Word count: 4097

1982

Elizabeth and Five headed towards the Lonely Lodger Inn, staying close to the row of parked cars as they looked around.

Seeing movement ahead of them, they swiftly moved closer to the cars and crouched down to hide. A man got out of his car, dressed in traditional Czech clothing of red and black.

Once the coast was clear, the two of them resumed their path and made their way inside the stone-walled inn, which was full of people who wore the same traditional clothing. As to why was answered as they glanced over at a sign on the door that announced that the Polka Festival was taking place.

Five nudged Elizabeth's arm and nodded towards a curly-haired woman who wore a green vest and was working at a table that was draped in a white cloth.

Quickly, the two of them stepped over to her, and Five caught her attention as he spoke, "Excuse me."

The woman gave a small jump of surprise as she turned towards them, her eyes a little wide. "Uff da! You snuck up on me there!" Her face broke out into a smile as she informed them, "If you're looking for the cookies, we don't put 'em out till three."

"I can hardly wait," Five humoured her as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, glancing over his shoulder. "Uh, do you happen to know where the Midwest Soybean Society is meeting?"

"Sure do," she answered as she pointed towards a room down the hall. "Muskellunge Banquet Room. You looking for your mom? She in for the convention?"

Five gave a small nod of confirmation before grabbing Elizabeth's hand and leading her to the hall. He paused just before they reached the doors and turned to her, letting out a small sigh.

"Are you sure you want—"

"Five, it'll be fine," Elizabeth reassured him with a small smile. "This isn't my first time murdering a bunch of people."

"It's different," he insisted as he put his hands on her shoulders and stepped towards her. "This is the Board of Directors."

She shrugged. "You say it like it's something important, but that means nothing to me."

Five let out another sigh as he rubbed his eyes. "They're—"

"It's fine." She kissed him gently before giving him an encouraging nod. "Everything'll be okay. Now, let's stop wasting time."

Five stared at her for a moment more before he gave a reluctant nod. His eyes drifted beyond her, though she couldn't see what had caught his attention until she turned around—a fire axe that was hung on the wall. 

He brushed past her and towards the axe. He lifted it out of its holder and weighed it in his hands for a moment before raising his eyebrows at Elizabeth.

"Ready?" he questioned.

She nodded. "Ready."

Forming a dagger out of her energy, Elizabeth followed Five towards a conference room.

Twelve people dressed in suits sat at the long table, and the man at the head seemed to have a fish tank plopped where his head should be, with a goldfish swimming around.

The goldfish instructed, "Let's move onto Article seventeen, please."

Before they could move on to Article seventeen, however, the goldfish took notice of the new arrivals. He swiftly got to his feet and shouted, "You! Security!"

The woman nearest to them rolled her chair towards the stand with the phone on it, but before she could pull the receiver off the hook, Five swung his axe and cut her forearm in half, causing a gush of blood to spurt.

As Five continued his little murder spree along the right side of the table, Elizabeth took the left to do the same. She winced as blood flew all over her, but did her best to ignore it as she weaved in and out, and before she knew it, everyone was dead—save for the fish-man.

Five stood on the table, his clothes and skin as bloody as Elizabeth's, his crazed eyes set on the fish-man in front of him.

The fish-man quailed as he trembled, the tank now dirtied with a few drops of blood. His voice shook as he questioned, "She sent you, didn't she?"

Five gave a small scoff as he stepped forward. "Does it really matter now?"

"Whatever she offered you," the fish-man frantically proposed, "I will double it, triple it."

Five shook his head. "I'm not doing this for money."

Before Five could strike down on the fish-man, however, the curly-haired worker from before appeared out of nowhere and jumped at him. Her grip tightened around him, and she launched both of them onto the ground. 

"You're paying for this mess, mister!" she shouted as he tried to wriggle out of her grip.

Five managed to roll out of her arms and he quickly said, "I don't wanna hurt you, all right?"

"Hurt me?" she echoed incredulously as she punched him in the face. "Oh, I ain't afraid of you, you little pus ball."

Elizabeth quickly absorbed her dagger back and sent a blast to the woman. It hit her square in the chest, causing her to fly back and hit the ground, unconscious.

