Robin Hood and his merry men are alive and well and living in America.
I was your typical college student from a small town, going nowhere fast, until I got a wrestling scholarship and thought I was finally going to get out of here and do something with my life. Then things changed at home, dad needed help after he lost his job, I gave up college and came back to help out.
I love my family and I'll always be proud of where I'm from, but giving up my dreams for this was still hard, so when I found an MMA gym with an owner who was willing to be my manager and get me fighting, I jumped at the chance. It let me work out some of the aggression and frustration of being back at home, while keeping me in shape, earning some money and maybe one day a chance at the big leagues.
But apparently, you don't get that in this town, no-one outgrows the gym. I was the favourite going into a fight and was told to take a dive. When I refused, my then ex-manager spiked my drink and I wound up in hospital, I'll never fight again!
That was when they came to town.
Mr Ford, Eliot and their team. They heard what happened and came to help. They are con artists who help people like us who've been trodden on by someone, usually a corporate type, not a guy like the gym owner and that was their problem with this con, they didn't understand small towns and as one of them put it, 'you can't hack a hick!' The small town mentality of everyone knows everyone else was their undoing, but still, they didn't give up, they pulled a miracle out of their ass!
When their plan was foiled they could have walked away, shrugged their shoulders and said 'oh well, we tried, nothing else we can do!' But they didn't, they stayed here for me and my dad and did whatever they had to do, just to make sure we were safe.
Eliot took a beating like no-one I have ever seen, dad showed me the footage and any ordinary man would have been dead for the punishment he took, I can't believe he took that for me! I kept trying to say thank you, to find the words to express how much what they all, but especially Eliot, did for me. I can't ever imagine volunteering to get in the ring and get my ass kicked for someone I didn't know and for nothing in return, but all he would say was,
"It's what I do."
They all gave up their time, asked for no money, nothing. They managed to legally get the gym for us so we now own and run it, as well as a substantial amount of money, from which they took not one dime, not even asking for a percentage of the profits.
I don't know who these people really are, or where they come from, I don't know if they are Robin Hood or Ocean's 11!
The only thing I know is they helped me, helped my dad and probably a lot more fighters in this town, I can't imagine I would be the last person told to take a dive so the manager could make some more money.
I like to think they are like The A Team," if you have a problem, if no-one else can help you, maybe you should find Leverage Associates."