The Sanctuary Job - Part III
Title: The Sanctuary Job - Part III
Rating: Pg-13
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fluff, Crossover, AU
Crossover! Sanctuary and Leverage
Summary: The Leverage Team takes on a most unusual job.
Notes: Written for kaitlia777 for Sanctuary_santa. She requested "Henry/Ashley! Shippy is best, friendship is good too. Will/Kate. Outsider POV's and Crossovers"
Previous Parts: Part I | Part II
Part III of the ongoing adventure! Who would be audacious enough to steal from a crew of top thieves? ;) Sorry for the delay; the end of the holidays were kinda crazy!
Previously in The Sanctuary Job
Parker glared at the empty space and felt her fingers tighten on the bag she held. She looked over her shoulder at the group. “Call Eliot back.” She pushed the safe door open all the way so they could see. “We’ve been robbed.”
Boston - Leverage HQ
Nate looked regarded the safe critically as he sipped his drink. “Hardison?”
“On it.”
Parker looked back at Nate then at the safe. “We’re the thieves. We’re not supposed to have things stolen from us!”
“We’ll get it back, Parker.”
“Who do you think did it?”
Boston - Leverage HQ - Eight Hours ago
Crossing the space between locations was a rush; a little scary and a little fun, but a rush all the same. It was like stepping off a high dive or out of a plane. She’d heard abnormals who could fly describe that experience in much the same way as she’d describe teleporting. It wasn’t effortless, but it was easy. Not everyone seemed to be cut out for teleportation though. Kate staggered a step and groaned.
“No offense Blondie, but I think Pops has a lighter touch than you do.”
“He’s had a hundred years to practice,” Henry pointed out, coming to Ashley’s defense. He seemed to have a stronger stomach for teleporting than Kate did. Ashley smiled at him.
“I only know how to do it one way. I just kinda,” Ashley waved a hand, trying to think of the word but there weren’t any. “I just kinda do it.”
“Maybe you need some practice with the old man,” Kate said, surveying the rooftop they’d landed on. It was covered in gravel and flat. An access door was off to one side and there were some vent-things; it and all its neighbors looked alike. She crouched at the edge of the building with a slim pair of binoculars and began surveillance.The building across the alley was their target.
Ashley frowned at Kate's back and crossed her arms. They thought they’d taken precautions to prevent her from getting any homicidal energy creatures, but she still worried about that. Teleporting was fun...but she’d been controlled once before and hadn’t liked it. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with practicing teleporting, and definitely not with her father. Her relationship with her father was...complex. She sat on the gravel beside Henry and left Kate to play lookout.
Henry had pulled out something from the duffel bag he’d been carrying. It looked like some kind of small satellite dish. Henry was checking with his phone as the computer booted up, muttering to himself about "satellite uplinks".
“I see a couple cameras,” Kate reported.
“Switch to the EM feed on this,” Henry instructed holding a set of what looked like very heavily modified binoculars on a little tripod. Kate took them and retreated to the side of the building.
Ashley leaned over to watch what Henry was doing, shoulder leaning into his ever so slightly. One of the windows on the screen was a video feed from the device Kate had. There was some kind of overlay on top of the building - many lines, thick and thin. It gave the building a kind of TRON-like appearance. Without looking, Henry reached into his bag and handed Ashley a second device. He kissed her forehead.
“Can you get a look at the other side of the building for me?”
She smiled. “Sure.”
Ashley stepped between locations and ended up on the rooftop on the other side of the building they were scanning. It was unremarkably just like the one she'd just left. She crouched down near the edge and turned on the device, setting it to scan EM signatures. She toggled her radio on. “Anywhere specific?”
“Just point and shoot. The program will run and give me a good slow scan of the whole building, top to bottom.”
Ashley followed his instructions. The contraption’s gears whirred as it worked. Ashley looked around, checking the building out. According to Google, there was some kind of bar in the basement level. According to Henry, the building was owned by a hacker named “Alec Hardison.” The guy was associated with a world class crew; the same crew that had probably stolen the egg right out from under the nose of the Field Museum’s curators and security system.
After a moment the device stopped. “Now what?”
“Hang on a second, I’m going to send your equipment some new instructions.”
“Cool.”
Henry chuckled over the radio. “Okay, turn it to setting Custom-1. I found where their physical security is and it’s pretty damn hefty, so I’m betting this is the right place. Wh-”
“Great, so where’s the egg?”
“That’s what the new program is going to find out. If you let me explain-”
“Burning daylight here Hank.”
Ashley muted her radio so she could laugh at the others. She could picture Henry’s scowl.
“Just change the settings.”
“Sure thing, Hank.”
Ashley smirked to herself as she changed the settings of the little device. The little machine began to emit a high pitched whine as it worked. It was mildly annoying, being able to hear better than before. At least she hadn’t had the full maximum sensory upgrade; her sense of smell was better but she didn’t approach Henry’s level.
“So Hank, what’s this thing doing anyway?”
“The eggs have a very specific energy signature. I should be able to locate where they’re being kept.”
“It stopped,” Ashley told him. “And it’s beeping?”
“Yeah, it is supposed to be beeping?”
“That just means the scan’s done. My program is assembling the building wireframe. Come on back over. I’ll just be a few minutes. When we know where the hell this thing is, I can disable his system and there won’t be any nasty surprises for us and we wont trip any alarms.”
“No cops. Excellent.”
Ashley turned off the little machine and teleported over to the others. She and Kate stowed the machines in the duffel and waited while Henry worked on the computer. He hunched over the machine, intent on what it was telling him.
