We Can Be Heroes
An A-Team Movie Verse & Club Denial Fan Fiction
by Darth Stitch
DISCLAIMER: See first chapter. Standard disclaimers apply.
Interlude: "Precious"
Vance Bennings didn't like the way things were looking right now.
He'd been with Tony Bright for a pretty long time and the Captain had never really steered them wrong, even if he decided to pull a scam. They were always able to get away with things, scott-free. That was the important thing, really, Vance knew. Finding the treasure was just the beginning – holding on to it was the real trick. At least, holding on to the prize long enough to make a profit off it was the ultimate goal. Vance liked that game – and no bullshit here, he knew he and Tony Bright were among the best in the world at this.
Now, he was wondering if Tony was beginning to lose it.
It happened, sometimes. You'd find that one thing, that one precious, rare object that you know you couldn't give up, not for all the money in the world. You'd want to hang on to it, hoard it, guard it jealously from anything and everything. Vance knew men like that – obsessed with finding their own particular Holy Grails – that legendary treasure that would hold all the answers in the world.
He wasn't one of those men.
He'd found a lot of weird shit in his long career as a treasure hunter. Oh, he had an eye for beauty and he knew value when he saw it – but he also knew how it was like to be hungry and starving and trying to make a meal out of dried pizza crusts found in the trash and smoking the cigarette butts thrown away in the gutter to take the edge off the constant gnawing in his stomach. He liked where he was at now – comfortable, assured of his next meal, knowing he had something stashed away somewhere safe against the inevitable day when they would pull that one scam that would go wrong or when it was really time to call it quits because they were getting too old for this shit.
Vance Bennings had every intention of dying old, rich and comfortable in his own bed.
The hotel they were staying in was pretty nice, at least for the moment. Normally, he and the other guys would be going out, each on their own thing. Burkie, he knew, liked the club scene, dancing to that loud, ear-destroying shit he called music. Meeker would probably be going to some fighting match or the other – boxing, martial arts – it didn't matter.
Ever since they got that jewel, they all had that feeling that they had to stay close – stay together. Okay, so they did screw over that His Nibs "No need for titles" Albert Pallando. They were going to have to stay a little low for a while. But this was different and Meeker had put it best when the three of them had gotten together to talk about it.
"It's like, I don't wanna be away from the Captain right now, y'know?"
Not the Captain. The jewel.
That fucking jewel.
Vance should have listened to his instincts. First time he set eyes on that thing, with the way it had suddenly seemed to light up like a Christmas tree when they first brought it out of the water, he had wanted to take it and chuck it right back into the ocean. It was like he suddenly had this odd vision of looking at himself in a mirror and he could see every ugly, fucked-up, crazy thing he'd ever done and been done to him in his life and he just hated
(himself)
it.
He knew the histories of a lot of the stuff they'd found on their expeditions. He knew all that shit about curses and bad voodoo spells. He didn't believe in it. But with that jewel – he was beginning to wonder if there was some kind of curse at work here.
First off, he knew they shouldn't have screwed over Pallando – they should have just handed him the pretty toy and walked away with their money. It wasn't as if the man wasn't generous with the dough – the amount they were going to get was more than reasonable. But Tony had been so persuasive that they could get more and Vance cursed those few minutes that he'd somehow lost all common sense and decided not to talk the Captain out of it. They'd always checked their clients out first before accepting any job – one of the most important reasons for that was to see if they could get away with doing a scam.
Vance didn't like it that he wasn't able to turn up a lot of intel on Pallando. That was what scared him. They'd gone into this without a real plan and that wasn't like Captain Tony Bright – not at all.
The Nerd Squad who'd been with them had been nattering about Atlantis or Numenor, as they had called it – how that kingdom was lost when its last king had sailed away, in his complete arrogance, to challenge the gods and steal immortality for himself. From what Vance could remember, that king had gone down with his kingdom or maybe he was sealed away by the gods in some kind of hell, only to be released when it was time for the Final War – Armageddon or whatever name the Nerd Squad had for the deal.
Vance wondered if they weren't sailing right on that very same course.
He was walking down the hallway of the floor their rooms were on. He could see a very faint light coming from under the door of Tony's room. Most people would think it was just the TV but Vance knew that light – it was like nothing he'd ever seen, like it was the very first thing that exploded in the darkness when God had asked for Light to appear.
