Partners in Crime ~ Five Hargreeves x Reader

Chapter 6: The Day That Wasn't

    I ran as fast as I could. My feet were aching from the intense speed that I had been going at for nearly a mile. I couldn't stop. I had to get away. I had to avoid whatever asshole was pursuing me. I never once looked behind me, afraid of what I might see.

    My foot snagged on the root of a nearby tree, sending me plummeting to the ground. I winced in pain and glanced at my potentially sprained ankle. I finally looked back and there she was. I didn't have the strength to get up; not only was I exhausted from the seemingly endless running, but my sprained ankle also prevented me from getting up without feeling a stinging pain.

    The woman's dirty dark brown hair flew wildly in the wind. The gaze of her menacing abyssal brown orbs sent chills down my spine. I gulped, trying to gather myself enough to use what little strength I had left. I glanced briefly at the briefcase she held before staring intently into her eyes.

    The woman began to frantically look around as the sounds of gunshots and screaming filled her ears. I had tapped into a memory from her childhood, making her relive the horrors of her past. She coughed lightly, as though she was trying to figure out what to do.

    Her temporary distraction allowed me to snatch the briefcase out of her hands. It opened up and suddenly my surroundings turned a bright blue hue. I was being pulled, spun, blinded, and pushed all at the same time. Pain shot through every inch of my body for a split second.

    Then, I was somewhere and somewhen else.

-⭐-

    That memory was the only thing that came to mind as The Handler zipped Five and me to headquarters. My very first run-in with the Commission had turned into this; I was a target of theirs for a short time, then an employee, then a target again, and here I was, back to being an employee.

    The Handler guided us through the 1950s-style architecture of the Commission's home office. We swerved through several hallways seeing interesting rooms. I spotted the room of the infamous Infinite Switch Board alongside the tube room before The Handler made a sudden change in direction.

    We ended up in a room with about a dozen desks. Our jobs were to figure out whose deaths are necessary for preserving the integrity of the timeline. When errors arose, we were to figure out whose death would be the most influential in correcting that error to get things back on track. Five and I both got separate and difficult assignments.

-⭐-

    Five finished his assignment and typed up a name. He gave me a nod and headed to the tube room to send it off. I looked at the woman next to me, Dot. She was responsible for our cases, and all apocalypse-related matters. Dot was immersed in her work, so I tried to catch a glimpse at what she was working on.

Five and I were both plotting escape plans. Staying here wasn't an option. We hoped that during lunch time we would be able to use our own pieces of knowledge to form a cohesive and effective plan with no holes.

Five and The Handler suddenly came back into the room. They were discussing something about proper protocol and how happy she was for Five to be working for the Commission instead of against. I tuned out most of their conversation and just stared intently at Dot.

The lunch bell rang and The Handler walked out speaking to some other worker whose name I didn't learn. I dashed over to Five, pretending like I was having a conversation with him. But, in reality, I was using our fake conversation as a distraction, while I slipped the massive file on Dot's desk into my sweater.

"Bathroom," I instructed. Five gave me an understanding nod and we both calmly walked to the bathroom. We slipped into one of the marble stalls together and I pulled out the file.