“This is the most boring heist I’ve ever been on. Just wanted you to know that,” Kate drawled. She grabbed a seat by the low wall around the roof's edge.
“Easiest too?” Ashley asked, sitting beside her. She pulled out her nifty new phone and chose a game. Biggie had loaded a bunch of games and apps he’d found fun before he’d let her mom give it to her back when she was still confined to the infirmary and the SHU. He’d still take it at dinner and put things on it so she’d always have something to keep her busy. Henry complained they all putt too much stuff on their phones, but she really liked it when the Big Guy thought of her. Before, she’d taken it for granted. Ashley understood the value of silly family stuff better now.
“Probably. There is something to be said for the whole not being shot at thing.” Kate eyed her. “Good idea, Blondie.” She pulled out her own phone.
Ashley started at level 2-1 and had made it to level 3-6 when Kate nudged her with her elbow. “What are you playing?”
“Angry Birds.”
“Angry Birds?” Kate sounded dubious.
“Mmmhmm. The eternal epic struggle of multicolored avians raging against their genocidal verdant porcine foes.” Ashley tapped the screen and sent the little yellow bird to obliterate a tower full of pigs.
“A-Hah. Fun?”
“Way addictive. I even caught mom playing.”
“No way!”
“Guys.”
“I know right? Biggie got her started, too.”
“Ha! I have to try this then.”
“Here,” Ashley said, handing over her phone. “You pull back the slingshot like this and let ‘em fly.”
“This is almost as fun as the Lightsaber app.”
“There’s a lightsaber app?”
“Are you kidding? Here, let me get it for you.” Ashley watched Kate quickly download the app. “I’m shocked Biggie and Hank didn’t mention it. You can even pick the color blade you want. Mine’s blue.” She handed the phone back.
Ashley turned on the app and picked the purple blade. “Right so I press this?” She grinned as the app made a ‘Ksssh’ noise as the blade powered up. She waved it around and it made the humming saber sound. “This is great.”
There was a sound like a strike from Kate’s phone. “Watch your arm!”
Ashley swung her phone up in a block. “Ha!”
“Guys!”
They began to duel on the rooftop, swinging their phones and generally carrying on and having a good time. Ashley lightly stepped over the duffle of components Henry had brought and pressed the attack. Kate retaliated with some fairly decent moves, more stage combat than actual sword play, but they were done quite well. Ashley wondered where she’d learned that particular skill.
“Guys! Seriously!”
“What?” Kate asked, holding up her “blade”. Ashley did the same thing.
“You’re just going to play games while I work?”
Ashley shrugged and “parried” the sneak attack Kate made. She stuck her tongue out at Kate before looking at Henry again. “We’re not hackers.” She gave him a brilliant smile and batted her eyelashes.
“You don’t want me to help hack,” Kate assured him, thumbing off the app. “Remember when I tried that one time?”
Henry winced.
Ashley crawled over and sat behind Henry, back to back. “You need anything from home?” She could feel him sigh. Checking the time she was surprised to see how late it was getting. “Wow you’ve been at this for awhile. You okay?”
“This guy’s security is insane!”
“Yeah?” Ashley turned around and massaged a shoulder. “Problem?”
Henry ran a hand through his hair. “Not willing to throw in the towel yet, but damn this guy’s good.”
“So you said.” Ashley shifted so she was sitting beside him. She leaned against his side. “Does it matter that much if you hack his system before we go in?”
“I don’t want them tracing back to us and I don’t want them to come running back so they can move the egg before we can get it.”
“Blondie can just bamf us down there,” Kate said. “I doubt they have some kind of death trap waiting for anyone who happens to wander into the building. These guys aren’t Cabal or anything like that.”
“They beat the Field Museum,” Henry pointed out. “They've got a hefty security system in that place. I’d rather we didn’t show up on their radar.”
“What,” Kate asked, eyes dancing merrily with the impending rib. “You afraid their hacker is better than you?”
Henry glared over at her. “I’m real good. But so is Alec Hardison. He’s got a triple layer of redundant systems, his network is about as blacked out as ours is, and while I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have anything real exotic down there, I want to get away clean. These are not the nicest people. You saw their hit man’s record.”
“Alleged record,” Kate countered, but she looked more serious.
“Well I don’t want anyone with that kind of alleged record knocking on our door if I can help it. There were some seriously bad names on his list of possible associates.”
“I thought you said the hacker was a grey hat?” Ashley asked. “Right? One of those kinda-good hackers?”
Henry rubbed the back of his neck as he conceded that point. “Maybe? He took down this guy who calls himself Chaos a couple times-”
“Chaos?” Kate laughed. “What is he, some fourteen year old hacker wannabe?”
“You’d think that with a name like “Chaos”, right?” Henry said, wiggling his fingers and rolling his eyes as he made fun of the name. “But the guy’s pretty serious as a thief. Total jackass, but he’s got some skills.”
“Maybe his crew’s rep is more bark than bite,” Ashley suggested. “We know a lot of quasi-legal types like that. Janus, Marilyn, Cho, Kate-”
“Hey!”
Ashley winked at Kate who gave her a dirty look. Kate wasn’t really angry though. If she’d been actually pissed she wouldn’t have said anything.
“Don’t want to risk it.”
“Would it help if you were closer? What if we went on the roof?”
