Chapter Text
“I can’t fucking believe this,” Felix hissed.
If he’d remembered that their comms were still active, he might have held back, maybe. As it was, he scowled through the sound of his partner sighing long and low on the other end. They could have probably communicated strictly through the sound of Locus’ sighing. This particular variety said, ‘I am so tired of putting up with you’.
“Quit complaining,” Locus’ voice came through tinny and distant.
Felix hoped Locus could picture the way he’d rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. I’ll just keep my mouth shut about your dumb-ass plan that you didn’t tell Siris about that’s putting our asses in twice as much hot water as we’re already in.”
“Siris is off comms, you know that. We need to give him time to secure his family and make sure it looks like we’re on the run to Lozano’s men. They can’t find out Siris is involved, Felix.”
“Whatever.”
“He has more to lose than us.”
“Yeah, and all we have to lose is our lives. What a small concern!”
Another sigh. “Have you secured what you need? It’s almost time to hit the rendezvous.”
“Yeah,” Felix said. He swung the bag across his shoulders- mostly weaponry and a change of clothes.
Meeting Lozano on their terms meant they had to disappear for a day or two. Hopefully it would give them a chance to catch him in the dark, so to speak.
“For the record? I think this is a monumentally stupid idea, Locus.”
He could practically hear Locus’ dismissive shrug. “It was the most expedient option.”
“We’re sitting fucking ducks like this!”
“They’re looking for us as a unit,” Locus said. “Traveling together would only raise suspicion and make us easier to track. We can delay their discovery this way.”
“We could have done that together- I don’t fucking get it!”
“No one needs you to get it, Felix. I just need you to get your things and get to the rendezvous point.”
“I’d take going slower over the very real risk of being ambushed,” Felix said, gesturing his hands despite the face that Locus couldn’t see it.
He took the silence on the other end as some kind of tacit admission that he’d been right and they should never have split up. Felix would have harped on it some more, but that ran the risk of giving Locus the idea that Felix was unnerved about being alone. Alone while they both knew there was a huge, very dangerous monster zeroing in on them.
That would make Locus feel important, and the last thing he needed was Locus being smug. Or Locus taking that tone with him, like he might use to talk to a small child. Felix figured that Locus just regularly forgot that they weren’t all head-cases that needed to be talked down any time they experienced something unpleasant.
The silence wasn’t much of an improvement though.
Felix touched his earpiece irritatedly. “Locus? Are you done? Can we get this mess back on the fucking road?”
His reply took longer than Felix liked. “Affirmative. On my way.”
“Would it kill you to talk like a normal person every now and then?”
He knew Locus bristled at the use of ‘normal’. “It might kill you, if you don’t stop complaining.”
Felix snorted. “Yeah, whatever. See you in ten.”
“Keep your comm link open.”
“Copy that,” Felix said, in his best imitation of Locus.
-
Despite entertaining thoughts to the contrary, Felix did of course keep his comm link open. He even kept up a steady stream of chatter to keep Locus updated on his position, like a good little military boy.
Within five minutes, he was annoyed that he was the only one putting in the effort.
“What happened to following protocol, asshole? Where are you?”
The silence on the other end buzzed like white noise in the earpiece. Felix picked up his pace.
“Locus, seriously, if you’re trying to prove some kind of goddamn point here, I am not in the mood!”
There was no reply. Felix could feel his pulse start to pound in his ears, because Locus might have been an asshole, but not the kind of asshole that compromised missions. That was Felix’s job. He switched the communication channel to Siris’.
“Yo, Siris, you there? Heard from Locus?”
No answer on that end either, although Felix had been expecting that. Siris was supposed to stay off the channels to avoid any implication in Lozano’s revenge scheming. At least until he could make sure his precious little wife was off the radar, too.
He swapped back to his private channel with Locus and shouted his name a few times.
Felix swore under his breath and broke into a full run.
-
Locus wasn’t at the place they’d agreed to meet back up and Felix took a moment to catch his breath. It was from running, just from the running of course, which was the only excuse he had to explain the way he could hear his own heartbeat, and see his vision start to fry at the edges. He swore again and fanned his hands out in front of him in silent self-admonishment.
I’m not gonna lose it. I’m not going full goofy-Locus-crazy on this, he told himself.
“Locus? Come in, Locus!”
There was no way something could have gone terribly wrong, he figured. They were both powerhouses and they were each capable of handling a host of dangers individually. They didn’t need to be together; this? This had nothing on some of the shit they’d seen during the War. Teaming up was convenient, it was comfortable, but it sure as fuck hadn’t been a necessity.
