The last person that Rachel had expected to see waiting for her as she dragged herself towards Santana's vehicle was Quinn, who was sitting on a bench reading. She knew for a fact that Cheerios practice had ended nearly an hour ago, and it had taken most members of the team an hour to pick themselves up to hit the showers. Santana hadn't even made it out. "Quinn?"
Quinn drops the book and turns to look at Rachel, and inhales sharply, she looked like she had just been in a fight. Frannie's training had always been difficult, she like Charlie had suffered under it on quite a few occasions, but the haunted look in Rachel's eye told her everything that she needed to know. "Before you ask, no I can't curb Frannie's excess. She enjoys torturing people. But I can take you home and run you an ice bath."
Rachel shot Quinn a dull look, "That sounds awful, why would anyone agree to that?"
"Because as shitty as you feel now, I know by tomorrow it's going to be worse."
Rachel shuddered, every muscle in her body ached, she didn't even know there were places that could ache and she nods almost pathetically at Quinn, "Are you only being nice to me because you feel bad about Frannie and about lunch today?"
Quinn stood up and moved to take Rachel's duffel bag from her and use her body to support Rachel, "Frannie was Charlie's idea," Quinn stated, throwing her twin under the bus. "And as for taking care of you, I like you Rachel. My feelings haven't changed since the last time I asked you to be my girlfriend, I just thought you'd do a huge romantic gesture when you were ready. I wasn't expecting something low key. Honestly I'm surprised Charlie figured it out before I did."
"Charlie is really good at relationships," Rachel insisted.
"You keep saying that, but evidence has shown that statement is a lie," Quinn teases gently as she helps Rachel to her car. She opens the door for Rachel and helps her inside the vehicle before putting her things away. "Your dad's home?"
Rachel attempted to lift her shoulders but her arms were dead, and she closed her eyes. "No," she mumbles as the exhaustion finally hits her and she yawns.
Quinn opens her mouth to ask about Yale, before deciding against it, when she notices that Rachel was already asleep. She hums and reaches over to help Rachel with her seatbelt. She wasn't exactly thrilled that Frannie had been—well Frannie, but if Rachel going through hell brought them closer together, she'd take it. Even if there was nothing that she could do to help. Frannie would never back down from this and the only two people who could make her were dead. An ice bath and helping Rachel with her homework was the only thing that she could do for her.
~ O ~
"You know if I had known that Cassandra July was going to be the person that set us free, I would have sent her a gift basket. A good one, not one of the disgusting fruit things that rot in a few days, and looks completely unappetizing. Maybe oils, women like oils and stuff don't they?"Stan Edgar questioned as he looked at the other members that were present in the boardroom.
To the naked eye he was simply an old man talking to himself, as there was no one else in the room. But to those who were wearing the same type of special glasses that Stan Edgar was wearing, they could see the holographic avatars of people sitting in chairs, listening raptly.
"With Artemis's death, and Utopian and the Union of Justice flailing under a public relations nightmare, I can confidently say that the age of heroes has finally come to an end, we can control them now. We can control the narrative moving forward, and start questioning the necessity of them. We've done it before, outlawed heroes. But the heroes of today aren't like the Mr. Incredible's, aren't like the Fro-zone. We've turned them into celebrities. We've made them actors and actresses. We've spent years defanging the community, and quite frankly the public is sick of them. Rupert Murdoch isn't even a member of this group and yet he's managed to convince people to turn against their neighbor. He's filled the air with conspiracy and people don't know what's up or down. We get them angry if we make them afraid, then they'll hand over the keys to the kingdom all on their own. They'll accept our rule. And the world will be like it's meant to be." There was an air of superiority, of condescension around the man as he finally took his seat and let out a laugh.
'A day of reckoning is upon us and there will be a day where we no longer have to hide in the shadows.'
'The Union of Justice still exists. Moriarty, the Utopian lives! The child still lives!'
Stan Edgar let out a laugh, "Don't worry about it my friends and colleagues. The Utopian is old, and his brother conspires against him with his son, they can be bought off. As for the grandchildren of Artemis July, three of them show no interest in being heroes. They are rich and spoiled, the real problem is the youngest. But I can see it in her eyes, she's tired of it all. We can break her, didn't we do that to Cassandra?"
'The Utopian still stands as a bastion of humanity, even if the people are upset with his actions he is still there. And the child has fans, she has a following she could be the next Utopian if we're not careful. She's already challenged him for his position, that confidence that self-assuredness, the people will flock to her—'
"She is a child, and we are Jörmungandr," Stan said, slamming his hand against the table. "We are legion and this world belongs to us! You would let a girl stand in our way? She's a teenager, I have one of those at home, I'm sure some of you do as well. They believe they are unstoppable, they believe that they are untouchable. Charlotte Fabray thinks that she is a god amongst men. She thinks that she knows what's best, that she is the strongest AI on the planet and that we should bow down to her. I heard that the General has started to call her a tyrant. I scoff at that. She tells the world that she is going to save them, that she's going to be a better hero than Utopian and I laugh at that. She can't stop us, The Utopian couldn't stop us. Artemis July couldn't stop us. Better people than her have tried. And they have failed."
