Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alex cussed as his knee buckled. This was seriously bad timing. And he hadn’t even done anything that would explain why it buckled just now. He hadn’t jumped, he hadn’t run, he hadn’t landed poorly. He even had his weight centered over the damn leg. No reason for it to buckle…

“You good there, buddy?” Jack asked a little worried, he got a little more worried when he saw the 6’4’’ tall brunet steadying his right leg.

“Yeah, just need to have a checkup on my knee…” Alex sighed, rubbing out the ache which was presenting itself. He was desperately hoping that this wasn’t some sick foreshadowing of how the mission would go from this point on.

“Checkup?”

“Yeah, think I’ve torn my cruciate ligaments again…” Alex admitted as he straightened up and tested if his knee still worked correctly.

“Like, now?” Jack asked alarmed.

“No, a few weeks ago…” Alex said as he gradually put more weight on the leg, then took a few limping steps judging his ability to continue with the mission. “Okay, we’re all good…”

“You sure?” Jack asked, scanning Alex’s face for any real clues about the state of the younger man’s injury.

“Yeah, Kim would probably just request that I’d ‘grow a pair’… Trust me, not really anything to worry about…” Okay, his brother wouldn’t do that. He would probably go all protective mode and demand to check his knee out right there on the spot. But Alex didn’t want Jack to know that, and he certainly didn’t want Jack to worry too much about him. He was good, he’d been on missions in worse conditions than this.

Jack wasn’t convinced, but he nodded and continued walking. “How’s Kim doing by the way?” 

“As well as any dude who has recently taken a bullet through the shoulder can hope for, I guess…” Alex shrugged, “Sure would have been easier for him without the family curse…”

“Family curse?”

“ADHD, resting up is mild torture...”

“Amen to that…” Jack agreed, grinning.

“Wait, you have it too?”

“I’m a 35 year old dude who punches people for a living. Is it so hard to believe?”

“Not as hard as trying to believe that you’re 35…” Alex chuckled, “You should really up that to 40, much more believable.”

“39, does that work?”

“Sure…” Alex rolled his eyes, “When you’re done with your midlife crisis, do you think we can get going and actually stop this dictator?”

“Oh, sorry… I was only stopping because your wear and tear were bothering ya… Sure you’re not a 60 year old in a young-suit?” Jack shot back with a smile.

“Nice one, gramps… Nice one…” the 24 year old nodded. “Real clever…”

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MEANWHILE BACK AT HOME

“How are my two favorite guys doing?” Riley asked as she entered her living room, almost smirking at the sight of Mac and Kim.

“Oh, good…” Kim answered, shrugging his right shoulder. “Just a little bit jealous of those two who actually got to go out in the field… But, I get to stay here with you two.”

Mac smiled, and looked down at the boot holding the severely sprained ankle stable.

“It is a little weird knowing that your partner is out there on a mission without you…” Mac nodded along, “But they needed the best of the best available, so… Agency team-up…”

Kim nodded, “Would have been fun to be on this mission… Sounded like it was a set up for one of those real old time missions dad and his mates talks about from time to time…”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, you know… Real cowboy-up kinda missions, Alex would probably refer to John McClane or some stuff...”

“Oh crap, we’ve got two times Jack Dalton on a mission alone…” Riley realized.

That was enough for Mac to start laughing and for Kim to smirk.

“Honestly, I’d be more afraid of having two Alexander Coles together on a mission. Because that spells trouble…” Kim said tapping the knuckles of his right hand on his knee.

“I’ve never seen him in action, but the last camping trip I joined in on was wild…” Mac remembered.

“Trust me, that camping trip is nothing compared to how he gets on missions.” Kim warned.

“Okay, so you’re saying the fate of the free world is left to…?”

“To two hyperactive guys, one with the attention span of a five-year-old and the other with severe ability to get into trouble… Yup…” Kim nodded.

“And we’re not quite sure which is which…” Mac groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Jack knows how to concentrate…” Riley frowned

“Yeah, Alex does too…” Kim shrugged his good shoulder again.

“But they both know how to get sidetracked too…” Mac offered.

“Exactly…” Kim agreed.

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“So… What’s the plan now?” Alex asked as they stood outside the door where they expected the dictator and his security guys to be.

“Hey, don’t look at me man…”

“You’re the oldest, I figured you were the leader of this mission. Well, that and because that scary little boss-lady of yours put your name on the top of the mission plan.”

“Well, I relied on you being the planner. After all, you and your brother share that task on your missions right?”

“Nah, Kim does the real planning. I do the ‘hope-this-works-and-we-don’t-die’ planning…”

“Oh, but hey… I haven’t really been on the planning side of missions since Kabul, and that’s ten years ago, easy!” Jack whispered back, urgency in his tone.