It would be pretty goddamn hard for someone to have gotten the jump on Locus.
That only left one other option though- had Locus actually fucking run out on him?
Felix didn’t have time for his train of thought to jump tracks from confusion to rage before there was a warm crackling in his ear. “Locus-“
“Felix.”
The voice in Felix’s ear was most certainly not Locus. It was smooth, gravelly, and heavily accented. It made Felix’s blood run cold for a second time that night.
“Lozano,” Felix said.
He took out his phone and glanced at the screen. He considered messaging Siris, because suddenly he was in way over his head, but shoved it back into his pocket. It would have been a huge security issue, ran the risk of someone finding out about Siris, finding Siris himself, and Felix was damned if that would be his fault. He couldn’t be down two partners.
Instead, he grit his teeth and tried to remember how to form words.
“Where the fuck is Locus?”
Lozano laughed. “Straight to the point, I see. Your partner is with us at the moment. You are easier men to find than I had expected- I had hoped for more of a chase.”
“Oh, I’ll give you a goddamned chase. Tell me where he is.”
There was a voice somewhere in Felix’s head that shouted he was doing this all wrong- every word out of his mouth was taking another bargaining chip away. Desperate men didn’t have the space to bargain. He should have been playing it cool, pretending like he didn’t have to have a horse in this particular race.
It was a dangerous gamble considering how they’d left him, but he only had Gabriel to work with. His fist tightened until it shook and even he would have admitted that his voice sounded too hot to really sell the lie.
“So, you’re not particularly interested in getting Gabriel back? Because it sounds to me like you’re trying to set up a trade.”
Lozano laughed again, dry and bitter. “Don’t fuck with me, boy. I know he’s dead.”
Fuck. He must have sent someone to the quarry to check. Felix swallowed and tried to breathe quietly. “If you’re so sure of that, then what do you want from me?”
“I want to extend to you the same offer you extended to me. In the interest of being fair.”
Felix snorted. “Seriously? You’re after money? That’s just sad."
“Not in the slightest.”
“Then what?”
“If you agree to meet with my men- meet with me- I will freely give you the location where you can find your partner. You show up, unarmed, perhaps we can negotiate. If you don’t show up-“
There was a low, dangerous chuckle that made Felix grip his knife.
“-Well, if you don’t show up, he dies. Slowly.”
There was the distant sound of a gunshot, distorted by the audio quality, and a sort of angry bark that Felix recognized from experience was the sound of Locus being shot.
It rushed back to Felix faster than he could make sense of the sequence of events, the way Lozano had promised to hunt down the people they knew and ‘make them suffer in your place’; Siris’ outburst had ensured that Lozano knew it would be a good threat to carry out.
They’d all figured that Felix and Locus- completely free of any real ties, no family or loved ones- had been more or less safe from that particular threat. None of them had banked on the now-obvious and convenient reality that the next target that would have made sense was their connection to each other.
A gamble to make sure that Lozano definitely ended up with both of them, and even if he didn’t? He’d at least get to kill one of them. Felix felt bile in the back of his throat, as if his body was unwilling to contain the kind of sick anger he felt at the idea that not only had he been caught in a trap, but some fucking criminal nobody had figured out how to leverage Locus against him.
Stupid. It was idiotic, and they should have spotted it from a mile away, and it was exactly the kind of thing they were supposed to be working together to avoid.
Felix steeled himself. “How am I supposed to know you won’t just kill both of us if I show up? Good faith?”
“It’s your choice. You can show up, and perhaps you are both allowed to live. Or, his death becomes an inevitability.”
Felix knew Lozano had just set up an elaborate show to make their defeat as theatrical and humiliating as possible. He wasn’t gullible enough to believe even for a second that Lozano would do anything other than set up a deathtrap and make an example of them. It was just a great way to prove to anybody watching that he could make them walk into their own executions themselves and then beg for his mercy.
Proof that Lozano could get you, could get the people you cared about, and could force you to put the gun to your own head.
“Motherfucker,” Felix spat, “Send me the location and put some fucking tea on.”
“I’ll be seeing you.”
Felix wanted to hurl the earpiece into the street just for the satisfaction of watching it break. He didn’t want that son of a bitch in his head any longer than he had to. He left it on anyway. He had no idea if he’d need it, if Lozano had more information, or if there was some way he could get him to broadcast something, anything that would give Felix an edge.
If it had been anyone else on Lozano’s tongue- hell, maybe even if it had been Siris- Felix would have probably left. He’d skip town, forget the whole mess that he’d unwittingly made and let Lozano’s bullet in their mouth be his final “told you so”.
