[ti]Ep 3.5[/ti]The Fight [Closed]

[Jack Darby]

WEEK 1, DAY 4

Memorial High School, Jasper, NV

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The teenagers circled the scene with shouts and jeers. A patch of dry lawn had become an impromptu gathering place for several juniors, sophomores, and a few of the seniors. Some cheered on the sight in front of them; others stared in mute horror or with rapt attention. A couple of people had their phones out, filming what everyone had come to gawk at.

Jack Darby hated all of it as he wrestled with the several-inches-taller, well-muscled senior that had both his arms in an iron grip. Jack thrashed and danced around his attacker, trying to pull away and get loose. Behind him, Sierra was yelling for the boys to stop; her blond friend - Lena or Lana or something like that - was silent, a hand over her mouth. Vince was watching with a shocked, nervous smile, laughing as his friend tried to topple Jack over.

And topple they did, after the senior got tired of wrestling Jack and kicked him in the knee. The black-haired teen went down with a yelp and a stumble, flat on his back with the heavier boy on top of him. The senior straddled Jack, pinning him in place as he reeled his hand back, aiming for a punch. Jack threw his arms up to cover his face -

Whack! The first blow bounced off one of his arms. Wham! The second caught him in the cheek, but was mostly deflected. Whahp! Whump! Whack! Again and again Jack was punched, one blow managing to catch him hard enough to send his head spinning. His arms faltered, and the punches to his face came in full force, smashing into one cheek at a time.

Whack! Wham! Whump!

[Nathan Walker]

He needed a break after that phone call.

They’d all known it had been coming, hell Bob had lasted much longer than the doctors had originally thought he would live. But there was no coming back from what he had, and eventually death won in the end like it would for all of them. At least the kids had been in school and didn’t have to see the end.

So when Arcee had been called away for an important mission, Nathan had been all too happy to volunteer to go and pick up Jack from school. He knew the way well enough, as he made sure to swing by the school on his way home from Omega to get the route down in case there was a situation that required him to pick up any of the kids. If anyone asked, the answer that they would have received was that he was a family friend picking up the kids because their normal ride had something come up.

Speaking of normal...

When that many kids were gathered in one place on school grounds that meant a couple of things, none of them good.

As Nathan parked the truck and turned off the engine he began to make out the noise from the crowd. Shouting, jeering, and a few voices begging them to stop. That narrowed down the options to one thing. A fight. And from the sounds of it, someone was losing badly.

And not a school official in sight.

With a sigh Nathan pulled the key out of the ignition and shove it into his jeans pocket as he climbed out of the truck, making sure to give a quick look from behind his Oakley sunglasses as he crossed the street at a steady jog. He wasn’t above letting people solve their differences through a good scrape, but here on school grounds there was the chance of disciplinary actions that could affect both kid’s futures.

“Make a hole!”

As he reached the crowd of teenagers he began shoving his way through the crowd, using his bulk to shoulder his way in between people as he knew that the majority of those kids wouldn’t know the practice of ‘make a hole’. As he got closer to the circle he began to make out more details. Two males, one a senior and obviously winning. He couldn’t make out as much about the other participant...but there was something familiar...

It was the gray shirt that sealed it for him.

As Nathan approached from behind he reached down and grabbed the senior under both arms and twisted to the left, throwing the teenager off of Jack and allowing Nathan to plant himself somewhat between the two combatants. He then pointed a finger directly at the senior.

“That’s enough!”

[Jack Darby]

Time slowed for Jack. He weakly brought his arms up again to deflect some of the punches, but it was only a few hits before they were battered away again. He tried to wriggle his way out from beneath the senior, but the other teen was too heavy. A look of cold fury was plastered over the other boy's face, and Jack figured he wouldn't let up. The beating would go on until all the anger was gone from his attacker, or until Jack was knocked the fuck out.

The worst part was seeing Sierra's face, horrified and shocked. He didn't want her to see him so weak. He didn't want her to think he couldn't stand up for himself, for other people. Even worse was when she ran over and tried to pull the big lug off of Jack, only to be shoved away into the crowd. Jack's heart stopped, and he felt sick. She'd never look at him the same way after this.

He didn't register someone shouting at the kids to move aside. All he did was lie there, trying to bring his arms up again as one eye swelled shut from a well-landed punch. His attacker had switched to one hand now, using the other to grab Jack's arms and pull them aside. Jack flinched, and another blow caught him on his lip, splitting it. It was stronger than the last - was the guy going to knock all of his teeth out before he stopped?

