A/N: Update day! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You guys make my day with your kind words. Hope you all enjoy. If you need anything explained leave a review and I'll answer your question in the author's note of the next chapter :)
- Cassie xoxo
Quinn's POV
It has been two weeks since we had taken Coach Sue up on her offer and things could not have been going better. Every day after Glee club and Cheerios practice, all eight of us would meet up in the gym where Coach Sylvester would be waiting for us. She would 'test' us every day, trying to discover our other powers while training the ones we had already discovered. Between our own self discoveries, Sue throwing things at us, Sue pushing us off the bleachers (one word; ouch), and many other painful tests, we had added much more information to Rachel's chalkboard.
Here's a sketch of what it looks like now.
Rachel; super speed, compulsion, super memory, elastic body, and siren's song (her most recent power).
Santana; illusions, teleportation, tracking, force fields, and fire (a very painful discovery).
Puck; night vision, super strength, navigation, metal manipulation, and earth (did I mention rocks hurt?).
Blaine; empathy, levitation (refer to 'Sue pushing us off the bleachers'), telekinesis, wall walking, and magnetism.
Kurt; omnilingualism, electricity, manipulating gravity (bleachers were good for something), and weather control (don't ask. It was terrifying).
Tina (who hit the jackpot); mind reading, mimicry, light manipulation, water, and invisibility (totally jealous of that last one).
Brittany; animal communication, lie detector, healing, sensory, and air.
And last but not least, myself; aura reading, energy beams, freezing, and (the most uncomfortable of them all) shapeshiting.
Obviously I wasn't big on that last one. How I discovered I had that ability is an awkward story for another day.
You may have noticed that everyone had a total of five powers aside from Kurt and myself. We could only hope that our final power surfaces sooner rather than later.
Out of all of us, Brittany is by far the most advanced. For whatever reason she seemed to know about all of her powers the minute we stepped into our first training session, healing us when Sue did something insane or when Santana or I would identically scorch someone. It was actually amazing how brilliant she was at this (and I'll admit, I was a little jealous).
It was now Monday morning and all of us were training in the gym, listening to Coach Sylvester yell at us. Sue had called a morning session this morning which turned out to be incredibly stressful. Sue was pushing on us heavily (well, everyone except Brittany who was experimenting with her air affinity in the corner of the gym laughing). We were all making progress but Sue said we are lagging behind Brittany who was already a pro. Sue had me practice my newfound shapeshifting ability much to my discomfort. Sue had the four people who had control over an element (Brittany, Puck, Santana, Tina) practice together (though Brittany had meandered off). Kurt was practicing with Blaine near the bleachers. As Blaine tossed things at Kurt using his telekinesis, Kurt used his gravity power to make it too light to go anywhere or heavy enough to fall to the ground. Once in a while he still gets hit with something and Santana laughs at him. Sue was on the other side of the gym testing Rachel's speed for improvement.
Afterwards we all sat down as Sue asked if we had any problems with anything or if we wanted to test anything out. Once everyone voiced their thoughts, Sue left, leaving only the eight kids.
"I swear that lady is going to be the death of us." Kurt muttered, rubbing his sore arm. Brittany pranced up to him and laid her hand on his arm. Kurt sighed in relief as she took away the pain. "Thanks Britt."
"Tell me again why we agreed to this?" Puck whined. Brittany continued walking to each of us, healing our bruises, burns, and cuts that she could feel through her sensory power.
"Look on the bright side," Blaine said optimistically. "We've made a lot of progress."
"Blaine is right in saying that we have come a very long way." Rachel spoke up. "Which is why I wanted to make a suggestion to all of you while Coach Sylvester isn't here."
"Fire away, Hobbit." Santana said. Rachel ignored her.
"Since we have progressed so much these past few weeks, I say it's time for us to begin our crime fighting career." Rachel squeaked excitedly, her smile growing larger by the second. Seven heads snapped in her direction.
Here it comes. I thought to myself, bracing for the inevitable argument that I knew was on the way.
"Are you serious?" Puck asked incredulously. "Though I get where you're coming from, we can't do that. We have school and stuff. We can't just go around saving people and getting ourselves on national television."
"Also I don't think we're ready." Tina added. "I mean, c'mon; although we've improved a lot, we're still making mistakes. I was just accidentally burned by Santana not even ten minutes ago."
"Who says it was an accident?" Santana countered. Tina glared at the Latina as I tried to suppress my laughter. That glare was quickly turned back at me. I stopped laughing.
"Puck has a point." Blaine pointed out. "If eight teens with superpowers popped out of the blue and started saving people, everyone would get suspicious. They might burn us or something."
