[24] thirty minutes

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chapter twenty-four: thirty minutes

When Nova got to Klaus' manor she was surprised to see that it was now filled with people. The girl was astonished by the amount of followers that Klaus had. She walked along the garden searching for her friend without any luck. That is until she spotted him making angels in a pile of dirt.

"Klaus, get up. We're going home," Nova said as she reached down her hand and helped the man up. Before Nova could start moving Klaus pulled her into a tight hug.

"Oh my god, Nova, it's so good to be able to hug you again," Klaus sighed and Nova hugged him back confused.

"You hugged me yesterday, silly," Nova chuckled as she patted the man's back.

"But I'm not Klaus. I'm Ben!" The man exclaimed as they pulled away.

"How high are you?" Nova asked as she looked at him concerned before placing the back of her hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever.

"No, no, I can prove it. Ask me something only Ben would know," He told her and Nova nodded.

"What prank did we pull on Allison when we were fourteen that Klaus got blamed for?" Nova asked after she thought about it for a moment.

"We put bleach in Allison's shampoo and purple hair dye in her conditioner," the man replied and Nova's eyes widened.

"Oh my god, Ben, it is you!" Nova exclaimed as she pulled him into a tight hug. "Wait how is this possible?"

"I can possess him now," He said with a grin.

"That's amazing! You can tell me all about it on the way back to Elliott's. I made a deal to get us back to 2019 but we only have thirty minutes," Nova told him as they walked.

"Wait what about Destiny's Children?" Ben asked the young girl. "We can't just abandon them. Klaus should be the one to tell them...."

"No, Ben I need you to keep possessing Klaus. As much as I love him I can't have him messing this up. We only have one chance and I had to sacrifice a lot to get this far," Nova told him and the man nodded.

"Nova, please I just need like ten minutes to say goodbye," Ben pleaded and Nova looked at him. Even though it was Klaus' face it had Ben's expressions.

"You want to say goodbye to a girl don't you?" Nova asked and the mad nodded.

"Her name is Jill and she's amazing," The man said and Nova smiled softly at him.

"Alright just meet me behind Elliot's in twenty-seven minutes. Please, don't be late," Nova said and he nodded before hugging her again.

"Sorry, I just miss hugs," He sighed happily and Nova chuckled.

"I remember you always were a hugger," Nova smiled giving his arm a small squeeze before she left the manor.

When Nova finally got back to the alley she only had a few minutes to spare. Annoyingly no one else was there. The girl was starting to get antsy as she watched the time dwindle down on her watch.

"Where is everybody?" Luther asked and Nova was surprised he was the first one to show up.

"You're the first to show up. Where's Allison?" Nova asked and Luther got a sour look on his face.

"She wanted to say goodbye to her husband," Luther said and suddenly Five blinked into the alley. The boy was unsurprised when he noticed only two of the former Academy members had made it.

"Where's Vanay?" Nova asked and Five rolled his eyes.

"She is getting that farm lady and the son. She's insisting we bring them with us to 2019," Five growled in annoyance.

"What? We can't bring them with us! The point is to restore the timeline not disrupt it more!" Nova exclaimed as she rubbed her temples. She could feel her migraine forming as her hope dwindled.

"That's exactly what I said! Then she threatened to use her powers and I backed down because we can't risk a third doomsday," Five said and Nova checked her watch. It showed her that they only had eight and a half minutes left to get back to 2019 and they were still missing five of the eight Academy members.

"I swear there will be hell to pay if your siblings do not get their asses here soon," Nova growled as she glanced back at the mouth of the alley.

"What the hell?" Five asked as Klaus came running into view.

To Nova, it seemed like Klaus was trying to force Ben out of his body and Ben was resisting. To Luther and Five, it looked like Klaus was having a seizure or something.

"We made it!" Klaus exclaimed as he ran up to the trio.

"What do you mean we?" Five asked but Klaus didn't answer instead he barfed on the side of the alley. Nova literally had never seen so much vomit, or really any substance for that matter, come out of somebody. The girl grimaced when Ben literally came flying out of Klaus' mouth.

"I can't believe it. I mean you're here!" Luther exclaimed in annoyance at Klaus.

"We've got eight minutes left. Where the hell are the others?" Five growled and Nova's mind was whirling. She knew that if this didn't work there was one hail mary they could try. But it was really dangerous and risky.

"Five, if they don't make it in time..." Nova started quietly as she glanced at the frustrated boy standing next to her.

"No, Nove, they have to get here in time. They have to!" Five exclaimed and when their eyes met the girl knew he had realized the same thing she had. If the others don't show up in time they would have to risk their entire existence on this hail mary.

"We only have a minute left!" Luther exclaimed angrily as he slammed his hand onto the dumpster.

"It was a simple task! It was so simple! All they had to do was be here!" Nova cried as she felt angry tears pooling in her eyes.

She was so angry at the fact that these people couldn't meet a simple deadline. She was angry at herself for getting her hopes up and she was starting to get that awful feeling she always got after completing a mission.

"What's going on? Are we going somewhere?" Klaus moaned from the concrete but he was ignored.

"Did they have to fight a giant sea monster? No! An army of mutants? Nein!" Five muttered as he paced back and forth in front of where Nova was leaning against the wall of the alley.

"This was literally given to them on a silver platter. Does nobody realize how much shit I went through to get us this briefcase?" Nova growled as she pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes. Five stopped his pacing when he heard the slight tremor in her voice.

"What did you do to make this deal?" Luther dumbly asked and Nova glared at him with black eyes.

"Shit!" The girl exclaimed when the case started beeping. She grabbed the case and chucked it into the air as it exploded into a mini-time portal. Five's arms wrapped around the girl as she buried her face into his neck while breathing shakily.

