Author Note: Everybody knows the drill. I don't own the A-Team. Also thanks to lunaz for the review. Hopefully those who read the first portion will continue on. This bit gets a little dark, far warning.

Chapter 5

Everything was cold; from the chair the MPs forced Collins to sit in to the glaring dark eyes of Major Harold Paine who stood in front of her ready to begin the interrogation about the teams escape. He was certain that either Collins or Murdock had to know something about the break out.

Colonel Lynch promised the Major a promotion if he successfully extracted information from the pilots. Which of course wet the Major's palate, he was given permission to use 'any means necessary'. It was well known that the Major was an effective interrogator, so long as the methods weren't discussed in court. The words 'Geneva Convention' didn't hold bearing in his mind.

"So, Staff Sergeant Collins, you must know why you're here," the Major said.

"Is this about the gnomes in your planes, Major…" Collins paused looking at the Major's name plate. "Paine?... Really? Major Paine…" and she began laughing hysterically.

"You won't be laughing for long," the Major's voice was low and sinister as he stood and removed his jacket, setting it over the back of his chair.

"So serious, maybe we should change your name to Major Tight Ass," Collins replied. The Major moved around the table stand behind Collins leaning in close as he spoke.

"Where is your team?" he asked. Collins tilted her head looking curiously at him out of the corner of her eye.

"My team? Oh Major, I haven't been dog sledding in years and they weren't even mine," Collins replied. Paine slammed Collins' head down on the table.

"Don't try getting cute with me Collins," the Major told her.

In another room Murdock sat with Lieutenant Colonel Saunders. Saunders didn't say a word. He sat Murdock down in front of a television which had a live video feed coming from the interrogation room that Paine and Collins were in. Saunders simply watched and waited based on the Major's instructions.

One hour earlier

"How is that going to work?" Saunders asked Paine referring to Paine's request for him to simply have Murdock watch the interrogation.

"She's still just a woman," Paine started. "If she doesn't crack then I'm guessing Murdock will when he sees her."

"Sees her?" Saunders asked hesitantly.

"Don't puss out on me Saunders. You know how this works," Paine said. Saunders grit his teeth clenching his jaw. Paine's methods left a lot to be desired. "And don't give me that you out rank me bullshit. This order comes from Colonel Lynch."

"So you're willing to hit a woman to get your promotion?" Saunders asked with disdain.

"That thing only has the plumbing to be a woman. This should be fun; I've never interrogated someone like her. I love expanding my horizons," Paine said with an ominous smile.

"You're sick Paine…" Saunders replied with a disgusted look. Paine looked at him indifferently and shrugged.

"I get the job done, that's what matters," Paine replied as he turned and headed for the door.

Saunders had a bad feeling about how this day would end. He had been debating turning Paine in for his unsavory tactics but Saunders had been involved far too long and didn't want to get caught in the backlash. It seemed fine when he was interrogating VC, but now, these were US soldiers… His conscience nagged him every moment about how wrong this whole thing was.

Back at the Interrogation

"It's in your best interest to tell me where they are Collins," Paine said squeezing her injured shoulder tightly. She tensed under his grasp but refused to make a sound. He could tell she was in pain though as the edges of her ears started to redden and the color rush forward into her face. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"My best interest? You're so kind, looking out for me like this. Your mother was right about you. Told me you were a sweet boy, when we were spooning," Collins replied with a wide grin. Paine pulled her up from the chair slamming her against the wall. "For an old broad she's got a real nice…" Paine's fist crashed into her face before she could finish her sentence. Blood dripped from her lip and she could feel the bruise forming already.

"I could make you disappear so fast your head wouldn't have the chance to spin. If you value your life, tell me where the hell they are," Paine's voice rumbled low. Collins could tell she was agitating him, somehow she knew this sadistic bastard was a mama's boy.

Collins started to giggle quietly and slowly burst into full on hysterical laughter. Paine was practically giving her the upper hand. He was nothing compared to the emotionless interrogators of the NVA. She smirked at him and spat her blood in his face.

"Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener. That is what I'd truly like to because if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, everyone would be in love with me," Collins started singing. "Especially your mom, she just loves a good wiener in her mouth." Paine threw her hard to the floor and she continued laughing.

"Major, take a break," a voice came over the loud speaker in the room.

"Have a break…Have a Kit-Kat!" Collins said from the floor still chuckling. As Paine passed over her he kicked her hard causing her to cough involuntarily which made Paine smile as he opened the door and walked out. "I think that went well." Collins said seemingly to some invisible person in the room as she stood and sat back in the chair.

Paine walked swiftly down the hall to where Saunders stood outside the room that he had Murdock in. Saunders glanced at Paine disapprovingly shaking his head. Paine stopped and stood in front of him giving an annoyed glance.

