Out of time

"Finn, do you think they can do it without losing blood?", Alex asked ironically. "Nope. I expect blood loss." Finn replied mischievously and shook his head. "You don't say. But let's be honest. Five's file says he's a pretty skilled hitman. That's almost creepy." Alex changed the subject.

"Not much difference to Aidan. I mean, they're one and the same person. They just grew up differently. Aidan isn't an official hitman. But in principle, he could kill just as cleverly as Five." Finn replied. "But his story is really bad. Aidan, on the other hand, didn't have to grow old and be separated from his family. Five, on the other hand, was lonely for a very long time. No one explained the time travel rules to Five, and so he messed up a lot." Alex said.

"He's still a hitman. That means we get to iron it out again, and this stupid commission doesn't abide by any time travel rules either!" Finn was outraged. "Who invented it anyway, and why is it also outside the time limit?" asked Alex, a little impassively. "No idea. Did you know that at least some versions of a person have a completely different personality to the average person?" Finn asked his brother Alex.

"Yup, either totally friendly and shy or even a super villain. A killer with no heart and no mercy." Alex replied. "I'd rather not even meet these versions of me who kill so heartlessly and without mercy. They would even kill their own versions without hesitation." Finn swallowed nervously at that thought.

"Finn, at least you can control your other versions. With your gift of projecting consciousness, you could visit any timeline unobtrusively without running the risk of running into each other twice." Alex said snippily. "But if one version of them is in jail as a criminal, then unfortunately I can't explore that timeline. These versions, who also have the gift, could also do a consciousness transfer. I would notice, because then there would be a swap." Finn explained his gift again. "Pretty creepy." was Alex's only reply.

"You were at my file drawer!" Aidan's voice suddenly thundered out of the headset. "How did you know that?" Alex asked, a little taken aback. "Guys, you really are a bit forgetful. I'm a telepath, remember?" Cecilia's voice asked innocently through the headset. "Cecilia, where did you come from all of a sudden?" asked Finn in surprise. "I just happened to be in the neighborhood and came from a job." Cecilia Uni said. "Okayyyyy." Alex dragged out the word because he couldn't think of anything else. "I'll help out again while I'm here," said Cecilia through her headset. Now Aidan had his say again. "When I'm done here later. It's your turn!" Aidan's voice boomed rather angrily. (Oh, oh, not good). Finn and Alex thought to themselves and looked at each other in alarm.

Third timeline

Five was walking through a large park. The sun was shining, and the sky was bright blue. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. He completely blocked out people walking past him, as his head was full of thoughts.

Five was annoyed about the past few weeks. (Why did everything have to go so wrong?) He and the others had made quite a mess of things. Nora had a plan, by the way, and it was probably invalid now. No. No. No! There had to be a way to straighten everything out.

Five was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the four masked figures who had suddenly appeared in the park.

The figures each wore a purple suit and purple masks. A coat of arms was emblazoned on the right side of the chest. At the top left of the coat of arms was a 1. Next to the 1 on the right was a purple keynote. Below the 1 was an hourglass. Under the keynote were two crossed swords. Under the coat of arms was something in Latin. (Non Ludere Cum Tempore), which translates as: (You don't play with time.)

The quartet crept up quietly from behind. One of them carelessly stepped on a branch. It cracked noisily. "Sh****!" Emil cursed softly. "Spread out!" Laura hissed in a whisper. Aidan teleported behind a bush with Laura and Cecilia. But they forgot to take Emil with them.

Emil was the only one to stay put. He couldn't react that quickly. "Plan B," Laura whispered briefly and succinctly through her headset. "Understood," said Aidan and teleported behind a tree. Emil could only nod, which Laura and Aidan could clearly see from a distance. Cecilia was also getting ready to fight.

The cracking sound snapped Five out of his thoughts. Alarmed, he turned around and saw a young man who must be around twenty years old. Emil looked Five straight in the eye. It all happened in a few seconds.

Before Emil knew it, Five had already punched him in the stomach. Emil doubled over in pain and gasped in shock. He hadn't seen that coming. Emil hadn't expected such a reaction. Although the Umbrella version of Aidan was not without its problems either. You could very well have expected it.

"Older Emil, why don't you use your shield," Aidan muttered sarcastically to himself.

Emil straightened up again, but Five gave him no time to get into an attack position. As soon as Emil was more or less upright again, Five struck again. Emil sank to the ground again. The next moment, Five was standing over him, his foot pressed close to his throat. Five left just enough air for Emil to breathe.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me? Are you from the commission?", hissed five dangerously and increased the pressure on Emil's throat when he didn't answer. Unaware that there were actually four opponents. Emil tries to get Five's foot off his throat with his hands. But to no avail. The increasing lack of oxygen was getting to him, and he could feel his strength dwindling with every gasping breath.

