CHAPTER FORTY: THE HEADQUARTERS

"True friendship comes in all forms"

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THIRD PERSON'S POV.

Harlan walked closer to Jayme and Alphonso who was laying dead on the floor, half of their face melting off.

Stan crawled out from the receptionist's desk and Diego let out a whistled before he pointed at Stan "You! Upstairs! Now!" Diego shouted before he walked over to him but stopped when he noticed the terrified look Stan had on his face.

Without saying anything, Stan hugged Diego tightly and Diego put his palm on Stan's back.

Stan then pulled away before he immediately ran upstairs.

Then Klaus entered the hotel, wearing a long orange raincoat and he spun as he walked through the door but he stopped in front of Jayme and Alphonso when he saw them and he stared at them in shock.

"Oh man. Heavens to Betsy. What did you do? Did Viktor go full 'Carrie' again?" Klaus asked as he pointed on "We didn't do this" Allison said before she glanced at Harlan and Klaus looked at Harlan.

To see if Harlan was okay, Viktor approached him carefully "Harlan?" he asked softly.

"Don't!" Harlan said with a flinched and Klaus raised his hands as he took a step back from him.

"Don't come near me, please" Harlan said "I just want to make sure that's you're okay" Viktor said as Harlan started breathing rapidly while he pressed his fingers against his temples as he was trying to silence the ringing in his head.

"You can...You can talk now. It's--" Viktor said "I can do a lot of things now" Harlan said as Klaus walked around the bodies to Diego as Allison did the same.

"Who the hell is creepy grandpa?" Klaus asked "That's the kid Viktor saved in Dallas" Diego answered "Oh, yeah, shit shit!" Klaus said "Oh shit! You're right!" Allison said with her eyes widened "But didn't he get rid of all the kid's mojo when he did all 'that'?" Klaus asked as he shook his body, demonstrating what Harlan did in the barn in 63'.

"Yeah, I guess that didn't stick" Diego said "What's he doing here, now?" Klaus asked "Who's cares? He saved us from the Sparrows" Diego said "Wow, he did that?" Klaus asked as he looked at Alphonso and Jayme with widened eyes.

"Sloane" Luther said and Allison elbowed Diego before she nodded her head over to Luther who was over with Sloane.

"Sloane, are you all right?" Luther asked Sloane as she began waking up before she made a winces sound "It's okay" Luther said as he helped her sit up slowly while she groaned in pain.

Sloane's eyes then landed on the dead bodies of her siblings causing her to let out a gasp "It's all right" Luther said as he help her stand up.

Sloane kept gasping in shock and sadness as her eyes kept staring at Jayme and Alphonso.

"Sloane, it's all right" Luther said and she looked at him before she took off towards the stairs while holding her arm which had been hurt in the attack.

"Sloane" Luther called out.

"You got a live one, Luther!" Diego shouted as he ran after her "Shit. Sloane!" Luther shouted as he sprinted ahead of Diego to catch up to Sloane before Diego could.

Harlan then ran in another direction "Harlan, wait!" Viktor called out.

"Hey" Allison said as she ran over to Viktor "Um..Go help Luther" he told her "What about you?" she asked "I can handle it. Go" Viktor said "Okay, okay, okay" Allison said before she followed after Diego and Viktor ran after Harlan while Klaus walked closer to Jayme's and Alphonso's bodies.

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FIVE'S POV.

Lila let out a laugh as her, Y/n and I entered The Commission's headquarters. But only to find it empty and destroyed. Ashes, chairs, and bricks laying all around, it was all in ruins. It look like no one has being there for years.

What the hell.

"What the fuck?" Y/n said "Holy shit" Lila said as we looked around "I was just here. How long was I bloody gone?" she asked "It seems the grandfather paradox is affecting everything" Y/n said as I put the briefcase next to me "Even places out of time" I said as I adjusted my watch.

"Is that possible?" Lila asked "Y/n/n and I have stopped tracking what was possible a long time ago" I said as I picked up the briefcase again.

"No, this shouldn't be possible. This is bigger than that. I think the paradox caused something else that caused this. I just don't know what yet" Y/n said.

But then there was a rumbling sound and bricks above us started to fell down before landing in front of us causing us to step back in shock while I quickly push Y/n away.

"We better get moving" Y/n said "Yeah, you and I'll check the Infinite Switchboard" I said as I looked at her and she nodded before Y/n and I walked towards the stairs "And I'll check Herb's office. Little cockroach would survive anything" Lila said before we walked up the steps.

