The Price of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious

A/N: Here it is! Pay close attention to every detail towards the end, you may catch something that is quite literally a blink-and-miss.

Chapter 26 (Beyond Exasperation)

She kicked open the door and peered her head around the corner, narrowing her gaze into the room. It was a typical office, the walls were made of brown wood, mixing with a warm brown tiled floor. The office itself was large. The floor had a round, red rug in between the door and desk. The desk was made of black wood and had numerous computer systems sitting on or around it. This woman had screens everywhere. Two large potted trees sat in the back corners of the room, with a tiled window directly in the middle, behind the desk. Bethany herself was sitting in a brown office chair that had been turned around, the back facing Trina.

For a split moment, she got a bit cocky. She stepped into the room without scanning her surroundings and aimed the gun at the chair. In all her rage, all her hatred, she fired two bullets into the chair, screaming. The bullets ripped through and shattered the window, but no blood spilt. She stared in confusion and started to lower her gun. The chair was turning, due to the force of the bullets. What she saw was a very well made puppet replica of Bethany.

"Are you serious…" She was knocked to the ground by a devastating blow to her back. She let out a loud yelp and looked up to see Bethany, wielding an aluminum bat, among other things. The woman had the bat in her right hand, and a long black whip in her left. She had a belt with a number of syringes. The woman cracked her whip on Trina's hip, causing the fabric to tear and pain to shoot through her. She tilted her head back and screamed. "The hell!"

"You must be disciplined, Trina. Now take your medicine…" The woman pulled on syringe from her belt and started moving towards her. Trina's eyes widened on the vial. There was no way in hell she was taking anything that woman wanted to give her. "Now relax, this is only a sedative, it will help you to sleep." She let out a grunt as Bethany slapped her wound with the whip. She grit her teeth and lifted up her pistol, firing a gunshot past Bethany's head. The nurse gasped and moved her index finger from side to side. "Tisk-tisk, Trina. You should know better."

"Fuck you, you're not my mother, and don't start thinking you are." Trina slowly rose to her feet and aimed the gun for Bethany. Her arms were shaking tremendously and her heart was crashing against her chest with great ferocity. She wasn't used to guns, but she would do whatever it took. She narrowed her eyes and felt a stream of water roll down her cheek. "You were a good nurse, we all loved you because you cared for us…so why did you go crazy? Did you sniff too much of the medicine? I don't want to have to do this, but you've left me with no choice."

"Trina."

"Shut up!" Trina slowly backed away, keeping her gun locked onto Bethany. She moved around the desk and spotted surveillance screens for every room. She pressed her lips tight together and stared at the keyboard, there was actually a key added that served to disarm all the traps. She struck the key and watched as everything that had just given her hell reverted. Bethany snarled and ran towards her.

"Bad girl…" Her stomach flipped and bile shot up to her mouth. She moved back as the woman slammed her bat down against her computer and desk, smashing through it. Trina made her mistake of watching the bat, she soon realized her mistake when she felt the whip wrap around her neck. Bethany let out a shout and pulled back. Trina grabbed the whip with her hands, preventing her neck from snapping, but her body still was pulled over the desk. She clenched her teeth as she was dragged through the debris. She rolled across the floor and bumped hard into the doorway, groaning as she moved her hand to her head.

She could hardly get close to this woman without fear that she was going to push that tranquilizer into her. The last thing she needed to do was fall unconscious before the bitch was dead. Then there was the problem of the baseball bat and the whip, two very difficult things to deal with. As she pulled herself up, ignoring the incredible pounding sensation vibrating from her body, she glared at Bethany and sneered. "So why are you trying to kill me now? I thought you didn't want to kill us Vega sisters?"

"I'm sorry Trina, it's nothing personal." She scoffed and took a step back from the door, still glaring at the woman.

"Nothing personal? Don't joke around with me." Her left leg was feeling a bit better than it had before, and the adrenaline pumping inside of her really helped her ignore the searing pain. This allowed her to charge at the nurse, which was exactly what she did. Bethany's eyes widened as Trina lifted her leg and kicked towards her side, the knife in her shoe dug into the side of Bethany's abdomen. The nurse screamed out and quickly slammed her bat in an arc against Trina's leg.

"Bad!" Trina stumbled backwards and shook her leg, fortunately there wasn't too much pain. The blow wasn't hard at all. She watched the blood gush from Bethany's side and smirked triumphantly, she couldn't believe she actually landed a hit on this crazed psycho. "You're not acting as young girls should." The woman's eyes were crazed, bloodshot, and her hair had fallen into her face. Rather than looking at all like the sweet, familiar face that Trina looked, this woman looked more like Ursula from the Little Mermaid. "I'm going to punish you!"

She lifted her whip and Trina started to run towards the door. She jerked forward as the whip cracked her back, tearing the fabric and flesh from her. Bethany brought the whip down once more, striking her in the left leg, then the right shoulder. She fell forward and groaned mildly. She started crawling towards the steps, reaching out with her left hand.

