Fic: Defying Mortality (3/5), Crossover Leverage/A:tS, NC-17

[elebridith]

Title: Defying Mortality

Author: elebridith

Fandom: Leverage/Angel the Series crossover

Pairing: Lindsey/Eliot, mentions of Nate/Sophie and Parker/Hardison

Rating: NC-17

Genre: Slash, crossover

Be aware of: mentions of child abuse and murder (non-descriptive)

Words: About 19800

Disclaimer: Not mine, no one, nothing. Just playing.

A/N: Set in my Face Value!Verse, Eliot and Lindsey live together now for over a year.

Inspired by the X-Men Logan/Remy fic "Aftermath" (here) by the awesome enemyfrigate, who generously allowed me to play with that plot. If you like Logan/Remy, check her stuff out, it's great!

CCAC = http://www.chicagocac.org/

Beta'd by havenward, awesome as ever!. Thanks strangecreature and wendyr for additional help!

Summary: The team escapes death - and it's been too close for their liking. And thinking Eliot is dead for five very long minutes? Lindsey takes that very personal.

Part two is here.



They went to Nate's place shortly before eight. Sophie opened the door, wearing a different outfit than earlier and answering Lindsey's knowing smile with a raised eyebrow and a "so what?"-expression. Then she turned to give Eliot a quick hug. "Glad you're okay," she whispered, and Eliot just nodded, looking awkward. Lindsey hid his grin. I bet he doesn't get spontaneous hugs from her very often...

They went into the living room where Hardison was already talking to Nate, voice low and tone serious, looking unusually glum. Parker leaned on the table and sipped some water, still looking a bit pale but smiling. The two men stopped talking as they caught sight of Eliot, and Parker quickly turned around. She took a few steps towards him and then stopped, scrunching her nose and rubbing it. "I wanted to thank you for getting me out, but you don't like hugs, right? I mean, except if it's Lindsey, but..." Eliot started to laugh fondly and pulled her into a quick embrace.

"Good to see ya on your feet again, girl."

Parker looked astonished for a moment and then beamed. She turned to Hardison. "See? You don't get hit if you try to hug Eliot. I don't know where you got that idea!"

Hardison stared at her, mouth falling open, but didn't utter any of his usual witty replies. Lindsey frowned at the uncharacteristic silence, but Sophie didn't seem to notice. She tried to suppress a laugh by clasping her hand over her mouth. Eliot gave Hardison a suspicious look, but then shook his head and closed his eyes. He took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose, and looked at Hardison, lips twitching.

"I have a pretty good idea why, Iceman," he muttered under his breath and Hardison closed his mouth again, grinning sheepishly at the memory. Eliot turned to Parker again. "No concussion, since you're up an' moving?"

Parker shook her head and pointed to her temple. "No. My head's all right. Just some bruises, some small burns. And some smoke, but not a lot."

Eliot huffed sympathetically. "Tell me about it. Aerosols?"

Parker scrunched her nose again and nodded. "Yuck. I feel wonky. I don't like that."

Eliot raised his eyebrows. "You should get rest. Sleep it off."

Parker nodded and opened her mouth, but Nate interrupted. "Guys? We gotta start. There's plenty of time to chat later."

Lindsey made a face at the thought of sitting down and quickly went over to the one chair in the room that had a pillow on it. Despite the soft cushion he winced as he sat down and the scratches on his back and his soreness came in contact with the chair. He squirmed a bit until he found a position that was not entirely uncomfortable. Eliot sat down in the chair on his right and frowned at him. Lindsey grinned and shrugged, and Eliot grinned back in understanding. He gave Lindsey a comforting pat on the shoulder before concentrating on Nate who was piling some files on the table.

While Hardison set up his laptop, Parker narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "Lindsey? Are you hurt? You're sitting funny."

Sophie almost choked on the tea she was drinking and Nate froze for a second before continuing to sort through the files, pointedly not looking at anyone. Hardison looked up, confused, but didn't say anything. Eliot's eyes narrowed, and he threw a questioning glance at Lindsey, who shrugged. Something's bothering Hardison, but what? Eliot shook his head again and reached for the coffee on the table. His lips started to twitch as Lindsey gave Parker a cheerful smile. "I'm okay, don't worry."

Parker's frown deepened. "But you move like you hurt your back!" She tilted her head and grinned slyly. "And your ass. What happened, did Eliot spank you?"

