Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "Ingrid, I need you to summon Professor Miles and Nathaniel Lyndon to the Dean office right now."

  "Alright I'm going to call Professor Miles right now but Nathaniel Lyndon is already here." She said, pointing at where Nathaniel was still working, not looking in their direction at all.

  "When did he arrive?" Joshua asked.

  "Almost half an hour ago."

  "Lyndon! Get in there!" Joshua shouted.

  Putting his things back inside his bag, he then throws it on his shoulder before walking inside the Dean office. He had the time to hear Joshua say to the secretary to call when professor Miles arrived before closing the door. Seeing entering his office, his mouth opened in surprise before he looked at Joshua askance.

  "How the hell did you find him so fast?"

  "I didn't, he was already waiting outside when I arrived."

  "Well, since I have been kind of excommunicated from my classroom, I knew that you will want to talk to me so I thought it would be better to be proactive about it and your waiting room seem as good a place as any to work a little. Since I was called, I'm sure you both watched the video."

  "We watched it alright! In barely fifteen minutes, this video became the most active post on the university network and the most shared!" Joshua exclaimed.

  "Why won't we start about you telling us what happened before the video started?" The Dean butted in in a pacified tone.

  "You want me to start from the beginning?" Nathaniel asked.

  "Yes." He confirmed.

  "To be honest, it started from the beginning. Professor Miles seemed to dislike me from the start, he was always asking me advanced questions, even when they have no link with what he was teaching us. At first, I thought he just wanted to test me but when he saw that I had the answers, he would up the difficulty and still I was still responding he passed to something else. He then started to make passing remarks about me in the class, ridiculing me but was never obvious about it, he was goading me into talking back so that he could exclude me from class. When I never took the bait, he got bolder and using the fact that I was in LA, trying to disqualify some of my assignments, I contacted him about it and he never answered or just told me that I will get an F for work not given. I sent him proof that I did send my work but he still chose to not answer. Ultimately, I had to contact Joshua to act as an intermediary."

  The Dean looked in the direction of Joshua who nodded.

  "It did happen two times in a row. At first, I thought it was only a technological problem as you know that Professor Miles is fiercely old school but the second time he wasn't willing to grade Nathaniel work and I had to raise my voice. I was going to tell you about it but it just left my mind."

  "I see. You can go on Nathaniel." The Dean said.

  "When I arrived today in class with my essay, Professor Miles singled me out again and told me that since I had the best grade in the class, I should present my work in front of everyone. He insisted that I wasn't forced to but strongly suggested that if I chose to not present it, it would reflect badly on my grade. Never was it asked or even suggested that it would be or could be an oral work so when I accepted, I hurriedly put together a presentation and showed what I had worked on. In the end, even if I could see that the students were impressed, Professor Miles ridiculed my work and it was apparent that he would fail me so that when it happened." Nathaniel explains, pointing to the Dean computer screen that as his video still on it.

  There was a moment of silence after that who ended when Joshua asked a question.

  "Why did you look into him then?"

  "After what happened in LA when he kept refusing to acknowledge that he received my assignments, I knew that he was out to get me so I sure wasn't going to sit and wait for it to take it in the face. This is why I started to look into his record as a prosecutor, the way that he was doing it seemed too clean, too rehearsed, it was obvious that he did it too others in the past. When I saw at what frequencies he was excluding black jurors, I had no other choices but to get to the bottom of this. No one would have believed me if I had not the precise data and facts to back the whole thing. It took me weeks of analysis and strenuous work to compile everythings. I still have all the data, I can send it to you when I get home if you want Joshua."

  "I'm afraid you will have to because if you don't that would just be slander and you will be expelled from Columbia." Joshua warns sternly.

  "You will get them and you can verify everything, I'm not the type to put fake data on a document, especially when I have strictly no reason to do so." Nathaniel affirmed.

  "This is going to be a PR nightmare, this video is going to blow up and a lot of people are going to get angry at him and you. I still wish you had come to me first with this instead of exposing it in public." The Dean sighed with resentment.

  "I was going to." Nathaniel said, surprising them both. "I came back to New York yesterday and the earlier appointment you had was tomorrow 5PM, our appointment should be on your agenda."

  Frowning, the Dean focused his attention on his computer screen, getting a copy of his agenda. He quickly found that Nathaniel was telling the truth and they had a meeting scheduled tomorrow. Seeing that the whole mess could have been avoided if he had an empty meeting today, the Dean sighed again.

  Feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket, Nathaniel took it partially from his pocket. Seeing that it was a text message from Maggie, he pulled his phone all the way to read it. Taking the remote on the Dean desk, Nathaniel turns around, turning on the tv on the wall behind him.

  "Nathaniel, what are you doing?" The Dean asked in displeasure.

  "My agent just texted me that I needed to tune in to NBC News because of… that."

  Seeing what was being broadcast, Joshua and Richard both turn paler.

  "Those vultures work fast!" Joshua swore.

  "They are the first but I accept CNN, Fox and NBC to broadcast it in the next few minutes." Nathaniel added.

