[✓] 𝑆𝑇𝐴𝑅𝐿𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇 | 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚

Word count: 3441

𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐎 the ground, the rough pavement scraping her knees and hands. 

She could hear the crackle of the vortex overhead. She lifted her head and squinted her eyes, only to watch it close and leave behind a clear evening sky. 

She furrowed her eyebrows as she got to her feet and looked around the alleyway she had landed in. The building to her right was made out of brick and had a faded cartoon advertisement for milk that decorated it on the far end. Behind her, was a television and radio place.

Everything looked rather old-fashioned, so something told her that they had travelled far back into the past. While she had no clue how far back, she was glad that this trip was at least far more successful than both her and Five's first attempt at time travel.

One thing, however, that wasn't there, was the rest of the Umbrella Academy.

"Five?" she called out worriedly, slowly spinning on her heel as she looked around for any sign of life. "Diego? Vanya?"

No response.

Where were they? There were about a million possible answers to that question, and she had no idea how to find out which one it was.

They could've been scattered to different places; they could've been scattered to different times; they could've been trapped within the vortex somehow; or the worst . . . She didn't want to think about the worst.

"Shit," she muttered to herself, running a hand through her hair and trying her best to detangle the knots that had formed with her fingers. 

She put her hands on her hips as she slowly turned in a circle, trying to think of something as her eyes roamed around the unknown area. She stopped when she saw a small flurry of movement in the window of the television and radio building. 

There had been someone—a man, it seemed—who had been watching her but he had quickly moved the orange curtain to cover the window as soon as she saw him.

Her eyes then trailed up to the top right of the building and her eyebrows furrowed; there was some sort of satellite and picture system that sat on the rooftop, with about four different satellites set up, and a camera that was set on a tripod, directed straight at her.

That was suspicious.

Her eyes on the window, whose curtains had since then remained unmoved, she walked up to the door. On the rusting door was a dirty sign that read:

MORTY'S AM/FM
TELEVISION RADIO
SHIPPING & RECEIVING

On the right of the door was a gold plate that had the name of the owner: Mortimer Gussman D.D.S. The same name was carved at the top of the stone that outlined the door.

Elizabeth put her hand on the metal doorknob and tried to twist it. It was locked. With a sigh, she looked around to see if anyone was near, and, upon seeing no one, she then pushed her hand out to the side. 

Once the portal was ready to go, she stepped through and entered the building.

There was a set of black stairs that she started to creep up, and she soon reached the landing, whose hallway carried two doors.

There was a regular door on the sidewall and another right in front of her. This door had a window, although the insides were hidden with the use of blinds, and the same name was printed on the middle of the window.

She walked up to this door and bent her knees slightly, trying to peek through the blinds, but saw nothing.

She sighed and knocked on the window, and, almost immediately, the door to her right burst open to reveal the man she had briefly seen. He had a thin frame, and was quite taller than her, with mousy, brown hair and frantic blue eyes. He wore a nervous expression as his gaze was set upon her, and he swallowed.