Synopsis: Mac is struggling in the aftermath of the Mason situation, leaving the rest of the team to worry about his state of mind. When Mason strikes again the team is thrown back into the fray, putting Mac in more danger than ever.
Eye for an Eye, Son for a Son
Chapter One
MACGYVER RESIDENCE
THIS HAS NOT BEEN A GOOD WEEK
Mac had been standing stock still on the deck overlooking the LA skyline since they got back from the funeral.
He was still wearing his suit, the material wrinkled from a long, painful day of mourning. Saying goodbye to a close friend was never easy but this was different.
Mac couldn't get the image of Charlie punching through the glass wall of that elevator, of plunging to his death, out of his head. It played on repeat, over and over, and nothing made it go away.
He didn't deserve for it to go away.
It was his fault, no matter how unintentional and out of control it was on his end, that Charlie was so senselessly murdered. Just like it was his fault Alfred Pena was murdered - so many friends gone because of him. The body count trailing behind Mac was far too long and he didn't know how to stop it from growing even further.
And Jack – miraculously he was still alive, and Mac was forever grateful for that – but he was gone, too.
His father was gone – Mac hadn't seen the man since he told him to leave that night, the night attached to the day everything went so wrong. He really thought things had changed but he just couldn't overlook the fact that his father was willing to let other people die to save Mac from death himself.
He was grateful to be alive but at what cost? How was he supposed to live with that knowledge, that guilt, that innocent people had lost their lives so he wouldn't have to? How many times would he cheat death before there was no one else to sacrifice in his place?
He understood why his father made the call that he did, no one could be expected to watch their child die if they could do something to save them.
But that didn't make it any easier for Mac to live with everything he now knew.
It was too much and he felt so alone.
He knew he had people who loved him, and he knew the promise he made to Riley that she had him extended both way, but he didn't feel like he deserved it. They had all suffered so much too; he wouldn't put more on them by asking for help. They would share his burden in a heartbeat but he couldn't do that to them. He deserved the blame, they didn't.
The funeral was agony.
He didn't know how to look Charlie's family in the eye when so much of the liability for his death rested on Mac's shoulders. Watching everyone who knew and loved the man cry and grieve had nearly broken him more efficiently than Murdoc or the Ghost or Mason ever had.
Their tears only drowned him more.
He felt guilty for how bad he felt, how much grief he felt, and for how much it was all affecting him. Those images of Charlie's last moments played over and over again in his mind. Mason was right, helplessly watching Charlie die would haunt him for the rest of his life. It was seared into his memory forever, just like Mason wanted.
But there was something else that would haunt him, too, a question born from truths he couldn't live with rattling around in his brain.
How many other people had died in his place? How much blood was truly on the MacGyver hands?
Riley stood helplessly in the entryway of the deck and silently watched Mac.
This mission had been tough, maybe the toughest one Riley could think of, and on no one more than it had been on Mac.
She frowned in sadness for the man who had become her brother, her best friend through thick and thin. His kind, gently words after she broke up with Billy had been a life raft for her in that moment. Mac was the only thing that kept her from falling off the deep end into mindless heartbreak. But she didn't know what to say to him to make it better like he had with her.
Watching Charlie sacrifice himself had been traumatizing for all of them and they only knew Charlie from working a few cases with him – Mac had fought a war with the man, shared mutual pain and grief over Alfred Pena's death, and trusted him as a fellow EOD tech and friend. It wasn't like how close Mac was with Jack, that was a bond of a completely different sort, but that blood-brothers bond had been strong nevertheless and Riley couldn't even begin to imagine what Mac was feeling.
And Oversight, her boss but Mac's actual father.
That had been such a sore spot for Mac for so long, an open wound fifteen years in the making, and now it was all so complicated again.
Riley hesitated, torn between going to Mac and giving him space. She worried her lip between her teeth and sighed. He hadn't stayed away when she broke up with Billy. He immediately went to her and gave her exactly what she needed in that situation – unconditional love and a reminder that no matter how much it might hurt, she was never alone.
She wasn't wired that same way as Mac, though. She was handy to have around in a pinch and her words of encouragement spoken in the heat of the moment seemed to help him refocused enough to think when the weight of the world got too heavy on his shoulders, but she didn't know how to do these quieter moments.
What do you say to someone who has had to watch people he cared about die right in front of him?
Alfred Pena's death in Afghanistan nearly destroyed him, and Zoe, Mac really seemed to have a connection with her. It was so quick, too. They were weirdly perfect for each other and their instant chemistry was palpable even though they were half a world away and talking through a computer screen. He stayed with her until the end and Riley knew the moments after the connection cut out, when Mac knew that the sweet, nerdy girl was drowning in freezing water, were pure emotional torture for her friend.
