Chapter 26.   Cold Cox Academy*

*The author wishes to thank Corsair for his contributions to the fight scenes.


The next day, just after lunch, I stopped in the bank branch near my office and got on the 
short line to my favorite teller.  I had checks from several customers to deposit and 
needed a cash withdrawal.  Tanisha looked pretty and very professional as usual.  When 
she saw me standing at her window I saw a distinct blush suffuse her face.

"What can I do for you today Mr. Steelforth?" she asked.

While her greeting was not unfriendly, I thought she was making an effort to stay more 
formal and businesslike than in the past and I noted that she avoided making eye 
contact with me.

"Just the usual, Tanisha", I said nonchalantly, as though nothing unusual had happened 
between us the day before.  

I felt this was neither the time nor the place to get into any discussion of yesterday's 
events.  I checked my receipt, counted my cash, gave her a warm smile and left the 
bank.

That evening I rode in the back of my car while my driver took me toward the South 
Bronx address Dr. Henderson had given me.  By now we were in the blighted area.  My 
driver radioed ahead to let them know we would soon arrive.  I saw fires in barrels and 
homeless hopeless men standing around, bottles in hand.  As we approached the old 
warehouse that was the school I could see that it was battle-scarred with boarded-up 
windows.  There was no parking.  When the car approached the warehouse, a garage 
door opened.  Standing in the doorway was a slender, barefoot, white-haired woman 
wearing only a short sleeved white cotton robe that came down to mid thigh.  Any 
momentary doubt I might have had about the physical fitness of a woman her age was 
quickly put to rest by the lean muscularity of those arms and legs.  She was puffing on a 
cigar.  She waved for us to drive inside.  As soon as my car got in, the door closed.  I 
indicated to my driver that he should stay with the car while I got out to speak with the 
woman.
 
"Are you William Steelforth?"  I nodded.  She extended her hand.  "I'm Sue Coxwain.  

I coughed when I got a whiff of her cigar.

Doctor Henderson said that you are seeking treatment for a rape victim.  You have come 
to the right place.  My student's affectionate nickname for this place is "School of Hard 
Cox".   May I have the name of your friend, the rape victim?"

"That's private," l protested.

"If you want my help you'll have to trust. I understand that trust doesn't come easy to 
victims.  And when someone close to you gets raped, you are a victim, too.  If you want 
to watch, I'm going to insist that you do so in the raw like everybody else."

"Besides", she continued, "you will have to be naked with many of these same couples if 
you partner with your rape victim in the encounter group.  I am sure Dr. Henderson must 
have explained that part to you" Sue pointed out.

I could feel the blood rushing to my face and hoped she did not sense my 
embarrassment.  I started to object--but guilt stopped me.  Stephanie was unable to 
sleep at night at least in part because of me.  She was unable to trust men because the 
routine enslavement process my agency had participated in resulted in her being 
wrongfully sentenced to a ten-year indenture for debts that she didn't owe.  

"Tonight's session isn't being permanently recorded.  We just give out clips to the 
trainees so that they can learn from their own mistakes.  You won't appear on video at 
all.  The girls have to unlearn being helpless."

"They train naked?" I asked.  "What good would that do?  People wear clothes in public.  
It's the law."

"I'm glad you brought that up, Mr. Steelforth."

"Please call me Bill." 

"Then you'll call me Susan or Sergeant Major, but do NOT call me ma'am.  It is 
insulting!"

"Yes, ma'--" I gulped nervously.  Somehow I knew that the little slip of a woman was very 
dangerous.  "Yes, Susan."

"I'm finished with this", she said putting out the cigar.  

"I smoke one to relax me," Sue glared at Bill.  "Good.  No lecture on how bad bacca is 
for me.  I'm an old woman.  This and my boy toy Tomcat and a good brandy are about 
the only hobbies I have.  I lived through the Insurgency.  That's why I teach close combat 
to women and to couples who have had one or both partners raped.  Aztlan insurgents 
were like wolves among the sheep because the US government prohibited self-defense.  
If an underground group tried that today in New York City, those punks run a risk of 
having their asses kicked by one of my students.  One of my students made the news a 
while ago--have you heard of Stephanie Glenn?  According to the news, she fought off 
one kidnap attempt and then escaped from a dungeon.  She was a student of mine.  I 
never forget a name or face."

I stared at Susan in astonishment.

