Killer Queen

11.

< November 21st 1963 >

When Kate eventually opened her eyes, she felt a terrible headache forming as if she was experiencing a really hard hangover which she didn't understand; she hadn't drunk anything. Then the memories of the last few hours returned to her and she remembered Lila offering both her and Diego a flask. That bitch. She hadn't really wanted to toast to Elliot, a friend that she felt guilty about losing, she had just wanted to drug them both. Kate wasn't sure where she was, the room was rather dark and cold with some light coming from a small barred window. Carefully, she pulled herself off the floor and allowed her eyes to focus on the room that she was in; it was obvious that she was in a cell as she was inside a barred space but as her eyes refocused, she spotted someone in the shadows.

"Diego?" She asked, hoping that this stranger could speak English and would understand her panic enough to answer her questions. "Is he here? Is he safe?"

"Mr Hargreeves is meeting with the Handler as we speak." The stranger replied, moving slowly out of the shadows so that they could get a better look at each other. It seemed that this stranger was not very scary-looking and actually seemed very harmless. Kate felt better as she knew that not everyone in this place was a cold-hearted killer like she had expected them to be; after hearing what Five had been through, she had a pretty good expectation of the Commission.

"The Handler? What does she need him for?"

He stepped closer to the cell so that she could see his scared eyes behind his thick glasses. "I'm not sure. I believe that it was Miss Lila that brought him in, wanted her boyfriend to be a part of her team-"

"Boyfriend?" Kate was enraged and gripped his shirt from between the bars, she pulled him closer to her face as she spoke and as she got angrier, she got stronger, pulling his feet off the ground and getting inches away from his face. "Let's get one thing straight buddy, that woman is a psycho. He is not her boyfriend; he never has been and he never will be. She was the one who escaped the mental hospital when they should have kept her locked up!"

"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Patch." He whimpered; his eyes squeezed shut as she still held onto his shirt with gripped fists. "Won't happen again."

Realising that she had just terrorised someone for no reason, Kate quickly let go of him and tried to brush the wrinkles out of his shirt. She spotted his name tag and apologised to the poor guy. "Shit, sorry, Herb. It's just that this isn't the first time she's done something like this. I don't trust her and I don't trust her around Diego; I'm sure she's pulling some stunt over us."

"I could check on the meeting, if you'd like? Make sure that Mr Hargreeves is well and let you know what I find out."

"That would be perfect." She attempted to smile at him but it wasn't a great one, she felt awful for how she had treated him and now he was offering to help her. "Wow, you're a good man, Herb. Sorry for shouting at you, several times and for picking you up and for-"

"Apology accepted, Miss Patch." He interrupted her, smiling back at her through the bars of the cell.

Keeping to his promise, Herb left the cell and went to check on Diego because he knew how much it meant to the girl that had just terrorised him. He knew her better than she realised, he had been watching her for several years now – he was a big fan of the Umbrella Academy and therefore, knew all about Katherine Patch. He knew that she wasn't supposed to be in the commission because she wasn't from their world but he didn't want to interfere with whatever plans the Handler had made. He was hoping that he could find out whatever information Kate had and she would be able to help them in return. When he returned to the cell, Kate was hunched over the lock and had been attempting to pick it with a bobby pin from her hair; she heard the door open and was surprised to see Herb stood in front of her.