Riley wasn't around for Mac and Nikki's relationship, or her supposed death on the night Mac was shot in the chest and nearly died in Jack's arms, but it was just another time when Mac had to watch someone he loved die. Jack told her about that night on a pizza and skee-ball lunch, about Jack waking up on the side of the road after being knocked out and finding Mac drowning in the water below. When he jumped in and pulled Mac out, he had to keep Mac alive for thirteen minutes before emergency response arrived. Those thirteen minutes were the longest of his life, he told her, and there was a moment near the end when they could hear the sirens but they weren't there yet that he truly thought Mac was gone and it nearly killed him, too. Riley hadn't paid much attention when she first met Mac to those stories, she didn't know him yet so it didn't comprehend that he had very nearly died before she ever even got the chance to know him. When Jack told her that story a few months back, it put the whole thing into shockingly terrifying perspective.
And if Mac hadn't suffered enough, now Charlie was gone, too. Riley was struggling herself with the memory of the elevator falling, of Charlie selflessly sacrificing himself so that it wouldn't have to be Mac's choice. She couldn't imagine what Mac was feeling.
It didn't matter that she wasn't sure what to say, there was nothing to say, but she had to be there for her little brother. Riley and Bozer had joked about which one was the younger sibling between them but it was clear to everyone that Mac was the younger brother to both of them. It wasn't just because he was chronologically the youngest, either. He was so smart and brave and amazing and too kind and good for the cruel world their jobs made them face. He was so often the target of people wanting to hurt him and it happened way too much despite how protective their little family was of Mac. When Mac hurt, they all felt it, and right now the pain was radiating off him in waves.
Riley saw the moment his shield disintegrated. She knew that meant he didn't know she was behind him and she felt bad for intruding on his private moment. His shoulders lost all tension and he leaned forward heavily on the banister of the deck. His back was bowed and his head hanging, his fingers were clenching the wood.
She couldn't stand by and watch his silent agony anymore and walked toward him slowly, afraid to startle him.
"Hey, Mac." She said softly and placed a hand on his hunched shoulder. She felt him immediately tense and flinch before relaxing when he realized she wasn't a threat. She frowned at the reaction. "Are you okay?"
She winced at the choice of words, of course he wasn't okay, but she couldn't think of anything better.
He didn't answer right away but just as Riley started to think that he wasn't going to answer at all he simply shook his head, no.
"Hey, look at me." She said as gently as she could. She nudged his shoulder and felt tears flood her eyes when he finally did. Riley had once tried to figure out the exact shade of blue Mac's eyes were. It took her a long time before she realized that they couldn't be described in just one way. Mac was a person who lived his whole life with his heart on his sleeve when it came to others, but when his own feelings were concerned, he would lock them up tight and barely ever let anyone in. It was a survival mechanism he had picked up as a child having had to face death and abandonment so young. If you were lucky enough to be close to him, you had to learn how to decipher the subtle clues that indicated what Mac was truly feeling. Most of those subtle clues came from his eyes.
She learned that when he was feeling happy his eyes were the color of a sunny, cloudless sky. When he was bantering with Jack or felt particularly carefree they became so vibrantly blue they nearly glowed. In dangerous situations, where lives were at stake and every single decision was the difference between life and death, they grew a darker shade like a flame burning too hot. It was like his brain worked so hard and so quickly in those situations that the engine overheated. When he was sad they seemed almost dark green, like the sky before a tornado. When he was in pain or angry, they turned a deep bluish-grey, like the ocean during a storm and that's how they were when he finally lifted his head and met her eyes with his own. Only, it was like his eyes weren't allowing him to hide anymore because all she saw beyond those rough waters was unmasked, no holding back – PAIN.
"You did everything you could, okay." Riley swallowed against her own heartache at the pure sadness radiating from him. "It was an unwinnable situation, Charlie knew that."
"I should have been able to do something, thought of something." Mac said, voice cracking. "When Bozer was sitting on Mason's other unwinnable situation you came up with a way to save him."
"That's right," Riley said. "Because of you. I was only able to think of that solution because I started thinking like you. It's like you said, Mason learned from his mistakes. He wanted to hurt you and so that's what he did. It isn't your fault it happened."
"But I didn't get hurt, Charlie did. If Mason wanted to hurt me to get back at my dad then why didn't he put me in that elevator? It should have been me, not Charlie."
