Nate, Hardison, and Kaira met with their client. Eliot was secretly lurking at the booth next to them, just keeping watch. Cyrus told his soldiers had erased all his data on Manticore and knocked him out as they took his laptop. "All my work, erased, and I was only days away from cracking Manticore." Cyrus finished his story. "What's Manticore?" Nate asked."It's an electronic surveillance system. The Iranian government uses it to track protesters over cell phones, social networks, even e-mail." Cyrus said. "Yeah, hacker underground's are flipping out about it. They use GPS to pinpoint a dissident, and then they swoop in and make the arrest." Hardison said. "Without probable cause?" Kaira questioned, feeling bad for Cyrus and the other people this has happened to. "Yes. The internet made this protest possible, but now it's just a-" Cyrus was saying before Nate cut him off. "A liability? The government uses the people's weapon against them." Nate said, getting the idea. "Precisely. I cannot even communicate with my family in Iran. Manticore would find them. I have no idea if they are safe. And the secret police are everywhere. Next week, our people are planning a protest to coincide with the election. If I can't shut down Manticore, the government will find and arrest every organizer and break the backbone of the movement." Cyrus said, giving the stakes. Kaira was about to accept the job, but Nate interrupted her. "We're not spy hunters, Mr. Madavhi." Nate said, implying the job wasn't what they did. "I cannot go to the FBI. My activities would violate my student visa." Cyrus informed the group. "So you want your data back." Nate said, thinking he knew what Cyrus wanted. "I want Manticore destroyed. I want my people to be free." Cyrus said, all but begging Nate to help him. Kaira was about to accept the job again, but Nate cut her off. "All right, well, we'll discuss it." Nate said, signaling for Cyrus to leave, as Kaira gave the silent message that she was gonna help him.
Cyrus left and Hardison spoke up. "Discuss it?" Hardison questioned, not liking that Nate dismissed him. "Oh, this is so not our game, Hardison." Nate said, dismissing the hacker. "Not our g- Nate, this isn't just some hacker, okay?" Hardison said. "Cyrus-" Kaira said before Nate cut her off. "It's Mr. Madavhi. You can't get that attached." Nate said, getting a not good look from Kaira. "Fine. Mr. Madavhi. He could go make a fortune working for Google or Microsoft. No, instead he risks his life fighting the bad guys. This is so our game." Hardison said, agreeing to the job with or without Nate. Kaira showed she had the same thought.
"He wasn't hit by the Vesarat." Eliot's familiar southern accent was heard. Nate and Hardison turned around as Kaira looked at Eliot, who also turned around, giving a smile to his wife. Eliot got up, walking to sit by Kaira as the boys turned to face him. "What, are you lurking?" Nate asked the hitter. Kaira chuckled, amused that Eliot was watching them as she took off his hood and fixed his messed up hair. "Yeah. I'm a lurker. It's my thing." Eliot said, brushing Kaira's hand away. Kaira backed off and held Eliot's hand under the table. "What's the Vezarat?" Hardison asked the couple. "Iranian secret police." Kaira answered. "And trust me, if they wanted Cyrus, he wouldn't be sitting here talking to us." Eliot finished Kaira's thought. "But the Vezarat is still our logical target. So we should check our sources and see if there's a safe house in the area." Nate said, agreeing to the job. "So we're on this?" Hardison asked. "Yeah, well, we were always on this. I just wanted you to explain to me why." Nate said, smiling at the hacker as he left. Eliot and Kaira smiled, amused they got played. "You know how I feel about mind games, Nate. Negatively." Hardison said, looking at Nate as he left, putting his fingers to his temples, mocking Hardison as he went out the door. Hardison was annoyed as he looked at the couple, who were smiling, amused. "What are you looking at, Lurker and Lurker 2?" Hardison said, causing Eliot to raise his eyebrow and smile.
Soon, they left as Hardison went to do some research. Kaira went to call Parker and Sophie in to make a plan, and Eliot went to call some sources to find any Vezarat safehouses in the area.
Soon, they had a location and a plan. Eliot, Hardison, and Kaira were acting as health inspectors, Sophie was a customer to get the owner to let them investigate, and Parker and Nate were on standby.