Seeing that the woman was no longer a threat, Elizabeth hurried over to Five. "You okay?" 

"Yeah," he reassured her quickly before looking around, his eyes then widening. The fish-man had disappeared. "Shit."

His fire axe now sprawled somewhere on the floor, Five quickly grabbed a cricket bat that was hanging above the fireplace and gripped it tightly.

Elizabeth followed him out of the conference room and into the hall, wiping the bit of blood that was spattered onto her bottom lip.

The fish-man indeed was in the hallway, clearly trying to make his escape before he noticed them. He raised his hands in surrender as they approached him and swiftly asked, "Surely we can come to some form of agreement that benefits both parties. Quid pro quo? What do you say?"

"Why not?" Five considered with a grin as he raised his bat. "Here's your quid." He hit the fish-man on the right of his human body. "Here's your pro." He hit his left side, causing the fish-man to drop to his knees in agony.

"No! No!" the man pleaded. "Please don't!"

"Here's" —Five fixed his clutch on the handle of the bat, his eyes flickering over the tank before rolling his shoulders back— "your quo."

Ignoring the pleas that the goldfish gave him, Five swung the bat and shattered the tank, causing both the water inside and the goldfish to go flying out.

—☆—

1963

Covered in blood, Elizabeth and Five waited in the alleyway that was just outside Elliott's place.

In one hand, Five held a plastic bag that was filled with water and the goldfish, and the other hand focused on cleaning the dried blood between his skin and nails.

Elizabeth sighed as she combed her fingers through her hair, whose ends were now dyed red with blood. She was in dire need of a shower—a long one, at that.

The clicking of heels made her turn around to see that the Handler, dressed in pink, was walking towards them, a grand smile on her face.

"Well?" the Handler excitedly asked, her eyebrows raised.

Five, still facing the road, thrust the plastic bag with the swimming goldfish inside towards her, causing her to grab it and giggle in delight.

"AJ!" she exclaimed, lifting the bag up to get a good look at the fish.

Five slipped his hands into the pockets of his shorts as he turned to her, shaking his head slightly as he watched the Handler coo at the fish.

She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. "You know, you're really starting to fill out those tight little shorts of yours."

Staying silent, Five glanced towards the side and let out a small sigh, causing the Handler to pout.

"Why so quiet?" she questioned. "Thought you'd be buzzing after this morning's slaughter."

"All this killing . . ." Five shook his head. "I'm done with it."

"What? Am I supposed to take that seriously?" The Handler gave a small scoff of disbelief as she lifted her eyebrows.

"What we did today, we did for our family," Five told her as she took a handkerchief out of her pocket and licked it before wiping some blood off his ear. "We did it to save the world."

"Please. Spare me your little assassin with the heart of gold routine, will you?" she snickered as she chucked him under the chin with the cloth and then tapped his nose. "Here," she murmured as she grabbed the handle of a black briefcase that was sitting beside her and handed it to the boy. "Per our agreement, this will get you and your siblings back to 2019. You have ninety minutes."

Elizabeth's eyebrows knit together tightly as the woman began to walk away, and she called out, "You said nothing about a time limit."

The Handler paused, an amused smile on her face as she turned to face the two. She checked the watch that rested on her left wrist and looked back at them as she pointed out, "Actually, you have eighty-nine minutes and thirty seconds. Better hurry."

"This is impossible, okay?" Five exclaimed as the two of them followed the woman. "My siblings are scattered across the city."

"Nothing's impossible," the Handler reassured them as she tapped Five on the nose. " You two proved that this morning when you killed the board."

"We need more time," Five insisted.

"Any more time, and people will start asking questions. The sooner you get home and out of this time period, the better off we'll all be," the woman leaned towards them and dropped her voice to a murmur, "so, tick tock, tick tock."

She turned to leave, and this time, Elizabeth and Five didn't bother to stop her.

Five's jaw was clenched in anger as he stared at the back of the departing woman, and Elizabeth quickly drew him out of his trance as she made a portal with one hand and grabbed his hand with the other.

