I know it's been forever since I last posted, and I apologize. Trying to meet the many demands of the groups I'm involved in has been daunting lately. But I'm happy to finally be back!
The idea to create a crossover for The A-Team and MacGyver came from the proboards A-Team forum.
I do not own The A-Team or MacGyver and all rights go to Stephen J. Cannel and Lee David Zlotoff. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks to Bella119 for betaing!
Chapter Four: MacGyvered It!
MacGyver and Jack were walking quickly to the supply store. Of course, Jack found it completely necessary to ask ridiculous question after ridiculous question to entertain himself. "So, Mac, why do you think nickels are bigger than dimes even though they have a smaller value?" he asked obnoxiously.
"When Congress was trying to decide the country's forms of currency, they couldn't make the nickel smaller than a dime because it would be too tiny and an inconvenience to handle," MacGyver answered.
"Then why not make the dime bigger and the nickel the size of a dime?" Jack asked, enjoying how much he was annoying his friend.
"I guess you'll have to ask the United States Mint members of 1866, the year when nickels were first issued," MacGyver answered in an exasperated tone, giving Jack an evil glare, only to find he had gotten bored and stopped listening before he had finished his sentence.
"Okay, but why is an orange is called an orange but a lemon isn't called a yellow?" Jack began to snicker, knowing that MacGyver couldn't possibly have an answer to this one. He could play this game all day.
MacGyver paused incredulously, seemingly at a loss for words at the unimaginably stupid question. "Do you have an off button?" MacGyver blurted out, clenching his fists. He, of course, would never hurt Jack, but that didn't stop him from being tempted to. God knows Jack certainly deserved it for the trouble that he caused him over the last few hours. He was beginning to regret giving Jack a get out of jail free card for hijacking the governmental plane.
"I haven't found it yet, muchacho!" Jack beamed, it would only be a matter of seconds before he unceremoniously burst out laughing at the look on his friend's face. He finally composed himself after a long moment and straightened the lopsided captain's hat on his head.
MacGyver's frame remained taut and unamused, "Are you done yet?" he asked with sarcasm flowing freely from his lips. He was getting quite tired of his friend's rowdy behavior. "We only have a few blocks to go and Hannibal is expecting us to be back soon. The Colonel is already unhappy with my ways of executing missions and I don't want to give him more reasons to shoot me," he said, beginning a meaningful stride to the supply store. Jack had no other choice to follow or be stranded in the unfamiliar city.
Hannibal and Murdock had busied themselves by cleaning up the bakery while the wife had started on a new batch of pastries to replace the ones destroyed in the shootout. She had holed herself up in the other side of the room rolling out dough. Hannibal distracted himself from the glass on the floor and took a look at the oven. For the first time, he noticed some bullet holes on the side of it. He said a little prayer, hoping the bullets hadn't hit anything important inside the oven. The Colonel reached out his hand and turned a knob on the oven.
Nothing worked.
Hannibal grimaced, trying to turn the knob a second time. Again, nothing worked. If they were going to run the bakery while trying to defeat the racketeers, having a working oven was imperative. Finally realizing the oven was beyond repair, he began to consider other options. Hannibal had not planned on having Face scam anything for this mission, but now he didn't have a choice. He would've much preferred to have Face with them until they could sort the whole situation out and put a plan into action. Hannibal sighed, accepting what would have to be done. Hannibal walked up to the woman and said that she could stop rolling out the dough since there would be no way to properly bake it.
"What do you mean?" she inquired. "The oven is over there," she explained, gesturing towards it and not understanding what she was being told.
"Some of the bullets hit it during the shootout. I tried turning it on to no avail," Hannibal said.
"We don't have enough savings to afford another oven. Those men have already taken everything we have, all our life savings! We only have enough to pay you and your team for your services," the woman cried out.
"Don't worry, Ma'am," Hannibal consoled. "My lieutenant will be able to find another one in no time without charge," he smiled softly, trying to make her believe everything would be okay. The woman turned away, dismayed at the news.
"What's wrong?" Murdock asked, looking up from the tedious job of separating the broken plates from the uncracked ones.
"The oven is permanently out of commission," Hannibal turned to face Murdock, walking away as to not upset the woman anymore. "The bullets have completely dismantled its wiring system. I even doubt B.A. can fix it," Hannibal explained, seemingly describing his frustration by moving his arms around.
"Didn't MacGyver say he was good at fixing things?" Murdock asked.
"Ha! Don't make me laugh, Captain. MacGyver thinks he's some kind of secret agent hotshot. He did a pretty job of hiding his occupation from us, don't ya think!" Hannibal's voice was dripping with sarcasm, causing Murdock to roll his eyes.
"You shouldn't sell him short, Hannibal," Murdock started, "I think he could really surprise you. Hell, what did you think of me when I first joined the team?" he smiled.
"A crazy fool," Hannibal muttered, looking down, unable to come up with a sufficient comeback.
"Exactly, just give him some time," Murdock beamed, focusing again on sorting the plates and putting them back in the cabinet he hoped they belonged in.
Face and Mr. White were waiting patiently to be called into an examination room. Finally, their names were called. They walked into the room where Mr. White sat on the examination seat while Face sat on the chair adjacent to it.
"Good afternoon," the doctor greeted and gave a slight knock as he entered through the door.
"Good afternoon," Face replied, he would try to run the conversation to prevent Mr. White from giving himself away.
