Out of time

A monitor beeped shrilly, and red lights flashed like crazy. Five people rushed in the direction of the room from which the alarm was coming.

"Oh sh****! What is that?" asked a boy called Emil. Emil had short light brown hair with a tinge of orange. Slightly tanned skin and emerald green eyes.

"Oh crap! That's not good!" exclaimed a girl called Laura. Laura had long blonde hair with turquoise streaks. Turquoise eyes and very pale skin.

"That's really not good! We have to report this to Nora!" shouted another boy, who went by the name of Aidan. Aidan had half-length black hair, which he often pulled back to make it look shorter. Light skin and green, blue eyes.

"We need Alex! He can deliver the message to Nora!" a fourth boy, named Finn, called over the noise to his companions. Finn had light brown, short, curly hair. Light skin and green eyes.

"Where is Alex?", Laura asked excitedly. "ALEX!" shouted those present together in chorus. The door was pushed open a fifth time.

Another boy stumbled in. He had golden-blond hair and bright blue eyes. His skin was fair, but with a slight brown tint. "I'm here already! What's going on?", Alex gasped.

"Take a look for yourself," said Aidan. Alex went to the flashing red monitor and was shocked by what he saw. "Alex, can you find Nora and tell her what happened?" asked Emil. "Sure, guys. Just wait a few minutes. I'll be right back." Alex said and disappeared. Poof. Alex had simply vanished into thin air.

2019 Umbrella timeline

Nora was having lunch with Ben in the dining room. Silence had fallen over the meal. Everyone was lost in thought. Ben had a lot to process. Nora continued to think about the plan. Suddenly there was a bang.

"What was that?" asked Ben, startled out of his thoughts. "It seemed to come from the living room." Nora guessed. Also torn from her thoughts. "Hey, boy! Who are you and how did you get into the living room?" asked Pogo's voice from the living room.

Nora had also brought Pogo back to life, as he was still very important. "Nora, don't you think we should go and see what's going on in the living room?", Ben asked adventurously. "I guess you're right, Ben." Nora agreed with Ben. Ben and Nora got up from the table and walked towards the living room.

"Sorry, Mr. Chimpanzee, for just bursting in here, but I'm looking for Nora Soraya." the boy tried politely. Pogo looked at the boy, a little confused. But before Pogo could say anything, Ben and Nora reached the living room.

"Dear Pogo. Thank you for still being the old man, but I can assure you that I really do know this boy. By the way, dear Alex, the door with the doorbell would have done just as well. That would be a lot less conspicuous." Nora said with an amused twinkle in her eye.

"I'm sorry, Nora," Alex said quickly. "Well, it's not that bad. Let me introduce you: This is Ben. Ben, this is Alex. I see you've already met, Pogo and Alex." Nora introduced them to each other.

"Wait a minute, he just showed up here and didn't go through the door..." Ben broke off and looked questioningly from Nora to the boy and then to Pogo. "Yup. How did you do that, Alex?" Pogo asked a little suspiciously.

"Alex was born on the same day at the same time as you and your sibling's Ben. At the twelfth hour on October 01, 1989." Nora explained.

"So you have superpowers too. Cool. My superpower is tentacles from another dimension. What is your superpower anyway?" Ben asked curiously and a little more relaxed.

"My superpowers are parallel teleportation. That also explains why I just turned up here," Alex answered Ben's question. "How many of us are there actually?" Ben asked with interest. He had asked himself and his siblings this question many times before. But they had never received an answer from their adoptive father.

"At the twelfth hour on October 1, 1989, 43 women worldwide gave birth to children. Alex is one of them and one of my protégés," Nora replied in a full sentence. "What? 43! How do you know that?" Ben was freaked out by the information. "It was in the papers and on the news," Nora replied curtly.

Ben really hadn't expected such a large number. He would tell his siblings when he saw them again. Ben very much hoped that he would see them again.

"One of your protégés? How many do you have in total?" asked Pogo brightly. "23. I have taken 23 children under my spruce." Nora said.

"Oh no!", Alex suddenly said excitedly. "What's going on?" asked Ben curiously. "I'm here for a reason. The others! They told me to come and get you, Nora. It's important and very urgent!" Alex remembered what he was actually doing here. "What's happened?" Nora asked worriedly.

"It would probably be better if you saw for yourself," Alex said a little nervously. "Okay, I guess I have to go then. There's probably a family emergency." Nora said to Pogo and Ben. "Can I come with you? Maybe I can help?" Ben asked hopefully and with a bit of a sense of adventure.

"No, I'm sorry, Ben, but that won't work for now. I need to see what's going on. Instead, enjoy the remaining free time before we discuss our course of action further." Nora said evasively.

Nora really didn't have time for a long discussion now. Alex's message sounded really urgent. "Okay," Ben said a little dejectedly. Ben had really hoped to get some action.

"Pogo, please hold down the fort here and Ben, you could train a bit. I think it would do you some good to refresh your fighting skills, since you're probably out of practice." Nora suggested instead. "I think that's a good idea. Isn't it, Ben?" said Pogo. "Yes, why not?" Ben agreed.

He had really forgotten about that. If he wanted to go on missions, he had to be able to fight. In fact, since he had been dead for a while, it would be very important for him to resume training.

Pogo accompanied Ben to the training room. "Okay, here we go, Alex," said Nora. Alex nodded. The next moment they were both gone. Poof. Simply vanished into thin air.

