Katrine heard loud crashing from outside her window. She ran over to her window and opened it up. She saw Klaus rifling through the garbage. Five was walking off with a duffel bag. Katrine decided to ignore it because she knew he was just doing what he thought was best.
She walked out onto the fire escape to see Klaus holding a half-eaten bagel. "Don't eat that."
He looked up to see her. "Oh! Kat! Hi! I already did. It doesn't taste very good. I spit it out."
"Let me guess. You're looking for that ornate box Pogo was talking about. No shit. It was in the garbage rotting. You're unbelievable, Klaus."
"Yeah. I can't find it. Shut up."
"Maybe it was taken out with the trash. Or maybe someone found it."
"I agree. I think someone found it."
Katrine frowned at the voice. "Who is that?"
He looked at the empty space next to him and said, "You really want to know?"
She nodded. Klaus let out a small sigh. "It's Ben."
"Ben's here?"
"Yeah. He's kind of my voice of reason."
"Well, good. Lord knows you need a voice of reason to set you straight."
A knock on Katrine's door caught her attention. She turned to see Diego. "Allison found something and she wants us all to see for ourselves."
She followed Diego to the living room, in front of a TV, and frowned. "Okay, I knew Dad watched us, but this is disturbing."
Diego sighed. "Luther thinks Mom killed Dad."
Katrine glared at Luther. "That's ludicrous."
Luther shot her a look and played the clip for them. Katrine watched the screen as Grace stood over their father's bed as he died.
Vanya said from the back, "Do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?"
Luther immediately answered her. "You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya. Maybe you don't know Grace anymore."
Katrine frowned. "Luther, we've all been gone awhile. We grew up. But don't shoot Vanya down for a simple question."
Vanya smiled at Katrine and she smiled back.
Diego frowned, glancing at Katrine. "If he was poisoned, it would have shown on the coroner's report."
"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther said sarcastically.
Diego smirked. "Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision." He moved closer to the screen and pointed. "Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone."
"Oh, yeah!" Klaus laughed as he ate some chips.
Diego continued. "She wasn't poisoning him. She was taking it. To clean it."
Katrine frowned. "While I doubt Mom would poison Dad, her taking the monocle to clean it doesn't seem likely. Wait a minute. Diego!"
Luther frowned, looking confused and said, "Then where is it? I've searched the house, including her things. She doesn't have it."
Diego avoided Katrine's eyes as he admitted, "That's because I took it from her. After the funeral."
Katrine sighed as Allison frowned at him. "You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego?"
"Give it to me." Luther demanded.
"I threw it away." Diego replied.
"You what?"
Diego pointed his knife towards Luther. "Look. I knew that if found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing now."
Luther stepped towards Diego threateningly and Diego raised his fists. Vanya stepped between then before anything could happen. "Look; I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but also a protector."
Allison shook her head. "What does that mean?"
"She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy."
Katrine rolled her eyes at Luther trying to play detective. He's terrible.
Luther frowned in thought. "Well, if her hardware is degrading, then we need to turn her off."
Katrine scoffed. "No. Absolutely not. We are not turning Mom off."
Diego nodded in agreement. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things. I've seen it! Kat has seen it!"
Luther stared at his siblings. "She just stood there Diego, and watched our father die."
"I'm with Luther." Allison replied.
"Surprise, surprise." Diego said, glaring.
"Shut up."
The three of them turned to Vanya. She was nervous and Katrine could literally visualize all the thoughts running through her head.
Diego gave a sharp nod. "Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote."
Katrine hit his chest and glared at him before he said, "Okay, she should get a vote." He turned to Katrine and Klaus. "What about you, stoner boy? Smart-ass?"
Katrine huffed. "Thanks, Two."
Klaus frowned. "Oh, so what? You need my help now? 'Get out of the van, Klaus!' Well, welcome back to the van."
"What van?" Allison questioned, furrowing her brow.
Luther narrowed his eyes. "What's it gonna be, Klaus?"
"I'm with Diego, because screw you! And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me."
"No, I don't."
Klaus hissed at open air, where Katrine guessed Ben was standing.
Diego then turned to Katrine. She noticed a pleading look in his eyes. "Kat?"
She sighed. "Like Diego said, Mom may not be human, but she feels things. I'm with Diego."
Luther frowned. "What a surprise."
"It's four against two anyway." Diego said.
Allison then said, "Vote's not final yet. Five's not here. The family has to vote. We owe each other that."
They agreed to wait for Five to show. Luther and Klaus left building while Klaus headed upstairs. Katrine and Diego saw Grace standing in the doorway. "Hey. How long have you been here?"
Grace seemed oddly distant before saying, "You all seem upset. I'll bake cookies."
Katrine's lips curled into a smile. Cookies were always Grace's way of calming them after a hard day.
✫--✫
Flashback:
Alarms rang throughout the Academy and red lights flashed.
Allison ran down the stairs and through the hall. "Coming through! Come on, Luther!"
Sir Reginald walked calmly down the hall as he said loudly, "How will the Umbrella Academy ever become an effective crime deterrent if we can't even leave the house on time for missions?"
Luther's voice ran out behind his father as he ran. "Behind you!"
"Come along, children!" Hargreeves ordered. "Come along!"
Grace walked to each of the children's rooms. She came upon Allison's first. The girl was rifling through her drawers.
Allison looked up to see her mom. "I can't find my domino mask."
