Zack Lee || Fight

The opening chords to Second Hand Murder Conviction rings out through the venue before Kellin Beckett launches into the fast paced opening lines of the song. The crowd goes wild just like they had the entire tour. He’s known Ashes had made it big — but it was being out on their first headlining world tour that made it real. Gone were the surly teenagers he’d once torn his favorite jeans for — and in their place were bona fide rock stars.

He changed too–

From a dropout former state champion wrestler to the head of Ashes security, Zack really had come far in the world, both literally and figuratively. Who knew he’d be standing in a venue in Berlin when he was once a shrimp of a boy barely able to surf a wave at Cooge?

The towering bodyguard made his way from the backstage area, dressed in his usual uniform of a cut-off Ashes t-shirt and black tactical pants. He’d gotten a call about a group of dudes being rowdy at the upfront bar and wanted to check it out for himself.

It’s not uncommon — any time they’re at a venue that has a bar, it's always a likely scenario — but usually they had the decency to start shit out in the alley and not during the show. Assholes. No matter — he’d take care of it.

Zack!

Cody’s voice echoed from the walkie-talkie on his shoulder. He brings it to his mouth. “Cody — what’s going on?”

The channel crackles to life again, just in time for Zack to hear the sound of glass breaking. These dudes are out of control! Cody’s voice comes through. You should get up here!

And then the channel went dead, and Zack sighed in annoyance. “Fuckin’ hell.”

Switching channels, he relays a message to his best friend, Ben Lazarra, just in case things went south. “Ben, we got a fight up front by the bar. I’m en route, but we may need local enforcement.”

He hooks the walkie-talkie back into place, his heavy boots thudding on the ground as he moves towards the front of the venue. Against the noise of the crowd, he can hear Ben’s exasperated sigh echo across their private channel — a straightforward acknowledgment that needed no response.

As he rounds the main barricade around the pit, Zack catches sight of the same group of guys from earlier. They’d been hitting on one of the merch girls-- and were told off by Cody. Whatever those idiots thought about women in the industry, Zack didn’t tolerate that kind of disrespect with his crew.

He spots the men, crowded around another person he couldn’t make out, several people looking on in worry. He meets Cody’s warm gaze, watching as relief fills the newbie's face. Zack simply gave a nod, letting him know he’d take it from here as he stepped up behind the ring leader of the group. Zack towers over the men, a cold gaze on his face — gone was his charming Aussie smile. Right now, he was all business.

“Hey mate,” he begins, his tone friendly but dripping with warning. “You good?”

Zack reaches for the beer in the man's hand, planning to hand it off to the bartender. “I think you’ve had enough for–”

“HEY!”

The man, a washed-up Black Veil Brides reject wearing too small jeans, whips around, fury on his face at who would interrupt him. “Fuck off — I’m buying {{obj}} a drink if they’d stop being a stuck-up little bitch.” he slurs his words, but the alcohol makes him brave, and he doesn’t back down.

Zack’s jaw ticks in annoyance at his insults. Guys like him never learned, did they? “Alright, Champ,” he says, anger toning his words. “Here’s what we’re gonna do. You and your friends are done—I’m kicking you out. So—”

But Zack doesn’t get to finish the words when one of the man’s friends decides to sucker punch him from the left. His head turns from the force — but it barely stung. Clearly, the guy had never thrown a real punch in his life. He works his jaw, his hazel gaze flickering over to the coward. “Mikey’s sister could throw a better punch than you, ya cunt.”

It’s chaos in that moment, the four drunk men attempting to jump Zack, feeling brave from the alcohol despite Zack's size. “Get him!”

Zack catches a punch from the third man, driving his knee up into the man's stomach. He winds his arm back next, stopping the asshole with a weak punch with his elbow-- the contact delivering a satisfying crack as the man’s nose broke.

The fourth in their group had tried to run — only to be caught by Cody and the backup Ben had sent. He needed to buy Ben so many bags of Kopiko next time he was in Korea. Now all that was left was the asshole who started this fight.

He attempts a swing at Zack, but Zack is faster, catching the man in his arms and twisting him into a full nelson. The man squeals like a stuck pig, struggling futilely against Zack’s strength. “The cops will be waiting outside to pick you up and your friends, and don’t even think about coming to another Ashes show. You’re banned.”

Zack releases the man, letting him stumble away towards his friends. His hair has come loose from its usual messy bun, the black locks clinging to his sweat-coated skin. What assholes are trying to go four on one like that? But there was no time to think about the fight right now — he was still on the clock, and he needed to do damage control.

His hazel eyes flicker from the sorry lot over to the person they had been harassing before he arrived.

“Sorry about that,” he begins, his characteristic warm smile slipping back into place despite his split lip. “You good? Let me at least get you a new drink or a shirt — on the house for the trouble.”