Oliver is gazing out the window, his eyes analyzing the buildings, the people walking around, the different aura from the city that he's used to, but gets distracted by Tyler yawning loudly in the backseat. Moments later Vanessa rubs her face softly on Tyler's shoulder, but shoots her head up quickly embarrassed as she looks up and sees it's him she calms down a bit. "Oh hey babe, when did you get here? Woah, look at that, we're already in New York!"
Tyler smiles at her and starts to laugh as he pulls out his phone to text the guys from the team that they just made it back to New York while Vanessa looks over at Oliver still a little flushed. "Oliver, since you fell asleep I never got around to letting you know that the meeting was set up for 3pm today, so once we park I will be tagging along with you until then. Also he will be meeting us at the rental place, so don't be alarmed if a strange man walks over to us."
Tyler yawns loudly again as he puts his phone down and notices Oliver mesmerized by the construction so he taps Elijah on the shoulder and gestures over to him. Elijah turns his head as a smile appears on his face and smacks Oliver on the shoulder; he doesn't turn around but still answers Vanessa. "Oh yeah, all that sounds good, 3pm and strange man. Sorry they are building something over there, and it looks like so much fun."
Elijah chuckles lightly as he makes the turn into the rental place, "Don't worry Ness, if he ever gets distracted you have my permission to smack him or something. He hears everything, but is too consumed in his own head to respond right away. He was like that on school trips or pretty much anywhere it was really funny. He would sit in the bus for half an hour as the teachers would think he got lost. It was hilarious watching them freak out."
Oliver shoots him a glare as he glances back at Vanessa who has a slight smile on her face but turns his attention back out the window. "It wasn't completely my fault. They would drive by the chemical plant, so I would get distracted on the different ways we could eliminate all of the harmful gasses that are released. I was always getting yelled out. It was stressful."
Tyler scoffs under his breath as Vanessa laughs, causing Oliver to smirk, "You must've been a handful huh? Oh that's right, did you want to meet the team today? I should warn you not many are left after the rumors of the team disbanding. The ones that are left should all be working in the lab, because as things are now we can only submit individual projects. That is unless everything goes smoothly then we can enter with your machine. Wait, how are we going to bring your machine over to the school?"
Oliver looks around at the passing buildings as his eyes drift to his hands, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind going to see them after everything is settled. Uh, the robot should be here either tomorrow or the day after, I put in a call to some friends of my uncle and they will have it brought over to us."
Elijah pulls into the Elextrian Rental parking lot and parks it in the truck section as they start unloading their things. Oliver pulls out a little red box from one of his bags and places them on it causing them to disappear. Vanessa yelps as a few curious eyes look over to them standing around as Oliver tries to shrink himself but a hand stops him causing him to jump back into the man. "Oh, sorry about that, I just wanted to check what happened."
Oliver looks at the man and tries to move away but notices the look on Vanessa's face and ultimately decides to pick up the device and tell him what happened. "T-That's okay. I am just not used to being around people in a public setting, yet."
"Completely understandable young man, may I ask what that thing on the floor is, I could've sworn there were two bags there before." The older man's eyes remind him of Vanessa's as he takes a deep breath and picks it up.
"This is a device I created called a Transport Cube. It can house any number of things in a variety of sizes for easy storage and transportation. I developed it when I had to uhh, nevermind it just comes in handy with things." He runs his fingers along the ridges subconsciously unsure of what else to say.
The man looks at him skeptical of what Oliver is saying, so Elijah walks over to him carrying his bag and taps Oliver on the shoulder, "You can use my bag to show him how it works. I don't need it at the moment I have my other one in the locker room."
Oliver looks at him and notices the lack of unfamiliarity Elijah has with the gentleman and nods softly as he places the bag on the box, after a few seconds the bag vanishes in front of their eyes. The old man lets out a heart laugh which causes Oliver to stir a little bit, "Wow, you really are something else, kid. No wonder my daughter went out of her way to find you."
Oliver looks at him slightly confused then looks over at Vanessa who has a wide smile on her face. She walks over to the older man as Elijah is snickering in the background at Tyler who is as stiff as a board. "M-M-Morning sir, I brought her back safe and sound just like I promised."
Vanessa laughs at Tyler's face as she looks back at Oliver, "Remember I had told you that my dad wanted to meet with you before your meeting. I guess he just wanted to make sure you were worth all the trouble."
