AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This chapter focuses on getting the plates into their possession, with a side of some Anna/Face/Sosa, Pike, Anna's job and Hannibal trying to phase his daughter out. It's also got a cliffhanger at the end.
WARNINGS: Language, Violence, Torture, Gore, Sex, Drugs, Death, Smoking, Alcohol, Dark Themes
ENJOY!
xx
Face didn't know what to make of Sosa texting Anna as he moved to give it back to her, Murdock coming into the room with him. He obviously had something to say, but when he opened his mouth to say it, Face turned Anna's phone toward Murdock and he nodded a little bit. They both knew that if Sosa was trying to get Anna to confess to it all, then she had some information on her that she was trying to get Anna to slip up on. That was just it though: Anna Smith didn't just slip up.
"This is no place for Anna," Face said gently.
Murdock nodded in agreement. "We all agreed in the beginning to keep her out of it and now she's deeper in this than any of us. She's been visiting us all, she planned all of the escapes and she tailed Pike and the Arab the moment she found them. If your ex-girlfriend catches wind of her, she's as good as fired."
"Or worse," Face told him nodding. "If this doesn't pan out—which it has to with two Smiths behind it—then she's as good as in federal prison."
"I'd say tie her up and leave her here, but she's gotten out of worse things than a pair of handcuffs before…" Murdock mused, pointing to the door. "We should talk to Hannibal about it when she goes to sleep."
Face nodded and then went out into the main room and handed Anna her phone, who took it but it was obvious by the sigh when she pressed the button to turn the screen on and saw the text from Sosa front and center that she knew Murdock and Face had an idea as to what was going on. They didn't know her password so they couldn't have read the whole thing, but her phone was alerting her to the text message and it was clearly from Sosa's cell phone. Taking a deep breath, Anna looked at them all because the look on her face had them all silent.
"I swear to God that if any of you leave me somewhere, I will never forgive you—any of you," Anna said, looking at all of them, Face and Hannibal the longest. "I am a grown woman and this is my choice, not any of yours."
Bosco cocked his head to one side. "What are you talking about, Anna?"
"Sosa's trying to link Anna to all of this," Face said, looking at Anna the whole time even when they weren't making direct eye contact.
"Anna," Bosco told her gently.
Anna was shaking her head though because while she thought it was really sweet that they were all looking out for her, she really didn't want to be having this conversation at all. She was a grown woman and she was doing what she thought was right and because of that she had to see this through no matter what the others thought about it. Looking at them all she already knew what they were thinking except for Face…she wasn't entirely sure what it was that Face was thinking, but his eyes were boring into her.
Bosco and Murdock loved Anna like a surrogate sister—Hell, like a real sister—and sometimes they even got fatherly protective of her. In fact, despite his no killing clause now, Bosco would probably kill for her if she was in desperate danger and right now he wanted her to be safe and out of all of this. Murdock too. Murdock had always looked up to Anna and her borderline craziness, but he wanted the strong, beautiful, intelligent woman to strike out into the world and show them her brilliance…but she couldn't do that behind the bars of a federal prison. Then there was Hannibal.
Hannibal had never thought that he was going to be a father and yet fatherhood had come so easily to him when he was actually there. He remembered the day that she was born and Claudia put that little baby girl in the pink blanket in his arms and his whole face lit up as she looked at him and smiled. Regardless of how much he was gone, he almost always saw that little baby girl and even though Anna had grown up independent and beautiful and smart, she was his responsibility. Her mother had died and now he was her family and so was this team and he wasn't about to let it ruin everything that she had worked so hard to build—he couldn't watch it crumble down around her.
Anna had tried so hard over the course of her life to work toward something legitimate and true and he knew how much she loved her job and how completely devastated she would be if she lost it. It was true that she had gotten his and her mother's stubbornness, but that didn't mean that she couldn't see reason. She was just a passionate woman and when she found something to be passionate about it was hard to deter her, and he knew that that passion had different facets, like her passion for Face. In fact he was even more on board with the pairing when he saw that look in Face's eyes because Face wanted what was best for Anna, even if that meant being far away from her and anyone who loved and wanted to protect her like that just might be deserving of his baby girl.
