CHAPTER 4

Two elves sat in a small cabin, staring at a monitor which didn't look as though it was switched on. They didn't look like the Elves in Santa's workshop as they were wearing black and red suites, with no hats and shoes that just went to a straight point at the top, instead of curling up, with no bells at the end.

Suddenly the monitor started to beep and then automatically turned itself on to show Santa's workshop, and all of his elves making toys.

'Huh, impossible, how have they managed to rebuild the workshop so quick?' Asked one of the elves.

'I don't know Quedgie, we need to tell Porchly straight away!' The other elf replied.

'Yes, you're right Turtsnip, you go tell him' Quedgie ordered.

'Ok' and with that Turtsnip ran out of the cabin.

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'Murdock, why has your toy soldier got wings?' Asked Fidgely.

'So he can fly, cus you know, I was thinking, what if Oscar, that's his name, what if he had two identities, soldier by day, superhero by night' Murdock explained, 'But I didn't wanna just give him a cape, I thought that wings would fit better, you know?'

'Yeah, ok Murdock, that's really great and all, but um, maybe you could just stick to the original toy plans' Fidgely replied.

'Ok, um, I'll go help BA with the wooden trains' Murdock shrugged; he walked over to BA and sat beside him, grabbing a paintbrush and some paints. He then reached over to the train BA had just finished making and attempted to grab hold of it.

'What you doin fool!' BA growled, snatching the train away from Murdock.

'What am I doin? What's it look like I'm doin, I'm helping you make the trains, that's what I'm doin' Murdock spat back, then smiled, 'I'll paint em, why you make em Big Guy'

'Go away sucka, only person who needs help around here is you'

'Don't be such a big grouch BA, I wanna do the painting, let me do the painting'

'Man, go annoy someone else'

'Hey, I'm not annoying, I'm just trying to help you, you ungrateful mudsucka'

With that, BA grabbed hold of Murdocks collar and lifted him from his seat,

'Hannibal, you betta tell this fool to shut up!' BA warned, Hannibal just sighed and walked over to them.

'What's goin on now you two?' Asked Hannibal.

'I wanna paint the trains, and BA won't let me' Murdock Whined.

'I don't need no help Hannibal, I'm only making toy trains, there's plenty of other jobs the fool could be doin'

'Isn't there something else you could do Captain?'.

'I was making soldiers, with wings Colonel, but don't think Fidgely liked my idea much' Murdock sighed, BA gave him a disgruntled look.

'Ok, well um, what about the toy planes, why not help the elves make them?' suggested Hannibal.

'Yeah, planes, great idea Colonel, I'll help em make planes' Murdock replied enthusiastically, searching for the toy plane making table.

Hannibal looked at his watch then sat down next to BA, 'Ok BA, I'll finish off here, it's time for you to go and relieve Face'

'Right' BA nodded, and headed for the door.

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The Cabin was full up now, Quedgie and Turtsnip where joined by a small army of elves, all in identical suites, except one, who was obviously Porchly their leader. His outfit was slightly different, same colours, but he was wearing a red hat, and long pointy leather boots.

'The A-Team hey, who'd have thought Santa would get so desperate' Porchly mused, 'well, as far as I'm concerned, you can only fight desperation, with more desperation, so I guess this calls for desperate measures'

'How desperate?' Asked Turtsnip.

'Well, there's only four of them, and I can't see Santa's precious brainwashed elves doing much fighting, so I would say semi desperate' Porchly answered, 'team three come with me, team one and two, stay here'

Porchly got a synchronized, 'Right' in response and, Turtsnip, Quedgie and seven other elves followed Porchly out of the cabin.

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'Look out below' Murdock yelled, and then he added a few of his famous yelps and a howl as he tested out the remote controlled plane he'd just made. The plane, which was under Murdock's control, was doing some nifty aerobatics around the workshop.

'Nice Murdock' Hannibal praised.

Murdock looked over at Hannibal, 'Thanks Colonel', he then let out a slight gasp as the momentary distraction made him loose concentration, and the toy plane started to spin out of control, 'Face look out' he warned, as the small plane headed speedily towards his friends head, he desperately moved the control sticks on the remote to try and manoeuvre the toy plane, but it was no use, the controls were stuck and the plane seemed determined to collide with Face's head. Face looked over at Murdock, and then ducked quickly as he saw the plane heading for him.

'Murdock, would you watch what you're doing' Face moaned as the plane went over his head, he then straightened himself up again, and started to brush himself off, as though he'd just had to dive into a load of dirt, not the floor of Santa's very clean workshop. The plane finally stopped when it crashed into the wall and fell to the ground.

'Sorry about that Faceman' Murdock apologised as he made his way over to the plane, sighing slightly as he picked it up and the left wing, which was hanging funnily on it fell off.

'That thing could have had my head off you know' he groaned, and then added softly, 'is your plane ok?'

