#alt5

You had been by Natalie’s side the entire day because none of the proxies had been available to oversee your training. But, since Natalie had a recon mission to scout an abandoned shopping center and had no one to go with, they sent you with her. However, they talked to her for a good while before even allowing you two to go with each other, not trusting Natalie to teach you. And it sucked not being able to go with a proxy. That's not to say you didn't enjoy spending time with your girlfriend. It was just probably not going to be a lot of work and more of just messing around. However, there's nothing wrong with the occasional break even when it was in fact against one of the many rules that the proxies had.

And now you are here in the back of an old rundown Walmart in the middle of fucking nowhere. You couldn’t even see civilization for miles in the area you two had been scouting. You both left early in a car that was a total wreck, maybe literally, to get to this place. But, thinking of it now, it makes sense that the closest store to the proxies was a ruined Walmart. The wind wasn't blowing, making you nervous with the tranquility, but you were sure that once you got in, all the anxiety would fade. "For fucks sake," she muttered under her breath, seeing that the door was locked. You could see her thinking for a moment about doing this the right way or the irrational way. And she picked the irrational way almost immediately. She raised her leg as she slammed the sole of her boot as hard as she could against the metal employee-only door. The door whooshed open, leaving you full entrance to the entire place. "And that’s how you successfully break into a Walmart’ ‘Now who said I couldn’t be a great trainer?" she muttered the last part to herself to spite Tim, who probably from somewhere could tell she said that.

"And what if someone hears us from inside and ambushes us?" you asked Clockwork as she froze in place, almost in disbelief that you said that. "Let them." she darkly gazed at you for a moment. Her eyes told you everything you needed to know. Clockwork had always been more into action than thinking things out. You could hear a dark chuckle emerge from her as she saw something close by. She ran toward it before, and you could even think of convincing her not to. "Nat- Clockwork?" on your flight or fight instinct, you almost slipped up her real name. You silently cursed yourself for almost saying her actual name. You thought to yourself harshly for making that mistake as you heard the screechy rusted wheels slowly approaching you. "Hop in the carriage, princess," Natalie laughed momentarily, pushing a rust bucket of a Walmart shopping cart toward you. "I'm sure I'd get several types of tetanus if I sat in that thing," you sighed, smiling at Natalie as she burst out laughing. She wasn’t the type to hold in a laugh or even have good taste in humor. But you'd known that for the entire time you'd been together. "Alrighty picky," she joked around with you, pretending to be upset as she left the cart in its current spot, completely abandoning it just like whoever did to this place.

"Okay, Tim- fuck!’ ‘Masky! wanted us to search the entire store to ensure nothing was happening here." you corrected yourself again while trying to remind Natalie of your shared goal. You just couldn’t manage to use their code names rather than their actual names. It all just felt so degrading to the others, especially Toby, who was just "Ticci". You wish the public would stop giving you and your comrades these shitty nicknames. "Okay, big tip: don't mess up their fake names, and you won't fuck up!" she laughed as you reached into your pocket. "Nice idea," you said, as she scoffed. You turned on your flashlight to lighten up the dark space because the light from the open door could only provide so much. Clockwork stared at your light for a moment. You know, almost everyone who was a proxy never had much trouble with the dark and could see pretty well in it. Expect you. You were new and weren’t able to see in the dark as well as they did. "I kinda wanna run off and scare the living shit out of you when you aren’t looking," she told you her impulsive thought as you stared at her blankly before, she smiled at you. "Let's focus on the mission." you changed the subject quickly not wanting to have her randomly jump out at you trying to scare you. She seemed to understand as she started leading you two through the entire Walmart, seeming to go into almost full mission mode.

