Autumn Leaves

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

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Chapter 14 (Growing Tensions)

Over the next month, Trina began to harden as she did more jobs for Tiffany, Vivian, and even Davis. When she wasn't doing jobs, which wasn't often that she did have to do a job, she would relax either at the mansion or with Tori. She kept a close eye on Tori's friends throughout, and was grateful that Beck hadn't done anything as far as gang activity went.

She was on the couch while Tori finished some homework with Jade at the table. The other friends were supposedly coming over, to which Trina was looking forward to seeing them so she could see just how affected they were by all that had been going on lately. She'd had some of her soldiers provide threats to both Andre and Robbie, and they'd not told anybody about the threats yet. Though she could feel it, they were scared, or at least Robbie was.

Her eyes tore away from the television when the door flew open and the three men walked into the house. "They're not done with homework yet," Trina announced. Beck shrugged his shoulders and Andre walked over to the table. "Andre, don't bother them right now, please." He brushed her off and sat down anyway. Trina narrowed her eyes as Jade and Tori looked up, scowling at him.

"We're busy!" Jade snapped. "We can play poker after this." Tori and Jade were at the point of usually offering Trina a chance to play the game. She played card games quite a bit with the Knights, so she'd picked up on a few tricks of the trade. She'd play on occasion with Jade and Tori, but more often she preferred not having to do so.

"Sorry," Andre lifted his hands in defeat and looked down to the papers. "So working on crime stuff." Jade rolled her eyes and ignored him so she could focus.

"Dad is letting me review some of his cases," Tori replied while writing down an answer. "For crime organization class, he's letting me review some of the gangs he's been brushing up on. Like the Scrapperz and the Black Knights." Trina glanced over her shoulder, then trailed her eyes to Beck, who was watching with a subtle frown.

"Andre, maybe let them work?" She asked, still attempting to be polite. She tensed as he shot her a glare and continued to ignore her. Her shoulders rose and her cheeks filled with air that she blew from her lungs. It was taking everything in her not to jump up and smack him around again.

Beck went over to the table and sat next to Jade, then placed his arm around her shoulder. Trina studied him, watching as he pointed to the paper and asked about something. Robbie sat next to Trina on the couch, much to her irritation. She hung her elbow off the couch and buried her fingers into her hair as her eyes drifted over to the puppet in Robbie's lap.

"You're still carrying that thing around, huh Robbie?"

"He's not a 'thing'."

"It is a puppet, and something is wrong with your head. Are you on drugs?"

"No!"

"Sure as hell seems like it."

Robbie moaned and gestured to the television. "What are you watching?"

"What's it look like?" It was the five o'clock local news. A lot of her handiwork was on, but the city couldn't figure out that the Knights were responsible for anything. She had to do a couple assassinations, and was learning from the best in regards to that. Her more recent fall into crime was currently being talked about.

"Looks like the news."

She rolled her eyes and looked at him scornfully, "Then it is probably the news."

The reporter this time was a man with shaggy brown hair and a mustache, and he was reporting on a stolen vehicle. "Last night a four door 2013 Nissan Sentra went missing from the dealership lot. Police believe whoever committed the theft may have hotwired the vehicle after turning off the security cameras. A possible suspect that police are reviewing is a disgruntled employee that was fired recently for taking a car off the lot without permission."

Trina lifted her eyebrows as Robbie tilted his head. She heard Rex comment about the burglar getting lucky. She turned her eyes to the puppet and worked to swallow the urge to make a snide remark in return. "I wonder why someone would steal a car from a dealer lot," Robbie inquired. "They must not have had good security."

"Hope they find the car soon," Trina assured him. She didn't expect it to be found, at least not in this state. A member of a the gang had a fit of kleptomania and wanted the car, so she took pity upon him and went onto the lot.

It was not too difficult once she knocked out the guards and got inside to kill the cameras. When she got the car, she did indeed hotwire it after taking all the necessary precautions to make sure the car wouldn't be tracked. She drove it off the lot and into a nearby spray shop owned by the gang, had the car repainted for the gang member, and drove it to him. Of course, she urged him, next time it would be easier if he just took a car from a damned parking lot.

