A/N: So, here's an idea that came out of the blue. I liked the idea but I already have something else along these lines coming by for a visit so I thought I would leave this one up to you guys out there in fanfiction. Take this as a prompt to do with as you like. All I'm giving you is the idea. You can go as wild as you wish and even make this into an AU piece or something. The only rule I have is have fun!

No, I obviously do not own Leverage or this would be on the board of a possible story and not on .

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"Nate…" Sophie began in a strangely calm voice.

"No, Soph," Nate begged with tears in his eyes as he willed his feet to carry him to the warehouse faster. They both knew it was fruitless but he had to try. He had to be with her.

Sophie felt the tears prickling her eyes as she struggled uselessly against her confined arms. She had a message to deliver and he needed to hear it. The descending clock struck 1. "I-"

Pow! The warehouse grew into a fierce ball of yellow just as the mastermind was about to breach the parking lot. Nate's feet collapsed under the force and the mastermind flew backwards with the weight of it. His world was in flames as his back slammed into the pavement. He felt his head swing back but there was surprisingly no pain. He was staring at the beautiful blue sky with a probable concussion but he wasn't in pain. Sophie was the only thought going through his mind. He had to get to Sophie. The mastermind pushed himself to his feet and stumbled to stand.

The warehouse was still aglow with the yellow orange flames but there was no roof. It had been completely obliterated in the blast so only the inflamed floor was visible. Nate stared at the flames in agitation. He couldn't see Sophie. He took a deep breath and raced towards the flames. A great force came against him and stopped him in his tracks though.

"No!" Nate squealed at the hitter as he struggled to break free of the tight grip. "Let go!"

"No, Nate," Eliot huffed as he used all of his strength to hold the man back. "She's gone."

"Eliot!" Nate realized with a jolt as he struggled against the hitter more, "Eliot, let go!"

"I can't, Nate!" Eliot shouted back with a bit of pain in his voice.

"Sophie!" Nate hollered at the top of his lungs, "We need to help Sophie! Let go!"

"She's gone, Nate!" Eliot cried out with pain breaking through his whole body at the cold fact.

"No!" Nate denied the claim in pain, "No, she needs our help! She needs me, Eliot!"

"She's gone," Eliot grumbled with his strength swiftly depleting at the mastermind's insistence. "She's gone."

"No, she's not gone!" Nate argued with desperate struggles to break free. He was slowly making progress. "She could be hurt! We need to get in there and-"

"She's gone," Eliot chanted into the mastermind's ears with sorrow filling his every bone. "She's gone."

"No!" Nate shook his head in disbelief. The words were starting to penetrate because his strength to run towards the flames was dwindling. "No!"

"She's gone," Eliot repeated in a haze of the news. "She's gone!"

"She's…" Nate felt himself go limp at the thought. "No!"

"She's gone," Eliot continued in disbelief. "She's gone."

"No!" Nate slammed his fist into the hitter's cheek with sudden anger coursing through his desperate veins. He pushed up against the hitter ready for a knock out drag out fight. He couldn't handle this. "She's not gone!"

"She's gone," Eliot gasped against the attack of fists and struggled to stop the mastermind as safely as possible. "She's gone."

"No!" Nate cried out as his hands continued to pound into the hitter's flesh for everything they were worth. "She's not! No!"

"She's gone," Eliot caught one of the offending arms and quickly grabbed onto the other. "She's gone, Nate! She's gone!"

"No!" Nate begged of the hitter with wild, manic eyes. "NO!"

"She's gone," Parker croaked out to back the hitter up. She and the hacker had been dumbfoundedly watching the scene from the safety of the nearby tree in the parking lot. "Nate…" Her voice cracked as the words seemed to be finally penetrating her. The hacker quickly wrapped her into her arms and refused to let go.

"She's gone," Hardison stared at the mastermind with hollow eyes. He was the only one keeping it together. At least, that's what it looked like to anyone who didn't know the hacker so well. He was just as crushed as the thief in his arms. He was just trying to do what their grifter had taught him to.

"No!" Nate screamed with all of his might as he felt his feet collapse onto the pavement again. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. She was gone. He could smell the flames of the fire, the toxins of explosive material filling his nose with their putrid stench. He could even hear the wretched wails coming from what could only be Parker. He could taste the salty wetness on his lips that could only be his own blinding tears. He even saw the hitter staring at him blankly, the hacker staring at the thief and the warehouse in awe, and the thief throwing debris towards the flames with vicious words falling from her lips in sick, rapid fire succession. He couldn't feel.

