Alright guys, since you all wanted this to be a short story, here's your chapter two. This story'll probably be about 5 chapters or so and it'll probably make a later mention in Quondum Iterum =]

This chapter was written up pretty late at night and I was a bit out of it so please excuse any errors as well as the fact that it may be a tad vague.

Oh and the document manager is being a bit retarded with me so if all of this is in bold then please excuse it. It bothers me just as much as it bother you.

Anywho, Enjoy!

At the moment John Rider was not a happy man. As a matter of fact he was quite the opposite.

He was in a bit of a situation, not to mention he was a bit delirious from lack of sleep, and the light flesh wound at his side was stinging from the cold air hitting it. Nevertheless he continued. His unconscious younger brother in a gentle hold in his arms.

From the sounds of the barking, blood hounds were after them. About six or seven of them, John analyzed. They were with owners of course who obviously had well armed weapons. Not to mention Ian reeked of blood so the dogs would have their scent in no time.

So as noiselessly as he could, John dashed through the land, knowing it would be best to keep as much distance as he could manage between himself and those who wanted him dead. And after covering about a mile or so John heard the barking clearer than he had before. They where about 50 feet or so from him, he figured.

Realizing he was being approached fast, he decided he had no better option than to face them and take them out before they took him out. So with that thought, John found a tree larger than the others around it, and placed his unconscious brother at the base of it, making sure he was hidden from plain view. He then made sure Ian's handgun was at his belt, and that he was armed before taking a needle from his pouch and scratching a quick message onto the bark of the tree in Morse code. Making sure his message was clear, he took off in the direction of his enemies, praying to god to keep his brother safe.

John spotted his first enemies after only a minute's searching. He hid behind a nearby tree as he observed the three men, who thankfully didn't have a pooch accompanying him. So as soon as their backs turned towards him, John shot out from behind the tree, and with stealth and speed only an agent of his status could attain, he ran up behind one man, grabbed his head and snapped it to the side. Quickly and instantly breaking his neck. Immediately his two companions turning towards John, lashing out at him in physical hand to hand combat. John fought them off, neutralizing one of the men with a swift blow to the back of the neck. The other man took this opportunity to pull out a gun and empty an entire round directly at John's chest.

John however smirked, a look of triumph came over his face, letting the man know, he was armed against bullets. He in turn whipped out his customized handgun and fired four shots directly at the man's forehead. The man, instantly dead, dropped to the ground. John then looked to the side where he saw another man about 50 or so feet away, with two large dogs. And while the man may have been looking away from John, the dogs immediately turned their heads towards him. Before they could even make the slightest noise to alert their owner, John fired two bullets with absolute killer aim, one aimed for each dog's skull. Luckily for him, the silent bullets made impact right on target, and before the owner of the dogs could turn to face him, John dropped to the ground, lying as flat as he could against the lengthy grass. He quieted his breaths so they were almost undetectable and watched as the man began moving closer to John.

40 feet…

John vaguely if Ian was still alright, because he knew the mob he was up against wasn't stupid. They wouldn't send just two men after him. There had to be more. John just prayed they weren't near Ian.

30 feet…

The thought of his wife suddenly entered John's mind. Yes, her beautiful face suddenly interrupted his morbid thoughts of his brother.

20 feet…

And of course with the thought of Helen came the thought of his unborn child. It was only a few weeks now. Less than a month.

10 feet…

All the more reason he needed to make this work. No matter what this mission had to succeed. For the three people in the world he loved more than anyone else. His brother, his wife and his child.

5 feet…and…

John tilted his gun upward and with a millisecond to aim, he fire straight at the man, the bullet piercing him directly between the eyes. Perfect.

John wasted no time to jump up and head back towards his brother. With his enemies temporarily subsided, he could make a run for his chopper faster now. He jogged back towards the tree he remembered leaving Ian at, but suddenly stopped as he saw someone else there. A man clad in black pointing a handgun at Ian.

Sudden rage flared up inside John as he recognized the man to be one of his enemies' agents. His anger began to drive him as he quickly ran up behind the man and charged him to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand. He flipped the man onto his back, sat down on his stomach, drew a sub-machine gun from its sheath at his belt and pointed it directly between the man's eyes. Just barely stopping himself from pulling the trigger.

The muscle in John's jaw rippled viciously as a look of hatred came over his victim's features.