Her eyes widened as Bethany stepped next to her. She looked up with wide eyes as Bethany tapped the bat upon her shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry it has to be like this, Trina." She rose the bat in the air, gripping it with both her hands. Trina smirked and took this opportunity to push her gun against the woman's left leg and to pull the trigger. Bethany let out a shout of agony as the bullet flew from her leg. The bat dropped onto Trina, striking her hard in the back. She yelped and groaned as she listened to Bethany start tumbling down the stairs towards the second story.

After a second, she slowly rose, holding her left hand over her right arm. She kicked the bat down the steps and slowly began limping towards the second floor. She had to be careful, Bethany could still very well be alive. A fall down stairs, especially if small, wasn't always strong. Halfway down the steps, she heard the crack of a whip and saw the whip shoot in between the rail. Her eyes widened as the whip slapped around her leg. Bethany let out a loud scream and pulled back, casing Trina's leg to snap backwards. She screamed and started falling forwards, tumbling down the steps.

The gun fired at some point of time and a sharp, burning pain dug into the top corner of her left arm. Her eyes filled with tears as she crashed onto the ground, barely able to move. Her eyes fixated on the ceiling above and silence surrounded her. Give up? Never. Not an option. She clenched her teeth and groaned as she attempted to sit up. Thinking fast, she gripped the bottom of her shirt and started tearing it off. She had to conceal that gunshot wound.

She surrounded the area while pulling her off, where did Bethany go? That woman could jump out of nowhere if she wasn't careful. Once off, she started tying her shirt around her arm, making sure it was tight and knotted to the point that it would not move. "O-Okay Bethany…where the hell did you disappear to?"

She slowly stood up, gripping the railing tightly. She was bruised and bloody. Not her day. She leaned started limping across the room, groaning with each step she took. There was no way she could use her martial arts now. The pain in her body was too great, no amount of adrenaline could help her here. She had to try, though, but how the hell could she even manage? No, she wasn't going to give in, she wasn't letting Tori lose another relative.

"Not a bad strike, Trina dear…" Trina spun around to see Bethany holding onto the stairs, leaning against it. Blood was pumping from her leg, her right arm was limp as well. "I'm impressed with you, but it wasn't enough." Bethany started limping towards her, raising her whip once more. Trina slowly walked towards her, her left leg seemed to drag behind her. She watched Bethany's side as well, smirking triumphantly as the blood pumped from there too.

"I won't need to hit you too much, Bethany…I know vital areas of the body."

"Silence. I will not let you take my girl from me." She brought the whip down onto Trina, striking her in the neck. Trina's hand flew to her neck and she fell back towards the ground. She hissed in pain as Bethany continued striking her, snapping the whip all along her body. It felt as though electricity were being shot into her and her flesh torn. It didn't help, having only her bra to cover her, but it was the only way to seal that gunshot. "I will protect Tori from you." The woman's tone was more crazed than before, which was truly surprising. Now she was acting as though Trina were the threat?

"You bitch…" Trina rolled onto her back and tilted her head back as Bethany continued to whip her. "Tori is my sister, and if anyone's protecting her, it's going to be me against you." With a sudden surge of energy, she slashed her foot up, sliding her blade along the inside of Bethany's leg. The nurse screamed and dropped her whip as blood started gushing from her.

"No! You won't stop me Trina. I…will…no…" Bethany started staggering towards the other room. Most likely, she was trying to reach Tori before Trina did. At this rate, she may just do that.

Trina's body trembled as she slowly brought herself up, leaning against her strong arm. Her hair was caked with blood and sweat, her body wounded horribly, and her exhaustion was tremendous. Her vision was fading fast and darkness was creeping in, but she just couldn't give up.

"No…" She clenched her gun and started to crawl, trying desperately to stand. After several minutes, her body was working on overtime, pumping out as much adrenaline as possible. With everyone on her mind, Tori, Jason, Christy, all of Tori's friends depending on her, and even her own parents. She could feel the strength pouring in.

She rose to her feet and started to jog through the room with the guns, thankfully shut off now. After she made her way out of that room, she hurried towards the steps and slowly descended. Her eyes located Bethany, almost to the door that Sinjin had once walked out of. She wouldn't get to her in time!

"Not today, Beth. Not today…" She slowly aimed her pistol over the railings, putting all her faith into one bullet. Tori was counting on her. Big time. Bethany stopped limping at the door and turned her gaze to the front doors for a brief moment. The woman looked back to where Sinjin's body had been and slowly shook her head. He was gone, the front doors open. In almost a split moment, she thought she saw two people move past the window outside, a flash of blonde hair whisked in and out of view.

Lilith? Trina pondered for a split second, Sinjin's missing body, but pushed it out of her mind as quickly as the question came. He probably crawled out of view and died. Her eyes drifted to Bethany, who was still just standing in place, eyeing her home as though it were her final moments of being there.

All this time, just standing, it wasn't doing her any good. Slowly, Trina licked her lips. All she could think about was saving her baby sister from that dark, infernal basement. "Goodbye Nurse Bethany." Her finger hugged that trigger like it was her last lifeline, all of her strength and energy gave out to push that bullet from the nozzle. Bethany had absolutely no time to react. Her head snapped towards Trina, her eyes wide with fear. The bullet ripped through her, entering right in between her eyes. Blood splashed from both the front and the back of her head.

