Shelby stared at the scoreboard, it hadn't even been five minutes and McKinley had walked away with a perfect score of 5760 and they'd been given bonus points for having a perfect score, rounding them up to 6000. Even if McKinley were to get eliminated in any of the later rounds, Charlie had made certain that McKinley was going to Nationals, and they had probably taken the banner again. And the worst part of all this was that Jesse had been eliminated just as quickly as he had been the last time he had faced McKinley.

"Holy shit," Cassandra said, still slightly stunned. She had known that Charlie could stop people from moving, she had been on the receiving end of it before, but this was something else entirely. Doing it to one person, should have been taxing, but she had just done it to 165 people. Not only did she hold 165 people she used her abilities to accurately pelt them with the balls. "Holy shit," she repeats again, there wasn't much else to say.

Shelby couldn't even look at Cassandra, she had gotten her hopes up that Charlie would be easier to deal with while injured. She was a seventeen year old teenage girl, yes she was powerful, but she was still just a teenager, she should have fallen apart, she should have panicked, she should have been McKinley's weak link. Crushing them and moving onto nationals had been the goal of the day. Instead both Jesse and Andrea had been eliminated making getting to nationals far harder than she thought it would be. Still she needed to remain in control here, and she grabbed the communication device, "Look, you guys need to move. We do not have a lot of wiggle room, you are all one hit away from being eliminated. We are a nationally ranked team and even without Jesse and Andrea, so move. Move."

It takes a moment, but Vocal Adrenaline finally manages to break out of their stunned stupor first, as they begin to move, hitting the other teams before they can react. The last thing that they needed was to be seen as the next McKinley, and getting targeted by the other schools. But even though they're moving and a few of the better members of Vocal Adrenaline have completed the tasks at hand, some of the weaker members do get eliminated in ensuing panic.

Shelby takes a breath before her anger bubbles up and she immediately turns on Cassandra, she had been given faulty information. Her original plan would have worked better, but she had gotten too greedy—no she had trusted Cassandra despite knowing how faulty her information was. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Cassandra asked, finally tearing her eyes off the screen.

Shelby scowled, "What was—you said that she would be easier to handle, while she was injured. My job was on the line, and we're extremely lucky that McKinley didn't just target our entire team, and instead decided to spread the damage, but I still lost my strongest students, and we could have been eliminated in five minutes!"

Cassandra narrowed her eyes, and there was a spark of energy that caused the television screen to flicker before cracking. Shelby flinched and immediately pulled back, "I did warn you that my mother has been working on Charlie since she was a child, and decided that she wanted to be a hero. She created her perfect little soldier, and what you saw was the result of my mother fucking with Charlie's head." Cassandra pauses for a moment, "Still, I mean I did tell you about her injury, and maybe I shouldn't have, but come on Shelby you bear some responsibility here. A wounded animal who is backed into a corner is dangerous, and we both forced Charlie's hand and this probably made it worse for everyone intended."

Shelby bit the tip of her thumb before turning to look at the broken television, "I'll need to rebuild them from the ground up," even if she had a history of being a winning coach, this season had been a disaster from top to finish. Jesse had been a top prospect, he'd even done an interview with Vought to join with one of their junior teams. She doubted that was on the table anymore after his recent string of performances. "Do I have your—where are you going?"

Cassandra stopped and looked back at Shelby, "Make sure my niece is still alive? Can't imagine that she feels great after that little performance. I'll also try and get her to sit out, it's not like she needs to compete anymore, should let Vocal Adrenaline squeak through."

Shelby nodded, it was Cassandra's attempt to keep the peace and she needed to just accept it. "I do hope she's okay, I actually do want my team to crush her."

Cassandra snorted, as she left. She didn't have the heart to tell Shelby that would never happen. She had underestimated Charlie's ability—she had underestimated her mother's influence on her niece. Charlie's power was a direct result of her mother's interference in Charlie's life. She wasn't even sure Charlie understood how out of balance her life was.

