Trevor was at the precinct, running through exercises on the target range. He had run the urban combat court now a few times, in an effort to get used to his new weapons, which he hoped would tip the scales when he went after the Rangers.
He knew that right now he was likely in a pretty silent minority. The Rangers were generally viewed extremely favourably by the public, and the city. While the monster battles had indeed taken their toll on normal people in the city and caused a lot of damage and a lot of heartache, there were more than a few people that were extremely happy about the situation. Insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, merchandise producers, the media, weapons manufacturers, security consultants, all of these people had noticed their businesses going through the roof! People who actively made money off the Rangers were delighted by the whole situation. The city, while losing some businesses and losing some residents, made the most out of the situation by encouraging outside investments and generating positive public images of brightly-coloured superheroes. It was a situation that Trevor was all too familiar with.
He had only served one tour of Afghanistan, but that was more than enough for a whole lifetime. He had been pensioned out after being injured in an attack and sent home. While he was proud to have served his country and continued to do so after he recovered and enrolled in the Police Academy, he had seen with his own eyes the fact that there was something a little sick with the whole system. People earned money, a LOT of money, out of people getting hurt, getting killed, and because they had the luxury of being thousands of miles away when the nasty stuff happened, none of them really cared how much blood was spilled for their profits! Now though, he was seeing it happen right here in his home town!
The Rangers could do pretty much whatever they wanted without care of their consequences. The city, the media, the officials, none of them had any interest in risking their gravy train, regardless of what happened to everyone else, the home owners, the small businesses, the people who had to live and work in the city and didn't have much option but to get caught in the crossfire.
He made his way along the last 'street' in his course, moving cautiously and sweeping around just as his years of training taught him looking for his last few targets. One popped out, and with a roar his SPAS fired off another shredder, turning the target into toothpicks! A couple more targets, a couple of thousand more toothpicks! It kicked like a mule, but he was starting to really like this thing. His standard issue nine had been more of an inconvenient surprise to the Red Ranger than anything else. He'd seen Ranger battles and knew those suits were a lot more than just Spandex, but it surprised even him that his round bounced off the Red Ranger's helmet without so much as a crack to show for it. He needed something that would take them down, and right now, this seemed like one hell of a nutcracker!
Another target came out, and Trevor swung around, but held his fire seeing a mother pushing a pram. One of the innocent targets in the sequence to make sure people didn't get trained just to pull the trigger any time something startled them or crossed their path. His final target came out, a much bigger challenge, it was an unarmed woman, but with a gun pointed at her and a man standing behind her holding her. A hostage! He dropped his shotgun; a weapon totally unsuited to the situation due to its area of effect, and pulled out the Desert Eagle, putting a couple of rounds straight through the head of the hostage taker. He put the safety on his gun as the siren sounded, indicating the exercise was over, and put it away as Iris came over to him, looking impressed.
"Nicely done Marx! There are guys on the SWAT team that should be eaten alive with jealousy!" She complimented him. He picked up his SPAS, securing the weapon.
"It's not a competition." He told her. "But I like the merchandise. You weren't kidding about it!"
"I never kid about firepower!" She told him. "So, are you finally going to tell me what this is all about?"
"Come to the bar after shift. I'm getting the Calibre Club together." He informed her. "I'll make it all clear there."
Just then, his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it.
"Marx." He answered, before smiling. "Angela, it's been a while! Sorry I've been busy but..."
His face fell as he heard his friend on the other end of the line.
"Tell them I'll be over there soon." He told her. "I promise I'll do what I can."
He looked to Iris.
"I've got to go, but I'll be at the bar about six." He told her. She handed him a bag of ammo.
"Alright, well...here's the rest of it." She told him. He looked inside and looked confused.
"There's more in here than I paid for." He told her. She just shrugged. "I...didn't even buy the bag!"
"When someone drops as much as you do in a single day, I figured a little bonus isn't out of the question." She answered. Trevor unloaded his weapons, putting the remaining rounds in the bag, before taking it from her. "I'll see you at the club!"
With that, he headed out to the garage. He opened the trunk, which had a steel case bolted into the back of it for more powerful ordinance. He'd never actually needed it until now, but he opened it, putting his arsenal in the back, before locking it and getting into the cruiser, pulling out of the parking lot at speed.
Over at the school, the whole place was abuzz. The teachers and the faculty had pretty much given up on getting the students to class and were now trying instead to clear the school. The entire lobby was full of students clamouring to get information on what was happening. Some were just rubber-neckers, people who wanted the gossip on the latest school scandal. Some were people who were eager to express their opinion on the matter one way or the other. Some of the members of the various teams Victor was on wanted to know what was going to happen to one of their star players. Some were calling for his expulsion, others were protesting his innocence. The Rangers were standing at the back of the room, watching the staff trying, and struggling to stop the place erupting into a riot! While Victor was popular for all the wrong reasons to a lot of people, the fact was, he was popular on both sides meaning there was very real danger of the whole school being ripped apart at the seams!
