Leverage
A/n: So I've had this story for a while now, ever since I've seen the show. Hope you all like it. Enjoy. Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow!
Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage just my OC.
Title: The Historian
Summary: Noelle Ford never knew love until she met Eliot Spencer. (Eliot/OC)
Chapter 1: The Nigerian Job Part 1
I walked down and into the lobby area where I spotted the bar and of course my brother, Nathan Ford, ex-insurance agent. I saw the burgundy glass in front of him and shook my head, while I tightened up my tote bag against my shoulder and rolled my suitcase behind me towards him. He looked a mess. His dark brown hair was ratted and his suit was in wrinkles. He needed sleep too. I could tell he wasn't sleeping much. And I knew why. I was there when it happened that fateful day of my poor nephew dying in his hospital bed. It still wretched my heart to my very core but I learned how to deal with it. I went around the world to teach English in certain third world countries. I did my best to help out as much as I could, ridding me of the void I had in my chest. And what did Nate do? What he always did? He drank. He drank himself to sleep. That's how he lost his marriage, loosing Maggie.
But then, as I was helping the poor in San Lorenzo, I got a call from Victor Dubenich, a guy who made airplanes asking for my help to help my brother in anyway that I can so he can be totally present and in the right headspace. I told him I've done that but he didn't want my help. But as soon as he told me what I was getting after I hopped on the plane and got out of there.
I walked over and sat down next to my brother, pulling up my suitcase beside me. "Hey big brother," I said. The bartender came over and asked me for a drink. "Just a coke please, no rum."
She nodded and then looked over to Nate. "I checked. Airport shuttle's in fifteen minutes."
Seconds later I had my coke and a red straw.
"My sister's favorite flavor of choice, no alcohol," he said raising his glass.
"Yes. Same old, same old, huh?" I asked. He just looked at me grumpily. I sighed. "I've seen it what it can do to people. I don't want to be like them. Like you."
"Enough Noel."
I smiled at the nickname I'd gotten as a kid growing up with him.
"Either way, we both know why we're here today, don't we?" I asked.
"Ah yes. the dutiful Victor Dubenich. I think he's arriving now actually." He looked at his watch and then looked over to see a man with salt and pepper gray hair with glasses over his nose hurrying over towards us.
"I'm sorry Mr. and Miss Ford, sorry I know who you are. I've uh, excuse me, I've read all about you. I know for example that-that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence, you probably saved your Insurance Company what 20-25 million dollars. Then there was that identity theft thing and you saved your insurance company I don't even know how many millions of dollars but I just know that when you needed them…what happened to your family is the kind of thing-"
"You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times? We're coming up on that pretty quick," Nate took a sip of his drink. I followed suit, smiling a tad bit as I did so.
"I just want to offer you and your sister a job."
"I had a job in San Lorenzo. I was happy there. White sandy beaches you know great sun tan lines that kind of thing," I said.
"Hang on sis, he might have something better."
Dubenich smirked. "She tell you about her boss?"
Nate looked over at me and I shook my head. "No. I never told Nate or anyone who my boss was."
"Noel…"
"I can't. He wasn't bad. He was alright," I lied. I lied to protect you. You don't know anything about him not now and hopefully not ever. I hoped to God that Nathan wouldn't have to cross paths with this man.
"Then why were you so quick to leave when I called you?" Dubenich said. Nate looked at Dubenich with a sour look on his face. "I offered her freedom, and if it goes right, a lot of money."
I coughed and took another sip of my coke. "Moving on please."
"What do you got?" Nate asked.
"Do you know anything about airplane design?"
"I could give it a shot, you know, you give me a pencil, and one of those little rulers…" Nate chuckled lightly at that.
"Somebody stole my airplane designs," he said.
"Oh I see and you'd like me to find them right?" Nate asked.
"No, I know where they are," Dubenich said. "I want you to steal them back."
I arched an eyebrow and cocked my head to the side after I was playing with my straw, twirling it around the ice in my coke.
We moved over to a small table where the three of us could sit a little more quietly.
"You're sure Pierson stole your designs?" Nate asked.
"Look, my engineer goes missing, he disappears with all my files and then one week later Pierson announces an identical project. Come on," Dubenich replied.
"I don't know. Stealing them back, it seems like a stupid risk, there are other ways," Nate told him.
I nodded at that and took another sip of my coke.
"Listen. Listen to me. At the end of this month, I have a shareholder's meeting, Mr. Ford. I've spent, already five years. 100 million dollars on R&D. If I go to that meeting with nothing to show for it? Then I'm dead!" he exclaimed frantically.
He pulled out a folder out of his brief case and opened it up.
"I'm serious. Look, look at the people I've already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?"
Nate took the file and started flipping through it. "Uh, yeah, I've chased all of them at one time or anoth-Parker? You have Parker?"
"Is there somebody better?"
"No, but Parker is insane," Nate said.
