Pariah of the Town

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:


Chapter 8 (Detour on the Journey)

"He's the only one driving, we could overpower him." Jade shook her head at Andrew's suggestion, still listening to all the people talk about how to take down Jesse. Overpowering was a good start, but how could they do that when he likely had a gun and was well prepared for any kind of mutiny. Not to mention, they were all tied except her.

She hugged her legs and raised an eyebrow upon the realization that she could untie them. Why hadn't she thought of this before. "I think we're more concerned with escape than getting our selves killed," Kyle muttered, "At the same time, this girl needs to get to Providence."

"Shouldn't have climbed onto Jesse's truck," Lisa looked over Jade with pity. "He's the last person you want to tick off. I saw him outright kill someone in the other truck and a gang member just because they pissed him off." Jade was beginning to question whether Jesse even had a better side to appeal to, was he inhuman? These people were right, it was a bad idea for her to jump into Jesse's truck.

"I don't know how to get you out here unless you run. You have to get free before you're sold overseas, because the police can't do anything once you're overseas." Earlier she'd used a pocketknife to undo everyone's ropes, so she took pride in having done that. "One thing Jesse doesn't have going for him, the fact that he opted for ropes instead of handcuffs."

"Yeah, but I can see why he doesn't bother. It seems to be a confidence thing. Undoing our ropes, though? I don't know what good it's going to do. We have to wait until he opens the door, and that guy…is the devil." She understood their concerns, and she was just as fearful, but she had to be strong. As she continued cutting through the ropes she felt the truck jerk to a stop. Instantly the group sat together and shielded her behind them on the chance Jesse was coming around.

"Women and children first," Kyle proclaimed. "Let the family off first. You go too, Jade." Her eyes widened as she looked up to the man, she couldn't just leave them sitting here. She wanted to be the last one off. "If you stay on here and Jesse closes the door on us, there's more chance the man will see you."

"Knowing him, I'm worth more dead than alive I guess…you'd think being LA's most hated would put some 'value' to my name!" Kyle chuckled as the others varied in their laughter. "By the way, Mrs. Lee isn't involved. Jesse's gang stole her trucks."

"I kind of figured she wasn't. Alice here is her niece, she wouldn't let her niece be put through this." Jade's eyes widened and she looked over to the Asian woman who hadn't been talking much during their trip. "Anyhow. You're going to need a way to Providence if you're looking for Trina."

"But I'll have to find the auction site."

"That's easy," Andrew replied, "I heard Jesse talking with one of his guards. "He told the guards to drive to Pike's Realtors and stated they were to take the elevator down to the basement where there was some sort of door revealing where the auction was. After that, all those sold will be going to Provincetown Harbor where ships will take them out to whatever country. Sounded a bit like the boat captains don't have any idea what their crewmembers are up to either…"

"Then if I don't get Trina at the auction, I have to get on that boat."

"Those boats will be filled with guards," Regina warned, "You don't want to get caught."

"I'm very good at being sneaky. I just…I realize if I lose Trina this time, it's all over." She bowed her head and tensed her body. The others frowned and she wiped away a tear. Her body trembled as she remembered Robbie's icy words, Tori's violent anger, and even Beck's aggravation. "I deserve everything that was said to me. I can't go back to LA now. I can't go back empty handed."

"They might still hate you even when you go back with her," Kyle reached over and rubbed her shoulder. "You'll have eight people here that won't hate you. Yes the Vegas are an extremely prominent member of society, and it is very bad that you let their eldest slip into Jesse's hands, but you didn't know that. I think Trina will understand you didn't know or mean for any of this to happen, and in time I'm sure they'll see it too."

"Maybe…" The door flew open and sunlight blinded them. How long had they been on the road for it to be so bright? They saw a man with shaggy brown hair and a moustache, much different than Jesse! Jade was relieved.

"I'm Dan, from the other truck. Come on, let's go!" Jade's heart skipped a beat as the man ushered the group out. This man was from the other truck? Did Trina get out? Dan pointed to the woods while peering around the side of the vehicle. "Move to the wooded area, I'll catch up. Jesse won't find you there."

"What's going on?" Jade looked around the truck to see another man standing over an unconscious gang leader. Dan put his hand to his mouth and called out to him.

"Come on Marcus, we have to get these people to safety!" Marcus took a deep breath and rushed over to the group as they helped Eric out from the van. "You guys are about twelve hours behind the last truck. We waited here to try and help you. Believe me, it was a long, but needed break."

"Where is here?"

"Outside Denver Colorado." Jade almost died at that. Dan looked back to where Jesse was, then signaled for them to run. Mark picked up his son Eric and the group made their way to the forest. When Jade looked back, Jesse was getting up and pulling out his pistol. "Keep running! Ignore him and keep moving!"

