Leaving Prof. Wilson's office he called Nancy and told her what had happened. Like always she made him see the bigger picture and calmed then convinced Darrin that Prof. Wilson was jealous, that once his research was complete he would come around.
"Darling you are a genius, we both know this and so does Prof. Wilson. Pride makes it hard for someone to except the work of other gifted people, while they are feeling left out. Just focus on your presentation and you'll do great, I know you will."
Darrin was calm and sure that what had happened would be worked out later like Nancy said.
In front of the board Darrin made his presentation and was waiting for their response, hoping that they would see his research need to be broadened. As the faculty came into the room one by one, Darrin was already thinking of what resources he would need to be able to run his first test of the new containment this weekend. Darrin stood up to await their decision.
"Mr. Moss if we are correct in assuming that in your calculations that the energy output would be 10 times larger than your earlier calculations."
"Yes, Prof. Mills, I will be able to harness larger quantities of energy over shorter periods of time with this new formula. Where is would take days to produce the energy output to run a small city, can be done in hours."
The faculty whispered together for a few minutes, and then Prof. Mills spoke.
"This board has no doubt in your abilities as a scientist, but we can't allow you to expand your containment field for these new calculations, impressive as they are. The risk is too great, even with one wrong calculation you could end up decimating this entire campus and that we can't allow. Your proposal is rejected Mr. Moss, I'm sorry."
Darrin couldn't believe that they rejected him; he was so sure that he would get approval, now he had to rethink what to do, so he called Nancy. Again Nancy made sense of everything,
"Don't worry honey, they just don't see how brilliant you really are, but I do. I know you can do this; let me make a few phone calls and I will guarantee that you will be able to continue your work."
As promised Nancy got him all the resources he needed to build a new containment field and with a temporary approval from the military that saw it's defensive capabilities. Darrin was so excited about putting his formulas into use, he never asked about where Nancy came up with the money for his supplies and he really didn't care. After making last minute calculations and calibrations over the last week Darrin turned on the Zero Point generator, the machine started with a low rumble, then gradually got louder then settled into a low humming. Everything was going just as expected the containment field was getting full 5 times faster than normal and was now ¾ full. He didn't want to fill it to the maximum so he shut down the Zero Point generator, but it wouldn't shut down and the containment field was getting full. Darrin panicked, he tried all the failsafe switches but nothing happened. When the containment is full and cant' store anymore energy the excess energy will feed back into the generator and explode.
Just as he predicted the excess energy began to feed back into the generator. Darrin and his team evacuated the building; they were trying to get far away from the campus as possible. They were over a mile away when the explosion occurred. The blast lit up the night sky with a bright orange and red mix. The damage from the explosion took out the entire building and up to 1000 yards in diameter of the building; wiping out several class buildings and the main offices of administration. The entire police, bomb squad, fire department and FBI were on the scene, so was Darrin. Needless to say, Darrin was immediately excommunicated from MIT and his Government grant pulled along with all of his research taken by the FBI.
Darrin spent the night in jail; he called Nancy several times, but got no answer. He was release the next morning and went to her apartment. As he arrived he saw her car and using the key she gave him let himself in. He called her name, but no answer, then he walked to the bedroom and opened the door to find Nancy in the bed with another man, in the act of making love.
(Trauma-a deep emotional shock, often having long-lasting psychological effects.) The body and mind are the most unique chemical machines known to man. When the brain experiences an extreme trauma the brain has an automatic kill switch that numbs the person so that the traumatic situation can't do further damage. The heart on the other hand does not have this kind of the defense. A heart can replay the event over and over with crystal clarity. It's like watching your world come crash in on you with High Definition Digital TV.
Darrin stood in the doorway staring at Nancy being mounted by some guy. Not even knowing he was doing it, he was loudly crying, but his mind was trying to analyze what was happening, thinking there may be a rational reason. He grasped for hope, that she was being raped, that is the only logical conclusion. Nancy loved him too much to betray him, all those times she stood by him and encouraged him with his research and even provided out of her own money for him to finish his work. He had to be violating his future wife; it's the only rational reason. If that is the case then he had to defend her by any means necessary, even murder.
As Darrin began to regain his composure to look for a weapon to remove Nancy's attacker, she called his name.
"Oh, Darrin I didn't hear you come in, as you can see I am a little occupied with my real finance'…" she was interrupted,
"Let me tell him." The man got up and turned around to face Darrin who was still paralyzed in the door way. When he saw the man's face he recognized him, it was Mike Tanner. Darrin's mind which made him one of the leading experts with Chemical Engineering by way of quickly sorting through large amounts of data and coming to its conclusion mentally assessed what was happening, but the conclusion would confirm his worst nightmare. Mike watched Darrin's face as his expression changed to reveal that he knew what was going.
"NOOoooo!" he cried,
"Your right Nancy he is quick, but that just makes this much sweeter." Mike laughed as he approached Darrin; Nancy picked up her clothes and made a call with her cell phone that was on the night stand.