The hitter and hacker trio walked to the cafe where Eliot said there was a safehouse. "My sources say this café is the local Vezarat safehouse" Eliot said before they reached the café. "Look, sooners - they're gonna win every year. They win every year. Every year, every single year in Dallas, they're gonna win. Every time." Eliot said, walking into the café with Hardison and Kaira as Hardison tried to argue. "How you doing?" Kaira asked the guy who approached them, who was the manager. "Yes." The guy said. Eliot, Hardison, and Kaira flashed their Health Department badges. "Lloyd Hickey, Boston Health Department. Spot inspection." Eliot said, introducing his alias. "We were just inspected. Everything is in order here." The guy said. He spoke Farsi to one of his guys in the back. Eliot and Kaira caught a guy locking a door. Soon, Sophie was heard screaming, yelling in a Farsi accent about a cockroach in her food. Hardison acted like he was marking it down on his sheet. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Roach infestation in the Shish Leek. That's gonna cost you." Hardison said. "That's gonna cost you." Eliot said over top of Hardison, who was chewing gum. "Well, yeah-huh. Let's uh, have a look at that kitchen, shall we?" Hardison said. The manager lead him, speaking Farsi. "Backroom, East corner." Eliot reported as he stayed behind with Kaira to speak to Sophie. "Got it." Parker came across on comms. "Eliot. Kaira, get rid of it. Ugh!" Sophie whispered, causing the couple to stop. "I think he likes you." Eliot said, mock chuckling at Sophie. Sophie got up, not happy. "You're gonna pay for this." Sophie whispered to Eliot. Eliot muttered mockingly as Kaira picked up the roach and followed Sophie outside to get rid of the cockroach. She walked back in and met up with Eliot and Hardison, who said they had to speak to all the employees.
"At the East corner." Parker whispered. Parker dropped down from the air vent and got up on the floor. She looked around as Eliot, Hardison, and Kaira all were still talking. "For a den of evil spies, this place smells delicious. Hardison, confiscate some pastries." Parker said. A small smile left Hardison's lips as Parker walked to the computer. "Okay, so sign of Cyrus' hardware." Parker reported.
Nate was in the van outside the café. "Well, they could have cloned his data. Let's check their computer." Nate said.
Parker plugged in the USB as Eliot went to measure the temperature of the schwarma, yelling it was lukewarm, and said it docked him as he went ahead.
Kaira and Hardison looked at the Vesarat computer through his small laptop. "There's nothing on Manticore. I'm starting a syntax search." Hardison said as Eliot said about rat droppings.
Soon, Nate found something. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Hold it. That image on the, uh, the bottom left, there - Manticore. Um, it's a mythological creature. It's Persian for man eater." Nate said.
Hardison stopped scrolling and looked surprised Nate knew that. "Y-yeah, Yeah, I was - I was just about to click on that. What are you..." Hardison said, clicking on the image of what looked like the creature.
"Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, right. Sure. Okay. Let's uh, copy Cyrus' program." Nate ordered.
"We'd like to, Nathan, but it's not here. There's no indication they even heard of Cyrus." Kaira reported, slightly confused.
Parker found a book with the same symbol in the file cabinet and flipped through the pages. "Okay, I've got payment records here. Last one dated three weeks ago." Parker reported.
Eliot kept docking points as Hardison kept searching on the computer. "The last manticore update was also three weeks ago." Hardison reported, quietly.
"And who was that payment to?" Nate asked.
Hardison looked it up and whistled as he showed Kaira his screen. It was to a company called Dubertech. Hardison and Kaira got Eliot and they left. On the way back home, Hardison got his presentation set up.
The team gathered at the table in Nate's apartment as Hardison started his presentation. "Larry Duberman, Founder and CEO of Dubertech. Back in the '90s, He wrote the book on digital database security. Literally wrote the book." Hardison said as Eliot brought over a tea set. Kaira was confused but ignored it as Hardison showed the book.
"Now, he made a couple hundred million during the, uh, digital revolution." Hardison explained. Eliot was pouring water into the cup in front of Sophie. Kaira looked perplexed. "Why would Larry Duberman be selling software to Iran? I mean, he doesn't need the money." Sophie said. She put her hand on Eliot's shoulder, saying "Thanks, sugar."
"Oh, but he does. Cloud storage, distributed processing - see, all these sexy new little technologies are passing up Duberman's company. They're leaving him in the dust. He's got to expand his market share." Hardison explained. "Okay, so he sells the technology to embargoed countries, and the income is tax-free?" Nate asked as Eliot put sugar in Sophie's teacup.
