Valerie Nico stormed into the main building, the sleeve of her training gi dangling from the gym bag it was hastily stuffed into.

She barged past the office secretary, recognition alone granting her unquestioned access in lieu of the blue armband she hadn’t bothered to wear; her expression ensuring anyone she passed cleared her path.

She arrived at the disciplinary committee office where she found Felicia standing over the shoulder of one of her committee members at the computer. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m well within my authority to take action within the committee,” Felicia replied.

“I don’t care if it’s ‘in your power,’ this isn’t the fencing team! You can’t use it like your personal security service! Especially for something president Alette specifically told us not to do!”

“What do you expect of me?” she snapped. “He’s already humiliated three of my fencers, two of which were some of my best! I will not sit idle while he runs free!”

Valerie was taken aback. “He beat Adrien and Millicent?” The silence that followed allowed the weight of the president’s caution to wash over her. She went on, calmer in temper. “That still doesn’t excuse suspension of regulation. I must answer to the board for everything the disciplinary committee does. When did it happen? Where? Did he act alone? Does it justify mobilizing a campus-wide manhunt?”

“You can ask the victims yourself, but neither have spoken up about it. I shudder to think of what that barbarian did to terrorize them into silence, but I must, so I may repay him in kind.”

“Regardless, this office is not your tool for revenge,” Valerie harshly affirmed. “Submit the case for processing and we will make him pay for his crimes, but your problems aren’t our only concern, nor are they our greatest. I’ll give you until the end of regular classes, then you’ll have to find your own solution.”

Felicia scoffed. The powers that be may be on her side, but a victory of semantics is no victory at all. Not to mention, she couldn’t treat Valerie like any other underling. They were both heads of Andronicus, but where Felicia earned her place through academic achievement, familial reputation, and mastery of the sword, Valerie earned her authority with sheer determination and combat proficiency, a position affirmed with each semester commanding her committee. Felicia stormed out of the room without another word.

“If he acts out, we will catch him,” Valerie called after Felicia.

“Is that supposed to comfort me?” she snapped as the door swung shut behind her.

“Should I rescind the search order?” the committee member behind the computer unsurely asked.

“Leave it up, but downgrade him to a potentially dangerous person of interest,” Valerie instructed. “Our top priority should be the photography club scandal.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Felicia entered the infirmary where she left her fencers, but a glance around the room proved only the presence of Millicent. “Where is Adrien?”

Millicent looked toward the door, then faced out the window, disgruntled. “He had a fracture, so he was taken to a hospital.”

Felicia pulled the nurse’s chair up to Millicent’s cot and lowered herself into it. Millicent’s swelling had gone down considerably. Only a few bruises and scrapes remained. One of her fingers was in a splint, fortunately not on her sword arm.

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Reverently, but with conviction and authority, Felicia stated, “I need you to tell me how he defeated my best fencers.”

Stuck in a scowl or maybe it was residual swelling, Millicent turned away, eyes fixed on some point out the window. “He surprised us.”

“If you were alone, possibly. Together, I find hard to believe.”

“Believe what you will. He only won because he caught us off guard.”

Felicia watched Millicent’s empty expression, searched for a tell from which she could glean more information, but found none. She was as unwavering as the steel hanging from Felicia’s hip.

“You are my most skilled fencer, Millicent,” Felicia began. “You cannot comprehend how much it pains me to see you stricken like this. My heart cries out for vengeance for you and Adrien, but my responsibilities to Andronicus must come first. If there is anything you believe I should know before I make my next move, tell me now.”

Millicent turned toward her team captain, expression betraying frustration and contempt. “I have nothing left to say until he is caught.”

Felicia nodded reverently. “I see. As it stands, the beast that left you in this condition will be expelled before you are in any condition to challenge him; but if it is any consolation, he will pay for each transgression tenfold.”

Zane and Nelson weren’t about to try the glasses and sweater trick again. Getting back to the dorm took longer than they hoped since they were jumping from cover to cover, waiting for large groups to blend into, and taking detours whenever they saw someone with a sword or blue armband. By the time they reached the entryway, afternoon classes were wrapping up.

“I think we’re good,” Nelson hesitantly declared, unwilling to let his guard down even in confines of the dorm building.

“I haven’t seen a blue band in a while,” Zane observed, taking one last look around before shutting the door to the dorm building behind them.

Nelson calmed his breathing now that there was no need to hyperventilate. “Okay, so you stay in our room, lay low, don’t answer the door, and I’ll go to the office and see if I can’t file for an appeal on your behalf.”

“What if they don’t let you?” Zane asked as they ascended the stairs to the second floor.

“Then you’ll have to turn yourself in.”

Zane stopped abruptly at their door. “No way in hell!”

Nelson rubbed his eyes worryingly. “I know, I know. Settling this without going through the committee will keep this stain off your record, but you’ll be spotted if you get within a hundred feet of the office, and they probably won’t accept it from me, especially since they think you attacked those fencers unprovoked!”

“They’re the ones lying about it! It would be a whole lot easier if I could walk up to that Felicia chick and settle this the old-fashioned way.” He rubbed his fist against his palm.

“You read the rulebook, there is an order to these things!” Nelson lowered Zane’s clenched fists, nervously urging him to calm down.

Zane sneered. “Walk in and let them catch me– that’s like admitting I’m guilty!”

“Innocent people usually don’t run away!” Nelson retorted, then sighed. “Your only goal right now is to keep from getting expelled. Once that’s out of the way you can get back to ‘sticking it to the man’ or whatever it is you do.”

“Something’s going to be stuck somewhere,” Zane muttered. He noticed an envelope taped to his door. It had FB written on the front in calligraphy. He read aloud: “‘Zane Ashford, you are formally challenged to a duel by Felicia Belafonte for the honor of the fencers you so dishonorably defamed. If you accept, arrive outside the main gymnasium no later than 10:00 pm tonight, ready for combat. I have ordered my fencers to suspend their search. Should my call go unanswered, they will resume tomorrow. Bring a witness. Felicia Belafonte.’ So that’s how you spell her name.”

“You don’t have to accept,” Nelson urged.

“You already know what I’m going to do,” Zane suggestively retorted.

“You’ll be playing right into her hands!” he pleaded. “This challenge is just an excuse for her to get away with doing whatever she feels like to you, and when it’s over she’ll have you expelled, or worse!”

Zane chortled flippantly. “You say that like she’s going to win.”

“She will!” Nelson hysterically declared. “She never lost a duel! Fighting her won’t be like fighting her underlings! She’s one of the heads of Andronicus! That’s like a whole different league!”

“‘Pussy out like the little bitch you are, Zane!’” he said in a high pitched, mocking tone. “That’s what you sound like.”

“I do not sound like that!”

“I don’t care! I’ve been itching to give it to tit-zilla all day, and now I’ve got a personal invitation to do just that, signed and notarized.”

Nelson babbled like an idiot until he got his shit together and calmed down with a deep breath. “Fine!” he indignantly shouted. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you! Be sure to tell me how it goes before you move out!” He opened the door and walked inside, but Zane grabbed him.

“Why would I do that when you’re going to watch? Witness.”