Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from either Mag7 or Glee. I also don't own the ATF AU (I think MOG does). I am just borrowing to play! (Disclaimer good for all chapters…just in case I forget to post it!)
Nathan was moving before the final note died away. Grabbing his kit, he sprinted over to the teens. Rachel lay on her back, panting as the pain radiated through her. She had been hit by one of the wild shots. Puck knelt beside her, clinging to her hand. She had focused her dark eyes on his face, trying to stave off her panic. As Nathan came up to her other side, she shifted her eyes to him. He smiled at her.
"You hang on there, Rachel. We're going to get you fixed up."
She tried to smile at him; his deep, calm voice helping calm her slightly. Her mouth would not cooperate; it was too busy trying to keep from crying. A few tears leaked out of her eyes as she blinked rapidly.
"Rachel?"
Her eyes moved back to Puck as the fear in his voice penetrated her mind. She did not like it when Puck was afraid. Her eyes connected with his. He gave her a half-smile.
"There you are."
She could almost smile at him, but then she noticed his other arm looked wrong. There was blood on his sleeve.
"Oh," she breathed, forcing her own pain down. "You're hurt!"
"Just a scratch, baby. Nothing big," he said, keeping his focus on her.
Nathan shot a look to Josiah, and the profiler gathered up two of the teenagers.
"I need you two to come with me. We're going to find Nathan some extra supplies to make Rachel comfortable."
Both of them turned to Puck. He gave them a quick nod.
"We'll be back as soon as we can," the agent said.
Chris nodded. "Good. Let's keep the noise down though. Time to prevent that panic."
As the three left the room, the blond leader turned to his men.
"Buck, Ezra, find something to cover the body and then go get airport security. With those shots muffled by his silencer, I doubt anyone heard anything. Make sure you've both got communicators. When JD locates the bombs, we'll let you know."
"Got somethin' for me, Cowboy?" Vin asked as he stepped up to Chris' side.
"Not yet," replied his boss. "Stay close though. You and Nate are going to have to hold the room and run interference when we've got JD's info."
The sniper nodded and moved towards the two girls clinging to one another as they watched Nathan work on their friend. He guided them into a couple of the seats and knelt in front of them. Meeting their scared eyes, he gave them a reassuring smile.
"It's goin' to be okay. Nate's the best medic in town. Now, I've met Brittany, but who are you?"
"T-T-Tina," stammered the last of the girls, her hand latched tightly in Brittany's.
His blue eyes soft with compassion, Vin continued talking in a low voice. "Hey, Tina, I'm Vin. What brought you to Denver?"
"It's a layover," answered Tina, her dark eyes never leaving Rachel's prone form.
"Yeah," Brittany said. "We went to California for a music exhibition. We're on the way home."
"Where's home?" he asked, glancing towards Chris.
"Lima…Lima, Ohio," the blonde girl replied. "We're in Glee club."
"That sounds like fun."
"It is…a lot more fun than Cheerios practice," said Brittany, not noticing the confusion that slid across his face. Putting that aside, he turned to Tina. "Tina, who were the kids that left with my teammate?"
"Mike and Santana," she answered, dark eyes meeting his for a moment before they shifted back to her injured friend.
As Vin continued to soothe the two girls, Chris stepped up by Nate and crouched down. "How are we doing?"
Nate glanced up. "Puck's scratch is getting her worked up."
The blond agent shifted and met Rachel's gaze. He gave her a small smile.
"Hey, Rachel," he said. "You lie still and relax. Nate's going to take care of you."
Her voice came out in a breathy whisper. "Puck?"
Chris nodded. "I'll take care of him."
Shifting around, he grabbed some bandages and antiseptic wipes from Nate's kit. Taking a firm hold of Puck's elbow, he turned him sideways.
"Hey, man," the teen complained, never turning his head from the brunette on the ground beside him.
"The blood's upsetting her." Chris stated plainly. Puck stopped resisting. As he carefully cleaned the wound, Chris watched as Puck suppressed any sign of pain. The boy's voice never faltered as he continued talking to Rachel. The girl's deep brown eyes remained focused on Puck as he talked, letting her ignore everything Nate was doing. Chris had to admire the boy's ability to handle a crisis. He turned to exchange a look with Vin. Vin gave him a nod before turning back to the two girls.
"Tina? Brittany?" he asked, keeping his voice at a soothing level. The two very different teenagers focused on him, pulling their eyes away from their injured friend. He gave them an encouraging smile. "Who's supposed to be keeping an eye on you?"
Brittany tilted her head. "Well, usually it's Puck, Rae, or Santana, but they're busy right now."
Vin blinked. "Well, what I meant…"
"Will Schuster, our Glee teacher, and Emma Pillsbury, our guidance counselor," Tina interrupted. She patted Brittany's arm as she explained things to the blonde. "He wants to know who the adults are."
"Oh, then why didn't he ask that?" she asked. Tina paused for a moment and then shrugged.
"He doesn't know Glee-speak."
"Okay, that makes sense."
