Thanks for the Reviews and Comments since the previous chapter: kag. san. in. love. 4eva, General Mac, ShadowCub, Renee89, BonesFABERRY, ZZ9PluralZAlpha, ToastenMarshmellow08, Ilianalovee, NZgleek91, VickiiMadd, Melody21, boston blue, HiddenBetweenTheLines, djsmith10186, faberryloving, Gardenia2, Volerian, wkgreen, Gleelover47, Guest, LoveSKINS94, Devin Jaste and agirl002
Again to Wheelie91 who has played a major role in the creation of the plot... as in came up with 90%+ of it, thanks for asking me to write this ;)
Posted: 25/11/12
Lightning
Rachel yawned, loudly, as she sat at her computer. She was looking at stats for her suit, checking for damages, weaknesses and even opportunities for simple upgrades, only simple ones though. She didn't want to reconstruct anything, it might take days and in that time space she might need the suit, so it was better to have it ready to use at any moment.
Spending time on the suit wasn't what had her tired though; it was the juggling the time between her four main projects, five if she included school. Quinn, Santana and Brittany (which were a package deal) and the purifiers was keeping her busy enough, the fourth project: the suit development, had taken a back seat since the previous Monday. It was now Saturday morning and she had some time
"Late night with Q?" Santana asked from somewhere behind her. The space was warmer than it should have been so Santana was playing with fire... as usual. Rachel could normally hear her manipulating fire but the fluttering noise from the flame had blended with the hum of the air filtering system in the warehouse and she couldn't notice the difference anymore.
"We played with Beth, then watched some movies. I bought us dinner, just the usual" she shrugged, missing the glances with the sly smiles Santana and Brittany were giving each other.
"So Berry, I was thinking, and I'm ready" the Latina stated confidently
"Ready for what? To come out?" Rachel huffed a short laugh at her own joke. She turned on her stool to face the open floor of the base and the two other girls
"Funny" Santana sneered humourlessly "You already know we were outed to the entire school, which ended with me and Britts quitting Cheerios so we now spend all our time here hanging with you" there was no need to remind Rachel of that; she knew, she'd been there
"Oh, I feel so honoured" Rachel sighed sarcastically as she leant back on the lip of her desk behind her, supporting herself on her elbows "What are you ready for then?"
"For my superhero name and costume" she said like it was obvious
"Why? You need a better Halloween costume for next year?" the shorter brunette teased
"No, I wants to join you in whatever it is you're doing"
"Ooh me too" Brittany chimed in
Rachel just scoffed "What makes you think I'm going to allow you to help?"
"Oh please Berry, I'll be fire bitch and you can be all tin man and we'll have those fuckers in their place"
Rachel just shook her head and sighed again "No way" it was that simple, she didn't want to be responsible for another life like that.
"Then what was the point of letting me train"
"So you don't set someone of fire by accident. You tend to be more likely to light up when you're excited, do you want to burn Brittany?" putting the innocent blonde in the picture should have given Santana more perspective on the reality of the situation... and it did
"You don't get it do you? Those bastards tried to kill us too, if you're going after them, then so am I, you got no choice Berry, I'm your new partner"
"Sure you are" she rolled her eyes with this portion of sarcasm.
Santana folded her arms, a signature move when she was about to play her top card "Fairchild tell her"
"You're using my own companion against me now?"
"Miss, it appears Super Bitch Santana wishes to join you in your mission. I have noted through my observations that she is now very attune to her abilities and you can trust her. I detect no betrayal or deception in her voice"
"Thank you Fairchild" Santana thanked smugly
"'Super Bitch Santana'? You messed with my companion?" the smirk still plastered on the fiery girls face gave her the answer she already didn't need "I knew that variable programme was a bad idea" she muttered to herself before swivelling round on her stool turning back to her computer.
"Oh come on" the Latina tried again "I just need a super hero name and costume and I'll be ready to kick-ass by your side" she stated with her usual confidence.
