On the Warrior Dome, Abrakadanger was still working on his wand. He was taking no chances on going into battle with a wand that was damaged, and knowing that it was going to be at least another full day until he was to go and battle the Rangers, he was taking the full benefit of that to make sure his powers were at their fullest. The Blue Ranger had lucked out once before, and he wanted to make sure by the time the show proper started, he would not do so again.
He was dimly aware of the door behind him opening, and someone coming in.
"Well, I wasn't expecting you again so soon." He stated. "So what are you offering me this time?"
"I'm offering you a chance to leave here with your life." He heard a gravelly voice say. He smiled, this wasn't what he was expecting, he thought it was Odious out to discuss the nature of what contract she would offer him. He turned around and looked to the Galaxy Warriors Champion.
"You know, some people might see this as sign that you're worried by my presence here." Abrakadanger stated arrogantly. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I know Odious came in here. What was she discussing with you?" Galvanax snapped at him. Abrakadanger just sighed and leant on the table.
"I believe that is our business." He replied. "But suffice to say, it was financial in nature. You know what they say, if you're good at something, never do it for free."
"You think you worry me? I've seen countless little tricksters like you trot through here!" Galvanax yelled at him, grabbing his robes. "Now tell me what you were talking about!"
"Now I KNOW you're worried!" Abrakadanger taunted him. "You know as well as I do that the only thing that anyone can predict about championships is that at some point they end. You aren't the first champion Odious has represented and I sincerely doubt you will be the last! But if you're asking if she's looking to replace you with me...well...I don't see why I should say anything..."
"Tell me or..." Galvanax said, before reaching for the wand. "I'll snap your little twig here into toothpicks!"
Abrakadanger hit him with a blast that sent him flying through the doors, out into the hall outside. He leapt out after Galvanax, his hands glowing as he powered up to prepare for a fight. He might not have the physical strength of Galvanax, but that meant little to one that could bend reality to his will. Galvanax came back from the wall, swinging for Abrakadanger, missing him with a couple of swings but connecting with the last. It was enough for Abrakadanger to know that he could ill afford to take another shot. He felt like his skull was about to split apart as he tumbled down the hall, blood trickling down his face and neck. Dark purple flames surrounded his fists as he rushed towards him, but they both ended up being thrown to opposite ends of the corridor as a top hat flew into the area, slamming into both of them, before returning to Cosmo's hand. The corridor flooded with Kudabots as he confronted them both.
"That's ENOUGH!" He yelled at them both. "This ends NOW!"
"If you think I'm above going through you Cosmo, you don't know..."
"I said ENOUGH!" He called out again, this time causing the Kudabots to all take aim. It was pretty much impossible they would take either of the monsters down, but it would sure as hell make a lot of mess and slow them down if they opened fire. "If you two want to tear each other apart, that's fine by me, but we do it on MY time, MY schedule, in front of the cameras!"
"This gold-plated moron..."
"I really don't care who did what or who started whatever! If you so much as flare up one more spell when there's not a camera pointed at you, then you can kiss any appearances on my show goodbye!" Cosmo warned him. Abrakadanger backed down, his flames subsiding. He wasn't like Galvanax, he didn't care about the competition, all he cared about was the financial reward. He only even agreed to do Galaxy Warriors instead of the usual independent shows he was a star on because they finally offered him a contract that interested him. He was a hot property pretty much everywhere and commanded the price tag to match.
"You really think you scare me?" Galvanax asked Cosmo, bearing down on him. "There is nothing you can threaten me with..."
"You may have that title Galvanax, but I've had champions before and I'll have champions after you!" Cosmo warned him. "Now, you go to your chambers, you go back and fix that wand!"
As they both slowly made their way in different directions, Cosmo looked after Galvanax and snarled.
"You are not indispensable Galvanax." Cosmo muttered to himself. "The day may be coming where you're more hassle than you're worth!"
Over at the Vincent household, Victor was sitting on the couch, watching the television. He wasn't really watching it, he couldn't even tell anyone what was being said, much less what it was about. Right now, he wasn't thinking much about anything, other than the meeting he was going to. His mom came into the room, shutting off the television.
"That's quite enough of that." She stated. "I could really live without any more fart jokes. Victor, are you ready?"
He muttered something unintelligible under his breath. His mom just glared at him.
"I didn't quite catch that." She stated.
"I said what's the point mom?" He asked her. "They've already made up their minds, they're only going through the motions!"
"Victor, you don't understand how serious this is..."
"That's ALL I understand!" Victor snapped at her. "I've...I've...I've done some bad things, made some dumb choices, I know I have, but I've worked so hard for everything I've done at the school, and now, now it's all getting taken away for something I didn't even do!"
"Victor, you don't know what they're going to say." His mom reiterated. "There's every chance that something..."
"What mom? What's going to have changed?" Victor snapped at her. "Hastings hates me, you know she hates me!"
