Rachel stayed at the back of the group as they made their way down the tunnel. She wasn't so much angry with Santana as she was frustrated. She still couldn't quite get over the fact that she had been so ready to go off by herself. Again. She just didn't get it. She had really thought that she had finally got through to her this time but apparently not. She just didn't know what more she could do.
She glanced ahead at where Santana and Puck were talking quietly at the front of the procession. She wondered if they were engaged in some sort of debate about who could run off and put themselves in danger next then quickly rolled her eyes, both at her own judgement and that the fact that it would probably come true.
The group was spread out over about twenty feet, Santana and Puck at the front, Jesse some way behind them, and Cara a few feet in front of herself. It had not escaped her notice that Cara and Puck had not spoken since they had caught up to him. Rachel wondered why that was and then realised that six months ago she would probably be trying to draw the girl into conversation to find out. Now, though, she was slightly shocked to discover that she didn't actually care.
Up ahead the two leaders rounded the corner and after a few seconds Rachel heard a splash.
"Puck, hold up a second!" Santana's voice. Rachel hurried towards the corner and quickly took in the scene. The tunnel dropped down here and was filled with water which Puck was now almost waist deep in and moving steadily forward.
"Puck, what are you doing?" She called out to him. The water seemed to be getting deeper the further he went and the middle of the tunnel was dark. She looked up at the ceiling and saw some sort of cable hanging down. Broken lighting track maybe?
"What do you think I'm doing?" Puck stopped and looked back at them. "The door is right over there. What are we waiting for?" He turned back and continued on down the tunnel.
"Might as well check it out. We've come this far." Jesse shrugged at her and jumped down after him.
Rachel peered down the tunnel and could just about make out the shape of a door at the end. Still, she didn't like it.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Santana muttered from beside her. She sighed and tucked her gun back into her belt. Rachel could feel her girlfriend's eyes on her and turned to face her. Her brow was furrowed and her top lip was sticking out a bit, the way it did whenever she got upset. "Rachel, I'm really sorry, okay? It was a stupid thing to do. Please don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad, not really. It's just you keep saying that you're sorry, Santana." She replied softly, shaking her head. "And then I forgive you. And then you do it again."
"But I…"
"No buts. I'm your partner. We're supposed to work together, get through things together." Rachel folded her arms and stared her down. "You can't keep leaving me behind in some misguided belief that you're helping me. I don't need you to protect me, Santana. I never did."
Santana stepped back as if she had been slapped. Rachel was confused until she realised that she had said almost the exact same words Brittany had said to her in the basement.
"Oh God, Santana, I didn't…"
"Forget it." She smiled sadly. "You're absolutely right. We'll talk about it after." She jumped down into the water and headed after Jesse and Puck.
Rachel sighed and cursed herself.
"Nice work." Cara muttered as she dropped down into the water.
"Fuck off." She replied bitterly, following her in. The redhead shot her a look of equal parts anger, surprise and amusement and started off down the tunnel. Rachel followed her slowly, allowing her body to acclimatise to the cold and stench of the water. She didn't want to think about how long it had been sitting here or what kind of filth was gathered below it's murky surface. She flinched as something grazed her leg, raising her hands up and trying to stifle the squeak that was threatening to spill out of her mouth. "Get a grip, Rachel." She muttered to herself as she tried to see what it was. The movement of their five bodies through the water had broken up the layer of scum that covered the surface and as she peered down through the murk she felt it brush her thigh again. Summoning all her courage she reached down with her hand and wrapped it around the slimy object with a feeling of revulsion. She tried to pull it out of the water but it was heavier than she had anticipated, it seemed to be attached to something. She grabbed it with both hands and managed to lift it to the surface. It was some sort of massive cable and as she tried to lift it higher part of it snagged her hand. "Shit!" She swore in pain, dropping it back into the depths with a small splash.
"What?" Cara stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"Nothing, I just cut my hand on...whatever this is."
"Something in the water? Gross, Berry." She started back towards her and swung her bag round to pull something out. "Here, wash it out and cover it up. I don't even want to think about what's in this water. What did you find anyway?"
"I don't know." Rachel replied in irritation, taking the pack off Cara and starting to treat her wound. "Some sort of cable with bits sticking out."
Cara peered down into the water by Rachel's leg and her eyes widened. "Get out." She said quickly, dragging Rachel back the way they had come. "Guys, get out of the water. Now!" She yelled down the tunnel towards the others.
"What are you doing? What is it?" Rachel grabbed hold of the ledge and pulled herself up.
"It's an electrical cable that's been tampered with." Cara said, looking back down the tunnel to see how the others were doing. Puck had already reached the other end and was already climbing out. Jesse was not far behind him but Santana was still in the middle, looking back at Rachel and Cara with a look of concern.
"What's going on?" She called back.
