Fic: In Safe Hands (Leverage, Gen)
Title: In Safe Hands
Fandom: Leverage
Genre: Gen
Word Count: 812
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sometimes, it’s necessary to interact with the law. Written for the Team Up Challenge over at leverageland. With art by sigrundora here.
It had been a damn stupid idea from the start. Eliot had made it quite clear what he had thought of the plan - Sophie’s, because Nate was letting her run the thing again because he was blinkered like that - right from the moment she’d outlined it at the briefing. Mixing cons with law enforcement was never a good idea, even when it was with guys like Bonano who could be trusted. Mixing cons with the local police - strangers - in a small town in the Deep South was just downright unpredictable and reckless.
And now, like usual, his prediction had been proved right.
“What are we going to do, man?” Taking a step backwards, Hardison turned to look at him as he muttered the question.
Eliot surveyed the room and shrugged, nodding towards the two police officers who were listening to their conversation. “You’re the experts in these types of situations. What do we do, officers?” He watched for a moment as the two turned to face each other, debating what the best thing to do would be, and then looked back at Hardison. “I’m thinking.”
Truth was, he had no idea. Being trapped in a safe with two policemen wasn’t a fix he’d ever wanted to be in but the two people standing with guns outside of said safe definitely made things worse.
“Think faster.” Hardison pulled at his tie. “There’s only so much oxygen in this place.”
“I’m not the only one in here capable of thinking, Hardison. You-” he broke off as the two cops turned to look at them. “What’s your plan?”
The older one - greying hair, beer belly forming - coughed and glanced at the younger one before speaking. “Well, first, we’re going to deal with the criminals on the inside. You’re both under arrest, anything-”
“Woah.” Hardison held up a hand. “Hold on there a minute. Criminals? We’re not criminals.”
Eliot shook his head. “Hardison, they found us in a safe with a stolen ID card and a bag full of rigs. I don’t think you’re going to be able to talk our way out of this one.”
Nodding, the younger cop reached for his handcuffs. “Exactly.”
“Course,” Eliot shrugged, “That doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to put us in cuffs.”
“Why the hell not?”
He turned and smirked at the cops. “Because, if you do that, you’ve got no chance against those guys out there. They’re armed and trapped in the building. You’ve lost your guns and, let’s face it, the worst crime either of you have had to deal with up until now is shoplifting. Like it or not, you need us. ”
Watching as first horror, then comprehension, passed over the men’s faces, Eliot ignored the slight chuckle that Hardison gave. These guys hadn’t done anything to them - were decent people - and the only reason he was belittling them was because he didn’t have a choice. It was just survival.
“What exactly can you do?”
“What’s your name, officer?”
“Ian Garsen.”
“Okay then, Garsen. I can do nothing, just sit here and wait until they decide their best course of action is to kill us - because it is. Or I can get them in here and disarm them. It’s dangerous -it’s a small space and there are two guns - but it’s our best chance.”
“Just how dangerous are we talking about?” Hardison pulled his tie right off, let it drop to the floor as he swallowed.
“Less so if the three of you do as I say. There’s no guaranteed safe way out of a situation like this, though.” He started to pace the length of the safe, sizing up the length and the width of the small space. “If we get out of here, are you still going to arrest us?”
Garsen nodded. “Of course we are.”
He glanced at Hardison and smirked when he caught the hacker’s eye roll. There was no way an arrest was going to happen. “Okay, the three of you need to back up against that wall right there.”
“You sure about this, man?” Hardison moved backwards despite his question.
Nodding, he stepped up to the door of the safe and began to thump his fist against it. He smiled when Hardison began to shout, catching on to what he had planned. Holding up a hand for silence, he listened carefully until he heard the footsteps then hurried to back away from the door.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. And the door began to open.
Eliot shifted, strengthening his stance, and smirked, turned away as the two people from outside ran into the room and headed straight for the cops, Tasers in their hands. Garsen and his colleague dropped to the floor as Nate and Parker pulled off their balaclavas.
Phase one of the ‘get local cops angry and out for blood’ con was complete.