Okay, so I meant to put this on the last chapter, but if you guys are wondering who "John" and "The Man in the Suit" are, this is a quasi-sequel to one of my other stories, "MacGyver's Interest," which is a crossover story with "Person of Interest" This story can most definitely be read as a standalone though! You don't need to know anything about the last story, though if you want to read it, it's on my profile! :D

Also, Ridley was awesome enough to point out that Mac probably wouldn't have been okay to call Murdoc his partner, at least as easily as he did when I wrote him, so I apologize for that, and I'm planning on changing it! Thank you, Ridley! :D

I don't own these characters.

The hitman collapsed as MacGyver turned around with wide eyes. Before the agent could make a move to fight off the HIT guards, one of them rushed forward, grabbing him by the shoulders and herding him into the building. Mac put up as much of a fight as he could, but his head was still pounding, making him slightly nauseous and unable to fight back to his full abilities.

The young agent was dragged into the building by one guard while one man stayed out with the body of Murdoc, once again speaking to someone on his cell phone.

Mac was jerked down one hallway, then pulled to a stop right outside a door about halfway down. The door was unlocked, and the blond was thrown inside; his shoulder popped as he landed on it, causing him to groan in pain. As he gingerly sat up, which was more difficult with his hands tied behind his back, he gently rotated his shoulder, trying to test to see if it was dislocated or not. Thankfully, as he moved it around, he came to the conclusion that it wasn't, though it was still sore. Before he could get up and try to run for the door, the guard who accompanied him stepped inside and slammed it shut, placing himself in front of the door to keep the young man from running out.

MacGyver's memory kept playing back the loud echo of the gunshot, and the image of Murdoc dropping to the ground kept flashing through his mind. While Murdoc was a terrible man, and deserved to pay for all the bad he'd done, MacGyver had a nagging suspicion that it wasn't that easy to get rid of the assassin. He shook his head; he couldn't afford to think about conspiracy theories at the moment, especially when he knew that Murdoc's son's life hung in the balance.

The plan had worked, for the most part; he had gotten into HIT headquarters without raising suspicion. Obviously they hadn't planned for Murdoc getting shot, but Mac knew he needed to concentrate on getting Carter. There wasn't anything he could do for Murdoc, if the hitman was really dead, but there was something he could do for the kid. He he just needed to ditch his guard so he could sneak out and find Murdoc's son.

That was not to be his fate, however. There was a banging on the door, and after the guard unlocked it, he stepped aside. MacGyver didn't recognize the man, but he remembered that the people who had captured him and John back in New York had actually been taken into custody by the NYPD, so it would make sense that he didn't recognize anyone.

"Where's the kid?" Mac asked, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

"Murdoc's son?" the man asked, flashing a smile. "Don't worry, he'll be well taken care of. "

For some reason, Mac had a hard time buying that. "You shot Murdoc," MacGyver said, switching topics.

"How very observant," the man drawled.

"Why? He could have been an asset to you," Mac pointed out.

"Murdoc is a freelancer, willing to sell out to the highest bidder. For now, that was us. But in the future, he could be a dangerous liability. We had a perfect track record until you and your friend in New York managed to slip free. Since then, our work has become more publicized, and we're losing our status and anonymity. The men that were arrested in New York have been...taken care of," he informed the young agent with a smirk. "That way, there was no chance of them cutting a deal and talking," the new man explained. A chill ran down Mac's spine at those words, though it really didn't surprise him.

"So that's your plan?" MacGyver asked. "Go after everyone who's had contact with you and could potentially expose you?"

"Like I said, we had a clean and perfect record until you and the man in the suit came along. You two are really the only ones with firsthand knowledge about us, meaning you two are the only ones we are truly concerned about. The others only have secondary accounts, mere rumors, and those can be quashed. Once you and the man in the suit are taken care of, we can go back to what we were before, though I doubt we'll ever get it back exactly the way it was," he added with a scowl. MacGyver shrugged.

"Sorry not sorry?" he offered. The man in charge scoffed slightly, turning towards the door for a moment. MacGyver knew what was coming before his captor even turned back towards him, but that didn't mean the punch hurt any less.

Mac spit out a bit of blood as he stared up at the man standing above him. He knew it wasn't a good idea to taunt the men torturing him, but he couldn't help it. "That's all you've got?" he shot. "Gotta say, the guy in New York was a lot more intimidating. At least he had something he was going to inject me with."