“Maybe.” Henry pulled up the view of the target building. “The problem with that is finding an area that isn’t covered by some kind of security.” Henry fell silent as he checked the building out. “Can you take me here?” It was a small area perhaps five feet by five feet,
“Tight spot.” Ashley looked where he pointed and then at the building.
“Only place not covered by either their motion sensor grid or security cameras.”
“Most places don’t figure thieves can teleport,” Kate said, looking at the spot. “If you hand me those spiffy super binoculars I can tell you which way the camera is pointing.”
Henry nodded. “I’ll make a breach in the network and see what I can do to bring the rest of the system down.”
Ashley grinned. “Grab your gear.”
They teleported over to the other building and Henry pulled out a hand scanner. Ashley tried her best to stay out of sight of the sensors and hand him tools from the bag without either of them falling over. Kate called out when the camera was headed their way and they froze in the awkward, cramped space just in case some shadow might give them away. It was tight and they had to huddle in close together.
Ashley smiled and pressed against him more than was strictly necessary. This was kinda fun. “That a scanner in your pocket?” she joked.
Henry's eyes twinkled. “Just happy to see you,”
“Hmm,” she smiled and kissed his cheek.
“Barf.”
Ashley laughed softly. “You’re just jealous Will’s following up that lead with Mom.”
“Some public indecency would make this interesting. I expected this to be harder than it is.” Ashley didn't think she meant it. Not entirely at least.
Henry scowled a bit. “Hey, this is plenty hard!”
“Only ‘cause you’re making it hard.”
“Didn’t think smash and grab was your style.”
“Slice and Dice, Hank. There’s a difference.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “Guys-” She loved Henry and liked Kate, but sometimes she wished they wouldn't get into it.
“And what’s that?”
“I don’t particularly care if they know they got robbed. They can’t pin it on us if you just nuke their system and let Blondie and me take the safe. We’d be done in less than a minute and back home before lunch and they won't know what hit 'em.”
“Uh, huh, and how are you so sure they wouldn’t know?”
“Aside from us not being on their radar, Buffy the Vampire can teleport and that’s not something normal security even thinks about.”
Ashley cleared her throat. “Kate-”
“Hey-” Henry stopped and looked at her curiously. “Did you guys-”
“No!” Ashley bit her lip. “We talked about it. Hypothetically.”
“Stop corrupting my girlfriend!”
“Heh, she hardly needed my help.”
Rolling his eyes, Henry let his head fall back and hit the wall. “You two are so much trouble.”
“Only sometimes.” Ashley lowered her voice and switched off her comm for a moment. “Besides, you like it.” She flipped the radio back on and prodded Henry’s chest. “Come on let’s finish this up.”
Henry found the bit of wall he was looking for then began to drill into it. He inserted some kind of little metal wire and took a seat. There wasn’t much room so Ashley teleported out of the small space. Ashley exchanged a shrug with Kate, pulled out her phone and sat to wait.
“Got it,” Henry said, maybe twenty minutes later. “You can join me here. The camera’s are all on a loop.
“Finally,” Kate said. “Where do we go?” She took Ashley’s proffered hand and they went to the other building.
Henry smiled at Ashley then pointed at a location in the building’s wireframe. “Ash? Can you take us here. I bought us a ten minute window.”
“Ten?” Kate asked, the same time Ashley touched both of their shoulders and teleported them into the target apartment.
“Damnit!” Kate hissed. “Warnings! We talked about this!”
“We only have ten minutes,” Ash explained, following Henry down the apartment’s short hall.
Kate rolled her eyes but followed the werewolf too. They found the safe and Kate went to work. Ashley stood back, trying to stay out of the way. Henry was able to hack into the electronics of the safe and Kate was able to take care of the physical tumbler.
“Got it!” Kate opened the safe, and drew out the egg. She dropped it into the sack Ashley held. “Well, that was anti-climatic. Let’s go.”
Ashley took them to the rooftop to gather the rest of their equipment. Henry closed off his connections to the network and then Ashley took them home.
“So,” Kate said, stretching her arms over her head as they walked up to the front door. “Post-larceny pizza?”
Boston - Leverage HQ - The Present
“I bet it was them,” Parker glared at the empty spot in the safe. “We should go back.”
“Now hang on there a minute, Parker. If it was this Sanctuary group, they’re going to know we stole their egg soon if they don’t know already. I’m not going to send you back in there without knowing more.” Nate held his hands out, palms open. He tried to sound reasonable because he really didn’t want Parker heading off on her own. She frowned at him, eyes scrunched just a bit; lost and angry.
Nate wasn’t comfortable at all, but he needed to keep his cool for the team. That was the crew leader’s responsibility and he’d be damned before he let this group fall apart. It was a minor setback, that was all. They’d figure it out.
“We got robbed?” Eliot stomped in, hat pulled low over his eyes, scowl firmly in place. His eyes were narrow slits and his shoulders were hunched just slightly; Eliot at a surly defensive. Sophie hovered behind and met Nate’s eyes, clearly concerned about the situation.
Parker stood out of the way so Eliot could see the safe for himself. He rolled his eyes and said a few choice words under his breath. Nate exchanged another look with Sophie and she nodded slightly.
“Come on, Hardison will take some time going through his equipment.” She gently touched Eliot’s elbow, drawing him away.
“We should do a perimeter sweep,” Eliot said, jaw jutting slightly as he scanned the room. “Make sure they didn’t leave any presents.”
That was good, Nate thought. Eliot busy with a task was healthier for everyone. “Good idea. Do a sweep then get a shower here, maybe we can order in dinner. Hardison’s tracking down where our security was breached and who could have done it.”