But this? This was Locus, and Locus was- well, his.
That was as far as Felix could get through that thought until a hot wave of killing fury washed over him. He was grateful for the way it drowned everything else out for the moment. Just let that possessive anger squash down any of the other feelings he desperately didn’t want to look at.
Locus was his, part of the partnership he’d built that made Felix feel nearly fucking invincible, a deadly extension of his already formidable arm.
Hell, he didn’t even necessarily need a better reason to spring Locus out than the sheer pleasure of outmaneuvering Lozano and slipping a knife across that arrogant old bastard’s neck.
-
Outmaneuvering Lozano would be easier said than done though.
Felix felt a shock of something grim and hopeless spike through him when he approached the warehouse Lozano had texted him the location of. It was big, and definitely pretty roomy, which would have been decent for a stealth mission. It was a bad sign for how many men he’d have to expect in there, and stealth had never been his strong suit.
He checked and re-checked the weapons he’d brought. The entire duffle bag hadn’t been a feasible option, so he limited it to what would have been most useful- his pistol, a handful of stun grenades, two C4 packets and detonators, knives as many places as he could fit them, and ammo.
It felt like nothing, it definitely wouldn’t be nearly enough for what he’d be up against. For a moment, Felix fought through the sensation of his throat closing up. He almost wanted to leave at that moment, leave Locus to his fate for the unforgivable crime of making Felix feel this fucking small without him.
The truth was- and the truth was a slippery thing for Felix, even to himself- that he wanted Locus with him there more than ever. Locus would have plans, would have a steady grip on his rifle, a clear head when it mattered. He could tamp down on Felix’s wild edges just enough, give him a sense of purpose and place beyond just the will and want to kill.
Felix sighed. He’d just have to make it work with the sheer want to kill.
He tried to tell himself it was just the stress of the whole night coming down on him that made him doubtful. He didn’t need Locus to do this. Locus was a convenience; Locus was another weapon and Felix had won tougher fights with fewer weapons.
At least he’d already changed out of that stupid suit. He didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard, trying to pull off some Bond movie bullshit. Casual assassinations were much more his style.
He squared his shoulders and scanned the windows, noting that he didn’t see any laser sights or movement. Lozano was either confident Felix intended to play by his rules and stroll in through the front door, or confident that he had enough security to get a handle on it otherwise.
He tapped his earpiece. “I’m here, asshole.”
“Please, you’re welcome to come in then, Felix.”
“First, I want proof he’s still alive. Otherwise this is just a waste of my precious time.”
“As you wish.”
Felix’s phone buzzed and he answered it as if it were about to come alive and bite him. It was only static for a moment until-
“Augh, fuck! He head butted me dude, what was I supposed to do?”
“Secure him, for fucks sake!”
Felix smirked. Honestly, that alone would have been proof enough that Locus was alive.
“I’ve got a better idea.”
There was an ominous thrumming sound through the receiver and a sharp crack that Felix realized with a dropping sensation in his stomach was some kind of electricity. Then his ears rang with a distant goddamn roaring that was unmistakable as anything but Locus. Felix took a deep breath and told himself it was the sound of more rage than pain.
The call cut off just as one of those unidentified men began to shriek again. Good to know that Locus wasn’t going to make it easy on them.
—
He didn’t accept Lozano’s invitation, not directly at least. Sure, it would have been the most satisfying, the most dramatic, and hopefully bloodiest possible course of action, and that appealed to Felix. Realistically the plan was riddled with chances for total disaster. Including that he doubted Lozano’s invitation had extended to the weapons he was carrying; it would be hard enough without handicapping himself.
So he broke a window at the far end of the building, opposite where he’d been instructed to enter. It was inelegant but functional, and there wasn’t even a guard on the other side. That thought gave him some hope; Lozano was just arrogant enough to have left security flaws.
He still had to find his way through the building though, which would suck. Eventually, having crept into a hallway, he could see that the whole building was probably just a series of doors off of one huge hallway. Tedious, but predictable. He found the staircase and ran straight to the third floor, because that level of inaccessibility screamed ‘torture room’ to him.
The guards were minimal up there, which immediately sank his hope that he’d found the right place. He still checked the rooms one by one, and by the fourth guard he’d managed to sneak up behind and dispatch he’d practically been gloating. It would be risky; he knew there was a limited time before the other guards became aware that a good handful of them were dead in the corners, but it was a gamble he’d been forced to take. Picking them off one by one was his best bet while he was alone.
Felix crouched behind a large storage locker and tried to calculate if he could hit the sentry in the hallway with one of his knives, and move the body before the next guard came, when his comm went off again.
