Don't mess with my family!
Hi guys, I am finally back, sorry it took me so long, I just wanted to watch the episodes I am writing about first, for it had been some time since I last watched them. But as life is, things got in my way and well, now I finally found the time to write. Also I got a bit carried away, otherwise I would have updated sooner, but as it is, it is extra long (over 3300 words!) :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the A-Team, only the DVD-box.
Warnings: Spoilers for the first three episodes of season 5.
I wrote this chapter on suggestion of the wonderful MissEclipse. Technically I was only asked for a scene from "Firing Line", but I couldn't stop myself expand it a bit, so I made it a two parter, the second part contains the scene she wanted me to write about. I hope you don't mind and enjoy reading it.
Part 1:
Murdock's spirits had been low for quite some time. In fact since he had heard about that General Stockwell the first time, maybe it was some kind of foreboding. Maybe his sullen mood had something to do with that Frankie guy joining them too.
Sure, it had been fun to see how that young guy had managed to con their conman and even BA, while Murdock had seen right through him. As if he would ever try tanning butter on his precious leather jacket! Murdock wasn't stupid, he had always had a knack for knowing if people were trying to trick him, that's why him and Face got along so well.
The pilot took to confusing Frankie, acting strange and irrational around him, it was kinda fun to watch that guy trying to figure him out,something most of his doctors had yet to manage. The younger man even went to Murdock's team mates, asking about him, of course getting no answers. Still, there was something about the whole thing that made Murdock more than uncomfortable, that mad him run around without his usual cheery smile on his lips.
Maybe he was just jealous, for the parental affection the Colonel treated the new guy with. That was usually reserved for Murdock or Face, maybe he felt like Frankie was trying to replace him, but maybe there was more to it...
Later he found, that he had been at least partly right. Frankie was never going to steal his place on the team, but he had betrayed them already. They couldn't really judge him for it, as he said he had done it for his father, but as the guys were abducted from the barn by General Stockwell's men, Murdock was sure he had betrayed them again.
When he got back with their meals, only to find his guys being abducted by that General, leaving him all alone, there was one thing he was absolutely sure about, as he stared after the vehicles, Frankie was going to pay for this. He understood that the boy spied for Stockwell to help his father, one did that for ones family, but this time Frankie had gone to far, he had messed with Murdock's family, and no one messed with his family!
As soon as Murdock heard that the trial was due he was on his way, he knew that he had to be there with them, Frankie would have to wait. If he was there his team, his family would know he hadn't abandoned them, that there was still hope. If he was there there might be a chance, however slim, that he could convince the court that they were not guilty or find something, or someone who or that could.
He entered the building alone, feeling nervous, with all that reporters around, he was on enemies territory, in this rooms they would decide the fate of his team.
He hadn't expected Frankie to be there, so the arm reaching out for him took him by surprise, but as he turned around surprise quickly made way for hot white fury.
How dared the traitor to be here, to act as if nothing happened?
It took all Murdock had not to strangle Frankie right there.
"Don't strangle him, ain't gonna do the guys any good!", he repeated in his head over and over again.
Unaware of the danger he was in Frankie began to talk.
"Hey Murdock, how's it going, huh?", he greeted.
Murdock couldn't believe it, that guy really the impudence to ask that, all of it was his fault after all!
Murdock's gaze darkened, the small, dangerous smile, the look in his eyes would have sent even BA running for his mummy, but Frankie remained completely unfazed.
He continued to talk, unaware that he was just digging his own grave.
"Maybe I could watch some of the trial with you." Murdock felt his self-control crumple away, how dare he?!
"Lend a little support to our boys." At that Murdock snapped. Here he was, the one who was about to get the only persons, who cared about Murdock killed, the ones that meant everything to him and he had the NERVE... Frankie had never even earned the right to call them HIS boys, but if he HAD, then he would have lost it the same second he betrayed them.
