To all of my readers...I am so sorry about getting this chapter out late. I have honestly been a little overwhelmed in real life, thus, my story had to take a backseat to other duties for a few days. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and as always...reviews are like sugar, they make everything taste sweeter ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious...blah, blah, blah.
Tori spent the next week and a half doing what she normally did. She attended school, did her homework and hung out with her friends and family. To the outside world Tori would have looked like any other Junior at Hollywood Arts. However, inside she was constantly on the alert, watching and wondering when she would next be contacted by S.T.A.R.S.
"Hey Tori!" Robbie said as he slid in next to Tori at their usual table in the Asphalt Café.
"Hey there you foxy lady, wanna come sit on my lap?" Rex chimed in while gazing lewdly at Tori, if puppets can even do that.
"Hey Robbie and Robbie's puppet." Tori said sarcastically as she took a bite of her turkey sandwich. She and Robbie were the first ones to lunch since the math class they shared had let out 10 minutes early.
Robbie quickly covered Rex's ears and whisper yelled at Tori. "Tori, you know Rex doesn't like to be called a puppet."
"Sorry Robbie...and Rex." Tori mumbled as she rolled her eyes.
"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Robbie asked, trying to make conversation.
"Well, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess just hang around the house and try to get some homework done." She said as she shrugged her shoulders.
At that moment Andre and Cat walked up to the table. Cat was just finishing telling Andre another of her "my brother" stories.
"Hiiiiiiiiiii!" Cat squealed as she scooted in next to Robbie.
"Waz up guys?" Andre said smoothly as he dropped his bag on the ground and sat down next to Tori.
"Not too much, just talking about our weekend plans." Tori said as Cat reached over to grab a potato chip off her plate.
"I was just about to tell Tori this, but did you see that Lieutenant Blowhole 2: The Hole Gets Bigger is coming out tonight? We should totally all go see it." Robbie declared excitedly.
"Oh I love movies with animals…let's go, let's go, let's go!" Cat happily agreed.
"Sound's cool. What about you Tor?" Andre asked.
"Sure, I guess so…" Tori began before she was interrupted by the sound of her phone receiving a text message. She grabbed her phone and saw that it was from an unknown number.
"Tonight, 7:00pm…1234 Birchwood Street."
Tori's eyes widened as she read the text. She felt herself begin to tense up as she realized that the start of her new life was (gulp) tonight.
"Tori…earth to Tori." Robbie said, waving his hand in front of her face.
Tori looked up, realizing that all three of her friends were staring at her. She was quickly trying to formulate a believable story in her mind for why she would have to miss the movie. Luckily, Jade and Beck walked up with their lunches and bought her a little extra time.
"What's up?" Beck voiced as Jade sat down by Cat and quickly started stabbing at the salad she had bought.
"We were all making plans to go see Lieutenant Blowhole 2 tonight, you guys in?" Andre questioned.
"Sounds good to me." Beck smiled as he took a bite of his burger.
"I'd rather eat glass." Jade snarled as she continued murdering the lettuce leaves on her plate.
"Listen guys, I don't think I can go either. I forgot that I promised my parents we would have a family game night tonight." Tori lamented, rather believably if she did say so herself.
"Awwwwwww, but Tori….please come." Cat whined.
"I wish I could Cat. I just promised them a while ago and you know how parents get when you break plans with them."
"Yeah…I guess." Cat said, looking crestfallen.
Tori suddenly remembered something she had put in her bag for just this type of Cat situaiton. She knew exactly how to distract Cat from her sadness.
"Cat…guess what I have in my bag for you?" Tori teased in a sing-song voice.
Cat looked up excitedly as Tori handed her a cherry blow-pop. Cat's eyes shined brightly and all sadness was quickly forgotten.
Tori suddenly stood up, needing a moment to herself to process the information she had just received.
"Guys, I'll be back in a sec…bathroom break." She said as she attempted a smile before running in the direction of the ladies restrooms.
"Like we care if you gotta take a whaz Vega!" Jade shouted after her.
