Summary: Set in early season one, Voight and Halstead have a very public come to Jesus meeting and it isn't clear which of them actually wins.

Notes:

I know I said these one-shots were about the Halstead brothers but this one centers more on Jay and Voight. I always found their relationship interesting because I got the sense they respected each other but not necessarily liked each other, at least in the first few seasons.

Hank wasn't sure what to make of that Halstead kid. For all that he butted heads with Antonio, he did trust his word that the other detective was solid. The problem was Hank didn't like how he carried himself. He was too direct, too upright, too confrontational without even saying a word. He held eye contact too long and didn't turn his face away or curl his shoulders when he was confronted. He didn't yield. He was stubborn and clearly thought too much of himself. He also lacked some instinct, probably because he was too confident in his own skill. It bugged him and he decided that Halstead needed to be taken down a notch. He couldn't tell if he was stupid and just didn't know fear, or if he had felt real fear and faced it, so now this didn't phase him.

He had hoped that he would be a stellar undercover, like Antonio, but he wasn't. He was too distinctive looking, too handsome, and wasn't able to change his body language enough. And the eyes, they were too pretty, too green, too fucking noticeable and memorable. He would be a niche player, sent in when you wanted to be noticed, not an invisible man like Al or Antonio. No Ruzek was shaping up to be a much better UC than Jay. In looks at least, he was far more forgettable.

Al tried to talk him out of causing a scene, of course because Al always did. He pointed out that Ruzek was actually cockier and more arrogant and said to give Halstead a little time to ease into his new role but Hank was tired of waiting. It was only a matter of time before the kid started back talking and he wasn't going to handle that shit well.

It all came to a head after a rather unpleasant case with a dead 15 year old and a whole bunch of H. He had needed Al to stay close to the door they were going to breach so Halstead agreed to be the eyes in the sky. Hank hadn't been sure about it until the jerk pointed out that he had spent years in SWAT and held the highest civilian and military designation as sharpshooter before he took the detective's exam. Al had shrugged and Hank relented and watched him take the rifle down out of the armory locker and strip it down in about 10 seconds to give it a good clean before reassembling it. The action seemed unnecessary and almost like bragging to Hank but all he did was grind his teeth.

Al tried to explain to him that it was common practice and the kid probably had it drummed into him in the service but Hank didn't care. Later, he would realize that Al was right and it wasn't some high horse or show off thing. Jay always checked his weapon, always, even if he did it 10 minutes beforehand. It was actually more than a little OCD but by the time he noticed that, he was willing to let the kid slide. Because it was just one of those ticks that he would eventually notice in Halstead that showed his actions were bravery rather than bravado. Just one of those things that showed what the Chicago streets could throw at him was rarely worse than what he had already seen.

The shit hit the fan when they got there, he didn't want to admit he was impressed that the punk had taken out two guards for them before they even got close. Another commander might have been a little concerned that he killed them before they even fired but Hank didn't care. What he did care about was when the ring leader bolted and Ruzek gave chase, rather than listening to him and going to a car, Ruzek listened to Halstead and chased him into the street, where the sniper proceeded to shoot him in the knee, dropping him like a rock.

If he had been thinking logically, he would admit it had been a good plan. The guy was alive to stand trial and answer questions on where the drugs came from. They avoided a high speed chase that could have had civilian casualties, and most importantly, they were all going home.

But, he wasn't thinking logically. He was too fucking angry that that snot nosed prick had undermined his authority that all those facts went out the window. There was about to be a beatdown and Halstead was going to be on the receiving end.

He ground his teeth and leaned back against the hood of one of the squad cars waiting for Halstead to rejoin the rest of them as some uni's escorted the suspect to Med. It was cold and damp and he tucked his hands into the sides of his vest to keep them warm. Al seemed to realize that he was pissed and ran interference with the younger cops while Hank fumed.

He popped up when he saw the ken doll looking mother fucker saunter up, the riffle against his front, his normal gun strapped to his thigh, like he was trying to look cool or something. Later Halstead would explain to him and Ruzek, when he had tried to copy it, that he chose to wear it there during assaults because that was where muscle memory told him it was because it had a more natural cock and draw placement, and then he could bend, climb, and belly crawl without it digging into him. He was also rolling the shells from the three bullets he had fired.

He looked more like SWAT than Intelligence, dressed all in black, knee pads, elbow pads, and probably gel pads under his vest. The badass look was somewhat ruined by the fact that he had his hoody pulled up to block out the wind and had a fucking ball cap on, even though it was 11 o'clock at night. What was he worried the moon was going to get in his eyes? Al would explain later that his hat was to cut the glare from the street lamp beside him, which would reduce eye fatigue, and help keep snowflakes out of his eyes but right now, it just pissed Hank off even more.

