"Look, I get it but I don't really understand why you're so upset Santana. I mean there's nothing wrong with coming in second, I mean I get it."

Santana pulled away from Dani, still feeling slightly irked at her ranking. Dani wasn't Charlie or Quinn, or even Frannie, there was no reason why she couldn't come in first here. She had been first for the first few days but once Dani had started to take it seriously she had been struggling. Dani's abilities let her be far more flexible when it came to saving people, while her abilities were completely offensive based, sure she could melt steel beams but that didn't matter if she couldn't figure out how to rescue people safely. It was times like this when she missed Charlie, who would just know how to— "Charlie," Santana said, stopping when she saw a familiar shade of blue, one that she truly hated.

An iridescent set of green eyes turn to look at her, and a forced smile crosses Charlie's face as she spots both Dani and Santana, "Santana, good to see you," it's abrupt and rather curt before Charlie turns back to Elaine flashing her that smile of hers.

A look of hurt crossed Santana's face not quite understanding why Charlie was even being like this. Charlie had long since stopped sleeping with anyone at school, and she had suspected that she had become Charlie's only partner. So to see her flaunting what was probably another conquest hurt.

"Ouch, what did you do?" Dani whispered to Santana tugging her away from Charlie and Elaine.

Santana blinked, "What do you mean what did I do? All I've been getting from her for months is—" Santana swallowed, Charlie hadn't really been communicating period. She had pressed but the single word answer was busy. So she had pulled back and decided to wait for Charlie to come to her, like everyone had suggested but the last thing she had expected was for Charlie to go back to flaunting her conquests in her face.

"One-word answers? Yeah it's a Fabray thing, they freeze you out." Dani said with a simple shrug. "I've learned it's best not to put her in that mood, because Quinn's overprotective. So very overprotective. So my advice apologize."

"For what? She's the one that's been avoiding me!" Santana snapped, like hell she'd ever just apologize for something she didn't know she did.

Dani shrugged her shoulders. She personally had no idea what went on between them. It wasn't as if Charlie— "Shit, did you tell anyone about us?"

"There is no us, we sleep together, there's nothing to tell."

"Charlie doesn't hold grudges, they're a waste of her time, her words, but she really doesn't. I mean I didn't expect a warm welcome but she barely even looked at me. She knows."

"Charlie fucks around all the time, she can't just decide that she doesn't want me after I sleep with one other person."

"Charlie and I broke up because I was using her for popularity. I mean we had our moments but it's only on her terms."

Santana paused this was news to her, "But she—"

"She pissed off Frannie and needed a place to stay and someone so she wouldn't be alone. We grew up together, and we had a moment but any goodwill I had dissipated after Nationals. I don't think it's a grudge she made her point at nationals. She didn't even look at me, and Charlie can be cold, but she's not cruel."

"I haven't told anyone."

"She fucking knows how does she know? Frannie doesn't care nearly enough to be involved, so unless you told her."

"Charlie changed up her look since the last time she was here," Finn stated, tilting his head as he studies it for a moment. "She looks like a badass."

Santana froze, "What do you mean since last time, Charlie hasn't—"

"She was here last week, she saw Finn naked, he dropped his towel," Artie snorted. "She was looking for you, didn't see her later but you were happy so I just put two and two together."

Santana twitched, she would press Artie on what he had meant but as far as she was concerned, Charlie couldn't dictate who she could or couldn't sleep with. She had made it abundantly clear that they weren't together. "Seriously this is because Dani and I are fucking!" Santana says loud enough for Charlie to hear, but her rage only continues to build when Charlie ignores her.

Artie glances at Santana and immediately takes a step away from her, tugging on Finn's shirt to get him to move as well. This never went well for people like them. But before all hell can pop off, Frannie steps out of a portal and immediately scans the room till her gaze lands on her youngest sister and narrows her eyes. "This is not an all you can eat buffet Charlie. I didn't bring you here to attempt to seduce every woman that you see." Frannie's met with an irritated expression from Charlie and she waves her hand as Charlie falls through a hole and appears through a portal landing beside Frannie.

"Seriously?"

Frannie ignored Charlie's outrage. "Well, for whatever reason quite a few of you have been harassing my sister, as you can see she does exist, and while I personally find her personality outside of the hero business to be aggravating and juvenile, she did defeat a level 5 in minutes. Under normal circumstances I have used her as a way to separate the capable from the incapable, but if I were to do that, then we'd be here all day. I don't want that and she doesn't have the attention span for that."

