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Jäger made his way quietly around the dilapidated building, the cracked concrete was decorated with specks of blood, garbage, and bullet cases. Lovely. He had managed to shoot the bastard in the hand and arm, they wouldn’t be able hold anything with a trigger if they didn’t bleed out first. He had followed the blood trail here where it abruptly ended. Coms telling him the rest of the floors were cleared or neutralized – he had specifically asked for no backup, he didn’t know where the white mask lackey had gone and he wasn’t risking his teammates’ lives because of shitty info, even if the White mask was most likely unarmed and bleeding. Plus IQ and Blitz were watching the stairways to his floor, Bandit was probably making sure those dead stayed dead. Bandit should really take him up on the offer of modifying his tools, his insistence on car batteries was insufferable, the bulky ugly things. He had even read a few articles on lithium mining; it couldn’t be good to contribute to it. He will send some of the articles to Bandit once he gets back to base, he should at least know it's not good for the people producing it. Is there ethical lithium mining? How can you even track global mines? Would they make special labels or –
A scraping of pebbles was his only warning but before turning to the sound the pressure on his neck began. His gun hit the ground hard, his hands flying to the arm on him and pulling, grip slipping once but managing to maintain his windpipe and veins flowing, albeit severely restricted. He felt the warmth of the body behind him, his elbow flew back, hearing a strangled wheeze. Jäger punched blindly behind him, his fist making contact once, twice, and the hold broke. He quickly turned, but the tall figure tackled him, straddling his chest holding down his shoulders with their weight. A hand gripped his throat holding his head and jaw in place making him wheeze a “Fuck!” before an elbow descended on his face repeatedly, blood trickled from the arm and onto his face, blurring his vision.
“..AGER STAT… --ORT!” Blitz’s voice rang through his earpiece. He opened his mouth but he only croaked out unintelligible sounds. “JÄGER!” The force of the elbow was getting weaker, it hit his visor a few times, slipping in the process, he had been smacked harder by Blitz’s shield on training. He felt a surge of strength. Yeah he has definitely survived worst.
He pulled his legs toward his body, managing to land a knee on the same side he had elbowed earlier. The grip on him weakened, he used the chance to grab them from their bullet proof vest and yanked them off him. He wrapped his legs around the white mask’s left shoulder, pulling their arm towards him and holding it. Locked. But now he had a white mask in a hold and couldn’t let go anytime soon.
“Jäger here! Top floor, large room on north—“ He stopped as soon as he saw a figure in the doorway. No way. He was sure this guy was the only one left. The blurry silhouette approached them, he tried to maintain the hold with one hand, his other arm scrambling for his weapon -- his gun was too far to reach.
“Calm down, Jäger.”
He let a relived sigh slip his lips, going back to maintaining the hold as Bandit calmly walked towards them but his voice had been gritted out. The other defender stood next to the pair on the floor. Good, maybe he can handcuff the guy, not that they need intel from a lackey. “Ban—“ He was cut off by the pistol firing off. The body struggling in his hold stilled, he let go, the limp arm resting on his chest. He looked up but was quickly pulled up roughly by his vest and back on his feet.
“Bandit, what the fuck!” He turned but the other’s gaze was still on the limp body, his eyes were pure ice.
“STATUS REPORT”
“Stable. Floor is fully neutralized.” Bandit’s voice was all business, his chest rising and falling raggedly. “Give me a minute, Blitz.” And with that he clicked his coms off.
“He was not a threat anymore!”
“Are you insane? Or just dumb? No back up, really? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I had him on a lock, there is no way of him getting out of it.”
“What if the bastard wasn’t the only one left? You were a sitting duck in that hold, the rest of us were far as shit and no clue what fucking room you—” Bandit cut himself off with a fit of dry coughs, eyebrows were furrowed, the full force of his cold glare now on Jäger. Oh. Bandit would of had to run all the way up here as soon as he heard Jäger struggle to have made it this quickly to him...even without any idea of his specific whereabouts or if there was a second threat. Jäger’s mind quickly clicked all the harsh words together.
“Sorry for worrying you, and thank you.” He said gently, pulling up his visor, and held his gaze. Bandit stared at him for a few seconds, before adverting his eyes.
“Whatever” Bandit spat, quickly turning and making his way out. Jäger picked up his gun from the floor, quickly trotting to Bandit’s side, his hand sliding close before giving Bandit’s hand a gentle squeeze, which was quickly returned. Jäger felt a smile tug at his lips...Ow. He didn’t look forward to seeing his face under the balaclava.
“We are heading down north stairs.” And with that he made his way quickly toward the others, he will need to pay Doc a quick visit after this ordeal.