Sophie had made the mistake of taking another sip of her tea and now sputtered it out again, coughing and turning beet red. Nate turned towards her and patted her on the back, but his shoulders shook from suppressed laughter. Eliot grinned, openly amused at Hardison's confused expression.

Lindsey decided just to be as blunt as she was. He made a serious face and looked her straight in the eyes. "Naw, he didn't. Just spontaneous outdoor sex that got a little rough." He winked at her. Parker pursed her lips and obviously pondered the information. Then she nodded gravely.

"Ah." She grabbed a small pillow from the couch next to her. "You want this one? I don't need it." Without waiting for an answer she threw it over. Eliot caught it and carefully stuffed it behind Lindsey's back.

Lindsey smiled at Parker, a little touched and honestly grateful. "Thanks Parker."

She nodded again and gave him a little exhausted smile. "You're welcome." She went over to the couch, curled up on it and closed her eyes.

Hardison finally got it. His eyes almost bugged out of his face as he looked from Parker to Lindsey to Eliot and back before making a weak-sounding "huh"-noise and started frantically typing again. Sophie caught her breath again and returned slowly to her natural skin color. Nate helpfully poured her another tea and then turned back to face the others, clearing his throat.

"Right. This is all very... fascinating, but now back to business." He looked around and his expression softened for a moment. "Although I have to say that I've never been happier to have you all here."

Eliot looked at him, face hardening. "But that was fucking close. What happened, Nate? Did our client double cross us?"

Nate shook his head. "No. In fact, Mr. Munro got double crossed himself, in a way." His voice was all business-like now. "In this case, we had a few unfortunate coincidences. It started with the first call Mr. Munro made to us. Because his own cell phone malfunctioned, he used a spare company one at the time. Completely unaware of the fact that it was bugged."

Everyone startled at this revelation except Hardison, who clenched his jaw and nodded slowly. Sophie looked up as if she wanted to say something, but Nate continued. "Our mark Mr. Atherton was apparently already wary of Mr. Munro, and this was a perfect opportunity for Atherton to confirm his ideas. Ten minutes after the call Mr. Munro made to us, Atherton had the recording on his desk. He had someone follow Mr. Munro to our appointment and they taped everything we said. So Mr. Atherton knew about everything Mr. Munro accused him of. Not only the embezzling of five hundred million dollars, but also the fact that Atherton framed the secretary for it. Who is, by the way, Mr. Munro's fiancee."

Sophie nodded angrily. "And the poor woman got questioned and harassed, she almost landed in jail." She snorted angrily. "So, Atherton had our number, literally?"

Nate gave her a humorless smile. "Exactly."

Eliot shook his head and snorted. "So the fucker was on our trail from the beginning. We were running straight into an ambush."

Nate patted the files in front of him. "It gets better. Mr. Atherton was - understandably - not happy. While we started digging up information about him, he started looking for information about us - and got it. We don't know exactly how yet, but I suspect an intricate connection to one of our former marks who has nothing to do with Atherton's company business."

Hardison interrupted and pointed at his laptop. "The search program is already running. I think I know how it went down, but I need some more evidence. I'm on it."

Nate gave him an approving smile. "Good."

Parker opened her eyes and lifted her head weakly. "So all he had to do was feed some clues to Mr. Munro and watch him lead us."

Nate gave her a nod. "Exactly. And apparently he's a man of big gestures. He decided to lead us to his weekend house, which he had generously wired with explosives. He put all the evidence he wanted to get rid of there, made sure that we were on our way..." Nate's voice trailed off and he hit his fist on the table in frustration. "He played us like we were goddamn amateurs."

Sophie shook her head. "So how did we get a warning, then?"

Nate slowly released his breath. "I think we actually used up our luck for the next five years at least." He huffed out a humorless laugh. "As I said - big gestures. Shortly before one p.m. he called a clueless Mr. Munro into his office, put him in a chair and basically bragged to him that he knew everything. Then he described in vivid detail what was happening to us at that very moment. Only - it didn't." Nate straightened and cleared his throat before continuing. "When his watch showed one p.m., he told Mr. Munro that it was over and he should pack his things and leave if he doesn't want to suffer a similar fate. Then he threw him out. That was where our luck came in. Apparently Atherton's watch was out of synch with Mr. Munro's by about five minutes. Mr. Munro noticed that despite him being almost hysterical and immediately called us in the hope that the bomb hadn't gone off yet. And we barely managed to get out in time."

