Normally having a weekend off would have been considered a good thing for Trevor. Such was the nature of his job as a police officer that often weekends and holidays were some of the busiest times for him and so he very rarely got any of them off, but after his meeting with Sterling, he was still furious. He was under no false impressions that he was being silenced. Captain Raymond was apparently in favour of simply suspending him pending an investigation, an investigation that likely would never reach a conclusion. While the idea of being paid to sit at home doing nothing was appealing to some, for Trevor it was a horrible thought. He genuinely wanted to help others. He had always been that way, even long before he returned from Afghanistan and joined the Police Academy. He was one of those people that if he could afford to, he'd probably do the job for free. It was more about making a difference than anything else.
But he also knew it was about getting him out of the way more than anything else. The department wouldn't be able to fire him, but by suspending him and removing him from duty, they could ensure he wasn't in any position to go after the Rangers again. The only reason Sterling had intervened on his behalf was because she likely foresaw this turning him into a martyr to his followers. He had already gotten messages from some indicating they were going to cool off and lay low for a while, which he knew to mean that they were likely just going to give up on the crusade altogether.
He was perfectly certain that he was looking forward to being given busy work for the foreseeable future. It wasn't as if he had been disciplined, so they couldn't really punish him in any way, but it was perfectly reasonable to expect an officer of Trevor's experience to be assigned to the custody sign-in desk, or to the equipment store, or desk duties, basically anything that would keep him as far from the street as was possible without firing him. Trevor had no doubt that was what he was likely facing on Monday, but that wasn't the only thing he was thinking about. The other thing he couldn't shake was the voice he kept hearing in Sterling's office.
He couldn't place what it was, but it kept taunting him, telling him that she was lying, telling him that she was only trying to protect the Rangers. He had been through much in his life, but he had been cleared by numerous psychological assessments in his life. He had his issues, particularly after his final tour had ended, but he hadn't ever felt like he was losing his mind.
As he pulled into the driveway and got out the car, he heard some sounds coming from the back garden. He went around the side of the house, finding Hayley out the back, with her tennis racket, hitting the ball off the side of the house. He smiled as he approached.
"Someone's working hard." He commented as he got closer.
"The game with Victor's back on now he's been cleared." Hayley told him. "I would probably have just let it go. I wouldn't have blamed Victor if he didn't feel like playing again after what happened, but if he's willing to go for a re-match, then I guess I can't really complain."
"Tell you what. I have a little time." Trevor told her. "How about I give you an opponent a little less predictable than the back wall this weekend?"
"I can't ask you to do that." Hayley replied. "It's the first weekend you've had off in months, you should do something with mom."
"Hayley, I didn't just marry your mom, in a way I married you too." He said, before pausing. "And…that sounded a little less creepy in my head."
"It's cool, I know what you meant." Hayley laughed. "You make mom really happy and I kind of like having you around too. Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Well, I have plenty of time to be able to spend some with both of my favourite girls." Trevor answered. "How about we train here for an hour or so and then we can get your mom and go for dinner?"
"I'd like that." Hayley replied as Trevor picked up a racket. "So, how was work?"
"Yeah…let's just say, hitting something really hard might do me some good right now." Trevor answered. Hayley just shrugged.
"I guess we all have bad days." She told him, bouncing a ball a couple of times. "Here it comes, and it's coming with plenty of heat!"
By the time Monday rolled around, the school was somewhat abuzz with news of the re-match. There was still a lot of division in the crowd, but by now the school wasn't as close to tearing itself apart as it was before the disciplinary hearing. The school had, of course, followed its confidentiality policy to the letter, but High School being High School, everyone already knew what had happened. News of Ace being arrested was already one of the biggest stories around, and it wasn't as though the school could exactly hide the fact that he was no longer at the school when he didn't turn up, all but confirming his expulsion and arrest. Most of Ace's crew were doing what they could to fly under the radar, either because they wanted to distance themselves from Ace or because they didn't want the school to start investigating how much they knew about what Ace was up to.
As lunchtime came around, and the students took to the courts for the match, Viera and the Rangers were already waiting to get their front-seat view. The stands were starting to fill up as Principal Hastings prepared to umpire the game. Hayley was on the court, warming up for the game with Calvin there for some encouragement.
