A/N: Sorry I didn't update for a while, I kind of had a writer's block lately, and I was also busy
But now, I'm back ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 16
When Kurt came to, he looked around…and realized that he was in a cage. He sat up, groaning and rubbing his head, realizing that Blaine was lying next to him who just came to as well.
"Look at that, they finally woke up", a voice sneered.
Kurt looked up, seeing Dr. Gloom walk towards them from outside the cage.
"Dr. Gloom? What do you want from us?", he wanted to know, trying to sound innocent. And oblivious. Because normally, Dr. Gloom left uninvolved people alone, so why did he even capture them?
"I think we both know what I want", Dr. Gloom answered, looking him straight in the eyes.
Kurt got up, and so did Blaine next to him. "No, he doesn't", Blaine answered, eyes narrowed. "Why don't you just let us go? We are just two innocent boys."
When he said that sentence, Dr. Gloom laughed, and Blaine cocked his eyebrows. "What's so funny?"
Dr. Gloom looked back and forth between Blaine and Kurt. "Oh, didn't he tell you by now?", he asked mockingly. "I thought you were so close."
Oh shoot, that didn't sound good at all. Kurt paled instantly when realization dawned on him. Dr. Gloom couldn't be in the know, right?
Right?
Blaine on the other hand just frowned. "I have no idea what you are even talking about."
"Of course not", Dr. Gloom grinned, looking at Kurt again. "But we both do, right, Icicle?"
Kurt had a feeling that his heart stopped beating or something.
Dr. Gloom knew that he was Icicle. But how?
Did he know the others' identities as well? He didn't dare looking at Blaine right now.
"Oh, why do you look so surprised?", Dr. Gloom asked, smirking evilly, and Kurt really wanted to wipe that smirk off his dumb face. "Oh, come on. You and the New Directions, you are nothing more than a joke. A glee club which is secretly a bunch of superheroes? Are you serious?"
Blaine next to Kurt opened and closed his mouth again. His face expression was blank when he looked at Kurt. "You…you are Icicle?", he asked, his voice was trembling.
"Blaine, I can explain. I wanted to tell you the truth, I really wanted to.", Kurt answered truthfully. He threw him a pleading glance. "You need to believe me."
"To be honest, I don't know what to believe or what not", Blaine said, his tone was cold. "I thought we were friends."
"Drama, I love drama…", Dr. Gloom muttered, delighted. "Maybe, I should go get popcorn or something."
Ignoring him, Blaine crossed his arms. "Friends? Friends are honest to each other, and friends don't use their friends as…as… toy boys or something!", Blaine yelled, outraged. "And yes, I remember the kiss, Icicle", he added bitterly.
Kurt looked down, feeling ashamed when he thought about it. "Blaine, I'm so, so sorry about all that. I really am. Words are not enough to express the deep regret I'm feeling right now."
Blaine turned away and crossed his arms. "Easy to say after the truth came out. I'm done with you, Kurt."
Hearing these words from his best friend hurt so much more than Kurt imagined it. He gasped for air. "Blaine…"
Dr. Gloom next to them yawned loudly. "This is slowly getting boring." He pointed to a power switch next to him. "Let's turn it more interesting."
When he turned on the switch, the material of the cage suddenly started glowing – and Kurt fell to the ground, suddenly weakened.
Blaine's eyes widened and he rushed over to him, worried.
"I thought that you were done with him, son", Dr. Gloom said, amused, and Blaine threw him a killing glance.
"What have you done to him?", Blaine hissed, shaking Kurt so that he didn't pass out or something. "Please, Kurt, stay with me."
Dr. Gloom just laughed. "Well, I used his kryptonite and boosted its powers to a tenfold.", he explained, smug. He turned his scepter in his hands. "I waited for this moment for so long…"
When he turned his scepter in his hands, the sleeve of his dark cloak was suddenly pulled up. Kurt, still feeling lightheaded, squinted at the wrist of the villain….and his eyes widened.
No way. That was impossible, right?
Because he just found out the identity of Dr. Gloom.
"Soo…will you tell us now who Dr. Gloom is, Mr. Schue's chick?", Santana asked Terri, holding a knife against her throat. "Or else, you won't be able to say anything anymore."
"Santana!", Quinn hissed, eyes narrowed. "We are heroes, but right now, you are not acting like one."