A stunned silence filled the room. Lindsey gnawed on his lower lip, staring at the table. Finally he looked up, frowning in confusion. "What I don't get - ain't that kind of overkill? He embezzled a whole lot of money and frames a woman. Yeah, that's not exactly good behavior, but is it reason enough to try an' kill six people?" He straightened, ignoring the stinging in his back for now. "This smells like he has more skeletons in his closet than we thought."

Eliot and Sophie made approving noises. Parker opened her eyes, tilted her head and frowned thoughtfully, looking at Hardison. Nate opened his mouth, but Hardison sighed heavily and spoke first. "A lot more." His shoulders slumped and he avoided the suddenly alert and questioning looks the others threw him. He was uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments, and the others started to look worried. Nate started tapping his fingers on the desk, and Eliot finally scowled.

"Dammit, Hardison, spit it out! What's up, cat got yer tongue?" His voice was growly, impatient, but carried a hint of concern at the same time. Hardison looked up and smiled a little weakly.

"You know - my girl is truly amazing. What Parker wants, Parker gets." He looked at her and nodded, and she pushed herself upright and beamed proudly. "And if she says she needs a second, you can take that literally."

Eliot leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. "Are you saying...?"

Hardison nodded, but his smile didn't look very happy nevertheless. "Yeah. Atherton didn't lie on this one - it was all there. And Parker got it out. CD's, USB sticks, everything." He hesitated, avoided the questioning looks of the others, searching for words. As Nate pointedly cleared his throat, he looked up and squared his shoulders. "I checked the stuff while she got examined at the hospital. And..." He closed his eyes for a moment. "There are pictures. And video." He met Nate's eyes, and his expression was haunted. "It's not a skeleton, folks. It's a whole graveyard. I..." He huffed out an embarrassed laugh. "I saw five or six of them, then I closed the laptop, went to the toilet and threw up the last three days' worth of food."

He looked down again, kneading his fingers and not saying any more. The others looked shocked, and Lindsey bit his lower lip. He tried to imagine something that was so bad that it could take the geeky bounciness out of Hardison and shivered.

Finally Nate sighed and looked actually satisfied. "Then he can't get out of this. Hardison, even if it's bad, run it for us."

Hardison looked up. He clenched his jaw for a moment and then shook his head. "Sorry Nate, no."

Sophie gasped in surprise, Parker looked unbelieving and the three men simultaneously straightened up in their chairs. It would have been funny any other time, Lindsey thought, if it hadn't been for that... look on Hardison's face. Nate slowly shook his head, voice amazingly calm. "Hardison, if there's evidence we can't see, then we can't use it. Run it. Now."

Lindsey recognized that authoritative tone of voice that signaled Nate was short of losing his patience. Hardison must have heard it too, but stubbornly shook his head. "Sorry Nate. I'm serious here. I'm not showing this to the girls. And - " He threw Eliot an apologizing look before locking eyes with Nate. "You and Eliot shouldn't see it either."

Nate snorted. "Hardison. I understand you want to protect Sophie and Parker, but what can possibly -"

He was interrupted by a growling angry sound that came from Eliot. "Children." He gritted out the word through clenched teeth, grabbing the armrests of his chair so hard that his knuckles went white. Hardison swallowed and nodded slowly.

Lindsey barely noticed Nate's face going pale, Sophie putting a hand on his arm and Parker making a squeaky disgusted noise. His head flew around to Eliot. He could actually hear the armrest creaking as Eliot's grip on it tightened even more. Without thinking he reached out and gently covered Eliot's left hand with his own, careful not to apply too much pressure on the bandaged burns. Eliot immediately let go of the armrest. He twisted his hand and laced their fingers together, squeezing Lindsey's hand so tight that it hurt. Lindsey flinched, but returned the pressure, realizing that Eliot didn't care about the possible pain right now. And very likely Eliot hadn't even noticed what he had done - his eyes were still fixed on Hardison, who argued with Nate, quiet but determined.

Lindsey searched Eliot's face, saw the darkened eyes, the clenched jaw, the look of pure anger. He knew without a doubt that if the mark was here in this room now, Eliot would kill him in the most painful way possible. Lindsey himself felt numb. His thoughts whirled. So that's why. No wonder he'd rather kill six people than letting that get out in the open.