"Wow, it looks like the whole school is here." Brody commented.
"Yeah, there's more people here for this than the original match." Preston agreed.
"Why do I get the feeling most of them aren't exactly here for the tennis?" Sarah asked.
"Anyone else noticing how many of the school athletes are looking a little strung-out?" Preston asked.
"Withdrawals." Sarah sighed. "I guess Ace had a lot more customers than we thought. No wonder there's so much anti-Victor sentiment."
"Speaking of which…" Brody said as Victor came out, closely followed by Monty, who was carrying all his equipment. There were a lot of loud boos as he got onto the court, all of which Victor could hear. "Aw man, that's pretty brutal."
"Yeah, he didn't do anything wrong." Sarah said.
"I'm…just going to see if Monty's alright." Viera said as she ran over, seeing Monty struggling with the equipment. Principal Hastings called both of them to the centre court.
"Students of Summer Cove High, we all know why we're here. Welcome to the Summer Cove Tennis Championship Game." She called out.
"I hope you piss tested him!" Someone called out from the crowd.
"No way, those can be faked!" Someone else said. "Blood test!"
"I can assure you BOTH contestants are here on their own merit and steps have been taken to ensure that the game is fair and square!" She put down flatly. "Now, I want a good clean game from both of you!"
Hayley and Victor both went to their starting positions as Principal Hastings took up the umpire's chair. Hayley prepared for her serve, staring down Victor. She launched the ball into the air, before driving it down the centre line. Victor swung, but missed the first serve, which went straight past, giving Hayley first blood.
"Nice swing Victor!" Someone chuckled.
"Drive it down his throat next time!" Someone else called out.
"Oh, come on!" Monty protested as they tried to maintain order. Principal Hastings finally calmed everyone down enough to get the players to set back up. Hayley threw up the ball for her second serve, aiming for another ace, hoping that perhaps by keeping the game short, she could spare Victor some of the worst of the comments. However, this time as the ball came for him, he managed to return it. She did get to the ball, but quick as anything, Victor was over by the net and had driven the ball straight down into her half. He just smiled and shrugged as there was some polite applause. Hayley returned the smile as they prepared to set up again.
Over at the police station, as he predicted, Trevor was assigned to busy work. The Captain hadn't specifically called him out for anything, but so far, he had been asked to inventory the equipment room, catch up on his paperwork and help Ellie put citations and summons into envelopes. Right now, he was assigned to the worst task of all, organising the evidence locker.
By law, evidence from all the cases that the Summer Cove Police Department had been involved with was bagged up, bundled into boxes, given barcodes and filed according to the date the case was closed before being held for at least five years after the case was prosecuted in case of an appeal at which it would be sent to a central unit. Of course, the problem was that due to chain of evidence policy, very few people were allowed access to the evidence locker. It was all very strictly regulated who was allowed to access the locker. People had to sign in and out just to get into the room, and then they had to sign in and out any boxes they opened to ensure that a very strict control was kept on who had touched it to maintain the integrity of any case. Of course, police officers weren't necessarily the most organised of people. After spending months, even years on a case, once they had secured a conviction, a lot of officers were happy just to seal up the box and toss it in the first available space. Trevor was finding out just how difficult that could make it to find any individual box. The simple act of reorganising those boxes was as soul-crushing as he expected.
"Alright, that's all for May 2014." He groaned, putting the box on the shelf. "Time to start looking for June."
"She's keeping you from your true task." He heard the voice say. Trevor just looked around for signs of anyone in the room.
"Alright, who's there?" He asked.
"You are a warrior, that much I can see…and yet she has you neutered and tamed." He heard.
"Alright, I have more paper cuts than I can count, I'm tired and thanks to this department's cheap-ass air conditioning I'm sweating like a pig! I am really NOT in the mood guys!" Trevor snapped, walking around the room. Suddenly, his head started to burn, and an intense pain shot through it.
"You used to fight for what meant something to you! There was no one that could stop you!" The voice said, far more forcefully than before. "Yet here you are, playing with cardboard boxes!"
"What's going on?" He asked. "Who are you?"
"A warrior just like you! A warrior that like you has been…disarmed." The voice told him. "But together, we can be the warriors we were meant to be!"
Then, Trevor flopped forward onto the floor and everything went dark.
