AN: Okay so I shouldn't be starting another fic, while I'm still writing two others. So this is like a trial; I'll probably continue anyway but it will be on hold until I finish at least one of the others (so by the end of the month, hopefully). Please let me know if this has any potential, or if I'm out of my mind
AN2: its mostly AU (all the glee club are fairly close friends, Quinn didn't have Beth… plus obvious stuff lol), the superhero style in this is a little bit like Kick-Ass, maybe a little bit dark like Batman and there's a tiny bit of influence from V for Vendetta (which is my favourite film of all time! And yes I've read the graphic novel too, I actually preferred the film :S )
AN3: just to clear up any confusion before it starts: the start of the story is a snippet of what is to come later (to try and keep you interested), so then the timeline jumps back and the rest of the story continues from there.
RATED M FOR LANGUAGE
Established Brittana; Faberry after some time
Posted: 6/9/11
Introduction
"San, remind me why we're on this side of town"
The Latina driving groaned at the short haired blonde sat in the back "I told you already, I heard there's a club round here that serves you even if you're underage, they don't ask for ID"
Quinn was getting restless, while Brittany who sat in the front seat was getting sleepy.
"Can we just go home? I really don't care anymore, and this place is giving me the creeps" The blonde in the back seat looked out the window on her right, she could see a group of... young men? Boys?... what ever, she could see them standing shiftily outside some building as the car rolled by. They were wearing baseball caps with the hoods from their sweatshirts up too, their faces were completely covered by darkness. The streetlight only just highlighted them on the dark streets
"Um yeah…" Santana started to slow the car down
"What are you doing?" Quinn asked still looking at the group standing to the right of the car. She started to feel extra uneasy when the group started nearing the now stationary vehicle "San, we need to get out of here" she leant forward to get her friends attentions but stopped when she saw why Santana had stopped driving. More of the shifty looking people were blocking the way, standing in front of the car.
"San I don't like it" Brittany whimpered as she reached across the console and found Santana's hand
"I'm going to get us out of here" she had to let go of Brittany hand to put the car in reverse, but stopped when she realised there were more people now behind the car
Quinn saw her freeze and barely glanced back over her shoulder to confirm what she imagine was behind them "Why are you stopping just force them away with the car?" her voice shaky and shrill
Santana looked at Quinn over her shoulder wide eyed and gulped "I don't think I should be doing that"
"Why?" Quinn asked frantically, she looked behind again to actually see the details, that's when she noticed the three of the hooded figures were pointing shot guns at the car.
All of the passengers flinched when something made contact with the car; they all faced the front again. One of the gang members had smashed a headlight with, what looked like, a pipe. He laughed menacingly at the three frightened girls. Then one of them made a reach for the door. All three passengers held their breath. His hand was on the door handle…
They didn't here the approaching rumble of a motor bike.
The girls flinched and squealed again when something made a horrendous crashing noise as it passed the car, the Ducati motorbike screeched on its side knocking gang members off their feet, and injuring some of them greatly, as it collide with them. Then something else collided with the car and now stood on the roof.
"What the Fuck!" they heard one of the gang members shout as he turned his hand gun to the roof, the others followed suit and they all started firing at the same target.
Quinn, Santana and Brittany all ducked down in their seats, certain that they were about to die from the blitz of gun fire that lit the road in short bright flashes.
All of a sudden a body dropped off the top of the car, for some strange reason, Quinn's spontaneous yet seemingly natural reaction was to open the car door, in which the body had fallen in front of, and drag the person inside the car, for the little refuge it offered "Drive!" Santana was quick to react too, she stayed down, as did every other passenger, and she hit the accelerator, steering blindly away from the violent scene.
"Who is it?" Santana asked once they'd sat up and were clear from immediate danger, but still speeding away.
"It's Darkstar" Quinn said, almost daze like as she stared down the masked body.
