A/N: I didn't have a beta for this, so I apologize for any mistake. Feedback is always appreciated. :)

A Fool's Plan

„I could catch her for you." My voice sounded scratchy as I made my offer. I knew four pair of eyes stared at me suspiciously.

"Why would we need you for this, mercenary?"

That's what I was for them. A mercenary. I worked for money and that was about it. That was all I wanted to have to do with them. They disgusted me. But they had the money I needed, to be alive and I had skill they needed. That's why they liked to send me on their missions. I had never failed them.

"She's after me," I explained like it was obvious. "She knows that I could give away who she is, so you can hunt her and her clan down. She will try to kill me as soon as possible, believing I haven't said anything yet."

Puck snorted.

"You gave her away already. All I need to do now is clap my hands and we'll destroy her. You don't have to help."

I shook my head, swallowing. I didn't really intend to let this happen. I couldn't explain why, but I didn't want to have her killed by the Puckerman clan. I didn't want to have her killed at all.

"You can keep it like that, if you want," I spoke. "But it would just be so much easier, if you leave this to me. I will let her find me. And trust me, she will find me."

I was so certain, that she would come after me again. One look into her eyes had told me that she was not the person to just let things go. Jake nodded, understanding, while Puck just held his arms crossed before his chest and observed me with a dark look.

"She has a point," Jake said to him. "It would save us time and nerves."

"And soldiers," I added. "Imagine how many of your men she could kill before you catch her? Her fighting skills are decent, I've seen her. I've fought her."

"Fine, fine, do it then, but I don't want you to fail this, Fabray, otherwise I'm never hiring you again."

I bowed my head and turned to go. When I was outside the building I couldn't suppress my grin. Puck was such a stupid idiot.

I saw her standing on the rooftop, her eyes scanning the area down at the ground. She didn't see how I climbed the tower behind her back and hid behind a wooden balustrade. From there I had an excellent view on her without being seen by anyone. While I observed her from the distance, I thought about how to exactly put my plan into action. I had to trap her, to catch her somehow. This was the trickiest part. Once I had done that, the rest of the plan was perfect. I would call the Puckermans and get my payment, then I would make her assassins clan rescue her. I would have my money, be out of the game and Santana wouldn't get killed. The Puckerman clan would be still after her, but they would be, regardless of me saving her or not.

I felt a bit ridiculous for not wanting to let her die. She chose me to be her enemy, so why should I care about her? I sighed. If I hadn't worked for the Puckermans, she would have never met me as an enemy and never tried to kill me. I almost wished to have met her before. I had to admit that she was quite attractive, this girl whose name I didn't even know. What name would fit her? I smiled, imagining several names for her, but I couldn't think of anything right that would fit her lovely curls, and those delicious, delicious lips. They had felt so good on mine when I had kissed her. I watched her a little longer, biting my lips when I stared at the spot where her long and worked out legs were ending in her ass. Suddenly something down the street caught my eye. A small girl, brunette, hopped over the balconies and turned into a corner. I had already seen her with the assassin today, before they parted ways and I followed my target. I assumed she was looking for me, too. Who knew how many other Assassins of her clan were behind me. I had to be careful. But I figured that it would make my plan easier at the end, it would make it easier to find someone to rescue her. My eyes scanned the area behind me, were guards patrolled the street; guards who were alert of an assassin threatening the Puckerman clan. They would attack her, if she came near enough. Maybe I could lure her over there… I turned around and saw my favourite assassin climbing the church tower. From there she would see me for sure. I had to act quickly. Taking a breath, I got up and leaped from the rooftop down into a haystack.

My heart raced from excitement when I rushed through the alleys. People came across my way, but I didn't bother trying to avoid them. Instead I made sure to bump into them, tackling them to the ground, starting a little riot as people started to yell at me. A caw above me told me that her eagle had spotted me. I grinned, hopping over a bench and turned into another street. Above me, I sensed movements. It was the other brunette assassin, who had picked up the track. I increased my pace, then turned hard right and leapt into another, very narrow alley. The eagle called again. My plan went well so far. They followed me, followed me towards the patrolled area. Excellent. I would lay them a trail.

