So, it’s been a pretty long time since fanfiction showed its face around my blog. But that’s mostly what I’ve been writing recently since I’ve been having too much fun with the Leverage characters, so… here we are. 

This is basically my writing of a deleted scene from the very first episode, so we don’t have any spoilers here. 

From the POV of Eliot Spencer, after being hired on by Victor Dubenich to steal back airplane designs from another company. I wanted to show when the team first saw each other and realized who they were working with instead of just showing them all walking up to the building together and getting started. 

And hopefully it’s also enjoyable for those of you who haven’t seen the show as well. (-whisper- and maybe even might convince you to watch it… :D)

So here we are!

 

---

I always made a point of being early when I was meeting anyone for a job. It gave me extra time to check the area for any extra surprises, and time to get a lay of the land. You go in unprepared and you’ll end up dead. And even if this was just some stupid blueprint-stealing job, I wasn’t taking any chances. Especially with the fact that I wasn’t gonna be working alone on this one.

 

I’d been working alone for years now, and preferred it that way for a lot of reasons. The idea of having to coordinate this with three other people made me edgy. And I didn’t even know who these people were, so that made it extra fun. All the more reason to show up early.

 

The meeting place wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for this sort of job. Just an empty back alley across the street. The street light coming through was enough so you could see other people clearly, as long as you were looking for them.

 

I did a quick scan of the area as soon as I got there. No other spooks around, so that was good at least.

 

I moved over to the area with the least light and the most view of the area, settling down to wait. I’d be the first to see when anyone else showed up. My mind eased a little, but I kept a sharp lookout as I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest.

 

Still twenty minutes before anyone else was supposed to show. I had a good piece of time left to wait.

 

I glanced up at the top of the Pierson Aviation building poking up over the tops of the other office buildings in the area.

 

Airplane designs, huh?

 

Well, I’d stolen weirder stuff. And for a lot less money. I could put up with a few people tagging along for the sake of the score.

 

The sound of feet hitting the ground reached my ears and I quickly brought my gaze back down to get a read on who it was. Someone else almost twenty minutes early, and someone who’d managed to get pretty damn close without me hearing.

 

I caught a flash of blonde hair in the dim light, and a black-dressed figure straightened up from a crouch and started over in my general direction. My muscles tensed, but I didn’t move, still just looking her over as she walked.

 

This would be the thief girl, then. Parker. I’d heard stories, but had managed to avoid running into her until now. We worked very different angles of this job. Dubenich obviously wanted to cover all his bases.

 

“You know I can see you,” Parker’s voice rang out, just slightly too loud. She stopped a little ways away.

 

I grimaced slightly and narrowed my eyes at her.

 

She narrowed her eyes back at me, then raised her eyebrows. She stayed still for a second before changing direction and heading straight for the nearest streetlamp. Heading straight for the light didn’t make a lot of sense for someone who was so big on stealth.

 

But it made sense after another second. She grabbed onto the lamppost and shimmied right up it like a monkey, coming to stop on top of the pole and peering down at me.

 

Parker grinned an unnerving grin that seemed too wide for her face. “My spot’s better than yours.”

 

I thought I had all the meeting scenarios planned out, but really had no idea what to say to that. This girl was just… weird.

 

I opened my mouth, closed it again and frowned at her.

 

She swung her feet back and forth on either side of the pole, ignoring me.

 

Alright, so she didn’t seem like too much of a threat, but it was hard to get a read on her. She was unpredictable. I didn’t like unpredictable people. After eying her for another minute, I just determined to avoid her when I could and keep an eye on my gear. I wasn’t too keen on getting my stuff stolen.

 

The next time footsteps sounded nearby, I caught them much sooner.

 

Another early bird. We still had ten minutes to go until the scheduled meeting time. This left only one other person to come.

 

I spared another glance up at Parker, then narrowed my eyes in the direction of the footsteps as another figure came towards the partial light. What I could see of the silhouette didn’t ring any bells, but that gait sounded familiar, and not in a good way. Somebody I’d worked against before.

 

This wasn’t a great start to the job. Who had Dubenich hired now?

 

I unfolded my arms, putting my guard up as I assessed and tried to place the memory with the outline of this guy.

 

It still took me a second after the light hit his face to recognize him.

