Notes:
I don't own Power Rangers as a franchise, just this team of Power Rangers.
If you haven't guessed, I'm trying a schedule of one chapter a week. We'll see how closely I stick to that. School, work and other life things keep getting in the way.
Shout out to both DragonEmperor999 and JTWAS1994 for reviewing both chapters.
(Late 2021 Spidey here. Like Myth 1, this chapter is being updated, mostly in one part, to make it a little stronger. I apologize if this confuses old readers!)
On with the story!
Myth 3: Taking the Bull by the Horns
Victor Steel looked at his clock, deep in thought. The clock, like most things in his little apartment, was made of whatever Victor could find from cheap sources. Thrift stores, trash cans, heck even discounted appliances were fair game to get the parts he needed for his inventions. Victor, however, wasn't thinking of his current financial situation like usual. Instead he was thinking about what he had been doing for almost a week now. He had been a Power Ranger. It was cool, but not his real dream. It was actually starting to ruin his life. He couldn't invent if he was going to be called away at a moment's notice.
Victor hadn't been one of those kids who wanted to be a superhero when they grew up. He wanted to help people in a different way: with his inventions. But no matter what he created, it was never new enough. By the time he thought he invented anything revolutionary, industries were already miles ahead of him. So he stuck to what he knew: inventing new versions of things. Maybe he didn't invent huge things that would change the world, but he built things that would help one person. Any company would have hired him on the spot, if he wasn't in high school, but they wouldn't even give him a part time job if they learned of his last name...
The ringing alarm broke his daydreams. Not that they were really going anywhere. He got out of bed and began to dress for school. The shower wasn't working...again. He looked at the bills littered all over the table. The water bill was on top, addressed to him with a bounced check inside. He sighed as he grabbed his bag and grabbed his lightweight folding bike hanging on the coat rack. It was time to face the world.
It was gym class, and Victor was not in the mood for it. As Mera and Nate were in the middle of a shoving match, with Valerie in the middle, Jay was walking up to him.
"You good, man?" he asked as he sat down next to the taller teen.
"Not really," Victor muttered as he messed around with his spare parts instead of playing soccer or baseball like the other teens were.
"You want to talk about it? I haven't seen you this depressed since you left home, and moved out on your own," Jay remarked as he laid back in the grass before sitting up.
"Not really, " Victor repeated.
Jay got up and went over to Valerie, who had finally managed to break Mera and Nate apart, "look, I know you probably drained from all of your previous problem-solving, but could you try to help out Victor. I have a feeling a prettier face might help him talk about it more.
Valerie grinned.
"Doesn't take much work to be prettier than you!" she joked as she gave Jay a playful shove.
"Ow!" Jay said. "Only hurts because it's true."
Valerie smiled back at him as she walked towards Victor
"What's up, tough guy?" she asked as she sat down in the same spot Jay had been. "You don't look too great."
"'m fine," he muttered.
"You know, the harder you try to fight us, the more we're going to try to help you," Valerie explained. "It's kind of how friendship works, we help each other out, and we never, ever give up on each other."
"That's sweet, really." Victor said as he raised his voice from a mumble to normal volume, "but unless my friends can magically make money appear, I don't need your help!" His tone turned more aggressive with that last sentence.
"So you would prefer I leave?" Valerie asked.
"Yes. Please."
"Fine," Valerie said as she stood up and walked over to Jay, who had managed to get Mera and Nate to stop fighting.
"How's the big guy?" Jay asked. "I'm sure the Psychology major in the making did her magic, and he's better now, right?"
"I'm afraid not," Valerie said as she shook her head. "I think we need to find another way to find the source of his issue, do you know if there's any family we can talk to?"
"There's his dad," Jay said, "but I don't think that's a good idea. He and Victor have kind of severed ties.
"As in…?"
"As in they're not speaking to each other or living with each other at all," Nate said as he finally joined the conversation.
