Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The second biggest warehouse of Fabray Inc looked just like any other warehouse of other enterprises – only that it wasn't. It was the headquarters for New York's most dangerous organization, the Fighters for Perfection. And Mercedes would be damned if she allowed that they got away with their plans. No, this time, they would put an end to this, once and for all.

Currently, she and her two partners in crime were trying to find a way to sneak into the building without anyone noticing. The warehouse was outside of New York, at the border to New Jersey, and – who would have thought – in the middle of a big forest.

One of the many backdoors was slightly ajar, much to their relief.

"Whether that's a trap?", Kurt whispered in the round while the sneaked in "That was way too easy for my taste."

Mercedes shook her head. "They don't know we know about their hideout, so they are not prepared."

Just at that moment, someone fired once, the bullet flew past Mercedes' neck and hit the metallic door behind her. Surprised, Mercedes sank to her knees. "What the hell?", she exclaimed perplexedly after the ringing in her ears had stopped. Damn those stupid guns.

Quinn Fabray came strutting over to them and put her gun into the belt of her tight and silvery Fightress suit. This time, she was unmasked, though. "Didn't like my welcome gift, Catgirl?", she cooed mock-friendly.

Mercedes quickly got up again. "How did you know we were going to be here?"

"Because I'm not a complete idiot", the blonde answered sneeringly. She looked in the round with a bored expression on her face. "Are we going to fight or wha-"

At that moment, she was swept of her feet. Santana had lunged at her in top speed and punched her in the gut, knocking all the air out of Quinn's lungs. She fell to the ground and held her stomach. The Latina turned to her two friends behind her. "I will take care of her – but you two go and find her dad."

"But Santana-"

"Now!", Santana ordered shrilly while she tried to keep a struggling Quinn on the ground. "I will try to keep blondie busy the best I can."

So Mercedes and Kurt turned on their heels and headed to the staircase.

"Great", Mercedes muttered on their way "I'm pretty sure the other goons of this criminal organization are alerted because of the gunshot Quinn fired."

"I doubt that", Kurt answered her back and followed her down the only hallway the staircase had led them to. "This building is big. I don't think that-"

Kurt didn't finish his sentence. He instead started frowning at the person that came walking to their direction slowly. Sebastian Smythe. Luckily, he hadn't spotted them yet, so they quickly took cover behind the corner nearby.

"What is he doing here?", Mercedes hissed, irritated. There was no way Sebastian was going to make it easy for them to get to Mr Fabray. "We need to take him down before Quinn's dad can finish the execution of his plans and kill thousands of people. We are running out of time." She nervously glanced over to Sebastian who was coming closer and closer.

Suddenly, Kurt put his hand on her shoulder. "No", he said. "You will go ahead to Quinn's dad. I will do my best to keep Sebastian away from you."

Mercedes shook her head fervently. "No way, white boy", she whisper-shouted. "I will help you with Sebastian. We are a team; we need to stay together."

"As you just said, we are running out of time. We need to take down Russell Fabray as fast as possible. If Sebastian defeats the both of us, we can't help anybody anymore. Besides" He squeezed her shoulder assuringly "You are Catgirl. You are our best bet. You already fought crime before Santana and I joined you. You got this."

"Kurt…" Mercedes had tears in her eyes. "You were the first one who ever believed in me. You and I were the very first members of team Catgirl. In case one of us won't make it today, I want you to know that I love you. Now, come on over here", she sniffled and almost crushed him in a bear hug.

"I love you too, Cedes", Kurt answered softly after they had pulled away from each other. Without warning, he turned away from her, turned around the corner, and threw a fireball at Sebastian.

The latter one was taken aback by the sudden attack, but quickly got up again and turned around. "Well, well, well", Sebastian Smythe greeted him with his signature smirk. "If it isn't Foxfire. I'm so honored you pay us a visit; it was long overdue."

"I agree with you", Kurt hissed, eyes narrowed. "I so cannot wait to make you suffer for everything you have done to-" Oh, right, he wasn't facing Sebastian as his civil self, there was no way he could get personal now. He cleared his throat. "I'm going to defeat you, end of story."

