AN: so this was supposed to be up a couple of days ago and I have serious excuses: the computer blew up (quite literally, well there wasn't any smoke but its severely broken and I've only just been allowed to go near my mums laptop lol) also I've been unwell, I haven't been this unwell in years so yeah
AN2: I'm a bit worried about the mixed response in the reviews (although I'm still very appreciative of them as well as alerting and favouriting and just reading, so thank you:) ) I'm going to stick with my original idea but I'm trying to make it work reasonably (my sister: left my heart in Paris, gave me the idea (although I can't use it just yet) but when I do use it in a chapter or two, well we'll have to see if it works :/) I hope I don't put any of you off :/
Posted: 23/10/11
Not Just a Mask
"What?" No, No way! No way in Hell!" Rachel managed to exclaim after she got over the initial shock of what they were actually suggesting
"Why not?" Quinn asked
"Because I've trained for this!" she yelled. They were being ridiculous, you couldn't just put on a costume and pretend to be something you're not, this wasn't a movie!
"Hello? We're Sue Sylvester cheerio's; we can handle this" Santana pointed out as if that would make all the difference.
"I don't doubt that you are all physically fit enough to cope with… stuff like that" she said looking between the girl sat next to her and the other two stood by the door "even though you quit cheerio's like a year ago-"
"Oh come on Berry, training with Sue might have been hell but I kept my body in shape" couldn't Rachel already tell? She was kinda insulted
"We totally have" Brittany confirmed, she'd know better that anyone.
"Yeah I still have my abs" Quinn added casually as she stood up
"Really?" Rachel asked looking the girl up and down, she shook the thought away and went back to the serious conversation "Look, I don't doubt your physical capabilities but I've been trained so specifically; my mind is as sharp as a Hattori Hanzo sword-"
"I don't get it" Brittany muttered into her girlfriend's ear
"Kill Bill reference" she explained quickly, Brittany just muttered an 'oh' before turning her attention back to the girl still sitting on the floor
"-And I'm a deadly weapon, but you guys are athletes… and innocent not like me" she hoped the flattery would work "you could get hurt, any of you and I can't let that happen. It's not a game out there" she tried to stand up and failed because of the pain "Can some one help, please" she held up a hand, Quinn grabbed it and yanked the girl to her feet. She realised too late needing help in standing up was probably sending the wrong message... she also tried to not show how impressed she was by the ease in which Quinn pulled her up. "Thank you" she steadied herself "any way as I was saying, I've been trained for these situations since I was 11 and despite my dads strict exercise regime that limited the equipment I used, I was stubborn and thanks to that I'm pretty sure I stunted my own growth by using the weights too early, hence my height- I'm getting off the point: I then had 5 months intense training before I went on my very first mission; which was a simple task of scouting for information"
The four were quiet for a moment after Rachel had finished her rambling, then Santana decided to open her mouth "I bet it would take the three us it 2 months" she said cockily and crossed her arms
"Wow you think so highly of yourself" Rachel shook her head and stormed out of the garage back into the house "You think you're better than me is that it Santana?" she went into the kitchen to wash her hands and get a glass of water, before facing the three girl who had followed her "You have no idea how much of my life has gone into this, you think its simple? Huh?"
"Calm down Berry that's not what I meant"
Brittany saw the mask Rachel had left on the kitchen side the night before when she'd rooted through the kitchen draw to find the wooden spoon. The other three girls were in conversation and didn't notice the taller blonde innocently pick the mask up.
"Then what did you mean Santana?" Rachel huffed, putting the glass down and folding her arms.
Now it was Quinn's turn to use flattery "She meant, with you training us, while you let your legs heal for a short while, we'd be ready in no time" Rachel just rolled her eyes, she recognised her own tactics.
"Yeah what Q said" although no one knew it, that was really what the Latina meant, she just didn't want to sound like she was kissing ass
"So you want me to train you, to be able to climb, run, fight… kill, you really want that, that life style" how may would really chose that life style. How many would actually be able to take a life if the... opportunity rose?
"Yes!" Santana and Quinn exclaimed together
Before Rachel could protest further, Brittany distracted them "Look guys I could so be a super hero" they simultaneously turned to see her with her hands on her hips, wearing DarkStar's eye mask.
