Fanfic, Title: Agent, Fandom: Leverage
Title: Agent
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Arson, violence, fraud, theft, and very minimal knowledge of the Manhattan police’s protocol for a fire in the building.
Characters/Pairings: Nathan/Eliot pre-slash, Alec, Parker, Sophie, some minor cop OCs
Disclaimer: They’re not mine, but I promise I’ll (probably) return them without any lasting damage.
Feedback: Is the food of the gods.
Summary: Their next job doesn’t go according to plan.
Notes: Behold, I live! Fifth in the series. This is the plotty part. Con-crit is especially welcome on this part as it’s about their mission, and I’m not as experienced/confident with action scenes as I am with angst.
Barcode
Puzzle
Offer
Student
~
Sophie was the first to enter the precinct. Her steps were brisk, her face schooled to calm.
Nate’s voice sounded through her earpiece. “Okay, Sophie, you know what to do. Remember, they’re American-”
“They’ll know if I don’t sound American too.” The voice that came back through Alec’s machines spoke in a perfect Boston accent. Eliot blinked, and Alec took out the earpiece to look at it.
“Okay, that’s pretty convincing,” Alec commented, replacing the earpiece. Looking at the computer displays, he said, “All right. Cameras are monitoring only… now I insert a loop, and… now they’re not even seeing what’s there. Nothing we do will be recorded; our faces will be forgotten; in short, you are good to go.”
Sophie headed to the front desk and held up her ID. “Special Agent Simms, FBI. I’m here to see Detective Warner.”
The woman at the desk looked up, startled. She looked at the ID. “Of course,” she said after a moment. “Wait right here, and I’ll get him for you.”
The leader of the team that had incarcerated their client was a big man, probably two hundred pounds, with not one gram of fat. Sophie didn’t falter; she held up her ID and introduced herself again, all the while thinking, It should not be possible to have that much muscle.
“What does the FBI want with us?” Detective Warner asked, eyes narrowed.
“Your recent murder case had a distinctive MO, correct?” Sophie didn’t need an answer, and she didn’t wait for one. “And you kept it from the public, of course. There was a murder with an identical MO in New Jersey. That makes it a federal matter. I’m here to collect the file on the case.”
“I wasn’t notified,” Detective Warner said. “I’ll need to get confirmation.”
“Do you need confirmation to let me past the front desk?” Sophie asked, raising one eyebrow in a half-friendly, half-challenging gesture.
Warner smiled, an empty smile meant only to tell Sophie he didn’t like her. “I guess not,” he agreed, leading her past the desk into the precinct.
Sophie kept the ID in her palm, letting the camera embedded in the leather scan the room.
“All right,” Nathan said. “Sophie, keep him busy. Get it as soon as you can. Alec, tell us if you get it first. Eliot and Parker, start walking.”
Eliot and Parker left the lot where they’d stashed the truck and headed toward the station. Parker had a crumpled tissue in her hand, and constantly wiped at her eyes and nose. Sophie had helped her with makeup so that her face looked red and blotchy, and she took little hiccupping, sobbing breaths, huddling close to Eliot. He ran a hand up and down her arm, guiding them to the precinct.
The wait for Eliot and Parker to get in was tense. Only Sophie appeared relaxed, getting Warner to tell her about the case she was supposedly there to take over as well as the case that they really wanted solved. The rest of them waited with baited breath, listening hard for any slip-up on her part.
Somehow, the topic turned to Elise. Sophie mentioned casually that she was surprised such a young girl had managed such a thing. Detective Warner shook his head sadly.
“It’s a tragedy, is what it is,” he said. “That girl was a nine-year-old inventor. Could’ve done great things.”
“Did you know her?” Sophie asked.
Warner half-smiled. “Read her file,” he said. “Kid was a freaking genius before she disappeared.”
Nate choked on a mouthful of coffee and had to take out his earpiece so he wouldn’t deafen Sophie with his coughing. When he put it back in, Warner was saying, “-for eight years. When she reappeared, she was good at one thing.”
“Explosives,” Sophie inferred.
“Yup,” Warner nodded.
“We’re there,” Eliot whispered.
