Disclaimer: I don't own, and neither do you. That is, unless you do, but I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to use this, so we're all good, right? Anyways, I don't own Victorious or any of it's characters.

:}

Beck smiled at the man he was talking to. "So, can you hook me up?"

The man in question, a heavy set white man in his early thirties, just shook his head. "Look, kid, let me give you some advice. Never do drugs. I mean, pot, that shits practically legal now, and it was like the last safe-ish bastion of drugs you can do. Me, I used to smoke, and as bad as that was for me, hella better then the shit you're talking about. No, me and mine, we don't use drugs, and while we do sometimes sell, street pushing is the surest way to go broke. No, you have the re-ups, the constant worries about not making what you owe, and lets be honest, even if you can, for a while, live off of what you're selling, the police will be on you like no one's business. Worse if you actually use. So, no, gonna do you a favor and not hook you up with that shit."

"But I heard…" Beck backpedaled. 'My informant said this guy was getting large shipments of shit. Like, enough to sell. So, if he's not selling the drugs…'

"Let me show you the effects that drugs can have on someone." The man shifted, leading Beck into his home, and away from reality.

Into and through, to the back yard and beyond. There were openings in the fence to several houses just beyond, probably on another street. Houses that had been converted into what looked, from the front, like crack dens. However, Beck could now see that the backs of the houses were open, lit and showing what they had to offer, at least to those who could approach from the rear. That was when he saw them.

'Girls. Women and girls and oh my god, he's using the drugs to control his stable. Of course he is…' Beck's morality rebelled against what he was seeing, even as his circumstances said to stay cool. He'd worked so hard to track those shipments, needing some evidence to take down the supplier. Only now, with the desire to scream out his safe word, end this now, strong in his heart, he bit back and focused on the game. 'Man has contacts in the police, somewhere. Gotta find out, cause this, it's so much worse then just moving large amounts of drugs. No, this guy is ruining lives.'

The man continued. "See, I like you. A young go-getter like yourself could be useful to someone like me. You just, you go find yourself a would be girlfriend, don't much matter if their not legal yet, cause my clients love it regardless. But you go find yourself a girl and offer to bring her here, AFTER you tell her you can get her into the movies. See, I make a lot of my money from selling the girls, but most of my money comes while while they're relatively fresh, when I can sell them for sex acts on line. Got me a contact over seas who lets me know the kinds of films they want, and once the girls compliant enough, we make all kinds of, lets just call it art. THEN, to those who can make it out here, I sell a night with their favorite, assuming she's still with me, and the limited amounts of drugs I do feed her hasn't ruined her yet."

The man rounded on Beck, his large frame now more threatening then before. "Now, I know you talked to Truman, which is how you found out I was holding. You don't much look like you're using, which is good. Plus, you're charming. Just, charming boy, you out to screw me?" Moments passed as the intimidating man tried to read the boy. "Maybe not. See, charmer, you do this for me, and you get paid, get to have yourself that sweet life you've been wanting. Mess with me, and we have a whole market for boys too. You won't much care, the amount of shit we'd have you on. Understand me?"

"Y-yes sir." Beck found he didn't have to pretend about feeling intimidated. "So I head out, find you some girls, and you…"

"Try not to be too attached to them." The man waved his new hire off. "Even controlling their drug intake, they don't last that long. In fact, some, we sell off within a year just because that's the best way to make profit. So, not for your sister… which reminds me. If you do have a family member who falls under my sway, and you don't screw me over, I'll let you work off her debts, maybe buy her freedom. Again, that shit will kill someone, so you might want to get them quick." He narrowed his eyes at Beck again. "Is that why you're sniffing at my doorstep?"

"No, sir." Beck reacted quickly. "I was just looking to earn me some easy money, maybe take my woman out for a night on the town. Figured I had me some contacts at one of those fancy schools, could move some product. Only, as you said, Truman won't sell to me, claimed I was too low level. I didn't think…" His eyes lingered on some girl, maybe fourteen, give or take, who blew him a kiss in a sweet but futile bid for attention.

"If you think I'm bad, you'd never last in the drug business." The man laughed. "So, here's what I'm gonna do for you. We're gonna take your information, do a background check. While we wait, you give me your address, and I'll have one of my guys come and get you once the check is done. And, if I learn anything I don't like during, lets just say it'd be best if you just disappeared, got it?"

"Yes sir." Beck nodded furiously.

Beck's safety system, thew wire he was recording everything with, was high tech and well hidden. It was created for him by Techfire, and provided his support crew with visual and auditory data. Beck was reasonably sure everything he saw was recorded for later use. However, he had himself a problem. He needed to get out without committing any felonies, and worried that his host would require him to have sex with one of the girls, with them watching, just to be sure they had something on him.