~ O ~

Babies cried once they entered the world, it was one of the few things that Frannie knew to be true. She was certain that her plan had been perfect, she was supposed to have a c-section and be up and running in a few hours with her pre-baby weight. Instead it had been over 36 hours of pure agony as her child had been in distress, all while she'd been forced to close portals that her child was opening. She wasn't even sure where some of them went. To top it off, her sister had been the one that had needed to deliver her child, because none of the medical professionals could get close enough to help. The entire wing of the medical facility had needed to be locked down, and now the child that she had carried for months, who she had read to when she was alone, and played classical music too, wasn't crying.

"Britt—"

Brittany looked up from where she was attempting to swaddle the baby, and failing miserably a smile on her face, which freezes when she spots the distressed look on Frannies. It takes her a moment to realize why Frannie had a worried look on her face. "He's fine Frannie, I just put him to sleep. I needed to keep him calm during the process, so he wouldn't accidentally send me into space. Don't worry I closed the hole in his heart, that is normal for babies, and I gave him a once over. He's a healthy baby boy, definitely a level 5, from the looks of it, I suppressed his abilities until we can get a suppressor on him."

Frannie lets out a choked breath, she had no idea she'd been holding it, but she trusted Brittany. If Brittany said that her child was healthy then he was healthy. She immediately manages to push herself up, and extends her arms for her child, Brittany was awful at swaddling. Brittany immediately transfers her son into her arms and she checks to make sure that he has all ten of his fingers. Her son was breathing rather evenly and she smiles, she can't help it. It's her son.

"Do you have a name?" Brittany asks, reaching to touch the babies dark brown hair, waking him up with the action.

Frannie nods, "I do, but maybe you can get the family in here first, so they can meet him. Slowly so they don't spook him." He looked like a miniature version of Joe. "Hey there," she greets him. "I'm your mom," she whispers, rubbing his hand. She glances up when the door opens up and she spots her mother who is rushing to her side, her father not far behind her, and she smiles when she finally sees her grandparents. "Meet Michaelangelo Fabray, the newest member of our family."

Russell fumbles with his phone to try and take a picture of his grandson, before realizing that he had his phone off. The moment he turns it on, and it boots it he gets hit with hundreds of texts from Quinn. "What the—" He looks over at Judy for a moment, but she doesn't seem to notice or care as she fawns over her new grandson. He quickly opens one, and reads it. Quinn never texted him, in fact she never talked to him these days.

~ O ~

"We've managed to drain most of the fluid from her lungs and lower her fever which was dangerously high, but the amount of damage that she sustained is above what we are capable of, it's like all her organs have been damaged. How she's still standing—how she was able to do what she did—"

Shannon glanced at Charlie ignoring the medical personnel for a moment, the rest of the team was giving Charlie her space as she coughed. It still sounded wet, but it certainly didn't sound as bad as it had been before. Charlie still looked like death, but she was responding to Santana poking her with a pen to see if she was still alive. "Thank you, if we need you again we'll let you know."

"Quit it!" Charlie grumbled trying to swat the pen away.

Santana smirked and poked Charlie in the cheek with the pen. She wasn't Lauren, she wasn't going to do something idiotic like challenge Charlie for her position, but she was sure as hell going to torment Charlie. She needed to take her wins somehow, and she probably wouldn't get another chance like this. "Make me."

Charlie finally zaps Santana's hand, it was a small shock, just enough to surprise her and get her to drop the pen. "There, I can still compete." She grunts as she gets up grimacing, her lungs still felt heavy. There was a reason that Brittany was generally the only person she allowed to heal her.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Finn asked from where he was hanging back with the rest of the team. "I mean Artie did the math, we've got enough points to go to nationals. I mean you still don't look very good."

"I feel fine and we—"

"You mean you," Santana interrupts before Charlie can force her way onto the field. "Look, I hate to admit it but you were right during regionals, when I asked why you didn't really put in any effort. You were right, any effort on your part will mean that we don't get the experience that we need. So why don't you sit out the next round—"

"I can't."

"You can't?" Santana echoes.

Charlie nodded as she forced herself to stand, heroes couldn't quit when they were sick. They needed to keep going, this was her debut, this was how she took the world by storm. If she backed down now people would call into question her tenacity, they would call into question her heart. They wouldn't be able to put their faith in her. "Charlotte Flair is watching, people are watching—I can't sit out. Sitting out makes me look weak."

