Simpson's fist slams into his gut, making Hornblower double over and fall down to the floor.
"Do you want to try saying that again?" Simpson asks, seething in anger.
Hornblower grimaces as he lifts his head to glare back at his tormentor.
"Hornblower, just stop it," one of the midshipmen says behind him.
"You're only going to make this worse," another says.
Simpson walks over to loom his larger body over Hornblower's, still on the ground. "You might want to listen to them, Snotty," he says, flexing his fists.
Hornblower's eyes twitch at the taunt. Just who does this guy think he is? For the past week all he's been doing was picking on them, brutalizing them, causing everyone in the room pain and torment.
Before he can think over what he's doing, Hornblower staggers to his feet and charges at Simpson again. He lands a hit on the other man's stomach, before Simpson wraps his arms around Hornblower's torso and throws him against the bulkhead.
Hornblower's back slams against it, hard. The impact rattles the wood, knocking off a shelf hanging above him and causing it to tumble down onto Hornblower's head and chest.
"Alright, guys, can we just stop it now?" someone says. "Someone's going to come down."
Hornblower lifts his head up. He hears a ringing going through his skull, but decides to ignore it for now. Through his vision that's growing increasingly hazy, he sees what could only be Simpson trying to come at him and attack him again. Although it looks like Cleveland is trying to hold him back.
"Is that all you got?" Simpson asks him, learing back at him.
Honrblower slowly staggers to his feet, shrugging off the pieces of the shelving that had fallen around him. He looks at SImpson, the man is still readying to go at this, it seems. Well, so is he.
He starts walking toward Simpson, flexing his fists.
Despite his struggle, Cleveland is unable to hold Simpson back as he too, rushes forward to have a go at Hornblower.
Within seconds Hornblower is back on the floor, this time knocked out.
Xx xXx xXx xX
"Horatio, Horatio," he thinks he could hear Archie's voice saying his name, trying to wake him up.
That's strange, he is already awake, isn't he? At least he doesn't remember falling asleep.
Then he realizes his eyes were closed. When did they close?
He tries to blink them open, but then quickly closes them and groans as one of the candlelights from a nearby lamp shines into them.
"Come on boy, open your eyes," He hears another voice whisper close by.
He wants to, God he wants to open his eyes and figure out just what happened. Why was his head pounding? And why did his body feel as if he was just trampled by a horse?
"Everything hurts," Hornblower says slowly, blinking his eyes open. "Wha' happened?"
Archie huffs a laugh, before speaking. "You tried to take Simpson on in a fight?"
Really? Hornblower thought. That didn't sound like something he would do. Is Archie serious right now?
Archie chuckled. "Tell me about it, Horatio, it certainly doesn't seem like something you'd do."
Wait… did he say that out loud? He must really be out of it.
"What's the damage?" he asks.
"The doctor already looked you over," Archie says. "Nothing looked broken to him, you'll just be bruised for a couple days."
Hornblower blinks his eyes fully open and shakes his head, trying to get whatever fog settling his mind away. What the hell made him want to go against Simpson in a physical fight?
"Why did I fight Simpson?" Hornblower asks.
"Well," Archie swallows. "You could say he kind of started it, in a way…"