The Warehouse Job

== Act 1: Endless Leverage ==
=== Warehouse ===
"Just saying, you're better off with Twisted Fate, he's more your play style..." Blaine said as he watched over Claudia's shoulder as she was rapidly clicking through her game of League of Legends. It had been a tad slow lately, and Blaine was teaching Claudia how to effectively play League.
"No backseat driving Bisty, I don't tell you how to how to poke and prod the others about how their powers work." she said as a turret carelessly wiped Ashe off the map.
"Told you."
Claudia was about to quip back but an alarm on the nearby computer sprang to life, drawing the two geeks' attention.
Rolling over to it, Claudia tapped a few keys and brought up a diagnostic report. "Strange, someone tried to breach our firewalls, but they got shut down early on."
Blaine came up behind, shutting the game down, "I thought the only person who came close to hacking us was you. Hell, even Fargo only heard rumors of us."
"Yeah...that's what worries me." Claudia grabbed a print out, "Let's show Artie."
=== Leverage Consulting & Associates, Portland ===
"Our client is Jasmine MacMillian," Alec Hardison clicked his remote as the six screens sprung to life. "Last week, she says that a few 'secret service' agents came to her family's house and took away a family heirloom after her son was arrested for bank robbery." Clicking the remote again, pictures of a small Japanese 'Lucky Cat' figurine and two black-clad agents popped up on their screen.
"I'm getting the feeling that these aren't actual Secret Service agents?" Sophie Devereaux inquired as she eyed up the pictures of a man and a woman talking into an unusual device about the size of a metal pencil case.
"No, they're Secret Service..." Elliot Spencer shook his head. The others turned to look at him, "Their slacks, they're very distinct pants."
Hardison looked between the two of them, "Well, yes...and no. These here are Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering. Turns out that they were Secret Service, but were seemingly laid-off a few years ago. They fell off the face of the earth. Hell, I couldn't even find them until I ran facial recognition."
"So, what does this have to do with the heirloom?" Parker asked.
Hardison smiled, "Glad you asked." Pressing the button again, a bunch of paper files came on-screen, "You see, I managed to dig around in the government's employee database and it turns out that they got sent to South Dakota, working for the IRS filing away every people's tax returns."
Sophie cocked her head in confusion, "Why would you send trained agents to be IRS desk jockeys? It seems insulting."
"Ah, that's where it gets interesting." Hardison smiled, "This warehouse, that's supposed to be storing audits, is getting some hefty funding." A specific file enlarged for the others to see, "I was able to follow the money through several shells, including a top-secret Black Ops fund. Whatever the heck this place is, the government sure as hell doesn't want anyone to know about it."
"So wait..." Sophie stopped him, "We're going after the government...again?"
"No, we're not." Nate Ford cut in, "We're simply going in, retrieving the cat, and getting out. We weren't hired to expose whatever the IRS is hiding."
"That's nice and all," Parker replied, "but I can't break in unless there's an actual place to break in to."
"Got you covered," Hardison nodded as a series of satellite images of barren wasteland sprang up on the screen. "I give you sector K39ZZZ, also known as the middle of nowhere."
Nate looked confused, "What are we looking at?"
"This here is the middle of the badlands in South Dakota. Closest town is an unnamed, unincorporated settlement 7 miles away, after that it's 90 miles to Featherhead. There's nothing out there beyond that."
"Perfect place to hide something." Eliot nodded, "When do we leave?"
"Plane leaves in a few hours."
Nate stood up and looked around at the others, "Well then, let's go break a warehouse."
=== Warehouse ===
After a bit of looking the two agents were able to find Artie taking inventory in the Music Corner, muttering to himself as he was hauling the Xenon Dance Floor to the opposite end of the aisle from the Studio 54 Disco Ball.
"Sweating to the oldies I see." Claudia laughed as she and Blaine walked up to him.
The senior Warehouse agent glanced back at her with a furrowed brow, "When you get to be my age, anything like this is a workout. You mind?" He nodded at Blaine who took up the other end of the disco flooring. "Clearly you didn't come here to help me, what's the matter?"
Claudia placed the printout on top of the flooring so Artie could see, "Someone tried to break into our system just now. Got stopped by a firewall that I didn't even know existed. Care to explain?"
As Artie looked the paper over, his face grew a bit pale, "No...no no no!" He quickly dropped his end of the floor. Claudia grabbed it before it smashed on the floor, but as she looked back at Artie he was already on his Segway headed for his office.
"This isn't good." Claudia frowned, setting her side of the dance floor down, "How long do you think it'll take you to get us back to the office with those fairy wings of yours?"
Blaine set his end down with a sigh, "They're Spriggan wings, not fairy. There's a difference..." The wings flicked out from his back with a small whoosh. "We should get back before him, grab on."
----
Rushing up the steps, Artie was already going through ideas on who he should let in on this. Getting the door open, he almost barreled right into Claudia and Blaine, "Going somewhere Artie?" She quipped.
"As a matter of fact yes," He said pushing between the two of them, "Now if you don't mind, I have to get to work on defending the Warehouse."
Claudia did a double-take as she followed Artie into his bedroom, "Wait, 'defend' the Warehouse? Should I be let in on something about this Artie?"
Grabbing a suitcase, he began stuffing it with clothes, "Yes, and that's why you and a few others are staying, every one else is going on missions." He shot a quick glance at Blaine. "I don't care how small the ping, GO!"
Blaine scrunched up his face, "Wait, I can help. I can pull a few favors in Eureka and-"
Artie finished packing and tossed it to him, "No. It's final. You and the rest of HARP are going to Juno. Bye." Blaine clutched his suitcase as Artie pushed him out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Claudia gave him a stern look, "Artie what is so important about this hacker that has you so riled up?"
Artie turned to her and pointed to the bed, "Sit, time for you to hear a story." As she sat, Artie took a seat across from her, "A few years before you, Pete, or Myka came to the Warehouse I was on a ping trying to get the remains of the TWA Flight 800 before they got used by a aerospace company to build new craft. Couldn't have planes randomly blowing up in the sky.
"I used Paul Ekman's Nesting Dolls to get more work done over time but I wasn't counting on the clone that manifested anger to actually become one of the heads of Bering Aerospace. When I found the company that would've used the artifact in their planes, I had the copy hire three thieves and a former insurance agent to steal the designs. While they stole the designs I managed to secure the artifact in an abandoned warehouse.
"Things went south when the copy didn't pay them and used the artifact to attempt to kill the crew. I didn't get a chance to neutralize the artifact since the copy had it on him when he was arrested. Three years I had to go without feeling anger but when the copy was finally released from jail, I was able to steal it back and neutralize it."
Claudia nodded calmly, trying to take this all in, "Okay, so there's been more than one Evil Artie...but you really think that after all this time they'd finally come for you?"
"I don't know Claudia, and that's why I have to leave until this all blows over. Get Aden, Bri, Matt, and Felix here now. I'm brief you all on what to do once they get here..."
== Con of Wonder ==
=== Univille ===
"It looks like we drove right into a 1950s sitcom..." Eliot muttered as they walked past Hardware Store, "I think that shop back there had a 'pe' added onto the end of its name."
Sophie smiled as she looked at the park and it's glistening fountain, "I rather like it, nice little place to duck into if the police were on my trail."