“Well, if I’m the brains of this operation, we’re in some deep shit…”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah…”

“I’m not a fan of this, but what do you say the plan is to just wing it?”

“Best plan so far…” Alex shrugged, “Might as well hope Lady Luck keeps us safe.”

“Man I hate this…” Jack admitted, tightening his grip around his AK.

“I have to admit, I do find comfort in the illusion of having a plan…”

“Illusion?” Jack looked up with a puzzled frown.

“Even the best laid plans can go sideways…”

“And that’s the story behind Cairo…”

“Cairo?”

“Tell you later, gonna need some alcohol before that wound gets ripped open…”

Alex nodded, “Mission gone bad?”

“Worst mission gone bad up until now…” Jack chuckled grimly. “So, are we just gonna kick down the door?”

“Guess so…” Alex grimaced, “Look, no offence, you’re a great guy… But I really, really, PASSIONATELY HATE being on missions with anyone else than Kim…”

“Kid, I feel the exact same way…” Jack said, baring his teeth. “There’s no routine when you’re out with new fellas…”

Alex nodded, “You feel like we’re both the same pole of a battery? That we’re the negative one, and right now we should have Kim or Mac so that we would function?”

“Not in quite so many words, but yeah…” Jack looked at the door again, “Think it’s best if we just go for it though… Either that, or this mission is going to fail by default…”

“May I get the honors of kicking down the door?”

“Thought your knee was hurt?”

“I usually kick with my left…”

“Okay, go for it!” Jack nodded, standing back to offer Alex some space.

Chapter Text

Jack had to give it to him, the kid’s ability to kick down doors were no less than admirable. The two inch wooden door sprang open at the first kick, wood splintering near the lock.

He didn’t get the chance to brag of Alex’s neat kick, because inside the room there were seven armed guards. And they weren’t too happy to see Jack and Alex.

Two of the guards charged at them, the other ones lifted their guns. Jack grabbed a hold of one of the guys hair, jerking his head down at the same time as he thrusted his knee upward crushing the guy’s nose. Unfortunately, the guy didn’t go down so easily and he kept fighting.

The guys who had raised their guns obviously waited for the other two to either win or get out of the way before they started shooting.

He tried sweeping his opponent’s legs, but the guy just jumped over his attempt.

Jack yelped as the guy’s knee connected with his ribcage, it set him a little off edge, but he recovered quickly enough to be able to duck the roundhouse kick aimed for his head.

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The man tried to kick him square in the chest, stupid move… But of course, the guy in a dress jacket couldn’t know that on beforehand. Alex caught the man’s foot and stretched his leg all the way above both of their heads. It didn’t help the guy that Alex was a good six inches taller than him. Alex’s actions caused the shorter man to jump up and down on the toes of his left foot.

Alex shifted the man’s foot down to his shoulder, making it possible for him to hold him with only one arm. It was still very high for the other man to have his foot held. This left Alex’s left hand free to do other things, like reaching for his gun and fire a few rounds into the men holding guns towards them, then he clonked his opponent at the temple with the butt of his handgun.

Just as the man sagged down in front of him, a weight crashed into him from his side.

He knew it before he hit the ground. He knew it just as the audible pop rang through the room, it sounded kinda like when a rubber band snaps. A rubber band about the thickness of a water hose. Everyone else in the room who was still alive and conscious snapped their heads towards the origin of the sound.

Jack was the first one to recover from the sickening sound, and used that to his advantage and knocked out the man who was trying to fight him, the one who had crashed into Alex.

“What was that?” Jack asked casting a worried glance at Alex, “Was that your ACL? PCL?”

Alex shook his head, his eyes focused on nothing in particular. “No, no… No, I tore those a little while ago… But something tore…”

“Does it hurt?”

“Hasn’t registered yet…” Alex answered, still with a thousand yard stare. 

The dictator shifting behind the desk fetched Jack’s attention, and caused him to take action once again. Propelling himself towards the guy, Jack hooked an elbow around the man’s torso causing them both to crash into the wall behind the dictator.

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Alex looked up as Jack stood back up with a groan. The older man was rubbing gently at his shoulder, wincing.

“You doing good?”

“Nah…” Jack answered, biting down on his teeth. “Knocked out my shoulder… You know how to set one?”

Alex nodded, “My brother is the master of dislocated shoulders… Come here…”

“How’s the leg?”

“Certainly starting to tell me that something is wrong…” Alex grimaced, pressing his right hand down on top of his quadriceps. “How is the idiot behind the desk?”

