[Picture of young Katrine at the top.]
Katrine (Age 4)
"Number Eight!" Reginald Hargreeves called. "It's time for your lessons."
The small girl frowned. "I don't want to."
"You must."
She frowned, but decided if she did this now, she'd be able to play sooner.
Reginald lined up her siblings in the order of their numbers. He told them each to think of a word and Katrine would say it aloud.
Luther was up first. Katrine looked at him and said, "Space."
Diego went next. "Knife."
Allison. "Famous."
Klaus. "Mausleum. Daddy? What is that?"
"Focus, Number Eight." Hargreeves told her.
She let out a tiny sigh and looked at Five. "Time."
Ben was next to go. "Octopus."
Vanya. "Music."
"Very good, Number Eight. We will resume lessons later. You may go now."
Katrine ran off and bumped into Grace who smiled at the girl. "Hello, sweetheart."
"Can I have a grilled cheese, Mommy?"
Grace nodded. "Of course, dear."
"And chocolate milk?"
"Yes, you may."
(Age 6)
Katrine wandered into Klaus's room to see him holding something. "What is that?"
"Something you can't have."
"What is it, though?"
"It's pot. Don't tell Dad."
"You're not supposed to be smoking it; are you?"
"No, I'm not. But you already knew that."
"Number Four! Number Eight! We have a mission!" Reginald called.
Katrine walked out of Klaus's room and asked her father, "Can Vanya come with us?"
"No. She'd be too much of a liability."
"She's not a liability. She's my sister!"
"That's enough, Number Eight. Get ready."
"In five, four, three, two...This is Jim Hellerman, reporting live for Channel 2 news outside of the Capital West Bank at Main and Sixth. A group of heavily armed men stormed the bank not six hours ago and took an unknown number of hostages."
"Hey, get them behind the counter!" One of the men shouted, rounding up the hostages. "Now you've put me in a position where I've got to do something I don't want to do."
Allison skipped over to the man with her arms clasped innocently behind her back. The man looked down at her. "Hey! Get back with the others!"
Allison stepped closer to him. "I heard a rumor."
"Huh?"
She stepped even closer and a smirk overtook her face. "I heard a rumor that you shot your friend in the foot." The man did as she told him to and shot his friend's foot twice. The hostages let out a scream.
Katrine frowned, hearing their begging in her head. "It's alright. We're going to get you out of here safely."
Luther jumped from the roof into another man and slammed his head against the counter before tossing him out the window.
Five pushed his little sister down. "Stay here and keep the hostages calm. I don't want you getting hurt."
Diego ran in as he shouted, "Guns are for sissies. Real men throw knives." He threw his daggers forward and they curved at the last second. They landed into a man's chest.
He then looked for Katrine and Five reassured him that she was safe.
The man, still on the counter, started aiming at the kids and kept it pointed at Katrine as he said, "Get back you freaks."
"Hey, be careful up there, buddy." Diego taunted.
"Yeah, wouldn't want you to get hurt." Allison added.
Five popped up behind him and asked, "Or what?" He popped away.
The man was visibly frustrated as he kept shooting at the spaces Five had been. Five popped behind him and punched him in the face with something. "That's one badass stapler."
Diego noticed a stray bullet flying towards Katrine. He rushed over to her and pushed her down and the bullet lodged itself into a wall.
Luther looked at the hostages and said, "They shouldn't be here to see this."
Katrine stood up and told them silently, 'Follow me. I'll get you out of here.'
She un-taped their mouths and the hostages automatically stood up and followed her to the door. She opened it and ushered them out.
Ben frowned and asked his siblings, "Do we really have to do this?"
"Come on, Ben. There's still more guys in the vault." Luther told them.
Katrine looked up at her siblings. "Can I send the people out?"
Diego laughed and ruffled her hair. "Yeah, you can usher them out. After Ben does his thing."
Katrine buried her head into Diego as she saw Ben do his thing, and blood spatter the window.
She noticed a guy pointing a gun at Klaus and glared. She flicked her hand to the side and the gun flew to the ground. "Don't hurt my brother!"
✫--✫
The kids walked out of the bank once all the thieves had been dealt with. Katrine held Diego's hand as they lined up on the stairs. Reporters started shouting at them, but the kids ignored them. Though, Katrine was having a hard time ignoring them. She got distracted easily, and the shouting didn't help.
Reginald Hargreeves addressed the crowd. "Our world is changing. Has changed. There are some among us gifted with abilities far beyond the ordinary. I have adopted seven such children. I give you the inaugural class of the Umbrella Academy."
✫--✫
Katrine Hargreeves was just coming back from her lunch break. She'd taken an hour because she wanted her favorite diner, and it was a 15 minute drive to and from. Luckily, they did to-go.
When she got back, she sat at her desk and Detective Eudora Patch walked up to her desk and slapped a newspaper in front of her. "Have you seen this?"
In bold letters, she saw a headline that she didn't know she'd see so soon. 'Reginald Hargreeves, billionaire, has been declared deceased.'
