AN: Here's the new story in my Avery series! Enjoy!
Avery enters the elevator at McRory's Bar & Grill, pushing the button to the top floor. She waits patiently for the elevator to get there, exiting it when the doors open. She hikes her book bag further up on her shoulder and walks over to the door. Opening it, she walks into the living room and notices the only one around is Hardison. They had their routine now that she'd been with them for a while. Everyday her dad drops her off at school on his way to Nate's. After school, she walks to Nate's and stays with whoever is there. If they're on a job out of the city, she stays at a friends' house. She sets her book bag on the table and walks over to where Hardison is staring at his laptop and sits next to him. She watches as four dots move around on the screen, each one labeled with the name of one of the team members. Hardison glances over at her and sends her a smile.
"How's everything going?" Avery asks in her southern drawl.
"So far? Good," Hardison replies. Avery watches the dots a second longer.
"Ya know, you should really get creative in the names you give them," Avery says. Hardison looks over at her.
"What?" he asks, not all entirely sure he knows what she's talking about.
"The dots," Avery says, pointing at them, "They're kinda boring. You should give them special secret names. That way if anyone randomly gets in and sees this stuff they can't tell who's who."
"You've got a point," Hardison says, smirking to himself.
"No nicknames Hardison," Eliot growls into the ear bud.
"Hey, that was all your daughters idea," Hardison says in defense.
"I could hear your smirk all the way over here," Eliot growls again, "No special secret names. That's stupid."
"Oh, what about doomsday?" Avery says.
"No, nick…doomsday?" Eliot says, "I could live with that."
Hardison gives Avery a knowing smirk and clicks a few buttons on the computer. Avery looks over at her dad's dot and sees Doomsday overtop it. She smirks at Hardison and Hardison hands her an extra com.
"What about Parker?" she asks.
"I want to be a black widow," Parker says through the com's.
"Ew, black widows eat their significant others," Avery says.
"But they're small and deadly," Parker points out.
"But I like Hardison," Avery says. Hardison chokes on his orange soda and Sophie suppresses a smirk.
"What does Hardison have to do with this?" Parker asks, confused.
"Nothing," Avery says. Hardison shoots her a glare but types in the new name for Parker.
"Sophie," Avery says, thinking. "She can be Chameleon."
"Chameleon?" Hardison asks.
"Yeah, cause she can blend in anywhere," Avery says. Hardison nods his head and changes the name.
"What about Nate?" Hardison asks.
"How about…" Avery says, trailing off in thought, "Hawkeye. Because he sees everything before it happens."
Nate suppresses an eye roll but doesn't say anything, keeping in character. Hardison changes the name giving Avery a sideways glance.
"All that's left is you," Avery says.
"I know," Eliot's voice says over the coms, "How about mule cause he's such a pain in the ass."
"Now that just hurts Eliot," Hardison says, grabbing his heart. Avery chuckles.
"We should label you Tremor," Avery says, "Because you're the tremor before the quake."
"I like that," Hardison says with a grin, quickly typing in the name.
"Great, now that's all he's gonna talk about," Eliot growls, then gets to thinking, "Have you done your homework?"
"Uh…" Avery says, knowing she's caught, "I'm going to do it right now."
Avery takes the com out of her ear and sets it on the desk next to Hardison. She quickly makes her way back to the table and begins pulling out her books, paper, and pen. She hears a chuckle and looks up to see Hardison smiling to himself.
"I'm the tremor baby," he mutters to himself. Avery snorts and rolls her eyes, thinking that maybe her dad was right.
LEVERAGE
The Leverage team walks into Nate's apartment, looking disheveled and exhausted. Sophie collapses on the couch, followed by Parker in the arm chair. Nate walks over to the counter and pours himself a drink. Hardison looks all of them over.
"It end that bad?" he asks.
"Yeah," Sophie replies.
"I thought you guys said you finished the job?" Hardison asks.
"We did," Nate says, "But it was a little harder than we planned. Hardison nods his head in understanding, then, looks around the room.
"Where's Eliot?"
"He's out in the hall listening to a voicemail or something," Parker says. As if on cue, Eliot emerges holding an ice pack on his head.
"What happened to you?" Hardison asks.
"What do you think happened to me?" Eliot growls, "I got hit with a freakin' crate."
