Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own the A-Team.
Story Title- Because You're My Friend
Summery- Murdock comes back injured from his annual checkup at the VA. Set before movie.
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It was a sweltering hot day at the base. Face was sun tanning at his usual spot. The turban was wrapped around his head and his eyes were covered as he sat there thinking. He was extremely bored. There nothing even remotely entertaining going on. Earlier he had tried to hit on the nurses but found medical tent far too busy with people running around trying to care for all the wounded patients. Apparently a large scaled mission was conducted and they had just returned back to the base. So that would mean that the medical would be busy all day. A huge downer for Face.
Another thing currently occupying his bored mind was his teammate and close friend, Murdock. No one was ever bored around Murdock. How could they be? He may be crazy, but he was the funniest person Face had ever met and one of the most fun to be around. However, he was on one of his annual trips to the VA. Once a month for three days they sent him to the nearest VA hospital for an evaluation. He knew Murdock hated the trips, and he was pretty sure Hannibal and BA did too. Murdock hated being sent anywhere near those places. While he was there they would evaluate him and refill his prescriptions, which he didn't use anyway. In Face's opinion he was better without the medicine, and he seemed more sane without it for sure. Murdock never talked about his trips though, and the rest of the team avoided the subject. Face was curious, but was unwilling to push his friend. Today Murdock would be coming back to base though and at that thought Face checked the time knowing he would be arriving back soon.
Face also noticed that an hour had passed since he last looked or moved for that matter, and so he had developed a slight sunburn. Groaning and mumbling about how his tan was ruined and how his skin was going to peel off, which was not attractive at all, he almost didn't notice the arrival of plane that flew overhead.
Looking up quickly he realized that that was probably the plane that was bringing Murdock back. Murdock was never allowed to fly himself to or from the VA hospital because they never trusted him to actually go where he was supposed to, so he always had to have someone else take him. He smiled thinking about how the always cheerful pilot would brighten up his day with his crazy antics. Since there was no reason for him to continue sitting there, he got up and went into his tent to put some clothes on, and cover up his embarrassing sunburn. Then he would go find Murdock he resolved.
Inside the tent he began rummaging through his clothes searching for some clean ones to wear. Hannibal sat looking over some papers Morrison had given him, most likely for their next mission. In the chair next to him was BA who was telling him about other forms of transportation other than flying, and why they would be better and or course safer. Hannibal rolled his eyes and shook his head trying not to laugh at the ridiculous things BA suggested, especially when he suggested train travel. Finally finding some decent clothes he put them on and checked his reflection in his personal mirror.
They all turned around when one the tent flaps opened and in stumbled Murdock who looked much worse for the wear. He had several visible bruises, none of which were small, but the large one on his left cheek looked the worse. Also he had marks resembling rug burn and scratches all over his arms. Looking at his face two identical burn marks resembling electricity burn were visible near his temples. He looked physically exhausted like he would collapse any minute.
Face ran quickly and was at his friends side before Hannibal and BA got there despite being farther away. He helped support him and then walked him over to his bunk where he proceeded to help him lay down. Murdock muttered a thank you accepting his support. When Face was sure his friend was comfortable he took a step back.
"What the hell happened!" Face screamed looking at Murdock while mentally thinking of the torture that would befall whoever was responsible for his friends injuries.
Raising a hand and sitting up slightly Murdock looked at everyone and replied in an exhausted tone "Look I'm tired. Can I at least rest first and then we can talk about this later?"
"Alright fine captain, but we will be discussing this later when you wake up and hopefully feel a little better. Get some rest captain, and don't worry we will take care of you." Hannibal said while looking from Murdock to the rest of his team who nodded. Murdock then looked at Hannibal and nodded too, before laying back down and closing his eyes drifting off to sleep soon after.
Face was sitting next to Murdock's bed, one hand on his knee, the other gently running through the pilot's hair. Hannibal and BA had gone to the medical tent to get some supplies to tend to Murdock's wounds. He knew if the two of them were to walk in now he would never hear the end of it, but at the moment he really didn't care. Honestly he thought that the main reason Hannibal had taken BA instead of him was because Hannibal could see how difficult this was for him, and also for BA. BA had remained surprisingly silent and Face imagined he was also thinking of ways to punish whoever had dared lay on hand on his friend. Looking down at him now though, it was even easier to see how bad Murdock really was. Though he was asleep his breathing wasn't normal and he looked very fragile. Face was taking extra care and precaution to ensure that he didn't hurt him. Brushing the hair out of his face and exposing the identical burns Face examined them carefully. They looked strange and painful, so he was careful not to touch them. Retracting his hand so that both were placed on his knees, he looked down at the floor.
