𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟑𝟕 | 𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄-𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆

"𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑."
—𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝐻𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛

𝒩.

𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦. 8:15 𝐴.𝑀. (. . . 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛)

"𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐎𝐍. 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 the phone," Klaus interrupted, causing everyone's frantic chatter to die down. "We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"

Diego, starting to play with one of his knives with his good hand, nodded in agreement. "Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?"

No one had the time to answer, however, as the lights started to erratically flash. A light hum of electricity buzzed through the air.

The source of all the disruption soon appeared: a blue wave just above the bar counter, similar to the one they had seen the day of the funeral.

Natalia backed up a little, and she was slightly more reassured as Diego stepped in front of her, both of their eyes fixated on the blue occurrence.

Ending their wonder about what it could be, Five fell through it and onto the counter. He landed on the black briefcase he had been holding with a thud.

"Je-Jesus!" exclaimed Allison, taking a step back.

"You guys, am I still high, or do you see him, too?" questioned Klaus, who had fallen onto the couch when Five appeared.

Luther's eyebrows furrowed. "Five, where have you been?"

Natalia then noticed that both Five and the briefcase were covered in dust, though her attention to that quickly disappeared once he groaned and fell to the ground.

Allison used her free hand to grab Five's arm and help him up while Luther did the same on his other side. "Are you all right?"

"Who did this?" demanded Luther.

"Irrelevant," Five replied, grabbing Allison's coffee and drinking it as he limped a few steps away (Natalia made a mental note to ask him about the limp). He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us."

"The Umbrella Academy," Luther stated.

"Yeah, but with me, obviously," Five replied irritatedly. "So if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead." He used his free hand to pick out a folded paper from his pocket and showed it to them. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse. This is who we have to stop."

Allison took the paper from him, and everyone gathered around her. She unfolded the paper, which, according to the title at the top left, was from the Commission. And judging by the 'To:' line, it was meant for Hazel and Cha-Cha. The message itself was one sentence:

REASSIGNMENT: PROTECT HAROLD JENKINS.

Natalia looked up at Five with a scrunched face. "Harold Jenkins?"

"Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?" questioned Diego.

Five finished the coffee before tossing the empty cup behind him. As it clattered on the ground, he answered, "I don't know . . . yet. But I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now."