  "Was that your plan from the beginning Nathaniel? Get the public on your side to pressure us into firing Professor Miles?" The Dean asked hotly.

  "If it was the case, I would have posted it on my twitter account. I'm as surprised as you are that they caught wind of it so fast, they must have put an alert on me or maybe one of the students as friends or family members working at NBC, there is no way to know for sure. I don't need to have public opinion on my side to have him fired as I have the necessary evidence to make it happen. The only way that he gets away with it is if you cover for him and in that case, you will not have to expel me, I will leave on my own. Even if it would be easy to think so, I'm not the responsible for this situation, you are."

  The Dean and Joshua look at each other in surprise before focusing on Nathaniel again.

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's easy, you are supposed to be the ones who teach students that not doing their homework is going to bite them in the ass. The University is in this situation because you didn't take the time to do a thorough background check. You did this. Inaction is not an excuse, Ignorance is not an excuse either." Nathaniel said, pointing at the TV screen.

  "That's enough, Nathaniel! Get out of here!" The Dean explode in fury.

  Don't in the least intimidated, Nathaniel face stay neutral as he got to his feet and exit the Dean office.

  Chapter 235: :

  It was only after Nathaniel left the office that the Dean sat back down, breathing heavily because of his anger. Joshua on his side was looking at the news broadcast with an apprehensive expression etch on his face. It didn't last long however as his face contorted due to what he was hearing from the news anchor and the 'expert' they had called to speak about what Nathaniel explained on the video which frankly didn't need much to be understandable. He did a good job all on his own and used questions at the beginning to make the whole thing easy to understand.

  "He was right you know." Joshua said, turning to his friend.

  "I know that for fuck sake! That still doesn't gi
ve him the right to do what he did!" The Dean explode once again.

  "He just wanted accountability and especially considering that his semester is on the line because of Professor Miles actions."

  "You are still thinking that everything he said was true, why?" The Dean asked.

  "I believe among all the teaching staff here, I'm the one who interacts the more with him and I have a pretty good understanding of his character. You heard as well as me what the other teachers said about him. Respectful, brilliant, serious and he is always ready to go beyond the scope of his assignment to give back a work up to his own standard. He's not one to do things halfway, more so when speaking about such a serious subject. He's also not the type to bluff on this kind of data, I know for a fact that what he is going to send tonight will check out."

  "You believe a little too much on him. Even if I agree that he's brilliant, he is still young and can make mistakes."

  "I agree but that's not all. Even if he never talked about it clearly, I could read between the lines on some things that he hinted at. That's not the first time something like that happened to him."

  "What do you mean?" Richard lifts an eyebrow.

  "Despite coming from a very wealthy family, when he was younger he had a very modest upbringing and I confirm this fact as he studied in a little Catholic School in the Bronx. I don't have much in the way of evidence beside my gut but I'm pretty sure he was bullied and discriminated on by both teacher and school kids."

  "That's not the kind of thing that you should say out loud, Joshua." The Dean says prudently.

  "Fuck this, Richard, we are friends."

  "Yeah." The Dean sighed before making a coming motion. "Go on."

  "First, there is the way that he works. When Professor Miles claimed that Nathaniel never gave one of his assignments on time, he sent me hard evidence proving that he in fact did. You don't take those kinds of precautions unless you encounter this kind of situation before and often enough that you develop these kinds of habits. There is also the problem with his grade in middle school. Based on what he showed us since he became one of our students, he should have been able to crush every test at that time but he didn't. He had a good grade but not good enough compared to his level right now. It means only two things, maybe he's a late boomer and got smarter after his accident, or his teachers voluntarily lowered his grades to stifle his growth. Considering that Nathaniel has two lesbians mothers, I would be leaning on the second case being the most likely."

  "I see." The Dean nodded, deep in thought. "You believe it could have been the reason why Professor Miles made a move on him too?"

  "I'm not sure but I believe this is a probability that we should keep in mind." Joshua answered. Anyway, this is not the most urgent at the moment, what should we do about our PR problem? Do you want to take down the video from our network?"

  "What is it going to accomplish? The video is already out there, deleting it would just make us appear like we are trying to hide the whole affair and it's going to make us look guilty. No, we need to stop the bleeding for now. Let's just issue a statement saying that the administration is shocked by the accusation and is going to put Professor Miles on leave pending an investigation. That should suffice to calm everyone for the time being. Think about phrasing it better and then publish it." The Dean said.

  It was when his secretary knocked on the door and opened it slightly to pass her head.

  "Sir, Professor Miles is there." She announced.

  "Good! Get the mother fucker in there!" The Dean shouted.

  *****

  Walking to the archery range on the Campus, Nathaniel took a seat on the bleachers on the side of the field. There were few people sitting with him at this hour as it was starting to get dark and he could see the twenty something archer, firing their arrows on targets ranging from fifty yards to two hundred yards away from them. Na-Yung was easily findable among them for many reasons, one of them being that she was the only one using a recurve bow.