"Well duh" the Latina asked, as she kept glancing in the rear view mirror to check they were safe "Un mask her"
Quinn pulled her hands further from the body as if to remove temptation "Santana, I can't"
"Is she even moving" Brittany asked looking down at the hooded girl. The flashing from the street lights they were passing, only offered a little light, they could see that she was young, a brunette, she wore an eye mask, so that combined with the large hooded cloak, offered her enough cover to protect her identity… as long as no one got too close.
Quinn inspected the still body, that lay across the back seat, he head resting on Quinn's lap. She'd been shot in the chest several times and once in the leg, but only her leg was bleeding. After a quiet moment the blonde with the short hair could confirm: "She's breathing"
"Unmask her" Santana said again, more than eager to know the identity
"I don't know San" Quinn worried her lip, it wasn't right when their hero lie so vulnerable right now.
"Yean Sanny" Brittany agreed, as she kept looking back at the mysterious girl too.
"Oh for fuck Sake Q, she owes you her life; I think she'll let it slide" Santana snapped, she just had to know.
Curiosity got the better of Quinn "Ok" she said softly. Brittany watched intently while Santana kept on driving. She slowly reached out to grab the hood she then pulled it back slowly and let out a small gasp.
"What?" The raven haired girl asked, as she couldn't see right behind her seat while driving.
"It's Rachel" Brittany answered, surprised as well.
"NO Fucking way!" Santana yelled, bringing the car to a screeching halt so she could see for herself.
She turned so she was in her car seat on her knees looking onto the back; she looked down at the 'super hero', inspecting her face
"It is Berry" she confirmed for herself with disbelief
Rachel's eyes shot open and she sat up abruptly, gasping for air. Her head almost collided with the Latina, leaning over her.
She tore open her leather sleeveless top, with the discrete blue star on the chest, to reveal her bulletproof vest pinned with several rounds (at least she'd taken out the guys with the shotguns first; before they could fire them, her legs would have been riddled with wounds) She winced at the pain in her chest, then started muttering to herself
"Shit, I lost the Ducati… ahh, shit my leg, one damn lucky shot, the bastards" she finally acknowledged the three girls in the car "what the fuck were you doing out there?"
"Oh don't thank us Berry, Q just saved your fucking ass" Santana spat
"It wouldn't have needed saving if you three weren't being ridiculous" Rachel seethed "… let me guess you over heard about a club out here that serves underage… it's a code, there's a criminal underworld out there!"
"Y-you're Darkstar?" Quinn asked, still staring at Rachel with tired curious eyes.
She sighed and took off her gloves "Yes, in the flesh" she slowly turned to sit in the car seat correctly "Santana I suggest we get moving again… take us to my place, I'll answer any questions when we get there" she winced as she started inspecting the fresh wound in her leg.
Santana huffed "So I'm taking your orders now am I?"
"Yeah you are, take us to my house… please" she added hoping it would get the Latina to move faster.
Santana rolled her eyes but did as she was asked and drove off again.
"Don't you think we should get you to a hospital?" Quinn asked, her eyes still scanning over Rachel, and the bloody wound.
The short Brunette was running her hands over her wounded leg "No" she winced again "Shit, there's no exit wound, it's still in there"
"We should take you to the hospital then" Quinn tried to persuade her
"No! I need to get home, I can sort this" she clutched her leg as she tried to reassure them "Please just get us to my place"
The car was quiet again until Rachel started shifting around looking for something "Oh you are kidding me!" she cried out when she realised another thing
"What now?" Santana asked irritated
"My SIG, both my SIG's, shit they're gone" she moaned "I dropped them when I fell off the roof" she managed to conclude to herself
"What's a SIG?" Brittany asked innocently.
"A SIG-Sauer P229, I have eight of them, well now I only have six; they're my favourite's, damn I lost another two" The other girls in the car remained silent 'Rachel had guns'. They hadn't really thought of it at first when they realised who she was "And that damn bike, its okay I have another Ducati" she was muttering, as if reassuring herself "And two Kawasaki Ninja's so It's okay, and you can get more"
After a moment of silence Quinn apologised "I'm sorry, I didn't pick up your guns when I got you in the car"
Rachel's eyes snapped to Quinn's "Don't apologise, I lost them, besides you saved my life. I'm extremely grateful, you could have been killed when you opened that door, so thank you" she smiled at Quinn reassuringly, who returned it.