Over the month, she'd been participating in petty crimes, just to get her practice up. These included stealing a purse from a mall, or vandalizing Mrs. Lee's sushi store. These crimes were just an attempt for her to do something that would help her forget losing Sinjin, but they didn't. He was still on her mind even now, but she was trying so hard to distance herself from the woman she used to be, because she felt that woman was weak. She felt the way she'd been before would never survive, and this life was the only way she was able to stay afloat.

She had been watching some of the other gangs to keep up with what was going on around her. The Scrapperz lost their second in command, Quentin, when he stupidly got into a fight with the police. He vandalized a police car and started firing shots at them, they fired back, and one of the bullets struck him in the neck. One of the four lieutenants of the Scrapperz was also dead, he'd been found dead in a car crash. William drove off a bridge, and alcohol had been found in his system.

Beck now moved to the second-in-command, but no one has replaced him yet. The Scrapperz still needed to review Lewis, Paul and Parker while finding someone to replace William.

Trina shifted a glare to Beck, making eye contact with him and narrowing her eyes. She'd been wanting Jesse to go ahead and start a war, because this would be a perfect time to strike them while they're down a captain and down a lieutenant.

As Beck smiled at her, she curdled with disgust, but retained a smile of her own. She knew he'd been watching her lately as well, as if he suspected her of something. Could he know that she was part of the Knights? She kept her ring in a safe location in the mansion, wearing it only when it was required, so he'd never seen her with it on. She watched him glance past her, then frown at the screen. "Whoa," she heard Robbie exclaim. Her attention was drawn back to the television and her eyebrows shot up.

A shirtless man with spiky brown hair was being led away by police officers, shown in a Breaking News segment in regards to gang activity. She recognized the man from pictures shown to her of the Scrapperz gang members, it was Paul. One of the lieutenants. "This just in," the reporter announced, "Several men alleged to be connected to the Scrapperz gang leaders has been arrested when police raided one of the Scrapperz hangouts. The men were found with a variety of drugs in their possession."

Paul put his hand up in front of the camera, trying to cover his face, but it was no use. She smirked coyly as the lieutenant was led away from the building. "One of the men, Paul Sloutz was wanted for the murder of prostitute Miranda Dowsen earlier this year." An image of the woman appeared on screen and Trina resisted a triumphant shout. One of the lieutenants going to prison was great!

When a gang member goes to prison, the higher they are, the more likely they are to retain their position. If the boss, or underboss goes to prison they do not get demoted, the same is said of the next two tiers. For the Scrapperz, this meant that Paul would retain his position as he finished out his sentence.

With Paul incapacitated and William dead, that left Beck without his two direct lieutenants. Lewis and Parker were Quentin's lieutenants. Granted, Beck was still in charge of them, but it weakened him tremendously. "They've really been cracking down on those Scrapperz lately," Trina remarked with astounding curiosity and an eagerness to get a rise from Beck. Tori lifted her head from the textbook and nodded.

"Yeah! Dad says he's been trying to make an effort to put a stop to the gang activity. At least with the Scrapperz, because they're the ones going around and doing more things, so he's really been targeting them." Tori closed her textbook and Trina raised an eyebrow at her, concerned that she might not be finished with her homework yet. "I'm done, finally!" She stretched her arms out and turned around in her chair, hanging her elbow over the top. "So Trina, Dad says they've already arrested a lot of gang members associated with the Scrapperz. He's got this big bust planned."

"Really?" Beck inquired. Trina winced and rose from the couch. "What's he planning? A raid or something?"

"It's probably nothing," Trina remarked. She made her way to the stairs and looked over her shoulder. "Tori, I have something I've been meaning to ask you. It's um-it's about this guy at my college-he thinks he may know you." Tori leaned back as Beck snapped his eyes to Trina.

"Really? Did he give a name?" The girl hurried over and followed Trina up the stairs. "Who's the guy?"

"No guy Tori, I'm sorry." Tori slouched and sighed as Trina led her into the bedroom. Once she checked to make sure Beck and the others weren't following her up, she shut the door and leaned against it. "Tori, don't talk about the Scrapperz around Beck."

"Why? Because he's a part of them?"

"Yes, exactly." Tori whined and looked over at the door, sighing under her breath.

