A/N: So, this and the next chapter will be linked together.

[Sometime between 2024 & 2027?]

One second he was sprinting towards the cover of a building with his brothers, the next he had a face full of dirt and his life was changed.

He even tried crawling a couple of feet before his brain caught up to what had just happened. At first he had been running, then his right leg had disappeared from where it should land, next thing he knew he crashed to the ground without even being able to catch his fall.

It first started hurting right about the same time someone grabbed a hold of his tac-vest and started pulling him to safety at a running pace.

He tested about every cussword he could think of as he tried being somewhat useful and fire in the direction they were taking fire from.

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Everything was happening faster than what he was able to keep track of. Once they got inside the relative safety of the building, he lowered his weapon. He looked up and saw Sonny and Ray's horrified expressions.

At the same time, he felt a weight press down near his hip. He looked over and saw Trent sitting with one knee hard against the base of his thigh, his hands were shaking and grappling a tourniquet.

He tried moving, but that proved to be a serious mistake on his part. The pain stemming from his knee or whatever seemed to quadruple in intensity.

"Ow, you're heavy…"

"Lay still!" Trent barked at him. It was more of an order than anything else, "Shit! Fuck! Clay fix this!"

He saw the tourniquet being passed from Trent's hands and over to Clay's. Bravo-6's hands weren't shaking as much, so he managed to get the tourniquet ready for application.

"Here…" Clay announced quietly as he held it out in front of Trent, "Want me to put it on as well?"

"Yeah." Trent nodded, "I'll make sure he doesn't move too much before it's on…"

"How is he?" Jason called out from one of the windows.

"Looks like a through and through, right leg, near the knee." Trent replied, his voice was shaking, "Bleeds a lot. Applying TQ now!"

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His heart was breaking with each pained grunt and whimper coming from Metal, the struggling under his knee didn't make it any easier for him to take.

"It hurts!" Metal panted, "OW! FUCK MAN, IT HURTS!"

"I know…" Trent winced in sympathy and tried digging through his pocket for one of his morphine autoinjectors. He popped off the safety catch, wrapped his hand around it without blocking either of the ends, then he pressed the end the needle would shoot out of against the thigh of Metal's healthy leg. "It'll hurt less soon."

He didn't like knowing that his knee was the only thing slowing the amount of blood spurting out of the wound Metal had. It definitely was an arterial bleed, not the smallest he had seen either. But his knee pressed against Metal's femoral artery like a makeshift junctional was good enough to avoid having a blood fountain pulsing out of the open crater in his knee until the tourniquet was on.

Metal was squirming under his knee. He heard him cry out, scream, cuss. At the edge of his field of vision, he saw Metal slamming his fist against the floor, anything to distract himself from his leg.

"Shhh-shhh-shhh… I know it hurts…" he said as he rubbed a hand against Metal's opposite hip, "You're going to be alright."

Then when he was sure Clay had tightened the tourniquet enough, he removed his knee from Metal's groin.

Metal was going to be alright. He would live. He just didn't know if he was going to be alright himself.

The loud cries of pain died down to subdued whimpers and sobs.

Trent looked around quickly as he moved to comfort Metal, first then he realized half of the team was missing from the room.

"I sent Sonny, Brock and Ray off to take up positions. Figured you maybe could use me and Clay for help if you needed it." Jason shrugged as Trent looked over at him.

He shook his head a little, "No, I think I just need to keep an eye on him now. Not much we can do about that wound."

Jason nodded.

"I have to stay here." Trent swallowed.

Jason nodded with a short wink, "Yeah, he just got morphine… Got to monitor."

Trent nodded and looked down at Metal crying on the ground, "Think I'm gonna give him some more as well."

Jason nodded a little, "You need someone here to help you or to stand guard in case anyone enters from this direction?"

Trent thought a little before he shook his head, "No, I've got my handgun. I think we'll be okay."

Jason nodded a little, "Let us know if anything changes?"

Trent nodded as he started finding the second auto injector, "I will…"

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"Oh shit…" Sonny drawled as he entered the room they had left Trent and Metal in earlier.

Trent shot up, with mild terror in his eyes.

"Is he?" the word 'dead' hung in the air.

"No, still alive." Metal grit out.

Sonny blinked a few times as his index finger moved from Metal to Trent and back multiple times, "I could've sworn it looked like you were doing some resuscitation stuff… Wait, are you two…?"

Trent nodded a little, his cheeks turning bright pink, Metal did his best to offer up a smile.

Sonny shrugged a bit, "Kinda makes sense actually…"

A smile passed Trent's lips.

"Shit, I almost forgot why I came down here…" Sonny cleared his voice, "You got spare mags? We're pretty damn close to Winchester up there…"

Metal nodded a little and plucked his spare mags off his vest, "Here you go. I don't think I'll be a proficient shot right now anyway."

"No, you're too drugged up…" Trent almost chuckled a little and brushed a hand over Metal's hair, "You can have most of mine as well."

Metal pulled a deep breath, "Fuck… My leg hurts…"

"I know…" Trent nodded and wiped away one of the wet trails leading from Metal's eyes.

"Hasn't it been more than 15 minutes now?" Metal grimaced, "Isn't it time to loosen the tourniquet to not kill off the circulation?"

Trent shook his head a little, "I think we're just going to keep as much blood inside you as possible…"

Metal frowned as Sonny moved to pick up the magazines he had placed beside him, "Is it that bad?"

"Sure ain't good…" Sonny offered up an apologetic look.

"T…" Metal swallowed hard before he met Trent's eyes, "How bad?"

Trent shook his head a little, "Do you want the short or the long answer?"

"Short."

"There's too much damage. You're going to lose the leg."

"Can I see…"

"I wouldn't advice it…" Sonny shot in, he had momentarily forgotten about his ammo mission.

"Is it nasty?"

"Yup." Sonny nodded.

"It's…" Trent frowned, "I think I would've wanted to wait until I only had a scar left, and then could see pictures of it."

"Where's the entrance?"

"Low in the front, a little towards your midline." Trent swallowed.

"Exit?"

"Look, Metal…" Sonny shook his head, "I don't think they used normal bullets."

"-What?"

"The whole back of your knee is…" Trent shook his head as well, "Looks like they used dum-dums."

Metal looked over at Sonny, who nodded.

"We'll make sure there are pictures for you to see later if you want to…" Sonny shrugged, "But do yourself a favor, not now."

"Okay…" Metal nodded a little before he looked back at Trent, "Don't…"

"-I won't leave you…" Trent winked back.

Metal nodded a little and another great flood of tears started up.

Sonny wiped at his own eyes for a brief second, before waving one of the mags so Trent would see, then he pointed towards the stairs.

Trent nodded a little before he returned his full focus to Metal.