I had worked with Galatea on plans to increase the amount of nanites we had available until around midnight and went home afterwards. On the way, Galatea showed me a newsclip of the local evening news, reporting on a press conference Battlemaster had given, announcing that he was moving up and assisting the new leader of the Heroes’ League, Krionyx. There was another press-release cited, making the announcement that Krionyx was taking over after Skylar had been sacked, but the press conference made news, because it was the first time the League made more than just issuing a press-release. Even I had to admit that it was very well staged, Battlemaster played well with the crowd, even going so far to leave out the mask, using his admittedly good looks to full effect. That he was one of the only Powered who had linked their private identity with their hero one, added to the excitement. There were other Powered whose private identities were open secrets, but such links had not been confirmed for decades. Battlemaster had changed that and was using the generated publicity to great effect. He even mentioned me in the press conference, playing up the angle that now he was on the case and no longer hampered by the corrupt Skylar, Metis would either be caught or go into hiding.

I had a good laugh at that, considering that I had not been in New Brunsburg for almost a year, saying that I would go into hiding now, was rather hilarious. Part of me wanted to go back for a weekend, just to rain on his parade. Maybe if I did something aimed at him, something that showed not only him, but the whole city that he was just producing hot air. Temptation, temptation. But no, it was just an unnecessary risk to show everyone he was a fool but he was a fool with considerable resources.

The next day was a half-day of classes and afterwards, I went back to the dorm, hoping to coincidentally run into Ru Shi, just to satisfy my curiosity about her date the last night and maybe find out if my riling up of Karen had produced hilarity.

When I got in, the common room was empty and I considered coincidentally waiting in the common room, just in case one of the others got back, when I heard some strange noises from the other bedroom. It sounded like muffled grunts, suddenly interrupted by a meaty slap, sounding incredibly loud in the quiet dorm. My gut clenched and every nerve in my body told me that something bad was going on. What, I was not sure, but I also knew that I would have to find out.

Sliding back my sleeves a little, so my bracelets were in the open, I knocked at the door of Ru Shi and Karen and heard the muffled noises resume, when the door was opened and a hand reached out, trying to grab me. My reaction was to dodge away from the reaching hand and I saw that it was definitely not the arm of either of them. Having the arm in a convenient opening, the situation practically begged for me, to slam the door closed. So, I did, with the arm still between doorwing and doorframe, I kicked against the doorwing, using it to slam into the person trying to get at me. The one who had tried to get at me was still inside, likely staggerin back, so I pulled the door open and moved in.

It took me a second to assess the situation in the room, Karen was on her bed, gagged and tied to the frame with some fabric. Her face was streaked with tears and the stark fear in her eyes was as naked as she was. Meanwhile her boyfriend David, the owner of the arm that had tried to grab me, was staring at me with murder in his eyes. It was the first time I was faced with a naked man, trying to intimidate me but the large knife in his hand was a sufficient prob to make up for his lack of clothes.

Faced with a deadly weapon, the only goal was to end the confrontation as fast as possible with David disarmed so I got into a combat stance and retreated slightly, mainly to fake him out. The moment he started moving forward to engage me, I triggered the pepper spray in my bracelet, giving him a full dose right in the face. He started coughing, bending over in pain, which made my next step easier as I thought and my boot was introduced to his face, carrying considerable velocity. He was not in a state to even notice my kick, too distracted and blinded by the pepper spray, allowing me to get the kick just right and he crumpled in a heap. I kicked his knife away, not wanting to contaminate it with my own fingerprints before pulling a set of zip-ties from their storage in my other bracelet and securing him.

When I looked up and realised that Karen was looking at me with a mix of shock and awe, I realised that I had slightly fallen out of my role of the nerdy student. Oh, well…

I pulled my own knife from my belt-buckle, and freed Karen, cutting away the gag and the ties that bound her. Her reaction was a little different than I had thought, she jumped up, stumbling a little, before trying to get at David with murder in her eyes. I let her get a single kick in, before pulling her back.

“Don’t, I’ll call the police now and they can deal with him. For the record, you were in distress and not just role-playing, right?” I asked, still holding her back.

Her only reaction was a strangled scream before she twisted around and started crying. Holding her with one arm, I pulled my phone with the other, calling the local police station's number, which Galatea luckily supplied, telling them to send someone to our room, as there had been a sexual assault with the perpetrator subdued and secured.

The response-time was quite good and I only managed to get Karen into a robe and the common room before there was a knock on the door, with two police-officers, one male the other female, awaiting entry.

“Good afternoon, officers. Please, this way.” I gestured over to the bedroom. David was still out cold on the floor and securely bound, so the officers moved on with their work. First thing they did was call for an ambulance, to transport David.

“You the one who called this in?” the male half of the duo asked me, gesturing me aside while his partner went to Karen.

“Yes, officer. My name is Diana Hunt, that is my room.” I pointed to the other, closed door. “The victim was Karen Jennis over there, who is an occupant of this room.”

“And the perpetrator is the unconscious guy on the floor?” he asked with a straight face, but there was a suppressed grin slightly visible.

“Yes, officer. If you look there, his knife is still lying there, I have not touched it.” I showed him the knife, letting him do his job. I could hear that the other officer was softly talking with Karen. The officer I was with, read out a standard statement to the unconscious David, telling him that everything he said could be used against him, something that struck me as slightly funny.

He turned to me and asked, “Would you mind giving me your statement in your room? We are supposed to take them separately and the pepper spray in here is getting to me?” I could see his eyes getting slightly teary. There had been a reason I had mainly stayed in the common room.

“No, of course not, follow me.” I took him over, into my room, let him take my desk-chair and sat on Tanisha’s, before walking him through the events, explaining my actions quite clearly and concisely.

“Your bracelets, those are defense weapons?” he asked when I was finished.

“Yes, they are sold by a company in New Brunsburg, Personal Defense Solutions.” I explained, giving the name of the company that Shadowbroker had helped me sell licences to. They were producing bracelets extremely similar to mine, just not quite the same.

“Useful tools. And you knocked him out, with a single kick? Wait, what did you say was your name?” He asked, his eyes widening a little.

“Diana Hunt, why?” I was getting a little confused.

“You go to the gym quite frequently, right? I think Ray talked about you.” His voice was getting slightly excited.

“Yes, officer, I do. But what does that have to do with the price of butter?” In turn, I was getting more and more confused.

“Ray, he’s a trainer at the local gym, I go there sometimes after work, especially after night shift. He told me about a gal that might be a good fit as a student officer, except she might be a little too enthusiastic.” I felt my cheeks colour when I put two and two together. I was not sure if Ray was the guy I had talked to, but someone at the gym had talked. Hell, probably not just a single someone.

“Oh. Is there anything more I can help you with?” I asked, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“No, I think we are good here. My partner will take your roommates statement while we wait on the ambulance.”

We went back into the common room where two paramedics were trying to tend to David, who had apparently regained consciousness. Trying to, being the operative part, as he had apparently gone off his rocker, ranting that the slut had asked for it, that, if she wanted a bad boy, he would just be one and so on. Karen cringed away from him, hiding behind the female officer, so I sent the two of them into the other room, something we should have done from the start.

After a minute or so listening to David rant, the officer decided that someone who was able to rant like that was not too badly hurt. So he asked the paramedics to wait for Karen and reminded David of his rights. We had to wait for about twenty minutes, that he used to secure physical evidence, while his partner was with Karen. When she returned, she helped her partner to wrap David into a rescue-blanket from their vehicle and the two of them marched him off. After David was gone, the two paramedics collected Karen and took her to the hospital.