Chapter 1: Lost

Parker was different. She always had been, especially since she ran away from the foster care system. No one really understood her or the way she thought but that was okay. She was used to it. She was used to the stares and people calling her crazy, it was an an every day occurrence. Didn't mean Anything.

She remembers her first job with the team, she thought that it had been nice to work with a team. It meant she had someone to help her when she got stuck and it made her happy to be part of it, even if it was only temporary. But when she didn't get paid she was pissed.

There were very few things she liked in the world money, jumping off of buildings, thievery, and more money. So when she didn't get her money she got angry. But that was then. Now she had been with the team for a few years and she had found a family. Nate was like a dad, Sophie a mom, Eliot an older brother, and Hardison, well she didn't really know what Hardison was. But that wasn't important, right now she needed to focus on her current situation and a way out.

She had taken a side job. It should have been easy, in and out in under 5 minutes. But then her client double crossed her and hired a second thief to make sure the job got done. And that got her to where she was. Tied up (and very well if she does say so herself) and hidden in a basement of somewhere that smelled like oil and a fire hazard waiting to happen.

There were no windows and the door's lock was on the other side with no hinges or anything on this side. It was almost like this room had been built so that she couldn't get out. Oh well, the point was that she was stuck in an unknown place, with no exit, no idea where she was, and no clue who was holding her hostage.

All in all she was stuck.

It was times like these she avoided. Being alone with nothing to do. Because it was times like this when she got introspective and thought about what she could have done differently. This time though, it was different. She didn't go back to becoming a thief, or meeting Archie. No she went back to going behind her team's back. She went back to breaking in without knowing all of the players. She had gotten sloppy because she had gotten so used to Nate or Hardison doing it for her that she forgot to do it. That was her first mistake. She avoided situations where she didn't know what was going on because if you don't know everything then there will be problems you didn't account for in your plans. That can get you killed.

She's shaken out of her thoughts when she hears a door opening and the tell-tale sound of people's coming down the stairs. She sits up and gets herself prepared for whatever's coming. She waits and then she sees a face she hasn't seen in 15 years.

"Hello, sweetheart."

He's met with a blank stare of a girl who doesn't know how to respond. The silence is pregnant with meaning that neither of them voice.

Finally the girl responds, "You were arrested. How can you be here? I saw you get arrested."

The man looks at her, happy she remembers him and looks at the other thief, "Untie her," he says.

The thief looks at him like he's crazy but says, "You're the boss."

The man makes a motion and Parker is in such a daze that she follows without question all of escape plans fading away as her confusion increases.

Parker stops when they get to a black car outside, "How are you here!?" She yells.

The man turns around and says, "I'm Damien Moreau, I only get arrested if I want to, bitch. The fact that your friend got me arrested was cute but you should know better than anyone," his voice drops to a frighteningly low octave as he says, "I get what I want and I wanted to be free."

She gulps and looks at him with a look that betrays no fear as she says "You don't have me anymore. I'm not yours."

He gives an evil and frightening laugh as he says, "Sweetheart, I doing need your permission to take you because you have always been mine."