Time's on Fire

Ventiquattro

☂︎ THIRD PERSON POV ☂︎

"Ride of the Valkyries" could be heard from what was unmistakably an ice-cream truck.

Five, Serafina, and Luther turn to look down the road, seeing an ice-cream truck appear, the vehicle humming as it gets closer and closer to them. "Is that her?" Luther asks.

As the ice-cream truck passes them by, Klaus waves at them from the driver's seat.

Luther hesitantly waves back.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Five asks.

On the other end of the road, Hazel and Cha-Cha simultaneously raise their weapons, opening fire on the ice-cream truck. Five and Serafina both flinch at the bullets ricocheting off the vehicle. Luther steps in front of the two to shield them from any strays. Klaus hits Hazel and Cha-Cha with the front of the ice-cream truck, sending them flying.

Then, everything stops. The world had become more saturated, almost like an edited picture.

Five peaks around Luther's body, noticing the way everything seems frozen in time. Serafina walks around Luther, her footsteps echoing off the pavement through the, otherwise silent, landscape. The two look at each other, but neither one can explain the phenomenon.

"Neat trick, isn't it?"

The two look at the woman suddenly standing beside them. She grins, lifting the veil of her hat before taking off her sunglasses to look at them clearly. "Hello, Serafina. Five... you look good, all things considered." She greets them.

"It's good to see you again." Five replies, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Feels like we met just yesterday. Of course, you were a little bit older then. Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever. Threw us all of the scent." The Handler explains.

Five shrugs. "Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and... well, you know. Here I am."

"You realize your efforts are futile. So why don't you tell me what you really want?" The Handler asks, swinging her briefcase to rest against the back of her thighs.

"I want you to put a stop to it."

"You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be. That's our raison d'être."

Five reaches into his waistband, pulling out the gun he had placed there and raising it. "Yeah? Well how about survival as a raison?" He asks.

"I'll just be replaced. I'm but a... small cog in a machine." The Handler explains airily. "This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse... is just that. A fantasy. I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your... stick-to-itiveness, really quite... quite something. Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management."

Five chuckles. "Sorry, what's that now?"

"Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong." The Handler reiterates.

"Well, it didn't work out too well the last time."

"But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer. I'm talking about... the home office. You'd have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel. You're a distinguished professional in... schoolboy shorts. We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean, you... you can't be happy like this." The Handler says, sliding her flawlessly pale fingers along the front sight of the gun, lowering it slowly.

"I'm not looking for happy." Five tells her.

She raises her hand, caressing the side of his face with her knuckles. "We're all looking for happy." Her gaze flickers over at Serafina, grinning. "We can make that happen. We can make you... yourself again."

Five sighs. "And what about my family?"

"What about them?" The Handler repeats.

"I want them to survive."

The Handler looks at Luther, then at Klaus and Diego. "All of them?"

"Yes, all of them." Five agrees, firmly.

"Well... I'll see what I can do. Do we have a deal?" The Handler asks after putting on her sunglasses and extending her hand to him.

Five looks at it. "One thing."

Putting the gun back into his waistband, he walks over to where Hazel had dropped his gun and picks it up, taking out the magazine before throwing it to the opposite side of the road and the gun itself to the other.

He walks back over before humming, turning around to grab the bullet suspended in midair. He moves it over, so that when time restarts, it'll miss Luther. Finally, he approaches the Handler.

Five looks at Serafina, giving her his hand. She takes it and Five throws out his other hand, shaking the Handler's in a firm shake.

• 1955 •

"I must admit, Number Five, in all the time that I've been here, I've never met anyone quite like you. Hazel and Cha-Cha, for example, are talented, certainly, but... they can't see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well, it reminds me a great deal of myself, if... I may be so vainglorious." The Handler tells the shorter assassin, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"If things work out for you here, you could potentially make a fine successor, Five."

Serafina rolls her eyes as the three enter the Commission. She wondered just how much flattery he could take before calling bullshit.

"I'd like to discuss the logistics of my family's safety at your earliest convenience. As well as this body replacement." Five tells the Handler as they make their way up the stairs.

The Handler smiles. "Such chutzpah. It's refreshing, I'll admit. Slow down, Five. All in good time. In fact, now that you've finally agreed to work with us, we've got all the time in the world." The Handler leads the two down the hall and through the second floor, into a separate room which holds the Briefcase Room.

"The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the timeline of events and mankind's free will. The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You're management now. One of us."