"It's a nice way to keep the bottom line from being squeezed." Sophie said, touching Eliot's arm. "Now, Duberman has a long-term contract to run Manticore for Iran. This man has become the I.T Department for the axis of evil." Hardison said. "All right, so Eliot was right." Nate said. Kaira chuckled. "He usually is." Kaira quipped, smiling. Nate smiled back at the jack of trades. "The Vezarat didn't go after Cyrus, Duberman did." Nate said. "It's not about politics, man. Cyrus is bad business for him." Eliot said, squeezing a lemon in the cup, seemingly not noticing he was doing it.
Parker seemed to notice what was happening as she was eating. "Okay, well, so, Duberman's our target. What are we up against?" Nate said. Hardison switched the screen to show the blueprint for the building. "See, the master control server's in Duberman's private office. We shut down the server over here, we shut down Manticore over there." Hardison said. "So, get to hacking, man." Eliot said, unsure of the problem. "Babe, Hardison may be good, but even I don't think he can hack the server of the man who wrote the book on database security. We have to physically access the servers." Kaira said, with Hardison agreeing. "Any of you ever trimmed a bonsai?" Nate asked. The team was puzzled.
Eliot leaned past Kaira, whispering to Nate. "Well, you know, I did. I was in Osaka, and I met this Japanese policewoman at a geisha bar-" Eliot was about to go into that story when Nate cut him off. Nate clicked the remote. "Why is Eliot pouring you tea? Hmm? Did you brainwash him again?" Parker asked. Kaira moved to talk to the women as the boys talked. "Sophie, what the hell are you doing to my husband?" Kaira asked Sophie. "mm, neuro-linguistic programming. It's amazing what you can do with the power of suggestion. Sugar." Sophie did the motion. "Squeezed." Sophie rubbed her chin. "A few strategic pats on the arm." Sophie said as Sophie patted Eliot's arm, causing him to pour the water before Eliot realized. "Dammit." Eliot growled. "You owe me for that roach business!" Sophie defended herself. "Damn it! Sophie, not again." Eliot warned as Kaira couldn't help but chuckle as he grabbed the teacup and left. "Not funny, sweetheart!" Eliot growled, hearing Kaira laughing. "I'm sorry, baby. It's just too damn funny." Kaira started laughing. Eliot growled again. Kaira leaned into Sophie. "Can you teach me that Sophie so I can use it next time Eliot pisses me off?" Kaira whispered to Kaira. "Sophie, don't you dare be teaching my wife that!" Eliot was heard, coming back to the table. "Later." Sophie mouthed.
Kaira saw the look in Eliot's eye, saying he was gonna chase her, so she ran as the team laughed at the couple. The couple ended up running into their apartment, where Eliot grabbed her waist and lifted her up, placing her on the counter and tickled her, causing Kaira to laugh. "Eliot stop! I'm sorry." Kaira said, laughing at Eliot. Eliot backed off. He looked at Kaira and Kaira looked at him. "Come here." Eliot whispered as he placed a soft kiss on her lips, placing a hand on Kaira neck and pulling her towards him as he placed the other one on her thigh. Kaira placed both of her arms around Eliot's neck, holding some of his hair. Kaira let go and kissed Eliot. They chuckled at the moment they were in. Soon, they heard Nate at the door. "Guys, if you're done, we have a job to plan." Nate yelled through the door. Eliot and Kaira chuckled, knowing they had to leave. Eliot placed both hands on Kaira's ass and lifted her off the counter and kissed her again as he put her down. Kaira was all smiles as they joined the team and planned their covers for hitting Duberman's office.
The next day they put the plan into action. Eliot was gonna be a worker holding a bonsai plant, Parker and Hardison would hit the servers with Kaira joining them after she planted a bug on Duberman's assistant. Eliot walked up to Duberman and dumped into him, having Duberman hold the plant as Kaira walked by and bumped into the assistant and planted the bug on his collar. Eliot ran into Duberman, getting him dirty. Duberman fired Eliot as the assistant and security took Eliot out of the building as Kaira walked past, putting the bug on his collar. Hardison and Parker walked over with the cleaning stuff and Parker used a towel to grab his card as Hardison grabbed the bonsai. Parker used tape to get Duberman's prints as the trio of Hardison, Parker, and Kaira walked through the building to get to the server.