The New Directions had tied up Terri on a chair, and now, they wanted to interrogate her in order to find out her bosses' identity.
Sighing, Santana dropped the knife. "But it's way more fun like that", she pouted, turning away from the villain.
"Why did you tie me up as well?", Mr. Schue next to Terri asked.
"Because…" Rachel glared at him, arms crossed. "…we don't trust you anymore, easy as that."
"Rachel is right", Finn agreed, crossing his arms as well, his gaze on his mentor was ice cold. "We don't know whether we can ever trust you again. You betrayed us once, who says that you didn't betray us all the time?"
Mr. Schue sighed deeply. Before he could open his mouth, Finn lifted his hand. "Save your breath. Don't even try to find bad excuses that justify your behavior. We will take care of you later."
"Yeah", Puck next to him agreed. "We need to find out who Dr. Gloom is, first." He nodded at Terri. "And this chick must be the key."
Terri laughed at that. "I'm afraid I cannot help you kids", she said, smiling amusedly. "Because I don't know who Dr. Gloom is either."
"Yes, of course not", Tina said sarcastically. "Because you didn't work for him day in day out. Stop telling lies."
The villain cocked one eyebrow, unimpressed. "I am telling the truth. He never even once took off his mask all the years, and he always avoided my questions when I wanted to talk about it. Even if I wanted to, I cannot tell you his identity."
"Guys, I think she is telling the truth", Artie muttered to the others, scratching his head. "She really has no idea who it is, I just read her mind."
"And what now?", Mercedes asked in the round, and checked her watch. "By the way... where is Kurt? He didn't give us any sign of life since he left to search for Blaine."
Again, Terri laughed. "Don't worry, your little friend is fine." She looked at her fingernails, unimpressed. "Well, he was before I locked up him and his loverboy in the cage made out of the same material than the meteorite."
The New Directions exchanged panicked glances. "You did what?!", Burt gasped, and Carole grabbed his hand, looking worried.
Mr. Schue glared at his wife. "Terri…where is he?", he asked insistently. Terri just shrugged nonchalantly. "At our top-secret hideout. But you know what? I won't tell you where it is, darling." She fluttered her lashes innocently before she looked at her nails again, unfazed by the fact that she was trapped.
Disgusted, Quinn turned to her mentor, hands on her hips. "And you married something like this, Mr. Schue?"
"Yes, Mrs. Schue is a true bitch", Mercedes agreed, shaking her head. "I wonder how trash like her even made it to the GDEA."
"Guys", Finn spoke up, clapping his hands. "We need to focus. Kurt is in danger, and probably weakened. We need to find him before Dr. Gloom can do something to him." He turned to Terri, looking desperate. "I know you don't like us, but please, I beg you, tell us where they are right now."
"Why shall I help you?", Terri asked disinterested.
Burt and Carole exchanged glances before they came over to Terri. "Mrs. Schuester, do you have children?", Carole asked softly.
The villain shook her head. "No, I don't." She pressed her lips into a thin line. Obviously, this topic was a weak point.
"Terri was pregnant with a boy", Mr. Schue explained quietly, looking sad.
"Well, actually…" Terri took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "I have never been pregnant, Will. This entire thing was a lie. I just wanted to save our marriage."
All of a sudden, it was dead silent inside the New Directions' HQ.
"Now, that's fucked up", Sam admitted after a while, breaking the silence.
"Puta", Santana mumbled under her breath.
Mr. Schue just stared at his wife, speechless for a while. "All the time…you lied to me?", he gasped.
"Well…yes", Terri admitted coldly. Her face expression softened. "And I would do it again just to save what we have build up in the past years, Will."
The male agent opened and closed his mouth, seemingly at a loss of words. "We have nothing, Terri", he hissed after he had composed himself. "We never had anything, but I have been too naïve to believe that things were going to be alright again."
"Will…"
"Please", Agent Schue lifted his hand to silence her. "Don't make this harder for me than it already is." His face expression hardened. "It's over, Terri."
"Ohhh", Rachel said excitedly, clapping her hands. "He dumped her. Good move, Mr. Schue."
"I thought we were supposed to be mad at him", Quinn pointed out, eyebrows cocked. "Now, you are acting like his cheerleader or something."
