Santana smiled as she sipped on her drink, tapping her foot along to the music as she enjoyed the nice buzz that she had going as she watched the rest of the Titans partying it up. She really had no idea when Porcelain and Wheezy had become Titans, but Blaine seemed super close to them and she didn't really have it in her to tell them to leave.

Taking a moment to do a quick headcount, she notes that Marley still hadn't shown up and she hadn't seen Charlie since practice. She wanted to pretend that it didn't matter, Charlie was barely speaking to anyone these days, but that would be a lie. She wasn't sure if Charlie was just giving her space, or if they were no friends. She wasn't sure if apologizing would help smooth things over, but Charlie seemed rather abrupt and impatient with the entire team.

"Hey Santana!"

Santana glanced up at Finn who was holding up his empty solo cup. "I know we're not out of booze Finn," Santana said pointing at the keg and the various bottles of alcohol soda and jello shots on the kitchen island.

"We're out of ice," Finn replied with a frown. "Have you seen Quinn? She and Rachel disappeared, they went looking for the karaoke machine or something. But that was like a while ago. Have you seen them?"

The smile on Santana's face fades immediately as she shakes her head. She hadn't actually seen Quinn or Rachel in a hot minute. She wracked her brain trying to remember when she had last seen them, but when she draws a blank she closes her eyes and hops up. "I'll find her," she promises.

Finn nodded, "Rachel did seem pretty drunk, I don't think she's ever had a drink before so they might be in the bathroom."

"I'll check you go back and keep an eye on the baby Titans, Blaine looks too sloppy to be in charge," Santana sighed, she could only hope that Rachel and Quinn weren't being idiots. Marley was supposed to be here, and she wasn't sure if the team could handle a cheating scandal. Sides would be taken and right now Marley was in charge of McKinley's support items. Rachel was an important member of the team, but if Marley quit then there was a good chance they lost their support team. She knew she should have paid a bit more attention to Quinn and Rachel but she assumed that Quinn could handle her own business. Clearly she had been wrong.

She's about to head upstairs to check the bedrooms, when the doorbell rings, causing Santana to freeze. "Please, don't be Marley," she begs under her breath. "Please don't be Marley," she repeats again as she heads to the door, and opens it. Almost immediately as her brain registers who is at the door, does she feel the familiar sensation of panic as her heart rate picks up and she stumbles backwards, trying to get away from the door.

"Boo." Cassandra snorted, when Santana fell on her ass in an attempt to get away from her. She steps over the threshold and enters the house closing the door, before stepping over Santana as she makes her way to the kitchen. "And to think that I was worried that Charlie didn't know how to have fun. Where is my niece, maybe I'll challenge her to a drinking contest."

"Is that Marley?" Jane asks getting up, she freezes when she spots Santana on the ground in front of a woman, who smirks at her. "Uh—"

"Charlie! Get your ass over here, so I can beat you in a drinking contest and then kick your ass," Cassandra calls out, making sure her voice is heard throughout the house.

Jane looked over at Santana and then back as more of the Titans gathered, to see what was going on. She's personally not sure, but Santana looked absolutely terrified. "I think you've got the wrong house—so I think you're going to need to leave," Jane speaks up trying to find her voice. The woman wasn't wearing an identifier, but she knew that Quinn and Charlie didn't wear them either, which could mean that she was a level 5.

At this Cassandra shifted her attention to the woman who had spoken and smirked at her, "I'm supposed to be here, as far as I'm concerned you're the intruders." Cassandra hummed and raised her hand, transforming it into an energy blade. "Which means I am in my right to forcibly—"

Despite her fear Santana flames up, attracting Cassandra's attention, and burning through the alcohol that was in her system. "Charlie's not here." She says attempting to make sure her voice is firm but instead it cracks at the worst moment. She didn't sound like a badass, she sounded like a scared teenager. Cassandra was unstable and there were only a few people who seemed to be able to reign her in and Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

Cassandra smiled and reached for Santana. "Look like your balls finally dropped Lopez, Congrats shame I'm going to have to remove them. Don't worry this will hurt you more than it—" Cassandra was interrupted by the sound of the fire alarm going off causing her to blast it to turn off the noise. "Where was I? Oh right, this is going to hurt."

Santana immediately closes her eyes and protects her face, but the temperature in the room suddenly dips and Santana opens her eyes to spot Quinn on the stairs. Santana is about to smile when she realizes that Quinn looks slightly disheveled and lacks the presence that Charlie managed to call forth. If she survived her current encounter with Cassandra she was going to apologize to Charlie.

