A/N: This chapter has been edited.
The two of them started walking way slowly in comfortable silence until they saw shadows in the distance, causing John to take out his gun and...
Then he lowered his gun back again when he realised that it was his group that was coming over to them and relaxed. "We left the base immediately we heard your message doc. Setting up the communication lines took up some time. Though we can see that you have managed to handle whatever it was." one of them said.
"That's good. Though some of you head North, there might be few more people. It might be easier to capture some of them when they come back." John said. A few of them complied and headed that way while some others took over carrying Mycroft, leaving John to support Tony.
"So... John?" Tony asked as they neared the camp. He was still weak, but his head had started to clear a bit. John hummed in response. "Something I wondered when you said you checked me up. You didn't touch that reactor on my chest by any chance... did you?" Tony asked.
"Well... I would never touch anything that I don't know about. What is that for anyway? The reactor?" Tony just stayed silent when the question was asked, not trusting John or the soldiers around enough to say what happened.
John understood the silence and didn't push him to tell about it. "Just so that you know. I am a qualified doctor and soldier and trust me... I know that you don't want to talk about it right now. But it helps if you say it out loud. I can help you out a little."
"Thank you, John. But I think I will still need some time to get used to being free. And I really need some water." Tony said as they reached the camp, where John immediately headed for the medical tent, ordering the soldiers to lay Mycroft on one bed while he helped Tony onto the other. He then provided Tony with some water while directing a few of them to bring in medical supplies and then disperse.
Tony took in the water greedily before suddenly speaking. "Before these guys caught me... I was with this organisation, The Ten Rings. They suddenly attacked the car I was travelling in. A bomb exploded nearby. Some shrapnels caught me in the chest. This reactor is an electromagnet that stopped the shrapnel from reaching my heart." Tony said.
"I can see why. Even though I am a surgeon, I can get that it is a great risk to operate the shrapnels out without the risk of you dying. Seems like you have to be with that thing in your chest for life. Or at least until technology develops." John said sympathetically as he thoroughly cleaned up and re-stitched everything before ordering him to sleep for a while.
"Before I sleep though... were you all alone when you... you know came to rescue us? 'Cause you are a medic and all..." Tony asked, his curiosity rising.
"Well... I actually was all alone when I initially came to rescue you as I couldn't get in contact with my team on time. I was lucky that most of them were heading out. Else I wouldn't have been able to get you out by the time I brought in the backup." John admitted. "And just because I am a medic, that doesn't mean I don't know to fight. This is a war zone. That means even medics need to know self-defence." John said seriously.
"You are completely insane doing that alone still!" Tony exclaimed as he watched John take off his body armour and shirt off to check for any bruises. Tony was stunned as he saw John casually pocketing the bullets that he took out of the body armour, ignoring the fact that he would've died without the protection. And then at the scars littered out on the body.
The worst one was a deep scratch from the chest to the hip while there were other scars littered around, the most recent ones near the ribs, forming black and blue bruises. "Just as I suspected. The ribs will be sore for a few days. Nothing serious. It looks worse than it is always. Anyone you want to contact, Tony?" John said as he put the shirt back on.
Tony just stared at the guy before he asked. "Can you contact James Rhodes? And your name is not Johnathan... is it?" Tony asked the man. "Maybe... Maybe not, you will find out one day. But don't hack the army records for that Stark." John said. Tony froze and eyed John warily.
"What!" John said as he shrugged. "Come on, it is not that hard to figure out, you went missing in Afghanistan, kidnapped by two terrorist organisations and now asking me to contact a person from the American army who is worried sick about you," he explained.
"Bill, I hope you have contacted Colonel Rhodes?" John asked. "No connection, for now, Doc, will have to try again after some time," Bill replied.
"See, we will call James again after I finish fixing up James. That sounds pretty weird... " John said, the two chuckle lightly at the joke. "You sleep in the meanwhile, you need to recover from whatever happened," John said chuckling as he helped Tony lay down.
After making sure that Tony had fallen asleep, he made his way to Mycroft and patched him up with ease and then went outside to his group. "Any luck with calling the Colonel still?" he asked. "Got a connection through sir!" one of them informed while they were waiting.
John immediately took the phone. "James Rhodes speaking. Any news on Stark?" Rhodey asked. "This is Doctor Watson speaking sir. We found him along with another prisoner. They need immediate medical attention. We are at (Insert coordinates) right now." John reported.
