Journey to New York

~~~ Oliver's House.

It's currently 1 in the morning and everyone is either asleep, going to sleep, or laying in their beds trying not to think of the coming day, but for Oliver he's sitting outside his home with two bags full of clothes, tools, supplies and his future opening up before him. The other's had gone over to Elijah's to grab the rest of their things before swinging back to pick up Oliver who wanted to go, but was too nervous because the last time he met them was before the accident.

He takes off his gloves and sets them off to the side as he looks at his scarred hands with tears welling up while he absentmindedly traces them. "I can't believe I'm really going through with this, I never imagined it would happen. Seeing dad again really helped, fighting in that bout did as well, but I think understanding even though they are gone they are still in my heart is making this easier. I can't help feeling bad for the years I've wasted, but I know this is good and what I need in my life right now."

The blinding headlights bring him out of his thoughts as he takes a deep breath and puts the gloves back on. He stands up next to his mailbox and puts his bag over his shoulder, turning around and looking at the house one more time as the truck pulls up in front of him. "Tor, keep the house safe for me. Mom, Dad when I come back I will be a different person, so please be sure to watch over me."

Vanessa opens the back door from inside the truck as she gestures for him to come in, Tyler looks at him and nods softly as Elijah just stares at the house one last time. "You know, we did have some amazing memories here. Remember when you burnt the grass trying to create that thunder glass or whatever you called it for Elizabeth?"

Oliver turns towards him quickly, his face a bright red, "Eli, I have no clue what you're talking about. I have no memories of that. Let's just head out so we can get to the school already."

Tyler looks at him with a mischievous smirk, "Oh, who's this Elizabeth? You talked about her at school a few times."

Vanessa looks at him with wonder in her eyes, "Yeah, and what is a thunder glass, sounds interesting."

Oliver is buckled up in the truck and tenses at their questions while trying to put his bag away in the backseat. Elijah notices and laughs to himself as he says, "She is Oliver's oldest childhood friend."

Tyler asks while starting up the truck to leave, "I thought you were his oldest friend?"

Elijah looks at Oliver through the rearview mirror and notices his face is red, "If I remember correctly they met in pre-school and were inseparable since then, and I didn't meet him until Kindergarten and he…"

Oliver interrupts him which makes Elijah and Tyler snicker in the front seats as he looks over at Vanessa, "The Thunder Glass. Well a thunder glass was an idea I was cooking up where I would create snow globes for all the different weather phenomena, but some wires got crossed because someone was distracting me and I overheated it and it kinda sorta exploded."

Elijah smacks his leg and laughs while turning and looking back at Vanessa who was doing her best not to laugh at him. "Honestly that sounds like it would be really cool to have a thunderstorm in a globe or even a mini hurricane."

"I didn't mean to distract you, it was just fun to stick my hand in the tsunami one because it felt like a water massage on my hand. Ness, ask him why he wanted to make them in the first place." Oliver gives a dirty look to Elijah as Oliver yawns loudly and closes his eyes in an attempt to go to sleep instead of getting any more embarrassed.

A few hours have passed and it's currently 4 am as Vanessa is on the phone and has a sour look on her face when she turns to Oliver, working on the registration. "My father says that everything should be in order by the time we get there, but you will need to be interviewed by the Student Council in a public assembly. Then you will go meet the Dean to finalize anything else he needs done."

Oliver looks up from the forms and nods his head slightly as he says, "Oh, that doesn't seem too bad. I thought things would be way more difficult concerning I haven't been in a school since the 7th grade. You dad must be pretty high up to get things settled so quickly. I just don't understand that look on your face."

Tyler and Elijah chuckle as Oliver looks at them confused. He was about to say something but Vanessa grabbed his attention. "Well considering two of the council members are related to the former captain and you are the one set to replace him, that will make things difficult. They will do everything in their power and dig up as much information on you as they can in order to get you to react negatively or make others distrust you and not allow you to enter our school."

Oliver looks at his hands and clenches them as a half smile appears on his face. "You know normally that would scare me being questioned by strangers, but being surrounded by those criminals in the underground battles for the past three years has made me ready for anything. So, whatever questions they have I will be ready."

"That's good to hear Oliver. There's something I have been meaning to ask you since Elijah had told me about you last year." Vanessa is putting away some of the paperwork into her bag as Oliver is looking out the window.