Face wanted Anna to drop this whole mess and she could see it in his eyes, but he wasn't going to tell her that he loved her in front of Murdock, Bosco and her father. Instead, he hoped that his eyes would tell her that he didn't want anything bad to happen to her because the thought of her being behind bars made his heart ache and he didn't wish that on anyone—especially Anna. She was strong of course and she could take care of herself, but she wasn't made for jail and Face would do anything in his power to keep her on the straight and narrow from this moment on.
"Don't say it," Anna said slowly, shaking her head as Face opened up his mouth to speak.
Face spoke anyway. "We don't want your help."
The words cut into Anna like a knife and her whole body tensed up in pain as Murdock, Bosco and her father all nodded in agreement with Face. None of them wanted her to be involved from this point out because she was their Anna and if anything bad happened to them then they would blame themselves forever. Still, when Anna found her composure, she swallowed down the lump in her throat and spoke even though her words were a little shaky at first, but soon her words were firm.
"Tough break," Anna told them, turning to the plans. "I think the four of you know that whether you want my help or not, you're going to get it."
"You're not coming with us tomorrow," Hannibal said gently, resting his hand on Anna's on the table.
Anna pulled her hand away and then walked toward the room with the cots. "I'm coming with you, or I'm calling Sosa and turning myself in. Don't call my bluff."
The four men watched as Anna disappeared into the other room to change and get some sleep, all of them turning to look at each other. If Anna wanted to do this bad enough she would turn herself in just to cause a distraction and they knew her well enough to know that a plan was probably already churning away in her head as a plan 'B'. So, reluctantly they agreed that she would be part of the heist tomorrow, but that there was absolutely no way that she got to go out into the field, she would handle the comms.
It wasn't what they wanted, but Anna had them up against a rock and a hard place.
Calling it a night so that they could all get some much needed sleep before the morning, Hannibal, Murdock and Bosco drifting off pretty soon because Anna was giving them the silent treatment. They knew she wasn't quite asleep, but she was so upset about them thinking about actually dropping her off somewhere and leaving her out of this that she had her back to all of them. Face, however, changed into something to sleep and snuggled up behind her, nodding against the back of her head as she tensed up and tried to move away from him, mad at him too.
"I know you're angry, baby," Face whispered as he placed a kiss behind her ear, "but I want to hold you, okay? Please."
It took a moment, but Anna nodded slowly and pressed her body back into his, letting Face wrap his arms around her. He was ignoring the fact that he had his own cot, just holding Anna close to him because he didn't want her to go to bed angry with them even though it couldn't be helped and he wanted her to know that regardless of what happened he was there for her and he wasn't going anywhere. All the A-Team wanted was to clear their names…and to keep Anna Smith safe.
xx
When they got to the station the next day, Anna was upset handling the comms, but it was important and so she stayed put. It was much better than the boys ditching her because they were right: her plan 'B' had been churning in her head since she had threatened them and she was more than willing to throw her life away just to do what she believed was right and this was what was right. The A-Team had lost 6 months of their lives and been dishonorably discharged from the military because of something they hadn't even done…it wasn't right.
Still, no one could anticipate what was going to happen next—not even Anna.
Lynch had Sosa marked, but Anna had known that would happen as Lynch seemed to be less than he said he was and Anna didn't trust him farther than she could throw him. She didn't have any proof, but she knew that Sosa could be useful and if Lynch knew that, then marking her was wrong as she was honestly just doing her job, as annoying as Anna found her. Anna understood through her hate of the woman that Sosa just wanted her rank back as she'd been demoted for Bagdad, and she thought that the A-Team was just as guilty as everyone else so she would do anything in her power to bring them in…and Face couldn't have that, so he put a drop phone on Sosa as she tried to pull her team back and he called it, not surprised that she answered it.
"Hello, Beautiful," Face told Sosa on the other end of the phone.
"You've got some balls to put a drop phone on me!" Sosa said angrily.
Face nodded at that. "I had to—it's the only way I could talk to you. Lynch is on your comm. Line, I want you to pull your team now."
"I am going to find you, Face," Sosa told him, just as angry as before.
