Well, here we go!

The song for this chapter is one of my favorite for all fight scenes and all badass heroes, so it's doubly Eliot's song: "Feel Invincible" by Skillet.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Fight Song

"Molly," Nate whispered over the earbud, too low to be picked up in the room, "when they get close to Eliot, you make a run for it. Parker?"

"I'm not far."

"No." Eliot didn't so much as blink as Borzoi and his goons approached. They were rightly cautious, fanning out and closing in slowly. "Too risky. Stay where you are. Molly, trust me?"

"Yes," she breathed back.

"Good. Get to Nate and close your eyes."

"Eliot?" Sophie asked.

"Everybody quiet." Nate couldn't see Eliot's face around the men, but he must have recognized that tone of voice and Eliot was grateful. He needed silence to focus.

Two more steps.

One.

Eliot attacked.

Even as his body was in motion, his brain kept close watch of his surroundings. He saw Molly darting out sideways along the wall and getting clear of the armed men before diving for where Nate was holding his arms out to catch her and shield her. He tracked every reaction of the eight Russians, Borzoi included, noting which reached for guns and which for knives and which just launched themselves at him.

But they expected him still to be chained and tethered.

Idiots.

But if they weren't idiots, they never would have tried to give him a beatdown outside the van where he could pick as many pockets as there were guys throwing punches.

Eliot was fairly sure Molly had seen what he was doing when he sent her over to talk to Nate, had noticed the link between his chains and the ring on the floor open and concealed in his lap when she settled at his side, but she hadn't said anything. He didn't really care if Nate had noticed, but he wouldn't put it past the man. He wasn't the Mastermind for nothing. But neither of them had said anything about it, and it made him smile. Whether it was trust or fear, they let him keep his secrets.

That was good. He was about to keep a few more.

Eliot hadn't been able to open the chains on his wrists and ankles – the lock for that was more complicated than the simple loops of chain attached to the rings in the floor for every other poor soul who wound up in this basement. But, unlike the last time he'd been fighting while chained, this time he had two advantages.

First, he wasn't tethered to the floor and could move around.

Second, he wasn't empty-handed.

A pair of tactical stiletto knives flashed from his hands to the dominant shoulder-joints of the two most trigger-happy goons. Before their dropped guns even hit the ground, Eliot had spun to the wall and kicked off it, driving his back into another pair who had rushed him. He hit them like a battering ram, stunning them long enough to put both fists into each of their faces over his shoulders.

By the time Molly reached Nate, Eliot had lifted a length of chain from one of his battered opponents, probably meant to be his leash for the proceedings. He swung it hard overhand, catching another goon across the head with the spinning metal links and dropping him hard. He released the chain on the next arc and sent it flying into the face of the sixth.

That left only one thug and Borzoi himself standing.

The Russian boss was already turning to call for more help, so Eliot tackled him, catching him in the same hold he'd used on the Venezuelan to get the phone. He pulled his own chains tight against Borzoi's throat.

"Freeze," he warned the only Russian standing. "Or your boss dies."

The last goon had hard, cold eyes, but he raised his hands slowly.

"Keys."

The thug didn't move, but his eyes shifted to one of the Russians with a stiletto sticking out of his shoulder.

"Get it."

While he started digging through the man's pockets, Eliot adjusted his own position, carefully putting himself between the six down and one temporarily-obedient Russians and where Nate had Molly in his arms, head tucked tightly to his chest.

Borzoi made a small sound and Eliot shifted the grip, making certain to bruise a new spot on the man's windpipe.

"You hit Molly," Eliot said, low and dark. "You knew there was gonna be payback for that."

The next huff of air from his prisoner might even have been amused, or maybe Eliot was just imagining it.

When the remaining goon held up a ring of keys, Eliot studied it long enough to be sure it contained what was probably a match to his chains before he gave a sharp nod. "Toss it to them." He gestured to Nate with his head.

Borzoi's face, what Eliot could see of it, was turning an interesting color. The thug hesitated, then obeyed, focused mainly on his boss. Eliot waited for the sound of the keys being lifted from the ground.

"Eliot," Nate said quietly.

Eliot refused to so much as turn his head. He couldn't be merciful now. Not now.

"You will still die," the Russian goon said. "But many of us waited for this moment. We will thank you by killing you quickly."

"Want me to kill your boss for you? Set you up as a new leader?"

The Russian's smile was razor thin. "It would be convenient."

"You probably shouldn't have said that in front of him. If I let him go now, he's gonna kill you and all your buddies out there." Eliot felt a feral smile cross his face. "On the other hand, even if I do kill him, anybody still loyal to him is going to kill you anyway when they figure out you betrayed him and let me get my hands on him."

