A/N: Hello all! About a month or so ago, my friend took me to see The A-Team, which I really didn't know anything about, except that it had to do with the army. Two hours later, I was completely and utterly obsessed with it! I love the movie (which I've watched about 3 or 4 times now) and am currently in the process of watching the series on Netflix. My favorite character is undoubtedly Murdock, he kept me smiling throughout most of the movie. I have a couple more stories that have to do with the movie on my computer, but I just wanted to upload one for right now, test the waters if you will. Please review and tell me what you think, this is a new audience for me :) Thanks a ton, IYD24
(Update) Sooo so sorry if for some reason you got a note saying that this story didn't exist anymore. I have no idea what happened... but it's still here haha. And I'm sorry if you were upset :P silly computer, bein' a big ol' mudsucker as Murdock would say ;)
Face POV:
This was bullshit, we all knew it. All of us were standing in this stupid court room in our best uniforms, being tried for a crime we didn't even do. I clenched my teeth as I thought back to when we had all first become a team.
Hannibal and I had worked together for years; he had become like the father that I'd never had. We were on a mission in Mexico when Hannibal stopped a huge, beefy looking man on the side of the road. Lo and behold, he was a ranger too! B.A. Baracus, 4th battalion; he and his van helped get my ass out of a whole lot of trouble. B.A. fought hard, and got us (literally) rolling down the road in no time. It was quickly established that B.A.'s bad-boy attitude was really just a cover-up and he really was a very sweet and kind person.
So, with the Mexicans hot on our tails, the three of us drove up to a hospital to treat B.A.'s bullet wound and receive information. While Hannibal got the rest of the info, I helped B.A. search for a room and a doctor. Wouldn't you know it? I come across Murdock posing as a surgeon to escape from the psychiatric ward. Within minutes Murdock managed to piss off me, B.A., and a staff nurse, which was quite impressive actually. B.A. nearly strangled Murdock getting out of that room with a lightning bolt stitched in his arm, while I was still frantically trying to get the fire off mine. Imagine how surprised we were when we found out this guy was going to be our pilot. It all worked out for the best though, despite B.A.'s fear of flying that came shortly after our first helicopter ride with Murdock, something none of us would ever forget.
In time we grew to be like a family, since none of us really had our own. Hannibal grew to be like a father to us (whether we wanted him to or not) which, despite annoying the hell out of us sometimes, was something that we cherished.
B.A. was like the older brother. He was gruff to everyone, especially Murdock, but he'd protect us and anyone else he cared about with everything he had. I guess you could say I was the middle child, sailing through life on a blinding smile, or at least that's how I wanted people to see it. I could con pretty much anyone with my charm, but if you messed with my team there'd be no more Mr. Nice Guy.
And then there was Murdock, whom we affectionately named "Howling Mad." He could always give you a smile and say something crazy that would turn your whole day around. He was as mad as can be when we met him, and not much has changed. We all love him though, even though B.A. won't be quick to admit it. We all look out for him, since he really doesn't have a clue of what's going on sometimes. He's probably the sweetest, most genuine person you'd meet, and he's the best pilot you could ask for.
Over the years, our team ran countless missions together, and this one shouldn't have been any different. Hannibal knew we were suppose to stay out of Baghdad, but he was really on the jazz that day and had a plan before I could even finish protesting. It worked flawlessly (of course) . We were there and back, watching the General's van coming over before you could say, "I love it when a plan comes together," Which was of course what Hannibal was saying. Everything was fine, near perfect, until the fucking van exploded right in front of our faces.
Everything fell apart from there. We ran over to the truck, looking for the General amongst the wreckage. Then, while we were trying to find our leader and friend, some punks try to steal the plates from our storage box! We immediately open fired, but that didn't help at all as we ran back to the box to keep them away from the money. As we ran towards the container, it burst into flames and knocked us all backwards. Hannibal was the first to stand before I slowly got up and stared dumb-founded at the bills raining down while B.A. and Murdock looked around, stunned. I turned to Hannibal to see what to do, but he just watched the sky and the trucks while Sosa and a bunch of other men got out, all of their guns pointed at us.
