There was no way around it, walking completely sucked.

They had been trudging through the woods for less than five minutes and Mac already wanted to sit down and not get up again. His right ankle nearly gave out every time he put pressure on it, his side burned, and his head was pounding in time with his thudding heartbeat. Overall, he felt like absolute crap but their mission was important and he didn't want anyone - especially Jack - worrying about him when they all needed to focus on staying alert. Blood was still trickling down his side, he could feel it soaking into the waistband of his pants. He was going to have to deal with that eventually or the choice to soldier on despite his injuries would be taken out of his hands completely. He just had to find a time when he was away from his team, and then he could patch himself up.

That was going to be tricky.

He could feel Jack's eyes on him, tracking his every movement, and schooled his features so he wouldn't give anything away. He tried to even out his stride but every step sent agony from his ankle to his head and he wasn't sure if he was successful or not.

"What?" He asked Jack, catching the older man's eyes.

"You sure you're okay?" Jack asked. He looked like he desperately wanted to hold Mac down and check him for injuries himself. Even Cage was giving him sideways, worried glances. Maybe he wasn't doing as well at hiding the pain as he thought he was? They knew something was up. He knew he needed to give them something or they weren't going to let the matter go.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I think I twisted my ankle when I jumped out of the plane."

"Why didn't you say something?" Jack reached out and grabbed onto Mac's arm, pulling him to a gentle stop. It was exactly why he didn't want to tell his partner about the worse injuries. If Jack was worried about a sprained ankle then there was no way he would let him continue on if he knew Mac was bleeding.

"I just did," Mac pointed out and Jack rolled his eyes, guiding Mac back so he could sit against a fallen tree trunk.

"You know that's not what I meant, dude." Jack reached forward and took Mac's injured ankle in his hands. "I can tell by the way you've been limping that this is the one bothering you."

Mac simply nodded and Jack rested his foot against his thigh before lifting the pant leg out of the way. He didn't untie Mac's boot laces but he probed the lightly forming bruises with gentle fingers.

"Okay, you're right." Jack said, pulling Mac's pant leg back down over his boot. "This doesn't look too bad."

"See, told you." Mac smirked, his eyes catching Cage's as she tried not to smile.

"Well, I don't like the idea of you walking on it but I don't think we have a choice this time." Jack said. He reached out his hand and pulled Mac to his feet, steadying him as he got his footing back. "Tell me if it gets worse, okay? I need a verbal confirmation, bud."

"I promise." Mac said, testing his ankle. It felt okay, not great, but well enough to keep going. His headache, on the other hand, was getting progressively more distracting. "I'm good to keep going."

"Alright, let's get a move on, then." Jack lifted a hand, motioning for Mac and Cage to go first, before taking up the rear. As they walked on, all of Mac's attention and energy went toward putting one foot in front of the other. He was all too aware of Jack's eyes watching him closely for any misstep.

Mac knew his partner well enough to know the silence wouldn't last. Jack loved to fill empty air with chatter. Mac would never admit it out loud, but he often relied on the endless stream of consciousness Jack was constantly letting loose. It helped Mac focus when his own thoughts swirled around too loud and chaotic. Jack's voice had a way of creating a pathway for that chaos to follow so Mac could more easily catch his thoughts and put them in order.

It was also the best distraction against pain, and with his head pounding behind his skull, and his filleted side, Mac couldn't help but wish for his partner to start talking.

"Okay, I think we need to agree on something else right now." Jack started, and Mac sighed in relief. It was like they were always on the same wavelength. Somehow Jack always knew what Mac needed without him having to say a word. "At some point someone's going to say 'I think we should split up' which, as we all know, is never a good idea. When that time comes we're going to ignore the impulse that's going to tell us it's the most effective thing to do, right? In horror movies, it's always the handsome jock that gets killed by the serial killer lurking in the shadows first. Can we all agree on this?"

"And in this scenario you're the handsome jock?" Cage asked. Even though she was such a closed off person, it was easy for them to see that she liked the banter just as much as they did. That's why she fit in with them so well. Even though she had secrets, and kept a lot of herself close to her chest, she understood the way their little family operated and never hesitated to join in.

"You said it, not me." Jack smiled wide. "But I haven't heard either of you agree that we are not splitting up so I'm not feeling too confident that you were even listening to me about that one. We've seen a lot of movies, man. You know it's true."

"I know," Mac said. Even though it never went well in movies, splitting up in real life rarely worked out either. However, if Mac had any chance of patching himself up, he wasn't sure he could keep that kind of promise. "We definitely won't split up."

A little white lie never hurt anyone, and if he could take care of his wound on his own, Jack would never have to know.

"Good, now let me hear it, Cage." Jack persisted. "Like I said, verbal confirmation."

"Fine, I promise we won't split up if and when it seems like a good idea." Cage said. "And if it makes you feel any better, Jack, you're not that handsome."

"Not that handsome - are you serious right now? Are you factoring in charm because charm goes a long way."

