[✓] 𝐼𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐿𝑈𝐷𝐸 | 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐬𝐢𝐱. 𝑑.𝑠. 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦

Word count: 2507

"𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘, 𝐃𝐎 you mean to tell me that you searched all of Dallas in less than a minute?" Diego asked incredulously as he stepped towards her.

"All six hundred thousand miles." Valerie nodded and shrugged. "Don't act surprised, idiot. What do you think super-speed means? That I can control fire?"

"He okay to leave here like that?" Five questioned as he gestured towards Elliott, who was watching them anxiously.

"Yeah, he's fine," Valerie said dismissively with a nod.

Five turned to Diego and raised his eyebrows. "What about the girl?"

A look of realization came over Diego's face as he glanced over his shoulder and breathed out, "Shit."

As Diego went to find Lila, who had disappeared during their conversation, Five turned to Valerie. He seemed concerned, his green eyes roaming her face as he murmured, "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am," she said as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You said it yourself, you ran six hundred thousand miles in less than a minute," he pointed out with a small scoff. "That's a lot."

"It's not that bad." She shrugged. "I'm not tired at all."

"Well, I don't want you to pass out again," Five sighed, ruffling his hair with one hand.

Valerie frowned. "I know, and I'm sorry that it happened, but—"

"Hey, hey, I'm not blaming you for anything," he interrupted quickly as he placed a caring hand on her shoulder, grasping it tightly as he shook his head. "I just don't like seeing you hurt."

She gave him a small smile before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. "I know."

Diego came not long after, a determined look set on his face as he rolled his shoulders back. "All right, so are we driving there or—"

Valerie grabbed onto him and Five's collars and ran the three of them to the plain building from before.

It was dark out, and no lights were lit inside the building to indicate any sign of life. Next to the glass doors was a white sign with the familiar logo of an umbrella on it, the words D.S. UMBRELLA MANUFACTURING COMPANY accompanying it.

"This is it." Five nodded after both men had recovered from the nausea that had overcome them.

"'D.S. Umbrella.'" Diego stared in disbelief as he read the name off of the sign that sat next to the door. "This is it."

"What, you didn't believe me?" Valerie scoffed.

Five suddenly stopped a few feet away from the doors, his eyes glued to the sign. An unsettled look came across his face as he swallowed.

Valerie stopped walking and turned to him as she softly asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Five nodded before beginning to walk towards the doors again. He sighed as they stood in front of the doors and shook his head, "Just . . ."

"How long's it been since you've seen the old man?" Diego asked.

"Twenty-one years," Five answered as he leaned against the doors, his hands in his pockets.

"That's a trip." Diego got onto his knees in front of the handle, starting an attempt to pick his way through the lock.

"No kidding," Five scoffed as he tried to look through the tinted doors. "You know, when I was stuck out there in the apocalypse, there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't hear his voice in my head."