|1| Whatever It Takes || Code 8: Connor Reed

03. Caution

Victoria woke up to the sound of sizzling and swiftly she sat up and looked around after hearing it, aware that she was in an unfamiliar place. Victoria swiftly glanced over at the kitchen and she saw that Connor was up and cooking.

"What time is it?" She asked with a large yawn as she was walking over to the area and she snagged a mug of coffee.

"7am." Connor noted and she was swiftly grabbing the coffeepot. "Didn't realize that you were as much of a coffee drinker as Tommy is." He said and she was shaking her head, before she put the pot back.

"I have learned to copy his behavior over the years." Victoria noted as she looked over and around the house. "Where is that annoying pain in the ass, anyways?" She asked as she looked around again.

"Tommy, I told you to stop running up our goddamn water bill!" Connor suddenly was shouting and Victoria jumped in surprise at the sudden and loud noise. "Sorry." He said as she tilted her head at him, before she was smirking. "Oh god, what is that look?"

"Water bill?" Victoria said as she looked at him and Connor's eyes lit up, once he got it and she nodded. "Where's the hot water tap?" She asked and he nodded, before she followed him through the house.

Victoria located it, before she closed her eyes and focused. Allowing her hearing to expand as she listened, trying to figure out where Tommy was in the house. "Aren't you going to do something with the tap?" Connor asked and she opened her eyes, and she was shaking her head.

"I just needed to know where it was. Go upstairs and watch this." She said as she was quickly but quietly walking up the stairs, as her eyes were flashing with mischief.

Connor lifted his eyebrows as she was flattening herself against the wall and she closed her eyes. A moment later, both of them heard a shrill yelp coming from the bathroom.

"Cold! Cold! Fuck, that is cold!" Tommy shouted from the bathroom and then at the shouting, Connor was stifling his laughter.

"Hot! Cold! Hot! Cold! Holy shit!" Tommy shouted and Connor burst out laughing as his friend came whipping out of the bathroom and Victoria, she was bursting with laughing at the sight of him with his hair half-washed and still full of shampoo.

"Victoria, I'm going to kill you!" Tommy shouted and Victoria yelped, diving behind Connor as Tommy was trying to get around Connor, to get at the Hydro. "Connor, move over!" Tommy said sharply.

"Nope." Connor spoke bluntly as Tommy glared over at him, before he nodded after Connor had lit his eyes up. Tommy backed up and he was going back into the bathroom quickly as Victoria was shaking her head.

"Thanks for that." Victoria said as she was stepping out from behind Connor, who was nodding.

"That was fucking hilarious." Connor murmured and then, Victoria was laughing swiftly at the memories of Tommy, tearing a path through the hallway with only a towel on and shampoo covered hair. "That was a really good idea." He said and she shrugged.

"Sometimes, some people like that... Well they just need a little dose of humility." She said as Connor nodded, before she shook her head. "I'm sorry about what I did. You didn't deserve to have your arm, well..." She gestured at the bruising and Connor sighed.

"Honestly? Don't worry about it." He said and she was lifting her eyebrows. "Tommy has given me a lot worse pain, from just hitting me and knocking ourselves around in high school." Connor said as a proper sort of explanation, while Victoria's eyes flashed.

"You are going to go back to Garrett and the others for the money, aren't you?" She asked and while Tommy had taken the bus, Connor was driving and he glanced at her before he sighed.

"I don't have any other choice, all right?" He said and she was looking at him, before she was nodding slightly. "You are judging me, I can feel judgement in your gaze." Connor stated and she sighed.

"I am the one who is trying to get younger adults and younger people out of this style of life, okay?" Victoria shook her head. "But you are so desperate right now, that you just can't see past the money." She said quietly.

"My mom is really sick." Connor said and she glanced over at him. "It's brain cancer, and... We just don't have the money for her to start chemo treatments." He said and she sighed.

"I'm sorry." Victoria murmured and he looked back at the road. "She has missed some of her bill payments, right? For the hospital?" She asked and he was nodding silently and he didn't trust himself to speak on the problem at hand. "All right." She said and she got out of the truck, as she sighed at the sight of the old parking lot where the powered people waited for people with jobs for them. "If you ever want to get out... You can talk to Tommy or I." She said and now Connor lifted his eyebrows at her.

"I have been living in his big-ass mansion place, ever since I was 15 years old." She explained and before she could hear any response from him, she was swiftly just walking into the alleyway just behind the parking lot.

Victoria blinked, before she was disappearing into a puddle of water and that was the only sign, that she had ever been there.

Victoria felt her gut clenching and then she felt like she was falling before she landed on her feet in front of a big-ass mansion house.

"It's me!" She hollered out, seeing the cameras that were moving to point in her direction as she held up her hands in a clear "I am surrendering" position and after she had been scanned by the facial recognition software that Tommy had put in, all of their cameras went back to their normal position and she was walking into the guest house on the property where she stayed.

"Jordan, I'm back and home!" Victoria was loudly calling out in warning as then it was a moment later, before Jordan Carter came out of the kitchen with a few knives out ahead of her. "Uh, hey." Victoria said as she held up her hands in surrender again.

"Hey, sorry." Jordan murmured as she caught the knives in her hands and she was putting them into the holsters at her sides. "I think that you should come and see her, she has gotten worse." She murmured and then, she was leading Victoria on.

Victoria stopped at the sight of the locked door and she could feel the electricity from here that pulsed off of it and she sighed. "We need an Electric, Jordan." She said as Jordan sighed.

"We don't have anybody that we can trust with this, Tori. We have to keep doing this by ourselves, unless you want the police to raid this place and take her away." Jordan pointed out with a rather snappish tone in her voice and Victoria winced, before she was nodding. "You ready?" Jordan asked as her hands were lighting up green, a familiar color for those who knew her.

Victoria took a deep inhale of breath and then let it out, before she nodded. Jordan's powers yanked open the door and Victoria went into the room quickly, grunting loudly in pain at the electric current that was now running through the entire room.