"Hey."

"The good news is that you're ranked, and with all the sparring that you've been doing I've gotten an excellent grasp of your skills—" Frannie pauses for a moment when Blaine sticks his hand up. "Blaine?"

"Charlie has no understanding of the meaning of restraint—"

"Which is why she's the perfect person for the job, you think a monster or a villain is going to restrain themselves and play by your rules? That they're going to be honorable? That monster was trying to kill her, it didn't hesitate, it didn't question itself, it didn't debate ethics. It was a fight for survival. That's something that I've been trying to harp on despite the many commentary from my peers. If you want a safe job become a police officer. If you want to be a hero, if you want to be classed as the best you are at least going to need to be able to single-handedly defeat a level three threat. And while I'm only calling three names, there will be exercises with her later to a longer list of people."

Charlie rolled her shoulders out before swinging his arms back and forth, and taking a deep breath. "Alright let's get this over with." The last thing that she really wanted to do was to fight Santana. But Frannie had made it clear that she wanted them to see the difference, make it dangerous but keep things under control.

"Dani Harper," Frannie said simply motioning for Dani to come forward.

Charlie blinked, "Wait what?"

"Dani's the number one—"

"Yes, I understand the words out of your mouth Frannie. But seriously Dani?" Charlie shot an incredulous look at Santana. "Are you letting her win because you two are fucking."

Frannie's lips twitched upward, it's only for a second before she cleared her throat. At least her sister was dumb enough to do what she wanted, this wouldn't work if Dani didn't take this seriously. "Santana Lopez."

"Is this your thing? Being second—" There's an explosion of flames nearly ten feet high and Charlie tilts her head and her eyes glow. Santana's abilities had certainly grown and she suspected that this particular display was due to Brittany's interference. She's about to shrug it off when Santana launches a fireball at Charlie's head. Charlie floats up and lets the blast hit her square in the chest and break apart. Charlie shot Santana a condescending look and dropped down and looked at Frannie. "So who's after—"

Frannie took a step back as a fireball whizzed by Charlie's head dangerously close, and smiled. "Looks like we have our first volunteer. You've got ten minutes to sort out your issues so we can get back to this." Frannie hummed and activated the drones, and while the teens had immediately gotten out of the way as Santana had exploded in anger they were still far too close. "I'd suggest everyone move behind the barriers. Charlie?" Charlie stopped and turned to look at her, "Keep talking. You're doing great!" Frannie said, sticking her thumb up. When Charlie grins and turns back she immediately rolls her eyes and steps through a barrier. It was a good thing that Charlie still trusted her opinion, and was being too pigheaded to see why this was a terrible idea on her part. It really was a tale of two people, Charlie was competent as a hero, and after she had gotten over her fear of dying she had shown that she was capable of being mature in that sense, it was a shame that her sense of responsibility ended right there, and her maturity didn't carry over.

~ O ~

Santana gasped for air, glaring at Charlie through narrowed eyes. The fact that Charlie wasn't taking this seriously did nothing to abate her growing fury. What made it worse was that Charlie was barely using her abilities at all and she knew in the eyes of the all the analysts that it was dropping her stock. All this because she had dared to sleep with someone else?

"And time!" Frannie called out as she appeared beside Charlie who blinked and looked at her, slightly confused. "You've been going at it for ten minutes, and I think we've seen everything we needed to see." Frannie turned to look at Santana and shook her head. That wasn't what she had hoped, really it was rather disappointing that Charlie hadn't really engaged the way she had thought. But she didn't begrudge Charlie, her sister only used the power that was necessary to beat someone and if Santana couldn't draw out more from Charlie then the blame was on her.

Charlie studied Santana for a moment before turning back to Frannie, "Is Blaine the third?" At least with Blaine she'd at least get something out of this, even if that was a black eye and possible concussion.

"No, he barely cracks the single digits," Frannie said looking at her list. "Your next opponent will be either Dani or—"

"We're not finished." Santana snaps at Frannie.

Both Charlie and Frannie turn to look at Santana, "Yeah. We are. So who's next?"

Perhaps it was the dismissive tone, or her embarrassment, or the fact that her feelings burned, and she was so glad that her tears were immediately, but it hurt. She had no idea why she even fucking cared, and was simply lashing out but the idea that Charlie would simply overlook her, burned more than seeing her trying to hit on so no-name extra. And if Charlie was going to be a condescending arrogant asshole, and pretend that she was nothing then she was going to force her to pay attention. "I said, we're not finished!" She launches another blast putting all her anger and hurt into it.