"I'm not, not factoring in charm." Cage grinned and Mac couldn't help but smile, too. Yeah, she was fitting in just fine. He was grateful for it when he stumbled, hissing quietly, and neither of them seemed to notice.

"Very funny." Jack huffed. "I will have you know I have been told I am handsome in three continents and sixteen countries within those continents. Are you saying they were wrong?"

"Was it you that said it in all those places?" Cage bumped her uninjured shoulder against Jack's arm playfully. "You can be honest; we're all friends here."

"Are you hearing this, man?" Jack turned his attention back to Mac, clearly trying to pull him back into the banter he had been letting play out around him. "She's trying to ghost light me into thinking I'm not good looking. Can you believe it?"

"It's gaslighting." Mac said automatically, only really half-listening. He couldn't stop thinking about the prisoner who apparently got the better of a whole team of highly trained CIA tactical agents. Who were they dealing with that could not only survive a plane crash, but also set the plane up to explode, and then overpower the people sent to bring them into custody? Their team was strong and capable but Mac couldn't help but worry about Riley and Bozer. Yes, Riley had one of Jack's guns on her but like him, she didn't like to use them, either.

"Either way, it's just completely untrue." Jack said.

"You're right, Jack." Cage finally gave in, laughing softly. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Thank you. Did you hear that, Mac? Cage said I'm handsome." Jack said, frowning when the conversation seemed to fall on deaf ears. "Mac? I think he tuned us out."

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Mac said, his hand shifting to his side subconsciously.

"About what?" Cage asked. Mac's brow furrowed as they got to the gate around the tower. He had a really bad feeling about the whole mission, and it had nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle. The plane explosion wasn't a great start, neither was getting injured so early on in the mission, but Mac had a feeling that wasn't going to be the end to their troubles.

"Yeah, man. What's got you looking a million miles away?" Jack asked, pulling gently on Mac's arm to get his attention. "Hey?"

"The prisoner they were transporting." Mac grabbed onto the fence and tried not to make it obvious he was leaning on it for support.

"You're spidey-senses tingling?" Jack asked, his own brow furrowing. Jack liked to joke around but he would never take Mac's intuition lightly, nor his own. It had saved their butts more times than either of them liked to admit.

"Yeah," Mac admitted. It was getting dark and as his eyes scanned the surrounding area, they landed on a smear of red on the road. "Look at that."

"A blood trail." Cage said, coming up beside Mac.

"Yeah, and it leads right to the radio tower." Mac said.

"We better get a move on then." Jack said. Mac nodded and got to work on the lock. It didn't take long before the lock unlatched and he was able to push the gate open. "Alright, just remember to stay alert and don't split up. I don't need either one of you getting in trouble in there. I think we've already had enough excitement for one day."

"Sounds good, Jack." Cage said. "And if we get in trouble we'll just call on your roguish charm for help."

"Charm don't work so good on bullets there, kid." Jack told her. "And something tells me it won't work too well on our escapee either."

When they got up to the radio tower, Jack took the lead. His gun drawn, he pushed the door open. It creaked eerily on its old, rusted hinges, the sound sending a chill down Mac's spine.

The room was clear but was full of old radio parts, dust, and enough cobwebs for their yearly haunted house. Honestly, it put their decorations to shame and Mac knew that Bozer would give anything to be able to recreate the exact scene for their house or one of his movies.

The dust tickled Mac's nose, enough that he sneezed harshly into his elbow. The pressure from sneezing sent lightning bolts of pain racing through his skull and he would've lost his balance if it wasn't for Jack's hand that shot out and caught him before he could hit the disgusting floor.

"Bless you there, hoss." Jack said, waiting until Mac was stable before letting go of his arm. Mac couldn't stop the soft groan from escaping as the headache stubbornly refused to retreat. "Plane explosions and sneezes don't mix, huh?"

"Not at all," Mac said, grateful that Jack seemed to drop it even though the other man wouldn't take his eyes off Mac for more than a few seconds at a time.

"The blood trail ends here." Cage said. Mac and Jack followed her into the main control room to find that she was right. The trail suddenly ended right in front of the radio. "Maybe they were trying to send out a distress signal."

"So, what are we thinkin'?" Jack asked, fiddling with the dials. "The team was able to get away from the prisoner long enough to try to send out a distress signal?"

"The dust has been distrubed." Mac pointed out. "Like someone used the hand crank to power up the radio."

"Riley? Bozer?" Cage said into their comms. "You guys got the satellite imagery back up and running?"

"Hey, Cage, heads up-" Riley's voice came through in a wave of static. It was so bad the three agents had to strain to hear her. "Our connection isn't that great."

"Something's messing up the signal." Bozer's connection wasn't any better. It sent another wave of anxiety through Mac. It was bad enough they were separated. The idea that they might lose comms was even worse. If Riley and Bozer needed help, or vice versa, it would be difficult to let each other know. "Might be from the storm."

"I'm currently working on a code to fix it." Riley told them. "Hope to ge….oon."

"Riley, I can't-" Jack pressed his finger into his ear, trying to get the connection to work again. There was nothing but static. "Riley?"

