The Monster

Nicknames are well earned. Jack's past comes back to haunt him. The team tries to help the stubborn Jack, but will they be too late?

Showdown

"Mac, I just got off the phone with Belton PD. Ryan's gang is affiliated with the Hell's Angels. I pressed on some of my sources assuring them that they did not want the full weight of the federal government breathing down on then and they rolled. Ryan between the club preside about six months ago when he got out after his predecessor had a suspicious bike accident and died. It caused a major rift causing the veteran members to leave, and since then Ryan's been leading it with a trail of blood. That's how he got the attention of the Angels. I think this is his power play to get the Angels' support." Matty said via FaceTime. "I'm sending you the coordinates for the meet up. I got from my sources. Belton PD is on their way but they're coming from across town. Wait for them."

"Okay." Mac said like an annoyed teenager.

"I'm serious. These are bad people." Matty said before disconnecting. Mac started that way.

"Matty said..." Bozer started.

"I'm not leaving Jack. You saw the blood. He could be hurt. I would never tell you guys to do something you don't want to. You can stay in the car. I'm getting Jack." Mac said determined.

Jack struggled with his arms restrained behind his back. He tried not to move too quickly fearing the dizziness would make him sick. Jack relied heavily on his military training to calm him and ignore his body warning signs. Jack heard footsteps and saw the bartender at the doorway.

"I assume you told my brother I was looking for him?" Jack asked.

"Sure did." The man said looking at Jack with swollen eyes.

"This is a family matter. I just wanna talk with my brother... Your name is snake? How original?" Jack laughed upsetting him.

"Shut up... Why do all this? He obviously does not want to see you."

"Cause he's a chicken shit. He killed a seventy year old woman..."

"He is a scary son of a bitch, ain't he?" Snake said but Jack laughed again.

"Let me go, so I can talk with my brother." Jack demanded struggling against the restraints.

"You are going to die here..."

"When I get out of these. I will kill you, and then I'm going to kill my piece of shit brother. I may die in the process but I'm going to take you all with me." Jack said with a bloody smile. Snake laughed as Jack stared at him. Snake punched Jack across the face. Jack shook off the hit and returned the smile. Snake left as a prospect came in to stand guard.

The prospect was fairly young. Jack saw the prison tattoos across the young man's forearms. Jack looked around seeing the large windows covered with newspaper that had been spray painted over. Jack began picking at the knot that bound his wrists, as he seized up the prospect.

"Stop moving." He said but Jack ignored his orders.

"What are you thirteen? Does your mom know where you are?" Jack teased.

"Shut up, and stop moving."

"Was that your big wheel in front?" Jack continued. The prospect pulled a gun and Jack stared at him fearless. The prospect swung the gun hoping to pistol whip him. Jack ducked before exploding from the chair disarming the man and shooting him in the knee.

"Ah!" The young man screamed holding his knee.

"Listen here, champ." Jack said kneeling down. "I am prepared to die. Are you?" Jack asked putting the muzzle of the weapon in the wound. The man screamed, and looked very frightened. "Would you like to have an open casket funeral? Go get my brother." Jack said with a smiled motioning with the gun. The prospect crawled out favoring his injured knee.

Outside... Mac, Riley, and Bozer arrive outside of a shady warehouse that looked abandoned except for the motorcycles out in front. They looked around and saw the truck the witnesses described.

"Jack has to be here." Mac said staring at the building.

"Mac, SWAT is still 10 minutes out. I want to save Jack too, but going in there is a death sentence." Riley said as if she was the only one in touch with reality. Jack was the one who protected them. He cleared buildings, and punched the bad guys. There was no replacing him. Mac could macgyver a makeshift weapon but that was nothing compared to Jack's sharp shooting, and was usually the last option. The team was still lost.

"If we can't go in, I'll have them come out." Mac said as something caught his eye in the dumpster. Mac begins mixing toilet cleaner and window cleaner with some cotton balls.

Inside the warehouse... Jack tucked the gun in his waistband. Jack began to feel chilly as if it was a cool fall day in the mountain, and not the dry heat of Texas. Jack knew what his body was trying to tell him. Jack knew the entire time but chose to ignore it and now that it was this bad there was nothing to be done.

"Ryan, I know you're out there." Jack said seeing a shadow in the doorway.

"Jackie boy," Ryan cheered as he came in the room. He did not look the least bit surprised that his brother slipped his restraints. "Ain't we a little old to still be fighting like boys?"

"How can you crack jokes? Ma is dead. Tell me what happened?!" Jack demanded, but Ryan laughed.

"Why? It's not like you're gonna believe me anyway. Liz has you wrapped around her finger like a puppet... and besides why do you care after what she did?"

"Shut up!"

"See 'cause Liz she doesn't remember. How could she? She was a baby, but us... You remember? I see it in your eyes. Anytime you come home you remember. How was it going home? Did you see the tree?! Where she tied us up like dogs, and left us to die?!" Ryan yelled.

"Shut up!" Jack yelled as he charged his brother.

The pair wrestled oblivious to the glass around the breaking. Anytime Jack landed a punch his brother returned one and it turned into a good old fashioned slug fest. Before they could do any real damage the air began to hurt. Jack pushed Ryan to the ground as he took a look at his surroundings. A thick white cloud began devouring the room, it felt like fire as they breathed it in, stung against his open cuts, and burned their eyes. Ryan saw his moment ignoring the fact that everything hurt. Jack's back broke the window and the glass rained down.