"Well Darrin, seems that you are a victim of a well thought out plan of revenge."
Mike punched Darrin in the stomach knocking him to the floor and his wind out of him. Mike then knelt and grabbed Darrin's hair to lift up his face.
"Did you think I would let you get away with telling on me? Yourself righteous attitude caused me the job of my dream." He slapped Darrin across the face.
"Loosing my status and position in the research department and getting reprimand on my permanent record stopped me from becoming a lead researcher at Wayne Enterprises in Gotham. That was my dream position, now I have to start as an entry level assistant. You cost me my dreams; I figured it only fitting that I destroy yours."
Mike stood up and then kicked Darrin in the groin, stomach and face which knocked him out.
Darrin awoke in a dark room, with his head pounding. He was slightly dazed; keeping his eyes opened and focused caused him even more pain. He knew he was tied up, his hands and feet where bound to a chair. As he sat with his eyes closed and fighting off nausea; his mind floated not really focusing, but just jumping from one random thought to the next.
He was standing with Riley at their favorite swing spot of the summer Moose Lake. They were on the bank fishing and talking, then he was at MIT after Riley's death struggling with staying in school, with feeling of uncertainty filling him, then he was with Nancy at dinner talking over wedding plans, she was so beautiful, then he was standing over Riley's body at the funeral unable to move. He was frozen in front of the casket with that numb feeling.
Darrin pasted out in the chair, it was a few hours later when he was awoken with a sharp pain across his face. He opened one eye and focused on the figure in front of him. It was Nancy, standing with Mike and two other men.
"W...hy a...re y...o...u d.o...ing this." Darrin found it hard to speak his jaw was hurting and the taste of blood was in his mouth.
"Well Darrin I told you why, you thought that little encounter in the apartment was it. Oh, no, my little pet rat, you are going to be tortured for awhile then released. I just want to explain what I did to you further, and then these two men are going to have fun with you."
"Now where to begin, well after Prof. Wilson's little talk with me I knew I could never do anything directly to you. But indirectly, I could do what I wanted. It took me a while, but coming up with the perfect revenge plan wasn't even my idea. It was Nancy. It was here idea to seduce you, and then humiliate you, but the more you opened up to here the more we had to work with. Then when you became intimate with her, against my protest, you gave us unlimited access to your inner thoughts to work with, all on tape." Mike walked into the light with Nancy and knelt before Darrin. "I figure why just humiliate him, when I can destroy all of your dreams, hope and desires."
He looked at Nancy, "Nancy besides having a degree in Pharmacology, Nancy also has a minor in Psychiatry, so when you opened up to her she saw everything, even things you didn't see."
"We made a list of things that would royally screw you the first and most obvious was a girlfriend, second were your relationship with Prof. Wilson, then your status at MIT and lastly your project with the Government. If we could destroy each and everyone one, well you get the picture."
Mike walked back into the shadows,
"We had a lot of help, a couple friends of mine on your research team, and one of my uncle's buddies on the faculty Prof. Mills. So now I will leave you into the capable hands of these men, come on Nancy. Just to let you know Darrin old buddy, your place in society is beneath me and all others, you are nothing more than dirt, you just needed someone to show you where you belong."
Nancy walked over to Darrin and knelt before him. She lifted his head and looked into his open blood shot eye.
"I hated everything about you, I never feel anything but disgust. Every time you touched me made my skin crawl. How do you think a woman, any woman could ever love you. Not even your mother loved you, if she did, nothing could have stopped her from being there for you, but she never was and never will. Only one who might have loved you was Riley, but I think he pitied you more than loved you, I know I did. No one wants you or cares for you, why don't you do us all a favor and just die. The world would be better off if you where never born." Then Nancy spit in Darrin's face and left with Mike. "Gentlemen enjoy."
Her last statement sent Darrin's mind reeling back in time to a month after Riley's death. His dad had been drinking heavily one evening and Darrin hid in his room to avoid seeing his dad. Ever since the funeral he would get punched or slapped when his dad would miss his first son; Darrin was a constant reminder that Riley was gone. This evening he had been working scheduling his equivalence test for high school. He had to go out of his room to use the restroom. Trying to be as quiet as possible he walked out of his room down the hall way to the bathroom. As he neared the end of the hall and his destination he heard his parents talking.
"It will be alright Ronald; we can adopt or try the fertility drugs." Meral was consoling her husband has he wept in the living room.
"Please dear, be strong, I wish Darrin had never been born. I should have had a girl. It will be alright dear." Darrin was stunned at that declaration by his mother and it haunted his dreams many times. Now Nancy just brought up his inner most secret, but he never told her.
The two men stepped towards Darrin with expressions of delight on their faces. "I think she just broke him Ed." He looked into Darrin's eye but his eye didn't even focus on the man in front of him his inner demons where manifesting and taking control of Darrin's mind. "No matter, she may have broken his mind or heart, but I will break his body." Darrin's vision went black and his mind snapped unable to deal with the reality he was shown.