Nate and his Crew had arrived in Univille a half hour ago. While Hardison attempted to get a decent Wi-Fi signal, Eliot and Sophie were taking a stroll around town while Nate and Parker began setting up the con.
"Reminds me of this small town in the outskirts of Tuscany," Sophie went on, "I hid there after a run-in with Nate. They had the most delightful-"
"One, two, one two." Hardison's voice came in through her ear bud, "Had to re-position a few satellites, but I got these things working. Plus I'm streaming the latest Dr. Who with ease. Nate, are we ready to start?"
Back at the van parked outside a diner, Nate nodded, "Ready on our end...let's go shoot a documentary."
=== Warehouse ===
"Okay, so beyond my bizzaro counterpart who else is trying to break into the Warehouse?"
Claudia, Aden, Felix, and the two HARP Consultants sat around the table as Artie handed out blue folders, one to each of them. It was the first time that they had all really worked together on a mission in this combination. Typically, HARP didn't interact with what they called 'Warehouse Elite'; Pete, Myka, and Artie.
Artie readjusted his glasses, "He's not just your "counterpart", Alec Hardison is an expert hacker who has hacked FBI, NSA, CIA, and a dozen other acronyms. The only reason I was able to keep him from our files was because I had a program specifically designed to block his style of hacking."
Claudia shrugged and leaned back, "I'm sure I could show him a thing or two."
Artie shook his head, "No, no, you don't get to "show him a thing or two". This man managed to out-wit a Steranko, twice!" This got Claudia's attention, making her sit up.
Bri tilted her head, "What's a Steranko?"
"A Steranko is the most advanced security system on the planet." Claudia replied, "I've been nagging Blaine to get me one from GD to install in the Warehouse, but no dice. Look, if he managed that, then we're facing with some real experts."
Matt opened his file, "You're telling me. I have a one Eliot Spencer..." He trailed off reading the list of past employers...and the list of injuries left in his wake, "This guy is a one-man army. I'm looking at pictures of a shoot out in DC this guy had...this isn't a pretty picture. Then there's the list of fighting styles this guy knows. MMA, Boxing, Krav Maga, Kickboxing...I can't even pronounce the rest of these." Matt looked up at him, "You expect me to take him on?"
Artie glared at him, "You have artifact downside dampening abilities, use them!"
Matt rolled his eyes and kept scanning the the papers.
Bri raised her hand, "What's so dangerous about Sophie Devereaux? I don't think a person can just talk their way into the Warehouse."
Artie shook his head, "No, Sophie Devereaux is one of the best grifters who has walked the earth. She is a master of hiding in plain sight. She speaks 8 languages, is skilled with dialects, and has faked royalty several times over. She has used this to con thousands of dollars, including The Second David and The Stanley Cup."
Bri just looked at him flatly, "And I compare how?"
Artie looked her in the eyes, "Where she relies on skill, you have Finch's Pocketwatch and Berkley's Whip. She has to work to gain people's trust, you don't have to go through that process."
Felix laughed to himself, "Well, you did manage to wrap Tyler around your finger..." Bri glared at him and delivered a sharp elbow to the chest, "Ow!"
Shooting the two of them a hard look, Artie grumbled, "...Moving right along..." He focused on Felix, "Felix, I have you up against Parker."
As he skimmed over his file, still wincing slightly, his eyes went wide, "That Parker...you hired that Parker?"
Artie grunted, "Yes Cat-boy, the Parker."
Matt tilted his head, "What is he, heir to the Parker Brothers Fortune?"
Felix shook his head, "She is a legend in the thieving game. She's stolen more gems from triple-locked safes than I have wallets on the streets. Whatever defenses this Hardison guy doesn't disable, she'll slip through. Rumor has it that she broke into a museum vault using nothing but tinfoil and ice."
"And that's why she's potentially the most dangerous of them once she's in here." Artie said, "The last thing we need is to have her walking out with a bag full of artifacts."
Aden, who had been sitting at the head of the table, nodded, "We won't let that happen." Everyone turned to him, up until now he had been silently reading his file, "Nate Ford may know cons inside and out, but he's never faced a Risen One before."
Artie nodded to him and then turned to the others to explain, "Nate Ford is their mastermind. Before taking on running this crew of thieves he was an insurance investigator with IYS, but left after they refused to pay for his son's medical treatments that resulted in his death. I specifically chose him all those years ago since I knew that the other company was insured by IYS and he wanted to stick it to them. What I wasn't expecting was for him to rally them against me and keep them running for all these years..."
===Warehouse===
"Alright, everyone else has cleared out, Trailer and Shodi are in a kennel and Old Bone is in holed up in the Graveyard. It's just us five." Aden, Bri, Felix, Claudia and Matt were gathered in the main office, sitting around a large table. Artie had left once every other agent had been dispatched on pings and left Aden in charge.
"So as far as we know they don't know what we really do here, right?" Matt inquired.
"Right. Artie was very clear. We keep them away as much as possible and when they get in, we keep artifact interaction to a minimum."
Claudia perked up with a confused expression. "Wait, don't you mean 'if' they get in?"
"No, Artie seemed pretty adamant that this Parker would get through whatever we can throw at her. That's where you," he pointed at Felix, who looked uncharacteristically alert, "come in. If Claudia can't keep them from getting in you cut them off when they do. He didn't leave you any real instructions, just said you'd figure something out."
=== Leena's Bed & Breakfast ===
Abigail was watering the plants, thinking to herself how quiet the B&B was when none of the other Warehouse Staff were around. Typically at least one of the Agents or Consultants was in, doing small stuff such as reading, watching TV, trying to cook and almost setting the kitchen on fire...
It was a sharp knocking at the front door that snapped Abigail back to reality, almost spilling her watering can.
All the agents are out on pings, and none of the other people in town have a reason to stop in... That's when it dawned on her, You can't be serious, actual tourists?
Stashing the watering can away, Abigail straightened her outfit out and hurried to the door. Opening it, she found a party of five outside. One held a camera, another a piece of a lighting set, while a third carried what she assumed was a portable sound mixer.
A short haired man in round glasses extended a hand to Abigail, "Hi, Kenneth Randall of Randall Film Productions." Abigail reached out and shook his hand, a confused look across her face, "I'm filming a documentary about the untouched beauty of small towns across America when we happened across this little gem. Mind if we come in?"
==== Flashback: Leverage HQ, "Getting Into The B&B" ====
"Okay Nate, this was all I could get before the Warehouse's software shut me out. Tell me you have a way in." Hardison said as he took a seat, letting Nate take the floor.
"Perhaps..." Nate looked the images over, namely a few pictures of Univille itself, "Our client told us that there's a business in town that has an access route directly to the Warehouse, and that business is the only hotel in in town, 'Leena's Bed & Breakfast'." He looked back at his crew, "If we want into that Bed and Breakfast, we'll have to check-in."
Eliot shook his head, "Hardison already said that there's nothing important within a hundred miles of the place, there's no reason five people would check-in all at the exact same time."
Nate smiled, "In that case, we make a reason to be there. Remember that documentary crew we ran into at Good Cheer?"
=== Leena's B&B, Dining Room ===
Abigail lead Kenneth and his crew (Larry Thomas, the editor; Brittney Sherwood, the camerawoman; Marvin Driver, the sound recorder; and Samantha Patterson, lights and makeup specialist) to the dining room, "Can I get you all something to drink?"
