The Price of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 5 (All-Out War)

Trina drove with Christy in the passenger seat. The girl was reading the letter over and over again, trying to absorb everything that was going on. They were speeding through the streets towards Jason's home, and nothing Christy said could stop Trina from going on the warpath that she was to take her friends on."I can understand you don't want to get the police involved, but…are you sure going after these people is going to be a good idea?"

"They have my family, of course I'm going after them." She cracked her neck to the side and breathed out as her eyes remained fixated on the street in front of her. "All the information I took from that damned chip tells me where I can find some of their hideouts, and I'm going to tear every place apart until I find my family." Christy slowly nodded and turned her eyes to Trina's necklace, resting in her lap.

"This thing…may be beautiful, but I'm not too sure what to think of it now."

"How was Tori supposed to know…" Trina's eyes grew misty and her heart, heavy. The picture played in her mind like a plague. That act to force her to bring her the necklace, that one move, would be the last move those gang members would ever make. "Christy, you know I won't be able to do this alone. There's no turning back after this."

"Yeah, I know…" They'd already talked to Jason and his uncle over the phone, and after a while, they finally convinced them to help out. Sikowitz was more than happy to be the 'responsible adult' in the group. It would be a difficult task, a long one, and one that the police may or may not be grateful for. After all, her father was the Deputy Police Chief rank one, on the verge of being upped to Deputy Police Chief rank two, which was basically the Assistant Chief. He was good friends with the current Assistant Chief and Police Chief. It may not be long before the police realized he was missing, Trina had to somehow warn them not to interfere.

"You think I'd have what it takes to be a police officer, Christy?" It was a random question, true, but she wanted to try and avert her mind from the task at hand for at least a brief second. "I mean sure it doesn't involve my martial arts, but I could always use it while out there on the force…"

"After this stunt of yours is over, we'll see if that's a good career option…I still think there has to be an alternative to just storming the gang at every opportunity you get."

"You don't have to join me." Christy laughed and reached over, patting her shoulder.

"No, no, no, as your best friend I am not letting you go on this mad rampage all on your own. Especially not after seeing this picture!" She held up the photo and Trina cringed. She pulled to a stop in front of the Sikowitz house and quickly exited her car. By now, the gang likely had eyes following her. Sinjin hadn't returned to them, obviously, so they would have had to know something was up. Christy followed her all the way up to the door. "Can I just ask where you found the jumpsuit?"

"It's not a jumpsuit. Sort of." She was wearing a black leather, almost skin tight suit that framed her body. The only skin below her neck was the V-neck collar. Her sleeves ran to her wrists and her shoes had a sharp looking point at the tip. Her hair was up in a ponytail and her jowl lines were very evident, which gave her an aged appearance of a few years.

"Either way, it's sexy."

"Thanks." Trina smiled with confidence and opened up the door. Sikowitz and Jason were in the living room, Jason was performing some martial arts moves while Sikowitz watched with a coconut in his hand. When the girls entered, Jason paused and gaped at Trina. Sikowitz raised an eyebrow as Trina walked up to him, standing next to Jason. She reached up with a subtle smirk and closed his jaw. "Careful, you might catch bad air, Jason."

"Sorry, I wasn't staring!" He cleared his throat and Trina chuckled. It was hard to do so, but she supposed she needed to allow for some humor. "Anyway, now that you've decided to go vigilante, you've got my uncle all riled up." Sikowitz grinned and rolled his neck to the side.

"Ah yes, it has been quite some time before I've flexed my kung fu. Though, I may not be as good as I used to be." Trina didn't believe all that much in weapons, but she knew that the gang members might have guns, so of course weapons were packed in the trunk of her car for now. Mostly for Christy, who brought her family's "treasured sword" along for the ride. He had a strap for the sheathe, but didn't actually think she'd use the sword.

"Look, I know all this seems crazy to you guys, and believe me, it is…" She walked past them and took a seat on the couch. Christy set the necklace down on the coffee table and sat next to her. She rubbed Trina's back and smiled at her, comforting her somewhat. Jason and his uncle watched on as Trina leaned her head against her hand and clenched her eyes shut. "Those monsters out there they have my mom, dad, my sister…they killed my sister…" From the looks of it, she still wanted to battle and say the woman in that picture was not Tori. More than anything in the world, she wanted to believe that girl was not Tori. "Tori's friends are in trouble too, so…"

"If we go to the police, they'll all die," Christy added quietly. The police might get involved anyhow, with David as important as he was, and Sinjin tied up in the house. Trina slowly tapped her fingers along her jaw and lifted her eyebrows curiously. The police was already looking into the gang, investigating them and perhaps fighting them. The gang played their hand already by kidnapping one of the city's more prominent citizens, if they thought that wouldn't attract attention, then they were idiots.

