» ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴀ ꜰᴏx || ꜰɪᴠᴇ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴇᴇᴠᴇꜱ

Part 26

  ∆ Thank you so much for the 1k reads! ∆

—-

"I swear Five, where are you getting all these bruises?"
Cicero asked worryingly as he peered at the old teen's mandible, which held a very faint imprint of what was once a magnificent purple bruise.

It had been two days since Five's encounter with the handler and Lila, the weekend had creeped in sooner than he had preferred - and it was now Saturday.

The two were seated at the dining table yet again, the old timer with a mug of disgusting coffee in hand and dressed fully in his clean academy uniform.

Cicero sat happily beside him with a plate of bacon and eggs - adorning a new green knitted sweater, and a pair of blue baggy jeans.

He sighed and turned to the platinum blond, ignoring his question.
"Cicero, you know how you said you wanted to learn a few basics to hand to hand combat?"

The other nodded eagerly, quickly adjusting his black rimmed glasses.
"I've got, a job, to do today - as long as you can find a way to conceal yourself, you can come along - just don't interfere."

The boy nodded again, just as eagerly as the other time - wondering just what the mysterious Hargreeves child was going to do.

This job, is the one that the Handler offered not long ago - the task to assassinate the board of directors.

Five has attempted to figure out on his own toward the prevention of the end of times himself - but his mind failed him when he needed it the most.

The Handler really was his last option.

—

A middle aged man sat inside the remains of an old dismantled library, scalding wind blowing against his face - glass bottle of beer that he had scavenged in hand.

It had been thirty eight years since Five had jumped forwards into the future, still unable to find a solution to return to his very much missed family.

Thirty eight years on the future Earth which had been reduced to nothing but a barren waste land that held only one living occupant.
Charcoal ash constantly rained down, large obsidian figures in ragged cloaks floating by eerily - mindless creatures that no longer did anything but fly to through the thick atmosphere, freezing it wherever they drifted off to.

Five Hargreeves suddenly stood up from the large debris seat, retrieving his blackjack rifle - and aiming it towards a blond woman dressed in a black leather dress.

"Who the hell are you?!" He shouted from his position, woman stopping ten metres away from him.

"I'm here to help." The blond replied, ruby red heels clacking as she navigated her way past the dusty rubble.

"Tell me why I shouldn't put a bullet through your head right now!" His raspy voice hollered.

"Because ... if you did." She placed a large obsidian briefcase down beside a broken square support beam, pulling her circular sunglasses up.
"you wouldn't hear the offer I'm about to make you.
Which would be rather tragic given your ... current circumstances." The woman said as she waved her gloved hand around the area, sitting down on that pillar.

Thee stranger crossed her leg over the other and faced the old man.
"I work for an organisation called the commission. We are tasked with the preservation of the time continuum through manipulation and removals."

Five lowered his gun slightly.
"I don't understand."

"Sometimes, people ... make choices that alter time. Free will, don't get me started." A long cigarette was pulled out.
"When that happens we dispatch one of our agents to ... eliminate the threat."

The weapon was immediately raised, aimed expertly at the woman's temple.

"No no no no, you miss understand me - you're not a target, you're a recruit." She laughed out.
"I've come to offer you a job, number five. We've had our eye on you for quite some time. And we think you have a lot of potential.
Your survival skills have made you quite a celebrity back at headquarters. That and your ability to jump through time."

She stuck the head of the pearly cigar into her mouth, the old man lowering his gun again slightly.
"You're saying that I ... I could actually leave here? Go, go back?" He stuttered out, almost demanding an answer.

"In return for 5 years of service.
Once your contract is done, you can return to the time and place of your choosing - with a pension plan to boot -"

"- If you could alter time - why not just stop all of this from ever happening?" Five raised his voice a fraction, asking.

"That quite impossible I'm afraid, you see ... All of this." She gestured to the disfigured surroundings again.
"It was supposed to happen."

"That's insane, the end of everything?" He said, voice cracking slightly.

"Not everything. Just the end of ... something."

The harsh hot wind picked up as the woman outstretched her hand daintily.

"So, do we have an agreement?"
The old man paused, staring at the black gloved hand for a moment.

He walked forwards and extended his own, shaking it.

"Yes, yes we do."

•