So I got a couple of Waige requests ("please hang on," "this was supposed to be easy" etc) and figured I'd just fill them in one fic. This is going to be a three parter.

(Yes I know I said I was on vacation and wouldn't be able to publish anything but we're marathoning TV and I always write best when we're doing that.)

"Morning, Cabe!" Toby said cheerfully as he exited the van. "So what's so cool about this job that you couldn't tell us what it was at the garage?" He slung an arm around Happy, looking at Cabe expectantly.

"The owner of this building has discovered that a former employee has installed surveillance equipment inside. He wants us to cut all wires that don't belong in his system. Figures that'll draw less attention than taking down all the cameras."

"What sort of place is this?" Walter asked, scanning the brick as if it would give him an answer.

"They do chemical storage," Cabe said.

Toby looked confused. "So...what's so cool about this job that you couldn't tell us what it was at the garage?"

"I know the owner's son," Cabe said. "I was here talking to his old man and he brought it up. Figured a nice easy job."

"I was hoping for a cool job," Toby mumbled.

"I'm always down for something that isn't dangerous," Paige pointed out.

"Yeah, uh-huh," Sylvester said hurriedly, pointing at her as they followed the others into the building. "I'm with Paige."

"We just have to fix the wiring," Happy said. "It's located right under this floor, protected by metal tubing."

"Perfect," Paige said, "so we just locate the problem, pull up the section of floor grate that's nearest to the problem, and cut the sabotage wires."

"Not quite so simple," Sylvester said. "These grates haven't been pulled up since they were installed, it would take several minutes of cleaning the gunk out from between the sections and then several of us to yank them up, then we'd have to lean head first over the opening, which I estimate to be at least fifty five feet to the next level, to access the wiring. No, no, too dangerous. It'll be easier to climb up and do it from a ladder. I saw some sixty foot ones when we came in."

"Sixty feet?" Paige said, her eyes wide.

"Toby and Cabe will be down there to hold the ladder," Walter said. "Happy will be instructing me on what wires to cut. In and out...or in this case, up and down...in less than ten minutes."

"What do I do?" Paige asked.

"This isn't really a 'mission' type job, Sylvester said. "So you and I, I guess we'll just...hang out?"

"Maybe find some better ladders," Toby said. "The ones we saw looked older than that nag I bet on at Los Alamitos last week."

"They'll hold," Walter said.

"Probably aren't any other ones anyway," Happy said. "This half of the building is basically abandoned, there isn't a lot of need for ascension."

"We'll let you know when we're in place," Toby said as he, Cabe, and Walter jogged toward the stairwell.

"We'll be able to see you," Happy mumbled, "through the floor grate." She caught Paige's eye, and hers rolled dramatically. Paige grinned in response to her fake annoyance.

"I don't really like this ladder," Sylvester shouted down at them as Cabe frowned, struggling to securely place it against a beam. "It's old, it's not completely straight, one of the steps seems to have a crack. It's iffy. At best."

"It'll be fine for what we're doing," Toby said. "We're not carrying someone out of a burning building on our backs. Walter's just climbing it, unscrewing a segment of this protective pipe, and then cutting a few wires."

"How do they know what wires to cut?" Paige asked.

"The problem was discovered when a maintenance guy photographed an exposed section of the covering to show water damage," Cabe called up. "The owner noticed that the wiring was different from when he installed the actual security systems."

"So I've got both photographs," Happy said, "and I will be telling Walt which wires don't belong."

"Got it," Cabe said as the ladder secured into place. "Alright, Walter."

With Cabe and Toby each securing one side of the ladder, Walter began to climb, carrying the wire cutters in his mouth and the screwdriver in his back pocket. The ladder shook slightly as it took in his weight, and several times he stopped, being cautious. Too many people who were important to him had implored him to stop taking unnecessary risks, and this was an easy job. This wasn't time sensitive. He could afford to be careful, extra careful, in this particular instance.

When he reached the top of the ladder, reaching for the screwdriver and slowly but surely undoing the plate, tucking the screws inside it for temporary storage. In front of him were at least a dozen wires, in at least five different colors. "Okay Happy," he said, glancing up. He could only see the ceiling, far above him, through the grate. But he knew Happy, Paige, and Sylvester were just feet away, around the laptop.

Her voice reached him almost immediately. "Okay Walt, now there are two red wires in front of you. One has a bit of an orange hue and from these records seems to be made of some cheap material. Should be easy to locate."

"Yep, got it."

"Okay, now two yellow wires are twisting around..."

Walter continued to listen, cutting each wire Happy instructed. The yellow one – the one that wasn't dirty because it was new, was severed. Then the green, the one that was positioned higher above the rest. "Uh, wait, what?" he asked, confused, when she mentioned "a blue wire, wrapped with a white one like a double helix." "I don't see that," he told her.

"Uh...it should be just a foot or so to your right."

Walter looked. "Oh, I see it. Guys?" He looked over his shoulder and down, toward Sylvester and Toby. "I'm gonna have to lean to reach this one."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Walter," Sylvester said. "This ladder is, as I said previously, iffy at best."

"It'll just be for one second," Walter said, putting a hand up through the grate, his fingers curling around the thin metal, one in each gap. With a good grip, he leaned to the side, extending the wire cutters.

He heard, just as the cutters closed around the wire, a yell, a rattling noise, a shudder, a panicked shouting of his name. A split second later, or perhaps at the same time, he felt his weight being shifted, not of his own volition, but as a result of the ladder's sudden lurch to the side. He reacted, dropping the wire cutters, reaching up with his other hand to get a grip on the grate as the ladder crashed to the ground.