"What are you doing here Aunt Cass?" Quinn asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Lucy!" Cassandra said turning away from Santana, having forgotten about her again. "Your mom asked me to check on you since I was in Akron. I thought it was a waste of time, but I don't mind admitting that I'm wrong. Look at this, you're actually doing something that I would do! There may be hope for the two of you. Now where is my favorite niece?"

"Brittany's either with Frannie or with her boyfriend. You're in the wrong state," Quinn responds flatly. She shoots a look at Santana who manages to sneak away from Cassandra.

Cassandra laughs, and for a moment everyone in the room relaxes at the jovial tone. But a switch flips and the tension is back on her face as she stares at her niece, a cold hard look in her eyes. "You're not the dumb one Quinn, so stop being intentionally obtuse. Where's the dumb one?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about," Quinn replied as she took a step down the stairs, seemingly unperturbed as Cassandra's eyes began to glow. "If you're looking for Charlie, then she's off training somewhere. I have no idea where she is."

"You expect me to believe that you're here partying it up, and your sister is outside in the cold training? You're not the cool one Quinn, even with your powers," Cassandra scoffed. "Do I have to start breaking teenagers before she finally comes out and faces me."

Quinn sighed, "That would be a waste of time because again Charlie is not here. She's training—obsessing over her fight with Charlotte Flair. You know it's funny, I thought she would be begging you for help, if anyone could in theory get her ready for Charlotte Flair it's you. I guess she sees what the rest of the family sees, you're nothing more than washed up, alcoholic disgrace. Charlie's long surpassed you and I have no idea why you want to continue to relive your glory days through her."

The entire house goes quiet as Cassandra slowly smiles at Quinn, "Do you honestly think your one-trick is going to stop me from ripping out your tongue and shoving it up your ass?"

Quinn pauses for a second and shrugs her shoulders at her aunt, "I am not in the mood for your shit, and Charlie's not here to remind me that absolute zero is a shit idea. But, truthfully we both know that grandma's going to give me a pat on the shoulder even if I accidentally kill you."

The ground around Cassandra's feet crack as she launches herself at Quinn, there was a golden glow around her body, and even her hair seemed to glitter under the light. She had always thought Charlie would be the first one she killed, but she was wrong for the second time in a day.

Quinn adjusts her stance and takes a deep breath ready to encase her aunt in ice, hoping that cooled her down, when a pulse hits her, and she can feel her heart skip a beat and she immediately turns around, as all the car alarms explode in a cacophony of noise. Cassandra crashing into the stairs, wood splintering around her.

Before anyone can say or do anything the alarms, the lights go out, plunging everything and everyone into darkness. And just as quickly the lights come back to life, flickering twice, before there is just silence. Which is suddenly punctuated by a loud howl and frantic barking. Before there is a loud crash, and the sound of wood splintering.

"What the fuck?" Santana asked before she's suddenly shoved aside as Quinn makes her way past the rest of the Titans.

Quinn throws open the sliding glass back door and hops out onto the deck, scanning the area until she spots Arte and Wolfgang near the edge of the pond that was their backyard. She immediately breaks out into a run, nearly tripping on her own two feet. "Char—" Quinn nearly bowls over at the sharpness of her stop, as she stares at her twin, who is sitting on the ground staring at her shoulder.

Charlie turns to her twin, revealing that her nose is bleeding profusely, she looks back at her shoulder revealing a trail of blood, dripping from her right ear. Her movement is shaky as she bobs and dips like the world is spinning. She nods a few times before her eyes roll to the top of her head and her body goes limp.

~ O ~

"Frannie, you know I love you. You're totes my favorite sister and I respect you, but have you—" Brittany stopped speaking and stood up and immediately turned her head east before looking at her fingertips. They still tingled, as if for a brief moment all her nerves in her body had lit up. "Did you feel that Frannie?"

There's a loud thud and Brittany turns to see Frannie doubled over, and gasping for air, her eyes watering in pain. "Fuck."

Brittany immediately took a step forward, only to feel the pressure under her foot and she looked down to see a thick green vine on the ground coming from the plant that had been on Frannie's desk. What had once been some leafy desk plant had suddenly began to spurt flowers, which were budding and growing at a rapid pace. The flowers open revealing a dark portal. "Holy. Shit." Brittany said looking up at Frannie, who looked like she was going to faint. Brittany blinks back her shock and moves to catch her sister. "Shit. Okay. I do not want to deliver this baby in your office!"

"For fucks sake Brittany, we're in the Hero Studies department and there are a bunch of licenced heroes mucking about and we have a top notch medical facility. You are competent, and we're going to need a—fuck—shit that hurt—suppression team."

~ O ~

Artemis turned the page for a moment before looking up and turning her head to the east. "Very good Firefly," she says with a pleased smile before returning her attention back to her book.