You walked through the store with minimal talking until you both made it to the drinks section. "I'm surprised at how much shit they left here," she said, breaking the professional silence you were maintaining. But, she wasn’t wrong. A lot of the shelving had some items remaining, as well as the clothing racks. Though, there were plenty of bugs to deter you from even thinking of taking anything. But you knew you'd do it if you had to. You walked on the sticky stained marble slabs of the Walmart floor as you couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that the place gave you. From the pitch black to the silence of it all. It looked untouched like it had frozen in time, and you were the first people to change that. However, this was a good sign. It was a good indication that no one had made it their home or, worse, their base of operations. That’s when you heard a sudden rustling from ahead. You froze for a moment, immediately turning your flashlight to the noise to see Clockwork crouched, reaching for something on the lower shelf. "What? Can’t take your eyes off me?" she chuckled, making fun of how tense you got from her ruining your train of thought.

You saw her pull out a bottle of wine before; she inspected it fully. She stood up from her position suddenly. "Think I’ll take this’ ' Also, you're invited if you want." she smiled greatly at the last phrase, even to the point of having red rise to her cheeks. You two were probably thinking of two vastly different things about what she said. "You realize Kagekao will probably bully you into giving it to him." you couldn’t help but smile at the girl in front of you as her face slightly contorted from hearing Kage’s name. "Yeah, well, that asshat can boss someone else around." she made up her mind, regaining her more cheerful stance. You need to talk to Ben about getting her off social media. You thought about it, watching as her brown curls bounced as she made her way to you. "I am going to chug this entire bottle," she grinned as she thought of all the ways she could drink it. "I don’t want you to do that," you informed her as she jokingly whined. "Would it be better if I did it to Masky in spite?" She laughed as you exhaled heavily. "I’m not agreeing or disagreeing." You put your hands up in defense, not minding if Tim suffered. He deserved it after putting you on multiple scouting missions rather than an actual mission. "That's the spirit," she cheered before quickly moving from the drink aisle, ready to finish up the mission.

You both walked through the shopping center a few more times, getting tired of knowing there wasn’t anything there. You both even set up the cameras BEN had requested for you both. You both even stayed on task and completed your mission accordingly. There was no known threat. And you both knew that from the hour you spent listening carefully on top of a freezer with no light. "There’s nobody here." Clockwork was growing impatient. She had not always been the most patient person in the world or just even among the others. Which always led to her downfall, but you loved her regardless. You could hear her swinging her leg from on top of the freezer and hitting the glass under it. "You do realize if you don’t want to sit here for this long we could just go?" you informed her. She did happen to be the leader of your current mission. The back of her boot stopped slamming against the glass as she commenced her actions. "You're right," she groans, exhaling heavily, refusing to accept that you two should leave early. In response to her displeased noises, you offered your shoulder, which she accepted with a dramatic huff. "Fine, let’s leave. If anything does happen, BEN can fucking catch it." she pulled away from your warm shoulder, jumping down. You hesitated to jump as you turned your flashlight back on. "C'mon, princess, I got you!" she hummed, watching your form carefully as you hopped down from the small fall. After months of training physically, the fall had no real effect on your legs. 

After you safely made it onto the floor, you could hear Natalie take off running. You could hear her laugh as she ran for it. You adjusted your flashlight accordingly. Because she suddenly had a burst of energy from sitting still. So, she just booked it with wine in hand, expecting you to follow. You could hear her yelling at you to catch up in a playful tone as you grudgingly ran after her. Your shoes crushed old broken glass underneath the sole as you had only your light and sense to guide you. You ran towards the original exit of the Walmart from the front. As you could hear an unfamiliar noise repeating over and over again. You could hear an arcade-like noise coming from the general area. "Clockwork?" you asked her, being careful. You could hear their laughter. It probably was her, but, just in case, you readied your weapon. You had your weapon of choice tightly gripped as you quietly but efficiently snuck up on the noise to be met with a run-down claw machine with no one around. You could hear someone’s shoes squeak against the floor as you quickly turned around, readying your weapon as a knife slammed against your weapon. As soon as the weight was pressed, it was removed with a giggle. "I got you!" Natalie laughed as you felt an ounce of annoyance rise in your cheeks. As she grabbed your arm, she dragged herself to you. "I’m sorry," she dragged on, jokingly knowing you weren’t mad. "I suddenly like Tim more," you said, knowing it’d get your point across better. You didn't worry about anyone hearing his name since you were both sure you were alone. She gasped in response. "I refuse to lose an angel to a mentally ill-controlling bitch," she whined as you laughed at her joke. If only poor Tim knew how much you and Natalie bullied him. And it was so reoccurring that you could count it as a hobby. 