 

I stared, a spike of adrenaline nearly making me jump.

 

Of all the people I thought I’d be working with on a heist… The guy who’d been most successful in stopping them before now wasn’t on my possibility list.

 

This just got a lot more interesting.

 

Nathan Ford stopped, raising his eyebrows in my direction. “You’re early, Eliot.” He paused for a second, then looked up at the lamppost that craned over him. He shaded his eyes with one hand and squinted. “You too, Parker. Nice to know no one here trusts each other.”

 

Parker looked just as surprised as I did, and a lot more ticked off. She gripped her hands on the lamppost tighter.

 

As the shock wore off, I looked closer, taking note on why I hadn’t recognized him at first.

 

His voice sounded more tired, and the lines in his face carved deeper in than usual, the streetlamp light accentuating the dark circles under his eyes. Instead of a suit and tie, he wore just a black shirt and an old wool coat. And the curly hair I’d always seen slicked back and neatly combed stuck out from behind his ears and hung over his forehead.

 

He looked like a wreck.

 

I kept watching him, my eyes narrowing a little more.

 

Nate looked down from watching Parker and started towards me. He came to a stop a few steps away and faced the same way I was facing. Glancing over in my direction, he pressed his lips together, one eyebrow going up.  “Seen enough?”

 

I smelled whiskey on his breath. Didn’t realize he was a drinker.

 

I looked away, back towards the street. “Should be one more showing up. The tech guy.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

Silence between the three of us for a few seconds, then Parker’s voice hissed from above. “What, so you’re with usnow?”

 

Nate rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m supervising this one job, since it’s… sort of for a good cause.” He looked up at her. “I’m not a thief now, if that’s what you’re asking.”

 

If you asked me, it was probably because he needed the money. Now that I’d thought about it longer, I did remember some big thing going by in the past year with Nate quitting his job with the insurance place and…

 

Oh yeah. The thing with his son.

 

I winced a little just remembering. At the time, seeing it go by, I hadn’t thought of it much. But it would definitely explain the change from the last time I’d seen him.

 

Hopefully he was still on top of his game enough to help out some here. He seemed to know how Parker worked at least, and that was more than I had.

 

I folded my arms again and pushed my tongue into the side of my cheek, giving Nate another sideways look. “So. You got a plan?”

 

Nate didn’t turn his head. “Yeah. Step one is Hardison being on time.”

 

Our hacker, then.

 

Another guy I’d heard stuff about. And this wasn’t giving me any more excitement for the job. I didn’t realize Alec Hardison did anything other than really elaborate pranks and showing off, given his reputation.

 

Another minute of silence later, I heard more footsteps. A faster tread, with longer strides. A dark-skinned guy came around the corner, his stance relaxed and a duffle bag slung over one shoulder. An earphone cord dangled from one ear and his fingers drummed a rhythm against the duffle bag strap.

 

Parker leaned over on her perch, squinting. “Are we working with him?”

 

“Apparently,” I muttered.

 

If cocky got you killed in this line of work, I was surprised this guy wasn’t long dead.

 

My enthusiasm for this job dropped even lower.

 

Hardison stopped as he came out into the light, his eyebrows furrowing as he saw me, then going up as he saw Nate. He took an involuntary step backwards, scrambling for words for a second. “Oh my… sir, what a… an incredible coincidence, seeing you here. Are you out for a walk too? I…”

 

“I’m working with you, Hardison,” Nate cut him off, his voice sounding more tired than a moment before. “This time.”

 

Hardison stopped, staring for a second. “Oh. Cool. Very cool.” He looked between the two of us. “I thought there was one other…?”

 

Parker swung down from the lamppost and rolled as she hit the ground. She straightened up and raised an eyebrow at Hardison, propping her hands on her hips.

 

Hardison’s eyes widened. He nodded slowly, a sideways smile pulling at his mouth. “Nice.”

 

Oh, just what we needed. I rolled my eyes, bending over to pick up my gear.

 

Nate took a deep breath and let it out, clapping his hands together. “Right. We’re all here. Now let’s go steal some plans.”

---

 

Hope you guys enjoyed!

Have you watched Leverage? Think you will if you haven’t? Any other fanfic suggestions for me?

Have a great week everyone ❤

~writefury