Chapter 10

Another day dawned and it was the usual scramble to get up and ready. It being Friday we didn't have lectures till the afternoon, so technically I could have had a lie in, but I felt like having breakfast, so made the effort to get up. Nat joined me and we headed over to get our breakfast. On the way Nat suggested we do another session in the gym before lunch and lectures. It seemed a reasonable idea, so after our breakfast had settled a bit, we strolled up to campus with our gym kit. The protesters were still there, but there were now only four people, though still including my lab partner. The others held signs with slogans, while Kathy chanted various things. No one was paying them any attention. They had become part of the scenery for most people.

On seeing me Kathy turned bright red and stormed over, "You and your kind have been trying to force us to stop by punishing our members for not attending lectures, despite them doing Gods work instead! You think you've won animal, but we won't be beaten! We have right on our side!" she frothed.

I looked at Nat, shrugged my shoulders and carried on walking.

"Don't you walk away from me freak! Hey ... I'm talking to you, devil spawn!" she was walking alongside shouting at me.

I picked up the pace and she began running along side to keep up, "You think this is funny, don't you, you vile beast! Well I'll show you. I'LL SHOW ALL OF YOU!!!"

She was practically screaming at this point, her face a mask of rage, her fists balled up. All of a sudden, she was struck from behind by something and knocked to the ground. One of the big signs they were waving that said 'MORFS out!' or some such, had been flung into her. One of the few remaining protesters came running up, looking extremely worried.

"Kathy! Kathy are you alright? I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened. It just got wrenched out of my hand. The wind must have caught it or something. Are you hurt?" the protester said, very apologetically.

It was funny. While I could see those big signs would easily act like a sail in strong wind, it felt reasonably calm, there was barely any breeze. I guess it must have been a freak gust of wind or something. Still, it seemed odd. I had a look around. We had come a good distance from where the protesters had been. It was really too far for someone to throw the thing and still have it hit with a good deal of force. Well any normal person. I guess there was a chance of some MORFS super running up and tossing their signs about, but I would have thought they would scream bloody murder if anything like that happened, not make up some story about it being pulled out of their grip. I guess this guy could have been a secret MORFS survivor, but it seemed unlikely. While I was thinking, Kathy had picked her self, up taken the sign and used it to whack the other protester over the head.

"Idiot! Why am I surrounded by morons?! This is a holy quest, and you're bumbling about like some sort of slapstick comedian! Get back over there now and get a grip, or I'll see to it you are drummed out of the organisation!" she shouted. The poor protester took off like a rocket and then Kathy turned her attention back on me. She opened her mouth to say something, but then just shook her head and stomped off angrily.

"That was weird," said Nat.

"Yeah, very odd," I replied as we continued on our way into campus.

As we approached the sports centre, someone called out to me from behind us, "Emily!" It was Mark.

"Leave me alone," I said.

"I just wanted to check that you were alright. I heard that the anti-MORFS lot had been harassing you a bit earlier," he said.

"What who told you that?" I asked.

"Oh some passer-by," he said dismissively.

"How would someone random person know Emily was being harassed," said Nat suspiciously.

"They didn't," said Mark with a smug grin, "but how many other six armed girls with silver hair do you know?"

"Hmmpf!" grunted Nat crossing her arms and glaring at Mark.

"I'm fine, now leave me alone," I said.

"Please, Emily give me a chance. I promise you that you will not regret it," he pleaded.

"I gave you a chance, and I regret that! Why would I give you another one?" I snapped. "Besides, I thought you were told not to come near me again. Don't make me report you again, because I will!"

"OK Emily, I'll go," he said but added quietly, "for now." He turned and walked off.

I hoped maybe this time he would stop bothering me, but on past experience, I doubted it.

"You should report him again. He was told to stay away and he didn't," said Nat.

"I know," I said, "bit let's not think about him any more and just get on with our morning."