“Felix. Are you still coming?”
Felix mouthed a curse. “Yeah, yeah, give me a sec. I’m a busy guy.”
“Try to clear your schedule. Perhaps you’d appreciate another update, hm?”
Felix had only just parsed what Lozano meant when his phone buzzed. The icon for a video feed blinked like an alarm and he swallowed nervously before he hit “accept”. He knew he didn’t want to see whatever they had to show him, but he also knew it would have driven him crazy to not know.
There are fingers obscuring the edges of the camera but in the dead center of the picture is Locus, on his back and surrounded by Lozano’s men- or at least their legs were all he could see- and there was a military-style boot pressing on Locus’ neck. Another one slammed down suddenly against Locus’ ribcage with a force that made Felix cringe.
Blood was everywhere and Felix couldn’t even make an educated guess where it was coming from, except that Locus’ mouth and nose seemed to be likely suspects. The video cut with a sick, low cracking sound that Felix noted, clinically in the back of his mind, was probably one or more of Locus’ ribs.
Felix wasn’t even aware that he’d launched the knife in his fist until the gurgle of a man choking on blood finally reached him. His vision was white at the edges and he couldn’t really recall the last time he’d felt this pissed off. It had probably been some point during the War, but he’d since forgotten how to beat it back. He crouched there and clenched his teeth so tightly he thought he might have actually been drooling.
He was going to hurt Lozano.
When the moment passed, Felix finally swallowed one real, deep breath. The silver lining was that now he knew Locus was definitely not on that floor, because he would have heard the sound of the laughing, chattering, and kicking-
He was halfway down the staircase before he caught himself again and backed into a shadowed corner to try and breathe. The anger was only being fed, moment by moment, by how pathetic Felix felt at losing his self-control like that. His mission, which was a more dignified term than this deserved, had gotten more and more fucked.
Twice now, he’d sort of just exposed himself to danger, because he couldn’t clamp down on how frantic his nerves felt; couldn’t get the horrible, painful sounds Locus had made out of his head.
This is going to hell fast, Felix thought to himself.
Tucked into the corner, he gave himself a minute to try and search himself for the place inside him- it was always there, it was the one thing he could rely on- that would let him drop this, that would let him cut his losses and run to live another day. Either he’d leave Locus to his fate, or it could be Siris’ problem if he could work up the balls to stop wringing his hands over his stupid little family.
The desperate feeling didn’t go away when Felix can’t find it in him. He couldn’t even abandon this whole mess if he’d wanted to, because he didn’t want to.
-
Well. This sure isn’t how I imagined dying.
Felix crept down to the second floor landing despite the increasing gloominess of his thoughts. The guards were thicker there; he drew his pistol and planned on killing whoever he could, rapid fire, before he ran like hell. Hopefully it would take out enough of them to make it confusing.
Four men went down before the guards could even lift their heads, and Felix pegged two more in the stomach while they swiveled to the source of the commotion. From there he couldn’t exactly keep track, because he’d bolted down the hallway, firing at whatever moved.
He ducked into a room somewhere in the middle of the hall and crouched just outside the door, aiming to gun down the men as soon as they ran after him. None of them were thinking, either because they’d didn’t have combat training or just lacked common fucking sense, because several just ran in without looking.
Felix would have almost felt bad for shooting them in the literal back. He flinched when the comm crackled in his ear just as he slammed another magazine into his pistol.
“That,” Lozano said with a tsk sound, “was a mistake, Felix.”
The jig was up; Felix had to get out and clear those rooms, he had to find Locus and…fuck, what? Set up a bottleneck? Sit down and die there with him?
As if it were answering him, the phone went off. Felix thumbed it open numbly, even though he really didn’t have time for it. He needed to stay on the move but something kept him rooted to the spot as another video buffered.
It was grainy and dark but Locus was there, eyeballing the camera coldly, slumped in a chair with his arms probably tied behind the back of it. Felix didn’t even take in the details, he just froze with relief that at least Locus had the presence of mind to be pissed off.
That relief was short lived, because Locus screamed. The sound immediately punched nausea into Felix’s stomach; he could count on one hand the number of times he’d heard Locus scream, and none of those incidents were something he’d ever want to remember.
The camera panned down and Felix watched like he wasn’t even in his body anymore as the knife- a small knife, which was an equally small comfort- carve its’ way through Locus’ abdomen. The knife pulled out halfway, like they wanted to start disemboweling him but changed their mind mid-cut. Blood poured easily from the gash it left behind, maybe only three inches long, but god it’s so fucking deep.
