A/N: Finally gotten around to working on this again after a thousand years. And I'm cringing at my own errors from the first three chapters. I'll work on it.
I swear over the grave of Quinn Fabray's character development that I won't stop until I finish my stories. Just like with my cigarettes, I'm not going to quit.
There were no apologies offered the next day. Santana and Quinn bumped into each other as both were in deep thought and seemingly in a hurry to be somewhere. The captain stared into Quinn's hazel eyes then nodded curtly—a gesture of acknowledging her transgressions which was mirrored by the other girl. Clutching her Battle School-issued tablet with her left hand, the blonde girl stood in front of the library's entrance—a transparent interactive wall that allowed you to see the reception of the library from the outside. Above the golden mull post that led to the building proper were etched Greek words, "gnosis kai sofias"—knowledge and wisdom.
She spread her right palm widely and slowly pressed it against a projected biometric system. This action triggered a more complex security verification method which scanned the girl's entire face, allowing the program to generate a 3D rendering of her. The image was placed next to her projected actual information and announced a match. Quinn sighed at the cumbersome procedure, then gingerly entered as soon as she was given a pass.
The knowledge repository's grandeur hits you as soon as you enter the atrium. For Quinn, however, it wasn't the extremely high ceilings or the imposing statue of Peter Wiggin in the middle that made it remarkable. It was the odd juxtaposing of old world architecture with new technology that made Quinn speechless. Hundreds of shelves that contained advanced femtotechnology in the form of card-sized glass microchips were positioned all over the ground floor. This technology allowed zetabytes of information to be stored making it possible, in Quinn's mind, that the Battle School's library houses all known published works around the world in all known languages throughout man's history.
Yet, Quinn has never in her life held a physical version of a book. By intention and design, The Assembly's information technology rendered printed variants of information obsolete. In her world, every exchange of information had to be traced, and paper made it very difficult to do so. She found it cruel for the architecture to be as such, as if mocking the old world's ways; maintaining the aesthetic form, but completely devoid of its substantial legacy—freedom of exchange, among others.
Shaking her thoughts away, the blonde girl made a beeline to one section and typed "Jus Bellum Iustum" or the Just War Theory in the terminal. The shelf lit up and out slowly popped a glass microchip with gold-like etchings which she quickly took and held in the palm of her hands as she searched for an isolated nook. Once satisfied with the location, Quinn plopped herself in the comfortable couch, tucking her legs under her before inserting the microchip inside the slot found on her device. Before she was able to choose among the volumes and chapters, the teenage soldier's attention shifted to the message notifications she received that remained unopened.
Wiggling her fingers in hesitation, Quinn took a deep breath then tapped the icon. Quinn felt a cold shiver down her spine at the number of comments from random strangers all over the underground net, but nonetheless trained her eyes to filter out the interesting ones—especially those that are did not throw insults and curses her way.
A message from a certain Zoroaster piqued her curiosity. Not only because of its username and message, but the source of the message came from a very notorious and hidden hacker board—one that Quinn uses herself. She was also equally impressed at the ID number of the sender. Twenty one. That means whoever this person is, has been hacking the system long before Quinn developed her own skills.
Node number: 8/5578
From: Zoroaster #21
To: Anonymous Guardian
Reply to Message 1
Humankind is to struggle between what is true and what is a lie.
The questions you asked are merely consequential to this conflict.
Be mindful of what is hidden in plain sight.
Find courage in the unknown.
Treasure those who will bring peace in your otherwise conflicted world.
The blonde girl squinted then remained motionless to mull over the equally cryptic reply from her original post. She tried recalling her own words and attempted to make a connection. Quinn let the silence take over once more, as if waiting for a faint voice to echo inside the hall; to give her answers. When it became evident that nothing will come out of it, she once again broke into the underground net and quickly typed a reply before fear took over.
Node number: 8/5578
From: Tokugawa #755
To: Zoroaster #21
Reply to message 2
The world has not experienced genuine and sustained conflict in a long time.
What is it that you know?
This anonymous guardian prefers to be called Tokugawa.
Hazel eyes lit up at the swift reply. Whoever this hacker is, he or she is currently awake. She tried to picture a girl her age, no, maybe a man slightly older. She then settled for someone who looked like her father.
Node number: 8/5578
From: Zoroaster
To: Tokugawa
Reply to message 3
I was referring to YOUR world.
Perhaps two dimensions.
Where you are located.
