All Cielo had was hope and a briefcase. She supposed this was how she started at Commission. That's all she ever really had here. But she never gave up trying for a better future for everyone. That's the job that she signed up for. She took the briefcase that day in 2019 for another's sake. Not her own.

The briefcase that AJ gave her sat on her lap as it always did. She monitored Commission from behind the scenes. While everyone was going out and about, messing with the timeline, she was watching. Only this time, she was alone. The whole place was nearly empty. Looking over the empty surveillance cameras, this wasn't the Commission she knew.

Taking a deep breath, she placed a hand over her watch. As long as she felt the flow of time, she would continue to fight for it.

Her attention drew to the multiple cameras on the hallways. All workers here had a certain gait that made one outsider stand out. No professionalism and a very lost sense of direction, she was more surprised that no one else found him to be strange. Then again, Commission collected a very strange group of workers that there was no one word to describe all of them besides how they feel about Time.

Her second form of hope was here just as she predicted. She scanned over the rest of the monitors to find the quickest, easiest way to get to him. This was a short opening window that she was not going to let it go.

Once she saw him in person in the halls she threw all caution to win, running full sprint. Cielo grabbed Diego by the arm planning to pull him away but was thrown off when he twisted her arm behind her and slammed her against the wall. "Yield! Yield! I yield!"

"Wait are you …" he backed off as she fell to the floor in shock.

"Don't sneak attack you. Haha. Good to know. I should be happy you didn't use your knives. Wow I really need to learn some self defense. You Umbrella kids always knock me off my feet haha..." He helped her back to her feet.

"You're Cielo right? How are you here? Were you in the Commission all this time?"

"Yes it's really me. No I wasn't and technically not a part of it now. It's- it's all really complicated but we can't talk here. Handlebar has eyes everywhere. I need to get you somewhere safe before I can get you home. Or to 2019 if Five succeeded. Which I doubt honestly but- we need to go now."

"I can't leave yet there's something I have to do. Can you take me to the Infinite switch room?"

"Infinite switch room? Why do you- actually that works." Watching the ISB would give them an upper hand on any changes that were caused and some news on how the apocalypse came to be again. Now that she had Diego, she didn't have to be fully concerned over her life. "Yes let's do that. You were going in the opposite direction. Follow me. Quickly."

She took his wrist to drag him through the halls. Taking only stops to hide themselves from workers. "Hey. So- like- I appreciate you helping me but why are we hiding?"

She peered over the corner before running across the hallway. "There's been a recent assassination of the board of directors. Since then this place has been a complete shit show with Handlebar being the circus leader. She framed me for their murders. If she sees me, she's going to kill me. That includes being found by your little girlfriend."

"That literally makes no sense. Why would she want you? Nonetheless, to kill you? You work in prosthetics. And Lila's not my girlfriend. I was kidnapped."

"So many questions just like your stupid brother." She started running once the coast was clear. He barely processed what was happening before rushing to follow her again.

"Woah woah now you're on bad terms with Five? I thought you two had some weird thing going on?"

"Okay to sum it up real fast, in 2019 I got recruited to be Mister fish head's personal assistant slash to be a high ranking member. He was, before he got killed, the chairfish of all things that the Commission controls. Now that he's gone, I have access and knowledge to all the files that Handlebar- your not girlfriend's mother- wants to get her grubby hands on. As for your brother, I thought we were on good terms too... Ask him about that yourself."

Diego didn't question her sadden expression at the mention of his brother. Something must have happened between them that he didn't have the right to comment on. "If it's anything, I'm sorry for whatever he did."

"Thanks but I was going to deal with that later. Actually, I was going to go confront him when I found out that you were here. Of course, somehow they are one step ahead of me. Didn't take you for the type to be tricked by love so easily."

"I didn't- she drugged me."

"Mmh." She didn't believe him. He didn't even try to deny his feelings.

"But while we're on the topic- what do you know about Lila?" Couldn't last a second before asking about her.

"Not much is known about Handlebar's daughter besides that she's insanely loyal to her and strong. Meaning I'm in double danger for being with you. That also means that I need to get you out of here as soon as possible. After we find what causes the apocalypse, I will send you back to your family and hopefully Chestnut will have reached Five in time to let you guys see the Frankel footage."