"I really don't think…"
"She'd just love a chance to take my record and flush it down the toilet!" Victor stated. "She's probably got that expulsion form already printed out. No need for me to be there to watch her sign it…"
"VICTOR CHARLES VINCENT!" His mother roared, losing her patience with her son. "You are a VINCENT! We do not give up! EVER!"
"But mom…"
"We are going to that meeting!" She told him. "You're going to look them straight in the face and you're going to tell them your side of the story…"
"They don't care about my side of the story!"
"Then you MAKE them!" She yelled at him. "And if the worst comes to the worst, there are other schools."
"Mom…"
"It'll mean you'll have to work a little harder, and you'll no doubt have to get a job or something to help with college…"
"College?" Victor asked her. "What college is going to want me after this?"
"You think colleges suddenly shut their doors because of things like this? CONVICTED FELONS go to college! It might mean you have to do without a scholarship, you might just have to go to a less prestigious school for a while and transfer, but this is NOT the end!"
"Mom, everything I worked for is going down in flames and there's nothing I can do to stop it!" Victor complained. She stood and stared straight into his eyes.
"I'm perfectly certain your father felt the same way at the end." She told him. "But that didn't mean he didn't keep going and save every single member of that squad until he did fall. I still get Christmas cards from every single one of them every year, and while that doesn't bring him back, every year when I get those cards it reminds me all over again of the kind of man he was. It was the thing I loved about him, and it's the thing I see in you."
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"It's open!" Mrs Vincent called out. Trevor came in, carrying a folder and a little bag.
"Trevor."
"I had to come. I've got what I could from the precinct." He told her, before looking at Victor. "Are you ready?"
Victor just got up, sighing as he did.
"Alright, let's get this over with." He announced.
Over at the school, the Rangers were still in the Ranger Base. Given how long it had taken for Preston to undo the spell, they had all ended up opting to just stay at the base for another night. Their respective parents all believed they were at Levi's place working on a project, and so it would be a while before they were missed. However, relatively early in the morning, they were disturbed by a commotion outside. At first it was just a few voices, a little more than they'd be expecting on a day the school was closed, but it only started to build. Now, they were kind of trapped inside the building because a massive crowd was outside! Word had got out that this was the day of Victor's hearing, and so students had gathered to make their feelings heard. Which provided the school with another headache. If it was a simple case that they supported Victor, or that they were calling for him to be expelled, that would be simple enough. Unfortunately, with large numbers on both sides, it created a very real powder keg. All the teachers had been called in to act as crowd control and to stop students trying to get into the building.
"Man, I really wish I brought my PlayStation." Calvin commented, looking at the crowd. "I can't believe how wild it is out there!"
"I do NOT envy Levi." Hayley agreed. "It's just our luck to get caught up in all this and get stuck in here."
"It sounds like things are getting pretty restless out there." Sarah commented. "Wait…are those guys…are they hanging an effigy of Victor?"
"That's more than a little harsh!" Brody gulped.
"It's only getting worse." Preston stated. "Victor just arrived and things are looking pretty damn ugly out there."
"Maybe…maybe we should get out there, try and help keep things civil." Brody suggested, seeing some shoving going on, shoving that looked like it wasn't going to be long before it evolved into punching.
"How?" Preston asked.
"I guess just try and keep things civil as much as possible." Brody replied. "We'll…call it infiltration training. We go into the crowd and try to subtly guide people away from doing anything too crazy."
"I guess it'll be more helpful than spending the day in here." Calvin agreed. "Alright Viera, we're just going out for a little bit…um…has anyone seen Viera?"
They all looked around, noticing she was gone.
"Am I the only one thinking she would make a great ninja?" Sarah asked.
Outside, in the crowd, Monty was standing on a soap box with a bullhorn, leading pro-Victor chants. He was calling on the crowd to demand a fair hearing and benefit of the doubt. Viera slipped through the crowd, finding him as he hopped off the soap box and handed off the bullhorn to another of his followers.
"Monty, what's going on here? Why did you text me?" She asked him.
"I have a plan." He told her. "I was hoping there would be a few less people here, but I think I figured out how to get the evidence to Hastings." He told her.
"Aren't the pictures enough?" Viera asked him.
"It's a start, but pictures are really easy to alter." Monty told her. "He could just say he was selling candy or health bars or something and we wouldn't be able to prove any different. We need him to get caught in the act."
"Alright." She replied. "So how do we do that exactly?"
"Right on time." Monty said as he saw Ace's car rolling into the parking lot. He got out, grabbing his bag and headed for the crowd. He looked more than a little confused as he headed for some of the athletes in the crowd.
"Monty, what's going on?" She asked him.
"Uh…let's just say some hacking may have been involved." He told her, beginning to head over. "Just…get ready."
"Get ready for what?" She asked him. Monty didn't answer, leaving her none the wiser.
Ace approached some of the football team, but looked more than a little bad-tempered as he did. He grabbed one of them, spinning him around.
"What the hell are you doing?" He asked him. "You managed to use all of it already?"
"Huh?" He asked, staring at Ace.
