CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: TRICK OR TREAT

"Well." Lotus found herself next to Five, "Is this what you were expecting?"

Five shook his head, "Not even close."

Harlan was suspended midair, shaking violently as Vanya shouted his name. It was a terrible sight, he was only a kid.

"I need you to listen to me, okay?" Vanya yelped stepping closer, "Can you do that?"

Lotus didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but it seemed the boy couldn't do anything as the vortex shook him around like a rag doll. Vanya took a deep breath, rushing forward and stumbling into the vortex. They all watched worried, waiting for their cue if anything were to go wrong.

"Um, guys." Klaus' voice floated over, "Who are they?"

They all shuffled to the other side of the barn, both doors wide open. Two figures stood in the middle of the barren field, staring at them.

"One's the Handler, the other's Diego's girlfriend." Five sighed.

Lotus' brows furrowed, "I thought the Handler was dead."

"Lila." Diego shook his head, "That's my ex-girlfriend."

"What?"

"You know what, it doesn't matter." He huffed, "They both look angry."

Allison pursed her lips, "Yeah well, our brother has that kind of effect on people."

"I'm gonna go find out what they want. You guys stay with Vanya and the kid." Five said, walking forward.

"I'm coming with you, too. Come on." Diego added, following him out the other doors. Lotus sighed, rushing after them.

"You should stay back." Diego told her once he noticed her trailing them, they made their way around the building and towards the field. "The Handler has it out for you."

"What did I do?"

"She blames you for her plan falling through."

She was still confused, "What plan?"

"Don't know. The crazy bitch mumbles a lot."

Lotus fell silent, walking between both of them. When they were in close enough range, the Handler gave them all a stretched smile. "I love the smell of that fresh country air, don't you darling?"

Lila scowled, "Makes me want to vomit."

"What do you want?" Five glared at them.

"To watch you suffer." Lila seethed at him, but Diego met her angry gaze. "What about me?"

She rolled her eyes, "You're not even worth my wrath."

The Handler sighed, "Easy. We're here on official business."

"And what business is that?"

"As the head of the Commission I've decided to eliminate the criminals responsible for the assassination of the former board of directors." She hissed, looking regal in her black long coat, a veil clouded her face.

"Yeah, right." Diego laughed, "We didn't kill the board."

Five pursed her lips, "Uh, actually, Diego, that's not entirely accurate."

"Are you kidding me?" Lotus whacked his shoulder, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You didn't tell them?" The Handler had a smug look on her face as she stared between them all. "Oh, Five."

Diego leaned towards his brother, "What the hell did you do?"

"What I had to do to get my family home. Until somebody reneged on our deal."

Lotus suddenly remembered Five appearing in Elliott's living room, coated in blood, claiming he found them a way home.

"Son of a bitch." She whispered.

"Somebody wouldn't have reneged if somebody could've met a simple deadline." The Handler shot back, "Alas."

"You set me up to fail."

"You set yourself up to fail, friend. You and your brothers and sisters." She sent a glare to Lotus, "Kinda the running theme of your little life, isn't it?"

Lotus watching in confusion, why did this lady hate her so much? And when did Lila disappear? Lotus was ashamed to say she hadn't even noticed the woman's absence.

"Dude, I can't believe you killed the board of directors." Diego mumbled, "You have no idea how messed up the Commission is right now."

The Handler flicked her eyes over Diego, "Messed up? Who's saying that?"

"Everybody. Christ, even the janitors think it's going to shit."

Lotus snorted, looking away as her burning glare turned to her.

"That's not all he killed." Lila spoke up.

Five gave her a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, you prepubescent piece of shit—"

"Enough." The Handler set her briefcase on the grass, smoothing out her coat. "The point is, all of you are going to die today. Hmm?"

Diego scoffed, "Oh, well, I don't like your chances. Seven of us, two of you."

"You know." The Handler's voice dropped to a whisper, a glint in her bright eyes. "You're right. Let's change that."

She raised a hand and snapped a polished finger, immediately people began popping up behind them. Lotus' eyes widened as the field filled out, hundreds of thousands of armed Commission workers ready for their alert. Lotus stepped closer to Five, "Did you really have to say that, Diego?"

Her hands began to shake at her sides as Diego looked down at them with worry, "What do we do now?"

"Well, we got two choices: fight and die now or run and die later." He took a shaky breath, "Either way, we're food for worms."

"Preference? I'm kinda leaning for option two." Lotus whispered.

