd turned down the appointment to avoid being confronted with a question he didn't know the answer to, but this red-flagged Alfred, who insisted that Bruce Wayne would never turn down an opportunity to make sure his parents were well represented within the company. Five decided that it would be safer to go in order not to make the butler suspicious, but not after going through an intensive history lesson on the philanthropy of the Waynes. Fortunately, he aced the history test, after which Alfred didn't seem to take his initial hesitance to heart.

The second time he tripped was when Alfred decided to go on a rant about the night that Bruce had left him nothing but a letter - how anxious it'd made him feel. Five wasn't expecting an inquisition about where he and Selina had taken refuge. It wasn't a piece of information he had been fed, and in a moment's notice he decided to improvise with a completely imaginary location in Gotham, hoping that Alfred would stop the line of questioning. What he didn't know was that the butler had made it a point to memorize a huge majority of the street names in the city and could not be fooled by a falsified name. For a moment, he realised that he had gotten himself backed into a corner. In desperation, he decided to break out in feigned anger, demanding Alfred to back off his case. That it wasn't his business to know where they were. To add to the dramatics of the situation, he even stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

The downside was that his relationship with Alfred wasn't quite the same after that. Even while Alfred continued to serve 'master Bruce', there was a significant reduction of one-to-one conversations, and sometimes Five would catch Alfred's gaze lingering on him just that longer than he usually would. Five didn't know if Alfred had become suspicious or merely afraid to offend his employer. Either way, he couldn't complain. He had no interest in bearing his soul to Alfred, nor could afford to.

A familiar stream of blood trickled down his left nostril. He'd been feeling less energetic this past month, and had returned to Kathryn's for a check-up. The doctors had retrieved blood samples to study, but it'd been a week and they hadn't gotten back to him. It began to concern him somewhat. He quickly wiped away the blood as he dialed for Kathryn on the phone that she had given to him. She didn't take long to respond. "What is it?" she said on the line.

"It's me," Five replied in a harsh whisper, even though he was very much on his own in Bruce Wayne's bedroom. "Have the doctors gotten back to you? The nosebleeds are getting worse. I don't know how long more I can keep it from the butler."

"I know we've asked a lot of you."

She didn't answer the question. "What's happening to me?" he asked.

After a long pause. "I'm sorry. The truth is that you're dying. The process that brought you into this world was flawed. "

The news made Five feel choked up inside, even though deep inside he already suspected that it was true. "When will it be?"

Silence again. Then, "A month at most."

Her words stung. He knew he was but a pawn in a big game of chess, but the selfish part of him wanted more. He didn't want to die. Was that so wrong? Through time he'd grown accustomed to being Bruce Wayne, he wanted his time to continue - unfortunately, it was never meant to last. "Will I die before Bruce returns?"

"We will not let that happen. He will be brought back soon before anyone knows that he's gone."

Five clenched his teeth, it was sooner than he'd expected. Perhaps he'd allowed himself to get comfortable, more than he should have. "When Bruce returns, people are going to die, aren't they? A lot of people."

"You haven't gotten attached to anyone, have you?"

He considered all that had happened during his short-lived life. If there was one person who'd brought him happiness, it was Selina. He hadn't seen her since she'd left him on that rooftop, but he knew that something special had already begun to blossom between them. But she wasn't part of the plans of the Court of Owls. If people were to die, she would too. "No," he lied. "I just want to know."

"The number is immaterial. What matters is that Gotham must fall in order to rise up from the ashes. And because of your sacrifice, it will. Can we count on you?"

"Yes," he replied. Even though he knew it would not be for much longer.