"Anyway…", Carole tried to get everyone's attention again and turned to Terri. "If you had kids, you would want to protect them. And to make sure that they are safe and sound. Please, Mrs. Schuester, decide on doing what's right."
"Terri", Will said insistently, scowling at her. "Please, just tell us where Kurt is. It would mean a lot to me. If you still care about me, you know what to do."
Conflicted, Terri bit her lower lip, thinking about what she would do next. When she was about to open her mouth, her watch suddenly beeped. She looked up, smirking deviously. "Well, looks like it won't be necessary anymore."
Mr. Schue narrowed his eyes. "Wait…what do you mean by that?"
"What I mean…", Terri smiled "Is that Dr. Gloom just completed phase A of our plan, and phase B is about to start right now."
"Guys, I feel dizzy", Tina just said, holding her head.
"Yeah, same here", Sam agreed and needed to sit down. He looked in the round and at his team members who didn't seem to feel better at all. "What is happening to us?"
"What have you done, Terri?", Agent Schue hissed, supporting a suddenly weakened Brittany before she fell down.
"Well", Terri answered, checking her fingernails for the hundredth time. "At this moment, my doppelgangers spread dust particles of the meteorite all over the globe, and now, the atmosphere is full of it." She kept on smirking while Agent Schue, Carole and Burt were glaring at her. "It's only a matter of time until the New Directions will be hors de combat. After that, it will be a simple matter to move to phase C of our plan: Build up our own superpowered soldiers to take over the world."
She winked at Burt and Carole who were leaning over a weakened Finn, worried. "Oh, and I forgot: Congratulations to your wedding."
"Pam?!", Kurt gasped and sat up although everything in his head was still spinning. "You are Dr. Gloom?"
He could tell because he had seen and recognized a familiar scar on the wrist of the villain. The exact scar Pam had shown him earlier this day.
"What are you talking about?", Blaine next to him frowned. "Mom can never be Dr. Gloom. That's impossible. She is the kindest person I know."
Dr. Gloom sighed deeply. "Oh, Blaine." He took off his face mask and looked up. "Don't be so naïve."
Now, Pam Anderson was standing in front of the boys, mask in hand. She put down her dark scarf, and a tiny loudspeaker appeared on her neck which she turned off. "I taught you not to believe everything." Her voice sounded normal now.
At this moment, it looked like Blaine's eyes would pop out of their sockets anytime. "MOM?!", he shouted. "I…I…can't believe it. You are a super villain?!"
Pam shrugged. "Well…yes."
"But…why?", Kurt wanted to know and held his aching head. "Why are you doing this?"
The villain stomped her foot, suddenly angry. Blaine next to Kurt flinched. "You want to know why, Icicle?" She walked up and down, agitated. "Because I did research about enhancing human abilities for years, even before I founded a family. I worked hard, day in day out, but I was unsuccessful, no matter how hard I tried."
She looked at Kurt disdainfully. "And seven months ago, I heard of kids that got gifted with special powers without having done anything. It should have been me who got them, me!"
"Do you really think I asked for those powers?", Kurt hissed, eyes narrowed. "It was the exact opposite. I just wanted my life to get better, that's what I wished for before that dumb meteorite struck us. We didn't choose to get powers."
"Don't try to play innocent, Icicle", Pam sneered. "I have seen how much fun you and your friends have with your powers. You and the New Directions, you think that you are better than the rest of us."
"That's not true, mom", Blaine answered her back, arms crossed. "The New Directions saved millions of lives by now, including mine! While you and Multiplice were busy taking them down. They are heroes, other than you."
Pam just snorted at that. "I did that for you, Blaine, because I love you dearly. I want to offer you a better life once I have built up my army."
At this moment, her wristband beeped, and she smiled, smug while she turned off the cage. Kurt frowned when he realized that he didn't feel better although the cage was turned off.
"Phase A of my plan is complete", Pam explained to the boys, smirking widely. And Kurt couldn't believe that this woman was the same one that served him coffee and cookies and wanted to talk about Blaine's toddler photos. "Let phase B begin."
She turned around, winking at the boys. "If you excuse me, I'm busy. Oh, and Blaine, don't forget your laundry, darling." With that, she left the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Unbelievable", Blaine muttered, still shocked before he turned back to Kurt, quickly composing himself. "Are you okay?"
