Armogan

Time is merciless. It never allows you to influence it, and if you dare, you will pay the price.

      The Academy's living room shone in bright purple light. All the members of the Academy were in the room and were slightly shaken with surprise. They had seen something similar today when Number Five moved through the space-time continuum.       "What else?" Diego asked.       The others backed away from the purple thing, fearing the unknown. At that moment, someone was hurled out of the purple ball and fell right onto the coffee table between the two sofas. They heard thunder and a whistle. The wooden table literally shattered into pieces under the impact of the body that fell on it. Everyone looked at the scene before them.       The nineteen-year-old blonde was convulsing with the pain and tried to get up, propping herself up on her elbow. Her efforts were in vain. She fell and scraped her hands even worse from the tiny flying pieces of wood. There were a bunch of scratches all over her body. It looked painful. A small amount of blood from her wounds, which she apparently had sustained before her fall, remained on the beige carpet.       "Do you see her too?" Klaus asked for the second time today, not knowing whether it was a living person or a ghost in front of him.       "We see," Diego replied in shock.       The girl still had difficulty getting up, despite the sharp pain in her arm. Ignoring the people in the room, she took a confident step towards the bar counter. Her gaze was determined, as if she knew this living room as her own. Everything seemed familiar: both the dark wenge wooden furniture, the chairs with long metal legs along the bar area, and even the sofa draped in a gray cover surfaced in her memories.       Behind the bar was a rack of alcohol, and her hands immediately reached for the bottle with a black label and white craft font. Whiskey. She pressed her lips to the cold neck of the bottle and began to gulp down the contents. The hot fluid burned her throat, and a strong kick hit her tongue. The platinum-haired girl turned back. She leaned her elbows on the cabinet behind her, and it saved her from another fall.. She leaned her elbows on the cabinet behind her, and it saved her from another fall.       "Who the hell are you?" Diego said as he got closer. "Hands off our whiskey!" He clearly didn't like what was happening.       Everyone shared that sentiment. Everyone except Klaus. He watched as the girl greedily swigged from a bottle of their father's incredibly expensive aged whiskey, gulping down the liquid gold as if it were water, oblivious to its price or its owner.       "Whoa! Honey, even I can’t!" Klaus snatched the bottle from her lips before the whiskey could spill down her bloodstained shirt.       A little more, and she would have succumbed to alcohol poisoning—something Klaus had experienced all too often. After all, it could lead to death, which wasn't exactly the desired outcome.       The girl ignored what was happening once again. It was as if she hadn’t noticed the six other people in the room. Her hands trembled, and a shiver ran through her entire body. But that didn’t stop her from stumbling into the next room. Number Two followed her, leaving the rest of the Academy behind.       "So, what the hell was that about?" Allison asked, looking at her siblings.       Klaus was only partly paying attention. "It’s not nice to talk like that about a girl you don’t know, Allison," he said.       "Very funny, Klaus, very funny," Allison smiled back slightly, while Klaus simply shrugged and took a swig of whiskey from the bottle in his hand.       Number Five stared pensively at the carpet for a moment, his mind already racing through a dozen theories. Then, with a sharp pop of displaced air and a flicker of blue light, he vanished, teleporting after his brother to find out what the hell those two were up to.       "Damn it, warn me before you do that!" Number Two snapped, jumping in surprise. Five swept a quick, calculating gaze around the room and realized they were in their father’s study. It had been a long time since he’d set foot in this place. Diego just stared at the girl, who was intently searching for something.       "What?" Diego asked Five, who stared at him, wondering why his brother hadn’t interrupted the girl. At the same time, their father’s folders and important papers flew in all directions. The girl was unfazed; reading the names, she frantically tossed the papers aside. Five closed the distance with decisive strides, intent on stopping her. Feeling the approach of the tense guy, she spoke first without taking her eyes off the documents: "You don’t know me, but it doesn’t matter."       Five was about to object, but the girl slightly raised her sleeve, revealing the umbrella tattoo—the unmistakable mark of The Umbrella Academy members. This gave him pause, providing him with sudden food for thought.       "Details," Five snapped, hoping the girl would explain herself. She, in turn, flared up; snapping her head back, she hurled the important documents to the floor. She had no intention of enduring another interrogation. Moreover, the text before her eyes began to blur—the whiskey was finally hitting her. But she refused to succumb to the haze, fighting to stay in control of her words.       "It’s none of your business. I’ll find the information and leave."       "None of our business? You’re in our house, digging through our documents," Five emphasized the word 'our' with a dangerous edge to his voice. "Now start explaining what the hell you’re doing here!"       "Yes! Really!" Diego added.              The emotional pressure from both men infuriated the stranger. She was desperate to find information about herself—anything at all—but there was nothing in those stupid papers, even though Reginald Hargreeves knew full well that she existed. He might have purposely destroyed every trace of her, knowing the consequences of keeping such records. In that case, she was in deep trouble and had to make a decision she dreaded. It would have been easier if she hadn't been disturbed by these two. They were hovering over her like vultures. There was no way out; she had to answer them.       "You wouldn’t believe me anyway."       "Try it," Five said curtly, his voice putting her even more on edge. That tone grated on anyone’s nerves, let alone hers.       "I'm not here specifically. I shouldn't be here at all," the girl’s voice strained as she spoke the second sentence. Clearly, it was a struggle for her to get the words out. "I don't know what I'm doing here, but I am trying to find out." She deliberately withheld the most crucial information, fearing their reaction would be unpredictable—or worse, that they wouldn't believe her at all.       "You can take my brother for an idiot if you want, but that won't work with me!"       Diego gave Five a blank, slightly dim-witted look, clearly failing to catch the joke. He just looked annoyed. Without a word, he grabbed Five by the shoulder and steered him toward the other end of the room.       "Listen, Five," Diego muttered in a low voice, making sure the girl was out of earshot. "Maybe we should go easy on her? She seems a bit out of it," Number Two continued, glancing over his shoulder at the white-haired woman.       Five couldn't fathom such a sentimental display on his brother's part. Sure, he was being harsh, but in his mind, it was entirely warranted. This girl had appeared out of thin air and posed a potential threat to the family. Besides, she was nothing more than an unknown variable—one that definitely didn't fit into his plans to save the world from the apocalypse.       "Okay, I'll tell you everything. Follow me," she said, heading toward the living room to address the entire Academy at once. The boys were taken aback by her sudden change of heart. Only moments ago, they’d had to drag every word out of her, and now she was leading the way as if she owned the place.

