"Let him go..." Eliot warned, with his teeth clenched. His hair was a mess, but he couldn't care less about that. Nate was his mission. Nothing was going to get in his way. Absolutely nothing.
Nate was his only mission!
Nate had a cut above his right eye. A broken arm. A broken leg. And a gash in his abdomen.
Eliot quickly scanned the Mastermind.
The mark flashed his greedy smile. "Oh, you want him?" He was being sarcastic, Eliot knew that. But little did he know that he was adding fuel to the fire.
"Let. Him. Go." He spat. His hands were itching to pounce on the Mark, he didn't know why he didn't just give in to his cravings and kill him.
The Mark held Nate's limp form up, one hand on his collar. "Him?" He shook the weak mastermind. "Doesn't look so precious to me."
Eliot glared and clenched his hands tighter.
The anger was building up inside.
He didn't think he could escape it.
He had to fight it.
Nate was precious to him.
To their family.
And it made anger boil in his veins.
He was ready to fight. Faster than light he grabbed the Mark and dropped him onto the cold hard ground, he'd kept Nate in for so long.
"I. Warned. You." Eliot punched the side of the Marks face until he was bleeding. Even that hadn't satisfied him. The Mark was unconscious but Eliot still had rage building up inside of him.
He pulled him off of the ground and shoved his body against the wall.
Nate. Nate was his only mission. It wasn't to kill. That wasn't his mission. His first and only priority was to get Nate out alive.
His body didn't want to return to sane. But his mind screamed at him to stop and help Nate.
Finally choosing a side, he quickly brought the Mark's head down to his knee in one fluid motion.
I have to get Nate out of here!
He thought as he heard the sickening crunch of the Mark's skull splitting open.
Eliot made his way to Nate's prone body, completely deaf to the Mark's unconscious body hitting the ground.
He fell to his knees beside Nate's unconscious body and immediately began to put pressure on the bleeding in his abdomen. Nate winced ever-so-slightly.
"E-Eliot..."
Eliot shushed him, his medical combat experience immediately kicking in.
"E-Eliot." Nate gasped and shouted out in pain. Eliot shushed the bleeding Mastermind. Freneticly, he searched around the warehouse for a First Aid Kit.
He doubted there would be one.
But he hoped-prayed to God that there was one. It turned out he did still have faith in God.
Whether it was his faith or his luck that'd he had found one, he'd never know. He ran back and knelt down next to Nate's side.
The poor man was sweating feverishly. He was stuttering trying to get words out. "E-Eliot? Wh-Where..." He coughed and gave up.
Eliot shushed him once again and snatched the gauze out of the box before wrapping it around Nate's abdomen. "It's alright! You're alright!" He shouted to the Mastermind who was shutting his eyes. "I'll disinfect it when we get back to HQ, it'll be okay. I need you to stay with me. Alright? Can you do that?"
He received a weak nod and Eliot checked his pulse. "Damn." He swore! "Damn!!"
Who said he had to be calm!!
He hated calm!!
Fuck calm! Fuck it!
"I'm gonna get you out of here." As much as he tried he couldn't keep the promise from escaping his lips.
"Sophie,I got Nate-" Eliot immediately pulled out his cell and typed in The Grifter's phone number, ignoring the tacky bloody prints he left.
"What? Is he alright? Where are you."
Her panicked voice was enough to make him go back to the Mark and beat him but he knew that Nate was more important than letting his anger out.
He put the phone down and over his shoulders before grabbing his phone again. "Well, Sophie. I ain't gonna lie. He's not okay. But I'm gonna get him home, alright."
He heard Sophie choked cry as he continued to walk to his truck which was a couple hundred yards away.
"Okay. Eliot promise me that you'll bring him home..."
Without thinking he responded,"I promise. Now. Do me a favor and call Hardison and Parker tell them to meet you at HQ."
"Alright. Be careful Eliot."
"I will."
Then he hung up and dropped the phone in his pocket, now entirely focused on getting to his truck.
"If saving your life depends on me getting to my truck fast enough than you can count on me." He grunted shifting Nate's body weight on his shoulders.
"Nate?" He half shouted, making sure that the Mastermind hadn't-
"Nate!!" He shouted, he received a small and barely audiable grunt from the Mastermind.
"Stay awake, okay. Stay awake."
The Mastermind didn't grunt this time and Eliot stopped dead in his tracks.
"Nate!" He nearly screamed. Nate merely grunted and tried to open his eyes but failed to do so.
"Yeah, that's good. Keep grunting, okay. Stay awake, alright." He got a nod and a grunt from Nate and he continued walking. This time speeding up.
If his mission depended on him getting to his car fast enough. If that was all he had to do. Then consider it done! He was going to succeed in his mission. He was going to save Nate's life. He was going to succeed in his mission! "Nate, are we gonna make it?" He asked. Anything to keep him alive. Anything.
