Hi guyssss...I'm so glad you all enjoyed that last chapter ending! :D

Let's see what happens to Mac...last we saw, he was being smothered *awkward grin and awkward sidle out of the way*

As he jerked his head from side to side trying to get his face free from Habib's suffocating grip, Mac felt his other injuries from the explosion protest, trying to tell him that he needed to rest if he wanted to heal.

That's great, he snapped at his body. If I don't fight now though, we won't have to worry about healing at all!

Thrashing his head back and forth really did nothing to help loosen the grip Habib had on MacGyver's face, though the constant movement was starting to make his head hurt even more. The blond couldn't see, but he began to feel lightheaded, and he felt like if he did have his sight, he would have begun to see black spots dancing across his vision. He could feel his heart rate slowing down, and he tried desperately once again to get some sort of air into his lungs. His chest rose off the table as he fought, but he was already weak from the explosion, and now lack of oxygen.

Suddenly, an alarm began blaring, and Habib's grip loosened ever so slightly as he jumped in surprise. His hands stayed firmly over Mac's face, but his fingers did open up just a little bit, providing enough of a gap that Mac was able to suck some air in through his nose, clearing his head somewhat.

MacGyver knew that he'd never be able to pull the velcro straps off the table, so he decided to try a different tactic. Instead of pulling up on his velcro straps, MacGyver began to pull his arm back towards his head, trying to wiggle his wrist through the restraint. He had almost succeeded in pulling his wrist all the way through, but Habib saw what the blond was trying to do.

"Ah, ah, ah," he said, using the hand covering Mac's nose to reach down and grab the American's wrist. MacGyver drew in a deep breath through his nose, grateful that something good had come out of him getting caught. He realized that Habib was in a pickle now though; the terrorist could either let Mac's arm go and continue to suffocate him, or he could hold Mac's arm down and prevent him from escaping while Mac's nostrils were left open and fully functioning.

Habib considered his options for a moment, but Mac knew he didn't have long. Even though his sight was gone for the moment, Mac's other senses were working just fine, and he could hear the hospital reacting to the alarm; people were shouting and asking questions, but one thing was certain. They were coming for the testing room, and Mac knew that if he knew that, so did Habib.

While Mac's nose was uncovered, it was only doing so much to give him oxygen, and he was beginning to feel lightheaded again. He decided to try and pull his arm out of Habib's grasp, but the terrorist had a strong hold on him, and Mac was still working off the effect of both the drugs he'd been given when he'd gotten to the hospital, as well as being strangled less than a minute ago.

Mac figured that Habib really had two options to get out of the hospital scott-free; one would be if he left right now, before any doctors or security had the chance to get to them. The second option was the one Mac was worried that Habib was going to go for, and after a few moments of hesitation, the terrorist did just that.

"Get up," Habib instructed, taking his hand off the kid's mouth and undoing the velcro restraint Mac had nearly pulled himself out of. MacGyver moved slowly; he knew what Habib's plan was, and he tried to buy himself more time. Habib seemed to notice though, and he growled.

"Look, I can't see what I'm doing," Mac pointed out, still panting for breath slightly. He emphasized his point by feeling around for his other wrist. MacGyver couldn't see the terrorist's face, but after a second, he felt the man's hand reach over and undo the other velcro straps on his wrist and ankles.

"Get up," Habib repeated, grabbing Mac by his shoulder to 'help' him get off the table quicker. A cold, hard piece of metal that MacGyver was all too familiar with was jammed into his back as Habib muttered, "Move," partnered with a shove to get the blond moving.