Rachel snapped her head back round to look at her irritating friend (?) "Okay" Rachel was using sarcasm again "how about some red spandex and a 'No way in Hell!'" she yelled "You think it's easy? I haven't even face that much yet and I'm terrified of what could happen to me. I don't need your life in my hands too"
"But-"
"And I know your capable" Rachel kept going before Santana could cut in "But this is my responsibility"
"And who decided that?" Santana just kept pushing while Brittany watched their verbal back and forth from the side lines
"I did. I wouldn't even know where to begin with a suitable armour for you and as for your name, don't know if you noticed but you don't get to pick, you're just given it" she turned back to her computer again and muttered "I mean they were calling me 'Iron Man' for a few weeks, so sexist to assume it was a man. At least they've got it right now"
Brittany looked at Santana confused, everyone knew about Iron Man didn't they, so why wouldn't they assume it was him in his supposed one of a kind suit
"We thought it was Iron Man" Brittany said timidly
"Huh?" Rachel looked to the blonde with her unintelligent noise question.
"We thought it was Iron Man" she repeated... and people called her stupid
"Who's Iron Man?"
Santana just started at her incredulously. Sure the local news had tried to cover it all as a hoax but when you hear about weird things happening so often you start to believe a few of them, and this stark guy had been in the news so often it couldn't have been a hoax.
"You don't know who 'Iron Man' is?" Santana asked and Rachel just shook her head "That weapons guy, Stark?" again she shook her head "You really need to read more" she sighed
"What are you talking about?" Rachel furrowed her brow with irritated confusion.
"Iron Man... I-I thought that's where you got the suit from but then you said you made it so I assumed that's where you got the idea" but they'd never got to finish talking about it "I mean Hell Berry, you've even both got those weird things in your chest"
"I made this myself" she tapped the arc reactor through her black vest top "and the suit, it's my design" she said very convincingly
"You should look it up sometime" Brittany suggested like it wasn't a big deal
Santana went to open her mouth, to tell Rachel to look it up now but Rachel spoke first "You've distracted me, back to my earlier point, no Santana, you're not becoming a-a Super hero or whatever you want to call it"
She heard the strong, confident footsteps of Santana as she approached "I'm serious Rachel, I want to help" the Latina said in a surprisingly soft tone.
"I know... it's just not a good idea, I can't let you get involved in this mess" she kept her eyes on the screens ahead of her
"You don't even know what's going on yet. And look around you, we are involved" she leant over Rachel's shoulder so she couldn't avoid her
"Please Rach, we just want to help" she heard Brittany pout on the other side of her
"Brittany" she looked up at the girl standing to her left, her tone softened when she looked into those blue eyes. Was it an ability the blonde had, or just the innocence on her face that calmed Rachel...? Brittany wasn't touching her. "You're ability is more mental... psychological. I don't think you being in any place where physical... um fighting is needed would be... practical" she tried to explain "These people are dangerous and will have lots of weapons" Brittany just blinked down at her blankly
"She doesn't want you to get hurt because you're powers are more to do with peoples thoughts than fighting" Santana quickly explained
"Oh" the blonde girl hummed in realisation
"And I don't want you to get hurt either" Santana added quickly, letting her... still kinda friend who she was dating and not much else at the moment, know she cared for her too
"Well, we'll need to resume this discussion later, I'm heading over to Quinn's now" she said as she locked the computer "I'd appreciate it if you left too, I don't want you setting the place on fire"
"That's okay, I was gonna take Britt out on a date later" Santana said casually. Brittany's expression brightening didn't go unnoticed. "So how are things going with momma and baby Fabray?"
"They're good, Beth is so sweet" she smiled to herself "When Quinn feeds her when she's holding her, she wiggles her little toes, it's the cutest thing" she glanced up at Santana as she spoke, when she saw the smirk and the arched eyebrow on the Latina's face the smile dropped off her own "she feeds her with a bottle now" Rachel snapped
"Hey" Santana held her hands up in surrender "You were the one who was thinking about it"
"I was not" she spat back as she tried to also hold back from blushing at the ideas Santana had put in her head
"Whatever" Santana said dismissively "... How's things with Quinn?" she tried to ask casually
Rachel sighed heavily "I don't know, I think she's annoyed with me, the past week she'd been acting a little... differently"
"Oh please" Santana just scoffed, quickly growing impatient "you two are like a jealous couple"
"What are you talking about?" was Rachel really that oblivious?