"I'll take a glass of brandy, if you have some," Kenneth asked as the rest of the crew added in their own orders. Abigail took note of them and went into the kitchen.
Once sure she was out of earshot 'Kenneth' switched tones, "Okay, first step, find that access route. Parker, I need you to get a tour of the place, scan for any thing that just doesn't fit."
'Brittney' cracked her neck, "I'll try, but I still don't get why I'm the one stuck with the camera, Nate. Eliot's the one built to carry this much."
'Larry' shot her a look, "Do we have to bring up that time you stabbed a guy with a fork? No offense Parker, but grifting isn't your strong suit. Leave the talking to Sophie and Nate."
----
Abigail moved hastily away from the dining room and got out a set of glasses and mugs. She poured a shot of whiskey into one and then, after slight consideration, downed it herself. In a world of endless wonder it seemed odd that no-one had briefed her on what to do if actual guests had arrived.
She got to work on the various beverages in silence, contemplating on how long these people would stay and how Artie would react. She nearly dropped a mug of jasmine tea when a Farnsworth went off next to her. Apparently Leena had kept one lying around the kitchen in case Artie wanted to request cookies before he got in.
"Jesus, Aden, you scared the hell out of me!" she hissed as the face of the bespectacled agent popped onto the screen. "Listen, there are people here. Like, real people. Documentary film crew or something. What do I do?"
"Calm down Abi, just keep them busy," he replied in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. "They're here to try and break into the Warehouse. We're getting ready for them as best we can, but buy us as much time as possible. Recommend some local things, do innkeeper stuff. Just keep them there as long as you can."
As his face flickered away, Abigail sighed. "This is Univille," she murmured to herself. "There are no local things." She poured herself another shot of whiskey then picked up the tray of beverages and shuffled back into the dining room.
------
Seeing their hostess come back in, the Crew hushed up and thanked her politely, "Thank you very much miss.."
"Abigail," Abigail responded handing 'Kenneth' his brandy, "Abigail Cho."
'Samantha' tilted her head, "But the sign outside says Leena's. What happened to the previous owner?"
Abigail kept herself composed, at least the Warehouse had briefed her on how to explain how she came to run the B&B.
"The previous owner, Leena, she passed recently. An unfortunate accident, a mugging gone wrong." She paused for effect. Technically this wasn't a lie, Artie had been stealing artifacts and she was an unfortunate victim, "She tried to talk him down, but the mugger...." She cut herself off and took a seat herself and took a deep breath, "I found the B&B on the market and I always had a dreamed of running my own, so I bought the place to keep it from being torn down."
'Larry' nodded, "We'll make sure that we feature the B&B and you in the film. A woman following her dream, what do you think Kenneth?"
Setting his glass down after a sip, Kenneth nodded, "Always sells." He then turned his attention back to Abigail, "Tell me, could we get a tour of this wonderful place? It will help us figure out where we should film our segments."
Abigail took another deep breath, the last thing she needed was to have them wandering around the B&B and finding the path into the Warehouse.
Quickly standing up, she attempted to steer them back into Univille, "You sure you don't want to take a look around the rest of town first? Univille has plenty more gems than just the B&B. The ice cream parlor hand-cranks their own ice cream, the diner makes some of the best pie in the Dakotas...."
Kenneth shrugged and stood up as well, "How about this, I leave the girls here to scout out the best places while I take the guys around the rest of town. Any chance we could meet up for dinner?"
Abigail nodded, "Of course, how does fried chicken sound tonight?"
=== Univille Diner ===
"How are we doing on that stream?" Nate asked as he took a seat across from Hardison in the corner booth.
The hacker held up his hand, "Almost set. That camera Parker has is set up to remotely broadcast its signal to my laptop here..." Hardison tapped a few more keys and spun the laptop for him to see, "Boom, one virtual tour of Leena's Bed & Breakfast."
On screen, the camera shakily followed Ms. Cho on her way through the halls as she gave Parker and Sophie a tour.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Hardison asked as he glanced over at Eliot, who was talking with one of the waitresses, supposedly about their 'documentary' but the way she was giggling, Hardison knew he was trying to get a free piece of pie.
The mastermind leaned in and watched closely, "Anything that doesn't fit...wall seams, fake fireplaces, full length mirrors or paintings, things like that."
"So Parker could just pull one of those wall sconces and a secret door would open?" Hardison asked inquisitively.
"Don't be ridiculous, that's only in the movies."
Eliot walked back over and slid in next to Hardison, a slice of pie in hand "You guys have got to try this strawberry pie. Abigail wasn't lying."
Hardison started to reach for the pie, but Eliot pulled it away, "Get your own Hardison."
The hacker looked at him, "You flirted your way to get that."
"Yeah, so?" Eliot said pulling the pie out of his reach, "This is my slice of pie. It's not like it's in the fridge for anyone to eat."
Hardison glared at him, "Seriously? You are still caught up about that sandwich? I made you a new one!"
Nate rolled his eyes as his teammates bickered and went back to the laptop in front of him...
=== Leena's B&B ===
"Over here is our sitting room, we have over 400 channels available for your viewing pleasure." Abigail said as she lead 'Samantha' and 'Brittney' into the lounge, "Leena made sure that even all the way out here that her guests be able to keep up with current events."
Samantha was over checking the light by the open windows while Brittney was over by the fireplace, poking the camera around there. Out of all of the five 'guests', Brittney was the oddest one of them all; first she was eyeing up the silverware earlier, and now she was poking her camera in all sorts of weird places.
"Can I help you, Brittney?" Abigail asked, stepping towards her.
The blond woman looked up, "Does the fireplace work?" Her question seemed more like a demand to Abigail.
"Yes it does, we tend to only use it on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving..." Abigail trailed off as Brittney went back to the fireplace, pointing the camera up the chimney.
I highly doubt that this one is capable of robbing the Warehouse...give her some tinfoil she'd be fine. Abigail thought as she checked on Samantha.
--------
Once Abigail was out of earshot Parker muttered into her earpiece, "Nate, we've been through half the house and we've got nothing. No hollow walls, no loose floorboards, no fake fireplaces..."
Hardison's voice came over the com, "You try pulling wall sconces yet?"
Parker scoffed and rolled her eyes, "That's only in the movies."
There was a pause, then Nate's voice came on, "Try having her take you to oldest place in the building. Pantry, basement, cellar; where ever this passage is, it'd be there."
Parker sighed and pulled herself out of the sooty fireplace and called over to Abigail and Sophie, "What's the oldest place in the house?"
Abigail was a bit caught off guard, "Well...there's a small wine cellar behind the staircase. We mainly use it as a pantry now. If you're thinking of shooting in there, it's far too dark and cramped."
Before Parker could ask anymore, Samantha cut in, "What I think Brittney was talking about was that it'd wonderful to get footage of the more historical areas of the B&B, giving it a rustic feel."
Abigail raised an eyebrow, but kept calm, "Well, that makes sense. How about we continue this after dinner? If you'll get your bags, I'll show you to your rooms."
--------
The women nodded and started out to their van to collect their bags. As soon as they had left the lounge, Abigail bolted for the kitchen and dug out her Farnsworth and clicked it on, "Aden, you there?"