Stan gets back up and walks around the room, "We have survived far worse than a child pretending to be a god. A child that needed her grandmother to come save her. England was a test and she failed. She couldn't do what needed to be done to Cassandra. As I said at the beginning of this little speech of mine, the Age of Heroes has come to an end. There aren't that many true believers anymore, they're just looking for fame and fortune. These so-called heroes are nothing more than mercenaries and we have more than enough money to pay them off." He picks up a remote. "In fact I want you to mark it down on your calendars, it's a new year and this is the year that marks the age of Villains."
Stan turns on the television and nearly everyone in their seats turns to look at the screen which was currently playing drone footage, with a news chiron underneath it. Demon attack hits the Windy City. He begins to flip through the channels and it's clear from all the international news stations that it wasn't just in one city. "Milan. Tokyo. Paris. London. Cairo. Dubai. Berlin. Lagos. Beijing. Mumbai. Sydney. It's time to let the people see just how weak these so-called heroes are. Let's see how the would-be-tyrant fairs against the daughter of the Necromancer and Ghost. She's already done so much for our cause."
~ O ~
"So what do you want for lunch today?" Charlie questions her twin as she looks at her phone and scratches her ear. "I want tacos."
"Because you're horny? Or because you're actually in the mood for mexican?" Quinn responds as she puts her books in her locker.
"I really don't understand why you don't automatically assume that it's both?" Charlie retorts, flashing Quinn a smile.
"Because I'm not a degenerate? And the most hated person in this school."
"Quinn, I'm the loveable twin who could hate this face?"
"Your ex-girlfriend, Rachel, and the rest of your former team? I mean they all look like zombies right now, but I mean zombies are known to tear people limb from limb," Quinn stated pointing at the end of the hall, where most of McKinley's Titans looked absolutely haggard as they limped and dragged themselves through the halls.
Charlie turns to look at them for a brief moment, before she shrugs, she could certainly out run and outfly zombies. "I really don't see how any of this is my fault, if any of them had bothered to keep up with the training plans that I gave them, then Frannie—I mean as they said in Jurassic Park, life finds a way."
Quinn bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud, "It's not the worst thing in the world, Rachel and I are getting closer. You should probably start moving, they're getting closer."
Charlie sighed and turns around to confront her team, forcing a massive smile on her face, "Frannie has clearly gotten nicer after she's had Mikey. The fact that you guys are walking is a testament to her getting soft," Charlie said as Quinn covered her mouth to hide her amusement.
"You—" Santana begins, she's far too tired to flame up or even throw a fireball but she plans to yell at her ex-girlfriend until her legs give out which at this moment could be any second now.
"Hey! I did something nice for you. You don't like the Christmas gift I gave you. I give practical gifts, and Frannie was a practical gift, because she suddenly had some spare time. Do you have any idea how much this is costing me to give you guys the best?" Charlie questions crossing her arms over her chest. "You guys should be on the ground kissing my ass instead of cursing me out. I'm helping, because I want to see you guys prove to the world that you didn't need me to get to nationals, you just needed better coaching."
"Look at my hair," Blaine whines. "I couldn't even be bothered to use hair gel, what happens when Kurt sees me?"
"He realizes that his boyfriend is part alpaca." Charlie shrugged her shoulders. "I did you a favor, and got you the best coach in the country. Why are you this ungrateful?"
"Laying it on a bit thick," Quinn murmurs to Charlie, clearing her throat and going back to her locker when Rachel shoots her a betrayed look. "All Charlie has to do is babysit for Frannie when she's training you."
"So what you're saying is that if Frannie doesn't have childcare, then we don't have Frannie?" Santana questions glaring at Charlie.
"I mean—theoretically," Quinn replies, throwing her twin under the bus. "But even Charlie's indisposed, Frannie has Mikey's dad, our dad, and Brittany on speed dial. You'd literally have to take out my entire family. I mean my dad is easy, I've never met Mikey's father—"
"He'd crush you. High level 4."
"And if you somehow managed to take out Charlie and Mikey's father, you'd be left with Brittany," Quinn shuddered. "Honestly, Charlie and I had to go through it. Frannie wanted to know how much we could take when we were thirteen so we do understand."
"Fine, we have Frannie, when does the pain stop?" Sam complained, "I can't feel my legs. And I don't know how many times I ended up crashing into a wall yesterday."
"Save yourself is the worst," Emma groaned as she too had bruises littering her body.
"I mean it's better not to get caught," Charlie mutters under her breath, only to get elbowed by Quinn. "Oh come on you know it's better—"
Can't stop these radical dudes
The secret of the ooze made the chosen few
Emerge from the shadows, to make their moves
The good guys win and the bad guys lose
The moment the muffled music hits, Charlie bops her head with the TMNT theme song. "Someone's got good taste."
Regina turns to look at Santana and slowly signs to her.
"You dated her," Emma says, speaking up for Regina.
"As if you don't have a thing for dumb blonde women," Santana shoots back at Regina who immediately flushes and shoots her a dirty look.