"Not if I find you first," Face responded, pulling her into a phone booth with him.
Sosa fought back, the booth taking pictures like it was supposed to be doing, Face trying to handcuff her to the railing in there. Still, with one hand free she grabbed his face and started digging her thumb into his eye, which was just making him angrier because he thought that he was doing her a favor.
"What the Hell are you doing?!" Sosa asked him.
"I'm trying to save you!" Face responded, hitting the wall behind her. "Charissa…come on, you know we're innocent. You know this!"
"You're lying!" Sosa spat back at him. "Like you lied in Bagdad…"
Face sighed and shook his head. "I did not know—I knew nothing about the plates…" he trailed off a little as she gave him a look. "At that…at that time."
"You are completely full of shit!" Sosa told him.
That tipped Face right over the edge because they had unresolved issues just as Anna had said they did, which was why he had let her see him when he had been told by Hannibal expressly not to be seen. He then started spouting off to her that it was her that had lied and Sosa wasn't impressed, but she listened to him because he was getting passionate about what he was saying to her.
"You heard I was a player and you wanted to play, then I got serious and you freaked!" Face told her angrily.
Sosa raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I freaked?"
"Yes,"
"I did not!"
"You did too, you freaked!"
"I did not freak!"
"You panicked…and you ran…" Face replied nodding, taking a deep breath as she just looked at him and all he could think about was how this woman that he had once loved was hurting the woman that he did love, more than anything. "Charissa, come on—I am a wanted federal fugitive! Do you really think that I came all the way to Frankfurt to hash out some old heartbreak? No…I came because we didn't do this. I'm here because we were set up. I'm here because in the end, the truth…is worth the risk. You better hold onto that phone."
Turning to leave, Face stopped immediately when Sosa finally spoke. "If Anna is involved of this, she can kiss her career 'goodbye', and you know that. I don't believe you, but even if I did…Anna Smith is as good as in cahoots with you and if she broke you out of prison…"
Sosa could tell that she had just hit a nerve when Face turned around and got into her face, shaking his head at her. Face was in this protective mode that he always was in when it came to Anna, even when he and Sosa had been together and Sosa said anything even remotely mean about her, but this was different. She wasn't sure if it meant that Anna was indeed there too, but she knew that she had lost Face for good when the next words fell from his lips and she thought for a moment that maybe that was sadness in the pit of her stomach.
"Don't drag Anna into this or you'll be sorry that you did." Face told her firmly. "I will protect her from anything and anyone that tries to ruin her—you included."
Sosa cocked her head a little to one side. "Are you threatening me right now, Face?"
"If you hurt her, then yes," Face responded without so much as a pause. "Hold onto the phone, Charissa."
With that said, Face disappeared to leave here there handcuffed and then framed one of Lynch's men for a shooting inside the station. All he did was shoot a couple of shots at a bench, but everyone scattered and Face left with the crowd, on his way to the Königsbank Tower with the others, where Pike was with the Arab and they had the plates. Bosco was pretending to be a window washer so he could shoot a bazooka from the building across the way, letting Hannibal grapple down and in the window to gas grenade them, grabbing the Arab and tossing him out the window for Murdock to catch him with the helicopter.
Anna was impressed and glad that her father's plan was going through—she'd had to compromise that morning and it was alright because she had faith in her father—but she wanted to torture Pike. It wasn't in her nature to be so violent, but they had hurt her family and just thinking about him or hearing his name made her blood boil and she wanted to make Pike feel all of the pain that she had felt being apart from her men and then some. Plus, he shot at her father and Bosco had to get to the plates and Anna was done just sitting still.
She had a wig on and sunglasses, on the ground to support them. "I've got the plates, Dad."
"I swear to God," Hannibal told her over the comms.
"I've got this, just seriously have a little faith in me," Anna responded gently.
Pike came down the building shooting at Bosco as Hannibal made his way out of the other building on foot, Bosco grabbing the plates and limping into the parking garage, where Anna had a getaway car for them, Hannibal on his way to meet them there. If Pike showed his face, Anna was going to make him pay for a whole lot of things and when Bosco came limping toward her, she saw Pike shooting at him and got out of the car. She knew that they would all get mad at her for this, but you didn't shoot at her family and get away with it and Pike had done so much more to her family that Anna just couldn't sit down and let him live for it.
