Okay, so… Let's get on with this thing…

Sorry it's been a while, I've kept myself busy writing original stuff. Things that might end up on Kindle… I don't know… Maybe…

Alex struggled to concentrate. He felt like he was about to fall asleep at the wheel, -or stick.

He cast a glance down at his right knee. Judging by how it felt, the next five or six months were going to be bad. Filled with surgeries and the dreaded physical therapy to follow said surgeries. But then again, it could be a lot better than what he feared.

"How are you doing back there Jack-o?" he asked, hating how the pain seeped into his voice and colored it.

"All under control!"

The answer calmed his nerves a bit, it meant that Jack was still up and about, and likely not hit by any more bullets.

"And you?"

"Hanging in there…" Alex answered and cleared his voice, "Are you still in range of shooting anyone?"

"Nah…"

"Okay, uhmm…" Alex squeezed his eyes shut for a second to overcome a nauseating wave of pain, "Whenever you're ready, could you join me as a co-pilot?"

"Sure. Just want to make sure our guest doesn't get too comfortable first…" Jack grunted. Alex recognized the smacking sound that came next, it sounded like someone got pistol-whipped.

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"Whoa! Weren't you like… tan when we left this morning?" Jack asked as he climbed in between the two front seats. "You could try out for the role of Casper in Bozer's next movie…"

Alex said nothing, he had to focus on keeping the helicopter level and on course. And he was starting to slip.

"Okay. You're hurting pretty bad then?"

Alex still kept his mouth shut, as he was white knuckling the stick.

"Want me to take over?"

"Yes, please…" Alex ground out, visibly relaxing as Jack flicked the switch from right to left allowing himself to take full control over the chopper.

"Scale 1 to 10?" Jack asked, keeping an eye on Alex to see his reaction.

"Brussels sprouts…"

"WHAT?"

"Brussels sprouts."

"You've got to tell me what you mean! And don't just say Brussels sprouts…"

"Brussels sprouts." Alex almost growled, "We had to go away from the 1-10 scale after a while…"

"Okay, for guys who don't speak LAB-twin, please give me a quick translation."

"Brussels sprouts are almost the worst thing you can put on my plate… But I would eat it in a life or death situation, or at grandma's…" Alex winced.

"Being at your grandma's place is a life or death situation?"

"If you don't eat what she serves… Yeah… Almost…"

"So that's why you two look like giants?"

"You'd laugh your ass off if you saw our youngest brother…"

"He's the runt of the gang?"

"I think it's 'runt of the litter', but yeah…" Alex let his head fall back, it was easier to talk now that he didn't have to concentrate on flying the chopper. His leg still hurt, a lot. But he didn't feel like passing out any more. "He's sinewy and short… Looks nothing like his three big bro's…"

"So there's more of you?"

"It's me and Kim. Jonas he's four years younger than us. And then there's Adam and Lisa, six years younger than Kim and I, they are also twins…"

"There's a lot of twins in your family?"

"A few…"

"We've only got one set in our family…"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a twin brother, he used to work for CSI down in Las Vegas. He transferred to someplace else a few years ago, I was too busy to really catch what city he talked about…"

"A few years ago? And you haven't checked up on it?"

"He knows enough about what I do to know that no news are good news…"

"But don't you think he'd like to hear from you? Don't you miss him?" Alex asked, gritting his teeth against the pain his leg served up.

"Sure I do…" Jack nodded and cast a glance over at Alex, "But… Him and the rest of our family, they live normal lives. Normal, calm… I don't need to bring whatever storm I am into their lives again."

"I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that they'd like it…"

"Sorry bro, think I burned that bridge back in '09…"

"How? Did you fake your own death?"

Jack shook his head.

"Then that bridge isn't burnt…" Alex fixed a stare at Jack, "It wouldn't have been completely burnt if you had faked your own death either… My dad did that to us… Sure, when I found out he was very much alive, I was angry. Very angry… But now… We're buddies. Took a little time and some effort, but I see why he did it, and I might have made the same call myself…"

Jack grinned a bit, "Your dad actually faked his own death?"

"Yup…"

"No wonder you guys are weird…"

"Weird?"

"In a super-soldier kinda way…" Jack grinned.

"Trust me, there is nothing super about us…"

"Oh yeah?" Jack prompted, "Then what was that spinning Jackie Chan leap-flip thing you did down the stairs when that goon was coming up it?"

"That was just a butterfly kick with some alterations…"

"No… That was defying gravity…" Jack stated, staring back at Alex.

"TREETOP!"

"Crap! –Sorry…" Jack breathed a sigh of relief after he had just barely missed the pine.

"You're as safe a pilot as my brother!" Alex groaned, pressing his palm down at his thigh near his hip. He didn't want to touch his leg closer to his knee.

"Sorry… Sorry…" Jack muttered, "I haven't almost crashed with a three before…"

"Well, let's NOT repeat it!" Alex suggested as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"I second that…" Jack nodded, keeping his eyes on the landscape.

"Hey, uhmm… Did you buffalo the dictator before you climbed up front?" Alex asked with a subtle smirk forming on his lips.

"Mhmm…" Jack nodded, "Didn't want to listen to his commentary track… Figured a nice smack to the head with the butt of my pistol would do just fine!"

Alex's grin widened, "Dude, you just made my top 10 favorite people list…"

"Only top 10?"

"Hey, I come from a big family…" Alex held his hands up in surrender.

"Yeah, okay… You have a point there…" Jack grinned, "I think you and your doppelganger is creeping into my list too…"

"I'm honored…"

"Not sure it's a good thing to be on that list though…"

"Hey, better than to be on your '10-people-I'd-like-to-kill' list…" Alex shrugged, "I sure as heck don't want to end up on that one…"

"Yeah, well… You've got a point there…" Jack smirked, "Man… I need a few weeks' worth of rest now…"

"Amen to that…"

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Kim stretched and flexed the fingers of his left hand. He was getting sick and tired of sitting around, and his shoulder bothered him. Out of the twins, he was the calm, cool and collected one, but that didn't mean he was built to sit still and rest. No. He was just a little less crazy than Alex.

"Can I get you anything?" Riley asked, her eyes locked on his hand. "Ice? Something for the pain? Anything?"

Kim shook his head, "Nah… I'm just a little, err… Restless…"

"You sure?" Mac asked, leaning forward as much as the leg he had propped up on the ottoman allowed him. "Cause last time I checked, those kinds of injuries hurt bad… For a good while…"

"Yeah, they do…" Kim agreed, "But right now, the problem is that my energy reserve is overflowing… And I can't really do anything about it…"

"What do you usually do when that's a problem?"

"Go for a run, climb, practice some free-running…" Kim shrugged his good shoulder, "A good game of football always helps, paintball… Lifting weights… And hand-to-hand practice… Just to name a few of the things I can't do right now…"

Riley couldn't help but giggle, she felt sorry for the guy, but the big muscly guy on the other side of the table seemed so helpless in is current state. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Kim smirked and nodded. "It's alright…"

"Hey, how about we distract ourselves with a movie or some board game?"

"That would have to be a movie… I don't have any board games here…" Riley shot in.

"Movie it is then…" Kim grinned.

Okay, hope you enjoyed. Once again, sorry that it took so long for me to post another chapter… Sorry!