Eliot thought maybe he heard Sophie draw in a sharp breath over the comms, but he ignored it. He expected the Grifter would not approve of any of the possible plans he could be enacting to get out of this situation. The only one who could really guess where Eliot was going with all this was Nate, and Nate was too busy focusing to bother reacting.

"Either way," Eliot said, "you're pretty much screwed now. And none of this helps me."

The Russian raised an eyebrow, but Eliot could see a hesitation in it. "You have a better idea?"

"Yep. I'll kill your boss, but you get knocked out with the rest of them. Then you can wake up and fix the gang however you want without any suspicion. And I get clear."

"They are not all unconscious," the Russian pointed out.

He was correct, of course. Most of them were, but of the pair Eliot had hit with the pilfered knives he took from the morons who had given him a beat-down on arrival, one was still awake, clinging to his shoulder and clearly trying to decide if it was better to yank the blade out or leave it in.

"Then fix that."

The Russian grinned at Eliot and turned around to kick his compatriot in the head.

"Nice bunch you got here," Eliot said to Borzoi. He adjusted his hold again, still restraining, still bruising, but letting a little more air slide through. Enough to keep him conscious anyway.

Eliot lifted his gaze to the standing Russian.

"But that's usually the problem with a group like this. No matter how good your leader is, there's always somebody willing to break ranks to get the job done."

The Russian had exactly enough time to blink at that before he was dropped by Parker's taser.

She grinned at him. "How'd you know I'd come anyway?"

Eliot shrugged. "Because we've met?"

"What if I stayed where I was like you wanted?"

"I'd have adapted."

"Touching as this reunion is," Nate said, "Eliot, aren't you still mostly strangling our friend over here?"

"Definitely not a friend," Parker said.

Eliot gave her a nod and released Borzoi all at once. The Russian boss took two shaky steps directly into Parker's fist.

"Not bad," Eliot said as Borzoi flopped to the ground. "Wider stance next time. It'll give you more power." He bent down and dropped another swift blow on the man's head, knocking him out completely. He gestured to the tased Russian.

Parker frowned, concentrated, and repeated his strike on the prone man, putting him out as well.

Eliot nodded approvingly. "Better."

"Ahem."

They both turned to where Nate had let go of his grip on Molly and was holding out the key to Eliot's chains.

"I believe a trade is in order?"

Eliot pulled a key from a pocket. "This oughta work on yours." He hobbled over and they went to work on the various locks. The instant Eliot was free, he stretched to his full height and rolled his shoulders.

"Better?" Molly asked him, watching him twist his spine and crack it several times.

"Much. I feel a lot less like a troll now."

"You still look like one, though."

"Good to know."

"So." Parker had helped Nate with his own chains and now looked around the basement dungeon filled with unconscious, injured Russians. "Time to go?"

"Yes," Nate said.

"No."

Eliot took a deep breath and closed his eyes, ignoring the explosions from Sophie and Hardison over the comms which were as incoherent as they were loud. Instead, he let his mind settle into the silent, still place within.

With Interpol closing in, Eliot knew the team should get out now. There was no reason for them to be here for the bust, and it would be risky for them anyway if Sterling was in a bad mood. And he even had the name of the person who had put the bounty on Nate's head. He didn't need Borzoi anymore.

And the team was here. He had to protect them, them and Molly, no matter what.

But Eliot knew something else, too.

The real threat had never been Borzoi or Tretiak or whoever he was. He was nothing more than the Russian who had gotten the drop on Molly's dad and, therefore, on Eliot. He was only the guy greedy enough to set up a live auction with Eliot's head on the block. He was a professional, calm and collected, but he was just another Russian boss, albeit a particularly clever one.

The real threat was that Borzoi had publicly connected the dots between Eliot and the team.

And now anybody who wanted a piece of Eliot Spencer just had to go looking for Nate Ford or his team to get to him.

They would never be safe.

Before Eliot dealt with the direct threat to Nate, he had to deal with the indirect threat to them all.

And he knew the simplest way to do it.

Eliot opened his eyes and felt Nate's piercing gaze on him.

"Eliot, whatever it is, we'll handle it."

"Yeah, and we're gonna handle it right now." Eliot looked between Nate and Parker, steady and determined. "If we wait, it only makes it more likely for this to follow us everywhere we go. We have to do this now."

"Do what now?" Molly asked, stepping close to him.

Eliot looked at her and sighed. She had been paying attention to him not long ago, understood at least part of the message he'd been trying to give her. But she was still there, beside him, and trusting him.

He only hoped he was worthy of that trust.

"Because if you're thinking of faking your death," Molly said, "it never works out. Like, never."