***

      "Where's Katherine gone? I haven't seen her in days," A.J. Carmichael demanded, his voice echoing through the glass of his bowl. It was eerily quiet in the Commission—save for the fallout from a high-profile breach of contract. A killer had gone rogue. The blame fell squarely on The Handler, who had notoriously failed to track down her own operative.       "Well, she had an assignment. Maybe she hasn't returned yet?" one of the agents offered, his voice wavering.       "Yes, The Handler dispatched her to Boston," the second man added quickly, leaning away from the desk.       A.J. didn't like the answer. He slammed his fist onto the table with such force that both employees flinched. The water in his bowl sloshed violently, reflecting his mounting fury.       "What the hell in Boston?! Boston wasn’t supposed to have any missions lately!"       "The Handler—that's her assignment. We have nothing to do with it!" said the man with a shaking voice. A.J. got up from his chair, clearly unhappy with the situation. This woman has long been untrustworthy to him.       "You’re walking on razor-thin ice," Carmichael growled, the smoke from his cigar curling through the valve in his glass tank. "Many would kill for your seat on the board. I hope you understand the stakes? Find Katherine. Now."

***

      "I have powers, too," the girl began, her voice steady as she sat before the gathered Academy. Luther’s skeptical smile faded, replaced by a sudden calm as he noticed her deadly serious expression. "I’m not joking. My name is Katherine. I suppose that's the standard way to introduce oneself, isn't it?"       "Did you ever have pets?" Klaus chimed in, leaning back with a smirk. The rest of the room shot him looks of pure disapproval in unison.       "No," Katherine answered flatly, closing her eyes for a brief moment as if searching for patience.       Repeating her story so many times was becoming exhausting. If she could only convey it all through telepathy, it would be so much easier. In fact, the room was spinning so violently that the silhouettes before her were starting to blur.       "Oh, we never had pets either," Klaus said, pouting as he offered her a sympathetic look.       "I know everything about your family. You don’t have to tell me," Katherine snapped, irritably rubbing the bridge of her nose, making it clear her patience was at its end.       "You know everything? Well, that doesn't sound suspicious at all," Five remarked sarcastically, settling into a guarded stance and crossing his arms in clear displeasure.       "When are you going to stop being so paranoid?" Katherine’s voice cut through the air, making Five even more tense. "I know all of you. We’ve known each other for... pretty much two years."       "You said we were strangers," Five countered, his eyes narrowing. He sensed the holes in her story and was determined to tear it apart.       "I said you don’t know me—that doesn’t mean I don’t know you," Katherine said slowly, bracing herself for his next outburst. "Now, why don’t you let me finish?" He didn't answer. He knew it was a rhetorical question, but his silence was heavy with suspicion.       "I'm not from this time," she continued, her gaze shifting to the others. "And I shouldn’t even exist in the one I came from. Klaus, for God's sake, stop using drugs and stealing everything that isn't nailed down!"       The siblings exchanged confused glances, still struggling to process her words.       "I'm serious, knock it off. I told you—I know everything about you."       "Is it some sort of power, or are you just from the future?" Vanya’s voice drifted through the room for the first time, but as usual, it went unnoticed.       "That's enough!" Katherine snapped, pushing herself off the couch. The room lurched, and a wave of nausea hit her. She needed to get out of there—now. "We’ll talk later," she muttered, stumbling toward the stairs.       In her haste, she slammed her shin against the coffee table. Hissing in pain, she reached out blindly to steady herself, her hand sweeping across a shelf. A deafening clatter of decorative bronze statuettes erupted as they crashed to the floor.       "Damn it!" she screamed. Every step up the stairs felt like climbing a mountain.       "Hey! Where are you going?" a voice called out behind her, but the words were just a blur.       Katherine didn't look back, her white knuckles gripping the railing as she dragged herself upward.

***

      The door was unlocked. Katherine found it instinctively, as if her body remembered the way better than her mind. She collapsed onto the small bed she knew so well. She couldn't even be sure if it was the exact same room she had occupied for a year, or perhaps a lifetime. Time had lost all meaning after her countless failed attempts to break free from this cycle.       She remembered the terror of that first day, falling onto the living room table. She had been so alone then. Now, dozens of apocalypses lay behind her, a nightmare on repeat. But the end of the world wasn't the hardest part—it was having a family and losing them, over and over again.       "Five will be heading to the coffee shop now," she thought, her eyelids growing heavy. "He’ll be ambushed, realize he’s being tracked, and crush that bug." She didn't even need her powers to see it. It was just another Tuesday in her endless, broken timeline.