"No, the police will already be involved, but we won't have gone to them." She smirked victoriously and sat up, stretching her back. A dangerous glint shot past her eyes while her friends exchanged nervous glances. "I made a copy of that letter before I left, kept the copy and left the original on the counter. Once the police find that, they'll know something went down. My dad also has the house bugged with cameras, you don't just become the third most important man on the police force and not have some form of security in your house."

Sikowitz rubbed his chin and sipped his milk for a second. "So you're saying…" He lowered the coconut and met her eyes. "The police will probably wind up fighting the gang anyway?"

"They already are." Trina stood from her seat and reached into her pocket, grabbing the papers she printed out and folded up from what she'd seen on the chip. "I've backed up the files onto a drive, the actual chip is still in the necklace, and here I've got a few pages of the gang's 'minutes'. Describing just about everything they have to deal with. Also, in my father's files, the gang has been turning up just about everywhere. The police have been investigating them, arresting them, and doing just about anything but ignoring them."

"And now that they've taken Mr. Vega…You'd think these people would have realized the situation they'd put themselves in."

"Yes. But you see…vengeance is a lot deadlier than any police force." She smacked the papers down on the coffee table, revealing on the first page, a diagram and information on the hierarchy of the 'Blood Assassins'. "Sinjin already informed me that there is a hideout at the school, more in the school's basement." Sikowitz raised an eyebrow and stared down at the first page.

"When did the school get a basement?"

"Janitor locks it up, it just simply isn't in use. Or so, people think." She moved the sheet of paper to the side, revealing a sheet with Damian's picture. Christy's eyebrows rose as Trina folded her arms across her chest. "Damian, the kid that freaks everyone out. You see, crime organization is apparently a simple hierarchy. Up top you have the boss, the don, the grand whatever, and then it goes to the underboss, who serves as the boss's lieutenant of sorts. Then there are the captains or whatever you want to call them that head various sectors. They have their own lieutenants and an army of foot soldiers beneath them. Under all that are associates, freshies, new members of the groups. They're the most common participants, the ones that you see out on the streets."

"Okay, and Damian is…"

"One of the captains. His Lieutenant's ass is the one I just kicked and left tied up back at the house." Chances were, if the police arrived before the gang did, Sinjin would be in custody and everything would be caught on David's video camera. Christy and Jason were astonished to even hear of Sinjin's involvement, much less that he was a Lieutenant! "Their sector is in that basement."

"Got that," Christy responded. She moved the paper and stared down at the second sheet, surprised to see the Gorilla Club on the list! "You're kidding me. This place?" Sikowitz chuckled vainly and returned to his milk. Trina slowly nodded her head and sat down. She leaned back and put her hands behind her head.

"That big muscle man, also known as Tyson, is the captain of that sector. I'm also going in order of strength here, the captains seem to get stronger as we go down the list…or more influential. His lieutenant, that dumb Gorilla." She would enjoy beating the shit out of the gorilla, all PETA laws aside. She was pretty sure that thing was just a man in a suit, and that thing had crushed Tori. One sister down, that thing was going to take on yet another of the Vega girls, and she wasn't about to give in. "I don't care who gets pissed, we'll take that Gorilla Club out."

"Who's next?"

"The third captain, his name is Mercury. His Lieutenant is some chick named Venus." Christy's jaw fell, Trina knew she recognized the name. Mercury was the owner of that spacey hair salon down on Parker St. She went there often, many people thought Mercury was a good-hearted person. "I think you'll find as we go through these ranks…there are some well known people involved in this gang. Most leaders in organized crime appear to be upstanding citizens, I learned this in that law class I took last year…"

"I know, but seriously? The Salon guy is…"

"Looks like you'll have to find another Salon to go to," Jason remarked with a joking chuckle. Christy shot him a look, then turned her gaze back to the papers with a frown.