Nate’s attention switched in an instant. Alec’s remained on the video feed from the ID. “All right,” Nathan reminded them, “now, you know what to do. Sophie-”
“I got it,” she said, apparently to Warner. Changing topic abruptly, she asked, “Could I get a cup of coffee?”
---
The woman at the desk looked up when Eliot and Parker came in-then looked again. “What’s-Can I help you?” she asked.
Eliot answered softly, “I’m Christian Martin. This is my cousin, Ellen.” He looked at Parker. “Do you want to tell her?”
Parker nodded shakily and looked at the woman. “Tara’s missing,” she said before turning back to Eliot, burying her face in his shoulder and starting to sob.
Eliot put his arms around her comfortingly. “Tara Vance,” he explained to the woman, “her girlfriend. She’s been missing for five days.”
The woman’s eyes widened as she paged Missing Persons.
---
“Maybe this is a stupid question,” Alec said, “but why are we saying that Parker’s a lesbian? Not that I’m complaining,” he added.
“You want to get past a man working security, you put an attractive woman in front of him and have her act interested,” Nate explained. “You want to make sure he slaps himself for even considering that, and get as many people past him as you want, put an attractive woman in front of him and tell him she has an attractive girlfriend, too. It makes her off-limits, which makes her twice as mesmerizing. Which is exactly what we want.”
“And if he doesn’t like gays?” Alec asked.
“Then he’s conflicted,” Nate answered. “Even better.”
---
“Coffee?” Warner laughed. “I don’t know what you get with the Feds, but it’s hardly worth getting any coffee from here.”
“I’ve been awake for quite a while,” Sophie said with a social smile. “And I’m quite used to all kinds of coffee.”
Warner smiled wickedly. “If you insist,” he agreed, starting to get up. “Cream and sugar?”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble,” she protested. “Just point me in the right direction, and I’ll get it myself.”
Warner looked hesitant, but he waved her on toward the break room.
---
Parker shakily recounted their cover story to the detective, watching with internal glee as he blushed furiously every time she mentioned the word ‘girlfriend’. When she’d finally finished, Eliot looked at the detective and asked, “Look, can I get her some water or something? This whole thing’s been really hard on her.”
The detective nodded. “Lounge is just down that hall,” he said, pointing.
“You gonna be okay?” Eliot asked Parker softly. She nodded, wiping at her eyes with her tissue. Eliot stood and left.
“Okay, Sophie,” Nathan told her. “Eliot’s on the way.”
“Coffee’s ready,” she murmured. “Does Alec have an image?”
“Done and done,” Alec answered, pulling up a screen showing a flashing dot. “He’s nowhere near you.”
Eliot stepped up his pace once he was out of sight of the detectives. Hurrying into the lounge, he took what looked like half a water bottle out of his sweatshirt pocket and tossed it to Sophie, who caught it.
“No one else is here,” he observed. “How often does that happen?”
“Considering the vile smell of the coffee, I would guess fairly often,” Sophie said in her normal voice.
“Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this is their busiest time, as well as right before a shift change,” Nate added. “It’s why I picked it. Most of the officers are checking in, getting packed, or on patrol. The rest are unlikely to be in the lounge alone. Now, you’ve got five minutes. Go.”
Eliot closed and locked the door, a ‘just-in-case’ expression on his face. Sophie took another half-water-bottle out of her boot and clipped the two together, then climbed up on the table and switched off the smoke alarm. Eliot crouched down by an outlet and unscrewed the plate with his nails. “Hardison?” he asked when the screws were gone.
Alec was tapping on his keyboard, fingers flying. “Still got power?” he asked.
“Not anymore,” Sophie answered as the lights in the room went out.
“Then you’re good.”
Eliot removed the plate, unplugging the coffee maker. Looking at the mass of wires, he carefully reached in and began rearranging some.
Meanwhile, Sophie took out a cigarette lighter and set the curtain on fire. When enough of it had burned, she sprayed it with some of the contents of the half-water-bottles, which foamed, put the fire out, and dissolved immediately. Once Eliot had replaced the outlet plate and moved away, she repeated the process with the wall and carpet around the outlet.
