Kevin, J-Fred, and Gunner exchanged worried glances before dashing upstairs before everyone, stopping outside of Matt's office and opening the door.

Bryan was lying on the floor with a bullet wound in his chest.

Matt was crying and kneeling by his side while holding Bryan's head in his lap.

"Bryan?" Kevin whispered in disbelief, his eyes wide in shock as tears welled in his eyes.,

"W-we were filming when a-a red light c-came in through the window a-and landed on me. The next thing I knew, B-Bryan had jumped in front of me." Matt hiccuped in between sobs.

"Sniper."

J-Fred and Gunner realized in unison.

"I called nine one one, they should be here soon." Kevin stated, unable to look away from Bryan as he paced around impatiently.

"What happened?" Paul asked as he tried to peek his head through the doorway.

"Nothing, don't worry about it right now." Kevin assured him with a lie before closing the door in his face.

Soon they heard ambulance sirens approaching them.

"I'll distract them." Matt wiped his tears away and plastered on a brave face as he raced downstairs.

They listened as Matt called for a meeting in the warehouse, giving them enough time to carry out Bryan to the ambulance as carefully as they could.

Kevin rode with Bryan to the hospital in the ambulance while J-Fred and Gunner stayed so no one got suspicious why Bryan and Kevin were gone.

"Will he be okay?" Matt whispered to J-Fred after the "meeting" ended and everyone went back to work.

"I don't know." J-Fred admitted, wishing he did.

"Okay, what actually happened?!" Paul demanded, storming up to Matt, J-Fred, and Gunner.

"I saw blood on the floor around Bryan and heard a gunshot." Paul continued, his eyes filled with a combination of fear, anger, and confusion.

"Matt, call everyone down here. Gunner and I have some explaining to do." J-Fred sighed reluctantly.

He knew that he'd have to tell the office one day, but he didn't think that it would be without Bryan and Kevin.

"We just had a meeting." Connor frowned in confusion as everyone filed back down the stairs.

"This is a different kind of meeting." Matt's gaze dropped to the floor.

J-Fred and Gunner explained everything. The Hermano's, their secret arsenal they kept in case of emergencies, what happened to Bryan, and even the case they were doing that involved protecting Matt.

For a moment, deafening silence filled the room, making J-Fred and Gunner worried.

"Okay." Mike said at last.

"Okay?" Gunner repeated skeptically.

"I believe you. I mean, I guess it makes sense. You could've told us sooner, we would've helped." Mike shrugged.

"We didn't tell you guys for that exact reason!" J-Fred exclaimed.

"Then why now?" Tanner questioned.

"It was only a matter of time." J-Fred sighed in exasperation.

Work ended early so everyone could visit Bryan in groups of four so they didn't overwhelm Bryan in case he was awake. The bullet had embedded itself in Bryan's chest dangerously close to his heart.

One inch to the left and he would've died instantly.

Wires and tubes were stuck everywhere on Bryan's body to watch his vitals and regulate his heartbeat, a soft consistent beeping filling the room.

"Bryancito." Kevin swallowed hard, smoothing Bryan's hair back from his forehead.

"I don't know for sure if he'll pull through." The doctor taking care of Bryan admitted as he stepped into the room.

That was when Bryan's monitor flatlined.

"Everyone out!" The doctor barked, ushering Kevin, J-Fred, Matt, and Gunner out as nurses darted in.

"Bryan!" Kevin cried out, struggling to push past everyone and run back inside.

"I'm sorry." One of the nurses apologized as she shut the door in his face.

"LET ME IN DAMNIT!" Kevin yelled in rage as he pounded on the door before Matt tried to pull him away with his uninjured arm to no avail.

"This is your fault." Kevin spoke in a dangerously calm tone without turning away from the door to look at him, tears and fury glistening in Kevin's eyes as he shoved Matt away.

"Bryan was doing his job." J-Fred reminded Kevin.

"My brother's life isn't worth the life of a low life drug dealer." Kevin glared at Matt before storming away to wait on the waiting room.

"He's mad, he didn't mean it." Gunner assured Matt as they followed him.

"Yeah." Matt answered absent mindlessly.