“Great, we are meeting everyone on the second floor, debrief will be done back in base.”
Buzzed Blitz's voice through his earpiece before he saw the other at the bottom of the stairs.
“You scared us, Jäger!” The air in his lungs was forced out by Blitz’s tight hug, IQ opting for a gentle pat on his shoulder and a relieved smile.
“Don’t rush off like that!” She said, turning to Bandit, giving his arm a gentle squeeze before heading off.
“It will take more than that to off me!” Jäger assured Blitz, fighting down the urge to wriggle away, his bruised body still felt the sting. Bandit’s eyes were still on him. He was not taking off his helmet in front of them.
Jäger flopped down on his bed. The check-up went well, only needed a weak blood thinner to make sure his bruises didn’t give him a stroke. Thankfully the bastard didn’t manage to break his nose or give him a concussion, he would of hate to be pulled away from the workshop. Well at least he was given the day off to lick at his wounds.
Or… Work on his new joint project.
I can get you the prototype from the workshop if you want to take a look at the changes I made. He quickly typed to Twitch.
And with that he got up, opening the door and almost running right into Bandit.
“Elias told you to rest.”
“I know, I know, but Emmanuelle wanted to see the new prototype, I think she can add some compact wiring that will…” he trailed off when Bandit simply raised his eyebrows at him and crossed his arm in front of him. “Yeah I could use some rest, actually.” He ducked back into the room.
“What’s with the scarf? You aren’t going out today are you?”
“Not a fan of the cold…”
“I don’t think you have ever let the heater drop from 20 degrees.”
“Well you know…”
“Show me.”
With a defeated sigh, he pulled off the soft green scarf, turning to face the prankster. He knew he wasn’t exactly charming anyone anytime soon, but he didn’t need his team to worry and much less Bandit make fun of his beat-up face.
“You’re a shit liar, Marius.” His words were harsh, but the hand tracing the bruises on his cheek were uncharacteristically gentle, a thumb brushing the corner of his mouth where his lip had been split. Jäger didn’t ask what he was doing, yeah they had some fun alone but the other German rarely showed his affectionate side when doors were unlocked. The hand kept traveling down, gently poking at any marks. Bandit kept his face neutral, carefully studying Jäger’s expression to ensure he wasn’t causing any pain, but his eyes quickly narrowed at his hand when it reached the pilot’s neck. The mark was a light purple but the deep reds and blues surrounding it gave away the power behind the grip, the bastard had almost crushed his windpipe if Doc’s worried expression had been any indication. But he had reacted pretty quickly, spared him an operation and any permanent damage apparently. He tried to hide his wince when warm fingers prodded the wound, but Bandit’s eyes were focused, fingers retracting away from the bruises and coming to rest at the base of his neck which thankfully was undamaged.
Jäger recalls Bandit regarding the body of the white mask, the cold rage in his eyes and zero hesitation at taking the shot. It made his hairs stand on end and his shoulders tense at the memory. Bandit felt the change under his hand, quickly drawing gentle circles at the back of his neck. Jäger looked back at him, the other's eyes now regarding him softly, tilting his head slightly to the side when he met Jäger's eyes. Jäger let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, leaning forward and resting his head on the prankster's shoulder. An arm came to rest on his back.
They stayed like that for some time, the arm petting his back. As much as Jäger appreciated the gesture, he was hesitant the accept the tenderness fully; he remembers when Bandit was more dismissive of small injuries, it was part of the job after all, this wasn't even a close call. Since when had the other started worrying so much? he quickly scanned his memories... he briefly saw the spikes, the fire, felt a flash of the New Mexico hot air sticking to his skin as blood caked his clothes and the awful screaming, so much screaming around him while the scent of smoke and metal suffocated him...and the waft of aftershave? He blinked a few times, didn't know he had been pulling away, eyes wide, until the arm on him went rigid, preventing him from fully breaking contact and reminding him where he was. He remembers Bandit had screamed at him as soon as he had gotten out of quarantine but dragged away by IQ as Blitz helped him hobble back to his bed. That hadn’t stopped Bandit, who had almost broken his door to get into the room. He had just screamed back at Bandit until his throat and eyes burned, but it felt cathartic, like they understood what both needed.
Just like now. He wasn't a fragile thing and the other knew.
"Shit did hurt a tad..." Jäger broke the silence, feeling Bandit struggle to hold in a chuckle, a gentle pat on his back.
“Let’s see this prototype then.”
Jäger looked up with a lopsided smile but before he could answer he felt warm lips on his, brief and hurried before Bandit quickly turned, leading the way to the workshop. Jäger decided not to point out the reddened ears of the other German. Maybe accepting moments like these wasn’t so bad.