"Nice shootin', Tex," Ruzek joked with him as he swaggered up. Hank could see Ruzek was beginning to idolize his fellow officer and that needed to be nipped in the bud, like ASAP. This guy hadn't even proved he was good police yet, regardless of what Antonio said. And seriously what was there to idolize, he barely had a personality beyond occasional snarky comments. Ruzek was way more interesting than the Irish bastard child of Ken and GI Joe Dawson had talked him into hiring.

He expected Halstead to say something glib, but he just smiled, stuffing the casings into his pocket and placed the rifle into the trunk of the car. Al grinned and nodded at the action. He did that too, always bringing the spent casings down with him. "Hold this," Hank unclipped his gun and badge, handing them to Al.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hank just nodded and Al tucked the piece behind his back. After all their years of friendship O knew when it was pointless to try and stop him.

"Halstead," he called, getting the younger man's attention.

"Yes, sir?" He answered, widening his stance slightly and turning to face Voight full on. His shoulders were back but relaxed. He was mocking him, that his body posture would be so fucking challenging at this moment. This son of a bitch was making a move for his team.

"Don't you ever fucking countermand my orders again, you stupid fucking Mick, or I will have you busted back to patrol so fast you won't know what happened." He got right in his face, pointing his finger right at him. The asshat didn't even flinch.

"Sir?" He furrowed his brow and Voight noticed that what little of his irises that were visible looked very green. Those fucking eyes, he could already see Erin falling into those eyes. He would enjoy swelling one shut. Because this kid was too weak for Erin, she would eat him alive and spit him out and he would be completely useless by the end.

"You told Ruzek to chase Dixon out to the front instead of following my orders to head towards the blockade." He shoved him back towards Burgess and Atwatter's patrol car. He gave ground but it was obvious it wasn't a physical necessity to stay on his feet. He was surprisingly stable for such a skinny kid.

"No, sir. I told Ruzek I had a shot if he could get him to the front of the building," he held his hands out in front of him. "If he didn't listen to you, your problem is with him, not me," he finished.

Voight shoved him again, this time he didn't move at all, making him even more angry.

"Look Voight, I just thought," Adam started and he cut him off, never taking his eyes off of Halstead. Ruzek was the easier one to deal with. Ruzek wanted to be right, wanted attention, wanted to fit in. Halstead didn't care about those things and it made him unpredictable. He couldn't tell what motivated the punk.

"Stay out of this," he snapped before slapping Jay across the face. "This is between us. You don't even have brains to realize how deep in shit you are right now, Halstead."

"If you expect me to cower in front of you, it won't happen," his expression had gone from confused to steely and his eyes had taken on an intensity that might have scared another person. But all it did was piss Hank off more when he ended it with, "sir," since it was clear his respect was for the rank and not the man. He didn't know at the time that Halsted had been through RASP, ranger school, and SERE, so nothing he did was going to be able to intimidate him.

"Oh you are going to cower and beg me," he smacked him again and Halstead took it, making a show of being unmoved by it. He threw a punch, which the younger man batted away easily. Hank, had he not been so pissed, would have been impressed that he could go from seemingly relaxed to defensive that fast without telegraphing it. This punk had clearly had some training. He might have gone about this a little differently if he had known exactly how much training but hindsight is always 20/20.

"Sir, I don't want to fight you." he said, trying to walk away but Voight didn't let him. He threw another punch, that was again blocked.

"I am not going to give you a choice," he growled at him.

"Hey, sir," Ruzek tried and he noticed Atwatter, Burgess, and even Erin looked uncomfortable. Good, they needed to see this. Needed to see that he was in charge. Only Al and Antonio seemed resigned to it.

"I said stay out of it. Come on, Halstead, I am giving you a free shot. No rank or reports on this. You think you know better than me, then show me."

"I am not going to fight my commanding officer." he said, looking very much like he really wanted to do the opposite. This was the important part. He knew Halstead had been in the Army, of course he didn't know he had been Spec Ops or a Ranger, or had a specialty as a sniper. He might have made different decisions if Al had explained his comment of 'interesting,' when he saw that he had been stationed at Fort Benning. But right now he was trying to see if Halstead's natural impulsiveness would outweigh his training. Could Voight get him off balance enough, angry enough, to lose control? That was how he would win. Jay was younger, faster, and clearly better trained but Hank, well he was smarter.

