Ethan pushed the dorm door open and stopped cold.
The room was already occupied. Nicole was on the floor beside the bed, eyes swollen, one hand gripping clara’s wrist. Clara looked dazed, half dressed, and stared at nothing in particular.
Across the room, a broad-shouldered guy ethan vaguely recognized in the dim lighting from nicole’s circle, presumably jack, had mira’s arms pinned behind her back.
She was fighting him hard, bare feet scraping the floor, making small furious sounds that weren’t quite words.
The second she spotted ethan, the fight in her ignited
"LET!- GO!" she screeched
Jack tightened his hold on her and looked up, disgust etched on his face as his eyes caught with ethan’s
"You..." nicole said with a rough voice as she stood up approaching ethan "You’re a fucking monster!"
Ethan promptly stepped inside and closed the door with his heel. The bruises along his ribs from the night before gave a dull, warning throb.
"So what is this? A party in my own room? Why wasn’t I invited"
Jack gave a short laugh that lacked humor "Your room? You’ve got two girls in here who can barely string a sentence together"
Nicole pointed at ethan "What the fuck did you do to them!?"
Mira twisted and sank her teeth into jack’s forearm. Jack swore "CUNT!@?" and shoved her away.
She hit the floor naked....
Thud
She rolled, putting herself between ethan and the others without needing an order, her eyes never leaving jack.
Ethan, emboldened by his victory against peter, moved first. Jack met him halfway, being heavier and fresher; the first punch landed solidly in ethan’s already bruised side and drove the air out of him.
The second clipped his jaw hard Crack. Enough to make the room tilt, ethan going with the moment, drove his shoulder into jack’s chest and slammed him into the desk. The impact made nicole gasp as a stack of papers skidded across the room. They both went down in a tangle, jack using his weight well, and for a few ugly seconds he had ethan pinned and drove another fist directly in his ribs.
Somewhere above them in the middle of the havoc mira was shouting, as nicole ’s attempt to pull her back failed.
Ethan got an arm free from under him, and smashed an elbow up into jack’s throat, and rolled. They crashed against the side of the bed. Jack’s head cracked off the frame with a sound that was more solid than ethan expected.
He seized the moment to give three short, heavy punches to the face, splitting skin and sending blood like a river straight from jack’s nose
"ARGH!?" Jack shouted in pain "You fucking incel! My nose!"
"Yeah, that is your nose indeed" ethan muttered with a slight faint chuckle
"Stop it!" Nicole’s voice cut through the noise "Both of you!, JUST STOP!"
Jack shoved ethan off and scrambled backward, one hand clamped over his face.
Blood continued leaking between his fingers in drops.
Ethan stood up more slowly, his hands never leaving his side, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, but continued ignoring it for now.
"So is that what you do now nicole? Intruding?"
"I came for clar-...." She paused "What the fuck do I have to explain myself for, you sick fuck" nicole’s rage heightened even more, her face darkening with fury like never before
"You sick...pervert. You are no longer just an incel gooner, you are a literal danger to society...and you must be put down."
Jack spat a mouthful of blood onto the floorboards. "I’m calling security."
"Go ahead," ethan said.
"And by tonight every phone on campus will have videos of Clara on her knees. How she sounds. How she looks in her current...beautiful state. Mira too, if I decide it’s necessary. You want that circulating before midnight?"
Jack stared at him, breathing hard through the blood. "You’re bluffing."
Nicole looked at Clara, then at Mira, then back at Ethan. Whatever she saw there made her flinch.
"You’re actually sick," she said quietly.
"Probably" Ethan didn’t bother denying. "But you’re both going to walk out of here and keep your mouths shut. For clara’s sake."
Jack still looked like he wanted another round. Nicole put a hand on his arm and gave a single, sharp shake of her head. The fight drained out of him in a visible wave
He wiped more blood from his face, gave Ethan one last look full of pure hate, and let her pull him toward the door. "This isn’t over, just so you know, gooner!"
"Yeah...Yeah, whatever." Ethan shut the door hard behind them.
He looked around the room; blood on the floor, desk knocked crooked, two girls who could no longer be left unsupervised, and the growing list of problems waiting outside. Margaret and the others were still scattered across campus.
"This place is finished" he muttered to himself.
He pulled out his phone and opened the listings he had saved days earlier.
One ground-floor apartment three blocks away looked promising. Available almost immediately, thick walls for sound and no questions as long as the deposit cleared.
He scheduled an appointment with its owner, set for later that evening.
Mira pressed her face into his shoulder, still naked. He groped one of his breasts as he stared at the ground beneath them.
Clara stayed quiet against his leg, he considered using another obedience potion, fearing the system’s brainwashing was waning.
[Obedience potion remaining: 0]
"Just what I needed right now, great"
He knew he had to set his eyes on a new conquest soon, if he wanted to keep up with the momentum.
But for now, what mattered most, was getting the hell out of this dorm. He started packing what little mattered; clothes, charger, some plates. The rest can be bought later, but time can’t. It was only a matter of time before someone started asking questions, and nicole, once more, has started fucking with his plans.
"I hate you girl" he muttered to himself, spitting a mix of phlegm and blood on the floorboard.