Rachel looked at Blaine astounded. "Although I see your point, Blaine, I don't believe they would burn us at the stake. This is the twenty first century, not the middle ages."
"I think the point, Rachel, is that even though we made a little bit of progress with this whole mess doesn't mean we're ready to put on tight leather spandex and cape while running around saving people." Santana explained. "We're inexperienced kids; if we make one mistake, one little tiny slip up, it's done. Over. I think one day we'll be ready to go around saving people's asses from being mugged by Puckerman's long lost relatives, but not today when we actually have a shit ton to lose." Even I had to admit Santana had a really good point. I could also see in Rachel's facial expression that she knew where Santana was coming from.
Now I had to think; where was my stance on this? Did I want to go around helping innocent people while putting my life on the line? Could I really be that selfless? Could I even trust myself enough to not slip up in the worst of situations?
They were questions I couldn't answer yet.
"What I don't think you all are getting is that there is a reason we have these powers!" Rachel exclaimed. "We have a moral obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. It would be selfish to just stand here and do nothing when there's people out there who need saving-"
"Well let them save themselves for a little while longer." Santana fired back. "We are not sitting on our asses all day, Berry. Where are we standing right now? Oh yeah that's right, in the gym after spending a fucking hour working with powers with a mentally insane cheerleading coach who has nothing better to do than torture kids all day. One day we'll be able to go out there and maybe save an old lady from getting hit by a car, but today is ot that day. And do you know what's selfish, Rachel? Telling us to give up our lives and identity for the sake of people who don't give two shits about us. That's selfish."
Everyone stood in stunned silence after Santana's accusing speech. Rachel nodded in understanding. To everyone else she probably appeared to be thoughtful, but I knew better.
"You know what Santana? I see your point." Rachel said. "I will see you all in Glee Club later." And with that Rachel took off at a quick pace.
"Rachel!" I called out, running after her retreating figure.
Santana's POV
I watched as Q chased the Hobbit out of the gym doors. Someone's whipped. I thought to myself. I turned around to face the other five people who were still standing in the gym.
"You all just gonna stand there like fucking statues all day?" I snapped. Everyone except Brittany flinched at my tone. "Get to class. C'mon, Britt." I said, grabbing my girlfriend's hand and walking out of the other doors of the gym.
I can't believe the nerve of that girl. She is just so fucking stubborn and it makes me want to scorch her tiny little ass to a crisp and shove her off a cliff. Couldn't she just get the fucking point and see that none of us want to put our asses on the line to go save some greedy bastards from being robbed? Obviously she couldn't. She just has to get on our backs and preach about 'moral obligation'. Sure, she's my friend and all, but I swear to god sometimes I want nothing more than to go all Lima Heights on her skinny Jewish ass. Like hell I would let her rope us into this superhero business when Brittany's life could be on the line.
"Why were you mean to Rachel, San?" Brittany suddenly asked frowning as we walked through the hallway. I was caught off guard by her question. I shrugged in response.
"I wasn't being mean. I was being honest. There wasn't a single person in that gym except for her (well, and possibly Q), who wanted to go all Spiderman. The girl needed a wake up call." I explained. Brittany had no hesitation with her answer.
"I wanted to do it. I mean, I think it would be cool to save people who need our help. Like Hercules." Brittany said, smiling.
"You have a heart of gold Britt, and you know I love you, but it's just not a good idea right now. And besides, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I put you in some kind of danger?" I replied. Brittany squeezed my hand tighter, causing my heart to melt.
"I agree with you, well, on the bad idea part anyways." Brittany said, catching me by surprise.
"You do?" I asked astounded. What was she getting at?
"Well of course I do, honey. It's just I don't think everyone is ready. I mean I know I'm ready. It's like I'm a Pokemon master and everyone else just started their journey out of Pallet Town and got their first gym badge. We can't get started until they have more badges." Brittany explained. I finally understood where she was coming from.
"You're right, Britt." I said, squeezing her hand tighter as we almost reached my locker. "Once we all reach the Elite Four, maybe I'll be fine with this whole Fantastic Four business. But until then, we're staying out of trouble." Brittany smiled that smile that makes the sun seem like a black hole in comparison.
"Well, we're more like the Fantastic Eight. So when the time comes, we'll be twice as fantastic." Brittany said I smiled adoringly at her. How could someone be so dang adorable? I mean seriously; it's like impossible.
"Everyone can bet their sorry ass we will be." I said confidently, opening my locker to get my books.
"Oh, and before we go to class I want you to do something." Brittany told me, still smiling that smile. I returned the smile.
"Anything." I replied.
And I thought Q was whipped.