"That could actually be the source of the issues, who's his father?" Valerie asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Nate said.
"Try me," Valerie said.
This was when Mera finally piped up,
"His father is the owner of Steel Works Inc," she revealed
"That Steel Works Inc?" she asked, her eyes as big as dinner plates. "As in the company that basically created half the things in Olympia Hills?"
"Yeah," Jay said with a nod. "Still want to try?"
"We have to," Valerie said. "Our friend needs us."
"I'm in," Jay said before turning to the others, "and I assume you two are as well?"
Nate shook his head.
"I've got training to do," he said.
"And I'm going to look in the Archives to find out all I can on Hades' monsters," Mera added.
"Looks like it's just the two of us then, unless we try to drag Victor along," Jay said, "but I personally think that's a bad idea."
"Agreed."
"So, the Black Ranger is having issues with his friends," Hades remarked. "A team is only as strong as its weakest link, and right now he is the weakest link."
"What do you plan to do, my lord?" Persephone asked. "And how do you keep the other Rangers from helping him?"
"The others are too busy to aid their comrade. Besides, I have the perfect monster!" Hades announced to no one in particular. "I call upon the mighty Minotaur!"
He reached into the blue-flamed brazier and threw a fireball at the wall that opened a portal to Tartarus. Out stepped a large half-bull half-human hybrid. It looked how a bull standing on two feet would look, but there was armor everywhere on him, protecting his bones and joints.
"Let me at 'im!" he bellowed in a deep voice. "I'm ready to lock horns with the Black Ranger!"
Hades opened up a portal by throwing another fireball.
"Do not fail me!" he warned before the Minotaur jumped through the portal, with it sputtering out behind him.
"I didn't realize the building would be so big!" Valerie shouted above the hustle and bustle of downtown Olympia Hills. Both she and Jay had left the school at 2:30, and had walked to the Steel Works Inc main offices, where Victor's dad would be. As they walked inside, they found it was quite possibly more busy there than it was outside. The main lobby was full of people either sitting or standing waiting to complain, apply or just meet with the staff.
"I didn't realize how many people would be here," Jay stated. "We probably should have made an appointment…"
"Well, the only thing we can do is ask," Valerie said as she walked up to the receptionist's desk. "Hi, we're friends with Mr. Steel's son, and we're a little worried about their relationship. We wanted to see if we could speak with him for about five minutes?"
"Mr. Steel doesn't just meet with anyone," the receptionist said as she typed away at her computer, not even looking up from the screen. "Do you have an appointment?"
"Not exactly, but…"
"I can't help you, honey," the receptionist said dryly. "The next appointment is in...let's see… four months. Do you want me to put you down for then?"
"We'll be fine, thanks," Jay said as he slowly pulled Valerie away as she started to get frustrated. "C'mon, Valerie, we've got better places to be."
They started to walk away before they heard a voice behind them that they recognized from so many commercials for Steel Works.
"Look, I can't just accept any project that comes my way," the voice said. "What do you think this is? Shark Tank?"
"But...but…" the young man being spoken to said before bursting into tears and running out the front door.
Valerie saw her chance.
"Excuse me, Mr. Steel?" she said as she walked over
A larger man turned around. He had Victor's muscular frame, and stood at a strong 6'2. Unlike Victor, he was clean-shaven and had a blue business suit without a spot of dust or dirt on it.
"What do you want?" he said in a deep voice. "Can't you see I'm busy? TIme is money, and I seem to just be wasting it on everyone."
Valerie and Jay were taken aback. How could a soft-spoken teen like Victor come from such a harsh and brash man like Mr. Steel?
Valerie was the first to get the courage to speak
"It's Victor, sir, we're his friends and…."
"Not my problem," Mr. Steel said quickly as he headed towards the elevator. "If he won't follow the path I've set him up for, he doesn't deserve my attention. Good day."
He said the last part right as the elevator doors shut in Valerie's face.
