Here we go again…
Alex called his brother while he waited for Jack to return from whatever they were doing to him. It didn't take long for his twin to pick up.
"YEAHHELLO…" the greeting was rushed.
"Busy?"
"No…"
"You sounded busy…" Alex shrugged.
"Almost dropped my phone… One functioning arm, remember?" Kim revealed, "I'm not busy at all… Are you done with the mission?"
"Yeah, we are…"
"And?"
"And what?"
"How did it go?" Kim pressed, "Was it a success?"
"We completed the mission within our time limit…" Alex nodded, shooting his knee a cold glare.
"Good…" Kim said before he paused, "And you're okay? Both of you?"
"-Been worse…"
"'Been worse' means 'could be better'…" Kim deduced, "What's wrong?"
"Can we switch to a Video Call?"
"Sure…"
"Just a sec…" Alex hung up and spent a few seconds setting up the call.
Another couple of seconds later his brother's face showed up on his screen.
MACGYVERxLAB
"So… How bad?" Kim asked as he studied his brother's face. Alex shrugged in response. "Dude, how bad?"
"Well, my leg is in this thing…" Alex said before he tapped the icon to use the camera on the back of his phone instead, showing Kim the brace immobilizing his knee.
"That's the kind that keeps your knee completely still, right?"
Alex tapped the icon to switch camera again, and nodded. "Yeah, couldn't bend my knee even if I wanted to…"
"But that's not something you want to do…"
"Definitely not…" Alex nodded again.
"What happened?" Kim asked.
"Someone tackled me… Knee collapsed."
"Collapsed?"
"Yeah, something gave…"
"Something gave?"
"Yeah… You know how the knee is supposed to be a hinge joint?"
"…Yeah…" Kim nodded and frowned. He had a feeling of where this was headed, "How is it now?"
"Imagine a ball and socket joint with no resistance and a poor or flat socket…"
Kim did that exact mistake of imagining just that, and the picture which formed in his mind was bad enough to make him shudder. "That's gross…"
"That's painful…" Alex corrected.
"Yeah, I bet…" Kim agreed, "But it's gross too… Surgery?"
"Not today…" Alex shrugged, "It could wait…"
"But you have one coming for you?"
"My knee turned into a universal joint… What do you think?"
Kim grimaced at the mental image, "Yeah…"
"Correct…" Alex nodded, "How about you? How's the shoulder?"
"When my arm's strapped against my chest it's kinda okay…" Kim nodded towards his arm, "As long as I remember to drug myself down every now and then…"
"Painful in other words?"
"Ding-ding-ding… We have a winner…" Kim rolled his eyes, "Yeah, it sucks…"
Kim saw Alex looking up towards the left, he recognized his twin's 'thinking-face'.
"Did you remember to take the 4 o'clock painkillers?" Alex finally asked, after he had finished calculating what time it was back in LA.
"Took them 5 minutes ago."
"Started working?"
Kim shrugged his good shoulder, "Might have… Or it might just be placebo. You know, sometimes it helps a bit just knowing you've taken 'em…"
"Yeah, I know…" Alex nodded, "Where's Mac and Riley?"
"Oh, Mac's in the kitchen. Riley went to get something in her car." Kim craned his neck to look towards the kitchen.
Alex nodded.
"So… Crutches or wheelchair?"
"Huh?"
"What did they give you?" Kim tilted his head, "Crutches or wheelchair?"
"I got away with crutches," Alex moved his phone to show the crutches leaned against the wall behind him, "But I hope hopping around is gonna get a little more comfy when my knee is reassembled…"
"Hurts?"
"Like a mother-…" Alex let the expletive trail off. "But like the Terminator, 'I'll be back'…"
"Man, I think you're three plates and eight screws away from actually being the Terminator…"
"Nah… It's more than that…"
"Whatever, you're part Terminator anyway…"
"You're no better…" Alex raised his eyebrows in a judging manner, "I'm not sure, but I think we're pretty much tied when it comes to hardware…"
"Okay, that's probably true…" Kim nodded and looked towards the kitchen again, "So… When are you coming back here?"
"We're coming back with the scheduled flight…"
"Okay, so… The day after tomorrow?"
"Correct." Alex nodded.
"Hey, try not to flirt too much with the hot nurses over there…" Kim instructed, "Or hot guys… Let them have some space too…"
"What do you take me for?"
"Someone who looks at flirting like a sport…" Kim shrugged his good shoulder once more, "I feel obliged to protect innocent victims from that… I mean, some of your tactics can be pretty pathetic."
"Kim…"
"Yeah…?"
"You're a douchebag…"
"I miss you too, brother…"
"Not what I said…" Alex rolled his eyes.
"But it's what I heard…" Kim winked, "But hey, the others are coming back now… I'll call you later…"
"Okay…" Alex nodded, "Say hi from me…"
"Will do…"
MACGYVERxLAB
Luckily his leg didn't require emergency surgery, he was just placed in a brace to enable him to move around with the help of crutches. That was a win in his book.
The doctors just patched up Jack's GSW, and gave him a sling to help keep his shoulder still. They were uncertain whether he would need surgery to it, but it could easily wait for a couple of days or even weeks.
The dictator had been taken away by someone higher up on the food chain, he would stand trial and most likely spend the rest of his useless life in an 6x8 cell.
Everything seemed to be looking up.
Okay… Soo… Hope you had fun reading this. I now have a plan for maybe the next two chapters. (At least one)