A/N: Surprise! An update! And the beginning of this is sooooo not going where you thought it was, lol. Just keeping you on your toes, folks. You'll know what the means in like three seconds when I stop rambling, lol.
Writers Circle gals! Thank you all for the beta job and the entertainment and the encouragement. Ais, Mary, Telly, Jess, Lily, and Zoe - you crazy kids rock!
"Jensen, stop!" Aisha yells as she tries to catch up to him.
He sprints through the overgrown field with full abandon, increasing the distance between himself and his pursuer. She growls in frustration as she feels herself slowing, a side effect caused by the throbbing pain in her shoulder. Ducking her head down she digs deep for another burst of speed and runs with everything she has left, determined to catch him before he reaches the tree line.
She doesn't notice that he's stopped in his tracks until she plows right into him, knocking them both to the ground in a heap. "What the fuck?" she hisses as she grips her shoulder.
Jensen scrambles up to sit on his haunches, tilting his head as he looks at her curiously before bursting out into unexpected laughter. She sits up and stares at him, her face twisting from looking irritated with him to relieved that he doesn't appear to be in any pain for the time being. It switches back to looking angry when Jake slaps her hard in the arm.
"TAG!" he shouts and jumps to his feet.
"I. Am going to kill him," she mumbles, taking a moment to catch her breath before standing back up.
He's standing several feet away from her, still laughing as he taunts her with how she can't catch him. She rolls her head on her neck and presses her lips together before she goes after him, sending him into another giggling fit as he nearly screeches and dodges away. Doing her best to play along with his little boyhood flashback while still keeping him under control, she manages to put herself between him and the cover of the woods. Gradually, she starts herding him back towards the end of the field closer to the farmhouse where Pooch finally catches up to them. He watches the game play out for a few seconds before he's unable to stifle his laughter.
"Having fun?" he shouts to Aisha.
"Shut up and help me!" is her reply, which only makes him laugh harder.
Jensen stops weaving around and looks at the new player on the field, his eyes squinting in confusion. "That's not right," he mutters, pressing a hand to his forehead. A shudder rolls its way up his body, and when it passes, he drops his hand and storms over to where Pooch is standing.
"J, you with us?" Pooch asks.
Jensen stares at him for a second before throwing a fist right into his face. Pooch goes down with a grunt and Jake steps over him, glaring down at him as he rubs at his jaw.
"What the hell was that for?" the transport specialist asks, firing back with his own glare.
"The order was for twenty-four hours," Jensen spits out icily. He gestures towards his head. "Do you have any idea how much this fucking hurts? I don't want to go to a fucking hospital. I just want this to be done." Aisha steps slowly up behind him and he points back at her without turning his head around to look. "Stay. There."
She glances down to Pooch who subtly shakes his head at her as a sign not to try anything. He looks back up at the irate hacker. "Okay, J, I got it. I'm sorry. You're right, man, Clay promised you a day."
Jensen looks at him hard for a few seconds. "I don't trust you."
Pooch flinches at the casual, matter-of-fact way that his teammate says the words. He swallows and blows out a long breath before answering. "That's okay; it's not me you need to trust, is it? Clay's the one that calls the shots."
"You'll stop him," Jake shrugs. Aisha takes another step forward and he whirls on her. "I told you to stay!" he shouts and takes several steps away, putting distance between himself and the both of them.
"Easy, easy," Pooch says as he gets to his feet, holding his hands out to deter anyone else from moving. The tech's whole body is tense, ready to sprint again if the need calls for it. "I won't stop him, Jensen, it's on you and him. Just come back to the house and wait it out with us; there's only a few hours left, anyway, then this whole mess'll be over."
He catches Jensen's eyes flick over towards the direction of the house and cautiously looks over his shoulder to see Clay and Cougar slowly picking their way through the field. At the sound of a soft thud he looks back to find that the hacker has disappeared, hidden somewhere within the tall grass. He and Aisha rush over to see Jensen crumpled in the grass staring up at the sky and breathing heavily. They crouch down beside him and he turns his head slightly in their direction.
"I can't see," he says with a little chuckle.
Pooch reaches out a hand to reassure him, but thinks better of the action and pulls it back. "There a reason that's so funny?" he asks.
Jensen ignores the question and turns serious. "Did I hit you?"
"Already forgotten. Come on, let's get you back inside." This time he does take the chance and barely touches the tech's arm, and when no outburst comes, he nods to Aisha to help him get Jensen up. They brace him on wavering legs for a few moments and shoot each other a look of concern when he starts laughing to himself again.