"Seriously?" Mac asked in frustration as he stumbled forward. "I have no idea where I'm going." An idea came to the blond to try and buy him some time, but he wasn't sure if he could pull it off; talking people's ears off was usually Jack's department, and MacGyver was pretty sure that he was suffering from a concussion as well as his other injuries. "I mean, I'm guessing if this is a fairly standard hospital, the size of this room in particular is probably going to be about twenty-one feet by thirteen feet, but I don't know if this is a standard hospital. I don't know if they have more than one MRI machine in here, or where the doors are leading to the equipment and control rooms, which are each about another twelve-by-twelve, give or take a few feet. If you're taking us out through any of those rooms, which would probably be the easiest thing to do so that we don't go out into the hallway just yet, there are going to be desks and cabinets and other furniture in the way that I just don't know how to navigate my way around blindly, so-"

"Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking!" Habib muttered, shoving his gun harder into MacGyver's back, right above one of the wounds that had been stitched earlier. Mac winced in pain as the wound protested against the pressure, but he did shut his mouth. He decided to let his mind try and work without working his mouth at the same time, devoting all his brain power to getting himself out of the situation.

"Just...walk straight forward until I tell you," Habib said after a minute. Mac did as he was told, taking a few experimental steps in what he figured what a straight line in front of him, and when Habib didn't protest, the blond figured he was going in the right direction.

"Turn right," Habib ordered after Mac figured he'd gone forward about six feet. MacGyver did as he was told, but he tripped over something before Habib could tell him to step over whatever was on the floor. Mac began to push himself to his feet, and his hand brushed what felt like a pair of pants. With his blood suddenly a lot cooler than it had been before, Mac felt his way up to the person's face.

"Leave them," Habib snapped, grabbing Mac and hauling him to his feet.

"Did you kill them?" Mac demanded. He'd been trying to feel for a pulse, but Habib had grabbed him before he could find one.

"What does it matter to you?" Habib snarled. "As long as you do what I tell you to do, no one else will get hurt."

That didn't exactly give Mac an answer, but he was hoping that the doctors and nurses who had been about to run his MRI were only unconscious, and not worse. Habib spoke again. "Watch out, there's a desk on your left."

To keep up appearances, Mac shifted himself to the right slightly, but he made himself trip over his own feet and fell in the direction Habib said the desk was. His elbow hit the edge of the furniture, and the blond let out a hiss as his funny bone began throbbing, but when he put his hands down on the desk and moved them around a little, his heart started beating a little harder when his fingers brushed against a syringe on the desk. He didn't know if it was full of anything or not, but it was something to help him nonetheless. As Mac wrapped his fingers around the piece of medical equipment, he hoped that Habib was too busy trying to figure out if MacGyver's stumble had delayed them long enough for someone to catch up with them or not.

The terrorist growled and for a minute, MacGyver wondered if Habib had actually seen him grab the syringe, but the man simply grabbed MacGyver and hauled him back up, though this time he didn't push Mac ahead of him; he held the blond close to his chest, wrapping one arm around the blond's neck and placing his gun against Mac's head.

"La taqtarib," he shouted, his loud voice echoing in Mac's ear and making his already sore head pound even more. For a minute, the American didn't know who Habib was talking to, but then someone else answered, and Mac realized that people had been able to catch up to them. Someone else began speaking in Arabic to Habib, but the terrorist wasn't willing to listen to any sort of negotiation. Amid the speaking, MacGyver heard another voice, one that was extremely familiar, and even with the situation he was in, he felt a huge sense of relief flow through him.

0-0-0

Jack and Riley were walking down the hallway after having once again asked for directions to the MRI lab. They were only a few minutes away from the lab when an alarm began to sound, and lights began flashing. The two Phoenix agents looked at each other gravely before taking off down the hallway, following the security agents to the location of the disturbance, though they had a pretty good idea that they knew where the alarm had originated from.

Sure enough, they rounded the corner and came upon a sight that froze Jack's blood.

"Mac!" Jack shouted as he saw his partner and friend in the grip of the deranged terrorist. The older agent pushed his way to the front of the crowd of doctors and security guards, with Riley following close behind. Habib had a gun placed against MacGyver's head with one arm wrapped around the kid's neck, but what Jack noticed almost immediately was how tired Mac looked.

