Rachel woke up feeling a terrible discomfort in her body. It was very cold and it looked like she had slept on a gravel bed. In the next second, she understood that the bed was really gravel. It was still dark, Rachel's clothes were wet from falling drizzle. The memory of the last events came to mind. Jenny kidnapped her, drove her out of town and onto the trail, Jenny pointed the gun at her, and... yes, Rachel exploded. The actress looked around. Jenny's car was there with the windows broken and the side of the body a little dented. Rachel sat up and looked around. Jenny was also there, lying still.
The first ray of light showed up the sky, gradually changing the dark blue tonality. Rachel got up. She had a terrible pain in her body. Jenny didn't move. What was happening? Rachel considered taking the chance and getting out of there. What would she have to win by staying and helping a psychotic neurotic woman who claims to have killed her own girlfriend? Yes, Rachel wasn't yet convinced that Santana Lopez was dead. She herself had already seen the vigilante resist for minutes to a fatal wound til the help came, so why not survive Jenny?
A siren sounded in the distance, which made Rachel got up. The noise grew in proportion to her hope. It was the police, finally. Rachel ran out onto the road, waving her arms, wanting to make herself known.
"Help, help!"
The police car stopped and a policeman came down.
"What happened?" He asked.
"A madwoman kidnapped me and tried to kill me. She's right over there."
The second cop went to Jenny, who didn't move. He knelt beside her and signaled to his companion.
"Call the ambulance." He shouted at his companion.
"Is she okay?" Rachel asked. She knew people could get serious hurt when she exploded without direction. Kurt was a victim of that in the previous year. He got an internal bleeding and almost died.
"You must come with me to the police station, miss."
"Why? S-She kidnapped me."
"Do you know this woman?"
"Yes, Jenny... Jennifer something. She's the girlfriend of a friend of mine."
"Has anyone else been with you two?"
"Not that I remember..." Rachel shook her head. "No... no one else was with us. All I know is that this crazy woman confessed to killing her own girlfriend and kidnapped me to try to do the same."
Another sign between the cops, and the one closest to Rachel held her tightly by the arm.
"Ms..."
"Berry. Rachel Berry. "
"Miss Rachel Berry, you must go with us."
...
Brittany woke up with the movement in front of the room in which Santana was. She was thirsty for a cup of coffee and want to eat something as well. The dancer rummaged through her backpack looking for some money. She needed to buy some food after spent so much energy to recover Santana injuries. As she hurriedly left her house to take the first bus to save Santana, Brittany only had time to put her wallet, her toothbrush, and a change of clothes in her backpack. She planned to wait for Mercedes and then go to her parents' house, where she could take a shower and rest.
The dancer looked to the side and saw that Santana was still sleeping, which was natural and expected, since the vigilante's body still needed rest to complete the cure, and that she was still under the medication. Santana healed faster than a normal person. She could superficially cut her finger, and the next day, the wound was gone. But that healing factor was what consumed her a lot of energy. Hence the reason for the vigilante to be soft and weak whenever she recovered from a serious injury, even with Brittany's intervention: the body's energy was turned to that.
"I just want to see the mountain on your plate when you get out of this." Brittany said softly and smiled at her sleeping friend.
She tossed aside the sheet that covered her and got up from the armchair, ran her hand over her face, through her hair, and opened the wide door that gave access to the small room, not much bigger than a hospital stall. Brittany walked out of the hospital, where in front of it were three kiosks that served food and snacks for those who were fed up with industrialized food sold in machines scattered around the hospital. The university hospital was close to the campus, and was the preferred place to receive trauma patients who were rescued by ambulances from the public emergency system. When the public hospital had beds with a high occupancy rate, patients were referred to the other public hospital or to the private hospital, in that order. It was no coincidence that the poorest population was served there.
Brittany saw Mercedes approaching and waved to her. The journalist looked tired, which was more than understandable. Mercedes slept in the apartment, or rather slept for a few hours before returning to the hospital. They hugged each other.
"How was your night?" Mercedes asked.
"I'm a little tired, and I'm hungry. But I'm fine. If you don't mind, I'm going to my parents' house in a little while to take a shower."