Nothing. However, if anyone could get comms up and running it, it was Riley.

"I tell you, man, this exact thing happened in The Conjuring." Jack said. "Remember? It didn't end well for them."

"I didn't see it." Cage said, nonchalantly.

"You made me watch The Conjuring thirty times," Mac frowned. "This never happened in The Conjuring. It literally never happened."

Before Jack could retaliate, the radio chirped, static filling the cramped space. Mac stepped forward, lifting the receiver of the hook on top of the radio.

"I think this radio might still be working," Mac said, lifting the phone to his ear. When only static greeted him, he pulled the radio away from the wall. It was heavier than it looked and pulled painfully against his injuries. He could still feel the wet warmth of blood on his side and knew he would have to take care of that sooner rather than later. A quick glance told him the parts were still all where they were supposed to be, nothing was missing, and everything looked to be in good working condition. There was no reason to think it wouldn't work. He turned the dial slowly until a voice came through.

"This is Byron Wheeler." The voice said. "Is anyone receiving? Over."

"That's Commander Wheeler." Cage said and Mac nodded. That meant he was still alive. They just had to find him and keep it that way. Maybe the mission had a chance at being successful after all.

"Commander, this is MacGyver." Mac said, relief flowed through every word. "I'm with a team from the Phoenix Foundation. Vice President Wheeler's gonna be very happy to know that you're still alive."

"Yeah," Wheeler laughed quietly. "Dad's a stickler for that."

Mac stole a quick glance at Jack. Yeah, he knew something about that.

"Have you found the rest of my team?"

"They're not with you?" Mac asked. That certainly complicated things and Mac hoped that the rest of Wheeler's team were just as alive as the Commander.

"No, I don't know where they are." Wheeler said. "Last thing I remember is our prisoner getting loose and the plane going down. I woke up here."

"Where's here?" Mac asked.

"Not sure," Wheeler said. "It's dark. The floor's cold, though, maybe stone or concrete. I think some of the walls collapsed at some point."

"Good," Mac told him. That wasn't much to go off of but maybe there was another way. "That's useful. Don't worry, we're gonna find you."

Mac handed the phone to Jack, and ignored his ankle that wanted to give out now that he hadn't been walking on it as much, and hobbled over to collect the stuff he was going to need for his build.

Jack covered the receiver with his hand. "How are we gonna do that, hoss? This place is huge and all we have to go off of is a cement room that's dark and cold."

"I know, I'm working on that." Mac said. "Just keep him talking."

"Commander Wheeler. Jack Dalton here. Delta Force. You stay strong, soldier, we're gonna get you out of here."

Mac tuned out the rest of the conversation, having to think twice as hard as he normally did in order to improvise around the migraine that was stabbing through his skull. He connected an antenna to a cooking pot from the small kitchen, and wired it up to be portable.

"You have to find my team." Wheeler was saying when Mac tapped back into the conversation. "I need to know they're okay."

"We will, Commander." Jack said. "Just as soon as we find you. Are you injured?"

Mac spun the antenna in a 360 degree circle and couldn't help but celebrate a little bit internally when it worked exactly the way he wanted it to.

"No, sir." Wheeler said. "I'm fine. Nothing worse than a concussion and some bruised ribs."

"Well, that doesn't sound too fine to me but I think you might get along with my partner here. You both share the same definition of 'fine' so I know to take that with a grain of salt."

Mac rolled his eyes a little at Jack's wink in his direction. He couldn't really say anything, though, since he was hiding similar injuries. However, the Commander was in a plane crash so if he was saying he was okay then there was no way in hell Mac was going to complain about a few minor injuries he obtained on the ground.

"That sounds like every single person in my unit, sir." Wheeler said. "They could be missing all their limbs and they would still try to carry on with the objective."

"Oh yeah," Jack said, smirking at Mac. "That definitely sounds familiar."

"That's why I need to find them." Wheeler said. "If they haven't found you, or me yet, then something must be wrong. You're military. You know what they mean to me."

"That I do, Commander." Jack nodded, eyes sharpening as the scope of their objective was made clear. How would he feel if his entire team was missing, possibly seriously injured, or even worse, dead? That would wound him more than an enemy bullet. "That I do."

"Alright, I know how to find him." Mac said. If they had any chance of finding the Commander and his team, they had to work fast. "Commander, I need you to keep talking."

"Yes, sir." Wheeler said. "What do you want me to say."

At the same time, Mac swung the antenna around again. "Do you hear how when I point the antenna north, there's static, but when I point it south, the connection is clear?"

"I hear it." Cage said and Jack nodded.

"Clear signal means we're going in the right direction." Mac explained. "Static means we've veered off course."

"That's genius, man." Jack smiled. Then, back into the receiver. "You hear that Commander, my partner just figured out how to find you in this maze."

"The same partner you were talking about before?" Wheeler asked, clearly impressed, as Cage helped Mac get the portable components on his back.

"That's the one." Jack said with his signature huge, Texan grin.

"You're right, I think we'd get along just fine."

To Be Continued.