Happy return of leverage! I would've updated yesterday but I got roped into some family stuff. I don't own Leverage.

A Tainted Savior

Part 1:

Dawn and Dusk were sitting on large cliff looking out over the forest. They were sitting and eating some food before continuing on with their search. Dawn was going strong while Dusk was tired. Their mother Midnight had given birth to Dawn at dawn and Dusk at dusk. The woman herself had been born at midnight. Anyway, Dawn was always strongest during the daylight while Dusk was strong during the night. The only slept during sunrise and sunset. Right now it was the day and Dusk was weaker the Dawn. This made things more difficult because he was usually the leader since most of their murders happened at night. The death of Frank Larson for example was when Dusk was in charge and Dawn asked the questions.

"Who do you think this Max guy is?" Dawn asked.

"No idea."

"Do you think he may've been the one to send Ford out here?"

"Probably," Dusk answered with a shrug. He was a smart man and didn't need to know much to fit the pieces together but this was a little confusing. He assumed it was confusing because they had so little information. All they knew was that their client knew that Nate Ford and Sophie Devereaux are in a secluded location and Ford is vulnerable and he knows they're in Idaho. What he learned from the pilot was that they rest of his team was searching for them in Targhee National Forest in southeast Idaho. Ironically, they had a house that they obtained near there. It was about an hours drive to their house from the hotel using their secret way. Normally it would take about 2 hours. Then from there to campground about an hour and a half. In relevance to how long they usually travelled it was a quick commute.

"Dusk, can we cut them up?" Dawn asked in begging tone.

He shot her a glare. "We're turning them into the police."

"I always forget that! Why does he have to ruin all the fun?"

"He was very specific about not killing them. There will be no killing unless we are instructed otherwise."

"You and your stupid morals!" She snapped back before getting up to leave.

He got to his feet and went after her. "If I had morals I wouldn't be an assassin!"

She was about to snap back a response when a scream echoed through the air. Dawn raced to the edge to look for the source, thinking it was Devereaux.

"I think that was her."

"It was..." He replied slowly. "But she's farther away...it was an echo of her scream." Dawn turned back to look at him and saw his face contorted in thought. "We're close."

Part 2:

This time Sophie didn't run. She wasn't stuck to her stop in fright though. Nate wasn't attacking her but looking at her. She knew she couldn't talk him out of it so she tried to get a better feeling of what he was thinking.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"What are you thinking about?"

He tilted his head to the side a little and then took one long stride towards her. Internally a warning bell was going off but she ignored it. He put his hands on her hip causing her to freeze. She tried to calm her body and her mind but the flashes of the past were flooding through her mind. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear.

"You think you can escape me this time but you can't. I'm worse then a killer because I won't leave you dead. I'll burn your mind with memories you can't ever forget. They'll haunt you forever."

Doing her best to regain her senses she kneed him in the crotch and them put her hips into a right hook. The force of the punch sent shock waves all up her arm but she quickly recovered. She flipped open his knife and held it out in front of her.

"Get away from me!"

"I don't think you want to mess with me," He said in a voice that made her skin crawl. In second he ripped the knife out of her hand and pressed his body close to hers. "You want it. You want it to hurt."

Sophie tried to squirm out of his grip but he had a firm hold on her. The images were flooding through her mind stronger now. The dark alley, the cold hands, his guttural voice, the stench of alcohol on his breath. An aftermath of bruises and scarring - her body truly violated.

"Nate, please don't do this," She cried softly.

"Fine! I'll spare you this time," He snarled. Sophie expected him to push her to the ground but instead his kissed her roughly. Despite how bad she wanted to run away she found herself kissing back. This was all she ever wanted...

"No!" She screamed as she pushed him away. Racking her brains she tried to think of something to get love-struck pyscho Nate to back off. "I'll leave you again!"

Little did she know she just set the bomb off.

Nates eyes went wide and he started growling, his chest heaving up and down. He grabbed the knife off the ground, eyes never leaving her. "You're not allowed to leave me. You have to love me." With a long step forward he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. "I'll kill anyone you run to if you don't love me. Say it! Say it or I won't spare you!"

