Pairings: Brittany/Santana
Rating: T
Disclaimer: the characters don't belong to me, otherwise I would be freaking rich.
Warning: secondary character death, don't read if you can't handle it
Author's note: So I had this little idea for a Glee/X-men one-shot and when I opened a text document, it kind of wrote itself.
A/N 2: For those reading my other fics: A friend and I decided to go on a short vacation, so I'll be gone for the next 4-5 days, which means updates will have to wait till I get back. Sorry for that.

She knows she's not the good guy in this story...but neither is everyone else in this damaged world. It's not her fault things are the way they are right now, but she knows that she's going to make it worse tonight. She knows that it will only stir up more hatred towards mutants, but still, someone has to do it. Someone has to steal that damn serum. Someone has to step in and stop the government from playing god.

She's not one of those stupid action heroes, or better villains. Neither are Sam, Quinn, Mike and Lauren. Neither was Dave. They just do what they decided to do, what they have to do. And somehow it's comforting, knowing that they are not the bad guys either. At least not completely. Because sometimes, there just is no right or wrong to a question. Sometimes, things aren't just black and white. That's why she doesn't allow herself to feel guilty.

As she crouches behind a slightly demolished wall, waiting for Mike to return, her head starts to ache again. She drops down to her knees and presses both her hands flat against her temples, nails digging into her scalp as she desperately tries to relax.

A harshly whispered, "Q, Santana's losing it again," pervades her ears, but it's distant. Thankfully, she's not too far gone yet.

Lithe arms snake around her torso and someone pulls her into a tight embrace, murmuring against her hair, "Calm down Santana, I'm here. Both Sam and I are here for you."

She feels the firm touch of Quinn's lips against the side of her head.

This time, it brings her back...but there have also been times when neither Quinn's soothing voice nor Sam's desperate pleas could weaken the storm raging inside her body, inside her mind.

"I'm fine," She finally croaks out after finding some composure.

"I know you're not." Sam gives her a half-smile when she opens her eyes.

She quickly averts her gaze, pushing Quinn away in the process. "Thanks," She mumbles, knowing that it's not nearly enough. A simple thank you will never cut it. It'll never be enough, not when her friends have basically been saving her life each and every day for the past four years now.

"Always," Quinn replies on cue and she means it.

Silence falls upon them and Santana tries to focus on the job. Just tonight, she tells herself. If she manages to keep it under control for tonight, then things will get back to normal. They just need to get that damn serum, bring it to Abrams and he'll find a way to produce more. Then Lauren can get her ability back and everything will go back to normal. At least for the five of them. What happens to the rest of the mutant community, Santana really doesn't care about. They will get them the antidote to that freaking cure, as the government has so lovingly dubbed it. That should be enough.

She still remembers the big promotional campaign a good fourteen months ago, promising a cure to suppress the so-called X-gene. Back then, mutants had a choice, either keep their abilities or lose them and live a normal life. Nowadays, the government takes that decision from them, hunting all mutants down (under the pretext of danger from mutant terrorism and the likes) and injecting them with the cure, whether they want it or not.

It's a shame how the society treats them. Then again, people will always treat each other horribly and these days, mutants are just the main victims.

"Psst," someone whispers, "The coast is clear." She can't see him yet, but she knows it's Mike. Being able to turn invisible has its perks and for this operation, it's essential. "For a military facility, this is surprisingly poorly guarded."

"They don't want to cause any suspicion," Santana whispers back. "Not many people know about the serum or how Artie calls it, the anti-cure. God, that name is so ridiculous."

Quinn rolls her eyes at the Latina and suggests, "How about we do less talking and just get it, then."

"Okay, listen." Mike materializes in front of them, a serious expression on his face. "Two guards are standing at the main entrance and the monitoring system is right in the lobby. I will position myself behind the guards and wait for Sam to knock the guy in the lobby out. We have to make sure no one sets off the alarm. At least not until we are in the basement and Santana..." he sighs, his features softening, "If things take a turn for the worst, I fear you have to go all out."

She simply nods. There's nothing else she can do. She knew it could get to that point, that's why she trained so much in the past few days. Still, she prays that things will go off without a hitch.

