Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 37 (Karma is Hell)

As they stood before Nevel's front door, Spencer was overcome by a powerful feeling of security. He knew they could handle this, he knew he could trust Michael with anything. He watched his cousin ring the doorbell and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply as Michael crossed his arms. They didn't have to wait long, Ms. Papperman opened the door, appearing as shy and timid as ever. She met their gazes and seemed to shrink on the spot. "Hello? How can I help you?"

Michael closed his eyes and smiled coolly, lowering his arms. "We're here to see your son, Nevel. Is he in?" The mother looked back over her shoulder and silently bowed her head, opening the door wider, inviting them inside. "Thank you." Spencer followed his cousin in and stopped at the couch while the woman started towards the basement door.

"Let me call him up for you. If he isn't too busy." Dear god, was this woman really afraid of Nevel? It disturbed Spencer greatly, she was the mother here! Hell, all the money Nevel made off that computer stuff he programmed probably went into her bank, he was almost too young to have an account of his own! The brat was fifteen years old for Pete's sake! Michael met his questioning gaze and returned his eyes to the woman.

"Can I ask you something, before you do that?" The woman stopped, resting her hand just above the doorknob. She turned her head away, but made no motion to open the door. "You're his mother, shouldn't you have the say-so in this house? Are you even aware of the stuff your son gets involved in?"

"I know he writes computer software for some companies his dad used to work for. That's about it, he keeps to himself generally." She lifted her head and looked back at him. "Would you two care for some tapenade?" She had bags beneath her eyes and her hair was a mess. Spencer almost pitied her, it was terrible that the woman would be so beaten down. "I can make some real quickly."

"No thanks, but I don't understand why the role reversal here. Sure it's none of my business, but you're the parent and he's the kid. Why does he control you?"

"He makes the money."

"So? What can he do with that money? How old is he, fifteen?"

"Yes."

"So he can't drive yet, he can't own a house, and you have absolutely no clue what he does with the money?" She lifted her eyebrows and slowly shook her head. Spencer looked to Michael, curious as to what he was doing here. "You don't find it the least bit odd? Not even odd that two grown men are here to see your fifteen year old son."

"I just assume you're his friends or something…he tells me to mind my own-"

"None of that." Michael waved his hand in the air and took a deep breath before placing his hand to his chest. "I'm Mike Carlson, my mother is a lawyer and I've got a law degree. This is my cousin, Spencer Shay, you may know him as the older brother of Carly Shay." The woman's eyes grew slightly as Michael took a strong step forward. "I'm not here to tell you how to parent, I don't even have kids myself, but I can tell you that you need to monitor your son more often."

"Why? What's he doing?"

"Your son has been terrorizing my cousins for years, your son has been mixed up with two older thugs, one of which was arrested at a bar last night, and participated in a late night exchange one night in an alleyway, demanding a kiss from Carly." The woman's eyes grew even more and she slowly straightened her back. "They ransacked their apartment, and most recently, it would appear your son has ordered his men to beat my cousin up, robbed him of one hundred dollars in cash and is forcing them to pay six thousand dollars because he screwed up. If you would like evidence of your son's wrongdoings, you can call the local police, I'm certain Officer James will be happy to tell you of your son's shenanigans. Unless of course, you already know about all this?"

"No, I didn't know he was doing all that." She bowed her head and closed her hands up. "I-I'm a terrible mother. I shouldn't have let him do all of that. Maybe I've been too generous with him…" She slowly rubbed her head and groaned. "Always these migraines…excuse me…" The woman looked to be in a state of total shock, as though she were trying desperately to understand what Michael had said to her. She wanted answers, and rightfully so. She opened the basement door and called down. "Nevel Papperman, get up here right now!" She said it with such conviction, though there was still a slight hint of fear in her voice.

"Mother! You know better than to order-" The woman's face tensed as Michael cleared his throat. She looked at him for a second and slowly shook her head, closing her eyes and muttering, then raising her voice to dangerous levels.

"You will not make me look like a fool of a mother…Get up here now, or I will turn off your computers."

"You wouldn't dare, mother!"

"Try me!" What an impressive transformation, it was likely due to the realization and wonder of the things that Nevel had done. Spencer heard a loud crashing sound, then followed what sounded like someone stomping up the stairs. In an instant, Nevel barged through the doorway, raising his hand to his mother.

"You don't talk to me like that!" The woman recoiled for a moment and Michael cleared his throat. Nevel froze and looked over at the two, instantly recognizing Spencer. Michael turned his gaze to the mother and breathed through his nose.

"You're going to let him talk to you like that? You are the mother, he is the kid." The woman nodded and put a strong foot forward.

"Right. Nevel, I am your mother, and I am in charge. You need to learn that, I won't tolerate your violence anymore, and I should have put a stop to it ages ago." Nevel slowly glared at her and started stomping on the ground.

"No mother! You have no right!" He slammed his foot onto hers and she let out a loud yelp. Then, with a powerful anger, she slapped him straight across the face. He froze, his eyes wide with shock. He slowly stepped forward, obviously never disciplined in his life. The air grew still with silence, Spencer had to admit, he was a bit proud of the woman's transformation here. Ms. Papperman narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger to him.