“Out cold. Cuffed him too…”

Alex nodded, “Good…”

Jack grunted as he kneeled down beside Alex, his shoulder giving him more than a little trouble. Jack looked towards the younger man’s right knee. It was hard to tell how bad it hurt by the younger man’s expression, but the odd angle the joint took gave Jack some indication of how serious the injury probably was.

“Let me do a little quick fix of that shoulder of yours…” Alex said getting ready to grab a hold of Jack’s weird angled arm, “Cause I might need to use you as a crutch on my way outta here…”

“You also need me to make some kind of splint for your knee. Knees are not meant to bend that way…”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Alex shot back with a grimace.

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“So… Who do you think will screw up the case first? Your guy or my twin?”

“You really don’t have much faith in that brother of yours?” Riley asked sitting down next to Kim.

“Oh, I have faith in him…” Kim clarified, “But I know of Murphy’s law… And I’m quite sure Alex is Murphy’s law’s favorite victim…”

“He is?”

“Yup.” Kim leaned back and folded his hands at the right side of his chest. “Plus, he could probably pick a fight in an empty desert.”

“And how about you?” Riley asked, her foot nudging Kim’s leg, Mac rolled his eyes.

“Oh, I’ve got a little bit of wild blood in me too…” Kim winked back, “But unlike Alex, I enjoy using my brain cells for a little more than planning my next move in a hand to hand…”

“What do you like to do?” Riley pushed, inching closer.

Mac had to avert his eyes, he had a crush going on Riley… But he hadn’t been able to put it across to her, and now she was starting to flirt with one of his buddies. It felt like a punch in the gut. The jewelry ‘tree’ standing in Riley’s bookcase was interesting enough to hang his eyes on for a while.

“I’m more into the tactical aspect. Planning, finding ways to infiltrate…” Kim answered, bobbing his eyes side to side, “But I have to admit, I enjoy a good fight as much as the next guy. I’ve been practicing BJJ since I was seven or so…”

“Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Nice…” Riley smiled.

“Do you do BJJ?”

Riley shook her head and blushed ever so slightly, “No, but I’ve seen it being practiced…”

“Let me guess, you liked watching it?”

“More like I liked when the two guys practicing it decided it was too hot for t-shirts…”

Mac had never before hoped for someone to shoot him, but right now. He probably would have thanked whoever did it.

“Well, I’d invite you to some of our practices, but I’m out for a couple of months… Doctor’s orders…” Kim said angling his head so he could look Riley up and down beside him.

“Raincheck?”

“If you want one, it’s yours…”

“I’d really like that…” Riley smiled back, moving her leg just a little, enough for her and Kim’s knees to touch.

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Alex pulled Jack’s shoulder back into the spot where it was supposed to be, and instinctively ducked as the ball of the humerus slammed into the socket.

The way both men were left groaning and cussing would have left most truckers blushing.

“Why’d you duck?” Jack gasped stabilizing his left shoulder with his right arm. Then he let out another growl.

Alex grimaced, his hands reaching for his mangled knee. “Kim… Kim usually lashes out during extreme pain… Best not to be within striking distance…”

“Fair enough…” Jack offered a quick smile to Alex, and nodded towards his leg. “I’ll find something to stabilize that thing…”

Chapter Text

“How is it feeling?”

Alex glared back up at him as if to say ‘my knee is a hot mess right now, how do you think it feels?’.

“Okay, okay…” Jack nodded as he placed two now padded chair legs on either side of Alex’s leg. “I kinda need your opinion here, should I try to straighten it? Or should I just secure it the way it is now?”

Alex propped himself up on his elbows, giving himself the chance to get a better look at the leg.

“How loose is it?” Alex finally asked, pointing a finger towards his knee.

“You want me to check?” Jack asked placing his hands a few inches away from Alex’s leg.

Alex nodded, “Go ahead… If there’s no resistance at all, we might as well set it straight, if it feels like it’s tugging at something, I think we better keep it at that odd angle….”

Jack placed one hand under Alex’s ankle and one under his calf, then he carefully lifted the leg. He tried to ignore it when Alex stifled a scream as the joint acted like Jell-O, tried to ignore it because it hurt deep down in his soul.

Jack swallowed hard before he gave Alex his opinion on the state of the leg. “I don’t think… I think…”

“There is nothing left keeping the knee stable.” Alex croaked out, squeezing his eyes shut. “We should really take a look at it…”

Jack nodded and provided a knife from his belt, then he cut open the fabric hiding Alexander’s knee.

“Ummm… That doesn’t look healthy…” Jack commented as he took in the sight of the younger man’s knee.

“I could have told you that without even looking at it…” Alex said, fighting off tears.