"Also, don't forget to use the aliases when we encounter someone." They watch as Mike disappears again. Showtime.

A good two minutes later, Sam stands up. He turns around to face the two girls and says, "Five seconds," then he's gone as well.

Quinn hastily strips out of her jacket while Santana counts down the seconds. She's at two when the blond haired girl holds out a hand for her. She takes it just as a set of butterfly shaped wings sprouts out of Quinn's back.

"Go!" Santana yells and they take off. She tightens her grip on Quinn's hand, closing her eyes as she manipulates the air around them to stabilize them while they fly towards the entrance. They reach their goal in mere seconds, landing right next to the limp bodies of two guards.

"Tie them up," Santana orders and Quinn sets off to work. The other part of her ability isn't exactly the most sexy one, Santana muses as she watches Quinn disgorge a thick white thread, using it to chain the unconscious men, but at least Quinn doesn't have the tendency to go totally apeshit when she loses control.

"Come on guys, hurry up." Mike reappears, ushering them forward.

They dash inside, seeing Sam standing next to another beat up guy in a black suit. "The monitoring system is down. So is the dude. It took you some time to get here." He grins, holding the man's ID in his right hand.

"Could you stop with the lame jokes already. After a good four years, we kinda figured that you are super fast." Santana scowls at him. It's not the time to–

"Buh," he had run behind her, breathing into her ear and making her jump.

"Freaking stop with the bullshit, Sam!" Oh no, Santana visibly cringes, the headache coming back.

There are a lot of triggers that can cause her to rage. Mostly it's when she becomes angry. Sometimes when she's afraid...and on rare occasions, it just happens without any possible reason behind it. Those are probably the most dangerous outbursts, since her friends often come to late to stop them.

Back then, when said outbursts occurred more often, Lauren was there to shield the others. It came in pretty handy, having someone in the group who could turn the size of a house...or a mouse, for that matter. They could've used that power tonight, but it was taken away a few weeks ago. Taken away by the same people who killed Dave.

"Fuck, Quinn. DO SOMETHING!" Sam screams, biting wind now dancing around them all, hitting him in the face and making it harder to breathe.

She feels it again, Quinn's snug body heat encircling her. It's comforting but at the same time, it hurts.

It hurts because Santana knows that when she falls over the edge, it can't bring her back.

Sometimes she lets the hidden darkness inside of her win, just because it's easier not to fight. Today, she gives it her all and struggles with everything she has to offer. She clings onto the warmth of Quinn, narrowly escaping the tentacles of despair one more time.

The wind slowly disappears and she can hear the sighs of relief when she whispers, "I'm okay. I'm fine. Just, let's hurry up and get this over with." And so they run towards the elevator that brings them to the basement where the serum is hidden, according to Artie.

The elevator doors close and they are trapped, at least for the next few seconds. She sees both Sam and Quinn growing impatient, nervous even. They don't like to be caged. Their abilities don't go well together with imprisonment. It's simply in their nature to be free spirits.

"As soon as the door opens, you have to knock everyone out. Do you understand." Santana looks deep into Sam's eyes and he nods.

"Go in, get the anit-cure, then get the hell out again," he recites.

With a strong but calm expression on his face, Mike says, "We can do this."

They feel how the elevator stops moving, then they hear a bing. The doors slowly open and a flash of yellow and black squeezes past them.

Dull thuds and a few groans come from the big room and once they step out of the elevator, Sam stands in the middle of the hall, a total of five passed out men lying on the floor.

"Easier than I thought it would be," Sam smiles at them, his voice laced with hope.

Then she sees it, the big door just down the long, broad hallway. It's massive and probably not possible to open with their abilities. Thank god they have the ID card.

As Quinn and Mike bind the brawny guys up, Santana takes a look at their weapons. She recognizes the dark green guns almost immediately. The one's filled with the clear and slightly gooey liquid that could make her life so much easier, so much less painful.

She will never take it.