Tori ran into the bathroom and directly over to one of the porcelain sinks. Once there, she proceeded to splash several handfuls of cold water on her face, completely ruining the makeup she had so meticulously applied that morning. However, it calmed her nerves enough to where she could think somewhat rationally about the whole situation. She quickly checked under each stall and when she had established that she was alone in the bathroom she took a long look at herself in one of the mirrors.
"Get it together Vega." She growled at the image staring back at her. "Remember what Helen told you, your decision is final. There is no going back or changing your mind."
Tori realized that the girl looking back at her looked desperate and frightened and had tears building up in her eyes. She took several deep breaths before continuing the discussion with herself.
"Remember, they picked you for a reason. Helen wouldn't have asked you to do this if she didn't think you could handle the pressure. I can do this…I CAN DO THIS!" Tori yelled to the silent restroom, letting the slight echo reverberate back to her ears.
Tori slowly walked up to the address that the text message had given her. It was in a questionable part of town and looked like it belonged to a gigantic abandoned warehouse. She had ridden her bike and it had taken her a little over half an hour to reach the address. Tori had told her parents that she was going out to dinner and a late movie with her friend, having no idea how long this would take. Holly and David Vega seemed to believe her lies and had simply smiled and told her to call if she was going to be later or if she needed them to pick her up.
It didn't take her long to realize that the door to the warehouse was locked, as she tried turning the knob one way and then the other. Tori decided to knock and see if anyone would answer her. She must have knocked on that door for 10 minutes but nobody ever came. Feeling frustrated, Tori was close to giving up and going home.
"Hello…is anyone in there? I got a text telling me to be here at 7:00pm and well...now it's 7:12pm." Tori yelled after quickly looking at the time on her phone.
After attempting to look through the extremely dirty and dusty window at the top of the door, Tori decided to look for a back entrance. After taking a few steps away from the building she suddenly heard a sound from behind her. As she whipped around to see what was causing the sound she felt a sharp pain on her shoulder and then everything went black.
Tori was shocked awake when she felt her head submerged in icy cold water. She could feel that her hands and feet were bound with something, probably rope. She expected whoever's awful idea this was to quickly bring her out of the water. However, after a few moments passed and she wasn't raised from the water, realization set in that whoever was doing this was not bringing her up.
Tori's eyes suddenly widened in fear and she began to scream. The pain of the cold water entering her mouth and eventually her lungs was almost unbearable. After a few more moments of screaming in silent terror she started to feel light headed as the last remaining ounces of oxygen left her lungs.
Just as suddenly as her head had entered the water, Tori felt herself ripped out of it and thrown upright. She discovered that she was tied to an old wooden chair, having both her hands and feet bound to it. She sputtered and coughed up water for a few moments before looking up to find a man and a woman looking down at her. After taking a few deep breaths, Tori was finally able to speak again.
"Who, who are you and why are you trying to kill me?" Tori stuttered,feeling the coldness of the water seeping through to her bones.
The man and woman looked down on her, their faces emotionless before the woman finally spoke.
"Oh sweetie, if we wanted to kill you, we could have done it when we knocked you out."
"We aren't here to kill you, we are here to initiate you into S.T.A.R.S." Continued the sandy haired man to her left.
"So who are you people then?" Tori asked as she began to scan her surroundings, wondering if these people were telling her the truth.
As Tori looked around she could see that she was in a big warehouse...except it wasn't abandoned. There were all different types of equipment centered around the cavernous room. Tori could see a computer terminal set up in one corner and in another she saw row upon row of different types of weapons. Before she could observe any more the raven haired woman, who for some reason reminded her of Jade, spoke again.
"You can consider us your trainers and you are our trainee."
"So if you are supposed to be on my side then why did you almost drown me in that barrell of water over there?" Tori asked furiously, gesturing with her head at the large wooden barrell she had been dunked into.
"Well, the first thing any good trainer does is test out his trainee, to see what his or her strengths and weaknesses are." Answered the man calmly, in a matter-of-fact tone.
"So then why am I still tied up? It looks like I passed your little initation ritual." Tori said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
The man and woman smirked slightly at one another before the woman walked to the other side of the huge room.
"Our organization has a philosophy, we like to call it the Tear em Down, Bring em Up protocol. Essentially, we have to tear you down or break you before we can build you up into a positive asset for our organization."