“Yeah, but… What I mean is, umm… Your kneecap is vacationing somewhere further north…”

“Crap…”

“Crap, indeed…” Jack agreed. “Well, at least your leg is a lot straighter now…”

“Great.” Alex muttered, without any enthusiasm.

Jack nodded and started wrapping Alex’s leg and the legs of the chair with strips of sports-tape.

“Sorry, buddy…” Jack mumbled as Alex sounded his discomfort, “I’m so sorry, bud…”

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“What’s up with you?” Riley asked as she stepped into her kitchen. Mac was standing by the sink, forcefully cleaning his coffee-mug.

“Nothing…” Mac answered, attempting to keep his tone light and cheery.

“Oh, cause it seems to me like you’re avoiding us…”

“I’m not…” Mac almost bit back.

“And you seem a bit grumpy…”

“My ankle is acting up, sue me…”

“Mac, I know you well enough to know that this is all about something far different than your ankle…”

Mac sat the mug down hard on the counter, and turned around on his good heel.

“Then what?!”

Riley’s expression softened, and she stepped closer.

“Do you like me?”

“Of course I like you, what are you talking about?”

“No, I mean… Do you LIKE ME, like me?”

Mac blushed, and his eyes fell to the floor.

“I KNEW IT!” Riley cheered triumphantly. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“Because…” Mac lifted his right arm to rub the back of his neck, he was still looking at the floor. “Because you dated Bozer for a few months… And even though that’s a good while ago…”

“You’d feel like you were betraying him?”

Mac nodded. “And now you’ve obviously got your sights set on Kim…”

“NO! SHE HASN’T!” came from the living room.

“What?” Mac set his eyes on Riley.

“Kim agreed to play you… Because I had a suspicion…”

“You had a suspicion?”

Riley nodded and stepped even closer.

“A suspicion about what exactly?”

“About you liking me, you know… More than a friend…”

Mac blushed again, but this time he kept his eyes on Riley.

“So, you wanna be more than friends? Or do you want to continue this thing you’ve got going? You know… Sneaking glances at me, helping me out with things I don’t need help with…”

Mac chuckled nervously, she had him cornered. Both literally and metaphorically.

“Because I know what I want, but I need you to say it too…” Riley added.

“But Bozer?”

“Bozer has started to ask me when he gets to be the best man at your wedding. I guess he’s over me…” Riley shrugged. “So, is it a yes or a no?”

Mac grinned and pushed himself off the counter he was leaning on, he took the four limping steps he had to make to get over to Riley and placed his hands on top of her shoulders. When she smiled, he let his hands trail down her arms.

“It’s a yes…” Mac smiled.

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“Is that good enough?” Jack asked, eyeing his handiwork.

“Best we can do with what we have…” Alex shrugged, also studying Jack’s work.

“Look, obviously, you should be on a stretcher. You should be carried outta here…” Jack started, his eyes still locked on the makeshift splint, “But the situation we’re in kinda makes that impossible…”

Alex nodded.

“And getting that dictator out of here too… Will be a pain in the ass if I have to concentrate on helping you. And leaving him here alone for the time it takes to get you to the extraction point…”

“That’s a non-starter…”

Jack nodded in agreement.

“We could use him, when he wakes up…”

“How?”

“Use him as support…”

“He’ll probably just try to run off on you…”

“When he wakes up, get him over here. Handcuff him to me…”

“Why? What do you have in mind?”

“I don’t know yet… Scare him straight?”

“And how are a 24 year old supposed to scare a 24 year old supposed to scare an old man?”

“I have something in mind…” Alex shrugged, “Just roll with it…”

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“You can’t do this!” the dictator growled, struggling against Jack’s hold as he was lead towards Alex.

“Oh, we can… And we will.”

“The court of human rights will hear about this!”

“Oh, you say so…”  Jack grinned, rough handling the dictator as he lead him towards Alex on the floor. “A little fun fact for you… The World Court of Human Rights agreed to send us, and our orders were dead or alive…”

“You can’t do this to me!”

Jack ignored the dictator and directed his question to Alex. “Which side do you want him on?”

Alex looked up at Jack, casting a brief glance at the older man’s left shoulder. “Maybe it’s best for the both of us if I have him to my right…”

“Okay, so his left hand to your right then?”

Alex nodded, and Jack shoved the dictator down on the floor next to Alex and cuffed them together.

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“Okay, so… My leg is kinda messed up. Kinda feels like the Chernobyl of knee injuries…” Alex started, staring hard at the dictator, “So I’m gonna give you the opportunity to act like a decent human being for once, and help me…”

“Now why would I do that? What’s in it for me?”

“Let’s say you get to keep all of your teeth, how about that?” Alex stared coldly at the dictator.

“How are you going to do that? You’re already hurt!”

