"Hey, man. I can't thank you enough for covering for me today."
John turned wistfully to Strunk, but decided to lighten up. He seemed to be in a good mood, and John hated to be a buzzkill.
Not quite as much as he hated being sprayed by droids for "contaminants," but close enough.
John adjusted his service jacket. A new uniform, it was wonderfully comfortable. Grey, with accents of red where the collar would be. He wore his unzipped, with a black tee shirt underneath. His ability to follow the dress code was roughly similar to his ability to do math.
"So. How are things with the lady, man?" John patted him on the shoulder, and Strunk beamed.
"Things're GREAT. I think she might be the one, man." Strunk folded his arms, contemplating. "It's been long enough, right? When our tour is over, we're going somewhere in Europe. Outside of London."
"Dude, that's awesome!" John grinned, patting him on the shoulder. "If I'm not your best man, I'll gut-shoot you."
The cafeteria doors opened to the hearty laughter of the new shift of Security Personnel. They were new. Different training. They were meant solely to be security, as opposed to technical crew.
"Check it out. It's the fresh meat." John smiled. "Want to say hello?"
Strunk eyed them up. They chattered amongst themselves quietly, with occasional bursts of laughter. Strunk got a hard look on his face. "Naaaah. I really don't trust those guys. Weird."
John shrugged. "Suit yourself." John and Strunk moved to the lunch line. Not hungry, the former poured himself some water, while Strunk took a pair of nutrient bars.
"Here. Eat up." Strunk tossed John one, and he caught it.
The two sat and ate without incident, until Barry walked in.
"YO, guys." Barry strode in, a large grin on his face, as per the norm. Before Barry reached them, he crossed the small crowd of new security staff.
In an immature deed, one stuck his foot out, tripping the gentlemen as he passed. Barry fell forward, clipping his head on the side of the table in front of him. Clutching his head, Barry stood, hurt and embarrassed.
"The FUCK?!" Strunk stood, as John rushed to tend to Barry.
"You alright, man?" John wiped blood off of his face, and turned to the offender in rage. "The hell is the matter with you? That was out of order!"
Strunk and John helped Barry to as feet, as the man who tripped Barry stood.
John immediately sized him up.
John wasn't tall, but he was lean, and he'd fish fought bigger men with this. In that instant, he rose to the challenge.
"Get Barry to the med bay. Have him looked at." John nodded his head.
Strunk, physically more powerful than John, stood his ground. "Hold on, now. If there's a rumble, I'ma particip-"
"And piss off your fiancee?" John smiled. "OUT. I got it. We're just gonna exchange humors."
Strunk escorted Barry out hesitantly, as John stood his ground.
There were four, but John only expected to deal with the one.
"Got something to say, darkie?" The man stood sideways to John, looking back at his colleagues for approval. "We're just havin' a laugh."
"Like a bunch of middle-schoolers. Here's a laugh for you."
John took his cup of water, and tossed it in the man's face. His eyes were open, leaving him momentarily blinded.
John leaned forward, headbutting the man square in the face.
His second blow backed the man into his friends. They all moved out of the way. In tardy defense, the gentleman raised his arms, trying to block. John punched him in the stomach three times, backing him up. He was in a decent rhythm, bypassing his guard and landing heavy blows to his stomach.
He threw a heavy punch. John ducked. Another was simply avoided by leaning to the side. John exploited a third punch, landing a painful cross counter to his opponent's jaw. His right hand drummed off of the man's cheek, leaving an indent of his knuckles.
John cocked his leg and swung his knee. The blow threw the man backwards and onto the floor. He clutched his body, finished.
"
THE WINNER." John grinned. "Anybody els-"
With a single punch, the largest man knocked John on the side of the head. The blow stung, but he stumbled without falling.
Ah shit. The fight was three on one now, the man's offended friends joining in.
John backed up, rubbing the side of his head. He took off his grey and red service jacket. "C'MON. I can do this all day!"
The burly, heavy armed man stepped forward to throw another punch. John sidestepped it, swinging his foot in a crescent sweep. The man fell flat, and John stepped over him, throwing a punch into the chest of the second man. With two hits, he stumbled back.
This was the easy part of fighting multiple men on your own. None of them want to get hit. A few blows, and they back off.
The third kicked John in the gut, moving in close. John cocked his arm to throw a punch, but his hand was seized, pinned behind his back.
John felt a chair strike him in the stomach.
A fist came down on the top of his head.
This was the hard part of fighting multiple men. It's
noble, but not a good idea.
John pulled his arm free, and landed an uppercut on the man in front of him. He swung his elbow, striking the man holding his arm.
"
That all you got?!" John fought back hard, but they were on all sides now. His feet were tripped by a man beside him, and he fell to his knees.
A torrent of blows knocked him face flat. He could feel boots instead of fists now.
It was pretty much over for him. "STOMP THE LITTLE SHIT!"
John faintly heard the door open behind him.
The food might be decent around here.Jacob opened the door to the cafeteria, and was stricken with the sight of several security personnel stomping on a young black man.
He cracked his knuckles, targeting each of the four officers with his eyes, calculating how he could drop each one.
...Alright then. That's something to do.
