The smell of chorizo filled the house before wafting out the screen of the open front door. Mrs. Lopez crossed the kitchen to retrieve the cutting board from the table. She noticed the figure looming outside the door and greeted her.
Hola, Brittany! Mija! Brittany is here!"
Brittany still stood outside the door shuffling her feet as she replied "Hi, Mrs. Lopez" in a low voice. The sound of a herd of buffalo drowned out the reply as a tiny 9 year old girl bounded up the stairs from the family room. She slid to a halt in front of the door, enjoying the feel of the smooth wood beneath her socked feet.
"That means you forfeit!" her older brother yelled up to her. "Forfeit or not, you still lost, stiff bones!" She turned to the door, about to invite Brittany to join in on a round of Dance Dance Revolution when she noticed the glistening sheen of her hair. Her smile faded to a frown as she opened the door and yanked the soaking wet girl into the room.
"What happened?" Brittany looked like she wanted to cry rather than answer but she knew Santana wouldn't settle for the tears so she muttered the words she could. "Noah and Finn." Not needing to hear more, Santana took off up the stairs with Brittany's wrist still tight in her grasp to her room. She tossed a towel to the girl, still mildly frozen, and demanded she find some dry clothes to wear before she went digging around in her own closet. Brittany went over to Santana's dresser and pulled the bottom drawer open where her friend kept all her over sized clothes. They were still a bit small for Brittany though. She grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of khakis as she patted at her hair with the towel and headed for the bathroom down the hall. She pulled on the clothes, tugging at the hem of the shirt that just barely met the waist of the pants that fit her perfectly as capris. When she returned, she found Santana had changed out of her dress length t-shirt and blue shorts into denim jeans and a white tank top. Two super soakers were strapped over her shoulders, one on each side, a smaller gun holstered at her hip on her right side and a netted bag full of water balloons on her left. She looked at Santana's face, wide eyed, taking note of the black streaks beneath her eyes. Santana tossed a backpack to the girl. Brittany fumbled a bit but managed to catch it and put it on in one motion.
"What?"
"No-nothing."
"Okay then. Let's go."
Another herd of wild beasts as she descended the stairs and into the kitchen. Brittany stayed quiet at the entryway as Santana hurried to the corner to grab the stepstool. Her mom was still preoccupied with chopping the peppers and onions to pay the girls too much mind. Santana put a finger to her lips, signaling Brittany to stay quiet as she climbed up on the stepstool and opened the cabinet. She grabbed the small red packets and shoved them in her pocket before quietly closing the cabinet door again.
"Lunch will be ready soon. Brittany, will you be joining us?" Santana rushed back to Brittany's side, shoving her towards the front door.
"Sorry, mom. Can't. We have business to attend to."
"Wha- Santana! How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of your brother's room? Your brother needs that grease for his games and it is not attractive for a young lady at any age! Are you list-"
"Later, mom!" She slammed the door and jogged around to the side of the house. Brittany was starting to warm up to her usual self again. Even smiling.
"What we doing, San?"
"They declared war. We're answering. No one messes with you, Britt. No one." She kneeled down to the ground, took the guns off her back, opened the powder packets and poured one into each large barrel before placing the hose inside the first barrel. She turned the water on and let the contents mix. She repeated it for the second barrel. And once more for the smallest barrel. She repositioned all her artillery and turned the water off. She stood up with a wide grin. Brittany mirrored her expression.
"Lock and load, baby!"
They were at the wooden fence of the Puckerman's household within minutes. She peeked around the fence, assessing the battlefield in seconds. The boys had left the guns on the ground near the hose at the back of the house. She could hear their laughter in the tree house in the center of the backyard. Amateurs. She turned back to Brittany to give her the rundown.
"When I say go, I want you to run to the bottom and the back of the tree. Got it? Bottom and back." Brittany eagerly nodded her comprehension as the game began. Santana shrugged a gun off her shoulder and passed it to Brittany who refused to take it.
"Come on, take it!" Santana hissed. Brittany adamantly shook her head. "I don't like guns, Sanny. No."
"It's not real." She still shook her head. "Fine. At least take the balloons." She grunted. She handed over the netted bag of water bombs. "Wait for my signal." The pony tailed avenger sprinted to the wall at the back of the house and opened the water valve. She tucked the sprinkler head in the waistband of the back of her jeans very carefully. Brittany set one bright blue eye in position so she could see through the slats of the fence and waited her turn. She watched as her friend stood in the gap between the fence and the tree house with her hands cupped to her mouth.
"Yo, Puckerman! Puck...Err...MAN!" His head popped out the left window.
"What?"
"We got a problem?"
"I don't know. Do we?" Finn's head popped up in the right window. He smiled goofily.
"Hey, Santana!" She didn't even look at him.
"You attack Brittany this morning?"
"What? Is that what she said?"
