Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

Start from scratch

Chapter 34 – Reunion

No One's POV

Hearing Barbie's playful shout as she drove off, Tori and Jade gave each other an embarrassed look, then headed upstairs.

"Well it worked. I hope that Annie is ok." Said Tori as they walked in the apartment.

Jade dropped her bag and exhausted, fell onto the couch, "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I'm just amazed what Barbie was able to accomplish in that time."

Jade chuckled. "She is not a woman to be underestimated."

Sitting down next to Jade, Tori smiled. "Neither are you"

"Thanks. You're pretty sharp yourself. That bit in the apartment with Beck, when you tricked him, acted all beaten, I never realized you were acting. It was a brilliant performance."

"From you, that is praise indeed. I want to compliment you on the plan, you and Barbie came up with it, I just approved it. It worked. Hopefully in a day or so, we can talk to Cat again and put this behind us. Thank you for getting Cat back."

"I still want to take down Reverend Mike, he's still sucking people in."

Tori sighed. "We'll talk about that later. You just worry about getting better yourself. I'm just glad we're good now. I think I'll end it on that note. It's after 11, I'm tired and I'm sure you are as well."

Jade leaned back and after seeming to think for a moment, smirked. "I guess we'll just have to tell Barbie we were too tired to fuck."

Tori instead of answering, took a few moments to tenderly look Jade in the eye. It was a look that in an instant caused her heart to race. Then with a smile she gently kissed Jade on the cheek.

"Goodnight Jade."

"Night Vega."

The next day was Monday and each had a full day at work, Tori at the Bank and Jade at the hospital. Each was tempted to call Andrea the deprogrammer to find out how it was going, but she had told them it would be best if they allowed her to work.

However in the late afternoon she sent both of them an email saying that things were progressing nicely. That evening, both of them just stayed in and watched TV together, as they were still worn out from the events of the previous day.

It was a few days later, Thursday, as Tori was coming home she got the good news in an email from Andrea. Cat had been officially deprogrammed and has since talked with her parents.

Eager to pick up and see her friend, again she rushed home so she and Jade could see her.

"Jade, Cat's deprogrammed; lets' go and see her." The excited Latina said as she burst in the door.

Jade made and odd smirk and shook her head. "Too late, just got an email from Barbie, she already picked Cat up and is taking her out for a night of fun and shopping. She says Cat is eager to see us again but at the same time, is very apprehensive about it. She actually asked me to give her a few days get Cat acclimated to normal life again. She was very closed off for a while and though it would be better if she did it instead of us. Less emotional baggage."

Tori instantly frowned. "Where in the hell is she going to stay? So Barbie just swooped in and stole Cat from under us."

"No, when Andrea texted me, that Cat was done, I told Barbie, who then called Cat as she promised she would and Cat asked Barbie to pick her up. She's crashing on Barbie's couch for a few days. Barbie said she has the weekend off from The Playpen, so she'll have lots of time to spend with Cat."

With a pout, Tori sat on the couch. "I wanted to pick her up."

"It's probably better anyway. They seemed to have bonded and maybe Barbie's in a better position to help her adjust and deal. I'd imagine Cat's shouldering a lot of guilt and shame."

"I was so excited to pick her up…now what do I do."

"Well it looks like you're stuck with me for the evening. I know the thought of it is sheer torture, but I guess you'll just have to grin and bear it. Get cleaned up we're going out." Jade said with a rather flippant tone.

"And where are we going?"

"Less talking and more getting cleaned up. God do you ever shut up, Vega."

"My someone's in a good mood today. I'll bet your in such a good mood, you're going to be extra mean to our waiter or waitress. I can tell you're getting better as you have been getting a lot meaner to other people lately."

"You know me so well."

With a laugh, Tori went to change and get cleaned up. Ever since Sunday where they had worked out things between them and Cat had been rescued, Jade had been a lot more her old self. Now of course Tori knew full well that Jade could be simply acting, but sensed that Jade was certainly getting better. That was good news to Tori as it meant they could move on to starting to date again.

Tori got cleaned up and Jade took her out for a rather nice dinner at a Steakhouse and afterward, took her to a small art theatre which was showing the 1978 movie Grease.