We were all thrown into the back of a truck before anyone of us could protest. I looked around, my face sullen and shocked. I really couldn't believe what was happening, I didn't want to. Hannibal was deep inside his head, and I knew he was trying to figure out how this had happened and how we'd get out of it. BA just looked pissed, his jaw sticking out as his eyes looked around for something to pummel. Murdock was the worst out of all of us, he looked lost and frightened. His wide eyes just stared at the floor as his lower lip started to tremble. BA put his arm around Murdock, pulling him closer to his own body heat and whispering to him,
"Hey man, it's okay, you hear that fool? You're okay; you ain't hurt, and we ain't hurt, that's all that matters. We're gonna be alright man, everything's gonna be alright ..."
Murdock slid closer to BA, laying his head onto BA's massive shoulder as BA patted his arm. Murdock looked up at him, as innocently as a frightened child, and BA gave him a reassuring smile. Murdock closed his eyes and nestled closer into BA's shoulder as BA put his head on top of Murdock's. Hannibal and I just sat there, stunned. We'd never even seen them so much as talk to each other without B.A. yelling that he was going to beat Murdock in some way or another, or Murdock saying something crazy just to piss him off. I guess they were right when they said that the worst times bring people together. They stayed that way the whole ride back.
Everything was all sort of a blur from that point until we were dragged into this court room listening to Hannibal explain how we went into Baghdad on our own accord and how Morrison was not deceased, but murdered. The judges (who weren't listening) were saying how we were a danger, a threat to the military, how teams like us were outlaws.
"You're honor, why hasn't Black Forest been brought to trial?" Hannibal asked.
"Black Forest and its personnel are not subject to military jurist diction." One of the honors replied bluntly. Are you fucking kidding me? Black Forest wouldn't even be tried?
I was starting to get really pissed; Hannibal had told us to go into Baghdad, hadn't he? I didn't even want to go in the first place! This was freaking ridiculous. I looked at
Hannibal, and whispered to him harshly,
"Where's the plan, boss? Huh? Where is it? Where's the escape plan? Because I don't see-"
"This mission -" he began,
"What 'mission'-?" I tried to cut in but Hannibal just talked over me,
"-isn't over Lieutenant. I clear our names, we find Pike and the plates… no matter what." He answered in his 'that's an order,' tone. Was he insane? That was impossible!
Hannibal faced the judges and started trying to tell them to blame everything on him and him alone. What? That wasn't what I meant! What is he doing? There was no way I was going to abandon him. I spoke up immediately, despite Hannibal urging me not to,
"Absolutely not sir, we were all participating in this operation willingly." I said boldly,
"I don't wanna be tried separately." B.A. spoke right after me, his voice smooth and cold.
"I refuse to be tried separately, sir." I almost lost my composure as I heard Murdock's small voice at the end. He sounded so scared, he could barely talk. I wanted to go over and tell him everything was going to be alright, but all I could do was stand there as the judge gave out our sentences.
Separate maximum security prisons, for up to ten years; no military ranks. I couldn't believe it; Black Forest wasn't even being tried! Damn traitors they were. A soldier came up to take our badges away, starting with Murdock. He didn't speak a word as he was stripped of his ranks, even though his military ranks and his team were really all he had left. The soldier moved on to BA,
"This is bullshit, man," BA muttered. I couldn't agree more, this WAS bullshit. The soldier stood in front of me as I felt my badge being torn off of my uniform. I turned my head, this was my worst nightmare, and I just couldn't believe it was happening. We were losing everything because of Pike and Black Forest, this wasn't right. I tried to keep my breathing steady as bundles of emotions I couldn't even begin to process started bubbling up into my chest.