From their various hiding places, Aidan and Laura and Cecilia nodded seriously at each other. Now it was Laura's turn to play her part in the plan. Laura jumped out of her hiding place and crept up silently from behind. Five hadn't noticed Laura yet. "That's enough!" shouted Laura, annoyed, and pulled Five off Emil as he jumped. The two of them rolled across the dusty park floor. Laura elegantly jumped up again and landed on her feet. Five, on the other hand, had to struggle to stand up again.

Meanwhile, Aidan teleported to Emil and teleported Emil and himself back behind the tree where Aidan had last been hiding. Emil gasped with relief. Laura had seen the action out of the corner of her eye, but Five hadn't because he had been standing with his back to what was happening.

In the next moment, Laura punched Five in the jaw. Five staggered to the ground. Five felt blood slowly flowing from his nose. (That too!) Five was annoyed. It all happened so quickly that Five didn't even know what hit him and was totally surprised by another attacker. Five suddenly found himself in quite a headlock. He would have preferred to teleport away, but unfortunately that was no longer possible. That was pretty annoying.

Five had lost his powers due to the reset of the universe, just like his siblings. But he could still fight. After all, he was trained to be a superhero. (But would that be enough to get through against the two opponents?) Five didn't know. His chances would be better if the two opponents weren't so experienced in fighting. But as it was, his chances looked very poor. Nevertheless, he would not give up and would continue to fight for his life until the bitter end.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me? Are you from the Commission?" Five repeated his question again. Hoping to distract with the question and give the whole thing a twist. <You attacked first. We're just defending ourselves.> A voice suddenly answered in Five's head. (What the ...?) (Who had just said that?) Five asked himself mentally. (Maybe his inner voice?) Five didn't really have time to think about that voice. He had to concentrate on staying alive.

But Laura took advantage of the moment of inattention, and the next blow hit Five in his soft parts. Five felt a tremendous pain rising inside him. He would have liked to writhe in pain, but he didn't want to expose himself to his attackers. So he just bit his lower lip and smiled wryly. He couldn't weaken now. "You've got a pretty hard punch," Five managed to get out through clenched teeth. <Pure training.> Heard Five again, that voice in his head. Which sounded rather unimpressed.

Aidan watched the whole spectacle for a while, waiting impatiently for the perfect opportunity. He smiled mockingly. Another moment of carelessness landed Five another blow and was flung a few meters across the earthy park floor. A brief moment passed. Then Aidan finally emerged from his hiding place. "Hey, do you enjoy beating up my old ego like that?", Aidan called mockingly to Laura. "Haha, very funny! You know exactly the answer!", Laura said sarcastically. <You'd better concentrate on your part.> Cecilia spoke telepathically in Aidan's head. "It's all right." Aidan grinned.

That was the moment when Five stopped and turned to the voice that belonged to the person. The voice sounded so strangely familiar to him. Five couldn't believe it. There was an approximate twenty-year-old version of himself standing there! (Why wasn't there a paradox psychosis? What was going on here? What was going on here?) Five picked himself up. Something was very wrong here.

Aidan looked in Five's direction. Five looked back in disbelief. "What is? Speechless at seeing yourself?" Aidan asked mockingly to Five. His other version. "You knew it. The rule is quite clear that it is best to avoid each other because of the paradox psychosis." Five spoke to his other likeness.

"Now, now, now, don't give me rules. You were able to break all the rules of time travel, and now look at you. Look what you've done!" Aidan said bitterly. "How ... do you know about this?" asked Five suspiciously. "That's none of your business," Aidan replied sharply.

Five noticed something else strange about his other version. "You're no older than twenty, although you should be 2019 around 30 years old in 2019. Why?" Five asked further. "You want to know why I look younger than I should be. I might as well ask you that. Because you're a 58-year-old old man trapped in your 13-year-old body!" Aidan scoffed. "How do you know all this? Answer me!" Five became louder.

"But, well, I'll answer that question for you. I don't look any older, because a younger body is better to fight with than an old body." Aidan grinned wickedly. After these words, Aidan vanished into thin air and reappeared right in front of Five. Five was so startled that he couldn't dodge the next blow from himself. Aidan punched his alter ego in the face and Five fell to the ground unconscious.

"The order was to get him to headquarters alive, not to kill him!" Laura recalled Nora Soraya's words. "Says the one who got into a fight with me herself." Aidan's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Emil nearly choked," Laura said indignantly. "Thanks for the help, by the way," Emil thanked Laura. "That was only natural. You're my brother," Laura said to Emil.

"I distracted him with my telepathic abilities to make it easier for you." Cecilia added her contribution. "Thank you, Ceci. That was really helpful." Laura thanked him. "Come on, we'd better hurry. Emil, shut up, my other version, and then we'd best get out of here." said Aidan. "All right," said Emil.

Emil locked Five in a paradox prison, which consisted of a bubble.

Then they all pressed a button on a bracelet attached to their wrists. The next moment, they all vanished into thin air. They were gone.