 "Oh yeah, I got this claw machine up and running again." Clockwork changed the topic as she rushed to the colorful plastic machine. You could see her reflection faintly. As the glass was tinted with yellow cracks. And on the inside, there happened to be one sad matted teddy in the middle of it all. "I think you know what time it is." she smiled at you aggressively as she took something out of her pocket. The item was a torn-up one-dollar bill being held up by a single piece of tape. You thought to yourself, disapproving but still standing behind her in interest. She soon inserted the dollar as the machine ate it, taking the credit away from her. You could see her shaky hands mess up the claw multiple times as she looked at the glass from different angles. She seemed to be analyzing every movement and which way this could go. It was surprising how serious she could get over something as simple as this. You’d honestly go as far as to say you’ve never seen her so concentrated. "Now that’s a win," she talked to herself as she slammed the button down in full-blown confidence and turned to you with a bright smile. 

You looked at the claw behind her to see it pick up the depressing teddy and then drop it from the weight. She turned excited, fully expecting the teddy to be in the surprise drop, only to be disappointed. She huffed as she kicked the machine. "What the fuck." she seemed genuinely upset with what had just happened. She stood there awkwardly as she turned to you and then back to the machine as she pulled out her knife. Before, you could say anything. She had already made her move. She broke the glass with great force as you backed up to avoid the fallen glass. She quickly reached into the now-open machine and grabbed the toy, presenting it to you proudly. As you just thought about what she did, "I got it princess!" she tossed the toy at you as you caught it. The teddy bear was missing a single eye with its matted fur laying in your hands. "Now let’s get out of this hell hole!" she cussed the place out before, stomping her way out with you following closely behind. This was a more interesting and memorable mission than the others you'd been on.

Mitchell faintly recalls gaining consciousness at one point, but he wasn’t sure. It almost felt like he was in a dream. Everything had been hazy, blinking in and out of focus. He saw Ilona and Gideon being dragged past him and he tried to reach out towards them, but couldn’t. His body wouldn’t cooperate.

He thought he could remember hearing Irons’ voice as if it were coming from a telecast or something like that. Irons had been referring to them as the invaders, saying that they were falling one by one, and promising everyone in New Baghdad could be an agent for change. Mitchell was fairly sure that he even rolled his eyes at the point, the only part of his body that actually worked.

Then someone, most likely an ATLAS soldier, picked him up by his vest, pulling him in the same direction as his teammates and he passed out again.

As Mitchell slowly regained consciousness this time, he quickly came to a few harsh realizations. His hands were bound in front of him, and not with rope either, but with industrial strength wire, something his prosthetic wouldn’t be able to bust open. Mitchell still had on his uniform, but the exoskeleton was gone, and so were all of his weapons; he couldn’t even feel the small knife that he tucked into his boot. And once his head didn’t feel so heavy, Mitchell lifted his eyes only to find Gideon sitting across from him, on the back of a moving truck, in the exact same position.

He doubted that he looked as reserved as Gideon did. Gideon was carefully explaining how this location used to be a research lab now turned prison, and that they needed to keep their heads down low to find an opportunity to escape, but it was going in one ear and out the other.

As Mitchell took in the tall, cement walls, the iron fences, the orange jumpsuits, and desolate looks around him, Gideon’s voice started to fade out, replaced by the pounding of blood in his ears. This was a prison. They were prisoners of war. His heart started to beat faster. They were stuck, they were in prison. He wanted to run, to scream, to do something but all he could do was struggle to swallow down the bile that was gathering in his throat, and to force another breath.