A mutant, that's what she is. She thinks back to the day that her family found out, sees the image of her conservative dad pointing an old shotgun at her head and yelling at her to get the fuck out of his house. She will never go back to that place. She will never choose to be 'normal'.

The society should accept her the way she is and not try to model her the way they want her to be. She is who she is and the cure won't change that.

"Santana?" Mike asks, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we're almost there."

She nods dumbly, her eyes still glued to the gun. "We are not any less normal than anyone else in this world," Santana tells the room, her voice thoughtful.

Before they have a chance to ask what's going on with her, she shakes her head to clear her mind, then walks towards the big, iron door at a controlled pace.

Sam hands her the ID card and she presses it against the card-reader unit.

Just as the little red lamp at the side of it turns green, an earthquake rocks the whole building. The massive door slides open and they rush inside. Santana takes the backpack Mike throws her way just as the ceiling at the far end of the corridor collapses, blocking the way to the elevator. A big dust cloud cloaks the room and suddenly, there are people talking.

"Well done, Finn." A boy says and Santana can hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Could you please focus!" Someone else shrieks and it annoys the shit out of her.

There is more bantering going on, but she stops paying attention when Mike whispers, "Should Santana clear the fog?"

"Yes," Sam whispers back, "But turn invisible. It could give us an edge."

"Okay." Mike does as he is told.

"You ready?" Santana asks, her back facing the door. She's kneeling in front of a little, four-foot-high metal pillar holding the item they are looking for, breathing in and out, slowly.

Quinn and Sam step in front of her to shield her. "Do it."

She inhales deeply and lifts her hands up from the ground only to push them back down again as she exhales.

The dust instantly dies away and reveals five persons, two girls and three guys. They all look startled for a second and Sam uses the surprise moment to take in their appearances. All of them are wearing matching black outfits with a belt that has a brazen X-shaped buckle.

"Shit," Sam mutters, "Other mutants."

Santana stands up and turns her head. X-men. Of course they would get there to stop them from stealing the serum from the humans. How they had managed to find out though, she isn't sure. The only person she remembers telling about their operation was Artie...oh, and Mercedes.

Goddamn it. That girl can't keep a secret, even if their freaking lives depend on it. They shouldn't have asked her to get them new clothes for this operation. Mike should've just stolen some.

"Stop!" A tiny brunette – the one with the annoying voice – screams at them, stepping forward. "We cannot allow you to break the law and take this serum with you."

"Hey Rachel," a tall, dopey-looking boy tells her, "Could you maybe try not to be so loud, it's hurting my ears."

"Finn!" the girl screeches, making Santana want to rip her vocal chords out of her toddler-sized body, "You are not supposed to say my real name."

"Didn't you just do the same?" Another guy with a mohawk says, a smirk on his face.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did, you just said Finn."

"Okay, whatever. But could we please focus on the job now, Noah."

Wow, Santana thinks. Are they seriously sending a bunch of twelve-year-olds to stop them? She has heard of the X-men before. A bunch of mutants who try to come to an arrangement with the government, fighting for mutant rights and all. They usually don't do anything though, well, other than talking, that is. She has seen one or two interviews with a woman named Sue Sylvester, spokeswoman for the pro-mutant movement. She is rumored to be an X-men, teaching younger mutants at some hidden school under the direction of a man called William Schuester. Artie has told her lots of stories about them, but all she got from those is that they only really come out of their hole when some crazy mutant tries to take over the world.

So basically, they are doing nothing against the government except for talking, but when it comes to their own brothers and sisters, they will go all out just to stop them. How very noble and brave. Fucking hypocrites.

She hears Sam laughing a few feet away from her. "Seriously now?" he asks in disbelief.

Quinn doesn't laugh when Santana looks at her. "Get the anti-cure," is the only thing she tells her, "This doesn't look good."

So she opens up the backpack and generates a little metal container.

"Freeze!" the girl called Rachel screams again and oh god, one more time and Santana will seriously lose it. "We can't let you get away with this. Either you surrender or we will have to fight you."

"Sure," Sam snorts back, "Like you could stand a chance against us."