“Ready,” Sophie announced.
“Parker, move!” Nathan ordered.
Parker asked the cop hesitantly, “Um, sorry, but could I… use the ladies’ room?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. It’s just down that hall and make a right.” The cop pointed. Parker thanked him and left.
“Sophie, go. Eliot, time to evacuate the building.” Nathan’s words were crisp, professional, belying the tension that had been building in him from the moment they started this project.
Sophie left the lounge, coffee in hand. Eliot pushed the door almost closed behind her so most of the smoke would stay inside. They’d been quick; she caught up to Warner just as the detective was coming to look for her.
“You were out of coffee,” she explained, falling back into an American accent and holding up the cup. “I can’t imagine how there are enough of you who will drink the stuff for it to be possible, but there you are. You were right, by the way-it’s terrible.” She smiled politely as she spoke, so sure and calm in her manner that some of the suspicion left Warner’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Eliot turned the smoke alarm back on. With their recent activities, it went off immediately, filling the building with the piercing sound. The precinct immediately began to evacuate.
Nathan started a timer on the dashboard. “Seven minutes, guys,” he warned.
Detective Lorne, the Missing Persons cop with whom Parker had been talking, grabbed the arm of the woman at the desk. “That witness, Ellen Martin,” he said. “She just went to the restroom. She’s still there.”
Sophie stepped in. “Tell me which way,” she said. “I’ll make sure she gets out safely.”
Lorne studied her for half a beat before he nodded. “That way,” he pointed, “and make a right.”
Sophie ran.
---
Eliot waited the calculated two minutes it would take for the building to be evacuated before he left the break room and joined the women in evidence lock-up.
Parker had already picked the lock to let them in and was now sifting through the files, trying to find the right one. Sophie was busy at the logbook, forging Detective Warner’s signature and a date and time.
“When did you get his signature?” Eliot asked.
“He was working on reports before I showed up,” Sophie answered. “Didn’t put them away before coming to meet me. I didn’t just get his signature, I got the entirety of how he writes.”
“And that’s all it took? One look?”
“I practiced some.” She held up her left hand; it was completely black with attempts at his signature and handwriting. “But I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
“Guys?” Parker called. “Slight problem.”
Eliot and Sophie looked over. “I can’t figure out their filing system,” she confessed. “I found the files on Elise, but I can’t find the case files or the evidence.”
Eliot held out his hand for the file; she handed it over gladly. He skimmed the first page, then headed off toward an evidence rack with a purposeful stride.
Outside, Nate and Alec heard sirens and saw a fire truck headed past them. Nate glanced at the timer: four minutes left. “How could the fire department get there so fast?” he asked no one in particular.
“Through Manhattan rush-hour gridlock?” Alec laughed nervously. “They couldn’t.”
“Then who is that?”
“Damned if I know.”
“Problem?” Eliot asked.
“Maybe,” Alec said.
The fire truck stopped. On the camera, Nate watched a man climb out and head for the door. Whatever was in his hand definitely wasn’t meant to fight fires.
Shit. An Agent had followed them to New York.
A tiny voice at the back of Nathan’s head said that maybe he should just let them get caught-let Eliot get caught. Maybe he should let them finish what they’d wanted to start seven years ago.
Another voice said that would be an awful waste of a moral stand.
So he sat frozen, watching.
Every man for himself.
And the Agent kept moving up the steps, decked out in fireman’s gear.
Still are.
“Got it,” Parker declared, sounding triumphant.
You know, I believe you. Especially the part where you’re speaking from experience.
Nate looked at the clock. Three minutes. That was their cue.
I actually did hurt people, so…
“Drive,” he told Alec.
Nathan?
“Don’t sound so smug about it,” Eliot taunted. “It’s not like you actually did anything.”
That’s what I do.
Alec started the truck, pulling on his helmet and gloves as he drove. Nathan numbly followed suit.
“No Students!”
The Agent was through the door.
I don’t like guns.
Alec started the lights and sirens. It was amazing how quick people were to move out of the way when there was a fire truck (well, a fake, but they didn’t need to know that) threatening to mow them down if they didn’t move out of the way-er, asking for passage.
