The shout was enough to get the men moving. Two of them lunged blindly in Mac's general direction while the other two took a more careful approach, taking out their own flashlights and reaching for their guns.

The first man reached the blond quicker than he had expected but Mac wasn't stunned for long. The man tried to pin him against a wall but Mac managed to slip from his grasp and hooked his right foot around the man's feet and brought him down with a shove.

Before he could do anything else, someone triggered the alarm.

Mac let out a curse. He needed to get out, fast. The place would, without a doubt, be swarming with more guards soon. As he tried to make a run for it, the guy on the floor managed to get a hold of his ankle and pull him down. A yelp emitted from the agent as he fell. A flashlight was shone at him and he could see the outline of a man reaching to grab him. Mac rolled to the side, away from the men and scrambled to his feet.

The men were anticipating it. Two pairs of strong arms tightened around his biceps and he was pinned against a wall. The blond tried to pull himself free but to no avail. A light was shone straight at his eyes which blinded him momentarily. When his eyes got somewhat adjusted to the light, he could see the outlines of six men. Damn it, there were more men than he had expected.

"Huh, who knew someone would be stupid enough to break in here," a snicker could be heard.

"Shut up, Matthews. Search him and find out what he came here for," a gruff voice stated sharply only seconds later.

Mac braced himself when he saw one of the men - Matthews? - step directly in front of him. As the guy tried to start searching him, Mac kicked his feet off the ground and shoved the man back. The guy yelped and took down at least two other guys as he fell.

"Not a smart thing to do!" the one man who hadn't fallen with the others growled. "I'm gonna make you regret that."

Mac started tugging his arms free when the man began approaching him but it didn't help him much. He let out a gasp when the two men holding him only tightened their grips. There were going to be hand-shaped bruises on his arms later, he was sure of it.

The first punch landed on his jaw, and whipped his head to the side. Before Mac had any chance to recover, the man drove his fist into his midsection and immediately after that, to his temple. At this point the two guards released the agent, only for him to fall on his knees.

Mac tried to dug to the side but a boot landed on his back, which sent him sprawling on his stomach. A pained cry escaped his lips when a steel-toed boot connected with his side. His body reacted by rolling away from the man but it seemed like the men had him surrounded. Two kick's landed on his stomach before he could curl in a fetal position to protect his midsection from new hits. One of the men then stomped on his side, hard. A scream of pure agony left Mac when he felt at least two of his ribs break. The men looked to enjoy seeing him on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Not so cocky anymore, are ya? Tell me, how does it feel?" one of the men snickered before a foot nudged Mac's injured side, forcing him to roll on his back and uncurl himself.

"Screw...you," Mac wheezed as he tried to lift himself up. As soon as he somewhat got on his knees, one of the men - presumably the one who had taunted him - pistol-whipped him, sending him back to the ground. The force of the hit caused for Mac's vision to darken around the edges.

"I'm gonna ask you nicely to step away from my partner before I start shooting," a very familiar voice spoke up somewhere further down the hallway. "I'm not gonna ask twice."

"Jack?"

"There's six of us. What makes you think we would do as you say?" one of the guards challenged the former Delta.

Two gunshots rang out and three bodies hit the floor.

The hallway was silent for a moment but then the silence was broken by an angry yell that was soon followed by a pained shout.

"Jack!" Mac yelled. Adrenaline surged through him which dulled the pain enough for him to lunge at the man closest to him. He knew it probably wasn't the wisest idea but he had to do something. He couldn't let Jack fight alone. One of the flashlights on the ground was shining right into Jack's direction and Mac managed to catch a glimpse of him fighting against one of the guards.

When Jack had gotten to Mac's position and found him lying on the floor with the guards surrounding him, his heart had almost stopped beating. He had been expecting to run into something he wouldn't like but at first he had thought the worst of the situation. Then he had, however, heard Mac curse at the man which had gotten him moving again.

After taking the two shots, he had hoped the men would let them get away without much trouble. That dream was thrown out of the window when a guard snuck up behind him.

Jack growled when he dropped his gun in the midst of the fight. The man tried to wrap his arms around the agent from behind but Jack was quicker and elbowed the man. There was a satisfying crunch when his elbow connected with the man's nose. When the man wasted time in cursing him, Jack spun around and hooked his arm behind the man's neck and introduced his knee to the man's face. The man was out like a light before he hit the floor.

He turned around just in time to see someone ram into Mac's side. The cry of pain that left Mac's lips made Jack freeze for a moment. "Mac!" he shouted. As took a step towards the fight, something hard hit the back of his head which caused him to lose his balance and fall to his knees. He reached his left hand out to grab his attacker but the man was one step ahead of him. The guy grabbed his arm in a tight hold and swiftly forced his arm down at the same time he brought his knee up.

Jack shouted in pain when he felt a bone in his arm snap. The man let go of his arm and kicked him to the chest. Jack fell on his back with a muffled groan.

"Pathetic," the man above him huffed, "I'll let the boss deal with you." With that he delivered a kick to Jack's head. He didn't see Jack's hand reach for the weapon on the floor. When the man prepared to kick him again, Jack grabbed the gun and took the shot.

Silence engulfed the hallway when the final sounds of the fight died down.

Mac's breath hitched as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. "Jack?" he questioned quietly as he wrapped his left arm carefully around his midsection. As he struggled to get to his feet, he could barely keep himself from crying out in pain. He was sure he had broken more of his ribs when he had fought against the two of the remaining guards.