"Christ, save us," Hannibal whispered as they took his rankings. The court was adjourned and almost immediately BA and I started protesting and arguing with the honors. We at least deserved a say in this. We had gone in to save the plates, Black Forest took them. It was as simple as searching them, something the honors refused to do. Guards started to come to take us away, and Murdock immediately backed away from them,
"Don't touch me. Do not touch me," he whispered. My eyes widened and I faced him, he voice sounded extremely edgy, more than I'd ever heard it. I pushed my way past BA to put my hand on his shoulder trying to keep the soldiers away.
"Hey, let go of him," I said, mostly for Murdock's sake. I couldn't let him lose it, not now. The people kept trying to talk over each other, making the room echo louder. The judge's gavel pounded on his desk again and again. The two soldiers that came to get us grabbed Murdock's shoulders again.
"Okay, get off me," Murdock continued. I could hear the anger rising in his voice. The soldiers didn't even acknowledge he spoke, and grabbed his arms from behind. That's when Murdock just broke. He screamed as he kicked off of the ground,
"Let go of me, GET OFF OF ME! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" His booming voice scared me probably as much, if not more, as it scared him. He was going to hurt himself, I could tell. More guards blocked us as Murdock was dragged out of the room. I couldn't let them take him, I just couldn't! I tried to jump over them and looked over at Sosa; she was standing there a free member of the military while one of my closest friends was being dragged off to God-knows-where. I couldn't stop myself; I blamed her for what was happening to Murdock right now, I blamed her for this whole ordeal. I loved her and she was just leaving us, the same way she left me.
"Happy? Are you happy Charisa?" I yelled in anger. She looked genuinely upset, but by then I didn't care. One of the honors tried to get my arms behind my back as BA and I tried pushing back the three or so guards keeping us from getting to Murdock; his screams could be heard from the other room.
"HANNIBAL! I DON'T WANT TO GO! GET OFF OF ME! FACE! B.A.! HELP!"
He was screaming for us; he needed us, he needed our help, he sounded like he was in pain.
"Please, just let him go, put him down, please! Get your hands off him!" I tried to climb over the guards as they tried to keep me and BA back. BA was yelling at the guards too, trying to gain us access to our friend.
"Man, get away from him! He don't want to hurt anybody, let him go! LET. HIM. GO!"
"This is a disgrace!" Hannibal yelled at the officers in front of us. I cried out for Murdock, I felt so bad. He tried to stay sane, he really did, but this was all just too much for him. Hannibal put his hands on our shoulders and we stopped struggling and let the guards put our arms behind our backs. I saw BA next to me, his head was down,
"Naw, man; we can't let nothin' happen to him, that poor fool," he said definitively,
"Be strong men, we'll save him and we will bring him back," Hannibal whispered. I didn't miss the double meaning in his words and I tried to keep tears from leaving my eyes as the soldiers gruffly pulled us out of the courtroom. I glanced over across the hallway and froze, I couldn't believe what I saw.
Murdock was on the floor, screeching, thrashing wildly, his legs kicking the air, his shaggy hair going in every direction as he shook his head violently. It took four men just to hold him down while others were trying to put a straight jacket on him. They were not succeeding. Murdock bit a soldier that tried to touch his arm, and the bite mark started to bleed. He'd really bit down hard. Murdock's eyes got huge as he saw what they were trying to do.
"AAHHHH! NO! I WILL NOT WEAR THAT DAMN THING! LET ME GO!" He was gone, Murdock was gone. He was never violent, ever; but when another guard even got near him he didn't even hesitate to throw a punch at his face, growling like some sort of animal. None of us could look away, not even our captors as we watched the struggle to contain our friend. As Murdock lunged for a soldier, two others quickly got an arm of the straight jacket around his arm before he bit one of them square in the shoulder. The man yelped in surprise, holding a hand to his wound as he backed up.
