Okieday, so this was requested by Axxonly. They wanted me to write a tag expounding on Mac's attempt at flying last night, because no one could take a dive out a window like that and walk away unscathed. Also, disclaimer, this is my first time writing a tag to an episode, and while writing it really wasn't that different from the other things I've written, that's my disclaimer and excuse XD
I hope it lives up to expectations...I did include hurt, but I also put more family/comfort in at the end, so I hope that's okay...
Lemme know what you guys think!
MacGyver walked behind Jack, who had his gun pointed in front of them, intent on clearing the rest of the house. Jack paused, then kicked the door in front of him. Almost instantaneously, the door to the side of them burst open and a man tumbled into Jack. The stranger recovered faster than either of the Phoenix agents and he booked it out the front door. Jack recovered quickly and took off after the fleeing man.
MacGyver ran to the window, seeing that the man was already halfway down the several flights of stairs, while Jack was just getting down the first flight. The blond looked around the room, and his eyes landed on a cord coming out of the wall. The kid didn't even pause as he ran to the wire and grabbed it, bringing it over his shoulder and looping it through his belt loops. As he faced the window, he paused for a split second, but the face of Matty's goddaughter flashed in front of his vision and he immediately put aside his own fear of heights and took a running jump.
He heard the sound of the window shattering, and he felt the jarring impact it sent through his body. He felt the tension through the cord, and could a sound like something was being torn up in the apartment. He realized the cord must have been pulling out of the wall, but he couldn't pay much attention to it at the moment, because the ground was rushing up to meet him at an alarming speed. He saw their runner right below him, and he threw out his arm, catching the guy and dragging them both to the ground.
"Whoa!" MacGyver heard Jack say. The blond began struggling to his feet while Jack continued talking. "That looked like it hurt," the older agent observed. MacGyver struggled to his feet, feeling slight twinges of pain all over his body but pushing them aside.
"Yeah," MacGyver said, his voice sounding slightly strained. "Not...my best landing," he admitted. His body was begging him to pay attention to it, but he once again pushed the pain aside as he turned to the man who had run out of the apartment, intent on getting answers.
0-0-0
"Hey Mac," Jack called out as the blond began walking away after Matty finished talking with him. "Wait up!"
MacGyver paused to let his partner catch up to him. "Hey," the kid said, trying to hide the slight hitch in his voice. This mission had been so packed, running from one place to the next that MacGyver's adrenaline had been pumping almost constantly, keeping the pain from his early attempt to fly at bay. Now that things were calming down, even though his heart was still racing a little faster than normal, the pain was slowly starting to make its way back into his perception. He had already seen a long bruise forming across his torso from where he had wrapped the cord earlier.
Jack seemed to catch the difference in his friend's voice though and gave him a weird look. "Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," MacGyver lied.
"Hold up," Jack said, grabbing his friend lightly by the arm, causing the blond to hiss quickly in pain. "Ah hah," Jack said triumphantly, hurrying around to the front of his friend to look him in the eye. "I knew jumping out that window had to hurt more than you let on," Jack stated.
"Congrats," MacGyver grumped, though he didn't mean it. Not completely, anyway.
"What's buggin' you?" Jack asked, putting both hands on his partner's shoulders gently to stop him from walking away.
"Nothing, I'll be fine," MacGyver said, though he didn't try and shove past Jack's human blockade.
"Mmhmm," Jack muttered skeptically, leading his friend over to a cement wall to have a closer look. "We should probably get you to a hospital, get you checked out," he said as he lifted his friend's right arm.
"I don't need a hospital, Jack," MacGyver insisted, trying to pull his arm out of his friend's grip but ending up groaning in pain as he moved too quickly once again.
"Now, I don't think I have to tell you that this is why people usually avoid jumping out windows," Jack said as he gently bent his friend's arm back and forth, then moved it up and down, trying to find the limits of motion for the limb.
"I'm sorry, you're right," MacGyver drawled. "I should have let the killer get away," he said.
"Well I mean, it's not like the police didn't do that, and they didn't have to jump out a window," Jack pointed out. "Plus, we didn't technically know he was the killer," the older man pointed out. MacGyver glared at his partner as his arm was set back down. "Now, where else does it hurt?" Jack asked.
"Nowhere. I'm completely fi-" MacGyver faltered slightly under the stern eye of his older partner, giving a small pout of surrender. "My ribs and my ankle," he finally muttered.
"How bad's the pain?"
"Probably a four," Mac replied.
