"What in fuck's name were you thinking?" Hannibal yelled into his lieutenant's face.
Face had known this was coming. From the second he had leapt out of that crater he had known, even before he had had his fit of hysterics that had seemingly finished Hannibal off. But he didn't really care. Any other time Hannibal had bawled him out, Face had had to bite his tongue, sit tight on all the pithy little comments that come so easily to him, but now, somehow this wasn't even reaching him, it was like he was just watching all this on a movie.
"The truth is you weren't thinking at all were you? Just full of the jazz and so fucking arrogant that you think you can do what you want!"
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Face just stared at the wall, he'd heard all this before.
"You ever heard of orders, lieutenant?"
"I don't remember being ordered not to engage the enemy!" It was out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Sir," he added quickly.
Hannibal's eyes narrowed, "Don't get smart with me, Peck," he knew using Face's surname would cut, "The idea, as you know full well, is you don't do shit until you are ordered to!"
Face flashed a resentful look at his CO. That wasn't the way things worked around here and Hannibal damn well knew it. He had always respected his team for their initiative and encouraged them to work with events as they happened.
But Hannibal was on a roll, "And that also includes pissing off with another unit! What the fuck you thought you were doing following Croxton's crap I have no idea, but it nearly ended with you getting your fucking brains blown out!" He gestured wildly at the long graze across Face's forehead."You do not do anything like that unless I expressly allow it! Is that clear?"
Face narrowed his eyes but remained staring at the wall.
"I said, lieutenant, Is. That. Clear?" Hannibal was right in his face now, and Face could feel his control beginning to slip.
"Yes," he hissed through his teeth.
"Yes?" Hannibal repeated, expectation thick in his voice.
"Yes, sir, colonel, sir!" Face spat, saluting smartly as he did so.
Hannibal took a step back, trying desperately to rein in his anger. It was at times like this that he realised why so many COs had got rid of Face in the two years before Hannibal had taken him on. "Right kid," the affectionate term slipped out without Hannibal even meaning to, "Consider yourself on lock down-"
"Bull shit, Hannibal! That's not fair! I took that tank out! I saved our-"
"Enough!" Hannibal roared and Face swallowed the rest of his complaints. "You were a fucking liability this morning! You disregarded the plan, you acted without orders,"
"I saved us..." Face muttered.
"You acted in a rash and irresponsible way! It's like you had a fucking death wish or something!" For a second, the flinch was back, Hannibal noticed it but was far too riled up to think about what it could mean. "You are off the case for the foreseeable future, I cannot have you charging about like fucking G.I. Joe, risking your own life and the lives of those around you!"
"I never put BA or Murdock at risk!" Face spat back, "I fucking saved them!"
Hannibal's eyes narrowed. "Do not speak to me like that lieutenant," Face flushed slightly, "and I see you don't deny that you took an unacceptable risk with your own life..."
There was no answer to that.
"Lock down lieutenant. Go directly to your quarters, do not leave under any circumstances, do not go to the mess, your meals will be brought to you. Dismissed."
Hannibal turned on his heel and pretended he didn't hear Face muttering, "Do not pass go, do not collect $200..." as he stalked out.
Hannibal thought it would be best if he kept away from Face for a couple of days, they both needed to calm down. But he stopped short of ordering Murdock and BA to stay away as well, he was actually trying to help the kid here, not drive him insane. The more he thought about it, the more he felt uncomfortable about this whole thing. He kept going back to the way that Face had flinched when Hannibal had yelled the death wish comment at him. He thought about Face taking on Croxton's stupid bike stunt, the crazy look he had had in his eyes as he ran from the grenades in the tank, his hysterical laughter in the desert when Hannibal had thought he was dying. The way he had only objected to being told he was risking the lives of his friends and not his own life... It looked like this Sosa thing was cutting pretty deep.
Hannibal hadn't really taken to her either, had been surprised that Face had. She was so... cool with him all the time. But maybe that was the attraction for Face. He'd certainly never had to work so hard for a girl before, especially considering that she was the one who had approached him. She'd walked right up to him while they were enjoying a drink after a good job done with two beers in her hands. Ignoring Hannibal, BA and Murdock she had looked right into Face's eyes and said, "You're Face right?" he'd nodded, the smile like quick silver flowing across his features, "I've heard a lot about you. Fancy a beer?" She'd held one of the frosted glasses out to him and he'd taken it without pause. They didn't see him for three days after that.
And that was when it started. It was on, off, on again, off again. One night Face would storm in ranting about her being such a bitch, the next, he would disappear with her for days at a time. Three weeks ago, he and Hannibal were drinking scotch in Hannibal's quarters and Face had started rambling on about love, marriage, kids, homes, swings in the garden and wondering how all that fit with the army. Sosa had never struck Hannibal as a 'swings in the garden' type of girl. Maybe that's why she had bolted...