"Charlie didn't deserve to die like that." Riley said, taking Mac by the shoulders and pulling him closer, forcing him to meet her eyes. She could see the inevitable shattering within them. "But you don't deserve to die like that either. Neither does your dad. Mason is angry about his son's death, and he blames Oversight for making the call, but his son signed up to protect his country. Your dad sent him on a mission, just like he sends you and me and Bozer, all of us, on missions every day. What happened to Charlie was tragic but that's on Mason, one hundred percent, not on you."
"First Bozer, then Charlie – what if it's you next time, or Matty, or Jack. What if Mason comes back and it's one of you guys and I can't stop it." Mac's voice rose in mounting anxiety and Riley shook her head.
"I think we're all more worried that next time it will be you." She said, voice cracking at the idea. It was unspoken but the fact remained – Mason wanted to hurt James MacGyver for what happened to his son. That meant Mac was in more danger than any of them and the idea terrified Riley. She knew if the time came he would sacrifice himself without hesitation and Riley didn't know if she could watch that happen. They had seen a lot of things in their line of work but she couldn't watch Mac die. Not him.
"I don't know what to do." Mac admitted after a heavy pause. "I don't know how to stop him."
"It's not on you, Mac." Riley said as she pulled him in for a tight hug. As she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, she felt him hesitate before practically melting into her embrace. "None of this is because of you and you don't have to face it alone. We've got your back and I'm here whenever you need me."
"Thanks Riles," Mac said against her hair, his arms holding onto her just little bit tighter, seeking comfort he rarely ever dared to ask for. "I wish Jack was here."
Riley's face crumpled at the mention of the man who had been a better father to both of them then their own ever had. Having Jack gone was like a crater blown through the middle of their lives. They could manage on their own but it was obvious that their family was incomplete and missing a vital piece. Desi had become a trusted member of their team and Riley could see how much Mac liked her but she would never be able to fill that hole. Her being on the team was like putting a tarp over it, it doesn't really fix anything.
"Me too," Riley said. "But I know he's doing everything he can to come back to us."
"What if he doesn't?" Mac asked almost silently.
"He will." She insisted. "He's gonna come back and we need to be here when he does. He's gonna need you to be okay so I need you to promise me that you will fight to survive Mason. I can't tell Jack we lost you. That would kill me."
"I promise," Mac said. "And I promise to do everything I can to protect you guys, too. I won't let what happened to Charlie, and what almost happened to Bozer, happen again."
"We all trust you, Mac." Riley told him. "That was never in question."
"Good," Mac said and pulled away from the hug. She rubbed a hand over his back for a second and then let him go, too. His eyes were red rimmed but some of the intense, unfiltered pain was gone. That was something. Riley knew it was still there but at least he didn't look like he was about to shatter into a million little pieces anymore.
"Hey guys," Bozer's soft voice came from the doorway. "You okay?"
"We'll be fine, right?" Riley said, giving Mac a small, reassuring smile. Mac met it with a weak one of his own and started to nod but staggered when his face went pale.
"Woah, hey?" Riley yelped as she caught Mac under an elbow and took on most of his weight as he struggled to stay upright.
"What's going on?" Bozer asked as he rushed forward and grabbed onto Mac's other arm, their friend sagging between them.
"I don't know," Riley admitted fearfully. "Let's get him inside."
The three made their way into the house quickly, one practically being carried by the other two. They only made it as far as the living room before Mac's body lost all tension and his dead weight nearly took Bozer and Riley down with him.
"Get him on the couch," Riley gritted out as they dragged their unconscious friend in that direction. With a heave they had him lying down. Riley lifted Mac's legs up onto the arm rest so they would be higher than his heart. His slack face was frighteningly pale.
"Matty, its Bozer." Riley heard as she kneeled on the floor beside her friend and picked up his wrist, her fingers against his pulse point as she counted the rapid beats. His skin was surprisingly warm. "Mac collapsed at the house; we don't know what's wrong."
Riley reached her free hand and placed the back of it against Mac's forehead, he was burning up. How did she not notice that before? Just as she was wondering if this could be some kind of delayed reaction to the gas Mac was exposed to a few days earlier, Mac's cell phone began ringing. She reached into his front pocket and took out the phone, a quick glance at the screen told her it was an unknown number – a familiar unknown number. She answered it before the next ring.
"Hello." She asked hesitantly.
"I see he got my parting gift." An eerie voice said over the line. Riley clenched her teeth, tightening her grip on Mac's lax hand protectively.
"Mason." She said causing Bozer to halt his conversation with Matty. He stared at her in fear, his own face paling a little.