Eliot nodded. “Come on,” he said to Sophie and the two left to make sure everything else in the apartment was okay and not booby-trapped or bugged or anything else that might unexpectedly blow up on them.
“When do we go get ‘em, Nate?” Parker asked. She was shifting her weight anxiously. If Nate said the word, she’d be off in an instant. Parker was a thief, not someone who had her things stolen. Nate still wasn’t entirely sure what her backstory was, but he could make a number of educated guesses and he knew some of her self-identity now. Well, as anyone could know what went on in Parker’s head. He was kinda proud she was taking it as well as she was, but concerned it wouldn’t last.
“Lets see what Hardison says first, Parker.” Nate closed the safe. “We’ll make a plan when we know more.”
“It was them.” Parker crossed her arms stubbornly but let Nate coax her into the loft’s main room. “I know it was. There’s something really hinky going on with those people.”
“Hinky?” Nate questioned. Seeing no further explanation he shook his head, “Just sit tight for a bit. We’ll gather all the data and then-”
“And then we’ll steal our stuff back?”
Nate gently squeezed Parker’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “And then we’ll steal our stuff back.”
Old City Sanctuary
“Oh god. That is so good.”
Henry moaned wordless agreement with Ashley.
“Wow. if I’d known neither of you had ever eaten real Chicago deep dish I would have dragged you there sooner.” Kate smirked at them from her spot on the love seat.
It was probably the best idea for dinner they'd had in awhile. Kate was right; there was a difference between the local stuff and the real thing. "You've ruined me for pizza forever." He complained.
Kate laughed and snapped the top off a bottle of root-beer she'd snagged from the kitchen. "Like I said, worth teleporting for."
Henry wondered if he could convince Ash to go for date night sushi sometime -in Tokyo.
Kate eyed the already nearly empty box. “Next time we’re getting a second pizza, though. Geez Blondie.”
“Teleporting burns calories,” Ashley said, going for another piece of pizza.
“What’s your excuse then, Hank?”
Henry rolled his eyes at the nickname. He’d mostly gotten used to it, but he still wasn’t a fan. At least Ash hadn’t taken up the nickname as well. She nudged his side and grinned up at him over her pizza. Ignoring the playful barbs, Henry tossed the remains of his crust onto a plate and sat back with his Dr. Pepper, Ash settled comfortably into his side. "It was damn good pizza."
“When do you think mom and Will will be back?” Ashley wondered.
“Just got back,” Will said from the doorway. He shed his coat and tie, draping them on the back of a chair. He snagged a slice of pizza and stood over the love seat. “Scoot over.” He nudged Kate with his knee until she sat up and made room.
Magnus sighed from the doorway and eased her scarf off. “I hope you three had more luck than we did.” She touched Ashley’s shoulder for a brief moment as she passed by then elegantly sank into a chair. Henry had no idea how she pulled that off; looking both dead tired and yet completely composed. It drove Ash crazy sometimes.
“Piece of cake.”
“Easiest heist ever,” Kate drawled, lifting her root-beer in salute. Ash matched the gesture with her coke.
"We've been gone several hours, so I hope it didn't take that long. Did you run into any problems?"
"Not really," Ashley shrugged a shoulder. "We got back, did some work and then went for dinner."
"Where is the egg now?"
"Case is on your desk in your office," Ashley told her. "I, uh, couldn't remember the combination to the safe." She fiddle with the tab on her can. "Figured it'd be fine if I left it on your desk."
Magnus smiled. "It should be. Thank you." She folded the scarf neatly in her lap. "After you've finished dinner I can show you the combination again if you'd like."
"Okay," Ashley agreed. "Want the last slice? It's from this place Kate knows in Chicago."
"You went to Chicago for pizza?" Magnus questioned, lifting an eyebrow.
"Really, really good pizza?"
Magnus chuckled and shook her head. "Just remember to let me know if you're going out of the country and please be careful."
"Find anything in DC?" Kate asked, prodding Will's side.
Will squirmed away, finally grabbing the offending hand. He nodded, chewing. "Yeah," he answered when his mouth wasn't full. "The Smithsonian gave us a good lead. They were in talks to acquire a Faberge egg that matches the description we gave, but it was stolen from the seller. It's not much but it's a place to start."
"Where was the seller and when did it happen?" Henry asked, "I can start sending feelers out."
"Toronto," Magnus said. "Three years ago."
Henry reached for his computer. "I'll start there then."
Ashley and her mother left to go put the egg in the safe with the one they'd already grabbed from the auction house. Will stole the last slice of pizza and Kate had sat back on the couch with the remote, her feet in Will's lap.
Henry began with a focused search of news outlets in Toronto, three years ago. The parameters only took a minute or so to set up and then he let the spider crawl through the data. Henry cracked his knuckles and began to work on a more refined search.
"Guys!"
Henry looked up, startled by Ashley's sudden outburst from the door.
"What?" Will asked. Kate sat up.
"The egg's gone!" Ashley motioned for them to follow her. "Come on!"
"Gone? Someone take it out of the case?" Henry questioned as they followed Ashley down the hall toward Magnus' office.
"Not that egg."
"Wait, wait, the one in the safe? We've been robbed?" Kate asked, clearly not believing. "When?"
"How?" Henry questioned. "There hasn't been so much as a peep from the security grid."
"That's what I'd like to know," Magnus commented as they entered the room. The safe was open but the egg they'd placed there after the auction, was not.
