Chapter 8

(Medic's POV)

"Knock knock." Medic sighed in response. "Knock knock." Jester repeated loudly.

"Really? Again?" Medic asked.

Jester just smiled and said "Knock knock."

"Ugh, who's there?"

"Me."

"Me who?"

"No, seriously, it's just me. I'm telling a knock knock joke." Jester said suppressing a laugh. Medic sighed and went back to cleaning his rifle. "Oh, come on! That was pretty funny." Jester said in a hurt voice.

Medic looked up at him. They were both rather bored. Though, Medic was handling it much better by cleaning and organizing all of his gear. Jester, on the other hand, was fidgeting and pacing and telling bad jokes. "If you say so." Medic said then returned to his cleaning.

There was silence for several minutes, in which time Medic finished cleaning his rifle and now sat leaning against one of the large reinforced walls surrounding the base, fidgeting with his helmet. Jester was still pacing and telling jokes to no one in particular.

After a while, Jester walked up to him and asked "How long?" Medic looked at him for a few seconds before responding in a tired voice.

"About four minutes since the last time you asked." Jester went back to pacing. Medic returned to the task at hand. He was trying to modify the enhanced sensory systems in his helmet to be able to send out short pulses of sound and monitor their progress. Allowing him to create a 'sound-map' of his surroundings. So far he'd been able to send out the pulses and monitor them. But background noise was throwing off the sensors causing the map to blur as the sensors lost track of the signal. The map itself was displayed on his visors HUD. Just need to isolate the signal. He thought. Though he was finding that saying so and doing so were two very different things.

Suddenly, Jester's voice cut through his aggravated mind. "We should fight." Medic looked up at him. Thinking over the suggestion. Finally, he figured his helmet could wait and stood up, laying it on the ground.

"Alright." He said. Jester smiled widely and took up a boxing stance. Medic raised his hands slightly and braced his legs. After watching eachother for a few seconds, Jester sprang forward.

(Mentor's POV)

Mentor and Bishop walked out into the courtyard. They hadn't found the others in the bunkhouse or the mess hall. So they figured the only other place they'd go would be the courtyard. After a brief inspection Mentor said "There." and pointed to the far wall. Where two figures were facing each other.

Bishop nodded and they began to make their way over. Then they saw them both take up a ready position and Mentor slowed down. "We should probably let them go at it." Mentor said. Bishop quirked an eyebrow at him but slowed down as well. "They're easier to deal with when they're tired. Besides, getting between them in a fight is the equivalent of standing between an angry bear and lion." Bishop regarded him for a second before nodding in agreement. They then settled back to watch.

No sooner had they settled in then the first shot was launched. Jester dived forward and swung his leg in a powerful kick aimed for Medic's head. Medic ducked the blow and swung his legs in an arc that cut Jester's feet from under him. Jester fell to land on his back but quickly rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet. Mentor smiled at how accurate his description was. Jester was like a bear. Swinging his arms and legs with crushing force. But Medic was a lion. Moving swiftly and striking at all the chinks in Jester's defences.

As Jester regained his feet, Medic launched forward with startling speed, landing a quick straight to Jester's stomach. Jester barely seemed to notice the blow and took another swipe at Medic. Medic recognized the dip of Jester's shoulder that foretold an attack and was moving to react before the fist was on it's way. When Jester's fist finally reached it's intended target Medic's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. Pulling him forward deftly. Medic used the force of his pull to rotate his body as Jester passed him by. Pivoting on his right heel he spun around and drove his right elbow into Jester's back. The force of the blow knocking him down.

Jester tucked into a roll as he fell and came out standing up and facing Medic. Jester and Medic launched forward simultaneously and met with a clash of blows. Jester managed to catch Medic by the side of the head setting his ears ringing. While Medic landed a flurry of blows to Jester's abdomen and a quick hook to his jaw. Finally, Medic planted his foot into Jester's abdomen and kicked off. Sending them both flying. Medic rotated in the air and landed on his feet while Jester hit the gound. Hard.

Before Jester had time to recover, Medic leapt forward again. He landed on Jester and wrapped his left hand around his throat. His arm stopping Jester's right fist from hitting him. His right boot was planted on Jester's left arm in the crook of his elbow. Rendering it useless. Medic carefully controlled his grip on Jester's throat. Making sure he didn't accidentally crush it. While his right arm jabbed repeatedly into Jester's chest. Again, not hard enough to break anything. After a few seconds of struggling Jester went slack and tapped Jester's arm twice in a row. Medic leapt off of him with the same astounding speed and left him to catch his breath.

Mentor saw that the fight was over and began walking forward. Bishop went to tell Medic the news while Mentor crouched beside Jester and helped him up. Jester was clutching his throat but smiled when he heard about their deployment. He then turned to Medic and said "Why do you always go for the throat?" His voice raspy but understandable. Medic looked at him and noticed the bruises forming on his neck. He gave him a bit of a smirk before responding.

"It's the most vulnerable spot on the body. Most armour doesn't protect it. That, and it feels right." Jester looked at him before smiling. Bloodlust was something he understood. Even if Medic didn't.