Somewhere, Felix felt his limbs at the same moment he realized he could distantly hear the scream echoing outside the phone. That sound was chilling on its own but-
First floor, Locus is on the first floor-
“You’ve tried my patience enough,” Lozano said coldly.
If it had been any other situation Felix would have grinned and found something sarcastic and cutting to volley back. Lozano was pissed, and that alone was proof that he’d at least ruined the man’s little game.
Now there was a timer on Locus and the small victory tasted bitter. Felix switched the comm to his and Siris’ private channel in a last ditch effort to call in the cavalry.
“Siris if you’re there I really, really need you to fucking pick up!”
Felix windmill kicked a man in the hallway and put a bullet into the guy behind him while he skidded to a stop on the stairway landing. Almost as an afterthought, he slapped a C4 packet onto the stair before jumping down several steps at a time.
He had a plan, he had a perfectly workable plan. He just had to dodge enough of the guards, get Locus out of there, plant another C4 charge and then blow the place before anyone could follow.
God, it’s the worst plan he’d ever made.
“Felix?” Siris sounded tired and on edge. Felix’s voice must have given away how serious it was.
“Siris, oh holy shit! We’ve got a fucking problem-“
A searing pain shot through Felix’s left shoulder and he cried out something garbled before turning and gunning down another two men. He was somewhere on the first floor, but it took him a second to turn sharply into the first room he could see and flatten himself against a dark wall.
“Felix, was that gunfire? The fuck’s happening?”
“Lozano,” Felix managed between breaths, “got Locus. Shit’s fucked.”
He could practically feel the weirdly still sort of terror that Siris was probably feeling in the pit of his stomach. Probably because Felix was experiencing it ten times worse.
“Oh, shit. Felix, where are you?”
Bullets pinged into the room. Felix lifted his pistol and tried to steel his hands against the way they were shaking because fuck his arm hurt.
Siris sounded horrified. “Felix, don’t tell me-“
“That I’m currently smack-dab in the middle of Lozano’s big secret Locus torture fortress? Gonna have to disappoint you there.”
“You just ran in?!”
“What were my other options Siris?” Felix was fairly screaming and only realized a second too late what a mistake it was, when another two guards charged him.
“Can you tell me where you are?”
Felix knocked someone out and swept the knees out from the other before shooting them both. He combat rolled into the room across from him before anyone saw him.
“Some kind of old factory building,” Felix gasped, “somewhere along 9th and, uh…”
A shotgun thundered several times in the next room over, and Felix thought he felt his heart stutter to a stop. He and Siris choked out Locus' name in unison.
Felix threw a stun grenade out of the room and caught a few guards. He couldn’t see the doorway, so he just shot into the cloud wildly while he ran.
“9th and Cedar!” Felix shouted.
“On my way,” Siris said.
Felix thought he could have sworn his life to Siris just then, or blown him- he’d just been grateful.
There were a few wet-sounding thunks that told Felix at least one or two shots connected before he slid into the target room like he was playing the most fucked up baseball game of all time.
He was choked by the remnants of the stun-cloud and doubled over in a wheezing fit. It felt like it’d been hours since he’d last gotten a chance to fill his lungs properly.
Which was, of course, how he missed the sound of someone approaching until a pump-shotgun was cocked dangerously close to his face.
“F-Felix?”
The voice was strangled and weak, but Felix didn’t even need visual confirmation that he’d found Locus. Felix shoved the big metal door closed and piled whatever was in arms reach against it as a barricade. He’d gotten a stack of chairs and a shelving unit before a pair of thick arms joined his to pull over some kind of cast-iron machine to hold the door shut.
“That should buy us a few minutes,” Felix said to himself and ran a hand through his hair, streaking it with blood.
When he looked up Locus was standing there in front of him and- how the fuck was he standing?- his hair hung like a curtain around his face. The very few parts of his skin that weren't purpling into pools of bruising were unnaturally ashen. Blood dripped sluggishly from where it collected on his lip, and he had his wrist pressed to the place Felix knew he’d been jackknifed open like a fucking dissection pig.
Felix drew his pistol and scanned the room. They were the only two living things there- Felix was beyond impressed at the five corpses strewn about.
“Fuck,” Felix said with an unhinged peal of laughter, “did you even need my help?”
“Felix?” Locus said again and his voice sounded raw.
His laughter died. “Locus, it’s me.”
Locus’ eyes swam in and out of focus. He reached a hand out and moved it slowly to Felix’s shoulder as if he’d been expecting it to just phase right through. Felix grabbed his hand and just sort of held it still against him, searching Locus for any sign of recognition. He was so far beyond feeling weird about the gesture because with Locus touching him the whole thing felt real again, and Felix needed something grounding.