"You can go, Britt. In a little while, Quinn should be here... maybe Marley. What you did, coming here as fast as you could, was already extraordinary."
"I do this for San, just as I would for any of you. It is a pleasure to help my friends."
"Well, I can take over from here, if I want."
"I need to get my backpack from San's room... then I'll be gone."
"Okay."
Mercedes looked away at some ambulances arriving at the hospital. So far, nothing new. Not even two police patrols around there was unusual. It was routine. But when there was a vigilante shot recovering in one of the beds, it made Mercedes watch carefully. She waited for Brittany to swallow the rest of the sandwich and they walked back to Santana's room. That was when they came across a police officers arguing with a nurse and a doctor about Santana providing some clarification. Perhaps it was something related to the assassination attempt, but soon Mercedes understood that it was something beyond.
"What is happening?" Mercedes imposed herself. The policeman tried to speak up, but the doctor and the nurse imposed it again.
"The patient will only say something when she is conscious and able." The doctor finished.
While Mercedes waved her thanks for the gesture from the hospital staff, her journalistic instinct was greater. She walked until she reached the policeman at the end of the hall.
"Detective?"
The policeman stopped walking and turned to the journalist, who was no stranger to him, since Mercedes frequented the police department in search of reports. But this would be the first time that the two would talk directly.
"Miss Jones." The detective greeted her. "I knew you would be a lot more reasonable than the staff at this hospital."
"You are in my friend's case, right? Has there been any progress? Did you capture Jenny?"
"Jenny... oh... you're referring to Jennifer May."
"Yes, that Jennifer."
"Miss Jones, could you confirm the nature of the relationship between Miss May and Miss Lopez?"
"Do you want me to confirm information without a warrant?" It wasn't something she couldn't answer, but Mercedes wanted to show the police that she knew very well how the system worked and that he couldn't make a fool of her.
"Well, that could be a courtesy between an exchange of future courtesies, since I know of your good relationship with some of my colleagues."
"I will remember that, detective. Santana and Jenny had a loving relationship for a few years, which was broken up recently. They were girlfriends."
"What was Miss May's motivation in targeting Miss Lopez?"
"I don't know. What is your theory?"
"That doesn't seem like a good strategy for exchanging information, Miss Jones."
"The cases I investigate as a journalist do not involve my best friend."
"It's fair." The detective nodded. "There are many witnesses who claim that Miss May tried to kill Miss Lopez. That is not the issue, we saw the video camera in the dormitory corroborating the reports. What I need to understand are the motivations. Days ago, Miss Lopez was arrested for a fight in a restaurant. Witnesses said Miss Lopez and Miss May attacked each other after Miss May called Miss Lopez a vigilante."
"Jenny was mad at Santana. The end of their relationship wasn't peaceful at all. Jenny was always possessive, and monogamy was never Santana's virtue. Things had been out of step for some time, and when Santana finally had the courage to broke up, that's when it all happened."
"Did Miss Lopez ever show aggressive behavior? Or did you demonstrate unusual skills?"
"Santana is a great artist, and has a great talent for getting into trouble for being a womanizer. Whether a don Juan's skills enable her to be one of those vigilantes, I don't know. Jenny did have a fixation with the figure of this vigilante, but I can say that Santana is a normal girl. She has a sharp tongue and doesn't know what monogamy is, it's true, but I've never seen her in a fistfight or holding a car. The answer is no, detective. Santana is not an aggressive type. I did know about the restaurant fight. What I can say is that for Santana to have reached this point, it's because she was on edge."
The detective nodded. He then felt the phone vibrate and quickly checked the message. Mercedes knew how to do the detective's body reading. It was exactly the same reaction as when colleagues in the newsroom, or even herself, had when they received a news bomb, but it could not spread.
"Miss Jones. Can you tell me if Miss Lopez knew Rachel Berry?"
"We all did amateur theater together. That's where we met Rachel Berry." Mercedes frowned. He felt that there was something wrong with the sudden question about Rachel Berry. "What does Berry have to do with all this?"
"Can you tell if Miss Lopez has ever had a relationship with Rachel Berry?"
"We are all friends."
"Okay. Thank you."
