Whatever It Takes || Code 8: Connor Reed

Victoria had given up trying to sleep hours ago as she was messing around with a deck of cards that she had laid out on the table. Victoria heard footsteps and she spun around quickly, as her eyes flashing and now somebody was choking.

"It's me, Connor!" The strangled voice choked out and Victoria blinked quickly, as she heard someone coughing and Victoria let her powers go as she hopped over the couch and she turned on the light.

"I'm sorry." Victoria said as she winced, helping him up off of the floor. "You should have shocked me, I would've stopped even quicker." She muttered and Connor was shaking his head slightly.

"How the hell are you just, so fast at it?" Connor asked and once she was sure that he was back to being okay, she went back to her deck of cards.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't be caught off-guard again." Victoria replied as she was flipping the cards quickly. "After watching something like two members of your family dying in front of you, it's a pretty good fucking motivator." She remarked with a trembling tone in her voice as she was flipping cards again and he glanced at her.

"So, I take it that you can't sleep either?" Victoria asked and Connor shook his head. "So, was it your idea to hit the Pyske Run?" She questioned and he nodded. "Also your idea to drag Tommy into it?" Victoria clarified.

"He wanted to be involved." Connor corrected her and Victoria glanced at him. "I think that he was worried about me being alone with Garrett and the others, if the whole plan went downhill and to shit." Victoria quietly laughed as she nodded.

"Maddy and Freddie wouldn't leave you behind." She murmured as she was cracking her knuckles. "Or at least, they wouldn't have left you behind when I knew them." Victoria muttered and she was picking up all of the cards and shuffling them back into one big deck again.

"Would you really have stopped my heart or ripped me apart by the molecules, if I hadn't managed to tell you it was me?" Connor asked and Victoria looked over at him, before she blinked. "You don't actually know the answer to that question, do you?" He asked quietly and slowly, she shook her head.

"Which is why next time, you should shock me. Because at least then, I will have a chance to realize who it is before I kill you." Victoria muttered and Connor flicked his finger. Victoria yelped as a jolt of electricity had hit her in the arm and she glared at him. "Not now, you idiot. Ow!" She said and he was quietly laughing at the words as he continued to poke her with small jolts of lightning, before she finally got annoyed by it and a bunch of water hit him from the tap and Connor was shaking his head, water droplets flying everywhere.

"One more shock and I will douse you again." Victoria promised as she pointed at Connor, who flicked at her and Victoria's instincts acted as Connor was once again doused with the water and she laughed at the sight.

"You guys don't happen to know a Pyro, do you?" Connor asked as he was looking down glumly now at his wet clothes and Victoria stifled a small laugh at the sight.

"Nope... but we do have something called a dryer." Victoria replied and Connor laughed humorlessly at the words as she shook her head. "I've got some clothes from Tommy if you wanted to wear them, until yours are dried again." She said as she was swiftly stacking the deck of cards up until there was nothing out of place and she was walking down the hallway.

Victoria winced as she could hear him squelching down the hallway and she almost felt bad about it as she opened her door and gestured towards the closet. "Go ahead." She said as she grabbed a long-sleeved flannel for herself.

"Why don't you wear short sleeves ever?" Connor questioned as she went into the adjoining bathroom and she shut the door behind her. "Don't you ever get too hot in the sun?" He asked and she came back out with the new clothes on.

"Yeah." Victoria remarked and Connor glanced over at her, before he was tossing the new clothes on and he was shrugging.

"But, you still wear long sleeves all the time?" Connor pointed out and she glanced over at him before she was pointing straight at the door silently. Connor got the memo as he was walking out of the room and Victoria shut the door behind him.

Victoria turned around so her back was against the door and she felt tears falling down her face as swiftly, she was looking down at her arms.

Victoria pushed up her sleeves and scars were criss-crossing along both of her arms as she lowered her head and her tears began to splash onto her arms.

Victoria was staring straight ahead, at herself in the mirror after she had taken off the flannel and she was looking at her upper body, which was covered in scars and wounds and she was swallowing at the sight of it all.

Amongst the many scars were countless starbursts shaped scars from many different electric attacks and Victoria closed her eyes briefly. She opened her eyes again, only to see that Griff was in the corner of the room and he was looking at her. "Hey bud, what's wrong?" Victoria asked and she was swiftly picking up the flannel, as then she was now swiftly buttoning it up again.

"I can't sleep. Can I stay in here with you?" Griff asked in a rather small voice and she nodded, before she was climbing into the bed. Griff climbed into the bed on the other side and the twelve year old was silently curling up next to her, clearly scared of whatever had freaked him out earlier.

Victoria wiped at her eyes and she was lying, if she said that Connor's questioning why she refused to wear t-shirts and things that didn't cover herself up, she would be lying if she insisted that it didn't bother her at all.

"But why does it bother me?

Why does it matter so much when he is the one who asks me about it, versus Tommy or Jordan?"

Victoria was shaking her head, confused about it as she looked up at the ceiling and she thought about it.

"Because you like him, you dummy. And much more importantly, you don't want to scare him off."

That very annoying little voice inside of Victoria's mind that was known as her inner conscience, it was going to drive her insane one day. But this time, she was stuck with admitting that her conscience was right for a change.

Victoria shut her eyes as she tried to start counting sheep, in a vain effort to get some sleep.

Which ended up failing, since she got up earlier than everybody else combined and quite frankly, she wasn't sure that she had slept at all.

Victoria was cooking breakfast, by the time that the others were showing themselves to the kitchen. "You look like hell." Tommy said as a morning greeting and Victoria scoffed.

"Take a look in the mirror, fucker." She muttered and Tommy sighed at the words and a moment later, she was handing out coffee to the others.

"You didn't really sleep last night, Tori, did you?" Tommy asked knowingly and Victoria sighed, shaking her head. "What is wrong now?" He asked after Victoria had walked out of the room and he was following her.

"I really don't like the idea of hitting the Pyske run." Victoria admitted and Tommy was looking at her, before he nodded slightly. "The last time that we tried to do something like this, we very nearly lost Jordan." Victoria said and she silently shook her head.

"Look, I know that you're nervous. But we have Connor with the group this time, he'll take out the Guardians on the truck without any problems and with any luck, we won't even have to deal with them." Tommy pointed out and Victoria sighed.

"The last time that I had this type of feelings about something, Tommy, we lost some good people." Victoria murmured and Tommy sighed.

"I know. But you're not a Reader, Tori. You are just scared to lose us and I get it all right? I do get it, but we will come home." Tommy said and she sighed.

"All right." Victoria murmured quietly and she hugged him tightly, before she let him go and now, he was making his way out to the driveway.