"Seriously," Hardison grumbled.

"Not that." Eliot met Nate's eyes. "You're going to betray me. And then I'm going to betray you all."

-==OOO==-

"You rat bastard!" Eliot yelled. "I'm going to kill you!"

"Sorry." Nate shrugged, gesturing to the crowd of Russians who still looked at him warily. "It's just business, Spencer."

"Want me to tase him?" Parker asked.

"Simmer down there," Hardison said quietly over the comms. Eliot didn't roll his eyes, focused on keeping his face red and twisted in fury.

Nate was playing his role perfectly. It was downright creepy how quickly Nate had gotten Borzoi's gang onto his side and sold them on the whole "let's sell him anyway and split the profits as long as you let me go and I'll compensate you handsomely" deal. Of course, Hardison dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into their bank accounts had probably helped.

Eliot couldn't let himself smile. But still. That had been a stroke of genius.

Jim Sterling was going to be furious.

On the plus side, he'd have an air-tight case against the whole bunch of them.

The Russians dragged Eliot to the grand ballroom or whatever room was big enough to house an auction full of the scum of the earth. He fought all the way, without ever losing the key to the cuffs that were now only on his wrists. Nate had said something about letting Eliot keep his dignity and not walk in hunched over like a gargoyle, but at that point the Russians had barely bothered to listen.

They were too busy plotting to get the money for Eliot and then kill Nate and take his share.

Eliot had almost gone weak with relief when he realized that Borzoi had not told anyone else about the price on Nate's head. But then, if he had told them, he might have had to share it with them. Borzoi's pet Russians didn't need reasons to abduct or kill the people Borzoi had sent them after, so he had wisely kept that piece of information to himself.

It was why Eliot didn't object to leaving the Russians alive.

Otherwise, this part of the plan would be going very differently.

Eliot allowed himself to be hauled up onto a low stage in a room filled with faces he would just as soon forget. One of the Russians was already speaking to the crowd about the great Eliot Spencer, but almost no one was listening to that part. They all knew what he could do, what he was capable of, what he had done.

This was just window-dressing before the bidding.

Through it all, Eliot kept his senses trained on the room, on every movement of every person and every shadow that approached a door.

"Are you sure we can't just get the hell out of here now?" Hardison asked quietly over comms.

"I'm sure," Nate said. "First off, it's too late to extract Eliot. But more importantly, every person at this auction can lead Interpol and the authorities into a rat's nest of people ten times worse. Trust me, we want to keep them all here and focused on each other for as long as possible. This bust is going to cripple terrorist groups and mobs and rogue nations all over the world."

Eliot was glad Nate was focused on the big picture. It meant he was still not looking altogether too closely at a few of the details.

The Russian pointed at Eliot. "We start at two million dollars!"

Eliot barked a laugh. "For that, somebody could just hire me. Better for everyone, don't you think?"

A voice called out from the back, "You work for someone else!" The voice sounded suspiciously like Hardison, and his audio tricks meant it didn't at all seem as if it came from a speaker.

But Eliot screwed up his face in his most lethal glare and spit on the ground in front of him. "Not anymore."

The entire front row took two steps back, a few in visible panic.

The Russian auctioneer laughed. "His previous master has sold him to us. Now we sell him to you. Three million dollars!"

And the bidding began in earnest.

Eliot ignored most of it. Honestly, he didn't care a whole lot about who won and what they planned to do with him. He had no illusions that it would be good, but he also did not intend to let them get him in the first place.

Over the comms, Hardison was muttering to himself about all the back-end work he had to get done in the next few minutes, and it sounded complicated and annoying. Sophie was coaching him on wording, to make sure all the last evidence trails he was generating sounded legitimate. Nate and Parker were silent, waiting to see if their plan would turn out or if Nate would have to swap to plan H or whatever letter he was on by now.

As long as they were far away from this room, Eliot really didn't care where they were or what they were doing. Molly would be safe with them as long as Nate and Parker didn't decide to be stupid.

Hardison's carefully hidden speaker kept the bidding furious when others would die down, and sometimes induced tempers to rise as he taunted or mocked people in the room. Guns had appeared in hands twice in four minutes, and two factions of terrorists were already swearing to destroy the other as soon as the auction ended.

It was a powder keg waiting to blow.

When Borzoi charged into the room, a group of armed and bloodied men at his back, he did so into chaos. "Traitor!" Borzoi yelled in Russian, opening fire on the auctioneer and killing him with a few shots.

Eliot dropped flat to the ground, letting the crowd react to the sudden violence.