"Ms. Glenn is the rape victim Dr. Henderson told you about," I said at last.  "She was 
raped while a captive of Zigler and the boys, but more importantly she was raped 
repeatedly while enslaved."

"That changes things," Susan mulled it over.  "Are you coming inside?  The students 
have had their twenty minutes of warm-up exercises.  The core of my teaching method is 
that my students learn to fight and defeat my Rape-Bots.  Perhaps Dr. Henderson 
explained that part."
 
"Yes, he did", I replied.

"The reason I use sexual attack robots is because I want realism and I want my students 
to release all inhibitions and fight to kill or maim their attacker.  This is obviously not 
possible if I have students fighting other students.  The robots, however, are typically set 
to one-quarter speed and one-quarter power until I know the student can handle more."

"Even so, are there not injuries when students fight robots?"  I said.

"Injuries are minimized by the students first learning to fight in the virtual machines.  
What sort of unarmed defense training do you have?"

"The standard stuff given in high school and college," I replied.  "Plus I've gotten 
instruction in controlling unruly slaves."

"When was the last time you trained?" Sue asked.  "For that matter, when did you work 
out last?"

"Well, I've been busy," I said defensively.

"What I teach here is very lethal," Sue said.  "I was part of a commando unit.  It is simple 
to learn, simple to retain.  We learned to kill with our bare hands.  For rape victims I don't 
water down the course.  I had to follow New York Unified Police Forces guidelines for 
their defensive training, but students like Miss Glenn prove that I'm the best.  Stephanie 
obviously quit when she disabled her two attackers.  Police want living suspects to 
arrest.  Commandos can't leave live enemies behind them.  If you accept Doctor 
Henderson's treatment plan, your intensive hand-to-hand combat training will make you 
far more dangerous to street punks than they are to you."

"Look, I'm no killer commando," I objected, "I'm not an athlete, either."

"The only thing that has to be in shape is your mind," Sue said.   When you are 
threatened, you can trigger a response that will leave your attackers dead, dead, dead.  
You will be in control of that, but you can turn on your inner tiger.  Few humans will be 
able to harm you when you finish.  Now, do you want to come in or are you going to 
stand here in the cold.

I left my driver with the car and followed Susan in through the thick door from the garage 
to the gym.  The first thing my eyes saw was twenty-four students – six of them in well 
fitting but rather worn out looking street clothes and the rest all quite naked.  Among the 
six clothed ones at the far end of the gym I noted Tanisha and Leroy.  

"How come those six are clothed and everyone else is naked?" I asked.

"Those six have dressed for combat with my Rape-Bots.  We try to make these attack 
situations as realistic as possible by having the students dress as they might be dressed 
on the street going to work or coming from work.  We get this clothing as discards from 
thrift shops because the clothing often will get torn to shreds!  I can assure you they 
don't always get to keep their clothing since the Rape-Bots are programmed to strip 
them if possible."

Then my eyes were drawn to the six virtual fight training machines – all in a row down 
the middle of the gym.  For the most part they were open frames – each with multiple 
videocams and each defining an area about 8 ft by 12 ft in size.  Sue led me to a row of 
lockers standing near the VFTMs.  There was no privacy in the gym.  Even the showers 
were visible through clear plastic walls.  Sue's boytoy Tomcat was a slender 20-
something indentured servant.  He looked almost feminine and at the moment he was 
nude. He was working on repairing a realistic Rape-Bot, an android training device.

"Bill, grab a locker and put your clothes inside," Susan said as she removed her white 
terrycloth robe revealing she had nothing on underneath.  "Nudity is a weapon.  We train 
nude--mostly--because it gives us a tactical advantage.  Do you know how many women 
fall apart when their skirt is ripped from their bodies?  How many women will freeze up in 
terror when their rapist flashes a penis at them?  As you can see some of the men and 
women are dressed in various clothing like they'd wear on the street.  They will be 
assaulted by the Rape-Bot and have their clothing ripped from them.  They will be 
expected to disable their attackers and get away.  The final exercise will take place in a 
simulated bedroom."

I was embarrassed to be undressing in front of all these students.   I turned my back to 
the others as I undressed--it was too much to face the others as I stripped to my skin.  
Finally, I was naked.  Unfortunately I had a partial erection.

"Bill, don't let little things bother you.  Come with me," Sue said.  "Class, this is Bill.  He's 
here to observe today's training.  Do not make fun of him--focus on your objective."

"Yes, Susan," the class replied.  

