A/N: You guys do read my notes! I was so happy to see that my last one actually spawned some good Jensen discussion, lol. Speaking of, please feel free to write whatever you want in the reviews - questions, concerns, just general thoughts. As you've seen, if I believe it's a genuine concern or just an interesting topic, I'll address it here in a note. I likes any kind of feedback and I'm happy to get the chance to write about where my mindset was when I'm working on a chapter. Just don't expect me to give away any spoilers. ;)

And Kikino, that was the most horrifying threat I've ever gotten! Furbies are pure EVIL! Now I have to go hang out in my secret bunker until your lil creepy army passes.

With Pooch's and Cougar's help, Clay gently eases Jensen down off his shoulder, laying him flat on a bed of dry leaves. He stands and walks over to the man tied to the tree and glares down at him.

"You know what that is?" he asks, pointing back to Jensen. The bound soldier, still gagged, just looks at him. "That is a man down. One of my men. And the funny thing about it is, it wasn't even your guys that took him down." He reaches into his vest pocket and pulls out a handful of dog tags, some of them covered in crimson stains. "Do you know what these are?" He throws them at the soldier's chest, who cringes back when they hit him and then stares down at them as they fall into his lap. "That's all of your men down, and unless you want us to add your tags into that pile, I'd suggest you and I have a little talk."

Jensen wakes with a start, glancing around at his surroundings frantically. It's dark with the exception of a small fire burning in front of him, and he appears to be alone. He pulls off is glasses to rub at his eyes, noticing the white bandage taped around his wrist. Cringing in anticipation, he very gently touches it, then relaxes when nothing happens.

A hand suddenly reaches out and touches his shoulder, causing him to jump up to his feet.

"Easy," Cougar says.

Jensen puts a hand to his chest. "Jesus, Cougar, ninja much? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," Cougar shrugs, smiling. "How's the wrist?"

Jensen sighs, sitting back down. "Normal. You know this isn't even big enough to leave a scar? It's pathetic….But, man, I've never felt anything like that. It was like every single one of my nerve endings was on fire. And, Jesus Christ, who knew I had that kind of lung capacity? That was like banshee screaming back there. Just disturbing. Speaking of disturbing, how the hell do I do that thing with my voice where I go all The Punisher on you guys? Thomas Jane Punisher, not Lundgren or Stevenson. They were cool, but they just didn't have that voice, ya know? The deep, scary one? I think I sound like that when I go all Crazy Jensen mode, don't you? It's gotta be pretty bad ass."

"Not when we're the ones on the other side of the threat," Cougar points out.

"Yeeahhhh, sorry about that. Where is everyone, anyway? You guys aren't all avoiding me now, are you?"

"No. They went back to find your computer."

"Awe, they're rescuing Sasha? And here I thought I was the only one who cared."

"You are," Cougar says bluntly. "We need to know what's on the files you stole from the lab."

"Do they have to do with me?" Jensen asks, and Cougar nods. "Shiiit," he whispers, dropping his gaze into the fire. "I knew it. As soon as that guy called me 'the package,' I knew I was fucked." He looks back to Cougar. "Max's new weapon – it wasn't a bomb, was it?"

Cougar shakes his head. Jensen nods, staring back into the flames. "Okay. Bioweapon, then. So the question is, how the hell did I get exposed to it?"

Cougar arches an eyebrow at him. "You tell me," he says.

Three days ago:

The sun is coming up over the top of the lab building as the team lays perched in the trees several feet away. Clay brings down his binoculars, looking over at Jensen.

"You sure morning is the best time to hit this thing?" he asks.

Jensen rolls his eyes. "Clay. You've asked me that like a thousand times, now. And what do I tell you every time? I say 'Yes, Clay, I'm positive.' Positive. As in the exact opposite of negative. As in, yes, I'm sure the morning is the best time to hit this thing so we don't all end up in body bags. I checked. I double-checked. In fact, I probably checked about a million and thirty-seven times. Are you satisfied? Because I can bust out my red sharpie and draw you a picture right now if you want."

Clay sighs. "A simple 'yes' would've been fine."

"I was making a point. A 'trust Jensen' point."

"Point taken." Clay looks at each member of the team. "We ready?" They all nod. "Then let's roll."

After Jensen takes care of a few perimeter cameras, they make their way into the compound quickly and quietly. They split off in different directions, Jensen running towards what looks to be a small, white brick building, except it has no windows or doors; it's only entrance appears to be a large metal "lid" on top, clamped down with several heavy-duty combo locks. Pulling a digital EMF reader out of his bag, Jensen runs along one side of the building, watching the numbers intently.

"You think you're so smart," he mumbles to no one in particular. "'Oh, look, we didn't build a door! The bad guys can't get to our generator, now!' Well guess what, bitches? I don't need a door."

