PYROMANIAC - (Umbrella Academy) X Five Hargreeves

1:28

Lena was fucking exhausted as she sat in the back of Diego's car next to Allison. Five was in front of her in the passenger seat while his brother drove.

She was very aware of Five's concerned glimpses through the rear view mirror the entire way.

Every single person was tense as the car jolted over potholes on the way to the police station. Every movement sent little shockwaves of pain through Lena's body, striking down from her neck and right into her spine.

Her head swam as they came to a stop. She kept her eyes closed and rested her forehead against the window, allowing the cold to seep into her bones.

"I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record," she heard the sound of Diego unbuckling his seatbelt. "We just gotta get our hands on his file."

The woman next to her sighed. "And your plan is to- what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?"

"I know this station like the back of my hand," Diego responded. "I spent a lot of time inside."

"Handcuffed." She had a good point.

He brushed her off. "Whatever. Here's the plan-"

Five gurned to Diego in confusion. "Plan? I'm just going to blink in and get the file."

"No, that's not- you dont know the ins and outs of this place."

"I literally just did this yesterday," Five pointed out.

Everyone in the car turned to him, save for the tired girl in the back as she was trying to block out their conversation. A second of silence went by before he clarified.

"Well... my yesterday. Not your yesterday. It'll take me two seconds."

"Listen to me," Diego butted in. "You are not going in there. I made a call, that's what a leader does. He leads."

"Then get on with it." Lena snapped bluntly, eyes still closed.

She could only imagine the sharp look sent her way from the driver. Diego got out of the car while Five sat back and sighed in frustration.

"This is bullshit," he mutters. "I could have the file by now."

Allison looked at him in bemusement. "Yeah, yeah."

There was a strange silence in the car after that comment. She knew someone was looking at her, she could feel their gaze on the side of her head. Opening her eyes lazily, she was surprised to find it was Allison and not Five, who looked out the window impatiently.

She stared back at her as she looked at Lena with a strange hesitant look on her face, like she was thinking of saying something but wasn't sure how to word it.

She rose an eyebrow, and her eyes uncertainly flickered down to Lena's neck. She tensed in her seat.

"Who... who did that to you?" She asked so quietly, with such concern for her that she hesitate on answering. She sounded too much like a mother, caring and kind. It filled her with a feeling that she couldn't pinpoint. After so much hostility and distrust before, this was a change she didn't like.

"Who do you think?" Her voice was strained.

She knew Five was listening from the front, but she didn't look at him. They hadn't had a chance to talk since they had gotten back, the siblings insisting on rushing around.

She averted her gaze and went back to looking out the window, that being all she was willing to say. She had no doubt Allison had a great view of the raw skin around the collar, along with burn marks that were not created by fire.

Allison, thankfully, didn't press on. Instead she said, "I think I should call Vanya."

"Theres no phone-" Five said.

"-there's a pay phone there," Allison pointed out, undoing her seatbelt and stepping out of the car.

When the door clicked shut and signaled her departure, Lena found her eyes darting towards Five's reflection in the side view mirror. He was looking intently at her.

He swallowed thickly. "I didn't know, Lena-"

"I know." She cut him off instantly, chest tightening.

Of course he didn't know about what they did to her. They were being kept apart until he managed to track her down in the Handlers office. "It's okay."

His eyes were cold as he looked at hers. "No it isn't, and you know it. I don't know how to help you," he uttered the last part softer, looking down at the thing around her throat. She closed her eyes and leant her head against the window again. "Did she keep the controls on her?"

Lena nodded slightly, before pressing her lips together to stop herself from tearing up, mind flashing with memories that cut her like a knife of being locked away in that room. "She could have had others, I don't- I don't know. I don't know." She said helplessly while hating how pathetic her voice sounded.

It was suffocating having that thing around her neck. The silence they were left in was suffocating. Her mind was strangling her with the dark thoughts racing round.

Her head snapped up at the sound of the door opening and Allison sat back inside the car quietly. Not a second later Diego rounded the corner and jumped into the front seat, handing a file over to Five triumphantly.

"You're welcome."

Allison reaches forwards to snatch it out of his hands and opened it immediately, eyes scanning the page. "Holy shit!"

"What?" Diego asks.

"Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody!" She gasped. 

"What?" They all exclaim, Lena and Five exchanging a hesitant glance.

"Vanya's friend- boyfriend," she corrected uneasily. 

Lena's first tired thought was what the fuck, because here she was thinking Vanya liked girls.