"So how is Joe?" Quinn asked as she reached for her cup of tea.
'The mechanical prosthetic is working like a charm, and after rehab and he gets cleared by the doctors he'll be cleared for active duty once again. You're his commanding officer Quinn—the fact that you're not here, well it's not sending the right message to the rest of the department.'
Quinn frowned slightly, she should have made time to visit Joe, "You're right of course, and do send my apologies but I'm not here to win Rachel back. It's Templar Business."
There was a pause, 'Templar or family business?'
"Both," Quinn answered honestly. She takes a breath, and looks up as the waiter brings over her almond croissant, "I found out some things Sam, and I plan to address the team later, after I get more information. Once you hear it, once you all hear it, I imagine decisions will need to be made. I'll be back as soon as I can. Keep holding down the fort, until I get back."
'Understood.'
With that she ends the call and picks at her croissant, peeling off a thinly sliced almond from the top and popping it in her mouth. Sue had sent her a message asking where she would like to meet, and she had of course chosen a rather public place. She didn't trust him, not with everything that was going on. Which was why she had gone straight to Sebastian, her team was good at killing monsters, it would make sense to have their own monster-hunter unit.
She wasn't sure how the pitch had gone, but he had seemed interested in the documents that she had gotten from her grandfather. Locations and details of every single magic-touched that the Templars were planning to use as assets. There were considerably more that were imprisoned, but these were the most vulnerable.
Popping another powdered sugar covered almond sliver in her mouth she glances up to spot her father looking around the restaurant for her. She frowns as he finally spots her and begins to make his way over, he'd lost weight. Not like he'd been hitting the gym and eating well, he didn't look healthy at all. If anything he looked gaunt and almost sickly.
~ O ~
"You're wearing your Kevlar today," Azimio ordered tossing the heavy protection at Charlie. It bounced off her chest and hit the ground and he groans as he looks at her. "Charlie, Sebastian has told us that you're running on fumes right now, and if you get shot, or if anything happens to you then all those kids that we're trying to rescue might die. Safety first."
Charlie bent down to pick up the Kevlar and made a face at it, it was heavy and hot, and she had never liked wearing it when she had her shields. She felt fine, but Santana's words echoed in her head. The more magic she used the longer her recovery time would be, and if she used too much magic she may destroy her adrenal glands and she'd never be the same again. "Okay," she mutters mostly under her breath, and straps it on. She bounces on her feet. She turns to look at Azimio. "This is a rescue mission, we're not supposed to kill anyone."
"Speak for yourself, you read the file. It's self-defence."
Charlie turned to the woman who had spoken, Toni Topaz had just been assigned to the team, and she frowns. "If we kill them, then they'll be able to say that we're the dangerous ones. If you can't control yourself then you can stay here with Sasha."
"You're benching me?"
"Yes," Charlie stated simply without conferring with Azimio. "They're children, and I'm running on borrowed magic, if we get them we all teleport out. We want them to think we're the good guys. Not scare them."
"She's right." Azimio frowned slightly, he hated when she was right, but he was the only one that had children, on the team right now. And he'd be damned if they exposed the children that they were rescuing to the violence. "But I also think that it's an all hands on deck situation, we'll switch off, every time we come back it'll be a fresh group so we can settle the kids here, so it's not whiplash by handing them off to strangers. Toni, tell Sasha to suit up, and pick three-man groups. It'll be Rebecca, myself and Ryder doing this run. Toni, you'll go with Sasha and Strando." Azimio licks his lips and turns to Charlie. "Are you okay with that?"
Charlie finished strapping on the Kevlar vest. "Yes, bring the kids down to the Titan kitchens Santana said that she'd be cooking for all of them."
"Your Canadian girlfriend?" The Irish lilt causes Charlie to scowl at Rebecca, who flashes her a small amused smile.
"She's not my girlfriend, and I don't think Santana's been to Canada before," Charlie argued with Rebecca.
"She doesn't know how to seal the deal," Azimio informed Rebecca, who snorted at Charlie's expense.
Charlie frowned, she was going to make sure that Santana didn't feed them. She adjusts her gloves and her watch, before moving to the center of the group, so they could all find a place to hold on to her body. "Ready," she said, listening for all them to acknowledge that they were ready as well before she teleports away.