Tina smiled slightly at Vin as the agent's brow furrowed in confusion. "Glee-speak is kind of how things are talked about in the group. It doesn't always make sense to outsiders. Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury are the adults, but they're really not the ones who watch out for us, you know?"
"And the others, Santana, Rachel, and Puck do?" Vin asked curiously.
"Well, yeah," answered Brittany. "People are mean at our school, and the teachers don't do much, so somebody has to."
"Got them!"
JD's excited exclamation drew Chris and Vin to his side. He had placed the laptop on a seat and sat cross-legged on the floor. His two teammates knelt down beside him.
"Where?" Chris demanded.
The young technology expert pointed to various sections of his map. "One's in the near this American Airline check-in counter; another is here in the personnel lounge." He clicked the map to make it move. "There's a third one in the United Airlines cargo area, and the last one is in the control tower."
"Damn!" Vin gave a low whistle. "This guy wasn't playin' around. The four bombs would be bad enough, but you take out that control tower…" He trailed off.
Chris looked grim. "Take out the control tower and we'll have planes down as well."
The three agents stared at the map in silence. While his younger teammates focused on the disaster that could happen, Chris considered the best way to spread his men out to solve the problem.
"Chris!"
The call drew everyone's attention to the door. Buck and Ezra had returned with airport security. As they joined the three men around the computer, Josiah, Santana and Mike returned with two paramedics. Josiah and Mike wheeled in two portable hospital screens. As Santana rushed over to Tina and Brittany, the paramedics hauled additional supplies over to Nathan to assist with Rachel. Josiah and Mike set their screens up around the body of the terrorist. The agent put a hand on the teenager's shoulder.
"Thank you, son," he said in an encouraging voice. "You go help with your girls now."
Mike gave him a half-smile and moved to join the three girls as they watched the people grouped around Rachel. Josiah joined his teammates and airport security.
"Josiah?" Chris asked. The powerful profiler glanced back before turning shadowed eyes to his boss.
"With so many people stuck, the medics have been extra busy. These two had just gone off duty but since they had to wait out the weather, they stayed near the office in case of an emergency."
The blond nodded. "And the kids?"
"The kids are…holding on. They know Rachel needs them calm, so they're suppressing everything right now, at least mine are."
Vin nodded. "Tina and Brittany too. They're completely focused on Rachel."
Chris shifted his gaze to the kids. Puck had not moved from his spot, holding her hand and talking softly. Brittany leaned her head on Tina's right shoulder while her left hand held tightly to Santana's hand. Mike had dropped down to sit at their feet, his knees pulled up and his arms wrapped around his shins. One of Tina's hands grasped his shoulder while her other arm wrapped around Brittany's shoulder. Santana sat sideways, her legs pressed against Mike's side. Her right hand held Brittany's while her left arm stretched behind the blonde to rest on Tina's shoulder. All of them stared at Rachel as if willing strength into their friend.
Chris scowled as he turned back. "They're too young for this shit."
"Victims usually are, Mr. Larabee," answered Ezra, somber green eyes glancing towards the teens.
With a growl, Chris glanced at airport security. One of them stepped forward. "We've been ordered to cooperate. We're stretched thin with overcrowding right now and our people have been on duty for too long. You're the available experts; we'd be stupid not to listen."
Chris signed, "Thanks; that'll make it easier. There are four bombs: check-in, cargo, personnel, and control tower. These bombs were originally meant for planes, not the airport itself. We don't know what the triggers are and we don't know if they're on a timer. We need to get them taken down as soon as possible. Security, I'm going to assign my men to each of the bombs. I need you to go along to smooth the way and help keep panic down. We don't want this place to turn into a madhouse."
"No shit," muttered one of them before snapping his mouth shut at his boss's glare. The leader of the security force nodded at Chris. "No problem, sir."
Chris nodded back, appreciating the man's lack of posturing. "Good. Ezra, I want you to handle the one at the check-in counter. You'll be more reassuring to the civilians than the rest of us. Play it down and stay in touch."
"Assuredly, Mr. Larabee." Ezra headed out the door. Five security guards followed him.
"Buck, I want you to go down to the personnel lounge. Try to wait until you've finished with the bomb before you start collecting numbers from the flight attendants."
"Hey, Old Dog, it's me!" Buck gave a grin before gathering his flock of guards.
Chris raised a brow. "Yeah, that's what worries me. Stay in touch."
The mustached man smirked and strode through the door.
Shaking his head, Chris turned back to his remaining agents. "Josiah, I want you in the cargo area. JD's only spotted one, but have the workers fine tooth comb it. Let's make sure we don't have any extra surprises around."
Josiah nodded as he accepted a communicator from JD. "Of course, brother." With that, he gathered his security escort and walked out.
"Vin, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on things. I need JD focused on security and Nate'll be busy for a while. Watch the kids and help security keep the curious out."
"You got it, Cowboy."
"JD, I'll take the one in the control tower. Keep the lines open and let me know there are any other problems."
JD looked up. "We've got a problem."