He vaguely noticed that Hardison shook his head at Nate again and abruptly closed his laptop. Nate had shaken off Sophie's hand and leaned forward, still arguing. Eliot closed his eyes and took deep breaths like he always did when trying to calm himself down. Lindsey brushed his thumb over Eliot's wrist in a soothing gesture and finally felt Eliot relaxing a little. He leaned over to him. "Eliot?" he asked in a quiet voice. Eliot turned his head and met his eyes, then seemed to realize for the first time that he held a bruising grip on Lindsey's hand. He looked down on their joined fingers, confusion showing on his face, but then he looked back at Lindsey's face and gave him a small grateful smile.

To Lindsey's utter amazement Eliot just loosened his grip, but didn't let go of his hand. Eliot leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes again and Lindsey had the weird feeling that somehow Eliot grounded himself through the hold on his hand, used it as an anchor to control his anger. Lindsey's lips turned into a fond smile at the idea, but then he quickly turned his focus back to Hardison, who was giving Nate a determined stare.

"Nate... no. Just no. This stuff... it's bad. Capital B here." He held Nate's angry glare without flinching. "To be honest? If Eliot sees it..." He threw the hitter an apologizing look and shrugged as he realized that Eliot had his eyes still closed. "Eliot's gonna kill that guy. And as much as I want to flay the guy alive, that's not what we do. And you..." Hardison's face went hard. "Sorry Nate, but you went off the rails before. And for this? We need your brain clear, man. I don't wanna get us into more trouble just because you go on spree all of a sudden."

Hardison stared at Nate, and to Lindsey's surprise Nate looked away first. Lindsey nodded inwardly. He only knew the details Eliot had told him over the years, and of course he'd read all of Hardison's files, but that was enough information to know that Hardison might have a point. The fact that Sophie didn't interrupt just added to it. The hacker's lips twitched and he continued, voice a little softer.

"I'll give you a rundown on what I saw. Enough for you all to know what we're up against. Okay?"

Nate had obviously found his stubbornness back. He shook his head. "Hardison, if we miss out on a crucial detail just because you..."

A shift in the seat next to him made Lindsey turn around and look at Eliot. The hitter finally opened his eyes again and spoke, his voice was surprisingly calm.

"Guys? Cut it out."

Both men broke off their argument and stared at Eliot, looking surprised as if they had totally forgotten the presence of the others. Eliot's eyes still flared with anger, but he was more collected now. He fixated Nate. "I hate to say it, Nate, but he's right. We don't need another Maltese Falcon." Nate actually looked guilty for a split second and Eliot smirked. He looked at Hardison, getting serious again. "All that stuff you got. Is it enough to put him in jail?"

Hardison snorted out a laugh that sounded almost hysterical. "If the police gets all that, they're gonna lock him up and throw away the key."

Eliot smiled, a slow, dangerous curl of his lips. He looked at Nate who rubbed his chin, wheels in his head obviously turning at high speed. Then Eliot lifted his head. "Hardison, did Mister Atherton get a police report yet?" He spat out the word like it tasted foul.

Hardison grinned broadly and proudly. "Not an official one. It got, ah, redirected to Mr. Atherton's new right hand, the capable Mr. Tennant. Who told the police that..." He grinned even broader and threw himself into a pretentious pose. "Mr. Atherton is out of town, but will be at their disposal tomorrow." He relaxed again and smirked. "Mr. Tennant then regenerated into the good Special Agent Leonhard who in return called Mr. Atherton to inform him that sadly his house got blown up and the bodies of six thieves were found. They're currently checking Chicago mob suspects. Atherton expects to be questioned tomorrow afternoon." He shrugged. "I had two hours to kill at the hospital after losing my cookies. This felt good."

Sophie huffed out a grim laugh, and Parker sat up and smiled her dangerous smile, the one that told Lindsey that she would be willing to kill. Eliot, while still having Lindsey's hand in his, leaned forward and slapped Hardison's shoulder. Nate looked proud and gave Hardison a satisfied nod. "Very well done. That gives us until tomorrow." He looked around, his face was stone cold now. "This is gonna be working the night shift, guys. We're not just gonna get him locked up. We're gonna destroy him."

Sophie raised an eyebrow, but looked appreciative; Parker still sported that smile and nodded slowly. Hardison looked more relieved that Nate didn't insist on seeing the videos and pictures anymore. All Lindsey felt was cold satisfaction. If Nate has a plan - then the guy is done for. Good. He threw Eliot a glance and shivered at the still lingering cold fury in his face. "I like the sound of that. How?"

Nate smiled coldly. "Let me explain."

***

Two hours later every detail was clear. Lindsey slowly shook his head. Wow. Done for indeed. Note to self - don't piss off Nate on a personal level. You'll end up in hell.

