Twelve:

The Vault

"I don't understand. What's going on? Why are you here?" My brain struggled to find answers that were simply not there, while my love's thumb stroked my knee.

"Shh...it's okay. " She said with a cunning smile that sent a chill over me. From her waist band she pulled out a knife and held it out toward my hands. With a sharp motion she severed the rope that bound my hands together. "I hope they didn't hurt you, though from what I hear you gave my boys quiet the struggle."

My mouth felt dry thought I cautiously took her hand when she offered me to stand. I didn't know weather to be angry or scared. To be honest I was also a little relieved.

"I—your boys? As in you had them chase me down like an animal." I growled."I thought I was about to die! You couldn't have come to find me yourself? Of all the stupid crap I've put up with-you have some nerve-"

"Woah, hey—calm down. Before you get all angry and self righteous, let me just point out that you're the one who chose to leave the safe house after I told you not to. I didn't tell them to scare the shit out of you, I just said go pick her up. Maybe this little lesson will teach not to go against my orders next time." Santana countered folding her arms over her chest impatiently.

"Well maybe if you didn't keep me locked up like a caged bird then I wouldn't have left. How many times do I have to say it? I'm not your fucking pet! How did you even find me? Did you send that creep ass bald guy to stalk me too?" I began to yell, tossing off my binds and standing above her.

Santana took a step inside my personal bubble, as was her nature, and reached into my back pocket pulling out her credit card.

"This darling, is my card. It sends my phone push notifications every time you use it. When I suddenly got a hit at Mary's Tea shop I knew you left. Which meant my entire apartment had been compromised and no longer usable. One look at the camera app on my phone confirmed that you left, leaving Sebastian and two guards passed out in the living room. We had to call in a team to torch the place in order to get rid of any evidence you might have left behind, since it was no longer a safe house. So excuse me for not being all too torn up that you got black bagged and brought back to safety." Santana scoffed at my anger which made me all the more angry.

"You're impossible!" I shouted at her, but Santana waved me off. "Did you stage thier bodies too or just kill them all ?"

Santana cocked her head to the side as though she were confused by what I had just said.

"What bodies Blondie? Sebastard and the Tweedle-idiots are back at headquarters going through detox after you nearly poisoned them" she asked her eyes were sharp and calculating.

"I went to have a cup of tea and by the time I got back the apartment was already on fire. I asked this woman what was going on and she told me their were three bodies inside the apartment. Then this creepy bald guy was staring at me so I ran. The next thing I know you're having me hunted down." I glared at her.

My eyes drifted down the elegant line of her back pencil skirt and dress top. It was a strangely clean cut look compared to her usual over the top stripper-casual that she often wore around the house, that is if she chose to wear clothes around the house. She looked more prepared for a business interview rather then spying, but then again she seldom wore appropriate attire for the occasion.

"That's odd." She mused not bothering to fully ponder out the situation "Well, regardless they're safe. If you don't believe me call Shelby and see for yourself, but if you'd like to find out why I brought you here instead of another safe house, stop bitching and follow me."

I was appalled by the attitude she had suddenly taken with me, but her words gave me a moment to stop and check my surroundings. We stood in a dafty shack that reminded me of a small airplane hanger or ship yard. It was chilly and I could tell by beams of light that shown through, it was close to sun down. Reluctantly I followed Santana across large room to a door on far side, as I rubbed my sore wrists. I had a weird feeling in my belly that things were changing, but I chose to push those thoughts away.

When Santana opened the door I had expected it to see the outside, maybe a dock, but instead I saw a spiraling staircase that dropped down below the cement floor. Without looking back my girlfriend began to descend down the several flights down into the dark narrow depths. You'd think I wouldn't have surprised by a secrete underground warehouse by now, but you'd be wrong. I quickly took the steps two at a time to catch up with Santana's quick pace.

"Where are we going?" I asked, my curiosity out weighing my anger for that moment.

"The Vault." She said coolly with no explanation. I rolled my eyes and remained quiet until we reached the end of the steps.

Just as she had said, we stood in front of an over sized vault door with an numeric key pad, which was the only light besides the dim glow from above. The lock clicked and using her full weight, Santana pushed open the door. The sound of scraping metal on cement made my ears hurt. I peered inside expecting to see a trove of gold doubloons or priceless action figures, but instead I was met with a sterile path, which looked like something you might find in a hospital.

Santana stalked forward and I followed closely afraid that something might pop out at me from the several locked doors we passed. The LCD lights that lit our way made my eyes hurt. I felt like Alice descending into a dark wonderland of death and secretes, which piled upon one another until it was hard to distinguish where it all had began.

As I was about to complain Santana stopped in front of plane door with no distinct markings of any kind. I wondered how she knew we were at the right place. Another electronic key pad stat by the handle. She entered a set of numbers and pushed it open. Inside Noah stood gazing down at a file waiting for our arrival.

"Puck!" I said letting the door snap shut behind me as I leaped into his arms.

