Dynamics of a Human Heart Ch. 07

"If you or any of you kuso-eating cocksuckers ever comes near the people I care about again I will end you!"

The remaining men at the table assessed the situation: they had the strength of numbers, were clearly stronger than either girl, and were in peek physical condition.

Their opposition: a pair of science geeks; one, a small Asian girl and the other was in a wheelchair.

Having assessed the situation, the remaining men took that opportunity to run for their lives.

Jeff was trying to get to his feet; Miranda was having none of it as she snatched up the stick and brought high over her head.

"Miranda!"

Miranda whirled around to face her lover, "What?"

Sam gestured to the people surrounding them and slowly Miranda became aware of them. They looked horrified by what had happened. She realized that she was panting; that there were flecks of blood on her hoodie, her arms hurt and her hands were shaking.

"I don't...," she frowned in confusion. The reality of the situation was crashing in on her, reflected in the looks of confusion and condemnation, "Sam, what have I done?"

"Miri," she gestured to a pair of men in uniforms, campus security, "These two men need us to go with them, okay?"

A long moment before Miranda nodded, "Yes, of course," she handed the stick to Sam, "I think it would be better if you were to hold onto this for me."

Sam managed a brave smile as she took the stick, "I think you're right," she caught Miranda's slender hand in hers and kissed it, "Everything is going to be okay, Miri, don't be afraid."

Miranda just nodded again and, scraped up as much dignity as she could manage and began to follow the others out of the dining hall.

She stopped suddenly and turned to address the crowd,

"I'm sorry, I've--" she cleared her throat, trying to make the words that could somehow make this right, "There's no excuse. I'm just so sorry...about everything." She looked around and saw hope as the faces of a few people as severity was replaced with sympathy on a few of them.

"Come on, Miri. Time to go."

---------------------------------------------------

"If someone had told me this morning," President Ceran Vega began, "that two of my most brilliant colleagues; specifically these two colleagues," he gestured at the girls, "would find themselves on disciplinary charges for getting into a fist-fight in the dining room, I'd have called them insane."

"Ditto," Sam commented.

"Yes, sir," Miranda chimed in.

The older man exhaled and sat down in his chair: in his fifties and President of Cal-tech, Doctor Ceran Vega had been the head of the physics department before Luke. In his day, he had been the protégé wunderkind and was, had been (and still was) considered a genius in physics and mathematics, as well as being an accomplished painter. Now he busied himself with the running of one of the most prestigious institutions of learning in the world, oftentimes fulfilling both the academic responsibilities of a dean with the logistical and financial duties of a school president. It was however, widely rumored that he could still hold in his own on any matter whether it is the sciences or the arts.

His hair and neatly trimmed beard were white with deeply tanned skin and an accent he had brought from his homeland of Catalonia, Sam enjoyed calling him 'The Most Interesting President of Cal-Tech in the World.'" Unfortunately, humor was not the tone of today's meeting.

He was flanked by Luke and Isabel, who had been contacted immediately after the girls had been taken into custody by campus security. They were the closest either girl had as far as an advocate.

And right now, nobody in the room looked happy.

"I just received a phone call from UCLA," Vega began as everyone else in the room inwardly groaned in dismay, "They take exception to the fact that you two felt the need to cripple their two wingers, right as the season is getting started."

"Tell them we take exception to having their 'two wingers' trying to rape us to death and murder our friends!"

Every set of eyes in the room widened at Sam's comment: taking this tone with anyone, let alone the President of the school, was the equivalent of throwing down the gauntlet and giving the opponent the finger.

"Sam..." Miranda whispered, suddenly very afraid as she saw Isabel and Luke exchange horrified looks as Sam glared defiantly at the older man behind the desk.

The President, however, was a man of letters and a classical gentleman; he closed his eyes and exhaled before opening them again.

"Doctor Adler, that's a very damning accusation, would you be willing to recount the story?" he asked.

"And, in a civil tone, would be a good idea, doctor," Isabel added, her tone more than a little frosty.

Sam swallowed and sighed, "Right, sorry sir."

Vega simply nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"We went to a frat party—" Luke and Isabel both scoffed in disbelief, rolling their eyes.

"Was it on campus?" Doctor Vega asked quietly.

Sam nodded, "Yes, it might have once been a frat house, but I think it's a private residence now."