"So a seven or eight?"
"Okay, honestly Jack. I'll be okay," MacGyver said, standing up to walk away.
"Kid, would you just take a break for a minute?" Jack asked exasperatedly. MacGyver paused, then sat back down, deciding to let Jack go ahead and look him over a little more. "Thank you," the older man said as he began to look over his partner's injuries again. "Well, I don't think anything's broken or cracked," he said as he probed around his partner's ribs slightly.
"Thanks doc," Mac said sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Jack replied with just as much snark. "How about you let an actual doctor look over you?"
"How about we just go home?" MacGyver countered tiredly.
"Mac," Jack tried arguing.
"What are they gonna tell me to do Jack?" MacGyver asked. "My ribs are just bruised, and I'm pretty sure my shoulder and ankle are just sprained or have a pulled muscle. There isn't anything they can do for me except tell me to go home and rest," Mac pointed out. When Jack still stared at him, MacGyver sighed. "Jack, if I'm still sore tomorrow, I'll go. I promise," he said. Jack stared at his friend skeptically for a minute, but he knew Mac and his promises, so he finally relented.
"Fine. But I'm stayin' with you tonight," he insisted.
"That's not necessa-"
"Don't care," Jack interrupted. "I'm coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop me," he informed the young man. MacGyver sighed, but he didn't object anymore. He simply turned around and began walking down the street.
"Hey guys!" Bozer called out. The two stopped and looked behind them to see Bozer coming towards them with Riley next to them.
"Hey Ri," Jack said, engulfing the girl in a large hug. She only stayed in his arms for a second before pulling away. MacGyver held out his arms as well, giving her a hug which she once again pulled out of after a few seconds.
"We're really glad you're okay," MacGyver told her.
"I wouldn't be if it weren't for you guys," she said. Mac could hear a slight tremor in her voice, and knew that she was still shaken by the events of the night. From past experience, MacGyver knew that sometimes it was better to not go home after an event like this, at least not immediately.
"Hey," he said after a moment of silence. "I'm starving. Do you guys want to go grab a bite to eat?"
"Mac, it's super late," Bozer argued.
"Mac, you said you'd go home," Jack also said. MacGyver ignored both of them, staring at Riley and waiting for her to answer. She looked at him, then nodded her head slowly.
"Yeah," she finally replied. "I think I'd like that."
"Great," Mac said. "Jack, Boze, we're going with or without you, so whatever you want to do…" The blond and the hacker began walking towards a small diner when Mac paused again. He glanced back and saw their new boss standing, staring off towards where the police car with the copycat Zodiac killer had driven off. He only hesitated a moment before calling out once more.
"Hey Matty," he called out. Their boss looked up at hearing her name, looking slightly surprised. "Wanna grab a bite?" he asked. Matty shook her head.
"No, I'm going to go let Sarah know we caught the killer, then I'm going home," she said tiredly. MacGyver nodded in understanding and turned to walk with his friends once more. "MacGyver," Matty called out, catching the agent's attention. He looked at her with a curious expression. "Good job again," she said sincerely. He smiled a small smile and nodded his head once.
"Mac, are you limping?" Riley asked as they continued walking towards the diner.
"Yeah Mac," Jack said, jumping on the 'let's find out if Mac is hurt' train. "Why are you limping?"
"Shut up Jack," MacGyver grumbled.
"What happened?" Riley asked with a laugh, looking between the two partners.
"Nothing...I'll tell you when we get to the diner. Do you think they'll have ibuprofen?" Mac asked as an afterthought. Everyone chuckled, including Jack after a minute, and MacGyver grinned to himself.
During my time here at the Phoenix Foundation, there've been some rough days. This has got to rank at least within the top fifteen. When my family is in danger, that's when I get the most focused, the most dedicated. The best thing about today though was that we all finished the day alive, and mostly unscathed. Yeah yeah yeah, I'll do my best not to jump out of windows after fleeing men from now on, but we got Riley back. I say we take that as a win.
So like I said, more family/comfort there at the end. I hope I didn't disappoint? I figured the adrenaline rush could only push aside a few injuries for that extended period of time, so I had to make them decently minor, I apologize.
I also figured MacGyver would ask Matty if she wanted to grab a bite just because that's who he is, and he knows that she had gone through a rough time during this case, but that Matty would say no, because that's who she is. Hope I caught their characters okay, I haven't written Matty a ton.
PS, I absolutely loved the episode, if anyone was wondering XD
So thoughts?