#fakeattack au

You struggled to your feet and looked around the parking lot in front of the warehouse that FakeAttack had been calling home. The lot is empty except for two vehicles. The one that you had just gotten out of, and a familiar looking all black muscle car that now looked like it was beyond repair due to the freefall of debris.

“Sam,” you gasped, rushing towards the inferno.

Heat licked at your face with every step you took and billows of smoke filled the air as well as your lungs. The large steel door had been blown almost completely off its hinges. You pulled your shirt up to cover your mouth and nose before forcing your way into the building. “Sam!” you called, hardly hearing your own voice over the crackling of the flames.

Support beams had fallen to the ground around you and you tried to maneuver around them to make your way back to the makeshift office area where you assumed that Sam would have been. However, before making it there you spotted a slumped over figure along the far wall. A fiery bit of something came careening from above you and you had to very nearly roll out of the way to avoid being crushed underneath.

With a bit of speed and strength you weren’t aware that you had, you pushed your way through the mess until you found yourself crouching next to Sam’s body. “Sammy,” you said, shaking his shoulder. He appeared to be breathing and he definitely stirred slightly but he did not wake up. You let out a low groan and slipped an arm underneath his in order to haul him to his feet. If making your way into the building had seemed hard, it was nothing compared to trying to escape with an unconscious man slumped against your side.

As you neared the door heading outside, the sound of frantic shouts and distant sirens met your ears.

Outside the warehouse, you gasped for fresh air and hardly noticed someone taking Sam from you. You all but collapsed to your knees and coughed violently as your eyes watered and tears streamed down your cheeks. It took some time to regain your composure but once you had, you looked up to see Ben and Chad crouched down with Sam leaning back against Chad’s car. From where you were it appeared like Sam’s eyes were open.

You pushed yourself unsteadily to your feet and tried to run over to the three of them, tripping along the way but never falling. Chad saw you coming. Both he and Ben moved out of the way as you approached. Without much thought, you fell to your knees beside Sam and took his face in your hands. He was covered in soot and ash but appeared no worse for the wear. You let out a relieved breath as you leaned in to all but crash your lips against his own. You pulled away almost as quickly as you had gone in and he looked back at you with wide eyes, and a slight grin.

“I gotta be caught up in gang warfare more often.”

You rolled your eyes, “I’m going to wait to make sure you’re okay before I kill you.”

“Good thing all your cool guns were blown up,” Sam laughed softly, cutting it short as he coughed loudly.

Finally, you came upon a larger conference room and found Chad and Geoff nearly nose to nose with bright red faces. From beside Geoff, Jack cleared her throat and elbowed him in the side before nodding in your direction. Chad noticed the movement as well and when he made eye contact with you his whole demeanor softened.

“Jesus, Y/N, you’re okay,” he breathed a sigh of relief.

Chad turned away from both Geoff and Jack to walk over and grab you by the sides of the face. He gently turned your head from side to side, inspecting your condition, before looking down your front as well. “You are okay, right?” he asked cautiously. “When we lost communication the last thing we heard was an explosion and you yelling.”

You gave Chad a slight grin as you reached a hand up to pat him reassuringly on the shoulder. “I’m alright, promise. A few scrapes and bruises, but I’ll be fine. That explosion was one of Merryweather’s trucks that caught a very well timed grenade,” you explained with a light chuckle. However, Chad didn’t seem to be sharing in your amusement. The slight relief he had experience at your entrance was now gone and a mask of apprehension now sat in its place.

“Chad, what’s wrong?”

He cast a glance over his shoulder and for a moment Jack and Geoff looked almost remorseful. Your hands began to shake ever so slightly and Chad lowered his hands from your face to your shoulders, holding you steady. “We… We’re waiting for Sam, Torrian, and Michael to get back. Torrian called in just before you got here… they got ambushed,” he explained in a low voice, eyes locked on your own.

On any given day that wouldn’t be news enough to worry anyone; Sam and Torri were more than capable, especially with Michael on their side, but there was obviously something off. The uneasy edge to Chad’s voice and the almost anxious expressions on Jack and Geoff’s faces made it feel as though your heart sank into your stomach before your stomach plummeted off the side of a cliff.

“Did… is he?”

Before you were able to get the words out, the elevator down the hall jolted to life and began to heave itself back towards the surface. The four of you exchanged silent looks and, almost in unison, hurried out towards the main garage and entrance area. At the very top, you were just able to make out the dark night sky before the sounds of a car squealing to a stop and the elevator moving again drew your attention. The expansive doors closed with a resounding thud and the wait for the elevator itself was almost excruciating.

At the bottom, Michael was the first to come stumbling out of the car and he immediately began yelling into the bunker for Steffy, Larry… somebody. Torrian was quick to follow him but he promptly pulled open the back door and in that moment it felt as though your blood had run cold in your veins. The distant sound of running footsteps barely registered in your ears as you stared at the open car door and Torrian’s back.