"Really?" Santana looked at Rachel disbelieving "She doesn't like your attention being anywhere else but on her. You spent so much time this week with her, making it up to her for not being around for 3 weeks before that I wouldn't be surprised if Beth started calling you momma"
"Beth's actually slow on the speaking development; she barely calls Quinn a coherent form of that word" She commented factually, and subconsciously trying to distract the two teen mutants from what they were actually talking about
"Whatever Berry, you're avoiding the point"
"And what is your point?"
"You like her" She told Rachel bluntly "you probably always have in a nerdy lesbian way, but you like her, and she might just like you too"
"You're already like girlfriends only without kisses and sex" Brittany thought that explanation was necessary
"She's right, you're like a couple without the fun" And Santana felt that was necessary too
"You two are delusional" Rachel breathed dismissively
"No, you're just too busy playing super hero and being way too nice to us to see it" Santana said as she sat on the desk next to Rachel
"Did she ever ask you the question?" Brittany asked, referring back to what they'd talked about last week
"What question?" Rachel obviously didn't remember
"Yeah, what question?" Santana echoed, as she hadn't been in on the last discussion
"I don't know, Quinn just wanted to ask Rachel something, I could feel it" Brittany simply explained
"No she didn't... I don't think" Rachel searched her mind of her time with Quinn over the previous week, there was nothing there that she could think of as an important question. It had been a pretty normal week around Quinn and spending time with her. In fact she'd hardly worked on her suit or gone out in it because she'd been distracted "No, she didn't ask me anything important. But maybe she suspects something, with Iron Girl being in the news papers she might wonder if its me"
"Why would that be it?"
"Well she knows about my Arc reactor"
"How comes she knows?"
"Beth spat up on me... months ago. I was changing out of my sweater when she accidentally walked in on me, it was the first thing she saw, it's kinda hard to miss"
"Are you sure she wasn't staring at something else?" Santana raised an eyebrow as she smirked
"No" Rachel replied dryly "She was looking at the thing in my chest that shouldn't be there" she saw Santana, still wearing that smirk, open her mouth to make a smart comment so she cut her off "And by 'thing' I mean the arc reactor!"
"Fine" Santana huffed "What did you tell her when she saw it anyway?"
"I told her a part truth that it was to keep my heart beating. But I didn't tell her that I made the one that's in my chest right now, I let her believe it was the same one I was given in the hospital"
"And then what?"
"Nothing really... we don't talk about it. Not that I blame her" Rachel muttered the last part lowly, not that it mattered with the other girls so close by "Look, I have to get going now" She got up and grabbed her jacket from the wall peg by her desk "Make sure you lock up" she called out as she walked across the warehouse floor.
"We will" she heard them yell in unison as she walked away
She pulled her car key from her jacket pocket to unlock her Lexus, which was parked next to Santana's car which they'd now fixed
"Fairchild, make sure they lock up" she called out again as she smirked
"Yes Miss"
...
"Hey you made it" Quinn beamed at her friend when she opened the door to her apartment to her
"Of course I did" Rachel smiled too, but it was hiding the worry, what did Quinn mean exactly "Its Saturday"
"Well you missed the last few" and there was the dig Rachel had been expecting
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that" she said genuinely
"It doesn't matter" Quinn waved it off "Come in"
Rachel shut the front door behind her and routinely took her jacket off and hung it up "How was Beth this morning?" she asked casually as she joined Quinn in the kitchen area. She found the blonde standing at the sink with her back to her.
"Yeah Beth was... Beth. She slept through the night after you left and was okay this morning" She saw Quinn shrug.
"Is something wrong?" Rachel asked as she stepped closer tentatively.
Quinn stopped what she was doing; she dropped whatever she was holding back into the sink and dried her hands on a dish towel "Can I ask you something?"
Rachel's ears perked up at Quinn's words; maybe this was what Brittany was talking about "Anything"
"Why are you friends with Santana and Brittany all of a sudden?" okay... that wasn't quite what Rachel had been expecting. A recent conversation with the two girls mentioned in the question actually had Rachel, who didn't want to deny things any longer, hoping for a different type of question.
"It's, ah, complicated"
"I thought our friendship was complicated" she chuckled slightly "I'm a bitch to you, you're nice to me, doesn't make sense does it."
