A/N: Thanks for the reviews! This one's got a more of an action pick-up. I'll go ahead and cite 'Members Only'- Murdock mentioned that Dr. Richter takes him to the country club every Friday. Once again, English translations are at the bottom, provided by Bing Translator. Enjoy!
Rounding out the fifth day of entertaining his "guests", Murdock was antsy.
"I feel like someone dumped me in anthill," he told Billy, pacing anxiously around his room. "And all their little legs are crawling all over my skin- that's the problem with eyeballs, ol' buddy. They make me prickle like a porcupine."
He glanced out at the back of the MP that was always stationed outside his door. Sometimes it was Turner, but they rotated shifts. Nevertheless, there was always someone there. Even when he was sleeping. Really, it was quite creepy. But everywhere he turned it was that same dull-green uniform. Eating in the cafeteria- there's an MP. Walking near the benches outside- there's an MP. Strolling through the hall, standing outside of Richter's office, and outside of the bathrooms there's always a bloody MP!
Much more of this and Murdock was pretty sure that he would literally start climbing the walls.
"Hey, you!" he shouted, loud enough for the guard to jump. The man whirled and saw the enraged look and stance of the crazy captain. He seemed genuinely frightened- until Murdock's face split into a grin and he started laughing.
"Made ya look!"
The MP huffed and turned away while Murdock collapsed back onto his bed, seriously bored and itchy. He never liked being restless. Well, restless without anything to do. A low growl filled the room.
"Easy, Billy. Don't do anything too exciting yet."
Tomorrow was Friday. Friday would be better. Hopefully Friday would mean that he wouldn't have to resort to banging his brains against the ceiling.
"You're taking him where?"
"Beverly Bay Country Club," Dr. Richter replied evenly. He looked Decker in the eye until the man started to pace. "I do this every Friday. If your intel was any good you'd know. A man like Murdock needs constant variety. These outings help provide that. It relieves the pressure of being cooped up in a hospital, and, as of late, the agitation caused by your constant watch."
Decker whirled on the man. "He is not leaving this area! We need him stationary for the watch!"
"And I need to help a patient," Richter snapped back. "I could care less about your little guard here, but it will not get in the way of any of my treatments!"
"And taking a patient to a posh country club to golf is part of your treatments?" Decker sneered.
"In this case, yes," Richter stated firmly. "I told you: variety. Fresh air and a change of scenery help relax anyone- not just anxiety patients. And believe me, from what I could tell from our last session Murdock's anxiety is quite spiked."
Decker grunted and looked away, deliberately keeping quiet for several moments. The doctor just crossed his arms and was fully prepared to wait him out.
"Alright, I'll authorize the trip," Decker complied. "But my men will be nearby the entire time."
"It was not your authority I needed to go, Decker," Richter replied, stepping around him.
Decker caught his arm as he passed. "That's Colonel Decker to you, Richter," he rumbled.
Richter yanked his arm free and glared at him. "And that's Doctor Richter," he retorted.
Decker watched him leave to go unlock his patient from his room. One conversation and already he hated the man.
Murdock was fully prepared to throw his arms wide and shout "FREEDOM!" the moment he stepped outside. However, the exuberant act was dampened at the sight of the military truck parked but engine running behind Dr. Richter's limo. He turned to his therapist curiously, and Richter just shook his head.
"Hard enough to get this trip out; it had a few 'conditions'."
It was downhill from there. The MP's and Decker made no attempt to conceal their presence, and the whispers and glances from the other club members made Murdock even more uncomfortable. He already had enough eyes watching his every move.
Their lunch session went as expected. Murdock grabbed Richter's arm and quickly started speaking. "I've never felt like this. It's like I'm developing claustrophobia- to people! The walls to my room are leaking eyeballs every night, and Billy's a constant shade of purple 'cause he don't like all the men who hang around, and any more of this and I'll be scrabbling like a squirrel up my room to make a nest in my ceiling!"
"Let's try not to climb the walls just yet, Murdock," Richter consoled. "I know it's tough- it'd be tough for any man in your position, regardless of who they were."
"Maybe a monkey," Murdock muttered. "Feel like a frog on a biology table or some kind of animal at the zoo that a bunch of people come to gawk at."
Richter made a mental note on his candidness, and quietly continued with the session.
When it had concluded and they were back at the hospital, Richter high-tailed it to, pardon, Colonel Decker.
"Back off," he stated, not bothering with pleasantries. Decker rose from where he was, eyeing the irate doctor.
"Excuse me?"
"Back off this case, Colonel; you're disturbing my patient. Nobody likes to be viewed under a microscope 24/7, and it's even worse for people with mental issues. Lay off the pressure."
"I can't do that," Decker started before Richter exploded in his face.
