Autumn Leaves

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:


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Chapter 9 (Practice)

Trina followed Tiffany out to a back alley where there were three makeshift dummy mannequins. There was one in the middle that strongly resembled Ross, so what was this for? "Tiffany, who set this up and why?" Tiffany positioned her elbow on the mannequin's shoulder and smirked as she pointed her thumb to her chest.

"Me. Jesse sent a photo of Ross and I created a mannequin that looks almost exactly like him." Trina's eyebrows rose as Tiffany pushed away from the mannequin. "To a drunkard, it's real enough, and it's going to stay engrained in the judge's mind that he just shot his son." Her jaw fell and pride swept over her. She couldn't believe her ears, they were actually going through with this! Only, what did a mannequin have to do with Ross?

"So why is the judge shooting a mannequin of his son and how do you plan on getting him out here to do so?"

"Well. First we're going to get him so drunk that he remembers nothing, and if he has flashes, he'll remember shooting his son. At the same time, if he did remember anything, well his reputation as a drunkard is shot. There will be people who see him drinking, our own gang members of course, including Roger…our happy little bartender." Tiffany pat the mannequin on the chest and walked away, retaining her smirk. "Already you can feel the stories cooking up. Jesse's giving them all their lines right now. When we're done here, daddy dearest will be going away for a long, long time. Not to mention, when the investigators do their work, they'll find gunpowder residue on the Judge's hand and arm, further sealing his fate."

"And Ross?"

"He'll be six under, dear." Trina smiled as she watched Tiffany walk from the walled off target range. They made their way through the narrow crevices of the alley, with Tiffany stopping to point out some graffiti on the building. "This marks our territory." Trina saw a giant K with a zig-zag line framing it and two lines under the K. It was all done with black spray paint. "There are literally hundreds of tags all around the city." She was blown away by the info.

"So…you know quite a bit about decorating a mannequin."

"My sister was a hair stylist and fashion designer that worked with mannequins. So over the years, I picked up on how to make mannequins look like actual people and even learned from her how to make them look like people we know. It's not that difficult really. You just need the right texture, right colors, makeup and other effects…such as blood hidden under the jackets."

"What?" She looked back towards the alley and lifted her eyebrows. "There's blood in there?"

"Hospital blood, yes. The Knights have doctors, nurses, and even police on our tab. Makes things just a little bit easier, and Jesse knows how to smooth talk or charm his way through just about any situation. I'm almost surprised he didn't charm you into joining the gang."

"He tried to keep me from joining. Remember?"

"True." Tiffany crossed her arms and exhaled slowly. "He comes off rough and is a feared, ruthless leader, as evidenced when Beck and the Scrapperz backed off the other day at that bar. The other gangs know how ruthless he can be. Yet, he's also known to show compassion and can be kind. He's turned people away from the gang when he doesn't think they should join, and that doesn't happen often. He, Vivian and I saw you as a strong willed, beautiful woman who has a good life whether or not you get treated right-and we know what it's like to lose everything and truly have nowhere to turn to, but we didn't have something like you pull us into joining the group…by joining a gang, you're throwing away your entire life whether you know it or not."

"Still, it's something that I'm choosing to do, and I don't need anybody else to tell me whether or not I can do it." They stopped at a crosswalk and Trina watched as cars flew by. "I spent most of my life doing things people told me not to do just because of that. I mean of course I respect authority and whatnot, but when it comes to making my own decisions in life, I tell people to just let me make that decision."

"And we understand that. We do." The cars stopped for a light, leaving a path for the girls to cross. "Just understand that there may still be people in your life that care about you. Most everyone in the Knights can tell you there's nobody left for them. We've all either been abused, abandoned, and left with truly nobody who gave a shit. That's not you."

"Name one person."

Tiffany chuckled. "Your sister." Trina stopped walking as the wind blew past her hair. Her heart stalled and tears threatened her eyes. Tiffany looked back to her and tapped her arm with her fingers. "It's obvious to me with the way you talk about her, she adores you. Maybe in the cold, dark, and bleak world…she's your light. Whether you're ready to see that or not."

"Unfortunately she's surrounded by assholes." She'd do anything to protect Tori from them, and wanted the best for her little sister. At the same time, she wasn't ready to go back there. Maybe once Ross was dead, but then, there was still the matter of the danger that Tori was in without even realizing it. One of her best friends was a dangerously high member of a dangerous new gang. She narrowed her eyes and flattened her lips. "Maybe you're forgetting, her best friend's still dating Beck Oliver. She still hangs with a guy that's got a creepy obsession with a puppet, and another guy who is an aggressive, abusive man."

"Right…"

"Maybe I can learn to protect her through this gang?" Tiffany frowned and slowly turned back around as she continued to walk. Trina sped up beside her and raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Just try not to lose who you are. A lot of people come into a gang and they completely lose their sense of self and identity. You're on a dangerous path because you came in yearning for revenge. That anger will consume you if you're not careful. You understand that, I guess. I mean, I'm not trying to talk you out of being a part of this…I'm saying we'd all still be your friend whether or not you were a part of the Knights."

"I've made my decision, Tiffany. I have nothing left to live for except for Tori, and even she's under the influence of those asshole friends of hers." In the distance, she could see a man standing with a woman whose back was against a building. He was gazing into her eyes and had his palm beside her head. Upon closer inspection, she saw it was Beck and some random blonde girl. Her muscles flinched and she pushed her hands into her pant pockets. "There's Beck…" Tiffany glanced over and narrowed her eyes.

"Shit, what's he doing in our territory? Does he live in this part of town?"