"All the charity work he does around town…People won't like this. I guess we shouldn't be surprised." With a heavy sigh, she turned the page and stared at the picture of a man dressed up in a gothic vampire-type costume. Her eyebrow rose and her tongue clicked. "You've got to be kidding me. The creepy guy from that ugly store?" Jason quickly moved to the papers and looked at his uncle in shock.

"Hey, it's Mortimer, the owner of that Halloween shop we used to go to when I was a kid." The girls stared at him with disgust and he looked at them with a nervous chuckle. Mortimer's Halloween Shop was located on the corner of South Denver and Winston St towards the south of the city. "Well…at least he's got a good looking wife." His wife was Morgan, a lady with long brown hair that feathered out at her waist like the end of an axe. She had deadly brown eyes, tan skin, and the body of a model. Trina smirked at him and pointed to the picture of Mortimer's lieutenant. He sighed and slowly shook his head. "Should have guessed she was his lieutenant."

"Right." Trina raised an eyebrow and lifted the paper. "Now for the last captain. They live out on the beach, they manage a Lifeguard Training program. Captain Raven and her Lieutenant, Lilith. It appears they have an underwater base out further from shore. So with that being said, I think it's safe to say, we'll be doing a lot of swimming." Sikowitz rubbed his forehead while Christy and Jason tried to imagine what it was like out on the beach. They hadn't gone for quite some time, and the last time Trina went, it was spent cooped up in Beck's RV. "Now as we move up, the underboss is a man named Seth, who I think you'll find very interesting…"

Sikowitz watched as she moved to the next folded sheet. The underboss had someone directly beneath him as well, and once his eyes met the images and details, his jaw fell. Seth was an older man, very familiar to him. Trina looked up to him and frowned as he slowly shook his head. "It's the man that shot me!" Jason gasped and Christy's eyes widened. Trina slowly nodded her head and breathed in.

"Yeah, he's also the secretary for the superintendant of schools. More surprising is the man working directly under him." Sikowitz brushed off his shock and looked to the paper once more. Everyone gazed at it with silence, unable to make heads or tails of what they were seeing. Trina already got over the shock, but was still speechless whenever she thought of the man. She just couldn't wrap her mind around it, couldn't believe for the life of her that the school's good old guidance counselor was involved in this mess. "Lane Alexander, he puts up a relatively good front, and he's allowed for Damian and Sinjin to head the sector hidden away in the school. In reality, I think he pulls the strings there more than they do."

"This is…How can all these people be this corrupted?"

"I don't know. The leader of the whole organization is some man named Giovanni, but I couldn't find a lot of information on him, surprisingly enough. The gang itself seems not very well informed on their own leader." She breathed in and narrowed her eyes while the others stared aimlessly in whatever direction they were looking. "From my understanding, as they are a new gang, they have nobody within the police force yet. I think they're going to attempt to talk my dad into working with them, but that will never happen. Now, we're going to storm the bases of the captains, since they're bound to know exactly where Seth's base is, and he'll have to tell us where this Giovanni is located."

"What are we going to do, just take them all out?"

"Close enough." She clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap. She wanted her family as soon as possible, yes, but the only way to find them was to help the police take out the entire gang. At least, that's what it seemed like. She wasn't letting them free, not when she knew from her studies that if they just went after the head, crime organizations would simply appoint a new head. "We'll try to leave them alive and for the police to arrest, I don't want to kill anyone."

"Don't lie, Trina. It doesn't do wonders for you." She laughed dryly and responded with a swift nod.

"True, I would like to kill some of these assholes, but it wouldn't be right. The best thing to do is leave them for the police to clean up and go directly to the top. First, we need to let the families know where their kids are…" Cat's and Jade's especially, she just couldn't get out of her mind the information that Tori gave to her when she referred to their brothers. They needed to know about their sisters, because they would likely be concerned, even if the girls didn't feel that way. She breathed out and closed her eyes, her stomach clenched with frustration and her heart mourned for the families of all of them. "I'm not going to let anyone else lose their sister or brother. It can't happen, and it won't." She knew Andre had a little sister, so she'd definitely be concerned. As for his grandmother, the woman would likely be difficult to tell this news to, it had to be done. "As for the police, I can't directly contact them, or else I risk everyone dying. I did, however, leave a message for them. My father, in his last moments in that house, sent a distress call to the Assistant Chief, and as I know they're close friends, that man will be there…I don't think we'll have to worry about a thing."

