AN: I am so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I'll go into more detail in the bottom AN, but suffice to say, this chapter was pretty much a brick wall I ran into and then I got sick on top of that. Thankfully, I shouldn't have any other problems in the future.

Chapter VI: Equal Opportunity

-o-oOo-o-

"The strong mother doesn't tell her cub, Son, stay weak so the wolves can get you. She says, Toughen up, this is the reality we are living in."- Lauryn Hill

-o-oOo-o-

If Danny was cold in the evening before, he practically froze when he reappeared. Cars whipped past him, blowing his bangs into his face. Cold air seeped into his exposed skin and through the thin spandex, the sky like a large lapis lazuli. The bright lights of large buildings and skyscrapers shown off dark glass, metal and the streets, headlights momentarily blinding him as he tried to clear his face of his hair.

"Where are we? God god, looks like its nearly midnight by the look of the moon..." Danny squinted up at the sky, struggling to keep his hair out of his eyes. Looking around the cityscape, he noticed most were just businesses, restaurants, and small stores. There was a large stone building on the other side of the road he was on. The sleek title on the front of the building labeled it as the Madison Central Plaza bank. Danny pouted, confused, "A bank?"

Clockwork nodded, "Yes. We are a month from the previous vision."

"Are we in Madison City or something? I've never been in it before..." Danny felt past Vlad's core, and looked around. He was standing on the sidewalk, bundled in a thick coat. His hands wrung together, his eyes staring at the bank in front of him. Danny dropped to the ground beside him, "What's he doing?"

"Something that you will not approve of," Clockwork said, "but something that you need to understand."

"Yeah, yeah, so no different than any of these previous things," Danny rolled his eyes.

Abruptly, Vlad went invisible. His ectosignature weakened quickly, and Danny fallowed it, thoroughly baffled. The man was making a beeline for the bank, but for what reason? The building didn't even look open, all the lights were off. Danny didn't like the uncomfortable feeling he was getting. Vlad's pace didn't even change when he phased right through the locked doors. Danny hesitated a moment, then stepped through as well. The inside was massive, the dark outlines of dozens of teller counters lining the walls. The floor was an elaborate mosaic, and the archways over the teller counters were a dark wood. The chandelier in the middle of the raised ceiling would have made the entire area very beautiful, had it been on. While impressive, the large shadowed space only increased Danny's unease.

Vlad continued, slipping past the counters and through the walls. Danny fallowed, "Oh he is not doing what I think he is."

Clockwork was nowhere to be seen, and only silence answered him.

Finally, Vlad came before a huge metal door, pausing and dropping his invisibility. He had shifted to his ghost form sometime during his search. The lab coat he always had when he'd shifted before was gone, leaving just a young adult ghost in modern clothes. He looked really weird, the inverted clothes coupled with his blue-tinted skin. The halfa took a deep breath, and phased through the metal door. Danny refused to enter. He might not truly be there, but he didn't want to feel responsible for it. He couldn't stop it, and he wasn't going to just watch Vlad steal money that wasn't his. It was wrong. So he stubbornly sat in the air, his legs crossed and his head in his hands.

When Vlad came back out, he had a huge trash bag full of money. With a grunt, he heave it onto his shoulder, the weight of it forcing his back crooked. Danny glared at him as the other halfa vanished from sight again.

"I am so punching you in the face for this in the present, you slimy cheating snake!"

Vlad left the bank as quickly as he entered. No stops, no hesitation. Danny could feel his core reacting to his emotions, but he didn't, and couldn't, know what those emotions were. He assumed it to be anxiety or fear, but those were just guesses. And who could really know with Vlad anyway? The man walked right back through the front doors, across the street, and down the sidewalk, invisible and intangible to the two or three other people who were out walking at such an absurd hour.

The Master of Time's ectosignature appeared close to Danny and the teen shoved his tongue into a crack between his teeth.

"Okay, any and all pity I felt for him before is now completely gone. That was unacceptable."

"Why?"

Danny threw his hands up, stomping, "Because stealing so much money is wrong! He's like Freakshow, but worse! He planned that, it was his intent from the second he got here! How much of that money was from single mother's struggling to feed her children? How much for the recovering war vet coming home without all their limbs? How much for the stressed collage student, the humble small family, the artist who works hard, the elderly couple living off retirement funds?! How many people did he just screw over because he was too lazy to earn his money?!"

The elderly ghost scowled deeply, "You know why he does it, and you know that laziness isn't it."