The Space Player looked up from the contraption he and Felix were working on, "What is it?"
"I have them busy for now, but I'm going to need help with dinner." Abigail said as she started to pull out different ingredients.
"Abi, you've cooked for the lot of us dozens of times, more if you include take-out." Aden replied, "What's different?"
Abigail shot daggers at him, "I'm making dinner for people who are going to try to rob the Warehouse, I'm trying to not let them know that I'm onto them, and oh yeah, the fact that the Warehouse isn't supposed to exist! I'm freaking out over here!"
Aden sighed, "I'll send Bri up with Cutthroat Kitchen's Hatchet. Should help the two of you keep your nerves as you make dinner. Neutralize it every thirty minutes, otherwise you might wind up using Lucky Charms for your breading." With that the Farnsworth blinked off as the sound of the front door opening reached her ears.
=== Warehouse ===
Bri's car could be heard driving away from the Warehouse as the remaining agents continued their preparations.
Aden sighed and dressed the group. "Abby said they've been poking around the pantry area. They're sticking their camera into every area that might be suspicious. If they keep this up, they'll find the secret entrance eventually."
Felix glanced up from his pile of wires. "I thought there were only four ways in. The main door, the cave of wonders, the Hong Kong portal and the large artifact bay." He counted each off on his fingers. "None of those are near the B&B."
"Yeah, but after the incident with Paracelsus, Artie wanted to set up a direct line of travel in case he needed to get into the Warehouse in an emergency. He got permission to use Charles Pearson's Tin-Can Telephone, with one end hidden in the B&B's pantry. It worked pretty well, a tin can in a pantry wouldn't attract attention and being underground seems to make it slightly faster, too."
"Oh, so them exploring is a pretty bad idea then. Still, what are the chances that they'd pick up one can out of dozens?"
"If you have to ask, you haven't been here long enough." said Aden, with a sigh. "Anyway, I figure we have until Abby goes to bed for them to start digging harder. Given it's a Saturday and Face Off is on tonight, she should be heading upstairs around 10. Bri's there, so she can let us know if they get close to finding anything. I think if we have everything set up by 9:45, we should be ready for them."
Claudia lifted her head up from the screen in front of her. "Piece of cake. I've set up Hugo's turrets outside the Warehouse to stun instead of kill, and the rest are on a motion-detecting camera system, so we can keep track of the if they get in."
"And I have most of the Woodstock speakers set up, I just need to hook them all together and find out how to avoid us being whammied, too." Felix piled the wires into a a wheelbarrow with a few large boxy speakers and pushed the out of the office.
Matt squeezed past him as he entered. "I borrowed some of the Prada mannequins from Felix and thought I'd put them in these Shaolin robes. Should make them a force to be reckoned with. I passed Bri setting up the mirror maze from The Lady From Shanghi around the aisles closest to the can."
Aden looked over all of the security measures his team had come up with. "This is good, if this all works then they don't stand much of a chance."
=== Leena's B&B: The Lounge ===
The Leverage Crew sat around the lounge discussing their plan as Abigail and one of the part-time employees, a long-haired brunette named Brianne, started work on dinner, a batch of home-cooked fried chicken.
Nate looked to Sophie and Parker, "Okay, where are we at on this secret passage?"
Sophie crossed her legs as she replied, "The one place that Abigail was extremely hesitant about letting us near was in the kitchen. She tried to convince us that it was a mess, but Parker pushed in anyways. Poor woman nearly had a heart attack."
Parker rolled her eyes, "After that she started in on telling us about her boring photography hobby." Sophie shot her a glare, "What?"
"So we start in the kitchen." Nate turned his attention to Hardison, "Do we have any idea on when Miss Cho will be going to bed?"
"Well, I've checked the history on their cable to pin down a regular pattern, and turns out that Miss Cho here really likes her White Collar and Face Off. Now, normally it'd be new episodes tonight, but I was able to change their schedule to be re-runs. At the latest, I'm guessing she'll be out by nine if she only watches White Collar."
Eliot looked up from the map of the Warehouse on the table, "How deep do you think Abigail is tied to this government warehouse?"
Sophie shrugged, "She's not entirely lying about the bed and breakfast, whoever this Leena was, she really did pass away. The way she cares for those plants in the dining room, it's as if she's carrying on a legacy." The Crew looked at her, expecting the coin to flip, "But she is involved though. She's clearly trying to keep us from something in that kitchen."
=== Leena's B&B: The Kitchen ===
"Time to neutralize it again."
Abigail handed the hatchet to Bri with a purple gloved hand which Bri took over to the sink, pressing the hand-pump soap dispenser and causing it to exude a slimy, purple goo that made sparks fly as soon as it touched the blade of the hatchet.
As it turns out, cooking with a hatchet as your primary cutting tool isn't easy. The girls had found that out the hard way when they didn't neutralize the Cutthroat Kitchen Hatchet after the first half-hour and had all their knives vanish. The hatchet's properties, as Aden had described to Bri as she left for the B&B, were simple: touching the hatchet will give a person a high level of culinary skill for half of an hour; failure to neutralize at the 30 minute mark after activation would cause sabotage in the user's kitchen ranging from using sub-par ingredients to cooking in an easy-bake oven.
As soon as the sparks died, Bri washed the goo off to make sure it didn't get into the chicken. She had heard when she started that ingesting the goo makes you see...things. While technically she was serving robbers, Bri couldn't bring herself to tamper with their food.
"Oil is ready for the chicken," Bri called, taking a glance at the stove, "How's the salad coming along?"
Abigail was mixing an arugula and spinach salad with touches of mandarin oranges and strawberries, "It looks good, but I have no idea when we bought arugula though...I'll just assume the artifact had something to do with it and leave it there."
Setting the hatchet aside, Bri began setting the battered chicken into the hot oil, "So, how do you plan to delay them?"
Abigail shook her head, "At this point I'm out of ideas...pretty sure the Regents would make my life a living hell if I told them about how H.G Wells has slept here."
Bri sighed as she flipped over the chicken, "Have them tell you about themselves then. Sure, it'll all be fake, but the longer you can keep them busy the more time you'll buy for us."
Plating the salads, Abigail looked to her, "But what stops them from poking around once I'm asleep? I could lock them in, you know."
"That'd be pointless." Bri replied, taking out the chicken and setting it on paper towels to dry, "The blonde one is a world class thief that Felix either looks up to or has a crush on; no lock will hold her. And that one with the long hair and southern charm? He's their hitter. He'll just break his way out." Bri began putting the next set of chicken in the fryer, "Just don't let them know you're stalling and let us take care of the rest."
Moving from the fryer, Bri hung the hatchet up on the rack of other cooking utensils, "Now, I need to start Leena's Cinnamon Rolls then get back to the Warehouse. I think you can handle this."
=== Leena's B&B: The Dining Room ===
"Tell me, Ms. Cho," Kenneth said as he leaned back in his chair, "Do you always serve such high quality food for your guests?"
Abigail smiled, "Well, we hate to see our guests leave without having at least one meal they'll remember." Taking a sip of her drink, she looked at the others. Bri had already gone out the back to finish setting up for tonight, so it was just her and a pack of thieves.
"Tell me Mr. Randall, how did you get into the film business?" Abigail begged that Bri's suggestion worked.
