Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
Start from Scratch
Chapter 28 – Downfall
Tori's POV
A bit of a long one today, but some good drama coming up.
I couldn't believe what I had just seen on TV. Ace Decade, the man who singlehandedly crushed my hopes of being a pop star, was now under indictment.
When Jade told me of her rather obsessive quest to get back at him, I initially thought that she was trying to do the impossible. That it was a waste of time and possibly a dangerous one. But I think I had forgotten how dangerous she once was. Though I did find her obsessive nature of it to be a bit disturbing.
She had laid out the details of what she found and how she found it. I had to admit she had certainly dug up dirt on the man. She even gave the evidence to Mark Strickson, who obviously got back at Ace by turning himself into authorities and revealing Ace's crimes.
I felt a bit faint as the sheer enormity of it all sunk in, so I sat down in one of the plush leather chairs in the empty conference room I happened to be in.
My god, Jade didn't just knock him down a few pegs, she knocked him down to the bottom one.
It took me about 5 minutes to recover my senses and quickly returned to the mailroom. I was in a daze the rest of the work day, which fortunately was less than an hour.
I hadn't texted Jade back from earlier, but I knew I would see her as soon as I got home.
Upon walking in the apartment I saw something I hadn't seen in a long time. It was a grin on Jade's face.
"So did I do good Vega?"
"Jade he was indicted and that D-Gold, the rapper, he was pissed." I said with an astonished look.
"You need to remember some of the biggest names in the music industry, were people he managed. I'll be most of them are pissed. He's in serious shit. I did it for you."
I then started to choke up with emotion. He had ruined me and now Jade had ruined him, for me no less. "I…I..don't know what to say."
Jade shrugged. "How about Fuck him, let's make dinner, I'm hungry." Jade said as she turned and walked into the kitchen.
After changing, cleaning up and recomposing myself, I joined Jade who was already starting to make the salad for tonight's dinner.
During the making of dinner, we chatted about Jade's therapy and how she was coming along. In retrospect, I should have changed the subject. In our talk, Jade admitted, one of the hardest things to wrestle with, was simply the fact she had been so completely fooled and essentially conditioned to accept him.
"I thought I was so strong, so independent and loving him simply required certain sacrifices. I truly believed he loved me and that deep down he was a good person. I actually though that. I was nothing more than a marionette dancing on stage."
I paused and turned to her. "But you cut your strings."
"No I didn't." Bellowed Jade as she unexpectedly exploded. "I had run into that casting agent and afterward having Dr. Cortez explain it all to me and even then I didn't want to believe I had been a brainless fool. Part of me still clung on to the image of Beck still being a loving person. Tori I had to be beaten and savagely raped for nearly 3 hours for me to get it through my thick skull he….."
Then as soon as it appeared Jade's rage vanished, as Jade abruptly broke down in tears.
"He….was a monster…"
I know Jade was still very weary of being touched, but her suddenly breaking down into a mass of tears, made me do the only thing I could think of to comfort her.
I slowly put my arms around her. As I tightened my grip, she bristled slightly and then just buried her head in my shoulder and cried.
"He raped me Tori…he said I was a dirty slut….that I was his slut….that I would always be his slut….."
I held her just a bit tighter and began to rub her back as she continued to cry.
"You're none of those things. You're special and beautiful…you're also human and humans make mistakes…."
"Thank you." Whimpered Jade.
Jade had come a long way and some days acted much like her old self, but her pain was just below the surface and ran very deep.
I let her cry for a few more minutes before I think she started to become uncomfortable in my arms. I then released her as she wiped the last of her tears.
"I'm sorry for that outburst, Tori. I need to be…."
"Don't be sorry Jade. You can't bottle this stuff up and pretend it never happened. If you do, it will eat you alive. Let it out, whenever you need to. Why don't you just relax on the couch and I'll finish dinner.
Jade, still very upset, nodded and silently left the kitchen.
I finished dinner and instead of eating at the table in the kitchen, I put out trays and ate our fish and salad on the couch in front of the TV. By then Jade had calmed down and pieced herself back together.
Our TV show tastes are quite different, but having recently gotten Netflix, we started to watch Orange is the new Black. It was a show we both could enjoy and I couldn't help but seeing certain parallels between Piper and Alex and Jade and I.
During a scene where a prison's area is being searched, a thought came to me. "So Jade, what do you think the feds were looking for when they searched his house's and offices?"
"I dunno, probably financial records. But who knows. Ace was a bit like Beck, just a nasty person wearing the mask of a nice guy."
When the episode ended, we decided to flip channels and in doing so, came across a news station covering the Ace Decade story.
It showed a clip of Ace's brand new and very high priced attorney, saying how this whole case was utter nonsense and each and every one of his artist's received every penny they earned. The lawyer even held up some notes form some of his musical artists which still supported him.