Quinn's POV
"Rachel stop sulking." I begged as I followed Rachel to her locker. After she stormed out of the gym she hadn't said a word which was really worrying me. Her aura was an anxious, stressful purple. "Don't listen to Santana. I love her to pieces, but she's a bitch. They'll all come to their senses." Rachel opened her locker in silence. I waited anxiously as she collected her things. She didn't even do so much as look at me, but I could tell by her flickering aura that she had some internal debate going on. "Please say something."
Rachel slammed her locker shut as her aura briefly flared red. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, Quinn, but I really just want to be alone right now." She began to walk away, so this called for Plan B; I refuse to let this get Rachel down.
"Why, so you can repeat the scene in the gym in your head and over analyze every single detail to torture yourself?" I fired back. Rachel froze in her spot. I sighed. "Thought so. I know you, Rachel. You don't want anyone else thinking you're anything less than strong and untouchable, but in reality you are just insecure as every other person in this school. I know that. I've been there. You won't admit it, but everyone in the gym siding against you hurt."
"I just don't see how wanting to help people is considered selfish." Rachel finally blurted out. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for getting her to speak what was on her mind. "Although I admit that maybe we're not as prepared as we should be, but we can't just stand here and do nothing. We have to use these things for something." she cried frustrated. Rachel turned to look at me. "What do you think, Quinn? You didn't speak up in the gym."
I hesitated for a moment before answering. "I'm with you. I think we were given these for a reason, and that it's our responsibility to do something. It's just we all need some time to think about it. We all knew this was coming, but we have no game plan." Rachel nodded thoughtfully. "Why don't we talk to Sue about it?"
"You want me to talk about this with Coach Sylvester?" Rachel asked incredulously. I looked at her confused.
"Well, yeah. Why not?" I asked confused. Rachel laughed. I still had no idea what she was getting at.
"Be my guest; you try talking to her." Rachel said amused. I looked at her skeptically.
"Why me? I don't know how she's going to react-oh." I finally got the point. We didn't know how she was going to react. She was running the show here. If we went to her out of the blue, she would...well, we don't know. Either she'd be glad we 'got with the program' or she's go nuts and say 'I make the decisions here and you amateur babies are nuts if you think you're ready for this, get the hell out of my office'.
Rachel nodded, smiling. "Now you got it. She's completely unpredictable. It's inevitable that we will be crime fighting, she even said we are her superhero class, but I think she wants to call the shots when the time comes."
I sighed. "You're right. I say let's take it up with the team first before we even think about mentioning it to Sue."
"Hey Rachel, Q." a voice shouted from down the hallway. Rachel groaned. Santana and Brittany ran up to us, Brittany looking determined. Santana's face was unreadable.
"Hey San, what's up?" I asked, trying to make sense of what was going on. Brittany shot a pointed look at Santana who only sighed in response.
"Look Rachel, I'm sorry about calling you out on your shit in the gym. I was out of place to tear down your ridiculous, sudden idea that we all should have seen coming." Santana apologized in her own special way. Rachel seemed to recognize that that was the best she was going to get from Santana and smiled.
"I accept your apology. Thank you, Santana." Rachel said sincerely. Santana glared at the ground.
"Yeah, whatever." she grumbled, then proceeded to walk away. Brittany smiled proudly and I laughed. I saw what was going on, and I have one word for Santana; whipped.
"Hey Rae, I know I didn't speak up in the gym but I am so totally with you." Brittany said cheerfully, smiling all the while. "When everyone collects all their gym badges like I have, then we all have to go out there and be good and help people. Until then I'll do all I can to help, like Brock and Misty helped Ash. Bye!" And with that Brittany skipped down the hall, trying to catch up to Santana. Rachel and I looked at each other in confusion.
"Was that a Pokemon reference?" I asked her bewildered. She looked as lost as I was.
"I believe so." she responded.
The next day at Glee club was quite the event. When Coach Sue said stress plus the changes in our bodies that drove our hormones out of control (hence the moodiness) were a recipe for disaster, she wasn't joking.
As Mr. Schuester stood at the front of the class teaching, I noticed Puck looked like he was bored. Fun fact; Noah Puckerman and boredom do not mix well. At all. As he looked over at Rachel who was completely engrossed in the lesson, he smiled. I frowned. Puck smiling; that was never a good sign.
What the hell are you up to, Puckerman? I asked him suspiciously. He winked at me. I braced myself for what could possibly happen next.
Suddenly, two of the metal legs of Rachel's chair gave out and Rachel went crashing backwards to the ground. Puck broke out laughing hysterically at Rachel's horrified expression, followed by Santana and some barely suppressed giggles from Tina, Kurt, Blaine, and Brittany. After she put two and two together, she turned to glare at Puck.