The end game wasn't to beat him in a fight. Hank knew that was pretty unlikely. Halstead was taller, faster, younger, and had zero qualms about killing people. But the fight itself meant that Hank won. Because his goal was to get Halstead to lose control. To knock down his super chill mask and show that he wasn't better than everyone else, that he needed leadership just as much as everyone else. Because if he couldn't control his own temper, how could he lead other people?

"What are you a coward? You want to be in charge, well show me you deserve it?" he took a swipe that the other man knocked aside but with far more force than the last time.

"I never said I wanted to be in charge, that is your job, sir." he responded, trying again to move out of the way. Al and Antonio blocked him in. They may not agree with Hank's methods but this needed to happen. This kid, he could be huge, he was the lancer that the team needed but as it stood, there was no way he would follow Voight to hell back. Not now. Hank had to earn his respect and this was his chosen method.

"You act like you do, changing plans, undermining orders. Strutting around like you own the fucking place. This isn't SWAT, being a simple minded killer won't get you far," Hank threw at him, trying to find the arrow that would hit the mark. It was tough to tell though because Jay was facing away from him.

"Voight, maybe," Antonio started. He must have seen something in Halstead's face that he couldn't. That meant he was on the right track. So did the stiffening of his shoulders.

Halstead attempted to push past Alvin but Hank grabbed him by his hood, pulling him back and spinning him to face him. "Is that all you are good for, shooting people, little Army boy?" Hank taunted as he threw another punch.

Unlike the last two, this one was not dodged, but ruthlessly blocked as Halstead pinned his arm, hyper extending his elbow at the same time he rammed his own elbow into Voight's mouth and then used the leverage he had snake his hand behind Hank's neck and use that plus the grip on his arm to force him forward into his upraised knee. The knee went right into his solar plexus and knocked all the hair out of him, painfully. The whole thing was so fucking fast that Hank couldn't have stopped it, even if he wanted to and before he knew it he was lying face down on the ground with his arm being pulled at the most uncomfortable angle known to man, no air in his lungs, blood pooling in his mouth, probably some loose teeth, and a seriously pissed off Halstead with his foot on his neck.

Hank felt a smile curl across his lips and spit blood from his face, as he wheezed. He had won. Half a second later, Halstead seemed to have realized that same fact and released his grip, switching to offering him a hand up. He let the younger man pull him up. He was surprised at the amount of strength such a lanky fucking dude had but it was obvious that a lot of the force of his hits and blocks were because of his speed.

He scanned the assembled cops. Burgess and Atwatter's eyes were like saucers, clearly uncomfortable. Al scratched his chin before handing him back his badge and gun. Antonio wandered off, annoyed by the entire thing. Erin looked wrecked, like she didn't know what to do because he knew she already really liked her new partner. He gave her a smile to show her he was fine. She wouldn't ever get why he had done this because she was never going to fight him on anything, not like Jay would. And Jay had to remember that Voight could get to him, get into his head, make him do what he didn't want to do. It was all Alpha Male bullshit but that didn't mean it didn't work.

Ruzek was the last one he looked at. The guy looked fit to be tied. The kid probably thought this entire thing was his fault because he had listened to Halstead instead of Voight but he really was just the excuse Hank used, nothing more. He wondered, as he stood there for a minute trying to decide if Jay had broken anything, if Ruzek and Halstead could one day end up like him and Al. Ruzek was much more like him and he could see Jay turning into someone like Al, even if he wasn't there yet. But he could definitely see the beginnings of Al's classic blase attitude about things. But the difference would be that Jay was far more of a natural leader than Ruzek. Jay would always be the more confident and in charge one in that relationship, which was the opposite of him and Al. It was interesting food for thought but didn't do anything about the fact his elbow hurt like a bitch and he couldn't straighten it the whole way.

"I can drive you to Med, sir," Jay offered, holding out his hand for the car keys from Erin. "I have to take a piss test anyway," he explained and Hank nodded.

It was a peace offering. It was proof that Jay understood what the whole thing had been and he accepted his loss. He accepted his place in Hank's machine, at least for now.

Hank felt himself smile as they pulled away. He had been needing a Lancer, someone that was brash and impulsive but unlike Ruzek had the skills to back it up. Ruzek was all talk, all bark and no bite, at least not yet. He was the annoying mini schnauzer that nipped at your ankles and thought he could run with the big dogs. Jay was different, he was the malinois that just stood there not bothering to bark or snap because he knew he didn't need to. Basically what Al used to be for him 20 years ago. Maybe he would like this Halstead kid after all.