Tony had taken the jewel out again.
Vance knew he did that a lot, take the jewel out, hold it in his hands, almost fondling it in this weird, almost obscene way. Once, he'd even heard Tony whisper, "My precious…."
It was an endearment and damn it, you don't whisper sweet nothings to a fucking shiny piece of rock. First time he heard it, the hairs had risen on the back of his neck.
Vance Bennings stifled a curse. He had a date with his laptop and some creative screwing around on the Internet. Tony had mentioned putting the jewel up for sale, although Vance could smell another scam in the works and probably it would get even more dangerous for them.
It didn't matter – they were all going to get their money and they were getting rid of that jewel and this was the last fucking time Vance Bennings was going to work with Tony Bright and play this game.
Maybe it was time to walk away and Vance was going to walk away from the game a winner.
Part III: You've Got A Hell of a Lot to Learn About Rock n'Roll
Unfortunately, Face here couldn't get Hannibal drunk yet.
Actually, Facey is the really entertaining drunk – although he was pure hell on my nerves that one time he started lecturing about the utter bitch that is unrequited love to our Filipino Ranger cousins and damn near gave himself away to the entire planet (a.k.a. our good Jedi Master Hannibal). Look, as much as I'd like our favorite Long-Suffering LT to 'fess up – he couldn't spill the beans at that point, not without shocking the hell out of our Oblivious Colonel and opening up a whole world of hurting for the both of them.
(Well, they're my buddies and I love 'em and as much as I'd like to see them with the happy ending, you just can't mess around with people's hearts like that, you know?)
Now it's Face's turn to be the Oblivious One and Hannibal gets to suffer for a while. Can't believe how Face could miss the Clue Bus with that kiss, no sir.
Guess karma's a bitch too.
Of course, I can remember the few times we got our Colonel really wasted away. Well, I can remember him singing You Are My Sunshine and buddy, you ain't really heard one of Louisiana state's favorite songs until you've heard it sung by a crazy drunk Irishman.
So anyway, we couldn't get Hannibal to tell us the stories of his escapades A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far, Far Away just yet. We had some stuff to do. Bosco still wasn't happy that we were going into this using swords and that big mother of an axe as our primary weapons. Feanor had to explain to him that those things were enchanted and blessed – guns could probably work against something ordinary and mundane but not something that could be witched up by that Pallando guy.
And then, Bosco said, "Well, silver bullets work against werewolves. Can't there be some way we can enchant or bless bullets too?"
Man, I never knew my Uncle Fred could light up like that ((Hm…I guess I have to say Uncle Feanor now that we've let all sorts of cats out of the bag). See, just like Bosco, Uncle Feanor's got this knack for building things and tinkering with stuff. So Uncle Morrie started banging his head against the bar counter when he realized Uncle Feanor's got a kindred spirit in Bosco and there went Uncle Feanor, dragging Bosco off to his workshop. God only knew what crazy stuff they were gonna come up with.
Bet they'll be really fun toys though.
So while Bosco and Uncle Feanor spent a couple of days cooking up stuff in what Uncle Morrie calls "Frankenstein's Laboratory," Hannibal went on the computer and on the phone, trying to get in touch with some old buddies of his. Probably rounding up the tattered remnants of the Jedi Order, I thought. He had a picture of them that had fallen out of his pocket while he was getting all distracted talking to whoever it was. I picked it up and gave it back to him.
What? Of course I looked at that picture before I handed it back! Colonel was a lot younger then, maybe like his mid 20's, but even at that time, he already had mostly silver hair. Most of the people in that picture were your typical soldiers – some were even brother Rangers who we'd met over the years and worked with. But there were three of them that kind of stood out from that crowd.
There was this kid – little girl maybe about thirteen or fourteen and I could clearly see the hilt of a sword peeking from over her shoulder. She was too short to carry it at her side and had to get it strapped across her back. I would bet that she was probably lethal with that thing and she was probably a lot older than she looked – no way she'd be hanging out with this bunch otherwise.
The other was a guy who I'd swear I've been seeing over the years at the Club while I was growing up. Tall, dark-haired, lanky fella with a big nose and who really loved his beer – I couldn't forget that detail because Uncle Morrie was always after him to pay his tab. He was like the other people who dropped by the Club from time to time, knowing what the place really was – he never aged and he always looked the same. I just couldn't figure out what the deal there was but figured he had to be some kind of immortal being.