"Yeah, I get it, he was bad off and miles into debt, but still, that's no excuse! Its still wrong!"

"Temptation drives even the most moral and innocent onto a cliff's edge. Desperation is the twin that whispers 'jump'," Clockwork interrupted, his appearance shifting to his youngest one, "Do not forget that."

Danny crossed his arms, letting his bangs hide his contempt, "Yeah, whatever. Just show me something else."

Time shifted, and the concrete beneath Danny's feet became tile. He looked around as things cleared, recognizing the area as a kind of office building. It was very cluttered, and very busy. People worked away in cubicles while others darted down the aisles or waited on copy machines to spit out documents. It was loud, and it was hot, and Danny almost wanted to go back to the freezing night air.

He jumped into the air and looked around, trying to find Vlad. Vlad had to be here. Somewhere.

"And this is the floor you'll be working on. Lilly over there is the supervisor of the left wing, while I'm the one of the right. Stanley likes to think he's in charge of something, it's easiest to just play along so he'll leave you alone faster," A voice rang out over the chattering backdrop and ringing phones. Danny spotted Vlad next to a man-who he presume was the one who spoke- who was pointing out various things down a hall next to the stairwell, "From nearest to farthest, we've got the break room, the restrooms, the file room, the lounge, and the conference room. Everything else is scattered randomly, including your desk. You'll be bounced back and forth between right and left, but for now, you're right."

Vlad nodded, looking across the crooked scatter mess of stations before him. He looked very unimpressed.

"Left wing is ordering while right is data encryption, correct?" He asked, "Those don't seem like they go hand in hand quite well."

"They don't. It's why we're the worst department."

"Outstanding," Vlad rolled his eyes behind the man's back.

As they rounded the banister and headed up a floor, Danny fallowing behind. Vlad looked a little better off, if his nice deep burgundy shirt was any indication. Tan slacks replaced worn jeans, his sneakers substituted with decent shoes. He was clean shaven as well, his hair pulled into a loose braid. The hair style didn't fit him well at all. The other man was short, reaching Vlad's shoulders, but he appeared to be well muscled. His ragged hair was slicked back and spiked with gel, brunette roots revealing he'd bleached his hair a couple of weeks ago. Narrow glasses hung from his shirt collar, though Danny didn't think they were for reading as the guy only looked to be in his early thirties.

The second floor was far nicer than the previous, though it was still much too cramped and much too loud. The guy giving Vlad a tour held a hand out to it all.

"Accounting, drafting, and design are on this and the above floor. They work a little bit-Oh! Mr. Williams, sir!"

The guy grabbed Vlad by his sleeve-oblivious to the flinch and snarl the elder halfa shot his way-and pulled him over towards a tall man in a crisp navy blue suit.

The taller-Mr. Williams, probably-raised a brow at the approach, but remained silent as the shorter nameless guy gestured to him, and started to introduce him, "Vladimir, this is Mr. Williams, one-"

"One of Miracentive Innovation's founders and present owners, holder of the company's stock and overseer of this branch of the company; though he does check up on manufacturing as well. Also, holder of several patents and was once a Nobel Prize nominee seven years ago. Very well liked among the community due to generous charity and awareness functions he both hosts and attends nearly every week," Vlad interrupted. His tour guide shut his mouth, looking quite surprised.

Mr. Williams smiled wide, "A man who knows his stuff, are you?"

Vlad tilted his head, nonchalant, "I like to know about what I'm into and whatnot. Simple thirst to be educated, no harm in that, am I right?" Mr. Williams barked in laughter. Several artists looked up from their tables.

"Ha, I like that! You are...?"

"Vladimir Masters, hired by Lilly, though he's on my wing. Part time file lackey," The shorter man supplied. He cast a sheepish look towards Vlad, "Sorry, the slang's degrading."

Vlad just shrugged.

Mr. Williams chuckled, "Keep your head on your shoulders, Masters, or someone might just lop it off and steal your position while your body's fumbling to find it. This is a cooperation, its every man for himself."

"I don't intend to give anyone the opportunity," Vlad replied, almost sounding bored.

"Cockiness won't help you with that," Mr. Williams gave him a pointed look, like a warning.

Vlad just raised a brow, "It's not cockiness when that's just how it is," Mr. Williams belted out laughing, clapping Vlad heavily on the back.

"HAHA, I love it! Lilly did good with you!" And with that, the man walked off, hollering at several people for Tuesday's tables.