The Mastermind grunted and Eliot couldn't help but smile. "You gotta stay awake. For Sophie. For me. For the team."
He received another grunt and it made him chuckle to know that the Mastermind was still awake.
It took him a total of 15 minutes to reach his truck.
"Alright, Nate..." he gently lifted Nate's limp body off of his shoulders and into the passengers seat.
Nate groaned now fully awake and vulnerable to the tremendous pain. He gritted his teeth at the sudden change in position. "Here..."
Eliot searched his pocket for the morphine he'd packed with him from the First Aid Kit as he sat in the drivers seat.
He found it, handed it to Nate and he injected it in himself.
He groaned and gritted his teeth. "Thanks, E-Eliot..." He stuttered. his hair was matted to his forehead and Eliot could tell he was uncomfortable.
"How..." Nate inhaled and gritted his teeth. "Far are w-we?"
Eliot thought for a moment. "About five miles..."
Nate sighed and tried to lean back in his seat.
"I-I..." He shook his head.
"...don't th-think I could make it that long.."
Eliot was already driving down the bumpy road when Nate spoke out loud. He could tell it took a lot of effort for him to talk.
He looked at Nate with confidence and pure determination.
"You're gonna make it, okay! You're not gonna die. Cause if you do, Sophie's gonna be pissed at me. And no way in hell am I gonna take the blame for that!"
Nate managed a smile and a short chuckle although it was barely audible it brought a smile to his face.
Eliot focused on the road. "You know Sophie-"
He gave a shrug not sure how to continue. He looked at Nate, who had his eyes shut tight and was leaning back.
"She-" He tried again but he couldn't get the words out.
Back when Nate had been kidnapped, some months ago, Sophie had told him that it had been all her fault.
At first he hadn't thought it was true but then Sophie showed him the Diamond.
He had been so damn mad at the Grifter.
The inconcieted British woman that seemed to ruin Nate's life every time he got another piece in the puzzle.
And she had sold him out for a damn painting!!! He thought angrily.
"She-"
"Sold me out..."
Eliot looked at the Mastermind in shock.
The man was always one step ahead...
"No shock."
Thirty minutes passed
And they still hadn't reached the new HQ the team had set up since there had been a last second change of plans.
The new HQ was surrounded by other buildings just like it making it seem like it was just any old condo.
Eliot had nearly gotten lost when he found out where Nate was and had to run down stairs to get to his truck.
Sophie, Parker, and Hardison had all lost hope in finding him. But he hadn't . He would never give up.
Now he knew why Sophie didn't want to keep looking for him.
She was the cause of this!
He thought bitterly.
A low painful groan snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Nate?"
He turned to look at Nate who was now drenched in sweat and pale.
He moaned in response.
Eliot looked down to the wound. Nate's hand had went limp no longer maintaining pressure and was tacky with dried blood.
Stupid! Stupid!
He kicked himself. He should've been watching him the whole time and not been thinking about how bad he hated Sophie.
He moved Nate's obsolete hand out of the way to replace it with his own.
Maintain pressure.
Maintain pressure. There we go. Everything's going to be fine.
He mentally calmed himself.
"Nate..."
He looked at the Mastermind who's head was lolling to the side and his eyes shut.
"Nate! Nate!" He shouted.
Driving with one hand, while keeping pressure on the wound, while watching out for any cars, while making sure Nate doesn't die was starting to make him panic .
Nate's eyes barely fluttered open.
He was hanging on by a thread.
"Come on. Come on."
He prayed to god as he kept driving. "Just a couple more minutes, Nate. Come on."
Beneath his hand he could feel a very weak and very faint pulse and new Nate was fading and fast.
Two minutes away.
One minute and thirty seconds.
Come on. Come on.
Eliot mentally chanted.
He pulled into a busy street that led to HQ.
Now, it was all up to God. Whether he made it in time. Or he didn't.
He took one last glance at Nate's feverish face and something clicked inside of him.
A fire of some kind. He gripped the wheel tighter.
"No!" He shouted and swerved through traffic. Nate's not gonna die. He not gonna die on my watch!!
Eliot wasn't gonna let him die because Nate wasn't his mission anymore. It was something much more personal.
Eliot swerved into the opposite lane completely vulnerable to the incoming traffic.
"Fuck!" He cursed.
Quickly he spun the wheel to the right and floored the gas, narrowly dodging a diesel.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "We're goin' home, Nate...We're goin' home! Hang on!"
Nate's head lolled to the side and was barely breathing the harsh ragged breaths he had been breathing only a few seconds ago.
Come on! Come on! He chanted in his head. Come on!! Come on!
Nate was getting paler every second, it seemed.
Eliot mounted the curb, pulled into the driveway and quickly went to get Nate inside.
Where it was safe.
"Is he alright?" It was Parker who answered the door with a more than worried look on her face.
Eliot didn't answer; couldn't.
"Get the first aid kit and a wet towel. Hurry!" Parker was gone before Eliot even finished his sentence.