To be Continued...
Rating: Pg-13
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fluff, Crossover, AU
Crossover! Sanctuary and Leverage
Summary: The Leverage Team takes on a most unusual job.
Notes: Written for kaitlia777 for Sanctuary_santa. She requested "Henry/Ashley! Shippy is best, friendship is good too. Will/Kate. Outsider POV's and Crossovers"
Previous Parts: Part I | Part II
Part III of the ongoing adventure! Who would be audacious enough to steal from a crew of top thieves? ;) Sorry for the delay; the end of the holidays were kinda crazy!
Previously in The Sanctuary Job
Parker glared at the empty space and felt her fingers tighten on the bag she held. She looked over her shoulder at the group. “Call Eliot back.” She pushed the safe door open all the way so they could see. “We’ve been robbed.”
Boston - Leverage HQ
Nate looked regarded the safe critically as he sipped his drink. “Hardison?”
“On it.”
Parker looked back at Nate then at the safe. “We’re the thieves. We’re not supposed to have things stolen from us!”
“We’ll get it back, Parker.”
“Who do you think did it?”
Boston - Leverage HQ - Eight Hours ago
Crossing the space between locations was a rush; a little scary and a little fun, but a rush all the same. It was like stepping off a high dive or out of a plane. She’d heard abnormals who could fly describe that experience in much the same way as she’d describe teleporting. It wasn’t effortless, but it was easy. Not everyone seemed to be cut out for teleportation though. Kate staggered a step and groaned.
“No offense Blondie, but I think Pops has a lighter touch than you do.”
“He’s had a hundred years to practice,” Henry pointed out, coming to Ashley’s defense. He seemed to have a stronger stomach for teleporting than Kate did. Ashley smiled at him.
“I only know how to do it one way. I just kinda,” Ashley waved a hand, trying to think of the word but there weren’t any. “I just kinda do it.”
“Maybe you need some practice with the old man,” Kate said, surveying the rooftop they’d landed on. It was covered in gravel and flat. An access door was off to one side and there were some vent-things; it and all its neighbors looked alike. She crouched at the edge of the building with a slim pair of binoculars and began surveillance.The building across the alley was their target.
Ashley frowned at Kate's back and crossed her arms. They thought they’d taken precautions to prevent her from getting any homicidal energy creatures, but she still worried about that. Teleporting was fun...but she’d been controlled once before and hadn’t liked it. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with practicing teleporting, and definitely not with her father. Her relationship with her father was...complex. She sat on the gravel beside Henry and left Kate to play lookout.
Henry had pulled out something from the duffel bag he’d been carrying. It looked like some kind of small satellite dish. Henry was checking with his phone as the computer booted up, muttering to himself about "satellite uplinks".
“I see a couple cameras,” Kate reported.
“Switch to the EM feed on this,” Henry instructed holding a set of what looked like very heavily modified binoculars on a little tripod. Kate took them and retreated to the side of the building.
Ashley leaned over to watch what Henry was doing, shoulder leaning into his ever so slightly. One of the windows on the screen was a video feed from the device Kate had. There was some kind of overlay on top of the building - many lines, thick and thin. It gave the building a kind of TRON-like appearance. Without looking, Henry reached into his bag and handed Ashley a second device. He kissed her forehead.
“Can you get a look at the other side of the building for me?”
She smiled. “Sure.”
Ashley stepped between locations and ended up on the rooftop on the other side of the building they were scanning. It was unremarkably just like the one she'd just left. She crouched down near the edge and turned on the device, setting it to scan EM signatures. She toggled her radio on. “Anywhere specific?”
“Just point and shoot. The program will run and give me a good slow scan of the whole building, top to bottom.”
Ashley followed his instructions. The contraption’s gears whirred as it worked. Ashley looked around, checking the building out. According to Google, there was some kind of bar in the basement level. According to Henry, the building was owned by a hacker named “Alec Hardison.” The guy was associated with a world class crew; the same crew that had probably stolen the egg right out from under the nose of the Field Museum’s curators and security system.
After a moment the device stopped. “Now what?”
“Hang on a second, I’m going to send your equipment some new instructions.”
“Cool.”
Henry chuckled over the radio. “Okay, turn it to setting Custom-1. I found where their physical security is and it’s pretty damn hefty, so I’m betting this is the right place. Wh-”
“Great, so where’s the egg?”
“That’s what the new program is going to find out. If you let me explain-”
“Burning daylight here Hank.”
Ashley muted her radio so she could laugh at the others. She could picture Henry’s scowl.
“Just change the settings.”
“Sure thing, Hank.”
Ashley smirked to herself as she changed the settings of the little device. The little machine began to emit a high pitched whine as it worked. It was mildly annoying, being able to hear better than before. At least she hadn’t had the full maximum sensory upgrade; her sense of smell was better but she didn’t approach Henry’s level.
“So Hank, what’s this thing doing anyway?”
“The eggs have a very specific energy signature. I should be able to locate where they’re being kept.”
“It stopped,” Ashley told him. “And it’s beeping?”
“Yeah, it is supposed to be beeping?”
“That just means the scan’s done. My program is assembling the building wireframe. Come on back over. I’ll just be a few minutes. When we know where the hell this thing is, I can disable his system and there won’t be any nasty surprises for us and we wont trip any alarms.”
“No cops. Excellent.”
Ashley turned off the little machine and teleported over to the others. She and Kate stowed the machines in the duffel and waited while Henry worked on the computer. He hunched over the machine, intent on what it was telling him.
