Notes: Hey everyone! How are you holding up with this crazy heatwave? Remember to keep hydrated and to stay indoors if you can!

Also, I'm very excited to post this chapter, this was actually one of the first scenes I wrote, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

The Beast is Unleashed

Lila sat in the second floor of the torture room watching her mother giving orders in the first floor, she had decided it was time to move Five back there after almost three weeks in the Commission's medical wing; Lila thought it was a little too soon, actually, the doctors had said just as much, the guy had been lucky he had been shot with a 22-caliber pistol and that he had so many layers of clothes, including a layer of bandages, but he had still lost a huge amount of blood for his physical age, not mentioning the exhaustion and malnourishment. In fact, she was almost sure that if the medical staff at the Commission was any less proficient, he would have died, he had flatlined two times before they had managed to stabilize him after all, no wonder he had spent the next two weeks and a half completely dead to the world, she sighed thinking back to that day.

She knew she was meant to make sure Diego stayed away from any other trouble that night, but for some reason she felt unfocused and restless, would the old man stop everyone in time? Would he be alright? And then she thought about how Diego would feel, she knew he pretended to be tough and always acted like he didn't need anyone, but she knew deep down he was protective and caring, how would he feel if his sister died… or if he knew her own mother was forcing his little – not little, he's almost 60 years old – brother to run himself raw while slowly starving him to dead? She shook her head trying to shake away those thoughts, the least she could do was check on him, right? She'd just make sure the mission went well, there was nothing wrong with that.

As she approached the location, she was sure she heard a gunshot, she looked at her watch, if things were according to his plan, Five should have been done by then, she felt her stomach twinge and started running towards the place he had pointed for the truck.

When she got there, the rain was so intense, she could hardly distinguish the bodies sprawled around the truck in the darkness, she looked around for an academy jacket, he should be inside the truck waiting for a member of the Commission to take him back, but the truck was empty and there was no other noise but thunder and rain, she felt her heart drop, why was she getting all worked up? Yeah, maybe he wasn't that bad, but it wasn't like she actually cared that much about the little weasel, right?

"Lila?" She heard a muffled raspy voice nearby.

She snapped her head around and saw Five curled on his right side, a scarlet pond of water encircling him like a bad omen.

"Five!" She yelled surprised by her own urgency as she kneeled by his side.

"I I left," he took a hitched breath and pressed his hand harder to his chest scrunching his pale face in pain, "I left two bodies in the street!" He urged with darkening eyes.

"What?"

"B-Bring 'em here, …please," he pleaded trying to keep his eyes focused on her.

"I'll get them later, I'll take you to the Commission," she checked him over, he was pale like paper, his lips already taking a bluish hue and his breathing abnormal.

She stood up to get her briefcase but he stopped her pulling at her sleeve with his free hand.

"N-no, get the bodies first, blink 'em 'ere," he begged with his glazed eyes.

She hesitated for a minute before nodding unable to hide the apprehension in her voice, "Okay but… you better not die while I get them."

"I'm fine, just… just get them… please," he muttered.

She blinked behind a car in case anyone was still there and searched for the bodies in the distance. There were only a few remaining people, but Five's sister was among them, she looked worried out of her mind while she searched frantically for something, or more likely, someone; fortunately, a siren at the distance caught everyone's attention allowing Lila to take the chance to recover the bodies with a blink and then run back to Five.

The Boy was already unconscious and his breathing was starting to sound more ragged, so she wasted no time and took him back to the Commission, someone else could take care of the bodies in the alley later.

"Do you think he should be sitting already?" She asked as the Handler joined her in the second floor.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd say you sound concerned, darling," chanted the Handler arching an eyebrow, "what were you doing near the beauty parlor again?"

"I just wanted to make sure the mission went well, mom."

"Really? …Well, maybe you were right to check on him, he's been getting a little sloppy, don't you think?"

"Well, maybe if you gave him some food and time to recover and rest," mumbled Lila.