"Should have brought Nate," Jay said. "They both speak 'arrogant' so fluently, I'm sure they would be best friends."
"Funny, but not helpful," Valerie said as she paced a bit. They were outside the building, weighing their options. "We can either try again, or give up on this part and try to talk to Victor again."
"I don't know what other choice we really have," Jay said as he finally found a bench to sit on as Valerie continued to pace around, getting some weird looks as she bumped into some walking people.
"Hey, bud?" a man asked as he sat down next to Jay, he was wearing a mechanic's uniform and hat, which hid his eyes. "Maybe you should try to stop your girlfriend before she hurts herself."
"Girlfriend? Oh, you mean Valerie," Jay said, "She's not my girlfriend, she's just a friend who happens to be a girl."
"Riiight," the mechanic said. "So, what's she so worked up about?"
"We're trying to help a friend, and can't seem to find the best way. We tried to talk to his father, and that didn't go so well," Jay explained.
"I've found that sometimes, it's best to start at the beginning," the man said as he got up.
"Thanks," Jay said as he stood to catch up to Valerie. "You look familiar…"
"I get that a lot," the man said as he stood up. "I look like every mechanic in the city."
Just as Jay was going to ask him another question, the strange man disappeared into the crowd.
Jay shrugged and turned around to catch up with Valerie.
Victor kicked a rock as he walked back to his apartment. He wondered if pushing his friends away was really the best move or not.
They'll only get in the way, he thought, but what if they could help me?
He was knocked out of his daydream by the arrival of the Minotaur in front of him and Spartoi all around him.
"Black Ranger!" the Minotaur shouted as he began to charge. "Prepare to be gored on the horns!"
"That was a terrible rhyme," Victor said as he threw off his bag and strapped on his Olympian Morphers. "Black Olympian Power!"
In a flash of black light, Victor Steel was replaced with the Black Olympian Ranger, who quickly summoned his Blacksmith Hammer to smash the MInotaur right across the face with it, sending him flying into a wall that cracked from the indentation the Minotaur created. The Minotaur charged again as Victor sighed. This guy obviously didn't learn.
Victor swung his hammer again, but was shocked to find that the hammer bounced off the Minotaur's horns. The impact instead caused an explosion that sent Victor flying into a pile of crates, smashing them all into smithereens.
"Foolish Ranger! The more distance I go, the more force I create! My horns can unleash that kinetic energy whenever I wish. For instance..."
The Minotaur charged again. As Victor rolled away, the Minotaur struck the wall before turning around and creating another explosion, this one with Victor in the very middle of it. He yelled in pain as he fell to the ground and demorphed.
"Time to crush his skull!" the Minotaur yelled as he raised his hoove over Victor's head.
"Hey! Tall, dark and gruesome!" Valerie yelled as she crossed her morphers as Jay ran up next to her and did the same.
"Pink Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
"You had one job!" the Minotaur roared at the Spartoi as he lowered his foot next to Victor's head. "You boneheads were supposed to make sure nobody interfered!"
"Are we interfering?" Jay jokingly asked Valerie. "Do you feel like we're interfering?"
"Only because this hornhead tried to crush our friend!" she said seriously as she summoned her bow.
Jay copied her serious demeanor and followed her lead by summoning his own weapon.
Valerie pulled back her bow string quickly and shot an energy arrow that knocked the Minotaur away as Jay charged and did a jumping sword slash with his sparking sword.
The Minotaur took both of the hits and stumbled before looking around, as if deciding his odds.
"Next time, Black Ranger!" he said as he stomped the ground and created a golden portal before jumping into it, followed by all of the Spartoi.
"Well, that went over pretty well," Jay remarked as he and Valerie demorphed.