Somehow they got his other arm in the straight jacket and immediately pulled back in opposite directions. Murdock realized this, and screamed even louder, rocking side to side in an attempt to get away from a soldier trying to secure it. He caught sight of a soldier with a pocket knife, and furious lunged at him, wrestling the knife out of his hands and backed up. He stood hunched over, holding the knife in front of him.
Murdock looked up at us for a second and I almost backed away from him. He was honestly frightening, like a rouge animal. His eyes were dilated, wild, and had a terrible fire in them. I could tell that whatever he was seeing, it sure as hell wasn't real. His teeth were bared and stained with blood from when he had bitten someone. He looked over at us, his expression changing immediately as he recognized the team.
He stared with his big puppy-dog eyes, looking helplessly lost, before a medic came out of nowhere and stabbed him right on the side of his neck with an injection of some sort. He gasped in shock as his bent over a bit more, still staring at us. Without warning, I actually saw the lights leave his eyes and he fell forward, left in a daze before his eyes staggered shut. His body went completely limp as a couple soldiers lifted him up by his arms and hair, so that his legs were still dangling on the floor.
"Damn lunatic," The one holding his right arm and a good chunk of his hair said; all the others nodded in agreement. "I guess the army will take just about anyone these days," He sneered, yanking Murdock's hair, causing Murdock to wince as his head fell back.
I saw one of the guards holding his shoulder come up and punch Murdock twice across the face, once to the right, once to the left, a small moan escaping Murdock lips as his head lolled limply to the side.
"That's for biting me you crazy piece of shit," he muttered. A few of soldiers scoffed, none of them reprimanding him. I heard BA growl behind me as bruising started to become visible around Murdock's left eye, he knew that we were far too outnumbered right now, but we really didn't care. But all I could think was that if Murdock was going in between conscious and unconsciousness, they were hurting him even more than they thought. The soldiers raised Murdock up more, holding his hair so that his head stayed up, and the soldier punched him again. What the hell? This was a court for crying out loud! I couldn't stand this anymore!
"HEY! Don't you DARE touch him!" I screamed as the soldier brought back his fist. I ran out of my captor's hands and went towards Murdock as two of the soldiers stepped into my path. I tried to jump over them, with no avail. BA tried punching a few of them out before five more soldiers came in and took him down quickly.
"Murdock? Murdock, answer me!" I yelled, trying to get him to give any indication that he was even alive. He didn't move, he didn't open he eyes, I couldn't even tell if he was breathing. I started to panic, "M-M-Murdock?" still no answer. The guards were pulling us back; I need to see if he was alright!
"..JAMES!" I screamed out as a last resort when they started forcing me back to Hannibal; who was just standing there, stunned. I saw Murdock's eyes flutter half-open at the sound of his first name. His eyes were vacant, blank, no emotion or thought. What the hell did they give him? Morphine on steroids? Liquid lobotomy? His eyes fell closed again as his still, lifeless body was held up completely by the soldiers. I screamed out again, for no other reason than I was just pissed off. I let the guards carry me away across the lot. BA was being held by four guards, making it impossible for him to move his arms at all.
"Man Murdock, you crazy fool, hold on. They can't do this to ya, they just can't." I heard him whisper. This just couldn't be happening, I thought as they shoved me into the back of a truck. I saw BA and Hannibal being pushed into separate trucks as two medics carried Murdock into the back of a padded truck; I didn't even want to think about what would happen when he woke up. I grumbled in anger as the driver slammed the doors shut and I saw the last of my closest friends drive off in separate directions through the barred window.
Now it was nothing; no friends, no ranks, not even Charisa. I'd sworn to myself I'd get her back some way or another, but now I was being shipped off. I had my conning skills I suppose, but without anyone to con them for it was just like being back at the orphanage again. I had ten years; ten years of faking a smile, ten years of remembering Hannibal's determination even when all hope was lost, ten years without any of my closest friends, ten years… alone.
A/N 2: So? What did you think? Next up is Murdock's POV. Come on, don't you want to know what was going through our favorite pilot's head? Thank you so so much for taking the time to read :)