"Oh…I thought maybe if he knew Dad was cracking down on that particular gang, he might leave the Scrapperz before he gets caught. I really don't want to point him out to Dad, but I will if I have to…"

"Do nothing when it comes to Beck. He's a dangerous man…"

"How do you know?"

"He's made threats." Trina paused the minute the words came out. This was the wrong thing to say to her sister, especially with how sensitive she was to her friends treating her older sister harshly.

"What?!" Tori became enraged and began for the door. Trina jumped in front of her and Tori hung back, narrowing her eyes. "Out of my way. If Beck threatened you-"

"No! He didn't do anything like that." Tori frowned and looked up to Trina with a mournful glance. "Just trust me on this. Ask Jade if she thinks he's dangerous, and she'll probably give you an honest answer. Still don't know why you're letting him come around, though…"

"Well, he and Andre-Robbie too I guess…they're just always around." She saw her sister avert her gaze and felt a violent rush of anger and curiosity shoot through her.

"What's with the aversion in your tone? Tori?" Tori moaned and rubbed her arm.

"It's nothing."

"Tori, talk to me." Tori walked over to her bed and sat down. "What's wrong with the three men? Aside from the obvious in regards to Beck." Tori chuckled nervously and shrugged her shoulders as Trina leaned up against the door.

"They've been getting possessive. Robbie's making more and more cracks with his puppet, Andre's aggression is getting away from his grandmother and now he's been yelling a lot at people, including me and Jade." Trina flinched and slowly looked over her shoulder. A growl simmered out in her throat as her body began to heat up. "Beck, well we know he's possessive of Jade. I think Andre and Robbie are kind of being influenced by Beck's behavior."

"Have they touched you, Tori?"

"No, nothing like that I swear, it's just…well Jade and I can't really stop being friends with them because we're kind of afraid of them. I don't know. I figure if I just keep being patient, maybe pray a little, something good will come out of all this."

"Prayer? You honestly think prayer is going to stop them from being possessive and aggressive?" Tori wasn't one to be naïve, at least not anymore, but this was naïve at its best! She was furious and wanted to punch a hole through the wall, but she wasn't going to do that. Not in front of her little sister, at least. Tori looked up to her with wide eyes and lifted a hand up. "Tell Dad, tell someone about them being jackasses."

"Don't get mad at them, Trina. And I did, I'm telling you…I just, I don't know what to do, Trina. Jade and I, we're at a kind of rocky place in regards to them." Tori took a deep breath and gripped the edge of her bed, looking up with a slight smile as Trina crossed her arms. "Besides. If Beck's still a part of the Scrapperz and Dad's going after them, he'll get Beck eventually, right? I mean…Dad never has time to talk, so I can never get to him. Believe me, I've tried. He puts himself more into his work the more mom screws around with Gary! Trina, I can't talk to anyone."

Trina loosened up and sat down beside Tori, reaching around her shoulders and pulling her into a close hug. "It's okay baby sister. Hang in there…"

"It'll be fine, Trina. It's not like they've done anything. At most, Robbie just uses his puppet to hit on me. Andre hasn't gotten violent, he just yells when he gets frustrated. Beck's not really acting any different lately, just quiet and elusive. I don't think it's that big of a deal."

Trina looked to the door as Tori set her head to Trina's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Okay, so maybe it's not." She narrowed her eyes, imagining all the things she wanted to do to the men downstairs. "But if it does become worse, if they become violent. Let me know if you can't talk to Dad about it. I'm sure Dad would act, or even Mom if she wasn't so damned busy screwing around with Gary." She pat Tori's arm and moved her chin on top of her sister's head. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"I just didn't want you to yell at them. I don't want them to yell back or get violent with you if they are at that point. I don't want you hurt, Trina…and I don't want them hurting you."

"I understand." She kissed Tori's head and stood up, smiling warmly at her. "Come on. Let's get down there. I will…remain cordial with them."

"Thanks, Trina."

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Yeah I don't think cordial is going to work out very long. Especially since one of the three men is on thin ice as it is. Though it should be said due to position and power, Beck's probably going to be alive a while. Although his interactions with Trina and the others will not be much longer, since he will go into hiding. Other gangs will also become an issue. But about this chapter, it must be pretty hard for Trina to hear that from her sister and not go tearing heads. Your thoughts?