Shannon let out an irritated sigh, it wasn't as if Charlie was wrong, being a hero came with extra scrutiny and if Charlie didn't appear it would lead to irritating questions about her fitness. Charlie had burst onto the national scene, sure her family was keeping her shielded and she was glad that Charlie didn't seem obsessed about the celebrity of being in her position, the media would run with it. Charlie didn't have a PR team, to help her navigate things like this. "You aren't medically cleared to compete, you just heard the healers."

"I don't plan on giving it everything, I mean even at two percent I'm still the strongest person in the room."

"Quinn's in the room," Marley pointed out, smiling at her girlfriend who snorted.

Charlie flicked her eyes to her twin, she studied her for a moment. "You're right, so let me correct myself even at five percent, I'm still the strongest person in the room."

Quinn rolled her eyes and was about to make a comment when there was a loud bang as the room shook. "What the—" The door to their locker room suddenly splinters as a body comes crashing through it, sliding against the ground and landing in front of her. Quinn blinks twice, "Aunt Cass?" There weren't that many people in the world who could kick her aunt's ass.

Cassandra glances at her niece for a moment before pushing herself up and wiping the blood on her lip, away. Fuck it had been a long time since someone had put her on her ass, but she gets up. Shelby was right, she needed to start training again. This was getting embarrassing. The amount of people who could kick her ass was growing. "Is that it?" She taunts as General Alder steps in front of the door and shoots her an unimpressed look.

Beiste immediately freezes, for once unsure of how to proceed. These were both level 5 women, and General Alder had the added benefit of being a general and perhaps one of the most important AI's in the country. "I—"

General Alder ignores Beiste and Cassandra and spots Lucy Fabray who is still wearing a shocked expression on her face. "Lucy, have you changed your mind about a life in the military?"

Quinn tore her eyes away from her aunt for a moment, she could hear a pin drop in the room. "No. I don't want to be a hero, and I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my life as your personal assassin or whatever else you have planned," she scoffs. "By the way I go by Quinn now."

General Alder sighs and shakes her head in disappointment, because it was a disappointment. Quinn was ruthless and intelligent, and her abilities if she mastered them would make her unstoppable. But she'd never held much interest in training, she had learned enough to barely keep her abilities contained. She turns her attention to Charlie and flashes her a smile, she'd been mistaken about Charlie's ceiling, but she'd always made her intentions clear. No amount of upselling or propaganda had caused her to waver. "Well—"

"I want to be a hero," Charlie says in a dull tone, tilting her head. "Why are you here?"

"Charlie," Beiste hisses, before pausing there was a familiarity between her and the twins. It seemed that they knew a ton of powerful people, and the moment that General Alder left she was most definitely going to have a discussion with both twins. They seemed to have a knowledge of a lot of powerful people, including the healer that had done Charlie's arm. She had questions, and they needed to have answers.

"You know General Alder?" Marley asks, turning to Quinn.

Quinn shrugged her shoulders, not the least bit interested in going over this with Marley, her eyes flick over to Rachel for a moment and a wave of guilt suddenly washes over her. "The government has a vested interest in making sure that level 5's don't turn into villains, and we don't accidentally wipe out a city or something. She helped train me and my sisters," Quinn responds. "She also helped train my aunt, and maybe my grandmother, but my grandmother doesn't talk about it, and she really doesn't like her. You really don't want to hear the words my grandmother uses to describe her."

Charlie sighed before coughing to clear out her lungs, "I'm not interested in whatever Faustian deal you want me to agree too."

"Faustian?" Quinn raises a brow.

"I read," Charlie snips back as Quinn bites back a laugh. "Besides, we both know she doesn't do anything unless there is something in it for her. It's the only reason that she trained us. She wanted someone in our family to be part of her military."

General Alder flashed the twins a patient smile, she was well aware of their weird defense mechanism. Relying on each other—playing off each other to disarm their opponent. Still she knew that she had their attention. "I was worried about the extent of your injuries, one of the women under my command can heal you. Her healing abilities are quite unique, she's a level 3, but she takes your injuries and heals your body."