"If you ever get near my brother again I swear I won't stop myself" John growled with anger that sounded unfamiliar to his voice.

The man didn't move.

"Get the fuck out of my sight" he spoke, standing up. He kept the gun pointed where it was. The man didn't hesitate to slide back in the wet grass and stand as well. "Go, run for your pathetic life and tell your boss you messed with the wrong agent" John smirked gesturing away from himself with the gun. "Run."

The man took a deep intake of breath and did as he was told. He ran as fast as he could from the enraged agent. And still just before he lost sight of the man, John couldn't help but let a shot ring out towards him. Knowing it wouldn't kill the man, but injure him. Just a little payback for what those bastards did to his brother.

John took a deep breath to calm himself down. He re-sheathed his weapon and knelt down to his brother's side. To which, Ian turned his head to face his brother and cracked open one dulling grey eye. "Back in a few?" he raised a brow, tapping a finger weakly against the Morse coded message above his head.

"I was short on time" John answered quickly.

"Thanks for saving my skin for about the tenth time" Ian said softly.

"Not a problem…how do you feel?" John asked moving closer to examine his brother.

"Probably better than that guy you just scared off" Ian chuckled weakly.

John joined him "Yeah, cause no one messes with my baby brother and gets away with it unharmed." He ruffled Ian's hair fondly. "Now, give me a minute." He said as he peeled off his vest, revealing a slightly damaged bullet proof vest.

*"A bullet proof vest?" Ian muttered incredulously "Why do you have a bullet proof vest, where's my bullet proof vest?!"

John looked down at the thick steel plating on his chest, picked at the corner till it began to peel, and pulled an entire inch off the steel right from the vest. Discarding of the damaged material carelessly. He looked down at the vest once again, this time without its dented outer layer, it looked new and smooth once again.

"I'm your bullet proof vest" John answered quietly. "Now, let's get going, shall we?"

"Mm…" Ian took a deep breath "Are we far?"

"Not really. We only have about two or three miles. Not too far" John said as he pulled his outer vest back on. He then stepped closer to Ian, intending to take the younger into his arms, but flinched as his skin came in contact with his brother's "Oi, you're burning up kiddo" John frowned.

"That explains why I feel like shit…" Ian muttered, closing his eyes again.

"We really need to get you some professional medical attention" John grumbled as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a small syringe "You've got a bit of a fever coming up…that's not too good."

"What's that?" Ian furrowed his brows.

"Liquid Propranolol. It'll keep your system from tensing in reaction to the fever, and it'll eventually ease you into unconsciousness" John explained, injecting the liquid into Ian's arm as he spoke. "Alright" he said once done "Let's go" he tucked the syringe back into his pouch and scooped his brother into his arms. "With any luck we'll get to our chopper before the fever gets too bad…"

"Ow" Ian deadpanned as he rested his head against John's chest.

"Ow indeed" John frowned as he began walking towards their destination.

It was about a half an hour before exhaustion caught up with John and he soon found his mind start to fog the slightest bit. He knew it had been at least 48 hours since he'd last gotten a wink of sleep, and he knew it was taking its toll on him. Not to mention he'd been forced to drug Ian into unconsciousness before the Propranolol eased him into it. The younger had been in a severe amount of pain, and had begun struggling, and John had no choice. He knew the drugs would do anything but help his condition, but John desperately needed Ian to cooperate long enough to get to their chopper, so he had resorted to the drugs. They would eventually do more damage to his system than good and John knew he had to get some insulin in there to counteract the drugs before they did that. Just how exactly to do that though escaped him.

And just when John felt as though he was going to collapse himself, something came into his view through the trees. Something that he definitely thought was too good to actually be there. But upon stepping closer he found…yes it was…it was a house. A small secluded little house all by itself in the middle of the land.

It was a miracle.

Upon seeing the little residence, all the sleep seemed to have escaped John as he dashed towards the place that just may serve as not only his but his brother's savior.

*This dialogue between Ian and John about the bullet proof vest is from a t.v show, I can't exactly remember what it was called but it is from that so credit for that brilliant line goes to said show =]

Alright, that was the second one for you =] It's a little show of what John would do for his brother and what he would do to those that tried to harm him. I kind of like over protective aggressive John XD I might even put him in again sometime XD lol I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and I'll have the next chapter up real soon =]

Review!!