It was a gloomy day as it had recently been raining the previous night. Lush green grass surrounded Y/n's vision as they strolled across the concrete ground. There were old cars -- 1955 models, and people dressed fashionably. Well, whatever was fashionable 60 years ago. They must've time traveled.
Proceeding further, the woman spoke up out of nowhere, guiding them to an unknown destination. "You know, I must admit to you Y/n, in all the time I've been alive, I've never met anyone quite like you."
The girl stared at the Handler, that was what she had called herself, incredulously. "You don't even know me."
The woman playfully shrugged as they walked. "I've heard rumors."
Y/n looked to Five uncomfortably and the repulsion was almost evident in his face. He glanced back and grabbed for her hand, holding it tightly.
The two academy students picked up their pace as the Handler's heels clicked across the pavement faster.
"So, you never told me why I'm here. I don't get it. I'm not affiliated with your.. What was it?"
"The Commission, dear," the lady replied smoothly, "Don't worry, you'll be informed in no time."
"You're not going to, like, execute me or something?" The girl asked, furrowing her eyebrows as Five matched her expression.
"Oh, no. Don't be so silly! We don't play mind games here, you're apart of the bigger picture. You're undeniably important."
"Well, that's a first," she mumbled, attempting to comprehend the situation she was in as they neared a large brick building. What would they possibly need someone like her for?
They entered the structure with many other working adults, shuffling aside as they pushed past them.
"I'd like to discuss the logistics of my family's safety at your earliest convenience," Five declared to the Handler who lead them up a staircase, "As well as this body replacement, for the both of us."
Y/n nodded in approval, thinking. 'Yeah, it'd be nice to sound 30, let alone look 30.'
The handler replied, adjusting her hair. "Such chutzpah. It's refreshing, I'll admit. Slow down, Five. All in good time. In fact, since you're both.. Working for us, we've got all the time in the world."
Reality finally set in after a while. "Hey, lady, I didn't agree to be here, or even work here. What the fuck is going on?"
"Watch your tone, young girl," the Handler responded lowly, a hint of danger and seriousness laced within her voice, "We're all professionals in here." She then sweetly smiled at an employee that rushed past, greeting her.
"I'm not a young girl, Handler," Y/n spoke back, resisting the urge to run as she dug the nails of her free hand, that wasn't held by Five's, into her palm.
The woman only hummed, directing them through the building.
Y/n gazed around at the large dark room they had just moved into. Was it bigger in the inside than the outside, or was it just her? She already hated it here.
They continued on as the Handler began speaking once more. "The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the time line of events and mankind's free will," She informed Y/n specifically. Five already knew, but it was an irritating refresher.
"The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You're management now. One of us." She resumed talking as they stood next to the 'Briefcase Room'.
Five had to practically drag around Y/n to keep up with the Handler as they toured the Commission.
The woman with white hair blabbed on about the workplace as they strolled through beige-coloured brick corridors. Y/n hated to admit it, but it was mildly intriguing.
"All the people on this floor are case managers," she said, pausing at an open door to gesture inside, "Each one responsible for one major event at a time."
"Jeez.. How many are there?" The girl mumbled to no one in particular.
"Impressive, isn't it? Being a part of something.. So grand." The Handler pat her shoulder, smiling fondly ahead, but then walked away. "Come along."
Whenever someone chooses the wrong path and the time line is changed, the Commission gets a report from field agents on the ground." The lady kept talking, "These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager. They determine if anyone needs to be.. Removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should."
Again, the three paused at another room where an old lady was working inside. "Based on that determination, the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to temporal assassins like you formerly were, Number Five." The Handler laughed, then looked down at the girl. "Any queries so far?"
"Uh, yeah.. What's this got to do with me?" Y/n questioned suspiciously, releasing Five's hand to cross her arms over her chest.
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Marsh!" The Handler yelled out and a man in a black suit and simple glasses suddenly appeared behind her from around the corner.
"Handler, I'll take her from here." The odd man, who was around the white-haired woman's height, announced.
Five gazed over at the perplexed girl. "We're here together. I'm not letting her leave my side."
"Oh, so protective, like a sweet young couple!" The handler cheerfully voiced. "Don't worry, Number Five. Y/n will be in good hands. You'll be back together for a lunch break."
The girl hesitantly shrugged before giving Five a see-you-soon hug, burying her face into his chest in embarrassment. This was not the time to be thinking about Five like that.
"Okay, time to go," the woman said shortly, practically pulling Y/n away from the boy.
Five's lips were pursed as he watched Marsh guide Y/n further away.
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The girl instinctively wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm, wishing she never took off her blazer earlier.
"Is it always this cold here?" Y/n asked the man who was directing her past what seemed to be an infinite amount of hallways, doors and workers.
"Our heater broke last month in this unit, I apologise." Marsh replied, "I can find you a jacket if you'd like?"
"Oh.. Um, no need, thanks," the girl chuckled nervously as they entered through a door to their right to another corridor, "So.. I heard your people have been looking for me. How come now and not last year, or the year before that?"