Emma blinks, "Dumb blonde—"
Can't stop these radical dudes
The secret of the ooze made the chosen few
Emerge from the shadows, to make their moves
The good guys win and the bad guys lose
All eyes turn to Charlie as the TMNT song plays again, "Pick up your phone!" Rachel groans.
"That's not my phone's ringtone. My phone's ringtone is the TMNT rap, but my phone is permanently on vibrate," Charlie grumbled as she pulled out her phone to show them it's not ringing. "See."
"There's a TMNT rap song?" Finn questions.
"Yeah it totally slaps—"
Can't stop these radical dudes
The secret of the ooze made the chosen few
Emerge from the shadows, to make their moves
The good guys win and the bad guys lose
Charlie pauses and reaches for her wallet , where the noise was coming from, almost immediately she could see a light coming from the inside of her wallet and opens it, only to see her hero license vibrating and ringing. "It rings? I thought this was just a piece of plastic." The moment that the card is in her hand it stops ringing and it lights up shooting a holographic image into the air.
"How did you forget? You literally threw a temper tantrum that they nearly refused to get you the theme song."
"I certainly don't remember any tantrums," Charlie retorts, scowling at Quinn. As she touches the holographic letter. Information quickly begins to scroll and Charlie's eyes dart back and forth. The message finishes and her card goes back to normal and she slides it back into her wallet and places her wallet in her locker, along with her keys and her backpack.
"What is it?" Santana questions immediately, noting the tension in Charlie's jaw.
"They send people to kill me, they fail and now they're ordering me to Chicago. I guess the government likes me again or this is a way to try and kill me. They've invoked the Hero's Act, I've basically been drafted."
"Drafted?" Quinn states frowning, she couldn't remember the last time the Hero's Act had been invoked, the proliferation of AI heroes made it unnecessary. She immediately pulled out her phone as did nearly everyone else as they all began to check the news.
"It's not just Chicago," Rachel whispers.
"Monster attack in Tokyo."
"Mumbai, super villain attack."
"Paris, the Eiffel Tower is just gone, monster attack." Artie breathed out.
"Supervillain attack in London," Kitty says informing Charlie.
"Thousands of lives have been lost," Sam squeaks out his eyes wide. "We've lost hundreds of heroes already."
Charlie removes her hoodie, and hangs it up before grabbing her wallet again and sliding out her hero's license and pocketing it. She was sure it was some sort of communication device. She had absolutely no idea how to use it. She closes her locker and looks at Quinn. "I'll try and be back by lunch, no promises."
Quinn grunted at her twin, it didn't take a genius to realize that this was a coordinated attack. "Don't die."
"I'll try not to," Charlie responds flatly as she looks over Quinn's shoulder to get a look of Chicago, "Homelander and The Utopian are already on the scene," she says as she opens up a portal and moves to take a step through, only to have Santana grab her by the arm. She stops to look at her confusion on her face, "I have to—"
"I'm still angry at you," Santana says, swallowing, she didn't want to let go. It looked like hell on Earth. And the headline was already saying that hundreds of heroes had died. "So you can't die, come back so I can yell at you some more."
Charlie gently takes Santana's hand off her arm and brings it to her lips kissing it, "I promise I'll be back so you can yell at me about your present. But if I come back, understand that Frannie was a huge part of the reason why. It sucks now, it'll suck tomorrow and it'll suck three weeks from now. But when you come out on the other side, you'll be stronger for it. I promise." She winks at the team before stepping through the portal which closes behind her.
~ O ~
"Figgins needs to lock the school down, the Hero Act was activated right? That's how it works?" Santana asked, turning to look at Quinn who was on her phone texting away. "Seriously? Charlie's gone off to face literal hellspawn and you're texting?"
"She said she'd be back by lunch," Quinn replied without looking up from her phone.
"She said she'd try and be back for lunch," Blaine corrected.
"Then what am I going to do for lunch? I was coming around to the taco idea." Quinn frowns slightly. When Rachel touches her elbow she glances at her and smiles "I'm texting my dad to let him know to get the PR team and lawyers ready, if they haven't already mobilized. Also texting Frannie, Charlie doesn't belong to a firm, she has no communication devices, she has no gear to help her, if she's going to do these things, she can't be destroying her street clothes. Also if Charlie's been drafted then Frannie has been too, the Hero Act is only invoked in the direst of circumstances and both Charlie and Frannie have hero licenses, this is why I rejected mine. Which means that Mikey needs a babysitter. I'll see if Brittany is able, but if she isn't then—"
"We can watch him, I've babysat for my siblings a bunch of times, and they're twins," Sam says. "The entire team could watch him."
Quinn glanced at him, "I haven't reached Frannie yet, and watching Mikey won't save you. If anything it would make things infinitely worse, Frannie despises being seen as weak, and she only trusts Mikey with family. She's more likely to give him to his father than to drop him on me."
Rachel bit her lip, "Doesn't this feel coordinated? Attacks in major cities, all at once? I mean if that isn't coordinated I don't quite know what is."
