Violet Psychopath + Abnormal Psychologist = Loving Relationship?
Fandom: CBS MacGyver (2016 reboot)
Pairing: Murdoc x Emmett Becker (fan character)
CW: kidnapping, drugging, killing mentions (undetailed), violence mentions (undetailed), needles, knives, general morbidity associated with a character like Murdoc lol
“MMPH!!” came their muffled cry of surprise when a gloved hand clamped over Emmett’s mouth, quickly followed by the unmistakable feeling of a blade pressing lightly into the side of their neck and the sound of a familiar voice.
“Hiya Doc, how’ve you been?”
There was no mistaking who that voice belonged to, not for Emmett at least. It was Murdoc. He’d escaped. He was out. And now he was in their apartment.
‘Huh, that’s probably why they wouldn’t let me in last week..he wasn’t there anymore’ they thought briefly, the thought echoing vaguely in their mind as they processed exactly the situation they were in currently. Their train of thought was interrupted as Murdoc spoke again.
“No, no, really, Emmett! I wanna hear how you’ve been! I mean, we see each other daily, it's been almost a week now? We gotta catch up! Say, I know just the place, actually!” he let the words flow effortlessly out, his voice taking on that artificially chipper tone to it, as if it were hiding something much darker just beneath the surface- and from Emmett’s experience? It was safe to say, it almost certainly was. He paused for a moment before realizing he couldn’t get a response out of Emmett if his hand was still over their mouth.
“Now, Emmett, so far, you’ve been very good for me… if I take my hand away, you’re not gonna scream. Right?”
Emmett knew full well what Murdoc was capable of, even before they’d gotten to know him in more detail at the prison; he’d most likely slit their throat without a second thought if he thought they’d jeopardize his newfound freedom. And the only reason this was a ‘most likely’ situation and not a ‘certainly’ situation was because Murdoc seemed to find Emmett fairly amusing. And MAN, was Emmett going to capitalize on that fact.
So, Emmett nodded a bit, to indicate their intended cooperation with Murdoc, to which the man smiled and let his hand fall away from their mouth, resting, instead, on their shoulder. The knife remained close, albeit slightly further away, from Emmett’s neck. ‘The threat is there’ it said, ‘but I trust you, more than most’.
Murdoc looked at Emmett, as though trying to gauge whether or not they intended to try to escape. After a few seconds of scrutiny, he looked somewhat satisfied and lowered his knife, putting more distance between its blade and Emmett’s neck. Emmett breathed an audible and shuddery sigh of relief at that, looking visibly less terrified.
Murdoc felt a brief pang of guilt. Part of him reveled in the power he finally had over one who typically held some level of power over him (the talk sessions in prison). But most of him just felt plain old bad at the fact that he was so clearly scaring Emmett, someone who had to be one of the only people on the planet he could accurately call a friend. Well, he wasn’t even sure about that. He wanted to call Emmett a friend. He wasn’t sure the feeling was mutual. It probably wasn’t, given the fact that he was currently kidnapping them at knifepoint. Oh well. Another problem for another time, he supposed.
With that thought in mind to quell his vague remorse, he gave Emmett a stern look that said, ‘don’t try anything while I get what I need’. Murdoc pocketed the knife as he grabbed out some zip ties and expertly fastened them around Emmett’s wrists. As he finished, he was less keen to pull out his knife again and instead opted to simply guide Emmett to where they were going with a steady pair of hands at their shoulders.
Soon enough, Murdoc had them arrived at a vehicle, ‘probably stolen’ Emmett thought, stupidly. Murdoc opened the passenger side, ushering Emmett inside. They briefly wondered why he was letting them sit there and not having them safely tucked in the trunk of the car, before they felt a quick pinch of pain, as a needle entered their arm and soon after, they lost consciousness. As they faded out, they had the realization that, ‘oh, that was why he’s letting me sit here, I won’t be able to…’ and just like that, Emmett was out like a light.
