Thanks for the reviews since the previous chapter: Guest, YourInnate, Monichanz, djsmith10186, Ilianalovee, Nightlancer600, Guest, ToastedMarshmello08, bigbangfan91, RaindowSmurfette, piecesofyourheart, supernena25, Devin Jaste, sdiaz, agirl002, lemon-rind, wkgreen, VickiiMadd, cressey, NZgleek91, faberryloving, PraiseFortheFallen, LoveSKINS94, Bury me in satin, boston blue, General Mac, Kirky123, Kutee (for ch 11, 12 &14), Flor88, Gleelover47 and FaberryBRA
Hey, sorry this would have been up yesterday but I got stranded in a little village for 5 hours when me and my car got hit by a bus
Anyway, another slow-ish chapter, lots of talking... enjoy
Posted: 9/12/12
The State of Dreaming
"Good evening Director Fury and Agent Hill"
The four girls quickly rose from their seats, not sure if they should be ready to defend themselves or not as the two strangers approached
"Good evening Miss Berry" The dark skinned man in the black clothes said as he walked across the white floor, accompanied by the brunette in the blue uniform "And Miss Fabray" he looked from Rachel to Quinn like he knew them, then to Santana and Brittany as he said "And Miss Lopez and Miss Pierce"
Rachel stepped forward in front of her friends and held her nerves as she asked "Can we help you?"
"Perhaps we can help each other" he said "I am, as your computer told you, Director Fury and this is Agent Hill" he re-introduced as he stopped just in front of her "I'm the director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division"
Santana snorted getting everyone to look at her; she just hung her head to avoid their gazes, especially the strangers
"That's a mouth full" Rachel commented, already feeling a little calmer as she'd processed a few things in her head, Fairchild knew them, that must have been a good thing "You need to find a better name"
Fury smiled to himself while Agent Hill spoke up "We have one, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. And we're on your side"
"Oh clever" Rachel nodded "How do you know who we are?"
"We've been searching for you" Agent Hill told them
"More specifically yourself and Miss Fabray" At the man's words the two mentioned girls looked at one another with furrowed brows
Santana and Brittany were too intrigued to feel left out just yet.
"What's this all about?" Rachel asked
"It's about your parents" Everything lately seemed to lead back to parents, so maybe that's why they didn't act too surprised
"Maybe we should all sit, then talk about... whatever it is" Quinn shyly suggested. She just got various nods in agreement
Director Fury was offered the desk chair which he took. Agent Hill was happy to stand next to him, her hands behind her back as she stood with her feet slightly parted as if to make herself look more intimidating. The gun on her hip did that enough for her though.
Santana and Quinn sat on the sofa, Brittany then inappropriately jumped on Santana's lap with a giggle, getting a smile from Santana and only slightly strange looks from the guests before Santana gently pushed her off onto the space next to her. Rachel sat on a stool next to the sofa opposite their guests
Once they were all settled the director looked to Rachel with his good eye "Shall we start with Rachel?"
"You gave me this didn't you, the facility" Rachel gestured to the area around them. Her mind had had enough time for her computing mind to process everything from the fast few minutes "That's why Fairchild knew who you were"
"You chose to call her Fairchild?"
"I gave her a slight, mild, variable programme, so she chose it when she didn't like what I wanted to call her" she shrugged "Why did you give me this... and how did you break into my basement?"
"Breaking into your basement was very easy for our technology" Agent Hill said with an intimidating smirk that Rachel chose to ignore
"As for the base, we gave it to you for security so you could keep your suit here and practice here safely without being seen or interrupted. After your time in hospital and the records and reports filed we found you. You were reported missing 3 months after you were born-"
"After my mother and I were attacked by the Purifiers" she cut in, wanting them to know she was already aware of this
"So you already know?" he raised his eyebrow over his good eye, intrigued to know what she'd learnt
"I know a few things" she said strongly
"Enlighten us, we could save some time" he encouraged as he leant back in the high back chair
"I know we were attacked and Leroy took me away saying that couldn't kill me because I was like her. I don't know anything about her but she was a mutant wasn't she?"
