"Ally!" Nate shouted as he entered the apartment. "Ally! Where are you!"

"Just a minute!" Allison shouted.

Nate opened the file Dubenich gave him and flipped through it.

Allison finished brushing out her long blonde hair, then walked out to see what her uncle needed.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" He asked.

"Well, I planned on going to the art mus-"

"Good, get in the car. There's some people you should meet." He said, walking out.

"What?" She asked, wrinkling her nose.

"I've got a job." He said.

"You did!" She asked, her eyes lighting up. "Is it at another insurance company?" She asked, grabbing her coat.

"Not exactly, and the job is for the both of us." He said, walking out the door.

"Both of us?" Allison asked.

Nate ignored her. "The boss is paying us each 600,000 dollars." He said.

"600,000 dollars!" She exclaimed with her eyes wide. "What do they want us to do? rob a bank?" She asked jokingly.

He said nothing, but got in the car.

She slid into the passenger side. "Uncle Nathan..." She said slowly

"We're not robbing a bank." He said, pulling out into the lane.

She looked relieved.

"We're robbing Pierson's aviation." He said.

"Excuse me?" She asked, leaning forward.

"A man named Victor Dubenich hired you and I to oversee a team, who will steal the airplane designs that Pierson stole." He said.

"And the people we're meeting...?"

"Are the people we're hired to look after." He said.

She nodded.

He glanced at her and chuckled. "You're handling this a lot better than I thought you would."

She shrugged. "Why am I in?" She asked.

"I told him to hire you." Nate said.

"For?" Allison asked.

"Advice." He said.

"Advice?" She asked.

"On the plan, and keep me from getting sidetracked." He said.

"Ah." She said.

He pulled into the parking lot of a warehouse.

She went to get out but Nate grabbed her arm. She blinked at him.

He handed her a can of pepper spray.

"Uncle Nate." She whined.

"Just in case." He said.

She looked at it hesitantly.

"It'll give me some peace of mind since you won't carry a gun."

She groaned. "Alright." She took the can and pocketed it. then, climbed out of the car shutting the door.

They walked into the warehouse.

Three people stood in the center of the building. Each looking uncomfortable.

There was a dark-skinned man who was messing with a phone, he kept glancing up at the two others, every time one of them moved his hand flinched towards a lump by his waist band.

The other man had brown hair that was fairly long not quite to his shoulders, his arms were folded causing his muscles to bulge, giving him an intimidating look. He looked all around the building and at the two others, sucking in their every movement. His eyes glinting with distrust.

The last, but certainly not least, was a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She seemed very calm compared to her companions, she was still cautiously shifting around, but it wasn't as noticeable as the other two.

"Well, I see we're all here." Allison's uncle's voice bounced around in the dull warehouse, causing the three to jump, then pretend they weren't startled.

"Finally." The brunette snapped. "We've been waiting here for over thirty minutes."

"I'm sorry, I had to get my niece." Nate said, not seeming sorry at all. "Allison, this is Alec Hardison, Eliot Spencer, and Parker." Nate said, motioning to the black-haired man, the brunette, and the blonde.

Allison dipped her head in acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you." Parker said, her tone bordering on friendly.

Allison flashed a smile at her.

"Alright, let's get this over with. What's the plan?" Hardison asked.

Nate and Allison walked into an unfinished building.

Allison placed a small table and walked around.

Nate placed a projector on the table, which beamed a blue print of the building. Nate handed Allison a headset.

She slipped it on.

Nate did the same. "Alright, clear comms." He said.

"Ah, no, no, no, no, no, hell no! This equipment is total VH1 bro, the best of the 80's! I got something nicer." Hardison said.

"No surprises, now." Nate said.

"I've been doing this since high school bro, I'm captain discipline." Hardison replied. "It's a bone conducting earpiece mic, works off the vibrations in your jaw."

There was a rustling sound.

"You can hear everything." Hardison said in a low whisper.

"You're not as useless as you look." Eliot's voice said, popping into the comms.

"I don't even know what you do." Hardison said.

Allison rolled her eyes.

"Can I have one?" Parker chirped.

"You can have the whole box." Hardison replied.

"What are you going to do when she finds out you live with your mom?" Eliot asked.

Hardison chuckled. "Age of the geek baby! we run the world!"

"Uh huh, you keep telling yourself that." Eliot said.

They heard some jingling and rustling. "The last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003." Parker said.

