Hey hey! Guess who's back! ... Don't give me that look ..., I feel guilty enough already. I honestly have absolutely no good excuse for my huge delay ... I'm just lazy … and I get distracted easily? … I know.
Bad excuse.
Anyway, I'm back to write more for you guys, and for Frankie, as, just a short while ago (i.e. who knows when?), I was asked to continue (Just goes to show how much I depend on those darn reviews …). Naturally, I felt obligated to agree. I am a sucker for fans, and that's the truth. So again, #givefrankieachance, and I hope you enjoy.
Also, since I'm not entirely certain whether or not I've done this before ...
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! (And I won't tell you what I do own, cuz who cares? I'll happily donate any and all of my OC's to the fandom. The only question is, ... will the fandom want them?)
BA drove with the lights off, pulling up quietly to the small house in question. Neither he nor Hannibal said a word as they both got out, met immediately by Murdock and Face, the latter still sufficiently wet. "Well Hannibal, if you have a plan I'd sure like to hear it, since it's past midnight, so knocking on the door is out of the question." Apparently, the Lieutenant's bad mood hadn't abated since they'd last seen him.
"Face, I think we should try before we rule it out, huh?" Hannibal grinned at him, patting his shoulder as he headed towards the house. "You and BA stay out here and keep watch though, since neither of you are in a very friendly mood right now."
"And who's fault is that?!" Face shouted indignantly as Hannibal strolled away with Murdock in tow. The pilot looked back and gave BA and Face a goofy grin with two thumbs up,
"Don't worry 'bout me Face, I'll be all right!"
"Man's still crazy." BA commented sullenly.
"Who cares if he's crazy? At least he's dry." Face remarked with a twisted expression.
"Rather be wet any day than crazy."
"Hnn- not right now." Face shivered violently and BA looked at him sidelong, shaking his head and muttering something else about 'spreadin' crazy'.
The con-man ignored him. BA could understand why, too. Hannibal had sent him off with Murdock, who had gone and drenched the vain man. BA knew that Face hated getting drenched.
… still. It was a little funny.
They waited in the cold for what must have been at least five minutes. The light of the streetlamp nearby made certain that BA saw each chill that ran through his companion as they wondered how long Hannibal and Murdock would take. They'd gone around to the back of the house, and now BA saw the lights flick on inside.
Interesting.
A moment later, the door opened and Hannibal waved to them. "Come on in, boys!"
"What'd he do now?" BA wondered quietly as he walked towards the open door, a trembling Face trailing just behind him, muttering much more obscene things under his own breath.
The change that came over the con-man's face when they were met with a girl at the door was instantaneous, however, and BA would never stop wondering why Face couldn't conjure up that smile when there wasn't a girl around. "Ah, You must be Ms. Fleming."
"Yes." The young woman's face was pinched with nerves, and she glanced out with trepidation. "Come in."
"Yeah, Faceman!" Murdock called loudly from behind Hannibal, who was grinning at them from behind the young lady. "Come in, before it starts raining!"
BA knew it wasn't going to rain, and so did Face, but the latter cast a glance skyward as he hurried in anyway, accepting a blanket from Shaaron with a smile that melted most female hearts. She seemed immune however, as she closed the door swiftly and latched the lock almost immediately. "Please, uh, ... have a seat." She preceded them into a cozy little living room, and sat down next to Murdock on the small loveseat, earning the pilot a swift glare from Face as he sat next to Hannibal across from her. BA chose to stand.
"What's goin' on?" He asked it gruffly, and his glare was immediately attracted by Hannibal's answer.
"Now, BA, you need to calm down. Shaaron here has some information for us."
"I- ..." The girl bit her lip nervously and Face smiled softly, his chattering teeth much less prominent now as he spoke, assuaging her fears.
"Don't worry, Shaaron, we're here to help."
"I know." Ms. Fleming bit out bravely. "You're the A-Team. But- ... but that's- that's the problem!" Her voice had risen by the end of her declaration, and they all shared a look as she continued, shaking and pale. "They told me to- to tell you where they were, and I know it's a trap, just like in the movies, but they're going to kill him and it's my fault, because I didn't warn him, even though I knew what they were going to do and I didn't do anything because I- I was so s- scared!"