"Is that what you did?"
Finn's face resembled Brittany's earlier expression when she had first seen Santana's transformation. But Puck was still playing it cool as he chuckled.
"Nah. We were just testing out our guns and she got in the way. For like 5 minutes or something." Santana's head dropped toward the ground with a chuckle of her own. She looked back up at him with a squint to avoid the sunlight.
"In that case, I guess you won't mind if I test out my guns for about five minutes or so?" Noah signaled Finn with a nod of his head until the boy ducked his head back in silently. Noah smiled as he answered.
"If you think you can reach up here with those puny things, go for it. I'm just gonna go back to reading my comics while you work that out, aight?" Then he followed Finn's action and ducked his head back in. Santana wasn't fooled. She quickly pulled a gun over her left shoulder and pumped it then restrapped it to her back, just as the first balloon came from above, exploding at her feet. Puckerman followed Finn's balloon with better accuracy and got her on the shoulder. She quickly whipped the sprinkler from her back and aimed directly at Noah's window as she squeezed the trigger. He fell backwards more in shock than from the pressure of the water. This time Finn's expression was utterly terrified. He began tossing balloons with no thought of trajectory or aim, only trying to survive. She made quick work of his window as well before she began circling to hit all the windows of the house.
"GO, BRITTANY!"
The blonde took off full speed til she hit the back of the tree and stayed put. Santana continued to rainbow the stream of water into the tree house. The screams of the boys could barely be heard over the laughter of the girls below them.
"YOU'RE RUINING MY COMICS! THESE ARE FIRST EDITION!"
"THEN I SUGGEST YOU GET THEM TO SAFETY!"
As she made her way to the back window of the house she took a moment to lock eyes with the other girl standing across from her with her back against the tree trunk. Her smile was brilliant, in her eyes as well as on her lips. Santana couldn't help but to reveal a smile just as heartfelt. She broke the contact as the rope ladder fell down in the front of the tree. She quickly dropped the hose and pulled the Max 5000 over her shoulder. She rolled through the grass and hit one knee as the first boy dropped to the ground with a stack of books pressed to his chest. She couldn't believe her luck that they were both wearing white t-shirts as she unleashed the pink concoction from the gun and all over Finn's back. He awkwardly stumbled and fell. She quickly pumped the gun again and unloaded on the front of the boy as he rolled over trying to get up, screaming all the way to the house. She rolled to her side to reposition for the second boy who hadn't been too astute of his friend's assault as he attempted to escape in the same manner. She began spraying his back while he was still gripping the ladder. She stood up and ran backwards as he ran forward covering his books from the dyed water. "This is ours now!" she yelled at him as the screen door slammed behind him. Once the boys were in the safety of the house, Santana snapped into quick action securing her newly acquired headquarters.
"Brittany, get up the ladder!" She coiled up the water hose and detached it from the faucet after turning the water off. She put her arm through it and climbed up the ladder behind Brittany with some visible effort. She dropped the hose to the wet floor and rolled the ladder back up. She stood up for a moment, hands on her hips, taking in the moment's success as she looked at Brittany who was still smiling. She was quickly wrapped up in a hug by her lanky friend causing her to erupt into a laugh. She could barely breathe to tell her to put her down but she managed to get the point across eventually. Once her feet were back on the ground, Santana set down all her weapons near the door and took the bag off Brittany's back. She took out two fluffy towels for them to sit on and left them folded in half on the floor.
She pulled out a container of pushpins and a stack of precut vinyl layers. She set about pinning up the layers over each of the five windows. Brittany sat on one of the burgundy towels as she watched curiously. A spark of understanding hit her and she asked "is this why you asked fish or ducks?" Santana shrugged a yes.
"It's our clubhouse now. You should have some say in the decorations." She pulled out a longer sheet of the transparent (except for the portions covered with yellow ducks) shower curtain and covered the door. Brittany was confused again. "But that was weeks ago. How did you even get the measurements of the windows?"
"I've been planning this takeover for months. Noah invited me up to play doctor a little while ago." She turned around with a mischievous smirk on her face. She walked over to a bag in the corner of the shelter. She brought the goodies back to the middle of the room and plopped down on the other towel. "I told him to turn his head and cough. Then I kneed him in the nuts. I took the measurements while he was getting ice." Her smile became shy as she ripped open the plastic bag showing Brittany the stash. The girl's innocent blue eyes lit up as she leaned into the bag with an "ooh". She reached in and pulled out a handful of Bazooka Joes. Santana laughed silently and pulled out a Snicker's bar for herself before setting the bag aside. She turned herself and the towel around and placed her back against Brittany's.
"It's you and me against the world, Britt. Always. We're a team, right?"
Brittany blew a bubble that quickly popped.
"Right."
"Good. Because we're gonna need a really good plan to defend our castle tomorrow."