He finds the spot he's looking for and marks it with a red "X", starts to back off, looks at it, then shakes his head. "That's too small," he says, moving forward again to draw the mark a little bigger. As he reaches the sharpie back towards the "X", the brick suddenly explodes in a neat little cloud of dust. He pulls his hand back quickly, glaring off in the direction the shot came from.

"Hey! The hacker kinda needs his hand, ya know?"

Cougar smiles from behind the scope of his gun. "Wasn't even close."

"Wasn't even-? You took the tip off my sharpie!" He holds it up so Cougar can see before Clay's voice cuts through on the comm.

"Is it down?" he asks.

"Yeah, it's down," Jensen mumbles, inspecting the hole in the wall. "I'm on my way."

The last number on the electric lock clicks into place.

"Okay," Jensen says, quickly putting his gear back into his bag, "It'll take me about three minutes to shut off the main power source, counting the time it takes me to get there. They're gonna be on us as soon as they realize the generator isn't kicking in."

"How long will that be?" Pooch asks.

Jensen shrugs. "About point five seconds."

"All right, then," Pooch says, gripping the wheel on the heavy metal door. Clay gives him the nod to open it, and they step in, guns at the ready.

Crammed in a small, dark space, pen light sticking out of his mouth, Jensen's fingers race across the numbers on the console. He waits for a beep, then rolls himself over to do the same on a different platform. It beeps twice, after which he pulls out a small touchscreeen computer, connecting wires from it to both consoles. On the computer's screen there are several numbers and he presses them all, then listens for the sound of the building's power shutting down. Satisfied, he lightly kicks at the panel at his feet.

From the outside hall, now dark with the exception of her flashlight, Aisha slides the small, square metal panel aside. Jensen slides out of the space, and she moves in to trade places with him.

"Gotta love a building that functions all on computer software," he smiles.

"Just tell me what to do" Aisha says impatiently.

"Press the magic number on my signal," he says, and she nods before slipping into the hole. He shuts the panel behind her and races off down the darkened hall.

Pressing himself against the wall, Jensen smiles as he watches two guards run right past him down an adjoining corridor. "Ha ha! They're all headed to the main control room, just like I said," he gloats, shifting the night vision goggles on his face.

Clay's voice cuts in. "Great. And when they find out no one's there, they're gonna be sending people out looking for Aisha. Move your ass, Jensen."

"I'm not exactly taking a leisurely stroll, here, Colonel," he says, rounding the corner. "And relax, there's like fifty-two of those crawl spaces spread out around the building. With you guys thinning out the herd and all, we'll be in and out before anyone finds her. Scout's honor."

Pooch speaks up. "Dude, you told me you went to computer camp. You weren't a boy scout."

Jensen starts to round another corner, then quickly throws himself back. "A Programmer Porcupine's word is just as good as any boy scout's," he counters; then, "I need some back up down here. There may be a few more guys guarding the door than I had originally anticipated."

"How many is 'a few?'" Clay asks.

"Oh, about ten," Jensen says casually.

"Hey, guys," Cougar cuts in. "You got another problem. A convoy of fresh new troops just pulled up."

"Well that wasn't in the plan," Jensen says. "Guess I'm on my own, then."

"Don't do anything stupid," Clay warns.

"Stupid? That word isn't even in my vocabulary." Jensen grins. He pulls off his goggles and trades them for sunglasses, then takes some canisters out of his bag. Crouching down, he flips open a lighter, the firelight instantly giving away his position. As the guards make their way down the hall, Jensen throws the canisters, fuses now lit, towards them.

"Happy Fourth of July!" he shouts as the canisters explode, sending a bright white flash all the way down the hall. The soldiers stop, yelling out as they cover their eyes. "Aisha, hit the three, now!" Jensen orders as he quickly slips through the blinded men. He reaches the lock on the door just as its power turns back on, and quickly punches in the code. When the door slides open just enough for Jensen to squeeze through it, he punches in the code on the lock on the other side.

"Come on, come on, come on," he urges as he sees the recuperating soldiers rushing towards him. At the last second before they reach him, the door locks into place. "Hit it again, Aisha!" he says frantically, then relaxes as the lights on the lock shut off again. "That was close...Okay, give me numbers sixteen and lucky number thirteen."

A single light turns on in the center of the ceiling, shining down on the only thing in the room – a desktop computer with a cabinet-sized hard drive tower sitting beside it.

Jensen takes off his sunglasses, whistling as he looks at it. "Hello beautiful," he says, "Hope you're not shy, because we are about to get very intimate..."

A/N: Hoorah! The first half of the flashback sequence! I finally decided to be nice and give you guys some answers. :)