"Halt!" the guard in front of me called as he saw me coming in quick steps. Without decreasing speed I leaped up onto the barrels between us, jumping high, slashing him my dagger hard across his face. It cut a line from his main artery up to his eyebrows. I continued my way without wasting time. The next guard I met received a kick in the knee before I ripped his lance out of his hands and knocked him over the head with it. Then I rammed it into the other guard's stomach that came to rescue. I could feel someone shadowing me. Someone ran along the rooftops above me. Before I could look up, another guard appeared before me, his long sword pointed in front of him. I almost ran into it, but was able to parry it in the last minute with my dagger. The strike was hard, my dagger flew out of my hands, and I swung my body to the side, grabbing his head between my hands. I jerked it around, breaking his neck and dropped him.

I ran further, knowing she was very close now. I felt her leaping from the roof, but there was nothing I could do, when her body crashed onto mine. I gasped by the impact and felt a sharp pain in my head as I hit it at the wall behind me. Her hidden blade flipped out and drove into the side of my body. I flinched, feeling a dull pain; the adrenaline pulsing through my body disabled the feeling of pain. I grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her off me, letting my fist crash onto her temple. I could literally feel my knuckles breaking at the clash. I raised my hand again, but she managed to grab it, holding it away and kicked my shin instead.

"Fuck," I grunted, as she kicked me again. The situation seemed to put her into a rage; every hit she made, let her become more furious. I had trouble fighting her off, when she began to wildly punch and kick against me. I tried to protect my head as best as I could and counter strike her attacks, but her fists were so powerful. I had to stop her, or this plan would get out of hand. I put my whole body weight into my attack, throwing myself into her. I was able to grab her hair, pulled her backwards and slammed her against the brick wall of the house. I tried to keep her pinned to the wall, but she kicked her knee against my hipbone and beat her fist against my skull at the back of my head. My vision blurred. She was going to kill me for real.

"Why do you want me dead?" I croaked against her, pushing her against the wall as hard as I could. She stopped her kicks, looking at me for a second. Then her hand closes around my throat.

"You won't give the Puckermans my identity, because I'm going to kill you," she growled.

I had to think of something to say. Something that would convince her not to kill me.

"Puckerman?" I croaked as she squeezed her fingers around my throat, making it hard for me to speak. I gasped for air in vain; my head felt like it was about to burst any second. "You think I give a fuck about them?"

"Shut it and spare your last breath for something that isn't a lie. I'm not falling for your little tactics with your words." Her words were merciless, and cruel, and there was no expression on her face when I starred at her in blurry vision. A distant ringing filled my ears, and it got louder the longer she strangled me.

"You work for them, don't you?"

"I… did. But-" My words failed me as I ran out of air. She noticed and released one finger. I greedily gasped for air.

"My job is finished and I don't give a shit. The money was all I wanted," I lied. My job was not done, but I couldn't let her know. Desperately I hoped for her to let me go. She stared at me, considering my words for a long time. The ringing in my ears got louder again. Then finally, she pushed me away from her; I lost my balance and tumbled down to the ground. I snapped for air and it took me a while until I had collected myself. When I stood up, she was already there, holding her stiletto threatening at my head.

"So, you say that you are not on their side?" she said in trembling voice.

My neck burned where she had strangled me. I rubbed it, looking down at my shirt, soaked in blood. It could have been worse. Luckily her cut had just been along my ribcage and not hit any intestines. I shook my head.

"I'm on nobody's side," I said. This wasn't a lie. I was glad for any moment of conversation I could win to charge my energy. "I think we are quite alike, you and me, being on nobody's side. Am I right? Or are you on anybody's side?"

Her words seemed to get her thinking. I could see the conflict in her eyes. She was an assassin. She should have killed me when she had the chance to, but she had hesitated. She had failed her mission and that was why she tried to kill me now. I wondered why she wouldn't just do it. Her grip tightened around her weapon. I noticed her shoulder trembling, yet she stepped towards me, determined to do it. She raised her stiletto and stabbed forward, but something didn't seem right with her all of the sudden. She let out a yowl that sounded like she was in pain. Her stiletto missed me and she stumbled past me. That was my one and only chance. I grabbed a second dagger from my belt and hit her with the pommel of the hilt. She dropped to the ground unconscious. My limbs still felt wobbly and weak, so I dragged carefully into the gap between two nearby houses, so nobody would find us. I sunk down to the ground exhausted. I had to care about my wound, as I was still losing blood. With trembling fingers I removed Santana's belt from her, took off her weapons, and lay them beside us. With my teeth I ripped out a piece of my sleeve and pressed it on the wound. I wrapped the belt around me and tightened it to still the bleeding. Then I lay back against the cold wall and just breathed deeply in and out. I had taken more damage than I thought I would.