She pulled him into it, and the two of them arrived at the entrance of Elliott's home, on the ground floor.

Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed as she noticed that there was blood smeared on the ground, spelling out 'Öga För Öga.'

She quickly let go of Five's hand as she rushed up the stairs. Her hurry was quickly stopped when she noticed a figure on the dental chair, draped under a light blue blanket.

She was still staring at it as Five reached her side, far too afraid to find out who was under—though she had a strong feeling that she knew.

Glancing at her with worry, Five gently rested the briefcase onto the ground before stepping towards the chair, and, slowly, he lifted the blanket off the person's head.

Elizabeth's eyes immediately moistened as she lifted a hand to cover her mouth, feeling the urge to throw up growing strong. She took a step back, though she found herself unable to move her eyes away from the gruesome sight. 

Elliott's face was painted with blood, and his mouth was fixed open with the help of some dental tools that were stuck inside. His eyes were still open, widened and glassy as they looked up at the ceiling.

"Five," she whispered, feeling her knees begin to weaken at the sight.

Five quickly pulled the blanket back over Elliott's head before wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing the side of her head, whispering quiet reassurances in her ear as her eyes remained glued to the figure.

He was dead. Because of them.

Elizabeth cast her gaze away from the chair and to the kitchen, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand as she noticed that Diego and Luther were standing by the telephone.

She murmured that she was all right to the boy next to her before wiggling out of his grasp and heading to the kitchen, sniffling slightly.

Luther had picked up the black receiver and was now holding it to his ear as Diego glared at the telephone box.

"Uh, hello, Olga?" Luther spoke into the phone as he glanced at Diego.

Elizabeth let out a small scoff as she shook her head, rubbing her eyes.

After Olga responded, Luther turned to Diego and nodded. "It's her. She sounds old. What should I say?"

"Just . . ." Diego motioned for him to hurry, causing Luther to clear his throat and turn back to the receiver.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Um, I was just wondering . . . What? My name?" Luther quickly continued, "Is, uh, Luther Hargreeves, and—"

Impatient as ever, Diego snatched the receiver from Luther's hand and glowered, "You killed one of ours, Olga, now we're coming after you. You will be dead by nightfall."

"Hey," Elizabeth called, drawing their attention to her as Five came to her side. She gave a small sniffle as she rolled her eyes and told them, "It's Öga För Öga, idiots. Swedish for 'an eye for an eye.' It means the Swedes killed Elliott."

Their eyes widened as looks of realization morphed onto their faces, and Diego's scowl soon turned into a sweet smile. "Wrong number. Have a lovely day."

"We would've gotten there," Luther reassured both himself and Diego as the other man put the receiver back onto the hook.

Diego nodded. "Eventually."

"Yeah."

Five brushed past Elizabeth as he tore his blazer off and tossed it onto the table, his expression clearly showing that he was still more than angry about the situation they had been put in.

Diego's eyebrows furrowed as he walked up to Elizabeth, worriedly examining the red that was spotted on her skin and clothes as Luther stared at Five and stated, "Uh, you have some blood on you."

"A lot of blood, actually," Diego corrected as he tilted Elizabeth's chin up.

Luther frowned. "Five, Elizabeth, what did you do?"

"Are you okay?" Diego asked softly, his eyes still searching for a wound.

"I'm fine," she reassured him with a small smile. "It's not my blood."

His expression relaxed for a moment before he processed her words, and his eyebrows knit together tightly as he incredulously asked, "Then whose is it?"

Elizabeth only gave a dismissive wave in response as she followed Five into the bathroom, and the both of them quickly cleaned themself of any blood.

She sighed as she gazed at herself in the mirror; her skin was a little red from all the rubbing of the towel, but at least she was rid of any blood.

"We don't have time," Five muttered as he glanced at the clock, fixing his hair as he turned towards her and nodded for her to follow him.

"Wait," she called, causing him to look back at her with confusion. She grabbed a small hand towel and walked over to him, a small frown on her face as she wiped away the bit of blood on the side of his cheek that he had missed.

"Thanks," he murmured, his eyes set on hers as she gazed back at him.