"It doesn't matter. There's an attack in Chicago, we need to deal with that before we can send our heavy hitters to other countries. Who else is on the scene?"
"The Utopian, Lady Liberty, Homelander, Queen Maeve, I see Sasha Banks which means that Charlotte is probably nearby but it's not even light outside yet, Charlotte's in the wings. Charlie, the government went with our heaviest hitters. Which means that Charlie's made the list."
"Charlie's been on that list since New York. The Union of Justice?" Quinn paused. "Shelly won't do anything that jeopardizes the sake of the city. Homelander on the other hand—"
"What's wrong with the Seven?" Finn asked. "Homelander's my favorite hero."
"I mean you guys are ruining most hero firms for us," Artie adds.
"Most hero firms are incredibly corrupt, as is the hero industry. The hero industry is a trillion dollar industry, and with that type of money people's worst instincts have a way of appearing. With that said, I'm not going to ruin your crush on Homelander. I'm sure he'll do that on his own eventually." It was probably for the best that Homelander has fans, their eyes on him kept his more psychotic behavior in check.
~ O ~
The pungent odor of death is the first thing to hit her the moment she steps out of a portal and she's forced to close her eyes as they begin to sting with the acidity in the air. This wasn't anything like New York at all, and she could feel a prickle on her skin, she's not sure if it's nerves or not, but she doesn't have time to dwell as she turns to look at two National guardsmen with guns yelling at her and motioning for her to follow them. She quickly follows them, surveying the scene with her eyes. There were so many people outside despite how freezing cold it was. It didn't make sense at all, not that there were abandoned cars on the road, but that there were so many fucking people out of their cars who hadn't been put into bunkers.
"Charlie over here!" Charlotte Flair's voice was barely audible over the sound of the screams and gunfire in the background. It takes calling Charlie's name two more times before Charlie spots and appears by her side. "You're here. And you missed the debrief."
"You do realize that I have to graduate from high school right? Also how have you not figured out how not to suck unless it's an hour to noon and an hour after noon. Like having 2 hours a day where you're useful is more problematic than me attempting to learn Spanish. Universal translator's exist, I'll be fine, you're still useless 22 hours a day, and if it's an overcast day." Charlie fires back.
Charlotte Flair rolled her eyes, "It's Chicago, in winter, the skies are dark right now. I'm under some artificial sun lamps from Luthorcorp but not enough juice. I know you didn't have much of a communication device, or gear, so Becky grabbed your uniform—"
"Not your sidekick, not wearing a sidekick uniform, people might get confused about which one of us is the hero," Charlie interrupts. "I will take the communication device you have until it's in my ear before I'm going to go fight."
"Fight who?" Charlotte pointed to the crowds of people on the street many of them were fighting, there were people who were simply having sex surrounded by dead bodies. There were also people who were stepping off skyscrapers and raining down on the people who were already in the street killing them. "Those are all civilians, Charlie all of them are civilians that have been afflicted with whatever this. Can you stop them?"
Charlie turned, there had to be thousands of people if not tens of thousands of people in the street, she could hear screaming children in the background, she could see people being trampled to death. There was even someone stabbing a woman violently to death, as a woman clawed her face open, screaming as she did so. She swallows, her eyes glowing before she looks at the people carefully scanning them, surveying them, trying to find something—anything she could exploit or save. There was no saving these people, "Have you contained this?"
"We've contained as much of it as possible, but it's like they're multiplying and if there are any people who are unafflicted, we can't separate them out. This whole area has become a quarantine zone."
"The Utopian and Lady Liberty are on the scene, doing what? That tells me that—"
"She calls herself Wraith, the issue at hand is that we can't lay a hand on her."
"Because she's royalty? This is America, we don't have royalty. We threw tea into a harbor so we wouldn't have royalty. Something about taxation, the IRS must have been a pain in the ass back then as well."
Charlotte tilted her head, "You really should be in school, but that's besides the point. We physically can't touch her, you probably won't be able to either, apart from these weird ghost like things, which we're assuming are the wraiths. Wraith can go intangible. Her wraith's are like ghosts, they just pass right through you."
Charlie tilted her head back and forth as she thought for a moment, "There are too many people for me to hold all at once, and still fight. And given my last run in with the Union of Justice you understand why I'm not exactly eager to be a sitting duck."
"And you can't heal them?"
"Heal what? I can heal wounds, I can heal burns, but this seems to be a problem of the mind and I'm not fucking with people's minds. That's some Brainwave shit that I want no part of."
"I thought that would be the case, if you can't help then you're being tasked with stopping Wraith. Homelander, Queen Maeve, Lady Liberty and the Utopian are both engaged with Wraith and I need to know if you'll be okay with working with them."
"Shelly and I have come to an agreement. He sits in his fancy chair until I'm ready and then he fucks off and retires. I've had zero interaction with Homelander, I think I shook his hand once. Maybe. Probably not, he's a fucking psychopath."
"He is but the entire world is watching and they like him. They like Homelander, he has fans who enjoy his brutality. If you go against him you'll be going against all of Vought, and that's a fight you're not ready for." Charlotte lectures.