Oliver bends over and picks up his box and slips it in his pocket as the man still has a smile on his face. Vanessa's father gestures for him to come over, and Oliver hesitantly walks up to him. Vanessa walks over to Tyler helping him calm down a little bit. "That is some gizmo ya have there, Mr. Watson. I hope you have more where that came from. I just want to make sure the kids who get this scholarship are extraordinary and will help elevate our school."
Oliver takes a step back and looks him in the eye, "I can't say for certain that I am extraordinary or anything like that, but I don't plan on being out done by anyone. I gave my word to your daughter and myself, that I will take the club to the furthest place I can."
Mr. Davis chuckles to himself as he pats Oliver's shoulder, "Hah, Hah, well with that sort of conviction I can see why my daughter and Mr. Andrews stuck their necks out for ya. I will call the board immediately and tell them that you are without a doubt the best applicant for the Mechanic scholarship, and see if we can't have everything settled by the evening. Just do the academy a favor and don't cost the school 3 million dollars like the seniors did. We had to expel them after everything that happened last semester."
Fear starts to flood his body at the idea of being expelled from a place that he hasn't set foot in, causing his mind to race, but a soft voice stops him from fully having a panic attack. "Daaad, don't go scaring him like that before anything is official. I already told you we will be using his machine for the battles, so it won't set the school back anything if we end up losing. Although there isn't a single doubt in my mind that if he is able to join we will win."
Mr. Davis smiles softly at his daughters words and notices the looks she's giving Oliver, but decides to ignore it and move on, "Now now, who is the really putting pressure on the kid, and Tyler the coach says he wants you and Elijah on the court by 2:30, so you better hussle."
Tyler looks at her father and stands straight up and nods as he runs past Elijah waves at Oliver and follows after him. Vanessa checks her phone and looks at Oliver, "It's only 2, so do you want a tour of the school before the meeting or should we just wait in the auditorium?"
Oliver looks at the floor and then at Vanessa trying to figure out the best course of action, but his heart starts racing with the idea of being in front of people. His hands start to shake and feel tight in the gloves he's wearing and he decides to take them off exposing the deep scars on his hands. He starts to stretch them out and get feeling back in them which catches the attention of Mr. Davis notices them and has a concerned look on his face. "Those look painful, are they recent? I couldn't imagine something like that happening to me, I'm a weenie when it comes to pain."
Vanessa looks at her face to tell her father something for bringing it up but Oliver cuts her off as he starts to explain. "No, they are from a few years ago when I was bored. I had this crazy idea about harnessing a lightning strike and seeing how long it could power my lab, but something went wrong and it scarred my hands."
*Ding*
Vanessa looks at him with a soft expression, understanding why he lied to her father as she snaps out of it and checks her phone. -Ness, they are already setting up the auditorium, so if you're near you can wait inside.-
She responds, -Thnks Claire, I will head over rn.-
She looks up at Oliver and then back at her dad, "Can we get a ride to the auditorium? I want to pass by the lab and see if the team is there right now. If not we can just wait inside, Claire said they are already setting up."
Mr. Davis nods softly and gestures to them to follow him as Oliver helps Vanessa pick up her bags and they follow him to his car across the lot. They get to the car and put up the bags as Oliver opens the door for Vanessa who gets in first as he sits next to her which made her dad smile. "Glad to see people still have manners in this generation. I was wondering, do you have a family member we can put down as your guardian. It's a thing we have for all students?"
Oliver looks at him softly his eyes telling the story without a word being said as Mr. Davis understands and pulls out of the rental place. "Well that's okay, I will put myself down as your guardian. If you're uncomfortable with that I understand, but it's something all students need to have on their files."
Oliver looks at him wide eyed as he looks over at Vanessa who is looking at her father in the same way and as she was about to say something Oliver says, "Um, if you're sure you don't mind I will be okay with that. Thank you, sir."
Mr. Davis laughs as he starts driving and after what seemed like a labyrinth of twists and turns they end up at the back entrance of a massive building. Oliver gets off and starts to follow Vanessa, but Mr. Davis calls out to him. "You seem like a good kid, so let me give you some advice. The student council is ruthless and will look for any reason to deny you, so stay on the President's good side. Each of them already wants to deny you entrance into the academy, so you need to prove that you belong here. The President is the only one who doesn't have any bias towards you, so just keep a cool head no matter what questions they ask. Also I know it goes without saying, but she put everything she has on you so please don't let it be in vain."