"Yeah, that would've been my first guess," Hardison says sarcastically, earning a glare from Eliot.
"Where's Avery?" Eliot asks.
"Right here," Avery says, coming from the back hall, "What the hell happened to you?"
"Don't worry about it," Eliot says, "I'm fine."
"You look it," Avery says sarcastically, noticing the goose egg on his forehead after he takes the ice pack off.
"So, what happened at school today?" Eliot asks, leaning up against the counter.
"Nothing much," Avery answers, "Pretty boring actually."
"Uh-huh," Eliot says disbelievingly.
"So, did you guys get the bad guy," Avery asks the group, trying to change the subject.
"Yes, we did. Although it was harder than we planned," Sophie answers, noticing the quick change in subject as well.
"So, nothing happened at school today?" Eliot pushes. Avery gives him a weird look.
"Why do you keep asking me that? Nothing happened at school today," Avery says.
"Right, so your school called me for no reason," Eliot says.
"They called you?" Avery asks, her confidence wavering slightly.
"Yeah," Eliot says, "You thought they wouldn't?"
"Um…well, I was kinda hoping they wouldn't call this soon," Avery says.
"Again, I ask you. What happened in school today?" Eliot says.
"I can explain," Avery says.
"Of course you will," Eliot replies.
"A couple of girls were saying stuff about Katy and the way she… died," Avery says. "I kinda lost it and punched them in the face."
Eliot wants to say something, but he doesn't. He knows Katy's death has been really hard on Avery and he's lucky that's all she did. Eliot sighs.
"Well, you're suspended for the rest of the week," Eliot says. "I'll pick up all your school work tomorrow, I guess."
LEVERAGE
Avery finishes the problem she's on and sets her pen on the table, leaning back in her chair and sighing. Sophie looks over at her from the counter and gives her a knowing look.
"Have you finished?" she asks.
"My Math homework," Avery says. "My brain is just shot right now, ya know?"
Sophie watches her for a moment before setting her bowl on the counter and walking over to her. She grabs her things and puts them in a pile, earning a look from Avery.
"Come on," Sophie says, starting to walk towards the door.
"Where are we going?" Avery asks, getting up and following after Sophie.
"To go get some ice cream," Sophie says.
"But, we have ice cream here," Avery says.
"You need to get out of this place for a little bit. Otherwise we're going to have a huge Spencer Tantrum and those are never pretty," Sophie explains.
"Um…okay," Avery says, getting into the elevator with Sophie. The elevator dings and Sophie and Avery exit walking into Parker.
"Where are you two going?" Parker asks, not wanting to be left out.
"We're going to get ice cream. Would you like to come?" Sophie says.
"Ice cream? Sure," Parker replies, walking with the other two girls out to the car and climbing in.
LEVERAGE
Sophie, Parker, and Avery are all sitting at a picnic table, eating their ice cream. Parker is staring at the family at an adjacent table whose three year old has ice cream dripping down his hands and face.
"Parker, don't stare," Sophie whispers harshly.
"Why doesn't he just get a napkin?" Parker asks. Sophie gives Parker a look that tells her she'll talk to her later. Avery gazes across the street at the gas station, watching the people. One man in particular catches her eye and she watches as he walks away from the outside bathrooms. He looks around the parking lot before going to a nearby van and opening the door. He looks over at the bathroom he just vacated and nods his head. Avery narrows her eyes, knowing something is going on. A bigger, built man walks out of the bathroom, carrying a young blonde woman. He quickly puts her in the van and shuts the door. The two men look around before climbing into the front seat.
"Avery!" Sophie's voice shouts. Avery's head swivels over to her.
"What?" she asks.
"I've been trying to get your attention for the past couple minutes," Sophie explains.
"Oh," Avery says, glancing over at the van as it roars to life. "I think someone's in trouble."
"What do you mean?" Sophie asks. Avery nods to the van across the street.
"Two guys just carried a girl and put her in the back of that van," she says.
"What? We should call the police," Sophie says, already getting her phone out.
"We can't. We don't have time," Avery says as the van backs up and drives to the road. "We have to help her."
Sophie stops, looking over at Avery who is all but pleading for Sophie to do this. Sophie looks over at Parker.
"I think we can do this," Parker says.
"Your father is going to kill me," Sophie says.
AN: Please review and let me know what ya'll think!