Two of Borzoi's still-loyal goons had poor aim and hit people standing near their former gang-brothers, which launched retaliation from the crowd. In moments, every hand held a weapon and people were taking cover and shouting orders in a haze of violence.

Eliot calmly unlocked his shackles with the key he had palmed and crawled to one side.

"Doors?" he asked quietly.

"We got people running everywhere, but through the back kitchen is clearest," Hardison reported. The building didn't have electronic locks, but it did have cameras, allowing the Hacker to view the scene and the corridors around it.

Nate spoke up. "We're out in the back, third jeep from the end of the row. As soon as you're clear, we'll head out."

"Sterling's on the move," Sophie reported. "He's leading a team that should have the whole place surrounded in minutes."

Eliot nodded to himself and glanced back over the room.

It hadn't been a plan so much as an eventuality, really. If anyone put a whole bunch of vicious, murdering criminals in the same room, there were really only two outcomes possible – alliance or war. The alliances had been formed before Borzoi appeared in the basement to collect Eliot for auction, but they were weak, and mostly contingent upon the auction going well. Eliot knew all he really had to do was bring the auction to a sudden halt and let all the rage and malice do the rest.

And since Borzoi already had a whole faction within his own gang to deal with, it was simple enough to let it happen naturally. Nate and Eliot hadn't had to do a single thing about it – just leave the basement door unlocked, make it known that half of the Russians had decided to switch sides, and wait. Borzoi's loyal followers woke him up soon enough and staged a counter-coup.

It wasn't a con even worthy of them – Maggie could have pulled it off. But the real con was something no one would see coming.

Not until Interpol started listing the charges.

In the meantime, Eliot had something else to do.

"Eliot, I don't see your butt moving yet!" Hardison said over the comms. "Get going!"

Eliot punched his way through a few over-eager representatives of a particular totalitarian government and headed out the almost-hidden door meant for servants to pass unobtrusively between the kitchen and the room.

"Hardison, I need to know if you can hack any of the cars near where Nate and Parker and Molly are."

"Uh, yeah? I mean, they've all got nice onboard computers tied into their functions. I could probably set up a Nascar race around the building with the whole fleet if I wanted. Why?"

"Good."

He dodged through a few more hallways, alternately taking out people who got in his way or evading them when that was faster. Everything was moving now – the crowd of scum, the Russians, Sterling, Interpol, and the team – and Eliot had to keep them all moving just a little longer.

"Eliot." Nate's voice was low. He was thinking. Thinking might be a problem. "What are you planning to do?"

"Seems like maybe you should have asked him that before you tossed him into a room full of sharks," Sophie said.

Eliot could almost hear Nate shrug. "That was just a big distraction, nothing more."

Eliot shook his head, smirking. Nate had no idea how true that really was.

"So what is the plan?" Parker asked.

"Get out and wait for Sterling to give everybody a headache," Hardison suggested.

"Molly." Eliot ducked into a blind spot and closed his eyes, visualizing everything he had seen on Parker's phone, a tiny map of the complex courtesy of Hardison. "You with me?"

"Yes?"

"Good. It's time for something we talked about, Rats."

"W-What do you want me to do?"

"Not you, Molly. Me."

"Oh." He could hear the comprehension in her voice. "Right. Well, get over here, then. It's your turn to be Rats."

Eliot grinned. "See you later, kiddo."

"Eliot?" Nate asked more urgently. "What – ?"

"I told you," Eliot said. "First you betray me, and then I betray you. Take care of them, Nate."

And Eliot pulled the earbud from his ear, and the two more Parker had planted on him, and smashed them to the ground.

He could feel, even if he couldn't hear, the outrage that would be echoing across the comms. But he had something to do, something he couldn't do with them, or even near them.

Molly would understand. Nate would be pissed. The others...he couldn't even think about it.

So instead, Eliot calmly lifted the gun he'd swiped from one of the nameless, faceless thugs running around and took out the camera pointed at his position. One hallway over, he took out the next one. In a matter of minutes, he had blinded Hardison to a whole section of the complex.

And only then, when he'd circled several times, making no apparent pattern, did he stroll out the side door where he'd been dragged only an hour or two before and climb into the ancient van which had transported Molly and himself here in the first place.

The fleet of jeeps and cars parked across the complex, rented or stolen or owned by the crowds inside still making war, were all shiny and high tech and therefore perfect for Hardison. This rattly, rusty piece of crap was prehistoric by comparison.

Eliot started it up and made his way down the mountain, carefully avoiding the roads that would lead to where Hardison and Sophie were probably still trying to figure out what he was doing in the huge blind spot he had created.

By the time Nate put it together, he'd be far ahead of them.

The only thing Eliot regretted was that he hadn't been able to say goodbye.