Santana just smiled "You look great B"
Quinn couldn't help but giggle a little at how the tension in the room had been broken by the taller blonde
And Rachel couldn't help the smile that grew on her face "I really appreciate your enthusiasm Brittany but it takes more that a mask"
"But your just Rachel right now" Brittany said taking the mask off and approaching her friends "But when you put this on" she slipped it over Rachel's head and lined it up over her eyes "You become our super hero, DarkStar"
"Thank you Brittany" The smaller girl smiled "But this mask is just a disguise" she explained taking it off. She looked over it carefully. She had spares, of course she had spares but she always used the same mask. She ran a thumb over the fine stitching from one of the repairs in the simple black slip of material.
"Why won't you let us help you?" the taller girl whined
"Because you'd all be my responsibility and this is getting difficult enough" she said sadly
"But Rach if we were a team it would be easier wouldn't it?" Quinn started
"I couldn't let any of you get hurt" she continued "Santana, despite the fact that we're hardly friends, I don't want you to get hurt, Brittany you're too sweet for that life and Quinn… it would tear me apart if something happened to you"
"Please-"
"I think you should all leave now, I hope you can keep my secret. Santana, your car won't be ready until tomorrow so you can take mine as a replacement" she looked down at the floor to not see the hurt in any of their eyes
"…Okay… what if we don't keep your secret?" Santana pushed, hoping some how she could use it as black mail to get the shorter brunette to allow them to help her.
Rachel looked up from the floor "Well normally I'd have to kill anyone who posed a threat to revealing my identity… but considering that I care about you, all of you as friends and more "she glanced at Quinn "I guess the only thing I could do is fake my own death and leave town before I got arrested… and that means I would have failed my dads"
"Okay, just wanted to know" Santana chirped with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Car keys are on the table by the door" Rachel instructed
Santana and Brittany just silently left the room to get changed while Quinn waited with Rachel "Rachel? Why won't you accept our help?"
"I already said" Rachel sighed roughly, aggravated "I don't want any of you to get hurt, especially you"
"But it's okay for me to see you get hurt? Look at the state of you, you can barely stand up. What if your wounds are infected-"
"I don't know, okay, I have no idea what I'll do, my life will be over I guess" she yelled dramatically "Don't worry okay?"
"No, I do worry, I'm your girlfriend now and I feel responsible for your safety"
"Don't okay, you don't need to, I'm capable of being by myself"
"Oh" Quinn said bluntly "So you don't need me"
"Quinn that's not what I meant-"
"No I get it you don't need any one, this was a bad idea, you and me" she pointed between them, then turned away and started to leave,
Rachel limping behind her "Quinn wait" she sighed
"I guess we're over before we had a chance" she said continuing to leave
"Are you serious?" she grabbed Quinn's wrist and spun her round "are you going to break up with me because I won't let you help me and that side of my life?"
Quinn avoided eye contact and didn't answer, instead Santana and Brittany came down stairs and were ready to leave "Ready to go Q?" Santana asked as she picked up Rachel's car keys.
"Sure" she answered not looking at them but heading for the front door
"Really Quinn, that's it?" Rachel yelled
She didn't answer the question she just said "You need us Rachel" then closed the front door.
Rachel sighed and collapsed onto the sofa, the mask still in her hands. "Is it possible? Even if I had two months, could I train them… could they be trained…should I even allow them into that world, it wouldn't be right, despite anything and everything. They're all too innocent, they couldn't be killers… then again, I don't think anyone could believe that I'm a killer unless they saw the truth…"
Meanwhile outside
"Q, what was that?" Santana asked as they got into Rachel's car
"Nothing" she muttered, putting her seatbelt on and slumping into her seat.
"Did you just break up with her even though you just got together last night?" Brittany asked innocently
"I don't really know… I'm being spiteful and childish I know, but I want to help her" she folded her arms, only emphasising her childishness "I don't necessarily need to be by her side every moment of her life, I just need to know she's safe"
"I know, after seeing her get shot I worry about her too" Brittany admitted
"What if she gets ill from the gun shot wounds, or hurt again and doesn't tell us… I don't really want to break up with her" Quinn muttered
"Then why did you?" The Latina asked
"I don't know, I was just acting on how I was feeling in the moment" she sighed "I'll phone her, or go see her later"
"Good, you two are so perfect for each other" Brittany said looking back over her shoulder to the other blonde, with a smile.