"The Frankel footage? You sent that? Does that mean I'm right that our dad was the one that killed JFK?" Suddenly their conversation split into two paths.

"What? Your dad? What does your dad have to do with anything?"

"I saw the footage! As bright as day, our dad was on the lawn, holding an umbrella, watching JFK round the corner and get shot in the head! Isn't that what you were trying to tell us? To stop the assassination? Didn't you send Hazel to give it to Five?" She pulled him behind another way when she heard a group of people walking their way.

"Monocle was holding the umbrella? No no, that's all wrong. That video was meant to show you guys how to prevent the apocalypse. By keeping the president assassinated, the flow of time is correct and there would be nothing out of the ordinary for you to be handling. Didn't Chestnut tell you guys anything?" She withheld the information about knowing of the umbrella man now with the revelation that it was their dad.

"Yeah about that, Hazel was apparently killed by those Swedish weirdos. This being after finding Five in the apocalypse and giving him 10 days to fix it."

She wanted to bang her head against the wall. "Gosh darn it I created a damn loop. Figures that the first thing I mess up on is by going with the norm. So much of an anomaly that I am."

Originally she thought that Five landed in the apocalypse and used his powers a second time to jump before the apocalypse. What Diego was saying was Hazel probably was always the one that saved him. If she didn't request for his help in the first place, Five would have been stuck in November 22, 1963 as he landed. Now he was running around trying to stop everything. She created a self fulfilling time loop that killed Hazel for no good reason.

"A loop?"

"Nothing important to you but clearly you guys very much misunderstood the message I wrongly sent. Though it did end up saving Five and somehow finding your dad. Not sure how that worked out but we'll go with it. We don't have much of a choice here. Oh, that's one of the rooms." She pointed to the one with the large, bolded AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY printed on the door. Diego ran up to the door only to find it locked.

He crouched down with one of his knives in hand. "Give me a second to pick it. You keep watch out for me."

"While normally I would love to see someone pick locks and file a report for them to be properly upgraded, I'd rather not risk my death today." She handed him the ring of keys. A very old fashioned way for a place that literally lived for the future.

He mumbled a thanks and had the both of them scurried in. Luckily she didn't have to fear him fighting someone as it was empty. "Kraken, welcome to the central location of Commission, the Infinite switchboard. Here we monitor the timelines and changes as a result of the Commission's actions and human will. You should be honoured as not even Five was allowed to work on these instruments. They are very sensitive and require decades of studying to figure out how to combine the variables of timeline, location, regulations and more."

He sat down in one of the chairs, cracking his knuckles. "This shouldn't be too hard."

"No wait, maybe I should-" too late. He shocked himself, causing an error message to come on screen. She unplugged all the wires he messed with.

"It's a lot harder than it looks." He argued.

"Yeah. I'm aware of that." The two of them stopped when the door slowly opened. Diego quickly dragged the person, holding a knife up against their neck.

"Oh! Please don't hurt me." The small man panted heavily in fear.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Relax Kraken. Meet Grass. He's an analyst and a pretty harmless one too."

"Grass?"

"H-Herb. My name is H-Herb."

"I'm Diego. I have a knife."

"Y-yes, I can see. It's very shiny." He gulped loudly. She patted on Diego's shoulder to let the defenseless man go. Much to the relief of Herb.

"Breathe." He nodded along, taking in a few deep breaths and patting down his suit.

"It's an honour to meet you, Mister Hargreeves."

"You know me?"

"Everybody knows you. I mean, you're Number two. You're a legend. But um Miss Cavallone, you should be in hiding. The bounty on your head is all anyone can talk about. You running around like this is dangerous. We don't know where her followers could be hiding. You need to leave now. Both of you."

"Herb, is that any way to talk to a legend and his friend?" He shook his head. "You know how to work this puppy?"

"I'm certified to operate the ISB, yes." She noted that he didn't once raise a question about her innocence. Did he already trust that she wasn't the one that murdered the board despite them being here illegally?

"Good. I need you to look up a date; November 22, 1963, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy."