"Understood. Once I save the world again, you and I are going to have a talk about your uselessness. I know how to fix it, but it's going to cost you."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, "We'll talk later, you've been debriefed. I believe that Lady Liberty is engaging with Wraith."
"Picture?" Charlie questions, she needed to know who to attack on sight. Charlotte reached for a tablet and showed Charlie a blurry image of Wraith. Who was clearly wearing a bikini outfit of some sort that was completely inappropriate for the weather and what she was doing. "And you want me to seduce her?"
"Charlie."
"Charlotte, it was a suggestion. I'm very good at seducing teenagers my own age, look at this face!" Charlie said as she raised her hands, and suddenly a black cloud was suddenly lifted from the ground. There are large electrical sparks that are found in the cloud as she makes some adjustments. "It's the money maker."
"Will you just go!" Charlotte demands, shaking her head.
~ O ~
Frannie grimaced as she handed Mikey over to Joe, who she had portalled in from the Amazon, she motions for him to leave her office as she looks over the multiple news reports quickly trying to triage the situation. From Quinn's text she knew that Charlie was currently in Chicago. If Charlie was out there then she needed to keep an eye on her sister, she was still young and despite what most people believed, Charlie's lack of experience was a problem. She needed guidance, not to be thrown to the wolves and hope for the best.
She taps on her feed of Chicago, and swallows it looked like some sort of post-apocalyptic hellscape that was filled to the brim with zombies, she narrows her eyes, when she sees one person with something pink in his hands waving it around blood dripping everywhere and zooms in and immediately regrets her curiosity. "Is that his penis—oh dear god, why hasn't she put them to sleep yet?" Frannie turns her face away and feels a dry heave coming on, but pushes it aside. Charlie's goal had always been to save civilians first, for her to ignore what she could only describe as a lack of religion and morality suggested that something was up. She picks up her phone and immediately texts Quinn before returning her attention back to the other cities that were under attack. "This was coordinated, and there may be more cities that are in danger," she mumbles mostly to herself as she needed forces in every major city in the world.
~ O ~
'Why are the civilians still around?'
The question from Frannie is enough to pull Quinn's attention to the television that Santana had bullied a few teachers into giving the team, "Is that Chicago?" Quinn asks reaching for the remote so she could turn up the volume.
"She didn't save them—I thought Charlie's whole fucking thing was saving civilians, why didn't she?" Santana questions. She could usually follow Charlie's train of thought, and at least understood where her priorities were as a hero, but for Charlie to ignore the throngs upon throngs of people. She flinches as she watches someone dig their fingers into someone else's eyes. "Holy shit," Santana said, turning her face away.
Charlie's eyes were full on glowing, at least that's what she could see from the camera and Quinn hesitated, sure Charlie still sort of acted the same, and there was that wry humor that she had, but this flew in the face of everything that Charlie had professed to care about. The civilians mattered more so than the villain. "I think we have a problem here."
Santana looks at Quinn, "Can you—"
"My powers can't help, and she didn't bring her phone—I'm guessing the plan is to take out the threat and figure out the civilian situation later," Quinn tilted her head. "Does Beiste still have her hero license?"
"She's retired, I'm pretty sure—"
"Retired heroes can still be drafted, she was a level 3 hero, she wasn't going to be called into this situation, but I should be able to contact her and talk to her. She's amped up, she needs to breathe."
"I'll ask but maybe talk to Frannie—get her to intervene?" Santana questions.
"Frannie noticed, but she doesn't have time or the energy to fix Charlie and get her on the right path. I mean it is possible that she tried and it didn't work and she's currently trying to go to the source of the problem. We are doing a bit of armchair quarterbacking here—"
"Yeah—and there are thousands of people in the streets, holding them down might not be enough to—what the fuck was that!"
"What the fuck was what?" Finn asks, looking up from the tv.
"That shadow demon thing!" Santana grabs the remote from Quinn and tries to rewind but it doesn't work. "You mean I can't rewind? Someone get a stream from the internet, someone somewhere has probably noticed what the fuck I was talking about."
~ O ~
Charlie grimaced as a body slammed into her nearly knocking her off her makeshift board that she was using to get to the epicenter of this mess. She had removed a manhole cover and was using it to fly through the sky and avoid most projectiles. Someone had thrown a human head at her. It was pandemonium on a scale that she had never once experienced before. There was nothing to heal it was like whatever was afflicting them had destroyed any inhibitions. She had just witnessed someone bent over a car getting fucked by some obscenely large object while people flung excrement at them. It was nightmare fuel upon nightmare fuel and she really didn't want to deal with it.
Her options had been limited, there had been no healing them. It was an affliction of the brain, which meant that it would take too long to get to the root of the issue even if she knew how to undo it. Holding them in place was out of the question, there were simply too many people and doing such a thing would leave her open to attacks. And knocking them out—it was one thing to do it in small numbers but she wasn't sure how she would safely knock everyone out. There were far too many people to do it in small waves, and she risked them getting trampled.
