"Santana!"
The Latina tenses when a familiar figure flies through her motel room door and embraces her tightly. The smell of cigar smoke mixed with rental car smell makes her want to gag.
"I was lookin' all over for ya. Ever since that one time we travelled together I was itchin' to do it again. You were always a right treat to travel with. Imagine my surprise when I saw ya on the news!" the boy says in a thick Irish accent.
"Flanagan..." she greets unenthusiastically when he let her go.
The boy grins at her happily, oblivious to the Latina's attitude.
At that moment Brittany peeks her head slowly out of the bathroom. The Irishman notices her and claps Santana on the back.
"Ay, I saw ya on the new too." He pushes Santana out of the way and makes his way over to the startled blonde. "Names Flanagan. Rory Flannagan. At your service."
Rory takes Brittany's hand and kisses her knuckles causing Brittany to giggle loudly.
"San I like your friend. He's all cute and leperchauny."
Santana rolls her eyes and takes this opportunity to size Rory up once again. The boy didn't look any older since she last saw him when he was fifteen. He had the same neat brown hair along with his same annoying love for green clothing. Santana growls quietly as Rory winks at Brittany causing her to giggle more. The boy must have been working on his charm.
"How did you find us, Irish? Rumour has it that the old man had you arrested a while back. How'd you get here?" she asks curiously. Brittany seems to remember that this is supposed to be a serious situation and she makes her face neutral like the other girl's.
Rory crosses the room and sits on the bed closest to Santana.
"Well, ya see, the boss didn't like me snoopin' 'round. An' I didn't have anythin' useful to offer 'im. The police burst into my home one night. Arrested me for drug distributin'" Rory snorts. "Like I'd ever touch the stuff. It impairs the judgement." he says tapping his skull.
"Get on with it."
"He 'ad me in the holdin' room for weeks. I finally got my chance to escape when he went to his daughter's fancy school."
"That's our school!" Brittany adds excitedly. Santana shoots her a warning look and the blonde makes a gesture as if she was locking her lips together.
"Anyways... he left the defences for his estate pretty loose. Managed to sneak out undetected. It's a matter of time before he notices."
"Wait, he hasn't sent guys after you."
"Like I said, I'm not much of help to him. Just a thorn in his side. He figured that once he locked me up he wouldn't have to worry about me no more."
"I am so confused."
Santana sighs and turns to Brittany.
"Rory and I were both working for Mr. Fabray a while back. Mr. Flanagan here was a pain in the ass for everyone he worked with him. Liked to get up in everyone's business."
"Well 'scuse me. You ain't no ray of sunshine either. I still have road burn from when you tossed me out of that movin' truck."
"I told you if you said 'punch buggy' one more time-"
"Question." Brittany raises her hand.
"What Britt?" Santana asks exasperatedly.
"What did you find out that you weren't supposed to know?"
Santana looks at her in surprise. It was actually a good question.
The two girls looked at Rory expectantly.
"Everythin'. I found out everythin'."
Santana frowned.
"What do you mean everything?"
"Remember that day Mr. Fabray shipped you off to Mountainview? He introduced everyone to Harmony and sent you on your way?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"After ya left he put me on guard duty. Said I had ta start pulling my wait if I wanted to move up in the company. He told me ta guard the north wing of the building. I was wanderin' around up there when my foot caught on somethin' on the floor."
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Jesus!" Rory wailed in pain and grabbed his knee has he fell to the floor. Much to his surprise, the wall's lower wooden panel seemed to be out of place.
He slowly reached out and pressed the wooden panel. He jumped back in shock as he watched the wall split apart, folding themselves into an unknown space, to reveal a large metal door. He was even more shocked when he found the door unlocked.
The boy pushed it open cautiously and crept into the room. He could here the walls move back into place behind him. The room was pure white, but it was only illuminated by a single light dangling from the ceiling. In the corner of the room was a cot. Above it was a vent that winded into the wall opposite. In the centre of the room was a black table bolted to the grey metal floor along with a matching chair.
A person was sitting in the chair. He was looking down at the table so his face was impossible to see. A flash of blonde hair sat at the top of his head. He was dressed in a jet black track suit. And he seemed to be mumbling under his breath.
"H-Hello?"
The person snapped his head up and Rory was shocked to see that it wasn't a man, but a woman with very short hair sitting in the chair.
"Leave me alone! You got what you wanted, now leave me alone!" she yelled.
Rory felt like throwing up when he saw the woman's skin crawl. Rory cautiously stood at the table opposite from her.