Tori had a wonderful time and Jade, while her normal snarky and sometimes insulting self, otherwise treated Tori like a queen and seemed to greatly enjoy it as well. Though she noticed that Jade never tried to hold her hand or kiss her, which actually took the pressure off.

As they walked home from the subway, Tori looked over to Jade.

"Thank you for a nice evening. It was very….."

"Datelike?"

With a raised eyebrow, Tori gave Jade a rather curious look. "Yes. I guess, why is my next question."

"Well first, I thought we should celebrate our success in not getting busted by either the cult members or the cops. That I'm feeling better and just wanted something a bit different than what we normally do."

"So a quasi-date. Does that mean you expect a quasi-kiss at the end of it?"

"I'll take what I can get. But I should have told you what I had in mind. For that I'm sorry."

"Jade, you know, I'm sure you'll make some girl very happy someday."

"Will I? You do realize that half the time, I'm a basket case and the other half, I'm usually just a bitch. That is liable to scare anyone off."

"Not everyone." Quipped Tori with a sly grin.

Though things were going well, there was a still a few pieces of unfinished business. First was the reunion with Cat, which made Tori rather nervous and she knew that Jade still wanted to brink Reverend Mike down. While she detested the man, she had little stomach for revenge. She secretly hoped Jade would drop it, once Cat was back to her old self.

The next few nights, Tori worked at the Playpen and Jade began to devote herself to digging up what she could about Reverend Mike.

Late Sunday morning, Barbie texted and say Cat wanted to meet them for lunch at a sports bar near times square at 12:30. Eager to see their friend again they readied and headed out.

"I'm nervous Jade." Tori said as she pulled open the door of the bar.

"Relax"

Entering the bar, they found Barbie waiting for them just inside.

"Tori, Jade, glad for you to come. Cat's very anxious to see you again."

Tori spoke first. "Barbie, you've been with her the last few days, how is she?"

"I didn't know her before this, but she seems to be coming around. She feels very embarrassed and rather badly about how she treated you."

"So, how have you two been getting along?" Asked Jade.

"Great. I've taken her shopping and we've done some things. Oh, here she comes now.

When they had seen her last she had brown hair and a rather long conservative dress. But as she came around the corner, she looked very much like her old self, with Red hair and very colorful pink dress.

Tori stepped forward and smiled at Cat who smiled back, but it was smile tinged with sadness.

"Hello Cat."

For a moment the red haired girl looked at a total loss for words and after a moment seemed to just start to cry.

"I'm sorry Tori. I was horrible to you, I'm sorry."

Which then prompted Tori to break into tears, who then ran and hugged Cat. The pair hugged, cried and tearfully told each other how much they missed the other.

All of this prompted Jade to roll her eyes and say acidly. "Oh great, here comes the waterworks."

And that prompted Barbie to smack Jade on the shoulder. "Quiet, we're having a tearful reunion here."

"Don't touch me, only Tori can touch me." Snapped Jade in return.

"Ooooohhh…I'm sorry for forgetting only your precious girlfriend can touch you." Retorted Barbie sarcastically.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Bellowed Jade instantly.

Abruptly, Tori and Cat who were still hugging and crying stopped and gave Jade a rather curious look.

Barbie merely laughed. "You are so not getting any tonight. I could totally have her tonight then."

After shooting Barbie a hateful glare, Jade quickly and sheepishly approached Tori and Cat. "Sorry, she was…."

"Jade!" Cat then ran hug Jade only to have the Goth to back away in fear.

"Please don't touch me."

"I'm sorry Jade. Barbie told me about Beck. I'm so very sorry. I'm also sorry what I said to you on the phone."

Jade nodded and cautiously shook Cat's hand. "Apology accepted. It that creep out of your head."

With a cringe, Cat shook her head. "No, but I know what he really is now. He's mean. He lied, he used me."

Jade nodded her head rather somberly. "I know exactly how you feel, exactly. Welcome back Cat."

"Thanks Jade."

Only then did Jade turn the irritated looking Tori. "Sorry. That just came out."

After narrowing her eyes for a moment, Tori punched Jade in the arm. "I understand and I promise not to hold it against you…for long…."