"To hell you can't! You've got your boys stationed everywhere making everyone nervous! They don't leave Murdock alone for a literal second. You can back off some without losing too much. Keep them out of sight, or on watch less often, I don't care; but if you don't figure out a way to clear some of this tension I will personally see to it that you get reassigned to permanent latrine duty!"
With that, Richter turned on his heel and marched sharply out the office. He made sure to slam the door behind him.
Decker was enraged. He'd been pretty darn mad before, usually thanks to Smith, but this doctor sure had gall to come and tell him what to do. Ha!
He checked on the security measures he had in place and swung by Murdock's room himself. He looked in on the captain and saw him sitting cross-legged on the floor staring at a wall. He seemed to be moving slightly- Decker twisted his view and glimpsed a video controller joystick in his hand. The man seemed intent on watching the wall and conquering it.
He shook his head. He knew a hopeless case when he saw it.
He faced the corporal on guard duty. "I want you to keep an extra close eye on him. Make sure no one tries to sneak in and that he doesn't try to sneak out. I want all forms of contact reported and catalogued."
BANG!
Both men jumped at the loud crash and whirled to see Murdock suddenly crossing to the door, yelling his head off with each step.
"E-nough with all the peepin'! Can't a guy play his video games in peace? Can't he sleep alone? Just what's so interesting that you have to stare at me through a fish tank?!" Murdock hit the door so hard that it shook. Decker and the corporal took a step back from the crazed and clearly pissed-off man. The volume of his shouts sent echoes through the hall.
"WELL?" he shouted, hitting the door again.
"Captain, you should-"
BANG! "I should what?" BANG! "I should take my pills? I should behave nicely?" BANG! BANG! "I should sell out my comrades?" BANG! "Well, here's news to you, Jack! Tôi không bao giờnói chuyện! Bạn không thểphá vỡtôi bằng cách này bạn Ôi mảnh vỡ! Tôi không đứng cho bất kỳnhững điều này!"*
Decker took another step back at the rapid, furious Vietnamese pouring out. At that time the orderlies and nurses arrived, frantically trying to calm down the wild veteran and get inside his room. They unlocked the door and started inside, pressing back as Murdock tried to hurl himself out, reaching for Decker. He was still screaming in Vietnamese, and though Decker wasn't fluent he recognized vulgarity when he heard it.
"Oh, dear," a nurse next to him sighed. He turned to her, watching her watch the spectacle. "I was afraid something like this would happen while you were here."
"He's done this before?" Decker questioned.
"Only on occasion. He's normally never violent. However, on the rare times that he is…" she trailed off, watching as some stronger orderlies managed to secure the out-of-control patient to the bed. "Drastic measures need to be taken," she finished.
Murdock had suddenly quieted, which prompted Decker to look back in the room. One nurse was removing a syringe and the rest of the orderlies were finishing up securing some restraints. Decker turned back to the nurse, questioning.
"Oh, don't worry. The sedative is only for a couple hours. It's late, and it's to encourage him to calm down and sleep. Once it wears off he should slide right into regular sleep for the rest of the night, but the restraints are a necessary precaution in case he wakes up. Standard procedure for when a patient violently snaps. They could hurt themselves."
"I… see," Decker replied, slightly unnerved by the entire ordeal. He recalled Richter's words and warning about setting Murdock off. "He'll be restrained the entire night?"
"Yes, sir," she answered.
Decker mulled it over in his mind. The doctor had threatened to go to his superiors if he didn't ease up. Sighing, he pulled out his radio and relieved some guards from around various locations near the hospital. He turned to the corporal, who was still standing, shaken, by the door.
"Corporal, I still want you here, though you don't have to stand right in front of the door. Don't lose sight of the room, but don't-" his jaw twitched, but he forced the words out anyway. "Don't watch its occupant 24/7."
"Yes, sir," the MP replied.
Decker took one last glance at room. Murdock was still and silent, and the orderlies turned off the lights as they exited. The door closed and the keys rattled. Shaking his head to get his mind back on his job, Decker left.
It'd been unbearable. He could feel the skitters skittering everywhere and he thought he could hold out for another day or two but then he saw what was on his list of pills for the evening. Blast, that one always made him paranoid. Normally it wasn't too bad, but considering he already had a heightened sense of people-are-watching-me, it wouldn't be pretty.
But that's the problem with people always watching you. You couldn't hide anything from them. Like pills.
Seeing the corporal eyeing him, Murdock made a grand show of stuffing the pill in his mouth, chewing, and swallowing. His look dared the corporal to comment.