Mac and the team saw the glass fall and the fighting men. They called out for Jack who either ignored their pleads or simply didn't hear them. Mac heard the sirens grow closer and knew that if the police got there before they could reign in Jack that he'd be in a world of trouble. As they were about to run inside they watched as Jack and Ryan came falling out of the broken window.

Luckily for Jack's broken body Ryan took the brunt of the fall, not that it didn't hurt Jack. Both of the men cough uncontrollably from breathing the gas. Jack staggered to his feet pulling the gun from his waistband.

"Jack, put it down." Mac begged but Jack ignored him. All of Jack energy was being used to keep Jack upright.

"Everyone knew... We'd turn out like... Monsters... We just proved them right." Ryan said trying to catch his breath recovering from the ten foot fall. "We are the same."

"Give me a reason!" Jack said aiming the gun at him as he stood over him.

"Liz is the only good Dalton. We were a lost cause." Ryan continued finally getting to his feet. "Are you really going to kill your brother?" Ryan said with a smile.

"Shut up!" Jack said pressing the gun against Ryan's head.

"Jack..." Mac said walking towards the men. Only for Jack to aim the gun at him.

"Stop! Go away!" Jack said, Mac saw the scariest look in his eyes. One he did not recognize. His eyes had the glint of a terrorized child, and an angry man. Jack looked like his was in utter fear. A look that was unfamiliar to them. Once Jack realized he had a gun pointed at his best friend he saw how far he unraveled. He looked at his bloody hands, clothes, and his brother's bloody evil smile looking back up at him.

"Jack, stop please!" Riley cried. Her cry sent shivers down his spine recalling only one other time when he heard it. He shook his head of the thought focusing on the target in front of him.

"I'd want nothing more in this world than to end your pathetic life right now. But we aren't the same... I don't have to kill you to ruin your life. I have friends that'll make sure that you never see the sun again." Jack said moving away from his brother. Jack kept the weapon on his brother but lowered it away from his head.

"I'm not scared of prison, Jack. I just finished a two year bid." Ryan chuckled as Jack began to sway a little. The pain in Jack's side was almost unbearable. Ryan slowly stood shrugging his

"You murdered our mother." Jack exclaimed.

"Stop calling her that!" Ryan yelled angrily. "She didn't raise us! She hardly knew who we were most of the time, and when she did she thought we were put to steal her thoughts... She is not a mother." Ryan said as he continued to unravel.

"You're just like her blaming everyone else for your shortcomings!" Jack yelled back tightening his grip on the gun steadying his aim on his brother.

"Jack, please put down the gun." Mac pleaded as he walked closer.

"You know I should just kill you, just so Dad can get his hands on you."

"I don't know what's cuter, that you think dad cares, or that he went to heaven." Ryan said spitting out some blood.

"Jack!" Mac shouted.

"We are..." Jack stuttered as the world began to spin again. He felt exhausted and was unsure how long he could remain standing. The gun felt like it weighed more than a car. Jack lowered the gun. "Enough people have died because of you. I'm not going to give you the satisfaction, Ryan." Jack said still holding the weapon as he slouched over struggling to stand.

"Jack?" Mac said seeing Jack struggling to stay up. Jack forced himself to keep his eyes open, but it was a struggle.

"What's wrong, Jack?" Ryan chuckled as he walked closer to his brother. "You don't look so good... You..." Ryan started but was interrupted by Riley screeching. She charged at him hitting him with her laptop. Ryan tried to shield his head and Riley hit him with a laptop uppercut, and then hit him across the face with her laptop breaking her machine. Ryan fell on the ground landing on his face. Ryan laid motionless.

"Here... Is there an ambulance coming?" Jack asked staggering as he unloaded the weapon. He disregarded the ammunition, as if second nature, and handed Mac the gun. Jack looked down at his feet as the ground began to sway like rippling water.

"Jack!" Mac yelled as Jack against him unconscious. Mac eased Jack to the ground. Once on the ground Jack's eyes fluttered open.

"Riley, that was awesome." Jack whispered. Jack began to pull up his shirt. "How bad is it?" He asked showing his battered ribs. Mac removed the bandage and saw the giant bruise and instability in ribs. The bruise was red and purple and still blotchy in its early stages. The bruise did not concern Mac as much as Jack's multiple rib fractures that he could see and feel. It looked like a lumpy rock.

"One of your ribs probably punctured your spleen. You have internal bleeding, Jack... It's bad..." He said reapplying the bandaged to prevent the paradoxical movement as Jack breathed. Jack was very pale as he stared at the sky. Riley cradled his head in her lap.

"I'm sorry... He... He, ah..." Jack stuttered it became increasingly difficult to breath.

"We know, Jack. Just rest. Ambulance is almost here." Mac said holding his hand.

"I really messed up. Didn't I?" Jack said with a bloody smile. "Riley, tell your ma, I'm sorry." Jack said as the fight to keep his eyes open was a losing one.

"Jack!" Riley yelled. Mac shook his chest before slapping him in the face.

"Ow!" Jack yelled looking at Mac. "Why'd you hit me?" Jack asked.

"Keep your eyes open." Mac ordered.

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