After a few more moments of the reunion the group got a table and started to catch up. Once again Cat profusely apologized for being a total gank.

"I was just saying things, half the time I didn't really know what they meant. He and his wife they hate everyone. Everyone that doesn't listen to him."

"So Cat have you spoken to your parents and Brother?" Asked Tori.

"Yes, I'm going to visit them real soon. They were just happy to hear from me again."

Barbie who was sitting next to Cat, nudged her. "Tell them your plans."

"I've decided not to go back to that college. I just can't be there anymore. I'm coming here to New York. Barbie has helped me find a place to stay for a while and even is going to see about me getting a job. She's been a super friend. We've had a great time together."

Tori looked rather surprised. "Barbie, where is she going to stay?"

"A good friend of mine, Emma. Her roommate just moved out and I told her I had a friend needing a place to stay."

Jade grunted in displeasure. "Wow! Three days in the city and she's gotten real bed already. I'm still sleeping on a couch."

The group kept talking and while Cat seemed much like her old self, she at the same time there was a lingering sadness. It was more than understandable. Though Cat was able to give some good news and say that she heard from her roommate at college Annie and her family helped her break the old that Reverend Mike had over her. She is with family and plans to attend a university in her home town."

Finally, Jade in a rather animated fashion said. "Cat, now that you're free of him, we need to take this creep, Reverend Mike down, once and for all."

"That won't be easy." Cat responded, a worried expression appearing on her face. "Some of them are quite dedicated to him."

Tori also looked worried. "Jade, we have Cat back, do we really need to do this?"

"YES TORI! WE DO!"

Barbie then interjected. "Ok, Jade you're miss research. What did you dig up on him?"

"Almost nothing. His name is Reverend Mike Hammond, he's 44, his wife calls herself Sister Alison and they are from Oregon. He seems to shun the internet completely."

"He says it's evil and we should not use it."

Jade looked back to Cat. "Can you tell us about him? I need something I can use to bring him down."

"I'd rather not speak of him, but I can tell you one thing."

"What's that?"

"Well, Barbie told me her real name is Maureen. I think his name isn't really Mike."

That got the attention of Barbie, Tori and Jade.

Tori leaned across the table. "How?"

"I had gone to the camp they own a few times and once, there was a really bad storm, with lots of wind. We were inside the main building and the wind got so bad the shutters started to come off. Sister Alison must have not liked storms as she got very upset. Rev Mike had gone to get some flashlights in case the power went out. A few moments later there was a bang as lightning had struck the tree next to the front door. Well Sister Alison, suddenly called out really loud. "GRANT!" The next thing, he comes running to see what she wants. He must have noticed our puzzled looks and he told us, Grant was his middle name, but I don't know. Everyone else believed them of course."

Barbie tilted her head and took appeared to think for a moment. "This is very suspicious. I'll bet Mike's an alias. Hey Tori, your dad is a cop. Maybe you could have him look into it."

Tori very quickly shook her head. "No…No…No….I'll have to tell my dad, I staged a kidnapping. He'll fly out here and tan my hide. No thanks."

Cat spoke up again. "Reverend Mike is very careful. He has strong locks on all the doors and at both the camp and the church on campus, where they live, they have alarms. It went off once and was very loud."

Jade scratched her head. "He has locks on all the doors?"

"All the doors. But some are unlocked as we use the rooms a lot, the meeting rooms, the kitchen the worship hall. Some rooms are always locked, I only saw in one of those once, about 2 months ago. I was in the basement looking for some extra Bibles and noticed someone left the door the door which was always locked, slightly ajar. Seeing it was open, I looked inside. I was afraid of what Rev Mike would say, so I looked, shut the door and never told anyone."

"What was in this room?" Asked Tori.

Cat shrugged. "Just boxes of sports and game equipment for someone. I think he's holding it for them. No big deal."

Barbie then put her hand on Cat's shoulder. "And this room is always locked, except for that one time, when the door wasn't shut all the way?"

"Yes, always locked. I've never seen them go in it."

Interested in what could be in the room, Jade kept questioning. "What do these boxes look like? We're they cardboard."