Grace smiled. "It needed a little bit of TLC after the last mission."
Allison took it. "Thanks, Mom."
Grace walked by Luther's room to see him doing push-ups. "Ready to go?"
Luther grunted in response. "Yeah."
Diego ran across the hall calling, "Where's my knives?"
As Grace continued walking down the hall, she heard violin music. "Sounds beautiful, Vanya."
The girl looked up and continued playing. "Thanks, Mom."
Grace walked past Klaus's room to see him jumping on his bed while something burned. She walked in. "Oh! Klaus!" She put the fire out.
Klaus stopped jumping for a moment and said, "Thank you, Mother."
Grace sighed. "Boys will be boys."
She walked past Katrine's room and saw the little girl sitting in terror on her bed. Katrine looked up at her. "I don't want to go on another mission, Mommy. They're scary."
Grace hugged the girl. "Your brothers will watch out for you, okay? They always will."
Katrine smiled and said simply, "I love you, Mommy."
"I love you too."
Grace walked down the corridor and Ben ran up to her trying to zip up his tracksuit. "Oh, Ben."
"It's--It's stuck."
She fixed it and zipped it up for him.
Ben ran off. "Guys, wait for me."
She paused at Diego's room to hear him stuttering. "D--Don't mmm. Don't mm mm mm." He sighed. "Don't muh muh."
Grace entered the room and stood next to the boy. "Remember, Diego, just picture the word in your mind."
Diego let out another sigh. "D--Don't mm muh. D--Don't mmm. Don't mo-move."
Grace let out an excited breath and took Diego's face in her hands. "You did it! I'm so proud of you!"
Sir Reginald stood outside the doorway and cleared his throat.
Grace and Diego turned to look at him.
End of Flashback
✫--✫
Katrine went upstairs to her bedroom to do some reorganizing. It helped her destress, and she felt it necessary right now.
After about a half-hour, Katrine decided to check on Grace. Cookies did sound delicious.
She left her room and walked down the hall to see Grace sitting in her usual spot in front of the picture frames. She was cross-stitching something. Katrine glanced at it to see a moon that looked like it'd been blown up. However, Katrine couldn't shake the feeling that something was off with her.
Diego walked up and the two of them shared a knowing look that something was off. He released a soft breath and said, "Mom, we need to talk."
Grace nodded. "Okay, but only for a minute. I need to finish this cross-stitch."
"Everything you did for us when we were kids, for me, for Katrine, why'd you do it?"
"Because being your mother is the greatest gift of my life."
"Is that you saying that?" Diego asked.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Diego." Grace answered with a frown.
Katrine's eyebrows furrowed. "I think what he's trying to say is that Dad made you."
Diego nodded. "When you think of something, is it like he's telling you what to say?"
Grace's smile reappeared. "Your father isn't here, silly." She noticed the look from the two adults. "Did I do something wrong?"
Katrine shook her head. "No, of course not, Mom."
Diego sighed. "Look. It's okay if you hated him. He was terrible to you--to all of us."
"Don't say that." Grace interrupted.
Diego frowned. "Why not? We were just tools in an experiment to him. Nothing more. So I'm saying, I would understand if you know, if--if you wanted to hurt him."
Katrine rubbed Diego's back, seeing that he was getting agitated.
Grace shook her head and smiled. "Now, now. Mr. Hargreeves was a great man. Industrialist, inventor, Olympic gold medalist. He made the world a better place."
Diego gripped Grace's shoulders harshly. "Stop it! Do you hear me? Stop trying to defend him! Mom, you gotta feel something. Look, he treated you worse than anyone. You worked for him for 30 years. He didn't even give you a room to sleep in."
Grace looked at the paintings. "But I've got such beautiful views here."
Katrine felt her heart breaking a little as Diego said sadly, "Mom, those are just paintings."
"Of course they are." Grace answered, staring at the picture of a brunette woman. "What a wonderful world she lives in. Sometimes I wonder if she's lonely."
Diego stood there a moment before he began walking off. He noticed Katrine was still staring at Grace and he took her arm. "Come on, Kat. Let's leave Mom to herself."
Katrine took one last look at Grace and asked, "Is she going to be okay, D?"
Diego looked at her and she focused on his thoughts. 'I don't know.'
Katrine went back into her room to rest. A couple hours later, her head turned to her door as she heard gunshots outside. She frowned, instantly thinking that someone had gotten in. She didn't know who and she didn't know how. Her first thought was Klaus. Vanya was nowhere to be seen, and Katrine trusted her sister to protect herself.
Katrine slowly opened her door and cautiously walked out. She saw Klaus dancing through the hall in his towel.
Around a corner, she noticed a figure wearing a pink dog's head. She silently followed the masked intruder as they neared her brother. "Klaus! Behind you!" Katrine screamed.
He glanced at her and smiled. "Hi, Kat."
"Klaus, you idiot! Run!"
Katrine held her gun at the figure and ordered, "Drop it!"
The figure did so and Katrine let out a small shriek of pain as something hard hit her head, causing her to pass out.
Klaus woke up, still in his towel, with duct tape in his mouth and his hands tied. He was in the trunk of a moving car.
He glanced at Katrine to see that she was still passed out. They must have hit her hard.
The trunk opened and he was greeted with two tall figures in masks. One had a blue bear mask, and the other had a pink dog mask. He instantly started screaming.