One more troubled soul

The name is Bennet. I work for Leverage as a hitter. I'm here because I made a promise to a friend, a promise to make amends for my past. This doesn't mean however that I'm going to be a joy to work with.

[nicolebennet]

Miss Missing You || Bennet & Liam

[thievingliam-blog]

Liam raised his eyebrows at her. It was only forty bucks. He didn’t think she would get that attached to it. With a shrug he fished out the money and handed her one of the twenty dollar bills while he torn the other one in half. He pocketed one half and gave the other to her.

"It’s more like twenty-five percent, but whatever." The thing about banks was that if you told them that your dog ate your money, they’ll give you a new bill. The way Liam saw it, he was getting a good deal while Bennet was getting all of the money she wanted.

[nicolebennet]

Old habits die hard, especially in the hitter's case. She had gotten cheated out of her money far too many times, and though she had usually gotten everything she deserved in the end, in the beginnings she'd gotten in a pinch because she didn't have the money to stay anywhere. Now she just takes pride in knowing that she's not cheated on.

"That's fine," she replied as she pocketed the money. "Fifty-fifty would've just been unfair. Just saying."

As they neared the base, she started to pick up her pace. She had just realised that she hadn't eaten since she woke up, and at that her stomach began to complain. With one of the bags of food in her hand, she opened the door to the base and let Liam inside.

[nicolebennet]

Turn it Off || Blake & Bennet

[blakeraymond-grifter]

Blake smirked faintly as Bennet explained her eating habits to him. “Is that your way of telling me I should stock up on food more often lest you eat us out of house and home?” Though that did explain why they so rarely had leftovers for more than a day. “Aside from chips what do you like to eat while watching movies?” It would be easier for him to stock up on food if he knew what food she liked and disliked.

[nicolebennet]

"Good thinking," Bennet replied with a smirk of her own. "I didn't necessarily meant to imply that, but it would help. I've seen Liam check the cabinets and leave with a disappointed look on his face a couple of times now, I suppose it's mean to keep hogging the food."

She crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling for a second. "All kinds of stuff. A healthy mix of sweet and salty foods, also I really appreciate a savoury snack in the middle of the night. High on carbs is generally the idea."

[megprescott-hitter]

The Thompson Job (Bennet and Meg)

[megprescott-hitter]

Meg nodded, gesturing to the front door. She wasn’t feeling good enough for a vocal response.

Walking back to the Thompsons, she explained tiredly what was going to happen, and how with the laptop, they would have enough evidence to go to court, and how Captain Bonanno would take care of them. Mrs. Thompson stood up, and hugged Meg so tight it caused her to flinch slightly.

"Thank you. Where is Nicole? I would like to thank her too."

[nicolebennet]

Bennet took a quick step inside of the room after pondering if that was such a good idea. Before anyone could violate her personal space, she spoke up. "I don't do hugs. And thanking me is frankly kind of unnecessary because it's obvious that you're thankful." She nodded towards Meg. "Also, she's the one who's now injured, not me."

Frowning a bit, she took a deep breath. "But yea... I suppose you're welcome." Needing something to get out of the situation she just talked herself into, she glanced over at the kids. "And may the force be with you."

With those words, she got out of the apartment and back to her own place, twirling her phone between her fingers before pocketing it again. She didn't really like the fact that she had just let herself get talked into the entire Leverage thing, but it might be good to try out for once...

[megprescott-hitter]

The Thompson Job (Bennet and Meg)

[megprescott-hitter]

Meg raised an eyebrow, and the corner of her mouth twitching upwards.

"Fair enough…. But I’m going to call bull shit…. on things always going south for you…. I would still be bleeding out without you… and that kid…." she glanced into the hallway where Mrs. Thompson was coaxing some more words out of her son. "I’m pretty sure you got him to talk…. Normally people in our…. field of expertise…. don’t get that kind of a miracle…. Now…. as for the ‘authorities’…. Captain Bonanno isn’t your typical cop…. Believe me…. I hate cops more than you do…. He believes in Leverage… and supports what we do…. But… if you really want to go… you’re more than welcome to…. that was part of the deal after all….”