"Mhm." She planted a kiss on his lips before throwing the towel to the side and nodding for him to continue.

Five opened the door to see that Luther was standing right next to it, buckling his belt. He glanced up at them as he tucked the end into the loop of his jeans and gave them a small nod.

"So I found a way home," Five said bluntly.

Luther's head snapped towards Five, his eyes widened as he questioned, "What? How?"

"All the details are irrelevant, but . . ." Five gave a small sigh as he tucked his tie underneath his sweater vest. "I made a deal to get back to our timeline."

"What about doomsday?" Diego asked as he walked over, slipping on an unbuttoned black shirt.

Elizabeth shook her head as she confirmed, "Won't happen."

"And the 2019 apocalypse?" Luther questioned, tucking his fitting shirt into his jeans.

"Everything will be back to normal," Five answered quickly as he grabbed his blazer from the table and shrugged it on. "All right? Now, no more questions. We gotta go. We have to find the others, right?"

Elizabeth sighed, folding her arms as she instructed, "Luther, you get Allison. Diego, Klaus. Five and I will get Vanya."

"Now, we meet back in the arrival alley in seventy-seven minutes. Here." Five walked into the living room and towards one of the desks before pulling out three watches, two of which he handed to Diego and Luther. "I've synchronized these watches."

"Okay, let's do this," Luther said firmly as he strapped his watch on.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on," Diego cut in, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at the watch and examined its face. He looked back up towards Elizabeth and Five as he questioned, "You two show up drenched in blood and expect us to believe everything's gonna go back to normal if we go home now?"

"Elliott just got killed because of us!" Five pointed out as he gestured back at the dental chair, though Elizabeth didn't bother looking.

Diego stepped towards them, obviously still not convinced as he demanded, "What about Dad? What about J.F.K.?"

Five sighed as he shook his head before he muttered, "Diego, we have a chance to go home and make things right. We are taking it."

Diego was quiet for a moment as he processed the decision before he told them, "I have to say goodbye to Lila."

Five's expression became one of disbelief as he shouted, "Lila doesn't give a shit about you, Diego!"

Elizabeth sighed, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder as she murmured, "Five, you don't have to—"

"She never did," Five continued, ignoring Elizabeth. "She's one of them. She's a member of the Commission."

"No way," Diego immediately refused as he shook his head, a small scoff escaping his lips. "Not possible."

"She was just using you to get to me. You're the Oswald of this story, my friend," Five told him before turning around and beginning to walk away. Over his shoulder, he called, "The goddamned patsy!"

Diego shook his head once more. "You don't know what you're talk—"

Five teleported back in front of Diego, his expression enraged as he pointed a finger toward him. "If you don't do this, I'll kill you myself. Got it?"

Five then gestured for Elizabeth to follow him as he began to head down the stairs, and she gave a reassuring kiss to Diego's cheek—though he didn't seem all too reassured—and quickly followed the boy out.

"You didn't have to be so harsh, you know," Elizabeth muttered as she caught up to Five.

The two of them left the building and entered the car that was parked just outside as Five responded, "If I wasn't, he wouldn't've listened."

She scoffed as Five ignited the engine, "You don't know th—"

"I do know that, Elle," he sighed as he merged onto the road. "It's Diego."

"You got a point there," she mumbled. "How much time do we have?"

Five sighed as he told her, "A little over seventy minutes."

Elizabeth's thumb unconsciously moved onto her tattoo and began to rub as she shook her head, a distressed look coming onto her face as she pointed out, "There's no way this is going to work."

"Percentage?" he asked, though his expression wasn't all too hopeful.

She thought for a moment, the skin under her thumb growing furiously red as she did so, and answered with a sigh, "Thirteen percent."

"Thirteen?" he repeated incredulously, his eyebrows furrowing. "Jesus."

"Five, what are we gonna do?" she asked as she shut her eyes, leaning back in her seat. "This is hopeless."

Five glanced down at her hands and gave a small sigh. He quickly removed his right hand from the wheel and pushed her thumb off of her wrist as he mumbled, "You're gonna hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine," she muttered as she returned her thumb to the tattoo.

