Face peeked out of his room, scanning the whole area before finally stepping out. It seemed so... calm. Suspiciously so.
He gazed at Hannibal who was reading today's newspaper like some old guy in the corner, then at B.A. who was busy with his breakfast
and finally at Murdock, who sat motionless on a chair, staring out of the window.
"...good morning...?", Face tried, cautiously. B.A. shot him a look. "Ain't nothing good about this morning. My head hurts like it had to
stop a freakin' train all on its own.", he grumbled. The pilot bit his lip.
"Wow, that positive vibe I get in this room is utterly astonishing.", Face remarked, right before he turned to Murdock, pretty much expecting him
to brighten the room with a wide grin.

It didn't come.

"What, you too? Did I miss something...?", he chuckled nervously and shot Hannibal, who had been warily watching the pilot and his current mood,
a worried glance.
"Something out there, buddy?", he finally asked, trying to keep up a spontaneous tone. "Watching someone?"
Murdock slowly inclined his head. A bit too slow, for his taste.
"I'm not watching, muchacho... I'm waiting." The pilot broke off an snickered quietly. Face opened his mouth to voice his concern –
and that was ignoring the fact his friend was wearing a bed sheet as cape – when the door bell rang, announcing the arrival of their client
and reminding him that he had still wanted to shower before leaving.

When he came back, all he heard was something along "-and would anyone of you guys mind telling me why your house's rooftop is covered in bed sheets?"
Murdock stopped his absent humming for a second and turned to the woman. "Maybe it was feeling cold?", he offered halfheartedly
and went back to watching- waiting for whoever- whatever.

By now, Face was seriously worried.

After having a talk with Hannibal, they'd both agreed, that their not-quite-sane teammate had been somewhat off the other day
and Face volunteered, to keep an eye on him.
Granted, when the next night arrived, Murdock found himself sitting on the couch again, watching old black and white horror movie reruns.
Only this time, Face seemed to refuse going to bed and sat right next to him, throwing an undefinable glance at the pilot every now and then.
Okay, good. Murdock could play this game. "What's up Face, wanna do a movie marathon with me or what?"
He tried his best but couldn't prevent a slight tone, hinting at his more-than-just-a-little-bit annoyed state.
Face eyed him warily. "...sure, sounds fun... I guess. Whoever falls asleep first loses...?"
The pilot snorted. Right. Good plan, Faceman. Best plan ever. "You're on." He could only guess but he assumed the conman had been assigned
to the task of guarding the house from any other bed sheet migrations. Murdock glanced nervously to the window. Even without looking anywhere else,
he could feel weird creatures lurking under the couch, creeping out of corners, waiting for the right moment.
He peeked to Face. Come on Faceman, you don't want to do this. Just go to bed. Go to sleep, Face... Can't do nighttime superhero business like that,
the movie is boring, switching channels would be worse though because who knows what they're selling this night, agh-

Maybe he could sneak out. Murdock jumped out of his seat.

Face's head snapped round in his direction instantly. "Where are you going?", he asked cautiously.
"Bathroom.", came the pilots curt answer as he fled the living room and locked himself in the bath.

By now, everything was annoying. The way the light hummed silently through the room, yet drilling right through his head –
but if he turned it off there would be nothing but darkness which again sucked, too. Just do something- keep your mind busy. Take a bath, maybe.
Drown the headache in it and pretend to be a nocturnal duck so Face
He glared at the bathtub which was halfway filled with excess cookies. Stupid cookies destroying his genius plans. Also, screw those soap faces.
They didn't exactly help with his steadily more and more vivid growing imagination. Couldn't he just knock himself out or something?
Just- there- edge of bathtub- nobody will know- will look like an accident, right, right-
Murdock stared at the edge. But hell, this would fucking hurt. No way he was going to do that.

