Another bullet ripped through the wall, right next to MacGyver, making him flinch as Jack returned fire.

"Have you found the bomb yet? Cause there's only five minutes left on the clock." Riley's worried voice came through the coms, and Jack replied as he shot back at the terrorists.

"Well, they could have been bluffing when they said they activated it. Maybe they just wanted to scare us?"

Mac pulled Jack back from the corner of the wall they were hiding behind, as another barrage of bullets fired their way.

"I don't think terrorists bluff, Jack. Riley, we know where it is, we just have to get past a few people to get to it."

"Well, hurry up. We don't have much time and the police can't evacuate the whole building with so little time. There are thousands of people in there."

Jack ducked down to reload his gun as he grumbled. "Yeah, thanks for the extra pressure, Riley. We know how serious this is, we don't need your commentary."

Macgyver looked around, knowing they were quickly running out of ammo and needed an alternate route.

"Shut up, Jack. I think I know a way around."

Jack turned to the younger man and lifted his gun.

"Well, hurry up then, I'm almost out of ammo!"

As it turns out, Mac's brilliant idea was to use the vents, which Jack did not like given his size. But it got them around the terrorists and to the bomb. The room they were keeping the bomb in was heavily fortified, with guards posted at the door, as well as a pile of weapons for defending their plan. Jack took them out from the vents and took as much ammo as he liked, when they jumped down. MacGyver was less happy; the bomb was big and complicated. They had about two minutes left on the clock and he would need almost all of that time to disarm it.

"Jack, you got incoming."

Jack posted himself at the door, with a table for cover, to take out the guys trying to kill him while Mac did his thing.

And MacGyver was usually very good with bombs, but it's a little hard to concentrate when you're bleeding out.

Mac leant over the bomb and reached in a hand to inspect it further, when something ripped through him. He let out an involuntary cry and stumbled, falling against the crate the bomb was in. His mind was white with pain as Jack's voice came, worried but distracted.

"You okay, kid?!"

MacGyver looked down at his side, where blood was quickly blooming through his shirt. He cursed and pressed a hand to it as he replied.

"Yeah, I'm good. The bombs just…bigger than I thought."

Jack seemed to buy the excuse, mostly because he still had four guys shooting at him.

"Okay, well get to it. We don't have much time left."

Mac nodded and quickly grabbed the sheet that had been used to cover the bomb, and ripped it into the crappiest bandages ever. He balled a piece up and pressed it to the wound, wrapping another strip around his waist and tying it tight, biting his lip to stop from making any noise through the pain. He knew it wouldn't stop the bleeding very much but it was something and he didn't have time for anything else.

The hot pain of the bullet threatened to cloud his mind, but he'd been in tough spots before and he knew he needed to compartmentalize. Ignore everything but the bomb. His old CO's voice came to his mind, gruff and authoritative.

"You're in a warzone with an armed bomb, what do you do?"

Mac's breath came in shallow pants as he remembered his answer.

"Focus on what can kill you now, deal with everything else later."

"And what can kill you now?"

"The bomb."

"Then get to it soldier!"

His side screamed in pain but Mac got to his feet and got back to the bomb, ignoring the feeling of blood spreading over his skin, and soaking his shirt. He didn't even have time to check for an exit wound, but he knew if he had one, the bomb would have blown. That meant that the bullet was still inside him and for now, that was advantage. He wasn't so sure about later but he didn't have any longer to worry about it.

The clock was counting down and everyone in the building was counting on him to save them. He had been trained to disarm bombs, had done it a hundred times before. He could do this.

Jack was firing off shot after shot, filling the room with noise as MacGyver tried to concentrate. He never liked guns but he had grown used to the noise in his many years of experience with them.

He took a deep breath and cleared everything from his mind until all there was only the bomb and how to disarm it. His fingers were clumsier than usual, slippery with his own blood, but he ignored the red smears on the wires and kept going, hearing Riley give updates on the coms.

"They've got reinforcements coming your way. They really don't want you disarming that bomb. You have disarmed it, haven't you? Clocks down to less than a minute."

Mac gave a short answer and tried to ignore how hard it was to breathe.

"Almost there. Can you send back up for us?"

"Yeah, but its gonna take a few minutes."

Jack fired another round of bullets as he chimed in. "I can hold them off till then, just send them. Mac, keep going."

MacGyver tried, but it was getting harder to ignore the pain. It was burning, tearing pain, that stabbed its way through his concentration. Not to mention the blood that was quickly soaking through his shirt and down his side. He could feel it dripping onto the floor but didn't have the extra hands to put pressure on it.

His head was growing light and it was getting harder to breathe, every inhale whistling through his teeth as his, now, shaking fingers pulled at some wires.

When he finally got the bomb disarmed, the clock pausing on the flashing red numbers, he heaved a sigh and let his weak legs drop him to the floor, sitting against the crate as he panted.

"Bombs, disarmed."

Riley sighed with relief, fingers still tapping over her keyboard.

"And with twenty seconds to spare, good job, Mac. Jack, you still good?"

MacGyver had almost forgotten about their other problem, and mentally groaned as Jack answered.

"Yeah, but their buddies just arrived and I can't hold them off on my own. We're gonna need that back up. Mac, you got any bright ideas?"

Angus was finding it hard to just breathe, but he needed to help jack. The terrorists would kill him faster than the bullet would so he'd concentrate on that first. He grunted out a yes, and looked around the room once more, head clumsily filling with ideas.

It was so hard to think and he pressed a hand to his side, wincing as the pain became sharper.

He attempted to lee his voice steady as he spoke but jack was too busy to notice anyway.

"Yeah, I think I can make a grenade or two with pieces from the bomb."