"You need to calm down. She's doing this on purpose and you know it. We're not getting anywhere and unless you want to be pulled from this case you need to get a grip," Saunders said.

"Fine… I think I have just the thing for her," Paine replied. The ominous look on his face sent shivers up Saunders' spine. Paine gave a disturbing smile and turned on his heels going back toward the interrogation room he had left Collins in.

Saunders watched as Paine walked away, the sinking feeling delving deeper into his stomach. He turned back to the door and took a deep breath walking back in and sat next to Murdock who had yet to say a word. Murdock's attention was fixed on the screen and he maintained an indifferent look as he watched Paine walk back into the room.

He watched as Paine swiftly pulled the chair out from under Collins and threw it across the room. Paine was leaning in close on Collins who caught herself on the table with her good arm. He spoke inaudibly into her ear. Paine's hand reached around to Collins' stomach moving down roughly ripping the button on her pants. Murdock's eyes widened as he sat forward slightly.

Collins uninjured right arm came swinging up and back at Paine's head. Paine caught her arm roughly turning her around and forced her down onto the table by her bad shoulder as he tore her pants and underwear down.

"What the fuck is he doing?!" Murdock's voice was edgy as he looked over at Saunders who was attempting to remain unfeeling about the situation.

"Interrogating the suspect," Saunders replied coolly. Murdock's intense gaze returned to the screen as he heard Paine's voice.

"Will you tell me what you know, Collins? Or do I have to force it out of you?" Paine's hot breath hit Collins face and bile rose in her throat. Collins couldn't move with the force of Paine's weight on her body. Her heart raced in anxiety and she could no longer look him in the eye. "My my, you aren't so bold now are you?" he hissed as he worked his own pants down keeping a hand on her throat.

"You're going to let this happen?" Murdock's voice strained and dripped with disgust.

"You have something you want to tell me?" Saunders asked trying to not be disgusted himself. This was the last straw, after this he had to turn Paine in. He just had to make it through this case. Saunders could see the anger boiling in Murdock's eyes. Luckily he was cuffed and all he had to do was send out an alert for the MPs if he got out of hand.

"You and Paine are dead men if this keeps going," Murdock's voice was low as he stood looking down at Saunders.

"You can stop all of this… You just have to tell us where they are Captain," Saunders replied. "Look at her Captain; you can end her pain… You could save her… Are the others so important that you would risk this continuing?" Saunders swallowed feeling sick at the sound of his own words.

Collins gasped enervated trying to raise her arms to Paine's face that was right in front of her own. He firmly shoved her shoulders down finally receiving the cry of agony he was looking for. "Collins, this will all be over in a moment… You'll tell me, if you value your life, you'll tell me."

The words 'this will all be over in a moment' sent her spiraling into a recall of when she had been raped multiple times when she was younger. The reason she joined the army, to escape that life, to get away from her sadistic step father. Now here she was, trapped, all the strength and training she had gained in the eight years she had been in the military was diminished. She was the person she hoped to never be again, the weak little girl praying for it to end quickly.

"This is wrong and you know it! The courts would have a field day with this and once the team hears about it you will both be dead men walking," Murdock told Saunders.

"Then tell me. Tell me where they are and it all stops," Saunders said trying to remain unwavering but his stomach churned harder he felt like he might vomit at any moment. Murdock was torn but he had to have faith that Collins was strong enough. She had been through the same hellish torture he had when they were captured a few years back.

The tactics continued for days. Paine forcing himself on Collins and beating her, making sure the camera that sent the video to Murdock had a full view of everything. Saunders could barely watch, every day they would have to sedate Murdock because he would start becoming violent and had gotten a hold of Saunders a couple times bashing his head against the wall. They started cuffing Murdock's hands behind him after that incident and the torture continued.

Chapter 6

Face was getting the word out on the underground about the team hoping they would get work soon. They desperately needed money to keep themselves safe. There was only so many times he could scam house rentals and not pay before the local authorities would start their own search and the Army looking for them was quite enough.

After a full day of passing the word about the 'A-Team' he began driving back to the house they were staying at. He was lazily taking in the scenery when he saw the sign for the Brentwood Medical Center. It had been a few days since they left Ft. Bragg so he thought that Murdock and Collins would probably be arriving there or already there.

He pulled into a parking spot and got out of the car. He confidently walked up opening the door and headed straight to the front desk. He flashed a smile to the woman at the desk as she looked up hanging up the phone.

"May I help you sir?" she asked in a sweet tone.

"My cousin was supposed to be moved to this facility and I was hoping to visit him, his name is H.M. Murdock, has he arrived yet?" Face asked softly. She turned and thumbed through some files.