"Let's see about that." Sebastian retrieved a couple of nunchucks from his belt while Kurt set his palms on fire. "It's on, Gayface."

When Kurt's eyes widened his surprise, Sebastian let out a short laugh. "I knew all the time that it was you, Gayface. But the boss didn't want me to tell anybody else of your or Catgirl's identities. I wonder, why." He deftly dodged another fireball a very irritated Kurt threw at him. While he did so, Kurt made eye contact with Mercedes, telling her without words to make a run for it as long as Sebastian was distracted.

Mercedes did as he said and slipped past him to get to the next staircase that would lead her to Russell Fabray's hideout.

…

She had no idea what she expected when she entered the top floor of the warehouse. But she never would have thought that Russell Fabray was seated at a long dining table in a fancy looking dining room, the table was set with expensive looking cutlery on his side. His glass of wine was only half full. When the middle-aged man saw her enter, he waved at her with a smile as if they were old friends.

"Ah, Catgirl, about time you arrive! Come over here, Trina will serve the appetizers in a little bit." Only now, Mercedes saw a maid that was nearing the table, balancing multiple plates on her hands.

"What do you think you're doing?", Mercedes hissed hostilely.

Russell, however, nonchalantly started cutting his baked brie. "Please take a seat, mylady", he said solemnly. "Trina, bring another plate for our guest", he ordered calmly without looking away from the heroine.

"Listen", Mercedes pressed, clenching her fists at her sides. "I'm not here to have dinner with you. I'm here to put an end to all this."

The older man swallowed the hot cheese with a gulp of red wine. "I assume you are no vegetarian, or vegan. In this case, you are lucky, Trina's pork chops are to die for." He patted his mouth with a fancy looking napkin. Mercedes' right eye twitched irritatedly.

"I slowly get the feeling that you don't take me seriously", she stated, doing everything in her power to stay calm. Maybe, that's what he wanted: Drive her crazy with his indifference. She felt like knocking over his table and knocking him out with that damn wine bottle next to him.

The corners of Russell's mouth twitched amusedly. "Oh, I do, Miss Jones. But I don't like getting disturbed while I'm eating. Dinner is the most important meal of the day, you know. So please, take a seat. As long as I'm in a good mood, we can negotiate peacefully, maybe agree to a compromise? But you don't want to sour my mood, do you now?" His face expression darkened a little.

Mercedes sighed and took a seat on his opposite. His idea didn't sound that stupid, to be honest. Who knew, maybe, she could somehow convince him to throw in the towel, even though something told her that this was just wishful thinking. She just needed to play along for a while, maybe wait for a good moment to attack him. She wasn't stupid, she knew that Russell must have an ace up his sleeve, or else, he wouldn't be so calm now.

Trina hurried over to her side and quickly served her a plate with the same appetizer as Russell while he poured in a round of wine into her glass.

"Cheers", he said happily and clinked glasses with her.

Mercedes bit back a snarky remark.

…

Again and again, Quinn let punches rain down on Santana. Shit, she really underestimated blondie's physical strength. Bruises started to form on her underarms, her stomach was hurting, too.

"Hey", Santana said while she dodged another blow of the Fightress "You know you don't have to do that, right?"

"What the hell are you talking about?", hissed Quinn, breathing heavily. "You have absolutely no idea what's going on in my life. So please save your comments."

Santana rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Alright, bitch, be that way", she growled before she turned into her puma form. If Quinn didn't want to listen to her, she needed to learn the hard way that she was standing on the wrong side at this battle. She didn't want it the other way, it seemed.

With a roar, Santana lunged at the blonde and sent her flying into the wall behind her. Even though Quinn landed hard, she got up again, determined not to lose this fight. She was already limping, but Santana wasn't unhurt, either. Nevertheless, none of the girls thought about giving up. But when she was completely honest with herself, Santana knew that she would break down any moment. Quinn on her opposite didn't look better, she was breathing heavily and held her chest. Santana decided to change back to her human form.

"You're no weakling, I'm quite impressed", she admitted faintly. "You really live up to your name, Fightress."

