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

16. Choices

"What happens if he doesn't just let her stop the healing process?" Jordan asked and they had teleported into an abandoned vehicle that Jordan had effectively managed to hot-wire after a few minutes of trying to do just that.

"Then we have to make him." Victoria decided and Jordan scoffed at the words as Victoria was driving quickly. "What was the scoffing for?" She asked sharply.

"Connor is a Class Five Electric, Victoria, so how in the fucking hell are we supposed to go and stop him?" Jordan asked as Victoria drove faster, knowing that Connor and Nia had at least a ten minute head-start on them and that Nia could already have been forced to start it. "Victoria, we have no chance at beating him in this state of mind!" Jordan shouted at her and she hit the brakes with her powers, harder than necessary and the car went spinning off and into the alleyway.

Victoria's head hit the steering wheel and she felt liquid dripping down her face and she was shaking, reaching up a hand to touch the new cut on her face and Jordan also had a cut across her forehead and she was shaking her head.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Victoria demanded as Jordan was shaking her head, splattering droplets of scarlet blood across the dashboard. "You could have killed us both!" Victoria shouted.

"Yeah and your emotions will get us both killed anyways!" Jordan shouted back at her and Victoria flinched at the words. "I know that you don't want to believe it, but Connor is not that same guy that Tommy introduced us to, in his stories about high school!" She shook her head. "He has been corrupted by your half-brother and he will kill Nia if it gets him his mom back! You have to see that, Tori, or your heart will break all over again!"

"No need to worry about that, Jordan." After Jordan was done her incredibly loud ranting Victoria's calm response was unexpected as she looked at her older friend. "My heart broke in two, when Tommy died. My heart shattered into a thousand pieces, when I was paralyzed on the ground and unable to move, to help either of you against him."

"I'm sorry, Tori." Jordan whispered and Victoria nodded slowly at the words. "I was out of line, I know. But, I cannot keep seeing you get hurt." Jordan murmured as Victoria shook her head.

"Go back to the house, take the car to get there and then, you are staying with Griff and Jaime." It was marching orders, Jordan had no doubt about it and Victoria's eyes flashed. "I'm going to the hospital." She said and Jordan hugged her.

Victoria returned it and then, Jordan was looking over at her. "What happens to you if he gets angry and upset?" Jordan asked softly and quietly Victoria was looking at her, before she simply melted away into a stream of water. "I really hate it when you do that." Jordan muttered to the empty air.

Victoria ran through the hallways of the hospital and she was frantically trying to remember the room number that Mary Reed had been assigned to, even though it had only been a few days since they brought her in, it felt like forever ago.

Victoria burst through the correct door when she saw the light flashing from the door as she was shaking, at the sight of how much pain Nia was in and she brought it all onto herself. "Stop it!" She said as she moved past Connor, but he caught her by the arm.

"Stop." Connor said and she was turning to look at him, before she felt the gun pressed against her stomach and she was shaking her head.

"I know how you feel." Victoria whispered quietly and she shook her head. "I watched my mother die, I can still feel the blood on my hands as she bled out, from all of those gunshot wounds." She said as Connor's eyes were pained and his eyes were welling with tears. "I would do anything to go back and change that. Fuck, I would do anything to have my mother back." She whispered and she was looking over at Nia as she cried and Victoria's tears fell as well.

"You're better than this, Connor. Your mother wouldn't want this!" Victoria said and Connor shook his head, before she felt the gun moving away from her and Connor was pulling Nia away from his mother.

Victoria hugged Nia tightly as she was holding the other young woman, who was sobbing and Victoria hugged her. "You're okay, I have got you." Victoria whispered and Nia clutched her tightly, shaking from the effort of the healing.

Victoria let go of Nia, who was backing up towards the door and Victoria walked over to Connor, who was sobbing quietly as the machines went dead.

Victoria reached out a hand and she was resting it on his arm. She was looking down at him and she was shaking her head, before he was looking up at her. "I know how you feel." Victoria whispered quietly and he was nodding, before Nia left the room.

Victoria's other hand gently reached out to the body and she closed Mary's eyes for the last time. "Thank you, for stopping me." He said and she was nodding. "Why isn't Jordan here with you?" Connor asked quietly.

"Because I didn't want her to see another friend's body lying dead and drowned in their own blood, if you really had completely snapped, Connor." Victoria murmured quietly and she reached out to him as she grabbed his hand. "And don't you fucking dare make me regret trusting you in front of everybody else." She said quietly as he nodded.

"Anger and grief, those guys are emotions too, you know." Connor murmured quietly as she nodded. "And you're showing them right now." He said quietly.

"I don't recall having asked for a summary of my own emotional state." Victoria said as she looked up at him. "What are you going to do now?" She asked quietly as they were walking out of the hospital together, while Nia waited not too far away.

"I don't know." Connor admitted and he glanced at her. "What's your plan?" Connor asked in return.

"Do what I've always done." Victoria murmured quietly as he lifted his eyebrows at the words. "Get people out of the drug life and try to find better ones for them." She murmured and he nodded. "You're welcome to join my... Team, if you wanted."

"Finally stopped calling it a crew, huh?" He asked and she nodded. "I might take you up on that one day." Connor murmured and she shrugged. "Hey, before you disappear." He said as she was walking away.

"What is it?" Victoria asked and Connor sighed, holding out something to her and Victoria took the gun from him. "Don't you want it?" She asked quietly.

"No." Connor said and she put the gun into the back of her pants and she looked at him as she shrugged. "Is this goodbye?" He asked as she shrugged.

"That honestly just depends on you and your choices." Victoria said as she reached up, gently now brushing tears from under his eyes and she shook her head. "Be careful." She said and then he was looking at her, before he leaned down to her.

Victoria felt a brief zap as their mouths connected and she was smiling, before he was looking at her. "You need to be careful too." Connor murmured.

"I'm not the one involved in a Pyske run attack, Connor." Victoria pointed out quietly before she disappeared in a wave of water and left him standing there without any sort of warning.