"Now what?" Luther asked and Five glared at the man while he held Nova close to his chest.

"Now nothing, Luther! Make your peace with god." Five said sarcastically as he rubbed Nova's back. The girl had wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

"What about Allison and Vanya?" Luther asked.

"Screw them both. They should have been here," Five said as his mind raced trying to formulate a new plan.

To say he was pissed at his siblings was an understatement. He didn't know what Nova had to do to get that briefcase but he could see the negative toll it was taking on her. The boy wanted to protect her from all harm even if that meant his siblings.

"What about Diego? He's usually a responsible young man, right?" Klaus mumbled.

"Something must have happened to them," Luther said.

"Screw Diego. Screw them all. Nova and I were better off two weeks ago!" Five growled.

"Five come on," Luther tried to reason.

"Five look what time it is," Nova said quietly and Five's eyes darkened. They both knew that their former selves had just arrived in Dallas.

"You know what, Luther? It's every sibling for themselves now. How bout' that?" Five exclaimed as he blinked himself and Nova back into the apartment.

"Hey, guys! Doomsday is still coming. We gotta think of a new plan," Luther called as he came back into the apartment.

"Don't you get it, Luther? It's over you're all dead and I'm going to be left to roam the apocalypse by myself forever! Or at least until the New fucking Commission hunts me down!" Nova exclaimed angrily as she wrenched open the refrigerator.

"What are you two planning?" Luther asked as Nova set two jugs of water on the counter while Five raided the cabinet for baby powder.

"The unthinkable!" Five exclaimed vaguely. Neither of the teens liked to admit it but they were already starting to feel the effects of paradox psychosis.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Luther asked and he watched confused as Nova began chugging one of the bottles of water while Five vigorously applied baby powder. "Are you two ok?"

"We're going to need to be hydrated," Nova gasped when she set the jug of water down.

"Hydrated?" Luther asked in confusion. "Five, what's with the baby powder?"

"It'll help with the itching," Five said before glancing at Nova.

"Switch." They said at the same time and Nova tossed Five a jug of water while he tossed her the baby powder. Luther watched confused as Five began to chug the water meanwhile Nova generously applied the baby powder.

"What itching? There's itching? What the hell is going on?" Luther asked but the two teens ignored him. "You guys do have a plan."

"Luther, my dear brother, we always have a plan," Five said with a cocky smirk that Luther wanted to wipe off his face. "It's a desperate move, but since our brain-dead siblings are incapable of meeting a simple deadline, we have no choice."

"No choice about what?" Luther asked as Five took his blazer off the back of the chair and grabbed Nova's multi-colored patchwork coat. Meanwhile, the girl put the water and baking powder away.

"We have to find ourselves," Nova explained as she walked over to Five who helped her put on her coat. She obviously could have done it herself but she knows the boy is old-fashioned and chivalry meant a lot to him. Not that she was complaining or anything. "We arrived in Dallas around fifteen minutes ago."

"Should I be worried about you two?" Luther asked as Nova adjusted Five's tie.

"Luther, if you recall, Nova and I were sent by the Commission on a mission to 1963 to make sure the president was assassinated," Five tried to explain as the two teens began to stretch.

"Oh so you're old selves are here," Luther says in understanding.

"Precisely," Five nodded as he cracked his neck.

"So, they're just walking around Dallas?" Luther asked.

"Yes, walking around Dallas with a briefcase that could get us home," Nova said and it was like a lightbulb went off over Luther's head.

"Oh my god, you guys are geniuses," Luther clapped and Nova rolled her eyes at him and Five began to pace.

"There are two significant problems with this plan," Five began.

"Problem number one: Five and I are trained assassins. We are arguably the most dangerous assassin team in the entire space-time continuum. If I know the two of us we aren't going to react kindly to bumping into ourselves," Nova continued and Five nodded.

"Problem number two, and this is the real fly in the ointment here: you're not supposed to exist in close proximity to yourself in the same timeline. The side effects can be disastrous," Five said as he continued to pace. Nova sat on the arm of the couch and her leg bounced up and down anxiously as she chewed on her lip.

"Side effects? What sort of side effects?" Luther asked confused.

"Well according to the Commission Handbook, chapter twenty-seven, subsection two-b..." Five started before Nova corrected him.

"Subsection three-b," Nova corrected and Five nodded.

"Yes, subsection three-b. There are seven stages of paradox psychosis. Stage one: denial. Two: itching. Three: extreme thirst and urination. Four: excessive gas. Five: acute paranoia," Five continued.

"Six: uncontrolled perspiration. And seven: homicidal rage. Which notably would be the worst for me considering my powers," Nova finished and Five nodded his head vigorously.

"Homicidal rage?" Luther asked and the two teens nodded. "Jeez, this doesn't sound like such a good idea."

"It's a hail, Mary! What choice do we have, Luther?" Five asked.

"I don't know you two already seem kind of squirrely if I'm being honest," Luther said to the two.

"Look Luther we're going to need your help with this one. We need a spotter," Nova said as she jumped up from her spot on the couch.

"A spotter?" Luther asked confused and the two teens nodded in sync. "What is that like a wingman?"

"In case of the paradox psychosis you need to help us stay on task, alright? So, whatever happens, whatever either of us says, we need to get that briefcase. Alright?" Five asked and after a moment Luther nodded.

"Alright," Luther said and the two teens set off towards the stairs.

"Luther, let's go!" Nova yelled and the man quickly followed. As they descended down the stairs Five's hand found her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The girl knew this wasn't a good idea but it was the only choice they had left.