The snack bar and lounge of the Student Union at Southern Michigan University were open late every evening, even on weekday nights. It made a great place for students to hang out, have a bite, do some studying, or just get out of their dorm rooms. With so many students living off campus, it made a great gathering place, and there always seemed to be something interesting going on there.

Laura and Stacy didn’t make it over there every evening, since they had studying to do, like everyone else. But they went often enough, and there always seemed to be a mixed group of guys and girls hanging around them. In their brief weeks at Southern, Laura had become one of the most popular and noticeable girls on campus – if not the most noticeable – mostly on the strength of her openly wearing her steel panties. Everyone seemed to know about it, and she wasn’t reticent about it. In a time and place where most people were strangers to each other, it made her stick out and attract attention. Stacy was perfectly willing to be a part of it, since by being Laura’s roomie and friend she picked up a lot of attention, too.

One of the things Stacy had noticed – and had mentioned to Susan the night she and Laura had dinner with her – was the fact that when a group gathered around Laura and her, the subject of sex was usually pretty much off the table. That meant the discussions, the chit-chat and the teasing didn’t revolve around people trying to score off of each other, and that was refreshing of itself, along with making the topics more wide-ranging and interesting.

It was no different on this Wednesday evening. Everyone was having a good time, even if nothing serious was going on. One thing made Stacy nervous: there was a big, creepy guy hanging around the edge of the crowd, staying back in the shadows and away from everyone, but it seemed like he wasn’t taking his eyes off of her. He seemed really interested in her, but she wasn’t interested in him in the slightest.

Finally, the creep made her so nervous that she couldn’t take it any longer. “I don’t like the way that guy is looking at me,” she whispered to Laura. “He’s really making me feel uncomfortable. Let’s get out of here.”

“Good idea,” Laura agreed. “I thought he was looking at me, and I don’t like the way he’s doing it, either.”

Trying to be unobtrusive, the two picked up their things to leave. As soon as they were outside, they realized the creep was following them. “Shit,” Stacy said in a low voice. “Maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing we could have done. We should have asked a couple of the guys to go back with us.”

“Yeah,” Laura whispered, glancing back over her shoulder to see that the big creep was still following them – not close, but definitely stalking them. “I’m real glad I have my steel panties on right now.”

“Right now I wish I had some on, too,” Stacy agreed. “He scares the shit out of me.”

Fortunately, the two made it back to the dorm all right, and were very relieved to be there. They hadn’t much more than gotten back to their room when the phone rang. Stacy answered it; it was one of their friends they’d been hanging out with in the Student Union lounge. “Good, you made it back safely,” the girl said, the relief evident in her voice. “That asshole is bad news. I was thinking about calling the cops when I saw him follow you out the door.”

“Is it that bad?”

“He’s supposed to have raped several girls, but they can’t seem to pin him down on it. He always seems to get away with claims that they asked for it. Everybody knows it’s a crock of shit, but they can’t make it stick. I guess they’re not going to arrest him unless he gets caught in the act.”

“Thanks for calling,” Stacy told the girl. “But I think we’re all right now.”

She and Laura talked it over once Stacy was off the phone. “There’s more of that going on than most people think,” Laura said sadly. “At least we dodged the bullet this time, but I’ll bet some poor girl is going through hell right about now. I almost wish it were me he was going after instead of you. At least I have my chastity belt to protect me some.”

“It wouldn’t stop you from getting beaten up,” Stacy pointed out, feeling more than a little paranoid. “And he might want to do that as much as rape you.”

“Yeah, a chastity belt isn’t much protection from that,” Laura agreed. “Ask me, I know, from that son of a bitch who raped me and then tried to do it a second time.”

“I wonder if it’s worth the trouble of filing a complaint with the cops.”

“Probably not,” she sighed. “They don’t seem to be able to do shit about him. After all, he didn’t do anything, just made us feel threatened.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Stacy agreed. “But still.”

The two were more than a little bummed at having a fun evening ruined, but it was good to be in their room safe from that creep. They were just getting settled in to studying when there was a pounding on the door. “Open up, bitches!” they heard someone yell. “Don’t you fuckin’ think you’re going to get away from me that easily.”

“Oh shit,” Stacy said, diving for the phone to call 911. “It’s him, that big creep. That damn door can’t hold off an enraged horsefly. Laura, I don’t want to get raped!”

