Summary: AU Lindsey McDonald carved out a new identity for himself as a retrieval specialist after Angel's finale, while Eliot Spencer remained in Damien Moreau's service. Thus, it was Lindsey who was recruited by Victor Dubenich in the pilot of Leverage instead of Eliot. And so begins this story...
READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING: I mentioned in the summary that Lindsey made a new identity for himself. That's who "Milton Perry" is, okay? Just so you're not going, "Who the heck is he?" An explanation for the name is at the end of this chapter. Eliot appears in the next chapter. Keep in mind that it was Lindsey who started working with the Leverage team, not Eliot, okay? He's never met the crew.
WARNING: Deathfic.
I gave this story the title of "Alternate Threads" (and the chapters weaving terms) to remind readers that this is an alternate universe from the show Leverage...and to remind myself as well, I suppose. Because I'm forgetful like that, hehe.
Written for comment-fic at LJ. Prompt: Leverage, Eliot/Moreau, What if Eliot never left Moreau's side, and the Leverage team & some other hitter (feel free to crossover) have to go up against them both?
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Alternate Threads
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Prologue: Warp
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There's a lot that the Leverage team knows about their hitter, Milton Perry.
He's a southern boy, as made obvious by the drawling accent, cowboy boots, and his penchant for flannel button-downs and large silver belt buckles.
Another thing: There's a startling intellect hiding behind the long hair and brawn. Nate should know. He came so close to catching Milton numerous times, but never quite managed it.
He's not military (probably), but he sure can fight, especially with a knife in hand. Better than most government agents. He is one of the best in his field, after all. But he doesn't like guns. At all.
He can cook like a chef at a five-star restaurant. They found this out during the job with the mafia wedding and the ugly bridesmaid dresses.
He can also sing. Parker discovered this hidden talent while crawling around in his air ducts one night, and accidentally ousted him not long before the job where he had to be the fiddle. (It was too an accident!)
He's religious, in a vague, cynical kind of way. Denomination unclear, but certain things he says during the St. Nicholas job make it clear that he is well-versed in his world religions.
Milton has a wry sense of humor, the kind that hides behind those shrewd blue eyes until just the right moment. He has a nice laugh.
Out of the five of them, he's the one to turn to if you want a dirty job done with no questions asked.
He's terrifyingly efficient at his job, almost obsessively good. But then, so are the rest of them. That's how they got to be the best.
Another thing they know about Milton: He is one secretive bastard. There's a lot that they don't know about him.
Family. He doesn't say much about them, but he's mentioned a "Mama" before, and dropped a hint about a brother or a sister or more ("Us kids," he'd said once).
His past is a blank before the mid-2000s. There's nothing that Hardison can find on Milton Perry that dates before 2005, and even after that, there isn't much. Just enough to make it clear that he's dangerous.
Another funny thing - there aren't any photographs of him. Even Parker has a few security camera shots in her digital record. Milton? Nothing. Either he's that good, or he has a very good cleaner on his payroll.
The way he looks at home in a suit and tie when they're on a con makes Sophie think that he had a background a little more on the right side of the tracks before he turned to retrievals. But then again, she's not sure. He could have picked that up working security. However, he does know his designers, so that may mean something. Or maybe not. It could be that he really has dated a lot of models.
Parker finds a box in his closet that she can't pick, no matter how hard she tries. It makes her mad that she can't open it - It's a simple enough lock, and there's definitely something rattling in it, but try as she might, she can't crack it. And Milton knows and is...amused. That makes her furious.
Nate sees things here and there that make him form his own opinion about the hitter's secret past, but he keeps it to himself.
Either way, Milton Perry's true past is nothing like what any of them could ever have imagined.
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References:
Milton Perry - Milton comes from John Milton, the poet who wrote Paradise Lost. Also note that "John Milton" is the name of the evil lawyer (who turns out to be Lucifer) in Devil's Advocate. Symbolic? Why, yes, of course! This is also in keeping with the "poet name" theme that the Leverage writers have going on (Eliot, Shelley, Walt Whitman...). Perry comes from duh, Perry Mason. Famous fictional lawyer?