At that time Hannibal and BA walked quietly into the tent carrying a few medical supplies. They came over and walked to opposite sides of the bed. They all began tending to Murdock's wounds in silence as though they were afraid to talk. Finally, BA spoke up to breaking the silence that felt as though it had formed an eerie curtain around them. "I'ma kill the fool who did this."
"I know your angry BA. We all are, but right now we need to be supportive of Murdock. I know this is going to be hard for him to talk about." Hannibal said clearly with a hint of concern in his words. BA looked to the side as if not wanting to meet the Cornels eye. Face watched them expectantly.
Hannibal then took Murdock's hand and squeezed it gently as if he were trying to will the captain to wake up. Surprisingly it seemed to do just that. The figure on the bed began to stir and open his eyes while Hannibal let go of his hand. Yawning lightly and sitting up he blinked a few times and then looked expectantly at his friends.
Hannibal spoke first asking "So are you feeling any better?" as if trying to break into the conversation gently.
Checking himself over Murdock said almost quietly "A little bit. It looks like you guys did a great job, thanks."
He then began to tell them all what they had been waiting to hear. The story only seemed to upset them all even more. He explained to them that the psychologist who gave him his evaluation on the first day said he was depressed and prescribed him a few new medications. He had fought back against this and angered the psychologist. He ordered for him to be put in a straightjacket, after injecting him with a few drugs, and then thrown in a padded room. They had left him until the next morning. However the drugs he gave him had kept him up all night. One made him hyper and the other practically paralyzed him so he couldn't move, causing him to have lots of energy, but to be paralyzed so he couldn't move causing him to sit on the floor of the room and twitch all night. When they did come to get him the next day the drugs had recently worn off and so he was tired and miserable, so they decided to schedule him an EST appointment. They locked him in his room and delivered him breakfast while he waited for him appointment. When they did come to take him to his appointment he fought back and they punched him in the face, grabbed him by his feet and dragged him along the carpet in his room to a spot where they could lock him in a straitjacket and gag him. They then put him in a wheelchair and took him to the room for his treatment. They took him out of the straightjacket and strapped him down to the bed. They then hooked up the shockers to the sides of his head. They never bothered to put him to sleep as they decided he would go through it awake as punishment for resisting. They turned on the machine and it shocked him while he screamed in pain and twitched helplessly. After being shocked many times he had a migraine that felt as though it would split his skull. They took him back to his room and gave him another set of injections, the same as the day before. He laid on his bed twitching and convulsing with a massive headache. When the drugs began to wear off they came in and gave him another set so he spent the whole night the same way. The next morning he was so tired that he felt like he would collapse as they dragged him to another appointment with the psychologist he had seen on the first day he arrived. The man was still angry with him and so he had an unpleasant appointment. Finally, afterward the plane arrived to take him home and rushed to it. Then he stumbled back to the tent to lay down.
Face was livid. He couldn't remember being this pissed off before, and from the looks on Hannibal and BA's faces neither could they. Murdock had looked down during the entire story and looked extremely fragile like he would break. Now that he was done he was slowly looking at them while pulling his knees up and putting his chin on them silently.
"How the hell do they get away with that kind of stuff!" Face broke the silence finally voicing his thoughts and anger.
Murdock seemed to shrink in on himself even more as if he were trying to hide, before sighing and answering "Mental patients don't have as many rights as normal people, so since we aren't thought to be able to decide what is best for us the psychologists do and so they can perform experimental treatment on us if they choose."
This only pissed Face off more however, and he really wanted to knock some sense into those doctors, but remained calm for the moment. "That can't be legal." He knew he made a good point.
"Most of the things I take aren't legal." Murdock said deflating Face's new argument.
"Well then were going to fight back. I'm going to talk to Morrison about this and see what he can do. There has to be something we can do to help." Determination was evident in Face's eyes.
"Why, there is nothing you can do. This is out of your control Face. Murdock looked at him his eyes still watery. Hannibal and BA just sat back observing the argument as if they really weren't sure what to say.
Noticing the look Murdock gave him Face couldn't help but smile and say softly but firmly "Because you're my friend."