"Are you okay?" Patch asked.
Katrine nodded. "Never better. I never thought I'd see this day."
"Are you going back to the house?"
"I think I have to."
After her shift, Katrine drove to the house to see Vanya. The older girl studied her and asked softly, "Katrine? Is it really you?"
She nodded. "It's me. You look good, V."
"So do you."
Katrine took a moment to study her sister. She looked sad, and Katrine didn't blame her. She refrained from using her powers, because she knew Vanya would tell her in time. The two of them had always been close.
Vanya smiled softly at her little sister. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For not reading my mind. I know you're curious, but thank you for respecting my privacy."
"Of course. How is everything else?"
"It's going well."
"Are you still playing the violin?"
Vanya nodded. "I'm teaching students now, and I'm in an orchestra."
"Look at you. You're a regular Beethoven."
"Beethoven was a pianist."
"Right, but he played classical music."
Klaus appeared and threw his arms around his little sister. "Glad you could make it, Kat! Hey, Vanya. We're have a family meeting. Starting any minute. Follow me."
The two girls followed their brother into the family room and Allison stood up. "It's nice to see you, Katrine."
"You too, Mrs. Robinson." Katrine smiled, teasing Allison's recent character.
"You watched the movie?"
"Of course I did. You're my favorite actress."
"Now you're kissing up to me."
"Only because you're my sister."
Luther frowned. "When you're ready, I'd like to get started, Katrine."
Katrine gestured to him and Luther glanced at his siblings. "So, I figured we could hold the funeral at Dad's favorite spot."
Allison frowned. "Dad had a favorite spot?"
Luther seemed puzzled at the confusion he was getting from his siblings. "Yeah, you know, under the oak tree. We used to sit there all the time. You guys never did that?"
"No, Luther. None of us ever got to have playtime with our dear old daddy. That was just you."
Katrine glanced back to see Klaus appearing from the bar. He took the spot to Katrine's left. She noticed he had a glass of whisky in one hand and a joint in the other. She took his glass and took a sip. Klaus gave her a look before saying, "Will there be refreshments? Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a favorite."
Luther glared at him. "What? No. And put that out. You know Dad didn't allow smoking in here."
Katrine looked around the room. "I don't see Dad. Let Klaus be Klaus." He shot her a smile.
Allison frowned at Klaus. "Is that my skirt?"
"What? Oh, yeah, this. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathy on the bits." Klaus answered, gesturing to the area.
Katrine rolled her eyes. "You are truly repulsive, Klaus."
Luther went on to change the subject. "Listen up. We still have some important things that we need to discuss, alright?"
"Like what?" Diego grumbled.
"Like the way he died."
"And here we go."
Vanya's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I--I don't understand. I thought they said it was a heart attack."
Luther nodded. "Yeah, according to the coroner."
Vanya looked to her sister. "Do you know anything about that, Katrine?"
She shook her head. "No, unfortunately. And even if I did, I wouldn't be able to say anything."
Vanya then turned back to Luther. "Well, wouldn't they know?"
"Theoretically." Luther repled.
Allison frowned. "Theoretically?"
Luther suddenly got defensive. "Look, I'm just saying that at the very least, something strange happened. The last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."
Klaus shifted in his seat and sipped his alcohol. "Oh. Quelle surprise."
Diego narrowed his eyes at Luther. "Strange how?"
"Told me I should be careful who I trust..." Luther replied.
Diego stood up from his place by the fire. "Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles."
"No, he must have known what was going to happen."
Katrine shook her head. "I don't think that was possible. No one could have known."
Luther turned back to Klaus. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad."
Klaus let out a sarcastic scoff. "I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, "Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?""
"Since when? That's your thing."
Klaus licked his lips nervously. "I'm not in the right frame of mind."
Allison narrowed her eyes at him. "You're high?"
Klaus laughed and waved his hand. "Yeah. I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"
Katrine sighed. "Luther, you know he doesn't like talking to the dead."
Luther frowned at her. "Fine, whatever. But then there's the issue of the missing monocle."
Diego rolled his eyes. "Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?"
Katrine smirked. "Luther, apparently."
Luther glanced at Diego. "Exactly. So whoever took it, I think it was personal."
Katrine sighed. "Why would anyone take Dad's monocle? I mean, it's useful if you want to use it, but completely pointless otherwise."
Klaus laughed softly and then said, "Where are you even going with this?"
Diego turned to him. "Oh, isn't it obvious, Klaus? He thinks one of us killed Dad."
Katrine rolled her eyes. "Why would one of us kill Dad? Sure we hated the guy, but we had no reason to kill him."
Luther narrowed his eyes at her. "You were the last to leave the house. Who's to say you didn't do anything?"
"I've been on my own since I was 15. I haven't been back here until today."
Diego smirked at her. "Well, you got a good gig at the station, Deputy Hargreeves."
As they all dissipated, Katrine walked up the stairs to her old bedroom. She closed the door and stood in front of her door, unsure of why she'd even come back.