Charlie paused for a moment, that would help her fight, and it would free up some brain space. Still nothing with General Alder came for free. "Pass, my injuries would kill your healer. I'm not going to pass on my damage to another person. I'm not worried about any permanent injury. Also once again, I don't want to play soldier."

"While I do think that's admirable, how will you explain that to the media?" Alder asks. "In the world of heroes, you are a celebrity and the people are fickle. If you don't show up, the paparazzi will construe a story and for the rest of your career they will question your heart and tenacity. That scrutiny that has broken many promising heroes—I mean look at Cassandra, it should be her that everyone relies on. She should be the one you're eager to fight, not Charlotte Flair. This of course isn't a problem if you come under my command."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Cassandra snaps at Alder, a bright yellow energy aura surrounds her fist. "Your biddies aren't here to save you from me."

"Aunt Cass," Charlie says as she appears between the two of them. "You can't kill or maim General Alder in front of witnesses. You'll be labeled a super villain and that will only prove grandma right. We can't have that," Charlie said placing a hand on Cassandra's shoulder.

Cassandra flicked her eyes over to Charlie and she frowns ever so slightly, before she scoffs and calms down. "You're right, we can't have that. It'll be a pain in my ass."

"Well I'm glad someone has a level-head amongst the two of you. It's a shame it's the seventeen-year-old." Cassandra inhaled sharply, causing General Alder to smirk before turning her attention back to Charlie. "That still doesn't solve your media problem."

"We're going to tell them that she's sitting back because the rest of the team needs the practice and experience that Inter-high provides us. She's already impressed scouts, now she needs to let us do the same, and the only way to do that is to show that we aren't just relying on you. McKinley is strong, it's not just you," Santana speaks up looking at Charlie.

"I can still—"

"Trust me," Santana interrupts, meeting Charlie's gaze. She can hear the gears grinding in Charlie's head. "Trust us."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Charlie grumbles.

"Get in Charlotte Flair's face and irritate the crap out of her? It's like your special skill," Santana shoots back immediately. "You want this fight, shouldn't you know— hype it up? Just don't say any of your lame catch phrases, do not think of a new one and try it out either."

Charlie pauses, that would work, and she could swing it. McKinley did need the practice and unlike every other team, every member of their team had made it to the second round. "Okay, but I looked really cool earlier so—"

Quinn wrapped Charlie's mouth with an ice band, ignoring the dark look Charlie shoots at her. They had no idea when Frannie would be able to let them move, she hadn't heard from her parents or grandparents since the party. "Assuming you do heal her, what would she have to agree too?"

General Alder turned to Quinn, "I would need backup, she's not yet a hero and she's never once made use of her provisional license. It would only be a weekend at most."

"She'll do it on three conditions," Quinn says with a shrug of her shoulders.

Both Cassandra and Charlie immediately turn to Quinn, but it's Cassandra who has the first words. "Wait what? You're considering working for her?"

"On three conditions, first you take a look at Marley's designs—Marley and the rest of the support teams designs. If you think they're impressive you need to write a recommendation letter for an internship. Your word carries a lot of weight," Quinn says immediately.

Charlie slaps Santana's hand and points to the ice band around her mouth.

"I dunno, I'm kind of enjoying the—alright fine stop shocking me!" Santana bitches and melts the ice.

"Quinn! We've talked about this, you can't just use me and make me do all the things that you should be doing, and would be doing if you weren't shit at using your powers," Charlie snapped.

"Personally, Charlie I wouldn't be here if I didn't see what you did on that field. I have questions, but more importantly this is simply a retrieval mission, with your abilities no one has to die, but if you don't do this, then people will die."

Cassandra rolled her eyes, "Laying it on thick with the emotional blackmail. She's seventeen, fuck off with that bullshit. She doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to."

"I mean maybe you should—"

"Quinn, I'm not interested. Grandma probably has really good reasons for not trusting her. I really don't have the time to deal with anything that isn't training to face Charlotte Flair." Charlie reminds everyone, studying Quinn. Quinn knew better, Alder was nothing more than an old ass vampire. Her ability was to steal the youth and abilities from those around her. Just being around her gave her the creeps, and she refused to be one of Alder's batteries.