A weight lifted from him. The senior above him went flying in another direction, landing on the grass with a thud. A shadow passed over Jack, and the teen brought his arms up again to try and cover his face. A voice declared that enough was enough, and Jack peeked out from behind his fingers, dazed. A man was standing over him, dark-haired and tall.

The crowd had gone silent, save for a few complaints and some mumbled talking. Sierra ran over to Jack, and her slim fingers grabbed him by the shoulders. Jack vaguely registered her asking if he was okay, but he didn't say a word. Instead, he planted his hands on the ground and slowly got up, the world rocking left and right. The senior glared at Nathan, looking like he was going to say something, but didn't. The crowd began to pull back, Jack wobbling where he stood.

[Nathan Walker]

As much as Nathan wanted to look back and see if Jack was okay, he couldn’t do that at the moment as he still had the crowd to deal with. He kept his face pointed towards the senior, though behind his sunglasses he was eyeing up the rest of the crowd, looking for the telltale sign of a human moving forward to engage him. He had the advantage in age here as he was an adult and they were teenagers, so he could cow them with that.

He could hear a girl checking if Jack was okay. There was no response but at least someone was checking on Jack and keeping him occupied.

“Go on, get out of here!”

He waved his right hand in a brush off gesture while his left hand stayed near his pocket, keeping his voice at a normal tone since he knew he could probably be heard by everyone in the crowd. No need to raise his voice unless someone decided to get fresh with him. He lifted his gaze from the senior and swept it around the group, making sure that everyone knew that he was talking to them before turning his gaze back to the senior who had been working Jack over.

“Nothing to see here.”

No need for threats or promises. Just a statement of facts that it was best if everyone just left.

[Jack Darby]

The senior - a blocky, red-headed, freckled boy - stared back at Nathan. He stood slowly, sizing Nathan up. His friends came and tried to help him to his feet, gathering behind him like a pack of wolves. Vince was among them, his smile gone and replaced with something more hesitant. Jack gave him a glare out of the corner of his eye, wiping blood off the cut on his lip.

"This ain't over, Darby," the youth called back despite the adult in attendance. Jack said nothing, coughing a little and sniffing. The senior and his friends moved away, Vince following after a moment.

Sierra asked if he was okay, and Jack muttered, "Fine, fine," with a slight lisp. His hair was tousled, his face a mess - both cheeks were bruised, his lip was still bleeding, and one eye had begun to blacken and swell. His head was pounding, but Jack didn't think he was concussed. He could still think straight, even with the blood roaring in his ears and his heart pounding. He moved away from Sierra, wincing as he shifted weight away from the knee that had been kicked.

"Thanks," Jack mumbled. His tone was flat, defeated, embarrassed. Sierra walked up beside him, and Jack leaned away from her a little. She hesitated, then turned her attention to Nathan.

"Thanks, sir. That was really brave of you."

The feeling of dying inside only grew in Jack.

[Nathan Walker]

Nathan didn’t say anything in response to the senior’s threat about a continuation of the events, but he made to memorize the features of his face for future reference.

Once he was satisfied that the crowd had gotten the message and started to break up, Nathan then turned back towards Jack and finally got a look at him. The prognosis was...not great. Black eye, split lip, and bruises that would probably last for a few weeks at least. Sure enough there was a girl about Jack’s age checking in on him...might be an issue with Jack’s leg as he was favoring one of them.

“It’s nothing,” he said dismissively.

A crowd of high schoolers was the least dangerous thing he had seen in a long time. While they were not to be underestimated, he was confident that he could have held his own against the bully and his group of friends should the situation have called for it.

While it was nice that someone was looking out for Jack, this made the situation somewhat complicated as Nathan couldn’t say what he had planned to say. He and Jack barely had any interactions since his arrival at base, so it was unlikely that Jack would have recognized him. However, he was sure he could come up with a decent lie that would satisfy this girl’s curiosity along with anyone else who happened to be listening.

“Actually this saves me a bit of trouble looking for you Jack. You mom sent me to pick you up after school, since your motorcycle is in the shop.”

Hopefully Jack didn’t suffer any brain damage and was able to see where Nathan was pointing him too.

[Jack Darby]

"Yeah...yeah. Picking up." He limped towards Nathan, rubbing the side of his face that was puffing up. Sierra held out a hand and called for him to wait, but Jack ignored her. He kept moving instead, still coming out of the daze that the beating had left him in. His free hand clenched, anger beginning to well up inside of him through the fog of pain that hung over him.

A man should be able to handle his own fights. Jack, only a year away from adulthood, should've been able to take on the big lug himself, or at least avoid getting into the fight. Even worse was that Sierra had been pushed over in the fray, a large dirt stain smeared across the side of her skirt. The thought of her getting manhandled while she tried to help him caused him to turn, a bit of blood dribbling down the side of his lip again.