“-Mitchell? Mitchell, are you with us?” Gideon said sharply, pulling Mitchell from his spiraling thoughts. Mitchell shook his head, wincing a bit at the movement.

“N-no…I mean yes, yes, I’m here,” he mumbled, biting his lip as he flushed in embarrassment at his ramblings.

Gideon nodded in response, looking straight across at him again. “Keep your head down, love. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

Now Mitchell knew he was blushing, because Gideon rarely called him love in public, and definitely not in front of Ilona. But she was looking at him with encouragement as well, and he straightened up, trying to focus on Gideon’s instructions.

His newfound confidence was quickly shattered though as they were tossed, literally tossed from the back of the truck. Mitchell landed hard on his right shoulder on the ground, and he struggled to breath again, the wind knocked out of him. The guard then manhandled him to a standing position, holding him back as Gideon and Ilona were ushered towards the elevator.

No, no. They couldn’t be separated. He wouldn’t be able to make it in here without Gideon. He may have even let out a small moan in desperation, which went largely unnoticed except for the guard that still had a hold of him.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to the same hell hole they are,” the man said with a chuckle, pushing him towards the others, who had now been rejoined by Cormack of all people. “I wouldn’t be so eager to go, though, if I were you.” He then shoved Mitchell hard between his shoulder blades, throwing him off balance into the elevator. Mitchell would have fallen to his knees if it weren’t for Gideon quickly moving to catch him.

Before Gideon could move away, Mitchell latched onto his wrist, pulling his partner towards him. “I’m scared,” Mitchell whispered, ducking his head to avoid the stares from Cormack or Ilona. “I don’t know if I can do this, Gideon,” he murmured, wishing he could tuck his head into Gideon’s neck, wrap himself up along his partner and ignore the rest of the world. But he had probably already drawn enough attention with the hand holding, so he reluctantly started to let go, only to be surprised by a light squeeze on his hand.

“You can do this-” Gideon managed to get out, as the elevator stopped and the gate rose. But anything else the older man might have wanted to say was harshly interrupted as one of the guards yanked Gideon back by his neck, throwing him roughly to the ground. Mitchell had to bite his tongue to stop himself from protesting. He repeated Gideon’s words to himself as he watched them do a similar treatment to Ilona, Cormack, and then himself. Head down, take in details, wait for the right moment to make a move.

*

Mitchell wasn’t sure what he would wake up to after the orderly subjected them all to some sort of knock out drug. It took longer than he would have liked to open his eyes, but as soon as he realized their current situation, he wished he could go back to being unconscious; he was sick of waking up in even crappier situations.

Mitchell was stretched out along a metal beam, his wrists shackled, binding his arms tightly to the beam. His legs were unbound, which he thought a bit odd, but he still had to support his weight on them, so was also kind of relieved. He looked across to see Cormack in a similar position. But Ilona and Gideon weren’t in the room.

His heart started to race, his breaths becoming shallower and quicker as panic swept over him. Where were they? What was happening to them?

It was only a matter of seconds before Irons strutted into the room, followed closely by a MP. As a result, the light turned on in the room beside them, illuminating Ilona and Gideon…along with the guns being held to their heads.

Mitchell’s chest was tight, squeezing his lungs and making it hard to breathe. He wobbled slightly on his feet as the room started to sway around him. He knew that Irons was speaking, but he wouldn’t have been able to repeat a word he said, as the sounds echoed oddly around the room, almost as if he was underwater. As his vision started to dim, he continued to focus on Gideon, to try to match his breathing to his. He knew that passing out now was not a good idea. He smiled a bit at Gideon’s glare towards Irons, and Mitchell just knew that if he could, he’d be swearing at him up and down until he was blue in the face.