"Everyone stay back!" Habib shouted again, this time in English. He brought his gun around and pointed it at some of the people blocking his path, and they backed up. Jack slowly reached for his own gun, but he knew that this wasn't some sort of junkie who was grabbing a random patient to try and get away. This was a terrorist who was out for revenge, and Jack knew that the man would more than likely have no problem putting a bullet in MacGyver's brain if he was stopped, so Jack moved slowly so he wouldn't spook the terrorist.

"You are going to let us through, and no one is going to follow us," Habib instructed as he began walking forward, pushing his hostage with him. The crowd of doctors and nurses parted to make way for the terrorist. As Habib walked forward with Mac, Jack noticed his friend fiddling with something in his hand, and the older agent got ready to grab his gun. If his partner was planning something, Jack knew that he was going to have to act fast.

0-0-0

MacGyver felt himself pushed forward, and he took a few halting steps, still unsure of where he was going and trying to stall for as much time as he could. It was only when Habib whispered in his ear that he was going to shoot someone in the next five seconds if Mac didn't pick up the pace that the blond hurried up. He had been lucky so far; Habib hadn't seen the syringe in Mac's hand yet, but the American knew that his luck would run out if he didn't act soon. He began fiddling with the syringe, trying to turn in around in his hand so that the needle was facing Habib's leg. Mac waited until they had walked forward a few more steps before he jabbed the syringe backwards quickly, feeling it sink into the man's leg. The blond depressed the syringe and felt the resistance of liquid inside, so he knew it was full of something, though he didn't know what. At the moment though, he didn't care.

Habib let out a yell of pain at the sudden sharp sting in his thigh, and he released MacGyver on instinct. While Mac was happy his plan had worked, he suddenly realized that he still had no idea where he was going, and he just stood there for a second before finally beginning to move forward. He'd gone maybe three steps when he heard Jack yelling for him to duck, as well as a yell from behind him, so Mac followed his partner's instructions and dropped to the floor.

A single gunshot was fired, followed by a split-second of silence. Then it was mass pandemonium as the hospital staff started running around calling out orders and numbers to each other. The only problem was, they were all talking in Arabic, and Mac still didn't know very many words in that language. He wished he had his sight back so that he could see what was going on, because he wasn't sure who had been shot. He didn't think it was Jack, but his partner hadn't called out to him since telling him to get down, and a small part of MacGyver wondered if it was his partner who'd been shot, not Habib.

Habib would have grabbed you again by now if Jack had been shot, Mac reminded himself. He comforted himself in that fact and decided it was time to figure out what was going on.

MacGyver slowly stood up, not noticing that all the doctors and nurses rushed around him, though he could feel himself getting buffeted from side to side. He knew he had to get out of the crowd, but he literally had no idea where to go until he felt someone grab his shoulder gently. Even in his current state of blindness, Mac would have recognized that grip anywhere; it had been one that pulled him back out of the line of fire, tried to stop him from doing something crazy, and many other things on numerous accounts.

"Jack," Mac said, letting out a breath of air he'd been holding since hearing the shot fired. "Is Riley-"

"I'm here too," the hacker said, grabbing Mac's other arm and helping the blond blind kid out of the throng of doctors and nurses hurrying about, getting Habib ready for surgery; they were doctors after all, and their first job was to make sure people were taken care of.

"What did you hit him with?" Jack asked.

"Not sure," MacGyver replied, though his words were starting to sound slightly slurred. He was exhausted, but he held out the syringe for Jack to look at. He felt the needle being removed from his grip, and Jack chuckled.

"A morphine shot," he informed the small group. "So even if I hadn't'a winged him, he'd'a been out in a few minutes anyway. Nice goin', Mac."

MacGyver nodded, but he was too tired to respond, and the stress that his body had been put through finally began to catch up with him. He felt his legs begin to buckle, but Jack must have noticed too, because his grip on the blond tightened.

"Come on," Jack said, gently pulling on Mac's arm to direct him. "Let's get you back to bed until someone can come get a look atcha."

Seeeeee? I can be nice! No cliffie!

There's only one more chapter to go, so I'll post that in a few days! Until then, lemme know what you think :)