The Handler gave her a stark look, this had gone on long enough. She grabbed the intercom and spoke, "Everyone, out. Now."

Lila fidgeted with her sleeves nervously as all the staff climbed the stairs and left, that wasn't a good sign.

"Listen Lila, it's time for you to stop this little game of yours, Five betrayed the Commission, twice, he tried to kill me and he's been trying to brainwash you this whole time," the Handler hardly ever used that tone of voice with her.

"That's not…, I know that mom, but if you want him to be of any use, you should give him real food, trust me, I've used his powers and it's exhausting after a few blinks, you'd be surprised how much energy it requires to-"

The Handler lifted a hand to make her stop and chuckled humorlessly, "please save it, darling, we're both smarter than that. Besides, I'm almost done with him," she finished with cold eyes.

"What?" Lila asked befuddled.

"Do you really think I care about what happens to him or his family after all the crap he's pulled? They brought the apocalypse with them to the sixties you know; they are a public menace that should have been eradicated a long time ago."

"Wait, what?" This was the first time Lila was hearing all this.

"You heard me, his time-bomb of a sister is going to cause a new apocalypse in 5 days, if you don't believe me, you can go have a look at the Infinite Switchboard; we'll just get rid of her before that happens. As a matter of fact, they can all die for all I care," she snarled.

"What about Five?"

"What about him?" Sure, at first she had wanted Five to join forces with her, they could have done so much together, but now she just wanted to see him suffer and wither in front of her, he had not only rejected and betrayed her, now he was trying to take her daughter's trust away from her, and honestly, even this was getting dull. "Frankly, it's getting boring to see him struggle so pathetically, he's rendering himself useless for such pitiful reasons; I'll just keep using him until he drops dead or until he needs to be put down out of his misery, which won't be long by the looks of it." she said coolly as if she was talking about a piece of tissue paper.

Lila's eyes opened wide and she felt a shiver run through her spine as she watched over the unconscious assassin through the glass, which didn't go unnoticed by the Handler.

"So he actually managed to get your sympathy, didn't he?" She spat with contempt. That old conniving bastard, he´ll pay for this. "Trust me darling, he doesn't deserve a drop of pity from anyone, least of all from you."

"Least of all from me? What are you talking about?" Frowned Lila a little confused returning her gaze to the Handler.

"Well…" the Handler turned away from her daughter hiding a twisted smile, if she had allowed this silly whim of hers to begin with, it was simply because she had always had an ace up her sleeve, and the longer she waited, the stronger the blow would be, "because he's the one that killed your birth parents, of course," she dropped.

Lila didn't even know how long it had been, but she was still quavering with anger, patiently waiting for the assassin, the murderer, to wake up. As soon as her mother had revealed the truth, she had rushed downstairs to turn the knobs down to wake him up, it wasn't like she didn't want to kill him right then and there, but she wanted him awake to destroy him in every possible way.

Five opened his eyes, slowly looking around the room, he felt like a truck had run him over as the events that brought him there started coming back to him. His eyesight gradually began to get clearer until he recognized Lila's face right in front of him. He remembered what had happened before he had fainted and felt a rush of gratitude towards her.

"Lila… thank you," he slurred before feeling Lila's hand clench his shirt and pull him close to her face with a sneer.

"How. Dare. You. Thank. Me, you little piece of shit!" She sneered dangerously.

Five was so confused by this, that he just stared at her wide-eyed.

"You pretend to care so much about your stupid family, you even pretended to care about me, but you're nothing but a cold-blooded murderer, I should have left you to die in that back alley!" she kept rising her voice, the sense of betrayal she was experiencing was beyond anything she had ever gone through before.

He opened his mouth to defend himself, but he couldn't speak, there was really no argument against that, he was a despicable murderer, he had single-handedly killed 14 people to prove it once again. If Allison had looked worried, it had only been because of her kindness, not because he deserved it.

"What, now you have nothing to say? No more pretty words this time?" She spat at him.

"I—," he tried, his voice coming raspy and broken, drowsiness fading away with the adrenaline of the moment.