Locus swayed with his heavy breathing and Felix noticed with a twist to his stomach that the sound was wet and rattling.
Felix breathed in sharply. “You’re a goddamn mess.”
Locus didn’t respond, just stared until Felix felt the panic start to ratchet up again. “Locus, say something!”
It didn’t register with Felix that he’d slapped Locus until he drew his hand back stinging and wet with blood. Locus gasped like he’d been woken up from a nightmare and really saw Felix there for the first time.
“Felix,” Locus said and it was a statement instead of a question.
“Are you done practicing my fucking name?!” Felix screeched.
“What’re you doing here?” Locus’ voice was losing its clarity, like he was drunk. “How’d you get here?”
Locus’ face screwed up in confusion and concern until Felix laughed again because, shit. Locus was worried about Felix right now? Felix dragged Locus' arm over his shoulders and tried to lower them both to the ground as carefully as he could. Locus looked like he could collapse, and Felix knew it would be three times as hard to get him back up but fuck it- they could both use a minute to just breathe.
“Lozano invited me,” Felix said.
“It’s a trap,” Locus breathed, and it turned into a body-wracking cough complete with blood. “You wouldn’t just walk into a trap. You’re smarter than that.”
Under any other circumstances Felix would have taken the opportunity to preen under that kind of high praise, coming from Locus. For some reason that Felix refused to give any space to consider, the statement rang like an admonishment instead.
“Apparently I’m not,” Felix said roughly, “lucky you.”
Felix checked him over, turning Locus’ head in his hands to survey the damage and keep track of the worst of it. Halfway through the list had already been discouraging as Felix’s hands skimmed the injuries he counted.
One of his eyes was blackened, along with most of his cheek and jaw; there was an angry string of bruising across his throat and disappearing under the collar of his dress shirt; half a dozen gashes littered his arms and midsection; the gash in his stomach, the bullet wound on his thigh.
He looked like total shit and those were just the parts of him that Felix could see.
“Christ,” Felix breathed, “what did they do to you?”
He glanced around the room at the mangled bodies and chuckled. “What did you do to them? That’s impressive, even for you.”
Felix picked up Locus’ arm to inspect it and saw the way his wrists had been torn raw by zip ties or rope and the telling way one of Locus’ thumbs was bent at an unnatural angle. That explained everything.
Locus just watched and tried to breathe, although he didn’t do a very good job of it. Felix shook his head and stood up, pacing the room to try and find something he could use to put pressure on the worst of the wounds. All he could find was an old sheet that he cut into strips; he grimaced as he worked and told himself there’d be time for disinfectant later.
Felix knelt down and tied a thick strip around Locus’ thigh and knotted it against the entry wound, drawing a wounded growl from Locus. It was harder to wind the makeshift bandages around Locus’ bulky torso and Felix had to do it in a way that wouldn’t bind up his ribs until they could figure out if they were broken.
The adrenaline was coming down and exhaustion had started to creep in, but Felix couldn’t dwell on that. It was hard enough to work on his bandaging, and even harder now thanks to the way his hands were wracked with shaking fits. It took multiple attempts to even wind the cloth right, forcing him to start over once, twice, three times.
He could see Locus watching him from his own haze of exhaustion and Felix grit his teeth, trying to force his body into stillness and control.
“Are you alright?” Locus said.
“M’fine,” Felix said through the mouthful of rag he’d been trying to tear.
His hands betrayed him though, shuddering so hard they curled into fists reflexively.
Locus’ hand landed somewhere along Felix’s bicep. “You’re fine,” Locus said, his voice a hair lower than normal, “we’re fine.”
Felix drew back with a sneer, because they didn’t talk about that- don’t use that deceptively innocent phrase outside of the cover of night, in between the worst of the nightmares or maladjusted insomnia habits. It was a secret they’d wordlessly agreed to keep from themselves and each other at any other time than necessary, and Locus was there just saying it like he- like he’s-
Whatever Locus had intended, it worked-Felix was pissed off enough that all he could focus on was knotting the makeshift bandage as tightly to the wound as he could.
Locus barked at the pressure, his hands curled tight into fists but he didn't shove Felix off, or punch him or anything. It was enough of an oddity that it made the worry curling around Felix's insides redouble.
“You bleeding anywhere else?” Felix said, turning over Locus other arm. The cuts were shallow enough not to worry about.
Felix unceremoniously jammed Locus’ thumb back into its socket. He managed a begrudging “sorry” at the way it made Locus choke on some kind of garbled cry.