"That is correct." Mason said coolly. "I had to make sure it worked as advertised."
"What did you do?" Riley asked, anger and fear building in her gut.
"Let's just say, it's amazing the kind of tech you get to see in our line of work, what kind of weapons. Stuff civilians won't see for years, if ever. It's enough to give someone all kinds of ideas."
"What did you do to Mac?" Riley seethed, teeth clenching painfully.
"Nothing that can't be fixed, for a price." Mason said cryptically.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"I've already made myself incredibly clear about what I want. I want nothing more than to see James MacGyver suffer. I want to make him watch his son die a thousand deaths before I put him in the ground for good. By that point, I think Jimmy might just finish the job for me."
"You said you could fix him for a price, name it." Riley said.
"Oh no, my dear girl, that's not for you. You'll hear from me when the time is right. Do not leave that house, do not pass go or collect two hundred dollars, and do not try to contact me. I will call back when Oversight gets there." Mason said and Riley immediately heard the small blips that indicated a dropped call.
"No, wait!" Riley cried out but it was too late. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in horror. She lifted terrified eyes to Bozer, who was standing as still as a statue, and looked just as scared.
"What do we do?" Bozer asked.
Riley didn't have an answer.
A low groan from the couch quickly diverted her attention back to Mac and she turned, brushing his blond hair off his forehead as he slowly came to.
"Hey," she said comfortingly.
"Hey," Mac responded weakly as his eyes drowsily fluttered open. "Wha' happ'nd?"
Riley glanced at Bozer, who had finished giving as many details as they knew to Matty and had hung up. He kneeled down beside Riley and squeezed Mac's shoulder.
"You scared us by taking an impromptu nap in the middle of our conversation." Bozer supplied easily, the cheerfulness in his voice barely able to contain his nerves.
"What?" He asked, his eyes tracing a line between the two slowly. "You guys okay?"
"We're okay, Mac." Riley said fondly. It reminded her a little too much of when he was shot during their wilderness survival training. Without fail he would always be more worried about them.
"How are you feeling, Roomie?" Bozer asked, trying to sound casual – and failing.
"Feel…weird." Mac admitted, his breathing growing more and more shallow as his eyes drooped, hooding his dull eyes.
"Weird how, Mac?" Riley asked.
Bozer shook Mac's shoulder roughly when Mac's eyes fluttered shut, soft pants escaping through pale lips.
"You've gotta stay awake, Mac." Bozer said and the words held a lot more weight than she was expecting. He knew something.
"What is it?" She asked Bozer quietly.
"Matty said she might know what happened and that no matter what we have to keep Mac conscious. She's on her way with Oversight." Bozer explained under his breath. And Riley swallowed hard; whatever this was it wasn't pretty.
"Hmmm…" Mac groaned suddenly, jaw snapping shut and back arching off the couch. One of his feet fell off the armrest as he twisted to his side, toward Bozer and Riley. His hand clenched almost painfully around Riley's but she could tell he was trying not to squeeze too tight.
"Woah, hey, you have to tell us what you're feeling." Riley insisted, hating every second of helplessness.
"Hurts," was the only thing Mac was able to ground out. Riley's heart fluttered madly in her chest, pounding so hard against her ribcage she felt like it was trying to break free.
"What hurts?" Bozer asked, his voice tight with concentrated worry.
"Mmmmph…everything…" Mac was curled up tight now, arms wrapped around his stomach so hard his hands were turning purple. Riley couldn't just sit there, not with her best friend and little brother in so much pain. She reached over and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, hunching over him proactively and brushed her fingers across his cheek, his forehead, his hair to try to calm him. She hoped beyond hope that it provided some kind of comfort to Mac, who only groaned and curled more securely into her embrace.
"How long until they get here?" Riley asked, her voice tear-soaked.
"They said it wouldn't take long." Bozer told her. "How did Mason do this?"
"I don't know," Riley was trying to stay calm but after everything that had happened so far with Mason – Bozer in the SUV, Charlie in the elevator – she was having a hard time keeping it together. Now she had Mac clinging to her in absolute agony, the cause of which a complete mystery except for knowing it was somehow coming from the man who wanted to see Mac suffer, see him dead. And also knowing that facing this man had proven to be unwinnable, that they might not be able to save Mac either. She knew her fears were correct when she told him they were all more worried about Mac being the next target, she just wished they had more time before they had to face that reality. "Mac?"
Mac had gone boneless, his grip on her jacket easing as his whole body sagged into the couch. His face was hidden, still pressed against her and as she pulled away to get a better look at him his arm dropped hard, bouncing a little as it hit the cushions.