"Unauthorized use of the Infinite Switchboard is a clear violation of company protocol 67D-"

"Don't be such a tight-ass." Herb was still a bit hesitant. Looking to Cielo for some help.

"Take my advice, Grass, he's not going to listen. Step aside, I'll do it. I'm already a criminal here."

He stopped her from touching anything. "You two don't understand. Since the Handler has taken over, people are disappearing. They would kill us all if they caught us in here. We cannot risk alerting them to what we are doing."

"And what we are doing is looking up a date. Think of it this way, you're denying not only the legend that is Number two but also Mister fish head's orders. You and I already know it Grass, watching the ISB doesn't change anything. What's one peek going to do? Hmm? If anything you're more in danger than we are. We're already willing to do whatever it takes to kick that bitch out of her imaginary throne. I'm not letting her win. If you get in my way, then you are no better than her. Our enemy in other words. Kraken has a knife, remember?" Diego nodded along to everything as he only understood the threat parts.

Herb only sighed. "One quick look, and then you gotta go."

"Our man." Herb was fast with his work. Plugging in things fast while mumbling to himself about keeping the timeline safe. Around them, all the screens started to flicker on but only the one in front of them played a video.

John F. Kennedy's assassination day. Each one of them leaned in as the video played his car turning into Dealey Plaza. At this point of time, bullets were supposed to shoot straight into the president's head. Instead, a building behind them blew up causing a panic in the streets below.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell is that?"

"That's the FBI building."

"Yeah, but why the hell did it just blow up?"

"That's not supposed to happen?"

"Kennedy lived? No, that's not possible. After the original Five went back to 2019, another member took his place to ensure the assassination. The board would have been alerted if something as big as the FBI building blew up to change that."

"The board that was killed?" Cielo groaned at her stupidity. All the changes they kept making creating confusing the system to ignore all the signs of disaster. Five was really pushing her to her limits. The clip continued playing. This was doomsday. A nuclear war under the assumption that both sides started it first. The end of the world.

"Do you have another angle on the FBI building?" A few more switches flipped and dials turned and they saw it. Vanya floating out of the building. Her powers are out of control just like in 2019.

"Kraken, if this is the current stream of time, we only have a few hours before she explodes. Again."

"I need to get back to Dallas. Now." Herb gasped. He unplugged the ISB and scuttled a bit so that they both got a clear view of him.

"We need La Résistance."

"The La re-who now?"

"Follow me." Herb turned off the Infinite Switchboard before rushing out of the room. The two of them having no choice but to follow him.

Judging by the name it sounded like the mild mannered Herb was more than meets the eyes. It made sense too. With everyone trying to leave the Commission, workers like Herb didn't have anywhere to go. They had to stay and fight for their job. A coup d'etat against someone that went into power through a coup. That was something Cielo and Diego could get behind.

Though they were expecting a bit more than the group greeting them right now. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I know we don't look like much, but we're resourceful."

"Don't mess with case management."

"Stand down Dot."

Cielo pushed through the two men towards the briefcase sitting on the table. She set down her own in between her legs to examine theirs. "You guys took a briefcase even though the rooms have been closed off? Impressive and surprisingly daring of you all. Is this one of the ones that Five broke last year?"

"It was the only way we could have taken it without anyone knowing. And with the room closed, there's no way for anyone to notice one missing. We just have to worry about the tracking."

"Yeah I'm assuming that's why I'm here."

"Uhh someone catch me up, what's the importance of a briefcase?" Diego watched over Cielo's shoulder as she pried opened the briefcase to reveal the inner mechanics.

"Briefcases are how operatives are able to time travel. However, all of them have tracking to make sure they don't abuse the power. With a bit of rewiring, done only by yours truly, that can be removed so we can get you to Dallas without your not girlfriend's mom knowing."

"Why not just use the one at your feet? Why use a slightly broken one?" She shuffled her feet closer together.

"No. This briefcase does not leave my side no matter how much I trust you. And while I would love to come along, I have to stay here to find Mister fish head."

Herb slightly pulled Diego to the side. "Forgive Miss Cavallone's attitude. Agents are taught to protect their briefcases with their lives. Miss Cavallone is even more of a special case. If you look at her briefcase, there's a symbol on it. Only hers has it. No one really knows why the former Commission head chose her to receive it but ever since she was recruited, she had quickly mastered all forms of time management from analyzing the ISB to briefcase control. Pretty much the only position she hasn't done is be an operative like Number Five."

