A short while earlier...

Falling head-over-heels into a chaotic and turbulent water wasn't exactly a new experience for Murdock. He'd had a similar thing happen to him that one time he'd hidden away inside of a laundry machine, back in Germany. Or had he made that story up? Didn't matter. Point was, right now, he was holding his breath as he tumbled through the dark waves, waiting as long as he could before kicking his feet and pulling himself towards the light and the surface.

All according to plan.


"So Murdock can escape the ship and by now should have made his way to the... er, yes... the Tweety. We'll have it set up in advance and be ready to go long before we move on the rest of the plan."


Murdock re-surfaced moments later, spitting water in a stream from his mouth as casually as if he was on vacation in the tourist-filled waters of Hawaii, rather than in the pirate-infested waters of Thailand. Watching the Jormungander sail off, content he hadn't been discovered, he quickly unzipped the bulletproof vest that had saved his life and swam for a nearby rock outcropping. There, a flash of canary yellow greeted him, and he grinned like the loon he was.

"Tweeety... I'm hooooome...!"

Hoping himself onto the rocks and climbing onto his miniature helicopter, Murdock took a moment to yank off the camouflage tarp covering it, and powered it up. The rotors began to spin as his precious yellow vehicle of doom powered up.

A timer beeped on the console. Evidently he was running a little late.


"And at this point here, Murdock will make a... timely entrance."


It certainly did seem hopeless for the A-Team and their Lagoon counterparts. They stood trapped at the bow of the Jormungander surrounded on three sides by water and armed guns on the fourth. They were low on ammo, Boscoe was injured, and considerably outnumbered. Even Revy didn't enjoy the odds, though she stood ready to take down as many of the bastards with her as she could before she was sent down to Hell. Maybe she'd see if the Devil was hiring.

But in truth, none of them were truly worried. Indeed, Hannibal could see their salvation coming right now, a speck of yellow in the skies just over the heads of Decker and his guards.

The lead soldier, one of Deckers lieutenants it seemed, paused in his issue of firing orders, glancing about in confusion. By now they all heard it.

"What the devil is that noise?" asked Decker.

Whump-whump-whump-whump...

"Our rides here," remarked Hannibal.

"Thank God!" said a very relieved Benny.

Decker whirled on them in confusion. "What're you ta-"

Then they spotted it. One of his guards pointed it out as the tiny helicopter dropped down much lower, zooming in towards the larger Jormungander on an attack run. And a familiar madman grinned like a fool behind the controls.

The helicopter had been hidden behind an atoll at this specific set of coordinates. Thanks to the intervention of Face up in the Jormungander's helm, they'd steered right past it without even knowing. When Murdock had 'died' and gone overboard, a bulletproof vest had been all he'd needed to survive the incident. They hadn't counted on that, but fortune favored the prepared after all. And after that, he'd moved into position to be their salvation when the right moment came.

That moment had arrived.

A grenade expertly dropped from sufficient height rocked the Jormungander, scattering the carefully lined up row of soldiers and sending Decker crashing to the deck under the weight of one of his own guards.

The guards scattered, and the two teams ducked behind various obstacles to keep out of the line of fire, forcing Decker and his troops back to do the same. The Tweety made another sweep high above, making another yet entrance in typical Murdock fashion. Face and Boscoe groaned, and Hannibal hid a smile behind his hand. Revy slapped her forehead in frustration, and Rock and Benny could only gape stupidly.

The helicopter had been equipped with a jury-rigged sound system as well as onboard weapons. Currently, it was blasting music from its speakers. Rock correctly identified it as "Ride of the Valkyries" by some German composer. And the absolute worse part of it all?

Murdock was singing along with it.

"Dun-dun-da-dun-dun-da!" he cheerfully exclaimed as he angled the Tweety overhead, positioning himself to inflict some damage. "Dun-dun-dun-DAAAAAAH!"

He punctuated the long note with a personal gift from him to them. The makeshift weapons opened fire on the deck, forcing Decker and his mercenary flunkies to dive for cover once more. The Lagoon Company and the A-Team did likewise as battle erupted all over the deck again. Gunshots went wild everywhere.

Murdock swung the Tweety around for a third pass, blasting away at the guards, who stumbled and scattered as far away from him as possible. His runway clear, he proceeded to land directly on the bow where his teammates were. As he landed, a whistle blew out, and Revy glanced over the railing of the Jormungander, pleased to see the Black Lagoon down below. Dutch gave a wave from the cockpit as she grinned.

Things were definitely looking up. Their rides had arrived.


"We make our escape, by air or by sea, it doesn't really matter but at this point we need absolutely everyone off the Jormungander. It's not going to be much longer before it's adorning the very bottom of Davy Jones's locker."


"All aboard!" shouted Murdock happily, tipping his cap.

BA shook off the offered ride and climbed onto the rigging.

"I ain't gettin' on a chopper with this crazy fool! I'll take my chances in the boat!" he exclaimed, leaping off the side to land on the Lagoon. Benny and the rest of the A-Team followed.

