SAPPHIR

Genre: Romance/Relationship

Pairing: Rachel Berry & Blaine Anderson (Blainchel, Raine)

Rating: M – language, mild violence, sex in later chapters

Summary: Rachel Berry is an 18 year old senior at McKinley High. No one gives the animal-print-sweater-high-waist-skirt-clad Mathlete the time of day. Little do they know that she alone would be capable of wrecking the entire country by just the click of her mouse.

Rachel Barbra Berry is Phantom B, the most feared and acclaimed hacker in the country and an enigma no less.

When 25-year old federal agent Blaine Anderson picks her out of her school's glee club she thinks she's finally screwed. But Anderson has no interest in arresting her.

Quite the opposite. He needs her help. And he makes it very clear that - if she doesn't want the rest of her life spent behind bars - she should be willing to cooperate.

Based on a prompt by: blainchelraineanderberry DOT tumblr DOT com

Status: Complete, 11 Chapters, 39.727 words

Prologue

Glee club was slow that day. The kids had been divided into groups to do some brainstorming of possible suitable numbers for Sectionals and time stretched out like a rubber band for senior Rachel Berry.

It wasn't like she had any place better to be, not that day, and usually Glee was fun, just the fact that they were budding heads over something that Rachel could have figured out in less than ten minutes using a simple Algorithm, made her impatient.

It was just a question of adjusting the right filters; search the web for fitting songs based on length, lyrics, era, number of singers and tempo and theme of the song, piece of cake – you would have a strong list of competitors for further evaluation with every song alone already a match. It would be that much smarter than to watch Mercedes Jones go through her iPod, suggesting every second R'n'B song she stumbled upon.

Rachel was watching her friends discuss with little interest, she would end up getting a solo anyway, she knew, because she always did. Naturally her brain went on to the next best activity as she played with the hem of her tweet skirt. Equations, rows of numbers and code running in front of her inner eye, swiftly tinkering the idea in her head.

Suddenly the chatter and talks in the room died down one voice at a time and initially Rachel welcomed it because more quiet meant more concentration for her – numbers and letters fell into place quicker and she halfway thought 'Eureka' before the seemingly unprompted silence eventually irked her.

She looked up to find Mercedes full lips parted as her friend was staring mouth agape at something on the other end of the choir room.

Rachel followed her stare to Mr. Schuester, her teacher, and his startlingly handsome guest. The unfamiliar man looked pretty collected and official, his dark blue suit fitted perfectly to his relatively small but defined frame, short but full black hair and thick eyebrows made him look masculine but there was still something very approachable about him, everything seemed to scream: Trust me, believe me, I can protect you.

It was almost cliché, he was young, possibly a rookie, no older than twenty-seven and she wondered if he was trying to be a hero of if they'd grabbed him from MIT or something before he even knew what was happening. She could bet that they chose him because he looked so much like someone you wanted to tell all your secrets and cling to, to hopefully be saved.

Still, for Rachel Berry his whole demeanor was everything but reassuring. She knew his type, knew just what had swept him into the halls of the generic, irrelevant Ohio High School that was William McKinley High. Her.

The girl's looks jumped from his observing eyes that hadn't caught her yet to the second door out near to her and back again. He canvased the whole room swiftly, hazel eyes lingering on every student with an uncanny calmness – he was in no hurry, he was sure that he would find what he was looking for and that alone prompted Rachel to get up from her seat and set herself into motion.

Slowly because there was no use in running anyway, it would only bring his attention on her. If she was lucky she'd be out of the door before anyone even noticed –

"Rachel", Mr. Schue called her through the room and she stood dead in her tracks, back turned to the others but she could feel their curious looks on her.

She bit her lip, barely keeping from whispering "Shit", thinking it repeatedly instead, and walked over to her teacher who seemed clueless as ever. The second man eyed her with an almost amused glimmer, still as content as before when she looked up at him and he smiled politely.

Like both of them didn't know exactly what was going on.

"Rachel", Mr. Schue started off again, totally oblivious to their silent exchange, "Agent Anderson here works for the FBI and he thinks you might know something about a very important local case-"

"-Classified Case", Agent Anderson spoke for the first time in Rachel's presence and she had to hold back a chuckle at the smooth and soothing tone of his voice. Maybe he was even trained in hostage negotiation, she thought – and this made her proud somehow. After all, if they sent her a trained hostage negotiator they must think her capable of many horrendous things.

Normally no one ever did, that was her saving grace. People had been snooping around many times before but nearly none of the uninspiredly disguised surveillance vans or "Undercover" agents had given Rachel Berry a second thought.

They'd looked at the skanks, the "anarchists" and rebels of the school – which was almost insulting because they would never be capable of the things Rachel was capable of, and how could they, their brains wrecked with weed and god knows what else they blasted their circuits with. The feds even clumsily followed Artie around the school once, probably just because he looked like a nerd.

