HASBRO owns all characters except OCs
Sergeant Stone had managed to get out of his cell by using the metal from Clutch's steel-toed shoes like a screwdriver and with more kicking. Once the door bent enough at the base so he could push it, he crawled through and opened the other cells.
The Marines had to wait for the guards to return before they could launch their escape and find Hawk's daughter. The longer the guards were gone, the more Rick's stomach churned. If they hurt her, I'll kill every one of those bastards with my bare hands. Screw weapons, they can be overrated. His intense desire to find Kate and ensure she was safe drove him to clench his hands and grit his teeth. He couldn't remember ever reacting like this before a rescue mission. What is it about her that seems to mess up my head?
Sounds outside the door alerted them to the return of their guards so Rick moved into position in front of the door. A running start would help them to surprise the Neo-Vipers and get in one or two hits before the need to get weapons became a necessity. Getting at their throats or their head under the helmets was the only way to defeat a Neo-Viper without some serious firepower like Rock usually had. We sure could use one of his machine guns now.
"Get ready," Rick said quietly. There was no need for words with these veterans, but he hadn't gone on a mission in over two years and it was old habit.
Blast-off stood to his left, Rock-n-Roll on his right and Clutch behind them since he had no shoes. When the door started opening, he heard a shout and knew instantly that their plan had to change.
The sight before his eyes as Rock shoved the door fully open sent a rage through him like he had never felt before. Kate was being thrown like a small ragdoll across the room to bounce off the opposite wall. Her left arm hung limply at her side, obviously dislocated. Tears ran down her face, which was scrunched up in pain, as her cry echoed through the room, fueling Rick's rage.
He dropkicked the bastard who tossed her across the room, knocking him on to his back. Before the guard could do anything, Rick leaped on him and got his hands around the guard's neck, squeezing tightly. Since the guard's arms were pinned, he could only twist his body in an effort to push the irate Marine off him.
"Move back, Stone," Clutch said from his left, raising something high and plunging it into the guard's helmet.
Rick barely noticed what the other Marines were doing. His rage at the injury to Kate's body drove him to squeeze harder and harder, feeling the cartilage and bone in the man's neck loosen and finally break.
Looking up, he saw Kate slide down the wall near Rock and Blast-Off. "Get to Kate, Rock!" he shouted to the only one of them trained as a field medic.
Rock suddenly obscured his view of the young woman as he knelt before her to assess her arm. A scream issued from her once again, making Rick run to them yelling, "What did you do?"
While jumping to his feet, Clutch handed him a knife. The Sergeant's eyes zeroed in on the General's daughter and barely noticed the weapon he was now holding. When he got close enough to see how pale she was, he gripped the knife tightly. Her pale complexion allowed the nasty mark on her neck and new bruises to her face and upper arms to stand out.
"It's dislocated," Rock said as he gently lowered her the rest of the way to the floor. "It's going to slow us down. No way around that."
"I'll carry her," Rick said as he knelt beside her. Noticing blood on her lip and new blood around her wrists made the seasoned soldier want to kill the COBRA bastards that did this to her, slowly and with the screwdriver sticking out of the dead guard's eye.
"N-n-no," Kate said in a voice that was barely audible.
"Stay calm Miss…" Rock glanced at Rick as if uncertain of what he should call her.
"Just K-kate. I need…" she whispered. "… to… uh..."
"Don't talk," Rick said, reaching out to brush hair out of her face, which was contorted with pain.
"Stone," Clutch said from behind him. "We got several knives, three SIG P226s, one pulse pistol and two HK G36Cs.
Rick reached out for the pulse pistol. "Grab a holster off of one of the guards and give me a couple knives."
"Sure thing," Clutch said as he returned to the guard that Rick killed.
"Need to…" Kate was trying desperately to stay conscious and Rick felt his anger rise again as he looked at the mark on her arm more closely. Someone squeezed her arm extremely tight and hit her across the face.
"You need to rest. We'll take care of you," Rick said, trying to keep his voice steady. The rage coursing through him was an unknown experience for him. Never had he been this jacked-up after a fight, or during one for that matter. The calmest person always survives, his old drill instructor said. To this point in his life that has been true.
