The first difference Eight noticed as she started to wake up was the cold feeling of metal restraints surrounding her wrists, ankles, torso and neck. The sensation of something taped onto her forehead confused her. She peeled her eyes open and cringed at the blinding light that shone directly on her face.
"Oh, fucking hell" she winced as she squinted against the glare.
"Ah, you're awake," spoke the light voice of a woman, "Good, you've been out for hours and I was beginning to worry the time travel had been too much for you."
"Time travel?" The girl groaned as a sudden feeling of nausea overtook her senses and her head began spinning, "Where am I? Who are you? What's going on?"
"All in good time my darling we just have to let the serum work its magic first," replied the woman.
"You'd better let me out now if you want to keep all your limbs intact!" Eight growled through gritted teeth as she struggled against her restraints, the cold metal digging into her skin.
"Ah zealous, I knew I liked you for a reason," cooed the stranger.
"Who are you and why am I here?! Where's Five?!" Eight shouted trying to hide the nervousness in her voice, there was something extremely wrong about this situation, "What have you done to Five?!"
"Oh honey you don't have to worry about that dipstick anymore," chuckled the woman, "good riddance if you ask me, he was the one that handed you over actually."
"What?" It was like a blow to the stomach. Eight couldn't believe it, three years had really meant nothing to him. Three years of suffering together, down the drain.
She didn't want to accept it, maybe the strange lady was making this all up and Five had done nothing wrong. But then where was he? The girl may have been temporarily blinded at the moment but she wasn't deaf. If Five had been present he'd already have made himself known, he wasn't exactly very inconspicuous. Eight didn't know whether it was the fact that the woman had her under a mystery drug that made her slightly lethargic or that her head was aching so badly it felt as though it would explode at any minute but she felt her eyes start to prick with tears and her nose start to sting. And then she started to cry.
Five had left her. She was all alone again.
"Mhm, he was just holding you back from your true potential though," the woman replied nonchalantly.
"Let go of me," the young girl repeated in a low murderous tone, her voice shaking as the lump in her throat grew. Then suddenly to her right there she heard the beeping of some sort of machine.
"Ah, there we go," replied the woman, completely ignoring Eight as she continued her efforts to escape her restraints, "you're all set, the serum is done being absorbed."
"Absorbed?" Eight questioned nervously, she didn't like the sound of that. The noise of two heel-clad feet walking across the room was followed by a faint chuckle and then suddenly the bright light in front of her was shut off.
"Yes my dear girl, absorbed into your bloodstream," as her teary eyes adjusted to the new lighting, Eight was met with the image of a middle-aged, pale woman with perfectly styled platinum blonde hair. She was sending the youth a toothy grin that made goosebumps appear on her skin, "We can't have you possibly using your powers and going all bananas on us, now can we?"
"My powers?" Eight breathed, panic starting to set in as the woman stepped closer to her. She bent over slightly so the two were face-to-face, never breaking eye contact.
"I know you probably think they were gone after you got yourself stranded in an apocalypse," the said softly, taking a strand of the girl's hair and twirling it around her perfectly manicured finger, "but I assure you they are still very much functional. I know you can feel their force flowing through your veins, urging you to set them free. And that, my dear, is exactly what I'm here to help you do."
"You don't know anything about me," Eight hissed.
"I know more than you might think hon. But never mind that, I've got it all taken care of," the woman told her sweetly as she straightened up again, "I mean, they don't call me The Handler for nothing, now do they?"
"Where am I?" the girl in front of her whispered again. Her body was nearly shaking as she fought to uphold her cold, tough demeanour.
"In The Commission, of course, we've been keeping a close eye on you Eight Hargreeves and we think you might be of great use to us." The Handler replied simply, walking over to a control panel she slowly glided her fingers over the buttons.
"And what makes you think that I would ever cooperate with you?" Eight countered stubbornly, looking at the lady as if she were the most disgusting thing on the planet.
"Because if not then we'll reconsider letting your siblings live for now. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Vanya, Ben, they'll all be dead in an instant if you don't cooperate." The older woman replied cooly as she pressed a big red button, finally freeing Eight of her tight metal restraints and causing all the wires that had been taped to her head to drop onto the girl's lap.
"So what do you say, sweetheart? Are you in or are you out?"
"You'll kill my family?" Eight breathed unbelievingly.
"If you don't agree to help us, yes." The Handler smirked, picking up a thick black leather briefcase from the floor next to her and looking eagerly at the brunette, awaiting her answer.
"Fine, I'll do it," Eight confirmed as she stood up determinedly.
"Are you sure?" a vicious leer spreading across the pale woman's face. Eight nodded shakily and The Handler's cheshire grin stretched even wider as she stuck out her hand, "Let's shake on it then."
Their handshake was followed by a blinding light and just like that, Eight Hargreeves had sold herself to the devil.
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
THE PANDORA POST:
This was a short chapter but also an important one that will add to the structure of the story along the way.
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcomed!
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