"You okay?" he asked, and the girl nodded.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"I'll be fine," Jack said dismissively. He released his clenched hand and waved Sierra off, then turned to Nathan. The anger he felt was suddenly gone, and in its place, tiredness and resignation. His mother was going to freak when she saw what Jack felt his face looked like. Hopefully they'd go to base first and he'd get an ice pack for some of the swelling.

"Can we go now?" he asked Nathan.

[Nathan Walker]

Well...it appeared that Jack didn’t have any major brain damage since he went along with Nathan’s lie well enough. But there was something else bothering him...beyond the physical injuries. Nathan had gotten pretty good at reading people in his adult years, and something told him that Jack was irritated by something beyond having gotten his ass handed to him. And if Nathan were to venture a guess (because teenage boys are some of the most simple creatures to read in the universe), it was because of this redhead.

But Nathan said nothing for the moment, holding his counsel as he watched the exchange.

“Yeah.”

He turned and headed towards the truck, walking slower than normal to make sure that Jack wouldn’t fall behind due to any injuries. Once he was in the driver’s seat he turned on the truck and then lowered the volume on the music that he had been playing, then turned to Jack once the teenager was in the passenger's seat.

“Base?” he’d ask. He knew that’s where Jack would probably want to go anyway, but he just wanted to be sure.

[Jack Darby]

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jack," Sierra said as Jack began the slow journey to the car. Jack turned his head and forced a smile for her sake, which turned into a grimace as he nearly tripped on his bad leg. Sierra's friend had come up beside her, biting her lip and looking worried. She and Sierra exchanged a look as Jack stepped into the car, sinking into the seat as soon as he was on it. Jack was glad he wasn't seeing their faces as he pulled the car door shut behind him, perhaps slamming it a little too hard.

Nathan asked if Jack wanted to go to base, and Jack repeated, "Base," before slinking down where he sat. He almost curled up, trying to make himself look smaller than he actually was. The music in the car was cheery and upbeat, which felt like nails on a chalkboard to Jack in the moment. A shame, really, since he might've liked the Oldies-style beat that Nathan had going on there.

He turned and rested his elbow against the car door, making a fist with his hand and leaning on it. Nothing was said to Nathan, Jack instead staring out the window in sullen quiet. The cut on his lip had clotted, leaving a red, smeared scab. A few moments into the car ride, he let out a quiet sigh and deflated.

"Thanks."

[Nathan Walker]

“Don’t mention it.”

Nathan kept the music volume to barely above a whisper as he put the truck in drive and pulled out of the parking spot, accelerating gently as they pulled away from the school. He allowed the silence to remain in the air as he considered his next moves. Chances were the base didn’t have any ice, and Jack would need treatment for his face sooner than later if they were to combat the swelling.

“There’s a gas station on the way. I’m going to stop there and grab some ice and some plastic bags.”

As he turned the truck onto the road that would start to take them out of town, Nathan couldn’t help but sneak a quick look at Jack’s face using his reflection in the window plus what he could see with his own eyes. He had gotten a basic look back when he had stopped the fight, but now that he had a moment he couldn’t help but shaking his head in dismay.

“Geez kid. What were you thinking? You stood about as much chance as a grain of wheat in a tornado.”

That was a pretty accurate assessment of things. The other guy had at least four inches on Jack in height and probably at least forty pounds on him, and from what Nathan saw it looked to be all muscle. Sure Jack might have stood a chance if he had played his cards right and had training, but Nathan was pretty sure Jack’s hand to hand combat training was non-existent.

So how did he get drawn into a beating like that?

If Nathan had to venture a guess, something told him that the redhead girl might have had something to do with it.

[Jack Darby]

"Okay."

That was all Jack could muster: a simple "okay" at the mention of going to a gas station. No "sounds good", no snarky teenage commentary, just..."okay". And a dismal-sounding one at that, too. When Jack was in a mood, he didn't simply frown and keep quiet. He sulked, and was going to sulk all the way to base at the rate he was continuing at.

The question about what he was thinking made Jack curl up even more. His reflection's frown deepened in the window, cheeks as swollen as if he were a filled-up chipmunk. "I don't know," he replied, dismissive and almost groaning in his tone. God, did he wish for a hat he could pull down over his face right about now. The best he could do was raise his other hand and rub his other swollen cheek, hiding it from view in the window and mirror.