"Victor!" Valerie yelled as she ran over to look at his badly burned body. "Hermes, we need a door, quickly!" she said into her morpher as both she and Jay picked Victor up and carried him through the blue-glowing doors near them on one of the buildings. They were met by Hermes, Nate and Mera, who all looked at Victor's scorched body, before Hermes led them to a door that was the medical center. Nate helped Jay lift Victor onto the bed as Hermes tried to treat him.
"This could take several hours," Hermes said as he set up a magical iv drip for Victor. "This is nectar from Olympus itself. It's very dangerous, but it may be the only way to save him. Even my healing powers can't heal injuries as severe as these."
"Then do it!" Jay ordered. "I'm not losing a Ranger in my first week!" His voice became quieter as he stared at Victor's body. "Not in my first week."
It had been 3 hours, and Victor's condition had only slightly improved. He was no longer in life-threatening danger, and his third-degree burns had turned into first-degree. However, he was still unconscious.
"How is he?" Mera asked as Hermes walked out of the medical center and back into the main room.
"Well, I'm no Apollo, but he'll live."
The two of them were interrupted by Jay slicing another wooden dummy in half.
"He's really not taking it well," Valerie explained as she walked up. "He's blaming himself for not saving Victor."
"I'm fine!" Jay said as he sliced another one vertically.
"Dude, you are not fine," Nate said as he got off the weapon rack he was leaning on. "At this rate, we'll be out of wooden dummies really soon."
Jay finally stopped his rampage and placed his sword back on the weapon rack.
"I thought this would make me feel better," he said, "but I still feel like a failure. I just need to find that Minotaur and..."
"I believe you will get your revenge soon enough," Mera said, "look!"
The mosaic stones on the computer had twisted and turned to show the Minotaur smashing through an entire warehouse with one charge.
"Let's go!" Jay ordered.
The Rangers nodded and ran through the doors. When they arrived, the warehouse was pretty empty except for the Minotaur.
"No Spartoi to clobber this time?" Nate remarked. "Sweet!"
That means there's no one between us and him!" Jay said as he activated his morphers. "Ready?"
"Ready!" the others agreed.
"Pink Olympian Power!"
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Blue Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
There was a flash of multi colored lights before the four Rangers began the roll call:
"Aphrodite, goddess of love! Pink Olympian Ranger!"
"Athena, goddess of wisdom! Yellow Olympian Ranger!"
"Poseidon, god of the sea! Blue Olympian Ranger!"
"Zeus, god of lightning! Red Olympian Ranger!"
"Using the powers of the past to protect the future! Power Rangers Olympian Force!"
"Am I supposed to be impressed?" the Minotaur said, roaring with laughter. "I wasn't ready for you last time, but now? I was prepared!"
Multiple golden portals appeared around the Rangers, and out came many, many Spartoi. They formed a ring around the Rangers, forcing them to huddle together.
"Anyone have a good plan?" Nate asked. "I mean, we walked right into this! Great going Jay!"
"Like you could come up with anything better!" Jay shouted.
"I probably could have," Nate said, "but since you're Red, I guess that makes you our 'fearless leader'.
"Is that really what you think of me?" Jay asked as the two started to stomp towards each other.
"Uh… big scary monster here! Can we get back to our battle now?" the Minotaur said as the Spartoi stood there looking confused.
"Stay out of it!" Jay and Nate yelled.
"Guys, maybe we can find a compromise?" Valerie asked as she got in between them.
"If Nate really thinks leading is so easy, I'd like to see him try it," Jay said, a little calmer now, "I bet he wouldn't last two hours."
"I'll take you up on your offer," Nate said, "sometime soon, you give me command and I'll prove how much of a better leader I am than you."
"Deal," Jay said as the two shook hands.
"Ok, great," Mera said. "Can we return to the issue at hand?"
"Yeah! Like the monster that got us in this mess?" Valerie added.
"Alright," Jay said as he turned to the Minotaur. "The Minotaur in Greek Myth was trapped in a labyrinth, but this one seems to be able to create one with portals, so let's try knocking the Spartoi back into the portals!"
