"Oh God, the head wound is worse than I thought," Jensen moaned, clutching his head and stomach as they flared with different kinds of pain. His skull was pounding and his gut was cramping, but all that paled in comparison to the tricks his brain was playing on him right now. "I'm hallucinating."
"You're not hallucinating because I see him too. Now get your ass over here so I can shoot him," Aisha demanded.
"You must've hit your head too," Jensen groaned, digging the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. They were going to die in this desert, surrounded by ghosts.
"Not a ghost," not-Roque said.
"Now I know you are, because you can hear my thoughts!"
"You said it out loud," Aisha hissed.
"I can't deal with this right now," Jensen whined, stepping backwards a few paces to get away from his pile of mess. At least the guns hadn't followed him. "I should be on my computer right now, making some kid across the world cry."
"Nice to see you haven't changed," Roque snorted.
"Don't talk to him!" Aisha spat.
"Oh what, are you his protector now? You move on to him from Clay?" Roque sneered.
"Is this purgatory? Am I in hell?" Jensen mumbled.
"Will you get over it and accept that this is reality?" Aisha demanded.
"But this is impossible. Cougar never misses!" Jensen insisted.
"And that plane is dead and gone. But I'm not," Roque bragged.
"You will be soon. I'll make sure of that," Aisha assured him.
"For your information, I'm not here to fight. I could've killed you multiple times before now, but I didn't," Roque said, taking a chance and letting his gun hang loosely from the end of his finger. "I'm here to talk."
"Big mistake," Aisha grinned, taking a few steps forward.
"Wait!" Jensen called out, jumping in between them again before Aisha could take the kill shot. "We should listen to what he has to say."
"Are you kidding me? Do you think he's going to tell us anything that matters?" Aisha snapped, moving the gun so it was pointing over his shoulder and at her main target.
"He might have information we can use to find Max. If he doesn't have anything useful, I will stand back and let you kill him. Hell, I'll even cheer you on. But we can't let grudges ruin the first real chance to get some insight on where Max is," Jensen insisted. "And besides, if anyone here deserves to act on a grudge, it's me."
"Haven't you gotten over that by now? You all survived and won the day, didn't you?" Roque asked.
"Excuse me?" Jensen growled, feeling ice flood through his veins. "What did you say?"
"It wasn't personal. I cut a deal to get back at Clay. Didn't have anything to do with the rest of you," Roque shrugged.
"You can't be serious," Jensen scoffed. This was a guy he'd spent years living with, travelling all over the world and fighting side by side. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"They told me they would let you all go. Sure, you might get roughed up a little, but it was better than the death trap we were being led into by Clay," Roque said defensively.
"Oh, come on! You weren't stupid enough to believe that they would just let us go!" Jensen shot back. Roque may be an asshole, but he wasn't an idiot. You don't make a deal with the devil and expect things to work out how you want them.
"I didn't have a choice."
"Don't give me that bullshit!" Jensen roared, even making Aisha back up a step. "There is always a choice! If the choice is between me betraying my family and siding with the monster who killed a group of kids or staying and dying like a man, I'm choosing death every time."
"You don't know that," Roque argued.
"I don't? So I wasn't on my knees in that port waiting to be executed? I didn't watch Pooch get shot in both of his legs? I didn't see Clay dragged off to God knows where? The answer is yeah, that all happened. But not once did I think about cutting a deal to save my own skin. You like to boast that you're all big and bad, but it's all a bullshit cover. All you really are is a bitch!" Jensen shouted, pointing his finger in Roque's direction. How dare he act like he was some unwilling participant in everything that happened.
"I think I like concussed Jensen," Aisha smirked. Jensen was distracted away from that rare praise by the stab of pain behind his eyes. Losing his cool like that hadn't done him any favors and all he wanted to do now was curl up in a ball and pass out, but he couldn't do that. Letting his guard down around Aisha was dangerous enough, but to do that in Roque's presence could be a death sentence. Roque would probably trade his life for a tumbleweed, if he decided he liked the way it shimmied along the dirt.
"Okay, I probably deserve that," Roque conceded.
"Well, now I'm sure this isn't real, since Roque was never the type to admit fault in any circumstance," Jensen muttered to Aisha. "Shoot at him and if the bullet goes through him, we'll know for sure that he's a hallucination."
