There were days when Russell Fabray struggled to remember why he had ever thought it was a good idea to marry into the July family. Yes, he had hoped that marrying Judy would help with his ambitions. The July family was old, and far more influential than the Fabray family had ever been. He had hoped to succeed Lawrence when he finally stepped down, he had hoped to build a relationship with the man—but as it stood now, he was certain that Lawrence would live forever just to spite him and keep him from that seat.
He should have had hid his ambition more, but now all he could do was pin his hopes on Quinn. It was why he paid so much attention to her career, it's why he had denied her promotions. He didn't want there to be rumors of nepotism, and the fact that she was a woman meant that she would need to work harder than all the other men to get noticed by the council. As much as Quinn disliked being held back, she wasn't aware that her name was being mentioned by people far more powerful than him. His plan was working, and he hoped that Quinn would sit in the council in his stead, and he could be her advisor.
His ambition wasn't the only reason he had married Judy. He had loved her—he did love her deeply. It hadn't mattered to him that she had never wanted to be a Templar to begin with, in fact he had been happy to support her decision to stay at home and raise the twins. Even if it was a point of contention between him and Lawrence, the way he told the story Judy had been forced to stay at home. There was simply no winning with the man. And while it was true there had been other women—plenty of other women but that had only been after Charlie had revealed herself to be magic-touched. The idea of fathering any more children after that revelation had been all but forbidden, and the romance between him and his wife had withered as had the intimacy. There had been needs that had been unmet since then.
The stresses of his job, and Judy's growing distance—
There was a firm knock at his door, and he looks up as Sue, "Yes—"
"She's here," Sue interrupted.
Russell sighed and stood up, he had done everything thing in his power to keep Cassandra away from Quinn, he wanted her to be the model Templar not—Cassandra. Hopefully he could stop them from interacting. "We do have wards you know," he says dryly. "You would think that they'd be able to keep her out of the building."
"She isn't a witch," Sue reminded him gently.
"Isn't she though?" When Sue didn't laugh, he sighed as he follows her. He spots Cassandra leaning against a wall near the war room. "Why didn't you bring her to my office?" He prompts.
"Because it probably smells of mediocrity and failure. I'll never be able to get that smell off," Cassandra says as she taps her cigarette, dislodging the ash onto what had once been pristine white floors. "It's been years Rusty."
"Russell," Russell corrects before rolling his eyes, "You can't smoke in here Cassandra," he rubs his temples, looking away. Cassandra had never really taken to wearing a uniform, in fact she had never quite fit in with the rigidity of being a Templar. So, she had risen through the ranks high enough to become an unrestricted agent of sorts. Still her red and white shirt that exposed parts of her lower stomach, and her form-fitting cargo-pants which hung low on her hips matched the color of her cropped jacket, all of which was grossly inappropriate. This was exactly why he had insisted that Cassandra keep away from his daughter. It had been just one day of watching her, and Quinn had come back home with pink hair.
Cassandra studies him for a moment as she takes another long drag of her cigarette, "I outrank you, so I'm certain that you aren't telling me what to do are you? I am after all here to clean up your mess."
Russell scowled at her, and was about to snap back when Sue stepped in, "There was an incident, the structural foundation of the building was suspect, instead of allowing it to collapse, it was decided that moving her to a new secure location was necessary. It was during that time that she escaped," Sue explained the situation as best as she could. And it wasn't as if Charlie was located anywhere near this facility.
Cassandra shrugs, "Give me the file, I'll take a look at it."
"I'll assign someone—"
"So, you can spy on me?" Cassandra snorted at this and flicked her cigarette butt onto the ground stepping on it to put it out. "I'll pass, unless of course the name that you were going to suggest is Quinn, I hear she's competent despite—" Cassandra waves a hand around, "— all of the failure in the air."
"You think that I would let her anywhere near you—?" Russell began before Sue once again stepped in.
"Quinn still hasn't been medically cleared, and she of all people doesn't have the clearance for this."
Cassandra hummed at that information, "The sooner she requests a transfer the better. She's clearly not surrounded by the right people. I should probably say hello, unless of course you have a problem with that?" She smirks at Russell.
"You know—"
"I don't care, who knew there would be benefits to climbing through the ranks?" Cassandra snorted and stretched. "Don't worry I'll find her without you. Shouldn't take me eight months either."
Russell gritted his teeth, and closed his eyes. "Fine."
"Later Rusty." Cassandra called out as she walked away.
Russell waits until she's out of earshot before turning to Sue, "Do you think it's wise to have her followed?"