Out of time

Nora and Alex ended up directly in the room that Alex had left earlier. The other four had not left the room, but were waiting. "Okay guys, what happened?", Nora asked the troupe. "You'd better see for yourself," said Laura.

Nora went to the flashing red monitor and looked at it closely. She was startled. "Oh, you sh****! Those idiots didn't really do that now! Or!" Nora was annoyed by what she saw. "What is it exactly, Nora?", Aidan asked. "There was an illegal timeline reset! In the Sparrow timeline," Nora said, slightly angry. "WHAT THE!", all five shouted in horror. "Who is responsible for this and for what reason?", Emil asked indignantly.

"Those from the Umbrella timeline are responsible for the ball lightning in the Sparrow timeline. Reginald Hargreeves from the Sparrow timeline is responsible for the reset of the entire Sparrow timeline. Viktor from the Umbrella timeline has caused the end of the world. Unintentionally. As a result, Five. Took his family back in time. (One of Aidan's "I" versions.) In doing so, they have caused great chaos in time and even jeopardized their own existence and thus ended up in another timeline. Where they don't actually exist!" Nora said.

"Oh you sh****! That's really against all the rules of the time continuum!" said Laura, also horrified. "Why does a version of me have to be to blame?", Aidan asked indignantly. "Dude ey! Aidan, your alter ego really cracks me up." Emil said teasingly. With a grin and punched him lightly in the arm. "Aidan, really, the intelligence on your Umbrella version has really sunk pretty low," said Finn, shaking his head. But he couldn't help grinning. "You don't say." Aidan sighed, bored.

"Well, your Umbrella version is not the main culprit, but only partly to blame for this stupidity of not following the time travel rules!", Laura said indignantly. "The main culprit is first and foremost Reginald Hargreeves!" Well, both in the Umbrella timeline and in the Sparrow timeline. He planned it all out and molded Viktor, (formerly Vanya), into this bomb that Viktor didn't need to be." Alex continued.

"He used Viktor and Five to achieve this goal by resetting the universe and the ball lightning!" Emil summarized in horror. "The question is only. How did this alien Reginald Hargreeves know how to achieve this goal?" Finn asked thoughtfully. "You've all summed it up very well. Actually, I already had a plan, but it's going to have to be rescheduled a bit now." Nora said with a sigh.

"Okay, the next question would be. How could this be straightened out so that everyone is back in their original timeline?" Aidan asked seriously. "Good of you to ask, Aidan. Here's the new plan. The order is: bring five to me alive and don't kill them. Do we understand each other? Or are there any other questions?" Nora looked at everyone in turn.

"Who's going to get him?", Laura asked. "How about you, Laura and Emil? Finn and Alex will keep an eye on you two and report back to you when and how you can catch Five." Nora suggested. "Not such a bad idea," said Finn.

"What about me?", Aidan asked himself, a little excluded. "Do you think it would be good to meet yourself? Normally it would lead to a paradox psychosis." Nora explained why. "But that doesn't happen to me because we have an exception here. This exception applies to everyone you've adopted, Nora," Aidan reminded Nora, embarrassed.

"In view of these circumstances, you may come with me on the mission. Now get to work. Chop, chop. Let me know when you've caught five." Nora said and left the room.

"Come on, guys, you heard Nora. Let's get to work." Laura said enthusiastically, clapping her hands. Aidan and Emil got moving and followed Laura to the dressing rooms. There they changed for the upcoming mission.

Third timeline

Laura, Aidan, and Emil crouched behind some bushes and waited for their target to walk past. "Do you see anything yet?", Emil asked over a hidden small headset. "No, nothing! But according to the data, he should show up any minute." Finn's voice replied from the headset. "What's the plan?", Aidan asked his teammates.

"Plan A: Would be. We sneak up behind him and surprise him so that he has no chance to defend himself. That would also be the easiest." Emil explained plan A. "What if plan A went wrong? What would plan B be?" asked Aidan.

"Plan B looks like this: Emil distracts Five first. Then I come and cover Emil. Aidan, you're the element of surprise. You have to distract your version at the right moment. When Five is distracted, it's your turn again, Emil. You use your power and then catch Five. Everything understood so far, or any questions?" Laura explained plan B.

"Why should I play the distraction?", Aidan asked a little indignantly. His voice sounded like he didn't agree with it. It was more like he wanted to fight.

"Because you are him! In a way. You are the same person in terms of appearance and genetic mutation. The only difference is that you grew up completely differently. The element of surprise would be gone if you jumped out earlier, and he saw and recognized himself sooner." Emil explained to Aidan again.

"Five is trapped in his thirteen-year-old body and is actually already 58. You, on the other hand, are only 30 and look younger than you actually are. Namely, like twenty. Normally, there should be a paradox psychosis between the two of you now. But since you were adopted by Nora, you've been given protection against it. Just like us and the rest of our siblings." Laura clarified, slightly annoyed.

"Where did you get this information about the other version of me, please?", Aidan asked slightly sourly. "From Nora," Laura replied curtly. "I should have guessed that," Aidan said slightly sarcastically.

"Target sighted! Three o'clock! Get ready!" Alex's said, tuning excitedly through the headsets. "Roger that." Emil reported back through his headset. "In position," said Laura. "Okay, let's get this version of me!", Aidan Adventurer said merrily. Quietly, they came out from behind the bushes and walked closer to Five. ...