"A lot of things don't make sense" Rachel muttered "I know I haven't been a great friend lately, but they've had some trouble... I was just helping them out. But I'm here for you again Quinn" she told her
"Are you?" she didn't think she'd ever heard Quinn sound so vulnerable, even when she was pregnant "It's just... you are a great friend, but" she closed her eyes as she prepared to say this "I know I don't have a right to say... but you haven't exactly been consistent with me"
Consistent, what was this? A relationship "I know" Rachel conceded "I'm sorry I just- I'm here for you again now"
"It's just" she kept her head ducked as she wrung the dish towel in her hands as she leant against the kitchen side "I had been thinking- But it doesn't matter now"
"No" Rachel stepped closer "It does matter, tell me"
"It's just" she finally looked up at her friend "I had thought of using that coupon you made for me"
"Yes" Rachel replied quickly "Use it, please" then she wouldn't be worrying about her so much, even though she'd tried to push it to the back of her mind with so many other things she was dealing with. Quinn was stubborn so she'd given up on getting her to sell her car after that awkward Christmas day "Sell your car, I'll be here for you and Beth" she didn't care if she sounded desperate
"I don't know" Quinn hesitated "you're busy now... you have other friends" Rachel easily picked up on the bite to Quinn's words
"They're not my friends the way you are"
"You spend more time with them" Quinn shrugged her point as she turned back to the sink
"But I don't care for them as much as I do for you" Rachel tried to tell her
"Why do you care for me?" Quinn snapped, stepping closer to the brunette, using her height as an advantage to enforce some sort of fear into Rachel "Do you pity me, is that it?"
"Pity?" Rachel shook her head furiously "I don't pity you Quinn, I care for you, a lot and-" She paused when Santana's words from earlier echoed in her head 'You like her... you probably always have in a nerdy lesbian way' she closed the rest of the gap between them to say softly "I want to help you, please let me"
With Quinn so close to her and those Hazel eyes staring so intensely into her own she realised how easy it would be to just kiss her. All the crazy things Santana and Brittany had told her earlier came back to her. She glanced briefly at the soft pink lips in front of her and she wanted so much to just...
She tilted her head slightly and closed the tiny amount of space between them to capture Quinn's lips in soft gentle kiss, it was nothing more than the pressing of lips against lips. When Quinn didn't pull away Rachel pushed a little more, her eyes fluttering closed as she felt Quinn start to move her lips against Rachel's. The shorter girl gently matched the rhythm as one of her hands found its way into Quinn's long blonde hair. She felt Quinn's arms wrap round her, her movement was hesitant but it was still movement, and not to push Rachel away.
Rachel ran her tongue along Quinn's bottom lip and smirked slightly as she heard the blonde moan. That was quickly wiped from her face when she felt Quinn push further, parting her lips for Rachel.
Something about this spontaneous moment felt completely perfect, like she should have been kissing her months ago. With Quinn's body against hers, Quinn's arms wrapped round her, and Quinn's lips moving against her own while their tongues dance sensually, deepening feelings and meaning to the moment, Rachel believed it couldn't have been any better.
It was like she could feel the sparks between them, and a strange power to air around them, like they were untouchable in their sanctuary.
And then just like that she felt two hands that had been on the small of her back now on her shoulders pushing her away and tearing her lips away.
By the time Rachel could open her eyes and comprehend what had happened Quinn had quickly turned her back to Rachel, to resume her chore at the kitchen sink "You should go" she breathed
There was a moment of stunned confused silence from the brunette before she tried to speak "But Quinn-"
"No" she said more firmly as she dropped a plate back into the sink with a loud clank "just go"
"B-but you, you kissed me back" she said, still able to feel Quinn's lips on her own
"No I didn't" she swiftly turned back to Rachel, like she had done before but she kept her distance this time "I can't- I can't-"
"You can't what?" Rachel snapped, they couldn't not talk about it. Sure she hadn't been close to Quinn in recent weeks but she wasn't avoiding Quinn and she didn't want Quinn to start avoiding her
"I-I just can't" her eyes were shiny "Now go. Please" she stressed the last word
"We need to talk about this"
Rachel wasn't getting the message so Quinn started pushing her towards the front door "No we really don't because there's nothing to talk about"
"How can there be nothing to talk about, I kissed you and you didn't just push me away" She pushed her own back against the front door so Quinn couldn't open it.