"Please, call me Kenneth," He said with a calming smile, "But I studied film in college and while my peers decided they wanted to work in the blockbuster world of Hollywood, I wanted to deal with the more simple things in life that we as a society tend to pass over without a second glance."
Abigail was able to keep up the conversation, getting to know him as she shared bits and pieces about her life before the Warehouse. She had to keep reminding herself that it was a cover though, and that he never attended a college in New York, that he never donated his revenue to a half-way home, and that he wasn't a practicing Taoist. Slowly, the other four had trickled out to their rooms for the night.
Checking her watch, Abigail stood up, "Well, it's been fascinating talking with you Kenneth, but I'm going to watch a bit of TV and call it a night. If you need anything, don't be afraid to let me know."
Kenneth nodded and stretched, "Well, I might get to bed early, we have a long day of shooting tomorrow."
Abigail watched the con artist go up the steps and waited until she heard the door click shut. Breathing a sigh of relief, she walked over to the lounge and clicked on White Collar.
Strange... she thought, It's a re-run tonight. Thought we were in the final season. Shrugging it off, Abigail watched the TNT drama before flipping over to SyFy for Face Off. She had started watching the show ever since she was forced to go with Pete and Tyler to retrieve an artifact that was making the makeup jobs permanent. The guys needed at least two models on the inside, and she and Tyler had drawn the short straws.
If one rerun was bad enough, the second just made her night worse. Feeling defeated, she begrudgingly watched the episode and turned the TV off in a huff and went to bed.
== Act 3: Irresistible Force Paradox ==
=== Warehouse 13 ===
In the end, the setup had gone rather well. Claudia's modified turrets were all set up and she had hidden herself in the sub-office to monitor everything. She had dubbed herself "Mission Control" before rushing to her post. The shelves around the tin can had been emptied, just in case they got in that way, and beyond that was Bri's mirror maze to disorient them if they decided to press on. The Woodstock speakers were rigged to Eric Marsden's record, which itself was set to play on the Ear-Worm Record Player that Pete had found in the shelves a few weeks back. This could be activated by Claudia to completely disable the team should they manage to escape the maze. The agents had all be tapped by Pierre Monteux's Conductors Baton, making them unaffected by the recording. Further beyond that, the Prada Mannequins Matt had outfitted with Shaolin robes were waiting to take them down. He had said, and the other had agreed, that if this team of invaders made it far enough for the mannequins to be necessary, subtlety was pointless.
The agents crammed into the office and watched the monitors closely. Abigail was in bed, and the intruders were due any minute now.
=== Leena's B&B ===
As soon as the door to Abigail's room shut, five more opened as the Leverage Crew left their rooms and piled into the kitchen.
Right off the bat, Parker and Sophie were searching for hidden knobs, levers, or mechanisms. Eliot was rapping on the walls to see if any of them were hollow. Hardison took to the pantry as Nate kept a look out.
"Are you sure that this secret passageway is in the kitchen?" Eliot asked as he pulled the fridge out a bit to test the wall behind it.
Parker nodded, "It's the only place that she didn't want us to be in. That just screams 'secret entrance' to me."
Clicking on the single, bare bulb in the pantry, Hadison found himself looking at dozens of spices, canned vegetables, snack foods and 2-liter gallons of soda, including his favorite orange soda.
As he picked one of the bottles up, Parker silently came up behind him, "Hardison? Really?"
Caught a bit off guard, the hacker jumped, causing him to hit his head on the shelf of soup cans above him. While most just jostled and stayed in place, one tipped over the edge and hung in midair buy a string.
"Seriously? Can't a guy enjoy his favorite soda on the Job? I'm not sure if you noticed, but Middle-Of-Nowhere South Dakota doesn't exactly have a 7-11." He looked up at the hanging can curiously and grabbed it...only to find that it was empty.
Parker looked over his shoulder, "Why would you store an empty tin can in the pantry? And why would you attach a string to it?"
Sophie followed Parker over, "I think it's a tin-can telephone, I used to play with these when I was kid. You'd pull the string tight and talk into it so the person with the other can could hear you." She took the can from Hardison and placed it up to her ear, "Like this."
As soon as Sophie put her ear to the can there was the rushing sound of a subway train and a series of flashing lights as if a train was speeding past. When the Leverage crew recovered their sight, Sophie had vanished and the can swung in midair.
Hardison quickly tried to leave the pantry, "Aw HELL no. I am not dealing with anymore demon-voodoo stuff. I still have nightmares about that two-faced devil doll."
Nate tried to calm him down, "Hardison, Hardison, calm down. She could've just activated a mechanism that caused the shelf to rotate..." It was clear that despite his best bluffing, their Mastermind didn't have a clue what was going on.
Not waiting for an invitation, Parker had already slipped into the pantry and had the can in hand, "See you guys on the other side!" She smirked as she put the can to her ear, her yell of excitement could barely be heard over the sounds of the underground rail.
Hardison was still grasping for excuses, trying talk his way out of it, as Eliot forced him back into the pantry and placed the tin can up to Hardison's ear before his own, both vanishing the same way. As Nate stepped into the pantry to go himself he heard the door to the kitchen fly open. It wasn't surprising, with all the noise, that Abigail had rushed down to see what was going on. Nate merely waved at the horror-struck innkeeper as he placed the tin can to his ear, vanishing in a dark blur of loamy earth and oil.
=== Warehouse 13: Sub-Office ===
"There." Aden pointed as the can began to rattle. Over the next minute, five figures appeared out of the can, dizzy and covered in a thin layer of dirt.
"And so the game begins." Claudia muttered to herself, pulling up an image of the mirror maze. "Bri, what exactly does this thing do?"
The HARP Consultant shrugged, "Well, the idea of the mirror maze as a plot device showed up in the 1947 'Lady From Shanghai'. The plot in a nut shell is that a defense attorney hires a sailor to fake his own death, but the attorney winds up actually dead; the sailor goes goes on trial, but finds out that the his employers wife and his employer's business partner had conspiring to kill the attorney, but the involvement of a cop caused the wife to kill the business partner. Climatic scene was a shootout in a hall of mirrors where the attorney is killed and the wife is severely wounded. To get out of the maze, they just have to find the panel that has the bullet holes in it. Looking into any of the others makes it harder to tell what's real and what isn't. Classic spacial distortion artifact, the kind that makes Aden cranky."
Aden shot her a small glare but chose to stay silent.
=== Lady From Shanghai Mirror Maze ===
"That...was not...a revolving pantry." Hardison griped as he doubled over.
"Seriously?" Eliot replied helping him up.
As the Leverage crew regained their sense of balance they found themselves looking at a corridor of highly reflective mirrors. Warbling music floated around them from no discernible source.
"Nate, I thought you said we'd be in a warehouse..." Parker asked as she touched one of the slightly warped mirrors, "Why are we in a carnival funhouse?"
Nate shook his head, "Not a carnival, just the first line of defense. Parker, you're up. Find us a way out."
As Parker stepped into the maze, her well-trained eyes picking out tiny bends and seams in the surfaces, Sophie whispered to Nate, "What exactly is going on here, Nate? Sure, you made some magic when we pulled off the Top Hat Job, but that..." She gestured to the tin can perched innocuously on a metal table, its string vanishing into the concrete floor, "That's not normal."