"Man, this is insane!" Preston commented. "I haven't seen people this pissed since they found out the school's beef stew was horse."
"I don't think I've ever seen anything like this!" Calvin commented. Sarah just nodded wordlessly.
"I don't get it, what's the big deal?" Viera asked them. "In my galaxy, warriors use performance enhancers all the time."
"Yeah, it's a little different here." Brody told her. "The school takes a really dim view on people bringing drugs into the school." Mick came over to them.
"Guys, go to the base, there's nothing you can do here." Mick told them.
"But we want to know..."
"Believe me, if there's anything I can tell you I will, but right now, we're basically trying to avoid a riot!" Mick told them. "Jennifer just called for the school to be shut for the day, so we're trying to get everyone to leave."
"But Mick..."
"Please, I could really do with you guys leading by example." Mick told them. "We're having enough issues."
There was a loud, shrill, piercing whistle, and they all turned to see Mrs Finch standing on a chair where she could be seen over the crowd.
"ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP!" She called out. "I don't care where you go, but if this school isn't cleared out in the next half hour, every student still on the grounds will be getting detention for a MONTH!"
There was another flare up, which she silenced with another whistle.
"I'm not joking, go home NOW!" She called out.
"But...Victor's entitled to representation in a disciplinary hearing!" Monty protested. "I'm the Student Body President..."
"Monty, you are neither Victor's parent, his attorney, his appointed guardian or a lawyer!" Mrs Finch warned him. "Now be the leader your students elected and help me get the students out of here before I put the entire student body on report!"
Reluctantly, people started to disperse; still unhappy with the fact the school was giving them no resolution to this issue. Brody just shrugged.
"Well, sticking around here isn't going to do us any good." He sighed. "I guess we're all heading to Levi's then."
They all just nodded. They had all called home to tell their parents they were going to be staying over at Levi's place to work on a project together. It was really the only thing they could think of to explain the fact that Hayley wasn't going to be going home for the foreseeable future, at least until they could figure out how to make her visible again. As they all started to file out, the school started to resemble some form of order again. Mrs Finch could only think how unusual it was to find it so difficult to get students to leave when they were told they could go home early. Normally, that kind of announcement would have left the place deserted in seconds.
Meanwhile, in Principal Hastings' office, Victor was sitting in a chair, looking incredibly worried. Levi was standing in the corner, his arms folded, keeping his eye on the whole proceedings. While Hastings' office did have cameras, by policy there was meant to be a second staff member on hand in these instances to witness everything that happened. Levi was not just uncomfortable about being back here since the last time he was in this office had been when Odious was still impersonating Hastings and the whole thing got very weird and still made his skin crawl to think about, but because he really didn't feel comfortable standing in judgement over Victor. Hastings put the vial and the syringe on the desk as she stood over him, the desk between them, giving Levi the feeling of seeing a judge in the docks.
"That isn't mine; I don't know how it got there!" Victor continued to protest.
"Victor, this was seen falling out of your bag." She said as calmly as she could. "Do yourself a favour and just admit to it!"
"I've never touched that stuff in my life I swear!" Victor screamed at them. "I'll piss in a cup right now! Go and get a kit and..."
"Victor, we've already called your mother." Levi said calmly. "Please, just...think about this for a minute."
"I am thinking about this! I'm thinking that someone has set me up!" Victor yelled at them, standing up. "If I was using would I be volunteering a test..."
"HGH doesn't show up on a lot of standard tests, it's one of the reasons people use it!" Hastings told him, adjusting her glasses.
"I did NOT do this!" Victor snapped, making Levi worry he was going to have to get involved. Principal Hastings just stared him down.
"You know, irritability and anger issues are side-effects." She reminded him. Victor was fuming as he sat back down. "Now, I don't know what you have or haven't taken, I can only go by what we've found, but this would go a whole lot better if you started talking."
"A moment ago you just told me to shut up." Victor said snidely.
"Victor, you're not doing yourself any good!" Levi warned him, trying to act as an intermediary. "Do you know what that stuff does to people? I've been in the gym culture a long time, I've seen it first hand, and it's not pretty!"
"I'd have to take your word for it since I don't TAKE IT!" Victor reiterated, trying not to blow up at the accusations.
"You know, you are pretty buff for a seventeen year old." Principal Hastings commented.
"That's what spending four hours a day in the gym and having a good diet does for you!" Victor replied.