"Yes, her name was Shelby Corcoran, she was a professor at 'Xavier's Institute for higher learning'. She was a shape-shifter"
"And Judy Fabray killed her" Rachel added lowly
Quinn's eyes widened as Rachel said that, she looked to the brunette "God, Rachel I'm so sorry"
Rachel furrowed her brow "Quinn you have nothing to apologise for, you are not their daughter and you are not responsible for them" she tried to assure the blonde who just nodded before bowing her head
"That's the truth then, she was murdered by a Purifier?"
"Yes, strangled in her sleep" As Rachel said that she noticed Quinn look to the brunette's neck, still bruised from where she'd held her. Quinn shivered, Rachel said Judy wasn't her mother but she felt a similarity in that.
"The report she simply passed away, as if from a broken heart form losing you. That was the story that was pushed forward" The Director explained "That means her fiancé and your father covered the death, probably to protect what little he had left, and to not worry his company that he might have been targeted too"
"And who is my father?" she tried to keep a straight face and not let her mouth say what she already imagined in case she was wrong
"Tony Stark"
There wasn't as much surprise from the four teens as there should have been. Quinn was the most surprised and that was still only partial, she doubted there were many people who could build an arc reactor and a piloted robot suit of armour and be perhaps stupid enough to tampered with something set in their chest that was keeping them alive.
"After you both 'died' he started his playboy lifestyle he continued with his work too, but he changed when he was captured in Afghanistan. Agent Hill, if you could please download the files"
"Yes sir" the Agent stepped round her superior and to the computer at the desk, she quickly gained access by over riding the system. Rachel rolled her eyes not so subtly. "Any extra information you might need is here, its just some basic files, on Stark, over the past couple of years, things you would have already seen on the news with some truths"
"Oh Rachel wasn't allowed to read or watch any news sites of channels" Brittany said confidently, as if she'd answered a question she knew the answer to.
When the director and agent looked back to the brunette being spoken about she waved dismissively "My daddy- um Leroy forbade me... I guess we know why now" she shrugged and hoped she didn't look as hurt as she felt.
The Director turned his attention to the two of the girls on the sofa the tall blonde and the Latina who were not so subtly holding hands "As for you two, Miss Lopez and Miss Pierce, you weren't initially on our radar although your presence is not unwelcome. It seems Miss Berry here may have set up her own team"
"Team, no, we're not a team, they are not my team. I'm not being responsible for her" Rachel pointed at the Latina who just folded her arms and huffed like a 5 year old "See"
"It seems in one night the four of you have made quiet an impact to the purifiers in the area, we want Santana and Brittany to stay with you, and work with you Rachel" the Director informed her "In the files Agent Hill is downloading from our main computers are some identities for them"
"Identities?" Santana asked worried "Do we need to go into hiding?"
"No, its just the Mutants take... nicknames to hide their true ones, some of them because they prefer to use them over the ones their parents gave them. Not all parents are so accepting when their child's mutation develops"
"So a superhero name" Brittany asked excitedly
"If that's what you would like to call it"
"Cool" Santana's eyes brightened up "What are ours?"
"I'll check" Agent hill accessed the correct files in what she'd just downloaded and found them "Santana Lopez, Pyrokinetic, your name is Blaze. And Brittany Pierce, Empath, your name is Wolf"
"Wolf?" Brittany asked confused
"Blaze" Santana whispered it to herself, liking it very much
"We've see the footage, of you killing those two men Miss Pierce" Director Fury informed them
"There was footage?" Rachel was annoyed with herself for not thinking to look for evidence like that already
"You're like a wolf in sheep's clothing, people are sure to deceive you Miss Pierce. You could fight with the strategy of a pack"
"You plan for them to be your weapons then" Quinn interrupted
"Only if the earth is in danger and we need you"
"'you'?" Quinn echoed "As in me too?"
"Exactly, now we come to you, Miss Fabray"
"Me? I have a mutation?" she half asked, having only just learnt plainly what that meant from these two people telling Santana and Brittany the few things they might have needed or wanted to know.