"Well, to be frank, we wanted you to turn at least eighteen to harness your incredible power before we.. Yeah. But your friend over there - who is a fantastic assassin, I fortunately must admit - happened to mess with our reports. That was over.. Eighteen years ago. We're still not sure what happened that day. He never admitted it but we suspect he time traveled unregulated - something to do with his abilities..
"We never thought you'd be connected to him in any way, never got the chance to ask. The only similarities between you two that we knew of was the sort of unworldly power you held." Marsh explained to her.
Y/n was slightly hurt at the mention of Five never mentioning her or her siblings, but pushed the invasive thought past. Smart man.
As she put some pieces together, she finally understood. It must've been the day Five time traveled into 2019, the day of the aftermath from the apocalypse. "I never turned eighteen, though. At least, not physically.."
"Hm.. I see, but you will soon. Have you noticed any differences in yourself?"
"No?.." She said, her words lingering off, "But couldn't you basically see me.. And see my family, my life.. Five?"
"Well, that not exactly how things work around here. We keep tabs on you and monitor your health and being, not invade privacy. It wasn't a part of the agreement.. Anyway, it threw off, essentially, the tracker we had on you. It was a miserable day for the entire Commission. We lost an extensive amount of valuable resources and leads on other cases. Nonetheless, we sorted it all in quick time - all except you."
It was so much to take in at one time. "Tracker? What tracker?" The girl asked him, her face morphed into a quizzical expression.
The man only tapped his temple lightly. "The brain is a powerful object, even more powerful when you have special abilities."
"So, now that I'm back, you'd be able to track me again?"
"Something like that," Marsh responded, adjusting his glasses, "Anyhow, we've all been wondering.. Why exactly are you so young?"
The girl huffed, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't particularly know, but a couple days ago I finally managed to resume my aging process. Hey.. Wasn't I supposed to be asking the questions?"
He nodded. "My apologies, I let my curiosities get ahead of me. Now in here, if you will, please."
Marsh led Y/n into what appeared to be a small but neat office with strange oddities decorated around the wooden desk and brick shelves.
"So.. Why exactly have you been tracking me and how would Five not have found out earlier?"
Ignoring her first question momentarily, he answered her second. "Well, Five was only a temporal assassin. The rank is high and well-regarded but the information was not necessary to field employees like him."
"I see.. And I don't know how many times I have to say this, but why am I here for fuck's sake!"
Marsh pulled out a small beeping device from his pocket. "Take a seat, please, Miss Y/n." He gently pushed the girl down onto a dark brown leather couch.
She plopped down onto the sofa, shuffling to the other side as a needle - or something similar to that - sprung out from the device Marsh had clasped in his hand, making her tense up.
The man slowly advanced towards her, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Hey, what the hell? You're not injecting that shit into me, are you?" Y/n hastily got up from the couch, backing away from him.
"No, but we need to take you somewhere safer. For your well-being."
"No-" she begun, grabbing a snow globe from the desk she had bumped into, holding it up menacingly, "You won't! You've still not told me why I'm here and where I'm going!"
Out of no where, an alarm began blaring and the lights in the room morphed into an eerie blinking red. The two jolted in shock as the loud sounds flooded their ears.
Marsh took a second to compose himself before glaring at her darkly. "You're both foolish. Why must it be so hard for you to follow instructions?"
"Don't come any closer!" The girl yelled at him, raising her right arm, readying to attack, "Don't make me kill you!"
He smirked. "Have a go."
Y/n looked at him with a questioning gaze. She then controlled his shadow, making it snake around his body. "Let me leave. Don't make me do this, Mar-" Her breath caught in her throat when he shook off the shadow, it disappearing completely.
She dropped her hand in fright. What on earth?
Marsh pointed at the roof, taking off his glasses. "This unit is cold for a reason. Stops people like you from being.. You."
Her breathing became labored as the man approached her in a frenzy, the gadget secured in his hands.
Thinking on her feet, she hurled the snow globe towards the man's face. Not expecting the action, he was temporarily stunned as it collided with his shoulder, shattering into fragments.
Scanning the office quickly, she raced towards a machete on display and snatched it from the wall. "This better work," she whispered to herself in a panic as he swiftly brushed off glass pieces from his suit.
He touched his cheek where a hunk had sliced his flesh and he hurled a deathly glare at the girl wielding a weapon.
Y/n held it up in defense as Marsh strode towards her, readying the unknown device.
He threw a painful punch to her stomach and throat, grasping her hair to prevent her from escaping. It was quick and he was skillful, forcing her back into a wall as he disarmed her. Preparing the device, he was close to driving it through her chest but Y/n kneed him, making him falter, clutching his lower half in agony.
She swiftly scrambled away in pain, shuffling back to grab the machete Marsh had thrown to the side.
Her hair was disheveled and clothes messy from the unforeseen struggle. Keeping her eyes on him the entire time, he looked back at her like predator to prey. His eyes were maddened and dark, full of anger.
Y/n breathed heavily, staring through strands of stray hair around her face. She began advancing towards him and Marsh mirrored her actions.