"An impossible situation," Charlie mumbles mostly to herself as she suddenly dodges out of the way as a laser beam suddenly appears, nearly hitting her. She scowls and turns to look at Homelander who is attempting and failing to ignore the people as he slams his fist through one person's chest dropping him. She immediately drops down behind electricity sparking off her body and clearing the people in the area dropping them to the ground , "You can't kill civilians—"
"They attacked me. They are preventing me from completing my mission. If you want me to stop killing civilians, figure out a way to deal—" Homelander suddenly spunn around his fist hitting someone's face caving it in as if it had just been made with paper-mâché, the blood and brains splattering over the ground. "Disgusting." He said, shaking his glove covered hand.
Charlie took a step towards him before stopping, this wasn't the right time to deal with the Homelander situation, people were actively dying around her. She takes a breath, she can hear her grandfather's words she needs to breathe. She needs to take her time. A shadow enters her peripheral vision and she twists around, even as the bodies start to converge on top of her. She needs to regroup—a dark cloud, was it a cloud? Presence passes through her body and she touches her chest. She hadn't sensed it.
But she feels it, it's cold, far colder than any attempt Quinn had made to freeze her underwear. And she can feel it shredding her insides apart as it passes through her body as she gasps and nearly falls to knees. Her ultimate defense had been rendered useless against whatever that shadow had been.
Was this what being a hero was? Failing to save the people who fucking mattered. Her mother, fighting with her had been so fucking pointless. Every single attempt her mother had made to reach her she had shoved her away and spit at her attempts, as if they were useless. As if her mother was useless. What type of hero was she? She talked such a big game and she had failed everyone. Quinn. Frannie. Britt. Her mother, her grandparents. She had let them all down.
She feels hands on her body, she feels them tearing at her clothes, at her flesh but she can't bring herself to care in this instance. The world would be better off without her. She wasn't the smart one, it had taken her far longer to master her powers then it had Quinn or Frannie. She had struggled, and maybe all the game that she took—
"What did your grandma call you—lightning bug no that's not it—Firefly that's it! What are you doing Firefly?"
Charlie's head snaps up and almost immediately she looks for that familiar voice, but she doesn't see him, she can only hear him. And there are all these people on top of her attacking her, she immediately shocks them off her, and staggers onto the top of a car, and scans the crowd. Maybe she was going crazy, she had to be, she was hearing things, and if she was hearing things that meant she was crazy. But she missed him, even when he was exasperated with her antics he still loved her. He still defended her to the death. "You're dead," she whispers even as the throngs of people begin to swarm again.
She can hear his almost hearty laugh at her statement, "Damn right I'm dead. And if you die here, I'll be annoyed with you. All that training, making sure that you were ready. You've bled for this. You've nearly killed yourself to be here, and you're just giving up because of a fucking shadow."
"I'd get to see you, mom and grandma again—"
"So you're just going to let yourself die? Abandon the people you love and care about? Leave Lucy to pick up the pieces, to pick up the mantle that you struggled for. Nah, your mom raised you better than Firefly. I raised you better than that."
"How haven't you succumbed yet?"
The voice causes Charlie to wheel around striking blindly; she hadn't felt anyone nearby but she just hears laughter and a near naked woman who was practically in a swimsuit and a rather large fur coat, lets out a laugh as her hand goes right through her. Charlie's eyes adjust immediately and she spots the woman in the picture that Charlotte had sent her.
"Look at that, two powers just like all my grandkids, well you're not as limited as she is. You never have been, I know how hard you are on yourself but you got to remember you got my eyes kiddo. No that's not quite true I was forever a level 3, all I could do was see was weakness. Your mom took my gift to you and she completed it—you just don't just see weakness, you see everything, how everything works. And your eyes are on her now. Wraith's hers are a bit more special than I'd give her credit for."
She can practically hear the smile in his voice, and she would destroy the world to see him again tear it apart just to have him give her a piggyback ride again, just to smack her upside the head. She tracks wraith her eyes watching as she flickered in and out of existence. One second she could feel her presence and she was gone the next.
"You already know how to beat her, you already know how to end this so why are you hesitating, Firefly? Why are you making such a mess of things? If you ever trusted me then trust in my training, trust in the fact that I love you and I—we don't blame you for Cassandra. If you want to die, then do it after you save her."
There was a firmness in his voice that gave her comfort and she picked up a shattered piece of glass and slams into her leg letting the pain wash over her, shocking her system back to life as she tried to force the darkness that threatened to consume her out. First Brainwave. Now, whoever this bitch was.
Another wraith this time, but she barely manages to dodge out of the way, she can hear that woman's laughter ringing in her ears. She hated people fucking around in her mind, she needed to overcome this. She had dealt with worse, she needed to trust in the training that had been carved into her body, into her very soul. She was the daughter of Judy and Russell Fabray. The grandchild of Rose and Greg Fabray, and Lawrence and Artemis July. She couldn't disgrace her family's legacy by dying by some no name scantily dressed mind rapist.
She half expects to hear her grandfather's voice goading her into fighting but what she hears next breaks her heart and strengthens her resolve in one move. "Promise me that you will be kind, and just. And remember that you're a Fabray and a July, always make it look effortlessly easy."
