Mary (happycurtis on tumblr) and I were just throwing around fic ideas and this one stuck. We don't own Scorpion, or the inspiration behind this plot, but we thought it's be fun to play around with (:
((If you're familiar with criminal minds then you'll probably be able to guess what happens, but no spoilers please!))
"Hey," Happy made a detour at her boyfriend's desk before heading out to the back to fix Walter's sad excuse of a car. "You free tomorrow?"
Toby pushed his chair a little away from his desk and leaned back, opening his arms. "Aww Hap, you know I have nothing better to do than you." He wanted to continue, but Happy made sure he saw how her grip tightened around the titanium hammer and he made the wise decision to stop.
"They're closing some of the subway lines tomorrow for maintenance, and since you've been asking so much about the urban exploring I mentioned a while backā¦"
"But you said there were rats in there! And more rats!"
She looked at him pointedly. "You have a ferret sleeping on your lap."
"But it's Bueller! And in case you don't remember, he's our lucky ferret." He winked.
Looking around to make sure nobody was watching, Happy hopped up on his desk and leaned closer. "If you agree to come tomorrow, I'll make you even luckier tonight."
Toby grinned lasciviously, and Happy cursed herself for not choosing her words better. "In that case, I'll make sure I come tonight as well, if you know what I-"
The front door slammed open and Cabe walked in with Cooper close behind. "We got a case! And this is serious so don't mess around!"
The team gathered around the computer terminal and their jaws dropped at the familiar faces on the screen.
"Well hello," Toby said, turning to his girlfriend. "Look Hap, your favourite people in the world. After me, of course." Happy rolled her eyes and hit Toby's arm hard enough to direct his focus back to Cooper, his trademark cheeky grin the furthest apology he'd give.
"As I was trying to say," Cooper glared at Toby, annoyed at the interruption but frankly not expecting anything less from these geniuses anymore. "TheLa Plaga cartel has expanded their operations to SoCal." She opened her mouth again to continue, but Cabe beat her to it.
"More specifically, they've expanded their operations to you."
"Well they certainly chose the right name," Toby remarked. "Those men are like weeds you can't kill."
Cabe stepped up, being more familiar with the original case than his boss. "It's not about drugs or hostages this time, it's about revenge. Long story short, they don't appreciate people stealing their hostages, embarrassing them in their own territory, and trying to let their rookie escape."
"I told you Mexico was a bad idea," Sylvester spoke up. "Why did we have to piss them off? All it did was give Walter a Ferrari to drive off of a cliff-"
"Hey! There were extenuating circumstances."
"-and now this. Armed mercenaries are too afraid of them! I knew we shouldn't have taken the job in the first place."
"Oh please," Toby took the opportunity to jump back into the conversation. "You were too busy buying a knockoff cuckoo clock."
"A knockoff cuckoo clock that saved your life."
"You thought a gun was a dust buster."
"It was a mass-produced diode duct taped onto a tablet, not a precise infrared-"
"Can we just," Cooper interrupted and between the tone, her clenched fists and increased breathing rate, Toby could tell that if they continued much longer she'd have a stroke. Raising his hands up in surrender, he nodded for her to continue.
"Their request is fairly straightforward. They want us to give them the money they could've gotten if we hadn't saved Zoe. So we just need to lure them into a fake ransom payment and then come up with a way to trap and arrest them, hopefully without too many shots being fired."
"Fake ransom payment?" Toby was on a roll, and Happy was sure she was going to kill him when they got home. "Can't sugar daddy bail us out?"
Walter sighed. "Elia's currently low on funds, after his mostly failed venture with the smart tech-"
"Mostly failed? I can't remember there being a sliver of success in that house of horrors. But then again, I was deprived of oxygen for three minutes so who knows how much I've forgotten."
"Toby, you of all people would know that three minutes has minimal to no impact on brain functions."
"Love how you're so sure of that, Walt. Do you want to try? Because I can arrange for that right-"
"Mr O'Brien and Mr Curtis, please." The deputy director was at her wits end.
"Should I mention it's Dr., or will she blow a neuro-capillary?" Toby leaned over to whisper to Happy, who had long since mastered the art of ignoring her boyfriend.
"Right." Walter swung right back into business. "We need a drop off location."
Walter turned to Sylvester on the computer. "Think isolated. Exit routes."
"Eliminate areas near homes - too quiet, too easy to follow, " Toby contributed. "So think somewhere near highways."
"Got it!" Sylvester looked up from his computer terminal. "There's a spot just two point one-four miles from the docks, an abandoned warehouse lot that runs parallel to the highway, with its own exit. There are loads of service roads leading up to it too, so backup can come in whichever way the cartel doesn't."
Toby said, "We have to make them believe that they've chosen the location. A false sense of security and control over the situation will make them lower their guard, at least in the slightest. That'll be all we need to work our magic."
"And what about the money?" Paige asked. "I mean, I know we're not going to let them get away with it, but if even Elia can't spare a few million as bait-"
"Ooh! I got a new Monopoly set last week and I was wondering what to do with the old one. Good thing it still has most of the notes."
Happy wasn't the only one ready to strangle Toby when Walter unexpectedly took his side. "Yes," Walter said, brain piecing the puzzle they couldn't see. "It'll be enough to resemble a briefcase containing the ransom."
"What?" Nobody else, not even Toby himself, had actually thought Walter would buy into it.
Walter shrugged in his usual nonchalant way. "We need something to substitute actual cash, and Monopoly money is a cheap, risk-free substitute."
"They'll hardly believe that we're handing over the money that easily."
"They don't have to. We show it from say, two point eight metres and they'll hardly be able to tell the difference. They just need to be occupied until backup arrives."
"Unless they open it to find Rich Uncle Pennybags instead of Franklin," Sylvester said, undoubtedly concerned. "And all hell breaks loose."
"Come on Sylvester, this is hardly the riskiest thing we've done." Walter tried to coax him and to be fair, Sylvester couldn't disagree.
"Alright," Happy pulled up a map of the docks on the main screen. "So we'll get into position here and here."
Cabe, on his phone, called out to Sly. "Sylvester, I need you to somehow track any one of their devices or the signal from the wired cash they took. We need them tracked, backup can't be sitting on the sidelines before they show up or we'll blow our cover."
"Wait," Sylvester called out nervously as he followed Cabe. "What did you mean earlier by without too many shots being fired?"
Hope you guys enjoyed it! We'll be updating pretty frequently, and the future chapters will get longer, so hope you stick around!
Comments will help us improve, so please do if you can spare a moment... Thanks! (:
