[23] the lonely lodge in

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chapter twenty-three: the lonely lodge in

With anger coursing through her veins Nova glared at the golden 217 marking the green double doors of the hotel room. The young girl took a deep breath before knocking twice on the door. She only had to wait a moment before the Handler swung open the doors with her cigarette holder between her teeth and a glass of liquor in each hand.

"Ah just in time for a nightcap," the Handler said as she walked back into the room. Nova followed shutting the doors behind her.

"Just to be clear..." Nova started as she pulled out her own cigarette and lit it. "I take out the board and you get me and my family home. No more doomsday, no more apocalypse? Is that correct?"

"That's the deal," the Handler told her and Nova took another long drag of her cigarette before letting out a puff of smoke.

She lets the toxins coursing through her veins and relishes the feeling it gives her. These past few years have been too much, these last few hours have been too much. She just wanted to live in peace finally.

"Alright, then I'm in," Nova said as she opened her eyes once again. The Handler smiled sickly at her as she handed a folded piece of paper to the young girl. The paper read:

The Lonely Lodge Inn.

Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1982

"This bracelet has two jumps in it. It will take you to where you need to go and right back. Afterward, it will destroy itself," the Handler said as she yanked Nova's arm and slapped the bracelet on the girl.

Nova knew how these bracelets worked. You twisted it once to counter-clockwise and it took you on your first trip. You twisted it once clockwise and it took you on your second trip. Then it destroyed itself.

The girl wasted no time turning the bracelet counterclockwise. She felt the familiar pull of time travel before she landed on the driveway leading up to a quaint traditional-looking hotel cottage.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Nova said to the lady at the front table.

"Uff da! Ya snuck up on me missy! If you're looking for the cookies we don't put them out until 3:00," the woman said and Nova was puzzled considering her physically she was twenty or twenty-one but maybe she looked younger than she actually was.

"Sounds delicious, but uh I was actually wondering which room the Midwest Soybean Society is meeting?" Nova asked.

"Sure do. Muskellunge Banquet Room," the woman said pointing towards the back. "Are you looking for your Mom? She in for the convention?"

"Sure is. Thank you, ma'am," Nova said before turning and walking away.

As Nova walked down the hall she noticed a birthday cake and she ran her finger across the icing before sucking it off. The girl paused when she eyed the fire axe mounted on the wall. She could still feel her anger coursing through her veins.

Nova knew she could go in and kill all the members of the board just by holding her hands out. But she needed to blow off some steam so that she didn't accidentally wipe out this whole village. What better way to take out her anger than on the board of directors?

With precise moves, the girl gripped the axe and tossed it between both hands as she kicked open the door to the conference room.

"You! Call security!" AJ the goldfish screamed as Nova began slowly draining all their energy.

Before the lady could really pick up the receiver Nova had cut off her arm and crushed her skull. The girl then turned to the next three people and with extreme skill and precision, she killed them all. One she gutted, the other decapitated, and the third was a strike to the heart.

Nova jumped onto the table and kicked the next guy into the wall before bashing in his skull. She picked up the water glass that was sitting on the table and took a nice long gulp of water before swinging the axe upwards and slicing the guy almost in half as he went through the ceiling.

With little to no effort Nova had taken care of the rest of the board members except for AJ. She had a special plan for him.

"She sent you didn't she?" The fish asked her and Nova flicked a small piece of brain matter off the edge of her axe.

"In the grand scheme of things does it really matter now?" Nova asked with a sickly sweet smile. She would never admit this to anyone but deep down a very sick and twisted part of her enjoyed this.

"Whatever she offered you I will double it, triple it!" AJ exclaimed and Nova laughed.

"Oh dearest, AJ, I'm not doing this for money," The girl whispered and she could have sworn his fish eyes widened.

Before Nova could kill AJ the woman from the lobby tackled her off of the table. The woman struggled on the ground for a moment but Nova did not have time for this. The girl quickly yanked her hand upwards and ripped the life force out of the woman. Nova picked herself and her axe up before following AJ out the door.

"Surely we could come to some sort of agreement that benefits both parties. Quid pro quo?" AJ asked when Nova cut him off.

"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to negotiate right now," Nova shrugged before swinging her axe quickly and shattering the glass dome that AJ was in.

The girl saw some plastic bags on a side table next to the cake and quickly filled on in the water fountain before placing AJ inside. She figured this could be proof to the Handler that the board was really dead. As she went to leave Nova noticed that the vending machine had Fudge Nutters in it. Nova used her axe to smash the glass of the vending machine and shoved two fudge nutters in her pocket.

Once she was situated she then turned her bracelet clockwise. When she landed she felt the familiar burn on her wrist of the time bracelet destroying itself.

"Well?" The Handler asked as she walked up to Nova in the alley. The girl didn't say anything but held the fish out to the woman. "AJ! Why so quiet? I thought you'd be buzzing after this morning's slaughter."

"I've been practicing the art of meditation," Nova said sarcastically.

"Here you go per our agreement this will get you back to 2019. You have nintey minutes." The Handler said as a church bell chimed somewhere.

"Of course, there's a fucking time limit. There's always a goddamn catch with you," Nova spat out.

"You should have been more specific in our agreement dearest, Genova. Times a ticking. Oh, and you should go check on your little friend Ronnie. I don't think he's doing too hot," the Handler said before she disappeared.

When Nova angrily stormed into the front of Elliott's store she saw the phrase Oga for Oga written in blood on the floor. A sick feeling settled into her stomach when she saw it. She hurried up the stairs and saw two bodies covered with a sheet.

"Fuck, Ronnie I'm so sorry," Nova bit back a sob when she pulled back the tarp and saw her friend and close companion laying their dead face frozen in a scream of horror.