“Open up, bitches!” they heard again. “Open this goddamn door or I’ll break the fuckin’ thing down.”

“911, what is your emergency?” Stacy heard in the phone.

“There’s a guy trying to break into our room,” she reported. “I think he wants to rape us!”

“Where are you, miss?”

“Echo Hall at the college, room B-27,” Stacy replied. “Hurry! I don’t want to get raped! I’m scared.”

“Stacy,” Laura said. “Get your pants off.”

“My pants?” she said incredulously, not caring that the 911 operator was listening in. “Why?”

“You’re not going to get raped if I have anything to say about it,” Laura said. Stacy looked up at her, to see that Laura had dug into a box from her closet – and she was holding open a chastity belt!

“What the …” Stacy started.

“It’s my old one. Just do it.”

“Open up, bitches!” they heard yet again. “Open this goddamn door or I’ll break the fuckin’ thing down.” This time it was accompanied by a pounding on the door, like the creep was trying to break it down.

“Please, hurry,” Stacy cried into the phone – but she was peeling her pants off at the same time, relieved at the possibility of safety offered by the chastity belt Laura was holding in her hands.

“Officers are on the way,” the 911 operator said. “Hang on, miss, it won’t be long.”

Stacy no more than had her pants and panties off when Laura was wrapping the chastity belt around her. She’d had no idea that Laura had it, but right at the moment she was happy to see it. In a few seconds she felt a huge relief at hearing the padlock snap closed. Whatever else happened, she wasn’t going to get raped easily! Somewhere in a distant part of her mind she hoped that Laura had a key to it, but right at the moment that didn’t seem important …

“Good, it’s tighter than hell but it fits,” Laura said. “Now get over on the bed. I’ll get by the door, and if he comes in, try to draw his attention.”

Stacy was a little surprised that Laura was thinking that quickly, but at least she was thinking. Doing as she was told, she went over and sat back on the bed with her legs spread a little, trying to get used to the strange device locked around her – it felt tight and funny, but right at the moment she was glad it was there! She then noticed Laura was standing by the door with a sock in one hand – it looked like it had something heavy in it.

“Please! Hurry!” Stacy pleaded into the phone again. “The door can’t hold for long!”

“Hold on, miss,” the woman on the phone said. “Officers are on their way. They should be there any second.”

*   *   *

Indeed they were on the way.

Cody was busy studying in his apartment only a couple hundred yards away from Echo Hall, when he heard the general call on the small portable radio he carried all the time, on duty or not. “Attempted rape in progress, room B-27, Echo Hall at the college, shows as 234 College Avenue. Respond priority one.”

He didn’t need a second call. “Shit!” he said to Jan. “Gotta go.” He was headed for the door that quickly, pausing for only a second to stuff Chief Bascomb’s little .38 into the pocket of his cargo pants as he replied on the radio, “278 responding.”

Cody clambered down the stairs at a dead run, burst out the front door, to see Jack and Alan coming up the sidewalk. “Follow me!” he yelled. “I may need some extra hands!” He didn’t even notice that Jan was a few steps behind him, carrying an emergency medical kit she’d grabbed in the rush – she’d heard the call too, and the words “attempted rape” were just about enough to make her long hair stand on end. She was far more sensitive to those words than most women. But, not only was she a nurse, she was an EMT, and somewhere there was a girl in trouble who would most likely need her help. She knew all about that – it had happened to her.

In the distance Cody could hear a siren, but he judged that it was still a couple minutes away. He wasn’t exactly a world-class runner, but it was less than a minute from the time he first heard the call before he burst through the front door of Echo Hall and headed for the stairs, with Jack and Alan behind him, though not very far. At the top of the stairs he turned down the interior hallway, just in time to see a big guy pick up his foot and give a door a huge kick. It flew open, and he charged into the room. Cody ran even faster down the hall, but he didn’t know if he would make it in time …

*   *   *

Stacy’s heart was beating a mile a minute as the door burst open, and the creep came crashing into the room. She could see that his zipper was already open and his dick was hanging out, big and hard. “Good girl, you did what I told you to do,” he said before he even got a good look at her. “You’re gonna pay for that shit you pulled on me.”

About then he got a look at the chastity belt Stacy was wearing. “What the fuck is this shit?” he stormed. “You ain’t the Steel Virgin!”

