Beings Out Of Time
"Who are they, Five. You'd better start explaining." Luther ordered. Five sunk into the bed as he sat down gravely and took a deep breath before explaining everything.
"I told you, my former employer." Five said. Cassandra was beginning to think he was being deliberately infuriating just to wind up Luther. She wasn't impressed but she understood.
"Your former employer?" Luther repeated in a mocking tone, "What's all this really about and don't give me any of this "it's none of your business" crap, alright?"
"Well it's a long story." Five sighed, when no one interrupted him, he continued talking, "This woman, The Handler, she visited my in the future-"
"She visited you? Just turned up for a day trip?" Luther asked, insultingly.
"If you want to find out, maybe you should stop talking." Five chided, "She offered me an out. If I worked for her organisation, "The Commission", she could take me out of the apocalypse and I could retire to any time period I wanted. I could go back home."
"So what was this offer? And what commission?" Cassandra asked, walking to sit closer to Five and Luther. She perched on the edge of the bed.
"The Commission keeps the timeline running as it should. If anyone threatens to change it, they get taken out. That was my job." Five said solemnly.
"You murdered people? You were a hit man?!" Luther exclaimed, jumping to his feet and turning away from Five, raising a hand to rub his forehead.
"They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the timeline continuum. Or "corrections", as they called them." Five explained, looking to Cassandra, who nodded him on encouragingly, "I wasn't the only one, there were others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don't know how they got there. But I do know that none of them were as good as me. They didn't realise I was biding my time trying to figure out the right equation so I could get back. If I could just get back I know I could stop the apocalypse."
"But if this timeline continuous thing-" Luther began.
"Continuum." Cassandra corrected instinctively.
"Whatever- could change time or something. Then why didn't they stop the apocalypse?" Luther asked. Cassandra nodded and they both turned to Five for an explanation.
"Stop interrupting me." was all he said, "In order to get back here I had to break my contract. I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time just to get back. Something must have gone wrong though cause, well, look at me!"
"So you were a hit man?" Luther asked again, which honestly had nothing to with what Five had just said but he knew that until Luther's mind was at ease, they wouldn't get anything done.
"Yes." Five admitted but before he could continue Luther sighed dramatically loudly.
"But you had a code right?" Luther asked, hopeful that his brother wasn't a ruthless killer, "You didn't kill just anybody."
"Oh yeah, cause all hitman have perfect morals." Cassandra grumbled. Luther shot her a warning look and she shut up.
"I took out anyone who messed with the timeline." Five explained flatly.
"What about innocent people?" Luther objected, "You didn't kill innocent people?"
"It was the only way I could get back here."
"But that's murder, Five-"
"Jesus, Luther, grow up." Five griped, "We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys, there's just people."
"Bad stuff happens to innocent people all the time, you don't have to look far to see that." Cassandra said gravely, wrapping her arms about her chest and staring off into the distance.
"When the world ends, all those people die, including our family. Time changes everything." Five enforced.
Cassandra stood up and, without really noticing, began to walk off. She had barely walked past Luther when she stumbled. Instinctively, Luther reached out to catch her as he legs gave way. He looked down at her and noticed her eyes. They were completely white, like her iris and pupils had been erased.
"Is she?" Luther asked, dumbfounded as he lay Cassandra across the bed. Five had jumped up when he saw her fall. Now, both of them were peering over at Cassandra.
"Visioning." Five affirmed. There was nothing they could do but wait.
At first, Cassandra didn't think anything had happened. She was still in a dingy room. It took her while to realise that this particular grimey room wasn't Diego's, it was a cheap motel. The room started off as empty but the more she focused, the more she saw. Two beds appeared and a chest draws and other furniture until the room was complete. Then people starting coming into view. A man and a woman, both dressed it tight fitted, blue suits. In their hands were two masks, one a pink rabbit, the other a blue bear. Cassandra stumbled backwards and felt herself pass through another person she had somehow missed. Her mouth fell open and she left out a sharp breath and covered her mouth with both hands to see the weak looking man, tied to a chair, covered in blood.
"Klaus!"
"Cass!" Luther shouted as she bolted upright. He came over to her side as she struggled to get up off the bed. "Hey, Cass. Shouldn't you rest?"
Ignoring all of his warnings, Cassandra pushed past him and ignored Five's worried expression from the other side of the room.
"Shit, Klaus." Cassandra mumbled, picking up her jacket that she had discarded on the back of a fold out chair and heading for the door.
"Cass, wait. Where are you going?" Luther asked, following her to the door.
"How could I forget? Come on!" She urged as the left the room, her two siblings close behind her.