Notes:
So... imagine how difficult it is to drag your whole family trough time and Five had already pushed himself ragged to help them, and then, everyone just acts like he's done the worst thing ever, so I wanted them to recognize that, but then my ficlet ended up turning into a bigger idea with a plot of some sorts and all, so let's see how this crazy ride goes!
Not an entire rewrite of season 2 because I'm just not capable of handling so many characters and writing a whole season, but you'll see all the siblings, Lila and the Handler here and there.
You'll also notice now and then that I took some original dialogues and situations from season 2 and slightly modified them; I really enjoyed season 2, so why not take some of the awesome dialogues and moments adding my little twist if it makes sense?
Five opened his eyes slowly, unable to hold a moan when the bright light passed through his eyelids like fire.
"Well, look who has finally decided to join the land of the living," the Handler's voice greeted him from somewhere nearby.
He immediately tried to move away from the source of the sound but, to his dismay, he was met with a firm resistance in arms and legs, the previous events coming back to him.
"Damn it," he muttered assessing the situation, at least as much as his foggy mind would allow.
The dizziness was mostly gone, but he still felt wobbly and weak, and his head and ears kept faintly buzzing like a time bomb about to explode. He remembered a similar feeling the first time he had time traveled all those years ago and then a few times when he had run himself ragged during some particularly tricky missions for the Commission, but it had never felt this bad or at least it had never lasted this long, assuming he had been out for at least a couple of hours. He knew he had taken a high-risk time-traveling with all of his siblings, but honestly, he'd do it again if it meant they'd live.
After gauging his state, he looked around, vision still slightly out of focus. Relief washed over him; he was alone, if the Handler had taken his family, she'd keep them where he could watch without a doubt. He was sitting on a metal chair, there was something surrounding his neck and his arms and legs were tightly tied, each to an arm or a foot of the chair. The room was completely white with some familiar instruments neatly arranged in racks and tables, temperature below comfortably cool and a big window at the second floor to supervise everything.
The torture room, of course, he thought proving at his bonds, they didn't allow any movement, his wrists already beginning to gash.
"What? D'you think you'd be lucky enough to be half-assedly tied up?" an unfamiliar voice provided. It belonged to a young woman around his height with brown skin, lean complexion and dark eyes and hair.
"I see at least some Commission agents have the minimum amount of competence," said Five trying his best at sounding nonchalant despite the shivers that shook his body from time to time, "who's this?" He pointed with his head at the lean woman dressed in black.
"This is—" the woman started, just to be silenced by the Handler, who waved a dismissive hand at her.
"This happens to be my daughter," smiled the Handler while her spawn frowned back with something that seemed like annoyance, noted Five.
Great, now I need to be wary of one more… like if one psycho creep isn't bothersome enough, he thought scowling at her. She didn't look anything like the Handler, Probably adopted as a toddler to be trained, his mind provided; and she was definitely around his siblings' age, so how come he had never heard of her before?
"So, this rugrat is the famous Five? To be honest, that's a little underwhelming mom," she sneered at him.
"Don't be deceived by his appearance darling, the old fool traveled back to his time with his own powers and got stuck with this scrawny teenage body by messing up his calculations."
"Awe is that so?" the young woman mocked him with a big grin, "Weren't you supposed to be super smart or something? Did tiny Fivey messed up his math homework?"
At this Five growled showing his teeth, there was something about people talking to him like a kid and mocking his skinny build that always got under his skin. "Listen, you little brat, I don't even need to be smart to tell I have earwax smarter than you."
"What does that even mean?" snorted the woman clearly enjoying this.
"Lila darling, would you give us a minute, please? Be a good girl and fetch me some coffee."
"Yes, the grown-ups need to talk," Five retorted with a smug smile directed at Lila.
"Ugh, fine, I was getting bored anyway," she sulked walking to the stairs.
"Oh, come on darling, you were just telling me you wanted more responsibilities, didn't you?"
Five nodded off for a minute, it was getting harder to stay awake again, but this was no time to show any weakness to the enemy. He blinked rapidly trying to shake off the feeling of sand in his eyes.
"This is not… you know what I meant mom!" a shout from upstairs startled Five. Shit, didn't I just close my eyes for a second? When did she get there?
"I'm sure you're wondering how I found you," spoke the Handler interrupting his murky reverie.
He blinked a few more times watching Lila warily, then he cleared his dry throat and lowered his head thoughtfully, "I figure the Commission provided you with a device to track the alteration in the space-time continuum by my time traveling since they can already track where briefcase activity occurs… as for the when…" he grimaced, "probably one of my siblings already did something stupid that caught the attention of the Commission."
The Handler smiled elated, as much as Five's intelligence was a burden to the Commission, she couldn't help to admire that sharp mind.
"More importantly, what is it you want? Bet you're not looking for a reprisal of the last time I was in the Commission's headquarters," Five gave her his most acerbic smile.
"Well, as you can imagine, your little venture in the Commission costed me dearly, so I'm just trying to get back what I lost."
"And what makes you think I'd even consider helping you with that?"
"Do you like jazz, Five?"
"I'd rather lick a cheese grater," he gritted.
