"Ex Memoria"

10. Mission Chang Squared

May 2012 – Lima, Ohio

The bus had not come to a stop too soon. They had not realized how long the ride would be, and as much as they could all pass the time talking amongst themselves, or reading, or anything else, they were all still very aware of the passage of time and the cramped quarters of being on the bus. Most if not all of them stepped off the bus with the same sort of deep breath and sigh of relief at being back in the open.

The chaperones had been quick to step in and make sure that no one wandered off and they could organize the groups in an orderly fashion, the better to get started.

For that, it took near on an hour before Gemma was able to come along and gather a handful of the Glee Club. She couldn't expect to scoop all of them who were aware of the Doctor and still have use of the word 'covert.' But they had things to do, and she knew the word would spread to the rest of them. She got a hold of Puck, Sugar, and Santana.

"Right," she breathed. "I need you guys to get Mike and Tina on board." Santana chuckled before holding a hand out to Puck. He frowned, then dug his hand in his pocket and produced a five-dollar bill, which he planted into the girl's waiting palm. She smirked and put it away. "Anyway…" Gemma gave them a look before she could go on. "I don't need to tell you to be careful, do I? The same rules still apply. Be discreet, as hard as it might be around here," she sighed. As much as they would be out in the open, everybody would be focused on the trip, and that could be as beneficial as they needed.

"We can do it," Sugar promised her. Puck had already started walking away, and Sugar was pulled to follow him when Santana took hold of her arm, leaving her no choice but to follow.

"Okay, so you go and tell some, and I'll do the same, that way it won't look like we're up to something," Puck told the girls, sneaking a look off to Coach Sylvester, who was just waiting for one of them, any one of them, to do something wrong, so she could punish them.

"Who died and put you in charge?" Santana protested.

"Are you saying my plan isn't good?" Puck turned back to her and she laughed.

"You call that a plan?" she frowned.

"Well it's a start," Puck countered.

"Do you want to get them both at once or are we doing 'divide and conquer?'" Santana offered. Puck considered this for a minute.

"Let's try both together first. If that doesn't work, me and the guys will go after Mike, and you girls do Tina."

"Fine, I guess," Santana agreed, still mildly annoyed to have him take control. "What about the other ones, the other 'targets,'" she air quoted. "Sam, and Kurt, and Blaine? Do they realize we did to them what we're about to do with Tina and Mike?"

"We should keep them out of this then," Sugar jumped in, attempting to contribute.

"Fine by me," Puck nodded. He wouldn't say it to their faces, but they knew it bugged him sometimes, how it was all of them now, and getting more and more crowded every time they had to talk up another. Now they were going after two more.

"We've got our phones, you get Artie," Santana pointed to Puck. "You get Mercedes and Quinn," she turned to Sugar, who gave a quick nod. "And I'll take care of Britt. We'll conference call if we can, otherwise, we've got messengers and texts and all that."

Just like that, they dispersed, each one in search of their designated people. Puck found Artie, pulling him away from Kurt and Blaine, while Sugar tracked down first Quinn, and then Mercedes, by which time Santana had already linked arms with Brittany. The three clusters stayed apart from one another, but one quick conference call had them all linked together.

The revelation that both Tina and Mike were to be approached next was taken with hardly any surprise among the others. There was some matter of argument as to how they were going to get this done. Some of them agreed to hit both at once, while others were of a mind to divide and conquer. Then there were those who wondered why they were keeping Kurt, Blaine, and Sam in the dark, but it was quickly dealt with.

When it came down to it, they agreed to go at it together. They could see their two targets, walking along hand in hand, so why should they waste time trying to separate them? If it became necessary, then fine, that would be what they'd do but otherwise there really was no point giving up on the chance to hit two birds with one stone.

There still remained the need to figure out exactly how they would approach them with all this, but they at least knew they meant to use their tried and true tactic of leading their targets to the truth, as though they had not entirely meant to involve them, but now that they'd been 'caught,' well…

They'd have to wait a bit before they could go forward. They'd all been packed into an auditorium for a presentation. That was fine by them. At least they could use that time to figure out what they would say to them to convince them.

As busy as they were to figure it all out, not one of those seven had realized they hadn't been as discreet as they'd planned to be. It was lucky for them that the one who overheard them was not someone like Coach Sylvester, that it had been someone already aware of things, even though they had elected not to include him in their plan to get after Mike and Tina.

They were even luckier that it had been Kurt, who knew even more than they realized, though that would not stop him from going to Blaine and Sam and telling them what he'd heard.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)