After a while I had found strength to keep going. The place I intended to bring Santana was not far from here. It was an abandoned thief headquarters. They had a cellar; the Puckerman clan used as a prison sometimes. But there was nobody at the moment, I had made this sure before she brought Santana there. I heaved her into the cellar and lay her down onto the rough linen blanket on the cold floor. Her face was scratched and bruised, but she still looked beautiful. I watched her features and dared to stroke over the skin below her ear. Realising what I did, I drew back my hand and shook my head. That was crazy. I was crazy. I didn't even know this girl, yet I felt drawn to her, and I couldn't even fucking explain myself how that had happened. My mind rewind to the first time I had met her, how I had tried to distract her on purpose; a tactic that worked just brilliant on men, and it had worked fine with her, too. But then for some bloody, stupid reason, I had kissed her and I had liked it, and I couldn't help but think about it still. I gently ran my hand through her curls, while I thought about the situation I had gotten myself into.

"You are an idiot, Quinn," I spoke to myself, trying to be mature about this. I was a mercenary, I worked for money, and the money should be what I care about. Once I was done with the mission involving her, there would be nothing that bonded me to her, and there would be nothing that bonded her to me. I got up and chained her hands to the metal racks on the walls, so she couldn't flee in case she woke up. Then I got rid of my clothes and cleaned and bandaged my wound. I cleaned the bruises of my face and put on new clothes; a linen tunic and a pair of simple brown breeches.

I went out onto the street and called a guard and sent him away with a message to the Puckermans. It shouldn't take them too long to get here, but I hoped I would have enough time to clean the Assassins wounds. When I returned to the cellar with the tincture, she was wide awake.

There was horror written over her face as I came closer.

"Hello Assassin," I said playfully, grinning at her. I bend over her, to look at her scratches, but she attempted to kick me in response. I caught her legs and held them down in order to climb on her lap and straddled her legs to keep her from kicking. The frown on her face turned into a surprised expression. I decided to explain what I wanted to do.

"Hold still, I just want to clean your wounds."

Carefully I touched her face with the soaked cloth. I held her face with my other had when she flinched in pain and turned her head. I really just wanted to disinfect those ugly little cuts. The girl was still so stubborn, even in defeat. Her toughness amazed me.

"Stubborn Assassin," I said to keep her distracted with my voice. "I'm just disinfecting the scratches. Don't worry, I won't poison you or anything." She lay in silence, pouting, clenching her teeth when the alcohol burned on her swollen face.

"But, even if I wanted to hurt you, you couldn't do anything about it," I teased her, poking her nose laughing. She shot me a death glare.I set the cloth aside and rested my hands on her stomach. I couldn't help it. Her huffy look made me want to tease her even more.
"You're mine now." I let my fingertips travel up her skin, drawing an invisible line between her breasts. She gasped.

"If you think that's arousing, having me chained up here, you are wrong," she snapped.

"As if I am not able to tell what arouses you from my last meeting with you," I laughed. Oh, she was so easy to play, "Well, sadly I can't change the position you are in because you still seem to want to kill me. I can't just risk my life."

"I will kill you the second I'm off those chains..." She went silent when I brushed my hands over her breasts. She felt so nice, and I became angry at the shirt she was wearing. The more I explored her body, the more I just wanted to rip this fabric off her. I ran fingers over collarbone and up and down her neck, enjoying the softness of her skin. I shouldn't do this. I tangled my fingers into her hair, scraping along her scalp. The sounds that escaped her when I did that, made me shudder. It made me want more.

Wasn't this a stupid game, to try to tease her a bit and get horny myself in the process? I couldn't help it. Why didn't she resist? Please could she just resist? I lowered my head and captured her lips with mine. I could feel my heart beating so fast in my chest; I was scared she could know how much I liked this. How much I wanted her. I pecked at her lips gently until I felt her kissing me back slowly. My stomach flipped when she parted her lips willingly; I dragged my tongue along her bottom lip, sucking at it gently, before I slipped my tongue into her. I groaned, pushing my body against hers. I wanted her closer. My hand tangled in her hair, tugging it, deepening the kiss. She was intoxicating, like a drug. Only that consuming her felt even better than a drug. I detached my lips, attacking her neck. She moaned when I dragged my tongue along here jaw and over her neck, and I could hear her chains tighten when I sucked at her ear. For a second I considered unchaining her. Just the image of her hands on my body almost sent me over the edge.