The pilot's ears were ringing and before he knew it he had the traitor pinned against the next wall, fighting to remain a low voice, when he wanted nothing more than to shout.
"It's NOT "our boys", it's "MY boys". NOT "our boys"."
Frankie relented, finally realising, what Murdock was about to do. He tried to justify himself, starting about his father, but for once Murdock didn't care about it, he didn't care, if his story was true, hell, he didn't want to believe it to be true, because if it were true Murdock knew, he could never hate him for doing what he did. But he wanted to hate him, because of how infuriating calm he was while the teams lives were hanging by a thread.
That was what made him call Frankie's story a "fiction", while a little, unwelcome, nagging voice in the back of his head reminded him, that it might be true.
When Frankie reminded him proudly, that he got the team the lawyer, surely hoping to calm Murdock down, as if that would make it all good again, as if that was enough, the only thing holding Murdock back was the thought what Hannibal would say, if he got himself and Frankie kicked out of the building by hitting Frankie square in the face.
After all Hannibal had invited the special effects specialist along, even after he knew of his treason.
He had invited him, just like he had invited BA and Face and also Murdock all that time ago. He knew they all hadn't been easy on him and he was sure they were responsible for most of their CO's grey hairs, but Hannibal had always trusted them.
He had chosen them and no matter what they did they could count on him, he would stand up for them if no one else did and would trust them if no one else trusted them.
That was the only reason that kept Murdock's fist at bay. Hannibal trusted Frankie and that meant he would not appreciate Murdock's actions.
So Murdock settled for another glare, letting the traitor know that only Hannibal's trust protected him.
"But another step in the wrong direction, just one and you are done!", Murdock added in thoughts and judging by the hint of fear in Frankie's eyes the message had finally hit home.
At that moment Stockwell entered the scene. "Great", Murdock thought. "Now I've got two traitors to deal with."
Watching the trial was hard for Murdock, it would have been even without Frankie sitting next to him, making commentaries about the ongoings like he was watching some sports events.
After all they had done for this country, after all they had been through, they had to sit in these room and listen to all these ridiculous lies about their "wrong doings". Hadn't the situation been so serious Murdock might have laughed about them.
In fact he couldn't blame BA when he lost it after facing those unfair accusations, Murdock himself was ready to strangle someone at that time. As the fight began Murdock jumped to his feet, he couldn't just watch his team fight without joining in. Yet that was exactly what he had to do. Helplessly he watched as his friends surrendered after already winning, Hannibal was trying to impose their innocence upon them, but Murdock secretly thought it to be futile.
He knew that after that stunt they had just pulled in front of the court and after finally being caught after all that time, there was absolutely no way the court was going to just let the team walk out of it again. As the trial went on things got worse instead of better and with all that false witnesses it would take a wonder, a big one at that, for them to be found "not guilty". Murdock was determined to, if necessary, make that wonder happen.
The trial extended and there were times when it looked quite good for the guys, but in Murdock's mind there could be no doubt on the outcome. When they called him as a witness he knew, that nothing he was going to say would change something, so his main goal had to be to keep himself from becoming a suspect in the case. He might as well have some fun and entertain his boys with his statement.
So as he was questioned Murdock went all in, he felt the expectant gaze of his friends on him. They were looking forward for some entertainment and he was going to give it to them.
The Captain was determined to pull a con the "facial one" himself would be proud of. Starting really serious he made his story as crazy as possible, to infuriate BA and convince the court of his insanity and maybe a bit to embarrass the accuser. He even threw in some bad jokes and a monster for his Colonels delight and a beautiful woman for Face. (A/N: Honestly, they should have made a movie out of it, it had everything: action, love, humour, pirates, monsters... :DD Loved it!)
Upon sensing their smiles he went one better, holding them a blazing speech about army manuals.
The bad hidden humour in Hannibal's and Face's eyes told him he had done good.
