~Videl~

Videl was sick to her stomach with Sienna's confirmation. She dumped the untouched coffee down the sink, fighting the urge to vomit. After their talk, Sienna lingered as if she were afraid to leave Videl alone, but Videl assured her that she needed some time to process the information. Videl thanked her for coming over right away, and promised to call her soon. Sienna hugged her tighter than ever, before she left. Videl went to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed as she opened her holo-menu. Her fingertips hovered over Kane's name in her contacts.

"I'll be waiting on that call," he'd said.

Videl knew that she needed to talk to him about Lars. But what if Kane didn't believe her? Would he really take Sienna's words as truth over his own best friend's? It did seem like he already had his doubts about Lars' side of the story. And even though she had only known Kane for a short amount of time, she felt like she could trust him with her life. It felt like he and Dare really cared about her, and she cared about them. She didn't want to risk losing them over a creep like Lars.

She closed her holo-menu, then shook her head at herself, and opened it back up. There was no running away from this - she had to at least try, even if it ruined everything. She tapped his name, and the call icon before she could lose her nerve. It rang twice before his deep, smooth voice met her ears.

"V?"

"Hey," Videl squeezed her eyes shut, silently cursing the tremble in her greeting.

There were background noises that sounded like metal clanging against metal, and faint rock music.

"Give me a second," Kane said.

She heard a whirring sound like an automatic door, and then it was quiet.

"Sorry, I'm at the Gym," his voice echoed slightly, and she realized he must have went to the locker rooms.

"Oh, I can call you later, if you - "

"No, I can talk," Kane interjected quickly. "What's up?"

Videl paused, dread squeezing her heart in a vice grip. "I . . . " She hated that her first call to Kane was going to be about something so awful. She only hoped that it wouldn't also be their last call.

"I talked to Sienna," Videl forced the words out, dangerously close to crying. There was a scuffling sound, and then a short silence. She heard him taking a deep breath.

"I don't want to tell you," Videl's words almost ran together, she was talking so fast. "You're not going to want to hear this, Kane!" She was shrill, and panic wracked her body.

"What happened, V?" Kane demanded, his tone as sharp as a knife. Videl couldn't keep it together anymore. The tears burst out of her, and the confession came tumbling out between ragged gasps.

"Lars tried to - I - the nightmare was real!" V started pacing back and forth. "It really happened, Kane!"

"What. Did. He. Do?" Kane growled, each word stabbing into her.

V whimpered, and finally sobbed, "Lars tried to rape me . . . "

She wanted to beg him to believe her, but she couldn't speak anymore. She was hyperventilating on the edge of an anxiety attack.

"I'm gonna fucking KILL him!" Kane roared, his voice coming out more like a wild beast than a man. 

The call ended, and V slid off the bed and curled into a ball on the floor gasping for air, trying to calm down. She buried her face in her knees and screamed.

~Kane~

Kane ended the call and smashed his fist into a locker, howling with rage. The metal screeched in protest, echoing off the locker room walls. His knuckles were split and bleeding when he drew it back from the dent in the metal, and drove it right back in. The pain of the punches did nothing to quell the monster inside. His blood boiling, he charged back into the main area of the Gym. Dare's head whipped around, hearing Kane's string of curses, and his eyes went right to the fist that dripped blood on the floor.

"Kane - " Dare didn't have time to voice his concern. Kane stalked up to him, grabbing him by the shoulders tightly.

"He tried to fucking rape  her, Dare!" Kane shouted, his eyes wild with fury. "Lars tried to rape  V at that party!"

Dare's face darkened, splitting into a scowl. "Are you fucking kidding  me?!" Dare yelled back.

They didn't need to share another word - they knew what they had to do. Dare nodded at him and they ran out of the Gym, ignoring an attendant who had been approaching - surely moments away from asking them to leave. When they made it to the elevators, they were breathing heavily from the run. Kane knew exactly where Lars would be. 

Lars worked in the Athletics department on the Education level, coaching the teenagers. Kane jabbed the elevator screen almost hard enough to crack the glass. His best fucking friend. He'd known him his whole life!

"What? You can't take a fucking joke, Videl?!"

His own words rang in his ears, making him sick. The look on her face . . . No wonder Videl had hated his guts. Like Kane had thought that Lars trying to rape her was some sick joke that she took the wrong way. And Lars had stood back, letting Kane defend his actions. Lars was probably laughing behind his back the past two and a half years, thinking he'd gotten away with it. One thing was for sure. Lars wasn't getting away with shit. Kane was going to make him pay for what he did.

"That fucking creep," Dare grumbled, popping his knuckles and cracking his neck.

Then they were out the doors, rushing past the baffled School secretary before she could scan them. Nothing was going to stop them from getting to Lars. They ran down the hallway and swiped their wristbands past the sensor for the doors that would open to the practice field. They were probably seconds away from getting locked out by the secretary who would follow Safety Protocol and shut down access. The doors whooshed open, and they dashed across the Astro Turf field as an automated voice came over the intercom system to announce Lockdown Procedure. Kane could see Lars sitting on a bench, watching the teenagers run drills.

"There he is!" Dare shouted, out of breath.

As they charged toward him, running past the teenagers who paused in their routines, Lars' head jerked in their direction.

"What - " Lars didn't have a second to get the words out. The moment that he was on his feet, Kane's bloody fist cracked against his mouth, rattling his skull, knocking Lars over the back of the bench. Lars' lips busted open, he reached up to check if he still had teeth. 

"What the fuck?!" Lars barked, obsidian eyes shocked and irritated. "Kane, what the - "

Lars started to lift up onto his elbows, but Dare vaulted over the bench with more athleticism in his pinkie toe than Lars had in his whole body. 

"Stay down, motherfucker!" Dare commanded, driving a swift kick to the back of Lars' elbow, fists clenched at his sides.

There was a sickening cracking sound, as Lars dropped back onto the ground, and then wailed in pain. Some of the teenagers gasped behind them. Kane came around the bench, grabbed a fistful of Lars' shirt and launched two rapid blows to his nose, relishing the crunch against his split knuckles. Blood spurted from his face like a geyser.

"I know you tried to rape V at that party!" Kane spat, barely able to hear his own words over his pulse pounding in his ears.

Lars' eyes went wide before narrowing into a glare. His hand cradling his re-broken nose, he sneered up at Kane.

"What? Are you fucking  her, now?!"

He wasn't denying it, the piece of shit!

"You lied to me!!" Lars' sneer shifted into fear at Kane's enraged scream.

With that, he and Dare unleashed hell on him, taking turns beating the shit out of him, dragging him back by his hair and clothes when he tried to feebly crawl away, groaning in agony. Kane was so blinded by rage, he didn't see the School security guards descending upon the chaos, until they were tackling him. The security guards ripped them away from Lars, and Kane spit on Lars' writhing body, before they hauled him and Dare off the field.