"Well I am now, I'm just really stressed and confused and I need you to go" she reached for the door handle and tugged at it, only to have Rachel shut it again by pushing it with her back
"Tell me you didn't like it" the shorter girl had a smirk-y look in her eye that Quinn really didn't like
"I didn't like it" She said without hesitation "What is with you? You're spending too much time with Santana" she accused
"Why are you bringing her up?"
"Because I was your friend first" she grabbed Rachel's arm roughly and pulled her away from the door "Now leave" she yanked the door open too and shoved Rachel out into the hall
"But-" the door slammed in her face "Quinn I get it, we can forget it, I'm sorry" she heard nothing on the other side of the door "Please, I'm sorry okay, I want to be your friend"
Rachel was relieved when she heard Quinn approaching the door again. She opened her mouth to say something when she was met with a face full of her jacket. She dragged it off her face in time to hear Quinn say
"I don't want to be your friend anymore" she went to slam the door shut again only to stop halfway "And before you make a smart comment, that doesn't mean I want to be anything else with you either" and then the door was shut again. Santana normally made the smart comments, did Quinn really think Rachel had been spending too much time with Santana
Rachel dropped her head and sighed. "I'm going to kill Santana and Brittany" she muttered before reluctantly leaving.
Meanwhile on the other side of the door:
Quinn couldn't believe she'd just let that happen, that kiss had left her a shaking mess, she shouldn't have let it get so far, she shouldn't have pushed it. But she didn't and now she was trembling.
Quinn tried to steady herself, return to the dishes when she felt faint. She grabbed the edge of the counter to steady herself. She touched her forehead, finding a film of cold sweat there. Her breathing became shaky as her muscles weakened, her hearing faded, then her vision. Her stomach twisted and tightened making her feel like she was about to throw up.
Instead she felt herself falling into a pit of darkness, she never felt herself reach the bottom.
...
When Quinn woke she felt nothing, no pain, no aches, no sickness. She climbed out of her bed, as soon as she was standing she saw a flash of something behind her eye lids.
She stopped worried that she'd got a head rush from standing too quickly, she grabbed onto the dresser next to her to support herself as she saw a flash of something again.
This time it was clearer, it looked like a comet falling to the earth. It made her feel like she was falling again, as if she was with the comet. That feeling made her open her eyes again to the darkness of her bedroom, and again she felt okay.
Her throat was dry though she wanted water. As she headed towards the kitchen area in the corner she felt a pull to the front door. Her mind and feet turned to the door and led her in that direction. She stopped to slip on a pair of worn sneakers and grabbed her coat before she headed out into the night.
Quinn didn't know where she was going, but something inside her did as she got in her car and just drove... and drove. She then found herself on the outskirts of town, parked by a wooded area. One part of her asked herself what was she doing here, but a stronger part of her made her get out of the car and walk
She walked through silence, only the snapping of twigs and crunch of frozen winter leaves under her feet to keep her company as she delved deeper into the woods. The icy cold air nipped at her extremities, she hadn't thought to pick up gloves, she hadn't even done up her coat. And even now she didn't she just kept walking until she reached a clearing.
Quinn looked up to the sky and she saw it again as she blinked: The comet that fell to the sky, this time she welcomed the falling feeling. With her eyes closed she followed the image of the falling rock to the ground. As she opened her eyes again she was staring at the ground in front of her.
Again she was drawn to the spot. She rushed forward and dropped to her knees to scrape away at the dirt with her bare hands. It didn't take long, just under a thin layer of dirt her hand met something more solid. Her hand immediately seized whatever it was, and with her grip firm she pulled it out of the ground
She raised the hammer above her head as she stood slowly. The hammer was the size of a sledge hammer but with a bigger head. One side was square and solid the other side shaped like the head of an axe, sharp and curved.
As she stood tall with the hammer over her, the heaven opened up above. Lighting struck down around her until one bolt collided with the hammer. The electricity flowed down her body as the wind around her picked up.
Quinn didn't panic, she embraced everything she felt even when her clothes started to change, the old ones were torn away as they were replaced with something new, that looked like it had come from another age.
