Ok, so unlike my other one, One Last Dance (completely unrelated to this one), this is a complete new mission that I came up with, but was inspired by a "The Good Wife" episode, for those of you who watch both you'll get what I mean once you read it. It set after the latest ep of season one, although doesn't go into what happened after that or anything, just assumes that Paige stayed with Scorpion and Drew is now out of the picture. It also after Quintis had their failed date :(. But don't worry I have big plans for them! So this is sort of a teaser chapter, let me know what you guys think about it and whether I should continue!

WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON D.C.

It was eight o'clock in the morning when James Webster made the most fatal mistake of his life, a mistake that brought the country to its knees. What seemed so innocent, mundane and harmless was in fact one of the most dangerous threats the country had ever seen. It all started with an email, the irony of the simplicity made James reel long after he realised the severity of what he had done. The email was one from his superior with a link, telling him to open it immediately, and that it was a matter of the utmost importance. Without so much as a second thought he clicked and opened the pop-up, but what awaited him was no mundane form, but a red image spread across his screen with the message "75 million dollars, or every file is released to the public. You have 36 hours." And with that, a timer began counting down, second by second, to zero. His body filled with horror as it spread like the plague across the screens around him, until, one by one, every computer in the White House revealed the same message, and James fell to the floor in shock as the realisation that the American government was being held for ransom hit him like a tidal wave.

SCORPION HQ

Meanwhile, completely unaware of the threat, Scorpion was buzzing with activity, and the shouts could be heard from outside the door. Ralph was racing to finish an equation Sylvester had created for him, one that was well beyond the capacity of most mathematic specialists, and the others were all shouting encouragement hoping their bet was right. Paige had refused to bet on her own child, and in following her direction, so had Walter, but Happy, Toby and Sylvester had all made bets on how fast he could do it. Happy had bet 1 minute and thirty seconds or below, Sylvester had bet 2 minutes, but Toby had bet 2 minutes and thirty seconds, unaware of the extent of Ralph's genius.

"C'mon Ralph you gotta do this for me!" Happy shouted as he neared the end of the equation just after one minute had elapsed.
"Now, now, Ralph, take your time, you don't want to make any mistakes!" Toby instructed, but it was in vain as Ralph was already done and shouted with glee as he wrote the final answer.
"Finished!" He cried, and Paige couldn't help but feel enormous pride at her son's capabilities.
"In knowing he was right from the beginning about Ralph, Walter leant in towards Paige and said "told you he was a genius." Paige just smiled in response, looking to Happy as she collected her winnings, a grin spread across her face.
"Thank you Toby, aaaand thanks Sly, pleasure doing business with you." Toby only huffed in response, but Sly just shrugged, glad to be rid of the money that made him so nervous. However the celebrations were short lived as Cabe stormed in the door, his face lined with stress and worry.
"Everybody in the van now, we have a case to solve that is top priority, and we have a jet waiting for us at a nearby airstrip." The team all looked surprised, what could be so important that they would needed to be flown in a private jet? But if Cabe saw their looks of confusion, he pretended he didn't and continued his instructions. "Ralph, we will drop you off at school on the way, but Paige, is there anyone who can look after him for a night or two? This is a matter of national security." He voice was coloured with stress, Toby could tell that it wasn't a matter to joke about, so he held his tongue and kept his comment to himself.
Paige looked frantic, but still managed to respond "Yeah I can organise that, he can stay with the sitter I left him with when we went to Vegas."
"Good, I'll explain on the way, now move out!" Cabe's voice was so harsh and demanding that nobody bothered to stop and ask questions.
"I'm driving!" Happy yelled, quickly grabbing the keys of Cabe and running out to the van, Walter turned to respond, but decided their case was too urgent to waste time arguing about mediocre things, while Cabe only sighed and sprinted after her.

It took them a good thirty minutes to drop off Ralph and get to the airstrip, and that was with Happy's driving as she sped through back streets and alleyways. There was a tall general standing at the top of the stairs to the jet waiting impatiently as they all exited their van, his arms folded across his chest.

"This is the country's best response team for a national threat to security? America is doomed. Not only are you late, you're not at all what I had in mind." he grumbled, looking them up and down in disgust. Happy stepped her foot forward and felt her hand curl into a fist, but Toby placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back in an effort to calm her down, whispering something about him not being worth it.
"This bunch of geniuses will run circles around any technology-response team we got, so treat them with some respect." Cabe barked, staring him down. The general only huffed and went inside the plane, ignoring Cabe's comment.
"Oh he's on our in-flight entertainment? Man, I was at least hoping for some hot flight attendants, this will be a fun four hour flight" Toby said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Sylvester, with horror painted across his face as entered the plane, piped up, "Four hours thirty one minutes and counting the minute we take off", clearly not looking forward to having to fly again.
Paige stopped Walter just before he entered the plane, whispering, "look I don't think you need me on this, I can stay and handle things back at the office, it sounds pretty serious and I don't think I could be much help," her voice was soft and uncertain, so much that it yanked at something inside Walter, pulling on strings he didn't know he had.
Walter turned her face towards his, whispering back, "Paige, you're just as much a part of this team as anybody else, we need to come with us, I need you, that's why you stayed, we're a cyclone remember?" His voice was filled with concern as he stared into Paige's eyes, who smiled and nodded in response, secretly ecstatic that Walter had admitted he needed her.