Tori knew the second he spoke those words that whatever was about to happen to her would not be good. She suddenly started trembling and it wasn't just from the ice cold water she had been in moments before.
Her words came out as a whisper as she asked, "What are you guys going to do to me?"
The man suddenly frowned and turned to work on a machine that looked like one of those heart charger things (A/N, a defibrillator but Tori probably wouldn't know its actual name). After a few minutes, the woman walked back over and whispered something in her partner's ear. The man turned and with sad eyes spoke to Tori.
"This is the part of the job that Kira and I hate the most. It's not like we want to hurt you. But, it has been shown to be effective which is why we have continued to implement it as a form of training."
The woman, Kira, walked over and knelt down next to Tori. She began speaking to Tori in a soothing, almost motherly voice.
"Listen Tori, I have just called your mom and dad and pretended I was Cat Valentine's mother. I asked them if it would be alright if you stayed the weekend with Cat which they tentatively agreed to. They asked if they could drop off your clothes and toiletries and I told them that wouldn't be necessary. I said that Cat was excited to be sharing her clothes and makeup with you and they seemed to think that seemed reasonable.
I have also set it up so that any calls to your cellphone will be patched in to me. We are so sorry for all of the secrecy but it is of the utmost importance that we keep your parents and friends in the dark about your true whereabouts. Tori felt tears welling up in her eyes as she slowly nodded her head in agreement.
"I understand. I'm just really scared." Tori said before completely breaking down. The tears poured down her face as she realized that she had made a huge mistake and she never should have agreed to do this.
"I'm not going to lie to you Tori, this is probably going to be the worst weekend of your life. You are going to hate Joe and I within the hour and at times, you might wish for us to kill you. Please try to understand that we are only following orders. We would never choose to willingly torture a 17 year old girl."
Tori's eyes widened in fear at the word torture as her body was wracked with a new round of tears.
"So, what is the point of all this? Why would you torture someone who you are supposed to be helping?" Tori sobbed as Joe walked up and knelt down next to Kira.
"Because we have to show you the types of things that can and possibly will happen to you in this line of work. In order to create a strong, resilient agent we have to take everything you think you know about yourself and toss it out the window. It is a type of shock therapy and unfortunately, yours has to be done within the span of a weekend."
Kira continued the explanation "Usually, these types of things are spaced out over the span of two weeks or so. However, due to the situation you are in and the neccessity we have for you to begin your training, Joe and I were given the task of breaking you.
"Just know that we are so sorry about all of this." Joe added solemnly as he went to get the heart chargers.
He quickly placed them against Tori, one paddle on her right shoulder and one paddle on her left thigh. It reminded Tori of when she had been electrocuted by Robbie's homemade phone charger only this felt 1000x worse. Tori shrieked in pain as she felt her body being electrocuted.
When Joe suddenly lifted the paddles off her body Tori breathed a sigh of relief. Just as suddenly, Joe put them back on her, only in directly opposite positions to where they had been before. Tori felt as if she was going to pass out from the pain. She honestly wanted to just die right then and there.
As Tori was about to black out she felt a hand grab hers and squeeze hard. It was Kira and she leaned close to Tori and whispered, "C'mon Tori, you can do this, be strong."
Tori was surprised that the simple words and touch of a complete stranger would give her the courage to go on but they did. She realized that there was no stopping this and she could either submit to the pain and allow it to overtake her or fight against it and force herself to grow stronger. The old adage of "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" popped into her mind. Suddenly, Tori's eyes took on a steely look of dertermination as she gritted her teeth, ready to meet whatever challenge was thrown her way.
No more being scared. No more being nervous. No more being anxious. No more being unsure. No more being frightened. No more being weak. I, Tori Vega am about to be torn down. But I am going to get through this and be stronger because of it and no one will ever make me feel weak again!
Well, there it was, chapter 4...I hope you all enjoyed it. For those of you wondering about Joe and Kira, they are my own made up characters and they will be playing a part throughout the rest of the story. If you guys were wondering what these two might look like in real life, check out pictures of the actor Sam Worthington (Joe) and Olivia Munn (Kira).