My face and ears were hot with embarrassment.  Just then, much to my chagrin, I saw 
Leroy and Tanisha approaching.  To be naked in front of these particular clothed people, 
after what I had witnessed yesterday, was a rather intense experience.  My partial soft 
erection was turning into a half hard erection as I stood there in front of my favorite bank 
teller. 

"Bill, wasn't it?" Leroy asked. Bill nodded "How does it feel to have the shoe on the other 
foot?  To be the naked one?"

"Leroy," Sue warned.

"Bill and I met before, at the Henderson clinic," Leroy said.  "Bill, I mean no 
impertinence, but if you could make that erection fully hard and maintain it hard for a 
while, I think it would be helpful for Tanisha's therapy.  Could you humor us?"

"Please," Tanisha pleaded.  "I have to learn that an erection is an erection."  

So, for Tanisha's sake, and because I could hardly help myself anyway, I stroked my 
penis into full erection and stood there for a couple of minutes for Tanisha to take it all in.

"Stand down, Mr. Steelforth", I heard at last from Sue, and found myself wilting.
 
"You are a slaver, right?"  I nodded in answer to Sue's question.  "You use nudity to 
inflict learned helplessness on slaves.  Here I use nudity to inoculate my students 
against crippling embarrassment

"Bill, you want Stephanie to get this training," Sue continued.  "This has a very serious 
purpose.  When she completes the training she will have disarmed the nude bomb.  
Neither her own nakedness nor the nakedness of an attacker will render her helpless.  
She won't be shocked into immobility when a sexual predator flashes his naughty bits at 
her.  These people took command of their sexuality and nudity is no weapon against 
them."

We have six virtual fight training machines.  I am continuously taking on new students.  I 
always have my newest batch experience fighting in the VFTMs before I have them fight 
my Rape-Bots.  Even my more advanced students refresh their skills in the VFTMs at 
some point each evening.  Since I have 24 students and only 6 machines I use a rotation 
system."

"Can I watch one of these 'virtual fights'?"

"That is just what I want you to do next.  Let's go over and watch Vicki fight."

As we walked over I noted that it must be rotation time.  Six very exhausted looking 
naked students, dripping with perspiration, were taking off their virtual helmets and 
stepping out of the fighting areas defined by the virtual frames. Six other naked students, 
looking fresh and eager, were donning these helmets.  We walked toward one of these 
students just before she put her helmet on.  I stole a quick furtive glance downward to 
satisfy myself that my penis had completely subsided.  Sue introduced me to Vicki, a 
slender blonde athletic type.  I shook hands with her and wished her a successful fight.  
She smiled and excused herself to begin a sort of warm up dance before starting the 
fight.

"Before a student can experience a multi-sensory virtual fight", she continued,  "he or 
she must have had a series of hypnotized sessions during the first week of the course in 
a simple audio-visual trainer.  Vicki has had this hypnotic training so that she will be able 
to experience certain physical sensations such as impact, loss of balance or pain when 
certain subliminal coded visual cues are flashed on her retinas."

"Vicki will find herself sparring with a virtual partner, but Vicki's own movements will be 
real and involve the full and conscious use of her own musculature.  Vicki will "see" the 
computer generated opponent through the virtual vision capability of the helmet, "hear" 
this opponent through the helmet, and actually experience blows from the opponent that 
she failed to block or sidestep.  She will experience the blow both as a force that she 
must counter-act with her own muscles to maintain balance, and also as a zone of pain 
on her own body – though there is no actual injury.  This computer controlled machine 
will train her to think fast and keep on fighting through the pain until she can deliver a 
blow that ends any threat posed by the virtual opponent."

"But how will the machine know when or if she failed to evade or block a blow?"  I asked.

"The machine's computer at all times knows", she responded,  "the position, attitude and 
motions of the student's body by integrating data from multiple video cameras.  It 
compares this data with the data it also has concerning the position, attitude and 
motions of the virtual opponent it has generated for the student.  But perhaps the best 
way to understand all this is to just watch."

Vicki pushed the 'Start' button on one of the frame's side posts.  Almost immediately we 
began to sense that there was an invisible ghost like presence in the same fighting area 
with Vicki.  We could see her begin to respond to this presence that only she could 'see'.  
All the muscles of her beautiful athletic body began to tense.  She assumed a fighting 
stance.  I could feel my penis begin to get partially erect again and hoped that Sue did 
not notice.  No such luck.  I could see Sue glance briefly downward at my crotch and I 
thought for a moment that she was going to say something but then she just smiled and 
encouraged me by a gesture to keep my focus on the fight.