"Thanks", Quinn answered, just as weakened. The fight had taken its toll on her too.

Santana was so tired of this. Seriously, that situation was just ridiculous. She and Fabray used to be friends – hell, before she met Britt, and Aretha and Lady Lips joined her, Quinn was the closest thing to a best friend she had. And now – just look where they had ended up! With bloody faces and bruised bodies, beating each other to pulp, just because her pathetic excuse of a father ordered her around like a puppet on a string.

"Look, Lucy Q", she said with no animosity in her voice. "You said that you were doing all this of your own accord. But we both know you're full of shit."

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about", Quinn snapped.

"I know exactly that you hate your dad", Santana added softly. "And all of a sudden, you are willing to become his personal marionette? Come on, that's weird, even you need to admit that. What did he do to you? Does he blackmail you? Rape you? You know, you can tell me…"

"Shut the hell up!" With a scream, Quinn started punching her repeatedly, but Santana caught her wrists in midair and held them in place. She looked at the blonde thoughtfully.

"So I'm right." It was no question; it was a statement. Mercedes had been right, but Santana needed Quinn as a scapegoat for all the bad things that happened to them. How could she not see that earlier? "Quinnie, you know that this fucker can't get away with that. We need to stop him, and with your help, we can. We can make sure he will pay for everything he has ever done to you. He doesn't deserve you."

All of a sudden, Quinn stopped struggling against Santana's grip. It had been such a long time since someone had called her Quinnie for the last time. In the next moment, she was a sobbing mess. Santana pulled her in a hug and rocked her a little to comfort her. "Shhhh…", she tried to soothe the blonde. "We are going to get this right again…" She softly stroked Quinn's back while she cried into Santana's chest.

Her job was done now. Hopefully, Mercedes and Kurt were not facing any problems at their fights. She would look after them soon.

But first, she needed to be there for her friend.

…

"Hey", Kurt complained "Using weapons is unfair."

Sebastian just kept smirking at him. "And I don't care about that, Gayface. As you noticed, I don't play by the rules."

Yes, Kurt had already noticed. The walls of this story had been packed with substances that blocked his shapeshifting abilities. At least, he still could use his pyrokinetic powers, but that was all.

"Did I already tell you that your hairdo looks atrocious?", Sebastian said with a snicker.

Kurt barely had time to duck down before the nunchuck could hit him again. He scowled at his blond strand. "Tell me something I don't know. I didn't have enough time to color my entire head. Which is your fault, just by the way."

He was slowly losing his breath. Oh, did he mention that Sebastian's nunchucks were charged electrically? Everytime he landed a hit, Kurt got electroshocked, which was a lot of times. Since when was Sebastian so good at fighting anyway?

"Oh, I get the same treatment as the Fightress for a couple of months", Sebastian answered as if he had read his mind. "That's pretty cool, having all those abilities sans the shapeshifting."

Well, that explained a lot. Just at that moment, Sebastian hit him again with an extra strong shock, and Kurt fell to his knees. He wished he could defend himself, but only weak firesparks came out of his hands. He was too weakened to do anything now.

Sebastian towered over him, a malicious smirk on his face. "I pictured this moment everytime I needed to motivate myself: Foxfire on the ground. My prayers have been answered, I get to kill Catgirl's sidekick."

"Partner", Kurt corrected him at that. "I'm no one's sidekick." Before he died, he needed to clarify that.

The other male rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. The most important thing now is that you will go."

The electric crackling of his nunchucks came closer and closer – until something heavy tackled Sebastian to the ground. None other than Majesty was now growling at the villain.

"You came…", Kurt said, awestruck. He may have imagined it, but he was sure he had seen Majesty wink at him shortly. Maybe, his head was playing a trick on him.

"Get off me, you stupid fox!", Sebastian yelled while said animal was scratching his face with her short claws.

Kurt sat up slowly and held his head. It was still spinning, he made a mental note to rest once they had defeated Russell, once and for all. When she was done mauling their opponent, Majesty came strutting over to him and let him pet her head. "We are a great team, aren't we?", he said with a smile. Majesty let out a soft purr and laid back her head.

