Hey hey hey! Long time, no see! I know some of may have wished I was gone for good, but I am back! For this tag, anyway XD I. LOVED. The episode lat night. I've been looking forward to this episode ever since Lenkov posted a short clip of it on his Instagram story, and I gotta say. It was everything I hoped it would be, and more. I'm only expanding the ending here because I just love putting our boy through more than he deserves, even though this isn't as bad as I've done to him before... XD More AN at the bottom.

I don't own the characters.

The phone pole toppled over, and as Mac saw the bank robbers scatter in fear, he turned on his heel and started running away. The pole fell onto the car with a crash, but MacGyver couldn't spare a moment to look back and see the damage. He knew he had to get away, otherwise he was dead. Whether it be immediate, or after the robbers used him to get out of the country, he knew he would be a goner if he stopped, so he kept moving.

"Light him up!" the leader yelled from behind.

There was a loud BANG, and immediately Mac's hand went to his chest, thinking that he'd been hit. However, when he felt no pain or blood, he turned around and saw that Ash, the leader of the robbers, was the one who'd been clipped. Mac looked past the man on the ground and saw Jack riding up in Carlos' truck, with Riley and Bozer in the front seat, and a smile broke across the blond's face.

Jack got out of the truck as Mac started walking back towards his friends, and the Puerto Rican police began restraining Ash and his crew. However, as they tried restraining him, the man who'd been the victim of Mac's dye bomb, Pike, suddenly made a move. He elbowed his escorting officer in the chest, and again in the face when the officer bent over with a wheeze, and as soon as he was released, Pike bolted towards the blond. Though the cops and Jack raised their weapons to fire, the blue-skinned man collided with Mac's midsection before they could get off any shots.

Mac and Pike fell to the ground, and the air left Mac's body in one quick "Oomf." The blond let out an involuntary groan as his already-bruised ribs took even more abuse. Mac struggled under Pike's weight for a brief moment, until the man rolled off the blond and grabbed Mac by the front of his shirt, hauling the Phoenix agent to his feet. Mac was then whirled around and used as a human shield, just like Pike had suggested in the bank.

Some of the police were too busy wrestling with their own robbers to pay any attention to what was going on, but the rest of the cops had their guns trained on Pike and Mac. Jack only had eyes for his partner and the man holding him.

"Listen man," Jack called out. "Don't do anything stupid. Just turn yourself in and give us back the hostage. You don't want to make things worse for yourself."

"Yeah right!" Pike yelled back, making Mac wince as Pike's loud voice bounced around in his skull. "I'm not going to prison. I'm getting out of here, and he's my insurance policy!" To prove his point, Pike increased his grip on his prisoner's neck.

As Pike's grip tightened, MacGyver could practically feel how red his face was getting. It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. He tried loosening the man's grip on his throat by attempting to get his hands under his captor's arm, but Pike didn't budge. The robber began walking backwards, dragging his hostage with him, and Mac realized that they were heading back towards downed tree. The car was out of commission, and despite his circumstances, Mac couldn't help but wonder how Pike thought the two of them were going to get away on foot.

"C'mon man, don't be stupid," Jack coaxed, slowly walking forward to see if he could get a clear shot at the man holding his best friend.

"Stay back!" Pike shouted. His grip tightened even more, and Mac could feel his split lip well up with blood again due to the pressure. Despite his best efforts, Mac still couldn't get loose, and his efforts were rewarded with another squeeze. A choked gasp escaped Mac's throat, and Jack froze in his movements, though he kept his gun aimed at the retreating figures.

Pike stumbled slightly as he reached the tree, though it wasn't enough to make him loosen his grip on his hostage at all. The robber glanced back slightly to make sure his chosen path was clear. While he did that, Mac took the opportunity to observe his surroundings as well.

Figuring that the tree was the closest thing to them that he could use to help him, Mac looked for the downed trunk. When he found it, he immediately noticed a large piece wood that was close to coming off. Knowing what he had to do, Mac took in as deep a breath as he could, then immediately stopped resisting Pike's hold, going limp in the man's grip. Pike let out a grunt of surprise, but he wasn't startled enough to let go of Mac, though it was enough to get him to loosen his grip slightly.

As MacGyver went limp and fell a few inches, he threw his hand out blindly, wincing as the piece of wood he was reaching for jabbed into his hand. He pushed the pain aside and grabbed the wood. As Mac pulled the wood off the trunk, Pike used his more-free hand to jab his hostage in the kidney. Another groan escaped Mac's lips, but he didn't let go of his weapon, and as Pike began to lift the blond back up, Mac saw his chance. He brought his hand up and plunged the wood shard down into Pike's elbow, embedding the splinter into the ulnar nerve. Mac let the bark sink in as deep as it would go.