"Thanks Britt" she smiled before turning her attention out of the car window. She furrowed her brow when she realised something wasn't right "Um San, my house is in the other direction"
"I'm not taking you home, I've got a new plan… I'm worried for her health too and… damn it I want to help" she said adamantly "Since we quit cheerio's Azimio's made our lives hell as well as the rest of Glee and then we find out what that bastard's done and what he really is and… grr I just want to…" she gripped the steering wheel tightly until her knuckles lightened
"Get revenge?" Quinn asked
"Yeah" the Raven haired girl said lowly
"Me too"
"And me, he's mean to our friends and he kills people, I knew I didn't like him for a reason" Brittany finished, almost sagely.
"So how are you going to convince Rachel?" Quinn asked, wondering what Santana's big plan was
"Well, she needs to see a doctor" Santana turned onto a familiar road
"She won't go to a hospital, I've tried just telling her to go twice" Quinn reminded her
"No, not a hospital... but my dad, he might be able to help"
"Santana are you crazy, you can't tell anyone!"
"Hey" Santana stopped the car outside her own house "Not everyone is against DarkStar, we're proof of that… and not all the adults believe the news"
…
Rachel must have fallen asleep for an hour or two because the next thing she knew she was waking up to loud banging on her front door. She managed to stand, mildly wincing in pain, and limped to the front door. She opened it to find the three girls she'd sent away that morning and a tall tanned man holding a doctors bag. Her eyes widened and she tried to slam the door but Santana shoved her foot in the way
"No Berry, you need this" they all filtered in, Brittany closing the door behind them. Rachel recognised an intervention when she saw one
"Santana are you crazy, you can't bring your dad here" she whispered harshly as the girl invited her in "sorry sir" she turned to that man now entering her house "But I don't seem to understand why you're here" she played dumb
"Rachel its okay" Quinn stood next to her and gently held her arm "We told him, he's going to help you"
"You can't go round telling people!" she yelled at the three girls
"But Rach, we don't want you getting sick" Brittany said innocently
"Rachel, my daughter and her friends are worried about you and after what they told me, I'm a little worried too, I need to check your injuries"
Rachel sighed and looked to the floor "Okay"
"Can we go somewhere private?" it was more of a suggestion, he wanted a word in private.
"I guess the basement would be best" she gestured to the door, before pulling away from Quinn and heading to the door.
"You three stay here" he instructed, before following the short brunette. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she switched the light switch on but didn't unleash the DarkStar base with the thumb print scanner.
"Are you going to turn me in?" she took a seat on the bar itself so she was high enough for him to check her leg
"Why would I do that?" he asked opening his doctors bag on the bar top surface next to them.
"Because you know who I am, I'm a wanted criminal… wanted for murder" she emphasised the last word. She could run, she knew she could... unless the police had already been called. No she could still run, take a bike and just speed away.
"My daughter asked me not to" he took a few items out before turning to her "Sorry can you…" he wasn't in his usual environment and this wasn't a usual case so he was a little uncomfortable.