Mitchell squinted at Irons as the man stepped closer to him, unable to hide his shudder due to the man’s proximity. Irons was droning on about the Spartans and ancient warfare for some reason. How Mitchell ever thought this man was doing good things, because Irons was clearly insane. And needed to be stopped.

Mitchell tensed again as Cormack asked about Will, knowing that Will was a sore point for the man who was holding them all captive. As Irons turned back towards Cormack, Mitchell felt a momentary pause of relief, which was only ripped away from him when Irons motioned for the MP’s gun.

“No, that’s a lie,” he spoke loudly in response to Cormack’s claim that Will died fighting for what he believed in, hoping to interrupt Irons’ move towards the weapon. Irons paused, turning towards him in what appeared to be confusion and Mitchell tried to not look too happy about the change in motion. “Will died because I fucked up.”

“Come again?”

“Will died because I couldn’t get him out of the aircraft. He died for me, not for the US government.” Mitchell said firmly, refusing to look in Gideon’s direction, the older man having spent several nights reassuring Mitchell that it wasn’t his fault. Which Mitchell agreed with, for the most part, but that wasn’t the focus here.

“Is that right, soldier?” Irons barked.

Mitchell forced down the instinct to stand at attention at the tone of Irons voice, which sounded like his drill sergeant in basic. But still he straightened up a bit, staring Irons right in the eye. “His last words were that he’d see me on the other side, but do you want to know what’s ironic about that?” Mitchell said, tilting his head slightly, forcefully reigning back his anger so that Irons would come even closer.

Everyone fell silent as Irons took another step closer to Mitchell. Mitchell should have been scared, he should have been terrified, but he finally got to tell Irons exactly what he thought of him.

“You’ll never see him on the other side, because there’s no way that you’re going to the same place that Will is,” Mitchell said with a smirk, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Irons. He gasped as Irons grabbed him tightly by the throat, but knew everything was falling into place. “No…you sick f-fuck…you’ll be screaming in the fires of hell,” Mitchell croaked, shooting a devastating kick at the older man’s knee.

The snap that Irons’ knee made followed by his shout of pain dulled the next few minutes of his own agony. Two more MPs came rushing in to help carry Irons out, while the other who had been standing in the corner of the room took a long, metal wrench to his prosthetic, at Irons’ shouted orders. He couldn’t help it, his own screams joining that of Irons as the soldier struck his arm over and over again with the metal instrument, until he gratefully welcomed the encroaching darkness again.

*

The fourth time…was it the fourth time? Mitchell was really losing track of time by this point.

The fourth time (or maybe the fifth) that Mitchell regained consciousness, was to the wonderful sight of Gideon and Ilona coming to the rescue. Mitchell recognized Gideon’s little head nod, even though he had to squint to see it, his vision still cloudy around the edges.

Time was disjointed, skipping ahead in spots. Mitchell barely registered Gideon taking out the guard right in front of him, until Gideon unlocked his left hand from its shackles. He whimpered loudly as it dangled uselessly at his side, the small movement sending agonizing pain up into his shoulder. Unlike most prosthetics, this one was actually wired into his own nerves, and so he had felt every hit. Gideon undid his right arm more carefully, ducking underneath it to help support him as he came off the beam.

Tossing all caution into the air, Mitchell gripped Gideon’s collar in anticipation that the older man was going to pull away, and tucked himself briefly into his partner, the way he had wanted to back when they first arrived at the prison. There were so many things he wanted to say, but knew they had to get a move on before their escape was detected. Mitchell pressed a small kiss into Gideon’s neck, right on the edge of his tattoo, and whispered a quiet “I love you” before pulling back.

Gideon was not normally one for public displays of affection, so he was surprised when Gideon pulled him back into another hug, whispering an “I love you” back into his own ear. Mitchell could feel Gideon’s eyes watching him carefully as he took a couple steps forward, seeing if he could support himself without his help. After a couple of shaky steps, the room leveled out and Mitchell nodded in Gideon’s direction that he was good to go.