Luke snorted loudly, "That has to be the old Alpha Chi Ro house, real class act," he saw the questioning looks from the two girls at the opposite end of the table, "Trust me, it's still a frat but they're just squatters now instead of any kind of recognized chapter. Even when they were official though; they were scum: A real 'father to son' tradition of sick shit; they had names like 'roofie-roof house' and 'rape-o-rama'."

Almost everyone shuddered in disgust at that and even the President looked suddenly a bit more unsettled.

"So what happened to them?" Sam asked quietly.

Luke nodded in Isabel's direction, who just shook her head.

"No," a single syllable that spoke volumes, but with an undeniable finality.

"Right now, that's not the focus of this conversation," Vega dragged the talk back on track, "They were finally stripped of their charter and dissolved, it was one of my first acts as President."

"And one of your best," Isabel added very quietly. Sam gave her a long look: Isabel had always spoken well of Doctor Vega and she'd always assumed it was because they shared a similar background and heritage. Now, however, she was beginning to suspect, there might be more to it.

The President pinched the bridge of his nose in tension, "I still remember the number of former members who threatened to sue because their sons had not been able to partake in the same...activities as they had."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sam commented.

"Get in line," Miranda countered.

"All right then, if these students are associated in any way with former members of A.C.R., that's very damning information," he steepled his fingers, thinking, "Of course, they're not technically students here, so that complicates things."

"Someone invited them there," Luke spoke up.

"True and I'd be very interested in knowing exactly who that 'someone' is and what their relationship is to A.C.R.

"Does UCLA have a chapter?"

The older man shook his head, "No, no after the debacle here, all official affiliates dissolved."

"I noticed you said, 'official'," Miranda commented quietly.

A humorless smile crossed Vega's lips, "Very good, Doctor Inoue," he cleared his throat, "The fact of the matter is that the spirit of the A.C.R. is alive and well in this country, in a dozen different states: all under different names and funded through 'private investors'."

"Meaning, 'former members'?"

"Yes."

Sam groaned and rested her head back against the armrest, "Ten million frats in the world and I have to pick the one that even Caligula wouldn't have anything to do with."

Everyone smirked at that and Isabel moved closer to Luke; who quickly wrapped his arm around her waist, giving her a comforting squeeze.

"They're monsters," the dusky skinned woman said.

Sam favored her with a savage grin, "Yeah, well, they met something way more monster than anything they or their rich daddies could handle."

"Grey?" Miranda asked quietly.

"Grey."

"Yes, the witnesses to the...," he gave Sam a measuring look; "...incident said that you were attacking them for 'Sam and Grey'. Who is this person exactly, a friend?"

Both girls nearly choked as they attempted to hold back and instead settled for a prolonged coughing fit.

"Did I say something funny, Doctors?" asked Vega, politely.

"No sir," Miranda calmed herself with more ease than her lover, "It's just a bizarre notion to call Grey 'a friend', and he doesn't do the whole 'friend' thing at least not with nice, sane, people like us.

"I see," Vega replied with a quirked eyebrow.

"That man," Sam began, "is a deranged, chain-smoking, booze-swilling megalomaniac. He's got no conscience, probably no heart, he lies with every breath that he takes and when he isn't busy lying he's using us as target practices for his insults."

"Sounds like a good person to stay away from," the other man commented.

"Yeah," Sam sighed before her expression turned forlorn, "He's also brave to a fault, asks for nothing no matter what he does, honors his word always, and saved our lives at that stupid party and nearly was beaten to death by those sons of—!"

"Sam!" Miranda hissed.

"—people afterwards!"

"I see. This sounds very complicated," Doctor Vega replied.

"That's a good word for it."

Isabel gave them both a humoring smile, which made the girls, in turn, very happy. The sight of her unhappy was upsetting them both.

President Vega spoke up, "So, you met this 'Grey' at the party?"

Miranda nodded, "Yes, Sam and I arrived and one thing led to another and—"

"Miri," Sam interrupted placing a hand on the other girl's thigh, "don't sugar coat it, I'm a big girl," she turned to face Vega, "I got drunk and wound up surrounded by a group of guys."

"The men in the dining hall this afternoon, I take it?"

"Yes sir," Sam cleared her throat, this was still not easy to talk about, "They were bragging about how they were going to...share me," Miranda felt Sam's fingernails dig into her leg, but she only placed her hand over the other girl's and squeezed.

