"Hey Garret, you know you ain't supposed to pack unauthorized explosives shit. That's Alfred's job," Wash called with a hint of amusement, picturing the look on Dalton's face already.
"What the hell?" Jack mumbled as he went around the back of their transport to see what it was that Wash thought was funny about his gear. "Son of a bitch!" he snapped, a good deal louder than he'd meant to or was wise, since they were approaching what they knew to be enemy territory.
Passed out and wedged behind their personal gear was one unexpected EOD tech in ACUs that were obviously not his given how baggy they were. The black eye that hadn't looked too bad when Jack had last seen him safe in a hospital bed now looked deeply purple against the overall pallor of the rest of his face. "Punchy!" he shouted. The medic materialized at his size. "What the hell do you make of this?"
The kid started to stir and Punchy couldn't help but chuckle, both at the furious protective expression on Dalton's face and at MacGyver's stubborn reckless tenacity. "Looks to me like they gave him the sedative like we said they oughta, and he managed to get his ass outta bed and stow away anyway."
Jack paced a few steps away and then back again. He didn't think he'd ever been more furious with another human being in his entire life. Not this kind of anger anyway; it was hot and fierce and as much directed at himself for failing to keep the kid safe at least long enough for him to really heal up as it was at the kid for making such a stupid move because he thought he knew better than everybody else. Jack shook the sleeping tech, probably a little harder than he should've and barked, "Hey, Houdini! Wake your sorry ass up!" The kid groaned and started to sit up, bleary eyed, but blinking with a hint of fear at the repercussions of what he'd done. "Angus MacGyver! On your feet, Soldier!"
Deeply ingrained training cleared the cobwebs from Mac's head and he climbed out of the vehicle as fast as he could and stood at attention, a more painful process than he'd expected. The other Deltas had seen the flash in Dalton's eyes and put some distance between themselves and his wrath, instead focusing getting things together for heading into the nearby encampment.
"Yes, sir!"
Jack got extremely close to Mac's face and stared right into his eyes. To his credit, Mac didn't look away even a little. "What the hell were you thinking?" Jack didn't even take a breath to let the kid try to answer. "Not a goddamned thing, that's what. I swear if you don't get yourself and the rest of us all killed out here with this shit, I ought to have you brought up on charges for misuse of government property. Or do you need reminding that that's what you are, PFC MacGyver?" He emphasized the lowly nature of the rank with careful verbal precision. He was satisfied when he saw Mac swallow hard; the seriousness of what he'd done truly settling in for the first time. "That guy that told you to stay in bed was a captain and in case you need a fresh lesson in what that means, he outranks your skinny ass by a helluva lot. I'm thinkin' disobeying a direct order should go on the list of charges, too, boy!"
Mac swallowed hard again, but his back straightened just a little further. "Permission to speak, sir?" he asked tightly.
Jack gave him a hard look and just tipped his chin in the affirmative.
"Nobody gave me an order, sir," he said quietly.
"What the hell ..?" Jack was almost surprised into laughing. "What sorta bullshit are you ..?" He trailed off, at a loss.
"Sir, nobody ordered me not to lay down in the back of this humvee." He could see what almost passed for amusement in Jack's eyes, despite his otherwise stern expression so he went on. "Captain Michaels said to get some rest. And you said the same thing; that if I couldn't do it on my own just because I was in a hospital somebody should dope me and I'd be able to sleep anywhere. You said, 'Get some rest Hollywood. I'll see you soon.' That's all, sir. I got some rest just like you all said, sir. Right here in the back of the truck. Because somebody did give me something, I guess. I just didn't realize it until I lay down on your gear, sir." Mac's eyes flicked away from Jack's face for half of an uncertain second. He decided that a little contriteness would probably go a long way right now. "I may have been being pedantic, sir."
"Ped – what?" Jack sighed. "You know what? Never mind. Since you're here, I'll use you. I can't say your CO won't tan your hide when we get back though."
Mac concealed the smile of satisfaction his face wanted to split into. "Yes, sir."
Jack tipped him a grin then and patted him on the shoulder, missing the slight wince that movement elicited. "Quit callin' me sir now, you little shit. Let's get you geared up."