“Good,” Gideon said, leading the way to the back of the room, the three of them following right after him. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Yeah.” He gently squeezed her wrist. It felt a little better knowing he was probably headed back for their other friends in Tal'Dorei, but that didn't fill the Dorian-shaped empty space in their trio. “We'll be okay.”

She hugged him a little tighter and curled around him so her forehead was pressed to his shoulder. “I know,” she replied, her voice muffled. “But I want it to be okay now...I want us to be together.”

Orym swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I'm sure he does, too.”

“Yeah.”

A few moments passed in silence, and Orym had almost drifted off to sleep when Fearne spoke again. “Should we have gone with him?”

“I don't really know,” Orym mumbled. He yawned and shifted a little, trying to stay awake enough to keep Fearne company. “I think it would have been a lot harder to smuggle four of us out of the city.”

Fearne heaved out a sigh, heavy enough that Orym felt himself rock forward and back with the movement. “And we'd just gotten engaged.”

“You...know that was just for the plan, right?” he asked hesitantly. “He wasn't really proposing to you, just tossing you the ring?”

“Well, a girl can dream,” Fearne said mildly. She pulled one arm away from Orym and held it out to admire the ring around her thumb. “It might have been nice to have a fiance.”

Orym chuckled and reached back to pat her shoulder. “There's always next time.”

“I'm not getting any younger.”

“And I'm not sure you're getting any older.”

“That's true,” Fearne wrapped her arm around him again and let out another sigh. “Do you think he misses us?”

The lump caught in Orym's throat again, and he had to blink back the tears. “Definitely.”

“Probably hopeless without us.”

“Dorian might be okay, but he'll have his hands full with Cyrus.”

“Oh, Cyrus,” Fearne shook her head. “I probably should have just killed him.”

Orym waited silently, until Fearne let out a little snort of a giggle and ruffled his hair. “I was just kidding.”

“I know.” He smiled and patted her arms, which was all he could comfortably reach in this position. “Feel any better?”

“I'm sorry.”

“No, don't be.” Orym wanted to turn around to look her in the eye, but every time he started to move she just held on tighter, so he had to lie there staring out into the darkened room. “We both miss him; it's okay to want to talk about it sometimes. We were all together for so long, then it was just the three of us. Now it's just you and me.”

“And everyone else.”

“Yeah, but you know what I mean.”

A comfortable silence stretched between the two of them, until Fearne shifted again. “Do you suppose-”

“Oh for heaven's sake!” another voice shouted out from under the bed. “When are you two gonna stop yapping and get to sleep?”

Orym struggled away from Fearne and managed to lean over the bed enough to look under it. “Chetney?”

“Who else?” the gnome glowered up at him. “I was TRYING to get some sleep in my usual spot, but as usual you two won't shut up!”

“Why are you sleeping under our bed?”

Fearne had wriggled over to look over the bed with Orym, her hair trailing down to the floor. “Oh! Chetney! I didn't see you down there.”

“I always sleep here,” Chetney declared. He was wrapped in a thick blanket until only his head was poking out, glaring between the two of them like he was daring them to say something.

“You should come up here with us,” Fearne suggested. “We have plenty of room.”

“Yeah, old man,” Orym agreed, when Chetney started protesting. “It's gotta be more comfortable than the floor.”

Chetney worked his jaw back and forth for a moment before nodding. “Well..okay. But only because you insist!”

He scuttled out from under the bed and climbed on top of it, making himself at home in the exact center. “Well?” he demanded when the other two didn't move.

Fearne smiled and climbed over to one side of the bed, lying up against Chetney with her hands folded on her stomach. “Good night, Orym. Chetney.”

Orym took the other side, not touching Chetney but still within arm's-reach. It wasn't the same as before, but it did make the bed feel a little less empty. “Good night.”

“Hmmph,” the old gnome grumbled. “It'd better be. I don't want to wake up finding I've been relegated to middle spoon in the night.”