"I don't think so…" Beck was everywhere it appeared. She and Tiffany hid behind a couple shrubs and peered over the top. Trina watched with a growing sense of disgust as Beck curled a finger beneath the blonde's chin. The girl looked away from him and he pulled her gaze back to him. "How the fuck can he do this to Jade?"

"I've seen this before. The Scrapperz recruit a lot of prostitutes in their fold. Usually a gang member charms them and takes them into one of the hangouts." Tiffany growled under her breath and narrowed her eyes. "Then they initiate them into the gang."

"God, I'm glad I never ran into them…"

"You remember Candy? One of the girls with Roger and the others at the karaoke bar?" Trina could hardly recall the girl since she never spoke with her, but she did remember her. She had short spiky hair and dark mascara on. "She was a former Scrapper. A prostitute picked up by one of the members. When she tried to get away from them, she ran to the Black Knights. A gang war broke out, their second-in-command died…and he was in charge of that gang war, so killing him ended the fight, and Candy was allowed into the Knights."

"Sounds like she's one of the lucky ones then."

"She is." Tiffany turned her back to the shrub while Trina watched Beck caress the girl's arm. Was this another prostitute that Beck was trying to recruit? She began to growl and started to rise up, but Tiffany grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her down. "Relax. I'm trying to think. You can't just run up and stop them when they're doing this…"

"The hell I can't. Remember, Beck doesn't know I'm affiliated with the Knights! I'm useful!" Tiffany's eyebrow arched up as she looked back over her shoulder. "I don't have to do much other than just make sure he forgets all about this girl."

"You're not exactly on good terms with him right now, Trina."

"He wouldn't do shit to me. To him, I'm Tori's sister." Of course, she wasn't that confident in what she was saying. One of the many things she hated about him was his having tried to get Tori to kiss him when she wasn't interested. If he had that much disrespect, the chances of him leaving her alone because she was 'Tori's sister' were rather slim. "If you want to come with me, you can."

"No. He'd recognize me as part of the Knights. All the Scrapperz have seen us."

"Fair enough." Trina pushed herself up and walked around the shrubs. She'd been practicing up on some smooth talking of her own, hoping maybe to emulate Jesse just a little bit. As she crossed the street, Beck turned his head over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes on her. "Hey Beck, what are you doing?"

"Um…" He looked back to the prostitute and pulled his hand away, sighing heavily. "Talking to someone."

"Really? Because it looks more like you're cheating on Jade." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. The girl next to him looked graciously at Trina and rushed off to the other side of the street. Beck's face tensed and he lowered his arms. Trina flashed a smirk as she watched the girl run around the corner of a building.

"Goddamn it!" Beck turned his glare onto her and took a dangerous step towards her. She remained unflinching and stood strong, glaring back into his eyes. "What you saw here stays here, got that?"

"Or, I could tell Jade you're sleeping around."

"She already knows I am. She doesn't care."

"Believe me, she cares. She's a woman, of course she cares. You can't treat her like shit forever, Beck."

"There's not a damned thing you can do. Don't think just because you're Tori's big sister that I'm going to stand down from you." He smirked at her and tilted his head to the right. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Vega."

"Oh no, I think I know more than you realize. Just like Ross, you're another asshole who thinks he can get away with whatever he wants. Your time's coming though, Beck. You won't get away with shit forever." Beck ripped out with a scoff and laughter.

"Are you threatening me? You think I'm scared of you?" He held out his arms and wagged his eyebrows. "I'm not Andre or Robbie, I don't shit my pants just because you become vicious. Remember, I date a vicious woman who is ten times scarier than you." Trina flashed a cold smirk and turned her back to him, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh Beck, I'm nowhere near threatening you. But don't misjudge a pretty face. I don't think Jade and I are all that different in reality, but she is a hell of a lot nicer than I am."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, I can be a cold hard bitch if I want to." She turned her glare over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. "Since Sinjin's gone, and with Tori influenced by you guys, there's nothing holding me back. I will say, if you do anything to Tori, it will be the last thing you ever do. Seeing you for what you really are tells me a great deal, and I don't exactly like that you're involved with Tori."

"You don't know shit about me, Trina."

"I know you're a pompous, pretentious asshole who likes to pretend they're so cool and chill around their friends…" She walked off, confident that Beck would not try anything. He wouldn't dare in this territory. By now, all of the Knights knew her, and there were more than plenty of them wondering the streets. If a Scrapperz member were to strike her, all the Knights in the vicinity would attack. With Beck in his high position, he had to know this fact well, despite not knowing she was a part of the Knights. He knew better than to chance an attack on anyone in a rival gang territory.

"One day Vega, someone's going to knock you off your high horse."

"Spoken like a true hypocrite, Beck…"

"Fuck you."

"No thanks. You're not my type." She bat her eyelashes at him, then crossed the street towards where Tiffany was. Beck grumbled angrily and stormed off. When out of sight, Tiffany stepped into view and crossed her arms, staring at Trina with a look of disbelief. She smirked and shook her head.

"God Trina, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"What? I got him to forget about recruiting that girl."

"That's true." Tiffany laughed and pat her back as they began to walk. "Good job on that. I didn't know you could talk your way through something like that with someone like him." Enough practice and influence from Jesse could potentially be a good thing.

"Eh, he was good practice. Now for Ross, right?"

"Still a few things to go over, but yes. Ross will be dealt with tonight."


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Oh Beck, keep it up, you're gonna live forever. Oh wait, nope, his days are numbered. Though, he is going to be the primary asshole pretty soon. What did you guys think of all this?