"Very well Doctor Watson. Right now I am about two hours away from your coordinates," Rhodey said and kept the phone down. He then headed back inside, after telling one of them to bring in some soup for the injured as he would be tending to them in case they woke up.
He then headed back inside the tent, just in time to hear a low groan from one of the beds and went on to the man. "How do you feel sir? James is it?" John asked as he steadied the man to sit up to drink some water. Mycroft stared at him, slightly confused about what was happening.
"Who are you? Where am I? What happened to Tony? Is he alright?" he asked, warily. "Tony is alright, James. I am Johnathan. You are in Afghanistan, at a military camp. You are in safe hands and so is Tony," John said.
"Thank you for saving our lives. Can you call up this number if you can though? They will be searching for me." Mycroft said and recited his assistance's number when Tony gave out a loud scream that startled the two of them.
John immediately was at Tony's side, not before instructing Mycroft to stay put. "PTSD, I believe. Side effects of being captured and tortured for months. I won't be surprised if you have PTSD from your experiences." John said, trying to wake up Tony without touching him.
A few minutes later, he succeeded. Tony sat up, gasping for breath and looked around. "What happened... Oh, Myc... James! You are up! How do you feel?" Tony asked as he sat up groggily. John noticed the tongue slip and raised an eyebrow though left it there.
"Doing as well as I can Tony," Mycroft said, waving off Tony's concern. "Seems like both of you have traumatic dreams and PTSD." John diagnosed. "So... you mean to say that we may be paranoid and jumpy for a while?" Tony asked. John nodded and said.
"One more serious matter. No one must know about me rescuing you alone. It might cause a lot of trouble." John said. The two nodded, getting the point. "Another matter, no need to expose that Tony had been kidnapped twice as it might bring in unwanted attention. We can cover it up to be the same kidnapping but then..." John trailed off.
"But then you have to cover it up as you rescued us from two different places. But how will you cover that up?" Mycroft asked. "I have a plan for covering it up but... the squad must be willing to go along with it... Be back in a minute" John said before leaving, leaving Mycroft and Tony confused.
"What is John planning?" Tony asked. "I don't know we will only know when he comes back," Mycroft replied. Meanwhile, John asked everyone to report to the mess hall. They had a quick discussion. John then left with two bowls of soups, glad that his plan is okayed by the team.
"I've planned everything boys, the squad was divided into 2. My team found you when you escaped the Ten Rings. The other group stumbled upon Mycroft when they were scouting for suspicious movements. That is what we will say to Rhodey and whoever asks," John explained as he handed them the bowls of soup.
"You can trust Rhodey to not tell anyone about this. I trust him enough to tell the truth to him someday" Tony said confidently. "Alright then, only Rhodes will know the truth. No one else will come to know of it. Got it?" John asked. The two agreed to it.
"Will we ever get to meet you again? With you being in the army and all? I mean, one of us will head back to America while the other goes to England you know?" Mycroft said. "I will keep in touch whenever I can. Don't worry about that."
"Well... then we are going to miss a good friend. Don't forget to contact me if you are in London." Mycroft said. "Same here. Contact me if you are in NY." Tony said. "Will surely do. It is weird, isn't it? Two people, who don't trust people easily trust a random stranger who can kill them at any time?" John asked.
"Well... we can easily trust anyone who took in four bullets which could've killed them if it weren't for that body armour. And you could've killed us before instead of healing us" Tony pointed out.
"Guess that's true too. I have feeling that we will be meeting sometime later, I don't know when but we will meet soon. Better get something in your stomachs before Rhodes arrives" John said, pointing at the soup that was starting to get cold.
Just as the two finished eating, there was the sound of a helicopter landing and a lot of commotion before John heard one of the soldiers bring in Rhodey to the medical tent, who immediately rushed to check whether Tony was alright. He then dragged out John to the side, wanting to hear the reports.
John, realising this said, "James needs immediate attention if you want to save his leg. He also has some bruised ribs and one cracked rib, Tony has a fracture in the arm that is not that much visible but needs a cast before it gets worse and a few cuts that I've stitched up. Other than that... nothing much serious."
"But how did you rescue them?" Rhodey asked. Then John explained whatever happened at the lair, how he rescued the two of them and their cover story to avoid unwanted attention.
"Thank you, Watson," Rhodey said after a short pause to digest everything that was said. "That was no problem. Though you might want to be careful as they can be quite jumpy around everyone due to PTSD" John explained.