[nicolebennet]

"Touché." Bennet sighed and let herself fall back to sit down on the bed. She looked into the hallway too, suddenly seeing similarities to something she didn't want to think about at this moment. Subtle, kind gestures, carefully chosen words, and the child only uttering the necessary words, but talking now. She had been like that kid. Not entirely mute, of course, but she hadn't been talkative when she met Luke at all.

He would've wanted her to do this. 'Use your strengths in a way you can be proud of' were his words. He had done so as well, anonymously helping out people who had been wronged. And though Bennet had refused to admit that it was possible in her case, as she saw what Meg had done, she realised that she didn't have a choice. She had to do this. To... make it up to her friend.

Well fuck this.

"I... want to try that Leverage thing out," she concluded, muttering her answer. "But I'm not hanging around with the cop."

[megprescott-hitter]

The Thompson Job (Bennet and Meg)

[megprescott-hitter]

Meg sighed painfully and made the trip to Bennet’s room of choice. Not even bothering to knock, she opened up the door, leaned on the knob, and gave the other hitter a sour look.

"Okay Drama Queen….. what’s gotten your bonnet… in a bunch?" she demanded, but it sounded about as threatening as a wet kitten. 

[nicolebennet]

As Meg walked into the room, Bennet stopped pacing and glared directly at her. The blonde’s ‘fear’ of being captured by the authorities (though her only experience of getting captured were by people who wanted her to suffer and die) was starting to get overpowered by her fear of getting attached. Last time she had let that happen, her best friend nearly died. And she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“I don’t do this,” she muttered with gritted teeth, only just loud enough for Meg to hear. It would be pretty terrible if the Thompsons heard. “I don’t ever have any contact with the clients or the target, and you know that. Whenever I do, things go south.” She glanced at the door. “I’m done with the job, you can handle it with the authorities. We’re done. I’m leaving.”

[wnterwidow]

[megprescott-hitter]

The Thompson Job (Bennet and Meg)

[megprescott-hitter]

"Bennet…" Meg started, slightly annoyed that Bennet had grabbed her and she could do nothing about it, but another voice picked up before she could continue.

"Is Nicole leaving?" Henry asked quietly, his tone slightly disappointed. However, due to the fact that the boy had been mute until now, if he had whispered it it would have gotten everyone’s attention. Meg’s head snapped over, her face painted with a surprised look. Mrs. Thompson was on the verge of tears, and Steven smiled slightly. The entire room was silent as they stared at the little boy, before turning their attention to Bennet for a reply.

[nicolebennet]

Bennet felt herself tense up when she heard Henry say that. She wanted to get out of here. The job was done, she had to leave, especially now that there was a detective going to be here soon. But now that Henry said anything at all, but specifically that sentence, everyone expected her to stay. Of course they did.

In order to give herself some space, she took a couple of steps back, but not too far to seem like she was already leaving. She took a deep breath and avoided everyone's gaze as she muttered "I suppose I could stay..."

Great. She just signed her death sentence. "Excuse me." And with that, she left to the bedroom, trying her hardest not to slam the door shut. This wasn't okay. Such a stupid job wasn't supposed to make her do something like this. It had been about fourteen months ago since she last got emotionally involved during a job and it ended badly. She couldn't go back on that path.

[nicolebennet]

Miss Missing You || Bennet & Liam

[thievingliam-blog]

Liam scowled when Bennet snatched the wallet from him, partially because he was looking at it and because he didn’t see that coming. When she tossed it back at him, caught it and continued to look through it.

"He seems like a prick," he muttered and he opened where the money should be. “Several different phone numbers from girls right next to a picture with his girlfriend probably." He took out the money tucked away inside of it and pocketed it. He wouldn’t be needing that anymore. “Want half?" he asked Bennet.

[nicolebennet]

Bennet narrowed her eyes when she noticed that Liam took the money that she had stolen from the man. Whether the man was a douchebag or not didn't matter, all she could see was the money disappearing into Liam's pocket. It was an old habit, very old, to be bothered about money, but she hadn't been able to shrug it off yet.

"Half?" She said a little offended. "I mean, I pickpocketed the man in the first place, I should get eighty percent of the money. At least." She held her hand out and raised an eyebrow at the thief, in an 'I could kill you if you don't fucking hand me my cut' kind of way.