Her mother's last words to her rings in her ears and she can feel her blood boiling as a massive arc of electricity starts coming off her in waves slamming into the civilians and electrocuting them. Immediately she reacts, healing them completely and knocking them out.
"Oh thank god! You're finally ready to play, killing you is on my bucket list," the woman laughs.
Charlie closes her eyes for one brief second and exhales forcefully, the air condensing in the cold January air. Her clothes had been torn, and she was bleeding but for the first time in a while she felt like she was on solid ground. She doesn't say anything as her eyes return to normal. She couldn't just spend the next five minutes experimenting. This wasn't a one-sided battle, Wraith was dangerous and she needed to trust in her grandfather's training more than anything. She takes a deep breath before she's gone with only arcs of lightning left where she stood.
Before Wraith could blink she turns to see Charlie behind her swinging a stop sign at her head. She barely manages to go intangible at the last possible second.
~ O ~
Santana nearly slammed into Finn, her eyes glued on the feed, she had known Charlie had stamina for days but Charlie had been fighting Wraith for hours. Even when she'd been forced into class, she'd kept her phone on and charged her eyes focused on the fight, she hadn't missed a second of it. At times she had teamed up with Lady Liberty, Queen Maeve and the Utopian, but their combined might hadn't been able to bring the supervillain that the media was calling Wraith. "Seriously Finn—" Santana looks up and her eyes widen before scowling. She was beginning to think that entire Fabray family just enjoyed fucking with her.
Frannie was standing there with baby Mikey strapped into one of those baby carriers that wrapped around her body, Mikey fast asleep. "Did you honestly think that I would miss this practice?"
Rachel stared at Frannie for a moment, while her dedication was admirable she couldn't help raise her hand, "Aren't you the logistic wizard for hero deployment?"
"Wizard, that's a new term, the answer is of course yes I am, and that's why I'm not completely disconnected, and we'll be watching tape instead of physical training. I can't torture you when I have people to move around the chessboard. Today is a dark day for most heroes, preliminary numbers show that hundreds of heroes have died today and we still have ongoing problems in 10 major cities. So, even though I think you should be training in the physical sense, after a day we are going to break down hero formations, their strengths and weaknesses. We're going to analyze what got people killed and we're going to make sure those of you who want to be a hero actually have the foundation that most heroes lack. So let's start with who here, outside of Santana, actually wants to be a hero? I want you to think carefully about if this is a path that you want. You are not Charlie, many of you lack her obscene strength. And I'm telling you this because the life-expectancy for heroes is abysmally low. For every Charlie, for every Lady Liberty, The Utopian, for every Charlotte Flair, there are hundreds of heroes annually whose lights get snuffed out. As Charlie has said, if you have an ability that is useful you can make plenty of money, you can have a career "
Santana swallowed, she wasn't surprised by Frannie's harshness, her parents had mentioned the same thing, being a hero if you weren't good enough was a death sentence. But her words had a chilling effect on the team and she couldn't help but look around, but everyone was deathly silent. "And if we listen to your training—"
"I can't predict the future, all I can do is increase your chances of survival by giving you the tools. How you use those tools is up to you. I brought my son here today because his father has his hands full in the Amazon, but I'm going to be frank with you. I don't care if he's even more powerful than Charlie is. He will never be a hero. And if you were to ask any of my sisters—even Charlie, the idea of our children doing this—well I'm not going to bury my son. So I ask you once again. Which one of you wants to dedicate your life to being a hero?"
Santana looked around once more, she already knew Rachel had decided that being a hero wasn't what she wanted but she honestly didn't know if any of her teammates wanted to make this a career. Still she takes a step forward, and inhales deeply.
"Interesting." Frannie said as three more people stepped up to stand beside Santana. "Well I suppose the four of you have some potential. I want you to hold that thought until after nationals this year. After Nationals, I will have a conversation with the four of you about whether it's the right decision for you. Again you're free to take my advice, you're free to discard it, but I believe in arming the youth with all the information that they need to make an informed decision."
Santana turned to see Sam Evans, Regina Mills and Emma Swan standing beside her and she let out a breath. "If we're going to analyze heroes in action—can we start with Charlie? I think she made some mistakes today— and that's never happened before."
Frannie paused and looked at her sister's ex-girlfriend. "And what mistakes did you see?"
"She needs a supersuit?" Kitty offers, trying to break the tension in the room. There was some laughter, but Kitty crumpled when Frannie raised a brow.
"The civilians—"
"Charlie isn't here to justify her decisions, and I imagine she does have a justification for making the choice she did. We are not there on the ground, and it's clear from what I have seen this villain that Charlie is fighting, is a terrible power matchup for her. That's not the mistake that she made. You want to know what separates a hero like The Utopian, from a hero like—Charlie?" Frannie pauses trying to think of a hero.
"Heart?" Rachel says immediately.