~ O ~
Russell takes a seat, studying his daughter. She looked healthy, she looked good and healthy. "You've climbed the ranks fast. Congratulations."
"It's easier to do so when you have someone who believes in you, and wants to see you succeed."
A sharp laugh, escaped Russell's lips. "You think I didn't want you to succeed? You think that I didn't want you to be where you were now? You think your grandfather did you any favors?"
"What I know is that my grandfather gave me opportunities, I'm the one that took the brass ring and ran with it. What I know, is that even if I passed your little games and tests, you still wouldn't promote me. That people like Finn Hudson got promoted faster than I did, and we both know that Finn was never as capable as I was." Quinn spits back angrily. She takes a breath, this wasn't why she was here. "I'm sorry, that's a sore spot," she said as she reaches for her tea. "I didn't call you here to ask why I wasn't promoted quickly and efficiently, or given as many opportunities. I'm here to find out why? I suppose it's time I heard your side of the story."
Russell studies Quinn for a moment before smiling, and for the first time Quinn notes how car salesman his smile is, "Anything you want to know sweetie."
"Don't—don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Why couldn't you just let our grandfather raise Charlie like he wanted?"
Russell's smile froze for a moment and he narrowed his eyes angrily, "I think it's cute that you think that your grandfather is absolutely blameless in this. That he wouldn't have made similar decisions that I would have made. Charlie was two years old, when she presented as magic touched, and she could have killed you. She got upset with you for taking one of her toys, a tantrum ensued and when everything in the room is floating, you panic. To pretend that he wouldn't have separated the two of you, that he wouldn't have put Charlie in a containment unit is just false. It was the only thing we agreed upon at the time. Just like he agreed that she'd never be able to have children. Did he mention that he agreed with that premise?"
Quinn blinked, that was new information to her. But when she thought about it, her grandfather hadn't seemed surprised that Charlie couldn't have children. "You should never have—"
"What I should and shouldn't have done, is inconsequential, the fact is your grandfather is just like me. He's just far more permissive than I am, and sees no problem in giving you what you want so you give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm your father, he's your grandfather, that's his duty to spoil you. Who you are, right now that's because of my influence. I was the one who made sure you had the best of everything, who made sure you were capable, that made sure you hit the books, not him." Russell snapped.
"This isn't about me, it's about—"
"Charlotte—she goes by Charlie right now isn't that right? How do you think she even knows what her name is? They wanted to give her a series of numbers. Who do you think visited her and made sure that they treated her well, she had it far better than everyone else. She was given far more freedom, she was taught how to read, and she was trained as an actual asset. I oversaw her growth, and who Charlie is right now that is my influence. I made sure she was safe."
"Safe? You're kidding me right—you turned her into a weapon."
"As if your grandfather wouldn't have done the same thing, the difference is he would have put her in a Templar uniform, and sent her into suicide missions. It's not as if they hadn't tried it a few times, but I always managed to keep her safe."
Quinn frowns, she could hear that he truly believed every word he said, there was that righteous indignation that he did so well. She knew her father well enough to know when he was attempting a bit of skullduggery, but he was being rather open about everything. "You didn't keep her safe. I saw those videos, she was abused. They were not gentle, they were never gentle. They treated her like a wild animal that they wanted to break in. She was probably scared more often, terrified, and more importantly she was alone. Honestly I'm surprised she's just a bit weird, and not completely broken."
"She was trained just like you were," Russell says immediately.
It's the first time she's heard uncertainty in his voice, and she knows he doesn't completely believe that he did the right thing. That he had doubt. "You don't believe that—"
"I do, she needed a firmer hand because she was magic-touched. She has all the power at such a young age, she needed to know where her limits were, and what the consequences were. You may see it as abuse but I see it as making sure she didn't abuse her powers."
"Charlie isn't like the magic-touched that I've hunted before," Quinn hisses. "She's just weird, she doesn't abuse her magic, she doesn't use it to hurt people, and I've looked into her missions with Titan. She doesn't kill. She's never killed or hurt anyone. She can tell right from wrong—"
"Your assessment is incorrect. She is dangerous, and I imagine the only reason she hasn't killed a Templar yet has more to do with the fact that she has that woman in her life, then any actual moral objection to murder. She wasn't trained to restrain things, she was trained to eliminate anything and everything in her path. Magic-touched individuals are dangerous, pretending that they aren't is silly and I know you know better," Russell says firmly. "What you see as abuse, was merely a firm hand. Spare the rod, spoil the child as they say."