Nate looked around. "Right. Any more questions?" Everyone shook heads, looking grim and more or less sickish from the summary Hardison had given them about the contents of the safe. Nate continued. "Hardison, given that Parker almost died, I know that you'd love to confront the guy, and you have every right to, but I'm afraid that won't work." Hardison looked disappointed, and Nate gave him a sympathetic look before he explained. "There is a lot of hacking to do now. I know some of it runs automatically, but I need you doing what you do best."

Hardison pursed his lips, hesitantly agreeing. "Yeah, true." He looked at Nate and narrowed his eyes. "Oh no man, I can read your mind. Please don't, Nate, I'm serious. You're already riled up enough."

Nate took a deep irritated breath and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Lindsey abruptly lifted his head. "I'll do it." Both men turned their heads to him in surprise. Nate closed his mouth again and narrowed his eyes a bit, pondering the idea. Hardison nodded slowly, a small relieved smile forming on his lips. Lindsey cleared his throat and gestured sharply to Eliot with his free hand. "I think I have the same right as Hardison." His face hardened as he motioned to Hardison's laptop with his free hand. "Show me the stuff."

Hardison startled and gave him a confused look. "Why? Really, Lindsey, it's enough when I have the nightmares!"

Lindsey shook his head, determined. "I need to see at least a bit. Chances are Atherton thinks we're bluffing, and I need to give him a few details to prove that we have the stuff. That's gonna work best if I actually see it. Doesn't have to be much."

He felt Eliot stiffen next to him and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He heard a resigned huff and smiled inwardly. Always protective. Not this time, Eliot. This time it's the other way around. Hardison gnawed on his lip and nodded slowly, still not looking happy about it. Lindsey gave Nate a questioning look and Nate sighed, giving in.

"Okay. This may be the better idea, I agree. Hardison, any objections?"

Hardison shook his head, stood up and pointed to the door. "My office." He gave Nate a smirk. "Just to be sure." Lindsey had to stifle a grin at Nate's slightly affronted expression. He caught Sophie's relieved look. Obsessive control freak and slight self-destructive tendencies. If it's only half as bad as I think, Hardison's wise not to give in.

He reluctantly let go of Eliot's hand, answered his resigned look with a quick grin and followed Hardison to his office. The hacker sat down his laptop and opened it again. As he pulled up files, he gave Lindsey a grave look. "I turned off the audio, it's bad enough as it is. I hope you aren't very fond of your last meal." He grinned crookedly, and Lindsey felt the seriousness behind the weak joking. He inhaled slowly.

"Hit me."

The first video came up, and Lindsey stared in horror at the screen. It's not as bad as I thought. It's worse. Far... worse. He felt bile rising in his throat. This... beats everything I've seen at Wolfram and Hart. He did this... for fun. No other reason, just because he could. God. He managed to watch half of a video and look at a few more pictures, forcing himself to memorize significant details, and then gritted out "Stop it!" through clenched teeth.

Mercifully Hardison reacted at once, hitting a button and blacking out the screen. Lindsey closed his eyes and fought against the urge to vomit. He tried to breathe deeply through his nose, grabbing the edge of the table so hard that his fingers hurt afterwards. Finally his stomach settled again and he felt nausea turning to ice cold anger. He heard a soft clunking sound and opened his eyes to find that Hardison had placed a glass of water in front of him. He gave him a thankful smile and took a few sips. Then he looked at Hardison who looked noticeably grey. Lindsey knew that he himself didn't look any better. His expression hardened. "We're gonna get this son of a bitch."

Hardison stood up, expression grim. Lindsey had never seen him so dangerous-looking before. "Oh yes. I'm gonna flay him alive, I swear. Come on, let's get started."

As they returned to the conference room, Sophie took only one look at Lindsey and stood up. Wordlessly she went over to a drawer, pulled out a scotch bottle, poured a glass and handed it to him. "Medicine. No Brandy, but it will do." She smiled a little sadly. "I don't think you'll faint, but you look like you need it."

Lindsey gave her a grateful look. "Thanks Sophie. You're the best." He carefully sat down into his chair again and immediately felt Eliot's hand on his back, softly rubbing, avoiding the places where the scratches still stung. He downed the scotch, leaned into the soothing touch and finally turned around to smile at his partner. Eliot thoughtfully searched his face and then seemed satisfied with the determination he found there. He smiled back before they both turned their attention to Nate. Some last details were cleared and then everyone went on to their tasks.

Part Four is here.