"Bye, Lovebirds" Lila said "See ya" Y/n and I said "Miss you" Lila said "That's weird" Y/n said.

"Please don't bang, I don't want to hear it" Lila called out "Why would we bang?" Y/n and I called back "Hormones" Lila called back and the two of us rolled our eyes "We're not gonna bang" I called back "We have more important thing to focus on right now" Y/n called back.

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THIRD PERSON'S POV.

Sloane was panting as she was running down hallway "Sloane!" Luther shouted as he was running after her "Sloane wait!" he shouted.

Luther ran into the bathroom to look for her "Sloane?" he asked while looking around but then a man stepped out from the shower "Oh! Jesus" Luther said with a gasp and the man walked away quickly.

"Sloane?" Luther said before he walked farther in, but then Sloane came walking up from behind him before she lifted him up in the air with her powers causing him to grunt as she turned him around.

"Sloane...What are you doing?" he asked "Did you set me up" she asked with tears in her eyes "No, I would never do that" he said straining.

But then Diego came behind Sloane and he wrapped his left arm around her throat before he pointed his knife on her throat causing her to let out a gasp "I would. Drop him" he said.

Sloane looked at Luther before she dropped him and he landed on his feet with a grunt.

"You good?" Diego asked him "I'm good" Luther answered "All right, let's go" Diego said as he turned around a bit, still holding on a tight grip on Sloane.

"Diego, it's okay. You can let her go now" Luther said "What?" Diego questioned as he looked at his brother "Are you kidding me?" he asked.

"I said let her go. She's hurt" Luther said "She is the enemy" Diego said as Allison stepped in from the other entrance.

"If you hurt her, I will bury you" Luther threated.

"You gonna bury me too, Luther?" Allison questioned angrily while she glanced at Luther and he looked at her.

"Just..." Luther said as he took some rapid breathing while he looked at Diego "Just let me talk to her. Okay? Please" he said as he glanced at Diego and Allison while he was scared about what Diego and Allison would do to the woman he was in love with.

"Oh, trust me" Allison said and Diego looked at her while Sloane let out a gasp "She's gonna talk" Allison said and Diego looked at Luther "It's okay" Luther said.

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Viktor had ran after Harlan and he found him outside before he ran over to him.

"You haven't aged" Harlan said as he was standing with his back to him "It's...it's only been three days for me. How did you find me?" Viktor asked and Harlan turned around to look at him.

"Ever since that day at the lake. We're connected. I can feel you, people like you..." Harlan said as he was breathing rapidly "Like us" he said "What does it feel like?" Viktor asked "Vibrations. Like a...tuning fork in my head. Louder and louder, the closer one of you gets. I can put it out if I focus, but...sometimes I slip" Harlan said "Is that what happened downstairs?" Viktor asked "There's no hope for me" Harlan said as he sat down "I'm...not special like you. I wasn't made for this...power. I can't control it" he said before he took a deep breath "I'm here now, okay? I'm gonna make this right" Viktor said "How?" Harlan asked as he looked at him.

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Diego was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, flipping with his knife with Allison sitting next to him while Sloane was standing up in front of them with her back pressed against a pillar.

"I heard a rumor..." "Whoa, Allison, hey" Luther said, cutting her off but she didn't listen.

"You're gonna tell me the truth" she finished her rumor "Let her do her thing, man" Diego said to Luther as he pointed at Allison with his knife.

Allison's voice was echoing and an energy wave traveled out of her mouth and into Sloane's ears who was shaking in fear as her eyes turned white and her body shook as she try to fight Allison's powers.

Allison leaned forward with her arm rested on her knees "Where's the briefcase?" she asked and Sloane started breathing rapidly as she kept her mouth shut, refusing to talk and she whimpered softly as a tear rolled down from her eyes.

Sloane managed to resist her powers for a little "Where the hell...is it?" Allison asked and you could hear a soft whimper coming from Sloane as she she kept fighting Allison's powers while her body was shaking.

"Where the hell...is it?" Allison asked as she got up "I don't know!" Sloane said out loud "Allison" Luther shouted, trying to stop her from using her powers anymore.

"We left it in your house, and it is our only way out of this! Where is it?" Allison shouted, her voice echoes again and another energy wave travled out of her mouth and into Sloane's ears causing her eyes to turn white and her nose started bleeding while her whole body was shaking.

"That's enough!" Luther said as he grabbed Allison and pulled her away from Sloane who was release from her powers and she felled to the floor before she let out a gasp.