The hall leading up to it was full of Japanese items. Hardison swiped the card and Parker put the print on the sensor and opened the door. They walked in and the room was full of high school memorabilia. "Whoa." Parker said, surprised by the items. "Seems we stepped out of Japan and straight into high school." Hardison said, starting to look around the room. "Yeah, in 1985." Kaira quipped. "You find the server running Manticore?" Nate asked from base with Sophie next to him. "Oh, I found it. A small problem." Hardison said as Kaira noticed the really old computer that was hooked up. "Duberman is running Manticore from his high school computer, Nathan." Kaira reported, still shocked. Parker grabbed the floppy disk. Hardison got to work as Parker and Kaira searched the room, starting at the desk. "Vintage 1980's technology, man. No wonder I couldn't hack in from the outside. It's speaking a dead language." Hardison said. Parker and Kaira heard that there was a breach through the comm. "Hey, they're onto us. What's the deal?" Parker asked. "Well, he's got a multi-tier password system. Now, my war-dialer broke into the first few. uh... "Zavransky, MandyDD, and a bunch of other random ones." Hardison said. Kaira and Parker walked over as the last password was denied, but the others were cracked. The computer beeped. "Was that a good beep or a bad beep?" Parker asked. "Oh, that's a bad beep. We just hit a wall." Hardison said as Parker and Karia turned. "You didn't get the passowrd?" Nate asked. "Not the master one. The last one I got it... L33R15L06." Hardison said. "High school." Nate and Sophie said at the same time. Parker and Kaira kept looking as Hardison still worked on his laptop. "Let's go!" Parker ordered, going to leave. Kaira saw that Hardison didn't move. "Hold on, let me just finish copying this disk. How did people get anything done in the 80s?" Hardison said. He finished copying the disk and gathered up his things as Parker and Kaira left.
They hid behind some Japanese armor and waited till security was focused on the room. They made their escape and met up with the rest of the gang back at the bar.
They all sat at a table with beer and drinks in front of them. Kaira sat on Eliot's lap. "Nobody else thinks it's weird that you can just buy anybody's yearbook online?" Eliot asked. "It's weird." Kaira responded, taking a sip of her beer. "You know, it's real cute, man, how you still believe in privacy." Hardison said. "You know, Thomas Hobbs and John Lock shared the idea of a social contract, where individuals would willingly give up individual freedoms if it meant the betterment of the people." Kaira said. The team looked at her weird. "What? High school history." Kaira answered, taking another sip of her beer. "Here we go." Nate said, getting the team back on track. "Uh, Mrs. Zavransky, math teacher. Now I bet if we turn to the cheerleaders...Yes. Oh, Mandy." Nate said.
Kaira looked over at the picture along with Eliot. "Yep. Double D all right." Kaira quipped as Hardison whispered. "Mandy Babson." Nate said. "What does the DD mean?" Parker asked. "Yeah, right." Eliot said, sarcastically. "Seriously?" Nate questioned Parker. "Uh..." Hardison stumbled. "Two scoops of ice cream - just perfect." Hardison said. "Come on, it's, uh..." Nate was about to say before Kaira cut him off. "Boobs, Parker. "DD" is her boob size." Kaira blurted out, causing the team to look at her in shock that she said that. "What? You men are so immature sometimes." Kaira said, taking another sip of her beer. "You married one of them." Eliot whispered in Kaira's ear. "I know." Kaira gave a smirk before Nate continued.
"It was the last password that tipped us off - L33R15L06. Now that has to be a locker combination, right? He's clearly - he's obsessed with high school - memorabilia, his high school computer." Nate said. "Yeah, he's a classic computer nerd. Sorry." Sophie said, saying sorry to Hardison. Eliot chuckled. "Yeah, the girls totally ignored him. The guys picked on him. Now that he's a success, he- he can't leave the past behind him." Sophie explained. "Yeah, he has to remember who he was cause it made him who he is." Nate said. "So he has an inferiority complex. He believed for so long that he was inferior, he'll do anything to get people to see him as superior." Kaira said, putting the pieces together. "Yes. How do you know that?" Nate asked Kaira. "I read." Kaira answered, brushing off the question. "Aw, I feel bad for the nerd." Parker said. "Don't feel bad for this guy. Getting bullied in high school is still no excuse for propping up dictators. Well, take Hardison. He got bullied his whole high school career. He's not criminal." Eliot said. Kaira looked at Eliot. "I was bullied too, and I'm a criminal." Kaira said.