As Torrian took a step back, you were able to see a tattooed arm slung over his shoulder and a limp head of blonde hair resting against his arm. Suddenly your mouth was dry and your stomach splattered at the bottom of the canyon it had tripped down earlier. You made a move to get closer but almost immediately Austin was in front of you, obscuring your vision and all but pushing you backwards away from the scene.

You attempted to side step him and in that moment you were able to catch a glance of Torrian and Ben carrying Sam off down the hall towards what you could only assume was a Medbay. “Austin, move,” you murmured, trying to get away from him. However, he only came nearer still and wrapped an arm around your middle to hold you closer to his body. The closeness paired with the sudden rapid pounding of your heart in your chest only set off your anxiety and you found yourself thrashing against Austin, only prompting him to hold you tighter.

“Let me go! Let me go, Austin,” you all but screeched, not at all caring how it looked to anyone else around you. “I need to see him! We were supposed to go together tonight and now he’s hurt! Austin!”

Austin grunted lowly and managed to pick you up despite your desperate attempts to get away from him. Your arms and legs swung and kicked almost uselessly as Austin carried you off in the opposite direction, the sounds of your shouts echoing off of the walls as he went. By the time that you gave up struggling, Austin unceremoniously dropped you in what appeared to be a bunk room before turning and exiting the room, the sound of the door closing ringing in your ears.

You scrambled to your feet and hurried to the door, attempting to pull it open but you found it to be secured shut. “Austin! You piece of shit! Let me out! I need to see him!” you screamed at the metal door. You lifted your hands and pounded at it repeatedly. You were unsure of how long you stood there beating uselessly at the door but you stepped away when your hands ached unpleasantly and your head began to throb painfully. Your eyes scanned the entire room for a way out. The image of Sam’s head hanging over Torrian’s arm while he rushed him off was burned into your head and all you wanted to do was see your best friend and make sure he was okay.

The room you were in had no windows and only one door but that didn’t deter you from circling in desperately in an attempt to find someway out of it. The rational portion of your brain knew that Austin did what he thought was right in removing you from the situation but now that you were alone in your thoughts all you could focus on was the nagging guilt in your stomach. The original plan had been for you to go with Sam and Michael on their portion of the mission but a last minute piece of information lead you to asking Chad if Torrian could take your place while you went a different way.

Maybe if you had stayed Sam would have been okay.

If you stayed, maybe things would have turned out better for the both of you.

Finally, giving up, you laid yourself down on one of the cots in the room and stared at the slate grey ceiling. The silence in the room was deafening, and you hadn’t noticed it until you were still. With a long sigh, you turned to your side and allowed your eyes to close. You knew that it wasn’t likely for you to fall asleep but you figured it would be the only thing you could do until someone came to let you out of your impromptu solitary confinement.

Suddenly, your head jolted upward along with your body, letting you know that you fell asleep. Your eyes grew wider than usual and took on a wild look as you scanned for new signs of danger. For a few seconds you felt confused, unsure of where you were, until the memories came flooding back. You let out a groan as you shifted on the cot to sit on the edge. Your body had grown stiff and the minor aches you had before were now edging towards nagging pains. There was no clock to be found and you didn’t have you phone with you so you were not entirely sure how long you had been there for.

The door gave a loud clunk and pushed open, which startled you and made you jump to your feet. Chad was standing in the doorway with Torrian right behind him, both of their expressions on readable. The three of you stood in a relative silence for what felt like hours until you finally snapped and charged at them. You shoved Chad backwards, knocking him into Torrian’s chest, and hauled your arm back to slap him across the face. The sound of skin against skin echoed down the barren corridor behind them.

You could see numerous expressions flood Chad’s face before he sighed as he righted himself, rubbing at his cheek. “I deserved that,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “But, Y/N, you have to understand why I had Austin take you away. You’re not the only one to be removed from situations,” he tried to explain.

“No, but I’m the only one who never got the warning. I’m the only one to be picked up and carried away with no goddamn idea what was doing on,” you countered, sticking a finger harshly into the center of Chad’s chest.

Torrian, sensing that both and and Chad were reaching your boiling points, stepped around Chad and into the room, placing a hand on your shoulder. “Look, Y/N… Sam is stable and in the medbay. Let me take you to him, okay?” he offered. You looked away from Chad and up at Torrian before you let out a soft sigh and nodded your head. Torrian returned your nod and lead you back of the room, laying a pat to Chad’s shoulder as he passed, before taking you up the hall.

“What happened, Torri?” you asked softly once away from Chad.

Torrian sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Man, I don’t know. There were so many dudes, more of them than we thought there would be, and after we got the stuff they just swarmed us. Michael and I ran for the car to get out but Sam wanted to clear us a path,” he explained.

A wave of nausea reared up in your stomach and for just a moment you were worried you would actually get sick on the cement floor. You swallowed down the rising bile in your throat and inhaled slowly through your nose in an attempt to quell the sickness inside of you. Vaguely you were aware of the fact that Torrian was continuing to talk but there was a part of you that was thankful that you weren’t picking up on it; you didn’t need to hear all the details of what had happened to Sam.

