THE BEAST ─ five hargreeves

[ 010 ] zara breaks up with her psychotic fiancé

X.

z a r a b r e a k s
u p w i t h h e r
p s y c h o t i c f i a n c é

—"BUT . . . HE'S GAY," said Biggs, perplexed.

"Hush, dear!" whispered Mrs. Biggs. "You're ruining the moment!"

"Uh, what?" Zara asked, her wide eyes fixated on the Ring-Pop in Five's outstretched hand.

"Yes or no," he hissed impatiently. "We don't have all day."

"I—I guess so."

"Alright," he slid the candy ring onto her finger and stood up, brushing the dust off his blazer. "Great. We're married now. Hargreeves is a much better last name than Cuda, anyway, and it doesn't make you sound like a predatory salmon."

"Hey! I come from a long line of—"

"Rhyming fishermen. I know. You told me."

Zara turned back to the slice of cake on her plate, stabbing at it angrily with a fork. She was, to be perfectly frank, pissed.

Whether she was pissed at Five or at herself was yet to be decided.

The mission had gone on for—what?—one day? Maybe two? Already, she had somehow gotten hitched with the person she was supposed to be stabbing in the back. Zara was no closer to figuring out Number Seven's powers. In fact, all she had done so far was get a makeover, a lizard, and a fiancé she wasn't even legally allowed to be married to.

Not bad for forty-eight hours work, but not good enough.

Biggs and his wife turned back to their dinner, with the latter making loud and joyous exclamations about this "heartwarming display of puppy love."

Five watched Zara as she demolished her cake into a pile of crumbs. "You're mad at me."

"No."

"You're lying," he said. "And you're not a very good liar."

Zara stiffened. "What? Why would you say that? I haven't been lying to you. No, definitely not. Nope. Never." She gave a short bark of nervous laughter.

Five raised his eyebrows a little at that, but he said nothing. There really wasn't anything to say. Zara was lying to him. Five knew that—he was far from stupid—but he wanted so badly for her to be one of the "good guys" that common sense had flown out of the window.

"Excuse me, dear," came the voice of Lance Biggs from the table next to them, "I'll be back in a moment."

Five and Zara exchanged a knowing glance as the man got out of his seat with a laboured grunt and made his way past a set of doors.

Five stood up immediately, and Zara yanked him back down by the arm. "What?" he whispered, "We need those keys!"

The girl had an idea, and although her ideas were absolute rubbish, she had a vested interest in getting to that file before Five.

Not only did she need those papers, but Mrs. Biggs seemed like a nice lady and Zara didn't want to bring her body count up from zero to one because she was curious about a pair of kids getting up to follow her husband.

"Don't make it obvious," said Zara. She was terrible at speaking quietly under her breath, and Mrs. Biggs gave her a strange look. "Be cool."

"Cool? What are you talking about—"

"How dare you?!" exclaimed Zara in an obnoxiously high pitched voice for all the restaurant to hear, "I thought you loved me . . . you—you fiend, and then this happens?"