And your mind.
Take care of both.
"My world," Quinn muttered. "Battle School, I guess." She sighed heavily and turned off her tablet then returned the glass microchip to its shelf. "Just War would have to wait," she said irritably as she realized the time. A scheduled practice at the battle room was announced a few hours earlier and if she didn't start walking, she'd be late. The memory of her scuffle with Santana still lingered in her mind, but with the message from Zoroaster, she felt that she needed a new perspective. "If Zoroaster is referring to Battle School, then does he mean I should treasure my squad? Are we even allowed to form some bond here with other people?"
Sue Silvester and William Schuester observed the girl in silence from their huge monitor as Quinn continued to talk to herself. "This Zoroaster person…"
Sue nodded solemnly. "Just monitor her exchanges with everyone in that board."
Quinn found Rachel waiting for her at the entrance of the battle room. Her sullen expression was met with a radiant smile coming from the small brunette. "Ready?" Rachel grinned then extended her hand for other girl to take.
"Where are the others?"
"The others aren't gonna be here. It will be just the two of us."
"You reserved the room?" Quinn's sour disposition suddenly shifted to a lighter one.
Rachel nodded. "Technically, Santana did. But it was my idea. I thought…I thought it would be best if we, you know, try it again together. Alone. We have, uh, just about a couple of hours but—oomph!"
The more petite girl found herself flat on the floor because of one Quinn Fabray tackling her on the ground and hugging her like a monkey.
"You're the best, Rach."
"Uhhh, right. Okay. Now if you could just, uhm, Quinn, I can't breathe."
The blonde chuckled in response before rolling away from Rachel. "I'm sorry. But you really are the best."
Ignoring the blonde's ridiculously attractive tousled hair, Rachel focused dusting off invisible dirt on her battle suit. "Yes, well, you can extol my virtues later. We have a very limited time today."
This made the other girl laugh even more. "For someone with limited education, you like to use fancy words."
"I told you I was educated by the nuns. That doesn't mean I have limited education, Quinn. Have you—have you been to a convent?"
"No…I don't…I didn't grow up with any religion."
"Well, I didn't mean—you don't need to have a religion just to be inside a religious place. Anyway, the point I'm making is, the convent I grew up in has a school house and a library that is obviously dwarfed by what we have here, but we did have hundreds, if not thousands, of books."
"Books."
"Yeah, books. Cos you know, library," Rachel sniggered as she waited for the battle room to verify her information and open the door.
"Like actual books."
"Again, because it's a library."
"Our library here does not have book books."
The brunette laughed and humored her roommate. "Yes, I do find it odd. But then again, heaven forbid something normal exists in this place—"
"Books aren't normal, Rachel. They've been banned a long time ago. Honestly," Quinn huffed impatiently. "You're pulling my leg. Don't lie to me."
Rachel's mouth was left agape as they entered the battle room. "The only pulling that should happen here is your head out of your ass."
"W-whadya mean by that?"
"Really? Assembly people like you think everything in your region is also happening everywhere else. Rotterdam is a semi-autonomous principality, Quinn. I'm more than sure you are aware of that."
"I'm not—"
"Also, in fact, more importantly, you should know that religious institutions—no matter how archaic and irrelevant their beliefs are today—are exempted from many of The Assembly's random and illogical laws. Like banning book books. Sure, we can't have new ones printed anymore. But we do have old ones."
"… Do they really smell different?"
"I—What?"
"Books. I read somewhere that…that when you open one, there's a distinct smell to it."
"I…guess?"
The taller girl sighed, and with her head low in embarrassment. "I'm sorry I snapped earlier. I—what you said…made me envious. I've never seen a book, let alone hold one. Just…photos on archive."
Rachel regarded her friend for a moment. "I promise you, when all of this is over, I'll take you to Rotterdam…and you can swim in all the books I will find for you."
"I…thank you. I'm being petty and—"
"And I'm forgetting that your upbringing is very different from mine," Rachel smiled warmly. "Come on, let's practice."
Quinn pouted at the sight of their gadgets. "It's gonna be the same old story."
"No, it won't be," the brunette chuckled as she helped the petulant genius put on her virtual glasses. "You said you're good at calculating risk and behavior, right?"
The other girl thought it over then nodded unsurely.
"That makes you a good commander…captain."
"Santana is captain," Quinn said slowly for emphasis, not liking where she thought the discussion was heading.
"I'm not about to suggest mutiny, relax."