“No,” Locus gasped.
The bleak reality of their situation started to knock, quite literally, on the door. It was a decent barricade but he knew it wouldn’t hold up for as long as he needed it to.
“Shit, shit, shit. What do we do now?” Felix said, half to himself.
Locus looked up at him and shook his head. “I- I just need a minute…need a minute to think.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “It’s gonna take you longer than a minute, and we don’t have time for that. We’re surrounded by guards, and just how the hell are we supposed to get you out of here? You can barely walk.”
He heard the high-pitched note of panic in his voice and briefly hated himself for it. Felix stood, picking up Locus’ discarded shotgun and cocking it.
“You’ll stay here,” Felix said, trying to mimic the air of finality Locus always used when he was fed up with an argument, “I’m going to go back out there and clear the place. Then we’ll be able to drag you out of here as slowly as we need to.”
Locus managed to look annoyed. “That’s an even more stupid idea than it was to come here in the first place.”
“Oh, you have a better idea?!”
“I can manage myself. Just give me a gun and we can both make our way out.”
“You’re fucking kidding me. Look at yourself!”
Locus struggled to stand up, doubling over and shuddering as if each movement was agonizing. It probably was.
“We’ve survived worse,” Locus said tightly.
“‘Worse’ by a pretty thin fucking margin, Locus!”
Locus straightened up defiantly. Felix didn’t miss the way his eyes swam with obvious pain.
“M’fine,” Locus drawled, “I just…I just need a minute.”
Felix watched as Locus took a few steps forward, faltered, and them crumpled towards the ground with a low groan. Felix darted forward to try and catch him, to at least make his fall less likely to induce head-trauma. More head-trauma, anyway.
It was an unusual sensation, to grip at the almost-full weight of Locus and pull him against Felix’s chest. He sank down slowly, guiding them so that Locus’ legs wouldn’t be folded underneath him. Locus’ fists were curled helplessly in the fabric of Felix’s hoodie, drawing shaking breaths in that horrible way that made Felix’s own chest hurt to listen to.
Felix’s hand found its’ way to Locus’ hair, petting it soothingly like he was some kind of big dog. It was another one of those things that would have normally freaked Felix out a bit, but he had about a dozen or so more pressing things to freak out about.
Number one, with an underline, was their impending death.
“Useless,” Locus rasped.
“I’ve been fucking saying.” Felix’s voice lacked any real malice.
He felt rather than heard Locus chuckle painfully, broad hands finding their way to Felix’s shoulder so he could push himself up. He sat back facing Felix; it looked like he was grappling with himself to keep his eyes open and his back straight enough to qualify the position as “sitting”.
Static crackled in Felix’s ear. “You still alive out there?”
“Siris! I found Locus.”
“How is he?”
“Completely fucked. No idea how I’m getting him out of here.”
“What’s the enemy situation look like?”
“More than I can fucking handle right now!”
“Felix.”
“Fuck, uh…definitely more than 6. I tagged like,” Felix tapped impatiently on his leg while he tried to remember what he’d seen, “ten of them? Maybe?”
“Well, that’s better than nothing. Hang tight.”
“Not like I have many other options.”
Siris snorted. “You’re welcome.”
“I’ll thank you when we’re all walking out of here alive.”
Locus looked to him, alarmed. “Siris?”
“Yeah, he’s on his way. Here’s hoping he gets here before we’re ground beef.”
“We weren’t supposed to contact him,” Locus said quietly, as if he were telling it to himself. “This whole thing was so he could get away.”
Felix glanced sharply at Locus when something turned uncomfortably in his head at the way Locus had said that. Like he’d had some kind of plan that preceded this whole idiotic mess- but that wasn’t possible, right?
Locus was crazy, but he wasn’t the type to plan out an elaborate suicide. Felix winced to himself at the thought; or at least he wasn’t the type to do it with two other people in tow.
That was a bad train of thought to get into, at least while they were still in danger. He had to think practical. Felix tipped the shotgun to check its’ ammo and the motion sent a spark of pain up his shoulder- he’d forgotten all about being shot, somehow. He breathed in sharply and dropped the shotgun.
Locus shifted forward with a hitch to his strained breathing and put a shaky hand on Felix’s arm, just below the bullet wound. He looked like he was trying to school his expression into disapproval. “You’re hurt.”
Felix laughed then, really laughed until he could feel tears welling up in his eyes because it was ridiculous and fuck, if that wasn’t the most Locus thing Locus had ever done.