"You better ask yourself which side your on, bro" Diego said to Luther as he put his knife away "Would you get out of here?" Luther said to him "Gonna tell me what do to?" Diego asked as he got up before he walked up to stand right in front of him.

"All of you, just get out!" Allison said before she pointed her finger at Luther "She doesn't leave your sight. Do you understand? This isn't over" she said aggressive "Come on, let's go" Luther said and the three left.

Allison walked over to the sink before she put her hands on each side of the skin "Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe" she said with a sigh while she trying to inhales exhales.

She then lifted her head to look into the mirror in front of her "I heard a rumor..." she said as her voice was echoing and the energy wave came out of her mouth and into her ears causing her eyes to turn white and she started groaning "...that you...were" she said, her voice echoing and she let out another groan as her eyes was white "...happy" she said.

She let out a scream before she smashed the mirror with her fist causing it to break as she her eyes turned back to her normal color.

Allison then picked up a piece of the the broken mirror before she started cutting her hair.

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Viktor was still with Harlan when Allison came up to them "Viktor" she said and Viktor looked at her to see that she have cut her hair to the shoulders "You cut your hair" he said "Yeah" she said "Uh, you okay?" Viktor asked "Yeah, never better" she lied as she hid her wounded knuckles that she have gotten after smashing the mirror in the bathroom with her knuckles.

"What's wrong?" Viktor asked "The Sparrow don't have the briefcase. They never did" Allison said "What? Are you sure?" Viktor asked "Yeah, very. What do we do now? What's our next move?" Allison asked "I'm sorry. I can't...I can't deal with this right this second. We can talk later, okay?" Viktor said "No, not okay" Allison said "Later, please" he said and Allison walked away.

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Diego and Stanley was standing in lobby looking at the burned banner which Stan had destroyed with the Molotov cocktail.

"You're gonna clean up every square inch of this" Diego said to him "What? Most of this wasn't even my fault. It was the man, the octogenarian" Stan said.

"I don't give a shit where he grew up. You 're gonna clean. No one--" "Yeah, you're just mad that you got your ass kicked by a floating cube!" Stan said, cutting Diego off causing Klaus to let out a laugh as he approached them.

"That's it. You're grounded" Diego said to Stan before he turned to Klaus "Why are you laughing? You were conveniently absent when all this shit went down" he said.

"I was talking with Dad" Klaus said and Diego looked at Stan "Don't move an inch" he told him before he grabbed Klaus and dragged him a little bit away.

"You ask him about the mother shit?" Diego asked "Yeah" Klaus said "What'd he say?" Diego asked "That he didn't kill them" Klaus said "Oh, you believe him?" Diego asked "Well, I don't know. It's hard to say. The Sparrows have got him all doped up like a...like a me!" Klaus said and chuckled.

"It doesn't alarm you at all, the fact that they're drugging their father?" he asked "Wish we would have thought of that. Anything else?" Diego asked "Oh, you know the luggage room in the basement of the Academy where we used to huff pain?" Klaus asked "Yeah, vaguely" Diego answered "Do you recall this blinding orb of light?" Klaus said "Now we're done" Diego said thinking that Klaus was high or drunk.

Diego then walked over to Stan as Chet wheeled out a cart with cleaning supplies before giving some keys to Diego "As requested" Chet said before giving Diego some piece of paper.

Diego then walked over to Stan before he gave him the keys and the piece of paper "What the hell is this?" Stan asked "Your punishment. And when you're done here, you're gonna clean every room on Chet's list to pay for this shit, okay?" Diego said and Stan angry took the paper.

Diego then grabbed Klaus' shoulder who was hanging a towel over his arm

"And your Uncle Klaus is gonna watch over you" Diego said as he dragged him over to them before he put a hand on both their shoulder "What? No! Please don't" Stan said "What? No! Why can't you do it?" Klaus asked "Because I have to babysit Luther in case Allison pops off again. Okay? All right, you two have tons in common" Diego said before he turned around "No, we don't" Stan said "Really? Like what?" Klaus asked "Being a pain in my ass" Diego said "Eat Shit" Stan said "You're an asshat" Klaus said "Heard that" Diego said as he walked away.

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YOUR POV.

While going towards the Infinite Switchboard, Five and I was checking every room we passed, to make sure that we didn't miss anyone.

I took a deep breath as I pulled my long brown jacket close to me. Regardless of the cold I felt unsteady being back at The Commission. From the moment I stepped into The Commission back when I was around fifty, I felt uneasy. 