"I'm sorry sir; it seems his transfer was delayed," she replied with a frown.

"Delayed?" confusion lined his features as he looked at her curiously.

"I really am not supposed to talk about it… But, since you're family… He's still at Ft. Bragg, the rumor is that he's being questioned for some escape," she told him in a whisper.

"Thank you," Face said hurriedly turning around and going out the door back to the car. "Shit, what did we get them into…" He quickly threw the car in gear and sped off back to the house. He arrived skidding into the drive and ran up to the house.

"Lieutenant, what's wrong?" Hannibal asked seeing the out of character concern in Face's eyes.

"Murdock, and I'm guessing Collins, are being held for questioning at Ft. Bragg still. Seems the brass must think they had something to do with our escape," Face told him as he paced.

"Looks like it's time to call in a favor," Hannibal said walking toward the phone.

"Favor? Are you sure we should be calling anybody given our situation?" Face asked.

"They are part of the team. We're not abandoning them Lieutenant. You know the rules," Hannibal told him firmly.

"What's going on?" B.A. asked as he walked inside.

"Collins and Murdock are in trouble. I have to put in a call to Henderson," Hannibal replied.

"Henderson? You trust that fool?" B.A. growled. General William Henderson had often been the officer to preside over B.A.'s reprimands and he never felt Henderson gave him a chance.

"He's as by the book as it gets. If my assumptions are right they've brought in Paine to do the interrogations," Hannibal started and paused at B.A.'s grimace. They both knew what his 'style' of interrogation involved. They had been assigned to guard prisoners that were in his charge. "I'm fairly certain Henderson would take quite an interest in Paine's 'techniques'."

"Just hope we ain't too late. Those fools are crazy enough. Paine's likely to make them snap," B.A. said. Hannibal nodded and picked up the phone picking the numbers on the rotary dial.

"Hello, yes, this is Colonel Lynch, patch me through to the General please," Hannibal said in his best impersonation voice."Henderson, its Hannibal. Yes, I know. I have some information you might be interested in…"

B.A. and Face watched the master at work. Not only had he managed to get Henderson to agree to not alerting the Army of his contact, Henderson also said he would have Murdock and Collins on the soonest flight out to the VA hospital. Hannibal hung up the phone with a nod and met the gaze of his two surprised subordinates.

"Just what did you do for him to owe you a favor like that?" Face asked curiously. Hannibal's eyes sparkled as he pulled out a cigar and lit it.

"Let's just say the General also loves it when a plan comes together, especially one that saves his ass," Hannibal replied with a laugh.

Chapter 7

Collins woke bleary and cold. The last thing she remembered was Paine invading her. The room was dark; she felt around it was all concrete. Isolation, apparently they hadn't gotten what they were after. A slight sigh of relief escaped her lips. She had no intention of giving up the team's location. Murdock had told her Hannibal's plan just before they were taken away. She heard something rustle in the room and scooted back until she was against a wall.

"Collins, you in here?" Murdock's voice raggedly called out. He had been sedated yet again and couldn't recall what happened. The last thing he remembered was seeing Paine violating Collins another time. He had blacked out the previous day, he was sure he'd tried to go after Saunders to try to get them to stop but the pounding headache he had told him he didn't get very far.

"Captain?" she returned relief clear in her tone.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"You didn't do anything. Don't get soft on me now," she replied.

"I hope Hannibal can work some magic for us. I don't know what's coming next. Paine has always been a creep. Never thought he would go this far though," Murdock's voice seemed far away like part of his mind was somewhere else.

"Don't worry Captain… You'd be surprised by how much trauma the human body can take," she replied and he could hear surprising confidence in her voice.

"The body is one thing, the mind is another entirely," Murdock told her.

"That's been gone a while. At any rate I know the Colonel wouldn't leave us stranded," she replied trying to convince herself as much as him. She wasn't even certain that Hannibal would be able to do anything about this situation. It seemed pretty hopeless.

Suddenly blinding fluorescent light flickered and light began filling the room as the bulbs hummed to life. Collins hesitantly looked down at herself. Dried blood lined her ripped clothes, cuts and bruises covered her body. How bad had it gotten? She couldn't remember everything from the last few days. Collins looked up and her eyes met the remorse filled eyes of her Captain as he took in the sight of her bludgeoned body.

"Captain Murdock, Staff Sergeant Collins?" a voice called from the now open door. The two looked over cautiously and their gaze was met by the gentle eyes of General Henderson. "I know that there is nothing that I can say to make what happened to you go away… But it is over now. I'm sorry." The two exchanged surprised glances.

"How can we know you're on the up and up?" Collins asked giving a suspicious look.