It's good that there is some actual brain hidden underneath those locks of blond and Sam does an incredible good job at distracting their opponents. Santana has already unscrewed the lid to the container and grabs for the phials with the serum that are held by a small metal construction. While the other girl still argues with Sam about their hideous outfits, Santana retrieves the anti-cure, hastily sealing it inside the container Artie has given her.

"Rachel! Stop arguing with them! Can't you see they already have the damn antidote," the third boy – smaller and more feminine than the others – interjects.

"What?"

That's it. "Okay, hobit," Santana turns around and barks, the metal box now safely stuffed into Mike's backpack, "If you don't keep your freaking voice down, I will come over there and make you eat a good amount of dust. Are we clear?"

"I won't allow you to touch Rachel!" Finn, or what's his face, stomps forward and the ground vibrates a little. So they have an idiot with super strength. Well, one good placed punch from Mike and he'll be knocked out just like the guards.

"Thank you Finn, but I got this under control."

"Should we put our earmuffs on?" Santana's heart skips a beat when she hears the beautiful, dreamy voice of the blond girl standing next to the mohawk guy. It's only then that she even notices the girl and what a raw beauty she is. Her hair falls in soft, silky waves, gracefully framing her relaxed face and asserting her ocean blue eyes. The otherwise horribly looking leather suit hugs her curves in all the right places and showcases her imposing body.

Santana hears as Rachel tells the girl, "Yes Brittany, I wouldn't want to hurt you."

She doesn't even care about anything the brunette has said, except for the name of the mysterious girl that basically has Santana under her spell. Brittany.

Her body moves on its own accord as she inches forward. Ignoring Quinn's question, whatever it is she's asking, or Mike's invisible hand on her arm, she moves closer. She watches in awe how Brittany puts on a pair of black earmuffs, the simple action so graceful that Santana thinks she's looking at an angel.

Then they lock eyes and everything stands still.

She's anything but a cliché kind of person. Love stories and happy endings? Yeah, keep on dreaming. The world doesn't work that way...

Yet, she feels a lightness in her heart when those piercing blue orbs bore into her own chocolate brown eyes, mesmerizing her. What she would give–

An earth shattering scream erupts from Rachel and Santana is at the verge of fainting when she hastily covers her ears. The high pitched sound is unbearable and her body convulses as she turns away from the noise. Behind her, Sam and Quinn are in a similar position, their hands clasped over their ears, pained expressions plastered on their faces.

Her head feels like it's going to explode and for a moment, she honestly thinks she's going to die. That's when Quinn takes action and spits out a small spider web that hits Rachel right in the face, sending her falling backwards and shutting her mouth.

The following events come thick and fast.

The smaller, brown haired boy cries out, "Finn, watch out, one of them is invisible."

"What? Kurt, where is–" Thud. A seemingly hovering piece of concrete hits his head and he falls to the ground. Then Mike appears, letting go of his improvised weapon and looking down at the motionless boy to make sure he's really unconscious.

At the same time, Sam grabs her by the shoulder and hauls her back. "Stay out of it, okay? Only attack when there's no other way out. And try to relax. We can't deal with one of your temper tantrums right now." Then he's gone.

Meanwhile, Quinn is screaming, "Mike, get the baby-face. He is a tracker!" before she shoots forward, reaching the brunette on the floor who is desperately trying to get rid of the web jamming her mouth and lifting her up. She flies to a nearby and still intact wall and sets the fighting girl down, tying her up so that she can't remove her sticky muzzle.

Santana turns her head when she hears the boy named Kurt screaming and sees that Mike has him – face first – pinned to the floor. Only the mohawk guy and Brittany are left.

Sam is encircling them, running around them and about to attack when, she thinks Rachel called him Noah...well, when Noah's skin – the parts not clad in leather – shifts and he is suddenly covered with green and brown-ish thorns. Sam manages to stop just in time, his fist only an inch away from the thick, sharp needles.

All eyes are on the two as they fight and the now smirking X-men holds his right hand in front of Sam's chest, using the thorns as little bullets, shooting them out of his hand.

But Sam is fast enough and jolts out of the firing line. The thorns miss Brittany by a hair and dig into the wall behind her.