"He may beat this Jade." I said, feeling my spirits drop. "Then he'll see to it that neither of us works again. You may be stuck cleaning hospital rooms for a very long time and I may be stuck working in a strip joint for the next 20 years."
Jade shook her head. "No, from what I know about him, I'm certain there is another shoe and I will drop very soon."
Two days later we had both come home from work and were in the process of making dinner, with the TV news on in the other room.
I had suddenly heard Ace's name mentioned and with a nudge, me and Jade walked to see the TV.
On TV we could see a picture of Ace as the news anchor read the story. "Today new and startling development in the ever growing Ace Decade music scandal. Up to now, he had only been accused of stealing money from his musical clients, many of which remained steadfastly on his side. However in a late afternoon press conference, country/pop music, superstar Tracy Gift, her lawyer and husband at her side, formally accused Ace Decade of extortation and sexual explotiation."
We both knew who Tracy Gift was. Some 22 years ago, when she was 16, she came out of nowhere and had her very first album go multiplatinum . Now two decades later she was one of the biggest pop stars in the words and probably Ace's biggest client.
The news flipped to the press conference where Tracy told a very familiar story.
"Everyone knows that Ace discovered me and made me the pop superstar I am today. However what you don't know is that after he discovered me, a young naïve girl of 16 from a broken home who loved to sing, he told me straight out that I would have to sleep with him in order to have a music career. He also said that if I said no, he'd make sure I would never have one. I am ashamed to admit it, but I did as he asked. As I said, I was young, naïve and scared. I soon found out that he had videotaped our sex session and took secret photos of me changing in and out of my clothes. He's been holding that over my head. That is why I have remained one of his clients, as I didn't want certain pictures of me to leak out as he had threatened to do just that if I didn't do his bidding. I have been informed by the Fed's that those pictures and videotapes are now safe in their hands and will never see the light of day. I'm telling you this as I want the air to be clear and announcing my immediate termination of any dealings with Ace Decade and his record company. I will also be filing a lawsuit….
I was too stunned to hear the rest as I just now realized how closely I had dodged a bullet. "Oh my god….If I had actually slept with him, he would have taped me….used that against me."
"You did the right thing Vega. I think the other shoe just dropped. We'll see what chance he has now. Lord knows what we'll learn next."
As soon as we arrived home from work the next night, we turned on the news to see if there were more developments in the Ace Decade scandal. We then found out that 4 other women, each a famous and popular musician in their own right, had come forward just that day. Each had a story nearly identical to the others, telling how Ace sexually exploited and ultimately blackmailed them.
The news report said, up to now a lot of his artists had continued to support him, but once Tracy and the others stepped forward, that support simply vanished. Now no could be found that would go on record to support him. In fact, with passing hour, the anger of the general public, against him seemed to rise, as evidenced by the fact that on twitter, the hastags, #damnyouace, #fuckyouace and #tohellwithyouace had all been trending on Twitter the entire day.
At this point the news anchor made a very good point. "One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that in addition to Tracy Gift, 2 of those other women were signed to Ace's record label before they were 18 years of age. If Ace Decade indeed was in possession of naked pictures or films he could be facing charges of possession of child pornography. In fact we've just learned moments ago that the grand jury has indeed indicted him additional charges of extortion, bribery and possession of child pornography. "
At first I thought he'd beat it but now, his future looked dim indeed. I simply couldn't believe it.
Jade pumped a fist in the air. "Come on Vega, he's going down, let's celebrate with Pizza and beer. The pizza at Marty's bar is pretty good. Why don't you call Barbie and invite her along. More the merrier."
I felt awkward about celebrating this, but on the other hand he had ruined me, so I called Barbie and we went out.
Some two hours later, all three of us were sitting in a loud sports bar, eating great bar pizza and working on our 2nd pitcher of beer. Jade was in a good mood and explaining to Barbie, just how she had brought down Ace.
"All this because of one stupid statue of Napoleon, dressed as a surfer."
Jade took a drink of her beer. "Yeah and get this, that Mark Strickson guy called me today?"
"What? You didn't tell me that?" That came as bit of surprise.
"He wanted to thank me. He said he'll lose his law license and go to minimum security prison for a few years but he told me now he's free. He said that Ace could always talk him into things and how slowly Ace got him to do things that just didn't sit right. Before he knew it he was in too deep. His wife was his only real pleasure in his life and once he realized that Ace had slept with her, he decided to take Ace down. When Mark gets out, he can start over."
"That's good. A new start is a great thing."
We just kept talking and having a good time, so much so, we scarcely paid attention to the news that came on after the baseball game. However when we Saw Ace's picture on the screen, we quickly paid attention.