All of his senses were intact except that. He couldn't feel the hard rocks poking into him from the black pavement top. He couldn't feel the bleeding cuts across his legs, arms and entire body. He couldn't feel the bruised ribs or broken nose he suffered from the initial explosion. He couldn't feel the wicked concussion bubbling at the hitter's apparent touch. He couldn't feel the sickening vomit that tore through his throat and escaped his lips the moment the hitter apparently touched his head. He couldn't feel the sticky ooze of blood falling from his ears and eyes after the impact of the wild heat that erupted his world. He couldn't feel anything. He was numb. Feeling was something Sophie took.

"Come on," Eliot suggested with both of his arms digging into the mastermind's shirt to make certain he had the man's attention. "Let's get you home."

"Home just blew up," Nate gulped out in a shaky breath of unfelt pain.

The hitter dropped him on the ground at that cruel and sudden realization. Nate was right. Their home just blew up in smokes. Their grifter had just been engulfed in flames. They had just lost one of their own in a tragic and painful way. Would they even be able to survive once vengeance was theirs to claim?

"I want revenge!" Parker hissed towards the two men in answer to the hitter's question. Her eyes showed hatred, the kind of hatred Eliot had only ever seen when he was working for Moreau. It was the kind of hatred that meant all who did this would suffer. It was the kind of hatred that consumed you.

"We'll get it," Hardison promised with a similar sparkle in his eyes. Only, his face actually showed the hatred too. His features were firm and tight. His lips were pressed into a determined frown and his eyebrows were furrowed to the point where they connected into one. His heavy, calming breaths couldn't even begin to ease the tension in his shoulders and the way his fists were clenched to the point where there had to be blood. Well, blood was going to stain those hands soon anyway.

"I want them dead!" Parker explained to the hitter with venomous eyes. Hardison was nodding his head in agreement right behind her. Eliot stared at the two knowing what was coming next. He knew it simply by the way the mastermind actually showed interest in their little exchange. Hardison and Parker had always been the two kept innocent in their little group. Parker had a violent streak sure but it was the way she observed the world they wished to protect. Hardison was the only one truly innocent of the world's evil. His job was to sit behind a computer all day. He would have never seen the despair he caused to those he took from. Sophie had always been the first one to indulge that innocence the way any mother would. She kept that innocence in check and made certain to keep it at all costs. She treated them like they were her children. Now, Sophie's treasured little darlings wanted to taste blood. Sophie's kids wanted revenge. Sophie's children wanted to kill.

"You're going to teach us." Parker's words absorbed into the hitter's mind the way nothing else could. Hardison stretched himself to his full height behind her and stepped forward with agreement and death filling his every stride. They were in agreement and they both knew it. The hitter swallowed at the vengeful fire he had never thought he'd witness. There was no going back. Revenge was all that was left.

"Eliot," Nate spoke towards the hitter with blank eyes. He had already reached the foregone conclusion the hitter was struggling with. He knew even before the hitter did apparently. It was time to move forward.

"Yeah," Eliot nodded towards his siblings in agony of the decision he just made. "I'll teach ya, Parker. I'll teach ya both."

"Good," Parker barked out with a sickeningly blank gaze filling up her features. Her lips curved into the horrendous grin of someone enjoying the idea of the taste of blood. The animal that once was Parker was about to be cruelly unleashed upon the unsuspecting world.

The hacker didn't nod. He didn't even acknowledge the hitter's words, not really. His determined frown scraggled out into a straight line and his fists unclenched to reveal little red divots in his hands. He calmly walked toward the mastermind and Eliot couldn't help the bristling step forward. The hacker didn't react to it as he pushed the older man out of his way and helped the mastermind to his feet. Hardison and Parker both helped the broken man to the van without a single look back.

Eliot turned towards the howling flames with wide, teary eyes. So this was what they had been reduced to? They were no longer supposed to be a team of do-gooders. They were now a broken, demolished team of assassins. They only had one mark left and that would be it. There was nothing left.

"Sorry Soph," Eliot whispered towards the warehouse in remorse. This would be the last time his team would remain clean. It was a failure the hitter fully took upon his own shoulders. He steadied himself and began the despicable steps towards their fall from grace. There was only one job left to do. They were going to kill Damien Moreau.

A/N II: Wait, there's more!