Meanwhile, at the Phoenix Foundation, things were in chaos. Director Matilda ‘Matty’ Webber was shouting orders, lab techs were hurriedly running to assist the more high level agents, the search was on, one of their own had been abducted, and by Murdoc, no less.
“People! This is Murdoc we’re dealing with here. You all know what that man is capable of. He has one of our own agents. I need eyes on every vehicle leaving the Hollywood Hills area ASAP!”
“Ma’am, we’re working as fast as we can-”
Matty was not one to let emotions compromise her work but it was tough not to get a little freaked out when the world’s most infamous assassins had just kidnapped one the people she was responsible for…responsible for returning safely to their friends and family…
Especially when said agent was not, in fact, officially trained for working as an agent. Matty had hired Emmett on the condition that they stay in the lab, working in their speciality, psychology, and not in the field, at least, not until they’d completed schooling on fieldwork.
Now, an untrained member of the Phoenix Foundation, was at the mercy of one of the single most dangerous men alive.
The thought ran like a lightning bolt through her brain as she alerted MacGyver, Riley, Jack and Bozer of the situation, calling them to the war room.
As the four elite agents filed into the room, Matty remained stone faced, laying out the facts of the situation carefully, “Listen, guys, we have a major situation here. One of our agents has been abducted by Murdoc-”
Riley cut in immediately, “Wait, since when has Murdoc been out of prison?”
“Our intel says he escaped six days ago, from supermax prison-”
Then Jack interrupted, “A-And you didn’t think to tell us this, why?”
Matty shook her head in exasperation, “It was on a need to know basis-”
“And we didn’t need to know?! Matty, that homicidal maniac has it out for every Phoenix Agent here, especially us five!”
Matty, ignoring Jack, continued, “I’m sorry to say that the agent Murdoc has kidnapped is Dr. Emmett Becker, our resident criminal and forensic psychologist and the psychologist assigned by us to work with Murdoc in prison.”
MacGyver looked stricken, as though it was directly his fault that Emmett had been put in such peril, “Matty…Emmett.. Emmett isn’t a trained agent yet…”
Matty sympathized with Mac, saying, “I know, that’s why it is imperative that we recover them as soon as humanly possible- no scratch that, I want the impossible, guys. I need Emmett back and safe in their own apartment, yesterday, got that?
Everyone in the room nodded solemnly as Matty continued to give them all the relevant information before sending them on their way, saying, as they exited the room, “Oh, and guys? Make sure to put Murdoc back into federal custody, while you’re at it. Good luck.”
That was the first thing Emmett’s brain registered as they slowly came to again.
The next thing was the dark, coolness of the room they were in. Then the harsh cold of the metal chair they were strapped to. Strapped to? Oh, yea, there were also the plastic zip ties now binding Emmett to the aforementioned chair.
And of course, the whistling. The whistling? It was some tune Emmett couldn’t quite place, familiar, but not. They groggily wondered what song it was supposed to be before their brain replaced that question with the more important one of who was whistling it?
As if to answer their unspoken question, there from the shadows emerged Murdoc. It was more than a little unsettling, the way his pale features stood out amongst the rest of his dark hair and ensemble which allowed him to otherwise blend perfectly with the shadows around him.
Emmett wasn’t entirely with it quite yet, still waking from whatever sedative Murdoc had injected them with. As they did so their brain fixated on the visual input that was Murdoc standing before them, partially enshrouded in darkness still. They noticed his skin, which looked almost muted in the low light, his aquiline nose, the way his thin lips curled up in a sinister smile. And his eyes, dark and swirling with secrets untold… he was.. kinda really pretty actually, they thought aloud, albeit quietly.
“Wait. I said that out loud didn’t I..” Emmett murmured softly.
Murdoc’s smile widened, revealing a few sharp looking teeth.
“Aww, you think I’m pretty?” he crooned back at them, his voice taking on a sickeningly sweet sound. He chuckled a bit before adding, “Hey, in your defense, I did dose you with some pretty strong stuff!”