Five nodded, "Wouldn't mind a few more minutes breathing air through these old windbags."

The Handler sighed, "All right. Let's get this over with, shall we?"

They all backed up together as the woman raised a red scarf, "Run." Five breathed.

They turned and tore back towards the barn, Lotus wasn't much of a runner, but as the sound of gunfire echoed she managed to run pretty fast. She could hear bullets buzz by her ears, she yelped trying to avoid them.

"We're not gonna make it!" Diego yelled.

Five grabbed ahold him and wrapped an arm around Lotus, "What are you doing—"

They blinked out, reappearing a few feet forward, closer to cover. "I think I'm gonna puke." Diego heaved.

"No time!" Five shoved her forward, she stumbled behind a large red tractor as the others fell to the ground next to her.

"What do we do now?" He yelled, sneaking glances around the vehicle.

"We blink into the house!" Five huffed, grabbing ahold of them. Blue erupted at his hands but nothing happened, he fell back, "Shit! I'm out of juice. I'm too tired."

Lotus pulled herself up as the crowd of angry middle aged fighters grew closer, she grabbed ahold of both men before Diego lunged out. "Go! I'll cover you!"

"No!" She yelled, but he was already out there and Five was dragging her away.

"Blink us in." Five heaved, "They'll think it's me."

Lotus grabbed ahold of him, closing her eyes and wishing she was inside. They appeared on the porch, she ran into the door with Five stumbled into the wall. "Sorry!" She shouted shoving open the front door as bullets cascaded by them."I'm still figuring it out!"

Five ran next to her, pushing her towards the kitchen table and shoving her to the floor. He dropped beside her, both crawling for cover.

Glass shattered and metal hit off metal as the building was peppered with ammunition. Lotus covered her ears, just as Five did as waves hit the house. She shook with fear, moving close to him until she felt him against her side.

"Oh my god." She mumbled, "Oh my god!"

"It's gonna be ok." He yelled moving an elbow over her back, "It— it's gonna be fine."

Lotus shook her head, flinching as she heard more glass break. A high pitch wail echoed, the walls of the house shook— then everything stopped.

They froze, sharing a look before shuffling out from under the table. "Is it over?" She whispered as he helped her up.

Five rushed to the window, "Stay back."

She did, watching as he tensed and moved closer. Lotus walked over, shoving away his hand as he tried to block her. A blue orb shone from the centre of fallen bodies, the Handler and Lila stood unharmed. The orb shattered and slowly, Lila floated in the hair, eyes glowing white with blue at her hands.

"Well, would you look at that." Lotus mumbled, "How is she—"

Five's eyes widened, he grabbed her and dragged her away from the window. They ran away from the broken hole, another wave of destruction hit the house. The walls shook, and moments later Luther came crashing in through the ceiling.

Lotus yelped as they both spun to see his big figure laying in a pile of drywall and insulation. "Luther!" She huffed, rushing towards him. "Are you okay?"

The big man groaned, "I think I swallowed my tongue."

"Luther, if you swallowed your tongue, you wouldn't be talking, you big moron." Five joked.

"It's good to see you're still high in hopes." Lotus mumbled.

"Come on, on your feet." Five helped his brother up, brushing off the dust on his coat.

"What was that?"

"She must've redirected Vanya's energy wave."

Lotus pursed her lips, "Yes, but how? I thought she was clueless to all of this?"

Something clattered above the two of brothers, Five looked up and shoved Luther out of the way. A wave of bricks came hurtling down over top of him, burying him in a mess of them. He crumpled, the pile unmoving. "Five!" She screamed running forward, grabbing at the fallen bricks.

Something crackled and she glanced up to see Lila, slowly moving towards them.

"What are you?" Luther's voice questioned.

Lotus grabbed at the pile as fast she could, fear rippling through her.

"Someone who wants to kill your brother."

Luther nodded slowly, "Well, that's understandable. Diego can be a lot to handle."

"Yeah, I was talking about Five."

Lotus' heart stopped. She froze, moving her attention to Lila.

"If you touch him, I swear I will rip you from limp to limp." She pulled herself up, glaring.

Lila snickered, "What are you gonna do, short stuff? Last time I checked you were about as talented as my left shoe."

Lotus shook a shaky breath, praying that every time she ever shifted into one of the Hargreeves children that she took something from them. From Vanya, from Allison, from Luther.

"Yeah, well." Lotus took a deep breath, shaking out her hands. "You're not the only one with tricks up her sleeves."