Nate placed a hand on her shoulder, "Focus on the task at hand. We can let Hardison figure this out later."
The grifter nodded and took a deep breath. A few minutes passed, the music warbling in tone and pitch. Sophie noticed that none of the notes seemed to repeat, and what appeared to be music at the start was more like a mess of sound. It wasn't pleasant to the ear, but something about it niggled in her head. Parker's voice over the comms snapped her to attention.
"Guys, I'm out...you guys have got to SEE this place!"
There was an odd flash of light as the mirrors all gleamed for a brief second before they all dulled. Somehow they had lost their peculiar shape and shine and it was a breeze for the four to follow Parker's calls. As they pushed a single loose pane of glass, for some reason riddled with what seemed to be gunshot holes, they made their way out of the maze and into what looked to be a colossal hangar. Instead of aircraft there were row after row of shelves, most nearby empty but the ones in the distance packed with various knick-knacks.
Hardison grinned in satisfaction. 'We did it, team. We're in."
=== Sub-Office ===
Bri watched the monitor in dismay as the one called Parker burst through the maze in record time, de-activating its disorienting effects as she pushed through the exit panel. 
"No way, she breezed through that like it wasn't even affecting her! How..?"
"She's the best, I tried to tell you." Felix said from the corner. He frowned at the box of dials in front of him. "What's bothering me is that none of them seem affected by the record. I know I wired it correctly, and the blinky light says it's playing. Why aren't they smiling like idiots right now?"
Bri looked slightly guilty. "Err, I think that one may be my fault. That mirror maze is made to distort everything, probably including sound. If they can hear it, it's probably not what we'd hoped. When she disabled the artifact, the static probably fried your circuitry."
Felix dropped his head onto the control box. "Right, should have predicted that. I didn't have time to insulate everything. I guess it's up to Matt, now. If those mannequins go down, Aden said we have to "Divide and Conquer". So I guess it's every man and woman for his or herself."
"Speaking of which, where is Aden?" Claudia looked up at the room and as the others glanced around they all realized that the Rogue was indeed missing.
"Maybe he went to help Matt?" Bri offered.
"Maybe. I'm sure he's fine." she replied "Not like he'd run away at a time like this anyway. He must have something planned."
===Shelves===
Matt waited at the end of the aisle with a small group of mannequins surrounding him. All were wearing flowing Shaolin monk robes and were positioned with their hands pressed together.
"Matt, This is Mission Control. Leverage have broken the maze. Song flunked. Heading your way. Over"
He pressed the button on his headset, "This is Hitter, Monks at the ready. Awaiting confrontation. Over." He flexed his chest and watched the end of the aisle. With a slow breath, he saw the five figures moving quickly towards him.
----
"Did any of you hear that weird song in the maze?" Sophie asked as they ran quickly but cautiously through the sparsely filled aisles.
"Kind of made me sleepy." Parker mused as they pressed on, now entering more populated shelves.
"Nate..." Eliot's attention was drawn by the miles of shelves that laid before them, "Exactly what the heck is the government storing here?"
Nate shrugged, "Our client didn't tell us too much about the contents, just what we were hired to recover."
Closer to the back of their group, Eliot was muttering under his breath, "I am really having flashbacks to that patent office."
Parker raised an eyebrow, "You were having a blast at that place, so what's the matter with this one?"
"It's like where inventions come to die..."
As the group came to the end of the aisle their path was impeded by three mannequins dressed in traditional monk garb.
Sophie lightly scoffed, "First a mirror maze, then a weird radio station, and now dummies wearing bathrobes. I'm starting to question the security in this place."
Eliot stepped forward, pushing the others back, "Those aren't bathrobes Sophie...those are Shaolin monk robes."
"How do you-"
"It's a very specific style of robe. I studied wushu for a year." Eliot said cutting her off. As soon as he said this the mannequins slowly started to move and take fighting stances, identifying the man in front as their primary target, "I hate being right..."
=== HARP Office ===
Matt was out of breath when he made it to the Spiral and the HARP Office. He radioed in, "I...I don't think they saw me, but I'm getting a sinking feeling that those dummies won't hold them..."
Felix slumped onto the table. "Damn it, these guys are getting to be a pain. No-one has been able to get into the Warehouse this easily before."
"He's right. We each tried out our own plans and they failed. Some of them even cancelled each other out." Bri leaned back in her seat. "No offense guys, but I think we do way better on our own."
Matt seemed to perk up. "You're onto something there!" Bri looked at him in confusion. "Artie said they're a dangerous team. Maybe on their own, they aren't as competent as us!" he explained.
Claudia beamed at him. "I think you've got it, Tiger. Allons Y, nerdlings. It's time to divide and conquer!" She smartly tapped a button on the side of the control panel and the agents heard the grinding sound of Daedalus' Slate pumping a labyrinth of walls into the Warehouse. The agents grinned at each other before following the caretaker-to-be into the newly partitioned stacks.
== Warehouse ==
As the last dummy fell like a sack of potatoes, Eliot looked back at Nate, "What kind of warehouse has robot fighting guards?"
Before the Mastermind could reply the building started to rumble violently. The Leverage Crew watched in stunned silence as marble walls started to emerge from the floor, neatly breaking them up. Parker, recovering quickly, scrambled up a shelf and vaulted onto a wall as it sped upwards.
=== Tech-Off (Hardison vs. Claudia) ===
Hardison groaned, "Aw HELL no." Turning on his comm, his response was rough static. He could hear nothing over the newly formed walls except the low rumbling of presumably more rising up in the distance. Pulling out his phone, he began to adjust for interference, only to overhear a different a new voice:
"Keep me updated on their positions, guys!"
His eyes widened as he opened a new program to attempt to isolate the broadcaster, "Excuse me, excuse me, um hi, I'd hate to bother you ma'am, but I think you're bumping in on my baby monitor's frequency." Finding the source, he attempted to send a multiple variant computer worm to them.
Claudia bit her tongue as the voice came over the Farnsworth's speaker. She had to come up with a reply, and fast, "Hello? Hi, you're our next call on NPR's 'Artifact Nation'. Tell me, what family treasure do you have to share with the people at home?" Seeing the worm coming in, she let Artie's firewall take it as she returned the favor with a virus of her own in order to root out where he was.
Oh hell no she didn't... Hardison thought to himself as he was forced to rapidly adjust his plan of attack to navigate around the attack. Running to a nearby terminal mounted to a support beam, he plugged into it to tap directly into the closed circuit, "Well, I have to say, NPR's budget must've gone up since my Nana listened to it, since they just tried to send me a multi-phase tumbler virus." Now in, he was able to download a map of the Warehouse and overlay the locations of the rest of the crew's mobile signals.
"Says the caller who's baby just fired a worm designed to hollow out my router." Claudia countered. Hardison tapped directly into the feed, allowing her to pinpoint his exact location, "And I'm not sure what good a map will do if you don't even know where what you're looking for is."
Hardison cussed, this girl was good. Eliot could not find out that a girl just kicked his ass at his own game, "Guys, comms off. Not sure how they got on our frequency, but comms are compromised." He wasn't sure if his team could even hear him, but it wasn't worth the risk.
