Lucas sat in the principal’s office, head lowered, as the man related the incident.

He felt his mother tensing in the seat beside him, he stared at the red marks on his knuckles, knew he was in serious, serious trouble.

'As you'll be well aware, Agent Grant, the school is unused to dealing with this kind of behaviour, Lucas's actions are not only disturbing, but we simply don't have the protocols in place to deal with this situation.

I am, quite candidly, appalled that a student of ours, due to graduate, could even think of…'

He paused, searching for the words that were so alien.

'..Lucas actually struck a fellow student…with his fists!'

'Lucas?' Mom asked the question with just that one word.

'I'm sorry, Mom, I really am. We were talking about girls, the prom, that kind of thing. Pete said something, I didn't like the way he talked about….'

Lucas blushed, whether in shame at his actions, or there was a girl he was defending in this picture, Grant suspected the latter.

'Go on Lucas, we need to know what happened.'

'Mom, I really don't know, just like, I got really angry, wound up, next thing I know is Pete's on the floor. Oh Mom, his nose was bleeding so much. I know I caused it but can't remember a thing. People saying, I put my fist into his face, like hard!'

'Altercations like this cannot go unaddressed, Agent Grant. Whilst we have no procedures in place to deal with acts so extreme, I can only suggest that Lucas is referred to the Agency for medical and psych evaluation.

I'm sure this terrible incident is a one off, model student, excellent grades, very sociable young man, too.

'Perhaps Lucas has a bug? Or maybe, as a young adult, his erm, natural body chemicals need adjustment?'

'I'll set that up immediately, thank you, Principal, I hope the other boy is OK, obviously I will arrange counselling by an Agency trauma specialist.

The principal didn't quite know what 'trauma' was but nodded sagely.

'Well, that seems to be that, back to class, Mr Shaw, pleasure meeting you, Agent!'

Grant shook his hand, hoping it would be the first and last time they'd meet.

Lucas was quiet that evening, sitting in a state of shock, not quite able to believe he'd committed an act of physical harm upon his friend, upon anyone, actually. The very thought turned his stomach. How could he?

Grant too sat quietly, pondering possible outcomes for Lucas if, and it was still only an 'if', his DDV abnormalities were surfacing.

Could she protect him, deflect any future actions away from the obvious?

Lucas had shown he was capable of Violence, willing to harm another, and, as such there was only one way this could go if it happened again.

Freewayriding

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