"Watch where you're aiming, Puck!" the blonde yells at him, fear evident in her voice.

"Sorry," Puck or Noah or whatever he's called now, replies. Then he aims at Mike, forcing him to let go of Kurt and disappear. Lifting his other hand and pointing it at Quinn, he says, "Retreat, or else I'll make sure the little butterfly there will have her wings thoroughly ripped."

"The invisible one is still close by," The tracker warns, while getting up and dusting off his clothes.

"I said, retreat!" He shoots a single thorn, barely missing Quinn.

She really tries to keep calm, even though she wants to tear that mohawk guy a new one. "Brimstone, Flash, Hollow Man." She uses the aliases they gave each other. They are not the most original ones, but whatever. As long as they don't use their real names. "Get back here."

"So, hottie, I'll take it you're the leader then?" Puck asks her and she doesn't like the undertone to his question.

"You could say so," she answers. It's not really true, they actually don't have something like a leader. But she's the strongest out of them and now that the situation got out of control, she has to get active.

"Let's make a deal then," he suggests, "You give us the serum and we will let you go."

"Why do you even care for it? You're a mutant, you should want to steal it as much as we do."

"Don't you see that it will only cause the government to be even more hostile towards us mutants?" It's Kurt who tries to lecture her.

She has to laugh at that, but it's a bitter laughter and full of disgust. "And don't you see that trying to talk to people hasn't changed a thing for us? It gets worse every passing day. There will never be a friendly conciliation, they want to fucking extinguish us." Her voice is growing louder and she feels that tingling sensation in her head again. "They don't just take our abilities away anymore. They take them away and then they kill us." It's what they did to Dave, she finishes to herself.

Neither one of them even fought. Running away was all they did when suddenly, Dave collapsed, a rapidly growing patch of dark red blood showing up on his shirt.

She remembers the blood flowing out of his mouth as he tried to speak. She turned him around, trying to put some pressure on the wound, but it was too late. His pupils froze, the heartbeat dying under Santana's slippery fingers and while Lauren, Quinn, Sam and Mike fled the scene, Santana made sure that none of the men chasing them survived.

"Grim Reaper," Sam demands and she turns her head to look at him. "Calm. Down."

"Holy shit, Grim Reaper? That's your pseudonym?" Puck asks with a smirk on his face. "That's some really shitty name."

"Oh yeah, what's yours then?" Quinn spits out, "Geronimo maybe? Or Porcupine?"

"Oi, watch what you're saying, blondie."

They throw some insults at each other but Santana doesn't care. Not when she's reminiscing.

Besides her, Sam chimes in and he and Puck talk, but she's too spaced out to actually get what they are saying.

Then Sam disappears and she watches in slow motion as he tries to attack but Puck beats him to it and a couple of thorns rip through his shoulder. A few drops of blood splash on her face and Sam falls to his knees in front of her.

It doesn't take long for Puck to strike again, but this time, she's not transfixed on the spot.

She swings her left arm and a strong blast of air intercepts the sharp bullets, blowing them away. And then she does something that she normally is too afraid of doing. She clenches her left hand and suddenly, all air leaves Puck lungs. She sees him struggle for that same air, the one that she manipulates and denies him.

She releases him after a few seconds.

Her right hand immediately goes to her head. "Run." She tells them through gritted teeth, "Take the serum and run."

"Sant–"

"I said run!"

Quinn is the first one to move. She helps Sam up while Mike picks up the backpack and slings it around his shoulders.

"Stop!" Puck nervously tries to interject after having recovered a little, pointing his outstretched hands at Mike and Sam.

"Get your friends and leave!" Quinn warns him, completely forgetting about their earlier fight as she passes him, supporting an injured Sam. "She will kill you if you stay."

A strong wind springs up, dancing around Santana as she drops to her knees. Her hands tangle in her hair and she closes her eyes. It's there and it's unstoppable. Darkness clouds her vision as she reopens her eyes. They have turned a dark gray.

It hurts, every fiber of her body hurts. When she feels like a thousand knives bore into her body, she knows that it begins.