"There is such a thing as dumb answers," Frannie responds without looking at Rachel. "What did I say yesterday about repeating Charlie's idiotic ideas on what a hero is supposed to be? The thing that separates them is that Charlie—lacks the resources that they have. Chances are she didn't get a full debrief, she got a rushed one. She doesn't have a super suit, and she's improvising on the fly. Charlie has the power to do that, she can enter any situation and analyze and assess quickly and adjust, she struggled to do that today. Again Wraith is a terrible power matchup for Charlie, but she doesn't need all those things to be an effective hero. My sister is the exception to the rule, with that said you can see the shortcomings of Charlie's improvisational tactics when she runs into a problem like Wraith. You will not enter every situation with all the information needed to make the best choices, but as you get more experience, it will become easier to assess, and analyze whatever situation you're in and improvise. Until then, we're going to break down every team that made it to sectionals. You're going to make notes and I will grade you. If anyone fails. Hill Sprints. Now everyone head to the conference room."
~ O ~
There's a giggle that escaped Wraith's lips as she lifts a hand to touch the cut on Charlie's cheek as she stared deeply into her eyes, "You know they told me you were such a charmer, and you liked to move fast, but I have to admit after all our foreplay today, I had something else in mind when I whispered to you that I wanted to feel you inside me." She grins almost seductively as she places her hand on Charlie's arm which is embedded into her chest.
Charlie shuddered inadvertently, and almost reflexively pulled her hand out of Wraith's chest, but she had spent hours chasing after Wraith, who had easily gotten past the defenses of some buildings and had set off her wraiths to infect the people huddled away. Hitting during rush hour traffic had certainly made things difficult and it had taken time to bring down shields so they could go after her. "Who told you I was charmer?" Charlie questions tilting her head, ignoring Wraith's attempts to flirt with her.
"That's a secret," Wraith laughed again. "But for you my darling, I'll tell you anything you want to know but you have to punish me first. That's how this goes isn't it? The big hero punishes the naughty villain. Roleplay is hot, don't you think?"
Charlie stares at the crazed woman for a moment before sighing, she doubted that there was a cocktail of drugs, or well any sort of rehabilitation that would fix whatever was broken inside Wraith, and there was clearly a lot broken. Her eyes go from glowing a bright blue to an iridescent green as her irises, and just her irises begin to glow and she begins to bind Wraith's powers. "I wasn't going to make this a thing, but Wraith—I have determined that your abilities are far too dangerous and will be removing them—"
Before she can finish and finish the process that had already begun a laser beam hits the arm that she's holding Wraith, searing her flesh for one brief second before her defenses kick in, but the pain breaks her concentration and Wraith slips away from her as she jerks her arm free, an involuntary reaction on her part. But it's a mistake as Wraith laughs and before she can grab her again, she phases and drops into the ground, and out of sight for a split second before reappearing behind her and slapping her ass hard, causing her to jump and wheel around. Almost immediately she tries to grab her once again, but Wraith is prepared and her hand goes right through her as she leans in and presses her lips against hers.
The kiss happens so quickly that Charlie's not quite sure what to make of it, as Wraith passes through her and gropes her ass before giggling again and dropping into the sewers. When she doesn't reappear after a few seconds, Charlie immediately turns and dry heaves. She had tasted like death.
"I mean seducing villain's is certainly one way to be a hero," Charlotte comments as she finally drops down from the sky where she had created a massive artificial sun, which had helped remove most of Wraith's ghostly apparitions from play. "Congrats on being sexually harassed by your first psycho stalker, I guess you really are a hero now."
Charlie ignored Charlotte and turns her attention to the person who had attacked her, even as her body repaired the damage she knew exactly who had attacked her before Charlotte or anyone could hold her back she attacked as she reappears in front of Homelander and introduces his face to her boot. "I had her."
The force of the blow is enough to create cracks in the ground and shake all the cars in the nearby area as car alarms go off. "I was trying to do what you were incapable of. She was a mass murderer," Homelander stated, he had been pushed back by the sudden force of the blow but apart from cutting the inside of his cheek, he hadn't sustained much damage. His eyes glow red but before he can attack her again, The Utopian appears in front of them and glares down Homelander who immediately backs off.
"There are cameras everywhere Charlie," he reminds her. "He will be sanctioned."
"Sanctioned, he shouldn't even be a hero. If she kills again and she will, it's on him. She was working for someone, if I had stripped her of her abilities we could have questioned her, we could have found out more and he stopped it," Charlie spat angrily.
Lady Liberty appeared as Queen Maeve immediately joined up with Homelander, as a face off immediately began to form. "Look, as fun as a dick swinging competition is, there are still people in danger. Homelander you are to remain stateside. Charlie, your presence is required in other cities around the world. Numerous governments have requested you. Are you capable of continuing to fight?" Grace Sampson asks.
Charlie scowls at Homelander before looking over at Grace, "Has the situation been triaged?" When Grace nods. "Then I can do this for as long as you need me to. Where to next?"
"Getting you some gear," Queen Maeve states immediately, Charlie's clothes were torn and they were a gust of wind away from exposing a teenager to cameras.
"Whatever—Charlotte I'm taking this communication device." Charlie said as she pulled out her hero license. "Send the details to this." She opens a portal and exits to her room so she can put on a new pair of jeans and a better shirt.