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

04. Fast Accusations

Victoria saw that in the corner quickly as the kid was struggling against the metal that held her in place. The electrical field was only getting stronger as Victoria stumbled over to the kid.

"Jaime!" Victoria said as she was shuddering, feeling the effects of the constantly advancing electricity. "Jaime, it's me! You have to calm down!"

"No, no! Get away, get away from me. I don't want it! I don't want it!" Jaime screamed and Victoria yelled in pain, as an arc of electricity hit her in the arm, and her whole body went numb from the surge. "Go away!"

"Tori!" Suddenly, Victoria was just being yanked out of the room and a needle was plunged into the side of Jaime's neck.

The kid was wailing, before the sedative took hold and the kid was silent and still from the near-instantaneous effects. Victoria was leaning against the wall as Tommy was shaking his head, and Jordan slammed the door shut with her powers and he was staring at Victoria.

"What the fuck were you thinking?!" Tommy was turning to shout at Jordan, who was shaking her head.

"I thought that seeing Victoria might calm her down!" Jordan exclaimed loudly and at the words, Tommy shook his head.

"You both could have been killed." Tommy said and he sighed. "The only reason that I got through the electrical field at all, was because I brought him." Tommy pointed at the doorway and Victoria winced, still trembling and shaking from the electricity as Connor stood awkwardly in the doorway that Victoria could see.

"And who the fuck is this?" Jordan asked at once, since Connor was new to her and they were in her house. Well, it was unofficially her house at any rate.

"Connor Reed." When he went to shake hands with her, she pushed past him and Connor nodded slightly. "Or, maybe not." He said and Victoria grimaced.

"Don't take it personally, she distrusts everybody outside of us and a couple of other people... Ow." Victoria muttered as Connor looked over at the closed doorway that housed a powerful child Electric, before he was walking over and she narrowed her eyes quickly. "What in the hell are you planning on doing?" Victoria asked suspiciously as he looked at her.

"You are partially paralyzed by the electricity, right? I'm an Electric and, I can take away some of the electric energy that is stopping you from moving." Connor said and she narrowed her eyes. "Look, even if I was going to do something weird, I have a knife girl at my back and Tommy over there, less than two fucking feet away." Connor pointed out and she grimaced.

"All right, whatever. Just do your thing, all right?" Victoria muttered and Connor sighed before he grabbed one of her hands and she glared at him in an accusatory manner, right before he was swiftly blinking and his eyes glowed with lightning.

Victoria slowly felt the feeling finally coming back into her arms and her legs as she was wincing, feeling the worryingly familiar pins-and-needles feeling, that she always got after she had been hit with any blast of electricity. "Hey, thanks." She said as she was standing up, briefly staggering and Tommy caught her before she was able to fully fall down again.

"That kid, she must be really strong." She scoffed quietly, before Victoria nodded over at Connor. "Where did she come from?" He asked and Victoria winced at the question.

Tommy glanced at Victoria, who was wordlessly looking at him, then at the door and Tommy nodded. Victoria was walking down the stairs and she was sitting on the porch, while Tommy was going back to the main big-ass mansion house.

"So, about that kid..." Connor began.

"She's mine." Victoria said and in surprise by the words, Connor spit out his coffee and she was looking over at him. "I was thirteen, on the streets, and alone." She was shaking her head. "I got lost one day, and... I took a wrong turn." She looked down at her hands which were trembling.

"What the hell, did those Electrics do to you?" Connor asked and she wasn't looking at him, before she closed her fists.

"They did a lot of things." Victoria said as she was trembling. "They all separated me from Jaime, they tortured her and... By the time I got her back, she was like that." She said and she gestured over her shoulder at the house behind her and again, it was already pulsing with electricity.

"Is that why you don't trust me?" Connor asked and she still wasn't looking at him as she stayed silent. But her silence to Connor, it spoke volumes. "I won't hurt you, Victoria and I think that somewhere in your mind, I think you already know that." He said as she was shaking her head.

"Am I that obvious?" Victoria asked with a broken tone in her voice and Connor sighed at the words. "I'm sorry Connor, if I have treated you terribly." She said quietly and he was looking at the electrically charged house.

"Did one of them, give you her?" Connor asked quietly and she scoffed at the words and he looked over at her. "Did one of them do something, that ended with her being born?" He corrected himself as she nodded slowly and at the nod that required no words of clarification, his eyes were starting to spark blue with electricity.

"Hey, stop." Victoria said and without thinking, she reached out and before she could try to calm him down, she was flung backwards by a burst of electricity.

Victoria felt something crack and her whole body had gone numb before she had hit the ground, so she had no way to protect herself. Victoria coughed as she was suddenly hyper-aware that she wasn't breathing properly and she was choking, frantically trying to inhale.

"Oh shit." She could see Connor standing above her and she was clenching her fists tightly.

Connor grabbed onto one of her motionless hands with both of his, as she could tell that he was trying to do what he had done before with Jaime's electric shock. He was absorbing what he had dished out and she gasped, suddenly able to breathe properly again.

Victoria shuddered and without waiting now, she was pushing him away with both hands once she was able to move properly again.

Victoria was scrambling quickly to back away from him, her eyes flashing with fear and Connor looked at her, before his hands went up in surrender and she was shaking her head. "Get away from me." Victoria said as her voice was cracking with emotion and her voice quivered with fear.

"Victoria, I swear..." Connor began

"Tori?" Victoria looked over at the very familiar voice and Jordan came running, as her metal bracelets flashed in the sun. "Tori, what the hell..." Jordan was crouching down next to Victoria one moment and the next, it was like a mother bear defending her cub as she was standing up and facing Connor with knives floating in the air.

"Look, I didn't mean to..." Connor ducked one of the knives as it came at him. "Look, I lost control for a split second, all right? I'm sorry!" He said and then, one of the knives nicked him across the cheek. "Ow, son of a bitch!" Connor cursed as now, his blood was trickling down his cheek.

"You need to leave." Jordan's voice was almost a growl as she was still keeping the knives pointed at him. "You need to go, right now." Jordan threatened and Connor looked at her, before he was trying to look at Victoria but the Hydro, she had her head facing away from him and she was looking at the lawn silently.

"Leave!" Jordan shouted the order and Connor was nodding, before he was walking away silently.

As soon as his truck was out of view, Jordan let the knives clatter down onto the porch in front of her as she was quickly turning around. Jordan's eyes widened at the sight that awaited her, of Victoria actually crying.

Jordan crouched down next to the younger girl and then a shorter moment later, Jordan was giving her a tight hug. Victoria hugged her tightly as she was burying her head into Jordan's shoulder and she sobbed.

Jordan rubbed her back silently and Victoria cried softly as Jordan held the young Hydro close to her, who had become like a little sister over the years and Jordan's eyes glowed a bright, almost metallic green.

"You're okay." Jordan whispered and Victoria's eyes flared, before she shut her eyes as now, the tears were continuing to swiftly spill down her cheeks. "I have got you, Tori. He can't hurt you anymore." She murmured and then, Victoria was clenching onto her jacket. "I've got you. I promise."