"Which is why I need you," Dubenich couldn't stress enough.
"No, I'm not a thief, and neither is she," he closed the file, and handed it back to him.
"Thieves I've got. What I need is one honest man to watch them," Dubenich said. "And a woman who's willing to hold them all accountable for their past actions. Remind them who they are."
"I don't do blackmail," I sipped my coke again.
"It isn't blackmail per say. It's just an extra set of eyes to keep everyone's toes up and running yeah?" Dubenich said.
I gave him a look that read 'what?'
"Are you in?" Dubenich asked.
Nate shook his head. "It's not going to work. These people you hired they all have the same rep. They work alone, they always work alone. There is no exceptions, and there's no way they're going to work for you."
"Your sister will," he said. I winced.
"And they will too, for 300,000 each. And for you, for running it, double that. And it's off the books, completely off the books. Look at me, I'm desperate here. And that's just the salary there is a bonus. Pierson is insured by I.Y.S. your old bosses. It's a fifty million dollar intellectual property rights policy. Mr. Ford, how badly do you want to screw the insurance company that let your son die?"
I winced again at the bitter memory I had all boxed up inside. It came back with a vengeance. Nate's screams echoed my own and the tears followed after. I think that was last time I ever cried.
~LEVERAGE~
Later that night I got settled into my own hotel room. We were to meet with three thieves tonight in front of Pierson's building. I dressed in all black for the occasion and that's what the others did too. Their names were Eliot Spencer, Hardison, and Parker. And I very much liked Eliot Spencer. He was handsome with shoulder length hair and arms built like he worked out most days. He was the retrieval specialist. He helped get things for people who couldn't get them theirsevles.
Hardison was the hacker. And Parker? What could I say about Parker is that she was most definitely the most skilled thief here, She had an entire rig made just for getting in and out of buildings in the quickset way possible. I wasn't a thief but I did want to screw IYS to pieces after what they did to Sam. After Dubenich mentioned that the deal was on.
Nate and I scoured for an empty office.
The other three were on top of the roof, getting ready.
"Okay, clear comms," Nate said, as I fixed mine into my ear. We all had them thanks to Hardison a very eager geek to be sure.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, hell no. This equipment is total VH1 bro. It's the best of the 80's. I've got something new," Hardison said.
"No surprises now," Nate warned through the ear comm.
"I've been doing this since high school, bro. I'm Captain Discipline."
"It amazes me you went to high school," I said, smirking.
"I heard that," Hardison tisked.
"You can hear everything."
"You're not as useless as you look," I heard Eliot as he put his comm in his ear.
"I don't even know what you do," Hardison said.
"Three years ago, Eliot Spencer was in charge of retrieving a special baseball card. Belgrade, Serbia," I said reading it in my own files.
"And there's our historian, who knows every spec of detail on us and then some," Parker said, sliding down next to the two boys on top of the building.
"That scares me," Hardison said.
"Don't worry your little boxer's off, Hardison," I said. "I won't tell a soul."
Nate chuckled. "Let's keep it moving guys."
"Can I have one?" Parker asked.
"You can have the whole box."
"What are you going to do when she finds out you live with your mom?"
"Age of the geek baby, we run the world," Hardison chimed.
"You keep telling yourself that," Eliot said.
"Ten year old Parker blows up her foster parent's house with her little bunny," I said, admiring her a little because her foster parents didn't seem like good people.
"I had my reasons," Parker said.
"I respect them," I said.
"Last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003," Parker said, fixing it up to her likings.
"You talking about the Caravaggio? You stole that?" Nate asked as I scanned Parker's files for more info to try and find it. It wasn't even in here.
"Is this thing safe?" Eliot asked, looking at his own earpiece.
"It seems safe to me cowboy," I said.
"Don't call me that," Eliot said.
"Touchy," I backed off.
"Yeah, it's completely safe, it's just, you know, you might experience nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokiness," Hardison joked.
Eliot put his earpiece into his ear. "You're precisely why I work alone."
"Guys listen up, we're going to go on my count, not a second sooner. Parker, no freelancing."
"Hey, relax," Eliot said to Nate, "We know what we're doing,"
"And on the count of five," Nate stressed,
"Oh, he doesn't want to be our pal," Hardison kidded,
"We're on the count. Five, four….three…"
"She's gone," Eliot called out to him.
"Son of a…" Nate winced. I frowned.
"Yeehaw!" Parker cried into our ear comms.
"That's twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag," Eliot realized.
"Vibration detectors are on," Parker announced.
"No cutting Parker, use the binary," Nate ordered.
"Boys are on their way," Parker said once she was in the building.
"What are you getting with security?" Nate asked. "You see security?"
"They don't see a thing," Parker said with a smile. I could almost hear it. "Doors open."
"All right guys, show time, here we go," Nate said, holding his cup of coffee in one hand as he paced back and forth.
