Expectation is the mother of all frustration. - Antonio Banderas
They were finally back in LA and Face was being difficult.
Murdock knew he was only doing what he'd always done - looking out for their finances. None of them had lived like kings under Face's management, but they hadn't starved either. And now they all had nice portfolios waiting. Murdock couldn't actually "get paid" back then, but Face had set up a trust fund for him, and otherwise his share was handled exactly the way the others' were.
And now Murdock wanted a pickup, like the one he'd won, and Face was being difficult. Wanted to put Murdock on a budget - as if he couldn't manage his own money. And damn it, he'd earned it!
Today it had come to a head. Face was trying to 'reason' with him once again, and Murdock was getting more and more angry. He looked at Hannibal, who sat quietly on the sofa, pretending not to hear them. BA had headed for the garage a long time ago.
"Hannibal, you tell him! Tell him to let loose of my money!"
Hannibal sighed. "You'd better tell him, Face."
"But Hannibal - "
"He needs to know, so he can get mad at the right person. We don't need the team falling apart over this."
Murdock looked from one to the other. "What are you talking about?"
Face ran his hand through his hair, a familiar gesture when perturbed. "I can't do anything about your trust account, Murdock. I'm not in charge of it."
"What?"
"Look, it's not like a wanted fugitive could be put on the paperwork. And to use an alias could've caused all kinds of trouble for you. Like fraud. So I asked Richter."
"Richter!?!"
"Geez, Murdock, you don't have to shout. But yes, Richter's in charge. I put your share in a dummy account, then transferred them to the trust. And I'd let Richter know how to divvy it up, investment-wise. But now, well, he wants you on a budget for a year before he cuts the apron strings, so to speak. Just to make sure you can actually handle things."
"I did just fine out East."
"We know that, Murdock." Hannibal stepped over to the table. "And so does the doc. But you have to admit, you tend to get a bit, uh, enthusiastic about what you want to buy. Not to mention all the scam artists out there. No offense, Face."
"I'm too smart for scam artists!"
Face actually laughed. "Murdock, I can still scam you after all these years." He sobered. "Think about it. You know all it would take is some fake 'I love animals' pamphlet and your money would be history. You know Richter. He's not unreasonable. I'm sure if there was something more expensive you needed, he'd make sure you had funds for it. Just do this - just one year - and see how it goes. Okay?"
Two weeks later, Murdock had a truck. Seondhand, and BA was doing a lot of work on it, but...
It woud do.