"Cara, it's just a cable, it doesn't mean…" Rachel's thought was cut off by the lights in the tunnel beginning to flicker and an acrid stench rising up from the muck.
"Santana! Grab the cable!" Cara yelled, gesturing to the broken lighting track just above her head. "Get out of the water now!"
Rachel's eyes widened in fear at the urgency in the girl's voice. Cara never showed any kind of emotion and the fact that she sounded, well, scared had Rachel's heart in her mouth. She jumped to her feet and looked at the others. Puck was holding out his hand to Jesse and Santana just seemed frozen in place. The lights flickered once more and went out completely, the sounds of splashing in the tunnel interspersed with the sound of her blood slamming in her ears. Suddenly the space was ablaze with light and a horrific crackling sound. Rachel heard shouting breaking through the place and realised that some of it was coming from her. There was a huge flash from the far end and she struggled to make sense of what she was seeing. Puck was thrown back against the wall and Jesse seemed to be doing some sort of violent backstroke...Her shouting stopped as she realised what was going on and she sank to her knees in horror. Jesse was still in the water. The cable had been activated.
Rachel's hands came up to her face and tears sprang to her eyes as she watched him die, knowing there was nothing she could do to save him. As his body stilled and the smoke rising from it increased Rachel's hands clenched into fists. She tore her eyes away from him and searched the gloom for her girlfriend.
"Santana!" She called out, jumping to her feet. "Santana, where are you?"
"I'm okay!" Came a choked reply from the darkness. "I'm...I think I can make it to Puck."
"Don't even think about it!" Rachel yelled. "Get over here, we have to go back!"
"Rachel…" Santana's voice sounded quietly from the gloom. "I can't."
Slowly Rachel's eyes adjusted and she saw what was going on. Santana was hanging from the lighting track. The part of it she had climbed up had left a five foot gap and Santana was on the wrong side of it. If the track was secure enough to bear her weight she should be able to use it to get to the ledge Puck was on, but there's no way for her to get back to her and Cara.
"Fuck!" Rachel cried out, pacing back and forth at the entrance to the room. "We have to do something. What can we do?"
"Nothing." Cara muttered. "All we can do is watch and hope she doesn't fall."
Rachel glared at her and turned back to where Santana was slowly making her way across the roof. Thanks to the training regimen her years in the Cheerios had instilled in her she had fantastic upper body strength but the bullet wound in her shoulder had definitely had an impact. Add to that the broken finger and the fact that she had been saved from the water because the part of the track she was currently swinging from had fallen down, and Rachel was officially on edge.
"Come on, baby." She whispered, willing the track and her girlfriend to stay strong. She grasped her hands together in front of her face and sent up a silent prayer. Just as she did so Santana started to cough violently. She was directly above Jesse's smoldering corpse and Rachel could see her try and press her face into her arm to block out the smell and the smoke. Her heart lurched as the coughs shaking Santana's body caused the track to start coming away from the ceiling.
"Suck it up, Lopez!" Cara yelled, charging to the edge of the ledge. "Move!"
She didn't move. She just hung there, shaking, coughing, desperately trying to get away from the smell.
"Santana!" Rachel cried out, willing her voice to remain calm and strong. "You can do this, you're almost there. Please, baby, just keep going!"
Finally she started to move again, swinging forward just as the part of the track she had been clinging to broke away and clattered down behind her and smacked her in the back. She cried out in pain and grabbed for the next section, missing slightly as her body was knocked off course. Dangling from her weaker right hand she wiped at her face and tried again, connecting successfully this time, but the force of it wrenched the track away from the ceiling and it began to fall, Santana with it.
Rachel heard herself cry out again and reached forward uselessly as her girlfriend fell towards the water, her body arching forward with everything she had, desperately trying to make the ledge. Rachel's eyes slammed shut against her will as she waited for the splash.
Instead she heard a shout of pain followed by a string of Spanish curses. Her eyes snapped open again to see Santana gripping her injured hand and scrabbling away from the edge.
"Oh, thank you, God." She whispered, holding her hands up in front of her face. Beside her she heard Cara breath out a sigh of relief and mutter to herself. "Are you okay?" She called out.
"Oh yeah," Santana's sarcastic laugh echoed through the gloom. "Just Peachy."
"How's Puck?" Cara asked nervously. They watched as she crawled over to him and put her hand on his neck.
"He's alive." She called back. "Still out though. Guess I'll have to smack him about a bit til he wakes up."
"NO! He could have a spinal injury, don't…"
"Relax, Rachel, I'm joking." She stood up and moved towards the door. It was solid metal except for a small window about three quarters of the way up. "I think there's a junction box in here. I'm gonna see if I can pick the lock and switch it off. You guys go get some help."
"No way!" Rachel yelled. "How many times do we have to have this conversation, Santana? I'm not leaving you!"