"No, you are something far greater, something far more powerful. You are the owner of Mjölnira which makes you someone very important" for the first time since they met him, Fury had something twinkling in his eye, like a passion for what he was talking about. Maybe it was Quinn's uncharacteristic weak and unsure demeanour, maybe he was just being softer on her.
"What then, I have a strength I didn't have before and I could use electricity, like lightning, like I was manipulating it" she wasn't comfortable talking yet, that was evident by the tremble in her voice, she still felt idiotic when talking about the subject like she was a child carried away with a playground game
Agent Hill volunteered to start the long explanation "We found a signal that disappeared on Saturday and we believe we know why. The signal was connected to you from another world. In simplified terms it was a spell"
"Like a fairy tale" Brittany's ears and eyes pricked up
"Kind of, we were able to track and decode the spell, or if you prefer signal, and we found it was also a voice recording, so of the spell itself"
"What did it say?" Rachel asked when she saw Quinn was too distracted
Agent Hill just turned the screen for Rachel to read. After a second of silence and a clearing of a throat from Santana Rachel rolled her eyes and began reading out loud.
She strained her eyes to read what was before her "No mere child can over throw me. The throne is mine. Thora, Little Baby Thora. Your father will not stop me and neither will you. You will forget. You will cease to be. Thora will be bound. Only with... True love... and a first kiss... Only then... Will Mjölnira find its way... And can you be unleashed from this cage... Now I send you away, far away from here, where you have no hope. No life like this. And no way to unite with your intended love, for he is not of that place..."
"I don't understand" Quinn muttered with a furrowed brow. The words were odd and alien yet at the same time she felt like she had heard them before, like whispers in her dreams.
"Sounds like some freak, writing shit poetry or a plot for some nerdy online game full of trolls and unicorns" Santana huffed, but no one else found it funny, not at a time like this.
"Actually" Agent Hill continued with that monotone voice "We recognise this as Loki's work, it was his voice on the recording. We are worried he will come here now that Thora has been unleashed"
"Who's Thora?" the shorter blonde asked getting everyone to slowly turn their heads and look at her "What?"
"Quinn" Rachel glanced at the Director to make sure she was thinking correctly, he gave her a slight nod of encouragement "Quinn, you're Thora"
"The signal disappeared Saturday, so that was when Loki's spell was broken" they were still all looking at Quinn
"I-I, this doesn't make sense, me Thora? As in..."
"The daughter of Thor, the Demi God"
Quinn immediately scoffed and shook her head "no, no that's ridiculous, because that would mean I wasn't- I'm not h-human, and I, I..."
"Exactly, Thor is your father" Fury continued, his words confident
She had a father, as strange and unbelievable as that was it was almost comforting to hear from these strangers. Russell may have raised her but he wasn't her blood. She should have known that when she'd never felt comfortable with him, they never agreed, and no matter how hard she tried she never felt she was good enough in his eyes. "A-and my mother?" Curiosity took over her senses for a moment
"He told us himself, Lady Sif is your mother"
"H-he told you?" she really hated herself for stuttering but taking in all this information and still wanting more, made it hard to compose herself
"When he was last on this planet he told us. At first he and Lady Sif had searched everywhere they could think of for you. They both have a fondness for Earth so it was not obvious to them you were here. Over time they could no longer feel your existence, so they reluctantly believed you were dead" The Director tried to explain clearly, but it was a lot to take in "And until an incident two years ago that lead to the near total destruction of New York City, he believed Loki, the only one he suspected of removing you from Asgard to be dead. Although he didn't believe Loki capable until a few years before when they thought they'd lost him. Their progress in the continuation of finding you had been slow so Thor asked us to look into it. 6 months ago we locked onto the signal when it interfered without transmission technology"
"So that stuff that happened in New York it wasn't a hoe?"