As he shut his off his comm, Claudia called out the same to the Warehouse staff, "Farnsworths off, now. I know we thought they couldn't be hacked, but Hardison is pushing into it somehow." Shutting hers off, she made sure her mini Tesla and Tesla grenades were in her bag as she fled her chair to hunt down the hacker old-school.
=== Atop the Maze Walls (Parker vs. Felix) ===
Parker glanced down at her team-mates. Each of them had been sectioned off into a different corridor. They didn't respond to her shouts, and Hardison and Sophie seemed to be struggling with their comms units. With some kind of sound dampener in play, Parker decided to continue onto the target alone. She deftly ran across the top of the ever-expanding walls. It was an impressive defense system, from the ground she hadn't even been able to detect it. And those animatronics were extremely sophisticated to have been programmed to fight with that skill.
She discarded the thoughts, nothing but distractions. Turning towards the deeper Warehouse, she was momentarily caught off guard by an entire pyramid sitting in the distance. Composing herself quickly, he was just about to leap from the wall into an isolated section when she detected someone approaching from behind.
Parker swung around in time to avoid a small dart that had been thrown from a man of around 20. His shaggy dark-brown hair almost covered his yellowish eyes.
"I think it's time you and your friends left now. You're invading my home and there are a few of us her who'd rather you left quietly."
"Not likely," she scoffed, readying herself for a fight. "I'm more curious as to what the government needs a musty old pyramid in South Dakota for. You guys like the storage facility for the Smithsonian or something? Besides, we're here on a job and you don't know who you're messing with if you think we're walking out without finishing it."
The man smirked and pulled out a small card. "You're Parker, world-class thief and member of the mercenary group known as Leverage. Hired to collect or retrieve anything for a fair price. Arrested some years ago, before you fell off the map." He read off quickly. Flicking the card away, he pulled out another dart and flipped it in his hand. "If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be so cocky."
"Mercenary?" she tilted her head, "No no no, we're not just mercenaries, we help people, like the woman who you stole a family heirloom from. And anyway, I don't even know who you are kid."
"That's because in a good thief, and a good thief doesn't. Get. Caught."
Parker raised an eyebrow, "I've stolen a mountain, a trial, a movie, and a baseball team and gotten away with it. Good enough?"
"I've stolen a soap-opera. I've stolen Little Red's Riding hood straight from the story. I've stolen the memories of a hotel from the minds of a two-dozen people. This is a different world, Parker, and we play by different rules."
She smiled, "I'm impressed kid, but I think I'm going to enjoy these new rules too." With a mock two-finger salute Parker took off, sprinting across the walls before jumping onto the top of a shelf. Caught slightly by surprise, Felix quickly gave chase.
Though she was leading with a comfortable head start, she slowed a fraction when she felt a cold rush surround her. Glancing back, she saw a swath of shadowy smoke quickly closing in. As it approached she could make out the mystery man's face among the smoky vapor wearing what looked like a cloth hat.
She grunted in shock as the dark mass collided with her, sending them both off the wall and into a neatly enclosed area. She quickly registered the sign next to her that read 'Ferret Kennel" before turning her attention to the young man who had landed opposite her, shadows billowing off him as the hat slipped from his head.
"We've been told to get you lot out by any means necessary," he said with a faint snarl, "And I don't play fair."
Parker let out a sharp laugh. "Trust me kid, not playing fair has kind of become the norm for me." She lunged forward to throw a punch at him, taking instant notice of his pointed features and bright yellow, almost cat-like, eyes and he weaved out of the way. "Isn't it a bit early for Halloween costumes?" She taunted, throwing a few more jabs.
Felix took a punch to the chest, followed by a swift kick that he barely dodged. He grimaced, his hand reaching into the pocket of his dark hoodie. "Perfect for Trick-or-Treating, I'd say." he retorted, pulling out a small green ball covered in pink knobs. A quick jab with one of his claws caused it to start emitting a thick pink smoke. He flung it at Parker and, acting mostly on reflex, she returned it to him with s precise kick.
Felix gave a small yelp as it hit him squarely in the head, knocking him out cold.
=== Training Arena (Eliot vs. Matt) ===
Before Claudia had shut off communication, she had given them all instructions on where to find their targets. Eliot was seen heading for the arena that some of the agents used for sparring in their off time. Yeah, totally not in his favor...then again, at least it's not the armory.
----
Eliot sprinted down the aisles, "You have got to be kidding me. First fighting robots, now a damn maze?" He turned right, looking over at all the junk that was sitting on the shelves, "Who the heck organized this place...my nephew's room is cleaner than this."
A few more turns and the hitter found himself in a sand-covered arena. "They holding Fight Club down here?"
"Actually," a voice called out to him, "We use this place to train for intruder events." From the other end of the field was a young man in a leather jacket leaning against a metal pillar. He was flipping a sturdy wooden mallet in his hands. "If you let me escort you out now we can avoid some unpleasantness."
Eliot grunted as he cracked his knuckles, "Kid, you really don't want to do this. Just stand aside and you won't get hurt."
Matt shook his head, "I've read your file, saw some after shots of your handiwork...I'm pretty sure that only one of us is going to leave the arena on his feet."
"You don't stand a chance," he scoffed, "I've been doing this since before you were in school."
Matt shrugged, "I'm sure you have, but I got a bit of extra help." in one motion he grabbed the handle of the gavel tight and sung it onto the ground. There was a tense second of silence before a deafening BANG reverberated in the arena, causing Eliot to stumble back covering his ears.
"Why you little..." Eliot swore as he regained his balance. He lunged forward and charged Matt, going from vulnerable to offensive in a split second. He closed the distance quickly and began an assault of jabs and grapples.
While the consultant had expected to get a few broken bones, Matt found himself doing more blocking than fighting back. The few shots he did get in were either intercepted with near-perfect reflexes or didn't even seem to faze the Hitter.
Gritting his teeth, Matt took a few shots to the chest before re-gripping the gavel. making a quick slide backwards and assuming a more offensive form, he thanked Myka and H.G. for teaching him a bit of hand-to-hand. It wasn't much against Eliot's relentless blows, but in combination with Leroy Brown's jacket he managed to land a solid blow with his knee and a punch to his opponent's shoulder.
Matt dug his feet into the sand and went to swing the gavel once more as Eliot recoiled in surprise, the coat's effects making him hit far harder than someone his size could be expected to. As he began to swing down Eliot lunged forward and managed to grab his hands, causing the two to wrestle for control of the artifact.
"Not gonna lie kid." Elliot grunted as he tried to force the gavel away from himself, "Didn't think a shrimp like you could put up a fight."
Matt managed a half-laugh, half scoff, "Well, when you know that the best are going to try to break in you tend to practice up, Mr. Spencer." Apparently gloating was not the way to go, since the last thing that the HARP Consultant remembered was a knee in his chest followed by a blow to the solar plexus.
Eliot tossed the gavel aside, its handle bouncing off the floor and avoiding an accidental eruption of force. "Never said my name, kid...who told you we were coming?" He frisked Matt and removed a.32 pistol from his pocket, unloaded the clip, and tossed it aside as well. As he turned and walked deeper into the Warehouse, he didn't notice the pistol dematerialize and return to the pocket of Matt's jacket.
=== Art of the Grift (Sophie vs Bri) ===
Sophie's wandering through the halls had led here to what appeared to be the largest art gallery she'd ever seen. Wandering the rows, she caught herself gasping upon seeing paintings that she was sure that she had stolen first.