"Are ya... Are you okay?"
The woman slammed her fist on the table.
"D-Does it look like I'm okay! Why on earth should I be okay!" Rory paled when the woman's voice became even more masculine and her hair changed so that she looked balding. Her face crawled and squirmed until the features were even more masculine. Until she was Mr. Fabray. The Mr. Fabray. Fancy tux and all.
"Jesus..."
"Leave me alone! There- there is nothing more you can take from me! Leave me in peace now!"
"You- you are not Mr. Fabray."
"I'm nobody! I'm gone. Do you think I'm here? Talking to you! I don't know where I am! Where am I!"
"You are crazy."
"I need her back." 'Mr. Fabray' said desperately. He/She/It lunged across the table and grabbed the cuff of his black guard uniform. "Please, you have to convince her to get Harmony back. I'll do anything!"
"Harmony... Who are you?"
"I don't know! Harmony knows. She needs to tell me who I am! She needs to make me better." she screamed.
Mr. Fabray's skin crawled and Rory could here his spine crack. Mr. Fabray's hair extended and turned plenty of shades darker. Rory jumped out of his seat when it was Harmony sitting in the chair across from him.
"St-stop that now!"
"I need her back! The lady promised that she would make me better. She lied to me! Everyone lied to me! I change my mind. I want her back now! I'm sorry, Harmony. I'm sorry!"
Harmony looked at him defeatedly and let go of his cuff, falling back in the chair limply, looking at him with hooded eyes.
"I-I thought that I would be normal again. They said that I was strong enough. I'm not. I'm weak. Harmony said so. She said I needed her. She told me not to listen to them. That I would destroy the both of us." the girl choked back a sob. "I don't want her to be mad at me..."
Rory had had enough. He turned and ran towards the way he came.
He was going to find out what the hell was going on if it was the last thing he did.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Santana looks at the floor numbly.
"I don't understand. Explain this to me again."
"That girl... whoever she was. I found out later that that girl was Harmony. Sort-of, not really."
"How do you know all this? And why are you explaining this so badly?"
"One: Even though you aren't my friend. I do have them. In high places in fact. Second: I'm not doing a bad job. It's just a complicated matter. Thirdly: What do you know about Half-States?"
"Just what they taught us at that stupid school."
Brittany nods her head in agreement.
"The half-state is the more primal part of the mind. In a way it is you. But it's soul is focusing on protecting itself first. Think of mutants as people divided in half. The way we are now. When we are in control. We are the more selfless half. The one that has emotions. The half-state has needs. Not emotions. It needs air, water, food, and all the other living essentials. Since it has no real emotions. It has no limitations to their power. No moral codes."
"Say that the half-state and ourselves were two different people. On one hand there would be us. We have emotions like regular humans. Except without them we don't have the drive. The part of us that has the ability to put ourselves in front of others is gone."
"That's a good thing right. We want to protect the people we love." Brittany asks.
Rory nods.
"Yes but we wouldn't know what to do what's smart for ourselves. We would be normal, but we would act like normal people. Also, our gifts would be much, much weaker."
"Don't we do that already? The acting normal thing?" She asks again.
"Tell me Brittany. Have you ever felt like you were out of control. That a part of your subconscious was disagreeing with what you were doing, but it wasn't your conscience?"
"Oh."
"I found out from some people that Mr. Fabray was planning something big with one of the top bosses. He wants to make an army- no, a force. An unstoppable force. He- he's trying to do exactly that. He wants to separate us from our half-states.
"Is that even possible."
"It's already been done. Weren't you listening."
Rory continues.
"Whoever that girl was, she went through it already."
"So that girl was Harmony's half-state?" Brittany asks.
"No. Harmony was that girl's half state."
Santana pales.
"But- you just said that half-states didn't have emotions, but I've seen Harmony cry before. All the time in fact."
Brittany frowns.
"When? I've never seen her."
"I always overhear her crying whenever she's with Lucy."
"Who's Lucy." Brittany and Rory ask at the same time.
"Quinn's half-state." Santana answers nonchalantly
"Well, a source told me that the girl's name was Lindsey. She flew down from New York 'cause her mother was an old friend of Fabray's. Seemed that she thought that getting rid of Harmony was for the best, ya know? I've never head my half-state myself, but it seems annoying having to listen to it all day."
"Apparently she was too dependant on her half-state. Harmony seemed to know that the process was going to fail for her so she tried to fight it. Tried to stay borrowed in Lindsey's brain. It made it even worse. Instead of separating and becoming a super soldier. She came out with a couple of Lindsey's emotions. She was a trial and error. That's why Harmony went with you. She wasn't good enough for what Mr. Fabray had planned."
