The rather nondescript van carrying the Harper family, Dieter Wilhelm and his accomplice/driver pulled into the Moon Lake College Campus parking lot, unaware that they were being watched by members of the security force under Daisuke Tachibana that worked for both Tachibana Enterprises and the Skulk.
Although the van had GPS, Wilhelm let James Harper Senior have the "seat of honor" up front and sat behind the driver with the rest of the Harpers. But after they pulled into a parking space near Jennifer Harper's dorm, only Doug the driver, Wilhelm, Harper Senior and his oldest son James Junior got out.
"The rest of you stay here," Harper Senior instructed the others. "Jenny didn't have much coming here, so it won't take us long to gather her things," he said confidently.
"Can't we at least get out to stretch our legs a bit?" asked his wife Elizabeth. "Between the plane trip and the ride here, mine feel a bit cramp."
"Yeah," agreed his younger children, John and Janice.
"Okay. But stay with the van," ordered Harper, before leading the way to the dorm.
Anxious to collect his "wayward daughter" and get back home, neither Harper nor his son noticed Doug and Dieter lag back a bit.
"You armed?" whispered Dieter to his employee.
"Yeah. You want a piece? Got plenty hidden in the van," Doug whispered back.
"Definitely before we get to the church, but got to be careful. Don't want these yokels finding out the truth about anything," cautioned Dieter in a whispered reply.
Doug simply nodded as they approached the front entrance to the dorm building.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" asked a security guard, noticing the party drawing near.
Where exactly he came from, none of the visitors were certain, but James Harper Senior was confident in both the righteousness and justification of his visit.
"I'm James Harper Senior, father of Jennifer Harper; and I've come here to collect my daughter's things and pull her out of this hell hole."
"News to me," said the security guard in return. "Far as I know, this is a beautiful campus and we intend to keep it that way. With that said, no one but students are allowed in the dorms."
"Nice to see you alert and on the job," Harper said, trying to get into the man's good graces, despite the fact that he didn't like being delayed, let alone by who was interfering with his plans. "But maybe you didn't understand me the first time. I'm Jennifer's father, and I'm here to pull my daughter out of this place and take her back home where she belongs."
The security guard looked at the party before him. He and the rest of the security staff had been warned by Dean Myers himself not to let anyone into Jennifer Harper's dorm room except the lady and her roommate, but even with all the worry concerning the wedding this morning, they had no idea who to expect.
Also, as a werelion, he could sense at least one of them was armed, as his hand slowly drifted down to his own firearm, a fact that wasn't lost on Dieter or his "chauffeur".
"Sir, I don't care if you're the President of the United States, the Pope, or Jesus Christ himself. My job is to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering this or any dorm without the proper authorization. You have yet to present me such authorization, hence you're not getting in. If Ms. Harper was planning to leave us, security would have been informed in advance of such action. You may be her father. You may have every right to want your daughter to leave and go home. But until I'm officially told otherwise, you and the rest of your group are not entering this building, let alone removing any student's personal belongings."
James Harper Senior stared at the man, feeling his rage build up inside him.
He was used to getting his way. His word was law, as far as he was concerned.
The only people he ever answered to were his creator and his employer.
Both led him to believe that he was doing "the right thing", but only one of them spoke now.
"The man's just doing his job James. Perhaps we should go find Jenny and get this whole mess straightened out properly," suggested Dieter Wilhelm, wanting to avoid a scene.
Harper stared at the security guard a while longer. Then, without turning his head away from the latest target of his anger, said, "You're right Dieter. Let's go get Jenny and end this mess. The sooner we're all back home the better."
With that, Harper turned and started to walk back to the van.
Dieter and Doug quickly followed, but in their excitement to find and collect "his Jenny", none of them noticed James Harper Junior lag behind a moment.
"Thank you," he said in a low voice to the security guard, "and if you can, warn everyone we're here."
Then James Junior turned and hurried to rejoin the others before they discovered what he was up to.
The security guard watched them leave, scratching his head in disbelief.
Not sure what was going on, he got on his radio and contacted campus headquarters about the situation.
ELSEWHERE...
Elizabeth Harper and her youngest children stood around the van and just stretched their legs a bit.
She couldn't help noticing how beautifully kept the campus landscape was.
She knew her daughter was safe here, away from her husband and Dieter Wilhelm, but felt powerless to do more than wish Jennifer well.
"Do you folks need any help?" a young co-ed asked.
"What?" said Elizabeth, spotting the red head walking down the sidewalk as she drew near. "Oh. No dear. We're just here to see my daughter, Jennifer Harper."
"Then you're in the wrong spot," replied the co-ed. "She's getting married this morning."
"We know. The church is our next stop."
The lady thought about it for a moment, then realized she better not say anything under the circumstances. Let them find out the hard way they missed the wedding, she thought, knowing about the double ceremonies. "Okay. Have a nice day," said the red head, before resuming her stroll.
MEANWHILE...
As their mother was talking to the co-ed, John and Janice Harper had moved around to the back of the van.
"I wonder if Dieter thought to have his guy pack any drinks. I'm thirsty," said Janice, as she opened the back door of the van.
"I don't see a cooler," observed her brother, as she started rummaging through the junk in the back.
Janice found a duffel bag stuffed under the rear bench seat. Curious, she started to pull it out when her brother said, "They're coming back!"
Not realizing how close she was to discovering Doug's secret supply of weapons, Janice tucked the bag back under the seat and closed the van door before anyone realized she was back there.
"Did everything go okay dear?" Elizabeth asked her husband in the sweetest tone of voice she could, although having been married to him for so long, knew all the physical indicators and realized James Harper Senior was in a foul mood that was rapidly growing worse.
"NO!" he barked. "Apparently you have to go through a bunch of useless red tape to do the right thing around here. Everyone back in the van!" he ordered. "We're going to the church to get Jenny, then we'll come back her to get her things before getting out of here!"