"So, we can swoop in and take the credit?" Sue asked, when Russell nods, she frowns. "I don't think we'd be able too and if we did it would make her an enemy. She might be rough around the edges, but she is competent and more importantly people know of her track record. We'd end up looking bad."
"Fine, have her watched then, if there is anything you think I should know make sure I am informed."
"Are you certain we look like the Templars in these photographs?" Mike asked Charlie holding up his identification badge.
"We'd better, this glamour was nearly two thousand dollars each." Santana bitched, trust Tina to overcharge, but she had the best glamours out of anyone they knew. She was going to make Sebastian pay for every single expense. He was certainly wealthy enough to do it and they were the ones taking the damn risk. But they couldn't let the Templars see their faces. She turns her attention back to Charlie who was staring at Mike. "Well?"
Charlie nodded, "You look like the people in the picture." She shrugs her shoulders at this and looks at Santana. "I think I could—"
"We discussed this Charlie, you've got the most important part here, you're the getaway driver," Santana insisted, she felt bad for lying to Charlie. "You're the only one with enough magic to do a jump from here to home with the three of us. Mike can't do that jump."
Charlie puffed out her cheeks, but nodded. "Is that why you can't just teleport in?"
"There are wards," Santana said looking at Charlie, "You remember what I said about wards?"
"Wards are a field of magic that deals with creation of magical barriers and or protections." Charlie frowned, "Sort of like my shields."
"Exactly," Santana explained, "However, yours are basically pure magic, but there are wards around the entire base. Mike can't pass through the wards easily, and if we're not careful it will nullify our glamours."
"So how are you going to get in?" Charlie pressed.
"For a moment I'm going to disrupt the wards, it might set off a few alarms but once we're in, we'll be able to use magic like usual." Santana explained.
"Okay," Charlie said.
"Alright, it's time to go. I'll be back."
"Promise?"
"Yeah. Remember what I said?"
"Don't kill anyone," Charlie repeated.
Santana nodded and reaches around Charlie and grabs the hood part of her black hoodie and pulls it up covering Charlie's head. "Keep that up, now come on Mike."
Mike nodded and patted Charlie on the head before grabbing Santana's hand and teleporting away.
Charlie looked around the deserted area and wrinkled her nose, before deciding to simply follow Santana.
"You, look like shit."
Quinn rolled her eyes, though there was a delighted look on her face. "You look like a hooker," she retorts. "By Templar standards anyway,"
Cassandra smirks at Quinn, "So you going to introduce me to the guy with massive lips over here? I bet you know how to put that mouth—"
Quinn narrowed her eyes, "Aunt Cass, you can't sleep with my partner."
"I thought the giant lurch was your partner?" Cassandra says with a shrug. "You're going to get a reputation you know."
"Sam is my partner, Finn is my—" Quinn paused. "Soon to be ex-fiancé."
Cassandra smiled, "That will make things awkward. It's a good thing that you're finally leaving this dump. There is a lot more—freedom in Europe. A lot more work in Europe, so there are more chances to shine. And more importantly you'll be closer to the people with power."
"You're transferring?" Sam prompted looking at Quinn he had just gotten the information that he had been promoted. He wasn't stupid, Quinn had pulled strings probably with her grandfather to get it done, but sticking with her was the key to moving through the ranks.
Quinn shrugged, it was the opportunity she'd been hoping for. "I'm not sure." Rachel was being—Rachel, and hadn't answered any of her messages or opened the door for her once. Sure, they'd had their fights but this one felt different and she didn't quite know how to fix what was broken.
"What's to think about? This is a third-rate facility run by a hack—everyone who was intelligent should be transferring out. People who should be getting promoted aren't, and those that are—I know you like Finn but he wouldn't last a night in Europe. We've got some real monsters there." Cassandra studied Quinn for a moment, "Please don't be like your mother and give everything up for a piece of ass Quinn, there are plenty of asses out there, some of them aren't even hairy."
With the Templar's teleportation network, being with Rachel even if she had to work in Germany wouldn't be a problem. Sure, the time difference would be hard but she could spend all her free time with Rachel. It was doable. There was a ticket burning a hole in her back pocket. She had been excited to see Rachel perform, it would have been her first full performance. She wasn't even scheduled to be at work today. She shoves the thought away for a moment and looks at her aunt Cassandra. "Why are you here anyway?"
"Business that is way above your rank Quinn, cleaning up one of your father's messes. Don't worry once I handle it, you'll be filled in. Until then—keep on working on your—" Cassandra waved her hand at the weird suspect wall situation that Quinn had going on. "Whatever this is."