Vicki began to dance around apparently trying to evade blows we could not see and look 
for an opening to counter punch.  We saw her duck suddenly and apparently avoid a 
blow that had been aimed at her head.  A moment later we saw her spring back and to 
one side suddenly as though she had taken a blow to her side.  At the same time we 
saw a facial grimace and observed her struggle with the muscles in her long slender legs 
to maintain her balance.  Soon we saw a red swelling appear on her left side just above 
the left kidney.  She appeared not to notice it or allow it to slow her down although it 
must have been painful.

"Here", Sue offered, "Why don't you slip on these virtual goggles?"

I did so and the picture was now complete.  I could see Vicki's computer generated 
opponent quite clearly now.  He appeared male and I could also hear him breathing and 
occasional utterances.  I could judge how effective Vicki was in countering his blows and 
in finding an opening for counter attack.  It was apparent that she was favoring one side 
of her torso now, no doubt as a result of the painful blow she had sustained.  The virtual 
opponent was trying to get in a second punch in the area already in pain, but Vicki was 
too quick for him.  Sue whispered to me that the pain was only in her student's mind and 
that there was no real injury in a virtual fight.  Vicki got in one particularly devastating 
blow to her opponent resulting in a loud bellow and a string of obscene words.  After that 
we noticed her opponent appeared tired and with sluggish reflexes.  The fight went on 
for some time until Vicki landed a knockout punch and the opponent slumped to the floor 
and remained motionless.  Vicki remained standing and we could see she was making a 
conscious effort to regulate her breathing.

"Vicki is using", Sue explained, "a calming breathing technique to come down off her 
adrenal rush.  This is critical.  There is a backlash effect after combat, an anti-adrenalin 
effect that serves to bring the body back to normal rapidly.  It can get out of hand and 
stop your heart, but the breath control method teamed up with focus on something is an 
ancient bio-feedback method that returns one from the hyper condition of fighting back to 
a normal state without slowing the heart too rapidly.  Controlling the breathing can drive 
the pulse rate up or down and also regulate blood pressure."

Once Vicki appeared to have returned to normal, Sue walked over and wrapped her arm 
around the shoulders of her student and praised her for a job well done.

"You have seen a virtual fight, now let me show you a real one.  I understand from Dr. 
Henderson that you already know Tanisha Williamson."

"Yes, I had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband right after their therapy session 
yesterday", I replied.

"Tonight is Tanisha's graduation exercise in my program.  We have created a sort of 
movie set that simulates a dark deserted street not unlike that in which many women get 
raped.  Tanisha is going to re-enact a situation similar to the one in which she was 
originally raped.  Only this time she is going to react differently and have a different 
outcome."

"Tanisha is a bank teller and is on her way home from work", Sue explained.  "The bank 
requires professional attire from its tellers.   That means a business suit with high heels, 
nylons, blouse, jacket and a tight skirt for the women.  The bank doesn't want its 
employees, other than security staff, armed inside the bank during business hours.  To 
be legal the bank would have to provide its employees a way to check their weapons 
upon arrival for work, but most banks don't want to be bothered with that.  It is 
technically against the law for an employer to demand that non-citizen employees leave 
their weapons at home, but non-citizens usually don't know the law.  Besides, they can 
be fired and there are two more to take their place.  So employees like Tanisha find that 
they must commute to and from work every day unarmed."

Tanisha walked along the simulated street with confidence.  She had much experience 
with the mild everyday petty harassment that is a woman's lot in life.  She was carrying a 
bag of groceries she had just bought at the market 2 blocks away.  I was seeing the 
situation through Tanisha's eyes, but without her experience.    I was thankful that I had 
been born male!

I noticed that the clothes Tanisha wore simulated smart business attire, but on closer 
examination I could see the jacket and dress, though a good fit, were threadbare, the 
hose had a run, and the high-heeled shoes had seen better days.

"I have my student's dress in clothing donated to my school by thrift shops.  It saves a lot 
of money when clothing is constantly getting ripped and destroyed in fights", Sue 
explained.

Tanisha was skilled at walking in her high heels.  Even the bag of groceries did not slow 
her down or cause her to lose the bounce in her step.  The tight fitting dress didn't 
handicap Tanisha to the same degree it might have hobbled a woman not used to such 
attire. 

