The Five Recruits

Disclaimer: I do not own Ocean's 11-13. Those who do own it: you lucky, lucky people.

Summary: While Danny Ocean is out of the picture for a while, Rusty looks up five teenagers that could get into an exclusive casino owner's daughter's mind. Linus helps solve the mystery of the outcast kid, who is great at tracking and surveillance, like Linus is. In Rusty's, Linus's and the outcast's POV

Warnings: Some violence, but that's just about it.

I guess after the heist on the Bellagio, everything kinda slowed down. We, the Eleven, went our separate ways. I picked up Danny at the prison and he met up with Tess again. And since they were getting back together, I was left in the gutter (not really, I was doing pretty well) and out on my own.

It felt weird not having someone to plan with. Trust me; it was always slightly better when you knew that someone was in this with you. It was like it wasn't just you and you wouldn't be the only one going to jail if you got caught. It wasn't like I went to jail before, though, because Danny and I were such masterminds that we didn't get caught.

Then again, when you look at Danny, of course he had to get caught. I was the accessory; one that should've went with him. But I wasn't the only one. There were still eleven of us left, you know, and they couldn't catch all of us. That was reassuring, in a way, and since Danny was the head honcho, he was the one who went on parole and got out that jail and then went with Tess.

My day wasn't going that well.

"Saul, I'm bored." I sat on the bench outside the races with my old friend, Saul, who was also in on the Bellagio heist. I took a bite of the coleslaw I had in front of me.

"What are you? A toddler? Get it together, Rusty." Saul looked at me with a weird expression on his face. "Danny's on his honeymoon. Yes, of course you're bored. Do something about it!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Something, Saul? You mean like plan heists by myself?"

Saul looked incredulous. "What do you think? Do what you want. You're the one with a share of one hundred and sixty million dollars. Now," he said, getting up, "the fifth race is coming up and I got a hot tip in that one. If you'll excuse me…." He walked away.

I pondered what he said. He thought I should start some heists of my own. Sounded like a good idea, but really…planning without Danny? I wasn't one for friends, but Danny was my friend in way. But not a friend in your eyes, however. In my eyes, Danny was the kind of friend that would plan incredibly complex heist plans and get you out of trouble if need be. A partner, not a friend.

Pardon the mistake.

So, I was off to the drawing board, figuring out what I could do with a hefty share of one hundred and sixty million dollars (thank you, Mr. Benedict) and the casinos on the Vegas strip. We might not go there this time, though. Too big without a partner, you know? So, I decided maybe something smaller, like the Diamond on the Atlantic City boardwalk or the Moon Flower. Something that was well known but not huge. Something that was popular, but easily forgotten on the next vacation plan.

I had it.

The Oasis in New York City.

It was about ten blocks away from where the owner's daughter went to school – oh boy, I was going to have fun with this one.

All I needed was a teenager, or teenagers that could go to that school, get into the daughter's mind, get a tour…wonderful. I'm brilliant.

I picked up the phone and called someone that would be helpful on this particular job.

"Linus? Yeah, it's Rusty. Fly to New York City and help me out for a while. Yeah, it's another job…."

So he showed up eventually, and we began planning. Slowly planning, because we wanted the jazz about the last heist to simmer down a bit. They were still chatting about it in the newspapers, the articles getting smaller and smaller and lesser and lesser important. Eventually, they disappeared completely, and it was back to whole "boyfriend murdering girlfriend and kid" thing.

Linus and I went through phone books and parks and high schools, looking for the right kids. We saw thousands of candidates, with all the same cliques that were there when I went to school. The jocks, the preppies, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the wimps, the Goths. Yes. They were all there, and still annoyingly obnoxious and bullying.

We went to private schools and public schools, each time saying that we were looking for potential candidates for our "college." Eventually, after a few weeks, we found them.

Leah Thomas, good with blowing things up and smooth talker.

Adam Parkinson, male cheerleader. Flexible for one thing. Very flexible.

Madison George, popular girl with the looks and genius for clothes/makeup. Would fly by with owner's daughter.

Paul DiCarlo, mobster's son and mobster in training. Good with deals and looks. Wouldn't be surprised if he would be "the item" of the owner's daughter's school.

Linus found the last one. He'd been flipping through the phonebook while I was having a late dinner (it had to be at least one o'clock in the morning) and he spied a phone number and address for an orphanage asylum on Fifth Avenue. Funny, why would it be there? We were about to find out.

Her name was Lily, I think. Yeah, Lily Carson. We asked some questions about her and from what Mrs. Friedrish said, (reminds me a lot about fried rice…maybe I should stay away from the food for a while) she likes to harass the other girls by tailing them through the streets to and from school sometimes.

I sent a meaningful glance Linus's way. He seemed a bit surprised, but his expression cleared up and he nodded at her and glanced at me. We nodded in chorus.

"We'd like to talk with her. She's in high school, right?" I said.

Mrs. Friedrish nodded (thinking of that fried rice again).

"We're thinking of recruiting her for our college," supplied Linus. He was a quiet kid, but helpful at times.

"I don't mean to rain on your parade, Mr.'s Ryan and Caldwell," she said (she must annoy those orphans so much with those expressions) "but Lily's grades have been very poor this last term. Her teachers are considering holding her back another year before considering colleges."

Oh. Well that definitely shot a hole in our plan.