"Mac, come on, you have to stay awake." Riley begged, shaking his shoulder. He moved only at the shaking, his head seemed barely connected to his shoulders. "Mac!"
"Don't worry Mac," Bozer leaned forward too, his own hand hovering over Mac's head. "We'll get you out of this. You're gonna be okay, just hang on until we figure this out."
They both knew whatever was happening to their friend was happening inside, that somehow Mason did something to him that was attacking Mac from within, but they both felt immensely protective of their defenseless friend and sat hunched over him as if protecting him with their own bodies. His body was twitching, the suffering continuing even through the veil of unconsciousness.
Riley pressed two fingers to his wrist and counted the throbbing, weak beats. Her lips pressed together and she shot a worried look at Bozer, who looked beyond scared. What was taking them so long? Mac was slipping away and they didn't know why. It was the worst kind of torture Riley could imagine. What would they do if Mac died in their arms, if they never figured out what Mason did to kill him? The scariest part was that she knew Mason wanted Oversight to suffer, his son dying in agony, the cause of which a total mystery, would certainly do the trick. Was this his endgame, though? Riley thought Mason wanted to draw out the suffering, she didn't think he would do it so quickly – not that she knew this kind of death would be quick. They might have to watch Mac slip away like this for days.
But what about the price? Mason said he wanted something in exchange for stopping whatever it was he was doing, would he really kill Mac before he got it?
It seemed to take forever before the front door slammed open and Matty and James rushed in. James immediately rushed for his son and Riley and Bozer backed way to give him room. They watched as James kneeled beside Mac and pressed two fingers to the pulse point at his neck and frowned. He gently straightened his son's body on the couch before sitting on the edge beside him, one of Mac's pale hands clutched in his own.
"How long has he been like this?" James asked and Riley realized she didn't know. If felt like hours but it couldn't have been more than ten minutes, fifteen minutes tops.
"Fourteen minutes and twelve seconds," Bozer supplied, pointing toward the clock on the living room wall. At least one of them was paying attention. James shot Matty a look and Riley could see the shocked horror written all over their boss's face.
"Mason said we can't leave and that he would call you when you got here. What is going on?" Riley asked, taking a step forward instinctively when Mac groaned. James' full attention shot immediately back to Mac, she could tell by the look on the older man's face that for every second Mac was in pain he was feeling it, too. They all were.
"Mason really outdid himself this time," Matty said, her voice haunted and tense.
Mac's cell phone ringing made them all jump and James immediately took it from Riley's hand. His finger stabbed at the answer button and his eyes screamed murder when he turned on speaker phone.
"Turn it off." James said venomously.
"James MacGyver," Mason returned. "I am so glad you are there to see this."
"Turn. It. Off." Riley took a step back at the raw anger. She saw Mac flinch and wasn't sure if it was from pain or in reaction to the anger. All she knew was she wanted Jack to be the one sitting with Mac now. He would know exactly what to do to comfort him. James only seemed to be making it worse, even if he did have good intentions.
"I promised that I would, for a price of course, but from your tone I might just rescind my offer. You know it wouldn't take much longer to kill him. Do you really want that for your boy? Even if you do deserve it, does he?"
"What do you want, Mason." James said.
"I want you to take me offer speaker phone." Mason told him. "I want to tell you and only you. Do you understand me?"
"Yes." James said and without sparing a glance to anyone else in the room he turned off speaker phone and held the phone to his ear.
Riley held her breath as Mason told James his demands. She watched her boss's face intently and tried to ignore the voice in the back of her mind that was worried James might not take the deal. He might have to choose to let Mac die. Depending on the price he might not have a choice.
"Okay." James said coolly after several tense seconds. "You have a deal, now turn it off."
Mac's body reacted immediately. He jolted out of unconsciousness with a hoarse scream and twitched as if he were being electrocuted.
"I said turn it off, you have a deal!" James yelled into the phone, standing up as if afraid to cause his son any more pain.
And just like that it was over and Mac fell back to the cushions, breathing heavily and beyond pale but alive, before his eyes rolled back into his head. At least the pain seemed to stop but who the hell knew how much damage whatever just happened had caused.
James must have hit the speaker phone button by accident when Mac's sudden increase in pain startled them all because Riley heard Mason's final warning before the call was once again disconnected. The words sent shivers down her spine and made her feel cold.
"I have all the control here." Mason said. "And now you've seen how bad it can get. If I don't get what I've asked for, I'll keep it going until he dies."
Riley felt numb as the room went silent.
What the hell just happened, and how in the world were they going to fix this?
To Be Continued.