"Is he okay?" Clay asks as he and Cougar finally get close enough to observe the strange spectacle.
"Oh, I'm juuuust fine," Jensen says between chuckles. He reaches a hand out in the direction of Clay's voice and waits until the Colonel moves into the touch, then pulls away from Aisha and Pooch. Clay hisses as the hacker stumbles into him, forcing him to compensate for the added weight on his injured leg. Once Jensen rights himself a little better, he leans into the Colonel's ear and whispers. "I think I have to disobey orders on the twenty-four hours, sir. The little soldiers worked faster than I thought." He pulls back and taps the side of his head with a finger.
Clay looks at him in confusion. "Are you saying it's done?"
Jake lets go and takes a few shaky steps back. He grins as he looks at them with sightless eyes and raises his arms out in a wide shrug. "Nothing hurts anymore." Laughing again, he missteps and falls clumsily back into the grass. "Ha. I feel like I'm drunk."
Cougar cocks an eyebrow at the others before moving to squat down in front of their wavering friend. Jake swings a hand up and accidentally grabs at Cougar's face, but quickly maneuvers it down to the sniper's shoulder and pulls him into a hug. "Things are about to get a little scary," he says quietly. "But it's okay. It's grand finale time, and everyone knows that's the best part of the show."
Before the sniper can comment, Jensen's whole body jerks violently in his grasp, just once, before going completely limp. "Jensen," Cougar calls, a distinct panic in his tone as he pulls Jake off his shoulders and cradles him in his arms. He looks up at the others as they gather around, a mortified fear in his eyes. "I heard…in his head..."
Clay swallows and places a calming hand on the sniper's back as Pooch hesitantly checks on the state of the lifeless hacker, blood trickling freely once again from his nose and ears. No one fails to notice the way that Pooch's fingers hover against Jensen's neck a little too long, or the unbearable silence he seems intent on keeping, or the fact that he refuses to look up at any of them. When he finally pulls his hand away and sits back, he keeps his eyes glued firmly the ground and shakes his head.
"No," Cougar whispers and hugs his best friend tighter against him. Clay turns away and walks off a few paces, hiding his face with his hand. Aisha stands stoically but bites her lip hard, unable to stop a few tears from sliding down her cheeks. Pooch presses his fingers against his eyes and sucks in a shaky breath. All for nothing. They had tried so hard, Jensen had tried so hard and put himself through so much pain, for nothing. In the end, none of it mattered.
As they shed tears around their fallen brother, they sink so far into their own private worlds of grief that none of them notice the tiniest rise and fall of Jensen's chest as he takes in a sharp little breath. It isn't until his body forces itself to draw in a full lungful of precious oxygen that Cougar finally feels the movement.
"Por favor, Dios," he whispers frantically as he pulls Jake just far enough away from his chest to recheck his vitals. The others watch with hope-filled intensity until they see a teary smile break out across the sniper's face.
"Mother fucker," Pooch chuckles, blowing the tension out of his body. Aisha grins and uses the back of her hand to rub the moisture from her eyes. Clay simply drops down in the grass, whispering out a quiet, "Thank God," to the blue sky above.
Jensen stirs weakly in Cougar's grasp, a soft moan escaping his lips. "Wake, mi amigo," the sniper gently coaxes.
Jake's eyelids flutter sluggishly for a few seconds before he gives up. "D'you see…f-fireworks?" he slurs, and cocks his head slightly. "Wuzzat noise?"
He slips back into unconsciousness before anyone can answer and they share concerned looks. "You think what that labcoat said…?" Pooch starts.
Clay shakes his head. "Get him to the car, we're leaving."
"Where to?" Aisha asks.
He looks down at the sleeping tech. "A hospital. He said this thing with the virus was over, but if he's not out of the woods yet, I want someone who knows what they're doing to be working on him."
"He's not gonna like that," Pooch points out.
"I don't care," Clay says gruffly. "He released me from the twenty-four hour promise, and from the looks of it he's not up to making his own decisions anymore. We're taking him to a doctor."
"And the assholes in the barn?" Aisha reminds him.
Clay smiles. "Put 'em back in the trunk. We're not done with those two, yet."
~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~
Nerves are fried. Sleep deprivation drains motivation. Hunger eats at stomachs. Worry gnaws at minds.