"I'm not losing my cargo!" Jesse screamed angrily. "Don't think you can go far!" Jade's heart began racing as she kept from panicking. Jesse was now chasing them, surely they couldn't all run properly.

"Where are we going?"

"The new Chief of Police set up a blockade further down the path. Jesse would have run into it. We're going to see Chief Dooley, he's not far from here. We picked that lock with something we got from a man named Bob Duncan." Would the police send her back to LA? She couldn't risk it. She'd go to see the police, but there was no way in hell she was going back home until she found Trina. Even then, she couldn't be sure how welcome she'd be.

"You were in the other truck? Then you know Trina Vega!" Dan's frown scared her. She figured when she didn't see Trina, she wasn't with the group when she likely could have headed Dan and Marcus, but his frown seemed to cement that she really wasn't there. "She's still on the truck isn't she? You left her on the truck?!"

"She told us to leave. She said the only way we'd escape was by her staying. We had no choice, she argued it." Jade rolled her eyes and chuckled slightly. Of course Trina argued. "Marcia and Lucia, the other two in our truck, they're safe."

"Where are they?"

"Headed back to LA, we stayed because we knew Jesse's truck would be coming through."

"I have to find Trina, I have to help her." Dan raised an eyebrow while Marcus looked at her with great skepticism. "Look it's important that I rescue her, I need to get to Providence

"That's suicide, no offense. Miss Vega seemed like a strong woman, she said she'd be fine."

"And you believed her? She doesn't exactly like to let her emotions through, you know!" Every time she taunted Trina in the past, the woman looked like she was just letting it brush off. Sure there were times she insulted back, or she told Tori not to let her friends talk to her in the way she did, but most times Trina just simply walked out of the room.

"She said she couldn't let us be auctioned off. If you're going to Providence, fine, but at least try and stay safe." Dan led the others through a fenced in yard where the police waited with an exterminator. The gunfire stopped a ways back, which meant they had to have entered territory where the police were.

The exterminator was a tall muscular man with a bald head. He stood beside a well decorated man in uniform. "I see you made it back," Chief Dooley pat Dan on the shoulder and crossed his arms, he didn't look too happy with the man though. "I thought I told you to stay put and let my men handle it. You could have blown the whole operation."

"You don't know what we've been through," Dan pointed back to where Jesse's truck had been. "Those freaks had us locked up in a hot truck. They were going to be auctioned off!"

While Dan and the Chief spoke, Jade began trying to add the math in her head. If the truck was twelve hours ahead of Jesse's truck, and they were in Denver, which was fourteen hours away from Las Angeles, then Trina was closing in on Illinois. Providence was a good forty-five hour trek. Trina had eighteen more hours before reaching Providence. Jade had twenty.

Then there was the paperwork on Jesse's desk, the auction wasn't for another couple of days, allowing time for all the gangs to arrive. She could reach them before the auction started, so that was a positive in her book. It wasn't much, but it was something.

She believed Jesse would continue on to Providence to oversee the auction and make sure his 'precious cargo' was sold to the highest bidder. Whoever bought Trina, Jade was going to latch onto like nobody's business. Still she didn't have much of a plan to speak of, but any action was better than no action, plan or not.

"Hey guys, I'm going to make a call," Jade made sure to announce this so she could slip away. There was no way the police here would let her away if she simply told them she was leaving. Kyle eyed her skeptically and walked over.

"You're leaving aren't you?"

"I have to Kyle. You know that, I can't sit around."

"It isn't safe."

"I know. How can anyone expect me to sit around though when it's my fault she's out there!" She was scared of what Trina was going through. Sure, seeing Dan and Marcus was the first indicator Trina was at least still alive, but that wasn't enough. Trina could be hurt, she could be damaged, broken down, and it was her fault. She moved her hand to her chest as tears began to drip from her eyes. "I was the bitch, okay? I was the one that led her to Jesse without looking into who the bastard was, so I'm the one that has to get her back! She's got a life back home, a boyfriend and a family…she was happy. They were all happy. I screwed them up. I destroyed them. I know I would have wanted to see how it felt to do it, but now that it's happened-"

"It sucks doesn't it."

"Yeah…"

"So you never did tell us why you did it." Kyle looked back and gestured for her to walk with him. She groaned and did as suggested, walking towards the outer perimeter of the gate.

"I was jealous of her, jealous of her family. I think really I was also jealous of her relationship. I didn't know how good my own relationship was because theirs was so damn perfect."

"Nobody's relationship is ever perfect, Jade." She glanced to the side and slumped her shoulders.

"Could have fooled me."