"Did you say something, you know I'm going deaf," Lawrence grumbled, putting a finger in his ear to clear it roughly.

"What do you think the name of our great grandchild is going to be?" Artemis asked Lawrence.

"Of course they'll name him after me," he replied laughing at the absurdity of it all, and pulled her close to him.

~ O ~

"Charlotte? You okay?"

Charlotte blinked and turned to Bayley, "Yeah, just thinking. Hunter just got back to me, General Alder and the US government are going to the Midwestern Sectionals to see if they can recruit Charlie. Homelander and Queen Maeve will also be there as well with a team from Vought, to make a pitch. Hunter said to do anything we can to bring her under the banner, but while I did finally find her application and we all agreed she'd be our sidekick this year, that might change if Vought International manages to seduce her."

"We're not using Sasha as bait, she's sixteen and it's a crush," Bayley stated firmly. They were the 4 horsewomen their record spoke for themselves, and unlike the Seven, they were actual AI's. Homelander wasn't even a true level 5.

"Seventeen," Charlotte corrected absentmindedly. "She just turned 17." She turns to where she had felt that strange pulse come from. "Sasha states she has a good head on her shoulders, but she's still just a kid. If she's going to be our sidekick this summer, then we need to make sure that we put her on the right get her the right team, and make sure she has people who can keep her grounded."

"You're not actually going to go easy on her? Are you?"

Charlotte turned to look at Becky who had a bowl of quinoa in her hands, and smirked. "She's a cocky teenager and like everyone else that challenges me she'll end up on her knees bowing down to the queen."

"Kinky, but maybe we leave that out of the press release, she is underage. And I imagine she'll reply to that comment with a sexual innuendo and the papers will run with it," Sasha pointed out. "Media already thinks that you're some sort of dominatrix if those trashy magazines are to be believed."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Right, at least the board that oversees the hero competition has allowed us a little leeway in testing her. I have no doubt that I'll win, but I need to have a good idea on just how powerful she is. I can't imagine it'll look good if I accidentally kill her."

~ O ~

Santana looked over at Quinn who had been on her phone since they'd managed to move Charlie to her room. The party was over, and she was lucky that the designated drivers had come through, giving them the privacy that they needed. Her hands were slick with blood that wasn't her own, and she could smell this odd ozone smell that seemed to be emanating from Charlie. "Anything?"

Quinn shook her head, neither Brittany or Frannie were answering their phones. She was tempted to call her mother, but that would only lead to questions that she really didn't want to answer. She wasn't quite sure how much trouble she'd get in for throwing a party, and with Charlie's injuries she was certain that she would get the blame for this. "Look, Brittany's not answering, and even if she was, Frannie can't just open a portal. There's no way that she'll be anywhere near a hundred percent by sectionals."

"Such a shame." Cassandra says dryly, not bothering to look up from her phone.

Quinn scowls, "Are you seriously telling Shelby that Charlie's injured? We're fucking family."

"Of course I am, and who knows maybe one day Shelby will become family." Cassandra replied looking up at Quinn, a smirk etched on her face.

The temperature drops and Quinn begins to put her phone away when the lights flicker, and everyone turns to look at Charlie. "If you two want to fight, do it outside." Charlie said before turning to look at her left shoulder and upper arm. The skin had been shredded, and thick bands of muscles were pushing past the tattered skin. She reaches to touch one of the smaller bits of shredded skin and grimaces when the skin just sloughs off.

Santana immediately averted her gaze feeling her stomach flip, "Why the fuck are you touching it?" She blinks, Charlie should be screaming in pain or passed out, or in shock—something, but she was talking and had more or less walked back on her own. "How are you moving?"

Charlie flicked her gaze over to Santana as she peels off another huge chunk of skin. "I'm blocking out the pain, it's all just bio-electrical signals. Grandma made me learn it when I broke my wrist one time, she rightly pointed out that what was I going to do if I was in the middle of a fight? Or if I was trying to save someone. Like this is pretty basic."

A pin could be heard as three sets of eyes turn to Charlie who goes back to picking at her injury, not noting the horrified looks. "She really has done a number on you," Cassandra says, finally speaking up. Maybe she should have taken a greater interest in Charlie's training.

"Being a hero means that I have to sacrifice, whether or not you agree with her methods, I can keep going. Injured or not, just get me some gauze and some isopropyl. I'll be fine until Brittany gets here," Charlie stated, at least she'd finally be able to put her first-aid training to good use.

Santana opened her mouth then shook her head, instead turning to the other Fabray's in the room. "Quinn can you go get some gauze and some isopropyl, and possibly medical tape. We're going to need a lot, and while you're at it can you take your aunt with you."