"Aww. Jazz is like a beautiful woman. Complex, emotional, hard to please…"
"I'm really hoping that you're going somewhere with this," griped the Boy wishing he could press his hands against his head to quiet the ringing and the pain.
"Under my leadership, the Commission would sound more like...," the Handler slouched to his ear and whispered, "...jazz," then she started to mimic a soft jazz rhythm.
"And what about the board of directors?"
"Well, that's where you come in."
"Nope. No, it isn't."
"In exchange for the assassination of the board, I'm willing to get you and your family out of this timeline and back to 2019 where you belong."
"What about the apocalypse when we get back to 2019?" asked Five incredulous. "As far as I can tell, my siblings made it back safely to this timeline, we could stay here and help Vanya learn to control her powers."
"Easy, once I take over the Commission, I'll let you go back a few days before the apocalypse and you can prevent your teeny sister from ending the world with a tantrum."
"I distinctly remember you telling me that the apocalypse had to happen, that it was supposed to happen."
"Back then I was toeing the company line, but once I'm in charge..." the Handler began to hum again, "we can riff…"
"Jazz."
"Exactly."
Five took a deep breath, he was too worn-out to think straight and consider all the variants and risks of staying in the sixties, his idiotic family would probably find many ways to mess with the timeline, but he really didn't want to do this anymore, nor did he want to give the Handler that much power, maybe now that there was no impending doom to worry about constantly, he could work out a better solution. "And what if I refuse?"
The Handler snickered, "Oh, to be honest with you, I don't think you have too many other options to consider, Five" she poked at his forehead with enough strength to shoot his headache to a new level of pain for a moment.
He pressed his eyes shot at the crushing pain, all of a sudden, a new wave of exhaustion hit him and he felt the weight of his entire life burdening him again, the missions at the academy, the apocalypse, the Commission and all the people he had killed over those years; he was so tired of it all and now his family was safe from the apocalypse. As much as a part of him scoffed at the thought, he knew they'd eventually figure things out without him.
"You know what? You can kill me for all I care, get your petty vengeance, I've lived long enough," a part of him regretted his words as soon as they came out, he had just recovered his family and he had never even met Claire, but he quickly pushed the feeling down.
All of this mess is my fault, maybe it's time for me to pay the cost and let them go on without my help.
"Oh no no no, I'm sorry to disappoint you, little man, but you won't get an easy escape like that, simply killing you off is not good enough anymore," sneered the Handler, "you see, I offered you a hand and you bit it in return, now you get to obey like a good dog and accept my generosity or I make you suffer the consequences," she finished waving something that looked like a control of some sorts with a knob that marked different magnitudes in front of him.
The Boy squinted warily at the device not quite sure what to expect.
"As it happens, when your sister offed Peabody, some agents from the Commission retrieved your father's notes to me," she stopped to appreciate the impact this revelation was sure to ensure on Five.
And just as she had predicted, despite his exhaustion and current foggy state of mind, she could tell the precise moment when that new information sank in by the way his eyes widened making him look much younger and by how the little color he had left, drained from his face. Well fancy that, I imagined I'd get a reaction, but never as good as this one, his old man certainly did a really good job messing him up, she thought delighted.
"So?" He tried to sound dismissive as his mind racked itself thinking about all the things Reginal Hargreeves could have written about him in those notes, about his family, about how easy it could be to bribe him with the right inducement.
"Well, while I was skimming through the pages, I found quite the cute anecdote," she savored, "do you remember that time when little 4-year-old you decided to see what would happen if you put a fork in the socket?"
Of course he did, that was the first time he thought he'd die.
The Handler lifted the device again and with a wicked smile turned the knob to the first mark. A sudden discharge of electricity spread from his neck to the rest of his body, followed by a familiar dropping sensation and a pull from the energy accumulating on his hands ready to rip the tendrils of space and time, distinctly materializing in front of his dilated pupils, but the blink never happened, his energy just surrounded him like a zapping lightning ball that was burning him from the inside out. But it wasn't only the pain from the enhanced energy bursting through his body, with each zap, he could feel the little energy he had left draining rapidly, his brain and organs griping.
A wild scream of agony echoed in the Commission's facilities.
When the Handler finally turned the switch off, his face, covered in cold sweat, looked as pale as paper and his eyes showed purplish marks under them, his body rattling involuntarily from time to time.
"This is even better than I thought!" She exclaimed amazed that she hadn't figured that one out before, "I can't believe such a simple little thing can be so ravaging to the infamous Five, and a dog training-collar of all things, you've got to love the irony! Isn't my new toy magnificent?"
"Let's just say I'll make sure to thank the old man when we meet again in hell," Five rasped with a twisted smile, damn the old bastard, this was probably the best way to break and incapacitate his body, but at least, this, he could handle.
"What's with the smug smirk, wasn't that enough for you?" snarled the Handler annoyed by his puzzling reaction.
"You can keep trying, that won't change my mind," taunted Five with the most conceited smirk he could muster.
He just needed to keep her focus on himself, as long as she only hurt him, it would be alright, she could keep going until she was satisfied, he could take it.
She took the bait; another discharge shook through his body and then another one and another one until he stopped writhing in pain and his body slumped limply on the chair, a trail of blood coming down from his nose.
Thank you so much for reading, please remember to drop me a comment if you'd like!