The other Rangers nodded as they summoned their weapons and prepared for battle.
Victor groaned as his eyes fluttered open.
"That was not pleasant" he said out loud to no one. He slowly climbed off the bed and wheeled the IV behind him as he went into the main room.
"Where is everyone?" Victor asked, wincing as he stepped on his slightly burned feet. He managed to get over to see the mosaic displaying the Rangers trapped around Spartoi as they fought in vain to get free.
"Your friends are in trouble," Hermes said, "but you pushed them away before. Will you push them away again and leave them to their fate?"
Victor stood there in silence for a moment before he pulled out the IV and put on his morphers.
"I was chosen because of my desire to help people," he explained, "and I won't let that change now. Black Olympian Power!"
There was a flash of light as Victor ran through the doors and ran straight towards the Spartoi, summoning his hammer as he went. He yelled in fury as he smashed some Spartoi aside and reached his friends.
"Sorry I'm late, guys!" he said.
"Better late than never," Jay said as VIctor pulled him and the other Rangers up. "Now how about we get some revenge on hornhead over there?"
"I can get behind that!" Nate said as he and the girls prepped their weapons.
"I have an idea!" Victor exclaimed. "Valerie, try and shoot my hammer with your bow! I just need to make a few modifications...". He walked over and tinkered with the bow for a few seconds. He backed away as he gave his hammer to Valerie, who placed it into her bow and pulled back the string.
"Blacksmith Arrow! Fire!" Valerie shouted as she released the hammer, causing it to fly straight into the Minotaur's face. This in turn caused an explosion that hit no one and knocked him to the ground. As he sat there dazed, the Rangers put their weapons together.
"Olympian Crossbow!" the Rangers shouted as Victor and Jay swapped their usual places. Jay was now supporting the bow, and Victor was the one ready to fire it.
"Olympic Anvil Rain!" Victor cried as he infused the Lightning Sword with his own power. "Fire!"
He pulled the trigger.
The sword flew in an arc up and hit and stuck to the ceiling of the warehouse. From the hilt of the sword came multiple anvils raining down on the Minotaur.
"This is just bull!" the Minotaur shouted as he was being crushed and exploded from the pressure.
Just as the Rangers were about to celebrate, the remains of the Minotaur were surrounded in a blue flame as they quickly pieced themselves back together into the form of the monster, before he grew enough to tower over the warehouses themselves.
"We need the Zords!" Victor said into his communicator in his helmet.
"On their way," Hermes said as he pressed a series of runes on the keyboard.
The Rangers ran outside and saw, in the distance, their Zords. The Black Bull Zord stomped as the Blue Horse Zord galloped. The Yellow Owl Zord soared overhead as the Red Eagle Zord, holding the Pink Fish Zord in its talons, dive bombed right into the Minotaur.
"What's going on?" the Minotaur shouted, "doesn't matter! I'll bowl you all over!"
The Rangers quickly jumped into their Zords and, after inserting their Olympian Gems into the right indentations, turned the dial from "ZORD MODE" to "WARRIOR MODE".
"Zords, combine!" Jay shouted as the Zords began to twist and turn.
The Bull Zord was the first to change, as the head came off, the body split apart and the legs flipped around 180ᣞ and the front and back legs combined.
The Horse Zord was next, as its head went into a chest cavity while the front and back legs combined together and connected to the Bull Zord legs, forming a complete waist, legs and feet.
The Eagle Zord was next. As its wings clipped off together in one long arc-shaped piece and its legs slid into its body before it connected to the Horse Zord, it was now forming the entire body of the combination. The Eagle Zord head screeched and opened up its mouth to fit the other side of the Bull Zord's head into it, revealing a robotic face.
Next came the Owl Zord. As its head detached from the body and the body detached from the wings, the wings clipped onto the sides of the Eagle Zord and expanded, forming the arms.