Rachel had always prided herself with outsmarting them. No one in school knew she could work a computer for anything else than operating her myspace page and no one would have reason to suspect otherwise. She was the typical goodie-two-shoes, straight A's, Mathlete, debate team, glee club, chess club, mock United Nations etc. Her choice of wardrobe clearly helped as well.

She wore skirts and animal sweaters, dresses and cardigans, knee socks. For most people she looked like the perfect Lima looser, even if Santana, one of the two Cheerleaders in glee club, once hadn't been too far off suggesting that Rachel dressed more like she was catering to a very specific fetish.

It was a fetish in a way, albeit not in that sexual way.

Rachel Berry just got a kick out of her double life and everything she was in school, the good girl with the reindeer print stockings, was everything she really wasn't in her real life. It seemed Agent Anderson wasn't truly convinced of that yet, though.

"Ms. Berry, may I have a word with you outside?", Agent Anderson addressed her personally now.

"Of course", she replied dutifully, side-eying her teacher to make sure he was still not picking up on their little scam.

Agent Anderson smiled his pacifying smile again and extended his arm, gesturing to the open door, leading her out to stand by the a line of lockers.

"So what can I do for the FBI?", Rachel asked, not wanting to lay her cards bare before he did.

"I think that's not the question here", Anderson said, studying her features. He wasn't that much taller but it still felt like he was towering over her.

"You mean the question is more like, what the FBI can do for me?", Rachel quipped, her voice dripping with sarcasm and forced her eyes away from his to calculate her escape route.

"Something like that", Anderson said, "It was a pain finding you, you know? You created a nice diversion with that disturbing signal, it kept us away from Lima for an almost embarrassing while"

"I have no idea what you're talking about", she stated coldly, she had a feeling that it was little use to play coy but she could still try.

"I think you do, Rachel", he said calmly, "Or should I call you NineEpo? Or Elphalpha? Or your latest Alias Phantom B?"

Rachel bit her lip, shit. He knew. He even connected her to two old Aliases, that was bad. She'd been sloppy. For a moment her mind jumped ahead – to what she would do about her life, to where she would disappear, what her fathers would say if she really faked her death like she'd vaguely planned for the scenario that was just unfolding around her.

Her eyes jumped to and from his frame, past his broad shoulders into the hall. She could make it to the gym and then to her car – if it was only him, which she wasn't sure of. He seemed very fit and agile but she was certain that she could outrun him, she knew this school which gave her a significant field advantage. If he had a partner though, someone could be waiting for her. She'd probably go with the basement route, that had helped her get away the last few times suspicious looking men had roamed the school grounds.

"Don't even think about it", Anderson said and immediately commanded her attention back to him, "You're not getting away this time, I got people lining the perimeters, a team in the basement and I even put a detail on the roof. So think hard about your next move, Ms. Berry"

Rachel took a deep breath, trying to assert if he was bluffing but he seemed too certain, too content to not be sure that he had her.

"Are you gonna arrest me?", she asked bluntly, deciding to attempt a forward escape.

"Not if you cooperate", he said quieter as a couple of students passed them, "but know that we have enough on you to lock you away for a long time if you don't"

"Cooperate?", she asked, feeling her face harden.

"We need your help"

She let out a harsh scoff and shook her head lightly, "Fuck you"

"Language, Berry", he said, still annoyingly calm with that amused and infuriating little smirk making a reappearance on his even features, "Let me be clear here, you have two choices; One: Help us and walk out of here with dignity or Two: Don't and leave in handcuffs"

"What do you want?"

"Your...professional assistance on a case that requires your abilities"

"And your little Bureau doesn't have resources for that? You really need a school girl to help with business? That's pathetic", she was snapping now, not a fan of having her back against the wall.

Why'd she been so careless? They were never supposed to find her and now she was fucked.

"I'm not gonna say it again", he warned, "Make a decision and make it fast"

"Fine", she hissed through gritted teeth.

Agent Anderson smiled again and held her gaze for a second before taking out his phone, tapping a few keys and then put his hand lightly on her back, nudging her toward the exit, "Walk with me"

"I can't believe it", she murmured to herself, "What about Glee club?"

"You're formerly excused", he reassured with a little chuckle. She already hated this guy, he was too sure of himself.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of Sapphir?", he asked.

"Sounds like a stripper name", she said with little humor.

"Hardly", Anderson answered, "It's an organization and a very dangerous one at that..but you're right, they appear harmless at first. A lot like you, actually"

He led her out the building, walking her to a slick black car and held the door open for her. She deliberated making a last attempt at running but it was no use. There were three SUVs lining the street and he was right, if he found her, knew her name and Aliases, he had enough on her to give her 25 to life. She was screwed and well on her way on becoming a government pawn.

Worst. Day. Ever, she thought as she sank into the dark leather seats. How was she gonna get out of this?

Please review if you read this, it will help me to decide in which capacity - if at all - to continue this.