Murdoc straightens up and again before pacing around, circling the chair Emmett is seated in, tracing a finger along the top edge of the chair seat. He momentarily considered ghosting over Emmett’s shoulders with his hands- oh how he wanted to touch them, hold them, even hug them- but quickly pulled away, not wanting to unnecessarily freak them out. He may be a psychopathic murderer but boundaries are important and he wasn’t about to break them. Well, at least not in that sense, anyway.
Emmett looked…well, surprisingly calm, all things considered. Murdoc wasn’t entirely sure if the drugs had worn off yet but he was at least glad to see that they weren’t entirely terrified anymore, if only artificially.
After all, he just wanted to talk with them. That was all this was about really. He wanted to get to know them and for them to know him, in an environment where he could express himself, aka, an environment where he wasn’t handcuffed to a table- even if that meant Emmett had to be instead. Eventually, he told himself, they’d work up to not having to do this. He didn’t want it like this. He wanted Emmett to not be afraid, not try to run away, to like him and want to talk to him. But he knew he’d have to work up to that. He knew he’d have to do something different in the future. This wasn’t gonna work if he kept up like this. He’d have to try a different strategy. One that didn’t involve abducting an unwilling Emmett. But for now, for now, this was what was happening.
For all his bravado and general creepiness, he really was trying, in his own twisted way, to flirt with Emmett.
Not that Emmett had any clue. From their point of view, as they slowly became more conscious and less affected by the sedative, Murdoc had probably abducted them to force Phoenix Foundation intel and secrets out of them and then kill them.
“So..Murdoc..what do you want?” they said, their voice becoming less scratchy and more normal.
Murdoc simply looked at them, tilting his head quizzically. It reminded Emmett, oddly enough, of the movement their childhood dog made when she was confused. ‘Man’ they thought, ‘he even has those dark puppy eyes too, doesn’t he..’
Murdoc hadn’t figured he’d get this far. He hadn’t yet figured out his ‘reason’ for why he was kidnapping Emmett. He just looked stupidly at them, trying desperately to think of some cover question to lessen their confusion. He wasn’t going to just admit to them then and there that he liked them.
He started out in an uncharacteristically unsteady voice, “Um.. right. I- You need- you are going to tell me everything you know about Phoenix Agent Angus MacGyver”
‘Smart’ he thought to himself, ‘shift the focus to someone else’
Emmett shook their head before hurriedly adding, “I-It’s not that I won’t tell you, it’s just that- well, I don’t know much about Mac! I used to think he worked at a Think Tank. I only recently found out about his real work.”
Murdoc, already running out of follow up questions nodded in acknowledgement before deciding that it was probably time to release Emmett back to their apartment. ‘I mean what else am I supposed to do if I’m too chicken to tell them how I feel?’ he thought, disgusted with his own behavior.
“Okay? That’s it? Aren’t y-you, gonna, shit, I don’t know, t-torture me or something..?” Emmett asked, clearly still scared and confused.
“No? So, what, you’re just gonna l-let me go??”
Circling as he was about Emmett’s chair, Murdoc paused behind them and suddenly Emmett felt that familiar pinch of the needle before they lost consciousness, again.
Emmett felt like they were underwater, just hearing the sounds of the above world from within the depths.
‘Oh hey’ they thought, ‘That sounds like Matty. Wow, she sounds unusually concerned…”
Oh, now they felt they were being shaken a bit, poked and prodded by someone’s hand. They didn’t know whose.
Their head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton as they slowly registered more voices in the background.
A voice that was unmistakably Jack’s spoke, saying, “Are they alive?” It was said with a level of heartfelt vulnerability rarely seen in Jack. Emmett felt a bit touched at the sentiment. Even if he always teased them at work about not having any field work experience, he apparently cared.
