The Father-Daughter Job
Disclaimer:
Once again, I own nothing...
Rating:
T
Genre:
Romance/Family
Pairing:
Coulsye
Lyrics Used:
Ke$ha "Warrior"
Warrior
We're the ones who flirt with disaster | On your ass, we'll pounce like a panther | Cut the bullshit out with a dagger | Do or die, we all gonna stay young | Shoot the lights out like a machine gun | Think it's time for a revolution | Revolution, revolution
"Excuse me." The entire group's heads all snapped over to the doorway where they noticed a man clad in a navy-colored suit pulling off a pair of black aviator sunglasses standing in front of five other people. "Are you Alec Hardison?" The man in the front of the group asked, curtly.
"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" Nathan Ford asked, accusingly, stepping in front of Hardison, protectively.
Tucking the sunglasses away in his jacket pocket, the man in the navy suit replied in a calm, clincial, tone, with his eyes focused solely on Hardison. "Agent Coulson." He introduced himself, curtly. "We spoke on the phone." He elaborated, briefly, keeping his eyes trained on Hardison.
"Who's the other men in black behind you?" Hardison asked, trying to put on a brave front, even though Phil Coulson scared the living hell out of him.
"This is my team." Phil replied, in the same, clinical tone. "Special Agent Grant Ward..." Ward gave a single curt nod as Phil paused to indicate him. "Agents Melinda May...Leo Fitz...Jemma Simmons..." Each respective operative gave the same curt nod in response to Phil's introductions. "And, last but most assuredly not least, we have Skye." He finished, gesturing to the young hacker standing directly next to him.
"Just what are you all doing here?" Nathan asked, not backing down.
"From what Mr. Hardison told me over the phone, we believe we know who took Mr. Spencer." Phil explained, vaguely. "Her name is Raina. Skye, here, can track her down. She'll lead us directly to wherever they're keeping Mr. Spencer." Softening his voice ever so slightly, Phil finished with "And, we'll bring him back to you, all."
"Don't bother." Hardison replied, still trying to be tough. "I can find Eliot my-own-damn-self." He asserted, stepping out from behind Nate, but, only just. "Y'all may not know this about me...But, I'm pretty badass with a computer."
"Skye's better." Phil replied, the ghost of a cocky grin playing across his face.
"Now, ho'd on-ho'd. on..." Hardison interjected. "Now, I know that ain't true!" Popping his tee-shirt collar, he bragged "I'm the baddest around."
"I once hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. from the back of my van on a laptop I won in a bet..." Skye bragged, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not to mention the other two times...One of those times, I did it while being held hostage in my own van!" She added, smugly. "How many times have you hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.?" She asked, with a false curiosity in her voice.
Scratching the back of his head, awkwardly, Hardison knew he had no choice but to admit defeat. "None." He muttered so quietly, everyone around him had to strain to hear him. Almost.
"Oh, I'm-I'm sorry..." Skye replied, smiling smugly as she feigned an inability to hear him for the sole purpose of making him repeat himself. "I didn't quite catch that..."
"I said, 'none', damn it!" Hardison declared, frustratedly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been my 'unicorn' as Nicholas Cage would say." Catching the curious glances from his team, he elaborated "They're the one database I can't hack..." Glaring at Skye, he added "Happy?!"
"I'm not unhappy..." Skye replied, smugly.
"As I was saying..." Phil interjected, getting back down to business. "As entertaining as all this is..." He added with an ever-so-slightly amused grin. "We still have the small matter of finding Mr. Spencer-which I have every faith and confidence that Skye can accomplish that for us."
"All right, then, Skye." Nate replied, stepping over to the young hacker. "What do you propose to do to find Eliot?" He asked, challenging the young hacker.