“This is the most boring heist I’ve ever been on. Just wanted you to know that,” Kate drawled. She grabbed a seat by the low wall around the roof's edge.
“Easiest too?” Ashley asked, sitting beside her. She pulled out her nifty new phone and chose a game. Biggie had loaded a bunch of games and apps he’d found fun before he’d let her mom give it to her back when she was still confined to the infirmary and the SHU. He’d still take it at dinner and put things on it so she’d always have something to keep her busy. Henry complained they all putt too much stuff on their phones, but she really liked it when the Big Guy thought of her. Before, she’d taken it for granted. Ashley understood the value of silly family stuff better now.
“Probably. There is something to be said for the whole not being shot at thing.” Kate eyed her. “Good idea, Blondie.” She pulled out her own phone.
Ashley started at level 2-1 and had made it to level 3-6 when Kate nudged her with her elbow. “What are you playing?”
“Angry Birds.”
“Angry Birds?” Kate sounded dubious.
“Mmmhmm. The eternal epic struggle of multicolored avians raging against their genocidal verdant porcine foes.” Ashley tapped the screen and sent the little yellow bird to obliterate a tower full of pigs.
“A-Hah. Fun?”
“Way addictive. I even caught mom playing.”
“No way!”
“Guys.”
“I know right? Biggie got her started, too.”
“Ha! I have to try this then.”
“Here,” Ashley said, handing over her phone. “You pull back the slingshot like this and let ‘em fly.”
“This is almost as fun as the Lightsaber app.”
“There’s a lightsaber app?”
“Are you kidding? Here, let me get it for you.” Ashley watched Kate quickly download the app. “I’m shocked Biggie and Hank didn’t mention it. You can even pick the color blade you want. Mine’s blue.” She handed the phone back.
Ashley turned on the app and picked the purple blade. “Right so I press this?” She grinned as the app made a ‘Ksssh’ noise as the blade powered up. She waved it around and it made the humming saber sound. “This is great.”
There was a sound like a strike from Kate’s phone. “Watch your arm!”
Ashley swung her phone up in a block. “Ha!”
“Guys!”
They began to duel on the rooftop, swinging their phones and generally carrying on and having a good time. Ashley lightly stepped over the duffle of components Henry had brought and pressed the attack. Kate retaliated with some fairly decent moves, more stage combat than actual sword play, but they were done quite well. Ashley wondered where she’d learned that particular skill.
“Guys! Seriously!”
“What?” Kate asked, holding up her “blade”. Ashley did the same thing.
“You’re just going to play games while I work?”
Ashley shrugged and “parried” the sneak attack Kate made. She stuck her tongue out at Kate before looking at Henry again. “We’re not hackers.” She gave him a brilliant smile and batted her eyelashes.
“You don’t want me to help hack,” Kate assured him, thumbing off the app. “Remember when I tried that one time?”
Henry winced.
Ashley crawled over and sat behind Henry, back to back. “You need anything from home?” She could feel him sigh. Checking the time she was surprised to see how late it was getting. “Wow you’ve been at this for awhile. You okay?”
“This guy’s security is insane!”
“Yeah?” Ashley turned around and massaged a shoulder. “Problem?”
Henry ran a hand through his hair. “Not willing to throw in the towel yet, but damn this guy’s good.”
“So you said.” Ashley shifted so she was sitting beside him. She leaned against his side. “Does it matter that much if you hack his system before we go in?”
“I don’t want them tracing back to us and I don’t want them to come running back so they can move the egg before we can get it.”
“Blondie can just bamf us down there,” Kate said. “I doubt they have some kind of death trap waiting for anyone who happens to wander into the building. These guys aren’t Cabal or anything like that.”
“They beat the Field Museum,” Henry pointed out. “They've got a hefty security system in that place. I’d rather we didn’t show up on their radar.”
“What,” Kate asked, eyes dancing merrily with the impending rib. “You afraid their hacker is better than you?”
Henry glared over at her. “I’m real good. But so is Alec Hardison. He’s got a triple layer of redundant systems, his network is about as blacked out as ours is, and while I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have anything real exotic down there, I want to get away clean. These are not the nicest people. You saw their hit man’s record.”
“Alleged record,” Kate countered, but she looked more serious.
“Well I don’t want anyone with that kind of alleged record knocking on our door if I can help it. There were some seriously bad names on his list of possible associates.”
“I thought you said the hacker was a grey hat?” Ashley asked. “Right? One of those kinda-good hackers?”
Henry rubbed the back of his neck as he conceded that point. “Maybe? He took down this guy who calls himself Chaos a couple times-”
“Chaos?” Kate laughed. “What is he, some fourteen year old hacker wannabe?”
“You’d think that with a name like “Chaos”, right?” Henry said, wiggling his fingers and rolling his eyes as he made fun of the name. “But the guy’s pretty serious as a thief. Total jackass, but he’s got some skills.”
“Maybe his crew’s rep is more bark than bite,” Ashley suggested. “We know a lot of quasi-legal types like that. Janus, Marilyn, Cho, Kate-”
“Hey!”
Ashley winked at Kate who gave her a dirty look. Kate wasn’t really angry though. If she’d been actually pissed she wouldn’t have said anything.
“Don’t want to risk it.”
“Would it help if you were closer? What if we went on the roof?”