“I’ve been doing martial arts since before I was five…” Alex said calmly, “How do you think I’m going to knock out a few of your teeth?”

“I’ll have you know I’m an expert martial artist too…” the dictator threw back.

Alex looked the man up and down, “I don’t think so…”

“Yes I am!”

“No. You’re not…”

The dictator drew his right arm back and prepared to punch Alex in the face, but Alex caught his fist in midair.

“Told you you wasn’t…” Alex grinned. “Now you’ve messed up, you know that?”

“What? You’ve got my fist in your hand, that’s all you’ve got!”

“Oh, yeah… Well…” Alex shrugged, “You see, now I can break your arm with minimal effort… I can actually do it in like five different ways, just by twisting or bending my arm…”

Alex stared at the dictator with an expressionless look. The dictator had the same smug expression he had had all along.

“I could bend your hand up this way. I’d probably give you a hairline fracture, maybe mess up your wrist a little bit. By my estimates, you would have to have a cast for 3-4 weeks. No big deal, just hurts a bit…” Alex explained with ice in his voice, and saw a glister of fear behind the dictator’s eyes.

“Or I could bend your wrist far to the outer or inner side of your  arm, I don’t really think I would fracture anything. But take it from me, ruptured ligaments and sinews are no fun either… Takes a hell of a time to heal after surgery, and you never know if it will be strong enough to trust.” Alex smirked, pushing the dictator’s fist sideways, causing the man to flinch.

“Or, my personal favorite... Well… At least when it comes to breaking arms…” Alex smiled and changed his grip enough to twist the dictator’s arm, “This one will give you a spiral fracture. Common in domestic abuse and child abuse, I hate people who do such things to innocent people. But let’s face it, you’re not innocent. Therefore I will enjoy delivering whatever pain I can give you. I only have to twist my upper body a bit and then your ulna and radius will go crack…”

The dictator tried to twist out of Alex’s iron grip, but got nowhere.

“No, no-no…” Alex grinned, “I told you to behave like a good little dictator… Now, back to the spiral fracture thingy… The time spent in a cast after that varies from 4 to 12 weeks. And trust me… That’s a long ass time to have an itchy ca…”

Alex was cut off when the dictator tried to jam his free hand (the one handcuffed to Alex) into Alex’s knee. He almost made it too, but misjudged the length of the handcuff chain and Alex’s general strength.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” Alex growled, drawing his handcuffed hand close to his chest. “That stunt right there, that just cost you a lot of pain.”

Just as he finished speaking, Alex clubbed his forearm into the dictator’s face. Something cracked under his forearm and blood exploded out of the dictator’s mouth and nose immediately.

“OW!” the dictator complained and spat a few teeth.

“Oh, don’t worry… I won’t do that again, if you behave. If you don’t behave, well… You’ve still got a few teeth left…”

Okay, that was real fear he saw behind the dictator’s eyes. That was good.

“Now, are you going to behave?”

The dictator nodded.

“Attaboy… Now I’m going to release your fist, and you’re going to act nicely. Or else…” Alex smiled and wrapped his right arm around the dictator’s neck. “Jack, I think we’re ready here…”

Chapter Text

“So, how did you know?” Mac asked raising his eyebrow at Kim.

“Anyone with two eyes and half a brain has seen this coming for months…” Kim grinned, “personally I was getting tired of waiting for the announcement.”

Mac bit his lower lip and let his head fall back so he was looking at the ceiling. “Can’t have been that obvious…”

“Oh, yes my friend… It was…” Kim chuckled, “Maybe you just were too close to see it clearly? That happens…”

Mac let his head fall forward again, and nodded. Then he looked over at Riley. “You know, women are allowed to make the first move…”

“I know…  But I wanted to make sure first…” Riley blushed and leaned closer, “I mean, if I was wrong… I could end up losing one of my best friends…”

“And that was my exact problem too…” Mac shrugged back bumping his shoulder into Riley’s shoulder.

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“Wait, wait-wait!” Alex gasped as he skipped between Jack and the dictator.

The two other men slowed down, allowing Alex to bend over and clasp his hands around his thigh.

“You need a break, buddy?”

“I need a wheelchair, that’s what I need!” Alex almost shouted back.

“Kid, I wish I could get a wheelchair and some good drugs to magically appear here for you. But that’s not happening…” Jack said as he rested his hand on Alex’s back. “And we’re kinda on the clock here…”

Alex nodded, and growled as he rose back up. “Yeah, I know… I know…”

“Preferably before any more of this man’s goons clock on for their shift and find their co-workers in various degrees of hurt…”

Alex nodded again.

“Now, you ready to shift your ass into gear and get going again?”