"Rock, let's move!" Revy grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed him forward, all but lifting him up and throwing him into the helicopter. She vaulted in moments later, nearly knocking the entire thing off-balance. It barely fit the three of them.

"Go! Go! Go!" she shouted, slapping the back of the pilots seat. "Get us out of here already!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please put your tray tables and seats into their upright and locked positions..." Murdock calmly narrated as he did a spectacular spin and dive over the side of the ship, narrowly avoiding a crash into the sea as they clipped the edge of a wave and climbed into the sky, well out of range of the flying bullets.

"Thank you for flying with Murdock Airlines, please enjoy your flight."

The Lagoon sped away at a similar course as Dutch hit the throttle to max. Within minutes both vehicles were speeding away from the Jormungander and Decker, the latter of whom rushed to the bow to cling to the railing, almost frothing at the mouth.


"Naturally, Decker might be... just a little annoyed."


One of the guards touched him. Dared to lay a hand on Decker's shoulder. "Sir, we need to get you inside. It isn't safe..."

Decker kicked the incompetent guard off of him, clinging to the railing with white knuckles, his gray hair in disarray, his eyes wild. At first he tracked the fleeing yellow helicopter, but then his eyes focused on the Black Lagoon speeding away in front of the Jormungander, and he realized just how truly he'd been played. And just how utterly screwed he was now.

Because they had everything they'd said they had and worse. Now they not only had the evidence to get him hunted down and locked up by the government (if not killed by the Russian mafia or his old company), they had the very last copy of the blueprints. They could sell to whoever they wanted, or destroy them out of spite. And all of the engineering team who'd first worked on the weapon had been in mysterious accidents that Armored Industries hadn't felt the need to investigate. There was no way they'd ever be able to make another.

"Blow them out of the water," he said tersely. "Use the Ragnarok!"

"Sir, the weapon is-..."

Decker whirled on him, grabbing the hapless lackey by his jacket and hauling him close. "I want them dead NOW!"

Scrambling to obey, guards tripped over their own feet and each other. Within moments, the Jormungander was surging forward with renewed purpose. Decker smoothed back his hair and straightened out his coat, vainly trying to regain his calm. He stood at the bow of his ship, watching his enemies escape, and glared at their tails as they ran.

Behind him, the Jormungander main deck opened up, and the Ragnarok weapon slid up and into view just slightly behind Decker. He gripped the railing of his ship, grinning at the power coursing through it, making the frame hum. Engineers had warned him the weapon used too much raw power to be used safely in a mobile fortress like his ship, but he'd found a way to make it work.

"Open fire!" he ordered.


"The Lagoon is going to lead him on a merry chase. I want Murdock and those in the 'copter above keeping them distracted so they don't have many clear shots."


Uncertain which target to aim for, the soldiers in Decker's employ had elected to try and shoot down the ugly yellow helicopter, since it was the vehicle still attacking them. True, now that most of them were below deck or at their stations, its strafing runs were more annoying than anything else, but it was the principle of the thing. Lots of their comrades had been taken out by the invaders, and they were going to pay them back in kind.

So the weapon charged up, the rings along the muzzle crackling with an eldritch blue glow, so bright it was almost white. A blinding ray of energy shot from the Ragnarok as they let loose their first controlled burst. Unlike their destruction of the warehouse in Miricana, this was smaller blasts. The weapon would overheat less quickly this way, allowing them to take more shots.

Unfortunately, each one missed. The Tweety was quick and maneuverable, and the Ragnarok was far too slow and ungainly to adjust to its many course corrections. The laser weapon had been designed for large, slow moving targets like tanks or for stationary buildings. It wasn't really designed for close combat like this.

"Idiots! Focus on the Lagoon!" Decker shouted into the intercom system, pointing at the hated ship. "Hit them with everything we have!" Honestly, was he surrounded by incompetence?

The next shot still went wild, a beam of energy slicing into the water on the Lagoon's portside. Aiming at a moving target was considerably different in the heat of combat, as Decker was finding out the hard way. To say nothing of the fact that the Lagoon was also considerably smaller than most of the buildings he'd been destroying during test runs.

Plus, you didn't pilot a PT Boat through intense combat for years without picking up a few tricks, and the Lagoon's captain was one of the best who still operated such machinery. Still, no reason to test just how lousy their aim was, Dutch thought to himself.

Hannibal seemed to agree. "We need a bit more speed..."

"On it."

Dutch shoved the throttles forward, pushing the PT boat to its top speed, and weaving a zig-zag course towards their destination. At forty knots, this was as fast as he could push it, but it was more than adequate to gain ground against the slower, less maneuverable Jormungander.

The Tweety continued to hassle their upper decks, however, making strafing runs along the sides and otherwise driving away any goons they spotted on deck. They were hovering right over the Jormungander now, in its blind spot. The laser wasn't able to point straight up.


"If you can destroy the weapon, then so much better."


"M'lady, if you would do the honors..." intoned Murdock, holding out a pair of hand grenades in his free hand.