Quinn nodded, they would most definitely need to go to the pharmacy. They would most definitely have to raid the first aid section. "Come on Aunt Cass."

Cassandra hesitates for a moment and looks at her niece, it was far too late to say anything now. Even if she tried to help, Charlie would probably reject any advice because her mother had made her into some sort of monster in the eyes of the family. "Whatever, I just said I'd check in on you little shits, I'm going to head back to Akron."

Quinn sighed and nodded, following Cassandra out the door. It was probably for the best, at this moment Charlie needed medical attention she didn't need to be fighting with Cassandra. She opens the front door to kick Cassandra out when she freezes at Marley who was just about to push the doorbell.

Marley grinned, "Sorry I'm late—" she pauses there was no loud music, no cheering in fact there were barely any cars in the driveway. "What happened to the party?" Marley steps aside as Cassandra exits the house and takes off, nearly bowling her over, and she can't help but scowl at her retreating form.

Guilt flickers across Quinn's face for a brief second and she lets out a sigh, "It's a very long story, and I need to go to the pharmacy, want to come. I'll tell you on the way."

~ O ~

"I'm not really in the mood to have sex with you."

Santana, who was in the process of closing Charlie's door, stopped and turned to look at her. "What?"

"I'm not exactly in the mood to have sex with you," Charlie repeats as she goes back to peeling off chunks of skin.

"Okay, first of, what you're doing is like the opposite of sexy, I'm sure there's a word for it, but like I'm dry as the fucking Sahara right now. If anything I'm about puke, because picking at it is disgusting," Santana said grimacing as she looks at Charlie's shoulder.

Charlie finally stops picking off chunks of skin and looks at Santana, an exhausted look on her face, "Secondly?"

Santana closed the door, "I don't really have a second point, but I want to know why the fuck you're trying to kill yourself."

Charlie snorted, "I was training, there was an accident, and I hurt myself. This isn't a big deal and it's not the first time that I've gotten hurt while training. Also pot meet kettle."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your injuries from last time, the ones that I needed to make Brittany fix. This was an accident," Charlie pointed to her arm. "Someone hurt you and you're talking to me about trying to kill myself? Please. Why are you even here Santana?"

"Fuck if I know," Santana snaps back. "I just came to help your lame twin with her party, a party that was for the team. Guess who was missing? At least Marley had a fucking excuse she had to work! You've been training non-stop for days, and for what? No one honestly thinks that you can beat Charlotte Flair, the exhibition is just supposed to be that; an exhibition. Charlotte Flair isn't your enemy, and you've already got it made Charlie. You're a level 5, you have your fucking golden ticket to Summit. I'm not saying that you shouldn't train, I just don't have any idea why the fuck that's all you do."

"People who rest on their laurels end up dead, or they end up like my aunt Cassandra. Since I want to live, and I don't want to be an alcoholic psychopath, I train," Charlie exhales slowly, and grimaces in pain when her control slips for a second.

"That's not training, look at you Charlie. For fucks sake and what type of toxic bullshit is it to not feel pain."

Charlie grimaced as she sat up, "People have training accidents all the time, Santana. And how is it toxic? I didn't continue to train with an injury, I just stopped it from hurting. My grandmother is right, I'll get hurt. I will always get hurt, someone might be stronger than me, someone might be faster and someone might be able to hurt me, and instead of crumpling I taught myself how to ignore the pain until I could get medical attention. Can you imagine if a boxer, who can't take a punch to the face, just gave up after getting hit once in the face? I don't enjoy getting hurt, I doubt they like getting punched in the face, but I'm not going to fall apart because of a little injury."

"A little—" Santana inhaled sharply. Charlie's skin was falling off, she was open to infection and there was now a massive target on her. "This whole situation is fucked up, you know that right?"

"What I know is that it takes a level of concentration to control my bioelectrical signals and you're making it impossible to concentrate." Charlie replied.

Santana froze, it was a dismissal and she scowled at Charlie. "You know what, go fuck yourself Charlie," before Charlie can respond she turns around and marches out of her room, slamming the door behind her. Charlie could rot for all she cared, she wasn't going to spend her time caring about a fucking dumbass.

Charlie immediately opens her mouth to call Santana back, but after a second she closes it and flops back down on her pillow. She frowns and glances at the door again, hoping that Santana would come back and yell at her some more so she wouldn't have to be by herself. But, asking Santana to stay with her when it was clear that Santana disliked her was pathetic even for her, and she really did need to concentrate on just stopping herself from feeling the pain. "Fuck," she mumbles under her breath.