“No, I’m the Steel Virgin,” Laura said from behind him. He swung around to see her there, just in time to get that loaded sock right square in the face. He dropped like the proverbial rock, but she had enough time to whack him with the sap again as he fell. He’d barely hit the floor when someone else came rushing through the room. “Police!” the guy yelled. “Are you all right?”

Stacy looked up to see the new guy. He was in civilian clothes, but he was the guy she’d seen in uniform around the campus once or twice. “Thank God you’re here,” she said in pure relief.

“Are you all right miss?” he asked as two more guys came into the room, and just stood by the door.

“I’m all right,” Stacy huffed. “He never laid a hand on me. Laura got him just in time.”

Cody looked down at the floor, where the guy was lying, jerking in convulsions. Whatever the other girl had hit him with, she’d hit him hard. He pulled the tiny portable radio from his pocket and said, “278 at Echo Hall. Scene is secure, perp is down. Backup and ambulance needed.”

“Roger that, on the way,” he heard from the radio.

Just then Jan pushed her way past Alan and Jack, carrying her medical kit. “Is everybody all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine, thank God,” Stacy replied.

“Me, too,” Laura agreed. “This bozo isn’t, and I’m damn glad of it.”

Jan got down on her knees to examine the guy. Cody rolled part of his belt over, and peeled a Flex-cuff from inside where it had been taped. It wasn’t better than carrying handcuffs, but it was a lot more easily concealed. Injured or not, he had the joker cuffed even as Jan worked on him.

“Jesus, Laura,” Stacy said, her heart still pounding hard, but this time in relief. “I’m damn glad you were here. What did you hit him with?”

“One of my socks,” Laura told her. “With about three pounds of small change in it.”

Even as Cody was still securing the perp, he couldn’t help but listen to the conversation. “What were you doing with that?” Stacy asked in amazement.

“Let’s just say that getting a chastity belt wasn’t the only thing that got me over being raped,” she replied seriously. “Among other things, I had a few lessons in fighting dirty.”

“No wonder you cold-cocked him,” Cody said as he got back to his feet. “That would do the job, all right. You girls did just fine, both of you.”

“Probable concussion,” Jan reported from the floor. “I’m with Cody. You girls did just fine.”

*   *   *

It took a while for things to die down. There were several cops there for a while, then the ambulance crew, and kids standing around in the hall outside along with Jack and Alan, who had had been right behind Cody when the creep burst into the room. And then, of course, everybody had to stand around talking about it – it was the happening of the week in the dorm.

With all the excitement, it was a couple hours before Laura and Stacy were able to get everyone out of the room, including a guy from maintenance Cody had called in to fix the door. “God, I’m glad that’s over with,” Stacy sighed.

“Yeah, me too,” Laura grinned. “It looks like we’ve got another steel virgin around campus now.”

“What?”

“You never noticed! You never put your pants back on, so you’ve been showing off my old chastity belt for the last couple of hours.”

“Oh, my God!” Stacy cried, her face instantly getting as red as it could possibly be. “My God, with everything else going on I never even thought about it!”

“It means you’re a member of the club now,” Laura giggled. “Two steel virgins on campus, and neither one of us is a virgin. I suppose I better get that off of you. It looks really tight.”

“No shit it’s tight. I hope you brought the key!”

“Oh, I did,” Laura laughed. “I wouldn’t have put it on you otherwise.”

“Laura,” Stacy sighed. “Why did you even have it here in the first place?”

“I don’t know why I brought it to school with me, except as a good luck charm. This one stood off the rape attempt that got that son of a bitch sent to prison. Now it’s got a second one on its record.”

“I’m sure glad I had it on. At least it turned out I didn’t really need it.”

“Just by a hair,” Laura shook her head as she pulled a key ring from her purse. “Our timing was just dead solid perfect, but if it had been even a little bit off you might have needed it, especially if I’d missed hitting him. As it turns out, the cops were right behind him, so we got lucky on that one, too.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Stacy agreed as Laura put the key in the padlock and unlocked the chastity belt. “It felt good to have it on in a way, but it was so tight it feels so much better to have it off!”

“Wow, that really was too tight,” Laura said as she started to wipe it off. “You’ve got red marks all around you, but they’ll go away in a few minutes.”

“Laura, thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”

“It helps to have been through this before and have thought through what to do if it happened again,” she said calmly, but with considerable emotion obviously behind it as she put the chastity belt back in the box. “But we got lucky as hell, too.”