"Is this thing safe?" Eliot asked, referring to the earpiece.

"You talking about the Caravaggio? you stole that?" Nate asked Parker.

"Yea, it's completely safe, it's just, you know, you might experience: Nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokiness." Hardison said.

Allison groaned and rubbed her forehead.

"You're precisely the reason I work alone." Eliot snarled.

Allison gave her uncle a weary look.

He nodded and waved his hand dismissing it. "Only one job." He whispered, covering the mic.

She nodded. "One long, painful job." She muttered quietly.

He nodded. "Guys, listen up. on my count not a second sooner, Parker, no freelancing." Nate commanded.

"Look, we know what we're doing." Eliot said in an annoyed voice.

"And on the count of five." Nate said, ignoring Eliot's statement.

"Aw.. he doesn't wanna be our pal." Hardison said.

"We're on the count, five, four..."

Rustling was heard.

Allison looked at Nate.

"..Three-"

"She's gone." Eliot said.

"Sonuva-"

"Yehaaaa!" Parker screamed over the comms.

Allison grinned.

"That's twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag." Eliot said.

Wind rushed past the mic, then it came to a halt.

"Vibration detectors are on." Parker said.

"No cutting then." Nate said.

"Go with the binary." Allison said.

There was rustling and thumps for a few minutes while the team did what they did best: Break the law.

"You know Parker any time you wanna-"

Eliot was cut off by the sound of something jolting.

"Whoa!" Hardison exclaimed.

"Boys are on their way." Parker said.

"Where are you with security? What about security?" Nate commanded.

"They don't see a thing." Parker said, proudly.

After a minute, they heard a muffled ding.

"Doors are opened." Parker said.

"Alright, it's show time guys. here we go." Nate said.

Some small, unimportant chatter began.

Allison was drawn to the window of the building, she looked around. her eyes landed on an apartment building close to the building she was in, she looked through the window to see the playoffs on the television, with several people crowded around the TV.

"I found the guards, they're doing their rounds early. Why the f-"

"The playoffs." Allison said, turning to look at her uncle.

"Game five of the playoffs." She explained. "They're doing their rounds early so they can watch the playoffs."

Nate groaned.

"How did you know the playoffs were on?" Hardison asked.

"I can see the TV in one of the apartment complexes across the street." Allison said smirking.

"Girl, I envy you." Hardison said.

"Alright, where are they?" Nate asked.

"The stairwell." Parker said.

"Alright, we need to squelch 'em." Nate said.

"Eliot, I want you to clear the zone. Use Hardison as bait."

"Gladly." Eliot said.

Hardison began protesting, which turned into pleading to the device that was cracking the code to the door. "Forget it." He said.

"Don't move!" Someone exclaimed.

Hardison let out a grunt.

Thumps, thuds, and moans filled the comms. The thud of a bag hitting the ground, and the emptying of a gun followed immediately afterwards.

"That.. Is what I do." Eliot said proudly.

There was a click signaling the door was open.

"Guys, guys, you have to talk to us. Remember, we don't know what's going on." Allison said after a few moments of silence.

"It's all good, I'm stripping the drives now." Hardison said. "Come on, baby." He cooed. "Got all the designs, got all the backups. I'm leaving this cupboard bare." He said after a moment.

"Alright, drop the spike." Nate commanded.

"Did you give them a virus?" Eliot asked, merely seconds later.

"Dude, I gave them more than one." Hardison said with a laugh.

Allison grinned. "So far, so good." She said.

"You'll jinx us." Nate teased.

She rolled her eyes.

"Problem..." Parker said.

Allison groaned.

"I tried to tell you. but, no..." Nate said.

"...Those guys you ganked? They reset all the alarms on the roof, and the floors above us. We cant go up."

Allison and Nate exchanged glances.

This, was not good.

"Well, every man for himself." Eliot said.

"Yea, go ahead. I'm the one with the merchandise." Hardison argued.

"Yea, well, I'm the one with an escape route." Parker countered.

Allison rubbed her head. This was a disaster.

"Yea and I'm the one with the plan. Now, I know you children don't work well with other people, but please hold it together for seven more minutes." Nate said huffing. Then looked at Allison for ideas.

"Burn scam?" Allison offered.

"Good idea. better get moving." Nate said.

She nodded, grabbed the keys to Nate's car, and her coat, tossing her headset down.

"Alright, head to the elevator. We're going to do the burn scam." Nate said.