The girl quickly put the case to safety in the corner when she heard Luther and Diego threatening some old lady named Olga Foroga on the phone.

"Hey, idiots it's Oga for Oga Swedish for an eye for an eye," Nova said quickly as she made her way over to the sink and frustratedly tried to scrub the blood off of her hands. She did this all while trying not to break down in sobs for her friend who had been murdered in cold blood.

"It means the Swedes killed Elliott and Ronnie," Five said as he walked into the room. His eyes landed on Nova worriedly when he saw the silent tears creating clean paths on her blood-stained face. "Nove, what the hell happened? Who's blood is that?"

"It's irrelevant," Nova snapped as she stalked towards the bathroom while harshly pulling her pigtails free.

"Hey, talk to me," Five said as he grabbed the girl's bag before following her into the bathroom.

"Like I said it's nothing Five," Nova sniffed as she climbed into the bathtub and slid the curtain shut. She began to strip off her bloody skirt and shirt before throwing them over the curtain.

"It's not nothing, darling, you showed up covered in blood," Five said as he heard the water of the shower turn on.

Nova didn't care that the water that hit her bare skin was freezing. All she cared about was getting all this blood off of her skin and out of her hair. Because it suddenly didn't feel like the blood of the Commission board members. It suddenly felt like it was Elliott's blood she was covered in. It suddenly felt like it was Ronnie's blood.

"It won't come off! The blood won't come off!" Nova exclaimed as she scrubbed desperately at her skin and tugged on her hair.

Five hated to hear the despair and pain in her voice. It broke his heart. His Nova was so strong that when she crumbled all he wanted to do was put her pieces back together. After a few more minutes of silence, the only sound in the bathroom was the water hitting the curtain and the tub. Along with Nova's muffled sobs and the furious scrubbing at her skin.

When she finally turned off the water she held out a shaking hand which Five placed a nice fluffy towel in. After a moment Nova slid open the curtain and shakily stepped out of the bath before crumpling to the floor.

In any other situation, a freshly showered Nova in just a towel would have made Five's heart race and blood pump harder through his veins. But in this case, all he cared about was comforting the girl who was sobbing on the tiled floor of an acquaintance's bathroom who had just been murdered because of them.

"Nove, you don't have to talk about what happened now, but I'm here if you want to talk," Five said gently as he held the girl close. It was a gentleness he reserved only for her and they both knew it. She sniffed a few times before wiping her eyes.

"I made a deal to get us back to 2019 but we need to hurry," Nova said before placing a quick kiss on his lips. "Turn around."

"A deal what do you mean a deal?" Five asked as he turned around. The girl quickly started pulling on her denim blue semi-overall shorts and a white turtleneck tank top.

"I mean I have a briefcase and we can all go back to 2019 but we have to hurry," Nova said as she tied her wet hair into a high ponytail.

"What about doomsday? And the 2019 apocalypse?" Five asked as Nova hurried out of the bathroom with him in tow.

"Luther, Diego suit up chop chop we don't have all day!" Nova snapped to the boys before turning back to Five. "All of that will be gone but we only have seventy-nine minutes left."

"What's going on?" Luther asked as he and Diego started pulling on clothes in the middle of the kitchen.

"We're going home no time for questions. Luther I need you to get Allison. Five go get Vanya. I'll get Klaus," Nova said quickly as she synchronized three more watches.

"What about me?" Diego asked and Nova thought for a second.

"I need you to bury Ronnie and Elliot," Nova said with a nod. "Everyone good with their jobs? Good. We meet back in the alley in seventy-seven minutes. These watches are synchronized. Do not be late!"

"I have to say goodbye to Lila," Diego said as he put on his watch after arguing about Dad and JFK effectively wasting Nova's time.

"Lila doesn't give a shit about you Diego. I hate to burst your bubble but she never did! She's a member of the Commission. I literally fought her in a warehouse-like twenty-four hours ago," Nova said impatiently.

"Not possible," Diego said, shaking his head.

The man was startled by Nova's sudden hostility. Normally she was the level-headed one and normally she kept her sweet composure. But something had changed, something made her snap.

"She was using you to get to me and Five. You're the Oswald of this story. A goddamn patsy!" Nova exclaimed and Diego started to protest. "Diego I swear to god if you don't do this I will kill you."

With that Nova stalked away angrily and Five blinked in front of her once she got to the street.

"Are you sure you're ok? Nove, you were really mean to Diego back there," Five said as he held Nova's hand while they walked down the street.

"Did we do a Freaky Friday or something? You're being super nice and I've been calling your family imbeciles," Nova attempted to joke but Five knew she was trying to distract him.

"I don't know what you did to get this deal and I won't ask. I'll go along with it no questions asked because you always blindly follow me into the abyss. Just please don't become mean like me. You're supposed to be the sweet nice one who's always making jokes. I love that about you and I don't want you to lose it," He told her and she gave him a small smile.

"It's sweet of you to care so much. And I'm sorry if I've been jumpy and snappy. I'm just homesick and I'm ready for us to be able to go and relax on the beaches of Fiji with margaritas in our hands," Nova said and Five stopped at the street they were going to split on.

"That sounds lovely darling," Five said before he pressed a loving kiss to the girl's lips.

"All see you in an hour and we'll go home for good this time," Nova said and Five nodded kissing her cheek once before turning and walking down the road.

Nova smiles to herself as she hurries the opposite way. In only an hour they would finally get to go home.

A/N

Hey guys no QOTC today. I just want to remind you guys to vote and comment! It really means a lot when you guys take the time to leave comments and interact with the story. It really gives me the motivation to keep writing.

Also please remember to vote on chapters it only takes a second to tap the little star. If you guys are into Harry Potter or Percy Jackson you should check out the other stories on my page!