Then came Mac’s voice. It was a familiar sound, warm and gentle, calm and levelheaded- exactly the kind of friend he’d always been, “Yea, they’re alive, they’re breathing, see, Jack? Just sleeping…”
Riley’s voice was next, assuring a nervous Bozer that Emmett was in fact okay and as of now, seemed to be miraculously unharmed.
Matty’s voice again; she seemed on edge. Emmett didn’t blame her.
Emmett suddenly startled awake, or at least, now fully conscious.
Matty breathed an audible sigh of relief at seeing Emmett’s eyes shoot wide open. They were definitely alive.
Bozer was immediately at their side, having pushed his way through the crowd of friends to get there, “Are you okay?”
Emmett glanced about the room, taking it all in. They were back in their own apartment, currently laying on their couch, surrounded by their coworkers, all of whom were looking at Emmett with concern etched into their features.
“...Yea..I’m good.. I think, Bozer, thanks..”
Jack was next to chime in, asking in a concerned tone, “Did Murdoc hurt you? We have a first aid kit here but we just wanted to check if you were alive first, y’know?”
Emmett laughed a little at that and smiled before thinking about Jack’s question for a moment. As they recalled the incident of the hours prior, they realized Murdoc actually didn’t hurt them.. like, at all- sure, he knocked them out with the intravenous drugs, but, Emmett realized, even his administration of the needle was gentle and carefully done in order to cause them the least pain possible. For whatever reason, Murdoc had very intentionally left Emmett virtually completely unharmed.
Emmett’s smile faded to an expression of confusion as they answered, “No… no he didn’t, actually.”
Jack and the rest of the group looked visibly perplexed.
“Yea.. I mean, he drugged me, intravenously, but truth be told, that was the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had with a needle. The thing was thin and he was extremely skilled at poking me without it hurting. I don’t know if that was on purpose or not, but in every other aspect, Murdoc… was actually very civil…”
“Civil? How so?” Riley asked.
Emmett took a deep breath, trying to ground themself before answering, “He.. he just asked me to give him information on Mac-”
MacGyver raised an eyebrow in question.
“Yea- he wanted me to tell him about you, Mac.. but don’t worry, I just said I didn’t know you as well as I thought I did. Told him I’d only known about your real job since you invited me to work at Phoenix.”
Mac furrowed his brow in thought, “And? How did he react?”
“See, this is where it gets extremely weird. He just said, ‘Okay’. So I said, ‘Okay?’ and asked him point blank if he was gonna interrogate or torture me… and he said no.”
The group surrounding Emmett looked even more puzzled, if that was possible. Matty asked, “Emmett, do you think this has anything to do with the fact that you were his assigned psychologist? Is that why he left you unscathed? What exactly did you two discuss while he was in prison?”
Emmett shook their head, “I don’t know, Matty, I would think so? But it doesn’t make sense that he would do any of this? Not only am I a low level agent, not worthy of any ransom-”
Jack cut in again, “Hey, don’t say that about yourself!”
“But there’s also the fact that even if I were a high level target, he should’ve killed me after I left him with no new information. Instead he didn’t even make an attempt at extracting the information from me… it's almost like he just.. Kidnapped me for kicks, or something…”
Matty spoke again. “Then he’s changed his M.O. That much is clear. Emmett, we need you now more than ever. We have got to figure him out and why he’s changed the way he operates. We don’t know what he’s planning now that he’s out. He could kill countless more. We simply don’t know. Emmett, get some rest, but I need you on this ASAP tomorrow.”
Emmett nodded, understanding the urgency of the matter but still exhausted and feeling as though they’d been hit by a truck.
The rest of the group said their goodbyes and expressed their well-wishes to Emmett as they left. Jack even tried to insist on staying over to guard Emmett as they slept. The two settled on having two armed agents do the job instead.
As Emmett laid there, not having moved from their position on the couch, they pondered their experience and wondered what Murdoc was doing now…
WOOOO If you’ve gotten this far, Ty and ily/p mwah mwah/p