"Hmm, what was it?" Oliver looks at her inquisitively.

"He said that you were all set to go to Rancin Academy and work at Rancin Dynamics at the age of 12 and I know the incident made you put all that aside, but I'm sure if you asked them now they would gladly accept you into their program. I was just curious why you decided on our school when you had opportunities like that." Vanessa asks not looking Oliver in the eyes.

He laughs, causing her and Elijah who was peeking at him through the rearview mirror to startle, "Well that's easy, because they stole my research and used those designs to further their schools reputation for furthering the future."

Tyler seemed interested in the conversation but never took his eyes off the road as Elijah and Vanessa looked at him wide eyed. Elijah was the first to speak, "What do you mean stole your research? How can they blatantly do that and why didn't you do anything about it?"

Oliver looks out the window as a soft smile crosses his face, "Remember that idea I had for Elizabeth when she was in her art and creative writing phase? The one that would allow you to immerse yourself into the story and dictate how it goes based on your thoughts?"

Vanessa looks at him and grabs his arm tightly, "You mean you're the one that created the Imagisphere that they released recently that would make watching movies more immersive?" 

Tyler's hands tighten around the wheel as he says, "Don't tell me you're going to take credit for that hermit. There is no way you had anything to do with that, because I have a friend at Rancin Academy who says Wyatt Anderson, their star pupil created that during his first month working at the company. Although he says he developed it for a girl he was talking to or trying to talk to, I'm not sure how truthful that is."

Vanessa looks at Tyler and nods softly, "Yeah I heard it was him as well. Are you sure you're not mistaken, Oliver."

Elijah notices Oliver's face tighten in anger, "He's not mistaken you two. I was there and so was Elizabeth watching him design it, find the parts at the junkyard, and she was even there when he submitted the blueprints and the prototype. I knew that seemed so familiar."

Oliver collects himself and turns to look at Vanessa, "Yeah, so they stole my research and when I confronted them about it they pulled everything regarding me from their files from the school and the company. I chose to go to your school to watch them fall at my hands and to help you in any way you can because you have the same eyes as him. Hopeful."

He looks at the papers in his hands and shuffles them up, "Let's just finish this up so we can get some more rest."

Oliver and Vanessa have finished up the forms and they are passed out in the back as Tyler pulls into a rest stop for necessities. Elijah struggles out of the car and stretches widely before heading into the store to get what they need for the rest of the drive. Oliver slowly starts to wake up as he looks around and notices Vanessa shivering in her sleep, and as he reaches in the back to grab a blanket he stops and grabs Tylers attention instead. "Hey, I was wondering if we could switch. I have some stuff I need to talk with Eli about, so you can get some sleep if you need."

Tyler looks at him through the rearview mirror and is about to decline, but he notices Vanessa shivering next to him and nods his head softly. He gets out of the car and stretches before heading to the back seat where Oliver is waiting for him to get in. Tyler covers him and Vanessa in the blanket while Oliver sits in the passenger seat with a smirk on his face , but as he was about to go to sleep something catches his attention. "Huh, interesting."

Out of the corner of his eye Oliver notices the people moving in and out of the store but there's also an old man having trouble getting his electric wheelchair to work and which has his full attention. The old man is struggling to get his chair to work as people are just walking past him paying him no mind which made Oliver angry, but he's too nervous to try and help because he's always had trouble speaking to people. Growing up he always had Elizabeth and Elijah to go in his place to help whoever it was that needed it, but she's been out of his life for years and Elijah is inside while Tyler and Vanessa are asleep. Oliver takes a deep breath gathering up all his courage and adjusts his goggles around his neck to on top of his head as he slips out of the car, and tosses on his lab coat. 

He closes his eyes and imagines the wheelchair in his mind as the schematics appear along with it and the chair starts to slowly deconstruct and rearrange themselves into different positions. Hundreds of images appear and disappear until one remains and when he opens his eyes he's fidgeting with his key. 'So that must be the issue, but am I really up for this? Stop, just put on your best impression of Elijah. It's possible the joystick may have lost connection to the motor, or the freewheel lever is in the unlocked position. I will need to open up the compartment and check out the wiring and after that check up on the lever to make sure I don't miss anything small.'