"Um.. don't think about that." Sophie said as Parker spoke overtop of her. "Yeah, they are." Parker said. "Not a bad criminal." Eliot said. Kaira smiled as she took another sip of beer. "Hey, what makes you think I got bullied in high school?" Hardison asked. "Well, "A", you got a Green Hornet doll." Eliot said, getting annoyed with the hacker. "Well, first of all, it's a limited edition action figure. Second, it is Green Lantern. Kaira, educate your husband." Hardison said as Kaira smiled and Eliot said, "Wow." Nate got them back on track. "We got a locker combination, we have a teacher's name, and we have a crush. So, Duberman, he has made his old high school his Roman room." Nate said. "Of course." Parker said. "Of course? What's a Roman room?" Nate asked the thief, not sure if she actually knew. Parker was silent. "You have no idea, right? You know-" Nate said as Parker said no. "It's a memory technique of sorts. Each of Duberman's passwords corresponds with an object in a space where he was familiar. In Duberman's case, it's the hallway his high school locker was." Kaira explained. "Now, if I were to make this bar my Roman room, everything I need to remember is right here. For instance," Nate said. He stood up and walked to the bar.
"This, uh... my bank password would be Balmoor." Nate said, grabbing a bottle. "And my e-mail password would be Fitzy, here." Nate said, patting the guy standing beside him on his shoulder. Parker and Hardison leaned in as Nate poured him a glass. "Hey. Nate just gave us all his passwords." Parker whispered. "No, but I got all his passwords. You want to see his Netflix queue? He's got like, every season of Rockford Files, every season of Sex and the City, that show Psych." Hardison said. Just then, Nate came over, coming in between them. "Hey, so, so, listen, if we can't get into the main server without Duberman's master password - I mean, you can't hack into that, right?" Nate said, turning to Hardison. "No, password's up in the guy's head. I can't hack a guy's head." Hardison said. "So the only option would be to break inside his Roman Room." Nate realized. "You want to break into the high school?" Parker questioned, scoffing. "I could do that blindfolded. Yeah. Let's do it blindfolded." Parker said, missing the idea. "No, no, no. What we're gonna do is we're gonna break into that high school... 25 years ago." Nate said as Hardison started looking on his phone. He chuckled. "What do you know? Class of '85 has a reunion coming up...in 8 months." Hardison revealed. "That's too late." Kaira pointed out as Nate looked at Sophie, knowing what she needed to do before leaving.
The team followed behind and Kaira and Sophie faked several phone calls to set up that the reunion was happening on the 28th, which was next week. Sophie called Larry later to get him to the reunion.
The following week, after some planning, the reunion was underway. Parker was helping with the decorations, and Hardison and Nate were in the van, Eliot and Kaira waited to be told to go to the computer at Duberman's office, and Sophie was getting in her cover.
Parker put up a security camera on the stage for Hardison and walked over to the board with pictures. "Ooh. So many awkward people in so many ugly outfits." Parker said, weirded out.
"Yeah, you're lucky you never went to high school. Nothing but heartbreak and homework." Hardison said.
"Amen to that." Kaira quipped, standing next to Eliot, waiting to go in.
"Didn't you go to your prom?" Parker asked.
"Uh... I was kind of busy." Hardison said, pausing to reminisce. "Good times." Hardison said, sipping his orange soda.
"I went to my prom but left partway because my ex, you know who decided to punch a guy who wanted to dance with me. He was very possessive. Glad I dumped his ass." Kaira said, watching Eliot put on his gloves as Kaira put on hers.
"I'm sorry." Parker said, feeling bad for Kaira.
"It's okay." Kaira said, smiling at the concern of the thief. "So, you guys all get to go to the reunion, and I'm stuck on goon patrol?" Eliot quipped. "Babe, I'm here too, you know." Kaira said, smacking Eliot's arm. She and Eliot hugged the wall to avoid getting spotted by the people walking outside.