"Hoax!" Santana yelped over Brittany
"No, it was real, we ensured the clean up, though expensive was quick, it took 7 months to restore the city"
"So let me get this straight? Q, became Thora when she got kissed by her supposed true love" When Agent Hill just nodded Santana laughed, she composed herself enough to ask "And that happened Saturday?" but a smile was still on her lips and in her eyes
"The signal disappeared Saturday so we can only assume" Agent Hill told her
Santana looked to Rachel with a smirk.
"What?" The shortest brunette asked, innocently.
"Santana shut up" Quinn grumbled from next to the Latina. She already knew what she was trying to imply, she didn't want to push that idea now, not with people around her
"What Quinnie, don't want our guests knowing that you kissed Rachel Saturday" Santana couldn't help herself as she teased.
"She kissed me" she snapped back lowly, keeping her eyes on the floor
"That's true, I kissed her" Rachel agreed, not afraid to admit it
"You're avoiding the point. You two kissed... and Thora was unleashed" Santana was just trying to spell out the obvious. She heard Brittany gasp next to her as she figured it out, Quinn already knew what Santana was implying and deep down it made sense, but she was afraid to say it out loud
"Well that actually makes sense" Agent Hill again stepped in getting everyone's attention
"What makes sense?" Santana pushed as no one else was ready to speak, too busy thinking and processing and trying to accept what they were being told.
"The under code of the signal- Spell" The agent corrected herself, so she didn't confuse anyone "Was that Loki believed Thora's soul mate wasn't on Earth, that he wasn't on earth. Now we can see why, it's because there was no he but a she"
"This is ridiculous" Quinn murmured "completely ridiculous, it doesn't make any sense. One minute I'm home, each day I get up take care of Beth go to school, work... the same routine everyday and now I find out that some girl who I thought was my closest friend, built an identical replica of the Iron Man suit, her biological fathers suit" she looked up to her audience, tears stinging her eyes "and then two of my old friends are... mutants? And that everything I have known is a lie, my parents" she scoffed and wiped at the few tears that fell. They all heard the light pitter patter of rain drops on the metal roof above them, but ignored it "No, no you got it a-all wrong it can't be me it just can't"
"It rains when you cry" The Director said plainly
"I don't always cry when it rains" she scoffed
"No but it starts raining when you cry, at least since Rachel has been in your life. Being near her may have weakened Loki's spell"
Quinn thought, long and hard. She hadn't been aware if it was raining when she was crying but then she thought back to just over a year ago, when she was crying about being pregnant and she ran to her car, that time when crazy Terri Schuester showed up and tried to basically take that baby from her. It was raining then.
It was raining the other day when she was crying alone in her apartment feeling hollow after Puck had taken Beth and maybe for another reason, just before the only other face she wanted to see other than Beth showed up at her door.
And now, as she wiped away at the last few tears as they ran down her face the rain hitting the roof high above them ceased.
"Do you see it now; you are Thora, daughter of Thor and Lady Sif, and the beholder of Mjölnira, the hammer forged by Thor and Mjölnir."
Quinn's head snapped up to the director "Those words!"
"What words?"
"When I found-" she started excitedly but then faltered and started softer "I thought it was a dream, but I found the hammer- Mjölnira, I found it in a clearing in the woods... I heard a voice"
"Do you remember what it said?"
"I think so" she closed her eyes and searched her memories as they all waited patiently. Quinn sounded like she was beginning to accept what she was being told "Mjölnira, the hammer forged by Thor and Mjölnir themselves. Whoever can wield this hammer will wield the power of Thora, true daughter of Thor" Quinn quoted, she opened her eyes and Rachel was the first to notice, even though she was furthest from the other girl, they were brighter than usual, and not just in colour but realisation
"You see it now?"
"I-I don't know, what you say feels familiar but..." she swallowed audibly as she tried to remain calm. Rachel got up and walked round the back of the sofa "it's going to take some time before I can... accept this I guess" Rachel slid her hand over Quinn's that was gripping the arm rest
"It's okay Quinn, we can help you through this. It's been a lot for you to take in over the past twenty four hours" Rachel assured her, giving her hand a squeeze "Why have you come to tell us all this?"