***

      The awakening was not pleasant: headache, dry mouth, and dizziness. She should have had some water before she went to bed, like Klaus once suggested. The girl coughed a little and took out a hidden cigarette from her shoe. She had never smoked or drank before. But now, it can’t be helped. From the open window came the fresh air and the already nasty smell of the garbage, which was located right under her window.       "I hope Pogo doesn’t notice," said Katherine aloud, and she set the cigarette on fire with a lighter from her shoe. This time she needed to choose another way, otherwise, everything will repeat. Running away from the problem is impossible — this is not the solution. Thousands of thoughts filled her head, and the pain intensified.       The ability to see the future of the girl opened in childhood. At first, she could see only a few seconds, and later everything was different. Katerina noticed that her strength began to develop as soon as she first met the Fifth. She saw his future, and it was a frightening experience. Come to think of it, a girl’s life has changed completely because of this family, and they may have caused her a time loop, if you can call it that. After all, the girl has not yet been able to figure out what exactly happened to her. Many people would envy this opportunity—to start all over again—but to start over endlessly many times is not so pleasant. The wounds will heal, but she didn't erase her memory.       After Katherine smoked a cigarette, she went to the shower and then downstairs for a pill. Her footsteps echoed from the walls of endless corridors with rooms reserved for other unnamed children. Every step is a wasted second. Time flies fast and may not be enough.       Klaus was lying in the living room on the couch. It seemed like he was sick again after his next drug breakdown. He sent an air kiss to Ben, whose existence Katherine knew. The girl walked down the stairs and went into the kitchen. The smell of the ovaries awakened the receptors. Grace was making breakfast.       "Mom..." said Katherine quietly, and she immediately fell silent, knowing that she had said it out loud. Grace turned to Kath's voice, not knowing who it belonged to.       "I didn’t know we had guests," Grace’s signature smile illuminated the kitchen. "Scrambled eggs?"       "No, don’t. I don’t like breakfast."       Katherine opened the pill drawers, and the woman kept making breakfast. A smile flashed across the girl’s face. She remembered how Grace had taught her how to cook, and now Kath knew many secret family recipes.       After the blonde poured two glasses of water, she returned to the living room.       "Take it," Katherine handed Klaus the found aspirin and a glass of water.       "Oh, thank you! That’s so sweet of you," the guy who was in his underwear, happy to take the handout. He took the pill and threw the pill's package back. "It got much better!"       "Hey! Don’t do that!" said Katherine, who used to do all the cleaning at the Academy to relieve her own tension. She was on her way to pick up the pieces when Klaus stopped her.       "The shards will then disappear. Well, you know, magic," the guy raised his hands and showed "magic". The girl noticed that the table she had fallen on yesterday was again intact.       "Moron, Mom is always cleaning up after you! You got a lot of nerve?" she pushed the guy and started picking up the pieces.       "Mom?" Klaus lies down on the couch in complacency. "What an interesting plot twist!"       "You’re being a jerk. Finish it. Finish with the drugs, too."       Klaus just smiled back. He didn't seem to care. A few seconds later, he jumped off the couch.       "All right, all right! I’ll help her, stop mumbling!" the guy started helping the girl collect the broken glass. "You need to be careful, you can hurt yourself!"       "Thank you, Ben," said the girl with a smile. She knew it was him who made Klaus help her.       Number Four froze, realizing what she had just said. He grabbed Katherine by the shoulders, dropping all the pieces he had just collected. Ben, too, was surprised and decided to come closer.       "Do you... do you see him?" the guy asked, smiling.       "No, I don't."       "How do you know about Benny then?" said Klaus in disappointment. Katherine quickly picked up the remaining glass and headed for the kitchen. "Hey! Wait! You didn’t answer!"       "You should have guessed by now, for the sake of decency," said the girl to Number Four, who was dragging behind.       "You know, your answer reminded me of someone," Klaus smiled quietly.       "And who?" Katherine asked her, throwing out the garbage. She already knew the answer, but she decided to support the conversation.       "A grumpy old man. So how did you know about Ben? Come on!"       "Klaus, you told me about him."       "What? No! I don’t remember that!"       "Of course, you don’t remember, because it was you from the future!" Katherine angered herself, as if she had stated the fact, and went back to the living room. Klaus followed her again.       "Stop running around the house. I’m not young enough to follow you around from room to room!"        The girl came back to check the carpet for any remaining debris.       "I see the future, Klaus. Enough questions, they irritate me!"       "Wow! Yours and Five’s powers are so similar!" the guy was delighted. "What will I have in the future? I’ll sleep with someone super-hot?"       "Yes."        "Wow! Another question is, 'Can I drink five liters of cognac in one gulp?'"       "Klaus, I don’t know."       "How can you not know? You see the future!"       "In the future, you didn’t drink five liters of cognac in front of me, so I can’t say."       "All right, well, let’s make this easy. What happens in a minute?"       Katerina couldn’t tell us what was going to happen. Her actions are constantly changing the future, so she had to activate the superpower first, which she did. Her green eyes turned purple. To this day, it is not clear why it is purple, since the other members of the academy had a blue color when they activated their abilities. Klaus noticed the change in color and began to look more closely at her eyes.       "Five are going to be coming through the Academy in a minute," which is what happened. One minute later, Number Five opened the entrance door and walked up to the staircase.       "Wow! He really came! Five, wait!" said Klaus to Five. Number Five stopped on the stairs and turned to Number Four. "Can you imagine that Katherine can see the future, and she predicted that you were coming to the Academy, isn’t that cool?" continued to admire Four. The girl rolled her eyes and went back to the kitchen. She probably shouldn’t have told Klaus about her powers, because he told Five, and now she didn’t know what’s going to happen in the future.

***

      "A. J. Long time, no see!" The Handler entered the office and landed smugly on the chair. "What made you call me straight to your place?"       "Where is she?" the head of the Council said violently, writing something on the typewriter.       "A. J, honey. Who are we talking about? I’ve got a lot on..." the woman didn’t get a chance to finish before A.J. interrupted her.       "Katherine, where is she?"       "Oh, so you’re talking about this girl? I sent her on a mission, but she’s not back yet. The task is simple! You know, I think she needs to be punished because she’s past her deadline."       "Well, thank you for your information. You can get back to work," said the man.       "So, what? Should I punish her when she gets back, or will you take care of her?" The Handler has decided to continue the topic.       "I have taken this information into account, and I will take action from here. From now on, Katerina is no longer your employee."