"Nevel Papperman, I've had about enough of this, and I am not above sending you to boot camp. In fact, I've been considering it for some time." She put her hand to her waist and gestured to Spencer and Michael. Spencer's bruise was still somewhat clear, so it served as enough proof that something was up. "Now these men have informed me of some pretty disturbing things, and I need to know if they are right." Nevel clenched his teeth and waited as his mother continued onwards. "You've been terrorizing that Carly girl and her friends? Been involved with a couple of thugs? What have you been doing under my roof!" Michael smirked and motioned his head to the door.

"Have you ever been in that basement? I'm willing to wager he's got everything you need to know on those computers." She stiffened and Nevel's face grew white as a hospital sheet. Spencer closed his eyes and chuckled inwardly as the woman bolted past Nevel and headed downstairs. The boy turned and shouted at her.

"No mother! You know you're not allowed down there!"

"This is my house Nevel, I pay the bills! If I don't like what I find, you are in big trouble mister!"

"Like you can do anything to me…"

"What was that? Get down here this instant!" Nevel flinched and turned his glare upon the cousins. He lifted his finger and growled.

"You're going to rue this…"

"Save it punk," Michael stated with narrow eyes. "You'd better get down there and listen to your mother. We have business with you, but we'll get to that in a minute." Clearly, Michael had no patience for this kid, and neither did Spencer. He'd never seen such egregious behavior from a child to their parent! He definitely deserved to be sent to Military school. Nevel made his way downstairs, followed by Michael and Spencer. The mother was already going through everything on the computers, her eyes wide and full of tears.

"Mother…come on…" She put her hand to her mouth and slowly shook her head, shaking horribly. Spencer stared at the computers, wondering what exactly it was she was seeing that was so bad. Knowing Nevel, there was probably a lot on there he didn't want to know about.

"I…am raising…a demon child…" She moved her hands from the keyboard and slid back in the chair. "No, no more…I'm cutting off access to the internet. You're no longer allowed down here Nevel."

"Mother! You can't!"

"I can, and I will! You have a list of people here that you want someone to attack because they're not doing what you want! You're terrorizing everyone! No, that's it, I'm sending you away. I can't tolerate this under my roof! What else aren't you telling me?" Michael cracked his neck from side to side, exhaling softly.

"Now we get to the reason we're here. Sorry to have caused all this drama…" Spencer stifled a snicker, there was no way in hell Michael was sorry to cause this. What he did was open a woman's eyes to the life of crime that Nevel was heading into. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this. Nevel growled at him and started for him, but Michael did not move. "You strike me, and you strike a lawyer that knows how to sue you." Nevel froze in place, his lips slowly began to separate and his eyes grew wide. "Now, my mother is a full-fledged lawyer and is fully prepared to file charges against you for defamation, assault and battery, and so on…I don't think you'd be too happy with that, now would you?"

"What are you talking about?" He sneered vehemently and shifted his glare between Michael and Spencer. Spencer wanted to say something, but he didn't mind letting Michael do all the talking here, after all, he was doing well so far.

"I'm referring to you using the threat of violence in order to make my cousins pay you money that they do not owe." Nevel's face fell and he rolled his eyes, quickly reaching a piece of paper on his computer desk and holding it up.

"I hold in my hand a URL document that states Carly Shay signed over a website that failed…"

"While under your care and responsibility, if I'm correct. May I see that?" Nevel shrugged and handed the document over. Michael smiled at him and nodded graciously. "Thank you." He held the certificate up and led his eyes along the words, reading aloud. "This legal transfer document hereby grants…yada-yada…the signer agrees to signing over a fully working and successful URL…yada-yada…the signer relinquishes all responsibility and care of the website, thus granting the recipient full responsibilities and rights as full owner of the URL." Nevel blinked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well? I see nothing wrong with that?"

"Oh I agree." Michael lowered his arms and smirked. "Every word is binding, and this is a legal document. Spencer, you've had a few years of law school, what can you tell me from what you just read? A simpleton could probably understand it."

"Yeah, true," Spencer replied with a growing sense of satisfaction. They'd won already, he was sure of it! "What that says is as of signing over a successful webshow, Carly has absolutely no responsibility of it whatsoever. So, should it fail while under your care…" Nevel's eyes grew and sweat beads started to drip from his forehead. "You legally bought the webshow, bought over all rights and responsibilities, hired two actors, and the webshow was still successful for about a month before the actors quit."

"A month, huh?" Michael clicked his tongue and met Nevel's eyes with the sharpest of glares. Nevel's hands began trembling as Michael took a strong step forward, intimidating the short kid. "It was successful for that long? Do we need to ask why the actors quit on you? I believe that's evidenced enough by that final webshow of theirs, is it not? Ms. Papperman, can you play that video for us on the computer? I want to see this?"

"If I can find it," she replied. Michael put his hands behind his back and grinned with satisfaction as Nevel slowly watched his mother type away at the computer. After a long moment of silence, she finally found the video where a woman's voice spoke out.