"Trust me," the man said with a smirk. "What Oliver Mason had in mind for you, that injection he was going to give you? By the time I'm done with you, you're going to be wishing that I was giving you the mercy of something that fast."

0-0-0

A right hook to the face, a boot to the chest, and an uppercut followed each other in quick succession, and MacGyver was thrown backwards onto the floor. His hands were still bound behind his back, and as he landed, he felt his fingers get a little crushed. Nothing broken that he could tell, but it still hurt.

Blood was dripping into Mac's eye from a cut above his right eyebrow, and the rest of his face was covered in streaks of dried blood, but thankfully Mac's nose had stopped bleeding. That was, until the next left hook delivered to the agent's face.

The beating had only been going on for a few minutes, but with how many hits that had been packed into those few minutes, it felt like it had been hours. The man grabbed Mac's hair and yanked his head up, forcing the agent to stare directly into his eyes. Mac summoned what saliva and blood he could and aimed his spit at the man's face. Rage distorted the man's features, and he raised his fist to slam it once more into Mac's face, but thankfully, a voice cut through the beatings and stopped the man, giving Mac a much-needed reprieve.

"Graves," the guard in the room with them called out. Graves, who was apparently the man beating on MacGyver, took a step back from the blond. The Phoenix agent was panting, and as soon as his hair was released, he doubled over on himself in pain.

Graves stepped over to the man who had spoken, and the two began talking in hushed tones.

Mac's body was sore, but he knew he couldn't take time to wallow in the pain. He was on his knees, and he sat back on his haunches, acting like he was trying to support himself, but he was really just trying to hide the fact that the was fishing around in his shoe.

Before they had left his house, Mac has stepped into his bathroom and grabbed a razor blade, knowing that he'd need something to cut his bindings once he got into HIT headquarters. He quickly began sawing at the ropes binding his wrists, but he was too slow.

Graves seemed to catch the motion out of the corner of his eye, and he turned sharply. Mac's eyes widened, and he moved the razor up and down even faster, trying to cut through as much of the rope as he could. Graves reached him more quickly than he could saw through the bindings though. His foot lashed out and caught Mac in the chest once again, sending the agent crashing into the wall behind him.

MacGyver saw Graves' fist coming towards his face again, and he had just enough time to move his head enough so that the punch merely glanced off the blond's cheek instead of being a full-powered punch to the nose. It still stung, but it was something Mac was able to shake off easily.

As Graves turned around for a round two, the Phoenix agent tried pulling on the ropes binding his wrists; he felt them give a little bit, but it wasn't enough to help him at the moment. Graves was almost on top of him, and Mac dove to the side instinctively. He moved fluidly from kneeling down to lying on his side, sweeping his legs around and catching Graves at the ankles. The man in charge came crashing down, and that was the amount of time Mac needed to give a final pull on the ropes, snapping the restraints around his wrists.

He jumped to his feet, only to have to immediately duck the punch coming his way from the guard standing in the room with them. Mac followed the guard's attack with his own jab to the man's rib cage. The guard grunted in pain and curled in on himself; when he did, Mac spotted a ring with five keys attached to the man's belt, and he took it upon himself to relieve the HIT man of the key ring.

Once he had the metal ring in his hand, he bolted for the door. It was a door that opened out, so once he was in the hallway, it was rather easy to keep it shut as he fumbled with the keys, trying to figure out which one locked this particular door. He leaned against it and put his full weight into keeping the door closed while he quickly tried out different keys in the lock. He was on the second key when someone slammed into the door, forcing it open slightly. Mac grunted and shoved back, latching the door closed again. He sped up his elimination process and finally on the fourth key he inserted and turned, he heard the lock click.

He warily stepped back, unsure whether the door would actually hold or not, but after a few seconds of the men slamming themselves against the thick wood, Mac figured it would hold, at least long enough for him to get away and hopefully find Murdoc's son. Once he was sure the men would be stuck for at least a few minutes, he ran down the hallway, pausing at any door he saw to check and see if he could find Carter. The Phoenix agent's face was sore, and his shoulder was throbbing from it's near-dislocation, but he knew he couldn't let his injuries slow him down.

Every door he came across, he tested the handle. Most of them swung open, and if they didn't, one of the keys on the keyring he'd stolen opened it up, but none of them contained the young child. Mac's stress level started rising as he couldn't seem to find the room Murdoc's son was in, but he finally reached a door that none of the keys opened. His gut instinct told him that Carter was behind that door, and he knocked gently on the door.

