PYROMANIAC - (Umbrella Academy) X Five Hargreeves

1:26

Seven days later:

Lena sat in the wooden chair opposite the Handlers desk, a faint purple tint under her hollow, stony eyes. Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders and there was a distinctly stiff, cold feeling along the skin of her neck. It kept her back straight despite the fatigue, her hands grasping the chair arms securely.

The Handler was smug, confident, and although her glare held everything she wanted to say to the woman, Lena was uncharacteristically quiet.

It had been almost a week since she had last seen Five. Since they had accepted their fate. They had been quickly separated and thrown into their jobs, or that was the lie the Handler had spun to her husbands face to keep him in line after their arrival.

In reality, Lena had been locked away in her room for something the Handler liked to call conditioning. A punishment to teach her a lesson and keep her in line, and after forty eight hours of little to no food or water, barely any sleep and the stress of being confined, they would meet like this in her office to discuss what her place in the commission would be.

This was their third meeting.

The Handler had just ranted and raved in her silence about how much of a gem Five was being, fitting into his role perfectly, doing fine without her.

She was trying to get Lena to speak.

But Lena knew that if she spoke, she would be punished for what she had to say.

The Handler sat in front of her perched against the edge of her desk elegantly.

Lena watched her, tense, her entire awareness fixated on the  little black electrical device just centimeters from the woman's manicured hand.

"So," her eyes flitted to the way her nails tapped on the desk. "Are you ready to be a good girl and do as you're told?"

Lena chewed the inside of her cheek, glaring at her. She didn't say anything.

"You know I can make this a whole lot worse for you, right?"

She stiffened, eyeing the way her fingers crawled closer to the device and swallowed thickly.

"You're a smart girl, Lena. And whether you like it or not, this place is your future."

Against her better judgement, she couldn't hold back anymore.

Finally, she broke her silence and spoke for the first time in over a week. "One day," she leant forwards slightly, voice dangerously calm. "I am going to burn this place to the ground."

The Handler grinned, then, confidently and stood. Brushed her skirt off and pocketed the device, indicating this meeting was nearly over. "This entire compound is made of stone." She said in a tone that said 'id like to see you try.'

Lena gripped the arms of her chair with a little glow behind her pupils. "Your people aren't."

Her smile diminished quickly and she went to respond when a blaring sound peirced the air, making Lena flinch and the Handler pale. After a second, she realised it was an alarm.

She clenched her fists, outraged, before flashing a plain and fake smile at the girl. "Be a good girl and stay where you are." She quickly hurried to the door, heels tapping along the floor. "You know what will happen if you don't."

Lena was still as the door closed and locked behind her. With her gone she was able to breathe a bit easier, her heart racing, the alarm loud and blarung and hurting her skull. She closed her eyes, sinking back into the hard chair.

But a second later, under the cacophony of the alarm, she heard a familiar sound. Something she had been missing, something that made her heart rate spike. A whooshing from behind her.

Her eyes snapped open.

Foottseps raced towards her and a cold hand was placed on her shoulder them trailed down her arm as he came round to stand in front of her.

She should have known.

"We have to go. Now." He looked frazzled, frantic.

He barely had time to look at her before she was pulled to a stand, hand in his, and panic gripped her in a chokehold.

"Wait-"

But he had already spacial jumped them away before she could get the words out.