CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: SHITSHOW

Lotus didn't remember when Lila came back, or when both her and Five disappeared in a haze of blue and never returned.

Panicked shouts echoed from the large hole in the wall, she scrambled out the front door and froze at the sight of Luther leaning over Allison who was sprawled in the snow.

"Is she—"

"I'm good." Allison coughed as he helped her up, "She can use our powers."

Lotus nodded making her way over, "Yeah, I got that. I couldn't use her own abilities against her."

"Why was the house shaking?" Luther questioned holding onto Allison, "Was that like what Vanya can do?"

"I think that was me." Lotus frowned, "But Lila's disappeared with Five and she's totally gonna kill him."

Allison took a deep breath, nodding.

"Help!" A voice yelled, "Allison! Luther! Come on, man! Vanya!"

They all shared a look before dashing towards the noise, Diego was pinned under the red tractor they had all previously used as cover when it was raining bullets. He kept trying to yank his foot free, "Hey! What took you so long?"

Luther huffed placing a hand on the tractor, "Well, we're here now. Do you want to stop complaining?"

"Or if you prefer we could just leave you here." Klaus appeared.

She wandered over on the other side of Luther and grabbed ahold of the tractor, curious if she could manifest his own ability without changing like she did with Five and Klaus.

"What are you doing?"

Lotus grunted lifting it up, her eyes widened as she barked out a surprise laugh.

"He's out, he's out." Luther told her, and she stumbled back when her hands let go of the weight. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Yeah, well, I'm learning a lot about the things I can do. Considering all this new shit is happening right now."

"Does everything in this family have to be a discussion?" Vanya shifted impatiently, staring over at the barn.

Diego pulled himself up, adrenaline burning in his dark eyes. "Hell yeah!" He exclaimed, holding up his hand for a high five. Luther accepted with a matching grin, "Team zero! Alright!"

"Where's Five?" Vanya questioned, looking back to them.

Lotus frowned, "Blinked out with Lila."

"Yeah, by the way, your ex-girlfriend can blink like Five." Luther glared.

Allison nodded, "Yeah, that bitch just rumoured me so I couldn't breathe."

"And destroyed like half the farm with a shock wave. So unoriginal." Klaus chimed in.

Luther turned to her, raising a brow. "You can blink out too, right? And you saw Ben, and you just lifted the tractor off of Diego— maybe you know how she's doing it?"

Lotus snorted, wiping her lip. Blood smeared from her nose, "I don't even know how I've been doing it, Luther. It's a shit show. I'm a shit show."

"If she can do everything we can, she might as well be one of us." Vanya spoke, trailing off with the realization.

"Yeah." Luther chuckled, eyes widening. "No, no way. That can't be."

"That's uh, a reasonable conclusion." Allison nodded.

Klaus pursed his lips, "But there was only seven of us."

"Maybe we need to consider that there's more of us out there."

Lotus cleared her throat, "I'd like to say that since I'm right here and can do what I do, and your father never got ahold of me— there is probably more than seven of you."

"Are we surprised?" Allison questioned. "I mean, Dad never told us the whole truth about anything."

Diego took a deep breath, "But she's not our biological sister... right?"

They all shared at look, Lotus shook her head at him. "I think you're good, big guy."

"Yeah, okay." Luther said quickly, "So, if she can mirror our powers, it means that anything we throw at her, she can match?"

Klaus nodded, raising his pointer finger. "Yeah, but she can only mirror one of our powers at a time."

"Are you sure about that?"

Lotus huffed, "All I know is that when I changed into her, I couldn't use anything against her. She told me that too, that I couldn't use any of her own stuff against her. But I think that's because she's so angry she can't listen to a voice of reason. I've never had anger like that pass over when I shifted. Whatever Five did, she's on a warpath."

"So we've seen her travel, use my strength and use Allison's rumours and Vanya's... yeah, we're screwed." Klaus muttered, "I wish Ben were here. He'd know what to do."

Diego coughed loudly, "We need to find Five before Lila guts him."

"They're not in the house." Lotus chimed in, "And clearly they're not out here."

"I'll lead, alright? Everyone follow me to the barn, if I tell you to stop, you stop. Alright?"

They all nodded before he took off, Lotus trailed beside Klaus as they followed.

"Are you okay?" Klaus whispered, looking down at her. "Your face is a mess."

She huffed, "I'm great. What about you?"

"Could be better." He nodded, "Should've had a few more drinks before committing to this, though."

"I'm never drinking again."

Klaus chuckled, "What? Did you not like revealing your secrets to us? Oh! About that, how's you and that little man child?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Why?"

Lotus frowned, "Because right now a psychopath and her even crazier mother are trying to kill him. To kill all of us, and I can't stop worrying that we won't make it off of this stupid farm."

He took a deep breath as they approached the barn, Diego threw a hand back and they all stopped. Lotus moved closer to Klaus, watching as Diego stepped into the building and everything seemed to go into another level of silence.

Luther glanced back at them after a few moments, giving a nod to each. "Let's hope this goes well."