Charlie's eyes suddenly glowed and before anyone could react she was in front of Frannie and backhands the blast, as her mind registers pain in the hand as she bats the blast away. Charlie's eyes drag downward and look at the weird burn on her hand and grimaces, and flicks her eyes towards Santana studying the situation for a moment, "You don't get to be mad at me for moving on because you think dating Dani is a good idea. That's on you, I mean it's Dani for fucks sake Santana. And I really don't know where you get off attacking me again, do I get to go around throwing lightning bolts when people piss me off?" Charlie brings down a lightning bolt that cracks right beside Santana's feet causing her to trip in surprise. "There are times when I really want to just bring the heavens down on someone's head, but I can't because that would be irresponsible and murder. All because I can take you lashing out at me doesn't mean that I particularly enjoy it or it impresses me." There's another lightning bolt this time it lands on the other side of Santana and she desperately tries to get away.

But for the first time Charlie doesn't relent immediately, as lightning bolt after lightning bolt rains down from the sky, each one barely missing her and forcing Santana back.

"Do you think that I want to hurt you? That I'm enjoying this?" This time it's a massive blast that sends Santana flying.

Frannie looks up as snowflakes start to fall and her eyes immediately flicked over to Charlie. Her blood vessels seem to expand and glow, giving an eerie look to her skin. Okay perhaps this hadn't been her smartest idea to use Charlie without checking with her mental state first. Frannie flicks her wrist to create a portal underneath Charlie to throw her into the Arctic ocean to cool off when something happens that had never happened and her portal ripples and then explodes. "The fuck." Immediately Frannie reacts trying to pull Santana free but each time she tries to interfere her portals just ripple and explode into nothing.

Charlie ignored Frannie as she kept closing in on Santana, her eyes glowing brightly as the air becomes still, and the Everyone said that she didn't understand restraint. That she didn't know what moderation meant, but she did. "I thought this is what you wanted, Santana?" She brings another lighting bolt down, this time the force of the explosion on the ground causes Santana to fall on her ass, and Charlie takes a deep breath.

She doesn't need to turn around to see the fear in people's eyes and so she does the only thing she can think of, and thinks of the one place that she feels truly safe and opens her eyes, a portal in front of her, and on the other side she steps through it and before anyone can say anything the portal ripples and pops disappearing, just leaving the carnage that Charlie had left behind.

Sanatana shuddered; it had felt like a tremendous pressure had been bearing down on her. She can hear the paramedics rushing towards her but she didn't actually understand why they were on their way. Charlie hadn't done anything to her. I mean she probably had a few scrapes and bruises but she wasn't actually hurt. "Shit."

~ O ~

"I can make a few calls Quinn, have you interning at some of the biggest and brightest firms, getting one on one attention with some of the best trial lawyers, or perhaps you can spend some time interning at the supreme court," Russell said in an excited tone.

Quinn tapped her finger against the table, her father did all sorts of business with all sorts of people, and she was beginning to realize that not everyone was above board. "I'm not going to law school to become a trial lawyer, I'm not doing this to be a politician. I want to do what you do and I know I can do it better and far more ethically than you can."

Russell raised a brow, "And how do you plan on doing that if you don't plan on working with people you hate, or disagree with?"

Quinn frowned for a moment, "By using Charlie."

The words stun Russell and his eyes widen, "What?"

"I realized that I don't have to change their hearts and minds, Charlie will. She already has a massive fan club, her merchandise is sold out everywhere and there are fanclubs all over the world, the entire world wants a piece of her. Charlie can be the next Homelander."

"Homelander is a psychopath, Quinn. All the fake AI's are morally questionable at best. They do a lot of fucked up things that I have to clean up. I mean that's how I'm paying for Brittany's tuition." Russell gently chides. "Also does Charlie even want to be an icon?"

"I know she doesn't, she wants to have her own action figure, and cartoon, and have cool catchphrases, but I don't think she really thought about the celebrity of it all. Either way, once Charlie gets past her issues, and I have the utmost faith that she'll get it together at some point, it won't matter what her naysayers will say because she will be beloved, and when she speaks, people will listen."

Russell pauses going over Quinn's plan mentally before tilting his head, "You'd be a Kingmaker."

"Or Queen," Quinn throws in, narrowing her eyes at her father.

