AN: Okay, so as I was reading through my Leverage stories (and realized I have to edit and re-upload them again), I realized that I never uploaded this story. Which makes sense when the transition between Better Than I Used To Be and This Ole Boy made absolutely NO sense. I apologize greatly for this! So, This story is the bridging story between the above mentioned. Enjoy!
AN: I know there's a bunch of mistakes but I needed to just get this up; it was really bugging me out it was missing. I'll be editing these stories in my free time and replace these versions with the edited versions. Thanks for being understanding.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Leverage; I'm just borrowing the characters for a little bit.
Avery sneaks down the hallway and keeps her eyes peeled for her dad. As she passed by a door, a hand grabs her and pulls her through the doorway and into the room. She twists out of its grasp and spins around, her hand up and ready for a fight. Eliot looks at her with a raised eyebrow and Avery scowls. She looks around the room and sees a number of computers.
"All right. What do I have to do Hardison?" Eliot says as he walks over to one of the computers and turns it on.
The team had been trying to track down John Masterson but kept getting a dead end. That is until they found that the owner of Dunham Inc., David Gleeson, had information on Masterson. On top of that, Dunham Inc., a company found to have stolen a patent from their newest client. Nate and Sophie were dealing with Gleeson, getting him to hand over his money while Parker was in another part of the building stealing the patent back. That left Eliot and Avery to take out the muscle and help Hardison, who was in Lucille, download the information on John Masterson.
Avery glances at her dad as he grumbles at Hardison through the com before inserting the flash drive. Avery smirks and shakes her head. Sometimes, in fact most of the time, when her dad and Hardison were together they morphed into five year old brothers with all their bickering. Avery peeks out in the hall when she hears footsteps approaching. There's a goon walking towards them with a cell phone to his ear. Avery moves out of sight and glances at her dad. Eliot scowls at the screen and pushes some buttons Hardison tells him to. Avery looks towards the door and slowly opens it so she can go through it.
"Yes, blow the whole thing. Who cares if they're in it. We can't risk them finding that information…Just blow the damn thing will ya?" the guy growls into his phone before hanging up the phone. Avery looks back at her dad and sees him scowling at the door. He meets her gaze and nods his head which Avery returns. She focuses her attention back on the hallway, hearing her dad tell the rest of the team to get out because the building was going to blow.
The muscle walks past the door and Avery moves out into the hall. She taps the guy on the shoulder and when he turns around, Avery hits him in the face. The guy stumbles back and Avery throws a spinning kick. Her foot slams into his head and the guy falls to the ground with a crack. Avery looks up and down the hallway for anyone else but it's empty. She grabs the guy and pulls him into the room before turning to look at her dad.
"Dad we need to go," Avery says as Eliot impatiently taps the desk. The files were almost done downloading.
"Go," Eliot says without taking his eyes off the screen.
"Dad…" Avery starts to argue.
"Go," Eliot interrupts as he looks back at Avery. "I'll be right behind you."
Avery scowls before reluctantly running out of the room and down the hall. She dashes around a corner and taking another turn before making a beeline for the outside door. She slams open the door and runs out into the parking lot of the isolated building. She runs to the side of the lot and stops at the barrier. Avery looks over the edge at the river below, grimacing at the current. She was glad she wasn't going down there. Avery hears a door slam open and she looks behind her to see her dad running towards her.
"Avery! Jump!" Eliot shouts as he rushes towards her. There is an explosion behind him and Eliot ducks his head slightly.
Avery's eyes widen when she notices the explosion set off a chain of them; And they were headed straight for them. Avery spins around and looks back down at the river below. She really didn't want to jump but the explosions rapidly getting closer makes up her mind. Avery climbs atop the barrier and jumps. As Avery feels the air whips passed her, she feels someone slam into her back and wrap their arms around her. She glances behind her and sees her dad right before the cold river water crashes over her.
Avery sinks below the surface and quickly kicks herself towards the surface. She can't feel her dad hanging onto her anymore and assumes the current pulled her out of his grasp. Avery breaks the surface and gasps for air. She looks around, kicking herself in a circle to get a 360 degree view but can't find her dad anywhere. The current pulls her down the river and below the surface. Avery swims back to the surface again and coughs as she gets to it. A wave crashes into her face and she blows out the water that got in her mouth. Avery looks around and gets a glimpse of her dad before she's pulled under by the current again.
Avery fights against the current and waves and kicks herself to the surface again. Her head crashes through it and she gasps for air. She tries to looks for her dad but the waves keep splashing into her face. Avery coughs and suddenly feels something latch onto the hood of her sweatshirt. She looks behind her and sees her father. They jerk to a stop and Eliot pulls her close. Avery realizes his other hand is latched onto a branch of a tree buried in the shore.