"We have a late breaking news story, Ace Decade, the super star music mogul, the once called Mr. Music, who's been involved in a ever-growing scandal is dead at the age of 62 of an apparent suicide. We now go to or reporter on the scene."
The camera then went to a news reporter in front of the building I recognized as the building where Ace had his penthouse apartment.
"According to witnesses, a man who looked very disheveled, dressed only in a bathrobe, jumped from the balcony of Ace Decade's 53 story penthouse just over an hour ago. The body itself, landed on a passing garbage truck with no injuries on the ground. Though the body has not been formally identified, numerous witnesses on a nearby balcony recognized the jumper as indeed Ace Decade."
Jade at this point leaped of her stood and did a happy dance in the middle of the bar. "BURN IN HELL ASSHOLE. NO ONE FUCKS WITH MY TORI AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"
I had been surprised and shocked several times in the last few days, but knowing the man who had destroyed my career had suddenly taken a header off of a 53 story balcony was overwhelming. I remember him showing me his penthouse and saying how much he loved the view from that very balcony.
I sat there mouth hanging open as Barbie joined Jade in her little dance, followed by them very quickly polishing off the pitcher of beer, and promptly ordering another one.
"My god, I feel great." Jade said with pride. "You know how good it feels that I drove a man to killing himself. It's like about a thousand of hours of therapy wrapped into one beautiful moment."
Barbie shook her head. "You're really not supposed to be happy about that, but in this case, I'll make an exception. He was a fucking bastard."
"He's dead!" Was all I could think and say. My troubles were gone, but I couldn't muster up the desire to actually celebrate his death. The victory felt, strangely hollow.
Jade looked over at me and smiled. "He's more than dead, Tori you have your career back. You can be a pop star again. I know you've been playing and writing music, but look at it. This man trashed you, but less than two hours ago, he died in utter disgrace. Anything he said about you, even if anyone remembers it, won't mean squat."
I hadn't even thought of that, I had only thought of it in terms of simple revenge. My dream of being a pop star which had been so utterly crushed, was back again. While his death brought me little joy, I was so happy about getting my dream back, I threw my arms around Jade and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you Jade. Thank you."
She looked at me with shock for a moment before smiling.
"Oh my god!" Barbie said suddenly out loud. "It's just like King of Hollywood."
Both of us shot Barbie Puzzled look.
"It's a song off the Eagles, Long Run album. It's about a some powerful Hollywood type who exploits the young actresses that come to him for parts. My dad's a huge Eagles fan."
Jade suddenly light up and tore off towards the Juke box. "You're right, I had forgotten that song, let's see if the juke box has it."
Moments later the first chords of the Eagles 1980 song, King of Hollywood started to play. It's a slow moving and rather dark natured song, with great guitar work by Joe Walsh and Don Felder.
Well, he sits up there on his leatherette
Looks through pictures of the ones that he hasn't had yet
When he thinks he wants a closer look,
he gets out his little black telephone book
Jade and Barbie sang along while I simply listened to the song, which was so utterly close to the truth it gave me chills. I felt torn, happy about my dream on one hand, on the other I felt no joy by his passing. I don't even know why, he was a horrible person.
Now look at me and tell me, darlin',
how badly do you want this part?
Are you willing to sacrifice?
And are you willing to be real nice?
But even the mythical King of Hollywood is laid bare, as evidenced by the last few lines of final verse.
He's just another power junky.
Just another silk scarf monkey.
You'd know it if you saw his stuff.
The man just isn't big enough.
After that Barbie and I started to talk about my suddenly revived music career when I noticed Jade deep in thought.
"You look deep in thought Jade. What?"
"I just thought of my next project, part of my therapy."
"What's that?" Asked Barbie.
"My ex friend Cat-fell under the spell of some Christian cult leader. I'm going to get the old cat back and destroy that asshole."
I suddenly got a very bad feeling about that. "Uhh…Jade..I don't know…."
Barbie chimed in. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, first we grab Cat, get her deprogrammed and then wipe out reverend Mike, or Bill or Bob or whatever his fucking name is. He's dead.
I was very unsure about Jade's plan. I missed Cat terribly but this was a cult and potentially very dangerous.
Barbie however seemed to have no such reservations. "May I offer my services Jade."
"Sure, what services would those be?"
"Well when you first grab her, she'll be angry and will probably spout a whole boatload of bible verses at you. I think I can help in that department. Wear her down a bit."
"How?"
Barbie then dropped into her native Alabama accent. "I'm from the Bible belt; I'm the granddaughter of a preacher. I went to Church growing up every single Sunday, save one and that's only because I had scarlet fever. I attended Sunday school without fail, bible study, Christian youth group and was a counsellor at Bible camp. It was drilled into me so much, that at the church picnic each year, they have this competition on who know the scriptures best, and from the age of 12 -17 I was the reigning champion. For every bible verse she tosses at me, I can chuck 3 back. She won't stand a chance."