They collided as Y/n harshly slashed the machete against his torso before plunging it through in a swift motion. They both stood there for a few seconds before Marsh dropped to the ground.
He landed roughly on the floor which was quickly coated with a sticky red substance that seeped from his wounds.
Y/n let out a sigh of relief, but felt a twinge of pain in her neck. "Ow," She gingerly grazed it, pulling out the needle device. "Fuck.. You've got to be kidding me."
She groaned, wiping Marsh's blood from her eyes and mouth, tossing the device as she hurried for the door. However, she froze briefly and turned around to pocket the device instead, pressing a button that retracted the sharp edge back inside.
Y/n peered out the door, clearing her surroundings. It was strangely quiet, especially since an alarm was blasting through the building. "Okay, where do I go now?" she spoke, attempting to reassure herself. "Okay.. We went left, no.. Right."
She guided herself down the corridors by memory, knife in her grasp. She hadn't come across anyone yet. It was just her running to escape the long hallways and infinite doors.
To her luck, she only spent a couple minutes sprinting around before she heard people yelling and the sound of many feet across the floors. Prying open a door that led her closest to it, she ran out into chaos.
Workers were jumbled about, shuffling around to follow protocol. No one paid mind to the girl with a weapon, covered in blood.
Her eyes darted around frantically as she searched for the boy she so desperately needed at that moment. "Five!" she shouted, shoving past employees, "Five?!"
Her head was throbbing and her vision was blurring. She could feel her heart beating within her, sweat forming on her palms and on her forehead.
Running as fast as she could to get out, she suddenly collided with something. She fell back, the machete clattering against the floor. Y/n hastily went to reach for it but locked eyes with the person that had knocked her, who was also now on the ground, rubbing his shoulder.
"Five!" Y/n exclaimed happily through her dazed vision.
"Y/n? What happened?!" Five quickly questioned her figure, pulling them back up to their feet as the girl strained to stay upright.
"Long story! Let's get out of here first!"
Five nodded and teleported the both of them to another room. They sat for a moment, hidden and catching their breaths before a pair of familiar heels clicked into the room.
"What's the rush, Five? We're just getting started."
Y/n's eyes widened from beside him as a threatening gunshot sounded.
"Is this really how you want the last line of your report to read?"
Five huffed angrily before teleporting both him and Y/n again, in front of the Handler who had a firearm pointing at the both of them.
"When I'm done, I'm just done, I guess," the boy commented.
"Y/n?" Handler frowned for a moment, staring at the girl with red painted all over her. "You're not supposed to be here."
She breathed heavily and spoke tiredly. "Marsh didn't meet my match. Even without my abilities."
The woman kept her gun aimed at the girl, but directed her attention back to him. "You can't keep this up, Five. We both know that even you have a limit. I saved you from a lifetime of being alone. You owe me."
Aiming it down to Y/n's shoulder, she fired the weapon, but nothing was shot. Five grinned at her menacingly.
"I do owe a debt," Five spatial jumped with Y/n, "But it's not to you."
"No, you can't take her! She doesn't belong to you!" the Handler cried out as he pulled the pin from a grenade he had hidden in his blazer.
Her eyes glazed over, her expression blank as Five tossed the explosive to her feet. "Shit.." She uttered while Five pushed Y/n and himself into the wall and away from the opening of the room.
Five held onto Y/n like his life depended on it, pressing his face into her hair, shielding her body with his. The room exploded in a matter of seconds, fire blazing out as people nearby screamed.
Not wasting a moment more, the boy spatial jumped away with her and into the Briefcase Room.
Y/n leant over the flat surface that Five used to prepare the briefcase that would teleport them back. She sighed, her head pounding and body feeling weak.
She let Five drag her out of the room rapidly, seconds before another explosion went off behind her. He grasped onto her trembling body tightly as the briefcase sent their swift escape.
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"Hold the phone," Klaus said to Luther, who was looking at him with worry, "We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"
Diego interrupted motioning his knife around as he spoke. "Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?"
Electricity crackled as a bright blue light formed in the living room, Y/n and Five both appearing from it before dropping onto the counter.
"Je- Jesus!" Allison exclaimed as everyone backed away from the unexpected scene.
Klaus sat up from the couch. "You guys, am I still high, or do you see them, too?"
"Y/n, Five, where have you been?" Diego questioned with annoyance.
"Oww.." the girl groaned in pain as she slipped to the floor. Luther helped her up as Five got off the counter.
"Irrelevant," the boy simply replied, shooing Luther off Y/n. He assisted the girl, glancing down at her sickened state.
"God, Y/n," Allison remarked, "A- Are you okay?"
The girl regained her stance but quickly stumbled back into the arms of Five as her legs became weak, causing him scowl in pain. "Peachy."
"Wait.. Is that blood?" Diego queried, his voice filled with distress.
"Not mine," she laughed before coughing.
Five examined her frantically. It was the first time he could properly look at her without trying to run or hide.
Y/n gazed up at the boy who held her, searching his distraught eyes before succumbing to the inevitable darkness that called to her.
"What do we do?!"
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