Santana gets up and paces around the room. Brittany watches her nervously.
"How is this possible. This isn't supposed to be possible."
"I heard that this is what the boss' power does with some training. After the first time she was out of commission for a while. Sick for weeks. Couldn't move. Could barely speak too."
"That all changed though. From what I gathered, Mr. Fabray went to that school for two reasons."
"First: To get a mutant. Someone who's regenerative powers could heal the boss from her weakness that she got after the first attempt. Now she's healed and ready for round two. And even if she fails, she can get healed up and try again. Second: to get the next subject to try it on. I overheard him saying that she was perfect. Her half-state was a huge roll in her life, but she didn't have any attachment to it."
Santana's heart stops in her chest.
"Holy Shit, Quinn!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Hush little baby don't say a word, momma's gunna by you a mocking bird."
Quinn's soft, melodic voice echoes around the room. The blonde child in her arms giggles as she tries to grab her mother's silver cross. Quinn gently pries the small hands away and pushes her cross out of the little girl's reach.
This may be the last time she could see her baby. Her father was blunt. She may not get out of this alive. She needs to know that Beth would be okay.
"And if that mocking bird don't sing, momma's gunna by you a diamond ring."
The only reason she was doing this was for her. Her beautiful baby girl. If it meant her going through this or her baby, she would choose herself every time. Her father was not touching a hair on her head. Her child was not an experiment.
"Quinn?"
Her father swings the door open and looks to Quinn with an unreadable expression on her face.
"Just a few more minutes, Daddy. Please." Quinn begs.
"Sue is ready to see you now."
"Please, I may not get to-"
"Sue doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Daddy-"
"Quinn! Now!"
"But Beth-"
The blonde man motions to Shelby who was standing behind him, a solemn expression on her face. The dark haired woman along with two men dressed in dark suits make their way over to pries the child from Quinn's arms gently as the two men hold her back.
"Daddy! Please, I just want to hold her one more time before-"
"Take her to Sue..." he orders the two men. He looks into his daughters desperate eyes and smiles sadly. "Imagine how you could help us, Quinnie. I promise you'll see her again. We'll take good care of her while your gone."
Shelby cradles the blonde girl and carries her out onto the balcony.
Quinn thrashes wildly.
"BETH!"
The little blonde girl peeks over Shelby's shoulder. She grins at her mother and waves back with her small hands.
"Bye-Bye."
Her first words. Those are my baby's first words.
Shelby turns around and gave Quinn a pitying look. Without saying a word Shelby flew off the balcony, carrying the blonde child away in her arms.
"Relax, hun. It's all going to be okay."
She is escorted by the two men down a labyrinth of halls until they reach the centre of the estate. And there she is.
Sue Sylvester.
She only met her once, but she has yet to find someone as mean.
On Sue's left is the scum bag Duncan that was liberated from Mountainviews holding cells. To her right is a very drained and tired looking Ms. Holiday.
"She got captured when she was healing the wounded after the battle. Apparently, that Duncan douche wasn't enough for her. And you now what they say, 'It always helps to have a plan B'." Harmony says as she walks beside her. "It kind of sucks. I sort of liked her. She doesn't deserve this."
"Harm, I can't do this."
Harmony smiles at her sadly.
"Your dad seems to think that the younger you are, the more chance of success. You can back out, but you'd have to offer Beth to make up for it."
"That's not an option."
Harmony nods.
"I understand. If it makes you feel any better. I'm sure Sue will improve since her last mistake..." she says sadly.
"The last girl who did this is still alive." she finishes.
"How do you know?"
"I don't. It's- It's a gut feeling. Her and I will always be connected no matter what. That's one of the first mistakes. I loved Lindsey like a sister when I shared her body and vice versa. It's part of being a half-state."
"You- you-"
"Yes I am." There was a long awkward pause between them. "Do you love Lucy like a sister?"
"Hell no."
Harmony rubs her shoulder.
"Then you should be fine... I think."
"You're not helping."
Harmony sighs.
"I know, I'm not good at the whole helping others thing. I felt like I was about to burst into flames at any second. But... In the end it seems like something I wouldn't mind doing now and then."
"Come on Fabray. Move it! We haven't got all day!" Sue screams from across the room.
"Good luck... you're going to need it."
"Let's do this, Quinnie. Don't you dare ruin this for me." Lucy threatens.
Like I have a choice, bitch.