"I couldn't find any bibles, there were only boxes. It was a huge room, almost as big as the worship hall. When the building was a factory, it must have been a place where they stored stuff, that is why Rev Mike was keeping the boxes there. But the boxes themselves, some were made of metal and some of wood."

That just didn't seem right to Jade. "Sports equipment in metal and wooden boxes. That doesn't sound right. How did you know they were sports equipment?"

"It was written on the side of each box."

"Like a label."

"No, it was painted on, like the stencils we used to do in art class at Hollywood Arts. I knew they were for someone as the boxes right inside the door were marked Claymore. I guessed that was the coaches name."

"How do you know the contained sports equipment?"

"Well the boxes just past that were all marked Javelin. I know they use those in the Olympics, because I watched them with my brother."

Barbie who had been drinking whisky on the rocks, quickly stopped and began to look somewhat pale. "Cat, who big were these boxes?'

Cat thought for a moment, "Each was made of metal and was about 3-4 feet long and about 1 foot wide. There were six of them."

Barbie who was looking increasingly nervous then asked.. "You mentioned game equipment, what kind of game equipment."

"I think it was for the Battleship game, I used to play it with my brother until he ate my ate my cruiser. Then mom and dad took it away. But some of them were marked C4. You know you call out the grid, like C4, You sank my battleship."

Barbie promptly slammed the rest of her whisky and quickly motioned for the waitress.

"Waitress, could you bring me another whisky, make it a double."

"Uhhhh….Cat….By chance were some of these boxes marked, let's say…M16 or M60."

After thinking for a second, Cat nodded with an innocent smile. "Yes, how did you know?"

Barbie put her head in her hands and groaned. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Cat and Tori looked at each other with confusion, not sure exactly what Barbie was so upset about.

"Barbie." Tori asked, with a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

Barbie lifted her head, just as the waitress delivered her whisky, which she slammed down in rapid fashion.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? My dad used to drag me and my siblings to open house day at the local army base every year. It was boring as hell, but once or twice I did pay attention to the demonstrations. Claymore is not a who, it's a what. We're talking about Claymore anti-personnel mines. Those Javelin's are not sports equipment, they're Javelin anti-tank rockets. Remember the C4 she mentioned, C4 plastic explosives. M16 and M60's are both types of fully automatic machine guns. Remember how Reverend Mike was anti-government; some of those types are extremely paranoid and violent. As in I have to stock weapons to eventually fight off the US government or the hordes after civilization falls. Well it seems the dear Reverend Mike is one of those types and has enough illegal, military grade weapons to blow up half the campus. And we were fucking with these people."

For a moment there was dead and rather shocked silence, as it all sunk in, which was broken by a gasp from Cat. "Oh dear, there are more rooms that are never unlocked at the camp. But those rooms are all underground. We're not supposed to ask about those."

Jade who had hoped to dig up dirt on Reverend Mike, soon realized she had dug up something much nastier than mere dirt. Her sole response was, "OH SHIT!"

Looking deadly serious, Barbie grabbed Tori's arm. "Tori, we're now in way over our heads. I know you didn't want to tell your dad about the kidnapping and all, but you need to call him NOW!"

In seconds Tori pulled out her phone and dialed her parents' home for what she expected to be, probably the most awkward conversation of her entire life.

"Oh hi Trina. Can I talk to dad, it's kind of important. "

"Yes, it's nice you're having a party so everyone can meet your new boyfriend. I kind of really need to talk to dad right now."

The others watched as Tori seemed to get just a bit frustrated. "No Trina I don't care right now if your boyfriend's a male model. I really need to speak with dad. It's urgent."

By now Tori was starting to get angry with her sister. "No Trina, I'm not being insensitive and stop calling Jade a demented, freeloading, soul sucking freak. I'm very happy, he's ultra-hot and was on the cover of GQ and actually loves you. Maybe then you'll finally be able to move out, but for now….PUT DAD ON!"

Tori then had to wait for a few moments before speaking again.

"Hi daddy I need to talk to you. It's very important.…..Uhh….not sure how to say this, but I think Jade, Barbie and I have just pissed off a shitload of heavily armed, doomsday cultists. What do we do?"