Umbrella Graduation ♡ Five x Lila

0.3: Picture Book - The Kinks

TW: I used the Allison and Luther scene from season three episode five in this chapter. If you don't know what that entails then you likely shouldn't read on. Watch the show! If you do; proceed with caution. I do not intend to glorify Allison's actions, and really implementing them earlier is in hope to show more character development in her than just shoving it in later to show her becoming a worse person. You have been warned, and hopefully acknowledged on my stance. I don't like, nor condone this shit in real life.

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     "I must admit, number Five: in all the time that I've been employed here; I've never met anyone quite like you." Someone greeted the Handler as she walked Five through the corridors of the so-called Commission, and more indiscernable chatter had Five looking over his shoulders wondering if these people were plotting against him, or something along those lines. "Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well it reminds me a great deal of my daughter—if I may be so vainglorious." Five merely listened in as the woman monologued to him like an old friend, yet he didn't know the crazy woman at all. It's the same feeling to when a distant relative says they remember changing your nappies as a baby, but now you've shot up; you wouldn't remember them a bit. "If things work out for you here you could potentially make a fine successor, Five." A daughter? A successor? How was he supposed to keep up with this with only an outsider's perspective of these major subjects? One question was most prominent in his mind. "I'd like to discuss my family's safety at your earliest convenience." He cut through the lady's incessant ramblings as she shrugged her large overcoat off to hold over one arm. They entered another building on site to head up the stairs. "Such chutzpah. I'll admit: it's refreshing." She remarked, voice echoing down the stairs, and many footsteps clammered from all around to be at wherever the Commission commanded. "Slow down, Five. All in good time. In fact; now that we finally have you to work with us-" She looked over at him with arms out in a careless gesture. "We've got all the time in the world."

The Handler had started to tour Five Hargreeves around. "The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the timeline of events and mankind's free will." They walked by a room that struck Five as odd. A window into a room labelled accurately as the briefcase room. Why briefcases? "The briefcase is no longer apart of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You're management now!" She told the boy when she noticed him staring. "One of us." She added the disturbing line--as if Five wasn't already on edge while wandering this vaguely, distantly familiar, yet so terrifyingly unfamiliar building. "All of the people on this floor are case managers; each one responsible for one major event at a time." The pair stopped in an open doorway to peer into a room that extended beyond what could be comprehended, and frankly what Five imagined could be condensed into the premises of the building. I suppose anything is possible in a world of supernatural babies coming from mysterious elements... Five wondered. "So many of them?" His green eyes lingered into the vast room. "It's quite impressive—isn't it? Being apart of something...So grand." Said the Handler as she glanced over at the shorter man.

Typewriters sung out of the doorway in such a fashion that you could imagine the writers had sore joints in their fingers and hands, lights dispersed through the rooms very particularly to ensure every employee was given the right amount of vision into what they were writing, some chatter was going on, ringing phones echoing throughout the room, and it overall seemed like both an intense place to work, yet so productive. Five imagined that such an environment could bring out his competitive nature, and as easily overstimulate his noise receptors. "Come along." The Handler commanded as she started in her tracks down the hallway again, Five's body moving first, and then his head as he followed. "Whenever someone chooses the wrong path, and the timeline is changed; the Commission is notified with a report from the field agents on the ground." The wrong path? Is there such a thing? Five had certainly never considered it, but the work ethic being explained to him made for a different perspective. Good or bad? Don't know. But it's different. "These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager; someone who determines if anyone needs to be...Removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should." They wandered into a room filled with intricate tubes, mechanics, and an elder lady who must have been appointed as the case manager. "Based on that determination: the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to...Temporal assassins." She looked over at Five again, and this time he found contact with her piercing light blue eyes as well. "Like you formerly were, or rather will be in your future." Shock. Five was shocked, yet captivated. He couldn't believe he was truly doubting his reality right now, but perhaps a version of him really did partake in this Commission at some point? In some timeline he could have been the top of this company with his timeline-hopping teleportation. His face hardened as not to display the shock he felt deep down. "Any queries so far?" Asked the Handler. Five readjusted his stance in thought. "Yeah...Who was the case manager handling me?" Five wondered who it was that sent him to murder himself. Was it Five who kidnapped himself? Or was he meant to slaughter Five off? "Ah. You mean the apocalypse..." The Handler creepily stroked the boy's cheek as he stood there. Above all else; what was her deal?