Relief flooded Trina's body as she stumbled down the steps and made her way to Bethany. She held her side and chuckled dryly, no one had to tell her twice that the woman was finally dead. The monster was no more! But before she could take another step, her exhaustion took over and she fell forward, her vision blacking out completely.

"Trina? Trina! I still need you. Help me! Come on, where are you, I know you're here. Please! I'm too scared!"

Her eyes slowly opened and a moan escaped her lips. How long had she been out for? She wasn't too sure, but the pain in her body was practically gone. She still felt numb from all the wounds, but it didn't matter much. She slowly pushed herself up and stared at Bethany beside her. She'd beaten her? Amazing. Her eyes locked onto the keys at the nurse's waist and she quickly grabbed them away.

"Sorry Beth, I got a sister that needs me." She reached up and grabbed the doorknob, using it as leverage to pull herself up. She began limping towards the door, fully confident that there was no longer anything to worry about. The basement door was indeed locked, but after trying three of the keys, the fourth one unlocked it easily.

She opened the door and stared into it, feeling a rush of cold air striking her. She shuddered and slowly reached forward, searching for a handrail. It was so dark down there, not even the light from the room was any help. After taking a single step down, she could hear the distinct sound of water dripping from a pipe. Again, not good.

She ran her hand along the wall as she descended, the walls were cold and stony. That was fine, she needed a light switch, if there was any. Another sound rang in her ears, something that pleased her so much, but at the same time, caused her so much mourning. Tori's sobbing, a very light sob. She was relieved, as Tori was alive! When she turned from the steps, something struck her in the head. It wasn't heavy, it was small, but still noticeable. She pressed her lips together and raised her arm up, closing her fingers around a small chain.

Please god, let this be a light switch.

She pulled the chain and light surrounded her like a spotlight, filling half of the basement. She heard Tori gasp. She saw Tori, tied to a chair, with her back towards her. "Who's there?" Tori asked with a very quiet whimper. "I-I don't want to die...I'm going to drown down here! It's so hard to see…"

Trina could see the pipe next to her that was dripping water onto the floor. She pushed down her anger and closed her eyes, exhaling softly. The bastards tortured Tori by trapping her with her worst fear? Water and darkness? "I'm scared…"

"Tori." Tori gasped and lifted her head up, slowly looking back, but unable to see anything. Trina moved towards her, smiling as joy erupted like a volcano. Tori was alive! It was too good to be true. She met Tori's tearful eyes and reached for her, hugging her close. "It's okay. You're safe now, that's all that matters…"

"T-Tri…Tri?" Trina undid the rope around her sister's wrists and inhaled as Tori threw her arms around her neck. "The light hurts my eyes…"

"They'll adjust, don't you worry."

"It's too dark down here, and there's water…everywhere…what happened? Why am I here? Is everyone…" Trina wept with her, running her hand through Tori's hair. Tori closed her eyes and whimpered. "Water and darkness…"

"It's only a leak baby sis. There's no water, you're not drowning. Your big sis has you, that's all that matters. Let's get you out of here."

"Everyone…"

"They're safe. We'll get into that later." She helped Tori to her feet and moved her arm around her waist. "Can you walk?"

"I can try…" Tori sobbed lightly and started to bury her face into Trina's chest. She continued hugging her, never wanting to let go. "A-Are you okay? You smell like blood…"

"I'm fine Tori. Everything's okay now."

"I love you…"

"I love you too. Oh god I love you." She wept bitterly and held her sister tight. Now she needed Tori, more so than Tori needed her. Then again, they both needed each other, and thankfully, they had each other.

After managing to move out of the basement and out into the main area, Trina spotted Chiefs Warren and Michael, rushing in with her friends. Christy called out her name and Sikowitz watched with the two men. Jason ran up to them and she collapsed into his arms, finally giving in to the blood, anguish, and exhaustion in her body.

It was over. The battle, the war, Tori was alive and the gang, had been defeated. "Get the ambulance!" Jason called out. The paramedics were already rushing into the house. It wasn't long before both Trina and Tori were being carted away on stretchers. Jason eyed Bethany's body and shuddered, they all would probably have some bad nightmares from this. He turned and followed the paramedics out, he'd be riding with the Vega sisters, as would Christy. It was the least they could do. "I knew I should have come with her."

"She wouldn't have let you," Christy said with a low sigh. "Her pride got in the way of that, but…I understand her decision."

"Yeah, I guess so…" Even if it nearly cost her life, she still got Tori, and nobody else had to get hurt. The Chiefs were already responding to the paramedics in the ambulance, telling them about the traps throughout the house. So it was definitely dangerous. She may have actually saved more lives by refusing to let them follow her than otherwise. "I know one thing. I'm not leaving her side again."

"Me either Jason. Me either…"

There is one more chapter left, how epic was that battle? Did you enjoy the fight? The rescue? Did you also pay close attention, notice anything at all that might hint on what's to come in the future?