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

08. Pawns

"Griff, get Jordan and the others and all of you get the hell out of town. This is not an optional order." Victoria said into her phone, before she hung up and she was quickly going into Mina's house, just to get some clothes, that were not all completely soaked with water.

"Thanks for that, back there." Connor said and Victoria was pulling on a new hoodie to cover the clothes that she was borrowing off of Mina. "You didn't have to save both of us, you could have just taken Pav and Griff with you and, you could have just ran." Connor stated and then, she was shaking her head at him.

"No." Victoria said as his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "I would have had to explain to the kids, why their father wasn't coming with me. I don't need to deal with that, along with everything else." She spoke bluntly as she walked past him and then she got into the backseat.

"Who are you?" Pav asked from the front seat as Victoria smiled faintly at her, before she held out a hand to her.

"I'm Victoria. We didn't really get to meet officially after the whole thing with the dog so, thank you." Victoria said and Pav was hesitantly smiling at her. "Because, you were the one who saved my life back there and I am going to repay you as many times as you will allow me." Victoria promised as Pav put her smaller hand in Victoria's as the two of them were shaking on it.

Victoria was silently putting her earbuds in and then with the playlist of Bon Jovi's most popular songs blasting in her ears, she was staring out of the window and she watched the other cars go by.

At a few different points, she could hear Connor mumbling, almost as if he was just trying to start a conversation and she looked down at her phone, which was beeping every once and a while.

GJ: We are all safe. Jordan, Donnie and Dawn are all safe with us. If you plan on showing up any time soon, we also brought all of the food that we could carry.

Victoria smiled slightly at the picture that Griff sent next, it was all of them standing in front of a blurred-out sign and then, Victoria was nodding.

VK: Don't leave that place until I tell you that it is clear please. I can't lose anybody else, G. I don't want to lose any of you.

GJ: We know better by now. None of us are leaving without the word from you, we know better than to argue with the person who has done this before.

Victoria was nodding slightly as she was putting her phone away and Connor looked over at her, before she was turning back to the window and she was swiftly resting her head against it.

Until the car was stuck and Victoria pulled out her earbuds quickly, before the window glass was shattering and her hands went up to protect her head. "Get out of the fucking car!" Garrett shouted and Victoria was thrown into the dirt by the Brawn as she coughed, before the pyro kicked her hard in the ribs and the wind was driven out of her as she wheezed.

He kicked her again and again, until he punched her and Victoria coughed, spitting blood from a cut lip and she was looking up at him. "Go ahead, motherfucker." Victoria said and he was looking at Garrett, who was holding a gun.

Victoria was looking at Mina and Pav, who were both looking scared and Victoria was shaking her head.

"So much for taking care of your own."

"You two put me in a fucking corner, Connor!" Garrett shouted.

"Where you will have to kill a kid? Just a little girl?" Connor asked sharply as Victoria was looking at Pav, whose eyes were full of fear and Victoria was shaking. "You're a pawn, Garrett, for a cop!" Connor snapped.

"You don't know shit. Everything that I have, I built." Garrett shouted.

"Oh, bullshit!" Victoria snapped and Garrett's eyes flashed, turning around to look at her. "It was the same fucking thing with Marcus Sutcliffe, Garrett. You got greedy with the plan. Maddy and Freddie, remember them?" Victoria asked as Garrett was shaking his head.

"Don't you fucking dare to bring them into this..."

"Why, because you know that they would agree with me?" Victoria snapped as Garrett was staring at her. "They were my friends too, Garrett. Before you turned them into a pair of Pyske runners that I didn't..." The female brawn kicked her in the ribs and Victoria felt something crack, as she was coughing.

Connor looked over at her and she was gritting her teeth, already bringing some of the puddles over to heal herself.

"Connor, get out of my way." Garrett was pointing the gun at Connor's head and then, she was shaking her head.

"Don't move." Victoria said quietly and she was gritting her teeth, before the pyro was holding flames to her head and she was looking up at him. "Fire doesn't scare me, it never has." She said as he was looking down at her.

"Get out of my way!" Garrett shouted and he even sounded, like he was pleading with the two of them to move.

Victoria was shaking her head at her brother and he was looking at her. "You swore that we would be like a family again one day, Garrett." Victoria said and Garrett's eyes flashed, before he lowered the gun and she was snapping her head around. "Look out!" She shouted and she was diving to the side as gunfire began to rain down on them all.

Victoria shouted in pain as she got shot twice, trying to get Pav to safety before the guardians could kill her too. Victoria was grunting in pain and now, she was holding her hand against her side and her other gunshot wound was in her shoulder.

"Tori?" Connor asked and she was briefly shutting her eyes, before her eyes snapped open again.

Garrett was running with them as Mina threw herself in front of the storm of bullets and then Victoria was shuddering, before she was sitting in the passenger seat and she was staring out of the window.

Victoria closed her eyes, before she felt a small and familiar zap. Victoria opened her eyes again, turning to look at Connor and he was shaking his head. Victoria got the memo and she saw that he was shaking, before she reached out with her free hand and grabbed his hand in hers.