The tangy sent was coming from the gym. He did stop and think before he started to make his way there. He did realize that people hurt themselves a lot in the gym and the sight of blood there wasn't uncommon. But something was telling him this blood had nothing to do with a slip. Soon he could hear voices.
"Not so tough now are you? Huh?!"
"Please…"
James heard a hand connect with flesh and someone become breathless.
"Come on. Go easy on him. He's just a fairy."
Another hit was dealt.
"What are you going to do? Cry?"
James could tell that whoever was on the receiving end of the cutting words had already started to cry. He could smell the tears under the blood.
"Oh look. The fairy's crying."
This time James could hear 'the fairy' cry out in pain when the next blow hit.
James pushed the door open. Three boys were beating on one other. One of the boys was very large. James recognized this large boy as a starter on the football team. He was known for sitting out about half the game for excess violence. Last game he almost killed someone. The other two were no namers.
Their prey had been pushed against the wall. It looked like the boy's nose was broken; blood was flowing freely from the injury. His arm might have been broken as well.
The quarter back looked up and took a step toward James. "What do we have here?"
One of the no namers laughed. "You want a turn?"
The other no namer smiled. "I'd be careful if I were you. Aaron here is a Second Gen SPARTAN."
Aaron took another step closer. "You don't look like you could survive much of a beating."
"Maybe we should dealing with him first…"
Aaron cracked his knuckles. "Maybe we should."
The blow came fast. So fast James knew what the second no namer said was true; Aaron had to have had a parent in the SPARTAN project because that blow came far too fast to come from a normal human. But he only had one parent who was a SPARTAN and it looked like a SPARTAN I. James on the other hand had both parents in the SPARTAN III program. To James, that blow came at a maddenly slow pace. With ease, James reached out and caught his opponent's fist in his hand.
The effect was instant.
Aaron looked dumbfounded. Looked like James was the first person to be cool headed when attacked.
"What are you?"
James didn't answer. Instead he straightened his arm out and punched the larger boy in the face. He felt his nose crush under the blow. Aaron took two steps back and James twisted Aaron's hand in his; Aaron screamed as his arm was ripped from its socket.
Only then did James let Aaron go.
"You might want to have that looked at."
Aaron looked up, eyes scared, and ran. His two no namers fallowed after him.
James watched them go before turning his attention to 'the fairy'.
He looked even more scared than Aaron. At the very least he was more of a mess. When James took a step closer, he took a step a way.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure you're okay."
James took another step closer and this time the boy didn't move away. Within another few steps James was standing in front of the bleeding boy. He knelt down and touched the boy's face.
"What's your name?"
For a moment James thought he wasn't going to answer. "… Vince."
James smiled and placed his other hand on Vince's face. Carefully he shifted Vince's head so James could get different look at the nose. "Do they do that to you a lot?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Vince took his head out of James' hands.
"Sorry. Look I don't need to know; just curious."
The next words that came from Vince's mouth were so soft if James hadn't had the parents he had he would never have heard them. "They don't like me because I'm gay."
"Seems like a stupid reason to not like someone." James stood and went to the other side of the room to get some paper towels. He paused by the water fountain and wet them before sitting back down with Vince. He slid his left hand under Vince's chin and slowly started to clean off the blood. "Have you ever gone to the teachers about them?"
"No… Aaron said he'd kill me if I ever told. He's a Second Gen so I'm sure he could if he wanted too." Vince took his head out of James' hand and frowned. "But… You are faster than he is. I mean… He's right. What are you?"