"Gotta tell you…" she struggled to sit up using her right arm and cried out.
"You can't move, your arm is dislocated," Rock said in his steady voice.
"Put it back in," she gasped. "C-c-can't, can't you put it back?"
"It's risky. If I hit a vein, it can…"
"Do it," Kate hissed. "Please. We need to get… get out." Her consciousness seemed to be wavering. "Gotta tell you we're on the water."
"What?" Rick asked. "Water?"
"Yes, I came on… ah… a boat," she said, biting her lip.
"Don't do that," he said without thinking and brushed a thumb over her lip, making her release it from her teeth. A small tear in the sensitive flesh only angered him more. I'll kill every son of a bitch here for causing her pain and making her hurt herself.
"Boat? Haven't driven a boat in a few years," Clutch said from his position by the door.
Rick looked at him and noticed he was in stocking feet. "Clutch, get some boots on. No one's going to carry you out of here."
"Just guarding your ass while you tend to the General's daughter," Clutch said, walking over to the smaller of the Neo-Vipers.
A whimper came from the young woman as Rock touched her shoulder through her black shirt.
"No sounds at all, Stone," Blast-Off said from the doorway. "Looks like we were quiet and there aren't any cameras around here."
"No… cameras… Ahhh," Kate said as she tried to move away from Rock's poking fingers.
"Damn it, Rock. Be careful," Rick shouted at the Marine, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"It's going to hurt like hell to get her arm back in. I'll need someone to hold her so I can pull her arm and…" the blond Marine paused, glancing at the others, and said quietly to Rick, "I need to take her shirt off too. Cut it off more accurately. I'll be able to see the shoulder better and won't hurt her trying to pull it over her head."
"Oh," Kate moaned obviously hearing the conversation. "Great. Just promise me you'll shoot me if you don't think we'll escape."
"No one is going to shoot you. We're getting you out of here," Rick promised. He had no right to make that promise. Other than her information about being on the water and his own assessment of the rundown facility, he knew nothing about what was on the other side of the door.
"Zandar…" she gasped. "He'll be back. Said… said he'd…" Her eyes opened and locked onto his. "He said he'd… he'd… r-r-rape me. I'd rather die." Tears welled up in her eyes with that confession.
"Bastard," Rock growled.
Rick felt a murderous rage wash over him. As he saw the terror reflected in the woman's eyes, he found his voice, "He won't touch you. He'll have to kill all of us and we're not that easy to kill."
"That's right, ma'am," Rock said. He looked at Rick with sympathy on his face and said, "I'll try not to cut her shirt too badly so she can still use it."
"No, she can have mine," Rick said as he began unbuttoning his shirt. "Sorry it's filthy."
A chuckle came from Clutch; the driver was still removing the shoes he was going to try. Blast-Off stood guard by the door with a rifle and two handguns in his belt listening for any movement on the other side.
"Clutch, get back to the door with Blast-Off," Rick barked.
"But I don't have my shoes, yet," he whined, picking up his rifle from the floor.
"Now!" Rick had lost all patience with the Marine and didn't want him looking at Kate clad only in a bra as well.
"Fine, but you'll be carrying me if they don't fit." Clutch could not keep the laughter from his voice.
Realizing his chivalry would register as something else to the chauvinistic ladies' man, Rick let a bit of his rage out at his teammate. "Just turn around."
"He sure is bossy. Too much time with the new recruits," Clutch said to Blast-Off.
"I heard that," Rick growled as he turned his full attention back to Kate and Rock-n-Roll.
"I'll need you to hold her firmly so I can pull the arm back in," Rock said while carefully cutting her shirt. "Sorry miss, but this is really going to hurt. I had my arm snapped back in once and I passed out from the pain."
"More information… to tell you. There's one control room. Looks high-tech. Rest of the place is like this… old… rusty," Kate said obviously using all her strength to get the information out. "Hallway crosses a corridor that… that… showed light at… the end. Big door at end." A moan came from her once again.