  She was also the best archer among the other twelve womens et seven mens on the field. He could not help to smile each time that she was missing the bullseye by a couple of inches, her jaw locked in place in anger. He was way too familiar with the time they trained together to recognize her expression. Even if she was the best on the field, she wanted to better herself to the point that it was becoming a fault. Nathaniel recognized that he was not the best person to judge her for that.

  Once they had all fired their arrows, the coach blew into his whistle before telling them to follow him in his office. Only Na-Yung shook her head ruefully and walked to her target practice and started retrieving her arrows. Nathaniel smiles at her antics and jumps back to his feet before walking in her direction. Na-Yung had just retrieved her arrows and was walking to her previous position when she saw Nathaniel walking to her.

  "Na-Yung what are you doing? Your coach is going to shout at you again for not following his directives." Nathaniel remarks with humor.

  "I missed two shots on five Nathaniel! If it happens at a competition, I will not go beyond quarterfinals. I need to get better." She said coldly.

  Knowing that her coldness was directed at herself, Nathaniel just ignored her tone of voice.

  "I still don't understand why you keep doing that, it's not like we are plenty busy as we are now."

  "I got in Columbia on the premise that I will compete on the archery team of the university. Contrary to you, us, ordinary students, did not have the privilege of being movie stars." She answers, sarcastically.

  "Nothing about you is ordinary, Na-Yung." Nathaniel smiled.

  "Don't even try to sweet talk me to change the subject! I know you better than that. You have the level to enter the track team and win every race in the country, why don't you? And don't even dare to give me that excuse about the NCAA contract, I know that if it was only that, you would have found a solution already." She demanded.

  "Na-Yung." Nathaniel sighed. "I don't have any interest in joining a club and I don't have the time to even consider it. I barely get four hours of sleep every night and I'm still running out of time most of the days. Between my studies here, my company, the official and unofficial side of it, writing and composing songs, my movie career and to top all of it off, TV interviews to make sure that no one start to think something is off in my life, I don't have any time in left."

  That wasn't the whole story of course. Nathaniel had abandoned any possibility to do sports competitively once he realized the effect that his soul had on his body. That wouldn't be fair for him to compete against ordinary humans even without using his power to go all out. Even against people using drugs to enhance their performances, he wasn't sure he could be beaten and in this case, he wasn't sure he could hold out and let himself be beaten. He was as competitive as Na-Yung and even more so in certains areas, he wasn't confident in cheating himself by using his powers to win. That was one of the things that he learn about himself while he was trapped in this void, some of the ugly truth about himself that some people would never be forced to learned or contemplate.

  It was at this moment that Na-Yung's coach came back from his office looking angry. He directed a frown in Nathaniel's direction and was going to say something when he thought better of it and clamp his mouth shut. Instead, he chose to shout in Na-Yung's direction.

  "Kim! Get yourself in there right now!"

  Sighing, she shook her head and turned to Nathaniel.

  "It will not take long, look after my bow, you have no idea how much it cost."

  "Got it." Nathaniel nodded, taking it in his left hand with precaution.

  Once she followed him in the building, Nathaniel started looking at the bow in his hand with curiosity. He had never held one in his entire life but there was something almost soothing in the way it fit into his left hand. There was a feeling of familiarity and calmness in his mind as he held it, moving his hand left to right to see the curving of the bow. Taking one of the arrows that Na-Yung got back earli
er with his right hand, that's when something happened. Knowledge that he never had started pouring inside his brain and his body moved on his own accord.

  He rearranged his feets, changing the posture of his entire body to face the target's direction. His grip on the bow also changed, his body swift and nimble, like he did that thousands of times before. He nocked the arrow on the bow, aimed at the target that was barely visible anymore because of the dark and let loose. The arrow flew true, looming well over the fifty yards targets, passing the one hundred yard target and keeping her trajectory. Nathaniel saw more with his mind than with his eyes the arrow hitting the two hundred yards target dead it's in center.

  Not understanding what was happening, his mind under a huge pressure, his arms start to tremble violently, Na-Yung bow falling on the ground. A memory forced his way into his mind in the form of the face of a woman too beautiful to be true before disappearing abruptly. It lasted for barely a quarter of a second but Nathaniel's saw white spots in front his eyes and his ears started buzzing.

  He was unconscious before his body lifelessly crumple to the ground.

  Chapter 236: :

  When Nathaniel opened his eyes, he let out a groan, realizing that he had fallen head first to the ground. Taking a sitting position on the grass, he had to clutch his head between his hands because of the pain. He was currently experiencing the worst headache he ever had and even his sight was blurry. Closing his eyes as well, he did not move and waited for the worst of the pain to lessen before opening his eyes again. Relieved to see that his vision was back to normal, he saw Na-Yung bow on the ground near him.

  "What the hell is wrong with me?" He said quietly.

  Taking care to not overtax his brain, he recalled what happened earlier. He had strictly no idea what happened and how it happened but it was extremely worrying for him. If it happened on a mission, he would have put his whole team in danger and he would have most likely died. That was a very serious warning and until it's resolved, he may have to stop doing missions or he risks becoming a liability.