A light weight metal and leather armour layered itself over her skin. The armour was as light as the hammer she held. A red cape wrapped itself to her and she felt something settle on her head. A metal loop, like a crown which was finished with two silver wing shaped pieces on either side.
Suddenly words echoed in her head, but she felt like they were coming from the hammer, or even the lightening that still struck her. The voice was deep, mysterious but comforting to this teenager.
"Mjölnira, the hammer forged by Thor and Mjölnir themselves. Whoever can wield this hammer will wield the power of Thora, true daughter of Thor"
And with another crackle of thunder-
Quinn woke to find herself face down on her bed. She raised her face off her pillow and squeezed her eyes shut tightly for a moment, as if to clear them. When she opened them again she realised that she really was on her bed... which was weird because she was sure she passed out in the kitchen.
She slowly sat up and stretched "what a weird dream" she muttered to herself. That's when a flash of lightening lighting the room through the bedroom window behind her, let her catch her reflection in the mirror on the dresser "Holy sh..." she trailed off as she focused on what she was looking at.
The armour, just like in her dream, she was wearing it. And then she realised the hammer... she was holding it loosely in her right hand
...
A flash of lightening immediately followed by the low rumble of thunder disturbed Rachel from her light sleep. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was, she was at the Berry residence in her dark empty basement.
And then she remembered why she had come back here; it was nearer and there was no chance to find Santana and Brittany there, ready to attack them with questions. She knew even thinking seriously about what they'd said was a mistake but then to actually be stupid enough as to kiss Quinn, tired, stressed and confused Quinn... she sighed to herself as she sat up on the edge of her cot bed in the corner of the room
She didn't want to think about it anymore, it was making her feel sick, shaky nervous sick. Quinn would have to face her at some point but Rachel wasn't sure if she was looking forward to that either.
Unable to get any sleep she went over to her old desk and grabbed her old laptop, the one she'd bedazzled and decorated with stickers. She rolled her eyes at her past self for what she'd done to the laptop before taking it back to her bed.
As she sat there and logged on to the old machine she remembered her dad had put various 'parental' locks on it. She'd have to hack them, and thanks to Fairchild she was more familiar with hacking security files. So she might as well give it a shot.
She wanted to look up something Santana and Brittany had mentioned earlier.
She typed in Iron Man in the search bar and various links to news articles came up. She knew she wouldn't be able to access them anyway, but she clicked on one, she planned on battling the security wall head on.
If she'd done this search earlier she would have had no problem, the computers at the base were hers, and her parents didn't know about them. But this basic laptop had been a gift from them, and it had been given to her with all the security put in place.
Was the world outside the end of her street really so horrible that her dad wanted to shield her from it, or was there something else, something bigger going on. Judging by reactions so far, she'd say it was the second thing.
As she battled through the encrypted she felt there something familiar in the style of what she was breaking through, a pattern she'd faced before. She didn't want to think about that right now though, not when she'd just broken in and was staring at the news article she had clicked on.
Article after article, for over 2 hours she read through them, not believing her eyes.
Apparently a man named Tony Stark took over his father's weapon manufacturing company. This man created an arc reactor for his chest, just like hers, only his was based on a design of a much bigger one that had been used in his manufacturing business. She read another article that told her he'd stopped making weapons and was now working on clean energy, inspired by the thing in his chest. She was able to find out that his arc reactor was to protect his heart from shrapnel in his chest.
And then the suit, though his had more weapons, as she saw from video footage caught by 'fans' and demo videos, and his was more... 'showy' as it was painted red and yellow or gold, it wasn't easy to tell on the screen in front of her.
Rachel wasn't sure how to feel after this revelation. She'd made the same things as he did... without knowing they already existed. Even the details were similar...
Rachel eventually exhausted herself with the thoughts and reading and the glare from the screen in the dark room. So she decided to sleep on it and research more in the morning... although she wasn't sure if anything she could read on line was going to help her understand why she had built identical equipment.
...
Sunday had been tough for Quinn. She changed out of the leather/metal armour with cape and... crown, and hid it in her closet with the hammer. It was all so weird, and Quinn knew that, no matter how loudly her mind was telling her everything was right.
Her Sunday morning got worse when she went to open her bedroom door and accidentally tore it off its hinges.