"You okay, kid?" Hearing Jack's voice let the younger agent breathe a little more easily but the way the words slurred slightly worried him.

Mac stumbled toward Jack and when he finally found him sitting against a wall in the darkness, he carefully lowered himself to his knees next to him. "Jack?" When he didn't get an answer straight away, panic dwelled inside of him. "Jack, say something!"

"Not so loud," the older man moaned and while he did sound a little incoherent, it was better than nothing.

Mac hissed when he moved the wrong way as he scooted a bit closer to his partner. "Jack, did you get hit in the head?"

"Mhmm...kicked?"

That didn't sound good. "Kicked in the head?" Mac clarified. The situation didn't appeal to him at all. With his busted ribs it would be pure hell to get out of the building if Jack had a bad concussion and couldn't walk well.

"Yeah, arm's broken, too."

Mac closed his eyes for a moment and tried to take as deep breath as his injuries allowed. "Think you can walk?"

"Think so," Jack nodded before grimacing and lifting his uninjured hand to the side of his head.

"Okay, well, let's get you up, shall we?" Mac tried to smile but he was in too much pain to actually pull of a convincing smile. "This is probably gonna suck."

By the time they both were on their feet, Jack wasn't the only one who was struggling to stay on his feet. Mac had underestimated the toll Jack's weight had on his already injured ribs, and he was finding it hard to breathe. A moment later his knees buckled but he managed to reach his arm out for the wall and use it to support them.

"Jack, you alright?" Mac wheezed out. His face contorted with pain when Jack shifted in his grasp.

"Yeah, 'm good."

Mac gave almost an imperceptible nod as he gathered the remaining of his energy for their trip outside and back to the others. "Okay then, let's go."

Bozer was pacing back and forth outside the van, trying to keep his frustration at bay. He felt like the backup was taking too much time in getting ready. The backup had arrived ten minutes ago and they were gearing up at the moment and going through the plan for one last time. Apparently they were going to split into two groups to cover more ground quickly. The faster they found Mac and Jack, the better.

He just didn't understand why the mission had gone wrong. They had had every single detail planned out. What if Mac and Jack had gotten captured or worse? They didn't know much about the group that had obtained the bioweapon and it was a bit unnerving. What if the bioweapon had just been a decoy or something and they had walked straight into a trap?

"Stop thinking so loud," Riley came over to him from where she had been organizing everything with the agents. "I'm sure Mac and Jack are fine."

Bozer stopped and glanced at the building where Mac and Jack supposedly still were in. "If they were fine, wouldn't they be out already?"

Riley shrugged. Truth to be told, she was feeling kind of nervous. They had been through some tight spots before but this time they had no way of contacting each other. Jack's comms had stopped working as soon as he had gone into the building.

"They're gonna go in in a minute," she told Bozer. "I'm gonna get everything set up in the van."

"Yeah," Bozer nodded as he watched the team leader give instructions to the other agents. "I'm coming with you."

The pain was really messing with Mac's head at the moment. He had a hard time finding a way out of the building and the fact that the whole building was still dark didn't help at all. He hadn't even thought about taking a flashlight with him.

Jack's condition was also worsening steadily. He was barely conscious anymore and every once in a while he would stumble over his own feet which made Mac's job at staying upright very hard.

Mac's breathing was coming out in short bursts and he just didn't seem to get enough air into his lungs. If they didn't find a way out soon, he was bound to collapse. If that happened, their chances of getting out without additional help were slim.

"Ja-... Jack, I need you to-..." Mac's eyes squeezed shut when pain shot through his ribs. "I can't do this-... alone."

"Jus' leave me," Jack managed to gather up enough energy to force the words out of his mouth. Even though he barely knew what was going on around him and his brain wasn't functioning properly, he knew Mac was his first priority.

Mac grimaced as the older man stumbled once more. The only thing that kept them upright at this point was Mac's willpower. He knew Jack needed medical attention and fast, and he sure as hell wasn't going to stop before his partner was in good hands - his own injuries be damned. He wasn't going to be the one to tell Jack's sister he was the reason Jack hadn't made it back home.

"No," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Not leaving-... you." He thought they had had been through this subject multiple times in the past but apparently both of them were too hard headed to listen to the other.

Silence fell over them again. They just didn't have the energy to talk anymore. At that point on they only concentrated on getting one step after another.

Some time passed in silence but Mac was soon startled by voices coming from somewhere close by. His shoulders sagged when he realized the guards were catching up to them. Neither of them was in any condition to fight back or do much anything if the men attacked them. He could only hope that Riley and Bozer had gotten out with the bioweapon and were safe.

As the shouting grew louder and the footsteps came closer, the last of Mac's strength ran out. His knees buckled and this time he couldn't stop himself from falling. He didn't let go of Jack though, he couldn't. "I'm sorry, Jack..."

"I found them!" a voice shouted. "They're here!"

"I'm sorry," Mac shook his head weakly. His grip on Jack slipped as his vision blurred. Suddenly the voices seemed to be somewhere far away.

Multiple flashlights were shone at them. "We need a medic in here!" another voice shouted.

Someone caught Mac when he felt himself tip to the side. "It's okay, you're both safe now." Mac's eyes slid shut when he felt himself slowly lose grip on consciousness.

TBC