It’s a very distinctive sound.
Two minutes, thirty seconds. One block away. They wouldn’t make it in time.
I’m sorry about your kid.
“I’ve logged the withdrawal,” Sophie announced. “We’re headed back up.”
Right, right. ’Cause you got so many of ’em.
Something snapped in Nathan. “No,” he said, “stay there.”
“What?” There was something in Eliot’s voice Nathan couldn’t identify.
“There’s one-no, wait, two people coming down to evidence.” Nate hadn’t seen the second one go in, too caught up in his thoughts. “Eliot-”
“Take them out,” Eliot said.
“Yeah. Parker, Sophie, try to stay out of sight. If they see you, act like you didn’t know they were coming.”
The Agents were almost to evidence. “Move!” he almost shouted.
Eliot was out of sight before the word had left Nathan’s lips. As each Agent entered the room, he took them down, stabbing his thumb into the pulse point on their necks to burst the blood vessel. The bruise that formed was huge and deep red. Just in case that wasn’t enough, Eliot slammed their faces down on his knee, breaking their noses violently enough to send bone splinters into their brains. The entire fight took little enough time that Parker and Sophie had just realized the men were there when they were dead.
“Holy shit,” Parker breathed when she saw the blood pooling from the men’s broken noses. “You killed them!”
Eliot looked at her. “They weren’t people we wanted getting back up again,” he said shortly. “Any more?” he asked Nate and Alec.
They had reached the precinct and were getting out, fire blankets in hand. “Nope,” Alec said, checking the camera feeds quickly. “That’s all. There’s a truck out here, but it looks like nobody’s in it.”
Nathan and Alec ran down to evidence, where they threw the blankets over the other three and their burden. “Come on,” Nathan said, leading the three out.
In the commotion of getting out, loading the three into the truck, and stalling until the third (first real) fire truck showed up before they left, Nathan might have imagined Eliot’s whispered, “Thanks.”
~
I’d especially like feedback on the part where Nathan’s stalling/frozen, as I didn’t plan it until I was writing it and I’m not really sure about how it turned out.
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Arson, violence, fraud, theft, and very minimal knowledge of the Manhattan police’s protocol for a fire in the building.
Characters/Pairings: Nathan/Eliot pre-slash, Alec, Parker, Sophie, some minor cop OCs
Disclaimer: They’re not mine, but I promise I’ll (probably) return them without any lasting damage.
Feedback: Is the food of the gods.
Summary: Their next job doesn’t go according to plan.
Notes: Behold, I live! Fifth in the series. This is the plotty part. Con-crit is especially welcome on this part as it’s about their mission, and I’m not as experienced/confident with action scenes as I am with angst.
Barcode
Puzzle
Offer
Student
~
Sophie was the first to enter the precinct. Her steps were brisk, her face schooled to calm.
Nate’s voice sounded through her earpiece. “Okay, Sophie, you know what to do. Remember, they’re American-”
“They’ll know if I don’t sound American too.” The voice that came back through Alec’s machines spoke in a perfect Boston accent. Eliot blinked, and Alec took out the earpiece to look at it.
“Okay, that’s pretty convincing,” Alec commented, replacing the earpiece. Looking at the computer displays, he said, “All right. Cameras are monitoring only… now I insert a loop, and… now they’re not even seeing what’s there. Nothing we do will be recorded; our faces will be forgotten; in short, you are good to go.”
Sophie headed to the front desk and held up her ID. “Special Agent Simms, FBI. I’m here to see Detective Warner.”
The woman at the desk looked up, startled. She looked at the ID. “Of course,” she said after a moment. “Wait right here, and I’ll get him for you.”
The leader of the team that had incarcerated their client was a big man, probably two hundred pounds, with not one gram of fat. Sophie didn’t falter; she held up her ID and introduced herself again, all the while thinking, It should not be possible to have that much muscle.
“What does the FBI want with us?” Detective Warner asked, eyes narrowed.
“Your recent murder case had a distinctive MO, correct?” Sophie didn’t need an answer, and she didn’t wait for one. “And you kept it from the public, of course. There was a murder with an identical MO in New Jersey. That makes it a federal matter. I’m here to collect the file on the case.”
