AN: Hey guys! Summertime is upon us, which means I'm finally back to the land of the living by way of some actual free time! Anyway, I've got quite a few ideas rattling around in my brain, but first I want to get this multi-chapter fic done! Hope you enjoy it, and leave a review letting me know what you think!
Mission Success part 4: Jungles
One of the most popular running gags on Bravo team seems to be Sonny and his rather extensive list of fears. Sharks, caves, spiders, you name it, Sonny's probably got some crazy explanation as to why he hates it. The last few missions have been rough on the guys, and just when they think they've had a few successful ones and things are looking up, the tail-end of an op gives Bravo three another reason to hate the jungle.
Sonny yawned and stretched, pulling the covers off of himself. He stood to his feet in his half-awake state and nearly ate the carpet the second he did. He caught himself on the corner of his dresser just in time, and hoisted himself back to his feet with a curse, grabbing his crutches. It had been a few weeks since the injury, so you'd think by now he'd know to be more careful, but he must've just had one of those nights of rest so deep he forgets everything. Sleep like that hadn't happened in a long time, so maybe this break wasn't so bad.
"Now I really am goin' crazy!" Sonny muttered to himself after that thought and hobbled his way out to the kitchen to scrounge through his fridge for something that at least half resembled breakfast. He looked back towards his bedroom at the sound of his phone buzzing and silently cursed that it was so far away. He got to it after a little and read the text on the screen.
Clay: Stella's got a long day in the office. Want some company?
Sonny: Sure, but only if ya bring lunch. Fridges' lookin' a little slim.
Clay: deal
After a careful shower, Sonny sat in the living room of his small apartment waiting. When he heard a knock on the door, he started to get up to let them in, but was once again annoyed by his current state and instead yelled
"It's unlocked!" He finally got up onto his crutches and made his way to the kitchen as Clay walked in.
"Hey! How's the leg feeling?" Clay asked as he set a takeout bag and some groceries on the kitchen counter.
"Mostly just itchy. I hate soft casts. Almost bit my dresser this morning cause I forgot about it and stood up outta bed." Sonny said, rifling through the bags of food splayed across the counter.
"Dude the cast is almost bigger than your biceps, how the heck do you forget? You sure it didn't have anything to do with your friend Jack over there?" Clay asked, raising his eyebrow after a glance at the empty bottle on the coffee table.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sonny answered with a half-smirk and shuffled over to the couch with a slice of pizza in one hand. He sat down as Clay used his good arm to put away the things he'd brought over.
"And how about you? No sling? I thought you had to keep it still." Sonny asked, looking at the way the blonde was holding his arm to his stomach.
"It is still. Besides, the doc said something along the lines of me needing to strengthen the muscles again. Stella insisted on putting some sort of athletic tape on in, said she used to do it for her brother when he played college football. Just don't tell her I took the sling off too, she'd kill me. Or Trent, for that matter. In fact, I'm not really sure which would be worse." He said, pausing at the thought as he used the side of the counter to open a beer bottle. Sonny made a zipping motion across his lips and laughed. As he propped his foot on the table, he thought back to a few weeks ago and the way that Trent had finally stopped fussing over Clay, only to have yet another new patient a few days later.
"Havoc this is One, passing Redwing." Jason said as his team cleared out of the target building and back out into the cover of the jungle they would have to hike through to get to their exfil.
"Good copy One. Exfil is 15 mikes out. Remember, your on a clock so you guys gotta keep pace." Davis said.
"Got it." Jason answered.
"Why is it all serious wackos we chase end up living in the jungle?" Clay asked, half rhetorically, but also partially because he knew it was sure to get Sonny riled up.
"I don't know Blondie, I think it makes perfect sense seein' as this whole damn place it out to kill ya! Spiders that'll turn your insides to goo before ya hit the ground, snakes that make a Rattler look like a kitten, not to mention all the plants that'll give you rashes so bad you'll wanna burn your skin off!" Sonny said, leaving the rest of the guys rolling their eyes.
"Your forgetting about jaguars. And bullet ants. Those things'll make you wish it was an actual bullet." Metal said from the back of the group in his usual menacing tone, aside from the slight lift in the corner of his mouth as he tried to hide a smirk.
"Sonny, I bet you wouldn't be half as scared if you stopped believing everything you read on the internet." Trent said with a laugh. Jason was about to tell them to get their heads back on the mission, but before he could, Havoc did it for him.