"What, then?"
Rachel grinned and stood confidently next to Quinn. "I've thought this over. I'm sort of…trigger-happy. But I lack foresight. That's…sort of my personality, you know? I tend to have tunnel vision…which usually was what got me in trouble at Rotterdam."
"What kind of trouble?"
The shorter girl giggled then shook her head as if trying to erase some events in her mind, "that's not the point right now. What I'm driving at is, I need your ability to see the bigger picture and your capacity to predict outcomes based on your analysis on…well, everything."
The corner of Quinn's lips quirked upwards. "I failed the first time because I couldn't predict the enemy's move. You got eaten because you based it on your instinct to protect me even though there could have been an alternative action for the same outcome."
"So we work as a team. And by that I mean—"
"I'll be your eyes and mind. And you'll be my instinct and heart."
"So we'll have to learn to operate together."
"I've been thinking…" Quinn said loudly with her confidence building up. "Hypermutants ought to maintain some aspects of their original species-typical behavior, right?"
"Like?"
"Lions for example have low stamina. They have a single burst of energy that's why they favor swift charges and hunt in groups. If there's only one who's attacking, that might take time and end up with the prey escaping because of the lion's exhaustion."
"So, if a hypermutant group of lions attack us, we need to find a way to exhaust them, and take them down one by one."
"Strength in numbers and time is of the essence," Quinn smirked. "We might just actually pull this off."
The brunette nodded then took a deep breath as she readied herself to execute their idea. "Let's do this," she exhaled before pressing the button to trigger her virtual reality glasses. In just a few seconds they were transported to a tropical island with pink sand and what Quinn concluded as remnants of a rain forest. "This is odd," she mumbled.
Rachel picked up Quinn's observation. "I thought hypermutants are found near rivers, not sea?"
The blonde carefully turned around to get the feel of the environment. "Either the game has been programmed to play all kinds of scenarios, or it's evolving along with reports from The Assembly."
Rachel positioned herself behind Quinn with their backs facing each other. "So you think the hypermutants are moving away from rivers, huh?"
"Possibly." Quinn continued to scan their environment, searching for something familiar, escape routes, stumbling blocks and other things they can utilize. "We're at the Pacific—stop moving."
The brunette froze, not from Quinn's orders, but from the feel of warm hand enveloping hers. "Do you see anything?"
"Nothing, that's why don't move. Something is watching us in close proximity."
Rachel swallowed forcefully then whispered, "How the hell did you know?"
"Look up, the birds are in flight, away from our direction. A predator is nearby." She, once again, scanned the vicinity and noted its topography. "Oh, this is just great."
"What—what's great? Is that sarcasm? I hope it isn't sar—"
"Komodo Island."
"Oh. That was sarcasm." Rachel slowly let go of Quinn's hand and gripped her gun. "What's the Komodo Dragon's weak point?"
The blonde exhaled nervously before reaching for her own gun, "Its flat head. The tail is very strong, and so is its neck. Rachel, we need to draw it out. It will just keep waiting until we fumble near it, and that would put him in an advantaged position."
"And how do you suggest we do that?"
"Find a bird that we can kill, it will be able to smell blood and death."
Rachel quickly reached for her gun and pulled the trigger over a flock of birds above them. She fired 3 rounds and wasted no energy as three bodies fell almost simultaneously before them. "I'm sorry, birdies," Rachel frowned.
"They're not real," the blonde reminded her with an amused tone. "You have to—Rachel in front of me," Quinn gasped and took a step back.
"Holy mother of lizards," Rachel muttered as soon as she caught sight of an almost 20 foot Komodo dragon charging towards them. "Flat head, flat head, flat head," the girl chanted to remind herself of where to hit, pressed the button for maximum directed-energy, and pulled the trigger within a couple of seconds.
"Well, that was easy—oh crap! Quiiiin? What the hell?"
The two girls found themselves surrounded by four more monsters. Rachel raised her gun again but was interrupted by the blonde. "Our guns' reloading time for maximum energy might be what will have us killed. I'll aim for the legs using minimum energy, to handicap them."
Rachel nodded in agreement. "I'll deliver the final blow."
"Take the first in front of you now."
Quinn adjusted her gun's capacity and knelt down on one knee for that direct line of vision. She took a deep breath and steadied her aim. There isn't room for hesitation; she had enough time. The blonde heard the cry of the lizard shot by Rachel, and in a split second, Quinn pulled the trigger as well. She then twisted her upper body to the right and aimed at the other monster's bawled leg.