"Hey Blondie. Lookin' good" Puck smiled giving me a hug then a high five. I heard a distinctly annoyed 'humph' from behind, but I forgot to say anything about it when I saw what Noah was standing in front of.

"Oh my god, are those..." together we stood inside a large room where and index of weaponry lined the white walls. There were handguns of every size, knives that spanned the length of my fore arm, others that looked smaller then my pinkie, assault riffles, snipper gear, and even grenades of every shape.

"Welcome to The Vault, Blondie. Our weaponry outfighting station. Every agent makes a stop here to stalk up on ammunition and fire power. " Puck grinned. He was a little too excited in my opinion.

"It's also where we prepare for our undercover missions. Puckerman, give her the file." Santana snapped.

I looked over at her curiously, but she hardly gave me a second glance. I had no idea what made her think she had the right to be angry with me, right then. It wasn't like I was the one who treated her like a play thing. Instead of speaking, she began unbuttoning her top. Behind her sat a rack of clothing I hadn't even noticed. A table also stood between us where Santana discarded her worn cloths.

When I returned my gaze back to our friend, he placed a vanilla file in my hand and motioned for me to have a look. I thumbed through the paged catching glances of words and pictures here and there but nothing stood out to me.

"What is this and what does it have to do with me?" I asked looking between the pair of them. They seemed to be sharing some silent communication, which frustrated me to no end. Why did Santana have to act like such a child.

"It's a mission, Blondie." Puck finally said.

"Huh?"

"Oh for the love of god—we're taking you with us on an assignment, okay!" Santana snapped "Before you ask, no it wasn't my idea and no I'm not happy about it." She slid out of her pencil skirt and kicked off her shoes before grabbing a set of all white clothes off the rack and laying them out on a silver table.

"Are you serious!" I threw my arms around Puck and gave him another happy squeeze. I could feel Santana's eyes burning a whole through the back of my outfit, but I didn't care. I couldn't believe I was actually going on a mission. Nervous butterflies rippled through my belly as I let go at puck.

"Well you're just what we need for this assignment. There's no one better-"

"Can you get on with the debriefing. We're on a time table here." Santana interrupted, tossing her shirt down bitterly. Puck gave a sharp stern nod and pushed away from me.

Opening the file to a large snapshot of a portly balding man, with a double chin, and a vile looking smile. She had seen his kind before. He looked like many of the drunk perverted men who would stumble into her bar late at night looking for a little action. The image of him gave her the chills.

"Meet Frankie Bruno, London's biggest douche. He's suspected of human trafficking, selling illegal weapons to local terrorist organizations, pimping, and a whole shit ton of other really shady stuff. The only reason this guy hasn't been put away is because there's no evidence linking him to the crimes. He's got a lot of low levels too freaked out to turn him in. Plus these days jail is more like a training ground for all the would be dirt bags." Puck flipped through the file showing me the full list of crimes before flipping to another picture of the man sitting at a poker table.

"Are we going to bring this scum bag to justice." I asked punching my fist into my hand. I liked the idea of cleaning up the streets one baddy at a time.

"No. He's not one of ours." Santana said flatly from the back of the room. "The united nations isn't the secrete police. It's not our job to stop every crook out there. We protect the interests of various global powers. The British have their own personal intelegance agency designed to handle internal affairs. "

"I don't think I understand, if we're not going after him then what's the mission?" I scrunched my forehead looking confused.

"Our mission is to find out what he knows about Hugo Salamanca. Frankie Bruno was the last known contact of Salamanca. It seems that they were in business together with out the knowledge of the Cartel. Tonight Bruno is scheduled to meet a G. Hernandez to play a few rounds of poker. Our souses say the two have never met, but they intend to make some kind of business deal." Puck said looking down at me with a weary look.

"I'll be taking on the roll of Hernandez and Puck will be my body guard. Our goal is to get him to talk about Salamanca anyway we can without being discovered." Santana said shortly. Her tone was starting to rub on my very last nerve, but I continued to push my feelings away.

"Alright so where do I come in. I mean it sounds like you've got everything under control, why do you need me?" I asked impatiently. I had a sinking feeling I wasn't going to like it and by the way Noah's ears were turning red, I was sure I was right. Santana pursed her lips waiting for her friend to speak, when he didn't she bit the bullet.

"You once told me you were a dancer, correct?" She turned to the rack and flicked through the various outfits until finding an outlandish pair of red panties bedazzled, with matching bra.

"Bruno loves women a little too much. He's a pig and Hernandez is rumored to be a pimp. They're looking to expand their mutual interests."

Santana's cold brown eyes finally met mine. She didn't want this nor did I, but if it meant answers I was willing to do what needed to be done. Letting out a slow breath, I nodded my head.

"Noah, do you mind if I talk to Santana in private for a second?" I asked giving him a small smile. When he was gone I slowly approached the table, set down the file, and picked up the ridiculous skimpy outfit. I held it up to have a better look. Honestly it wasn't all that bad. Sure it was a little over the top, but it covered enough and it wasn't like I was embarrassed about my body.