“I wasn’t notified,” Detective Warner said. “I’ll need to get confirmation.”
“Do you need confirmation to let me past the front desk?” Sophie asked, raising one eyebrow in a half-friendly, half-challenging gesture.
Warner smiled, an empty smile meant only to tell Sophie he didn’t like her. “I guess not,” he agreed, leading her past the desk into the precinct.
Sophie kept the ID in her palm, letting the camera embedded in the leather scan the room.
“All right,” Nathan said. “Sophie, keep him busy. Get it as soon as you can. Alec, tell us if you get it first. Eliot and Parker, start walking.”
Eliot and Parker left the lot where they’d stashed the truck and headed toward the station. Parker had a crumpled tissue in her hand, and constantly wiped at her eyes and nose. Sophie had helped her with makeup so that her face looked red and blotchy, and she took little hiccupping, sobbing breaths, huddling close to Eliot. He ran a hand up and down her arm, guiding them to the precinct.
The wait for Eliot and Parker to get in was tense. Only Sophie appeared relaxed, getting Warner to tell her about the case she was supposedly there to take over as well as the case that they really wanted solved. The rest of them waited with baited breath, listening hard for any slip-up on her part.
Somehow, the topic turned to Elise. Sophie mentioned casually that she was surprised such a young girl had managed such a thing. Detective Warner shook his head sadly.
“It’s a tragedy, is what it is,” he said. “That girl was a nine-year-old inventor. Could’ve done great things.”
“Did you know her?” Sophie asked.
Warner half-smiled. “Read her file,” he said. “Kid was a freaking genius before she disappeared.”
Nate choked on a mouthful of coffee and had to take out his earpiece so he wouldn’t deafen Sophie with his coughing. When he put it back in, Warner was saying, “-for eight years. When she reappeared, she was good at one thing.”
“Explosives,” Sophie inferred.
“Yup,” Warner nodded.
“We’re there,” Eliot whispered.
Nate’s attention switched in an instant. Alec’s remained on the video feed from the ID. “All right,” Nathan reminded them, “now, you know what to do. Sophie-”
“I got it,” she said, apparently to Warner. Changing topic abruptly, she asked, “Could I get a cup of coffee?”
---
The woman at the desk looked up when Eliot and Parker came in-then looked again. “What’s-Can I help you?” she asked.
Eliot answered softly, “I’m Christian Martin. This is my cousin, Ellen.” He looked at Parker. “Do you want to tell her?”
Parker nodded shakily and looked at the woman. “Tara’s missing,” she said before turning back to Eliot, burying her face in his shoulder and starting to sob.
Eliot put his arms around her comfortingly. “Tara Vance,” he explained to the woman, “her girlfriend. She’s been missing for five days.”
The woman’s eyes widened as she paged Missing Persons.
---
“Maybe this is a stupid question,” Alec said, “but why are we saying that Parker’s a lesbian? Not that I’m complaining,” he added.
“You want to get past a man working security, you put an attractive woman in front of him and have her act interested,” Nate explained. “You want to make sure he slaps himself for even considering that, and get as many people past him as you want, put an attractive woman in front of him and tell him she has an attractive girlfriend, too. It makes her off-limits, which makes her twice as mesmerizing. Which is exactly what we want.”
“And if he doesn’t like gays?” Alec asked.
“Then he’s conflicted,” Nate answered. “Even better.”
---
“Coffee?” Warner laughed. “I don’t know what you get with the Feds, but it’s hardly worth getting any coffee from here.”
“I’ve been awake for quite a while,” Sophie said with a social smile. “And I’m quite used to all kinds of coffee.”
Warner smiled wickedly. “If you insist,” he agreed, starting to get up. “Cream and sugar?”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble,” she protested. “Just point me in the right direction, and I’ll get it myself.”
Warner looked hesitant, but he waved her on toward the break room.
---
Parker shakily recounted their cover story to the detective, watching with internal glee as he blushed furiously every time she mentioned the word ‘girlfriend’. When she’d finally finished, Eliot looked at the detective and asked, “Look, can I get her some water or something? This whole thing’s been really hard on her.”