Back at the school, the game was well underway, and really heating up. It was no exaggeration to say that after the early heating up period, it had turned into an epic match that was well on its way to being considered one of the greatest ever played in the school. Both Hayley and Victor were giving everything they had, playing the best game of their lives, with numerous rallies that lasted so long that everyone had long since abandoned any notion of afternoon classes. Occasionally one of them would get a point, but none of them ever managed to pull far enough ahead that the other didn't end up pulling back, forcing the game to the maximum number of sets.
The other thing that happened was truly magical. Over time, the chants started to split, and more and more of the crowd were now cheering for Victor! Before long people were more interested in the game itself than any desire to see one or other player win. Both players were exhausted but at the same time elated to be involved in a true match for the ages.
"Match point Hayley!" Principal Hastings called out in what was thankfully the final game. Victor set up for the serve. He sent it screaming towards the White Ranger, who managed to return it with significantly less than the force she was would have liked. Victor got to it, with a tiny lob of his own that barely went over the net, but still bounced a second time as Hayley's swing missed it. Principal Hastings looked weary. "Deuce…again! Hayley to serve!"
Hayley took the ball and fired it over the net. Victor stumbled across the court, but did manage to get to it. Hayley ran for it, but her legs were like rubber and responded just a little too late. The ball went past her as she let out a frustrated growl.
"Nicely done Victor!" Monty called out as he clapped excitedly. Viera didn't really know who to cheer for with Hayley being her friend, but held onto Monty who looked ready to bounce right onto the court himself. Principal Hastings called them both back to the line.
"Match point Victor!" She answered. Victor took a few deep breaths, trying to compose himself before he threw the ball into the air. He fired it across the court, where Hayley barely got to it. The entire student body was on their feet watching as the rally began. Both Hayley and Victor were on their last legs, and looked barely able to stand much less play as they struggled to keep going.
Hayley fired a shot straight for the back of the court, before running to the net. As Victor returned it, she was hoping to drop it only just on the opposite side of the net before he could get there, but as she got to the ball, Victor launched himself into the air, smacking it back straight past her head, whistling only just past her ear. It went straight to the back of the court, hitting the ground and bouncing into the cage.
"Wait, that was on the line." Someone said.
"It was out!" Someone else called out.
"Wait, hold on!" Principal Hastings said, trying to calm things down. When she could still hear rumblings, she whistled. "QUIET! Mick…what does the footage say?"
Mick was on his computer, carefully checking it frame by frame. Everyone was silent waiting on his word as he looked up. Hayley and Victor both waited for his ruling, at which he looked apologetically to Hayley.
"It was in." He announced. "The point goes to Victor."
Victor dropped his racket and fell to his knees, throwing his hands up in victory as Hastings went to the table to get his trophy. Calvin put his towel around Hayley as all her friends surrounded her.
"I'm so sorry Hayls." He told her. "You were incredible out there."
"Yeah, you were amazing." Sarah told her.
"Yeah, that was the best game I've ever played." She said regretfully, before looking over to where Principal Hastings was approaching Victor. She could see that she was looking a little awkward about it. She couldn't blame her. It was only a few days ago she was accusing him of being a drug dealer and preparing to expel him. Hayley took off the towel. "Excuse me. There's something I need to do."
They watched as she went to Principal Hastings, taking the trophy from her, before approaching Victor. She offered it to him.
"Victor, you played the best game I ever played." She told him. "I'm not happy I lost, but…you made me a better player, and that's what competition is all about. You won this today and you deserve it. Congratulations."
Victor took the trophy from her and offered her a handshake.
"Same time again next year?" He asked her.
"Oh, you can count on it!" She replied, as he took her hand and raised it in the air as the whole school cheered them on. Principal Hastings came up behind both of them.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for Victor and Hayley!" She called out. The entire student body was only too happy to comply.
Back in the police station, Trevor started to come to, finding himself on the floor. He wasn't sure exactly how long he had been out. He couldn't even tell why he had passed out. As he peeled himself from the floor, he tried to remember what he was doing before he went down. All he could remember was the mysterious voice he had heard. He left the evidence room and looked down the hall to Sterling's office. He didn't know what was going on, but since that was where he had first heard the voice, if he was ever going to get answers, that was where he would find them. He just needed to figure out how to get back into her office.