Their mood had improved quite a bit, but only until that blasted document from Colonel Quyet appeared, blaming the team not only for treason but for murder.
The Team hadn't known of Morrison's treason, Murdock was sure of it. But he had found out, unfortunately only after setting the team down in Hanoi. As the Captain got back to report to the Colonel, he overheard a phone call. The Colonel was selling the team out. At first Murdock had been sure he must misheard Colonel Morrison, but as he confronted him, he had admitted it.
Colonel Morrison had always been one of Murdock's favourite Commanding officers, the more of a shock was it when he found out. Morrison had tried to explain himself, had almost begged Murdock to understand, he would have a ill wife at home, the treatment were to expensive to be paid by his wage.
Murdock wouldn't have any of it, he had shouted at him, for getting the team in danger, urged him to sign a confession there and then, he would be back in a few moments to get it. Then he had stormed out to try and contact his team, to warn them in time. That day he had failed. As he got back, to at least get the confession the HQ was burning, the confession lost, Morrison dead.
No, Murdock hadn't killed him, but someone must have overheard them that day, while Murdock was shouting.
The Team kept getting betrayed by good guys, who only wanted to save their families and Murdock kept failing them. He had never told them about Morrison, afraid, that they might think him to be the murderer, afraid, that they would blame him, because he hadn't been fast or good enough, to prevent them from getting fugitives.
But now the time had come to make it right, he would go after Quyet. He would clear their names.
As he was going after Quyet Murdock had to admit that he was glad that Frankie had joined it, that he wasn't alone with it. As reluctant and appalled he had been at the beginning. This mission would have been too much to handle alone for anybody.
Frankie had a mouth too big for his own good and he could be pretty arrogant, but as Murdock worked with him he began to see what his Colonel saw in him. He had gone along with Murdock's, admittedly strange actions, he just couldn't help it, the lives of the persons he cared for the most in the whole wide world were at stakes, who wouldn't lose it?
And while Frankie was completely inexperienced and understood nothing of how to act on a mission, his special effects knowledge came in pretty handy. Murdock had to admit that they were having fun, well as much fun as one can have, when his best buddies are most likely to be killed.
The Captain could tell that Frankie still wasn't as serious as he should have been about their mission, but he respected Murdock as crazy as he was and there weren't many persons, besides the team, who did that. They were working together quite nicely too and for a few moments, after they had caught Quyet everything had seemed to get a happy ending after all, but it didn't come to that...
Hell he had even had the court willing to listen, he was on time! And than this Colonel Quyet would go ahead and tell them all the same bunch of lies they wanted to hear, the same bunch of lies, that would them get convicted. Murdock felt desperation rising inside him, he had failed his team again, whatever he did, nothing seemed to work, it all just seemed to make it worse.
However, Murdock was far from giving up. He was part of the best special forces team the army had ever had, after all! That was the fire inside, that kept him running, after his friends were sentenced to death. After he had stand there, seeing the disappointment for the country they had done for so much in their eyes and not being able to help them. If there was something he had learned from his time with his team, it was to never give up, because there was always, ALWAYS a way out. There just had to be.
Of course the court had him put back to the VA hospital after the trial, he was still insane, after all and Murdock didn't argue, he needed time and silence to plan his next move and he knew he would get plenty of it there. In the outside world there were still some goons out and about looking for him, Murdock suspected them to belong to Stockwell, Frankie had been bothered by them too, so he was safest there. Besides, his friends were in prison, because he failed them, so he figured it just served him right that he had to spend time at his personal prison.
He would see to it however, that he always had access to the recent news. He knew the execution of the special forces team was going to be too big a thing, to keep it from the news, so it was his safest way to find out about the date.
Murdock knew his doctors and nurses would try to keep it from him and he wouldn't put it past them to fake the newspaper he got, so he saw to it, that he would always get more than one newspapers from different sources (a few of their old clients were more than happy to help). The thought alone of missing the date made him shudder. The longer he thought about it the clearer it became to him that there could be no failure, a life without his team wouldn't be worth living...