"Can we talk?" I asked softly, looking around for cameras, and then back to Santana who stood with her arms folded with a pair of white slacks on. She looked away and shrugged. I took that as a sign to approach.

"What's really going on here? You're obviously mad at me for something and if I'm going to agree to do this I want everything to be out in the open." I said placing my hands on her shoulders, rubbing down her bare arms trying to get a reaction of any kind from her. Her brow furrowed as she turned back to look at me.

"Mad at you? I'm not mad at you. You're mad at me—everyday you're mad at me and I don't know how to fix it. Yes, I'm upset about the mission and that you left the house, but I'm not mad. I'm afraid you're going to get hurt." Santana gritted her teeth as she spoke. I could hear the echo of our hearts beating against the the water white walls that held us in.

"San-" I began, but she didn't let me finish.

"I don't know how else to make this clear to you. This isn't a game. I'm not trying to keep you as a pet. If I could I'd let you fly right this second if it meant you would be some place safe, away from this life and away from me. As it is, there is no such thing. I'm doing everything I can for you and I'm afraid you're starting to resent me for it." She ran her hand through her hair the way she always did when she was flustered.

My anger slowly began to dissipate. Although her attitude was annoying and bratty it came from a real place. I couldn't fault her for being honest with me.

"I don't know what to say other then I don't resent you." I mumbled softly pressing my forehead to hers and closing my eyes. "I'm just frustrated. I miss my mom and my sister. I've never been the kind of kid who could spend hours a day inside. I have to be outside."

My hands fell to her hips and brought her in closer to me, locking my fingers around her back.

"As for this mission I want to go because I want to do my part to keep someone I love safe, but if it's too much to ask of you I wont go."

Instead of replying Santana tilted her head that extra inch and pressed her lips to mine. She sucked on my bottom lip, before I chose to deepen the kiss. She tasted so good and having her hold me in her arms felt like the safest place in the world.

She stepped forward pushing me up against the metal table, which I climbed up on never breaking our contact for a moment.

"You can go." Santana said between rushed kisses as I wrapped my legs around her waist. "Unfortunately...There's no place..Safer. Then with me."

Without thinking about it or considering the consequences, I slid my hand down Santana's flat stomach and into her pants, using my fingers to lightly tease her as we kissed. She slid my top off and tossed it to the floor, while kissing along my abs and the outline of my bra. When I began swiping my finger warm core she had to take a moment to regain a little focus, since her eyes had practically rolled back in her head. It had been a long time for both of us and it felt as though we only had right now.

"Hey S-oh Jesus!-I'll uh-come back..." Puck called from the door startling us both.

"No, it's fine." Santana's tiered voice rang through the room. "We were just—working out some issues. You can come back in. " I pulled my hand from her pants so she could re-button them. With my back to Noah I unclasped my bra giving Santana an eyeful of what she had been missing.

"The car is outside waiting. We should hurry." He said turning to the weapon wall and picking out series of desecrate weaponry.

"Oo what do I get?" I asked as I shimmied out of my pants and panties, while Santana finished dressing in her three piece white suit that looked to die for.

"Nothing. You don't get a weapon Blondie." Santana said in a matter of fact tone.

"But how do I defend myself? I'm in glittered underwear !" I whined sliding the shinny panties over my bum.

"Use your head and a what Puck taught you to do." She suggested pulling a hand gun and a few knives off the wall for herself.

"But I'm not very good! You know I'm not very good. Come on, please!" I begged knowing Santana would have a hard time refusing me.

"Okay, fine. You can use this." Santana pulled an oddly shaped object from the wall. A closer look showed that there was a small knife between to curves.

"What is it?" I asked taking the thing and holding it up so I could see it a little better.

"It's a breast dagger." Santana smirked taking it from my hands and slipping it down between my cleavage, where it went unseen. The curves cupped the top of my breasts to stop the dagger from falling down. " It's designed to help you get away, not to kill. Use it to cut ropes or injure someone trying to hurt you, but that's it. Remember that first rule is to always run."

"We should get going, S" Puck said from the corner.

Santana turned back to me and placed a small kiss on my forehead.

"Ready for this?" She asked with a small smile as she took my head.

"Totally." I smiled back.

If I knew then what I know now, I'm not sure I would have gone with them that night.


A/N-I'm sorry this update took so long. I've had almost no free time to write and I've been looking for a 2nd job because I need to be a real adult. It doesn't help that my computer keeps crashing midway though my chapter writing and deleting everything that I put down. I'm getting a new laptop soon though. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed this little twist. There are PLENTY MORE to come. I'm excited to see Brittany walk around a club in her underwear as one of Santana's "girls" don't think she's too thrilled about it though. Also sorry this chapter is a little shorter then usual. I ended up splitting it in half because I felt bad for making you wait so long. Let me know what you think.