"PUCKERMAN!" Rachel hissed as Mr. Schue and I rushed over to help her up off the ground. Puckerman was going to get it.
"Rachel, are you okay?" Mr. Schue asked worriedly, helping Rachel up off the ground with me.
"I will be once I get through with Puckerman!" Rachel seethed, about to lunge for Puck. Seeing this, me, Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes helped to restrain Rachel but were barely managing.
"Oh dang girl, I don't remember you being this feisty." Mercedes muttered as Rachel thrashed in our grasp. Santana and Puck were laughing hysterically in the corner of the room. I glared at the two of them.
"Rachel, calm down! Puck had nothing to do with this." Mr. Schue exclaimed, completely and utterly wrong. Rachel rolled her eyes at him.
"Of course he did!" Rachel exclaimed. Puck roared with laughter. "You find this funny?" she snapped at Puck who only laughed harder.
"Of course I do. I've never seen you lose your cool like this." Puck said snickering. I had to do something before Rachel got hurt and/or hurt Puck.
"Rachel relax. He's not worth it." I whispered soothingly in her ear, and Rachel stopped struggling slightly. I smiled as I was able to hold her on my own. "Calm down, we'll get our revenge." I whispered again smirking. Rachel stopped struggling all together.
Finally collecting herself, Rachel took in all of the reactions of everyone in the room. Puck and Santana were still laughing in the back row. Tina, Kurt, Brittany, and Blaine found this amusing but tried keeping a straight face. Sugar also seemed to be laughing slightly. Mr. Schue, Finn, Mercedes, Mike, and Artie looked astonished at her outburst. Rory, Joe, and Sam looked confused as to what just happened.
Deciding now would be a good time to save her dignity, Rachel stormed out of the room. I cast a look over my shoulder as I followed her out of the room, glaring at Puckerman. Santana snickered as Mr. Schue looked at Puck confused.
"Puck, did you mess with Rachel's chair?" he asked confusedly and Santana lost it.
"You bet he did. Oh man, I wish I got that whole thing on camera."
After storming from the room, I finally found Rachel in my car. Not caring how exactly she got into my car, I pulled the door to the backseat open and sat beside her.
"Hey Rach, are you okay?" I asked concerned. Rachel sighed in defeat.
"No I'm not. That was really embarrassing." Rachel said on the verge of tears. I enveloped the tiny brunette in a hug.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Puckerman is an idiot. I think everyone in the club knows that by now." I said, trying my best to comfort Rachel.
"It's not that! I completely lost it. That's never happened to me before." Rachel cried into my shoulder. "Everything is too much. I can't handle all this stress. Glee, Cheerios, keeping on top of my grades, my fathers never being home, keeping up with all this superhero business, dealing with everyone in our little team, and this whole heightened emotions it's just too much." Rachel rambled, breaking down at the end of her sentence. I pulled her tighter, letting her know that I was listening.
"Rachel, I get it. You're under a lot of stress. Trust me, I know all about that. You just need to keep one thing in mind; you are so much better than you think you are. If anyone else was under all the pressure you are, they'd be flattened in no time. You are so strong. And whenever you need it, I'm here to help you, Rachel. I always am." I said, doing my best to comfort her. Rachel sniffled. I really hated seeing Rachel like this. It killed me to see such a strong, beautiful, amazing girl look so broken. It killed me.
After a moment of silence, Rachel spoke up. "I'm so used to being on my own, you know?" I nodded, understanding the feeling perfectly. Loneliness; it broke even the strongest of people. "I've never had a friend until Kurt, and even he hated me at first. I've only ever had my dads whenever they weren't travelling everywhere. I don't know anything else besides depending on myself." Rachel admitted. I pulled back and took her soft hands into my own. I looked into her soulful mocha brown eyes, gazing into the depth it held. My heart fluttered, staring into the open soul of Rachell Berry.
"Then let me help you. I know what it's like to have no one in your time of need. I don't want you to suffer through this alone. I want to help you with everything, Rachel, I really do." I told her earnestly. "Anything you need or just want to talk about, I'm here. You don't have to be alone anymore." Rachel's eyes filled with more tears as she smiled softly. She squeezed my hands.
"Thank you." she whispered softly. "You have no idea how much that means to me. How much you mean to me." If my heart was bursting before, now it was an explosion; not fireworks, but something even bigger, earthshaking.
"How about we head to my house? We can ditch the rest of Glee and make some cookies." I said grinning. Rachel smiled her megawatt smile and I knew I had succeeded in my mission; Operation Cheer Up Rachel was a success.
"That sounds wonderful." Rachel replied. And with that we moved to the front seat of the car, put the key in the ignition, and headed over to my house for a night that was sure to be wonderful.
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