I'm just sure he didn't have fangs though.
The last guy was in really old-fashioned clothing – maybe later 17th century, I'd guess. He was very pretty, with very long, light blonde hair going all the way down his back. I was willing to bet that wasn't a Halloween costume he was wearing.
Also, I was willing to bet on the fangs.
Hannibal's story was sure going to be real interesting.
And then, just when I thought I could probably just slack off for a bit – Faceman walked in with that look on – the one where he's all "Bring it on, bitches!"
Oh, we had some work to do after all.
Now, since Facey didn't have the armory with him but a couple of very, very sweet laptops, I figured that we were stormin' the Information Superhighway for this mission. Hackers of the World Unite! Hack the Planet! Hack the Planet!
God, Angelina Jolie was hot in that movie.
Won't bore y'all with the technogeekazoid babble – although geeks are sexy these days, so I hear. Suffice it to say that Face and I know our little dark corners of the Internet world – places where a bunch of treasure hunters might want to put up a certain sparkly Holy Jewel up for auction? These boys are smart, at least for ex-SEALs, anyhoo. Just put up your goods for sale and you just meet with your buyer and close the deal. No need to hawk it out in the "open" space that was Real Life, so to speak, having to think about other unknown buyers who might not take it kindly if they lost the auction and screw things up for everyone.
Money wasn't a problem – Uncle Morrie and Uncle Feanor have got that covered. And it wasn't as if we were going to be carrying cash when we meet Bright and his boys. Everything's electronic these days. Naturally, when we won the online bidding, we had to have the merchandise in our hands first before we transferred the money over.
Uncle Feanor had grumbled that it was a heck of a lot easier now, instead of just really playing jazz for the money, which was how it had all started for him and Uncle Morrie. Ancient history, I gathered, although not as ancient as all the other stuff.
So we fired up our new babies and went hunting for treasure. And hit the jackpot. Took us several hours and we had a few bad moments when we faced up against this other Super Rich Buyer but the Little Fuzzy Blue Creature who helped Uncle Morrie out with the Club kept us supplied with coffee and other Good Things to Eat.
Face didn't even notice the Fuzzy Blue One as she handed him his coffee mug.
Bosco freaked out a little though.
Colonel just laughed, patted her head and thanked her kindly when she handed him his coffee. I never thought I could see something that blue turn so red. Colonel's got that effect on people, including Little Blue Fuzzy Alien Critters.
The meeting place was set for Poienari Castle, in Romania. Somebody on the Other Side probably has a sick sense of humor to use a place where Dracula used to live for a business meeting.
"Dracula's fucking castle?" B.A. broke out when he heard the news. "In Romania? Aw. Hell. No – we ain't flyin' there! I ain't walkin' into no haunted castle and I ain't getting' bit by no vampire!"
"It's not that bad, B.A.," Hannibal said, trying to soothe the big guy.
"It's all just ruins now, Bosco – it's all just a pile of rocks and stuff out in the open. They even made it a tourist attraction of sorts," I added.
"Don't think I don't notice none of you fools are telling me vampires ain't real!" B.A. growled.
Hannibal was muttering something that sounded remarkably like, "-vania shouldn't be around for the next hundred years yet…" Yeah. It sounded like one of those things the Boss-man don't like to talk about. I keep hearing the brogue creeping up there and that's always a sure sign Hannibal's feeling something very strongly – in this case, it means he's going to a place in his head that's Not Happy.
Facey really has to get those few drinks into him soon.
Eventually, we managed to convince poor Bosco to get on the plane. Well, Face and Hannibal broke out singing that You Are My Sunshine song which is pretty much their code for "Yes-we-are-in-love-with-each-other-we're-just-being-stupidly-clueless-about-it." And while Bosco's saying he ain't falling for that trick again, I just moseyed on up and got him knocked out so he could sleep like a baby.
Well, of course I handled the flying! You have any idea how hard it was going to be to sneak weaponry past customs? And Uncle Morrie was very clear – we were going to need the things once we left the Club. Uncle Feanor also gave us this box of whatever it was that he and B.A. had managed to cook up in their workshop. I had some idea of what they did – Face was taking inventory of the more modern weapons we had and was muttering about missing stuff.