They finally pulled onto the drive at Rachel's house, the brunette led them into the house, limping and hopping as she moved. She first led them to the kitchen where she dug through a draw.
"So are you going to start explaining?" Santana asked expectantly
"In a minute" she took her eye mask off, leaving it on the kitchen side. "Ah-hah" she pulled out of the draw a wooden spoon, then she proceeded to hop to the basement door, the curious girls followed. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she slid the light switch panel upwards to reveal a laser thumb print scanner, she scanned her thumb and things in the room started to move. Panels on one wall flipped over to reveal many different guns and knives. And entire wall slid sideways to reveal another room, with motorbikes and tools. Another wall panel turned to reveal some high tech looking gadgets and brand new computers. A section of the floor raised to reveal more copies of the Darkstar's outfit.
Rachel picked up a knife as she passed the wall, then made her way behind the bar and grabbed the bottle of vodka.
She sat up on the bar and bought her leg up, she sterilised the knife with some antiseptic cleaner, took a drink of vodka, then bit down on the wooden spoon handle, all before venturing into the bullet wound with the knife.
After what felt like an eternity for all four girls, and some crying out in pain, Rachel finally got the round out her leg. She flicked it into the sink, dropped the wooden spoon, which now had prominent teeth marks in it onto the bar and proceeded to clean and bind her leg.
"Is that really going to be okay?"
"It'll be fine, Brittany" she failed to suppress a moan in pain as she tightened the binding round her leg.
"Berry, there's a fucking bullet whole in your leg, I don't think it'll be fine"
"It's happened before, you didn't even notice… I'll be fine" she tried again to reassure them this time with a glare followed by another swig from the vodka bottle.
"How are you doing all this?" Quinn asked gesturing to their surroundings "I mean, what do your dads think?"
"It's a family business" she shrugged taking another mouthful of unadvised pain relief "This is my house, they left me here to take care of Lima, they're in Chicago I think" she lent over behind the bar that she was sitting on and bought more bottles of various alcohol out "Anyone interested"
"Yeah after that I think we could all do with a drink"
"Being shot at or finding out I'm a… what did you call me Quinn? A murderer, that's it" Quinn looked away ashamed
"Rachel we had no idea what this was all about" she mumbled with her head bowed "we still don't know the whole picture"
"Okay sit" she gestured to the bar stools, once they were settled and had drinks in their hands she started again "You might think Lima is a loser town, a quiet town… well it's not. There's a huge criminal underworld. They're everywhere but their business is on the industrial estate"
"Do you get shot at a lot?" Brittany cut in
"I've only ever been properly injured 3 times from being shot, once in the arm and twice in the leg… well there was that time one grazed my head and got my ear"
"Your ear!"
"Yeah" she moved her hair to show them that a piece of her right ear was missing, it was like a 'chip' out of the top
"Holy crap, you could have been shot in the head"
Rachel just shrugged "I believe that's where they were aiming" she noted sarcastically
"So how do you get all this? Do your dads buy it for you" Quinn asked looking round the room
"Pfft no. It's illegal for me to own these items, so I hardly procured them legally, I stole them from the crime bosses, I've eliminated two, there's now only one left; you'll never believe who it is… Maybe I should start this story from the beginning; 3 months ago…"
Let's start from the beginning
"Did you hear?"
"Yeah it was on the news"
"3 more were killed last night"
"So Darkstar struck again?"
"Must have, that's what the cops suspect"
The not so subtle discussion at McKinley High School had been the same for the past 5 months, all of a sudden it had become the news on every ones lips, the only subject that mattered.