"OK, Em," I knew she would likely bring this up again. She was not one to let things go, which was often a good thing. I wasn't sure in this case, I just wanted to forget Mark and get on with my life.

It was much the usual routine at the gym, with the staring and such. It seemed to be slightly reduced from the last two times. I did recognise a lot of the faces, I guess a lot of the regulars were used to seeing me and Nat about the place now.

After another hour of lifting weights and running we hit the showers. We grabbed a light lunch then headed in to lectures. I almost forgot to invite Caitlyn to the evening's entertainment, but Nat reminded me just in time. Luckily she didn't have plans and we arranged to meet up. A few hours later our school day ended and it was time to enjoy ourselves. We headed back to the hall, dumped our stuff, collected Caitlyn and headed over to Shaun's house.

When we rang the doorbell and it was answered by Carl, who took one look at the three of us and ran away screaming.

" ... OK," said Caitlyn, "that was ... well strange. Was it something we said?"

"We had a run-in with him yesterday," I said, "I think Nat broke him."

"Oh ... I see," Caitlyn said.

We let ourselves in, as Carl had left the front door open, and headed up to get Shaun.

"I thought that scream heralded your arrival. Carl has been acting really nuts since you were last here, blithering on about what you did to him," he said, then continued, "Try not to break any more of my housemates. I know Carl is a complete arse, but if I lose too many to the insane asylum I won't be able to pay my rent."

"I'll do my best, but no promises," Nat grinned wickedly.

"What did you do to him by the way? He's been blithering crazy things about dark light and frozen limbs, not your usual I got beat up by a sexy little girl excuses," he said.

"I just knocked him into a pile of bin bags, maybe he hit his head or something," she said.

"That's probably it, he always was a strange one," Shaun said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Anyway, you ready to go?" asked Nat.

"Sure let me get my stick," he said.

"No need we'll carry you," said Nat.

"Yeah, much quicker," I said, "Now, you wanted Caitlyn to sit on you while we did it right?"

Caitlyn looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "That wasn't detailed in the invite you sent me. If I'd known it was that sort of evening out, I would have worn my leather gear and brought a whip."

"Now there's an image that will be haunting my dreams," said Shaun.

"Right. Well enough messing about. Let's get going, I'm getting hungry," said Nat. "Em, you get one side, I'll get the other. Caitlyn, grab his stick so he can have his pride when we get into town."

We lifted a reluctant Shaun up in the air and began carrying him off out. Between the two of us he was surprisingly light. He was a little surprised by how easily we could lift him. He was even more shocked when Nat carried him down the stairs on her own, as there wasn't really the room for the two of us to do it. He got really embarrassed when Roge, his house mate, came walking out of the kitchen and saw the two of us carry him out the door like a sack of spuds, Caitlyn in tow with his stick. We made good time into town and got to a pub for dinner, before Shaun got too annoyed with us carrying him along. He grumpily took his stick and went into the pub.

After we perused the menu, Caitlyn and I went to the bar to order, giving Nat some time to make it up to Shaun for the trip in. We returned some time later with the drinks and sat down to wait for our food.

"So I see the Anti-MORFS lot are more or less done now. The faculty have said they can protest all they want, but most of the courses have suddenly got a load of new tests for them to do, and if they fail to show up for them, they get kicked off their course," said Caitlyn.

"That's sneaky," said Nat.

"Yeah, one of the faculty staff came up with it. She took offence to their bullying and had a quiet word with all the tutors of their courses," Caitlyn replied.

"Hmm, I wondered why there was suddenly a test this Tuesday," I said.

"Well see it as all in a good cause," said Caitlyn with a grin. "They were going to get them shut down eventually, since their message effectively amounts to incitement to violence and discrimination, but it would have taken a while. Plus, some of the local lawyers are similarly anti MORFS types, so they would have used the courts to string things out. Not that they have a case, but the university does not have the funds to play those sorts of games. This way they can't say a thing."