The Dracula movies make you think that Romania's all gloomy and scary with vampires lurking in every shadow. Far from it – it's a beautiful country. Think of mountains and dense forests, where it's like you can take just one step from the city with all the cars and the noise and the smog and you're clear into this whole other world where it's nothing but trees and greenery and the silence that's only broken by birds singing or other animal noises. Step into that world and you'll have this sense that nothing's touched it, that it hasn't changed for hundreds of years.
At least Bosco had something pretty to wake up to.
Well, of course I had the coconut curry tapenade ready when he came awake!
On our first night in Bucharest, while we were getting settled in our hotel room, Hannibal gathered us together and pretty much laid down the law. He normally isn't that way – he knows how we operate as a team. It was a sign of how worried he really was and just gave me a pretty good idea of how badly things like these went for him before.
"Boys," Hannibal said. "I know this isn't our normal kind of mission so I want you to be extra careful. Consider this the kind of deal where 'all bets are off' and keep the gear that Morrie and Feanor gave us with you at all times. Mind how they told us the things are going to work and don't just lightly dismiss anything as just your imagination working overtime."
"Shit, I knew we was goin' to be vampire-bait," Bosco groaned.
"Actually, I don't think we'll be having trouble from that quarter," Hannibal quipped. "I made sure of that."
I'll bet, I didn't say that aloud but I was thinking back to that picture of Hannibal's old buddies and some of the stuff that Uncle Feanor made us take along that weren't exactly pointy or had the potential to blow up. Protection, he said.
"Don't worry, Bosco," I said instead. "Garlic's not gonna work if a vampire's really hungry but that crucifix you've got around your neck's a lot better." So it doesn't work all the time but I knew Bosco was a true believer and there's a lot of power in faith, y'know?
"I knew it! I ain't ending up as vampire dinner, y'all hear me?" Bosco was panicking already.
"Vampires, Boss?" Face said, raising a brow.
"You heard me," Hannibal said calmly. Yeah – he was dead serious and I knew it. "I don't have a lot of time for stories, kid – not right now anyway. But that's part of it."
"Jesus," Face sighed, shaking his head.
"That means," Hannibal said pointedly at our LT, "that you're not supposed to go chasing after the first pretty face in a skirt that you'll see on this mission. You might just end up getting fangs in your neck!"
"That's not fair, Boss!" Face protested. "I haven't gone after any pretty faces in skirts for ages! Give a guy a break!"
"Yeah, you were the one wearing them, last I heard," Hannibal said dryly.
I wished I'd brought along the popcorn on this trip. Popcorn's real good especially if you spike it with a bit of chili flakes, you know? Best thing to snack on while watching Hannibal and Face snark (a.k.a. flirt) with each other. Of course, the fact that they were also effectively distracting poor Bosco from the whole vampire thing was part of the game too.
Face put on his sweetest smile – the one that should set off all the alarm bells ringing in any sane person's head but everyone else falls for it anyway. "The shoes that go with those skirts are really killer on my feet but if it makes you happy, Hannibal…"
"I think you've done enough drag for the rest of the year and I happen to love you just the way you are, Templeton," Hannibal answered and pretty much won the game, set and match right there.
You'd think that Face would finally catch a clue at this point but the Idiot just blushed all pretty-like and went, "This is payback for the 'silver fox' comment, right?"
The Bigger Idiot – excuse me, our Colonel – just went and changed the subject instead, "Now, Face, were you able to get in touch with that guy I was telling you about so we could get something to drive around here…?"
I had to take a look at Bosco at this point and the big guy's rolling his eyes heavenwards. Yeah. My sentiments exactly. Must. Not. Hit. CO. And. XO. Upside. The. Head. With. Clue-by-Fours.
Driving something that has four wheels and stayed firmly on the ground always made Bosco happy and Face was able to get something that had some resemblance to the big guy's precious van. We got lucky – sometimes the roads in Romania can be really bad at certain times of the year or so we were told, mostly if the weather's bad. The largest city near Poienari Castle was Curtea de Arges and that was where we were heading.
We ended up staying in a little village pension just outside the city – close enough for us to take in the lay of the land. People around here were just beginning to catch on to the whole deal with Dracula and the whole vampire thing with Stoker's book and the umpteen movies that came out of it. From the conversations I was catching, they figured that we were just another bunch of flaky Dracula fanatics tripping out. Heck, to them, ol' Dracula was a national hero, fending off the Turkish invaders – not some vampire in a cape and fangs.