Anyway – whatever had happened, it had obviously left Face reeling, and that was why he was best locked up for now. Save him from himself... Face had plenty of issues with trusting and loving and also liking when it came to himself. Trust Sosa to barrel right in and fuck him all up again when Hannibal had spent fifteen years gluing him together...
By the end of the fourth day, however, he felt enough was enough. He grabbed a bottle of scotch and headed off to Face's quarters. He fully intended to have a chat, not a dressing down, there was no room for army etiquette in tonight's plan, just a chat. But even so, Hannibal did not intend leaving until he was satisfied with what he was hearing. Even if it took him all night.
Fifty metres from Face's quarters he ran into Murdock, or rather, Murdock ran into him, sprinting wilding round the corner of the mess.
"Whoa, soldier! Where's the fire?" he joked as he grabbed Murdock's elbow to stop him falling.
"Oh, hey, Boss," Murdock mumbled.
Hannibal's stomach contracted as he looked at Murdock's face, "What?" he asked, instantly worried.
Murdock sighed, and looked from left to right, almost like he was checking for witnesses before he reached out his arm and held a piece of paper out to Hannibal.
Hannibal frowned as he took it, then read it through, his heart beating faster with every word.
'Murdock – Croxton has a job for me tonight, so I'm skipping school.
See if you can keep the old man off my tail hey?
Thanks buddy - F'
Hannibal had recognised the writing instantly – the neat script the result of many hours writing out prayers, poems, hymns and bible verses under the watchful eyes of the nuns, and he had known what it would say before he'd read a word. Fuck!
"Murdock, go get BA, we're moving out." Hannibal was already on the move.
"Sure thing Boss," Murdock was jogging alongside his CO, "When we going?"
"As soon as I've had a little chat with Croxton..." Hannibal murmured, his expression murderous.
Hannibal burst into Colonel Croxton's quarters without knocking. He knew it was rude, but he sure as hell didn't care. "Where the fuck is Face?" he spat, leaning into Croxton's face as he spoke.
Dolph Croxton was three years older than Hannibal, but no one would ever have guessed. Every inch of the guy was hard, toned muscle. Even his face. Nothing about this guy was soft. Especially his personality
"Hannibal!" He twirled an olive on a stick round and round in his Martini glass as Hannibal glowered at him. It certainly said something for Croxton's balls that he didn't flinch a centimetre in the face of Hannibal's obvious fury. "I'm surprised you are back again, I thought we had covered everything that needed covering in our little chat last week?"
"We did," Hannibal spat, "and I told you to stay the hell away from my lieutenant!"
"Hmmm, tricky..." Croxton spun his chair around so he know had his back to Hannibal, and rose, slowly to his feet, "See the problem is, old buddy, that I did keep away from him, just like you asked, but then, last night, he turned up here, practically begging me to send him out on a job. Said he was going crazy with boredom waiting for you..."
"He was on lock down..." Hannibal hissed through gritted teeth.
"Was he?" Croxton's eyebrows rose in mock surprise, "Didn't know that. Wish I had, would have chased him straight back home again!"
Hannibal took in a deep breath, he didn't have time for this shit. " Where is he Dolph?"
"Sorry, Hannibal," Dolph smiled a cold, snake's smile at him. "Need to know basis. And you, old buddy, need to know jack shit!" He turned away, obviously pleased with how the meeting was going.
"We'll fucking see about 'need to know'," Hannibal muttered as he stalked off towards the door.
"Oh – Hannibal!" Croxton's voice stopped him in his tracks but he didn't turn back. "He's shit hot you know, your boy. He'll do anything, no fear, no idea when to stop, fucking awesome..." Hannibal curled his hands into fists. "And I want him in my unit. I asked him you know, after he did such a fucking fantastic job of that bike stunt," Hannibal's pulse was thumping in his ears, "But he said no, said he'd rather stay with you." Hannibal could imagine Croxton shaking his head in a stupid theatrical manner. "Wasn't so sure last night though," a smirk was evident in his voice, "I reckon you sending him to his room like a naughty boy has pissed him off just enough to make him want to jump ship, Hannibal. Your loss – my fucking awesome gain!"
Hannibal took a deep breath and turned his head just enough to glare at Croxton. "No. Fucking. Way," he hissed, every word loud and clear, "You will never get your hands on him Croxton, so just forget it!"
Croxton just laughed, "We'll see, Hannibal. You don't own him you know..."
Hannibal turned and left before he could get into another argument. He knew he didn't own Face – that was stupid. So why did he really feel like he wanted to?
It took a visit to Russ to sort it all out. He wasn't happy with Face ('fucking time bomb' was the phrase this time), but even less so with Croxton and by the time he had forced Dolph to tell Hannibal the details of the mission Face had been sent on, Croxton wasn't happy either.
As a matter of fact, Hannibal was furious as well. The grim satisfaction he had felt at watching Morrison chew Croxton out, evaporated the second that the details of Face's mission had been shared...