Instead, the heavy set man sat Beck down, offered him a girl, but didn't insist, and waited while the most basic background check was run. Beck's false name and finger prints were run, and the support team scrambled to react.

"They're running fingerprints." One of the cops warned.

"Like those are Beck's." The other noted. "Techfire knew they might check. Outlaw bikers have used background checks for years. So he gave Beck false fingerprints, and I don't know how, I just know those aren't his. No chance they're getting the real info, cause then, we'd have to go in without his backup. Did you see? At least three AR-15s. They have them some serious firepower, and we need us an edge to be raiding that place."

"At least they bought American." One of the officers joked. "And we have an edge, waiting just inside. Just a little longer, let them find that false file we planted, and then, we get ourselves our backup. Steel Copper is more then enough backup for these jerks. What they do to kids, no, I just wish we had Dahlia. Put the fear of god in them."

"She saw this, we may just save the taxpayers the cost of a trial." Another noted. Still, for the good of the team, they knew they had to raid, and take man in charge, preferably alive.

Beck had to sit in that den of sin for over an hour before they told him he could go. "The good news, not much on you record. You're still a minor, so your youth offenses haven't been sealed yet. Little bit of mischief, nothing to write home about. Not the type I'd like to work with, but then again, someone like you won't scream criminal. But what I did learn is you're not affiliated with the police, and that's important. Go running to them, and we'll hunt that pretty little girl of yours down, make you watch as we destroy her. But work for us, understand that this world is full of predators and prey, and maybe you can snag yourself some of that American dream. Better to be the predator, right? Just remember, I'm the top predator in this jungle. Got it? Good. Now remember, we will be watching."

Beck controlled walked out of the house, through the false front house, and to his classic van, which had been looked in half a dozen times. Without entering, no way anyone would have have realized they were seeing a carefully constructed illusion, hiding three trained police officers, as well as a suit of powered armor that would give the criminals nightmares. "Think they'll have someone follow?" He asked as he started the van up.

"I detected a tracking device a while ago." One of the officers told him. "Overrode the signal. Just make sure they're not physically trailing us, and we can make them think you're on your way home, to your girl."

"On it." One of the others checked out the back window. "Okay, guys trying to be cute, staying out of sight. We make a quick turn, and he'll have to decide whether or not his device is lying, or if he just lost us. Thinking we turn… NOW!"

Beck turned into an ally, even as his vehicle was supposed to make a series of quick turns to try and lose pursuers. The net result was, Beck making his way back towards the house, his van shifting colors and patter to look totally different, while the criminal agent agents followed a false signal using wifi and Bluetooth tech to broadcast for a good two miles. "If he gets far enough, we just have a police car echo the signal, and he follows us to wherever we want." The police officers were impressed with the technology they were allowed to play with.

About a block away, Beck swapped places with one of the officers, letting the man drive up close while he got into his armor, a process that now took less then a minute, under uniform included. "Okay, we've reached the judge, and our footage is legal for use in court. That means, our warrant is printing, signed and everything. Just remember, we're not allowed no knock warrants any more."

"Don't worry, I fully intend to knock." Beck chuckled, activating his new toy and getting out of the car. The warrant had multiple addresses on it, to cover the fact that the criminal worked across multiple homes.

"Backup is two minutes away." Came over his headset. "That holographic disguise Techfire built you isn't gonna fool anyone that long."

Beck nodded, letting his illusionary police uniform cover the armor. It was not perfect, and if he had to go face to face, it'd be obvious that it wasn't real. But for the evening, just knocking on a door about half a block away, it was perfect.

"Okay, what'd we think about this weeks read for the book club?" Beck heard. He'd initially worried when he suggested it, knowing his peers were more into Tom Clancy or John Grisham then anything that talked about the ills of society. Still, as long as he found books that spoke of the problems of society without making the police the bad guys, not easy, he found them eager to learn. "I was thinking, I never even considered some of those issues."

One of the team who was an African American joined in from far away, not being on this assignment. "Then you haven't lived that life. I have, and the book reminded me of a lot of where I came from. How I joined the department to bring justice, not vengeance, to the streets I came from. The criminals, they get away with chiz case they know how to hide in plane sight. No, what I learned was how disposable even the biggest of those gang kingpins is, compared to the ones behind the scenes. Now I know who we're really after. Them, and this creep you guys are waiting on. Backup is just around the corner. Beck, you are a go."