The detective nodded. “Lounge is just down that hall,” he said, pointing.
“You gonna be okay?” Eliot asked Parker softly. She nodded, wiping at her eyes with her tissue. Eliot stood and left.
“Okay, Sophie,” Nathan told her. “Eliot’s on the way.”
“Coffee’s ready,” she murmured. “Does Alec have an image?”
“Done and done,” Alec answered, pulling up a screen showing a flashing dot. “He’s nowhere near you.”
Eliot stepped up his pace once he was out of sight of the detectives. Hurrying into the lounge, he took what looked like half a water bottle out of his sweatshirt pocket and tossed it to Sophie, who caught it.
“No one else is here,” he observed. “How often does that happen?”
“Considering the vile smell of the coffee, I would guess fairly often,” Sophie said in her normal voice.
“Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this is their busiest time, as well as right before a shift change,” Nate added. “It’s why I picked it. Most of the officers are checking in, getting packed, or on patrol. The rest are unlikely to be in the lounge alone. Now, you’ve got five minutes. Go.”
Eliot closed and locked the door, a ‘just-in-case’ expression on his face. Sophie took another half-water-bottle out of her boot and clipped the two together, then climbed up on the table and switched off the smoke alarm. Eliot crouched down by an outlet and unscrewed the plate with his nails. “Hardison?” he asked when the screws were gone.
Alec was tapping on his keyboard, fingers flying. “Still got power?” he asked.
“Not anymore,” Sophie answered as the lights in the room went out.
“Then you’re good.”
Eliot removed the plate, unplugging the coffee maker. Looking at the mass of wires, he carefully reached in and began rearranging some.
Meanwhile, Sophie took out a cigarette lighter and set the curtain on fire. When enough of it had burned, she sprayed it with some of the contents of the half-water-bottles, which foamed, put the fire out, and dissolved immediately. Once Eliot had replaced the outlet plate and moved away, she repeated the process with the wall and carpet around the outlet.
“Ready,” Sophie announced.
“Parker, move!” Nathan ordered.
Parker asked the cop hesitantly, “Um, sorry, but could I… use the ladies’ room?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. It’s just down that hall and make a right.” The cop pointed. Parker thanked him and left.
“Sophie, go. Eliot, time to evacuate the building.” Nathan’s words were crisp, professional, belying the tension that had been building in him from the moment they started this project.
Sophie left the lounge, coffee in hand. Eliot pushed the door almost closed behind her so most of the smoke would stay inside. They’d been quick; she caught up to Warner just as the detective was coming to look for her.
“You were out of coffee,” she explained, falling back into an American accent and holding up the cup. “I can’t imagine how there are enough of you who will drink the stuff for it to be possible, but there you are. You were right, by the way-it’s terrible.” She smiled politely as she spoke, so sure and calm in her manner that some of the suspicion left Warner’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Eliot turned the smoke alarm back on. With their recent activities, it went off immediately, filling the building with the piercing sound. The precinct immediately began to evacuate.
Nathan started a timer on the dashboard. “Seven minutes, guys,” he warned.
Detective Lorne, the Missing Persons cop with whom Parker had been talking, grabbed the arm of the woman at the desk. “That witness, Ellen Martin,” he said. “She just went to the restroom. She’s still there.”
Sophie stepped in. “Tell me which way,” she said. “I’ll make sure she gets out safely.”
Lorne studied her for half a beat before he nodded. “That way,” he pointed, “and make a right.”
Sophie ran.
---
Eliot waited the calculated two minutes it would take for the building to be evacuated before he left the break room and joined the women in evidence lock-up.
Parker had already picked the lock to let them in and was now sifting through the files, trying to find the right one. Sophie was busy at the logbook, forging Detective Warner’s signature and a date and time.
“When did you get his signature?” Eliot asked.
“He was working on reports before I showed up,” Sophie answered. “Didn’t put them away before coming to meet me. I didn’t just get his signature, I got the entirety of how he writes.”
“And that’s all it took? One look?”