The two creatures effectively slowed down in their approach. By the time the third one was immobilized, Rachel had managed to kill the second one. The girls stood side by side and aimed at the heads of the last two hypermutants and without words, pulled their triggers simultaneously.
The shorter girl lifted her hand and pressed the button on her glasses, effectively ending the game for the two of them. "Okay. I've seen enough reptiles for the day," she said breathlessly.
"That…was unbelievable," Quinn whispered. "I can't believe I survived that. I mean…that scenario's certainly easier than the others but…yeah," she grinned at Rachel.
"We found our rhythm," Rachel grinned back.
"Well, that certainly is enlightening." Captain Sylvester noted.
"Rachel has Quinn all figured out."
"Not quite, Will. But getting there."
"I'm worried that Quinn's judgment will be clouded by her emotions. Rachel is very unpredictable and if Quinn's development will be dependent on—"
"Nothing in life is predictable, William, because we're dealing with goddamn humans. Everything here is one big risk. And from where I'm standing, Quinn seems to be more unpredictable than Rachel."
"And we're creating more uncertainties here, Sue."
"In these troubled, uncertain times, we don't need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyone's intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise," Sue recited from memory. "I forget the broad who said that, I'm sure she was relevant at some point."
"How is it that you even know about Chinese emperors?" Rachel whispered as she weaved through the herd of greenhorns with Quinn towards the lecture hall exit.
The blonde girl smiled sardonically. "When you have all the time in the world because no one wants to be associated with you," she shrugged, "plus, I find it interesting. I think I'm gonna take up leadership studies in the future. I like this subject a lot."
"I don't know why we keep studying ancient wars and military exploits when our so-called problem has nothing to do with human beings. We're all just casualties here just because Mother Nature decided to get her freak on. I think Evolution Studies should be our focus."
"Makes you wonder, huh?"
"Santana." Quinn and Rachel said simultaneously at the unexpected presence and statement from their captain. The Latina squad leader was leaning against the cul-de-sac leading towards the recreational area. Brittany was still nowhere to be found, and Rachel felt some form of sympathy seeing her captain's sad eyes.
Deciding to break the ice, Rachel awkwardly gestured their leader to walk with them—to the surprise of everyone else. "What's on your mind?"
"Everything about this place," Santana mumbled. "Everything about the situation. Things don't add up." She looked around then signaled them to follow her. "Come on, I have something to show you."
The two greenhorns silently communicated to each other, questioning Santana's motives. The squad captain sensed the hesitation and stopped walking. "I know you've been scouring the underground net, Quinn. You're not the only one who does. I'm not as good as you but I am capable of a trick or two."
The blonde's eyes widened. "Are you…are you Zoroaster?"
Rachel looked at both girls with curiosity while Santana frowned in confusion. "Who's that?"
"What's your pseudonym? Which board do you use?"
"I'm not telling you that here," Santana hissed.
"I am confused and lost," Rachel interjected petulantly.
"Alright, lead the way, Santana," Quinn conceded in hopes of placating her now irritated friend.
They found themselves in Santana's room and immediately the tiny brunette was reminded of what conspired between the leader and the blonde. "If you're thinking of funny activities, I'll have you know by now I'm not into that."
"Funny—what?" Santana grimaced. "Fuck no, Berry. What makes you think I am?!"
"What, what're we talking about?"
"I'm just being clear that just because you and Quinn swapped…saliva, and that the two of you are very attractive individuals—"
"Berry, just…shut up," Santana sighed. "It's not like that. I already apologized to Quinn and trust me it won't ever happen again, all the more that."
"Well…alright," the smaller girl said in response. "It's all good, then."
"Why is it that you two understand each other!" Quinn exclaimed and stamped her foot.
The captain and the brunette greenhorn locked eyes and tried to suppress their surprise and amusement at the uncharacteristic childish display of frustration on Quinn's end. Santana patted the blonde's back. "Must be aggravating that there's something you don't seem to get, huh?"
"It's…nothing, Quinn," Rachel smiled. The young leader noted how in that instance, Quinn's annoyance quickly disappeared and smiled back at her fellow greenhorn.
"Some other time, Fabray. I believe we're here so that I can answer your questions. I'm not Zoroaster, as I said earlier. I simply go by S."
"S."
"Yep."
"Just. S."