"Is that what we're saying about rape these days?" Quinn says coolly.
"What are you talking about?"
"She was a child who could never get pregnant, surrounded by very few women, and mostly men. What do you think happened?" Quinn snaps watching as Russell's brow furrows at this new information.
~ O ~
She was tired, she'd already done thirty-three jumps, and she could feel the exhaustion creeping in. The landings were getting rougher, her aim was slightly off. The distances that she was travelling were basically crossing the country several times. They had already picked up exactly twenty-five, and this was the last place that they had infiltrated.
"You okay?"
Charlie turned to the magenta-haired woman, and inhales as she rests against the wall. "It's a lot," she admits to Sasha who nods at this and pats her head, she tries to swat the hand away but feels her legs giving out.
"Look, it's obvious you've barely got anything left in the tank. So I'm taking over right now, you need to keep what little you have energy so we can make the last jump."
Charlie nodded and reached into her pocket to pull out the slightly melted chocolate that she had kept in her pocket. "If they're scared."
"I know how to handle children Charlie," Sasha scoffs but after a moment she snatches the chocolate bar away from Charlie. "Rest, get your second wind back."
Charlie nods and lets her legs give out as she rests against the wall, it was a discrete area, "We've got five minutes," she mumbles to Sasha who nods and motions for Strando and Toni to follow her lead. "The faster we finish the faster we can go home," she snaps. "There are three children at these facility."
"Understood," Toni and Strando snapped.
Throwing one last glance at Charlie, who gives her a thumbs up Sasha motions for them to begin to move, leaving Charlie to rest. She takes a shaky breath. She'd never done anything like this before and for the first time she seemed to be suffering the consequences. The amount of children at each base varied, but doing long jumps across the country zig-zagging, with little breaks was burning through what reserves she had. She was certain that Santana would yell at her, but she just needed to get this done before she fell asleep.
Her eyes flutter and she pushes herself to a standing position, and bounces on the balls of her feet trying to get the feeling back in her legs. Her body felt heavy, and she wasn't quite sure why she couldn't feel her fingers. It didn't help that her mind noted how familiar everything felt. Like she had walked these hallways before, many a time. She licks her lips trying to block any errant memories as she begins to pace slightly, not realizing she was leaving the designated area. This place felt familiar and something clawed at the back of her mind, as she follows the maze through the hallways, stopping when she came to a heavy door that had a huge sign painted on it that stated something about no unauthorized personnel.
She's not sure what possesses her to raise her hand and use magic to bring the door down, setting off the alarms in the building but she does. The radio on her hip whirs to life, and she can hear Sasha cursing her out, but Sasha, Toni and Strando had more than enough firepower to get themselves out of any trouble that they could find themselves in. So she over the broken metal doors and blinks as her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. It takes her a moment to realize that they are large vats lining the entrance each with a low white illuminating each vat. She doesn't see how long it goes on for, but it feels like there are hundreds of vats and she moves to touch one of the vats wiping some of the dust off it.
It takes a moment for her to realize that the figure floating in what appears to be a clear liquid, she squints and leans in noting that it's a person. Charlie frowns and looks at each of the tanks, making her way to the next one, and wiping it clean and leaning in to see another person floating, with their eyes closed.
Even though it was a waste of magic Charlie places her hand on the vat, and closes her eyes teleporting the person out and onto the ground, ignoring the fact that all he has on some simple underwear to hide his nudity. She drops to her knees in front of him, trying to remember what she learned in her first aid training as she touches the man's chest shivering at the slimy covering, as the body begins to gasp and froth at the mouth.
She immediately starts chest compressions, but as she touches him and looks at his body she notices strange markings on his body, it looks like a circuit board as she presses on his chest, but his body is slippery and as his body begins to spasm violently her hands slip onto the ground.
"The fuck is this place?"
Charlie turns to look at Sasha and the rest of the team. Toni was carrying a child, while Strando was carrying two of them. "I tried to save him—"
Sasha moved quickly, taking a quick peek into the vat for a moment. For once she was glad that Titan required that they record everything, she had bitched about it before but no one would believe them if they didn't have this on record. "What the fuck?"