So when the news arrived, when he read about the date there was no hesitating, he had to get out of there, get to Frankie, safe the guys. He escaped without major problems, after all this years it was still painfully easy. They always did little more than run after him and thanks to Hannibal's training he was in top form. He ran like a footballer attempting a touch down, just body checking the orderlies that were unhappy enough to get in his way. The unicycle accident was a bit unfortunate, but in his current state there was no stopping Murdock.
Not much later he got to Frankie's and to Murdock's great relief he was home, however there was still the problem with the slime balls that kept showing up...
Murdock knew, as he fought of one of the goon, while the other was attacking Frankie, it had to have something to do with this blasted General Stockwell, the one that had started their misery.
No, to him it wasn't enough to take the credit for catching the team, as far as Murdock knew he hadn't even taken the credit, there had to be more to it. Murdock had a feeling that that pompous guy wanted to use the team, he was sure the General had planned it all out neatly and they all had just acted how he wanted them, like good little sheep, it made Murdock livid. Still, as he made his way to Stockwell's hideout, they had the "address" from goon number two, who, after facing the defect lift shaft, had suddenly become very cooperative, he was determined to use that in his favour. While he might be nuts, he surely wasn't stupid.
As it turned out Stockwell wasn't either, but while it didn't all go according to plan as they got out (or rather were carried out) of the plane, they had what they needed.
A plan had popped up in Murdock's mind, just before he got unconscious, now he would just have to make it work in time.
Making it work in time, however seemed to be a problem as they woke in the trash cans, with a murder headache. It took a while to remember what was going on, but as he did the pilot was one step from panicking, he had lost his watch, so he had no way to determine if he had still time and he had no idea where the hell he was. He knew Stockwell was behind this, again!, but it all didn't make any sense. Didn't the General want the team alive anymore, what could have changed his mind? Or did he just not want Murdock to save them, but save them himself instead, to call in favours later? Or maybe it was just another part of his twisted plan?
Whatever it was Murdock couldn't depend on speculations and he had to do something now, so he went on with his plan. They were taking the only way in, there was, they were getting invited.
As Murdock watched his plan unfold before him, he couldn't help but feel a little pride, it was a good plan, Hannibal would be proud of him.
Of course they had to rob a priest first to get fitting outfits for their trip. It was something Face, being raised by nuns, would never have approved of and Murdock himself didn't quite like it, but he had no choice... They entered the island by ship, Murdock first, Frankie was to come a bit later, both dressed up as priests.
As Murdock walked along the jetty, he met Stockwell, he knew the General recognized him, but he didn't care, the Captain had taken precautions, after all Stockwell had hinted that someone might recognize him as the teams pilot. So far the plan was working out just fine.
The Captain reached the cells of his teammates undisturbed, cover still intact.
He took a deep breath, before he made himself known to them, he didn't know what to expect, maybe he half feared to see them broken, resigned to their fate, but as he heard them joking around through the door he sighed of relief. Grinning broadly he stormed in, it warmed his heart how their gazes lit up, as they recognized him. But there was no time for a joyful reunion, he had to go on with the plan.
Give them the stage blood and then change the bullets for the firing squad. But it didn't come to that, he was caught before he could carry through with his plan. They dragged him out of the cell, before he even got the chance to tell his team about the plan. His friends faces fell, as he was escorted out, but instead of accusation or disappointment there was only worry for their mad friend in their eyes. It hurt Murdock more than anything and he wished for nothing more than to be able to tell them it was part of the plan, that they needn't worry, but he couldn't without ruining the plan. So he just kept repeating it in his head, willing them to hear him.
Don't worry, muchachos, you gonna be safe.
In the hallway he gave the bible he had been carrying to Frankie, it was up to the boy now.
It is a bit long, so I hope there aren't to many mistakes I overread...