"Give me a break, I was just thirteen when I made that," Santana huffed.
"Can someone please give me a backgrounded on…whatever it is you two are conspiring about?"
"There's nothing—"
"Your Quinn spends her quality time on the underground net."
Rachel nodded in affirmation. "Well, that one I know."
"Then, you should also know that we're discussing our virtual lives."
"So you—you're also into that," the smaller girl said with a tinge of sadness. Being left out wasn't a great feeling, Rachel realized. Not especially since she has decided to be Quinn's shadow.
"It's good that you're not, trust me," Santana sniggered. "There are many, many things out there that would leave you disgusted at humanity."
"Rachel's from Rotterdam, Santana. I think she's seen a lot more," Quinn grinned, while Rachel looked half-amused at the blonde's display of pride.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, I know that. I've read your files, dummies. But the nastiness you'll find in Rotterdam, these are done by individuals for individual selfish reasons. I'm talking about big players, here. I'm talking about—wait, it'll be easier to show you," Santana said with a grunt as she rummaged through her things. She took out a notebook with a leather cover.
"Isn't paper illegal now?"
Rachel smiled and attempted not to roll her eyes at Quinn's naivety. "How did you manage to get that? Only Japan is allowed to produce that and sell within their country."
The Latina shrugged. "A gift from my father. He's in A-5."
"Navy," the blonde said. "OH MY GOD!"
The two other girls jumped in shock. "Jesus, crap, Quinn!"
"I—I'm sorry. I just…your father is Commodore Lopez!"
Unexpectedly, Santana turned away in embarrassment. "Yeah…he—yeah, he's my father."
Rachel stood in silence and watched her captain squirm in discomfort while Quinn—oblivious of this shift in behavior—looked at the girl in awe. "Quinn, I don't think—"
"I've read his biography," the blonde exclaimed. "We should be studying him."
"Right," the Latina said curtly. "Anyway, I've been taking down notes—"
"You know how to write…"
The small brunette elbowed Quinn, "I'm sure Santana would be willing to teach you how to write, Quinn, later. Much later. Let's just get to what she's trying to say, okay?"
"Okay, so here's what I know," Santana sighed while going through her notes. "These so-called hypermutants…I've been triangulating the reported sightings I've gathered verified and unverified. All the locations…I don't know, I kind of don't wanna say it out loud but…I only found two things in common."
"One is they're located near rivers," Quinn said.
"Yeah," the young captain nodded, "That's the obvious one. But there's something else. They're all located where...where The Assembly Navy are located—here, take a look," Santana unfolded a detailed cartography of the world—obviously military issued. It had marks that the captain obviously made with words A-5.
"Santana, the Navy is everywhere—"
"No, you're not getting it. Take a closer look."
Quinn and Rachel sat down and sandwiched their squad leader to peruse the map carefully. "These are all bases of Americana," Rachel noted.
"Correct," the Latina affirmed sadly. "All under…my father's command. More importantly, these are bases found in continents where there have been strong political dissent against many Assembly policies over the past few years."
"W-what are you saying," Quinn frowned deeply.
"I don't know yet. All I know is that this is a very odd thing. I don't know if it's just a coincidence. Many don't believe so. But no one has also yet to give any concrete theories. At least none that I've come across."
"So you need me to dive deeper."
"I'm not ordering you to. But since you have the balls to take the plunge anyway, I thought of giving you this information, to, I don't know, narrow down your search. Or if you cross paths with others, you could ask the right questions."
"Oh, crap." A belated realization hit Rachel. "Okay, now I'm really sure we'll get kicked out of this school. I mean, they're listening to us right now, aren't they?"
"Well, look at you," Quinn laughed heartily for the first time. "I seem to recall how much you wanted to escape from Battle School. What happened?"
"Curiosity," Rachel pouted. "Plus, I have nothing better to do if I go back to where I came from. So damn it if I get kicked out."
"I…don't know," Santana mumbled with uncertainty. "I've been here for months now, hacking the system, writing things down, saying things out loud to myself, nothing's happened so far. Maybe—it's a captain privilege…like I have some form of privacy. All I know is…if we ever need to discuss these things again, this room seems to be safest. Do we agree on that?"
The two greenhorns nodded in agreement, both excited and scared of what the consequences of this obvious transgression will be.
"Oh, and by the way," the Latina smiled deviously, "I saw your practice earlier in replay. We're so gonna kick Karofsky's ass. I can't wait."