"I see," and there was no missing the loathing Doctor Vega felt for these men, in his tone,

"And then?"

"And then Grey...called them out."

"He did what?"

"He called them out," Sam repeated and a smile started to creep across her face, replacing the pain, "He spewed the most vile insults I have ever heard," she gestured to Isabel, "and I've seen you wasted on tequila shots."

Everyone's eyes calmly shifted to Isabel who shrugged, "Hey you celebrate Christmas your way, I do it mine."

"Feliz Navidad," Luke commented.

"You were saying?" Doctor Vega interjected.

"Right," Sam regained her train of thought, "anyhow, I guess they weren't in the 'raping' mood then, given all the attention that Grey was directing at them."

"Clever," Vega mused quietly, "I assume that the other point of this was to provoke a physical confrontation?"

"Boy howdy! The big one, Jeff, he was the worst of them and he just charged Grey full on."

"I take it from that ludicrously gleeful expression on your face, Doctor Adler, that that was a mistake?"

Sam blushed and suddenly became aware to the fact that she was grinning somewhat maniacally.

"Sorry, it was just..." she searched for the right word, "...flawless."

"'Flawless, Doctor Adler? What do you mean?

"I mean that Grey just disassembled that sorry son-of-a--," Miranda sent her a warning look, "—person. He made a big show of it too; he didn't just beat the guy up, he humiliated him in front of everyone, it was incredible!"

"He's had training," Miranda added, in a more reserved tone, "And a working knowledge of human anatomy," she cleared her throat, "He would call out the different parts of the body he was attacking. He would call out 'Liver!' and then lecture on what the purpose of the liver was and what happened if it were injured before proceeding to injure it.

Liver, solar plexus, diaphragm, he turned it into some kind of...game, like he was showing off that he knew exactly how to hurt him, not just being able to beat him. It was...," Miranda licked her lips; Sam would not appreciate this next bit.

"Was?" Doctor Vega prompted.

"Torture, doctor, he tortured the boy...and he liked it."

"What the fuck?!" Sam cried, "Are you out of your fucking mind?! He saved both our lives!"

"He's a sadistic monster, Sam, and you need to get your head around that, instead of treating him like some kind of a hero!"

"Look, just because he's got your panties and brain matter in a bind--!"

"Ahem," Doctor Vega interrupted quietly and both girls turned red.

"Sorry," they both muttered.

"I have one question," Isabel spoke up, "Why?"

Sam frowned, "Why what?"

"Why did he help you? He doesn't sound like the 'saving' type."

Sam gestured at her lover, "Ask 'Binty' over here, she's the one that made the pitch."

Miranda seethed as she glared at her girlfriend, "You are going to pay for that later."

"Bite me."

"Ladies!" Isabel shouted and both of them began paying attention.

"Because I begged him to."

Doctor Vega's eyebrows rose sharply, "Doctor Inoue, I've known you now for over six years; you are a brilliant individual with the pride to match. You have never shown me or anyone else for that matter, an iota of deference," Miranda opened her mouth to object, "Respect, yes, you are respectful; but with every person that I have seen you interact with, they rank no higher than 'equal' with you. So how, exactly did this individual have you groveling?"

"I didn't grovel!" Miranda spat, then caught herself, "Sorry, sir. I didn't grovel," she sighed quietly, "First I tried to bribe him but he wasn't interested. Next, I offered," she ivory skin turned red.

"You didn't!" Isabel exclaimed, as Luke's mouth sagged open and even President Vega seemed taken aback.

"I did," she exhaled hard, "but again, he wasn't interested."

"No money? No sex?" Luke sent his wife a wry look, "There goes my playbook."

"And yet," she replied affectionately before turning back to face Miranda, "What did ultimately sway him?"

"Yeah," Sam interjected, "I've always wondered that too."

Miranda looked thoroughly miserable, "I said...'Do it because you're a decent man, the kind of man who won't stand by and let a girl get raped'." The pain in her chest magnified tenfold as she struggled not to break down into tears right there. Instead, she said, "Of course, I know better now, he is no kind of man 'decent' or otherwise."

"Jesus Miri," Sam exclaimed, "Who pissed in your corn flakes?"

"But he did...help, in the end?" Luke asked.

Miranda looked bone weary, but she managed to nod, "Yes, yes he did."

"That's remarkable," Isabel said; her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"See? Big damn hero moment," Sam replied.