Alex grimaced, but placed his arms across Jack and the dictator’s shoulders.

“Gee, kid… I wish you were a little shorter…”

“And a little lighter on the scale…” the dictator growled.

“Oh, look… We’ve got a comedian!” Jack grumbled, but silently he agreed with the dictator. Alex was no lightweight.

“Let’s just focus on what we need to do, ‘kay? We need to get outta here…”

“I know!”

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As they were making their way down the final hallway of the building, a shot rang through the air. It missed Jack’s head by about an inch, that was what it felt like anyway…

Jack pushed Alex and the dictator out of the way, and reached for his sidearm. In a burst of movement, he spun around and fired towards whoever had been shooting at them. It took him four bullets before the man collapsed and he could return his focus to Alex literally writing in pain.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Jack excused as he knelt down beside Alex. “I’m so sorry!”

Alex didn’t respond. He was too busy being doubled over, protecting his knee.

“Kid, kid... I’m so damn sorry!”

“Didn’t go quite as you planned G.I. Joe…” the dictator smirked.

“I advise you to shut the heck up, before I knock out the rest of your teeth…” Jack growled to the dictator. “Kid, can you push through this? Cause if I’m right, there’s more dudes like that coming… And I don’t think I’ve got that many bullets left.”

Alex simply shook his head.

“You can’t?”

Alex nodded.

“Okay, now look… If you weren’t just a few inches and pounds short of Rob Gronkowski it would have been easy enough to carry you. Even with this shoulder. But you’re huge…”

Alex glared back at Jack.

“Who is Rob Gronkowski?” the dictator asked.

“A pretty huge tight end... Playing for the Patriots…” Jack explained, rolling his eyes. “Are you sure you can’t make it the rest of the way between me and turdball over there?”

Alex grimaced and uncurled from the position he was in. “Not right now…”

“Not right now?” Jack repeated, “Does that mean that you think you will be able to do so in a few minutes?”

Alex nodded,

“Okay, might wanna hurry up then… Because I think I heard someone shouting something where we came from…”

Alex nodded again, and squared his shoulders. “Okay… Sure.”

“Ready to go?”

“Do I have a choice?” Alex winced.

“Not really…” Jack admitted as he ducked under Alex’s left arm to help him up.

Chapter Text

“No, no! This ain’t working!” Alex gasped, they had only made it a couple of yards but Alex had turned a worrisome shade of white.

“How do you guys do it when you’re out on assignments and one of you gets hurt real bad?” Jack asked as he motioned for them to head over to a table standing under an old painting.

“Usually it’s not that big of a problem…”

“Oh yeah? Remember, I’ve seen a few of your scars… I know you guys must be holding some kind of record in that department.”

“Well, usually it doesn’t hurt this bad!”

“What would Kim do now?”

“I don’t know…”

“Aw, come on! You know your twin well enough to make an educated guess!”

“He would probably carry me… Against my will…”

“Well, he’s a bit bigger and stronger than me I guess…”

“Bigger, yes. Stronger? Guess we can blame that on your shoulder, buddy…”

“I’m not joking.” Jack locked eyes with Alex, “I know Kim is stronger than me. I can tell that by only looking at you guys, you’re built like human tanks…”

“You’re exaggerating…” Alex noted with his eyes squeezed shut. “We’re well-built, I know that… But we’re not some super-sized hulk-dudes…”

“If I ever meet your mother, I have to ask her what she was feeding you two… Cause you are indeed massive.”

“Are you going to stand there and rattle on about my size, or are you going to find a solution to our problem?”

“Why can’t you find a solution?”

“Honestly, my leg hurts so much I can’t think straight!”

“OH…”

Alex nodded.

“An office chair? Would that do?”

Alex shook his head. “You saw what my leg did when you helped me off the floor less than a minute ago… How do you think it will go if I sit down without support under my damn leg?”

“Right…” Jack grimaced as he tried to figure out something that would work. “You’ve got your gun? Right?”

“Yup…”

“Still a couple of bullets left?”

“Two short of a full clip…”

“Okay, stay here. Shoot anyone except me… You got it?”

Alex nodded again.

“Now, this building used to be public. Have you ever seen a place that offers paid tours and don’t have wheelchairs standing around?”

“Yeah…”

“You have?”

Alex nodded.

“Was that in this country?”

Alex seemed to be sorting through his memories, before he shook his head.

“Now unless those have been thrown out recently, they should still be here somewhere. My guess is somewhere near the main entrance.”

Alex grimaced, but nodded. “You could be right…”

“How about you Dick?” Jack looked at the dictator, “Have you thrown away the wheelchairs?”