"My chart says you're James and David Thomas," the doctor said, pointing at the chart with the pen he was impulsively clicking. "I'm Doctor Blake and I'll be working on you today, Mr. Thomas," he stopped clicking for a moment to get a good look at his patient. "I heard you've had quite a fall from a ladder."
"Yes," Face said. "My brother was trying to clean the gutters and fell right on his arm," Face clarified, describing the fall with his hands.
"Ouch," the doctor sympathized. "Let me take a look at your arm," Doctor Blake leaned forward, prodding the arm until announcing, "Yep, it sure is broken. You're lucky, though, it feels like a clean break. Let's get you down to the x-ray room just to be sure, then we'll have a cast fitted for you," he smiled, leading the way to the room.
Face sat in the waiting room while Mr. White was having his x-ray taken. He could vaguely see the van outside along with B.A. keeping guard of his surroundings. Luckily, Decker was nowhere to be seen. Face hoped that it would stay that way throughout the rest of the mission.
A man appeared from one of the many hallways with a bright red cast on his arm. Face immediately recognized it as Mr. White. The Lieutenant could just envision Murdock begging to be the first one to sign the cast, just as much as he could see Hannibal giving in to the Captain's requests.
"I'm all checked out!" Mr. White beamed.
"Perfect! Let's head back to the bakery, I'm sure Hannibal has already cooked up a plan to save your business," Face confidently replied.
They walked out the hospital doors to the van where B.A. drove them hastily back to the bakery.
MacGyver and Jack walked into the bakery after knocking on the door. They were both carrying the supplies that Hannibal ordered them to buy. "We're back!" Mac called, softly setting down the plaster and sheets of glass.
"Wow… You guys really fixed this place up nice," Jack commented, setting down his load as well.
Looking quite disheveled, Hannibal and Murdock emerged from the room where the actual cooking took place. They had spent the last ten minutes bent down looking for ways they could repair the oven. There were none.
"Hey, MacGyver, could you take a look at the oven? One of the bullets frayed some of its wirings," Murdock asked.
Hannibal furrowed his brow, he had hoped Murdock wouldn't ask that.
"Sure," Mac replied. "What's the problem?"
MacGyver's question was interrupted as Face, B.A., and Dennis White came through the door. Sadly, Mrs. White couldn't see her husband since she was busy picking her daughter up from school.
"Hi, Hannibal," Face said as he entered, sporting his usual smile.
"Face, I'm going to need you to scam us a new oven," The Colonel said.
"Wh-what?" Face sputtered. "How am I supposed to scam an oven in the middle of Virginia?" he whined. These were, of course, his usual excuses. But Hannibal always had his special way of convincing Face to do whatever he pleased.
"Oh, Face," Hannibal said with his signature fake sigh, "I'm sure you'll think of something," he cockily grinned. "Besides, I'd hate to think you were becoming too old and frail for the job," Hannibal frowned at the younger man sympathetically to make it seem like he actually believed what he was saying.
Face straightened his tie to regain his dignity. "I guess you're right," he sighed, "I'm sure I'll find something worthwhile."
"I knew you'd take it on, Lieutenant," Hannibal smiled, giving him a small squeeze on the shoulder.
MacGyver had decided to ignore the group and head to the kitchen to look at the oven. Once he assessed the damage, he could see the puzzle pieces fit into his mind until a plausible solution came to place. "Actually," the agent called, "this is an easy fix. It can simply be done by splicing a few wires, using some chewed bubble gum as an insulator, and patching up the bullet holes with the plaster Jack and I got at the supply store.
"Bubble gum?" Hannibal asked in shock. "How will bubble gum fix this?" he continued in a condescending tone.
"Come in here and I'll show you," MacGyver remarked. He just couldn't wait to put the prideful colonel in his place. Everyone gathered in the small room, eyes fixed on the secret agent. The oven was moved on its side where the bullets had struck it. Its exterior had already been dismantled from Hannibal and Murdock's previous prodding.
"Alright then, show us what you got, boy scout," Hannibal chastised. He simply couldn't accept the fact that MacGyver might have a better solution.
"I don't care what he does, as long as it means I don't have to scam an oven," Face chuckled.
"Okay, you all know rubber is an insulator since it doesn't conduct electricity," MacGyver started, "Bubblegum can have the same qualities because it is water resistant. However, the gum can't acquire these qualities until it experiences a chemical change with saliva that makes the gum more sticky and easier to apply." Mac then proceeded to take a piece of gum out of his pocket, along with his Swiss Army knife. He leaned down to the oven and gazed at the wires. He could tell which wires were formerly connected due to their differentiating colors. MacGyver grabbed the two closest matching wires and began to cut some of the rubber off from the wire. He then spliced the two copper pieces together until they were firmly connected, then spit out the gum he was chewing and secured it on the wires. Mac continued this process until all of the wires were firmly connected. Finally, he put the exterior back on the oven and turned it around so it faced the wall again.
The group began to clap at MacGyver's feat, including Hannibal performing a soft golf clap in politeness. Murdock was personally glad his commanding officer had been put in his place. Even though Hannibal was a great man responsible for many honorable deeds, he still needed a slice of humble pie from time to time.
"I may be a boy scout, but at least I can pull off a simple science trick," MacGyver whispered in Hannibal's ear as he walked past him with his ego boost in tow. He didn't care if he sounded arrogant, the Colonel deserved it, at least in his mind.
Thank you so much for reading! Please give me your thoughts in the comments of how you think my story could be improved :)