“Maybe.” Henry pulled up the view of the target building. “The problem with that is finding an area that isn’t covered by some kind of security.” Henry fell silent as he checked the building out. “Can you take me here?” It was a small area perhaps five feet by five feet,
“Tight spot.” Ashley looked where he pointed and then at the building.
“Only place not covered by either their motion sensor grid or security cameras.”
“Most places don’t figure thieves can teleport,” Kate said, looking at the spot. “If you hand me those spiffy super binoculars I can tell you which way the camera is pointing.”
Henry nodded. “I’ll make a breach in the network and see what I can do to bring the rest of the system down.”
Ashley grinned. “Grab your gear.”
They teleported over to the other building and Henry pulled out a hand scanner. Ashley tried her best to stay out of sight of the sensors and hand him tools from the bag without either of them falling over. Kate called out when the camera was headed their way and they froze in the awkward, cramped space just in case some shadow might give them away. It was tight and they had to huddle in close together.
Ashley smiled and pressed against him more than was strictly necessary. This was kinda fun. “That a scanner in your pocket?” she joked.
Henry's eyes twinkled. “Just happy to see you,”
“Hmm,” she smiled and kissed his cheek.
“Barf.”
Ashley laughed softly. “You’re just jealous Will’s following up that lead with Mom.”
“Some public indecency would make this interesting. I expected this to be harder than it is.” Ashley didn't think she meant it. Not entirely at least.
Henry scowled a bit. “Hey, this is plenty hard!”
“Only ‘cause you’re making it hard.”
“Didn’t think smash and grab was your style.”
“Slice and Dice, Hank. There’s a difference.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “Guys-” She loved Henry and liked Kate, but sometimes she wished they wouldn't get into it.
“And what’s that?”
“I don’t particularly care if they know they got robbed. They can’t pin it on us if you just nuke their system and let Blondie and me take the safe. We’d be done in less than a minute and back home before lunch and they won't know what hit 'em.”
“Uh, huh, and how are you so sure they wouldn’t know?”
“Aside from us not being on their radar, Buffy the Vampire can teleport and that’s not something normal security even thinks about.”
Ashley cleared her throat. “Kate-”
“Hey-” Henry stopped and looked at her curiously. “Did you guys-”
“No!” Ashley bit her lip. “We talked about it. Hypothetically.”
“Stop corrupting my girlfriend!”
“Heh, she hardly needed my help.”
Rolling his eyes, Henry let his head fall back and hit the wall. “You two are so much trouble.”
“Only sometimes.” Ashley lowered her voice and switched off her comm for a moment. “Besides, you like it.” She flipped the radio back on and prodded Henry’s chest. “Come on let’s finish this up.”
Henry found the bit of wall he was looking for then began to drill into it. He inserted some kind of little metal wire and took a seat. There wasn’t much room so Ashley teleported out of the small space. Ashley exchanged a shrug with Kate, pulled out her phone and sat to wait.
“Got it,” Henry said, maybe twenty minutes later. “You can join me here. The camera’s are all on a loop.
“Finally,” Kate said. “Where do we go?” She took Ashley’s proffered hand and they went to the other building.
Henry smiled at Ashley then pointed at a location in the building’s wireframe. “Ash? Can you take us here. I bought us a ten minute window.”
“Ten?” Kate asked, the same time Ashley touched both of their shoulders and teleported them into the target apartment.
“Damnit!” Kate hissed. “Warnings! We talked about this!”
“We only have ten minutes,” Ash explained, following Henry down the apartment’s short hall.
Kate rolled her eyes but followed the werewolf too. They found the safe and Kate went to work. Ashley stood back, trying to stay out of the way. Henry was able to hack into the electronics of the safe and Kate was able to take care of the physical tumbler.
“Got it!” Kate opened the safe, and drew out the egg. She dropped it into the sack Ashley held. “Well, that was anti-climatic. Let’s go.”
Ashley took them to the rooftop to gather the rest of their equipment. Henry closed off his connections to the network and then Ashley took them home.
“So,” Kate said, stretching her arms over her head as they walked up to the front door. “Post-larceny pizza?”
Boston - Leverage HQ - The Present
“I bet it was them,” Parker glared at the empty spot in the safe. “We should go back.”
“Now hang on there a minute, Parker. If it was this Sanctuary group, they’re going to know we stole their egg soon if they don’t know already. I’m not going to send you back in there without knowing more.” Nate held his hands out, palms open. He tried to sound reasonable because he really didn’t want Parker heading off on her own. She frowned at him, eyes scrunched just a bit; lost and angry.
Nate wasn’t comfortable at all, but he needed to keep his cool for the team. That was the crew leader’s responsibility and he’d be damned before he let this group fall apart. It was a minor setback, that was all. They’d figure it out.
“We got robbed?” Eliot stomped in, hat pulled low over his eyes, scowl firmly in place. His eyes were narrow slits and his shoulders were hunched just slightly; Eliot at a surly defensive. Sophie hovered behind and met Nate’s eyes, clearly concerned about the situation.
Parker stood out of the way so Eliot could see the safe for himself. He rolled his eyes and said a few choice words under his breath. Nate exchanged another look with Sophie and she nodded slightly.
“Come on, Hardison will take some time going through his equipment.” She gently touched Eliot’s elbow, drawing him away.
“We should do a perimeter sweep,” Eliot said, jaw jutting slightly as he scanned the room. “Make sure they didn’t leave any presents.”
That was good, Nate thought. Eliot busy with a task was healthier for everyone. “Good idea. Do a sweep then get a shower here, maybe we can order in dinner. Hardison’s tracking down where our security was breached and who could have done it.”