Arcee was going to ask questions. His Mom was going to ask questions. Jack wasn't sure how to answer either of them at this point, and didn't really want to. For one, they'd worry and get angry, and Jack didn't want them to worry about it. He was almost eighteen - he could take care of himself. Maybe not as well today, considering what had happened, but he could. Nevermind that if he was in his right mind, he wouldn't have so easily walked into a stranger's car without asking a few questions first.

Speaking of which - "What was your name, again? I don't think I asked." He winced, rubbing the bottom of his jaw now.

[Nathan Walker]

Didn’t know?

That sounded the kind of answer John would give to Bob when Bob or Carol caught their oldest son doing something stupid and asked him to give a reason. Come to think of it...John was just a year or two older than Jack if he was remembering things correctly. But Nathan decided to avoid pursuing the subject for the moment, instead focusing on driving to the gas station.

Oh right, in the heat of the moment and in order to maintain secrecy he hadn’t bothered to introduce himself.

“My name is Nathan Walker. I’m a Sergeant in NEST and assigned to Omega One. Arcee was called away and asked me to come pick you up.”

Probably for the best too now that he thought about it. There was little that Arcee could have done in this situation without giving away the fact that she was a giant metallic alien. And if it got out that she had been near the kid’s school...Nathan didn’t want to think about that. Even though it would initially fall into Fowler’s lap, there was an unspoken rule in the military that when the boss wasn’t happy, you weren’t happy, which meant Nathan wouldn’t be happy either.

Sometimes he wondered why he had gotten involved in this Secret Squirrel shit.

[Jack Darby]

"Sergeant Walker," Jack said. "Nice to meet you...I guess."

He sat in further silence, stewing in his wounded ego. The buildings of Jasper flicked by, people and places he recognized blurring together. Jack looked at them all glumly, still not making eye contact with the Sergeant. At least, until he looked over his shoulder at him warily, as if sizing him up or trying to judge something about him.

"Arcee mentioned you a couple of times," he said. "Said you were new. You and the janitor that buys all the snacks." He turned his attention back to the landscape whizzing by. KO Burger was one of many places that became a part of everything passing by...ah, damn it. He was supposed to have a shift tonight for a couple of hours. There goes that, he supposed, knowing his boss would probably turn him around and tell him to go home at the state he was in. It wasn't good for business to look like a thug...or the loser beat up by one.

[Nathan Walker]

“Nice to meet you Jack. You do prefer Jack right?”

Honestly it was probably a good idea that this had been their first meeting instead of a time when Jack wasn’t beaten to a pulp, otherwise this conversation would have been much more awkward than it currently was. Add to that they probably would have been having this conversation out in public, which would invite all sorts of questions.

“Yeah that would be Ms. Cassidy. She got roped into this much like how you and Raf did from what I understand.”

Honestly, despite how nice it was to have another adult around who was in on the secret, he was still a bit upset at Kup for having the gall to pick up a civilian along the side of the road. While they knew now that Butch was just a civilian, there was always the chance that it could have been a trap of some kind. A MECH agent disguised as a civilian carrying a device of some kind that could shut down a Cybertronian and make it easier for MECH to load them up and cart them off to a black site without a fight.

For a group that had been at war for centuries, the Autobots seemed to lack an understanding of the basics of Operational Security. Maybe that’s why they were on the backfoot...

Seeing that the gas station was coming up, Nathan slowed down and turned into the station, parking the truck in one of the side parking stalls. After he killed the engine he turned to Jack.

“I’m going to need you to stay in the truck. Do you need anything besides ice while I'm there? Drink, snack?”

[Jack Darby]

"Yeah, Jack."

When they pulled into the gas station, Jack perked up a little, but not much. The ache in his face was more noticeable now, a dull throbbing that synced in time with his heartbeat. The thought of getting ice on his bruises was an appealing one, though shame and embarrassment still ruled him. He would gladly stay in the car as Sergeant Walker instructed, not wanting anyone to see his face looking like it did.

Which reminded him still that his Mom would see him looking so beat up later.... And Arcee, too....

"Drink would be cool, thanks," he muttered, trying to get his mind off the inevitable. He hunched up again, glancing around a little to make sure no one was near the car. The last thing he needed was someone from school pulling up and recognizing him, wondering what he was doing in a stranger's car in his current state. That, or one of Vince's friends or Vince himself coming to rub salt in the wound.

When was the last time he was so upset about something? This was stupid. He was almost an adult. Jack shouldn't be as angry, as brooding as he was. He should be grateful Sergeant Walker was giving him a ride...or at least suspicious, given he didn't know the guy and was going on his word alone. Jack knew better than to jump into a stranger's car without double-checking his identity. But he had, and now here he was.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.