Jack ducked back behind the table. "Well get to it then."

He was already so tired and he knew it would hurt to move again but he sucked in as deep a breath as he could and attempted to get to his feet.

The room tipped and spun but he gripped the edge of the crate and hauled himself up, biting back a groan of pain. He took a moment to breathe once standing before pulling his pocket knife back out and pulling materials from the bomb.

He'd have to be careful but he really only needed the wires, he'd use other, less sensitive, explosive components from the bottles of cleaning supplies around him to make the rest of the grenade. He was just lucky they were in the supplies cupboard of the hotel they were shooting up.

His legs were getting seriously wobbly so he slumped back to the ground to make his mini bombs, trying to keep one hand on his side when he could. There was way too much blood on the floor now. And he was shivering with cold. He was going into shock and he knew it.

By the time, he'd finished building the grenades, he could barely move his arms so he just rolled them over to jack.

Jack swore as he took the grenades off the ground, too preoccupied to look in his partners direction.

"Damn mac, be careful with these."

Mac blinked his tired eyes as he watched jack throw the first grenade, cheering as it blew up in the hallway where he threw it. Picking up the next one however, he paused. The grenade was covered in blood, and was staining his hands with it as he held it. He paused, confused before finally looking over at Angus who was falling asleep against the crate. Blood was soaked through his side and his jeans, forming a dangerously large puddle on the floor.

"Mac!"

Jack threw the last bomb, it bothering to see if it hit its mark as he sprinted over to his partner.

His heart pounded in his chest and his stomach dropped as he knelt beside his partner, hand flying to his com.

"Riley, I need an evac now! Macs been hit."

The hacker started tapping away again, voice small and scared as she replied.

"On their way, and backups just arrived. Is he okay?"

Mac barely reacted when jack stripped off his jacket and pressed it to the kid's side, voice shaking as he pressed his fingers to that pale throat.

"He's lost a lot of blood and his pulse is weak, I think he's going into shock. Mac, can you hear me? I need you to stay awake, buddy."

Angus' eyes were barely open but he tried to obey as he heaved in ragged breaths. His weak, blood soaked fingers, coming up to tug at Jacks hands.

"I know it hurts but I have to stop this bleeding. Damn kid, when were you hit?"

Mac opened his eyes enough to see Jacks worried face, and pointed to the ceiling where they'd jumped down from the vents.

"Dammit Mac! Why didn't you say anything?" He knew why, but that didn't make him any less scared. He'd been bleeding out for a good twenty minutes now and he was fading fast.

Jack had been in some bad spots but he was never so scared as when Mac got hurt. He wasn't just a friend, he was family, and more than that, he was a kid. He shouldn't be bleeding out on some dirty floor, away from any chance of help.

Jack's hands were slick with blood now, and he felt them shake as he pressed them to his partners wounded side.

"Just hold on, okay? We'll get you out of here."

Mac's eyes rolled a little in their sockets as he fought to stay conscious, breaths coming in gasps as he tried to speak.

"It's okay."

Jack's heart squeezed in his chest as he shook his head.

"No, Mac. I know what you're gonna say but just don't, all right? I'm getting you home so just be quiet."

The kid was insistent and squeezed Jacks hand weakly.

"It's okay, Jack. We saved everyone. You'll be okay."

Jacks lip started to wobble and his eyes grew blurry. He knew it was bad, he knew that if Mac fell asleep they would lose him, but he didn't want to accept that just yet.

"I know I will be because you will be too."

"Jack-"

"No, you aren't going anywhere, you hear me?"

MacGyver could feel himself grow cold, and he needed to say something even if Jack didn't want to hear it.

"Thanks for always being there for me. You've always taken care of me, and I need you to know that it isn't your fault okay?"

Jack just shook his head, throat clogged with emotion. He could hear back up arrive and take out the terrorists in the background, but all he could focus on was the blood still pouring from beneath his fingers.

"Can you look after Bozer for me? Just be there for each other." A sniff and a sob came through the coms and Jack almost let one out himself, at the knowledge that Riley could hear all of this. Her small voice came over the earpieces and Mac felt awful about her having to hear him die.

"Mac, just hang on, okay? The medics are almost there. You'll be okay. Don't leave."

He wished that he could stay, he didn't want to leave his family, but his vision was swirling and filling with black spots. He could barely see Jacks face as he continued to say his goodbyes. His words were slurred and he was running out of time.

"Hey Riley, you make sure Jack doesn't do anything stupid when I'm gone okay? And I know we don't say this very much, but I love you guys. You're my family and I wouldn't trade a second with you for the world."

Jack finally found his voice as Mac's eyes threatened to close.

"Stop it Mac, you are not dying on me! Keep those eyes open and keep your goodbyes 'cos I aint sayin 'em."

Riley sobbed again, voice cracking as she forced it through. "I love you too, Mac."

Jack cursed and pressed his hands tighter to his partner's side, panicking at the blood still coming.

"Shit, Mac, please. Just hang on, the medics are almost here. Why won't the blood stop?"

MacGyver managed to squeeze Jacks hand one last time before his vision faded and his chest seized. His heart was too tired and his body too cold. Jack started yelling as the kids eyes closed, the medics arriving just as his chest stopped moving.

"Mac, don't you dare! Stay with me! Open your eyes! Mac!"

Riley was sobbing over the coms, seeing everything through a hacked security camera.

Medics poured into the room as tear finally fell from Jacks eyes. He was pushed away as the EMT's took over, and fell to the ground a few meters away, watching them work on his little brother. Because he was like a brother, sometimes a son to him, and he didn't know what he'd do if he lost him.