The detective headed for the hospital exit. Mercedes started to follow, but at the same moment she saw Quinn walking down the hospital corridor.
"Hi." Quinn was clearly tired and drawn. "She woke up?"
"Not yet." Mercedes looked behind Quinn's shoulders to see if she still found the detective. No sign of him. "How was it yesterday?"
"Unproductive". Quinn replied.
"Did you look for Rachel?"
"Should I?"
Mercedes was restless. Her instinct told her that she should run to the police department.
"Keep an eye on Santana. I need to do something."
Quinn just followed Mercedes with a look. She was coming from an unproductive round with Artie and George. Quinn entered the small room and found Brittany watching the doctor, who was examining her friend. The doctor was clearly confused.
"How is she?" Quinn asked.
"Exceptionally well for someone who was shot and faced five-hour surgery in less than 24 hours."
"Miracles happen!" Brittany replied as if everything was normal.
"These miracles happened sometimes until last year." The doctor said more to herself than to the two women in front of her. "I will ask the nurse to remove some of the medication. If Miss Lopez continues to evolve like that, she may be discharged at the end of the day."
"It's great news, doctor." Quinn replied pretending to be surprised.
"I will leave you with her. Beep when she wakes up."
As soon as the doctor left the room, Santana opened her eye. She had been pretending to sleep since the time the nurse arrived to collect a sample of blood.
"Hi." Santana said quietly to Brittany and Quinn. Her voice was hoarse.
"Hi San." Brittany came over and took her hand.
"How are you feeling?" Quinn asked.
"Thirsty... my throat still hurts... my mouth is bitter... I'm all sore... without strength."
"It will pass." Brittany stated. "Your body just needs time to complete the healing process."
"I know how it goes, Britt... Thanks again."
"I'm glad you did it, Lopez." Quinn took a step forward to stand beside Brittany.
"Thank you, Fabray."
"I patrolled last night. I couldn't find Jenny. We were unable to capture her on any of our cameras. The police were also after her."
"She must... have run away."
"Did Marley come to see you?" Quinn continued to ask.
"Not that I know."
"Weird. She disappeared from the map."
"Marley must be with her new boyfriend." Santana straightened up and turned her face to the side. "I want to get out of here."
"No running away from here and raising more suspicions, Lopez." Quinn warned. "Your mission is to do absolutely nothing in the next 48 hours."
"Since when do you give me orders, Fabray?"
"Since when I self-proclaimed the second in charge. It means that I command when you are away."
Santana tried to laugh, but began to cough and feel pain. Then she was quiet, accepting her friend's insolence. The leader turned on her side and closed her eyes. Despite Brittany's healing, the damage she suffered was too severe. She could barely move her left arm. Recovery would take time, and she would need a day or two of revulsion to get back on her feet, no matter how much she didn't like the idea. Brittany sat on the chair, while Quinn took out her cell phone and accessed the job vacancy website.
"Didn't you work in a bookstore?" Brittany asked when she spied what Quinn was reading. The conversation made Santana pay attention to the two friends.
"I was encouraged to resign." Quinn selected a spot in a supermarket. "They wanted to promote me, as long as I agreed to spend two months earning half a minimum salary."
"That sucks!"
"Is life." Quinn responded almost mechanically. "If everything else goes wrong, I can switch sides and use my powers to sell drugs. Marijuana has a very good price on the market."
Santana wasn't amused. She grunted and turned away. What bothered her wasn't Quinn's irony, but the fact that the Ice Queen was still in financial trouble. Santana felt responsible because Quinn had a daughter to educate and support.
"I'll have to pick Beth up from school in a little while." Quinn frowned.
"I wish I could help you." Brittany said with the usual kindness. "My father is a dentist, and I think he has no secretary. Who knows?"
Quinn nodded to Brittany. She was in no position to discard anything.
"Thanks."
A doctor entered the room. She waved quickly to the girls, and checked Santana's chart.
"It seems that everything is exceptionally well with you, Santana." The doctor did a quick exam. "How do you really feel?"
"Sore, but fine." Santana was surprised by the doctor's presence. "I don't know if I lost track of time... but wouldn't you stop by just when I was going to be discharged?" she said in a voice that was still quite hoarse.