Locus looked appropriately confused when Felix cupped Locus’ face in his hands. “Locus, Locus, Locus. If I weren’t absolutely positive it would give you a traumatic brain injury, I would knock you in the mouth so fucking hard.”
“What?”
“Could you drop the fucking ‘lone warrior Spartan’ act for five fucking minutes?” Felix said, his voice low and dripping with venom.
Locus narrowed his eyes at Felix and sighed in that very put-upon way. Felix didn’t care because they were not in a situation that gave him either the space or energy to care. One of them had to have their head on straight.
Felix had finally rekindled that pocket of anger and he was content to let that burn through him in place of the energy he’d lost about three firefights ago. As usual, Locus had been the answer- stupid fucking Locus, sitting in front of Felix dying and he didn’t even have the good sense to act like it. He had to be a goddamn action-movie soldier, even now.
He stood and paced, listening to the sound of their firing squad as it tore down the doors. Locus leaned back on his elbows and his eyes fluttered shut. Nervous tension crawled between Felix’s shoulder blades as he realized what was happening, and what sleep meant for injured people.
“Hey!” Felix shouted, kneeing Locus’ shoulder. “Who said you could go to sleep?”
Locus jumped back to attention. “Huh? I-“
“Stay with me,” Felix snapped.
There was a strained silence. Their assailants had apparently paused to change their approach and it left them with their increasingly troubled thoughts. Felix tried to take stock of his weapons, figure out how he could use them here, but Locus was staring at him in a way that made his skin crawl. He hated to be scrutinized.
“Why?” Locus said.
Felix turned to him with a scowl. “Why, what?”
“Why did you come back for me?”
There was a flash of strobing white that was more in Felix’s head than his vision and for a second, he was back There. He could feel the way blood and gore had soaked the ground into a marsh, could smell the smoke and hear the gunfire that drew more and more distant, because the people near to him were all dead. Everyone except Locus- Locus, who had irritated him to near hatred with his naivety, his mindless empathy for everyone and every damn thing- Locus, who had been his only real shot at survival because being a bleeding-heart loser didn’t stop him from being handy with a gun.
Locus had asked him that same question then.
“Felix!”
Just as quickly, Felix was back in the warehouse with a tight pain in his chest. If he weren’t just sort of listing reasons he had to be pissed off, Felix would have laughed again. Locus had dragged himself over to shake Felix by the shoulders, and the expression he wore told Felix that he knew exactly where his head had just been.
Felix’s hands shook then, too, matching Locus’, because the thundering at the door was getting louder and pieces of the barricade had come loose. He moved to push Locus off of him but found that he couldn’t make his traitorous hands move, just fanned out against Locus’ chest as if he needed him there to brace himself.
It wasn’t as easy an answer now, was it? It had been easy back then; Felix had wanted to live, and two soldiers were better than one.
Because maybe Felix didn’t really know himself why he’d come back for Locus, not this time, when it was all risk and very little reward. What was he supposed to say to that?
That when he had tried to picture walking away and starting a new life anywhere else- free to do whatever he wanted- that there was a dark, bleakness that eclipsed everything else, that froze his guts until all he wanted to do was puke? That thinking of himself as Felix, just Felix like he’d always been, and not FelixandLocus had made him feel so small, exposed, and insignificant that he would have preferred eating a grenade back in the war?
Felix wanted to be furious, he was ready to embrace it and blame Locus for every pathetic, weak, insipid thought he’d been having, but for once the feeling flickered and died in his throat.
“Because we’re partners,” Felix said finally, and cursed himself and Locus and everything for the way his voice cracked.
Internally, he blamed the breaking of his composure on the fact that he was waiting for that door to burst open and cut their cozy little fucking reunion short, along with their lives. Like it always was with him, it wasn’t entirely a lie.
Felix held his gaze just long enough to see Locus’ eyes widen and his mouth fall open like there was something he wanted to say back before he shoved himself away to face the barricade. They didn’t have time for this.
“Locus,” Felix said suddenly, freezing in place, “what’s the blast radius on these C4 packets?”
“Under 70 feet, I think,” Locus said hazily, pressing a hand to his temple as if it hurt to think. “They’re small…can’t remember.”
“Get to the far corner.”
“What are you…?”
“Move!”
Felix darted to the door, jammed the C4 into the crack between it and the floor, and sprinted back to Locus in a smooth arc. He pushed Locus, forcing him to stumble back across the room until he had him pinned against the corner, grateful for the fact that Locus’ current weakness let him keep them pinned there, with Felix’s back to the doorway.
Recognition dawned in Locus a moment too late. “Felix, no!”
Felix slammed down on the detonators.