“I practiced some.” She held up her left hand; it was completely black with attempts at his signature and handwriting. “But I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
“Guys?” Parker called. “Slight problem.”
Eliot and Sophie looked over. “I can’t figure out their filing system,” she confessed. “I found the files on Elise, but I can’t find the case files or the evidence.”
Eliot held out his hand for the file; she handed it over gladly. He skimmed the first page, then headed off toward an evidence rack with a purposeful stride.
Outside, Nate and Alec heard sirens and saw a fire truck headed past them. Nate glanced at the timer: four minutes left. “How could the fire department get there so fast?” he asked no one in particular.
“Through Manhattan rush-hour gridlock?” Alec laughed nervously. “They couldn’t.”
“Then who is that?”
“Damned if I know.”
“Problem?” Eliot asked.
“Maybe,” Alec said.
The fire truck stopped. On the camera, Nate watched a man climb out and head for the door. Whatever was in his hand definitely wasn’t meant to fight fires.
Shit. An Agent had followed them to New York.
A tiny voice at the back of Nathan’s head said that maybe he should just let them get caught-let Eliot get caught. Maybe he should let them finish what they’d wanted to start seven years ago.
Another voice said that would be an awful waste of a moral stand.
So he sat frozen, watching.
Every man for himself.
And the Agent kept moving up the steps, decked out in fireman’s gear.
Still are.
“Got it,” Parker declared, sounding triumphant.
You know, I believe you. Especially the part where you’re speaking from experience.
Nate looked at the clock. Three minutes. That was their cue.
I actually did hurt people, so…
“Drive,” he told Alec.
Nathan?
“Don’t sound so smug about it,” Eliot taunted. “It’s not like you actually did anything.”
That’s what I do.
Alec started the truck, pulling on his helmet and gloves as he drove. Nathan numbly followed suit.
“No Students!”
The Agent was through the door.
I don’t like guns.
Alec started the lights and sirens. It was amazing how quick people were to move out of the way when there was a fire truck (well, a fake, but they didn’t need to know that) threatening to mow them down if they didn’t move out of the way-er, asking for passage.
It’s a very distinctive sound.
Two minutes, thirty seconds. One block away. They wouldn’t make it in time.
I’m sorry about your kid.
“I’ve logged the withdrawal,” Sophie announced. “We’re headed back up.”
Right, right. ’Cause you got so many of ’em.
Something snapped in Nathan. “No,” he said, “stay there.”
“What?” There was something in Eliot’s voice Nathan couldn’t identify.
“There’s one-no, wait, two people coming down to evidence.” Nate hadn’t seen the second one go in, too caught up in his thoughts. “Eliot-”
“Take them out,” Eliot said.
“Yeah. Parker, Sophie, try to stay out of sight. If they see you, act like you didn’t know they were coming.”
The Agents were almost to evidence. “Move!” he almost shouted.
Eliot was out of sight before the word had left Nathan’s lips. As each Agent entered the room, he took them down, stabbing his thumb into the pulse point on their necks to burst the blood vessel. The bruise that formed was huge and deep red. Just in case that wasn’t enough, Eliot slammed their faces down on his knee, breaking their noses violently enough to send bone splinters into their brains. The entire fight took little enough time that Parker and Sophie had just realized the men were there when they were dead.
“Holy shit,” Parker breathed when she saw the blood pooling from the men’s broken noses. “You killed them!”
Eliot looked at her. “They weren’t people we wanted getting back up again,” he said shortly. “Any more?” he asked Nate and Alec.
They had reached the precinct and were getting out, fire blankets in hand. “Nope,” Alec said, checking the camera feeds quickly. “That’s all. There’s a truck out here, but it looks like nobody’s in it.”
Nathan and Alec ran down to evidence, where they threw the blankets over the other three and their burden. “Come on,” Nathan said, leading the three out.
In the commotion of getting out, loading the three into the truck, and stalling until the third (first real) fire truck showed up before they left, Nathan might have imagined Eliot’s whispered, “Thanks.”
~
I’d especially like feedback on the part where Nathan’s stalling/frozen, as I didn’t plan it until I was writing it and I’m not really sure about how it turned out.