"Stop that," he sighed as he pushed it off again. He quickly threaded his fingers through hers, keeping his left hand firm on the wheel as he said, "Let's just hope that this scenario is the part of the thirteen percent, okay? Thirteen is better than zero."

"Every time we say something like that, it never works," she pointed out with a small scoff, though she tightened her grip on his hand.

"Maybe it will this time," he said with a shrug as the car began to drive on a gravel road.

"Maybe," she mumbled, though she hardly believed her words.

Five made to turn left at an intersection when the both of them saw a blue car with just what they needed—Vanya.

Five quickly parked the car at the side of the road—luckily, there were no other cars—and exchanged a baffled expression before quickly getting out of the car.

Vanya, who had done the same, walked towards them, and the three met in the middle.

"What are you doing here?" Vanya questioned.

"Looking for you," Elizabeth told her as Five took the watch out of his pocket and inspected the time. "We're going back to 2019."

A puzzled look came over Vanya's face as she inquired, "What are you talking about?"

"Look, I don't really have time to explain right now, but I found a way home. All right?" Five said quickly before turning around and making his way towards the car, gesturing for both of them to follow suit. "We have thirty minutes to leave."

Vanya, however, ignored this order as she remained fixed in her spot and questioned, "What about my friends? I can't just leave them here."

"Vanya, you don't have a choice in this, all right?" Five scoffed. "Doomsday will happen if you don't come with us."

"Okay, then I'm bringing them with me!" Vanya rebutted.

"You can't," Elizabeth murmured to her with a look of sympathy. "They belong in this timeline."

"Says who? Sissy deserves a life where she doesn't have to pretend to be someone she's not!" Vanya countered angrily as she turned to the girl. "And Harlan? There's a name for what he has. We can get him the help he needs."

"Vanya," Five sighed as he shook his head.

"Look, a mom and her eight-year-old son are not gonna screw up the timeline, Five!" Vanya's eyes began to moisten as she stared at Five and pointed out, "They're insignificant!"

"No one is insignificant," Five corrected as he shook his head. "I'm sorry, all right? But we can't take that risk. They have to stay." He continued his path to the car as he insisted, "Come on."

Vanya still wasn't convinced. "Why do you get to decide?! You're the reason we're stuck here in the first place."

Five paused his step and turned to face the woman, a look of incredulity coming onto his face as he angrily pointed out, "If I did nothing, we would all be dead right now, thanks to you!"

Vanya remained quiet for a moment, regaining her composure as she steadied her breathing. After a minute, she calmly stated, "They're coming with me."

Five began to walk back towards her, shaking his head slightly as his gaze hardened upon her. "Vanya, do not test me right now."

"That's funny." A meaningless smile came onto Vanya's face as she stepped closer to him and continued, "'Cause I was just about to say the same thing."

Just as she had looked at the Icarus Theatre, Vanya's eyes glowed white and her skin paled while a brilliant light in the shape of a sphere grew in size at the middle of her chest. She stepped towards him once more, leaving almost no space between them, though her face showed that she wasn't all too confident in what she was going to do.

Five returned the heavy gaze as he clenched his fists. A blue glow shrouded his fists, though it seemed that he was just as tentative about what was going to happen.

Elizabeth sighed, rubbing her eyes as she watched them. Seeing that neither of them was planning to back down, she raised a hand towards either of them and shot a light blast.

The two of them stumbled back with a small gasp, powering down and returning to their normal state as they threw a glare at her.

"Can we not do all that right now?" Elizabeth sighed as she folded her arms. "We've got bigger problems."

Vanya stared at her for a moment before yielding, "Fine."

Five's eyes narrowed at her as he questioned, "'Fine' what?"

"I'll be there," she promised before adding, "but I need to say goodbye first."

"Oh, Vanya," Five said breathily, shaking his head as a pained expression came onto his face, "we don't have the time."

"Five," Elizabeth muttered, "it won't take long."

Five considered for a few moments before conceding and giving her a small nod. He took Elizabeth's hand and began to pull her towards the car as he called, "The alley. Don't be late."