"Whatever," Mirada said miserably; she hoped everyone thought it was because she disagreed with her lover when the truth was even more terrible; she agreed with Sam with all her heart.

And it made her want to die.

"All right, let me make certain I have the facts," Doctor Vega coughed once and began to recite, "The two of you went to the former A.C.R. house at a party where you proceed to get drunk—"

"I did," Sam interrupted, "sir, Miri was stone sober."

"Thank God," Luke commented.

"Noted, now," The President consulted his notes, "It was at this point that several members of the aggrieved party—"

"The what?" Sam asked querulously.

"The guy your girlfriend went all 'Al Capone' on with the plastic tray," Luke replied, miming a swinging motion.

"Oh, you mean the attempted rapists-slash-murderers?"

"Doctor Adler," Vega spoke up in a voice that brooked no insolence, "did they actually, and in front of witnesses make public their intent to murder one or both of you?"

Sam sighed, "At the party, they were going to stop at gang rape, by their talk."

"They never stop at anything, period," Isabel commented quietly, "They would have killed you Sam...or make you wish that they had."

Sam went deathly pale even as Luke took his wife's hand in his own and squeezed hard, "Izzy...?"

Doctor Vega remained silent for a moment, letting the tension drain out of the room before continuing, "After Grey had subdued Jeff, I assume the three of you left?"

Miranda nodded, "Yes sir."

"And that was the end of it?"

"Not exactly."

"The bastards jumped him," Sam growled.

"Yes, that matches the additional information I've received," he checked his notes, "Apparently, at some point after the original incident," Sam opened her mouth and Miranda slapped her hand over it while shushing her with the other hand, "That Mr. Hillsgrove got into another physical altercation with a as-yet unknown assailant during which...," his voice trailed off as he scrutinized the text in disbelief.

"...during which the assailant castrated him."

"He castrated him?!" Miranda gaped.

"No fucking way," Sam crowed her eyes wide as everyone shared looks of shock and disbelief.

"He was stabbed in the scrotum with a shard of glass. Then the assailant broke it off inside the wound. Infection set in and Mr. Hillsgrove's testicles had to be removed."

"Oh, that's just too cool for words," Sam cackled.

"You are enjoying this way too much, love," Miranda admonished.

"He mutilates the man who tried to rape you with a piece of dirty glass to facilitate infection which leads ultimately to castration," Isabel commented quietly, "I like him."

"You would," Luke replied with a smirk.

"Count me in too, I think that's awesome," Sam laughed.

"It was an act of cruelty and sadism," Miranda snapped, "There was nothing 'cool' or 'awesome' about it."

"Also it was very illegal," Doctor Vega added, "the authorities should be notified."

"Do you want his home address, Doctor?"

"Miranda Inoue, so help me, if you rat out this man after everything that's happened, I will kick your skinny ass so hard, your nose will bleed!" Sam snarled.

Subdued for the moment, Miranda settled back into a resentful silence; her eyes full of poison.

President Vega took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, "All right, here is the situation: I have a tough time believing that anyone at the party will be willing to corroborate your story, girls. If the host was, in fact, a member of the A.C.R. then it'll be your word against theirs."

"And those bastards close ranks instantly," Isabel spat out.

"Agreed," Vega cleared his throat, "So all we really have is several eyewitnesses that saw you launch what appeared to be an unprovoked attack against a star athlete from a rival university."

"You cannot be fucking serious," Sam said in shock.

"I'm not finished," he held a hand up to silence her, "However, I am fairly confident that all those involved would prefer not to be under any kind of official scrutiny aside. Mister Hillsgrove and his associates aside; if it was discovered that a chapter of the A.C.R. or any kind of variation of it was operating under the noses of the officials at U.C.L.A. the fall out would be considerable."

"How 'considerable'?" Sam asked, a suspicious tone in her voice.

"Considerable that it would cost some people their jobs, open many people to litigation, and make everyone look incompetent at best, apathetic or even complacent at worse," the President consulted his notes, "They don't want that."

Sam sighed in relief, "So, we're good?"

"I'm afraid not, Doctor Adler. Whatever Doctor Inoue reasons were, she still committed assault on a visiting student who has yet to be conclusively linked to any wrong doing," he gestured at Sam, "Your name has yet to come up because frankly, no one is willing to acknowledge the fact that a young lady in a wheelchair laid out one of U.C.L.A.'s best hockey players."