The sound of footsteps and creaking floors got to my ear. Oh shit, I had forgotten about the Puckermans. Shit, shit, shit.

I jumped off her, ignoring her confused look and straightened up.

"What's happening?" she demanded to know, panic rising in her eyes. I preferred not to look at her, instead I watched my feet, swallowing. Suddenly, the plan I had made earlier didn't seem as great anymore and I wished I hadn't called the damn fucking Puckermans. What now?

"I thought we had some more time, to be honest," I said. The plan, Fabray, the plan! But what was the plan again? My thoughts tumbled. The plan was not to be nice to the Assassin, get the money and find somebody to rescue her. Any mistake on my side, and I would be screwed.

"What the hell is going on here?" The assassin yelled. I turned to her, trying to look as cold as possible.

"It was nice with you, really. I just knew you would find me again, after our last encounter."

She stared at me wordlessly, shocked, when the Puckermans entered the room. Noah and Jake grinned when they saw the chained assassin on the floor. And I saw the wheels turning behind her eyes.

"This was a trap? I thought you were on nobody's side!" She screamed at me, startling me. I wanted to reply that it was more complicated, and I wanted to tell her that the trap had nothing to do with the kissing that happened. But I was aware that I looked like the asshole that just played a stupid game with her. I was an asshole and this was a game. But the sinking feeling in my stomach told me, that I regretted to play this game. But now that the Puckermans were here, I couldn't explain myself to her. Sticking to my plan I said:

"I am on nobody's side. But like I said, I only care for the money."

"You lied to me!"

I let out a false chuckle, a chuckle that hurt me, before I turned away.

"Well, welcome to the real world."

Puck held out the coin purse, my payment, nodding respectfully. I picked it up and left the room without turning around again, ignoring the words she yelled after me: "You better explain that, next time I find you again!"

Part two of my plan was in operation. And I ran out of time. I needed to find the eagle, find someone on the Assassins companions to get them here and to save her. I didn't want her to die. After what happened today, I couldn't let her die.

My heart hammered hard against my chest as I climbed outside. What if her fellow Assassin had stopped looking for her? The Puckermans would not only kill the Assassin; I knew what they were like, they were perverts. I didn't even want to think of what they could do with her before they slid her throat. Should I go back in and save her by myself or leave her to her fate? I turned around. Nobody was there. Shit. I lifted myself up the roof of the building to see a little further, but I couldn't see anyone on the other roofs. Then I heard it. A caw. Looking up I saw the eagle circling above me in the air. A wave of relief floated me. I climbed off the rood and a few moments later I heard footsteps. She didn't even care to be silent. The girl came running towards me.

"Stop!" I yelled, but it was too late. She had thrown herself on me, holding a drawn blade threatening at me.

"Where is she?" she hissed, pinning me to the ground, pointing the knife at my throat.

"Hear me out," I croaked. She squint her eyes, probably surprised that I wasn't even defending myself.

"She's in that building okay? The Puckermans got her, I have nothing to do with it right now." She scrunched her face in confusion. "Please, they… they are about to kill her, she needs help." Every other person I knew would have asked questions now, but this girl seemed to be so courageous that she didn't even care, if I spoke the truth. Or maybe she just believed me.

She got off me, still not breaking eye contact, as if she wasn't hundert percent sure.

"How do I get in?" She demanded to know. I pointed to a manhole further down the street.

"That's a secret path. It leads into one of the rooms in the cellar. But the one you're looking for is chained in the main hall. The Puckermans are already there. You can't miss their voices. The girl nodded and let go of me. I rubbed my wrists as she sprinted off already.

"Wait, " I called her back. I pulled out the little key for the chains and threw over to her. She caught it. "You'll need this." She nodded once and disappeared in the hole in the ground.

I sat there for a few minutes longer, thinking. I had my money, and I had sent her a saviour. Hopefully everything would be okay down there. My fingers went up to my lips, touching them, remembering the kiss we had shared. Her kisses were too hot to be forgotten. She would give everything to get the chance to kiss her again.