"What the fuck do you mean she cleared the warehouse?" A harsh whisper was rattled down the phone "No, I don't care, this is your fault… I don't want your damn excuses, I want you to put more men on each of the remaining warehouses, and dens… Well then get new recruits" he kept his tone hushed in the corridor as students still made there was round the school to various lunchtime destination
"Hey Z!" another jock passed him
"Hey dude, how was your summer?" he held the phone to his chest
"It was good bro, we'll catch up later yeah?"
"Yeah, see ya"
The other boy in the letterman jacket continued his was down the hallway, while Azimio returned to his phone conversation "Look I don't care how you get it done, I'm the boss and what I say goes, get it sorted for tonight, we got a new shipment coming in and I'm no letting her fuck this one up too" he abruptly ended the call.
Karofsky then approached his best friend "What's the situation?" he kept his voice quiet
"…She struck again… When I catch this bitch… she's gunna wish she'd never messed with Azimio Adam's" his rage built up as he spoke, by the end he took his anger out on a locker, leaving an impressive dent in the door
"Calm down man, we'll get the bitch" Karofsky calmed his boss and best friend down
"I'm glad you're my right hand man on this" they nodded in understanding to one another, they weren't their usual high school jock selves when they didn't need to be "let's go to lunch"
…
Meanwhile in the cafeteria:
All the gleeks were gathered round one table, and guess what they were talking about.
"So who would win in a fight, Superman or Darkstar?"
"Finn, what kind of stupid question is that, of course Superman would win, he's impervious to the weapons she uses, plus she's human, hello?" Sam answered confidently.
Every time Darkstar got a mention on the news, the boys would start the same conversations
"Okay then; Batman or Darkstar"
"Hmm that's a hard one…" Sam started
"Well Darkstar's definitely hotter" Puck butted in
"Yeah I have to agree with that one" Santana now decided to join in from further down the table
"So much hotter" Brittany breathed from next to the Latina
Today Rachel found herself almost invisible sat in between Kurt and Tina, she just kept her head down for once and smirked to herself at the discussion going on.
"I think she could win, I mean, she uses a gun, as long as she shot him in the face, I'm thinking batman in the newer films, his suit being bullet proof and all"
"Do you really think, this is appropriate lunch time conversation? She's a murderer. She's killed 5 people now, what did they do wrong?" of course it was Kurt who put a damper on every ones mood
"I agree with Kurt, why are we celebrating a criminal and comparing her to a comic book hero" and of course Mercedes would agree with him, these two were always against Rachel even when they didn't realise it, well she was glee club competition here, and now something they disliked outside of school.
And of course none of them actually knew why those few had been killed, no one knew of the criminal underworld lurking in Lima's industrial estate.
"…She's got the best costume though" Finn started up again, ignoring the two negative comments
"Yeah, a hooded cloak and the sleeveless leather top with the leather trousers, biker boots, leather gloves… way better than all the comic book hero's"
"Yeah, no leotards or tights in sight" Puck laughed "Though she's not a dude so she'd look hot in that anyway"
"Okay new one, in a fist fight; Darkstar or Puckerman" Santana jumped in, disrupting Puck's little day dream there
"Darkstar" Quinn surprised everyone, even herself, by joining in.
'That was a quick answer' Rachel thought to herself, whilst discretely eyeing the blonde girl with the short hair, across from her.
"Have you seen my guns?" Puck asked suggestively
She looked at him disgusted "Yes, everyone has, but have you seen hers?" there had been a few pictures of the mysterious Darkstar from security cameras. Rachel knew she's been sloppy; she'd only been independent in this 'game' for about 5 months now, not that she was incapable, she'd just had a few minor hiccups, that's why everyone knew she existed, not like her allies, her fathers, no one ever saw them.
"Oh I'm with Quinn, I think she could beat your ass, Puckerman" Santana sneered
"What's with the personal attack?" He whined defensively
"Sorry, Dude but, I bet, she could beat anyone on this school up" Finn said trying to support his best friend.
Lunch time continued with the same sort of conversation. Rachel didn't say much she was just taking in the others thought about her alter-ego.
Any thoughts?