"Yes... is that I need to do this check before ask you something."
"Ask what, doctor?" Quinn was on the alert.
The doctor hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"There are a detective who wish to speak with you, Santana. But I will only let her in if you are well and willing enough to deal with this type of annoyance."
"They must want to know about Jenny." Quinn throbbed. She also wanted to know the whereabouts of the leader's ex-girlfriend.
"Okay... I can talk to her."
The doctor nodded, opened the door and called the detective Mesquita, who had interrogated Santana inappropriately days earlier. Detective Mesquita smiled weakly.
"Good to see you well and live, Lopez. Could we talk privately?"
"Whatever it is, they stay." Santana said in a weak, husky but firm voice.
"You have a lot of friends." Mosque pinned.
"Yes. Friends." Quinn emphasized.
"Quinn and Brittany have my trust, Detective. Whatever you have to say, they can know."
"Okay." Mesquita repositioned the body. "When was the last time you saw Miss May?"
"When she shot me." Santana said bitterly.
"Before she shot you, did Miss May mention anything about what she would do, where she would go, did she mention plans?"
"No."
"When was the last time you saw or spoke to Miss Berry?"
"It's been a few days. Why?"
The detective stepped back for a moment, and the doctor repositioned herself.
"Miss Lopez... Jennifer May was admitted to this hospital at 6:40 am. She was unconscious and with weak vital signs. She had a cardiac arrest, and we tried to resuscitate her for 40 minutes. We did everything possible, but she couldn't resist the injuries."
"Did Jenny die?" Tears were already streaming down Santana's face.
"Unfortunately, miss May passed away."
Santana couldn't say any more. All that was heard from inside the room was the copious and painful cry of the vigilante.
It was an uncomfortable scene to witness. A young adult woman was crying profusely when she heard news about her ex-girlfriend who, just over 24 hours earlier, had tried to kill her. The detective wanted to ask questions, but at the young woman's compulsive crying, she was embarrassed. Regardless of all the problems, Santana loved Jenny. The almost four years of a relationship of many comings and goings was only possible because, despite everything, there was love between them, no matter how romantic or passionate this type of love ended up in the final stage of the relationship. Regardless, Santana never wished Jenny harm. The doctor worried about the patient's agitation and immediately ordered a sedative. It didn't take 10 minutes, and Santana blacked out.
"You had better go." The doctor warned.
"I'm just here to clarify some facts."
"No. You are here to find out if Santana has anything to do with it." Quinn said angry. "As if the fact that she was shot and almost died was a mere detail. You arrested her yourself and questioned her illegally three days ago, because you thought she was the vigilante."
"As far as I know, you aren't a lawyer, Miss Fabray." The detective threatened, eager to take advantage of the victim's moment of emotional fragility to clarify one of the most important investigations for the career of a professional in that city.
"Have you been investigating my life too?" Quinn looked at her. "I bet my unemployment insurance that my story as a single mother at 16 didn't move a comma of you."
"Quinn?" Marley knocked on the door. She was beside Ryder Lynn. "Oh God. What happened?" Marley was startled when she saw Santana unconscious, being stroked in the hair by Brittany, the doctor aside, and Quinn arguing with a detective.
"Jenny died." Brittany summed it up.
"Look, I don't need to know much about the story." Ryder spoke to the detective. "But I'm Santana Lopez's lawyer, and if you are considering interrogating my client in a hospital bed, I suggest you reconsider and leave that room now."
"All right." The detective offered the lawyer a business card. "If they change their mind."
Quinn took another breath when the detective left. The future paralegal thanked the lawyer before pulling Marley aside.
"Where were you? We send messages like crazy."
"I was with Ryder, okay? I hung up the phone. I'm sorry. I came as soon as I saw the messages."
"It's okay... the important thing is that we should be together right now." Quinn appeased. "I'm going to ask Mercedes to go to the police station to see if she can get any information. Unfortunately, I can't stay... Beth."
"I stay with her." Marley volunteered. "You can all go. We'll talk later."
…
"This is a mistake!" Rachel was standing beside the table inside the interrogation room. "I didn't kill Jenny! She kidnapped me! I am the victim here!" Rachel was screaming.