"Fuckin' A!" Revy shouted with glee, grabbing the grenades and yanking the first pin with her teeth. She chucked it out the side of the copter, where it free-fell straight downwards, hitting the laser weapon along its side and rolling down into its delicate components. A massive explosion rocked the ship, nearly splitting it in two as chunks of metal and flaming debris flew in every direction.

On the bow, Decker let loose a string of curses. The weapon powered up for another blast, and the railing shook as the air hummed with power. It was over-heating again. Stupid design flaw!

"Give them everything we've got!" he shouted, unheedful of his danger. "Take! Them! DOWN!"

"Sir, the helicopter is too high, we can't reach them with conventional weaponry! And the laser is over-heating!"

"Then focus on the Lagoon! Blow it out of the water! We'll make repairs later just do it!"


"Dutch, your job is to lure the ship to this exact point. It's outside international jurisdiction; no one will be able to legally prosecute or intervene even if they do find out what happens."


Easing the Black Lagoon into a wide arc, Dutch piloted them directly over the Red Tide Reef, as marked on his maps. As Hannibal had mentioned in their planning sessions, it was outside of the law and, more importantly, shallow enough for a small boat like his PT to cruise right over the top of it.

Barely.

He hit the comm. "Brace yourselves, boys, this might get choppy," he said, easing back on the throttles so if they did hit anything, they didn't all go flying.

Dutch grimaced as he felt the Lagoon jump over a bad patch, imagining how bad the underside of his beloved ship was getting ripped up. Still, as long as they didn't break down he could get any damage repaired later. He patted the console, even as he eased forward on the throttles.

"Come on, baby, you can do this... we're almost home free..."

Idly he checked the radar, then glanced out the side window for a glimpse of the lugging monstrosity that was the Jormungander.

Dutch grinned. Come on, chase us, he dared them silently. He eased back a little more on the throttles. Come and get us, mother fuckers.


"The Jormungander will be stuck hard, but the Lagoon will skip right over the reef."


The Black Lagoon was slowing down, and making a beeline westwards. Must've had engine troubles. They were gaining. Decker grinned. Victory was at hand. Even if the Ragnarok wasn't an option, his ship was big enough and powerful enough to ram the old piece of junk and split them in half...!

Then the Jormungander lurched suddenly, and he was thrown forward, slamming into the railing. Almost hard enough to pitch over the side, but thankfully he kept his balance. The entire ship shuddered once more, and he could hear some godawful screeching noise coming from down below.

"Whats happening?!"

"We've hit something, sir! Something big! It must be a reef!"

"No!" roared Decker, looking back out to sea. The Lagoon and the helicopter accompanying it were getting away. "Get us clear! NOW!"

"Trying to reverse sir! We're stuck good... give us a minute and we can-"

Then the intercom crackled to life. A stronger signal overrode both Decker and his subordinates, drawing their attention to the new voice being broadcast.


"And that's when we finish this."


"John Decker."

He looked up in growing horror, eyes drawn to where the Lagoon was turning... maneuvering to face the Jormungander... right in its blind spot. They were maneuvering clear around the reef as the larger ship continued to run its engines, tearing its rotors and hull down into little more than scrap.

Hannibal stood up on the deck as the Tweety came to hover nearby, and both teams watched the Jormungander helplessly try to maneuver itself out of its captivity. But the trap they'd sprung on them was much too thorough, and now it was time to take out the King and bring this game to an end.

Making sure both the Tweety and the internal speakers of the Lagoon were getting this as well as the Jormungander, Hannibal spoke into his radio clearly and calmly. He wanted everyone to fully appreciate every minute of this.

"By the ancient military code of superior firepower and tactics, we the people who you so generously pissed off... find you guilty of attempted murder, treason, black market arms dealing, and some really bad cigars. Sentence is death to be carried out immediately. Sierra... Mike... Foxtrot."

This being his cue, Dutch pulled the appropriate levers hard.

A torpedo launched, and a second right behind it, both speeding through the water in long white streaks, aimed right at the bigger ship's hull. The first had a cheerfully painted 'John' on the warhead. The second showed 'Decker' in case anyone doubted whom they were aiming for.

"In other words..."

The torpedoes sped across distance, leaving streaks of white, and Decker and his crew could only watch in horror as more voices crackled over the intercom for all to hear.

"Sayonara..."

"... Mother...!"

"... Fucker!"

The Jormungander went up like a powder keg, an explosion fit to rock the waters around the Lagoon fiercely, even from their relative safe distance. To say it was magnificent was an understatement. Both teams cheered as their mutual enemy, his ship, his weapon, and all of his plans went up in flames. Revenge was a dish best served hot, and they all enjoyed a healthy serving of it. Lesser explosions rippled along the frame of the once mighty Jormungander as it began to capsize. The shallow waters and the reef ensured it wouldn't sink completely, but no one had an illusions about it ever being a terror on the high seas ever again.

"Not bad," conceded Dutch, climbing up on and deck and smiling over at the older man.

Tugging out the cigar he'd pilfered from the Jormungander earlier, Hannibal Smith tucked it between his teeth and lit it up. It definitely wasn't high stock, but right now it would do.

"I truly do love it when a plan comes together."


Author's Notes:
And I love it when a fanfic comes together.