"And if he's not?" Aisha snorted in amusement.
"Then he gets one of the bullets he's rightly owed," Jensen shrugged, stepping back to give her the space to take the shot.
"Well, before you do…" Roque muttered, turning around and lifting the back of his shirt. There was a barely healed gunshot wound just off to the side of his spine. It had obviously been taken care of by someone who didn't really know what they were doing, if the state of it said anything.
"Getting stabbed in the back isn't very fun, is it? Or in your case, shot," Jensen snickered. "What happened? Didn't hit the quota of dead kids that Max set for you?"
"I didn't make the deal to work with him, I made the deal to try to get my life back!" Roque snapped, throwing his shirt back down and turning to face them again with a snarl. "You think I haven't been paying for that choice?"
"Hey Aisha, I know you prioritized grabbing the guns after our jeep flipped, but did you happen to bring my tiny violin as well? Roque is just begging for me to play it for him right now," Jensen snarked, rolling his eyes. "Poor Roque, suffering the consequences of his own actions. Sorry we didn't die and save you the embarrassment of this moment."
"I never wanted you all to die. I just wanted to live," Roque insisted.
"And you thought betrayal was the best way to accomplish that? After everything we'd been through together, you throw it all away over a grudge? All the shit missions and crappy houses, but we always helped each other pull through. That didn't mean anything?" Jensen spat, gritting his teeth in frustration as angry tears welled up in his eyes. The concussion was messing with his emotions, along with the realization that he hadn't really worked through all the complicated feelings from everything that happened. They'd all put their focus on revenge, since they weren't expecting old ghosts to pop up and bring everything back up. But now Roque was standing in front of him and all he could think about was the fact that someone who he'd considered family had signed death warrants for all of them without a second thought.
"Interesting how I'm more loyal to a man who literally killed my father," Aisha smirked, her gun never wavering.
"All our problems started when you showed up," Roque sneered.
"First off, there is no 'our' that includes you anymore, so fuck right off with that shit. Second, she stuck around. She didn't owe us anything and could've left us there to die while she went after Max, but she still came through for us. So don't pretend that you can blame anything on her," Jensen growled, ignoring the smug look on Aisha's face. "And screw you for making me defend her right now. We were in the middle of an argument before you showed up and I prefer that."
"Agreed. So let's get this over with so we can get back to it," Aisha said, smiling gleefully as her trigger finger twitched. Jensen could feel uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. Why did Roque have to come back right now? Why did he have to reveal himself to him and Aisha? If Clay had been here, like the plan had been, Jensen would be home and blissfully unaware. But now he was helping to decide the fate of someone who used to be important to them all. And dammit if he didn't want that responsibility.
"Wait-"
Jensen didn't get a chance to say more before gunfire exploded all around them. Oh yeah, there were bad guys out there. He didn't think before tackling Aisha to the ground and rolling them over to a half broken wall. It wasn't much cover, but it was as good as they had at the moment. Aisha was wiggling under him and at one point he might've appreciated those movements, but right now all he wanted her to do was be still as he covered their heads to protect them from the stone and dirt that was raining down.
He barely had time to wonder what Roque was doing before the big man plopped down next to them, crouching and returning fire toward their unseen enemy. At least Roque didn't take the chance and shoot them while they were defenseless. But he still wouldn't be surprised if he didn't join the other side if he found out they had better snacks and a 401k plan.
"Get off me Jensen! I want to shoot too," Aisha whined, pushing at his chest until he relented and rolled onto his side.
"Excuse me for trying to protect you," Jensen panted, wincing as a sharp pain twinged his side. "I'll remember not to get your way anymore when possible killing is involved."
"You have a gun too. Why don't you get up and help?" Aisha snapped, glaring at Roque in disgust before glancing back at him. "Don't tell me you got shot again."
"Of course not. And what do you mean by 'again?' As if you weren't the last one to shoot me," Jensen muttered, reaching down to grab his gun. But on the way there, his fingers encountered a bit of wetness. "Please tell me I rolled in my puke." Unfortunately for him, instead of cold chunks, his fingers were warm. This was just what he didn't need right now.
"Jensen?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you get shot again?" Jensen sighed, resigned to his current situation. Of all the times and places for this to happen, it had to be with these two maniacs. He was so screwed.
"Yeah."