"Eliot, Kaira, listen. Once we get that password, you got to enter it on Duberman's computer and destroy Manticore. Hardison's a little occupied." Nate said. "Besides, I'm sure you already had your high-school fun. Big man on campus. What, quarterback?" Hardison questioned the hitter.
Eliot was thinking. "I had many interests." Eliot said. He put his hood up and waited for the assistant to come closer and then knocked him out.
"What about you Kaira, what was high school like?" Hardison asked as Eliot and Kaira looked over the downed goon.
"Oh, I became the cool girl on campus once people figured out the connections I had. Other than that, it wasn't entirely pleasant. But, I did learn a thing or two so that helped." Kaira said as Eliot grabbed the card to get in the building and the couple then dragged the body.
"You telling me you didn't have guys swarming you?" Hardison asked.
"Surprisingly not. I mean, I'd like to think I was pretty." Kaira said as she tossed the briefcase she grabbed and jogged inside with Eliot.
Parker walked by Larry with a badger costume. Sophie buttered up Duberman, showing him the yearbook that Hardison edited. Then Nate walked in as Drake McIntyre. Hardison guided Nate through some interactions as Eliot and Kaira got into the Roman room and were at the computer, waiting for the password. Sophie got Duberman away from the action and mentioned the homeroom and Duberman said about a kid who gave him a wedgie in front of the class. "Pat Brander." Sophie repeated, signaling to try that as a password.
"Let's check out Brander." Eliot said. He typed it on the computer. "Nope." Kaira said, seeing that the password was incorrect.
"Okay, look, try "Brander303". That's the room number." Hardison said.
Eliot typed in that password. "All right, it looks like it's unlocked." Eliot said. Then the computer beeped more, revealing payroll files. "It's payroll files." Eliot said, a hint of impatience in his voice.
"All right guy, patience. If we get him riled up, push his buttons, he'll lead us to the password we want." Nate said. He went up to talk with Sophie and Duberman, getting him riled up. Duberman revealed that Drake had told a crush of his that he was a hermaphrodite.
"Tuttleton." Eliot said, typing it on the laptop. It was declined. "No. You want me to try hermaphrodite?" Eliot asked. Kaira gave him a look that told him no.
Just then another female voice was heard, talking with Duberman, but then Nate butted in, flirting his way in. "He reveled her name was "Nikki".
"Got to be kidding me. Guys, um, look. There's like six Nicoles, three Veronicas, and a Dominique. This may take a while." Hardison said.
He was typing along as Nate tried to get "Nikki" away from Duberman, with Nikki revealing she was a cheerleader and that "Drake" saw her without her uniform on.
Kaira tried to not say anything as Sophie tried to not react to break cover. Then Kaira heard Nate and Nikki making out as Kaira tried not to laugh at Nate. But then some grunting happened, and Nate called out to Nikki.
"Your, uh, luck get turned around there, Drake." Kaira couldn't help but tease.
"Not funny." Nate muttered as he composed himself in the closet. "Parker, it seems my... ex-flame has... locked me in the... I don't know - storage closet or something in the east hallway, so..." Nate said, getting his breath back.
"She take your breath away old man?" Kaira teased again.
"Kiddo." Nate warned her to stop.
"Wow. You must have really broken her heart. High school is so dramatic!" Parker said, on her way.
Eliot and Kaira looked around the room. Eliot was looking at the trophies on a case on the wall. "They give trophies for chess." Eliot said. Kaira and Eliot both perked up when drilling was heard and men speaking Farsi. There were bright sparks where the men were blow torching the metal doors in the room. "It's the Vezarat. They're coming in!" Eliot reported, yelling over the noise.
"Wait a minute. What are the Iranians doing there?" Nate asked.
Parker picked the lock to the door and Nate thanked her. Sophie then ran up to Nate and Parker as they were walking down the hallway. "What happened? He got away?" Nate asked Sophie. "She took him - that - that- that bloody little slut!" Sophie said, getting heated. "All right, calm down, now." Nate said, trying to calm Sophie down. "No, just because I'm not a cheerleader or something-" Sophie said, starting to rant. "All right, l-let's forget about her, all right? Eliot and Kaira have company, and we're no closer to getting the password, so I think we need to escalate." Nate said. "Well, you think he's ready?" Sophie asked.
"Uh, guys? I've accounted for all the Nikkis, of the class of '85. Your Nikki's not even in the yearbook." Hardison reported.