Jensen wakes up once during the leg of the drive that just barely gets them to a small hamlet where they can barter for gas, but he doesn't say much. Mostly he blinks owlishly at Cougar because the sniper is the only thing in his direct line of sight, mutters something about "smelling burning," and passes back out. With some uncomfortable difficulty, Cougar describes the sound he had heard in Jensen's head as having been a very faint "pop," akin to the Snappers that the hacker loves throwing at exposed arms and legs during the Fourth of July. They discuss the oddity and come to the conclusion that the tech must have programmed the "soldier bots" to self destruct after their mission was finished, therefore completely eliminating any future threat; all of them blowing at once is the only way to explain how an audible sound could possibly be heard from the outside. It also increases their concern regarding the resulting damage a series of electric microbursts on that level may have caused.
The second time Jensen wakes up he rolls his head to the other side and stares at Aisha for a little bit. She smiles at him and calls his name; he rolls his eyes up and to the side slightly as if thinking about something for a few seconds, then smirks and slides a hand clumsily across his lap to barely bump up against her leg.
"Tag," he whispers. "No tag backs."
She barks out a laugh and, looking content, he slips back into unconsciousness. Pooch asks her if Jensen was the one talking to her, or his kid self from the previous flashback. She's confident it was their Jensen, and it makes them all relax just a fraction.
They reach a larger town and decide to stop for food, sending Pooch out to get it since the bruising and butterfly bandages on his head make him look like he might be a car accident survivor instead of like he just stepped out of a war zone; which technically, they had. He returns with an assortment of edibles in hand, nothing too heavy, but making mouths water just the same. Jensen sniffs the air and stirs awake again, pulling his head away from the seat long enough to look around at everyone before letting it drop back against the cushion.
"Fuckers," he pouts.
Clay snorts out a laugh. "Cougar, see if you can help him eat something."
Basic motor function seems overly difficult for the tech, and with some trial and error, Cougar is slowly able to get him to consume several small pieces of soft fruit. Jake pushes the sniper's hand away when he's done, says, "Thanks," and rolls away to go back to sleep.
A bigger problem arises a while later when Jensen lightly taps Cougar on the hip and whispers, "I have to pee," into the sniper's ear. Pooch pulls the car over and Aisha gets out on her side so the hacker can slide out behind her. He tries, puts up a valiant effort, but only manages to scoot himself to the edge of the seat before admitting that he can't. Clay and Pooch get him between them and walk him away from the car, his legs moving on his command but otherwise unable to support his weight. They have to help him with everything but he's too out of sorts to be embarrassed by any of it. On the way back he tells Clay that he's the best Colonel ever, runs a friendly hand over Pooch's bald head, and promptly loses his struggle with staying in the waking world. They have to carry him the rest of the way to the car.
It's dark by the time they reach a city that has a decent hospital. Muscles are sore, injuries burn, and no one has the slightest idea what Jensen is brokenly rambling on about, but no one stops him because it's just such a damn relief to hear him using more than Cougar-length sentences.
They get the usual suspicious looks from the medical staff upon entry, but Clay is ready with their aliases they have created for just such situations and they're quickly accepted in as injured members of a still-active military unit who were ambushed in the field, one of their members taking electrical damage that may have affected his brain. As they're being shuttled into the back rooms to get their various injuries doctored up, they meet another wall as Jensen takes one look at the CT scanner and goes into a panic. The look he gives the others as they help hold him down for sedation screams of betrayal, and Clay fights the urge to vomit knowing the last time he saw that look on any of his men's faces was when Roque turned on them.
"It's not the same," Pooch quietly tells him once Jake is calm, apparently having felt the same way. Cougar stands back quietly, looking utterly disgusted with himself. Aisha respectfully stays out of the conversation. None of them are willing to leave the X-Ray area until Jensen is out and safely being carted to his own room to await the results. Pooch stays with him while the others get sent off for their patch jobs.
One by one the Losers migrate back into Jensen's room, sewn up, cleaned up, and donning scrubs. Hospital gowns are out of the question. Pooch takes his turn with the doctor just to double-check his healing wound, and returns a short time later equally scrubbed free of the dirt and blood that they had all come in wearing like a second skin. Jensen, who remains comatose under the influence of the sedative, would still look like he just crawled out of a fallen building if not for the hospital gown he was forced to wear for the scan. Jensen also hates hospital gowns. They make plans to rectify that situation as soon as he wakes up.
If he'll let them.
In the meantime all they can do is sit and wait and hope that whatever the doctor finds on that CT scan isn't what they all fear; and if it is, they'll deal with it personally. They'll take care of their own. Anything less would be betrayal, and that is not an option.