"I can't promise you won't face consequences, but we only found this vial. That means you aren't going to be viewed as a dealer." Hastings said as she tried to reason with him, hoping to negotiate with him for a simple confession. "If you tell us where you got it, then we'll take that into account."
"I guess I got it from the steroid fairy!" He said sarcastically. "You know, like the tooth fairy? Only instead of leaving teeth and getting a dollar, they leave syringes!"
"Victor, you could be EXPELLED!" Hastings roared at him. "All those scholarships you keep getting sent? How long do you think it'll be before they all get retracted? Every team you're on could lose points or forfeit every game you've played if they can't tell when you started using!"
She drew close to him.
"Those precious trophies of yours? They're gone." She told him.
"I earned every one of those!" He argued.
"If we can't tell how many of them you won fairly, we'll take them all back." She told him. "Victor, try and look at this from my point of view..."
"Why should I? YOU won't look at it from MINE!" He snapped at her. "I know you hate me! You won't even consider the possibility that I'm innocent!"
"You know, maybe he has a point..."
"Mr Weston!" She interrupted him. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Mick came in with Trevor.
"Um...Officer Marx has come to see Victor." He informed them. Levi and Hastings looked at each other, completely confused.
"I haven't called the police." She told him.
"No, Victor's mother did." Trevor told them, looking at Victor, who just put his face in his hands. He put a hand on Victor's shoulder. "You see, as a single parent she does have commitments she can't get out of and asked me to come and represent him."
"She called the cops on her own son?" Levi asked, trying to figure out what was going on. The whole situation seemed to be spiralling out of control quickly.
"I'm a family friend." Trevor told them. "Well, Victor, it's been a while but I was hoping I'd see you under better circumstances."
Victor muttered something into his hands as Trevor looked to the others.
"I've been appointed his representative in this matter. I'd like to talk with him for a moment." He said to Levi and Principal Hastings. "I'd like a word with him."
"I'm not sure that's really..."
"I've served on narc cases." Trevor assured her. "Could you give us the room for a few moments?"
Principal Hastings just nodded. While kids accused of serious misconduct, especially ones that involved the police, had every right to refuse to speak until they spoke to a representative, the school did have every right to ask questions until their representative got there. Victor was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, and Hastings was hoping she'd have gotten him to talk about who supplied him before his guardian showed up. She didn't for one moment believe Victor to be a dealer, and if there was someone dealing in her school she needed to know about it, but now he was here, Victor had every right to speak to his appointed representative before being questioned. She just gestured to Levi to follow her, at which they walked out. Trevor looked to Victor as he let out a sigh.
"Look, Trevor..."
"Officer Marx." Trevor corrected him.
"I'm sorry?" Victor asked him.
"TODAY my name is Officer Marx!" He said as he went to the camera and unplugged it, before getting a chair and sitting with Victor. "Well, this is quite some mess you're in isn't it?"
"Please, I don't know where that came from..."
"Victor, I really hope you're not lying to me." Trevor told him, looking to him. "I'm here as a friend, I'm here...quite literally because your dad dragged my ass out of the battlefield and stitched be back together before I bled out. He was one of the finest people I've ever met, and I always prided myself on being his friend, but please, tell me this isn't how you try to honour him."
"I...didn't...DO IT!" Victor snapped at him. Trevor just nodded.
"Alright, I'll believe you." Victor answered as he put a hand on Victor's shoulder. "Now, how about telling me what did happen?"
Outside the room, Levi was standing, looking to the door as Principal Hastings paced impatiently. He took off his hat.
"Wow, I...can't believe it's gone this far." He commented. "I'm telling you, they might give you reading to do at college, but NOTHING prepares you for something like that."
"No, it doesn't get any easier either." She confirmed. Principal Hastings had unfortunately been through situations like this a few times in her career. "But there's one thing I need to talk to you about."
"What's that?" He asked.
"Don't ever undermine me in front of a student again!" She told him. Levi just looked stunned.
"But...I was just..."
"I understand your unique situation, and believe me it isn't easy but I'm being pretty accommodating to some pretty unusual circumstances from you and your friends." She told him. "But this is MY Command Centre. This is my domain, and I have to be seen in authority. I'm going to keep accommodating you and your friends, but make no mistake, if you ever question me in front of a student again, your career here will be over. Do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly." Levi answered, looking a little uncomfortable. Just then, the door opened and Trevor and Victor came out.
"I've taken a statement from Victor, and I'd like to arrange for a proper defence." He told Principal Hastings. "I'm going to take him home."
"Alright, that's understandable. I'll arrange a meeting for Thursday." She told him. "Victor, you're suspended and banned from the school grounds until this investigation is concluded. Do you understand?"
Victor just nodded his head sadly before Trevor took him away. It was a trying day, and it looked like things weren't going to get any easier any time soon.