"You're gonna have to meet all four of the owners, they're nosy little bats like that," The unnamed employee stated, drawing Vlad and Danny's attention back to him, "Mrs. Diaz and Ms. Sulter aren't in the building today, though. Only Mr. Williams and Mr. Roberts."

"Well, I suppose it's time to go give Mr. Roberts a hello," Vlad mused, and the guy nodded, leading him away.

Danny fallowed Vlad, noticing that time began to fast forward around him. People moved faster, and noises became higher pitched. He didn't even try to pay attention-if Clockwork was fast forwarding through all this, it wasn't important.

Time slowed to its normal pace as Danny found where Vlad was again. The elder halfa sat in front of the desk, his legs crossed and fingers tented over his lap. The bulk of a man behind the desk eyed him fr a moment before flipping back to the papers in his hand. Circling him, Danny saw it was Vlad's resume. His brows furrowed, hadn't Vlad already been hired? Or did all four of the company's owners have to agree to hire before someone was employed? Such an idea sounded a little too extreme to Danny, but what did he know, he didn't have time to have a job.

The suited man gestured to the resume, eyeing Vlad with no small amount of contempt, "It says you went to the college of Wisconsin Madison, yeah?" Vlad nodded.

"Two-ish years, for Biochemistry, as well as secondary studies of Psychology. I dropped due to personal reasons."

"And you picked up Business and Politics with the community college?"

"I needed an education about the career I was aiming for," Vlad said simply. He didn't seem to care about the disdain dripping from the guy in front of him.

The man flipped to another page of the resume, glaceing at it, "You've had three jobs prior, one at an uncle's restaurant as a busboy and the second as third shift freight thrower and grocery stocker for a store a few minutes from the college. The third and current is a cashier at a gas station. None of which have any useful experience towards office work."

Vlad snorted, "I didn't work those jobs for experience, I worked them for money. I couldn't care less if the 'skills' I learned from those jobs would be applicable here or not."

The other man scoffed, and tossed the resume away from him on the desk, entwining his fingers as he lent forward.

"Quite frankly, I don't know why Lilly hired you when we've got men from Harvard, Stanford, and Yale applying, with internships from the other bigger company names in the country. This company doesn't need a half-bit hobo who can drool his way through community courses to a diploma," He spat, and Danny winced at the sheer rudeness of it all. If he wasn't already adverse to going into business, he certainly was now. Vlad however, merely shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Well, aren't I lucky I'm not under your employment. You own one fourth of this company, and thus control one fourth of its employees-I'm under Mr. William's quarter. And for your information, I chose to stay here in Wisconsin when I could have had a full scholarships to Stanford, Harvard and Yale-all three of them. I am not stupid, Mr. Roberts, and I will not be insulted by a man who cannot even tie a real tie," Vlad stood, and the man, Mr. Roberts, shot a very heated glare at him, his hand moving to try to subtly cover his tie. Vlad ignored him, "I do not intent to stay a bottom feeder forever. You will be hearing my name a lot more often in the future. I just came by to say hello. Ta!"

And with that, Vlad stalked out of the office room, leaving the man to fume. Danny was ninety nine percent sure that that was not how one talked to a boss, even an indirect one. The scene blurred, and another 'memory' took its place.

Vlad stalked the narrow halls quickly, his footsteps loud even with the carpet. He carried several folders in his hand, a pencil stuck behind his ear. He came to the stairs leading from his floor up to the next and jogged up them, nodding a little at a guy who was coming down. Danny just phased through the floor, resuming trailing Vlad once the man set off into the maze of rooms and desks again. He had to jog a little to keep up with Vlad's long legs.

Vlad rounded into a smaller room with more organized desks that any other area Danny had seen. The ceiling was lower and the room was a off hued blue. Only one person was in the room, a lanky blonde writing away in a notebook. Every so often, he'd shuffle through some loose leaf papers, then back to the notebook. Vlad stopped at the doorway, tucking his arms over each other.

"Stephen, I need to talk to you," He said, and Stephen looked up.

"Yeah? About what? Is it about that new plan Mrs. Diaz was sending down? I can't tell you if it'll affect this months pay or not right now so-"

Vlad shook his head, "Oh, no no, my department hasn't gotten any of that yet. This is about a more...personal matter, on the topic of pay."

Stephen's brow crinkled, and he turned around. He shuffled through the folders and paperwork, "Are you still having issues with the time card? I thought we fixed that for sure..."