Vampires were still not a joking matter in those small villages though and the old lady who ran the pension had been pretty firm telling us that it wasn't a good idea to go wandering off at night.
"You want excitement, you should stay in the city," she told us sternly. "Night air not good for tourists, not here. Especially these recent days."
Of the four of us, Hannibal and I are the ones fluent in Romanian – Face understands enough to get by but his Hungarian is a lot better and Bosco just knows a couple of words here and there.
The Colonel just nodded. "I understand, Grandmother. We're not really here for the night life."
Grandma's clearly skeptical. "Huh. You foreigners all think our vampires are just the stuff of bad American movies, eh?"
Bosco twitched and I saw Face put a hand on the big guy's shoulder, trying to keep him calm. Unfortunately, Bosco did understand enough Romanian to get "vampire." They're not all that bad really – I ought to introduce him to Uncle Nick one of these days.
Hannibal reaches into his pocket and shows Grandmother something that looked like an old golden coin. Whatever it was, her eyes went wide.
"The young Prince!" she gasped.
Hannibal smiled. "He hasn't forgotten this place, Grandmother and asked me to send his regards."
Grandma was pretty happy after that and she was a real good cook too. I had to get her recipe for paprika hendl – have to get some variety into the menu after all.
When night fell, things changed. I didn't like to think about it and Hannibal was probably feeling the worst out of all of us, which accounted for why he was a bit jumpier than he should be. But I had been getting the heebee-jeebies ever since we all stepped out of Club Denial. Feanor had warned us that our Enemy was aware that Ollie had run into us but he couldn't breach the protections of the Club, as long as we were staying there. But now that we were out in the open – we should be expecting trouble.
"He'll know that there is at least one in your team with a certain power but I am not sure if he is aware that two of you are from the Dunedain. I would rather assume that he does know and his hatred for that bloodline will run deep, if he is who or what I think he is."
Grandma was feeling it too – she had made sure that the crucifix that was hanging over the door to her home was secure and she was muttering prayers under her breath as she went all over, checking the other doors and windows. We all agreed that we'd be turning in early for that night and Bosco and Face had already gone up to their own respective beds. We actually had this nice little room with four beds – which was a godsend, because brother, Bosco can really hog those sheets if we ended up sharing bedspace. Which happened pretty often over the years – we'd all gotten used to that.
Hannibal grumbles about it in the morning but we all knew he'd gotten used to being Face's pillow on those kinds of occasions. How Hannibal managed to stay oblivious to that after all these years is still beyond me too.
Just before I went to our room, I made the mistake of looking out the window in the kitchen.
You know that expression horror writers love using? The blood froze in their veins. You'd think it was Cliché City but I finally knew exactly how that felt and believe you me, there's already a lot of horrors out in the world without adding supernatural ghostly shit into the mix. I'd seen those and they've given me nightmares over the years.
This probably ranked up in the Top Ten for me.
My night vision's damn good and I could see those Shadow-Wraiths Ollie was talking about. Blacker than black, moving out in the dark, making me feel like I've been dropped in the middle of a frozen Alaskan lake, the cold going right into my very soul.
And then, I could really see them, the Eyeless Ones, withered skin stretched tight over bones, bleached completely white – dead-white, in fact. They were Things that should have long been resting easy in their graves. They had been dragged out screaming and kicking and were pissed as all hell that their peace had been disturbed. And they were ready to take out that anger on the first available target they could find.
We See you, Son of the Mariner, Bearer of the Star-Jewel.
I was sorry for them, honestly – that bastard wizard shouldn't drag these poor sods into this. But then, I heard Face scream.
Son of a bitch.
I ran upstairs to our room. I don't know why but the first thing I grabbed was Glamdring and the sword was glowing bright enough to light up the whole house. Hannibal was already there and he had Anduril in hand. For this brief, crazy moment, I could see our Colonel as Ollie had described him, standing tall and unafraid, crowned with silver and a star set on his brow. Suddenly, we weren't in this little pension somewhere in the Romanian countryside – we were Somewhere Else – this Somewhere that was nothing but mists and shadow.