"I think that's just it. Have you ever heard the phrase, the grass always looks greener?"

"And then it's really not?"

"Something like that. Say Trina had a great relationship, but at the same time, surely she and her boyfriend have had their fair share of arguments." That was true, there had to be times when the two fought, but in private. They were always so private about their relationship, and really, that had to be the best way to go. "Whatever someone else has always looks appealing to someone else."

"Her life, her relationship, her friends, they were appealing to me. I guess. I-I was so angry…I was actually going to try to break her and her boyfriend up. Instead, I handed her off to the worst possible person. Now everyone hates me…"

"Did they hate you before?"

"No…"

"Did they dislike you?"

"I don't know about that either. They were friends. The only thing I had was an abusive mom." Trina even commented on her mother a few times, saying Jade needed to find some kind of shelter or help away from her mom. Jade crossed her arms and moved her hand up to her forehead. "I'm eighteen now, and I don't even have to live with my mom anymore. My friends, and maybe even Trina, would have helped me…I know they would have."

"So. You had it pretty good. You didn't realize it, but you did. If your only real problem was your mother…you had a chance to get away."

"I was…blind…I didn't realize I had help, I didn't realize I had possibilities." Now she was ashamed of herself, embarrassed. For all she knew, Tori and Trina could have been her greatest allies in getting away from her mother. "Trina was going to be a police officer, her dad…her dad's a pretty powerful man. They would have found a way to help me. That family always found ways to help those that care about them." Her voice cracked as her pride began to strip away from her pained heart. "I-I destroyed my chance."

"Maybe not." Kyle pointed to a hole in the gate and looked back to the main area of the camp. "If you can actually find Trina and get back to LA, who knows, maybe you will have help."

"My boyfriend's still concerned about me." She tucked her hair back and laughed nervously. "I don't know why he is, I don't know why he doesn't hate me. He's the one that was texting me so much, almost got caught by Jesse because he was texting…he wanted me to get back home and to be safe."

"But you don't want that?"

"No. This is something I have to do."

"I guess I understand. Just don't forget him when you and Trina get back, don't forget that you do have that better side. Also, when you do get to your friend, maybe talk to her a little. Figure out what goes on in her life. I'm willing to bet you don't know much about her."

"Less than I know about Tori's life, to be honest. I guess I was just too concerned with one upping them that I never stopped to ask…I just wish-I wish they'd give me another chance, but I think I screwed up too much this time."

"Maybe." Kyle leaned against the gate as Jade slowly crawled through the hole. She groaned as dirt fell into her mouth. When she stood, she wiped off the dirt and spit up whatever made it into her mouth. She turned to face the man before her and smiled as Kyle waved. "I'll pay Deputy Vega a visit when I get back to LA."

Her jaw dropped as the man started to smirk. "Huh? You know him?" She didn't believe this man could possibly know David, or at least, she didn't think there was a chance of connection to anyone that knew that family. "What…"

"Yes I know him. I worked with him many years ago. Sergeant Kyle Maverick. I knew him when he and his wife had to deal with living in a hotel and were forced to send their daughters away to Holly's parents." She flinched upon hearing the news, she only recalled hearing something about that from Beck reciting what Sinjin told him. "I remember him doing everything he could to find a new place so he could get his daughters back, I believe the grandparents were not that good, part of the 'abuse is proper' generation. You might ask Trina about that."

"W-What?" Trina was abused? Tori was abused? By their grandparents? Her eyes widened as her body began to weigh down. Tears fell from her eyes as she realized her shame. Why hadn't she talked to the Vegas? Her shame turned to anger and she quickly turned away, looking up to the sky. "They would have helped me then. Wouldn't they? If they understood what I was dealing with…"

"Trina, maybe, as I recall, Tori was fairly young."

"When was this?"

"Oh maybe ten-twelve years ago?"

"Yeah, Tori would have been pretty young…" She moved her hand to her forehead and breathed out as a new fire brewed within her. "That settles it. I'm not giving up, in no way am I giving up." Honestly she had second thoughts, she had doubts, but now she was completely certain of her goal. "I'll do whatever it takes to find her."

"Good luck, Jade."

"Thanks Kyle. I appreciate the talk…Take care, maybe I'll look you up when I get back to town?"

"Go for it. I'll try and appease Deputy Vega as well as I can."

"Good luck, I'm pretty certain he was ready to kill me back there. Understandable, but fearsome."


That stroke of luck someone spoke of earlier? Yeah there it is. Jesse can't be feeling too good about losing everyone though. Jade's feeling somewhat better, who would have thought Kyle was an officer? Yeah, he'll be useful there. Oh, and boom if anyone caught the cameo here congrats for brilliant observation.