Blasted constant presences…
He couldn't even beat the high scores on his video games. He was too distracted to think. He was finally doing well on one before he realized he was just looking at the fuzzy paint shades on his wall. Darn, must mean he's hallucinating again. Mixed with his meds and the dying light, his nerves weren't too happy about that.
Murdock gripped the joystick. Where'd he gotten it? He didn't remember. What was he doing again? He didn't remember that, either. His skin prickled as another figure joined the one outside his door. Two of them, now? Twice as many eyeballs making his skin crawl. They started talking in low voices, but he knew they were discussing him. Talking about him behind his back, eh? His hearing was better than they apparently thought. They were going to watch him even more? More people watching his every move? Billy was up and growling, a deep shade of purple. Many things were purple, and oh look, the wobblies were wobbling again. Contact reported again. Catalogue his actions. Skitter-eyes were burning holes in his flesh so hot that it was painful.
He was up and shouting before he realized what was happening. Ha! He caught them red-handed, and now they were imitating startled deer, as they should. Time to get back at those keeping him in this cell. They were just waiting for him to crack, weren't they? Waiting for him to become a blubbering shell, cracked and leaking his secrets everywhere. Lock 'im up and watch 'im till he breaks down. Not going to work, you scuzoos!
He kept yelling and hitting the door until it opened and people poured in. They were insignificant. He needed to get to the green men outside- they were the skitter-eyes. He tried to get past the people in white but they held him still and tried to talk to him, tried to get him calm. He spotted the syringe. No, not yet! He hadn't reached the men in green!
The drugs entered his system and he felt his muscles failing him. He twitched, still trying to move after the evil skitter-eyes, but the purple wobblies were all over the place and he couldn't get through them. As his strength left him, he thought he felt straps being secured around his limbs.
Oh, looks like it's going to be another one of those nights…
It was close to midnight, and the one MP patrolled the courtyard nervously. He was the only one left in the area. Why his backups had all been relieved, he didn't know, but the decreased security worried him. He didn't like hanging around an insane asylum in the middle of the night. It sounded like something ripe for a horror movie.
His fears were confirmed when something heavy hit him from behind.
Murdock snapped awake, a little blearily, and not sure why. He knew the sedative had worn off by now, but he should still be asleep. What could have awakened him?
It sounded like someone had whispered "Damn," …
He heard another noise and tried to figure out where it came from. Why wouldn't the room stop spinning? Was a nurse checking in on him? If so, then why was the noise coming from his left, when the door was on his right…
Suddenly on red alert, Murdock started flexing his right wrist. He's had plenty of practice with restraints. Now it was just a matter of getting his hand free in time to meet this intruder.
Maybe it's just Face, he thought. It would be good to see the team for a while.
A figure loomed overhead. He blinked, startled.
That's not Face.
The figure seemed startled to, and Murdock realized that he just gave away that he was awake. Alright. Time to call in the backup.
He couldn't get a sound out before his pillow was stuffed over his face.
Instantly he started thrashing, trying to get it off or escape it, but the figure held it firm over his head. His heart beat faster as he realized he couldn't breathe, and he struggled more to get his hand out from the restraint. It was almost there- he could feel it slipping. So was he- bright spots danced behind his eyes and he started choking. He had to get the pillow off. It was smothering him.
With a rough sound that surely marked up his hand he came free. Reflexively he grabbed the pillow, pushing it away. The intruder seemed surprised again at the sudden resistance and Murdock managed to gasp in a lungful of air before the pillow returned and a hand began batting at his. Well, he had more wiggle room now. Even if he was still three-fourths restrained.
Murdock twisted his whole body to the left to throw off his attacker. He snatched his hand back and punched the pillow away from him. Mouth free, he started hollering at the top of his lungs.
"HELP! HELP! INTRUDER! HELP-mphk!"
The door flew open with a bang and a voice shouted "Freeze!"
The intruder bolted back out the window, and a gunshot followed him out. Murdock dimly batted at the pillow, trying to move it. Someone lifted it away and he blinked up at a familiar helmet. The lights flipped on and he recognized the corporal from outside his door. It slowly registered that the MP was talking to him.
"-ight? Can you hear me? Do you know what happened, sir?"
The corporal's voice sounded like he was underwater, and Murdock's reply sounded far away. He squinted through the bright light at the doctors and nurses and MP's that were quickly swarming his room.
"Um… yes? No? What…?"
"Everything's okay, Mr. Murdock," a nurse was saying. "You're going to be just fine."
His restraints were removed and he was somehow maneuvered into a wheelchair, which started moving away. He passed Decker, and could just stop and stare at the man.
"What…?" he asked.
Decker turned to him. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. Murdock could read the expression clearly, though.
I don't have a clue any more than you do.
*I'm never talking! You can't break me this way you rancid piece of broken glass! I'm not standing for any of this!