“My name is not Dick… It’s”

“DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE?” Jack barked back, “I’m going to call you dick, cause you’re a dictator! It’s fitting! Now, about the wheelchairs…”

“Why would I tell you? I’m not on your team!”

“Kid, whatever pain you feel for administering him… Go for it!” Jack looked at Alex and pointed to the dictator.

“My pleasure, Jack!” Alex bit out, cracking his knuckles in a threatening way while looking at the dictator.

“Be right back…”

MACGYVERxLAB

“If you let me go, I can pay you a couple of billion dollars…” the dictator offered with an almost toothless smile.

“Look, Mr. Numbskull… Money is not why I do what I do…” Alex replied, rolling his eyes.

“I bet it will be more money that you’ve ever seen…”

Alex took a deep breath and exhaled in a controlled manner. “That might be so… But I’ve already got enough money to last me a lifetime. At least considering the life expectancy of people in my line of work…”

“Aw, come on… You could live like a king…”

“Look, I grew up poor. I know how to get by on a budget… And frankly, I don’t need to be able to have someone cook me lobsters every day…”

“But it would be fun? Wouldn’t it?”

“Not really my thing…”

“Now, what is your ‘thing’?”

“My thing is…” Alex paused to overcome another jolt of pain shooting up his leg. “My thing is packing my bag, hiking into the woods and lighting up a bonfire. Snowboarding when there’s snow and hills around and climbing in the summer. I don’t need more money for that…”

“But with my money you could visit Whistler and Breckenridge anytime you’d want…”

“I’m more into the small resorts with a little soul… You know, the places that hasn’t changed since the 70’s… But the absolute best is off piste, couple of friends steep terrain and a snowmobile as the lift.”

“Okay, but your medical bills must be off the charts… You could probably use my money for that…”

“Nope…”

“Nope, what do you mean nope?”

“I mean, the agency I work for cover all medical expenses. Even if I get the injury outside of work…”

The dictator’s face fell a little.

“Don’t you wanna be rich?”

Alex shrugged, “I’m more of the eternal adventurer… And I’ve already got more money than I need…”

“But you could travel the world!”

“I already do that…”

“Without getting shot at.”

“Tempting… But I guess that’s all a part of the adventure…” Alex almost smirked, it was amusing to see the dictator grabbing at the grass, trying to get a good handhold.

“There must be something!”

“Not anything money can solve…” Alex replied stiffening a grimace.

“Okay… Okay… You’re crazy… You know that?”

“I’ve been made aware of it a couple of times…” Alex agreed.

“What is it you want most in life?”

“Right now?” Alex asked, “Think the winner is a good dose of morphine… And after that, waffles…”

“And how may I bribe you?”

“Can’t you just realize that it’s impossible?”

“It’s never impossible to bribe people… Or threaten them…”

“That’s correct, but you do need to know what they want or need… Or what they are most afraid of…” Alex bounced back.

“You, you’re probably afraid of more pain right now… I could kick your knee…” the dictator lisped past his missing teeth, “I won’t if you set me free…”

“And I won’t break every single bone in your arms if you stay away from my knee…” Alex shot back calmly, his eyes daring the dictator to say something. “Now, that’s 30 bones in each arm… I’m not counting past the upper arm… Just so you know that…”

The dictator swallowed and looked down. “Okay, I won’t do that…”

“I think that’s the first smart move you’ve made in a decade…”

MACGYVERxLAB

There weren’t any wheelchairs where he hoped there would be. In fact, he saw a sign for rentable wheelchairs, but there weren’t any in sight. That plan was a bust.

There had to be some other way to make this work. Preferably rather quickly. Alex was in a lot of pain, and they didn’t know how much time they had before the dictator’s guards made another appearance. If everything had gone according to the plan, they would have been out of there almost half an hour ago.

He looked around. At first he couldn’t see anything that would help them out of this tight spot, but then he spotted it.

A neat, good sized, serving trolley covered with wood to make it blend in with the rest of the furniture better.

He grabbed the trolley and ran back towards Alex and the dictator.

MACGYVERxLAB

“I didn’t find a wheelchair, but I think this’ll work!” Jack declared and patted the upper tray.

“Yeah, looks good.” Alex smiled, “Might need some help to get on it though…”

“Guess that old man over there won’t be able to help you with that…”

“I figure he’s not strong enough…” Alex nodded.

“I was afraid you would say that…” Jack frowned, “Any plans on how to do this?”

Alex waved Jack closer and wrapped his right arm around Jack’s back and his left over Jack’s good shoulder.

“Now, how much can you squat?”

“Repeatedly?”

