#i gave her like $20 and woulda gladly done more

[averydistinctiveteam]

Chapter 1

Word Count: 1470

Triggers: None?

It was all Sophie’s idea. At least, that’s what Nate would say if asked. He was serious when he said he wanted to get out of the game. But he also missed his team. Nothing could ever replace Sam, but Eliot, Hardison, and Parker did a pretty damn good job. Of course he’d never admit that he missed them, or the chase, or taking down corrupt CEOs. But he did. He missed it far more than he ever thought he would.

Sophie would gladly admit that she missed her children. She video chatted with Hardison and Parker when they first moved on, and she called Eliot occationally to complain about Nate, but after a while, they drifted apart. The three musketeers had started something bigger, but they didn’t really talk about it with her, and she had lost touch before the plan had come to fruition. She wondered how they were doing, and she begged Nate to just visit them. It had been 10 years since their last visit. In that time, they had traveled the world and then some in that time. It was time to go home and see what the kids had done in their absence.

“Wow, the Brew Pub is looking really good! I love the new counter tops!” Sophie marveled as she ran her hand down one of them. Hardison gave Eliot a knowing look. Eliot rolled his eyes in response. They had been fighting about what kind of countertop they should get for months. Eliot finally just bought the countertop he wanted without telling Hardison, who found out and quietly changed the order.

“Oh, boys it’s so good to see you! It’s been so long!” She said finally, engulfing both of them in a tight hug. They wouldn’t say it out loud, but both of them missed getting hugs from Sophie. “Where’s Parker?”

“She’s in the back, there was an issue with one of the satillites, so she’s trying to fix it via webcam,” Hardison answered nonchalantly.

“The Brew Pub has satilite restaurants?” Sophie asked, surprised at how well it was doing. The boys blinked and were silent for a second.

“Oh, no, we expanded Leverage Inc. to be nation-wide. We might start an international branch in the fall, but it doesn’t look promising. We might have to push back the date a while,” Hardison answered her. Sophie’s eyes grew wide.

“Wha-what does that…entail?” She was awe-struck.

“Hey, when did the Brew Pub need a whole extra level of parking?” Nate asked as he entered the Brew Pub.

“Nate!” Sophie beckoned him over and he slowly meandered towards the small group. “The boys have some exciting news!” “News? I mean, it’s not exactly a ‘new’ thing, Sophie. We started recruiting about two years after you left, and then it all spiraled out from there. This is our what,”

“6th full year,” Eliot finished for him. Both Nate and Sophie stared at them for a full minute, not saying anything. The only reason they stopped, was because Parker stuck her head out of the back door.

“Guys, we have a bit of a situations. Sophie! Nate! You guys came back!” She squealed the last part. When Hardison and Eliot moved toward Parker, Nate and Sophie followed suit.

“Which one is it?” Eliot asked, pulling up a map of the United States. A string of red dots fell down upon the map, signifying where the satilite buildings were.

“Our New York office,” Hardison answered, typing on his laptop. “If we leave now, we could totally make in like two hours.”

“Wait, how are you going to get to New York? We’re in Portland!” Sophie exclaimed.

“We bought a small plane when we started branching out farther.” Hardison said this as if it was common knowledge. Sophie and Nate looked at each other in complete confusion, but they followed their kids out of the Brew Pub and into the busy streets of Portland. Eliot flagged down a taxi, which took them to a private airport.

“It’s not a particularly big airplane so we stay under the radar,” Hardison explained as he helped Eliot open the door. “And it helps that Eliot has his pilot license.” And with that, they were off. Nate and Sophie held back the thousands of questions they had for each of them. Only Sophie actually asked any questions.

“Did you two get married?”

“Nah, it seemed stupid.” Parker answered, typing away at her phone.

“We’re still working out the kinks…” Hardison clarified, looking disappointedly at Parker. She didn’t notice.

“Ok, so from what I can get from the lead there, they were hacked. Not like a normal, Hardison-can-just-type-on-his-computer-and-fix-it type hack like a really, really bad one. And honestly, they’ve got some of the most talented hackers we have at the New York office.” “Yeah I was thinking of maybe movin’ some of ‘em? Just to spread the wealth to the other ones.” Parker thought about it, but she shook her head. “They’re family, just like us.” And that was the end of it. When they landed, they were greeted by the head mastermind of the New York Branch.

“Arlana Foely, we spoke on the phone.” She extended her hand to shake Parker, Hardison, and Eliot’s hands. “Our car is this way—“ She cut herself off an did a double take. “Are you…Are you Nathan Ford and Sophie Devereaux?” She asked, awestruck. Nate smiled, weakly and shook her hand. Sophie, on the other hand, was beaming. “You guys are legendary. Honestly, I wish we had more time, because I have a million questions to ask you, but time is of the essence and we we’re about 20 minutes away, on a good day.” She quickly refocused herself and led the quintet to the car. The drive was fairly quiet, only Arlana spoke, debriefing the team on what had happened since their last contact.

Finally, they made it to “home base,” as Arlana called it. What it was on the outside, however, was a “Fitness Complex.” She led them past a sea of treadmills, stair-steppers, elliptical, and a range of weights to a door marked “EMPLOYEES ONLY.” She pushed through the door and the rest followed in her wake. Behind the door was a mess of computers, flashing lights, and freaking out.

“Arlana, I got our cameras back, but I can’t seem to figure out how they – shit now they have it back again, goddamnit, help me make sense of this Julia,” a young girl growled out as the team entered. Hardison didn’t skip a beat, sitting down next to the girl.

“Alec Hardison and you are?” The girls looked up, frozen in shock.

“I’m Irene. Ellis.” They both extended their hands and Alec shook them, one at a time.

“Now, I couldn’t get in by myself, and neither could you, so let’s see what happens when we do it in tandem,” he said, starting to frantically type. Irene didn’t waste any time and began typing away at her own computer.

“Wouldn’t it have been smarter just to send Hardison, if all it was was a computer thing?” Nate asked. Parker shrugged.

“This has been happening on and off for 12 weeks, so we figured it was time to visit and see who’s wreaking havoc on us.” She replied. Eliot glanced around and then leaned over and whispered something in Parker’s ear. She nodded and he left.

“Levada, you’re getting good,” Eliot said as he approached the punching bag. A young, short, woman appeared from behind it. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead and raised a single eyebrow.

“I was already good, I’m just gettin’ better,” She countered. He smirked and tossed her a water bottle, which she easily caught. “Thanks, what’re you doin’ in town? I thought you guys weren’t due for a visit for another couple’a months?”

“Some computer thing that Hardison has to help with.” Lavada nodded.

“Irene’s been goin’ crazy over that code. I woulda sworn up and down she was gonna smash her laptop.” She said with a soft chuckle.

“Yeah, Hardison gets like that sometimes. You been keepin’ busy?” she shrugged and began unwrapping her hands.

“This job keeps me busy. I like it. Helpin’ people never feels bad.” Suddenly Lavada something behind Eliot caught Levada’s eye. “No rest for the weary,” she grumbled as she headed towards the “EMPLOYEE ONLY” door. Eliot followed. Just as they both entered, Hardison and Irene were able to take back control of the hub for good. They high-fived, then Hardison noticed something on his screen.

“What’s this job?” He asked, pointing at a file.

“Oh, that’s the one we’re working on. It’s small potatoes compared to most of the ones you guys do.” Hardison looked up at his team.

“Sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics.”