While Five walked into the last room before going into the room where the Infinite Switchboard was. I entered the Infinite Switchboard but only to find it empty and things destroyed. Chair was laying on the floor and monitors were shattered. It look like no none have being here for a very long time and there was no life at all.

"Jesus. How can it look like that in such a short time?" I asked as I looked around.

I then spotted a shelf where a lot of files was and I walked over to it before skimmed the titles and dates that was standing on back of the files.

Then my eyes landed on a file.

'9th Juni 2003'

I remember that it was that day I ended up in a coma. I lifted my hand before I put it on the file and took it out of the shelf.

I looked at the title and my eyes widened "What?" I asked.

Why you should be careful with time travel

I opened the file to the front page to see a small video tape, that was tape to the front page.

I saw that something with a black marker was writing on the tape.

DATE: 06/09/2003

SUBJECT: HOW Y/N RUSSELL ENDED IN A COMAN AND IN THE APOCALYPSE

"What?" I mumbled confuse and I was about to flip to the next page but then someone enter the room.

"Found anything" Five asked and I quickly closed the file before I put it in a secret inner pocket in the long jacket I was wearing.

"Nope. Nothing" I said as I turned around to see Five with the briefcase in his hand.

FIVE'S POV.

I was about to ask her what she was doing over by those files but I stopped myself when I spotted that one of the monitors was still operational.

"This one is still working" I said as I pointed on the screen "Okay" Y/n said and we walked over to it before I put down the briefcase while Y/n wipe some snow off the screen before she started pressing some buttons.

"Okay. That's good" I said as I turned it on making the broadcast say a warbling sound before Herb appeared on the screen causing us to lean closer to the screen.

"There's been a rip in the space-time continuum. It's swallowing everything. Oh, my sweet Dot, Iris, Josh from accounting, they're all gone" Herb said and Y/n turned up for the sound making the audio garbles "We've tried everything! I don't know what else to do. The timeline is collapsing" Herb said before there was screaming in the background and the building began to tremble as the light began to flicker.

"This is...the end" Herb said and we saw Herb being swallowed by the paradox with a scream.

In addition to being disappointed that we couldn't find any solutions, and Herb passing away, our faces fell. We felt hopeless now.

"I could kill for some scrambled eggs right now" Lila said as she entered the room "This is bigger than the timeline, Lila" Y/n said "What's bigger than the timeline?" Lila asked "The entire univers" I said "Yeah" Lila said "The missing dogs, people...It's the opposite of the big bang" Y/n said "Instead of the univers expanding, it's now collapsing in on itself" I said.

"Like a prolapsing rectum" Lila said "That's weird analogy, but yeah" I said and Lila lifted up a book "Here, then. This might give us some answers" she said before she gave it to me.

'THE COMMISSION PARADOX PROTOCOLS'

"Master handbook" Y/n and I said "The one and only" Lila said and I opened the book before I flipped through the pages causing the sound of pages rustling to be heard.

While Y/n and I was trying to find the right page, Lila was looking at three pencils she was holding between her fingers.

"Here we are" Y/n said when we found the right page.

"Okay, protocol" I said before I began to read it "'In the unlikely case of the grandfather paradox, the founders and any essential personnel should--" I read "'...be immediately remanded to the operations bunker'" Y/n read out "The founders" Lila said "What founders?" Y/n asked "I don't know" I said but then something felled down from the ceiling making the three of us to jump back.

"We need to find that bunker..." I said "ASAP" the three of us said at the same time "Jinx" Lila whispered before we started walking out of the room "A-B-C-1-2-3, personal padlock" Lila said "Can you not..." "You can't speak!" Lila said, cutting me off as we left the room.

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THIRD PERSON'S POV.

Luther and Sloane was in a room sitting in front of each other.

"All right" Luther said as he grabbed a plastic bag with ice before he put it on Sloane's shoulder but she push his hand away before holding the bag on her shoulder.

"I hate your family" Sloane said "That's cool. Not a super fan of yours right now" Luther said.

"Were you part of it?" she asked "Of what?" he asked "Ambushing us with Superman's grandpa" she said "Sloane..." he said with a sigh "My family can't decide whether or not to put mushroom on a pizza. I have no idea who that old guy is. He just showed up" he said and she removed plastic bag from her shoulder "You expect me to believe that?" she asked "Hold on here. You attacked us" he said "I tried to warn you" she said "Yeah, pfft, at the last second. You almost took us out" he said "Yeah, but we didn't. And your stupid family's fine, and half of mine is dead" she said and Luther's face fell.