"We fear now the signal has been lost, Loki's spell broken he may come here to finished what he started" The agent informed them as she went to stand beside her superior again "He wants to keep Thora away from the throne, she was protected as a baby so he could only send her away and hide her from Thor and Sif"
"But now she's older" Fury added in spoke thought. He then looked to the teens "we need to contact some people, some who are very far away" he stood up and started his leave, back to the black SUV with the agent obediently on his heel
"That's it" Rachel started after them "you're going to drop these bomb shells and leave us" Rachel asked, she looked back to her friends, Santana and Brittany seemed excited about everything but they'd known about some of these things for a couple of weeks, Quinn was just starting at the floor now.
"We will be in contact with you all again, lay low and stay secure until we do" he yelled back to them
"Director Fury?" Rachel called out again
The man stopped halfway back to the car and looked back at his new hopefuls "Yes?"
"Why did you wait until now, to contact us?"
"Our superiors, decided we didn't need to, but after persuading them we were allowed to get in contact" he told her reluctantly, it would have been easier to contact her earlier before blood had been spilt and they had been discovered, "And we would have spoken a few hours ago but we were ensuring the messes from last night were cleaned up" he added, letting them know not to worry about the bodies they left all over town "We will be in contact again soon" he repeated then made his leave again
Once both car door shut with both passengers secure inside the agent in the driver's seat asked her boss "Where to sir?"
"New York, Salem. That's where we'll start. Meanwhile I'll contact the base and have them try to contact Asgard"
"You think something bad is going to happen?" Agent Hill asked as she started the car
"We've already seen what Loki is willing to do for power, he'll flatten Lima to capture Quinn and take her back to Asgard"
"Back?" the driver furrowed her brow as she pulled the car out of the warehouse
"People think the Asgardians as Gods, and therefore immortal"
"Yes I know that sir"
"Well Asgard may be the only place he can kill her"
"So we're preparing for a kidnapping?" The agent presumed
"And maybe a war"
...
"Quinn?" Rachel asked softly. She knelt down in front of the blonde. "Quinn, I get if this is a lot for you to take in, you were the least prepared of all of us"
Santana and Brittany shared a look and silently excused themselves
"My head hurts" Quinn complained "This is crazy" she chuckled as she finally looked up at Rachel
"It's too late to ask if this is a dream I'm afraid" Rachel chuckled back. She couldn't help herself as she reached out and tucked a long strand of blonde hair behind Quinn's ear "What are you thinking?" she asked when she saw the distant gaze in the blonde eyes
"I was thinking... I-I just want to sleep, to be alone so I can think this through"
"Oh, okay" Rachel released her hand from Quinn's. Neither had noticed that their hands had found each other until Rachel pulled away "I'll leave you then... we'll search through the downloads they gave us and learn some more tomorrow"
"Okay" the blonde muttered
"Sleep well Quinn" she hid her sadness. It was stupid to hope Quinn would have run into her arms after being told about her life by other people.
"Rachel?" she heard Quinn ask, getting her to stop by the opposite end of the sofa "Do you believe the... spell. Do you think it could be real, all the true love... stuff?" she cautiously looked to Rachel to gauge her reaction
"I don't know" she replied honestly "We're dealing with things we never knew existed, anything could be true" she saw Quinn just bow her head again and star at her hands "But from where I am, I don't think is such a bad thing if it's true" she left her alone with that thought, letting Quinn know she was there for her "Good night Quinn" she called back as she went back to the living quarters to mull over everything they had learnt this evening.
Quinn was left alone, with her thoughts and self dislike. Why did she have to be stubborn, why couldn't she just decide things for herself. No when it came to this subject she was full of self doubt and now a couple of strangers, who could have escaped from some nut house for all they knew, came in here and told her more than she knew about herself and she was just supposed to accept it?
She wanted so much to have the strength to tell someone something, she had enough physical strength to send that same person through two walls and down a road, but when it came to talking, after the past they'd had Quinn just felt undeserving of any time Rachel bothered to spend with her.
She sighed to herself and curled up in the corner of that sofa, and while she was alone she could get all that thinking done.
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