Lastly was the Fish Zord. As the entire dorsal fin and tail came off, it popped open completely in half before coming onto the Eagle Zord's body as a chestplate and combining together again. The tail folded into a plume that went onto the Eagle Zord's head to complete the helmet look. The horns from the Bull Zord head attached together and became a straight point before combining with the dorsal fin to create a large spear that went into the left hand. The Owl Zord body lengthened itself a bit before the head slid into a hole in the center, finishing the shield, which went on the right arm.
"Olympian Megazord: Warrior Mode ready!" all five Rangers shouted as they all joined together in a single cockpit. Jay was in the front with Nate diagonally to his right, Victor diagonally on his left, Valerie diagonally behind Nate and Mera diagonally behind Victor.
The Minotaur charged straight at the Megazord, which barely had time to raise it's shield to withstand the impact. To the Rangers' surprise, there was no explosion, as there had been before.
"Because of the Minotaur's size, it can't build up the kinetic force needed to create an explosion!" Mera realized.
The Megazord lifted its spear and sliced off the right horn of the Minotaur, then it sliced off the right one.
"I'm dehorned!" the Minotaur yelled as it held its horn stumps in pain.
"TIme to end this bull ride!" Jay yelled as he pressed down on his Olympian gems, causing the entire cockpit to glow with a red light. "Go! Lightning Javelin!"
A storm quickly formed over the two combatants as the Megazord raised its spear in time for it to be struck with red lightning before throwing it into the Minotaur's chest. The Minotaur began to spark and fell to the ground before exploding, with the Megazord spinning around and posing in front of the explosion.
Hades growled as the Minotaur blew up on his blue flame screen.
"Not again!" he yelled as he stood up from his throne and paced around. "I just have to be more creative…"
Persephone smiled at the exploding monsters before quickly turning it into a frown when Hades looked in her direction.
"The Red and Pink Ranger must have gotten help to know to look for the Black Ranger, but who would do that?" he thought aloud. "I will find who helped them, and I will make them pay!"
"So, how did you find me?" Victor asked. It was the next day at lunch, and the teens were back at their usual spot.
"I just...knew," Valerie said simply as she ate a spoonful of yogurt. "I just had this feeling of where you would be."
"And I had some guy tell me to 'start at the beginning', so I knew we had to find you to help you," Jay added. "It just happened to be with a different problem than we meant to help you with."
"What do you mean?" Victor asked. "I pushed you guys away and all, but where could you have gone to try to solve that? I made it pretty clear it was personal, so who could you have talked to?"
He took a sip of water as Valerie and Jay spoke up at the same time.
"Your dad."
Victor did a spit-take and started to cough before finally being able to speak.
"You did what?"
"We went to your dad to try to figure out the problem," Valerie explained, "and he was no help at all."
"Not a shock," Victor said. "If it doesn't involve either money or the future of his company, he doesn't really care."
"Not even about his own son?" Mera asked out loud as she took a bite of her salad. "You are an only child, right? Should he not be worried about his posterity?"
"His what?" Nate whispered to Valerie as he stopped eating his sub for a moment..
"She means his kid," Valerie explained in a whisper.
"Not enough," Victor said to Mera before looking at Jay and Valerie. "Why did you even try?"
"We just wanted to help," Jay said, "and we were kind of pushed away."
"Sorry I did that," Victor said. "It probably just worried you guys more than if I had just explained it to you."
"Speaking of explaining..." Valerie said. "What was the issue?"
Victor sighed before he began his explanation.
"You saw how my dad is a businessman, right?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Well, he didn't and still won't respect my desire to be in the building department as an inventor. He wants me to take his place when he retires. We had a difference in my future, so I took all of the inventions I could and left. That's when this mechanic guy told me of a really cheap apartment, which was good. I had almost no money to my name. Eventually, though, the cheap apartment still was too expensive. I tried to find a part-time job, but my dad had blacklisted me from almost anywhere I could think of. I couldn't even find that mechanic guy who told me about the apartments to give me a job. Now, the bills are piling up, my checking account is empty and I don't have more than $10 in my wallet."
