Five

Dasha appears and points a gun at Alexei. But the second Dasha runs up, grabs her and pulls her away. Roma pushes Peskarev away from Misha and helps his friend get up. Alexey hits the corner and falls unconscious. Misha, without the influence of the enemy, feels much better and looks at Roma with bewilderment. - You? What’s happened? Where have you been? - I’m from another time. - What? Okay, let’s assume that this is how it should be. At this time, the girls were sorting things out. - I could have killed him! - Okay, I know you have powerful emotions, but just listen to me. Roma and I are from the future, where we began to lose strength. We found out that all this is due to the fact that the gifted must exist in a world of five! - Okay, okay. Let’s say. So we should all be alive? - Yes. No matter how bastard Peskarev is, you can’t kill him. - What should we do then? He will still get to Misha or Roma, or even to us! - I know… Oh, I can create a small world and throw Alexei there! - Do you think this is a good idea? - Quite possibly. - Let’s try. Can you handle it yourself? - Yes. And Dasha-from-the-future got to work. She closed her eyes and concentrated, but after a few seconds she returned to normal again. - Ready. - Now let’s put Peskarev in there. Me too, that’s it. - Well, great! Guys, how are you there? Meanwhile, friends talked on all sorts of topics. Roma talked about the future, about the fact that he is now familiar with several versions of Misha, about his friend’s family life and much more. The girl’s question made them shudder. Roma was the first to come out of his stupor: - Oh, yes, great. Are you done? - Yes. - Can we go back to our own times? - It is truth too. The friends hugged one last time, and Misha flew away. A few seconds later, Dasha-not-from-the-future left them. Roma turned to his friend. - Well, let’s go home? - Yeah. Hold on. The man approached Dasha and took her hand. The girl tensed, preparing to transgress, but after a few seconds she looked at her friend in horror. - I can’t. - You mean you’ve lost your strength too? So what should we do now? - Let’s think logically. How many are gifted at this time? Me, you, Alexey, Misha and Katya. Everyone is here. - What happens then? - I don’t know… Perhaps we should stay in this world for a little while, and our strength will be restored. - Do you think so? How long will it take? Where should we live? - Probably two or three days will be enough. Is it possible to live…at Misha’s? - No! He has a small apartment, you can’t go to him. Come to me. - Oh, how come we didn’t think of it right away! Do you still have the keys to that apartment? - Yes… There must be somewhere… Roma rummaged through his briefcase for a minute, which he took by chance, until he found what he was looking for. - Shall we go? The friends set off. The city was unfamiliar to Dasha, but Roman confidently led her through the streets until they ended up in a large modern multi-story building. They entered the entrance, went up to the desired floor and entered Roma’s monastery. - I had already forgotten how nice and cozy it is here! - I like it here. - Make yourself comfortable. There are two bedrooms here. Yours will be the second room to the left along the corridor. - Fine. Thank you. - Yes, what is there? The main thing is to get out. *** Alexey woke up. His head hurt a lot, but that wasn’t the most important thing. His victim escaped. Now Mikhail knows his secret. Knows who he is. This was the worst. Who knocked me out? This question remains unanswered. The man rose from the ground. It was dark and no one was around. This is good. We need to get home. The journey did not take much time, and half an hour later Peskarev was sitting in his office and thinking about what had happened. We need to pay a “visit” to Mikhail. He knows too much. The decision was made instantly. Alexey jumped up, went down to the garage, got into the car and drove to Osipov’s house. Ten minutes later he stood at the front door. He’s most likely already asleep. You can break it. And then immediately turn on the blocker. Words did not diverge from deeds. Under Alexei’s powerful pressure, the door opened and the man entered the apartment. Mikhail jumped up, waking up, but, a second later, howled in pain. It was as if he was being squeezed in a vice. The body ached as if it was ready to explode at any moment. A minute later, Misha saw Alexei slowly entering. The same nasty grin was still on his face. A chill ran through the guy’s body. He knew what his enemy was capable of. Peskarev calmly approached the gasping Mikhail. The pressure on the body increased. Now Mikhail could not even move. He could only watch as Alexey calmly sat down on his bed and raised his hand over his exhausted enemy. However, there was no blow. Peskarev wanted to mock the victim, as he would have done with Roman. Intimidate, drive him into hysterics… Of course, in appearance he was not a pale, thin guy, but a broad-shouldered, powerful man; Alexey knew how to put pressure. One way was physical threats. And it worked. The man watched with sadistic pleasure as Mikhail cowered in anticipation of the blows, as he tried to free himself from the invisible shackles. Threats turned into actions. Soon Osipov’s face was covered with bruises and bruises, and Alexey didn’t even think about stopping. A few minutes later there was no living space left on Misha. Alexey calmly stood up and looked “caringly” at the man. - Everyone will turn away from you. You are nothing. Peskarev quickly left the apartment and went to his room. Mikhail passed out. *** Roma woke up early in the morning, when it was still dark. Anxiety was brewing in my soul. This is good. This means the power is returning. The man tried to fall asleep again, but could not. Trying not to make noise, he went into the kitchen. Having made coffee, Roman sat down at the table. The anxiety did not go away. Two hours passed like this. Dasha woke up. Intuition led her to the kitchen, where she found a friend. - What’s happened? - Something. I do not know what. But something is definitely wrong. - Maybe something happened to Misha? Roma immediately raised his head. - Maybe. I’ll go see him. The man quickly got ready and left the apartment. Dasha stayed at home and began testing her strength. Roman entered the entrance. Of course he had the keys. The excitement increased. Having risen to the desired floor and inserted the key into the door, he realized that it was open. It was as if a trigger had been pulled. Roma flew into the apartment and first ran to the bedroom. There he found his friend bleeding and lying unconscious. At this sight, the man’s legs gave way and he almost fell. Quickly approaching the bed, he began to lightly pat Misha on the cheeks, hoping to wake him up. A few minutes later, which seemed like hours to Roma, Mikhail opened his eyes. Without immediately recognizing his friend, he forcefully pushed him away. But quickly coordinated, he grabbed Roma so that he wouldn’t fall. - Misha, what happened?! - Peskarev… - Well!.. - Yeah. Will you bring the first aid kit? And then I immediately passed out. Roma quickly ran to the bathroom, found peroxide and bandages and brought them to the bedroom. Having treated Mikhail’s abrasions and scratches, he tiredly collapsed on the bed. - Why do we need this?! - Let’s discuss. - OK. In our time, we have begun to lose strength. Dasha and I realized that this happened because Peskarev died. That’s why we headed here to stop him from dying. But it looks like he won’t leave us alone… - So, you still have to kill him? - Maybe. But what about our strength? - You said he won’t leave us. That is, he will kill us if we don’t kill him. So what is more important to you: life or strength? - Life, of course. That is, we must come to terms with the fact that we are destined to become ordinary people? - Obviously. - It won’t be easy. - Do we have a choice? - No. Okay, get better. If necessary, call. We will stay in this time before we go to our own. I’ll talk to Dasha. - Bye. - See you. *** The friends were sitting in Kostylev’s living room. They both already realized that the loss of powers was inevitable, and discussed how to safely return to their time. Dasha had regained her strength, so there shouldn’t have been any problems with that. The question before them was: how to kill Alexei? They decided that they would teleport to him, quickly kill him and immediately return to themselves, without waiting until they lost power again. All that remains is to carry out the plan.