𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 ──── 𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚

chapter twenty one

"Welcome to your life.
There's no turning back.

Even while we sleep,
we will find you acting
on your best behavior."

This was more than just 'time traveling'. This was more than just walking into an innocent building where we will do innocent work. This was more than just the disgusting feeling in my stomach. This was more than just saving the world.

"I must admit, Number Five, in all the time I've been here, I've never met anyone quite like you," The Handler showers Five with ca compliment as we walked around the bright green grass, people waving and saying hello. "And I've never met someone as good but dangerous as Alina," I didn't dare to look at her, or even say thank you. Five dropped one of his hand from his pocket, grabbing mine as a sign for defense. "I mean, Cha-Cha and Hazel, for example are talented, certainly but... they can't see the big picture," She explains. "Five," She sighs. "Your spunk, your enterprising spirit," She then wraps her arm around Five's shoulder, pulling him towards her but he pulled away, grabbing my hand tighter. "Well, it reminds me a great deal of myself, if I may be so vainglorious," That made me chuckle sarcastically. "If things work out for you here, you could potentially make a fine successor, Five," Is she forgetting that I'm right here? Instead of letting Five drag me by the hand, I wiggle my hand to free myself, causing him to look down at our hands, furrowing his eyebrows. I then intertwined our fingers together to reassure him. We then enter the crowded building, Five pulling me closer ever so slightly.

"I'd like to discuss the logistics of my family's and Alina's safety at your earliest convenience." He chimes in as I felt myself being such a liability to my boy. We turn the corner as I felt Five look at me, though my eyes did not shift.

"Alina is as safe as possible with you, here." I see her smug look as I raised an eyebrow.

"And my family? As well as this body replacement." We then start walking up the stairs as I gave the boy a confused look. I mean, I'm doing fine with my 13-year-old body.

"Such chutzpah, it's refreshing, I'll admit," Five then looks at me as I look back at him, he gives me a small smile, tightening his grip on me. "Slow down, Five. All in good time," She then turns to me to wink. "Be more like Alina, quiet and understanding," My eye twitch as I felt nauseous by the minute. "Now that you've finally agreed to work with us, we've got all the time in the world." We then reach the top of the stairs as we took another turn. She stays quiet for a while, leading us to Five's workplace.

"I could have stayed with your siblings." I sighed, making sure the Handler wasn't paying attention since she was ahead of us.

"I need you with me, Alina. What don't you get about that?" He says, almost angry.

"Why?" I asked, squinting my eyes.

"I need you safe." He hissed.

"I can take care of myself." I state as he chuckled.

"I know. But if I'm not there to make sure you're okay, I will go insane, alright? So stop complaining." He deadpanned. The Handler then looks back at us, continuing to guide us, with a menacing grin.

"The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the timeline of events and mankind's free will," She quickly explains as we passed by the rooms that I remember so vividly. I frown, nostalgic. But in the worst way possible. I hate this place. We stop quickly in front of the briefcase room as I looked inside to watch people managing the room. "The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You're management now," He's management now. "One of us."

"Five, Alina, meet Dot," The lady waved at us as I gave her a tight smile. By this time, Five has now let go of my hand and I felt uncomfortable. "Dot is responsible for all apocalypse matter," The Handler explains, nonchalantly. "In fact, it was Dot here who first flagged both of your appearance in 2019." I tilt my head a bit at the lady sitting down.

"No hard feelings." She smiles as I see Five confused.

"Well, you certainly put us through the ringer," Both Five and I looked at the Handler. "Outsmarting two of our so-called best temporal assassins. If he doesn't spell leadership material..." She puts her hand on Five's shoulder as I gave her a disgusted look. Everyone then stops doing what they were doing to look at the platinum blonde lady. "I just don't know," She chuckled, patting him. Then the typing around the room continues as she walked towards me, stopping right next to me. "I suspect you like a challenge Five. Especially with this cheerleader next to you," She smiles widely at the two of us as I rolled my eyes. She then grabs a chair, placing it next to another empty chair, tapping one of them with a smile. "Which is why I have given you a particularly complex first case," She slowly hands Five a red folder. "Too bad Joseph Späh decided against sabotaging the fuel tank," She says as Five opened the folder. I decided against looking at it since I was already bored and tired. "It would have been so much easier," Five then closes the folder, handing it to me to see but I didn't bother to open it, making the Handler chuckle. "And as for you," She turns to me. "You can go get some snacks downstairs or something. I don't recommend eating here though. It's quite messy," She smirks. "Anyhoo, if you have any questions, I'll be right behind you." She points behind her, walking away, leaving me and Five to be.

I sighed, shuffling through the chairs to get to mine as I drop the folder on the table, sitting down on the chair. I put my head down quickly as I hear Five chuckle, then sitting next to me. I hear him mutter out some words as he read the folder. I remember when he used to struggle to not do that. It would always annoy me. But now it feels like good company. I shift my head to the side as I watch him read. He quickly glances at me, not giving me any time to react before he looks away. He then starts typing on the typewriter as I perked my head up, intrigued.

"Hm, what are you up to?" I smirked at the bot as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm working, Lina. I need silence." He says, flatly making me groan.

"You're so fucking boring when you're working though," He only continues to type, ignoring me. "You're not all flirty and clingy." I smirk as he slowed down his typing to look at me. He then gave me a death glare.

"I'm never flirty or clingy," He shakes his head at me, making me scoff. "Okay, maybe flirty but never clingy," He rolls his eyes then starts working again. I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I saw some people watch us. I felt uncomfortable and weirded out so I put my head back down to let him work. "Sit up." I hear as I did as said, looking at Five, confused.

"Why?"

"Because I got you into this mess, I don't wanna bore you." He tells me as I rolled my eyes, putting my head back down.

"I'm not bored, just tired." I said, muffled.

"Hiya, Five, how's it going?" I hear Dot ask the boy, though my head didn't falter.

"I must have utter silence in order to complete this task." He declared at her as I only sighed to myself.

"Oh, okay," I hear her stammer. "A few of us are having lunch, and I was wondering if you..." He then clears his throat sharply, indicating her to shut up as I step on his foot indicating him to stop being disrespectful. "You're doing something."

"What was that for?" He asked as I only shrugged. Then I feel him tap me on the shoulder, and then I look up, clearly tired. "Let's go." He tells me waving me the capsule in his hand.

"What's in there?" I asked slowly.

"My task." He flatly tells me.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I asked, rhetorically. He only smirks at me, standing up as I groaned, standing with him. The attention was now to us and I tried to ignore it.

"This is gonna be fun." He smiles at me as I only rolled my eyes at him.

[I was gonna write more but I gtg to school, wish me luck 🤭🤭]