There was a moment of silence, and Victor realized he had been crying while he had told the entire story. He wiped away the tears as his friends looked at him. His face changed into a determined one.
"But if you guys are behind me, I guess I can stand up to any challenge, including my dad. Meet me at the Steel Inc. building after school. I think it's time my father and I had a few words."
"We're behind you, no matter what," Jay said as he placed his hand on Victor's shoulder, as the rest of the teens nodded in agreement.
The teens met in front of the Steel Inc. building at 2:50, and walked in to find it was just as busy today as it had been yesterday. People filled the chairs, and the same secretary from before was watching them all from behind her thick rimmed glasses.
"Oh. it's you," she said dryly, and Jay couldn't figure out if it was referring to himself and Valerie, or to Victor. She cleared up the question when she picked up the phone and dialed.
"Mr Steel? We have your son in the lobby...Yes, I know...Are you sure?...Yes, sir."
She looked at the teens again.
"Victor, you can go up. The rest of you can wait down here with me."
"Oh joy!" Jay whispered to Valerie, who just giggled before regaining her composure.
"Well, here I go," Victor said as he walked to the elevator and typed in the code. It hadn't changed since he had last been here. The elevator quickly zipped up to the penthouse, and the doors opened with a little chime. Sitting behind the desk in the back of the spacious room was Mr. Steel.
"Victor," he said simply.
"Dad," Victor responded in the same tone.
"What do I owe to this rare pleasure?" Mr. Steel said sarcastically. "Last time I saw you, you were stomping out of here saying that you were going to never come back. What changed? Have you come to crawl back and beg forgiveness?"
"What changed is I found friends who support me, and I found a way to help people in the best way I can," Victor responded, "but I'm not crawling back, I came back to tell you that you need to stop blacklisting me from jobs. I refuse to accept your future for me-"
"So you came back to tell me to give up?" Mr. Steel interrupted. "You know me better than that, son. I never, ever give up until I achieve my goal! How do you think I built this business? How do you think I got your mother? How do you think I have succeeded so well in life?"
"By pushing people away," Victor responded. "By allowing my mother to leave when I was five. By forcing your future on to me. By viciously jumping upon any way you could get ahead, whether it was legal or not!"
He calmed down slightly before continuing.
"You refuse to accept that I don't want to be you. I want to build things to help people. I want to do something because it's right, not because of the financial gain. That's why I have people behind me, and you sit behind this desk in this cold, empty room."
He stood up to leave before turning around.
"Either stop blacklisting me, or I will tell every new station I can about every illegal move you have ever made." Victor said confidently.
"What do you want?" his father asked frantically, "Jewels? Cars? Money?"
"I want to be allowed to live my life," Victor said. "Goodbye, Dad. For good this time."
He turned and began to walk back to the elevator.
"Don't you turn away from me, young man!" his father yelled at his back. "Now get back here or I'll...I'll…"
Victor turned around in the elevator to face his father once more,
"You'll allow me to make my own choices," he said before the elevator doors closed behind him.
"You haven't heard the last of me!" his father screamed. "I will find a way to make you follow in my footsteps, whether you like it or not!"
"Wow, he said all that?" Nate asked as the teens strolled through the park. It was around 4:30, and the teens had decided to go to the park right next to Steel Inc.
"Yeah," Victor said. "But I think he'll finally back off now. I can focus on getting back on my feet."
"Speaking of getting you back on your feet…" Jay said as he handed a white envelope to Victor. "Inside here is $400, we each donated a hundred bucks a piece."
"You didn't have to do this…" Victor said quietly.
"But we did," Valerie said. "Because that's what friends are for."
The teens walked off into the field, a group of five friends now even stronger and closer than before.
Reviews are always appreciated!
Until next time, may the power protect you all.