"Okay, so she's a fraud like us?" Parker questioned. "What is she, just some random hussy who's out for his cash?" Sophie asked.
Hardison's computer started beeping rapidly, revealing some not so pleasant information. "Not exactly. She's a hired gun." Hardison revealed.
"An assassin? Nikki's an assassin?" Sophie questioned, surprised at the information.
"Yeah, I guess we weren't the only ones with the bright idea to pose as alumni. This chick's connected to wet work jobs all up and down the east coast. Russian Mob, Italian mob - There's a New Zealand mob?" Hardison asked.
"All right, this is our fault." Nate said. "I didn't do anything." Parker said. "We lured him to a non-secured environment. We exposed him." Sophie said. "And now we have to save him. We can't destroy Manticore with him dead. So split up and find him." Nate ordered. Sophie and Parker split to find Duberman and the assassin. "Eliot, Kaira, what's happening on your end?" Nate asked.
The men were close to cutting through. "Five seconds till contact." Kaira reported. "This reunion sucks!" Eliot said loudly. There was a hole left once the torch was out and the piece fell. Eliot and Kaira got ready to fight as the guy from the café poked his head in the hole. "The Health Inspectors?" The owner of the café questioned, confused. "I'm gonna have to dock you again." Eliot quipped, shrugging his shoulders. The leader opened the door and pulled out a gun, which Eliot disarmed and quickly knocked out as Eliot went to work on the other guy and Kaira went to work on the third guy that had come, blocking his punch, then punching him back.
"Yeah, Duberman must have pissed off the Iranians. They hired an assassin to take him out while they raid his office? Eliot, Kaira, you've got to keep 'em away from that computer." Hardison said.
Eliot had his guy in a lock. "What do you think we're doing?!" Eliot growled. Eliot finished off the goon he had locked and double teamed with Kaira to take the last goon out with a trophy. Eliot looked at the trophy he was holding. "Checkmate." Eliot said, throwing the trophy down. Then Kaira and Eliot heard boned cracking and knew the lead goon had gotten up. "Or not." Kaira groaned. Eliot and Kaira started fighting the lead goon, but then Eliot got tackled as Sophie dealt with the assassin.
Nate stopped the assassin from killing Duberman, getting in between them as Parker tased her. Then Duberman drew the gun on Nate, revealing that Pat Brander he had been talking about was a woman, not a man as Nate had been assuming. Of course, Duberman asked who they were. Sophie came out with her hands up as she stood by Nate. "Are you the real Grace Peltz?" Duberman asked Sophie. "There is no Grace Peltz. She's a fiction invented to flatter your ego." Sophie revealed, putting her hands down. "So you're with that assassin? You're all trying to kill me?" Duberman asked. "No, no, no, we're not trying to kill you - just your business. Yes, on behalf of Cyrus Madavhi - that kid you had beaten and robbed so that you could continue to sell Manticore to Iran." Nate said. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm calling the police." Duberman said, getting out his phone. "Well, don't bother. We already did and they should be on their way just as soon as our men inside your office destroys Manticore using your password." Nate said. Duberman scoffed. "Oh, you couldn't possibly -" Duberman said, dismissing the idea. "It was pretty easy to figure out once we got inside this hallway." Nate said. "Zavransky... Mandy Double-D, your locker combination?" Sophie said. "You're smart..." Duberman said, getting out his phone. "But you're not smart enough. It's changed." Duberman said, putting his phone away. "All your work for nothing, Fake Drake." Duberman said, still training the gun on Nate. "Yeah, it's done." Nate said.
"Good to know." Eliot said, straining from being choked. Kaira was on top of the guy, arms around his neck. Kaira dropped as Eliot knocked him out and used the trophy nearby again to knock the gun out of the goon's hand, then clocked him in the face with it. Eliot slammed his guy on the ground, breaking the goon's hand. The guy was yelling and Eliot told him to shut up. He walked over to the computer and typed in the password, 'Badger85'. "All right, I'm in. Now what?" Eliot asked.
"Okay, good. De-authorize and delete all directories, just like I showed you." Hardison said.
Eliot went to type it in, but one of the goons came back up. Kaira elbowed him and he went down. She shrugged her shoulders at Eliot and he typed on the keyboard. "It's done." Eliot said. "Manticore is finished." Kaira reported. Eliot and Kaira left the office.