"Whatever the correct term is, it all depends on which state manages to win Charlie's services, the bidding for heroes is important. I've already received billion dollar bids from New York, California, Texas, Philadelphia, Washington and Florida"

Quinn paused, "We're not moving to Florida, crazy shit happens in Florida."

Russell chuckled, "I mean Charlie will probably choose the State with the best food."

"Do not give her that idea, she'd make an entire contest out of it," Quinn shakes her head, and relaxes. "So what do I need to do to make my ideas a reality?"

"Talk to Charlie first, you can't use her as a puppet to get your way. She will notice, probably sooner than you think she's weirdly observant." Russell muses. "Then where you go to university matters. I would join a sorority, I was in a fraternity, so was your mother, there are built in life-long connections. I was roommates with a former Secretary of Defense."

"You were?" Quinn blinked before pulling out a phone so she could take notes, before deciding to simply record his voice, it would be easier to make a plan out of this later.

"Yeah he was a—I'll tell you that story some other time. I can't stress this enough this is when you need to start laying the foundation, being an ear to lean on, you need to be everyone's best friend Quinn. Especially the young ambitious driven ones. They'll want to get close to you, you're a Fabray and as you said Charlie's already the most trending topic in the world. You will make meaningful friendships, but you need to remember that you need to make them feel indebted to you. I'm not talking about small favors, bail them out, support them, make them owe you. So whenever you pick up the phone and summon them they will come and they will do anything."

Quinn stared at her father and shivered, there was the steel in his voice that she had always admired. She smirked, "I have your permission to commit felonies?"

Russell rolled his eyes but grinned at his daughter, he knew Judy would have a fit if she heard him giving Quinn tacit approval to do whatever it took to get the job done. "You're only a criminal if you get convicted. And if you know the right people, and you you never will be."

~ O ~

"Here's the thing kid, I'm getting tired of your mother calling me every other day because of some crisis you seem to find yourself in," Cassandra said, trying and failing to keep a neutral expression off her face. When Charlie doesn't look up at her she sighs and runs her hand through her hair. "You're dumb by the way," this does cause Charlie to look at her. "Your haircut, it looks stupid," Cassandra shrugged. "Like you're trying to follow the color pattern of every electricity based superhero."

"I'm surprised mom didn't send grandma," Charlie muttered under her breath.

Cassandra's gaze hardened for a moment before she scoffs, "I'm just as surprised as you are but for whatever reason your mother trusts me with you. It's rare for your mother to stand up to our mother, but she did because she thought I might understand."

"So you came because it pissed off grandma," Charlie surmised.

Cassandra sniffs and shrugs, that had been the cherry on top. "I felt like I owed you for saving my life and all, but this really is a one time thing." Cassandra takes a seat on the deck beside Charlie and leans back resting her weight on her palms. "Also, I figured I know what it's like to lose your shit in public."

"I didn't lose control, I was making a point. I don't have the luxury of letting my emotions get the best of me, of losing control. And I didn't lose control there, I was just—"

"Putting the fear of god into a girl you have a crush on?" Cassandra looked over at Charlie, feeling the tension in the air. "How's that working out for you?" When Charlie once again goes silent Cassandra glances down at Charlie's hands noting that they were clenched. "You know at dinner the other day you said you'd be open to talking to someone."

"Santana—"

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you're okay, and you know I don't mean physically." Cassandra arches an eyebrow when Charlie opens her mouth.

Charlie meets her aunt's gaze for a moment before looking away. "I'll be fine."

"God my mother did a number on you. Look, Charlie, you're fucking seventeen. You're seventeen and you've seen some fucked up shit in the past couple of weeks. You were thrown into a life or death situation in a week, and honestly it looks and feels like you're stuck in fight or flight mode."

Charlie inhaled slowly, "This really has nothing to do with your feud with grandma. Grandma has never made me do anything I didn't want to do, she pushes me but she backs off when I want her too. I mean yeah, I wanted to be a hero because I thought you were such a badass. I wanted to be you, and I am, I think. I'm a hero. A hero who saved millions of people, including you, so I should be fucking happy right?"

Cassandra hesitates for a moment before nodding ever so slightly, she wasn't sure what the right answer was and maybe she should have left this to her father or someone far more qualified than her.

"I'm not. I mean if it was another emotion I can at least figure out why, but I don't really feel anything at all. I thought maybe if I had Santana, I could use that as a baseline, but she's fucking Dani, and I'm aware that I am being the biggest fucking hypocrite right now but why the fuck did it have to be Dani?"