Neither of them noticed how Sebastian came to again, grabbed his nunchucks, jumped to his feet and lunged at the duo, ready to kill.

Majesty was the first to see him and quickly pushed Kurt to the side to take the blow. A strong shockwave hit her that sent her flying back to the floor. Sebastian was still not done, though. He lifted his nunchucks and hit the fox, again and again. At the moment Kurt gathered enough physical strength to rush over to him, Majesty was lying on the floor, motionless. A pool of blood was surrounding the animal.

"No!", Kurt shouted and covered his mouth with his hand, beyond shocked.

Majesty was dead.

Sebastian just shrugged. "That stupid fox had it coming", he just said.

And that's when Kurt snapped. The sadness about his loss turned into pure outrage. He started seeing red when his hands caught fire and his otherwise blue eyes turned to a vibrant orange.

Sebastian's face expression shifted from smug to terrified as Kurt threw a fireball at him that was bigger than his head.

…

While Russell devoured his main course with appetite, Mercedes hadn't touched any of her food Trina had served her, even though it looked and smelled super delicious. She wasn't here for her amusement, after all. Besides, who's to say that this man didn't poison her food? She felt bad that Santana and Kurt must go through hell down there to cover her back while she sat here in that luxurious dining room, doing nothing.

"Now spit it out already", Mercedes hissed hostilely. "You said you wanted us to negotiate. What is your first offer?"

"I'm so glad you asked, Catgirl." Russell calmly cut his pork chop and dipped the piece into some applesauce. "My first offer would be that you joined the Fighters for Perfection."

"Forget it."

"Hear my out, my dear", he said between two bites of his meat. "My daughter already told me that you weren't interested when she asked you. But who knows, maybe you are going to change your mind?"

Mercedes glowered at the eating man. "Why should I do that?"

"We are going to help you, Catgirl. As you probably noticed, I'm a very powerful man. I will become your very own sponsor. You can have anything you want: An ultramodern HQ, a high-tech suit that is way better than the pajamas you are always wearing" – she dismissed that comment with a snort "If you want to, I can pull some strings and make sure you get you very own TV show – a talkshow like Jimmy Fallon, a reality show like the Kardashians, anything you want. And to top it all, I will pay you very well, you will never have to work a nine to five job in your life." Mercedes swore, she could see the dollar signs in his eyes while he was talking.

She looked at him coldly. "That does indeed sound tempting", she said. "But nice try. Catgirl cannot be bought. I help people because I want to, not because I get rewarded. Besides, something tells me that you will not stop your plans to kill off New York's population without modified DNA even if I agreed to joining you."

Russell laughed shortly. "Why should I?", he asked, put down his fork and knife, and leaned back on his chair. "Do you have any idea how inefficient humans are? They are slow, weak, and they don't live long. I'm doing us all a favor by giving us an upgrade, don't you see?"

"But it's still wrong to kill hundreds of people just because of that!", Mercedes yelled. "It's wrong to change people's lives against their will."

Much to her surprise, Russell nodded. "I agree with you on that last part. That's why my science team developed a serum that gives people incredible abilities, the very same serum the Fightress has been taking for years now. I'm just going to sell that serum for a big sum, to those that can afford it. The rest…well…" He shrugged with a nonchalant smile.

Mercedes was seething. "You disgust me", she hissed with venom in her voice. "To you, only the rich ones matter, am I right? Wait, scratch that – as a rich white old cishet man, only other rich white old cishet males matter to you, I assume?"

"I don't think so", he answered placidly. As if on cue, the door behind them opened and someone came strutting over to them. When Mercedes turned around, her mouth dropped open. "Catgirl", Russell said solemnly. "May I introduce my fiancée and business partner to you?"

"That's not necessary, Russie", Shonda Wright chirped, hopped onto Russell's lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck affectionately. Russell pecked her shortly on her right cheek. "Mercy and I already know each other."

Mercedes perplexedly stared at the couple in front of her. "I think I'm gonna throw up on you."

Had to split that chapter, or else, it would have been too long...