Thinking that she paid attention to her surroundings while fearing sexual assault and confusion by the reappearance of her supposedly dead father caused Rick's admiration of the young woman and his desire to keep her safe swell in his heart. "Thanks for the intel. Don't suppose you know how many guards too?" he asked with a tight smile.
"Only two more…" she started, "… like these. Others like… like Zandar… a dozen. Five techs in control room." Her eyes were clenched shut and her free hand fisted. "The corridor is four hallways back from here."
"Thanks, but I was joking," he said, even more impressed.
"C-can I have something to bite on?" Kate asked weakly.
"Like in the movies?" Rock asked with a smile.
"Yeah. So I don't scream," she breathed, barely more than a whisper. Her download of intelligence to them exhausted her.
"You can just bite Rick," Clutch chuckled.
Rick quickly threw one of the knives Clutch set next to him on the floor, embedding it in the wall to the left of Clutch's head. "Keep it up and you'll be lucky to come out of this with only a flesh wound."
Blast-Off's laughter sounded through the holding area. "Nice throw, Stone."
"Thanks," he muttered, turning to see Rock cut the material at her shoulder and peal it off.
"Sorry," he said. "I need to see when I slide the shoulder in."
A weak nod told him to proceed. Kate had on a pink bra that covered her breasts more than your average bikini, but Rick couldn't suppress the quick wash of desire at seeing her pale skin contrasted with the pink fabric. Shifting on his knees to release some pressure, he managed to ask, "How should I hold her?"
"Against your chest should be easiest, so I can tug her arm," Rock said, glancing toward Clutch, obviously expecting some comment from their buddy.
Looks like the knife scared him. Rick nodded to Rock and looked back at the petite woman lying between them. "It'll be over quickly and then we'll get out of here."
"Okay," she mumbled, closing her eyes.
Rock ripped a piece off her shirt and wadded it up. "You can bite on this cloth if you think it will help."
Kate opened her eyes, which were now wide with pain and fear. "T-t-thanks." Biting on the material and looking once more at Rick, she nodded to begin.
"All right," Rick said. "I'm going to lean you against me."
The Master Gunnery Sergeant slid his arms around her, his right around her waist and his left around the middle of her back to lift her from the floor. The feel of her in his arms reminded him that it had been a long time since he held a woman this intimately. But never one this beautiful. Trying desperately to ignore the feeling of her soft skin against his bare arms, he slid his hand into her hair, which was as silky as her skin. Suppressing a groan, he pulled her tight and felt tears wetting the material of his t-shirt. "Sorry. I know you said you were in an accident and in pain, but I need to make sure you don't move."
"Uh-huh," came a muffled sound from the woman in his arms.
"She'll probably pass out," Rock said as he gently raised her arm and began rotating it as if Kate was trying to throw a baseball. Her right arm snaked around Rick's waist and clutched at his t-shirt as he felt her body tense beneath his hands with more tears and sounds coming from her.
Rock slowly moved the arm back and forth, maintaining a steady pressure until the shoulder slid back into place. Somewhere in the process Kate passed out and went slack in his arms.
"How will you know if you damaged any veins?" Rick asked, concerned Kate could be bleeding internally.
"I don't see any bruising, but it could take time," he said as he released her. "I'll help you get the shirt on her and then I'll carry her."
"No, I'll do it," Rick said fiercely.
"You're a lot better with knives and handguns than me," Rock said, picking up Rick's shirt and starting to slide her arm into it. "When we find a machine gun, I'll give her to you."
Rick knew the machine gunner was right, but he felt responsible for Kate. Hawk confided in me about his daughter. I need to protect her for him. At least that was how he tried to reconcile his immediate attraction to her.
He and Rock got her into his shirt and then he left the paramedic to fashion a sling out of the rest of her shirt to secure her arm. Standing up and looking at the dead Neo-Vipers, he had an idea. "Normally, we'd destroy the place and leave, but we have Hawk's daughter to protect so escape is our number one priority."
Blast-Off and Clutch nodded as they followed Rick's eyes to the two dead guards.
"Guess I'll be wearing his boots one way or another," Clutch said as he walked back to the man Rick killed.
TBC
A/N: Hope you are still enjoying this. Feedback is greatly appreciated.