Eliot nodded. “Come on,” he said to Sophie and the two left to make sure everything else in the apartment was okay and not booby-trapped or bugged or anything else that might unexpectedly blow up on them.
“When do we go get ‘em, Nate?” Parker asked. She was shifting her weight anxiously. If Nate said the word, she’d be off in an instant. Parker was a thief, not someone who had her things stolen. Nate still wasn’t entirely sure what her backstory was, but he could make a number of educated guesses and he knew some of her self-identity now. Well, as anyone could know what went on in Parker’s head. He was kinda proud she was taking it as well as she was, but concerned it wouldn’t last.
“Lets see what Hardison says first, Parker.” Nate closed the safe. “We’ll make a plan when we know more.”
“It was them.” Parker crossed her arms stubbornly but let Nate coax her into the loft’s main room. “I know it was. There’s something really hinky going on with those people.”
“Hinky?” Nate questioned. Seeing no further explanation he shook his head, “Just sit tight for a bit. We’ll gather all the data and then-”
“And then we’ll steal our stuff back?”
Nate gently squeezed Parker’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “And then we’ll steal our stuff back.”
Old City Sanctuary
“Oh god. That is so good.”
Henry moaned wordless agreement with Ashley.
“Wow. if I’d known neither of you had ever eaten real Chicago deep dish I would have dragged you there sooner.” Kate smirked at them from her spot on the love seat.
It was probably the best idea for dinner they'd had in awhile. Kate was right; there was a difference between the local stuff and the real thing. "You've ruined me for pizza forever." He complained.
Kate laughed and snapped the top off a bottle of root-beer she'd snagged from the kitchen. "Like I said, worth teleporting for."
Henry wondered if he could convince Ash to go for date night sushi sometime -in Tokyo.
Kate eyed the already nearly empty box. “Next time we’re getting a second pizza, though. Geez Blondie.”
“Teleporting burns calories,” Ashley said, going for another piece of pizza.
“What’s your excuse then, Hank?”
Henry rolled his eyes at the nickname. He’d mostly gotten used to it, but he still wasn’t a fan. At least Ash hadn’t taken up the nickname as well. She nudged his side and grinned up at him over her pizza. Ignoring the playful barbs, Henry tossed the remains of his crust onto a plate and sat back with his Dr. Pepper, Ash settled comfortably into his side. "It was damn good pizza."
“When do you think mom and Will will be back?” Ashley wondered.
“Just got back,” Will said from the doorway. He shed his coat and tie, draping them on the back of a chair. He snagged a slice of pizza and stood over the love seat. “Scoot over.” He nudged Kate with his knee until she sat up and made room.
Magnus sighed from the doorway and eased her scarf off. “I hope you three had more luck than we did.” She touched Ashley’s shoulder for a brief moment as she passed by then elegantly sank into a chair. Henry had no idea how she pulled that off; looking both dead tired and yet completely composed. It drove Ash crazy sometimes.
“Piece of cake.”
“Easiest heist ever,” Kate drawled, lifting her root-beer in salute. Ash matched the gesture with her coke.
"We've been gone several hours, so I hope it didn't take that long. Did you run into any problems?"
"Not really," Ashley shrugged a shoulder. "We got back, did some work and then went for dinner."
"Where is the egg now?"
"Case is on your desk in your office," Ashley told her. "I, uh, couldn't remember the combination to the safe." She fiddle with the tab on her can. "Figured it'd be fine if I left it on your desk."
Magnus smiled. "It should be. Thank you." She folded the scarf neatly in her lap. "After you've finished dinner I can show you the combination again if you'd like."
"Okay," Ashley agreed. "Want the last slice? It's from this place Kate knows in Chicago."
"You went to Chicago for pizza?" Magnus questioned, lifting an eyebrow.
"Really, really good pizza?"
Magnus chuckled and shook her head. "Just remember to let me know if you're going out of the country and please be careful."
"Find anything in DC?" Kate asked, prodding Will's side.
Will squirmed away, finally grabbing the offending hand. He nodded, chewing. "Yeah," he answered when his mouth wasn't full. "The Smithsonian gave us a good lead. They were in talks to acquire a Faberge egg that matches the description we gave, but it was stolen from the seller. It's not much but it's a place to start."
"Where was the seller and when did it happen?" Henry asked, "I can start sending feelers out."
"Toronto," Magnus said. "Three years ago."
Henry reached for his computer. "I'll start there then."
Ashley and her mother left to go put the egg in the safe with the one they'd already grabbed from the auction house. Will stole the last slice of pizza and Kate had sat back on the couch with the remote, her feet in Will's lap.
Henry began with a focused search of news outlets in Toronto, three years ago. The parameters only took a minute or so to set up and then he let the spider crawl through the data. Henry cracked his knuckles and began to work on a more refined search.
"Guys!"
Henry looked up, startled by Ashley's sudden outburst from the door.
"What?" Will asked. Kate sat up.
"The egg's gone!" Ashley motioned for them to follow her. "Come on!"
"Gone? Someone take it out of the case?" Henry questioned as they followed Ashley down the hall toward Magnus' office.
"Not that egg."
"Wait, wait, the one in the safe? We've been robbed?" Kate asked, clearly not believing. "When?"
"How?" Henry questioned. "There hasn't been so much as a peep from the security grid."
"That's what I'd like to know," Magnus commented as they entered the room. The safe was open but the egg they'd placed there after the auction, was not.
To be Continued...