Duberman's phone started beeping rapidly. "That's not possible. I changed the password. This is another trick." Duberman said, not believing Manticore was down. "Is it? Or is it Badger85?" Nate asked. "That's the new password! But I just changed it! How could you know it?!" Duberman questioned Nate and Sophie. "Well, you know, it turns out, just like high school, you can be pushed around." Nate said. Kaira flashed back to Sophie using neurolinguistic programming on Eliot, which they then used on Duberman with various phrases that they said to Duberman. "You - you hacked me? You got inside my head?!" Duberman questioned. He started stammering and running. "We did save your life!" Nate said.
Soon the FBI arrested Duberman. Soon after that fiasco, Sophie and Nate walked around the gym.
"I suppose the FBI received an anonymous tip." Sophie said, knowing already what happened. "Well, yeah, I mean, between the files that Eliot and Kaira just e-mailed them..." Nate said. "And the ledger from the café..." Sophie added. "Duberman's looking at a lot of time in detention." Nate said. "And with Manticore gone, Cyrus' people are one step closer to freedom." Sophie said. Hardison was grabbing his cameras. "I already told Cyrus Manticore's destroyed. I'm sure he's spreading the good news right now." Hardison said. Sophie and Nate did one last check of the gym. "Well, I think it's time we graduate." Sophie said. Nate agreed, but the announcers said that the votes had come in for the reunion king and queen, which the winners were Nate and Sophie's aliases. Nate and Sophie were pushed to the center. "Um... uh, very funny, Hardison." Nate said, not amused.
"Oh, you think I did this? Naw, man, I don't rig elections. I mean, I could, but..." Hardison said.
"Parker... was this you?" Sophie whispered, accusing the thief.
"I didn't even know they had kings and queens in high school." Parker said, hanging from the ceiling, ready to clear out.
"Yeah, um... I guess it was a good con." Nate said as a crown was put on Sophie. "Uh... Hardison, why don't you maybe." Nate started chuckling as soft romantic music started. "Set off a fire alarm about now?" Nate asked as the lights went out.
"You two enjoy this, you earned it." Hardison said.
Nate and Sophie just kinda stood, unsure what to do. "So, uh..." Nate said, unsure. "So, I..." Sophie said as they got in hold to slow dance. "So you think we would have, uh... been a couple in high school?" Nate asked Sophie. "Who? Grace Peltz and the great Drake McIntyre? Mnh-mnh. Don't think so." Sophie said. "No, no. Nate Ford and..." Nate said, implying Sophie's unknown name. "And..." Sophie questioned. "And..." Nate tried to say before shushing Nate, wanting to enjoy the moment. Small smiles appeared on their faces as they danced.
Hardison looked at Parker up on the ceiling. "May I have this dance, Miss?" Hardison asked Parker as she rappelled down. Hardison held Parker, standing her on his toes. "So this is what high school was like, huh?" Parker asked. "Yeah... pretty much." Hardison said, enjoying the moment.
Eliot rushed out of Duberman's office and was outside with Kaira a bit behind still inside the building, watching Eliot. "Hello? Everybody having a good time at the dance? Anybody wonder if Eliot made it out?" Eliot growled before knocking the assistant out again. "Does anybody wonder if Eliot's alive?" Eliot asked, annoyed. Kaira walked out. "Babe, calm down. They know we're alive." Kaira said, making her way to Eliot. She could still hear the music playing through the comm, so she knew Eliot did too. Eliot smiled as he turned around, hearing his wife's voice. He extended a hand to Kaira and chuckled. "Can I have this dance, pretty lady?" Eliot questioned, messing around a bit. Kaira chuckled and grinned. "Why yes you can, handsome cowboy." Kaira joked back as she grabbed Eliot's hand. They held each other and swayed to the music, Kaira standing on Eliot's feet as he led. Kaira just closed her eyes as Eliot swayed with Kaira to the music.
Hardison did have a point. They needed this quiet moment to soak in the job well done. God knows this was the eye of the hurricane that was brewing in the distance. So at this moment in time, Kaira was gonna dance with her husband. And Eliot was gonna dance with his wife. Even if we was grumpy at the team. They couldn't pass up this moment. Just three couples in love, one couple not knowing it, one couple not understanding it, and one couple who embraced it.