Quinn frowned for a moment before pulling back. "Fine."

General Alder sighed, "I would never make you do something you weren't comfortable with Charlie. I hope one day you will trust me. As a gesture of goodwill why don't I arrange a training camp with a few of my best new recruits with McKinley? I'll also take a look at a few designs and see which ones are impressive, if there are I am sure I can swing an internship at Luthorcorp. Lex owes me a favor."

"That sounds amazing, thank you." Shannon interrupts before Charlie can turn it down.

Charlie raised a brow, before turning to look at her twin again. She really had no idea why Quinn was suggesting that they work for Alder, it was a terrible idea. The fact that Beiste had just invited Alder into their lives, made this entire thing a giant pain in the ass. Though she imagined that as soon as her grandmother heard about this there she could imagine the shit show that would arise.

~ O ~

"What exactly are your thoughts on the history that we just witnessed?" Rod Remington asked, trying to get an interview with Charlotte Flair. It was the response that everyone was waiting for, social media was abuzz as were the betting markets. "I, like many others, are still speechless."

Charlotte Flair stopped and turned to look at Rod Remington, she had known that the media would hound her after that little stunt that Charlie had pulled. "Well, she caught my interest last time, but after today she has my full attention. I have no intention of underestimating her, so that's why I hope that she gets healthy by nationals. I don't want there to be an asterisk in the history books next to my win."

"Even with an injury that looked severe, she still managed to break a record. We can both tell that she's holding back—"

"That was less than half a percent of my current strength," Charlie interrupts causing them both to turn to her. She spots Sasha Banks and flashes her a grin and waves. "Hey Sasha!"

"Hey Charlie!" Charlotte turns to look at Sasha who shrugs, "What? I'm just being polite."

Rod turned and smiled at Charlie, the ratings that he was going to get for this, would be immense. "How are you feeling Charlie? And shouldn't you be getting ready for the next round? Heroes vs Villains is another difficult competition especially when you have some of the top heroes playing the heroes."

Charlie tears her eyes away from Sasha for a moment, and shrugs her good shoulder. "My team has insisted that I stop showing off, and let them get experience. They want to prove to the world that they aren't just a bunch of people in the background, and they deserve to be here just as much as any of the other teams. I trust my team, I want them to get scouted, I want them to get good offers from top schools. And that means that I need to know when to step back even if I really want to participate. The team is in good hands with Santana, my co-captain."

"How mature," Rod said nodding his head. "I'm sure everyone will be tuned into the McKinley match, but what do you mean that you only used a fraction of your abilities?"

"Exactly what I said, I need to constantly hold back so I don't hurt anyone. The reason I'm looking forward to this fight is because I hope that Charlotte Flair can live up to my expectations. I plan on giving it my all, and if that's not enough maybe I'll surpass that during the fight."

Charlotte for her part let out a chuckle, "If that's how you want to play it Charlie, then I won't hold back either. I do hope that all this isn't just talk, it won't look good for me if I just beat up a teenager. I really would rather not have the media call me a bully when you like everyone else I've ever fought, end up bowing to the Queen." A little fear wouldn't hurt the kid and she lets Charlie get just a taste of her power, it's usually enough to get a few people scurrying back, and the moment her eyes start to glow and the cracks begin to form around her feet, Rod and Sasha immediately give her some space.

Charlie on the other hand smiles, it's a massive grin as she flexes back matching Charlotte's power output and for a split second surpassing it with ease, as the lightbulbs begin to explode around her. "Whoops, anyway I just came to tell you that McKinley will be heading to nationals, and more importantly I'll be winning our exhibition match."

Before Charlotte can say anything Charlie takes off, and she rolls her eyes. She turns to look at Sasha when Charlie reappears behind her, causing her to turn immediately sensing the danger.

"I forgot to say bye. Bye Sasha!"

Sasha snorted, "Bye Charlie." Charlie waved and then took off again. "It's hardly my fault that she has a crush on me."