1969

Colonel Owens only glanced up from his paperwork for a second when Hannibal walked into his office. "Lieutenant Templeton Peck. His file's right there." He pointed to the file sitting on top of the tray at the corner of his desk.

Hannibal smirked. "Now how'd you know what I was gonna ask?"

Letting out a long sigh, Owens sat back in his chair and stared back at Hannibal. "Because sometimes it seems like you use my brig as a recruiting ground for your team," he answered bluntly.

Chuckling, Hannibal shrugged. "What can I say? I like character."

Rolling his eyes, Owens waved his hand as he turned back to his paperwork. "Just take the damn file and get out of my office." Hannibal started to open his mouth, but Owens spoke again before he could. "And yes, if you're still interested after you read that, then my guys'll let you back to see him."

"Thanks Mike."

Owens just shook his head as his fellow colonel grabbed the file and walked out of his office. A smiling Hannibal Smith was enough to give anyone a headache.

0

"You got a visitor Peck."

The blond raised his head off his pillow to give the guard a bewildered look. "Who?"

The guard didn't answer, but Peck began to sit up on the cot when he heard the footsteps coming down the hall. He rolled his eyes, but stood up and moved over to the bars as instructed so the guard could handcuff him before he returned to sitting on the cot.

When the cell door opened, Peck looked up to see an unfamiliar colonel walk in. The colonel's hair was graying, but his eyes were sharp and fixed on the lieutenant.

He waved the guards away, and once they were gone, the colonel pulled out a cigar and introduced himself as he lit it. "Name's Hannibal Smith."

Peck didn't say anything, just waited.

"You know who I am?"

"No, Sir," Peck answered.

"You got into a fight with my sergeant yesterday." Peck met Hannibal's eyes, and saw the smirk glinting in them, even if his face was impassive. "Nice job kid."

"Excuse me?"

Hannibal chuckled at the bewildered expression on the kid's face. "Not many people can last more than a few seconds with BA," he explained.

"BA?"

"Bad attitude."

Peck huffed. "Name fits."

Smirking, Hannibal leaned back against the wall, puffing on his cigar.

After another minute, Peck finally asked, "So what are you doing here?" Hannibal raised an eyebrow pointedly. Rolling his eyes, Peck added, "Sir."

Though inwardly smiling, Hannibal set his face into a hard expression. "I wanna know what happened between you and Sergeant McKinney."

The lieutenant froze. Only for a second, but Hannibal caught it before the kid composed himself and put on an innocent and confused look. "Sir?"

"BA says you cheated McKinney out of all his money," Hannibal told him, cutting straight to the chase.

Raised eyebrows. For a moment, Hannibal thought he was going to keep up the confused act, but then Peck started chuckling. "That's what he was pissed off about?" Shaking his head, Peck sighed, his expression serious yet defiant. "What d'you care about it anyway?"

"I'm asking the questions Lieutenant." Peck rolled his eyes, and Hannibal stood up to his full height looking down on the young lieutenant, his voice hard and stern. "Do I need to repeat the question Lieutenant?"

Taking a deep breath, Peck retorted, "Why does it matter?"

"It matters." The answer was simple, and unrelenting. And the look on the colonel's face told Peck he wasn't going to drop it.

"I didn't cheat McKinney out of anything," Peck finally said with a sigh. "If he's out of money, that's not my fault."

Hannibal watched him for a moment, noticing how his posture and expression turned stubborn and defensive. But he also noticed that the lieutenant was trying not to squirm. It wasn't obvious. In fact Hannibal would've missed it had he not been looking for it.

"You were the one selling him the drugs."

"What?" Peck shot back incredulously. "Where the hell did you get that idea?"

Defensive. The lieutenant's cool exterior was giving way to the kid's defiance that seemed almost instinctive.

"You had heroin in your pocket when they arrested you. That's why you're still in here instead of getting released to your CO like BA was," Hannibal stated calmly.

Peck just stared.

"They're only charging you with possession, but you weren't using, you were selling, right?"

It was a challenge, plain and simple. The colonel's hard stare never left the lieutenant.

The kid broke the stare for a second, but only a second. When he looked back his eyes were as hard, if not colder than the colonel's. "Fuck you," Peck spat.

For a moment, Hannibal allowed a smile on his face. But just for a moment. Then he stomped out his cigar, crossed the short distance across the cell, and hauled the lieutenant up off the cot by his collar.

Though startled, Peck let his anger show. "What the hell is it with you people?"

"Don't play games with me boy," Hannibal all but growled. Then lowering his voice into a whisper, warned, "You won't win."

Peck struggled to get out of the grasp, but it was difficult with the handcuffs on. Instead of allowing him to struggle, Hannibal turned and shoved him into the wall.

"I'm only gonna ask this once," Hannibal started firmly, in a tone that left no room for debate. "Why?"

"Why what?" Peck snapped back.

Hannibal tightened his grip in warning.

"Ok, ok!" Peck said, getting the hint. Then muttered, "Jesus, how can you be so fucking idealistic in this war." But Hannibal shoving him into the wall even harder had the lieutenant conceding. "Fine! Supply and demand, ok? That's your fucking answer. Supply and demand!"

The colonel took a little pressure off the lieutenant, but gave him a look that told him to continue.

Sighing, Peck said, "I'm a supply officer. I saw a demand, so I got the supply. Simple as that."

"And if you make money for yourself, even better. Is that it?" Hannibal asked coldly, pushing the kid back into the wall. But this time the lack of resistance was a stark contrast to his previous struggle against the colonel's force.

"It wasn't about the money. Ok! It was a little about the money," Peck amended, seeing Hannibal open his mouth. But then Peck continued, resigned defeat creeping into his voice. "It was more about the contacts. Make the right friends, and you can get anything you want. Which meant I could get anything any soldier asked for."

"And you care about that?" Hannibal challenged. "About your fellow soldiers?"

The kid shrugged. "I like a challenge." The reply was evasive, and didn't really answer the question.

But Hannibal smiled as he let go of the lieutenant. "So do I."