*   *   *

When Cody went into the police station the next morning the desk sergeant had a message that Chief Bascomb wanted to see him, and sent him back to the chief’s office.

“I heard you had a little excitement out there on campus last night,” Chief Bascomb said.

“Yeah, more than a little, though,” Cody agreed. “I didn’t really have much to do with it, however. By the time I got there the two girls had already settled things. About all I had to do was direct traffic and try to keep the whole damn building from crowding in the room to see what all the excitement was about.”

“That’s the damndest thing I can recall hearing about,” the chief said, shaking his head. “Two girls in chastity belts? When was the last time you heard of even one?”

“It not as strange as you might think,” Cody smirked. “Well, not quite as strange. The Delacroix girl, the one who laid the perp out like a side of beef, she wears one all the time. She’s known around campus as ‘The Steel Virgin.’ The chastity belt the Foster girl was wearing was her spare.”

“That’s still pretty wild.”

“Damn good quick thinking and quick action in my book,” Cody told him. “They had just enough time to get the spare belt on the Foster girl before that meathead took down the door. Having it on calmed her down enough that she could be bait for a couple seconds while Delacroix whacked him with her sap.”

“She sure did a number on him. The last I heard from the hospital is that he’s still out like a light, but we already have a DNA test going on him. It’s going to be a while before we hear back, but he sure fits the description of the guy who raped that girl over on Bancroft last spring. You get points for that one, Archer.”

“Like I said, I didn’t have anything to do with it. I just rushed to the scene, and the action was over when I got there.”

“Yes, but you were first on the scene and you were the arresting officer,” the Chief said. “That counts for something. We’ve got this guy dead to rights, and if the DNA test comes up positive as I think it will, we’ll have him solid on that rape, too. That ought to be enough to ship him to the state prison system for a long time.”

“I hope it works out,” Cody smiled. “He sounds like a good one to have off the street.”

“No fooling. You remember when we talked about that a few weeks ago? It sounds to me like he was looking for a little more of a challenge than he had with that girl on Bancroft. You know, to get more of a thrill.”

“I’m sure you’re right. He had to have been targeting the Delacroix girl, since he had a small set of bolt cutters with him, and like I said, she’s notorious around campus for wearing that chastity belt. That would have been a challenge for him, all right.”

“Yeah, from his viewpoint that would have been a hell of a victory.”

“The hell of it is that the bolt cutters wouldn’t have done him any good, even if he’d gotten to use them.” Cody laughed. “The girls let me have a good look at the locks on both of those chastity belts. Without getting into the details, they’re both designed so that you couldn’t get a bolt cutter on the shanks of the locks anyway. Given time it would be possible to cut them off with a hacksaw, or maybe even better a cutting disc on a Dremel tool, but either of those would take some time.”

The chief shook his head. “That is still the damndest thing,” he said. “It’s really one for the books. I know you think you didn’t have much to do with it, but you were first on the scene by about four minutes, and in that four minutes a hell of a lot could have happened.”

“It’s only a couple hundred yards from my house, and I ran all the way.”

“It’s good you did, too. Now, I have to tell you that Dr. Thompson called this morning. He wanted to thank everyone involved for their quick response, and he particularly wanted to thank you for your quick thinking and quick action. In this case I think it’s just as well you weren’t on duty, because he’s very happy that students managed to handle everything before they got out of hand.”

“Sounds like Dr. Thompson,” Cody grinned.

“I notice in your report you didn’t mention drawing your weapon. Did you even have one on you?”

“Yes, I had your little .38, but I didn’t need it, so I didn’t mention it.”

“Just as well. I still don’t think we want anyone to know you’re armed when you’re in plain clothes over there, especially Dr. Thompson. Don’t let anyone know you have it unless you really need to use it. I’d just as soon keep him happy.”

“I told you about the discussion I had with him last Saturday.”

“He told me about it, too. He’s still not real happy with having a uniformed officer on campus, but after last night he’s a little more mellow about it. I realize this deal last night didn’t have much to do with your showing the colors over there, but I think we’d better keep it up.”

“It had a little to do with it,” Cody said. “When I ran into the room the Delacroix girl recognized me as the cop who hangs around on campus. If she hadn’t, she might have whacked me with that change-filled sock, too.”

“I hadn’t heard that,” Chief Bascomb smiled. “That just tells me this whole deal is working about like I hoped it would. Keep up the good work, Archer.”

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