SIX. it could be love

McKenna Barlowe had a very strict set of rules. She liked to call it McKenna's Guide to Being the Perfect Assassin.

Rule 1. Never let anything or anyone get in her way
Rule 2. Never get distracted.
Rule 3. Do whatever it takes to make it to the top
Rule 4. Hustle for a good life

McKenna worked twice as hard as everybody to achieve her goal. Her powers were the strongest. Everybody knew not to get in her way. To the outside world, McKenna was a vixen. A trickster. A cowboy if you must. She didn't care who she hurt as long as it got her what she wanted and what she wanted was to be successful.

That was until Five came along and McKenna realized she was slowly beginning to break her rules. A year passed since Five came to the Commission. His name was famous. He was one of the top assassins. Along with McKenna, the two of them are unstoppable.

They grew closer in the lengthy time. McKenna revealed things to him she never told people before. He opened up to her. They told each other things. She felt comfortable with Five, something she never felt with any man in her whole life. With each day that passed, every minute they spent together, it got harder for McKenna to lie to herself. She was falling for him and it terrified her.

Five Hargreeves was an enigma of a man. He had a violent, uncontrolled temper, which sent him literally insane when he was annoyed, but his soul was deep. He wore the smell of blood and death like perfume. He was a beautiful swirl tornado of divine violence. His expression was always serious, yet it always seemed to soften when he looked at her. He looked at her differently from how he looked at everyone else.

McKenna did not know this feeling that she felt for Five. It was unknown and nerve racking. Her stomach always burned when he was near and her smile grew a little bigger. She yearned to explore that feeling.

McKenna sat in the switchboard room with Herb on her break. A cigarette rested between her fingers, her black painted nails on display. She eyed the numerous screens of different timelines in front of her.

She passed it to Herb. "I don't think this is a good idea." He commented but took it anyway.

She smirked. "I'll take it back if you don't want it." She held her hand out.

He rolled his eyes and took a puff.

"That's what I thought."

Herb spun side to side in the rolling chair. "You're more chirpy today than usual." He observed.

McKenna just shrugged. "So what if I am?"

"I like this side of you. It's less threatening."

Her jaw dropped. "Hey, I have never threatened you!You're about the only person here I can stand."

He hummed with a smile. "That's makes me very lucky, I suppose. Nobody wants the wrath of McKenna Barlowe on their backs."

McKenna winked and took another puff of the cigarette.

"Really though. What's got you all smiley today?"

She was unconscious that she was even smiling. "What's wrong with smiling? I'm just in a better mood lately!" She said defensively.

"Herb smirked.  "Could it possibly have anything to do with a man who's name is a number?"

Again, her jaw dropped. lHerb, since when are you into gossiping?"

He took inhale of his cigarette. "Since you got me into smoking with you. Now, cough up the information." He demanded.

McKenna chuckled. "That could possibly be the reason." She downplayed.

Herb smiled again. "I've never seen you so smitten,  Kenna. It's quite exciting,"

"He's just. . . I don't know. He's different, y'know?" She said and cringed slightly. "He makes me feel like more than just the McKenna Barlowe that the Commission wants me to be. With him I can just be. . . McKenna." Her words trailing and she started smiling more.

Well, cheers to a happier and brighter McKenna." They held up their cigarettes.

Five walked into the switchboard room. "There you guys are. I've been looking everywhere."

"All you had to do was follow the smell of smoke.• McKenna joked and Herb laughed

He half smiled. "What are you guys doing?"

"Smoking all we can before going back into the real world." Answered Herb.

McKenna smirked. "Wanna join?"

"Are you trying to get me fired, Ken?"

She held back the smile at the nickname. "I'll take the blame. Like they're going to get rid of me."

Herb laughed again. Five sighed. "Alright, give it here."

McKenna took a cigarette from her pack and lit it for him. Five took a long drag.

"Well, I better be getting back to work." Herb announced and he stood from the chair. He tipped his hat at them and walked out of the room.

Five and McKenna glanced at each other. He smiled. "How's your day been?" He asked and sat down in the chair beside her.

McKenna smiled back. "It's been okay. Haven't had a mission in a couple days. I don't know what to do with myself."

He chuckled. "You get to relax."

She shrugged. "I don't know how to do that either."

"Sounds like you need a very long break from here." He mentioned.

McKenna took another hit and slowly blew the smoke out. "Not possible. My life is here, Five." She responded.

"You deserve a break, Kenna. You work really hard."

Another nickname. She half smiled. "I'm the best because I work hard." She stated.

Five smirked. "Besides me, of course."

She scoffed. "Please, I've been here way longer than you."

"And I'm already making my way to the top." She flipped him off. Five laughed again. He leaned forward in the chair. "Do you have any plans tonight?"

McKenna hummed. "Probably just me and a glass of wine."

"Why don't you and I go out? Give us both some time to relax." He suggested casually.

She raised her eyebrows. "Like. . . Like a date?"

The corner of his lips curled. "Sure, who not?"

McKenna rolled her lips back into a smile. "That's sounds nice."

Five smiled with his teeth.

McKenna didn't allow want to be so tough. There were times she scared her own self by how destructive she could be. She put up a wall so that people couldn't see how she was truly feeling. The Commission turned her into something horrible. It turned her into a killer;  someone with no remorse for others. McKenna didn't care about the people she killed. She lived for the bloodshed because it made her feel powerful.

All her life, McKenna was taught to be the best. Her powers made her a target and she needed to be prepared for the worst. That's what The Handler said, anyway.

Nobody could ever get through to her. But Five saw something different. She was more than what she wanted him to believe. McKenna was kind. She was intelligent and clever. Of course she was powerful but she had a good heart. She liked to play games and Five liked to win.

He stared at her from across the table. The candle in the middle of them shined in her face, reflecting off her brown eyes. McKenna felt his stare. "What?"

Five shrugged. "Can I not look at you?"

"No, it's creepy." She answered but smiled anyway.

He let out a breathy laugh. "I'm sorry, I can't help it."

McKenna rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"You are really bad at taking compliments."

She rested her knuckles under her chin. "Haven't really got a lot of them."

Five scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

"The only compliments I get are from drunk men at the bar. I don't exactly count those." She told him and picked up her wine glass.

His eyes softened. "I'm not those men."

McKenna stared back at him, the candle light swirling in her irises. She drank her wine, not breaking eye contact, and when she pulled the cup away from her lips, she smiled. "I know that." She responded softly.

Five Hargreeve's only desired one thing on his life. Since a boy, he wanted power. Glory. He was hungry for. He'd do anything to get it. But now, sitting in front do the woman who's wicked eyes had him falling on his knees, Five would give her his heart to make a place for it to happen, evidence of a love that transcends hunger. "Do you want to know a secret?" He voiced.

McKenna flicked up her eyebrows.

"I've seen a lot of things in life. Done a lot of things I regret, that I wish I could take back. Start over." Five began. "But this is the best thing I think I've ever done."

Could it be love? Was that this feeling she felt? The urge to hold him forever or the buzzing in her blood? McKenna never felt this way but it so hard to control. She never wanted this. It wasn't a part of her plan. But he was so desirable, and she knew she'd pay for it one day. "I feel the same way."

Five had his own set of rules. And he, too, was breaking them for her.