"Oh" she realised what he meant and slid her jogging bottoms off revealing her two bandaged thighs "Why aren't you freaking it, calling the police, you're… just…"
"Doing my job?... Rachel you need to understand that in my profession I see a lot of different cases, some that ask for confidentiality, others that demand and threaten for it, and I know from their injuries that there's more to Lima than meets the eye. So I trust you, and your alter-ego, just like my daughter does" he explained as he checked the older wound first
"That means a lot to me sir" she said quietly "I hope you keep your word and don't tell on me" she tried to say light hearted, but winced and flinched in pain as he got too close to the wound
"I won't okay, but I need a few things from you first"
"Of course" she agreed politely
"Well, San told me everything that she and her friends care for you and want to help you"
"You have to be kidding me, you can't argue that you want my life for your daughter"
"No, I don't want that… I really, really don't want that. But Santana is very head strong and she's going to do what she wants to do no matter what" he stopped the examination for a moment and bowed his head ashamed of what he was about to ask "I don't want her to do something so reckless, or for her friends to either but... you know they're all determined... I'd prefer to know they were all in safe hands"
"Seriously" she bowed her head too to find his eyes
"Seriously" he confirmed, though he sounded very reluctant "she's already talked me into letting her move in with you"
Rachel let out a heavy sigh "in the last 13 hours 4 people have found out my secret identity, I may be getting a house mate and I'm being persuaded by a doctor who I considered a sensible man to let his daughter and two others to 'join forces' with me"
"Well from the looks of your injuries you need to take it easy for at least a month, you have a minor infection on the right one, where the round went all the way through, the other could have been a possibility but with some antibiotics it should be okay. But I'm going to need to check up on you next weekend"
"A month?" she huffed
"At least" he confirmed taking some medication from his bag "I want you to stick to the prescribed dose, do not exceed it, understand?" she nodded "Good, now I'm going to go home and finally get some sleep, I was working the night shift last night and… well a couple of young men with strange injuries to their legs came in" he looked at her suspiciously
She thought about it "oh maybe when the bike slammed into a couple of them and didn't kill them?" She thought to herself "Thank you Dr Lopez"
"That's okay DarkStar, be careful, okay… with them upstairs as well"
"I will… I really will" he let that be his exit and made his way out of the basement. He'd driven there in his own car separate from the three girls who were waiting patiently upstairs. A few minutes later Rachel was back in the living room with the other three girls.
"What the hell was that!" she startled all of them "You basically gave me no choice, no warning you just waltz in here with your dad! And tell me what I'm going to do. So thanks to you Santana I have doctors orders, I apparently can't do any DarkStar business for a month and I have to consider you three and apparently Santana you plan on moving in with me" she had started her speech at the basement door and finished it standing intimidating in front of the three girls.
"Actually we all want to move in if you're going to let us train with you" Quinn spoke up
"Well this is just fucking fantastic!" Rachel uncharacteristically yelled dropping onto the other sofa "You three are really screwing with my life" she put her hands over her face then pushed them back through her hair "This doesn't seem real"
"Well sorry Berry, but lets face it the glee club are your fan club and Q's your biggest fan, in fact she's your Lois lame"
"That joke was lame the first time San" Quinn sighed
"Wait, so we're not broken up?" Rachel looked over seriously
"Are you kidding, she'd so head over heels with you. Do you really think you'd broken up over something like that" Santana moaned, Quinn smiled weakly "the point is, we're like your fans, your followers and now we know who you are, there's no getting rid of us. You can help us and we'll do you proud meanwhile we'll be able to protect ourselves or you don't and we become another thing for you to worry about if you 'enemies' find out who you are" Santana explained in a classically rambly bitchy tone.
Rachel looked at the three different expressions on the three girls faces. Santana was just waiting expectantly for the answer she wanted, Brittany looked hopeful and Quinn just looked worried and anxious
"Why are you doing this to me?" she groaned, then sat up properly and thought carefully about her decision "Right… I'm out of action for a month… so I'll train you, in any spare time we have for the next four weeks… if I think there's hope for you, all of you" she emphasised "Then I will consider continuing with the training"
She regretted saying those words as soon as she saw their faces light up, Brittany was so innocent, she didn't want to make her a killer. Santana could be a crazy bitch, she really didn't want to put a gun in that girls hand. And then there was Quinn, she didn't want to put her girlfriend in danger and she didn't want that life for the short haired blonde either.
Quinn was soon sitting by her side, hugging her, thanking her and muttering apologies for her childlike black mail attempt earlier that day. Rachel just rolled her eyes "Don't worry about it Quinn, but just understand I'm going to be the most annoying other half you've ever had"
"Oh really?" Quinn raised an eyebrow
"Yeah, I'm going to be clingy, and over protective and really bossy while you're training" she warned with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"I look forward to it" Quinn grinned, she cupped the side of Rachel's face and bought their lips together.
Any thoughts? Seriously I know this is really weird and not worth the wait, I'm not proud of it at all. I was just trying to make it a little more realistic for this verse! So its weird but I'm trying to make it work… who knows where I'm even going with this, I don't any more :S
I'll try and make it better :/