“Heavy single…”

“300 lbs… 235 when I do reps…”

“Now if I hook my good leg behind my right leg, and you squat down and grab a hold behind my knees. This should work…”

“You sure? Cause my shoulder…”

“Your shoulder is taken out of the equation. This is going to rely on your other arm and the strength in your legs…”

Jack nodded and bent down to grab a hold of Alex’s legs.

“Okay, on three?”

“Yup…” Alex agreed.

“One. Two. Three!” Jack let out a guttural growl as he lifted Alex off the ground and onto the trolley. “Dude, you seriously need to lose some weight…”

“Trust me… I won’t do anything about it…” Alex declared as he released his grip around Jack’s neck. “I look sick if I drop below 220 lbs…”

“You’re kidding now?”

“Kidding just as much as that guy who just entered the hallway!” Alex called reaching for his gun as Jack spun around to use his last bullets.

MACGYVERxLAB

Alex watched in horror as Jack went down with a yelp in front of him.

Alex recovered quickly enough to put a bullet through the guard’s neck. It wasn’t a precision shot, but it did the job, quickly.

“Jack?” Alex asked weakly, afraid of not getting an answer. “You alive big guy?”

A growl from the floor answered him, and made him relax a lot more.

“Yeah… Yup…” the older man’s voice suddenly seemed hoarse, but it could be because of the pain. “I’m good…”

“Then why are you on the floor? Did you catch a bunch of lead?”

“WHAT? Yeah, I caught a bullet!” Jack growled as he pushed to his feet, his right hand clamped over a wet red stain on his left upper arm.

“You need a tourniquet to slow that bleeding…” Alex ordered and shrugged off his own sweater. “Come over here…”

“Let’s just get outta here…”

“After we do something about that leak you’ve got going on your arm…”

“Okay, just…”

“Hurry?”

“Yeah…”

Chapter Text

Alex slipped out of his side of the handcuffs, he just had to pull his thumb out of its socket. A move which once had been painful for him, it wasn’t painful anymore. He wasn’t quite sure whether he should worry about that or not. Maybe he should.

He then clicked his side of the handcuffs around the handlebar of the trolley. He could use the key in his pocket to unlock the cuffs later. He was just too lazy to pull out the key to free himself, dislocating his thumb took less effort after all.

“Dude, how did you??? WE HAVE KEYS!” Jack grimaced as he caught the tail end of Alex’s actions as the younger agent slid his thumb back into position.

“This was quicker…”

“And probably hurt a lot too!”

“No.”

“You DISLOCATED your thumb to get out if the handcuffs!” Jack almost shouted at him. “That’s got to hurt!”

“Kinda doesn’t hurt to do it anymore…”

“Now, that’s messed up!” Jack said as he started pushing the trolley towards the exit. “Please don’t do anything like that in close proximity of me ever again!”

MACGYVERxLAB

“Here, take my gun…” Alex said handing over his sidearm to Jack after the older agent had helped him inside the helicopter.

“What? Why?”

“I’m going to hop in the front seat, I’ll take care of the stick…” Alex took a second to swallow down a grimace, “You aim and shoot at anyone coming after us…”

“Why can’t I fly and you shoot?”

“Because the one to do the shooting should be able to move from side to side back here… I can’t do that… You can…”

“Are you sure you can keep the chopper in the air?”

Alex nodded, gripped the backs of the front seats and used them as support as he moved to the front of the chopper.

“Won’t the pedals be a problem?”

“I’ve done this kinda crap before…” Alex commented as he lowered himself onto the main pilot’s seat.

“Oh yeah? When?”

“La Habana, exactly two years ago... Open fracture, thigh.” Alex bit out as he placed his injured leg at an angle where the splinting would be sufficient to keep his knee straight.

“And where was Kim when that was going down?”

“He was a little busy being unconscious in the back. The guys we were sent in to take care of had shot him with a tranquillizer dart… He didn’t wake up before we touched down in Miami.”

“You made that trip in a helicopter with a broken leg?”

Alex nodded, “Yeah… Hell of a way to celebrate your birthday… Am I right?”

“Wait… Today’s your birthday?” Jack asked and saw Alex’s head bob up and down from the pilot’s seat. “February 14^th? Really?”

“Yeah…”

“Valentine’s day?”

“Want to see my birth certificate?”

“No… Nonono…” Jack muttered as he cuffed the dictator to the rail at the back of the helicopter. “Happy birthday, by the way… And a word of advice… Find a better way to spend your birthday than to get injured!”

“I’ll try to remember that this time next year…” Alex hissed, “On second thought… Could you send me a message telling me not to go on missions around my birthday?”

“I’ll get Riley to set up some kind of auto message…” Jack drawled as he aimed his gun at the first person to run after them, just as Alex made the helicopter lift off the ground.