"Because, I love it when a plan comes together," the General said quietly knowing this would alert them that Hannibal sent him. Smiles crept onto their faces as they attempted to stand. Murdock started to realize he clearly must have gotten into a fight. He was sore from head to toe. That tended to happen to him regularly; he never remembered rage filled fights he had, even as a child.

The two were taken to the infirmary for immediate care to their wounds. Once they were cleaned up and got fresh clothes the General escorted them to the airport for their flight to L.A. he wanted to ensure their safety, he owed it to Hannibal for saving his life when they were stationed in Korea together. He needed to get these two out before the powers-that-be changed their minds.

Murdock and Collins were still tense and edgy despite knowing logically that they were on their way to freedom, or at least a freedom of sorts. No matter how the General attempted to make them feel at ease it was obvious these two had been to hell and back.

Henderson's mind wandered pitying the scene before him. Two people who had freely handed over their lives to the Army to serve their country and what did they get for it? Insanity and horror… He'd seen this far too many times when visiting vets who returned from 'Nam. That hell hole stole a lot of souls and had taken hostage many a brilliant mind. Just like the ones that sat before him. He looked into their service records, both were phenomenal pilots and highly intelligent. It seemed madness and brilliance really was a fine line.

Once the flight took off it was as though the pilots were in a different world. The anxiety seemed to melt from them. They were in their element, their safety zone, the sky. Even if they weren't the ones flying, just being in the air put them at ease. They chatted away; their tone was jovial which made the General smirk as he watched their interaction.

"This is pretty fancy compared to our last ride," Collins said.

"You know you loved riding Patches back state side. Even considering the circumstances," Murdock replied laughing.

"Of course I loved the lady. But can you really deny the thrill of riding in this lear?" Collins asked with a smirk. Murdock shrugged and nodded. "Hey, remember that one time, right after I re-upped for my second tour in '68? We actually talked our way into a Phantom II." Collins grinned mischievously.

"How could I forget that?" Murdock shook his head laughing as he recalled the day fondly. While Collins hadn't worked with the team for very long she and Murdock had crossed paths ever since she first shipped out to Vietnam. Neither were social butterflies but their passion for flying and their 'quirky' behavior seemed to bring them together fairly often.

"I hope you two aren't saying you stole an Air Force aircraft, I can't hear something like that," the General said in a jesting tone.

"I wouldn't call it theft. It's more like, borrowing without permission. We brought it back same as we took it," Collins replied thoughtfully.

"That sounds rather similar to theft, considering the 'without permission' part," the General laughed.

"It's all a matter of perspective General," Murdock told him with a smirk. "Besides, it's just the chair force anyways…" All three fell into laughter at this statement.

The pilots suddenly looked at each other. They could feel the beginning of the slow circling decent of the aircraft. It was just a regular land but it meant that reality was approaching. Soon they would be grounded, for who knew how long.

The change in their demeanor was surprising to the General. It wasn't even moments ago they were all laughing together. Now it was as though they were almost back where they started.

Collins began shaking her head lightly and tapping her foot. Reality was settling in. This would certainly be better than Paine's 'interrogation' but it was still the ground. She took a deep breath.

Murdock's eyes wandered anxiously. He could feel his chest tightening. Apprehension creeping up quickly through his body, he ran his hand obsessively through his hair. Almost as if on cue when the landing gear went down they both started repetitively mumbling 'no' over and over.

The General looked on with unease uncertain of what to say to them or do for them. They definitely had severe post traumatic stress from more than just the run-in with Paine. This was something deep. Luckily staff from the VA hospital would be waiting at the airport to assist should they have anxiety attacks once they were on the ground.

The sound of the skidding wheels on pavement made Collins and Murdock both go rigid. Their jaws clenched as they stared off and swallowed hard as though they were taking a medicine they never wanted. The aircraft lurched to a stop and the two seemed to be holding their breath like they had been put under water.

"It's time to go," the General said standing and motioning for them to come with him.

"I… I don't think I can do this sir," Collins said apprehensively.

"You have my word, you won't be separated," he said softly.

"It's not that… Well, not only that at least… Do you think… Do you think we'll ever fly again sir?" Collins asked with a desperate tone.

"I have no doubt you will," the General returned with a smile.

"Thank you, sir," Collins replied. "For everything."

"I wish I could do more," the General told her as he motioned again for them to go ahead.

"C'mon Cap, let's make this worth their while," Collins said waving him to join her. He was still hesitant but silently joined her. They paused at the open door looking out at the white medical center van that awaited them.

"Seems your minions are awaiting you Genghis," Murdock said teasingly.

"I suppose I shouldn't let them down then, huh?" Collins replied with a smirk.