Paladin

Brian was running as fast as he could towards home, trying very hard not to trip, knowing that his bullies were hot on his tail. It wasn't fair. Most of the times on tv or in the movies, the bullies were at least rude to most everyone - but they were his personal bullies. They never bothered anyone else - they were perfectly satisfied to mock and beat on him and him alone every day without end. They weren't necessarily nice to everyone else, but they certainly weren't mean to them. All of their bitterness and anger was directed toward Brian, even though he had never done anything to them in the first place. He was just smaller and weaker than them.

Unfortunately, despite the literal years of experience running away, he was still slower than they were. He felt Fredrick's fist slam into his spinal cord - he could feel the differences between them all, he had been punched so many times - which sent a shockwave through his body, momentarily paralyzing him, which caused his momentum to throw him face down into the concrete. Only a second passed between him hitting the ground, and a knee dropping onto his back, sending another shock of pain and pinning him to the ground.

There were no words of hatred or blaming before the fists began to rain down on Brian's back, pummeling him against the ground. He wished he knew how long it would take for them to be satisfied with his poundings, but there never seemed to be any kind of pattern that he could notice. It was merely until they felt like they had had enough of it, and that always took what felt like a very long time.

But the poundings stopped very abruptly only a few moments after they had started. Brian thought the shock in his brain from his face hitting the concrete must have caught up to him and his body had gone numb, but he could hear some kind of struggling behind him. Afraid of what he might see, he slowly turned his head back to look.

A stranger was there, his palms placed flat on Brian's bullies' chests and forcing them back until they hit a wall. He could see the rage on their faces at being stopped from their beatings, but their best struggles couldn't get them out from under the man's hands. He was huge - his workout clothes were loose fitting, but big enough to betray just how massive the muscles underneath must have been. When he looked over his shoulder back at Brian, his eyes were calm, as though holding the boys back was less than an after thought.

"You alright?" he called out. Brian pushed himself up on his knees and rubbed his face. It hurt, but such a short beating made it far more tolerable. But he didn't want to answer. He was afraid of what the bullies would do if he did.

It was clear that the man could tell that. Just then, one of the bullies', clearly tired of being held back, reeled an arm back and slammed it into the man's chest. Brian flinched just from seeing it, but the man didn't even react. Without a word, he grabbed the boys' heads and smashed them together, instantly knocking them unconscious and letting them drop to the ground.

Brian blinked, shocked at what he had just seen. "Looks to me like you could use a good friend to watch your back," the man called out again. He walked over and held out a hand, which Brian took almost without thinking, easily hoisting Brian back onto his feet. "When you got some free time, come stop by the gym. I'll show you around."