"You are dead," Anna said as she ran towards them, Bosco ending up getting shot in the shoulder, Pike leisurely walking over to him.
Pike smirked a bit. "Whoo! You made me work for this one, Baracus," he said trying to catch his breath. "I didn't think I was this out of shape. I am, unfortunately. Where's the rest of the team, huh? Smith. Peck. That idiot pilot—the asshole—what's his name?" Pike kicked the plates away as Bosco slowly turned over and just as he kicked Bosco, Anna shot him in the arm. "FUCK!"
"Awww, you forgot one," Anna told him, pulling off the wig as he turned to face her, holding his arm. "I hope you're happy to see me because I'm certainly happy to see you."
"Anna…" Pike said nodding gently. "I'm always happy to see you."
"I hope you're happier when I'm torturing you," Anna responded, whipping him in the face with her pistol and smiling when he fell to the ground, "because you have no idea just how much I am going to enjoy that…"
Pike laughed and started to stand up even though Anna cocked the gun again. "Please…you're not going to torture me, Anna."
"You actually have no idea what kinds of terrible things I am going to do to you," Anna responded, shrieking when her father ran the car into Pike and he hit the windshield and rolled down it, Bosco grabbing the plates and getting in as Hannibal said, 'whoopsie'. "Dad, seriously?"
"We have to go—get in the car," Hannibal told Anna forcefully.
Anna looked at her father angrily but she nodded and did as she was told because Sosa was closing in on them and she knew it. So they got into the car and Hannibal drove them off, Pike shooting at them as they drove off, but they got away and Sosa got Pike only because he ran out of clips while shooting in public. The problem with that was that Pike had seen her and that coupled with Sosa already being onto her meant that Anna was doomed and she knew it when they were on their way to the lakeside warehouse they were holding the Arab in and her department called her.
Getting to the rundown warehouse, Hannibal went in first, angrily, Face greeting him because he and Murdock had been the ones to bring the Arab there. Murdock started toward them but saw the looks on Hannibal's and Anna's faces and he and Bosco slowly moved toward the other part of the room as Hannibal walked right past Hannibal. He barely even looked at him, incredibly angry and Anna looked like one push over the edge and she was going to burst out into tears.
"Okay," Face said clearing his throat, "not a peep out of the Arab. Sosa's at the train station."
Hannibal turned to look at Face then. "You saw her?"
"Yeah," Face answered with a nod.
"Did you talk to her?" Hannibal asked her, getting straight to the point.
"I had no choice, okay," Face said waving his hands, "just, trust me on that."
"Oh, I trust you," Hannibal said as Face put his hands on his hips and Anna shook her head, "to make historically bad choices where women are concerned. What part of you is thinking at the moment?!"
Face could tell that Hannibal was angry for a reason that wasn't moving in on Sosa and he took a deep breath as Hannibal told him that Sosa could take care of herself. While he had been trying to do the right thing he had screwed up and he knew that he had gotten a little too protective of Anna, but Hannibal was acting like what Face had done was so bad and the not looking at him? Anna wasn't even looking at Face right then—she had her hands on her hips too and she was shaking her head and looking at her feet.
"What are you so pissed about?" Face asked Hannibal, standing up for himself. "We got the plates! You wanted her teed up, she's teed up! She knows we didn't steal them!"
Hannibal shook his head, looking toward the Arab on the chair. "I expected you to protect Anna above anyone else and you failed me on that, Face. You made contact when I told you not to."
"What…what do you mean?" Face asked slowly.
"I hope it was worth it to you, Face," Anna said bitterly, Face looking directly at her, all of them jumping when she dropped her phone on the ground and broke it with her heel, "because thanks to you moving in on her, Sosa got me fired."
Note: Oh, well that's not good. WHO IS THE ARAB?! Those of you who saw the movie know who it is, haha, but next chapter is about him with some flashbacks and it's got some good Anna/Hannibal moments in it and some action. Feedback is always appreciated!