Jade looked surprised, to say the least. "Ok, you certainly had a very Christian upbringing."
"And yet, I turned out to be a kind wonderful, loving person in spite of all that." Barbie said with a great deal of sarcasm in her voice.
"You don't believe in god?" I questioned.
"I do, just not sure he believes in me. Like my family, we're not really on speaking terms at the moment. But Jade, I'd be glad to help." Barbie added with a bit of sadness in her voice this time, as she let her accent fade.
I could see that Jade as happy and excited and I felt the same way. However, starting to have some serious reservations about Jade's new project.
I held my tongue as we finished our pitcher and parted ways. It was only when we got home did I bring up my concerns. I was a bit tipsy, but Jade was near drunk and for that reason I should have held off the talk, but I really wanted to get it off my chest and I did anyway.
"Jade, this plan I'm not sure about it."
Jade sat down on the couch, not looking concerned, if not just a bit insulted. "Why, you should be happy, you'll get Cat back and your life will be fixed."
I spoke again, a bit more sternly. "No Jade, this is a cult and cults can be dangerous; remember Jonestown or the Branch Davidians. This is more than just digging up gossip on a record executive. You're talking about kidnapping Cat and getting her away from some people who could be very dangerous. You don't have to do this."
Jade, presumably fueled by the vast amount of beer she drank, seemed to quickly grow incensed. "YES I DO!"
The more I thought of it, the more worried I became so I decided to not back down. "It's dangerous Jade."
"NO VEGA! I'M dangerous, I destroyed him, I can destroy anyone!"
"Jade all you did was present the evidence to the person who did actually destroy him. While I deeply appreciate what you've done, let's not get ahead of ourselves. You don't need to do this, Jade please? "
At this point, with voices raised, our talk had quickly shifted gears into an argument. I should have waited until morning, when Jade was sober, having the talk now, was a horrible mistake.
"NO, I need to do this, I need to fix you. I need to make you better, I need to pay you back and the only way I can do that is fix you, make things right!"
Her saying she needed to fix me, struck a chord for me, causing me to shout back. "It's not you to decide if I need fixing. Just like it wasn't Becks place to fix you, by fucking with your head or have you forgotten."
Jade quickly stepped forward and for a moment I saw her hand clench tightly into a fist. "FUCK YOU VEGA! I WILL FIX THIS! I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU!"
"I didn't' ask you to it, beside what is there to fix. Cat's gone and I don't want to risk losing you over something so stupid!"
"Cat's not stupid!" Roared Jade.
"I never said that, I'm only saying that you're going off halfcocked, this last project I saw how obsessed you were with it, to the point it started to affect you personally. You became stressed, tired, more irritable and your nightmares increased in frequency. Jade, You've done something wonderful for me and to be frank, you're my best friend, I can't lose you again!" I realized as I said it, I let a lot more emotion creep into my voice than I intended, another mistake, I need to keep clam. all I'm doing is fueling Jade drunken anger.
This time Jade exploded, as she turned purple with rage. Every instinct of mine told me to retreat into my bedroom; instead I stood my ground and let her speak.
"Tori I have to fix this , I have to fix us, we should be together now, we could have been together some 3 years now, but were not and it's my fault...besides I'm so messed up inside, I'm not sure if I can be fixed, but I can fix you….JUST LET ME FIX US!"
She wasn't sober and was only making partial sense, but I think I knew what she meant. I think she felt unless I was "fixed" I wouldn't or couldn't love her. I think she's also impatient and desperate to make things go back to where they were before she started with Beck. I then took a deep breath before responding and when I did, I did in a soft. soothing voice. "Jade, just give it time, we will find a way."
For a moment she seemed to relax, but only for a moment.
"NO, WE WILL HAVE THE OLD CAT BACK! I WILL FIX THIS! I am going to do this for you." Bellowed Jade as she stormed out of the apartment.
I knew she wasn't going to do anything tonight and just needs to blow off some steam. But what do I do when Jade really goes to rescue Cat. As I said, I miss Cat but I don't want to lose Jade.
What do I do?
While Ace Decade is gone and Tori's career chances restored, all should be well. However Tori is just realizing how obsessed Jade is with Fixing things, fixing Tori or between them. Naturally it is causing problems between them.
Lyrics for the song, King of Hollywood, by The Eagles were used without permission. The song and the album it's from is quite good, I highly recommend you buy it. The song pictures how I see Ace Decade, personally. In reality I have no idea who the Eagles had in mind when they wrote it, if anyone.