Oliver subconsciously traces the scars on his hands as he takes a deep breath to calm his nerves and calls out to the old man, "Sir, I think I can help you out. I have some experience working on models like yours back home, but I would need to make sure you understand I'm no professional."

He smiles softly at Oliver and pulls out a cane that was sitting in the basket of the chair, as Oliver helps him off the chair carefully. "Yes, please do what you can. I am so sorry to trouble you young man, but for some reason it just randomly started to mess up on me this morning and now it doesn't move at all. I feel bad because I don't have anything to compensate you with for helping an old man out."

Oliver looks at the man as he pulls out some tool from his coat, "No worries, I could never accept it even if you did have something. I love tinkering with things, so that is enough of a payment for me."

The old man looks at him puzzled as Oliver lies on the floor and opens up the control hatch and takes out and reconnects the wiring in order to reset the entire chair and notices a few of the wires are frayed. He looks around in his coat for the prototype glue he created and applies it to the frayed areas which mimics the color so no one would notice it's even there. He stands up, dusts himself off and gestures for the man to try it out. He helps the old man onto the chair and notices it runs smoothly and with a huge smile the man says, "Wow, you really did finish it quickly. It works as good as new, but I really can't let you walk away with nothing. Is there anything I can do?"

Oliver shakes his head and rubs the back of his head, "No it's okay, I just love working on machines. How about when you get home call the manufacturer and tell them there might be a problem with the wiring. I put a special glue I developed to hold them together for a few hours, but after that it will dissolve. Just make sure not to let them know I messed with it or you could lose your warranty."

The old man chuckles and nods his head at the instructions. He takes off towards a black truck waving goodbye to Oliver as Elijah appears from behind him and wraps his arm around his neck. "Aww, my little Ollie is growing up so fast. I could cry!"

As he is fake crying Oliver pushes him away and walks ahead of him. Elijah catches up to him, "I'm only kidding, you grew up throughout these past 3 years I was gone. I finally realized it. It was pretty cool to see you help out that old man, but do you mind if I ask you something?"

Oliver stops walking as Elijah bumps into him chewing on a meat stick, "That was so exhilarating! My heart is still racing! Uhh, sure yeah I don't mind."

Elijah, caught off guard laughs at Oliver's outburst, "Woah, there's the Oliver from before I missed you man. Oh yeah, there is no nice way to say it, but are you still involved with that underground league?"

Oliver looks at him and notices the fear in his eyes as he looks over at the others asleep in the car and looks up at the night sky. "Mr. Wylan and my father are like the two of us, not related by blood but as close as family so the only reason I stayed with him all these years was he was the closest thing I had to my parents. We finished up our agreement last night, so we can consider my dealings with them over I promise. Mr. Wylan on the other hand is still family so he will always be someone I will keep in touch with."

"Elijah laughs as he wraps his arm around Oliver's neck, "Really, so Mr. Watson had an Eli of his own that's funny. I understand that family is important to you, but if you say there's nothing to worry about I will trust you. Also as the older brother you need to make sure you don't embarrass me when you get to the Academy, I have a reputation to uphold."

They laugh as they walk over to the car, Oliver gets in the passenger seat as Elijah finishes putting gas and they start heading back on the road. "I still can't believe you are actually going to school with me again? Hey, when we achieve our dreams you better not forget about little ol' me, and you better not replace me with a robot."

Elijah laughs at his own joke and Oliver cracks a smile, and looks outside enjoying the view. "Yeah it doesn't seem real to me yet, and I don't know man a robot would probably have better jokes."

Elijah looks at him with a shocked face as Oliver laughs, "It's a new beginning for me, and if I can live half the life my parents did then I will be grateful. I am going to try and get some sleep, okay man?"

Elijah nods as he puts the radio a bit louder as Oliver passes out against the window. "I wish that laugh or smile seemed genuine, but I guess he still needs time to fully relax and allow himself to be happy."

A few more hours pass and they finally make it to New York around 2 in the afternoon. Elijah nudges Oliver and points out the window. Oliver, still groggy from being woken up, looks outside with his eyes wide open in amazement. "This is it man. The first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy the sites as I take this back to the school rental center."

Oliver has a huge smile on his face as he traces the scars on his hand. 'Mom, Dad this is it. The day my new life begins. I hope I can make you proud and for me to do that I need to get enrolled and conquer New York.'