"Where you just...using me? Getting close to gather information?" she asked with tears in her eyes "Do you really believe that?" he said and she looked down before she let out a sigh and looked back at him.

"Sloane, you need to know something about me. I don't really have any friends. Or...romances. I just have my family, and I would do anything to protect them except betray you, because that's not who I wanna be. So, if you're playing me right now, you win. But if this...if this is for real, we have to trust each other, because we're not our families" he said and she grabbed his hand "Okay" she said "Okay" he said before he lifted his hand and wipe away her tear.

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Stan was cleaning in a room while Klaus was leaning against the door frame drinking.

"Hey, you missed a spot" Klaus said and pointed on the spot "You missed a spot on your face, and I'm not complaining" Stan said, looking at him "Hey, hey, hey. Listen to me, buddy. This is nothing compared to what I endured when I was your age. You know he once gave me six months' laundry duty. Six months! Just for pawning one of his stupid priceless artifacts from Mexico" Klaus said and Stan grabbed something before putting it in his pocket without Klaus saw it.

"Well, it turns out it did have a price, Dad, and that price was $35 for meth, thank you very much" Klaus said "Laundry doesn't seem that bad" Stan said "Well, it is when you know what your brothers do to their socks" Klaus said "Did you get in a lot of trouble at my age?" Stan asked "Oh, tons. Truancy, larceny, arsony. You know, a lot of the stuff I was doing wasn't even illegal at the time. Have you heard of Klaus's Law?" Klaus asked "Nope" Stan said as Klaus lay down on the bed.

"Oh, whatever. It doesn't matter. Half the time, I was just trying to piss off my dad. Luther, Diego, or Ben" Klaus said "Yeah, oppositional defiant disorder" Stan said as he grabbed a watch before putting it in his pocket.

"Huh?" Klaus said.

"At least that's what my shrink calls it" Stan said "Go on" Klaus said "It's typically associated with an argumentative, aggressive..." Stan said "...Irritable mood" the two said at the same time "Exactly" Stan said "Yeah" Klaus said "Antisocial...risk-seeking behavior, and impulsivity" Stan said "Ding-dong, who's at the door? Me. I have the...Wow! You know, and it feels so good to put a name to it, so all the drugs and the manipulation and my cult and..." Klaus said "You had a cult?" Stan asked "Well, it was the '60s, babe. Everybody had one. But the point is that all of that was a reaction to my father and his obscenely high expectations of me" Klaus said.

While he was talking Stan was stealing things in the room "And then, after Dad, I had Ben haunting my every move" Klaus said "Who's Ben?" Stan asked "Ben is your dead uncle. Who's alive in this timeline. But he's dead to me. It doesn't matter. But, I mean, if I set this room on fire..." Klaus said as he sat up and Stan looked at him "Yeah" he said "...would it be fulfilling? I don't know. If I was to act out now, I mean, who would it even be in opposition to?" Klaus said before he let out a laugh.

"Maybe this whole new timeline thingy is a blessing in disguise, except of you, obviously. But maybe now I can have, like, a normal-ish relationship with my cold and emotionless father" Klaus said before he lay back down in bed.

Stan then lifted up some car keys "Stanley" Klaus said before he sat up "Hey! Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay!" he said as he pointed on Stan that was putting the keys in his pocket "Ch-pff! Ch-pff!" Klaus said "Come on!" Stan said "No, put it back" Klaus said "Okay, you caught me" Stan said as he put the keys back "All of it, please" Klaus said and Stan put the things back "Yes. Yes" Klaus said "I thought you were supposed to be the fun uncle" Stan said "I know, me too" Klaus said before he chuckled "Can I just keep one thing?" Stan asked "All right, you can keep the panties" Klaus said.

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"I really should get home" Sloane said "I can't let you go" Luther said "I don't wanna let you go either, but Jayme and Alphonso, they deserve a proper burial" Sloane said before she lowered her hand "No, I mean, I can't let you leave. You're a hostage" he said "Oh, right. That" she said "My family already thinks I'm a traitor. So, I can't..." he said "No, I totally get it" she said "Good" he said "My family probably is plotting vengeance" she said and they both nodded "So, I guess we just go back to fighting until everybody's dead" he said "We can put an end to this and still be together" she said "How?" he asked.

"You know you are damage when a heart scares you and a gun doesn't"

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