Soon she encountered a Rape-Bot that had been dressed like one of the street thugs I 
had seen outside earlier.   It shambled towards her bottle in one hand and the other was 
held out to her palm up.  I noticed a big pinkish penis that reminded me of Leroy 
Williamson's erect member--it was jutting out of the Rape-Bot's open fly.  I could 
sympathize with Tanisha's aversion to cocks at the moment.  The Rape-Bot was 
operating at reduced speed and power.  "Brother," the mechanical thug slurred, "can you 
spare some change?"

I saw that Tanisha did not miss one of the pre-assault indicators.  The thug had glanced 
up and down the street to make sure he was alone with his intended victim.

"Watch Tanisha handle this situation", Sue whispered to me.

When the Rape-Bot shambled towards Tanisha, she loudly shouted, "Get the fuck away 
from me!"  in such a loud voice I thought the windows might shatter.

"Vocalizations are important", Sue explained.  "Those vocalizations are also the mental 
triggers.  Shouting at the intruder to get lost triggered a killing rage in Tanisha that 
liberated all of her physical strength.  We humans have limiting software, if you will; 
mental conditioning that prevents us from hurting ourselves.  Have you heard of a 
mother lifting a car off her child?"

I nodded my head, unable to speak.

"The last thing we do", Sue continued, "is a quick medical examination because when 
this limiting software is overridden, you can literally rip your muscles free."

I saw that when Tanisha's verbalization failed to stop the Rape-Bot's advance, she 
hurled the bag of groceries forcefully right at the thug's face, and while he was 
momentarily ducking that she sent one of her high heeled shoes flying like a projectile 
directly toward the thug's crotch, stepped out of the other shoe and ripped the skirt off, 
wrapping it around her arm.  This left her naked from the waist down but for her nylon 
stockings. The Rape-Bot hesitated, then tossed his bottle at her forcefully as he 
charged.  Tanisha moved so fast that I had to watch the video replay later to see what 
she did.  Tanisha ducked and side-kicked his knee hard enough to buckle it.  She hit him 
several times with a palm strike and the edge of her hand and an elbow strike, and then 
she grabbed his arm and yanked it straight.  A loud crack was heard and a synthetic roar 
of pain as the Rape-Bot's elbow dislocated.  Tanisha whipped the torn skirt around its 
neck and slammed it face-first into the floor.  An instant later she was choking out the 
Rape-Bot with her skirt.  

I was in awe because she wore nothing other than a suit coat that was flapping open in 
front--the buttons had torn off in the fight.  With a broken arm and broken leg and the 
damage inflicted by Tanisha's uninhibited all-out assault, the Rape-Bot was no longer 
able to fight effectively.   One of its eyes had been ripped out--I watched the video three 
times at slow motion before I saw her stab a thumb into its eye socket.  The move was 
part of a sequence of moves and they all blended together. 

I saw Sue's boytoy Tomcat drag the broken robot away to a repair area where it would 
have necessary parts replaced to restore it to operating condition for another student's 
use.

"Was it really necessary", I asked, "for Tanisha to launch such a brutal pre-emptive 
attack before the thug even made a move against her?"

"I am so glad you asked that question!" Sue replied.  "The only rule in a street fight is 
SURVIVE!  The attack victim will always be at a disadvantage because the attacker will 
be bigger and stronger and, at least in his own mind, meaner.  My students have only a 
few advantages--the main one being surprise and that they WILL pit their maximum 
strength against the attacker's weak points and will exploit every opening that the 
attacker affords.   I always stress with my students that this surprise is not to be 
squandered with gradualism because if the victim doesn't immediately kill or incapacitate 
her attacker, he may recover and use the superiorities he has.  I use Rape-Bots because 
I want realism and my students could hardly practice such brutal tactics against their 
fellow students".

"But not every street assailant is intent on murder or rape", I protested.  Some may only 
want to relieve their victim of a little money to buy their next bottle of booze.  Is it right to 
kill a man over that?"

"The victim of such an assailant", Sue continued, "does not have the luxury of waiting to 
find out just how lethal her assailant might be.  She must assume the worst and use the 
advantages she has to render her assailant dead or unconscious.  Only when he is no 
longer a threat can she stop her assault."

"Thank you", I replied.  "You have answered my question."

"Mr. Steelforth, please consider all that I have shown you tonight, discuss it with your 
female friend, and let Dr. Henderson and I know your decision."

With that I returned to my locker, put my clothes back on, and found my way back out to 
the garage where my driver had remained waiting for me with the car.







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