Brave, smart, or lucky - you will still die
Contrary to popular belief, one might not immediately notice they'd been shot. Amidst the chaos of the battle, all Bandit felt was a sting in his thigh. He had more pressing matters to worry about, like the fact he and Jäger were trapped in the bank CEO's office, surrounded by White Masks and the rest of the team was blocked at the lobby.
The hostage was dead when they arrived, and then things went to hell in a handbasket. The White Masks appeared out of nowhere and, counting the ones giving trouble to Ash, Doc and Sledge on the main floor, there were too many of them altogether. Bandit finished setting up the shock wire and Jäger reinforced the walls, when he felt a stinging sensation on his thigh. However, it wasn't until he tried to move he noticed something was wrong. He wanted to go help Jäger with the last wall panel, but his left leg wobbled under the strain of supporting him and he fell down. Noticing the deep red blood staining his trouser's leg was quite a shock, all Bandit could do was gape at it in bewilderment.
"Reinforcement is in place!" Jäger said over the cacophony of gunshots and yelling going outside their temporarily safe room.
When Bandit didn't answer him, Jäger turned around and was greeted by a sight he never wished to see. Forgetting about reinforcing the last part of the wall, the one that was already sporting holes and guarded by his last ADS, he knelt next to Bandit. The pool of blood forming beneath him was expanding too quickly.
"I'll fix you right up, ja?" Jäger tried to sound reassuring, but Bandit knew him too well to not notice his panicked undertone.
The bandages Jäger applied were instantly soaked in blood, yet Bandit was oddly calm about the situation. It didn't even hurt, curious it bled so much. He was also thirsty for some reason. Overall, it was surprisingly similar to being high.
"Doc! Doc, Bandit's down and there's so much blood!" Jäger was now openly panicking, yelling at their missing team mate through the comm link.
"Where is he hurt?" Came the slightly muffled voice of Doc.
"Inner thigh left leg." Bandit knew that was bad news, but apart from a vague sensation of nagging fear in the back of his mind, he just felt incredibly tired.
"Merde! I'm coming as fast as I can, Jäger. Apply pressure on the wound, make a tourniquet if you can."
Jäger stuffed a ball of gauze and bandages on Bandit's wound, pressing hard enough to make him flinch, yet it did not staunch the blood flow. He put Bandit's hand on top of it, asking him to press down as he tried to fashion a tourniquet with his belt.
Despite Bandit's best efforts, his limbs felt like they were made of lead, and pressing down was suddenly a really difficult task. He was getting increasingly dizzy too. He might not be a doctor but Bandit knew it was a tremendously bad sign.
Seeing as the tourniquet only slowed down the bleeding, Jäger sat with Bandit pressed to his chest, applying pressure to the wound as Doc instructed, and trying to calm down the frenzied beating of his heart. He grabbed Bandit's hand, interlocking their bloodied fingers and murmuring that everything would be fine. He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince, Bandit or himself.
"That's so gay Marius," Bandit tried to joke it off, cause that's what he did best in tense situations. He got a half-sob half-chuckle from Jäger.
"We've been together for a year Dom."
"Yes." Bandit smiled and feebly squeezed back Jäger's hand. He made a lot of questionable decisions in his life and fucked up countless opportunities, but this was something he did right. "Best year of my life."
A particularly strong shot broke one of the reinforcements he'd put up, leaving a hole in the wall for the White Masks to fire at them once the dust cleared. Jäger let go of Bandit's hand to grab his handgun, ready to shoot at any hostile poking their heads in.
The room was spinning, an insistent headache hitting Bandit along with the realisation he was not getting out of this one. He had wanted to... to... it was getting hard to think, but he was sure it had been important, something to do with Jäger. He could barely hear the shooting, but his ears were ringing and he was cold, so cold. Huh, so this hadn't been a cliché.
Jäger was saying something he could not hear, his vision getting cloudier with each passing second and he just wanted to sleep. If he closed his eyes that would be it, Bandit knew that much. But it was a losing battle. Using the last of his strength, Bandit tried to grab Jäger's hand again.
"Marius..." Bandit managed to whisper, his last thought before darkness overtook him.
"Dom please... don't go," Jäger tried to shake him awake, tears flowing unchecked and too focused on Bandit to care about the White Masks still lurking outside. They were not shooting, and that was good enough right now. "Dom... wake up, c'mon!"
This couldn't be happening, Dominic couldn't be dead. It was just a nightmare, not real. He would wake up any moment now and Bandit would be sleeping by his side, annoyed to be awoken in the middle of the night, but alive. He would mock him a bit, but he'd hold Jäger and made him laugh away his worries and everything would be right in the world.
Despite not wanting to admit it, Jäger knew that would never happen again. He was too dazed by the overwhelming numbness that had taken over him to notice the hostiles slipping by the breached wall. He didn't feel the shot either.
When Doc and Ash arrived two minutes later, they found the dead bodies of both their team mates, still holding onto each other one last time.