"Faster then I predicted." The control officer said.

"Yea, some buddies of mine, coming on from off duty." The far off voice told them. "Wanna arrest some white criminals hurting the community. That, and they're hurting kids. You'll have no shortage of volunteers…"

Beck met the officers as they walked up, sure that their presence had been noticed by now. "Okay, they have AR-15s, so you let me take point, and follow once I clear a path. My job is to draw fire, while yours is to make arrests and rescue the girls. Don't anticipate any hostage situations, but you never can tell. They don't value these kids lives."

Now secure in his backup, even if he only had four officers so far, Beck calmly walked across to the right house, and hesitated only long enough for his team to start to split up. Pounding on the door, he let his systems bull horn echo "POLICE! WE HAVE A WARRANT! OPEN UP!"

"Okay, Beck, we're watching them move, and you have...Go now!"

Beck burst through the door, and immediately was assaulted by the AR-15s. 'Figured they'd have backup. Six isn't so bad. My armor can take the impact, and I'm wearing that extra Techbanger made me, so I'm good.' The holographic disguise stopped working as he switched to feeding that power to other systems. His armored form just screamed target more.

Beck knew they'd have limited options, so as they withered him with bullets, he launched a magnetic shell to pull the guns together in one pulse. Only the preparations Techbanger had made for him kept him from being sucked in with the guns. "Okay, the magnetics won't last long, so backup, follow me in now!"

By now, there were a dozen formerly off duty police officers following him in, many only armed with their vests, backup pieces, and badges. Still, they didn't need much else. Beck went from bad guy to bade guy, disarming them with his systems strength and quickness. His only concession to the fragility of everyone else was his acting skills, convincing the bad guys to keep shooting him when it was almost obvious they were having no real effect. Of the criminals, most of the customers and "Actors" chose to flee instead of fight, only to get caught up by the growing army of police that now surrounded the house. Mostly young off duty police, with a mix of older cops, there was no shortage of volunteers for this raid.

As for the guards, whatever resistance they offered was no good. Beck had them. Worse, Steel Copper had them, and quickly finished rounding up most of the people he'd already recorded, as well as a few new people. The man in charge sneered as he was being arrested.

"Pig, tell your snitch he's dead." The man in charge sneered.

"I would, except he's not our snitch." Beck chuckled. "We were just following him. Initially thought this was some kind of crack house, until we used a warrant to listen in at the window and discovered what you were really doing. Guessing you didn't know I had a stealth mode, did you? No mater, we followed the rules, and now, we have all these girls to send home. But, if it makes you feel better, go ahead and do something against that kid. We'll just add this in as a confession, and you'll find out what general population does to men like you." Beck realized the attempts to change the team went both ways, as he was developing an intolerance for monsters like this man. Suppressing the desire to hurt him, Steel Copper confirmed they had done a clean sweep, and withdrew, allowing the other officers on sight to finish the arrests and possibly take the credit. He wasn't in this for the fame.

'I wonder, how many of these girls have a home to go back too? No mater, I'll contact Blue Steel, and make sure they're taken care of…' Beck thought, even as his team was falling back. "Guys, this was a good day, but we still haven't found whomever was pushing drugs in this neighborhood..."

Tori wasn't sure she'd made the right decision, even as she rushed to follow the man who'd somehow caught her attention. 'Don't know how, just know that man is wanted. Saw his face somewhere. Gotta be quick, cause he's the kind you don't wanna be stuck in an elevator with.'

Tori had noticed him in the elevator on the way out of a hotel, a high end, fancy hotel, where Mason had arranged for her a private audition for a part in a dingo movie. Unlike the past, where Tori looked too much like the star, this time she was judged on her talent. Only, instead of offering her the smaller support roll, they decided to offer her a bigger roll, one that would shove her into the limelight just after high school. The singer accepted, knowing it'd be fun to hold this over her busty girlfriend, before she let Jade know she'd talked them into casting Jade in the roll she'd applied for, after showing them the goths on line stuff. 'As a favor to me. Plus, Jade's good. And I'll hold that over her for months…'

"Okay, Wildcard, we have an ID, and it's not good." Came over her radio link. "That man is Patty O'Brien, and he's wanted for assassinations and acts of terrorism all over the world. He's rated as extremely dangerous, so approach carefully, and wait for us to vector Warpath in to do the actual arrest."

"Yes, Mother." Her in joke, about how V was her mother, as well as how the woman was acting to a trained hero. Still, she had no intention of letting her sister get the glory of this arrest. 'No way I can take on the kinds of threats Trina can. But a terrorist, that's more my speed. I'm just glad I had my mission suit on me, with the body armor Jade had enchanted just for me. So, lets find this guy… AAAND, there he is. Funny, you run across any field, and you find their car...'