"Thank you, John, for everything. Now I guess that we will be off." Rhodey said. "It's my duty, Colonel," said John. He returned back to the two of them and pulled them aside, exchanged farewells and helped Rhodey and the others to get them inside. Soon, the copter was heading towards a hospital while John just smiled slightly and went inside for some nap after saying his goodnights, knowing that there was a long day ahead of them the next day.
Rhodey took the two of them to the nearest hospital where Mycroft had to be admitted due to his current state of injuries. Tony, meanwhile, was sent home with a cast on his hand, advised to see a therapist or a councillor. After a short talk with Mycroft and exchanging numbers, Tony went his way, promising to keep in touch.
Mycroft, on the other hand, had to be shifted to one or two hospitals for better treatment before being sent to London. Rhodey had managed to call up Mycroft's assistant, Anthea, who was immediately by his side throughout the whole changing of hospitals until they were in London.
Mycroft opened his eyes and immediately closed it, the light hurting his eyes. He opened them again, more slowly this time and was met with the sight of Sherlock with bloodshot eyes and looking very pale and thin, proving he hadn't slept or eaten for a while. He had been staring off into a distance until Mycroft squeezed his hands.
Sherlock's head immediately snapped towards Mycroft and was having a hard time to control the tears of relief that were threatening to come down. He hugged Mycroft, taking care not to touch any of the wounds. "Good to be here too, Sherlock. Where am I?" Mycroft rasped.
"Seems like your time there has dulled your brains Mycroft. You are obviously in a hospital, being treated for blood loss, a bullet wound to the leg that nearly cost your leg, some broken and bruised ribs, malnourishment, a broken nose, a fractured hand, ripped out nails and many more I could list out" Sherlock said in a single breath, just to cover his relief and the dread he had for the past month.
Sherlock almost had a panic attack when he came to know that Mycroft had been kidnapped. He had just come out of his recent high and was sure that Mycroft would've called him the moment he was out to threaten him to a rehab centre if he ever did it again. Dreading what had happened, he called up his brother's assistant, Anthea, after a few days, only to hear the news that he had been kidnapped a few days ago.
He had beaten himself up everyday for not being able to help his brother out. Yes, they did have a complicated relationship. But that didn't mean that they didn't worry about each other. Petty grudges do not come in the way if one of them is in danger. Sherlock had used all his will power to not go back to using drugs, reminding himself that it was the reason why he couldn't help his brother.
So, after a month since the kidnapping, when he got the message that his brother had been found and was brought back to London, he immediately rushed to be by his side when he woke up, not caring about whatever scoldings he would get for showing any sentiment.
"How long have I been out?" Mycroft asked, squeezing Sherlock's hand to show that he appreciated him being there and showing him that he cared. "For about a week, brother. Glad you hadn't died. The doctors were surprised that the wounds were not infected." Sherlock said.
"Me too brother... me too. My life was saved, thanks to that stupid soldier who barged in alone and took four bullets that would've taken his life if not for the armour he was having. And that stupid soldier had actually been a doctor." Mycroft said softly. "Well... he broke the iceman then brother? With sentiment that too." Sherlock said with a chuckle.
Before anyone could continue, a nurse came in and announced that he had to be checked over and bandages had to be changed, making Sherlock leave his brother's side. 'Well good to be back. Though I hope I will meet those two someday" Mycroft thought as he laid down again.
"So... Doc, care to tell us about how you chanced upon those two? You did tell us that you would explain today since you were busy yesterday," Bill said. John sighed and looked around at the others, whose attention were upon him. He then proceeded to narrate his tale. In the end, one of them called out "You do realise that you wouldn't get any recognition from the public, but you are surely going to get a promotion!" and everyone laughed, eager to know what will happen when they report back to the base to give a report.
Thus the three of them parted ways, imagining that they would meet one day. Though they failed to realise that the day would arrive much sooner than they expected, in ways they did not expect.
A/N: That would be chapter two. I know it is quite blunt. But I wanted to cover the necessary details without dragging the story. Hope you all liked it! All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated.
It was only when I started editing that I realised that I had made a few errors as few people pointed out so... thank you for the advice! Will start editing the next chapter soon!
Thank you all for reading!
Rasi10 signing off
Published on 28 May 2018
EDITED ON 25 AUGUST 2019