Sophie came to a stop by a painting that she couldn't quite put her finger on, "Hello...I don't think we met..." Staring intently at the painting, she observed it in detail, careful not to get too close, "Late eighteen hundreds, oil....a Van Gogh? Impossible...all of his paintings are accounted for, or at least all the forgeries are. Except..."
"The lost Stormy Night." Leverage's grifter jumped a bit as she turned to see a young woman with straight brown hair, a blue shirt, and jeans standing behind her, a whip coiled at her hip. "Showed up in New York, few years ago. Surprised that the infamous Sophie Devereaux didn't get the memo. That is what you're going by these days, right?"
"It has to be a fake." Sophie countered, instinctively switching to an American Midwestern accent, "I keep an eye on all the Van Goghs, I'm a big fan you could say. I heard a museum found a new one, but I assumed it was a rumor."
Bri shook her head as she slipped a hand into her pocket, wrapping her fingers around the Atticus Finch's Pocketwatch and activating it, "Van Gogh's Stormy Night, is technically still on display there, in a matter of speaking. We, ah...made sure it was accounted for."
Sophie nodded, her Midwestern accent slipping into Southern, "That's nice and all hun, but I'm in a rush and I need to keep moving." She made to move past the woman, but Bri cut her off.
"Not happening, Miss Kitty," The HARP Consultant shook her head, clutching the pocket watch, "But how about this: you tell me what you're looking for and you can head back to the exit and I'll fetch it for you." In the time she'd spent using the artifact she'd found that if the suggestions were phrased as a win-win for the person on the receiving end, they were more likely to fall prey the effects.
Trying to step around the unknown woman again, Sophie had a sudden mental stumble. It was almost like she wanted to tell the woman the item that she and the others were after. She's a grifter too, Sophie realized, You need to learn more about her if you want to keep up.
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," the professionals voice now going into a refined British, "You know who I am, but I don't have the honor of knowing who you are."
"Rependata." The HARP Agent was careful to use only her last name, just in case, "And you're currently trespassing on government property." This wasn't a lie, technically the Warehouse operated with government funding, "Now like I said, if you'll just tell me what you're looking for."
Sophie had to consciously steel herself. She's engaged, based on the style of the ring, but not long by the looks of it, it's still new. She's also seasoned here. Her stance and the fact she's been fingering the handle of the whip means she knows how to use it, or is at least a good bluffer. Remind myself to ask Eliot how to deal with people wielding whips. But...what is she gripping to for dear life in her other pocket? She wasn't able to tell from sight alone, so she make a quick break, trying to pass Bri on her left but colliding with her.
Bri fell against a large metal statue and was winded by a bronze elbow to the spine. Quickly shoving hand aside, Sophie slipped her own into the woman's pocket to find...a pocketwatch? Pulling it back, Sophie's found her thoughts beginning to refocus on the mission and the heirloom. She deftly slipped the watch into her own pocket and sprinted away.
Bri recovered after a few moments and saw Sophie sprinting away. Cussing, she got up and pulled her whip loose and gave chase. Dammit, off guard for two seconds and she got the watch. She's sharper than I expected. Lashing the whip, Bri managed to catch Sophie's ankle as she ducked around a corner, a shallow but bloody gash appearing as the intruder tripped.
Sprinting to catch up as Sophie scampered around the turn, Bri found herself running face first into a marble arm, knocking her out cold.
Dropping the arm, Sophie winced in pain and clutched her ankle. Despite knowing that their comms were compromised, she still radioed in to Nate...
=== Taking the Lead (Nate vs. Aden) ===
Leverage's Mastermind put up a brisk pace as he went through the seemingly endless corridors of the Warehouse. Every time he thought he might be getting close to their target he found himself in an all new section that didn't match what he was looking for.
As he rounded a corner into another fruitless aisle, his comms came to life, "Nate, it's Sophie, I just ran into one of the employees of this place and she managed to get me with a whip...it's bleeding, but I can walk."
"What about the employee?" Nate asked as he hurried down a corridor, scanning the shelves.
"Out cold. I think I got her with the arm of the Venus de Milo, if you can believe it." Sophie gave a small laugh, "But I'm over in what looks the art gallery of this warehouse, I don't think it's over by me."
Another voice came through, this time it was Eliot, "Well I ran into what I think was their muscle. Left him in their arena out cold. Disarmed him too. Nate, this guy had an old judges gavel that hurt like hell. I don't like this place. Let's just get the cat and get out."
Nate nodded, "Keep looking, but be ready to get out as fast as you can in case Hardison or Parker can't find the-" Nate cut himself off as he turned the corner and came face-to-face with a young man with glasses and a stern look.
"Hello. My name is Aden." he said simply, a black-hilted dagger with an iridescent blade visible in his left hand. Visible on his belt was an ivory-hilted khopesh. "Find the what, exactly?" he asked, giving the dagger a flip.
"Uh...." Nate stalled, giving Aden a look over. His unusual outfit consisting of a black tunic bearing a white spiral, dark gray pants and gloves and a lapis lazuli-blue mask, belt and boots. The look was topped off by a hood and a scarf-like cape. "Look, I think there's been a misunderstanding here. You seemed to have accidentally taken an heirloom and the owner would really like it back. If you could just...uh...let me know where it is, I'll grab it, be on my way, and we can pretend like this never happened." He started to back up the way he came.
"Yeah... no." Aden snapped his fingers. In a flash of blue light, the dagger was suspended in the air, pointed at Nate's chest. "Can't let you do that, sorry."
Nate took a deep breath and muttered under his breath, "Guys...I really need you to find it now." He looked up at the man, Aden, "Say, why uh....why did you take the cat from my client anyway? Don't you have enough antiques in here?" He looked behind him to make sure he didn't trip, "I mean, who's going to miss one thing out of all this?"
Nate took another step back as Aden moved forward, his hands and eyes glowing with some kind of internal light. The dagger slowly glided through the air as well, keeping a constant four centimeters from his chest. "Cat?" said Aden, a tiny hint of confusion eking into his voice. "You're here for Shodi? We didn't take him from anyone and we don't steal pets."
It was Nate's turn to look confused, or as much as he could without breaking eye constant with the floating knife. "Wait," he said, "You know who we are and that we'd try and break in but didn't now what for?"
Aden's eyes narrowed and he grabbed the other dagger from his belt. "Artie said you were here for revenge. He said you'd finally found him again. And there's no way we're letting you hurt him. He isn't even here."
Nate looked up at his opponent. "Who the hell is..." he began to say, before the space around him began to waver. He stumbled, disoriented, and then Nate flew towards Aden, who then grabbed his collar.
"There's no-one here except you and us," Aden said coldly, before his hazel eyes shifted to solid blue. "... and we don't. Like. Intruders."
The dagger floated up to Nate's head and he closed his eyes waiting for the stab. Instead there was a soft clunk as the hilt bounced off his temple. He went limp as Aden floated him in the air and began carrying his defeated foe towards "Mission Control".
Category:Prof.draco
Category:Affectos
Category:Unfinished Stories
Category:Felix Draco
Category:Claudia Donovan
Category:Matt Sordens
Category:Bri Rependata
Category:Artie Nielsen
Category:Aden Taylor
Category:Crossover