"You bastard, I can't believe I actually thought you cared about anyone but yourself, all this time you were just manipulating me!"

"What, no!" He was a killer, that much was true, but he couldn't figure out what he had done to make Lila feel so angry and betrayed. He looked around trying to find some sense until his eyes met with the Handler's upstairs, she gave him a dark smile.

Lila pulled at his necktie aggressively and getting close to his ear she snarled, "Why are you still clinging to life, you piece of shit? Your family is already dead either way."

"W-What did you say?" Five stammered, in a matter of seconds his mouth felt dry and he suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous, the room felt so smothering and cold his small frame started to tremble.

Lila smiled, "you brought the apocalypse with you, in a few more days the world will cease to exist along with your stupid family."

"No… no no no no no," Five muttered feeling his heartbeats spiking and his breathing quickening, all of a sudden everything started to fade away, Lila, the room, he could distinctly smell ashes and burnt flesh, he closed his eyes and the image of his dead siblings plagued him forcing him to open them back in horror.

"I paid a visit to the Infinite Switchboard to see exactly how it happens while I waited for you to wake up", Lila hissed. "All your siblings will come together to stop an attack from Russia and a nuclear bomb will explode right in front of them, imagine that, how gloriously messy," she savored Five's shocked expression.

Five remembered the war casualties he had seen during his time in the Commission, he knew what a nuclear bomb did, he could picture with perfect clarity the burnt bodies, hardly recognizable faces twisted in pain before disappearing entirely. "That… that can't be true," he muttered feeling like he was suffocating no matter how hard he tried to pull some air inside his lungs.

"Trust me, it's true," Lila smirked.

The Boy looked around in a daze, "this… this can't be," he garbled between hitched breaths feeling like he was about to faint, he needed to calm down, but his siblings would die again, he needed to think, but everything was his fault, he needed to—

At that moment his eyes met with the Handler's again, suddenly everything went silent, the smells were gone, the ashes, Lila's voice, everything was gone, his vision tunneled to her, now he remembered why he was there, what was keeping him from running to his family, what was keeping him from saving them, and his expression completely transformed, his eyes locked on hers and darkened, "she lied to me," he growled dangerously.

His chest felt like it was about to explode, heart racing, damaged lung burning, and his mind breaking down, it was too much, the fatigue, the pain, the raging hormones, the wrath, the loss, he didn't care about his life, but his family had to live, that was all he had ever wanted, all he had ever fought for his entire life, and without warning, a torrent of adrenaline exploded like a geyser inside of him, his body moved on its own trying to free itself with the little strength he had left, his hands started to shine blue and the glow started to grow by the minute producing a current of wind that pulled the papers in the room into a whirlwind that surrounded him.

Lila backed off to the wall shocked by this sudden display of power and searched for her mother's eyes for an answer, but the Handler had no eyes for her, her eyes were fixed on Five with a mixture of fear and absolute wonder, how could he be capable of using his ability despite everything, and with such a display of power that she had never seen before? This was an unblemished reminder of his prime, of why he was exceptional.

As Five let out a ragged holler, a blue circle of energy began to surround him, it wasn't Vanya's unlimited power that devoured everything in its path making her look like a goddess among mortals, this was barely a thin static film that surrounded him, but as it enclosed the flying papers and any other objects surrounding it, they began to move more slowly, and the more it materialized and the closer things got to the center, they appeared to freeze in time.

The Handler had produced that same phenomenon a hundred of times thanks to the Commission's tools before, but she would have never dreamed of an individual being capable of doing the same. She knew this was uncanny, it was different, it was raw, it was a reflection of Five's own soul, surrounded by a tempest of primal and fierce love for his kin and skin-deep loyalties that surrounded an even scarier mind, pragmatic, calculating, sharp as a knife, still and focused even in the worst-case scenarios, like an eagle patiently waiting for its prey to make a wrong move to dive and kill… and those blue eyes, so wild and determined. No, this was not the power of a deity, not even the power of a bloodthirsty demon, this was the power of a wild rabid beast, a bleeding wolf fighting with claws and fangs to be freed and save his pack. Could people really blame her for being obsessed with this force of nature? A flawless assassin but in equal parts a fierce protector, there was no black and white for Five, no selfish desires, no greed, just arrogance to take everything upon his small frame, pride on his sharp mind and skills to believe he could actually do it, all that surrounding a core of blind love for his family.