Oliver nods and slowly makes his way towards Vanessa, but starts to get lost in his own head. 'If even her dad is worried about what's going to happen how bad are they. Shit. What am I doing here? I don't belong in a place like this. I should've stayed back in Chicago at least then no one would be worried about me or putting their hopes on my shoulders. I feel like I am walking to an execution. If I don't even believe I belong here, how can I make others believe it? I know I promised my parents I would challenge the world, but everything is still so sensitive it's going to take longer than I thought to fully recover. Those kids are going to eat me alive.'
Vanessa turns around and notices Oliver isn't behind her so she rushes out the door and see him standing still his hands are shaking, his eyes are watery and looks at him with concern on her face. She grabs the water bottle she was drinking and rushes over to him, "Here, drink some water and take a deep breath. I thought you were following me, but when I turned around you weren't there so I ran outside and you were right where I last saw you. Are you okay? I can take you to the nurse?"
Oliver tries to to take a step but nearly falls over as Vanessa catches him. "I will be fine. It wasn't as bad as the time at the park, but I feel bad that you had to help me like this again. What time is it?"
Vanessa pulls out her phone and checks it, "Hey, it's okay you are still getting used to being out and around people and then moving forward after everything that happened, so I understand if it takes time for you to fully heal. It's currently 2:15, I guess we can skip the tour and the meet and greet and head to the auditorium."
She gives him a soft smile as he regains his composure and walks alongside her slowly he stops and looks at her, "Hey can I ask you something? How do you think this will go?"
She says without missing a beat, "Well it could go either way honestly. Either you are able to join the school or they send you back home. It's entirely up to them now."
Oliver looks at her with fear welling up inside but decides not to ask anything else. They make it to the auditorium as kids are setting up the stage and a few members of the council are sitting in the front row. Oliver looks at them nervously but Vanessa puts her hands on his shoulders pushing him forward, "Don't worry and just focus on the here and now. Do something to take your mind off of it."
Oliver nods and sits down in the middle of the row. He takes out the red box and types something into it. -Mini toolkit & mini bot- a small sound emits from the box and a few heads turn but Oliver doesn't pay attention he just starts setting things up. He takes out his laser pin and pops open the back of the bot and starts tinkering with his machine in his own world. Vanessa looks at him with a genuine smile noticing at how careful he is working on the bot. A few hushed whispers catch her attention. "Is that him? He doesn't seem like anything special." "I can't believe she stuck her neck out for some nobody." "Who does she think she is?" "I heard he dropped out of school because he was always fighting." "Why would they let some mutt in a prestigious school like this?" "Little Miss princess always seems to get what she wants. It's so annoying."
Vanessa slouches into her seat trying to avoid the attention as Oliver stops working on the bot. "Do you want to wait outside until the meeting starts? I don't mind. It is kinda stuffy here."
She looks at him and softly shakes her head, "That's okay, people always talk about me like that since my dad is the financial advisor/enrollment officer. I will be fine, but are you okay?"
Oliver smiles at her and hands her the finished bot, "I'm fine now, don't worry. If you need something to keep your mind off the whispers, you can work on this. I call it the Practobot. I designed it myself, and no matter how many times I fix the problems the nanobots reset the circuitry."
Vanessa looks at the robot with a smile on her face as she reaches out and grabs it from him. She starts tinkering with it but keeps messing things up and shocking herself. "Ah, this is hard, do you have anything easier?"
Oliver smiles and shakes his head lightly as he starts to point out the problems and the best way to fix them. They are laughing and joking around, and end up in a world of their own trying to get the machine to work. About 40 minutes go by as Vanessa checks her phone, "Oh crap it's 2:55 we should make our way to the front. Thanks, this was nice. It felt good to relax and not worry about anything."
She tries to hand the bot back to him, but he declines as they make their way to the front. "You can keep it along with the tools they will fit in your bag. I have a few extras in the box, so don't worry about it. If you ever need a distraction try to fix him."
Vanessa smiles and puts the bot and tools away into her bag as they sit at the end of the row. All the eyes shift over to them as Oliver closes his eyes, 'Damn this is a lot of people for a simple meeting. Even more are filling the seats from the sides. Just focus on one thing at a time and don't screw up. I have to do this for my parents. I will get into this school. Now that I think of it, it has been a while since I had so much fun working on the practobot.'
Oliver's nerves calm down as the hushed whispers become more apparent, but this time Oliver and Vanessa seem more calm. She isn't focusing on the words behind her, but the 9 individuals sitting in the middle of the stage. 4 boys on one side and 4 girls on the other. In the middle stands a tall and stoic individual who sits and taps on the microphone. "Alright, let the meeting begin."