The pilot exited the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. Face's head shot up once again, a slightly perplexed expression spread over his face.
"Murdock, what-" - "Don't you see I have my planning-mastermind-face on right now?!", the pilot screamed in exasperation and dropped back on the couch,
nervously nibbling on his fingernails.
The conman shut his mouth abruptly and held up his hands in defense. "Uh, okay, okay, sorry man, won't interrupt your... planni-" -
"Nocturnal duck world domination planning.", Murdock chimed in, still visibly upset. - "Right, this. Sorry again." And with that, the room went silent again,
leaving Face to his growing concerns and Murdock to his growing agitation.

The next day, Face awakened with a big black edding mustache.

Maybe it was the way, the helicopter moved unsteadily through the air, narrowly missing some trees, stuttering through the air in a way, Face was pretty
sure it was, for once, not on purpose. Maybe it was the white knuckles of his friend or the seemingly desperate expression, slowly creeping on the pilot's face.

"You look like crap, buddy.", Face finally said, sitting in the co-pilot seat of the chopper while transporting some explosive goodies for their client.
Murdock winced. "Now, adding 'buddy' to the end still doesn't make it nice, you know? How dare you say that kind of thing to ol' good looking me..."
His voice trailed off. Eyes concentrated on the instruments, hands clenched around the pilot stick. No weird accents. No singing.

All alarm sirens ringing now.

"Stop. Get down."

"So, yes, maybe, just-", Murdock pressed through clenched teeth, "What the hell, Faceman? 'Stop'?! Remember going to the toilet beforehand, geez-!"
Face decided to ignore the last part. "You got that right! You land that chopper right now or else I'm taking those parachutes, you, set the bird on fire
and watch it explode-!"

Murdock stared at him with a horrified expression which could have bee hilarious if it wasn't for the situation.

The pilot gulped. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"
"Dare me." One day of work more or less didn't matter anymore. "We're halfway through. Won't finish this night either way."
"Why, Face, didn't know you were such a party pooper...", Murdock mumbled, but hit the controls and got the chopper back down, anyway,
oblivious to the alarmed look, Face had shot the other two who were already running towards to the decelerating chopper.

Murdock sat in the pilot's seat, head dropped forward, breathing heavily, trying to concentrate on something that didn't exist.
"Good job there, buddy." Face tried, growing more and more anxious. "If you ask me, now would be the perfect time for a break.
Tomorrow is another day and-"
"-that shall never change-", the pilot hummed before glancing at his friend. "No can do, muchacho.", the pilot answered with sad eyes.
"No can do... Gotta fend off evil, ya know? That's night business. Ain't seeing any superheroes at daytime, do you now?" He tried for a bright grin
but all it turned out to be was a weak smile.
With Hannibal and B.A. having arrived at the landing field, all three men stared at him in unison. "Okay, what's eatin' ya, fool." B.A. gazed at him disapprovingly
as Hannibal reached forward to grip the pilot's shoulder.
"Captain." His voice as stern as always but one could easily recognize a hint of worry below.
"You look really exhausted. Maybe it'd be for the best to call it a day for now so you can catch some sleep."

"No.", Murdock answered. - "...'no'? Why not?", the Colonel asked slowly.
"Because it's IMPOSSIBLE!", he screamed and helplessly threw his hands in the air.
"I'm tellin' you, he HATES me! Absolutely! So I want to go to bed but there is no way he will let me and I try to keep quiet but then it's too quiet,
WAY too quiet, driving me NUTS and those things-" He gesticulated wildly, nearly hitting B.A., "-those things just turn up and I don't know what to do
so I just try to get out of the way but it's IMPOSSIBLE because they'll just go through the walls and I can't be bothered to think up a useful strategy
because my head is KILLING me-!"

Murdock gasped for air.

"Okay, that's it, we're going back.", a wide-eyed Face stated as a matter of fact and dragged his friend out of the chopper.
"NO! No-no-no-no-no-no-nooooooo-! Not back, the air is safe, nooooo-!", the pilot protested weakly, clenching tightly onto the seat belt.
Seconds later he lost his grip and dropped exhausted in his friends' arms, finally giving in to the darkness.