They waited for what felt like hours, when in reality, only a minute has passed. Kevin paced nonstop a few feet away from them, Matt's leg bounced up and down, Gunner's hands fidgeted, and J-Fred sat as still as a statue as he tried to not lose his mind watching everyone worry.

"You four can come back in, he's awake. One of the wires was disconnected on the monitor, so it was a false alarm." The doctor finally opened the door that led to the hallway full of rooms.

They instantly stood up and quickly walked down the hallway and entered Bryan's room.

"Hey." Bryan managed a small smile that looked more like a grimace of pain as he waved weakly.

Kevin wordlessly gave Bryan a gentle hug, cautious to not hurt him further as he breathed out a sigh of relief, tears soaking through the sheets covering Bryan's bare chest wrapped heavily in bandages.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Bryan whispered soothingly.

"Don't scare me like that!" Kevin abruptly pulled away and somewhat lightly slapped Bryan's arm.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Bryan teased playfully, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Bryan-"

"If you're going to apologize, don't." Bryan cut off Matt.

"All I did was save family, like anyone else would do." Bryan continued.

"Still..." Matt trailed off.

"Thank you." Matt finished.

"Anytime." Bryan flashed him a small smile as he tried to sit up, only for him to wince in pain and lay back down.

"When I got shot, did I at least look badass like in the movies?" Bryan asked Matt.

"Hell yeah dude." Matt assured him with a grin.

"He'll have to stay here a little bit longer, but he should be allowed to go home after six or so." The doctor announced as he re-entered the room.

"Thanks." Bryan nodded in appreciation as he left again.

"Any idea who the second person is now?" Gunner asked Bryan.

"I wish." Bryan sighed.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it, just take care of yourself." Kevin patted Bryan's shoulder as they left the room, watching Bobby, Tanner, Dave, and Mike enter next.

"Matt, what I said in the hospital...I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." Kevin apologized as they walked to Matt's car.

"It's alright, I get it. If J-Fred was the one in there, I'd be pissed too." Matt brushed off the apology.

Matt pulled out of the parking lot and started to drive towards the office until he saw something behind him.

A black car was tightly following them.

"Take them to the office, everyone is gone anyway so we can take care of them." J-Fred instructed from the passenger seat.

"Okay." Matt let out a long slow breath as he continued down the road, avoiding looking behind him.

Once they pulled up, they got out of the car and watched as the black car parked next to them.

A familiar person stepped out of he car.

Vy.

She was dressed in a black leather jacket and ripped jeans, as well as a crop top.

"You're a pain to kill, you know that?" Vy remarked to Matt.

"Vy? What are you doing, I thought we were here because you wanted to say hi to the guys!" Chad frowned as he got out of the car.

"I'm a hitman, I'm doing what I was hired to do." Vy retrieved a machete from underneath the seat of her car and swung it at Matt.

Chad grabbed her hand holding the machete before she could hit him, the blade freezing an inch from Matt's neck.

"I can't let you kill him." Chad tore the machete from her grip before she could react.

"You tried to kill him earlier!" Vy protested.

"Even though he's a drug dealer, he's still my friend, I would never kill him." Chad tossed the machete aside.

"Did you know she was a hitman?" Gunner asked Chad.

He shook his head no.

Vy abruptly got back into the car and drove away, leaving Chad behind.

"Vy!" Chad yelled after her.

She kept on driving.

No one could see the tears streaming down her face as she forced herself to not look back for fear that she wouldn't be able to go on without Chad.

"Does everyone have a secret double life?!" Matt shouted in exasperation.

"Probably." J-Fred answered truthfully with a shrug.

They all fell silent, each of them contemplating their next move.

"I won't arrest you or anything." Chad told Matt.

"That's fine, I'm quitting anyway." Matt shrugged.

"We could always use more help with the Hermano's if you're interested." Kevin chimed in.

"So I could get shot at all the time again?" Matt raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Count me in." Matt grinned.

Okay I lied again, this isn't the last chapter, however the last one is just an epilogue. Also, I was thinking about making a choose your own adventure Battle Universe book, would anyone be interested?