Vlad moved to Stephens side, leaning on the chair. The younger man didn't notice, "Well, not really, my friend," Stephen opened his mouth to respond, turning a little back towards Vlad. Vlad went invisible and slipped effortlessly into Stephen's body before he could've blinked. The blonde's body jolted, then relaxed. Vlad's glowing eye color clouded over natural hazel, "At least, not the kind of issues you're aware of."

'Stephen' sat back up straight in his chair, having slouched down a little when Vlad took him over. He reached into the wall beside his desk, beside the shelf filled with papers and folders Stephen had been going through previously. He pulled out a thick three ring black binder, flipping it open as he set it on the desk. Previous materials were shut neatly and tucked away on the top of everything in the top drawer of the desk. A pen was hooked between the pages the binder was opened to, very small scratchy handwriting filling the pages between graphs and tables. Danny tried to read what it all said, but the writing was just too small and messy to make out. Vlad took up the pen and added another line to a large graph and some numbers to a table. He paused for a moment, his eyes darting across the page, then began sketching out a new diagram on the next page.

Vlad set the pen down and began to pull out dozens upon dozens of notebooks from the shelf. He flipped through the pages, taking up his pen again as he skimmed ever everything in front of him.

"Lets see...Vince put his two weeks in, with Michelle, Damion, and Rich being five weeks ago...Prior, nothing of possible suspicion was done for just over a month. I could afford to do something drastic today, I think," Vlad mumbled, biting his pen. He then began writing quickly in the binder, pausing every so often for thought.

Danny was thoroughly confused, "What...is he doing?"

"Managing his investments," Clockwork replied, "Vladimir stole over a million by hand, but he could not use most of that right away. Doing so would paint him as the obvious thief. This is what he did to counteract that: his 'family' accounts. Accounts for people that didn't exist, where he stored most of the million he was trickling back into his own possession in the form of money loans and gifts. On top of that, he embezzled money from this company. Raises here, bonuses there, money under the table there; for himself and other choice people. Such a large sticky, tangled web he wove."

Danny looked up from watching 'Stephen' work, "Wait, why other people? Wouldn't that be suspicious?"

"More than just himself getting so many benefits?"

"...Oh," Danny put his hand on his chin, thinking, "So...it was a distraction tactic? To keep anyone who thought things didn't add up from getting onto his plans? More people involved, the less attention he'd draw."

Clockwork nodded, "Very good," Danny looked back at 'Stephen', frowning.

"But it's still unethical. He's messing with peoples lives and he has no right to be doing that."

"You wanted to do the same."

Danny said nothing, grinding his teeth. That particular disagreement was still a sore spot for him. He also had a feeling the ghost wouldn't ever let it go either.

Clockwork drifted beside him, and he rolled an eye to the half ghost, "There is a silver lining to this, if you would be interested."

"Sugar sprinkled on crap is still crap, Clockwork."

"Elegant analogy, Danny. Shall I take that as a no?"

Danny was silent for a moment, then looked up, "...I'm interested," but he immediately waved his hand dismissively, "But only because I'm paranoid that me choosing not to know would cause, I don't know, Amity to sucked into an upside down parallel dimension in the future or something."

Clockwork chuckled, "Of coarse."

And with that, they were gone with the press of a button.

Danny dropped tot he ground as soon as he materialized, and he recognized the plush red carpet. This was one of Vlad's study rooms in his castle. He'd seen it when Vlad had been touring them around the huge building. Danny felt a little strange looking back on the moment, a time when he and Vlad hadn't been fighting. Hell, he hadn't even minded the billionaire at that point. Sure he thought it was weird Vlad had hit on his mom and his other behavior, but he certainly hadn't hated the man. It was weird to him, and he found himself thinking about what clockwork has been saying.

"Your perspective is flawed."

"Knowing and understanding are different."

"Did you ever consider that there was an ulterior motive behind his actions? A reason? A cause?"

"You have no motivation to try. It's easier that way for you."

"After all, you've stopped seeing him as a person."

"You wanted to change his life because he was an irritation to you. An annoyance."

"Everything has a reason-even if it is not obvious or able to be understood. Action causes reaction."

