#collared leverage

You had just sat down with the group; a southern male with shoulder-length brunette hair, a blonde slim female, the English woman (whom you assume you had spoken to on the phone), a younger African-American looking male and an older male with wild, curly hair who looked as though he may be drunk, then Neal, finally, decided to make an appearance. He stopped, confused at first, then his eyes landed on the Englishwoman, and he smiled, “Hey Soph, long time.” It was your turn to look confused, “Neal? You know these guys?” You looked questioningly at Neal, this was when Mozzie decided to re-enter the room. “Not all of them, but Ms. Devereaux here, definitely.” Neal smiled as Sophie got up to hug him.

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After Sophie and the eldest male (who identified himself as Nate) had explained their situation, that they had been conned by some guy to steal plans from their real owners and sabotage what backups they had, they were ready to get even. Neal, Mozzie and yourself listened to their story and looked amongst each other. “Damn, you guys don’t do things by half measures, huh?” you joked, the long-haired male gave a small smile at that. When Neal was asked if he’d be willing to join them to help with the plans to get even, he shook his head apologetically, “As much as I would love to join you on another adventure Soph, unfortunately it’ll have to wait a couple of years,” Neal half joked as he gestured towards his ankle to show Sophie his new jewellery. “My, my, my Mr. Caffery, I never thought I’d see the day you got caught by the feds.” She looked a little dis-heartened. “Yeah well, we can’t all run forever,” was Neal’s, slightly shrugged, reply as he leaned back on is couch.

After a couple of hours of the teams, youngest and most tech savvy member (Hardison if you had recalled correctly) combing through how Neal’s anklet worked to see if he could find something that you and Mozzie had missed. It turned out that the make and model made it pretty much unhackable without the FBI being alerted and was too new for Hardison to have any real information about the product. This meant that Neal would be completely unable to leave and help out Sophie. You left the room to get some air and finish the painting you had started on the balcony, keeping the doors open so you could still hear the conversation and participate. That’s when you heard Neal mention your name. “Y’know, just because I can’t go doesn’t mean that you guys are completely out of options,” you re-entered the room cleaning your hands of paint with a rag looking intrigued, “Deanna, you’re always saying that you’re looking for something different to New York. Why don’t you go in my place?” Neal smiled at you. You and Mozzie both looked at him, “Neal? Are you being serious? I can’t go, you guys need me here!” you started to complain as you walked out onto the balcony again.

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To say that you were going to kill Neal when you next saw him was an understatement. You had been dragged out of a con with Neal and Mozzie to travel to, God only knew how many miles, to help complete strangers with a case that you knew virtually nothing about. Not your idea of fun. You were use to working alone. The aim of this particular job was to destroy some guy’s reputation because he had set up the team, you weren’t exactly sure why you were needed now, your skills as a forger didn’t really have any impact on this particular situation. It turned out that what they needed was two grifters, you and Sophie, someone that this, Dubenich guy hadn’t seen, hadn’t recruited.

You weren’t entirely certain what you guys had achieved other than the incarceration of Dubenich – and the leaking of his files – but you had to admit, as strange as this team was, it kind of worked. You were all given an envelope with a cashier’s cheque inside and when you saw the amount on the cheque, your eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. The money on the cheque alone was more than enough for you, Neal and Mozzie to retire on – not that you were going to let them know you had it. You all looked at one another after reading your respective cheques and walked away. The job was done. There was no need to remember faces or names, and besides, it was strange having a team to rely on and share some of the roles with. You were too settled with the fact that you had to play every role and you were good at them, but you excelled at grifting and forging.

So why did you catch yourself slowing down and considering telling them to give you a call if any of them required your help in the future? You were a lone wolf. Your norm for a heist was you, yourself and you, occasionally Neal and Moz, but most normally you. When you went to chase down the Nate guy to let him know, you found that, apparently, you weren’t the only one thinking about how well you all worked together. Nate reluctantly agreed to give each of you a call if another opportunity to work together arose. So, with that, you all exchanged numbers and walked away, just awaiting a call that could come at any time, on any day.