"Ms. Fleming." Hannibal spoke kindly, even as she hiccuped and began to sob. "Don't worry about it being a trap. You were very brave to tell us that, and we aren't going to let him die." BA nodded once, and saw Face blanch while Murdock echoed the nod. Frankie had to be alive, and BA refused to believe otherwise.
"They said if I- I t- told anybody that they'd-" She paused to take a shuddering breath before continuing. "They'd kill me, and kill him a- anyway! And h- he didn't even do anything t- to them!"
"We gonna do somethin' to them." BA ground out.
"Yeah, sister!" Murdock had a gleam in his eye as he patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You jus' tell us where those ugly mudsuckers are, an' we'll take care of 'em, don't you worry about it!"
"But they're w- watching me!" She wailed. "They know you're coming and they're gonna kill you!"
Slight panic flooded BA, and Face must have felt similarly, since he spoke up immediately. "Ah- Hannibal, she has a point. If they're watching, then they'll know-"
"Face-" Hannibal cut the con-man off with a glance, then looked to Murdock who held up a handful of listening devices with a grin that Hannibal's face copied and amplified. "They won't know everything."
"A- are those-?" Shaaron's already pale face promptly lost the rest of its color.
"Yeahp." Hannibal grinned even bigger, and BA felt that a laugh was coming. "But Murdock left the phone tap on, and I'd like you to make a call for us, if you wouldn't mind."
"A- a call?" The young ladie's puffy eyes widened, and Hannibal's self-assured chuckle filled the room and their confidence. "To wh- who?"
Face breathed silently through his mouth. They couldn't afford to mess this up. Hannibal and Murdock were gone, making the last defense between the poor, terrified Shaaron Fleming and her stalkers BA and Face himself. His eyes flicked through the darkness towards the open doorway to the living room, and he hoped that this wouldn't be too hard. Getting soaked was bad enough, he didn't want to be punched on top of it.
Face had taken the back door around the corner, pretending that it wasn't because he hated fighting and the fact that he knew the Sergeant would fare better. BA played along, luckily, so Face didn't have to kiss his manly exterior goodbye in front of the girl, who had picked up the phone with a trembling hand.
Face listened with bated breath as she dialed, and counted with her.
911.
There was a moment of silence and then she spoke shakily. "T-this is Shaaron Fleming, and I live on Hardy Drive a-and there are men outside w- who want t-to kill me, and th- they're watching m- me. P- please hurry, they told me n- not to call-"
The door busted open just then slamming to the floor, and Shaaron dropped the phone with a shriek and a clatter as a pair of heavy footfalls clomped in. "Hey girlie." The voice was that of a frequent smoker, and not just of tobacco. "You jus' made a big mistake. You shoulda listened to the boss when he said not to call anyone. We woulda left you alone then."
Face peeked around the corner then, and watched as a shorter man strode in to stand with his lean friend. "Yeah, that was pretty dumb." He fingered his gun with a predatory grin that Face could only barely make out in the dark.
"Hypocrite." Face muttered, then stared mournfully at his own weapon, which was an expensive looking vase. Hannibal had told them to avoid guns while Shaaron was there, not wanting to expose her to crossfire, but now that Face had seen the man's weapon, he was feeling a little (dare he even think it) out-gunned.
BA obviously didn't share his reservations as the moment the gunman took a step forward, there was a thump and he crashed to the floor, out cold. The other man whirled on the intimidating sergeant with a shout of surprise, then pulled out his own weapon. "You're gone! We saw you leave!"
Face turned the corner and hurled the vase at the man, before he could shoot. He remembered only after he'd let go that BA was just behind the goon.
"Look again, sucker." BA spoke clearly, and luckily, Face's aim was true, as the man went down a second late with a shout and pieces of shattered vase.
Corresponding shouts outside indicated that the rest of the gang had heard the commotion and come to the conclusion that their friends had failed. Face ran into the room and grabbed Shaaron's hand, pulling her back towards the kitchen as BA picked up the broken front door and hurled it at the men outside with a feral growl.
They were stopped short when the back door slammed open, and Shaaron screamed as another man tackled Face into the wall.
The next few moments were a flurry of punches and kicks that ended when the shy Ms. Fleming smashed a lamp into the head of his assailant. She then helped Face to his feet, groaning. He could already feel his eye swelling.