Had he truly been so wrong? He'd only done what he thought had been right, what he was sure was right. Vlad made it clear he was the enemy, the villain. He had no choice but to oppose Vlad. Not fighting him put his family in danger. Vlad was the problem. Vlad was the source of everything. And Danny hated it. Clockwork was trying to say that he was equally as problematic as Vlad, but he wouldn't have to be if Vlad wasn't a problem in the first place. Vlad caused trouble, Danny fought him, Vlad lost, Danny went home, everything was fine, Vlad caused trouble: lather rinse repeat. It was so simple, yet Clockwork didn't seem to see it. Danny didn't see what he was doing wrong, how he could do anything different, how he was the problem. Yes, he never stopped to question things about Vlad, but why should he had? And yes, his opinions of the ma had been a little brash, but Vlad deserved it and had never done anything to correct Danny. Even if Danny tried to 'correct' his own behavior towards Vlad, Vlad wouldn't ever fix his own. Thus the problem remained and Danny didn't know how to solve it. A viscous cycle cant be broken when all the factors remain to keep it turning.

"You can interact with things here. Take a look," Danny was roused from his thoughts at Clockworks voice. Raising his brows, the teenager walked over to a wooden desk and tried to place his hand on it. His palm met with the resistance of a physical object. Nodding, Danny circled the small room. He peeked into drawers and rifled through filing cabinets, looking for anything that might have been important. Something pertaining to money. Finances? Finance records, maybe? Vlad's checkbooks, receipts, bank reports?

The filing cabinets held only various business paperwork, most of which he couldn't even understand. It was the middlemost desk drawer where he found jackpot. A worn black three ring binder. He got off his knees and set the binder on the desk, flipping through it. Clockwork was behind him, silent.

Danny flipped through the pages. Every single was was covered in the same messy handwriting and diagrams from the 'memory'. Seemingly endless data and notes and pages upon pages of calculations and advanced probability thought sequences. Vlad had written down every single thing he'd ever done with any money he got. From 1986 to 2000, all of it was in this binder.

"There's nothing here but financial records...a lot of them," Danny flipped back through the pages, looking over the graphs and tables, because even two feet from his face he still couldn't read Vlad's handwriting, "He documented absolutely everything he ever did with money."

"Why do you think that is?" Clockwork prompted, tilting his head.

Danny bit his lip, leaning over onto the desk, "...Well, I know mom has a fuss whenever our stuff is even just a penny off, which is why she's got so many filing cabinets in her bedroom. But Vlad's a billionaire. I can't even fathom how much money that even is. Why even bother trying to keep track of it all, its not like missing any would really hurt him nowadays."

Clockwork shook his head, "You are using Vladimir's present self in your logic."

Danny opened his mouth to retort, but quickly shut it again, "I...fine. I'll figure it out," he pursed his lips and looked back at the binder, shifting his weight to his other leg. He flipped through the pages, until he was near the end, which displayed a large printed line graph spanning two whole pages. The title at the top of the first page read 'explicit gains'. Four lines jumped out at him, labeled 'embezzlement profits', 'legal funds', 'funds stolen', and 'funds returned.'

"Its...a chart. Showing the money he's stolen, the money he's stolen and the money he's earned compared to what debts he's paid off, and...the money he's repaid? Wait, what? 1988, total funds stolen, 1 million, seven thousand eight hundred thirty two dollars and 79 cents. Amount donated back to the state in 1991...$1,700,832.79...he...he paid back exactly the amount that he took," Danny felt dumbfounded. Utterly dumbfounded. There wasn't any Vlad would do that. Not a chance in the whole galaxy. He suddenly looked around, his eyes finding a chair next to the window. He pulled it over to where he was, and focused more intently on the printout before him.

"Year 1989, amount stolen: $3,650,992.00. Year 1994 amount repaid, $3,650,000.00. Year 1988, original amount of loan used to pay debt: $1,500,500.00, amount of interest total for monthly 6% interest rates over 6 years: $6,482,160.00, amount paid: $7,982,660.00. Year 1993, amount stolen: $15,000,034.07, year 1997 amount repaid...$7,000,000.00. Year 1998, Microsoft purchased for just over four billion; two million left in compensation...1999, Pear purchased for 10 billion; no compensation. Year 1989 amount embezzled, 70 million. year 1987 amount stolen, 50,000, 1991 amount returned, 40,000...I don't understand. If he went through all the trouble to steal all this money, why give it back?" Danny tangled his fingers in his hair, leaning on his elbows over the binder.

Clockwork shifted into his younger self, hovering above the desk in front of Danny, "Why do you think?"