"Here," Eliot said.
"Got it," Hardison said.
"Okay, you got any chatter on your frequencies?" Nate asked.
"No. Why?" Parker asked.
Nate looked at the records. "There's eight listed on the duty roster, there's only four at the guard post."
Parker frowned. "I can't even tell how many guys are in the room," she said. "How can you tell who's who?"
"Haircuts Parker, count the haircuts," Nate said.
"I would have missed that," she said.
"What?" Nate asked.
"Nothing."
"Problem?" Eliot pressed a finger to his ear.
"Uh, maybe," Nate said. "Run the cameras."
"Uh, why?" I asked.
"Ten digit password, I salute you sir," Hardison said.
"Got 'em," Parker said. "They're doing their walk through an hour early. Why the f…"
"Because it's the playoffs," Nate said.
"Yeah, game five of the playoffs," Nate said. "They're doing their rounds an hour early so they can watch the playoffs. Alright, where are they?"
"They're at the stairwell," Parker said.
Nate and I turned to look at the blueprint on the wall.
"Okay guys here's what we gotta do. We gotta squelch them," Nate said.
"Eliot what I need you to do, is to clear the zone and use Hardison as bait," Nate said.
"Bait? What? Hold up. Wait a minute. I know you ain't talking about me. I ain't nobody's bait. Come on baby, work for me, baby, come on, baby…"
"Base come in. Does anybody copy? Ah!" Guard one said.
"Hardison, they're almost there," Parker warned.
"Come on baby, come on, just come on man. Forget it," Hardison said,.
"Uh, Hardison what's happening?" I asked.
"I got a couple of guards on me thank you very much," Hardison replied.
"Hold it right there."
Then I heard something like someone was being punched and then moans and grunts like people were falling over.
"That's what I do," Eliot said.
"Guys, guys talk to me, you gotta talk to me okay," Nate said. "Cause I don't know what's going on."
"Guys, is everything okay?" I asked.
"Just peachy," Hardison said grumpily,
"Did you give them a virus?" Eliot asked.
"Dude, I gave them more than one virus." Hardison chuckled.
"Problem. Those guards you ganked? They reset all the alarms on the roof and the floors above us. We can't go up," Parker said.
"Every man for himself then." Eliot said.
"GO ahead, I'm the one with the merchandise," Hardison said.
"Yeah, well, I'm the one with an exit," Parker said.
"And I know all your secrets, I can sell to the highest bidder," I warned.
"And I'm the one with a plan. Now I know you children don't play well with others but I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes. Now get to the elevator and head down. We're doing the burn scam," Nate said.
"Going to Plan B," Hardison said in a rush.
"Technically that would be Plan G," Nate said as I helped him pack up all our things out of the office.
"How many plans do we have? Is there like a Plan M?" Hardison asked.
"Yeah, Hardison dies in Plan M," Nate said and I followed him down in the elevator and straight to the parking garage to get the car.
"I thought we locked down those elevators."
"Stay still, stay still, don't move." Hardison said, walking out of the elevator.
"Nice. Why don't you stare a little more?" Eliot asked.
"Sorry.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Eliot exclaimed.
"No Tom, it's okay," Parker said.
"No, it's not."
"Sorry, sorry," the guard said.
"I understand," Parker feigned a cry.
I got into the passenger seat of the car and we pulled out to the front of the building where we spotted the three coming out.
"I'm sorry."
"Get the door!" Eliot ordered.
The guard got the door for them and the three of them got into the backseat of the car. Nate drove off.
~LEVERAGE~
We went to the park to cool off after that so that Hardison could do his magic. Nate was pacing.
"Come on, come on, it's only taking all night. Come on," Nate said.
"I got a couple of Wi-Fi networks with some crappy band with," he said as he hit more keys on his phone. "There you go. The designs are sent."
"All right, all right. The money will be in your accounts later today."
I smiled at the thought and at the very thought of coming back home. I'd missed it so much. Freedom was calling my name.
"Anybody else notice how hard we rocked last night?" Hardison asked.
"Yeah, I did. It was like a well baked cake," I said with a smile.
"Yeah, well, one show only, no encores," Eliot said.
I frowned.
"I already forgot your names," Parker said.
"It was kind of cool, being on the same side," Hardison said.
"No, we are not on the same side, I am not a thief." Nate said.
"You are now. Come on, Nathan. Tell the truth. Didn't you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight, just this once?" Parker asked.
"What about you Noelle? Like holding our heads hostage?" Eliot asked.
"No, I didn't actually. In fact, I'd like to think of myself as the Historian. I know a lot of things, been to a lot of places, but uh, no. I'd rather not play the blackmailer."
"Good," Eliot gave me a nod. I smiled a bit. That made me feel better than what Dubenich had turned me into.
I never thought of myself as a thief, or a blackmailer, just a hardworking girl, doing what she thought was right for those in need.
We walked away.