"Language," Toni said as she allowed a child to bury their head on her shoulder. "Charlie this wasn't part of the mission—"
Sasha eyes flicked onto the body that had finally stopped spasming for a moment, the moment that she had arrived she had felt a massive amount of magic; the entire building had felt odd but familiar in a way. Like when she was around Charlie when she was trying to do simple spells. Charlie had always lit up like a Christmas tree no matter how many lessons she had in control, she didn't seem to understand that less magic was more. Compared to that time, Charlie's magic seemed to pale in comparison. The pattern that seemed to be tattooed onto the body looked like a rather complex circuit, and she frowns and flicks her wrist clearing the dust off quite a few of the vats. All of them had it, and her mind begins to work quickly, magic was moving throughout the entire building and it seemed to be coming from this warehouse of vat people. "They're siphoning the magic from these—" they weren't people. They couldn't survive outside the vats as evident by the fact that the one Charlie had tried to save had died soon after. She can feel the bile rising in her throat and she turns away.
Strando turned, and let out a mumble of curses, "Incoming—Charlie time to—" He's pushed aside and he blinks as Charlie's magic roars to life. He turns to see the rage on her face, he'd never seen her angry before, and her magic is just as oppressive as it's always been. The bullets that ring out, ricocheting off the shield.
Sasha turns to look at Charlie for a moment before she looks at the body again and uses her magic to lift him and rotate his body for a moment, it would be smart for Titan's scientists to take a look at the body so that they could understand what was going on. "Charlie, we're here for the children," she reminds Charlie.
Charlie turns to look at them, and she can see Toni flinch but she doesn't hesitate to flick her wrist teleporting Strando, Toni and the children to Titan leaving her and Sasha Banks in the vat warehouse. The ground bucks violently and the glass on the vats cracks spilling slime onto the ground. Charlie turned her attention back to the Templars who had fallen and she raises her hand ready to bring the entire building down on their heads, only for Sasha to grab her arm.
"You're the one that said no killing." Sasha reminded her.
"But they—"
"Charlie, they're not the ones that need to be put out of their misery. We need to destroy this place and burn the ground, salt the ground," Sasha said firmly. Whatever they were doing here, she wasn't sure she wanted answers, all she knew is that this place shouldn't exist, and Charlie had the power to destroy the place. "We need to grab that body."
Charlie flicked her eyes to the body for a moment flicking her hand, teleporting the body away for a moment, and turning to look at Sasha, she can feel warmness trickling down her nose.
Sasha moved quickly sliding under Charlie's outstretched arm to support her with her body. Her mind races for a moment, it would be best to retreat before Charlie did actual harm to her body, but she didn't have the destructive power that Charlie did. "We can come back—"
"Hold me still and get ready to jump,"
Sasha grits her teeth as Charlie's magic flairs out, causing the glass of the vats to explode, bodies falling to the ground as the walls buckle, and crack around them. She flinches when a large bit of the ceiling falls and crashes breaking apart on top of a shield that she wasn't aware that Charlie had set up. It takes another few seconds before Charlie turns to her nearly pitching forward. "Time to go."
Charlie flashes her a smile and grips her arm tightly as she jumps back to the place where she feels safest.
"I—" Russell stuttered trying to figure out the right words to say. He frowns slightly as he swallowed. He didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't sure if it was real or not. But Quinn was not a person to simply throw a charge like that out without being sure. "Who?"
Quinn is about to answer when her phone on the table vibrates, and she glances at it. A blocked number had just texted her.
It's done -S
Quinn picks up her phone for a moment before picking it up and slipping it into her pocket. "I don't know, but so you understand—I can't forgive you for any of this. I thought that this would help put things in perspective, and it did. The Templars are not incorruptible. They are corrupt, and the corruption has run deep infecting everyone and everything around it. I don't know if the organization can be saved, and if it can't then I won't mourn for it."
"Quinn—"
"I have to go, I'm going to see my girlfriend now, and then I need to get back to Europe," Quinn informed him cutting him off as she pulls out her wallet and drops some money on the table. She doesn't stay any longer than she has to as she takes off.