It took everything Skye had to leave her personal attachments out of this mission. She couldn't get caught up in thoughts of what Raina might be doing to her father at that particular moment. "Well, whenever you're finished wasting my time with pointless chit-chat..." She sneered, stepping closer Nathan. "The money trails are the key to finding Spencer. I propose to hack into Vanchat's financials. They'll lead us to Centipede. Centipede will lead us to your friend." Studying the young hacker, Nathan could sense there was more at stake than she was letting on, but, he couldn't quite identify exactly what. Evidently, he must have studied her longer than she would have liked as she fired off another snide remark. "You gonna let me find him, or what? Because I guarantee you...The longer we wait, the more sick and twisted shit they'll do to your friend..."
The hacker's dark tone sent chills up and down the lengths of the entire Leverage crew's spines. Clearly she knew more about what they were up against than they did. Without another word, Nathan silently nodded and turned as his entire crew parted to allow Skye access to their computers.
"Now, I know we ain't got as good a set-up as S.H.I.E.L.D., but, our system's pretty-" Hardison began, defending his computer set up before he was interrupted.
"Got him." Skye declared triumphantly, with a smug smirk on her face, as she whipped around in her seat and leapt to her feet, rejoining her team as they began to take their leave. "I've already sent the coordinates to the Bus." Skye began, before being cut off.
"Now, wait a minute." Nathan called, halting the S.H.I.E.L.D. team's exit. As they all turned to face him, he added "Eliot's part of this team..."
"Yeah, we're comin' with you!" Parker added, pushing her way through their team to join the S.H.I.E.L.D. team before being stopped by a wall of Ward.
"I'm afraid we can't allow that." Ward replied, tersely.
"Well, surely, you can't expect us to just sit here, and-" Sophie began, only to be cut off.
"Ward is right." May injected, curtly. "This mission will be complicated enough. We can't be distracted worrying about non-combat ready operatives in the field with us."
"Hey, I can handle combat!" Parker replied, defensively.
"With all due respect..." Phil added, attempting to defuse the situation as quickly as possible. "Whatever combat you've seen with the Leverage crew isn't on the same level that we see with S.H.I.E.L.D." He explained, keeping his voice level. "Not to mention that Mr. Spencer is usually the one to deal with most of the combat your group encounters." He added, smirking ever so slightly. "Am I right?"
"That doesn't mean that the rest of us can't handle it." Parker replied, defensively.
"Look, I think we can all agree this argument's not going anywhere..." Skye injected, frustratedly. "What about a compromise?" She offered, hoping to settle the matter, once and for all, and get back to the business of finding her father.
"I'm listening." Nathan replied, tersely, folding his arms over his chest, confrontationally.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Coulson..." Skye began carefully. "But, as long as the Leverage crew agrees to stay out of the field...I see nothing wrong with them tagging along provided they agree to stay on The Bus, and let us handle the fieldwork..." She elaborated, focusing her attention on the Leverage crew. "I mean, I'm sure Fitzsimmons could use Hardison's help in the lab." She added. "And, I see no harm in the rest of them watching from a safe distance."
Pondering the compromise for a moment, Phil finally replied "You're not wrong." Turning to the Leverage crew. "But, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operation. And, as such, I will be running point. You will all follow my orders. Do I make myself clear?" The senior agent's voice was firm-if not somewhat intimidiating-and left no room for argument.
"Agent Coulson." Nathan began, carefully, as he stepped closer to the senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "I believe we have a deal." He offered, extending his hand to Phil.
Accepting the proffered hand, Phil replied "All right, then. Welcome temporarily aboard."
"Great." Skye added, sarcastically. "Now that we have all that settled, can we please get back to business?"
Author's Note:
First of all, I would like to issue a challenge to all my readers. I'm offering a reward of one (1) Coulsye request to the first person to correctly identify the Gone In Sixty Seconds reference in this chapter! (Don't worry. It's pretty easy.)
Secondly, I hope you've all enjoyed this little offering. I should warn you, though. I hacked into the author's computer and, she has some pretty sick and twisted shit in store for my dad. But, don't worry. My team and I are watching his back. We'll save the day, as always! In the meantime, hang in there, guys...This could take a while...
~Skye ;)