"I don't know! Vlad's-even this past one!-not moral, he couldn't have felt guilty. He burned those bridges. Was is a publicity stunt? Something just to make him look good? 'Why'd you do it, Mr. Masters, got some ploy up your sleeves?' 'Oh no no, my good friends, you misunderstand! I just want to help the good people of this wonderful city! It wounds my heart to see so many so distressed and hurt.' Yeah, good guy Vlad," Danny snapped, his hands formed into crabby claw mouths as he impersonated a reporter and Vlad almost a little too well. He quickly deflated, however, his irritable bravado draining out of him. The words sounded off as soon as they'd left his tongue. He leaned back in the overly plush chair, dragging his hands down his face, "I'm wrong, aren't I?"

Clockwork just tilted his head, silent. Danny sighed, and began to think.

"He only gave back what he stole, and even then after years of having the funds. Dad used to say that you have to spend money to make it...So...Did he steal the money to get himself back on his feet, use it to start more legit ways of bulking up his bank accounts, and then pay it back because...because why? I don't understand why he'd go through that trouble to give it back. In exact change, most of the time. Had it simply served its purpose for him? Was there another motive? Or was it guilt after all?" Danny groaned; for the life of him he couldn't figure it out. And that bothered him to no end, "I'm trying so hard to ignore what Vlad becomes, and trying to figure out who this one is, but its just so hard because I don't understand. I thought that maybe I did. I don't. I..." He sighed, "Maybe I really have stopped seeing him as a person, if it's so hard for me to believe he could feel guilt, empathy, compassion, stuff like that...Clearly he used to be able to. Where'd that all go? Is it gone, or just buried under all the anger? I don't know. I don't know. "

"Knowing what you do now, do you still find it so unforgivable?"

Danny shook his head, "...I don't...I don't know. I mean, it's still wrong he took it in the first place but...I guess giving it back makes it slightly less evil. I don't agree with it, and I'd never do it, and it still probably hurt a lot of people, especially since he kept doing it for years. These records stop at 2000, and I don't know if that's because he stopped stopped or just got a new book. And for years up till then he hadn't been giving it all back like he had in the beginning. It's still thievery," He ran his eyes over the colored lines, their jagged ups and downs that grew higher and higher with every passing year.

The teen sighed again, "I'm so confused about everything, and I'm trying so hard NOT to be. I know I need to understand, because I know that your doing this to prevent some terrible outcome like with him but it's hard. It's hard and it's not getting any easier, it's just getting more and more confusing and I don't know what lessons I'm supposed to be taking from all that I see. I don't know how any of this will help me actually do something. I'm not Jazz, I don't get people's minds and stuff. I just...I have so many questions, and each new 'memory' just brings more of them. I keep asking why, but I don't get any answers. And that really bothers me."

Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw Clockwork smile again.

-o-oOo-o-

AN: This chapter gave me so much grief. The original idea was Vlad being forced to come to terms with mortality, but that didn't quite fit as it involved a rampaging through Miracentive Industries shooting everyone. The chapter was schedule to have Vlad overshowdow the man to try to negate the situation peacefully with his ghost power, but it would result in a struggle for control. ending with the man shooting himself, either by his own attempts to dispel Vlad's influence over him or Vlad forcing him to do it because he saw no other way to ensure the lives of everyone would be safe. It was an attempt to display an ideal/opinion Vlad might have towards Danny: Heroism is a double edged sword. It's dangerous. Sometimes you can do everything right and still fail and it will still be your fault. Vlad might have tried to use his powers to help sometimes, but reality isn't so simple as "beat bad guy, save person". It was interesting, don't get me wrong, trying to have Vlad face such a dilemma, and question what is right and what is wrong when all the world's rug has been ripped from under your feet, but it wasn't working. It was too outlandish. Maybe I'll continue it as an extra chapter if any of you are interested.

Long story short, because that wasn't working, I had to rework this entire chapter from scratch. The problem with that is that I didn't know what to focus on since I have an order to this thing I'm kinda trying to fallow. I went with trying to explain his outright thievery. I'm...not quite satisfied with how it turned out. Also I totally gave up on this chapter about halfway through after I learned 1988 didn't have desktop computers. I lost all the fucks I gave. By the time I got done, I was 250000% done with caring anymore. Though I do love that quote about temptation and desperation. I love being metaphorical.

The problem with trying to "justify" Vlad's thievery is that it can't be. Yes, I do think he started because he was desperate and at his wits ends. But he keeps going, and he starts not paying it back in full as time goes on. So while I do think Vlad has reasons for his issues, he's still a giant piece of trash. As Danny said, "Just because I think I understand doesn't mean I excuse it."

I have no idea how banks work. Or businesses. Or offices. Or life in general. I'm not prepared to be an adult, which is bad since I've technically been one for three years. Save my soul.