"Bravo this is Havoc, we have eyes on what appears to be about 15 fighting-aged males about 20 mikes behind you and gaining."
"Copy Havoc, we'll keep eyes out. Sonny, Metal, take rear security. Let's move." the men quickly switched from joking to serious and got ready for any opposition they would face. As they got closer to exfil, the rustling behind them got louder. Then the shouting began as they were spotted by the enemy forces. They picked up their speed towards their exfil helo while Sonny and Metal picked off as many of the tangos as they could.
They were almost at the chopper when the bullets pinging off the ground got closer to them, nipping at their heals. Jason and Clay stopped, laying down cover fire for Metal and Sonny. The two of them took off towards the bird, Sonny moving as quickly as he could. He was keeping pace with Full Metal when he suddenly felt a pop of fiery pain, and before he knew what was happening, he was face down in the dirt. Then again, before he could register what was going on, someone was under his shoulder and he was moving again. The next thing he heard was rotor blades as they lifted off the ground.
"...ey… Hey! Sonny, you with us?" Trent asked. The voice seemed to finally clear the fog from Sonny's head.
"Y...yea. What a… what happened?" He asked, trying to sit up. He gasped in pain and stopped when moving his leg caused a wave of pain.
"Hold still. A bullet detonated an IED next to where you were running. Tossed you like a sack of flour. Does anything hurt other than your leg?" the medic asked.
"Uh… n..no. No. Everything's just kinda… numb. Oh g… My leg. I… I can't feel it! I.." Sonny sputtered, starting to panic until he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Easy, take a deep breath for me. Your legs still there. You've got a pretty nasty break, and it looks like your calf muscles torn up. You're in shock, that's why you can't feel it." Trent said. Sonny did as he was told and let out a breath, nodding his understanding. He held his head up long enough for Clay to pull his helmet off and then laid back against the cold floor.
"Clay, make sure he stays awake. If he's in as much shock as I think he is, we gotta watch him. It all happened pretty fast. Keep your fingers here, I need you to monitor his heart rate." Trent said. Clay nodded and moved closer to his friend. Trent didn't miss the slight grimace from the blonde when he did so and looked up briefly from what he was doing.
"I can Brock switch out if your shoulders giving you trouble." he said.
"No, it's fine. Doc said the muscles are just strained, their gonna be sore for a while." Clay replied, looking back to Sonny in time to see him starting to drift off.
"Hey now, just cause he paid attention to me for a minute doesn't mean your off the hook. Keep looking at me." Clay said, shaking Sonny's shoulder lightly.
"Probably'd be easier if you were better looking…" Sonny said although his head was spinning.
"He seems just fine to me!" Ray said with a laugh from his watch position at the door of the helo. Trent shook his head at the un-wavering jokes from the Texan, despite the fact that he was currently looking at the inside of his leg. As quickly as it all happened, it was over and the chopper touched down back on base. Sonny was swiftly transferred to a stretcher and whisked off to the base hospital.
Sonny was brought out of his thoughts by a knock at the door. He looked over at Clay who had an equally confused look. Clay got up and walked to the door and turned around with a look of annoyance and a small amount of dread after looking through the peephole that could only mean one thing. Sonny laughed and got ready for the show that was about to go down.
"Hey, Trent." He said, trying to make a quick retreat back to the couch.
"Hey. I came to check on Sonny, but since your here too I can kill two birds with one stone. First off, put this back on." Trent said, pulling a sling out of his bag and tossing it to Clay. The kid rolled his eyes and caught the material with his good hand and reluctantly pulled it over his head. Trent stifled a laugh at the look on Clay's face that nearly resembled a pout.
"Alright, your turn. First order of business, you're still on antibiotics, so this has gotta go." Trent said, turning his attention to Sonny after grabbing his own slice of pizza and plucking the beer off of the end table that was next to the Texan.
"Hey! How do you know that wasn't Clay's?" Sonny objected.
"Because when I walked in he was holding his with the arm that should've been immobilized. Nice try though." Trent said, and now it was Clay's turn to laugh. Trent started asking his usual questions, and although Sonny acted annoyed, they all knew that he appreciated it. After all, Trent was taking time out of his day to make sure his brothers were healing up ok, all the while having his own injuries to attend to, and doing so after saving their lives and limbs on multiple occasions. And despite all the sass and sarcasm, Trent knew his brothers were grateful, they just had a different way of showing it.