A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They have meant the world! Keep it up:) For disclaimer see chapter one.
Even used to Parker's weirdness, that gave them a start. "Say what?" Said Hardison
Parker huffed, annoyed at having to repeat herself. "I said there's a girl passed out in the hallway. Did you put her there?"
Nate, Hardison, and Sophie looked at each other, then shot out of their seats and rushed for the door, Hardison and Sophie getting there at the same time and struggling a little to both get through first. A girl was laying in the hallway, sprawled forward, as if headed for their door. Ear-length brown hair covered her face, but it was something else that caught Hardison's attention. "Oh, hell…" He looked at Nate, a little green. "Nate, isn't that the bandana Eliot was wearing the other day?"
Sophie followed their eyes to the blood-splattered grey piece of cloth clutched in the girl's hand. Sure enough, the last time she had seen it, it had been holding Eliot's hair back. "Oh, my…"
Nate knelt down beside the girl, checking to see if she was breathing. Noticing that she was, he said "Help me turn her over."
They moved her to her back, and Sophie gasped. Bruises covered the girl's face, blood splattered her t-shirt and jeans. One eye was swollen shut, and a long, jagged cut tore along the length of her right forearm still dripping blood. Her breathing was shallow. "Let's get her inside," Nate said.
They picked her up and carried her back inside, laying her on the couch. Sophie picked up a washrag to clean away some of the blood, and at the first touch of the water, the girl shot up with a yell. She grabbed Sophie's wrist and shoved her backward onto the floor while jumping to her feet. Putting her hands up in front of her in what Nate could recognize as a fighting stance. "Who the hell are you?"
"Hey, it's okay, kid, just relax. My name is Nate. We don't want to hurt you. We're trying to help. What happened to you?"
Her eyes widened. "You're Nate Ford. I made it!"
Hardison looked at her confused. "Made it? Girl, you wanna tell us what you're doing with that?" He pointed to the bandana, which had fallen to the floor. "That's our friend's, and it's all bloody, and something bad has happened to him, so you'd better start talking!" He crossed his arms and tried to look menacing. And of course, failed.
She took a step forward toward Hardison when Parker stepped over in front of her. "Did you hurt Eliot?"
The girl dropped her attack mode and tilted her head looking at Parker. Sensing no threat, she sighed. "I didn't hurt Eliot. I have to rescue him and he said Nate Ford and the rest of his crew could help. So, that's you guys?"
Nate put a hand on Hardison's shoulder, and shook his head. Stand down… "Yeah, that's us. Tell us everything. Starting with your name. And we'll get Eliot back." He sat down and motioned for her to do the same. After watching them for a moment, she sat back on the couch. Hardison leaned back against the counter. With no hesitation, Parker bounced up on the couch beside her. Sophie came back in with an ice pack. She took it and looked at it a minute. "My name is Alyssa. And this is Eliot's… base…?"
"Yeah," Parker said. "His office is just down the hall. Wanna see?"
Hardison gave her the usual "There's something wrong with you" look. "Parker!"
Alyssa regarded her. "Yeah, actually I do. I know he's got a medic kit stored in there somewhere, and I kinda need it. Show me, and I can talk while I stitch up my arm." Parker jumped up without a word and headed down the hallway, Alyssa right behind her. Hardison jumped up first to follow, but the rest were with them quickly. No one was really sure what to think about this girl, and they certainly didn't want her running around the office unsupervised. And Parker did NOT count as supervision.
She followed Parker into the office, and instantly began rummaging through the closet. "Hey! Exclaimed Nate. "What-" He cut off as she pulled out Eliot's medic kit. After rummaging through it for a minute, she pulled out the suture pack.
As she set it up, she started talking. "I had a problem and went to Eliot. But they were ready for us. They took us both down, captured us. Eliot made a distraction so I could get away, told me to come and get you guys, that you could help me rescue him." She threaded the needle and lowered it to her arm.
"Hey, wait, you're gonna do that yourself?" Hardison asked, looking a little green. "Not even gonna numb it or anything?"
She looked confused. "Well, I ain't going to a hospital, so not much in the way of choices here."
Nate stepped up, carefully, noting how skittish the girl seemed. If they scared her off, they had no way of finding Eliot. "Hang on, kid. How are you going to do that left-handed?"
"I'm ambidexterous. You got a better plan?"
He put out a hand. "Well, Eliot has taught me a few things. I can do it for you…" She seemed reluctant, and he took another step forward. Meeting slightly narrowed blue eyes, he said softly "Eliot trusts us. Trust me enough to let me help him patch up his wounds."
It seemed to be enough, because she shrugged and held out the needle. She still made no move for the lidocaine, seemingly taking a page from Eliot's book, and he didn't push it. Just simply held out her arm. To her credit, she never flinched as he put seven stitches in her arm then carefully bandaged it. She almost smiled. "Thanks." She flexed her fingers, checking mobility, then looked up at Nate. "We can go get Eliot now?"
"Whoa, now, hold on!" Exclaimed Hardison. "We don't just run headfirst into a bad situation! Nate, he makes plans, and we have back-up plans, and back-ups for the back-ups. We don't go off half-cocked like this!"
Her eyes suddenly full of fire, she took a step toward Hardison, who stepped back in alarm. "Eliot is there because of me. He risked his life and made it so much worse on himself to let me go. And I am not going to sit here and make plans and backup plans and backups for the backups while they're doing God knows what to him! You don't know what they did to him, to us, while we were there and he made me leave. Said I couldn't do this myself, that his team would help me. So help me, dammit!"
"Alyssa, sit down. Please." Nate said quietly. "And let me explain this the best I can. Eliot is the best in the business, would you agree?"
She stared at Hardison for a moment, still angry, but finally turned to Nate and nodded. "Of course he is!"
Nate motioned for the chair, and after a defiant moment, she sat, staring at him for further explanation. "Now, kid, if these guys got him, then they are damn good too. We go busting in there like a bad John Wayne movie, they get us too. That means two things, tactically. Number one, there's no one left to rescue Eliot. Number two, the bad guys have a shiny new toy to mess with Eliot." He looked her in the eye, compassion showing clearly. "Now, if Eliot made it harder on himself to get you free, you must mean something to him, right?" She nodded slowly. "Okay, if you know Eliot, what's going to be harder on him? What they're doing to him now, or being forced to watch while they do it to you or us?"
He could see as the truth to his words sink in to her expression. She closed her eyes for a minute, breathed deeply, then set her face in an expression that looked so familiar. "Okay. You got my attention. We do it your way, we get Eliot back?"
Nate sat on the corner of Eliot's desk and crosses his arms. "You have my word." He stands, the fearless leader again. "Now. Let's-"
"Are you going to say go steal Eliot?" Parker asked. "Because that's just wrong."
Nate looked hurt. "Of course not. They already stole him. Let's go re-steal Eliot."