"Hello?" a small voice came from inside the room, confirming Mac's thought that the kid was behind that door.

"Hey," Mac replied as he crouched down. "Are you Carter?"

"I'm scared," the voice replied. "I just wanna go home. Can I please go home? Why am I here? I'm scared," the small voice repeated.

"I know," Mac said, panting from his run down the hallway. "Listen, I'm going to get you out of here and then we're going to leave. Does that sound okay?"

There was no response, just a sniffle, but Mac took it as a positive answer.

Knowing they were in an old business building, he glanced around, and soon spotted what he was looking for: an elevator down at the end of the hall. A few feet away from him, Mac also saw a wound-up firehouse behind a plate of glass with a metal stick to break said glass.

"Carter, I'm gonna leave for a minute, but I promise I'll be right back," he said quietly as he stood up. He heard the kid start to protest, but he knew he couldn't waste time trying to assure the child that his plan was going to work. Most adults didn't even understand it when Mac tried to explain his plan to them, and he knew time was against him.

He ran to the case the firehouse was in and grabbed the metal bar, smashing the glass and pulling out the heavy hose. There was a large shard of glass still attached to the case, which he grabbed. Once he had the sharp glass in his hand, he began sawing through the hose, wincing a little as he accidentally sliced his finger on the sharp object. He kept working though, knowing that the men he'd left locked in the other room had probably already called for backup, and would be after him again any second.

Once he finally sawed through the hose, he hurried back to the room Carter was in and tied one end to the doorknob, tugging on it to make sure the knot would hold. He then ran down the hallway and hit the button to call the elevator. The fifteen second waiting period before the elevator doors dinged open were some of the longest of Mac's life, and he jumped forward as soon as the doors slid open. He tied the remaining end of the hose around the rail inside the elevator, once again making sure to tighten the knot as tight as he could. As he made his way out of the elevator, he hit the button for the lowest-level parking garage that the elevator pad offered before he exited.

The doors slid closed, and Mac watched as the lights indicated the elevator beginning to move down. A few seconds later, there was an ominous creaking, and Mac looked over at the door Carter was behind. He moved out of the way right before the door was pulled completely out of the frame, sending it crashing down the hallway. The hole left by the recently-departed door revealed a small boy cowering just inside the room with wide eyes, and a little bit of the stress Mac was feeling eased a tiny bit.

"Carter?" Mac asked, though he immediately recognized the pictures from the file Matty had on Murdoc's son. The kid wasn't any older than seven or eight, and he shrunk away from Mac as the blond stepped slowly into the room. "Carter, I promise, I'm here to help," Mac said in a soothing voice. The blond realized that his bloody face must not look like the most comforting thing, but unfortunately he hadn't had time to grab a shower after being beaten. "Carter, I know you're scared, but if you want to get out of here, we have to leave now."

The young boy still stared warily at MacGyver, but he didn't back away as the agent closed the distance between them.

Mac knew time was running out, but he knew that if he rushed, the kid would never trust him, and then they'd never get out of HIT headquarters. He knelt down in front of the young child as slowly as he dared and held out his hands, deciding to try a slightly different approach. "Carter, my name is MacGyver. I'm a friend of...of someone who cares about you," Mac said, deciding not to bring Murdoc into the conversation. "I'm here to get you out of here. Do you want that?"

"Do you know my mom?" Carter asked with a sniffle as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"I don't, but I can take you to her, take you somewhere safe," Mac offered. "If we want to get out of here though, we have to leave now," he added. The child stared dubiously at him for a few seconds, deciding whether or not he should trust the strange, bloody man who had ripped the door off its hinges. As Mac waited for the kid to make up his mind, he suddenly heard something, or someone, coming down the hallway, and his heart rate picked up a little. "Carter, we really do need to go now if we want to get out of here," Mac stressed, standing back up.

"I want mom," Carter said, pulling back.

"I know, I know," Mac said, trying to be as understanding as he could. "But if you want to see her again, you need to come with me. I promise, I'm going to keep you safe," he added. Carter stared at him for a second more, but he finally took Mac's outstretched hand, and the two of them ran out of the room.

Hmmm...What did you guys think?

Also, WE'VE GOT LIKE A MONTH TILL MACGYVER COMES BACK ON AIR, IS ANYONE ELSE EXCITED?! :D