The tears will falling down her face now. He would surely kill her if she didn't say it. "I-I love you," She sobbed.

"Say you'll let me have control!" He spat at her.

The burning sensation in her throat quickly became too much making her unable to speak. She tried to swallow it down and stop crying but the tears just kept coming faster. He was a psychopath.

"Say it!" Nate yelled at her. She shook her head no and continued to sob like the pathetic little human being she was. "No? No?"

It happened in seconds. She was sobbing and looking at his face contorted in fake rage one second. The next she felt a sharp, blinding pain in her stomach.

Part 3:

They were running now, trying to find Ford and Devereaux. If they didn't find them soon they could be dead. They need to get them back to civilization so they could turn them in. Dawn heard sobs becoming louder and louder as they ran but she thought it might be her imagination. Suddenly Dusk stopped and looked around.

"Do you hear that sobbing?"

"You hear that too? I thought that was just me."

"No...I think it's coming from over there," Dusk replied. He pointed to his right where he was almost positive the crying was coming from. As they walked it got louder. Soon they could see someone sitting on the ground and someone lying on the ground next to them. Dusk quickly realized that it was Devereaux and Ford. He gasped sharply when he saw Ford lying on the ground. The man looked dead.

"Hello?" Dawn called over to Devereaux.

She looked over at the people and instantly stopped crying. "Can you help us! We need to get to a hospital."

"What's going on? There's blood all over your face," Dusk asked, actually confused for once.

"Please don't ask. We just need to get to a hospital."

Dawn and Dusk looked at each other. This was not what they expected at all. Devereaux looked like she had been mauled by something and Ford was either dead or unconscious.

Sophie started trying to shake Nate to consciousness so they could get going. She shook him roughly a few times before his eyes flew open. He sat up and rubbed the side of his head, wincing at the tender area on his head.

"Soph?" He blinked a few times. "Sophie, please tell me that was a nightmare."

She shook her head no, eyes glossy with tears.

"You mean I...?"

"Yeah...yeah you did."

"I want to kill myself now," Nate breathed. He remembered what he did to her and it made him sick. It was absolutely horrific, disgusting, sick, and disturbing how he treated her. He would've never ever done those things had he been in his right mind. Those actions would stay with her and haunt her her whole life. It made him want to just die. The thoughts were only slightly pushed away when she kissed him lightly on the lips.

"How can you still do that after what I've done to you?"

"I'll explain later. Right now we need to get to the hospital."

"How in the world are we going to find our way out of here?"

Dawn and Dusk were baffled and confused at the scene. Their employer hadn't mentioned a relationship between the Grifter and Mastermind. They were also confused about what the hell was even going on. "Um...we were going to take you back..."

He then looked over at them. "Thank God. We need to get out of here now!"

"You guys look like a wreck," Dawn said slowly.

Dusk watched how they moved as they stood up. Devereaux was definitely injured and Ford looked like he had taken a rough beating.

"I'm Jenna and this is Mike."

"I'm Sophie and this is Nate."

"Nice to meet you," Dawn replied with a smile. They were a wreck and weak. Vulnerable. "It's only an hours walk back to the parking lot so it shouldn't take too long to get back."

"I don't know if I'll last that long," Sophie replied. She pulled her the black sweatshirt up to show them the blood seeping through her blue shirt into the stain already around most of her stomach.

"Mike, call 911 and the forest ranger now," Dawn said quickly.

Dusk did as he was told and started pacing back and forth. If they died now they wouldn't get paid. That was the one thing he feared would happen. She watched as Ford put his arms around her and comforted her. Something wasn't right but she couldn't put the pieces together. Once Dusk got off the phone 10 minutes later he went over to Sophie and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I know he stabbed you."

Sophie's face was blank as she shrugged his hand off her shoulder. "So?"

"Why did he stab you?"

"It's none of your business," She spat at him.

Nate turned to look at Dawn. "Can I please barrow your phone to call someone?"

She knew he meant one of them members in his team and she gratefully handed it over. With a thankful nod and a smile he dialed Eliots number.

"Hello?"

"Eliot, Parker, Hardison it's me Nate."

Yay! Nate finally got in contact with them…what happens next? I don't know. You'll find out when I update this next ;)