"Oh, and you had to meet here?" Ace asked him. "You couldn't have thought of somewhere a LITTLE less crowded?"
"Ace, I don't know what you're talking about!" He told him.
"You just texted me!" Ace stated, putting down his bag and pulling out his cell phone.
"Dude, I never texted you!" The player answered. "I still have a week's supply!"
"But it's your number!" Ace protested.
"I'm telling you I didn't…" He started to protest, before Monty snatched up the bag and running off with it.
"What the…you little shit come back!" Ace roared as he and the other athletes started to give chase. Monty ran over to Viera, throwing the bag to her.
"Monty, what the…?"
"You run faster than I do!" He called out to her. "Get this to the Principal's off…aaagh!"
Viera watched as Monty was tackled to the ground by a couple of kids, while Ace and the others were barrelling straight towards her.
"Monty, this is the exact OPPOSITE of a plan!" She screamed as she turned and ran as fast as she could, with Ace and his friends firmly on her tail. She barged past Levi who was standing at the door.
"Hey, what the…WHOA!" He called out as he was checked into some bushes by Ace and his friends. He scrambled out, before giving chase after them. "Hey! No one's to go in there! COME BACK!"
In Principal Hastings' office, the hearing was going ahead as scheduled. Mrs Finch and Mick were in the office as a witnesses to ensure everything went fairly, while Principal Hastings listened to Trevor's statement.
"And so, the lab found that the contents of the vial were water, with only trace elements of HGH." Trevor told her. "Also, Victor's fingerprints weren't on the bag, the vial or the syringe."
"Well, I have to say it's been a while since I've had an actual police testimony in a disciplinary hearing." She commented. "It's certainly the first time I've read a CSI report."
She looked to Mick and Mrs Finch before responding.
"I think you know how serious this is Victor. The idea of drugs in school is a very serious matter." She told him. "I just want to hear it from you. I'll only ask you once. Did you, or have you ever, taken performance enhancing drugs?"
"No." Victor told her. "I don't have any idea where that's from."
"Well, the case against you doesn't look good." Principal Hastings started. "However, I am also aware of the fact that the case against you is also largely circumstantial."
"Wait, what?" Victor asked, looking confused. Principal Hastings looked to Mick, and smiled. She had seen the harm drugs could do in other schools. She had seen kids OD, and she had seen the inevitable violence that went along with rival dealers trying to expand their market in the same schools. "A good friend reminded me that no matter how much cases like this bring up passionate feelings, I need to work with the evidence I've been given. Since all we've found is basically a syringe and a vial of water which…means there really isn't a case to answer."
"Excuse me?" Victor asked.
"Well, since your prints aren't on the vial or the bag, I can't prove they're even yours, but as far as the education department is concerned, while injecting yourself full of water may not be a good idea, it's something you have every right to do." She replied. "I…can't dispute the fact that it's possible someone else put that in your bag, and so, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing left for me to do is ask you if you have any idea where it came from."
"But I can stay in school?" He asked with a smile.
"Victor, you owe Officer Marx a lot. It's not everyone that can get a CSI report on evidence in a disciplinary hearing." She told him. "But it does mean that someone is running around school with some real drugs and paraphernalia and I would really like to find out who that is…"
Just then, there was some loud crashing and raised voices from the corridor. They all looked at the corridor.
"What was that?" Mrs Finch asked, heading towards the door. But everyone had to dive for cover as Viera, Monty, Ace and Levi all came flying through the door, sending broken glass and wood in all directions. Levi scrambled to his feet, pulling Monty and Ace up and shoving them in opposite directions.
"What in the hell is going on here?" Principal Hastings demanded.
"I'm so sorry Principal Hastings…they got past me…I tried to get them before they got to the office!" He told her.
"What in the world is this about?" She asked. "Someone better start explaining this to me before I start throwing out detention slips!"
"Victor's innocent!" Monty stated, taking the bag from Viera.
"Monty…"
"We have the proof right here!"
As Ace protested, Monty grabbed the bag, opening it up and dumping the contents onto the floor. Everyone just stared at it in surprise.
"Well…I WAS going to say that Victor had been cleared to return to school." Principal Hastings told them. "But…with all this…Would you mind explaining this Gary?"
"Gary?" Levi whispered.
"You didn't think his real name was Ace, did you?" Mrs Finch asked.
"That's…that's not mine!" He protested.
"Well, we did all hear you say it was your bag." Trevor reminded them. "There's a lot here, way more than personal use. That makes you our dealer. Ace, you're under arrest for the distribution of narcotics. You do not have to say anything when questioned, but anything you do say may be given in evidence."
As Trevor dragged Ace away, everyone just stood, watching on wordlessly. Monty finally broke the silence.
"So…um…Principal Hastings." He stammered. "About the door…"
"Get out Monty!" She told him, holding up her hands. "Just…everyone get out!"
As they all left, Principal Hastings just went into the cupboard to get a dustpan and brush.
A/N: Sorry about the recent lack of activity folks! Had a few urgent things to attend to. Hope you enjoy the chapter!