Colonel just drew the sword out of its scabbard and showed it to the Wraiths. It too was glowing.
"Get. Out." He said. They blanched and drew back.
The Sword That Was Broken will be shattered again, Son of the Sea-kings! They howled in those dead voices.
The Colonel wasn't budging. "You've got nothing but empty threats – get the hell out of here and leave us in peace!" And then he spoke – ancient, familiar names that I had only heard Uncle Feanor mention a long time ago, always with reverence.
A Elbereth Gilthoniel. Star-queen, Star-kindler Everwhite.
I knew those names and before I knew it, I was saying the words right along with him.
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
O Elbereth Star-kindler,
o menel palan-díriel,
from heaven gazing afar,
le nallon sí di'-nguruthos!
to thee I cry now beneath the shadow of death!
A tíro nin, Fanuilos!
O look towards me, Everwhite!
And then, it was as if I had just blinked and we were back in our little room. Hannibal was sitting on the edge of Face's bed, hand stroking through our LT's hair. Face was sleeping peacefully now.
Bosco, it looked like, had never even woken up during the ruckus. He was still sleeping nice and quiet, holding on to this rosary that Grandma had given him. It had probably kept him safe through the whole thing.
I knew the Colonel couldn't help himself. He just bent and brushed a kiss against Face's temple and I could just make out the whispered, "Sleep well, Templeton. I've got you."
Yeah – Face ought to figure things out pretty soon. He was missing out on a hell of a lot of stuff here.
I hated to interrupt the moment but somebody had to look out for these two idiots. "Colonel."
"Yeah, Captain?" Hannibal had turned to look at me but he still hadn't moved away from Face, fingers still absently stroking through his hair.
"I'll take the first watch for the night," I said. We both knew that we were going to have to do that – warding us from any other attacks by those damn Shadow-Wraiths. We were the only ones in the team who were capable of it.
Hannibal shook his head. "I'll do it. You get some sleep, Captain."
"Hannibal," I said a little more firmly. I don't like doing this often but every now and then, somebody's gotta remind our Colonel that he doesn't have to deal with this crap all alone. "I'll do it – you and Facey here will be running most of the show and we can't have you running on empty."
Colonel gave me this look and it's pretty much the same one he gave me when we first met in that VA in Mexico, all those years ago. It's that look that pretty much just sussed out who and what I am, honestly and truly, without adding the words "crazy as a loon" into the mix. Somebody who believed in me, plain and simple.
He smiled. "All right. Promise you'll wake me – I don't want you to be without sleep the next day."
"Roger that, Master Jedi." I had no intention of doing that but of course, Hannibal used the Force on me again. Damn.
"Murdock. That's an order, you hear?"
"Yes, sir!" I saluted right smartly.
The Colonel sighed, drawing up the blankets over Face and muttering, "If it's not one smart-ass kid, it's another…"
- tbc -
Author's Notes:
Little Fuzzy Blue Alien Critters – Uh. No Shameless Author-Self Insert Here. This isn't the alien you're looking for!
Hannibal's Mysterious Old Team – Yeah. A Certain Really Old Guy of an Immortal and a Certain Dhampire decided to join the party. Sort of. No…. that wasn't a Highlander & Castlevania reference… no no no….. And that little girl who happens to be hanging around isn't the OC who pops up in a lot of my fics… no no no….
Murdock's "Uncle Nick" – Um. That's not a certain vampire detective from this classic TV show. *coughForeverKnightcough* You guys believe me, right?
Face & Murdock, Hacking the Planet – You know, it kinda makes sense that the two of them are capable of mad hacking skillz. There are a lot of scams to be run on the Internet now and Murdock's certainly capable of Geek Godhood given enough incentive. Yes, Murdock really loves the Hackers movie. Hey, it's a classic! :)
Are They or Aren't They? People are asking me if this is the fic where a certain Long-Suffering Lieutenant and Formerly Oblivious Colonel will finally get together. Let's see…. (begins to cackle evilly)
The Research – Thank you Google and Travel Blogs for some info on getting to Poienari Castle. Also, I went back to the classic Bram Stoker novel for some additional inspiration. I also owe Wikipedia for the translation of the Elbereth Gilthoniel prayer that we LOTR fans all know and love. Why Hannibal seems to know this, even before he had ever run into Morrie and Feanor, is one of those stories that shall be left for later.