"What is she doing?" someone screams, but for her, it's barely above a whisper. They have to run, she told them. If they don't get out soon, it might be their last day on earth.

The wind grows stronger and stronger around her, wrapping her body up in a dusty hurricane. It feels as if her insides are on fire, her head ready to explode. She wants to die.

And then, all of a sudden, it stops.

Soft hands cup her cheeks, warm and tender against her own skin and the indescribable pain coursing through her veins melts away. Slowly, she gets her vision back, the formerly blurry mess she saw is now more defined.

And when she squints her eyes, she realizes that she's face to face with a shocked looking Brittany.

Time stands still again, at least for her. She feels the monster inside of her – the one trying to drag her into that dark abyss she so fears – fading into oblivion. There are rays of light, a thousand butterflies, fucking rainbows even, that fill her mind and her stomach and illuminate her heart.

For the first time since forever, she's at ease with herself.

Brittany on the other hand, looks like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes are wide open, as if she's in shock. Santana doesn't understand what's wrong with her until she hears Puck, "What the..? She should be dead by now."

At first, she doesn't understand what he's talking about. The wind is completely gone and there is no way she's going to hurt Brittany. Not when this girl seems to be able to give her the freedom she has so desperately been craving for all her life.

It's only then that she registers the change in Brittany's expression, sees tears running down her cheeks, notices how her hands start to caress Santana's skin as if she can't believe she's actually touching the other girl.

"I–" Brittany tries to form words, her voice quivering, broken, but yet full of happiness and also disbelief. "You – Why aren't you–" Tears continue streaming down her face, her eyes still displaying her obvious confusion. Again, she strokes Santana's cheeks, harder this time. "This is impossible."

And Santana leans into the comforting touch that burns her skin, burns it in such a good way that she wishes it would never end. She never wants Brittany to break away, so she covers the blonde's hands with her own, reveling in the relief it brings to her. It's as if she's finally come home. After all this time, she finally found something, someone, to hold onto.

"Santana!" Quinn yells, "We have to go. We've been here way too long already and Sam needs to see a doctor, ASAP."

Fuck. Sam. She has to go...but at the same time, she somehow has to–

"Stay," Brittany whispers, her lips curving into a sad, but oh so beautiful and heartbreaking smile. "Please, stay. Don't leave me. I haven't–" she begins to sob now, her face scrunching up in misery, "I haven't been able to touch a person without hurting them for so long now and...I...this just feels right."

Something tugs at her heart as she watches Brittany pleading with her. She really doesn't want to go, but she can't block Quinn's voice out. The one that tells her, begs her, to hurry the fuck up.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs affectionately, leaning closer to rest her forehead against Brittany's. "They need me. I'm so, so sorry."

Then she lets go and pulls away.

The second she stands up, she realizes just how much she misses Brittany's touch and the effect it had on her starts to wear off. Slowly though, but it does, the darkness seeping through once again. She looks down to see the other girl still kneeling on the ground, sniveling, staring at her hands. It's tearing her heart into pieces, knowing that she has to leave Brittany.

But she refuses to say goodbye. Not tonight. "We will meet again." Determination evident in her voice, she ducks back down, taking Brittany's hands in her own, urging the other girl to look at her. "I promise," she whispers, "I will not stop until I see you again, okay?"

And the blonde smiles, her tear-stained face lighting up with hope. "Okay," she beams, laughing a little out of pure joy. It's adorable and Santana smiles back just as brightly.

"See you later then, Brittany," she says, once again breaking away from the other girl.

"See you later, um, Santana is it?" Brittany asks, only having heard the Latina's name because that other girl had screamed it.

"Yeah."

When she leaves – helping Quinn to carry Sam – Brittany and the other X-men watch them, the now freed dwarf girl screeching furiously about following and arresting them while Puck supports a groggy Finn. They seem to ignore Rachel's hissy fit and when Santana looks back, all she sees is Brittany's warm smile.

Yes, she thinks, it may take some time, but they will meet again. She'll make sure they will.

A/N 3: Well, I hope you enjoyed it. There won't be a sequel, at least I didn't plan one when I wrote this.