Finally, Torrian came to a stop and turned to face you. He looked more serious than you had ever seen him and that worried you more than anything else. “He’s okay,” he said, sighing softly. “He’s just hurt. Ben and Steffy got the bleeding to stop and he was just waking up when I came to get you… Just know he looks pretty roughed up.”

You nodded your head slightly and turned to face the door leading into the medbay. “Yeah, thanks, Torri,” you murmured softly. You took a few deep breaths and stared at the door in front of you as you tried to work up the courage to actually push it open. It seemed as though the door itself was mocking you, like behind it all the answers were laid out but you were just being too much of a chickenshit to even try to open it. With one last resigned sigh, you grasped the handle in your fingers and pushed the cumbersome door open with your shoulder.

The medbay itself was brighter than any other room in the facility that you had seen up until that point, and it wasn’t as quiet. There was a soft hum of monitoring equipment and a consistent beep coming from within the room. Not far from the entrance, you spotted Sam lying in one of the beds and you let go of the door in shock. The sound of the door closing firmly drew his attention and he lolled his head to the side to look at you.

A bandage was wrapped around Sam’s head, and a spot near his temple was already discolored with the blood from underneath, while his face was littered with bruises and lacerations. He gave a weak half smile at seeing you there.

“You look like you’ve never seen a guy who got shot six times and stabbed in the side,” he joked.

The lighthearted nature of his words coming from his busted lips instantly pushed you past your breaking point and suddenly your eyes filled with tears. An unexpected sob pushed its way up from your chest and you had to clamp a hand over your mouth to hold back the noise. Through your watery vision, you could see Sam scrambling and attempting to push himself to sit up.

“No!” you nearly shouted from behind your hand as you hurried over. “Lay down. Fuck, don’t get up. You need to rest.”

Sam slowly allowed himself to settle settle back down, “Y/N… are you okay? Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m angry, and scared, and relieved… and I fucking hate you,” you bemoaned, sitting yourself down on the bed beside Sam’s. You sniffled slightly and wiped at your face with you hands to get rid of the tears. Your eyes stung painfully so you used the heel of your hands to press into them, trying to get rid of the pain. “Fuck, you could have died, Sammy. You’re so fucking stupid. Why would you try and hold off a fucking ambush instead of just getting out? Do you know how scared I was when Chad told me? Austin had to carry me off kicking and screaming; I didn’t know if you were alive or dead.”

“Why did he do that?”

You groaned and lowered your hands do you could look over at Sam. For the first time in all the years that you’d known him there was suddenly a crack in the veneer of him. He didn’t seem like the untouchable kid you’d met when you first joined FakeAttack. Sure, over the years the both of you had seen your fair share of injuries from the job but nothing like what happened today, and you were almost always together when it happened. You always had each others backs.

Until now.

Now he was hurt and you weren’t there when it happened.

“Because… because he and Chad aren’t idiots,” you finally answered, sighing softly. “Because I’m in love with you and I didn’t even know it until I couldn’t save you tonight or even just be there to bring you back. I had to watch helplessly as Torrian slung you out of that car and dragged you off and my entire body was screaming at me to not leave you.”

An unfamiliar silence fell between the two of you and for a moment you had to struggle with yourself not to just up and leave the room all together. Sam blinked back at you as he processed your words until he carefully lifted a hand and held it out in your direction, his fingers slowly beckoning you closer. Slowly, you got to your feet and walked closer to his bed. Once you were close enough, Sam’s hand gingerly took hold of your own and your eyes focused on it as his fingers laced with yours.

“I’m sorry you were so scared,” he whispered, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “I… I never want you to feel like that.”

You smiled weakly and let out a low scoff, “Well, don’t be such a fucking idiot.”

Sam narrowed his eyes, “Hey! Don’t be such a bitch, I’m trying to spill by guts here.”

“I thought you did that when you got stabbed,” you shot back.

There was a brief moment of silence before Sam laughed loudly. Though the laugh was cut short as he let out a low groan and used his free hand to carefully rest against his stomach. You bit you lower lip softly and lowered yourself to sit on the edge of his bed. The two of you looked at one another for what could have been hours before Sam finally cleared his throat and nodded his head slightly.

“When I’m able… I wanna take you out.”

You raised a single brow at him, “I just told you I love you and you’re plotting to kill me?”

Sam let out a more pained groan than he had previously and allowed his head to drop back against the pillow and his eyes flutter shut. You bit at your lower lip again and waited for him to reopen his eyes and look back at you. When he did, all you could do was smile brightly back at him. All of the pain and anxiety you had been feeling had all but disappeared. You gave his hand a gentle squeeze before you slowly stood up and took a step back, dropping his hand.

“I should go apologize to Austin, for call him a piece of shit… and Chad for slapping him,” you murmured, taking a few more steps backward.