Hey guys, thanks for stopping by. This is a companion piece to my story Quondum Iterum but this will make perfect sense too if you haven't read it. It's an extended version of Ian's memory from chapter 5 of Q.E so Enjoy!

John Rider cursed loudly as he heard sirens begin to bellow behind him.

"Ian, hurry the fuck up or we'll both die in here" he growled to his younger brother, who was a step behind him. Both Riders shot swiftly through the wet grass under their feet.

"Christ John, you're not the one carrying the packet of all important papers that will cause the end of the world if even one is lost" Ian whispered back.

John chose to ignore that last statement and hurried along. It was about at that moment that several enormous circular lights flashed on in the night sky, searching for both the Riders in the field.

"Shit" John muttered as he picked up his pace, his brother following the movement. "Our chopper is waiting just a few miles out of the edge of the property, if we can just make it out of here, we'll be good to go" he informed the younger.

Ian simply nodded. But being as young as he was and having been an agent for only two years, he recoiled a bit when the sudden sound of shotguns firing filled the night sky.

And as if he had expected his brother to do so, John spoke "Come on Ian, keep running." He knew they must have been spotted and that security was trying to shoot for them. However they had covered some pretty good distance from the mansion and it would probably be hard for them to make a shot from back there. John revisited this thought though, when the sound of the gunshots seemed to have doubled. Each bullet slicing the air could be heard loud and clear, and more than once John had felt the dirt blow out from underneath his feet. He was sure they had reinforced more men to find them.

He knew there was still much distance they still had to carry before they left the property of this mob boss that they had invaded but at the same time he tried to push the thought from his mind. Having negative thoughts at this time would not help him. He was in a well paced sprint when two especially loud shots fired simultaneously someplace behind him followed by a rather loud thud.

Not bothering to waste the time to stop, John simply turned his head to look, but found his heart skipping several beats when he saw his brother was no longer behind him.

"Fuck, no!" he cried out suddenly realizing the younger must have been shot. He wasted no time to screech to a halt, double back and dash for his brother.

With a sickening thought, he realized that he had lost his brother a while back, because he had to run some distance and dodge several oncoming bullets before he came across the teen laying on the ground, clutching his left leg. John immediately dropped to the ground next to him.

"Here are the papers, take them and go" Ian whispered shoving a sealed package into his older brother's chest.

"Keep the papers, I'm not going anywhere without you, do you understand?" John said quickly, placing a hand behind Ian's back, helping him sit up "Either we get out together or we don't get out at all."

"No god dammit, take the papers back, you've got a lot more to lose than I do" Ian said weakly, resting his head on his brother's chest.

"Where are you shot?" John asked quickly.

"Left leg…right shoulder" Ian answered.

"Alright, hang on" John said as he swiftly pulled his younger brother into a battlefield carry, stood up and made a run for it. He could make a few feet with Ian's weight (considering Ian didn't really weigh much to begin with…) Their chopper was a much farther distance off but once they got off the property, they'd be safe from the gunshots. Which would probably give him enough time and space to at least patch up Ian's wounds so he didn't bleed to death. He swore to do everything in his power to keep his younger brother alive. He would not go down, and if he did then he swore by all he held dear to him, that Ian would not go down with him.

It was approximately 20 minutes before John jumped the fence bordering his enemies' territory and found safe cover behind a large tree.

This was where he was now, slowly lowering his brother onto the ground. Ian groaned a bit the movement.

"Alright, your shoulder's got the bullet still in the wound. As for your leg the bullet pierced through the flesh and possibly skimmed across the bone, considering the pain you're feeling, so we just have to stop the bleeding for that one so I'll treat that first. I'm going to have to remove the bullet from your wound before I bandage them so they don't get infected. Alright?" John spoke softly as he unzipped his vest.

Ian simply nodded.

John then pulled a roll of gauze out from the pouch at his side. He tore off a strip with his teeth and wasted no time to quickly wrap it around Ian's wounded leg. He tied it off and turned his attention to the more serious wound in the younger's shoulder.

"Ok, I'll fix your shoulder now…" John muttered, carefully examining the shoulder.

Ian nodded.

"The hard way…I don't have an anesthetic on me…" John trailed off "So it's going to hurt like hell-"

"Already hurting like hell" Ian interrupted with a grunt.

"Yes, well it'll hurt even more. But I'm going to need you to try to stay as quiet as you can; we're not too far from the borderline" John said as he pulled a few items out from inside his pouch. First a miniature bottle of rubbing alcohol, a few cotton balls, a lighter and a small knife.

"I'll try" Ian muttered.

"Alright, here goes" John said taking the rubbing alcohol and soaking a small puff of cotton ball partially into the liquid "Look at my face, not my hands. Don't pay attention to what I'm doing, talk to me, and keep your mind off of the wound. It'll help, believe me."He quickly recapped the bottle and set it aside. He picked up the knife and quickly rubbed it down with the alcohol. John then brought the hand that was not holding the cotton ball to his brother's, clasping his hand firmly onto Ian's. "It's gonna be alright, ok?"

