This takes place after the events Another End chapter 17 (Steady).
Jay sighed as he let his head rest on the pillow, his arms underneath providing a little extra support. The bay was pretty quiet, with him being the only 'patient' there at the time. The air conditioning felt extra cool on his exposed back, the skin a little extra tender after being re-dressed with fresh bandages. The medical officer looking after his treatment had said that his skin was healing slowly, and that the signs of infection were fading.
His thoughts were stolen as the doors to the bay swung open, a pair of medics wheeling in a stretcher bearing a member of one of the Task Force's other teams, one he didn't recognise. The medics parked this newcomer beside him, said a few parting words and left him to his devices. Now unobscured, Jay could see the soldier's left sleeve of his uniform had been cut away, leaving his arm and shoulder exposed, save for the myriad of tape covering the shoulder itself. He had to stop himself from moving to his assistance, moving would not be wise. Jay sighed and buried his face in the pillow for a moment, frustrated with his immobility.
"You 'right mate?" The soldier spoke up, his head turned and looking at Jay.
Jay looked at him boredly, "Been better…" He watched as the soldier's eyes flicked up and down his back before refocusing on Jay himself.
"... no shit Sherlock," the soldier said with a quirked eyebrow, "so you're that bastard that's the talk of the Task Force right now?"
"I wouldn't know, I've been stuck here the past few days wishing I could move," Jay responded, "What talk?"
"I heard from my old mate Rook who heard from Toad that their team's medic turned himself into a sacrificial lamb on their latest op, that's the talk," he rolled his eyes, subconsciously going to cross his arms over his chest before stopping with a pained wince from his injury and the tightness of the tape around his joint, "most of the blokes are going on about how much of a legend you are for taking one for the team the way you did."
Jay snorted a chuckle and shook his head, "Sacrificial lamb? Really?"
"Would you'd have preferred 'premium grade mince'? I figured that might be a little too soon, given by the sheer size of that patch on your back."
Jay winced at the joke, "Fair point I suppose."
The soldier rolled his eyes, then gave Jay a pointed look, "Nah, the fair point is that I think you're a fucking wanker, that's what."
Jay raised an eyebrow, "Why am I a wanker?"
"To quote some old but wise prick from way back when, 'a problem shared is a problem halved'. Goes the same way with pain and suffering, mate. I'd ask if the Doc's managed to fix up the many 'new ones' that you've been torn by your team, but that's a little too personal for my liking," he said with a small chuckle before frowning. "I get that you're a medic, and you don't like seeing others hurt, but say they had killed you early in your imprisonment. What next? Who'd be alive to patch the others up once the bastards set their sights on them? They sure as hell wouldn't, otherwise they'd not have killed you."
Jay groaned and pressed his face into the pillow again, "Not this again..." He mumbled into it before he lifted his face, "A. I did what I had to do, I trusted the rest of the team to be able to get to us in time for that to not be a problem. B. There wasn't much patching up I could do with no supplies, they were in no hurry to give me my kit to tend to Ozone and Scarecrow. All I could do was trust my team and hold out until they got there, in the meantime, I could save the others some pain. So I did."
"And while you're being all magnanimous and shit, the rest of your team is sitting in a cell, fearing for your life, thinking 'it should be me in there', because you know damn well that all of them would trade places with you in less than a fucking heartbeat," the soldier spat out, "because if there's one bloody thing I know from personal fucking experience, is that you don't leave your brothers behind, and you don't let them hang out to fucking dry. Did you even think and consider that maybe they wanted to share the pain? Do something to make sure you didn't suffer any longer?" He was starting to get louder, his words beginning to echo through the bay, "Or are you so fucking self-centred to think that… that… well, I don't fucking know. If you ask me, you're a fucking moron."
Jay scowled at him and shifted, wincing and grimacing as his back pulled, he settled back into his position, "They have people to go home to. I don't. I was the expendable one and I wasn't gonna sit and do nothing and be useless and fuck I don't…" he sighed and shook his head, "It doesn't matter. It happened. It's over. I'm healing, the others are okay. That's all that matters."
"And now look. Because of all of this, you are useless, you can't do anything, and your team will either fill your slot temporarily or be stood down until you're fit again. And that's not considering the fact that there was jack shit stopping those assholes from executing everyone but you, y'know," the soldier said after a few moments silence. "What if they figured out that your act of attempted self-sacrifice was just for that? Could you live with yourself knowing that your actions lead to their deaths?"
"No…" Jay sighed, "I wouldn't. I'd fuckin… I don't know… but it wouldn't be pretty. But if they had, they'd have lost their leverage, and they knew it. Threatened Scarecrow, they caught on at the end."
"Exactly… and you don't know how much longer it would have taken for the rest of us to find you lot…" he said softly, "And they wouldn't have been able to live with themselves knowing that you gave yourself up like that. Sure, they have families and shit to go home to… but they'd have also lost a brother."
Jay scoffed a chuckle and shook his head, "They hardly know me. I wouldn't think I'd be considered a brother."
"Yet they'd willingly take the punishment if it meant sparing you… I don't know mate, but that's some fucking brothers-in-arms shit right there…" The doors opened and a medic walked in, a chart in his hands.
"Okay, Sergeant Williams, due to your dislocation, we'll be keeping you here for observation for the night, just to make sure there's no further damage to the joint and surrounding nerves. One of the nurses will be in to wheel you to a ward soon."
The soldier, Williams, nodded, "Thanks Doc." He turned to look at Jay. "Give your team some credit, open the fuck up, and don't be such an isolated and pessimistic prick. You'll live longer that way."