Eliot pulls Avery towards the branch and she grabs it. She feels the current pulling her but Avery hangs on tight. She looks over to see her father next to her and a wave splashes into her face.
"Move to the shore. Hang on tight," Eliot orders and nods towards said shore. Avery nods in understanding and she quickly and carefully inches along the branch towards the shore. When Avery gets to the bank, she climbs onto it, feeling her dad help her. Avery lies down in the grass as she tries to get her breath. Eliot climbs onto the bank as well.
Dogs begin barking and Eliot and Avery's heads whip in the direction. Avery's eyes widen and Eliot curses under his breath. The mark must've seen them jump and came after them. Eliot shoves himself to his feet before yanking Avery to her feet as well.
"We need to go," Eliot whispers urgently. He pulls Avery in the opposite direction and she stumbles after him. Eliot never lets go of her as they rush through the woods as fast as they can.
The two of them run to the edge of the trees and to where a road is. Avery runs to go onto it when trucks are heard approaching. Eliot yanks her back and pulls her behind a tree with him. He holds Avery close to him as the trucks drive past, Eliot recognizing they belong to the mark.
"We need to get to a phone and call Nate," Eliot says to Avery. Their phones and coms were ruined from the river and they needs help getting out of here. Avery nods and the two of them quickly run along the road away from the building they just escaped from.
Five minutes later and Eliot and Avery find themselves in front of a country store. Eliot looks behind them and, when he doesn't see anyone, he leads Avery inside. The bell above the door rings and an older man appears from the back room. His eyes widen at their appearance.
"Could we use your phone?" Eliot asks as he approaches the counter.
"Of course," the man says with a nod of his head. He grabs a phone off the wall and hands it over to Eliot. Eliot takes it and walks away to call Nate.
"Thank you," Avery says to the man as she offers him a smile.
"If you don't mind me asking…how did you two…end up like that?" the old man struggles to ask with a wave of a hand at Avery's wet clothes.
"I fell in the river. My dad jumped in to save me," Avery says with a grimace. The old man's eyes widen and he looks between Avery and Eliot.
"Are you okay?" the man asks worriedly, his eyes wide.
"Oh, we're fine. Nothing my dad couldn't handle. He was in Special Ops," Avery says as she waves the concern off. The old man nods his head in understanding but still looks at her in concern.
"Okay, Nate will meet us here in ten," Eliot says as he walks back over to Avery and the man. He sets the phone on the counter and tells the man thanks before nudging Avery towards the door.
Avery walks out the door with Eliot trailing behind her. As Avery exits the store, she freezes at the sound of a gun cocking. She looks around the sees they are surrounded by men holding guns pointed at her and her dad.
"Our boss wants his money back," one of the guys says to Eliot. Eliot narrows his eyes at the speaker. They don't know we have the information on Masterson, Eliot thinks to himself. He takes in the number of guys and sees there's twenty of them. He might've been able to take down most of them if he was by himself. But with Avery in the crossfire there was no way he would risk it.
"That's too bad, cause we don't have it," Eliot growls in return. He moves to step in front of Avery but the men lift their guns and shout a warning.
"No, but your accomplices do. And it'll be your job to relay the message to them," the leader says with a snarl. "And for assurances, we'll take leverage."
Eliot's look darkens and he sends a glare at the head guy. He hears movement behind him and he glances behind him in time to be grabbed by two of the men. He kicks one of them in the knee resulting in the guy shouting in pain. Eliot turns and hits the other guy in the face twice and then slams him into the store wall. Then, he turns and hits the first guy in the face and he collapses. Eliot hears a shouts and looks towards it. His heart skips a beat and his look becomes steely.
Avery had heard a noise behind her the same time as her dad and she glances behind them. She sees two of the men grab her dad and them attacking him. Before she can react, strong arms grab her from behind. Avery elbows her attacker in the stomach and then, stomps on his foot. Then, she flips him over and he crashes to the ground. She looks behind her and throws a kick that connects with another of the men in the stomach. The man flies backwards and crashes into two more behind him. Someone grabs Avery and yanks her to him and she shouts. When she feels the cold steel of a knife at her throat.
Eliot fixes the leader with a murderous gaze. He was holding Avery close with a knife to her throat. Eliot couldn't do anything without resulting in Avery getting hurt. The leader smirks and pushes the knife closer to Avery's throat and Eliot notices the grimace.
"Get the money and you can have the girl back," the leader says before Eliot feel a pain in his head. Eliot collapses to the ground as stars infect his vision right before it goes black.
AN: Hopefully, ya'll enjoyed this!