Because Jenny was being sought for shooting Santana Lopez, the officer was willing to believe that, whatever Rachel was supposed to have done, had been in self-defense. First, however, it was necessary to clarify what had happened, what caused the car windows to burst, and how Jenny died. But the state bordering on Rachel's hysteria didn't help.
"Miss Berry. Until you calm down, we won't be able to clarify what happened. It's better to collaborate."
"I didn't kill Jenny! That woman is crazy!"
"Please calm down."
"No!" Rachel punched the solid wooden table in aluminum. "I did nothing! That crazy kidnapped me! I'm not going to be arrested because of that bitch!"
"Miss Berry..." The policeman fixed his gaze on the enraged young woman and was startled by her red eyes.
...
Mercedes arrived at the police department on an unusually busy morning. She saw along the detective who approached her at the hospital, as well as some colleagues who were looking for an agenda or were in some investigation. None of those people were different from the usual police department landscape, with the exception of two people. Mercedes walked over to them.
"Hello Artie, and..."
"George." The young man of Indian descent smiled. The journalist, who was good at keeping names and faces, for some reason was unable to keep the name of Artie's colleague. "What happened?"
"You won't believe it, but Jenny died." Artie said in a confidential tone.
"I was notified." Mercedes said. "That's why I came here." Although she never liked Jenny, and Santana's ex-girlfriend always treated her in an indifferent and unfriendly way, Jenny was still a person Mercedes knew and who was part of the everyday landscape. The journalist put her hand to her mouth. "I just left the hospital when Quinn texted me."
"You don't know the worst: we saw Rachel pass by just now. It looks like she is suspected of murdering Jenny."
"Santana is definitely going to freak out. Did you warn anyone?" Mercedes asked.
"You… now."
"We need a plan. We need Marley and her lawyer friend." Mercedes typed another message for Marley, who offered to stay with Santana at the hospital.
"You need to calm down." George held the friends. "The worst thing you can do is make decisions in the heat of emotions..."
Suddenly, some of the building's glass burst, causing them, as well as other people, to bend down and protect their heads from the splinters. In the next moment, there was a silence caused by bewilderment. It was as if a bomb had gone off inside the building. Artie and Mercedes looked at each other and didn't have to say a word to understand what the other was thinking: Rachel couldn't take the pressure.
…
Rachel looked around and saw the damage she had just done. The detective was unconscious, the lamp was broken, the door to the room was open and damaged, the bulletproof glass / mirror was cracked and the handcuff was broken. Rachel thought about the options she had. Despite the lack of control she had some training and knew how to direct the energy. Maybe She could run. Rachel took advantage of the moment of confusion and ran. She saw that the cops were stunned, and tried to take advantage. An officer pointed the gun at her and Rachel gestured with her hands, releasing energy. There was an exit at the back of the station, where she ran. She heard screams and voices behind her, then turned as soon as she reached the door. The actress got into one of the police cars. The cop's fool kept the keys in the glove compartment. Rachel turned on the ignition and stepped on the gas, almost running over none other than Mercedes on the way. What followed promised to be a spectacular chase, but two vehicles blocked the fugitive, and Rachel's impulse would end right there.
"Get out of the car slowly with your hands up!" The police surrounded the vehicle.
Rachel thought about options and probabilities. In her mind, the most obvious case would be that she would end up dead if she resisted. She raised her hands, but remained seated. A policeman approached with the gun drawn, opened the door and pulled it out of the car. Rachel fell to the floor, scraped her arm and chin. Those people didn't care anymore.
"Quiet there, vigilante." A cop put a knee on her back, pressed her face against the cement floor, which was painful, and handcuffed her.
With brutally, the cops lifted her up and took her back to the building. Mercedes, Artie and George witnessed everything. The two more veteran vigilante were concerned about the situation. Even though Rachel was innocent, she had just signed a blank plea of guilt.
"We have to call Marley now." Artie was terrified.
"No." Mercedes restrained his friend. "We are going to help Rachel, only in another way and at another time. Quinn is right: she is not one of us."
"What are we going to do, then?"
"Do you still have Kurt's phone number?"