"I'm not asking you to leave me, Rachel!" Santana yelled back, walking back to the ledge to face her. "I'm not trying to be a hero here, I'm asking you for help! Isn't that what you wanted?"
There was a noise from the door behind and Santana whipped back around, gun pointed towards it. With a loud clang the door swung open and a large figure stepped out.
"Karofsky?" They heard her ask as she continued to back away, gun still drawn.
"Santana?" The voice from their past replied. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"What the hell am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here?"
"I work here. Came down to see what all the yelling was."
"You work for Sue?"
"Yeah, since...wait." He took a step back and pulled out his own gun quickly. "You know where you are? What were you trying to do? Get to her?"
"Damn straight I was trying to get to her, and I'm going to keep trying so either help me or get out of my way."
Rachel stepped forward and was about to speak out when a hand was suddenly slapped over her mouth, pulling her backwards.
"Let her handle it." Cara whispered in her ear. "If he knows he's outnumbered he'll panic."
Rachel glared at her and pulled her hand away but stayed quiet.
"And what, you came here to take on Sue's army by yourself?"
"No, not by myself." She snapped back, gesturing at Puck's unconscious form.
"Jesus, is that Puckerman?" Karofsky chuckled. "What happened to him? He trip over his own ego?"
"You're defence system happened to him!" Santana yelled at him, advancing slightly and nodding to Jesse's body in the water. "And he isn't the worst off in case you haven't noticed the smell. Can you at least shut it off so I can get my friend out of the water?"
"Fuck." He swore covering his mouth with his hand and heading back towards the door. "Who is that?"
"Just shut it off, Karofsky, before I shoot you and do it myself." Santana yelled, pulling the slide back on the gun.
As if the action made him realise that he hadn't done the same, Karofsky lowered his weapon and held his hands up. "Alright, alright. Just give me a second." He retreated back through the door giving Santana the chance to shoot a look down the tunnel towards her friends.
Rachel let out a small sigh of relief. Maybe she could talk him round. Maybe she could use their history to her advantage. Even if he just cut the electricity Santana and Puck could get out and they could regroup. There was a clunk from behind the door and the crackling heat that had been rising from the water abruptly stopped. Immediately Sanatan dropped to her knees and reached forward for Jesse's body. She covered her mouth with her hand and Rachel saw her retching as she tried to pull him out of the water.
"Karofsky, give me a hand." She called, struggling to pull the waterlogged corpse up onto the ledge. When no answer came she tried again, turning her face away and wrapping her arms around him. It worked and she stumbled backwards as Jesse's body cleared the ledge. Rachel watched with a bad feeling as she jumped up quickly and pulled her gun out again. "Karofsky?
Slowly he came back through the doorway, hands in the air. As he turned to face Santana Rachel saw the shorter guy behind him, gun pressed into the small of his back.
"So, who's your girlfriend, Karofsky?" The short guy asked. "She's hot. And just when I thought you were gay."
"Fuck you, Tanner." Karofsky muttered. "She's no one. She's lost and tripped our defences."
"And you're helping her because…?"
"Like you said. She's hot."
"Yes she is." Tanner laughed. "Shame she won't be for long." He shoved Karofsky to the side and a shot rang out.
Rachel's heart practically stopped as she waited for Santana to fall, then she wheeled round in shock as she realised the shot had come from beside her. The short guy crumpled to the floor as Karofsky jumped forward, pointing his gun and firing blindly towards them. Rachel barrelled Cara into the wall as Santana started yelling at Karofsky to stop. Suddenly more shots came towards them, more voices joining into the din. Cara leaned back around the wall and returned fire, yelling at Rachel to help. As she pulled back to reload Rachel took her place, relying on the training Santana had given her to try and remain calm as she saw the scene before her. Seven more guards had joined Karofsky on the ledge, two of them restraining Santana and the rest shooting at her and Cara.
"Go!" Santana yelled as she was dragged towards the door. "For God's sake go!"
Rachel felt a hand on her arm trying to drag her away.
"No!" She yelled at Cara, trying to get back into position. "We can't leave her!"
"There's too many of them, Rachel!" She yelled back. "They have her! We have to go now!"
"I won't leave her!"
"You can't help her if you're dead!" Cara pulled on her arm again and she gave up. Cara was right. There were too many of them and they already had Santana through the door. There was nothing she could do. Again.
She followed Cara down the tunnel, rage taking over her limbs as her thoughts raced around her brain. How could this be happening again? At least this time she was awake and all in one piece.
They burst through the tunnel's opening and she sprinted over to Santana's bike, swinging her leg over it when she noticed Santana had left the keys in it.
"Wait, do you even know how to ride this?" Cara asked as she climbed on behind her. Rachel glared over her shoulder and gunned the engine before speeding off up the track.