Christy turned her gaze to the necklace and inhaled, her breath was deep and shaky. The gravity of the situation was finally hitting all of them. They knew the mess that they were getting in, and yes, they were scared. This wasn't just a game, it wasn't some play for school, this was real, and all they had to rely on were their fighting skills. "I hope you're right, Trina. I really do…"

At the Vega household, Assistant Chief Michael Andrews walked through the home with his most trusted officers. He was responding to the distress call that David sent out. They'd found Sinjin and had arrested him, he gladly went without any issues. The officers located the copy of the note to Trina on the counter, he'd been enraged when he realized who was behind this sickening destruction.

As he slowly walked through the house, his stomach turning at the blood and devastation, he made his way to the family's master bedroom. He'd helped David to set up the hidden cameras throughout the house a long time ago, so only he was aware. The cameras hidden throughout the living room were connected by small wires that ran along the walls into the master bedroom where a cable cord was hidden just underneath a metal covering on the floor.

As he entered the room, he saw the main bed in disarray, covers thrown and pillows cut open. Once more, his heavy heart lurched and his head pounded. He turned his eyes to the flat screen television resting on top of a brown television stand that could be rolled to the side. He moved the stand away and knelt down, gazing at the round metal cover. He ran his thumb across his forehead and sighed heavily. The camera system could be plugged into a DVR system and contents recorded, so this was a true help.

When he reached down and opened the metal cap, he was surprised to see a small folded paper beside the cable cord. He lifted his head up and looked to the doorway. This was very important, as the only people that knew the location of this cord were the members of the Vega family. Assuming David and his family had no time to scribble on a note thanks to the gang, and Trina was the only one with the gang forcing her hand, the note must have been placed there by her. He reached in and grabbed the note, opened it up, and started reading the words.

"Mr. Andrews, you and Chief Abrams are the only people I trust right now. I know the police force is good, but I just don't know if this gang has their hand dipped into the force or not. The reason I'm writing this…I have to save my family, you understand. The gang has to pay for Tori, they have to. I can't go to the police or else they'll kill mom, dad, Tori's friends, as you should know by reading the original of the note I left. I can't risk their lives like that, so they can't know that I've contacted you at all. Though, I know they're already at war with the police force, so I'm not overly worried about the police fighting them. I'm going in, though…where no one on the force has gone…the chip the gang wants, it's revealed the location of some of the gang's captains in charge and their sectors. I'm going to bring them down, I'm going to leave them for the police, just as I have left Sinjin for you. It's dangerous, I know, but this is the only way. Once the leaders are out, and my family's safe, I suppose the gang will be destroyed. I don't know. You, Dad, and the Chief can decide from there what you want to do with me. The reason I say dad, is because, I will save him. I'll give you the chip when it's safe, and I'll probably leave some notes for you in regards to what's next. I don't know, I still haven't figured how I'm going to do that yet, it's just too dangerous right now to risk communication. For now, just know, I'm not giving up until I've taken this gang out. Of course I'm going to remain low and out of sight, that is also the safest bet. Unfortunately the information listed some important names around the city as prominent leaders in the gang, so don't be surprised…it also looks like stealth will be the best way to take them out. They won't hurt anyone more…"

Michael cupped his hand over his mouth and folded the paper over his finger, he breathed in and stared up at the wall. This wasn't good, why would Trina put herself in such a dangerous situation? Going after the whole gang? She could get herself killed! He had to respect her wishes and not let it known that they knew what she was doing, but by that same respect, how could they protect her? The best way he could think of was to have the police simply keep all the street members at bay by arresting them all if possible. If Trina was going inside the gang to take out the leaders, if she knew where the leaders were and could do it, then maybe they could take the gang out before they became a danger.

Their grave mistake, however, was putting the Vega family in this state in the first place. Trina ought to know better than to go vigilante like this, but he could understand why she was doing this. In truth, she might stand a better chance of getting her family back than the police force could. As for now, he'd let her do this, he had to rally the force, because he too was pissed the hell off.

"Then I guess if they want a war, they're going to get a war."

Well, looks like the troops are being rallied. The police can help on the outside, but it's best to not get too close. Trina seems to know what to do next, and as reluctant as her friends seem to be, they're hand has already been dealt. Here we go. Or as Kel, from Kenan and Kell, would say: "Aw here it goes!"

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