Quinn nodded towards her board, "That's good work, good detective work. America doesn't have simple cases like kill the hell beast," Quinn said with a shake of her head. "Doesn't mean that we don't get plenty of requests—I mean our exorcist division is top notch."
Cassandra was about to scoff when a loud beeping sound interrupted her train of thought and she turns to look at Sam, who was the source of that sound, at least one of them. It sounded like many people were getting that alarm. "What's that?"
Sam pulled out his phone and read the text message that was scrawled across his phone as it flashed, "Intruders in the server room, the entire base is on lockdown, till we can sort it out." He looks back up at Quinn and narrows his eyes, "Stay here."
"I still outrank you—"
"You're not cleared for active duty," Cassandra interrupted and smirked at Quinn's look of outrage. She pats her on the head and smirks. "Come along lips, let's go clean up another mess."
Sam turned to look at Quinn who waved him off with her good arm and followed Cassandra. All he could do was hope that Quinn actually listened to someone for once. He's about to follow Cassandra when his phone goes off again, and he stops, just as there is a loud crash and he turns just in time to see a huge chunk of the building fall onto the ground, the force of the impact blowing out the glass windows. The glass shards flying everywhere.
Cassandra turns to survey the wreckage and smiles as she reaches for one of her guns. And she had thought that this trip was going to be boring. "Looks like it's a coordinated attack. I'd like to think that this base can handle two—the fuck?" The gun in her hand and the gun that was on her hip dematerialized, causing her to look up at shock. She pushes the shock aside and turns to Sam, "Let's go." Sam nodded in affirmation and took off with Cassandra leaving Quinn standing there.
"Shit," Quinn said as she reached for her jacket and pulled out the retractable staff. It wasn't much but at least it was something. She takes a look outside at the huge piece of rubble that now littered the yard, it hadn't sounded like an explosion which meant that the attack had probably come from outside. She bites her lip, the sooner this was put to bed the sooner she could go and see Rachel perform. Grabbing her jacket, she immediately slides it on, she was a Templar after all and her home was under attack.
"Fuck." Santana swore, that flash of magic, it could only have been Charlie. "I told her to stay put. Out of all the times for her to not listen to me—" Santana shook her head angrily and smacked the server. "Come on." The USB was set to flash when the transfer of contents was completed but there was nothing.
Mike frowned, he had known that this was going to be a disaster, there was no way that this plan was going to work. Even if he had managed to teleport them in, they had underestimated their security system. "I think we've got people coming—" There was another flash of magic, sharper and quicker this time. Charlie was taking what he said about magic build-up and putting it to use. He had noticed she had a tendency to let it build before letting it go which meant that she was firing it off as quickly as she could. "She's being a distraction Santana."
"I know. Fuck, we shouldn't have brought her along," Santana swallowed, Charlie didn't have the greatest control it was more likely that she would kill someone. Then none of this would matter. She turns her head sharply. "Heads up, we've got—ten—no, fifteen people incoming. Don't—"
"Yeah, I know. Don't kill anyone."
Mike nodded sharply before disappearing.
Santana grimaced as the sound of shouting and a scuffle is heard outside the door. She half expects the sound of gunfire, but when she hears none, she pulls away from the server for a moment to take a look, a new weapon?
The door to the server room slams open as a Templar in full tactical gear is thrown through it, causing Santana to jump back. There wasn't a gun on him and his tactical mask was on backwards. The man reaches for his head with a groan and even though her magic was for healing, Santana touches the top of his head, pushing her magic into his body. It was a simple enough to interrupt his nervous system briefly, causing his blood pressure to drop, and his heart rate and breathing to slow. She had expected them to have wards on their clothing but this was to easy. The man drops like a lump on the ground and she steps out to help Mike.
Mike smiles as he twists out of a Templar's reach and grabs his arm teleporting him into a location where he goes face first into a wall. He hadn't expected that to slow the man down, and it doesn't as the man quickly attempts to rise to his feet before his knees give out and as he brings his hands to his mouth, he vomits causing it to splash into his face. "They're only enlisted," he says checking the badge on their shoulders.
Santana frowned, which meant that they had sent the real threats after Charlie. "Shit." She glances at a man who was struggling to get up beside her and smacks her hand on top of his helmet hard, repeating the same maneuver she had done inside. "Do you think she'll be okay?"
Mike shrugged his shoulders, "I mean they did create a weapon, so let her be a weapon that is used against them. Maybe they'll rethink the situation and once we have what we're looking for. We'll make our escape together. You can yell at her at home."
Santana nodded, and yell at Charlie she would.