Tori moved to take the man out now, while he was relatively harmless, only to miss as he drove away. But her action did cause a rustling that startled some stray dogs, who rushed away, knocking over some garbage cans, which clattered and rolled down the street a bit. That action helped divert a passing moped, who slammed on the break and stopped just shy of hitting a garbage truck. Said truck pulled back to stay safe, and dropped the dumpster they'd been putting down, the safety system glitching this once, causing the dumpster to roll instead of bounce, straight into the path of Mister O'Brien's car. The sudden stop coincides with a failure to deploy of the vehicles airbag, slamming the terrorist head first into the steering wheel, only to be pushed back a moment later as the airbag's delayed response goes off, slamming him back against the seat.

Meanwhile, Tori was rushing to catch up. 'How do they run in heels? I swear, this is harder then it looks. I'd ask Jade, but she flies, and Trina, she's tall enough, so she wears boots, not that heel-y, and god, the women in heels don't run in them. Gonna have to change my fudging outfit. My feet are so gonna hurt when this is over…'

O'Brien was pulling himself out of the car, battered and bruised and having had to use his knife to deflate the airbag just to get out. He saw the purple costume of Wildcard approaching, and knew he'd have to do something. So he moved to grab a passing car to get away.

Said car swerved, knocking a fire escape that happened to be down loose, causing several plants growing above to come loose and drop. Instead of shattering as expected, the plants hit a soft object laying on the ground and rolled to O'Brien's feet before releasing their spores. A mix of spore so precise as to be a one in a hundred million chance of happening accidentally. The man doubled over, coughing and hacking, striving for breath as his pursuer closed ever closer.

Airways finally clear, feeling sick and woozy, battered and bruised, O'Brien reached for his trump, the explosives he kept wired to his person as a threat to anyone who might catch him. Only, as he pulled the detonator, a dead mans switch from the moment he pressed the trigger, using it to ward off the would be hero, if needed, he failed to notice something was wrong.

"Um, is that wire supposed to be attached to something?" Wildcard asked as he waved the threat of blowing them both up, along with the growing crowed of people who'd come to see what the commotion was about.

"What the?!" The man had no choice, reaching for a weapon, only to get butter fingers and let the first choice slip from his hand, clattering to the ground. In that moment, she was upon him, ready to bring him in.

Now committed, Patric, called patty, engaged in an exchange of blows with another trained fighter. His skill at hand to hand had served him well in the past, only she seemed to have the upper hand in each exchange, landing far more strikes then he did, finding hurt places to hit him, and in general doing the most damage with her blows. Far too quickly, he dropped to the ground, consiousness fading from the combination of everything, and Wildcard had her first real victory.

"Guessing you don't need backup." A rich, smooth voice asked. Tori smiled, knowing her girlfriends sound even when it was distorted.

"Nhhhaa, I totally had this." She bragged. "Um, we may need help with the cleanup. I mean, this section of streets kinda messed up. Not sure how that happened, but to get traffic moving, and chiz, we should…."

"Lets the police do a report, and THEN help clean up." V reminded her charges she was always present, at least when she was on duty. "So, Dahlia, what brings you to that part of Hollywood?'

"My agent called, something about being offered a part, without even having to put in for it." The pale actress replied. "A part my alluring girlfriend was interested in, might I add. I figured she had something to do with it, and was on my way to thank her when I saw the kind mess her powers can make sometimes. Effective, but lots of cleanup."

Tori stuck out her tongue at her girl. "Like you leave the battlefield pristine."

"True." Jade nodded, even as she closed in, landing near her girl and getting a better look at the defeated criminal. "Only, I face enemies who tend to tear up the battlefield. This guy…. Who is he, anyways?"

"International terrorist." Tori bragged. "I got me a terrorist."

"Yea, yea, you big dope." Jade side hugged the other hero. "Lets find us a cop to get this settled… Never a cop when you need one. Sigh…"

Tori just shrugged, and glanced in a random direction, where half a dozen men in blue were heading their way, reacting to the disturbance that had ruined their coffee break.

:}

Okay, last two random acts. Hope you enjoyed. What did you think of Beck's growing connection with his team, or Tori's thrilling battle to bring in a terrorist? BTW, this terrorist was inspired by Metatron85's story "The Glass fortress." Read it, and who knows, maybe you'll see it. But I had fun trying to play "Mousetrap" and put together that string of luck that got the guy.

So, review, let me know what you thought.