"Welcome to the new iCarly, we're you're hosts, Danielle and Kyle. This…will be our final show. We're prepared to go out with a bang, but you see, we feel the need to quit as, we cannot be expected to work under such demeaning circumstances. Nevel has cussed us out at every turn, demanded us to do anything from getting him a soda to scratching the…harder to reach places…Also, the sexual harassment is too much, I can't do this webshow any longer, and Kyle is leaving as well. I'm sorry, but Nevel is impossible to work for…so please enjoy our last show for you guys, thank you for being so patient with us."

Nevel's eyes widened and Spencer smacked his forehead, how the hell could Nevel seriously keep that video up? "I-I wasn't there when they shot that! They're not supposed to do or say anything that-"

"Would be detrimental to you, correct?" Michael asked simply. Nevel whined and caught his mother's disapproved stare. "Nevel, it is to my understanding that your constant harassing of my little cousin is due to her wanting to kiss you. As a protective older cousin, if I weren't a lawyer, I'd be tempted to handle you how you handle people that piss you off, but I am fully prepared to sue you for sexual harassment and defamation. Not only that, but Spencer is also fully prepared to have his neighbor arrest you on any or all of these charges, which he probably will do anyway." Nevel quickly fell to his knees, begging, as though he finally understood the gravity of the situation. "Nevel, welcome to the real world, where you can't just order everyone around and demand things be done for you, every action has a consequence. Let me know if you'd like to appear in court…"

"No, please, you can't do that, I'm just a kid!"

"You're still legally able to go to jail once you turn ten. You're fifteen." Nevel looked to his mom and started shaking his head.

"Mother! You can't let them sue me, or arrest me! Honest! You wouldn't do that to your own son would you?" Ms. Papperman closed her eyes and crossed her arms. She sucked a breath of air and relaxed her body.

"Nevel, you are my son, but you are hereby banned from computers. I'm calling up the boot camp and sending you off to Military School, where hopefully they can shape you up. Yes in fact…" She looked to Michael and closed her hands. "I'm going to do that right now!" Nevel whimpered as she rushed out of the room. He lifted his eyes to Michael and narrowed them, growling dangerously.

"You will r-"

"Choose your words very carefully, Nevel." Michael smirked and narrowed his eyes. "We're not talking kiddie games here, we're talking the real world now. Fraud, slander, defamation, harassment, terrorizing, stalking, thievery, oh how juicy of a case this would make…You don't even legally have the right to demand six thousand dollars from my cousin. She owes you nothing, you legally bought that site and all the responsibilities, ran a legal site online for a month before it failed due to your own problems…I'd say you're finished Nevel, and Officer Greene has enough to arrest you without me having to bring all this up."

"W-What do you mean?" Spencer chuckled and Nevel shot him a look. In that moment, Ms. Papperman called down, something about the police. James had already deployed a couple officers, based off of a confession by Alfonso. In order to get a lighter sentence for his crimes and participations, he had to basically rat out Raul and Nevel. Nevel's eyes widened as the police started running down the basement stairs. He handed Nevel the document and turned away.

"I think we're done here, Papperman."

"No! I'll call off the debt! Please! I'm sorry for doing anything to her! Honest! I'll leave her alone from now on, I promise! She doesn't have to rue anything, she doesn't have to pay!"

"That's the point I wanted to make clear to you, Nevel. She never had to pay." The police started to cuff him and made arrangements to seize his computers. He screamed out with tears welling up in his eyes, for the first time, he was truly terrified. "But you did save yourself a little extra grief from admitting that. I can say you won't ever have to worry about the Shays again."

"Then what? What now?" Michael smirked and turned his gaze to the computers. Spencer followed his gaze and slowly shook his head. Wasn't it obvious? Clearly Carly wasn't the only person that Nevel had committed crimes against. Even his own actress just admitted on a video, across the world, that he made sexual advances towards her. If she wanted to bring it up, it was up to her. Alfonso may have also confessed to several beatings ordered by Nevel, who apparently had a blacklist on his computer. Since Nevel managed to say Carly owed him nothing, he was more than willing to close this part of his life and never bring Nevel up again. So was Carly, more than happy to just forget about him.

"What now? We leave. You're pretty much screwed Nevel, no one needs our help in making sure you get what you deserve. Your computer, as well as your henchmen, will probably do that for you. Again I say, welcome to the real world, where your actions do have consequences. Come on, Spence, let's bail."

"Right behind you, Cousin." The two of them made their way up the stairs, listening as Nevel screamed profanities at them. They brushed them off without problem. When they made it to the car, Michael gave Spencer a pleased and concerned look.

"You okay? Nevel won't bother you again."

"Yes. A little stunned, but…" He looked at the house and smiled, he was yet another step to happiness. Nevel truly wouldn't be a problem, he finally was getting what he deserved. "Thank you Michael…just, thanks."

"You're my cousin, we got to look out for one another."

"Yeah, that's true." With that, Michael started up the car and drove off. Today began the first day of the rest of their lives.

Go Micheal! Things are truly looking up!