"Teenagers are fucking stupid that's why," Cassandra responds and then shrugs when Charlie looks at her. "That's the answer, it's not that fucking complicated. As for everything else, talk to a therapist about it. I've heard of a good one, but apparently you're supposed to shop around for a therapist. So she may not work out for you, but keep looking until you find one that fits. Now can we go home now? I'm getting bitten alive by mosquitos."

Charlie sighs and nodded, she imagined her parents were going to fuss and people were definitely going to ask questions. "Alright."

~ O ~

"So how is training going?" Rachel asked as she hung out with Tina and Sam. "I mean it must be nice you guys getting individualized training from Coach Beiste and Lawrence."

"I can fly!" Sam said in a proud tone.

"I mean right now it's mostly like a really high jump and then crashing back into the ground, but he can hover so Lawrence thinks that with a bit of practice he might be able to fly," Tina clarifies grinning when Rachel lets out a laugh. "How was New York? You look good."

"I loved every moment of it, but after the attack my fathers are being rather unreasonable about the whole thing and keeping me in Lima where there aren't cataclysmic events every week or so. They were already nervous since New York has seen an uptick of level 3 monsters," Rachel sighed.

"Well if you're bored, then you should rejoin the team!" Sam suggests. "It'll give you something to do, and it's kind of fun."

"We could really use you, I mean there are plenty of new people in Lima these days and we're getting a lot of new talent, but we need someone who can stand up to Santana's—worst impulses. And you're the only one brave enough to do that."

"Or I could make it worse," Rachel pointed out. "Besides you have Charlie and Quinn. They can both put Santana in her place."

"Marley and Quinn broke up, she's probably not going to be back," Sam pointed out, when both of them look at him he shrugs. "I was talking to Kurt who heard it from Mercedes who heard it from Jane."

"Sam has been seeing a lot of Mercedes lately," Tina whispers to Rachel loudly.

"Hey!" Sam flushes and looks at Rachel. "It's nothing, we've just been hanging out, have you swung by the school? The new facilities are nearly complete."

"You can't change the subject Sam, do you have a crush on Mercedes?" Rachel said, leaning forward.

"I don't!"

"He does, but he gets all flustered when he talks to her. It's both funny and super cute. I don't think Mercedes realizes what's going on though."

"You can't tell her," Sam insisted immediately.

Rachel bit her lip before she let out a laugh, "I'm sure we can brainstorm ideas to help! Maybe get Kurt to help, he'd probably enjoy it. You and Mercedes can go on double dates with him and Blaine!"

"I was going to ask Charlie—"

"No," Rachel said, with a surprising amount of force.

"See I told you it was a bad idea," Tina grins at Sam.

"But Charlie's really good with women!'

"Yes but you're not Charlie and her advice is usually terrible," Rachel points out. "Like Charlie doesn't even remember most of their names, let alone their faces. They're just bodies to her, you want a meaningful relationship with Mercedes right?"

"Yeah but—"

"Charlie and Santana," Tina states, immediately pointing out the obvious. "They still aren't together and they spend most of their time fighting. I mean I heard from Kurt who heard from Blaine that they got into a massive fight at the Combine. Like it was bad, also is it true that Charlie's a level 6 now?"

Rachel hesitates for a moment, they were all friends here, but it was Charlie's business. But she knew that Sam and Tina cared about their former captain. "Charlie won't be considered a level 6 until she takes the official test, and I don't think she's going to. This isn't something that needs the whole team but I don't think she's doing well. She's not doing well and I'm worried, like it's still Charlie but it's like—something is missing. The rest of the family thinks she'll bounce back but I'm not a hundred percent sure. I think we need to make sure she doesn't feel lonely." She wasn't even sure if that was the right emotion but she had to wonder, Charlie seemed distant and truthfully she missed the slightly silly, more laid back version of Charlie who let her get away with everything. It was hard to place it but it was as if the kindness that she was used to seeing from Charlie was missing.

Sam frowns, Charlie had never really joined in with the team. She didn't attend the parties, she generally kept herself above it all, "Well, Lawrence did say that we can stop by the Fabray place if we wanted some extra training, Charlie would be there we can see how she is? And get her to hang out. I'm supposed to be her sidekick, and she keeps giving me these weird tips which I mean now that I kind of have the basics down, well they sort of make sense."

Rachel smiled, "We should do that. And maybe Charlie can help you with your flying, I mean she can fly and she's pretty good at it. I mean not the directions part, she is really bad with aerial directions. It was a whole thing in New York."