A/N : Hi!... I am back with a brand new E/P story... This one's a little different from my other utterly fluffy ones... I am trying my hand at writing angst-y stuff for the first time... hope it turns out well... (fingers crossed) Please review and tell me how you liked it... or if you didn't, review to tell me why and what i could do to make it better...

Disclaimer :Don't own anything that's connected to Leverage or the actors in it... :(

Chapter 01

"Nate, you know that this is insane... You can't let her go alone..."

Eliot was clearly agitated, trying to convince the mastermind of the Leverage Associates team that sending their thief alone into a secure facility to break into one of the corporate offices and get them sensitive data that was stored there was a very bad idea.

The team had taken the job at the beginning of this week... This time it was for a long time employee of Carter Security Consultants, the largest and most famous private security firm in the country that had been wrongfully fired for just doing his job, while the bosses had been running shady side businesses and getting kickbacks from the local gangs. The firm was famous for its unblemished track record and for recruiting ex- military professionals who were extremely good at what they did.

But the major hitch with this week's job was that Eliot Spencer, an ex-navy SEAL who had also been part of a couple of Black Ops teams back in the day, was a well known man in those circles and the team couldn't risk compromising their plan and identities by having him in a position that involved him being inside the building. Eliot had tried to convince the rest of them that he could disguise himself enough to get by without notice but the team had shot down his idea, knowing that if by any chance the Carter people found him out, it would be close to impossible to get him out alive.

The team had already tried about half a dozen different ways to get in and out of the building with very little to show for it and were now pinning their hopes on this last ditch effort... At least most of the team was. Eliot was openly against this plan while Parker hadn't really said anything yet. Nate had first spoken to Parker about this being a back up plan and they'd both set it up, choosing a strategic position for her entry and exit, just in case.

"You know that it has to be this way or no other way Eliot... We've tried everything else we could think of... Plus, Parker has been training a lot with you and we both know that she's capable of getting herself out of a sticky situation if need be... So this is how it is going to be. Okay?... Parker... Are you ready?"

Parker, who'd been silent throughout the argument, was standing on the rooftop of the building opposite to that of the security firm. She already had a zipline pegged up and ready... all setup for her to just slide her way down from one rooftop to the next. That was the easy part of it. It was the rest of it that was going to be quite tough, even for someone of her skill sets.

She hadn't been completely comfortable with this plan from the beginning, and she was even more anxious now that she knew Eliot wasn't going to be there, right alongside her, backing her up, protecting her from anything and everything that could harm her or any of them in the team.

"I still feel that this isn't right... I am not comfortable having Parker do this alone."

"Eliot... I think you're over reacting to this. Parker has done this a million times before... She can take care of herself okay?" came the soothing voice of Sophie as she softly spoke into her comm from inside their target building, where she was in the lobby, playing her role in the con.

"Yeah man!... Take it easy... We're all pros man... Parker is a top-notch thief and she can do this with her eyes closed... besides, I am gonna be in her ear all the way, guiding her through the security system. And lemme tell you... They might be a world famous security firm but they ain't nothin' in front of the guy who broke the Steranko!... Right man?"

This from a hyped up Hardison sitting next to him in Lucille 2.0, parked a safe distance from their target.

Parker could almost see Eliot shaking his head in frustration. Both she and Eliot knew what kind of trouble she could get into if she lost focus even for a second. The others might not know, she wasn't sure about Nate but she knew that neither Hardison nor Sophie had any idea of what ex-Black Ops people were capable of, especially when you were literally taking the challenge to them by breaking into their stronghold.

A/N : Hope you guys liked where this fic is going... review and tell me what you thought... Also, this is my first time writing technical stuff... So tell me if I make any mistakes... :)

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Macybear