Jason almost froze when the stepped into the main room.  He swore and quickly turned his head away, almost as if he tried to hid his face.  

“Jay?  What’s wrong?” Sam whispered.  

“I know those guys” he muttered.  

“How?”

“Work” he said through a clenched jaw “But only three of them.  The others I don’t know”  

“You sure?”

“Stop talking you two!” the man that found them snapped.  

Jason flinched, keeping his head turned away.  They joined the others.  All the while Jason tried to keep from looking at the robbers.  

“Jay...” Sam whispered “Are you alright?”

“It feels like my heart is going to jump out of my chest” he muttered, casting a quick glance at the bank robbers.  

Sam nodded slightly.  “Don’t draw any attention to yourself” 

He nodded, one hand clenched into a fist. 

“What are you two doing?” a robber asked, stalking up to them.  He grabbed Jason by the shirt, pulling him to his feet.  

“Nothing” Jason said through clenched teeth.  

“Then keep your mouths shut” the man snapped, driving a fist into Jason’s side.  

Jason gasped, but did not say anything, he just glared at the man, jaw clenched against the pain.  He wanted to hit the man.  He wanted to attack them so badly that he had force himself not to react.  

“Not so chatty anymore, are we?” the man asked.  

“Screw you...” Jason muttered and before he knew it, his vision exploded into stars and he was thrown back to the others.  

Sam caught him as his lags gave in beneath him, helping him to sit down.  She pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to him.  Jason took it without a word, pressing it against his nose.  

“Screw them...” Jason growled under his breath.

“Jason” Sam hissed “Shut up”

He narrowed his eyes at the robbers, but did not say anything.  All he did was watched as they moved around in the room.  Every now and then one of them would disappear for a few minutes before returning and another one went off.  

“What are they doing?” he muttered under his breath.  

“Probably the tunnel” Sam whispered back “Your nose stopped bleeding?”

Jason nodded but did not give Sam back her handkerchief.  His eyes flickered towards the robbers.  

A child started crying, startling everyone.  

“Hey make the brat stop crying” another of the robber said, stalking towards the hostages.  

Jason’s eyes flickered towards him and he quickly got to his feet, stepping between the hostages and the robbers.  

“It’s just a child” he said “They’re frightened, leave them alone”

The man glared daggers at him, narrowing his eyes before the punches started.  For a moment, Jason considered defending himself, but he just lifted his arms to protect his face.  

“Stop!” Sam’s voice called out “Please just stop!  He didn’t mean anything”

The robber let go of Jason, throwing him back towards Sam.  She caught his shoulders, but his eyes stayed focused on the robber.  

“Leave the kid alone...” he said spitting out some blood.  

Without hesitation the robber drew his gun and pointed it at Jason.  “And if you don’t keep your blood mouth shut, I’m going to shoot you” he snarled.  

“Then don’t threaten the kids” Jason growled, pressing Sam handkerchief back against his bleeding nose, leaning slightly forward.  He knew that he’d have a black eye after this, could feel where the skin on his cheek split open and tasted blood.  One or two of the punches landed on his ribs and he knew it was going to bruise badly.

“What did you just say?” another one asked, stepping up behind the first, also with his weapon drawn.  

Jason almost almost flinched.  That was one of Gilligan’s men.  He clenched his jaw.  

“I said... Don’t threaten the kids” he said getting to his feet again.  Sam kept a hand on his shirt, almost as if to restrain him.  “Bastards like you, that threaten children should just be thrown in the deepest, darkest corners of the earth and left to die”

Jason felt the pain before he heard the gun shot.  

His leg gave in and he just crumbled to the ground, hands going to the wound.  Sam let out a yell, immediately moving to stand in front of him.  

“Oh so you want to be the hero now?” the man that shot Jason asked, turning the weapon on Sam.  

Jason moved without warning, fingers curling around the barrel of the gun, forcing it towards him.  “You turn that thing towards her again and I will bloody shoot you with your own gun” he growled, eyes blazing with fury and pain.  

