They're in the helicarrier, waiting to jump in case things go FUBAR, when Will feels it. It's a hair on the back of your neck kind of thing, an obstinate little voice saying Something Is Not Right that just won't shut up.
He fidgets, but not too much. No soldier about to brave battle ever wants to see his C.O. looking nervous.
He scans the helicarrier, locking eyes with each one of his men, asking a silent question. Eleven men answer him in the affirmative: their faces are strong, calm- deadly.
He checks his watch.
17:03:11
They've been down there in a standoff for what, ten minutes now? The pot will boil at any moment.
"Get ready to Move!" he calls out.
In that same second the news comes in, and a second later they're on their way out. Flying almost, but it feels like falling. But that's alright, because his mind might be falling too.
17:03:13
No sense of thought, just four words running on endless repeat. "Sentinel turned. Hide's dead."
Surely his heart is falling quickest of all.
Surely it has already hit the asphalt miles below, surely it is nothing but a bloody, pulverised Mess, unable to function except in one capacity: it hurts.
And if the heartache wasn't enough, there's the guilt. His brother in all but blood has died and he was not there to die for him. He was not there to make some stupidly noble, utterly useless sacrifice, he was not there to scream or cry in rage and grief and shock as he witnessed his brother's passing, he was not there to rip Sentinel limb from limb for what he had done, nevermind that Will is a puny fleshbag and Sentinel can annhilate him in a cold second. It hardly matters; he wasn't there. He sat in a helicarrier and Waited as his brother and dearest friend perished.
He gives himself these two seconds- one for grief and one for guilt- before he hears the voice he first screamed SIRYESSIR! at cussing up a blue streak, telling him that he Absolutely Cannot! go into battle like this.
17:03:15
He listens. He goes numb.
He locks eyes with his inner self, asks a silent question, and answers in the affirmative.
His face is a mask- strong, calm- deadly- and he hopes this mask is as strong as iron.
17:03:16
Then, as his eyes flick to his watch and he remembers the last four seconds, he hopes it is stronger.