'Well, if it was a real plane I wouldn't wanna fly it, and I've flew some pretty badly damaged planes in the past Faceguy'

'Ah, right' Face frowned, 'well I'm sure you can probably fix it Murdock'

'Don't think so'

'Um, well then, just look at it as product testing, you tested the product, the product failed, so now you can come up with a new and improved design for it'

'Yeah, Face is right Murdock, but I'm afraid you'll have to let the elves come up with the new design though, cus it's your turn to keep a look out' Hannibal told him.

'Righteo Colonel' Murdock put on a serious face and saluted dramatically, then smiled widely and ran out of the workshop; Hannibal shot an amused look in his direction.

Murdock ran outside, and shivered slightly at the cold. Snow covered the ground and he zipped his jacket right up to the top. 'Hey Big Guy, you can go back inside now' Murdocks teeth chattered. BA, who was wearing a scarf and hat, stood up from the crouching position he was in and passed Murdock the binoculars, then he sighed.

'Fool, why you only got your jacket on, it's freezin out here' BA hissed, Murdock just shrugged in response, and BA groaned, 'man, put these on' BA took his hat and scarf off and passed them to Murdock.

'Hey, thanks Big Guy' Murdock said gratefully, in a high pitched voice, BA shook his head and made his way back to the workshop.

Murdock put the binoculars to his face and stared at the road ahead, going into a crouching position like BA had. After a few minutes he seemed to loose interest and started to make patterns with his fingers in the snow. Suddenly he grabbed a radio from out of his pocket and spoke into it, 'Colonel, there's a sleigh heading this way' he then put the binoculars to his face, and spoke into the radio again, 'got some little people on it, but they sure ain't any of Santa's elves'

'Ok Murdock, come back inside' Hannibal ordered, 'I'm sure you'll wanna be with us when we welcome our little friends'

'Roger that' Murdock put the radio back in his pocket and ran back towards the workshop.

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'Well, it's time guys' Hannibal grinned, 'you got the little surprise ready BA?'

'Oh yeah Hannibal' BA smiled mischievously.

'Face?'

'I'm ready Hannibal' Face confirmed.

'They'll be here in a few minutes Colonel' Murdock puffed as he entered the workshop.

'Great Murdock, Ok, I want you all to go somewhere safe, we'll handle these' Hannibal told the elves, they all looked at him reluctantly, 'we'll handle em, you just go to your rooms ok'

The elves sighed but did as they were told, and ran to their rooms, well all except for Fidgely.

'I'm staying with you four' He said defiantly, Hannibal just shrugged.

'Have it your way' he replied.

'They're coming up the path now Colonel' Murdock said, as he looked out of the window, 'I think I can make out ten of them'

'Ten hey, interesting, I think I like them odds' Hannibal smirked, 'Ok, get ready guys'

BA and Face nodded in unison, each standing at opposite sides of the door, holding a rope each. The bad elves all barged through the door.

'Now!' Hannibal shouted, and with that BA and Face jerked their ropes downwards, causing a cage to come crashing down. It captured the back half of the bad elves, Porchly and the remaining four elves charged at the A-Team. Fidgely leaped at Quedgie and pinned him to the ground, BA grabbed hold of Porchly by the collar, Hannibal grabbed hold of Turtsnip and Face and Murdock cornered the last two elves.

BA, who was still holding Porchly by the collar, turned his hand into a fist and then pulled it backwards, he then sent his fist flying towards Porchly's face, but stopped mid punch, just before his fist connected with the elf's face.

'What are you waiting for?' Fidgely asked exasperatedly.

BA lowered his head and sighed, then he looked towards Hannibal, 'I can't hit an elf Hannibal' He told his CO quietly, a hint of embarrassment audible in his voice.

Hannibal looked over at Face and Murdock, who also seemed to be reluctant to hit the little men; they both shot an apologetic look at Hannibal, and shrugged.

Hannibal looked down at the elf he had old of, and sighed, 'Yeah, me neither' he admitted.

'So what now Hannibal?' Asked BA.

'Murdock, pass me some tinsel' Hannibal requested.

Face grabbed hold of the elf Murdock had captured, and Murdock went to grab some large pieces of tinsel. He passed some to Hannibal, who tied it around Turtsnip; the other four did the same with the other elves, until eventually all the elves were tied up. Hannibal then grabbed an extra large piece of tinsel and tied it around the whole lot of them; he pulled on it, and smiled satisfied, 'That should do, come on fellers, help me carry these outside'

Hannibal, Face, BA and Murdock all took a corner each of the tied up elves and carried the ten of them outside, they then attached them securely onto their sleigh, and Hannibal grabbed hold of the whip, and whacked it onto the floor, 'Mush!' He called out. The Huskies quickly ran back up the path, taking the bad elves away with them.

'How long do you think it'll be before they come back?' Asked Face.

'I suppose it depends on how tight we tied the tinsel' Hannibal replied matter-of-factly.

TBC