Unnerving silence surrounded Five inside that inexplicable orb of frozen time he had created, or at least it sounded like he was underwater because the raging wind was nothing but a distant whistle, he could only hear the sound of the beats of his increasingly tired heart and a ringing in his ears. His mind was running wild trying to figure the right equation to blink himself out of the chair and the collar, any miscalculation and he could end up killing himself, and another part of it trying to figure the amount of energy he'd need and to regain just enough control over his powers so they wouldn't end up killing him before he managed to escape; he could feel his nose, eyes and ears starting to bleed out, but there was no coming back, this surge of power was everything he had left, and he'd use it to break free from the Commission or die trying. He focused on his powers and as his hands started shinning even brighter, a loud howl sprang from his throat as he felt his body breaking apart.

The Handler was shaken off her daze by Five's howl. The chair, the drugs, the weakness, it seemed like none of that would be enough to stop him, it was either escape or die in the process at that point and suddenly none of them seemed like an option to her, not after witnessing this terrifying potential, so she ran to take the collar control and activated it.

Five bit back a shriek of pain and the sphere faltered for a moment, but then it kept glowing stronger, the electric shock had been massively slowed down by Five's field of frozen time, but it was still a timebomb, he needed to focus enough to stop time completely or to free himself somehow before the shock expanded. The Handler panicked as she realized what was happening and began to increase the power of the charges in the hope that the collar would take effect before the assassin could escape.

As the electricity started coursing through Five's body, he couldn't prevent the shriek from leaving his throat, but he clenched his jaw and bore his eyes on the Handler with more ferocity, he looked more and more like a rabid wolf ready to pounce over its prey as soon as it freed itself.

"Lila, get out of there!" Hurried the Handler slamming the glass.

Lila hadn't moved an inch after she had pushed herself against the wall, just a minute ago he looked like death itself and now he was lashing out like never before against all odds to free himself and save his family, it always came down to his family, Lila thought more confused than ever before looking at her mother and running for the stairs.

Five held nothing back, a roar came from deep within him while his hands shone brighter and brighter, so close, almost there, he thought desperately.

But then the shockwaves reached his head and caused him to see dots of different colors swimming in front of his eyes, the energy field faltered again, giving chance for a new wave of stronger charges to roam through his body, he heard an inhuman screech that came from his own throat and felt his neck and arms burn while he desperately tried to keep gathering more energy.

The Handler hesitated for a second, the developers of the collar had warned her about using the maximum charge, it could fry anyone's brain in a matter of seconds, but nothing seemed to stop Five, so she held her breath hoping it would stop him in time and set the control to the maximum charge.

Five could feel his powers drain with each passing second, and with each waver of his time orb, a stronger wave of electricity catching up coursing through his body and creating a chain reaction. He stubbornly kept fighting through the pain until the last bolt of electricity blasted through him, it was so strong, that for a moment it resonated with his power making the energy sphere grow bigger and brighter, chains of lightning dancing around it, but just as abruptly as the peak of energy had manifested, the sphere imploded and Five's heart went into a momentary arrest, leaving him collapsed with smoke coming from the burns on his neck.

The Handler bit her lower lip and side eyed Lila before hurrying down to check on the boy's pulse. She sighed and looked up at her daughter.

"It's very weak, but it's there," she smiled pleased trying to control her shaking limbs.

"You should have just killed him off," muttered Lila bitterly before storming off with tears in her eyes.

Notes: Darn... so many things will changed after this chapter... and just when things were starting to look better for Five... :(

Poor Lila too tho! :((