Ian nodded "Yeah, ok…what do you want me to talk about?"

"Anything. What about…" John trailed off, the spoke the names of the first two people that came to his mind "Mum and Dad? D'you remember that talk you had with them before they left for their last mission?"

Ian nodded quickly.

"What happened? They never told me about it, said it was something you had to tell me on your own once you're felt ready" John said looking the knife over.

"They told me to stay in line. You know how I wasn't doing too good in school?" Ian began to speak.

John nodded, and taking that as an ok to go on, John dipped the knife cautiously, tip first into the clear bullet wound in Ian's shoulder. Ian took a sharp intake of breath at the sudden intrusion and his hand flinched in his brother's.

"Keep talking, Ian" John did his best to keep his emotions from interrupting the task at hand. He carried on and dug the knife deeper into the wound until he felt the bullet.

"They gave me the whole 'life is no joke' lecture-seemed that's all they did to me anymore, what with you being their star child and all, what better did they have to do with their, good for nothing average son?" Ian gave a dry chuckle.

John weaved the tip of the knife underneath the bullet and as quickly as he could, pushed it out.

Ian's grip on John's hand tightened immensely, as he bit his lip to hold back a scream. "They told me to be good while they were gone. To pass my finals, be good to you, learn from you-oh and they told me off again about that whole Karina Basta incident. Said they didn't want me going out and shagging a random girl and dishonoring their name ever again."

Quickly John took his hand out of Ian's, grabbed the lighter, sparked it and held the knife over the flame. And when it turned a glowing amber color, he turned the lighter off and pressed the burning metal against the bullet wound, causing a pained reaction from the younger.

Ian's breath quickened, and he pressed his forehead against his brother's chest in an attempt to somehow dull the pain. "They didn't understand how it was just a frustrated attempt to release all these…these emotions. I didn't even know Karina before we got into the bar, it was just an in the moment thing. You know what I mean?"

John opened his mouth to reply but Ian cut him off.

"Of course you don't know. Because you're a fucking genius. You are the epitome of goodness, John. You are the perfect son, the perfect agent, the perfect brother, you are just bloody fucking perfect-" Ian broke off as the wound began to sting.

"Easy Ian, just a little more. This is just to seal the wound and stop the bleeding quicker" John explained as he pressed the metal harder.

"You're perfect…it's why mum and dad loved you more" Ian said gently, resting his head against his brother's shoulder.

John opened his mouth to say something-anything to reply to the younger's outburst. To make him feel in the least better. Both Ian and himself, because if there was anything John hated, then it was the fact that he was half the reason his brother lived a life in a shadow. But found no words forming in his mouth.

And as the knife began to cool, John removed it from the now melded wound.

"John…it hurts" Ian whispered almost helplessly.

"I know, Ian, I know" John said softly, replacing his items into his pouch and putting his arms around his younger brother. He held Ian close and attempted to keep him somewhat warm. Then rested his chin softly upon short dirty blonde hair. "But they're gone now…" he said resuming their previous conversation "And you have to be strong now to make them proud, alright?"

"I don't wanna make them proud. I hate them…just like they hated me" Ian muttered, a trace of anger lingering in his tone.

"They didn't hate you…" John said a bit lamely.

"They did. I bet they'd just love it if you'd just leave me here and save your own skin. They'd just bloody love it if I died out here…"

"You're not going to die here" John said almost immediately "I won't let that happen alright? I won't let anything happen to you because who are you?"

"Your baby brother" Ian chuckled despite the pain he was in.

"And how much do I love you?" John asked, blinking back a sudden wave of emotions.

"The world, the heavens and beyond" Ian recited the words he'd heard from his brother's lips millions of times.

"And I would never let that happen to someone I love so much. Do you understand?" John asked, looking down at the younger.

"Hm…" Ian let out a deep breath before his conscience began to slip in the comfort of his brother's hold.

John leaned his head back against the tree and briefly closed his eyes as well. And just as he was about to slip into a resting but alert doze-the sound of vicious barking pierced the air.

The mob had sent agents after them, and with scent hounds too. John sighed deeply as he began to quietly gather his brother into his arms and stand.

On the run again.

Alright guys, that was it. Now I was thinking of making this a short story-I've already got Chapter 2 written up, but depending on whether you guys want to read on or not II'll post it =]

Plus I wanted to clarify that the way Ian is in this story comes from a typical case of having the perfect elder sibling and himself being the slightest bit lacking. And then making not too many well thought out decisions to deal with it. And it's basically to emphasize how much John's death affected him. So much that he became the stoic, emotionless and perfect character he is now. Just like his older brother.

Oh and if any of you were curious, Infragilis Vinculum does mean The Unbreakable Bond, hence the name of the story =]

Reviews are very much loved and appreciated, and for those of you that haven't read Quondum Iterum, if you liked this then you'll absolutely love it. And I would appreciate it so much if you took a minute to take a look at it =]