"I wish I could say yes", Kurt answered, still feeling lightheaded. "Everything is still spinning." He threw Blaine a pleading glance. "Blaine, I'm so sor…"
"Don't", Blaine said quietly and looked down. "We are going to talk about it later." He offered him a hand and helped him to his feet.
"Okay", Kurt said, giving up. If he didn't want to talk about it yet, so be it.
"What now?", Blaine asked, supporting him so that he didn't pass out or something.
"For some reason, I still can't use my powers", Kurt told him. "But we need to get to the HQ, as fast as possible."
"You have your own…okay, why am I even asking?", Blaine muttered, opening the door so that they could get out. And was surprised when they were standing in a side street, just next to the Lima Bean.
"Our headquarters is at McKinley, we only need …" Kurt trailed off and groaned in pain, holding his head.
"Are you sure you are okay?", Blaine asked him, looking worried. Kurt shook his head. He felt weaker and weaker with every second that passed, but he couldn't tell why. "We need to get you to McKinley asap."
…
"Blaine Warbler? What are you doing at our oddly looking choir room?", Rachel asked nervously when he entered with Kurt.
"He knows, Rachel", Kurt told her faintly. Since they had left Pam's hideout, he felt more miserable, and now, he was close to passing out.
"Did you tell him and break one of the three golden rules?", Rachel scolded him, hands on her hips.
"Shut up, Rachel", Kurt hissed, eyes narrowed, and swayed to the side, but Blaine caught him in time.
"Kurt!" His dad rushed over to him, concerned. "Are you okay, kiddo?"
"You look horrible, Lady", Santana commented dryly. "Like a truck just ran you over."
Kurt was even too weakened to answer her back sassily. Or to flip her to bird or something. He slumped down to the chair at the meeting table. "What is happening to me?", he wanted to know.
"Dr. Gloom and his cohort spread meteorite particles all over the world, that's why you feel like that", Artie explained, pointing at a tied-up Terri Schuester and Agent Schue Kurt noticed right now. "Mr. Schue and I could clean up the atmosphere in the HQ, that's why we are fine now. Oh, and he kind of betrayed us, and Terri Schuester is Multiplice."
"Yeah, and my mom is Dr. Gloom", Blaine muttered, scowling.
"Wait what?", Sam gasped. "Dr. Gloom is a woman? We all thought that he was a dude."
"That's irrelevant", Kurt said, feeling how he slowly recovered. "She was talking about phase B of their plan before she got away."
"Look, guys", Mr. Schue suddenly spoke up. "I know that you don't trust me anymore, but I'm sorry about what happened. Every single person here is important to me, and I want to help you."
"Why should we believe you?", Finn asked him, frowning, and stepped closer to the agent.
"Because I know exactly what to do so that you can go out and fight against Dr. Gloom."
"Let's just listen to his plan, that doesn't cost anything", Quinn suggested, looking in the round. When the others nodded, she turned to their mentor again. "Alright, Mr. Schue. Talk to us."
"Artie and I could extract all the particles from the atmosphere of the HQ", Mr. Schue started explaining. "We could do that with the air of entire world as well, but it will take us days to do so. Until then, we need to find a way so that you can get out without getting hurt by the meteorite particles."
"And how?", Rachel asked.
"The high-tech team of the GDEA could help us with that. We could make all of your suits meteorite proof."
"Why does it sound too good to be true?", Mercedes wanted to know, eyebrows cocked. "There is a catch, isn't it?"
"Well…yes", Mr. Schue admitted. "You still won't be able to use your powers until the atmosphere is clean."
"Soo…we have to fight against Dr. Gloom without our powers? We are so screwed, not cool", Puck complained, looking not happy at all.
"But we have no other choice", Kurt said, getting up because he already felt better. "We can't just let Dr. Gloom…Pam win because we cannot use our powers at the moment. If we wait until we get them back, it will already be too late."
"Kurt is right, guys", Mr. Schue agreed. "If we want to defeat Dr. Gloom, you need to do it without superpowers. There is too much at stake. The fate of possibly the whole world is in our hands. In your hands."
The New Direction members all exchanged insecure and anxious glances. "Yes, no pressure…", Kurt mumbled sarcastically.