That did it. Pike let out a shout of surprise and pain, and released his prisoner. Mac dropped to the ground on all fours, using his injured hand to wrap around his sore torso. Pike stumbled back and tripped over the tree, falling flat on his back as he reached for the piece of wood embedded in his elbow.

As soon as Jack saw Mac make his move, he rushed forward and planted a boot on Pike's chest to keep him down. He waited until the cops reached them, but as soon as he knew the robber was taken care of, Jack left them and went to his friend.

"Hey man," Jack said, crouching down to be at eye level with his friend. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Mac said, though he winced as he said it. "I'll be fine." He accepted Jack's offer to help him up with his uninjured hand, and Jack hauled the younger man to his feet. Mac straightened, wincing as the movement tugged at his ribs. As he assessed the pain, he thankfully came to the conclusion that he didn't think any of them were cracked or broken, just bruised and sore.

Bozer and Riley reached Jack and Mac at that moment.

"Mac, you okay?" Bozer asked.

"I'm fine," Mac repeated, shaking his hand as the splinters that had sunk into his own hand irritated his skin. The blond reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket knife.

"Woah," Riley said as Mac brought out the red tool.

"Don't worry," Mac assured his friends as he gingerly took out the small set of pliers on the knife. He used the pliers to remove the larger pieces of splinter, but there were still several small pieces that he couldn't get. "Can someone get into the glovebox in Carlos' truck?" Mac asked. "There's a roll of duct tape in there."

Bozer took off for the truck, skirting away from Pike, who was currently being led towards the cars as well, though thankfully his hands were cuffed.

Mac, Jack, and Riley watched as the robbers were loaded into the cop cars. Ash looked back and made eye contact with Mac, and the look he gave the blond told Mac that this wasn't over. He was shoved into a cop car though, and his staring contest with Mac was broken.

Bozer returned with the requested duct tape a moment later and ripped off a strip for his friend.

"Thanks," Mac muttered as he took the sticky material. He splayed his hand to expose the remaining slivers as well as he could, then laid the tape across the wound, wrapping the rest of the tape around his hand once he'd covered the wood.

"You're not gonna just rip it off?" Jack asked. Mac looked at his partner with a raised eyebrow.

"No...that doesn't do anything for the splinter," Mac explained. "In order to get the wood out completely, it needs time to settle in and bond with the material from the tape, which takes about thirty minutes."

Jack pretended like he was interested, but Mac could see he wasn't, so he stopped his explanation with a soft chuckle.

After a few moments, Jack looked at Mac again. "So, uh," he began. "You wanna explain the hole in the floor at the bank?"

Mac let a small grin flit across his face. "Yeah...they said they would leave the hostages if I got them out."

"They said, huh?" Jack asked, somewhat dubiously.

Mac held up his hands. "Alright, I suggested the deal," he admitted.

"It's a good thing we were right behind you," Jack said, giving his friend a nudge.

"Knew you would be," Mac replied. "You always are."

The four of them began walking back towards the truck. Mac turned to Jack.

"Hey, could you lend me your phone?" he asked. "I need to call Carlos, and mine was confiscated at the bank. You'll get it back intact, I promise."

"Don'tcha mean, 'wood' I lend you my phone?" Jack asked, a dorky smile splitting his face as he pulled the device out of his pocket. Mac let out a groan and lightly punched Jack in the arm with his uninjured fist. He gave his friend an exasperated look before he took the phone.

"I can't go anywhere with you, can I?" he asked. Jack shrugged.

"Puns are a good thing, dude. You just need to appreciate the cleverness it takes to come up with them."

"There's nothing clever about it, Jack," Mac argued. "It's literally just word association with an annoying twist!"

"You're an annoying twist," Jack shot back.

The two of them continued arguing while Riley and Bozer followed behind. They exchanged amused glances, but didn't say anything about their friend's codependent bickering. They both knew that it was Mac and Jack's way of saying they cared about each other. Everyone was alive and well, and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

So! I am sorry for being AWOL for those of you who enjoy my stories. I've been working on stories for a contest I'm entering, and it's taken up all of my time. I do have another fanfic in the works, and I think that you guys are gonna like it! Lol I hope you will, anyway. One of the characters who shows up is someone I'm hoping you guys will be excited to see again! ;)

Anyway. Let me know what you think of this tag!

Also, I've been writing a script for this contest, meaning I've been writing in a different tense and format than I'm used to. I tried to catch all the mistakes, but let me know if you find any others and I'll fix it.

See ya soon!