Luckily she had gathered herself and even propped the door up so it didn't look broken just in time for Puck to drop Beth off again.
Once her baby girl was home she found herself able to calm down and try to figure out how and what exactly had happened last night.
...
Monday morning and Rachel decided to get it over and done with, she had to talk to Quinn, she didn't want to wait any longer. At least here Quinn wouldn't make a big scene in front of everyone, it would give away the fact that something had happened.
Luckily it wasn't long before she caught a flash of that long blonde hair out the corner of her eye as she stood by her locker. She looked up the hallway to see Quinn storming away from her. "Quinn" she yelled as she slammed her locker and headed after her.
Quinn just ignored her and kept walking. She hugged the books she was holding tighter to her front and kept her head down as she heard the slapping of footsteps on the linoleum floors trying to catch up with her
"Quinn, wait, I need to talk to you"
"Leave me alone" she yelled back as she kept marching
"No wait" Quinn felt someone grab her wrist and tug her back, she fiercely ripped her hand away from Rachel's grip and finally faced the girl with a fire in her eyes
"What do you want?" she snapped bearing down on the shorter girl
Rachel glanced either side of her to make sure no one was really close "I want to talk about what happened Saturday"
"Well I don't" she started to walk away
"What are you scared of?" Rachel asked, loud enough for the words to echo down the hallway
"Scared!" Quinn scoffed "You think I'm scared?"
"Yeah, you are, why else would you keep running for me. I just want to talk, to straighten things out"
"Evidently there's not much straight about you"
Rachel rolled her eyes dramatically "Real mature Quinn" she folded her arms protectively "You're making such a big deal out of this its as if you've got something to hide" yeah she went there
Like a flash of lightening Quinn had dropped her books on the floor and had Rachel pinned to the lockers, the blonde's hand round her neck. Rachel felt her eyes bulge and pain strain in her chest as she struggled to breathe due to Quinn's hand round her throat so tightly. She stopped struggling when she saw the glow in the other girls eyes.
Quinn must have seen something in Rachel's eyes. It was like a light switch being turned on and an entire room flooding with light. The fear that looked back at her made her own eyes soften. She quickly released Rachel letting her fall to the floor "I'm so sorry" she exhaled lowly before leaving, just as she had tried to do before, only this time without her books. She had to push a few spectators out of the way as she made her escape.
Rachel didn't even notice the two girls step up either side of her until they had grabbed each of her arms to help her up. Once they'd helped Rachel up they looked back down the hallway to catch Quinn shoving another student out of the way before she disappeared round a corner
"What the hell was that all about?"
"I-I don't know" Rachel rasped as she rubbed her throat, which didn't really help "I must have struck a nerve"
Brittany just nodded, not really understanding what Rachel meant, Santana however was thinking... that looked panicked and out of control... maybe Quinn had a secret, a secret like hers and Brittany's.
Quinn went straight to her car, panicked by what happened. It was the power, the strange wonderful power she had obtained from the hammer she'd found in the woods. It had got to her; it had to be because of that, why else would she hurt Rachel? Why would she hurt someone she... cared about?
No it was the whole weird even that had happened that weekend... the hammer not the kiss. She had to clarify that in her mind.
She sighed to herself at a loss on what to do, she couldn't face school right now, not Rachel, or Santana or even Brittany... or anyone else who'd seen her crazy outburst for a little comment, one that matched the accusation she'd just made.
Now Quinn just cringed at her behaviour "it wasn't me" she told herself "It wasn't" she repeated. It was like her anger had been magnified, it was stronger, like when she'd ripped the door of its hinges. She was stronger.
...
Meanwhile across town, her dad wasn't having a much better morning when he got yet another unexpected phone call
"Hello" he then reeled off the usual professional introduction. Leroy wasn't sure why he was the littlest bit surprised when he heard the voice on the other end of the line
"L?"
"Yes R" he sighed heavily down the phone
"We have another assignment for you"
"I can't-" he tried, as always to cut the conversation, wishing it would just end there.
"No you must. If you do this last thing for the good of the organisation, we will let you go"
He thought about it for a second, he looked around the office to make sure no one was observing him before he leant forward against his desk inside his cubicle "... I'm listening"
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