“Who the hell are you?” the man asked, his eyes widened slightly, almost taking a step back.  

The barrel of a gun pressed against Jason’s temple.  “And I would advise you to take your seat again, or I will put a bullet through your brain” another voice said.

Jason slowly looked over at the newest addition to their little group.  “Then shoot me, because if your man here points his gun at her again, or threaten the kid” Jason said calmly “I am going to kill him”

He watched as the man smiled slowly.  “You have guts” he said “Now take a seat, before it gets you killed.  Now we don’t want to kill anyone just yet”

Slowly Jason let go the gun barrel, slowly lifting his hands.  The gun disappeared from his head and before he could do anything else a blow to the side of his head, made his vision go dark for a moment.  

***

Somewhere through the darkness, he could hear Sam’s voice.  It whispered softly at him.  His leg hurt and his head head did not feel any different.  He could taste blood, but couldn’t breath through his nose.  

It took him a while before he remembered what happened.  

Slowly he opened his eyes, just staring up at the ceiling for a little while.  “Sam” he muttered and and her face appeared in his vision.  She smiled slightly at him.  

“You’re awake”

Jason wanted to nod, but he felt that his head would explode if he did.  “How long was I out?” he whispered, slowly sitting up with Sam help.  

He clenched his jaw, pressing a hand against his head.  

“Just a few minutes” she said softly “I bandaged your leg the best I could, but you’ll need to see a doctor” 

Jason let out a soft moan.  

“I feel sick...” he muttered, leaning forward.   

Sam rubbed his back.  “It’s alright, I already informed Jerry about what’s going on” she whispered.  

“What did he say?”

“To hold on, he’s sending the others in” she whispered.  

Jason sighed.  “Good.  Cause I’m pretty useless” he whispered.

“No, you’re not.  You did what you had to.  No one is going to blame you for this.  Only that you’ve gone and gotten yourself hurt again”

The corner of Jason’s mouth pulled into a slight smile.  “They’re going to be furious at me, aren’t they?”

Sam smiled before nodding to the side.  

Jason slowly turned his head so he could what was going on.  Four shadowed figures disappeared into one of the other rooms.  

He closed his eyes for a moment.  

“Let’s go...” he whispered.  

Sam nodded.  

Jason winched as he sat up.  His eyes flickered towards the rest of the robbers.  One hand reached back and he drew the dagger from his belt.  

They should have searched him and Sam.  

He titled his head towards Sam.  “Ready?”

She nodded, pulling on the spiderclaw glove Jason modified for her.  

Jason took a deep breath as he got to his feet without a sound.  Pain shot through his leg, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.  

“Cover the kids’ eyes” he said “If you don’t like blood, look away”

Jason’s eyes flickered towards the other robbers.  The corner of his mouth pulled into a smirk.  Without hesitation, he and Sam shot forward.  

The dagger glinted in the light for a moment as he attacked.  He did not kill the robbers, just attacked them and knocked them out.  There was one moment that he nearly slit the man’s throat, but luckily Sam knocked the man before he could do.

A silence fell over the entire building and all he could hear was his own gasping breath.  “Sammy..?” he asked looking around.  

“I’m here” 

Jason just nodded.  This time he head the gunshot before feeling the pain and everything went dark.  

***

Jason groaned, he could hear people talking and opened his eyes.  

“He’s awake” a voice said that he recognized as Rowan’s.  

After a few minutes he noticed that he’d world outside was moving.  He was in a car or something.  

“What happened?” he groaned.

“You almost took a bullet to the head” Rowan said, his voice coming from the front “You just can’t blood not get shot, can you?”

“Shut up” Jason groaned.

“How are you feeling” Sam asked as she leaned over him.  

Jason grinned.  “Like I tried to break a wall with my head” he said and slowly sat up, only for Sam to push him back down.

“You’re going to get sick if you sit up now” she said “And I don’t think Clover would like you very much if you throw up in her car”