He heard a roar from the living room, and felt bad for whoever BA was whaling on before coming Face to face with his next opponent.
As his other eye was punched even harder than the first, he thought of Hannibal and Murdock and sincerely hoped that they fared better than he currently was.
"Hannibal, do you think Faceman and BA can really take on 20 men?" Murdock's tone wasn't worried, but curious as he spoke from behind the wheel of the van. The fight with BA had been cut short by the Colonel ordering the sergeant to hand over the keys, and both of them knew there would be a reckoning for that later.
"Well, if they're the same guys who grabbed Frank, I think we should be more worried about them." Hannibal's voice held a touch of humor, and then he pointed. "I think that's it."
"It's got a big ..." Murdock squinted into the dark, never having turned on the lights, "18 on the front Hannibal, an' that's the number she gave us."
"Nice." Hannibal opened his door before Murdock even put the vehicle in park, hopping out and waiting for the pilot to join him moments later.
"So, do we just walk in?"
"As loudly as possible." Hannibal nodded and Murdock grinned.
"Consider it done!"
Frankie had done it.
He'd gone kamikaze and made Oozy mad, and they'd reopened his ear-wound in retaliation, earning him that extra bathroom time.
He was leaning over the sink and watching the blood drip off his jaw. He could finally put his plan into action now, though his headache was more of a dissuading force than he'd expected.
"C'mon man," he muttered to his reflection, "if Face can do this stuff, so can you."
Predictably, his reflection merely blanched at the pain that moving his mouth had given his ear. He heard the rumble of a vehicle outside, and vaguely wondered what time it was.
This thought spurred him towards the window, and he looked up at it. He wasn't short, but was he tall enough to reach it?
There was a knock at the door, and Nasally's voice came through. "Five more minutes!"
"It's now or never, Santana." He growled to himself, then got up on the toilet, determined to do this right the first time.
After building up his courage—which took far too long—he leapt. His fingers gripped the edge of the open window, and he heard a loud snap, landing badly on the ground with a window in his hands. Well that plan had failed. He could feel his thumb and his knee start to bleed again, but ignored it as there was a pounding at the door. "What's going on in there?!"
Thinking fast, Frankie moaned. "Just kill me already, man." Since it would be better for the man to think he'd slipped in his own blood (which was becoming more and more likely).
The doorknob was being fiddled with, and Nasally called from the other side. "Open this door!"
Thats when Franklin Santana had a stroke of dangerous inspiration.
Frankie unlocked it, then hefted the foot long broken window in his hands, prepping for his next move. It was risky, but he was desperate. As soon as Nasally opened the door, he took the man out with one fell swoop, knocking the gun out of his hands effectively, left standing and breathing hard with satisfaction filling his stomach.
After only a moment of thought, he picked up the gun, and tucked it into his pants (yes, he made sure the safety was on first! You don't hang out with the A-Team without learning a few things!) before turning back to the broken window.
There was no way he wasn't going to run into someboday if he just used the door like his hand and knee sorely wanted him to ... So after a moment of indecision, he stood on the toilet once more, then leapt again, this time grabbing the metal edge where the window had torn free.
There were a few moments when he was sure he was going to fall, fail, or die, even. But he finally managed to pull himself up, his muscles protesting greatly at the exertion that they weren't ready for.
Scraping his way out through the small hole onto the pavement was painful, but worth it once he found himself panting on his back in the fresh air.
He'd made it.
Wow, wow, wow. I typed this on my iPad, and wow. I finished. These chapters are short, and I'm sorry for that, but after typing a chapter of In The Zone? This was a piece of cake (Sorta)!
Again, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I WILL finish this. I will never leave a story hanging.
Also, I'm leaving on May 2nd for a year and a half long trip (I know, I know! You've already pretty much waited a year for this) and I will try to finish it before then, but I'm not promising anything. If I don't get it done, then it will be on hiatus while I'm on my trip, since there will be no posting opportunities.
Thank you again, for waiting for this chapter, and for sticking with this story despite Frankie being a main contender. I really do love him, and I hope that after this, you can at least TOLERATE him. ;)
So, thanks again!
C y'all
-Al