"I can hear you Grass. Someone pass me some tape, please. For everyone's information, by the way, Mister fish head said I couldn't be an operative. Something about it being too dangerous to keep me in the timeline." She got her tape to finish up her work. Not her best work but it'll have to do with the crunch they're on.

"Agents need to do more than carry Commission jobs. They need to protect briefcases, remain unseen, and have no personal feelings with each case. Each agent on field was scouted and given years of training in time management. All qualities that I do not possess. I remain at Commission because this is where I benefit the most."

"Wow so you're a pretty big deal here. I can see why Lila's mom wants to put a bounty on your head."

"Thank you. I think. But let's save my adventures here for another time. Your job starts now." She shut the briefcase and took a step back. "With Violinist destroying the timeline again, the best I can do is get you to Dallas 2 hours before the explosion. After that Grass has to return here to avoid suspicions. This is your only chance. Understand?"

The two men nodded as Herb took the briefcase off the table. "Thank you Miss Cavallone. We won't let you down."

"Yeah thanks Cielo. I'll give Five a good beating for letting a woman like you go."

She cracked a smile. "Be sure to do that."

"Alrighty then. Dallas, here we come." Herb opened the briefcase and the pair were gone.

Cielo's smile fell as she turned to the La Résistance. She had an image to uphold here. Right now they didn't need who she was back in 2019. They needed the person that picked up every single detail about time management. The chairperson's assistant that had no limitations is what she did. Her biggest concern wasn't doomsday. It was here; in this mission. Five could wait until another day. She needed to fix his mess first.

"Miss Cavallone, I'm happy that you're okay but... but Mister Carmichael..."

"He's alive!" She burst out before Dot could finish. "I know it sounds crazy but he's alive and I have reason to believe he's here."

"How are you sure?"

"Because Handlebar needs either one of us in order to gain access to all Commission files. That's why my bounty demands me to be dead or alive rather than solely dead. As long as I'm roaming free, she needs to keep Mister fish head close by. That being said, I'm aware that she is also using him as bait to draw me in."

"Well that's fantastic news! And the board?"

She dropped her head in shame. There was guilt that she couldn't have done more to prevent their deaths. "I'm sorry. All 12 board members, accounted for and dead. I found them too late. I barely managed to escape the scene."

"Did you have anything to do with the board's death?" That was the reason going around for her bounty. It made sense given that she was the only known non-board member that was there. As they were a resistance against the Handler it was relatively safe for her to tell them the truth.

However, she just sent their unofficial leader with the brother of the real board murderer to another time period. Her own reputation wasn't the best either. At any point they could betray her the same as they were doing to the Handler. She was the sole thing stopping them from taking over the Commission.

They were already questioning her when she had no form of protection through Diego. If they knew that Five was the one responsible for everything. They could take that anger out on her or potentially use that as a blackmail to make her lose any credibility.

"The board was murdered during a meeting that I wasn't allowed to participate in. I only found them when I thought they were taking too long. I don't know anything about who did it. I'm once again sorry." It didn't feel right to lie to them. They were innocent workers that got roped into this Handler nonsense. She couldn't take it back though. She wouldn't.

"Can you prove it?"

Standing up, she set her briefcase on the table where their's once was. "I can't prove it but I want to prove my loyalty to the Temps Commission. I will not abandon this place when it's in need."

Giving up her briefcase meant that no one could escape. She wasn't like the others here that had a livelihood dependent on the Commission. This briefcase that she was giving up meant that they were all equal. Staying here would only ensure that she was walking into the Handler's trap. But she couldn't do it.

It was her responsibility alone to reclaim Commission. What was the point of having all this information if she didn't do anything with it? She may not be special like Five or the rest of the Umbrella Academy but she knew she could do something in this situation.

"Mister fish head saved my life once. It's only right I return the favour. Can't exactly run away when time is doomed anyways." She joked to ease the tension they had around her.

They accepted this answer. All of them had a simple goal in common. Bring back the Commission that they knew. Nothing else mattered.