[bostons-virgil]

The People You Meet at a Hotel || Virgil & Bennet

[bostons-virgil]

Virgil pursed his lips, debating on what to tell Bennet. He wasn’t about to tell this stranger his entire life story. On the other hand, she already knew about his dancing and he should at least clarify as to why he was a dick back there.

"It was a lot of stuff, but I guess in the end it was an injury. Or injuries actually. After a couple of surgeries I figured it wasn’t worth it." Of course there were all of the other factors such as the dicks at the studio and the whole money problem, but it was mainly the injuries. No point in dancing if you can’t even walk after.

"It wasn’t that big of a deal at the time, but Ryan swears…" He trailed off and gathered his thoughts before he said too much. “He thinks that if I started to dance again everything would go back to the way they used to be."

[nicolebennet]

Injuries. Bennet frowned as she almost sided with Ryan. She had gotten so many injuries in her past that now, she couldn't possibly imagine it stopping someone. Don't fucking do it, the small, rational part of her mind tried to tell her, but it was too late. She had already opened her mouth to say something.

"Why would injuries stop you? I mean, even you could manage to break my ribs if you tried, that's how weakened they are from all the previous fractures. I'm still doing the same thing."

While she said it, Bennet realised what exactly she was saying. That wasn't the same. Up until she joined Leverage, she had fought to stay alive. Of course she still went on after that many injuries. A kid that happened to get injured badly doing a hobby was probably much more likely to be too scared to continue with it.

"I suppose that's different, though," she muttered in an attempt to make her sound a little less of a jerk.

[nicolebennet]

Hiatus coming up!

Since I have to work four entire days next week and go on vacation the week after, I'm going to give you a heads up that you shouldn't expect rapid-fire replies. I feel super bad for not even replying when I can and will try to change that, but I'm not used to actually doing stuff with my life.

[nicolebennet]

Knock four times || Luke & Bennet

[hackerlukemiles-blog]

He really had no time for this. Well, he had loads of time on his hands, but he didn’t want to spend it listening to Bennet make lousy excuses and not actually apologizing.  Rubbing his eye in frustration, Luke turned to put on the espresso machine. Contrary to the hitter, he had now set his mind on not losing his head and staying calm, or this would end up in a shouting match.

"I kind of guessed that," he simply stated as he started to warm up some milk for his cappuccino. “I mean, there wouldn’t be another reason for you to fake your death, unless you just wanted to get rid of me." He had actually considered that option for a while after he found out that Bennet was still alive, but eventually discarded the idea. “And assuming from the fact that you resurfaced a couple of months later, you made sure to remove anyone threatening from the face of the earth."

He wanted to leave a couple of seconds of silence, but also was aware that Bennet wasn’t just going to keep a silence, and was going to try to fill it up, so he continued talking. “I’m not angry about you faking your death," he said as calmly as he could as he turned around to face the hitter. “Okay, maybe a little, but the worst part was that you didn’t tell me that you were alive, even after you came back. I had to hear from a friend of mine, who had seen you pop up in the systems again."

[nicolebennet]

She had to give it to him, Luke had gotten sharper over the past time. He had never been bothered to properly observe or think situations through, but he was spot on with the reason she dropped off the grid by faking her death. That didn't make the explanation any easier, though.

"I didn't call because I didn't fucking want you to rant like this. I thought that if you'd forgive me, you'd call me, ask me how I was. Those three months weren't easy, and..." Her gaze turned to a random point in the room. She was defending herself again. She needed to stop. But that was easier said than done.

"Fine, you must've had a shitty time too. I... I apologize for that." The words sounded forced, and they were, but Luke deserved to hear them. After that, she was way too tense to continue. She wasn't going to be able to communicate anymore for a while. She needed a break. "I'll just... go. Hit the gym." She tossed him a card. "I'm staying at a nearby hotel, there's my cellphone on there and the place in New Orleans where I... live now."

[megprescott-hitter]

The Thompson Job (Bennet and Meg)

[megprescott-hitter]

Pulling out her cell phone, Meg dialed a familiar Detective’s number, praying that he would still remember their deal. After the first couple of rings, Meg started to feel nauseous, but when a male voice came on, she straightened up.

"Hey Captain Bonanno." she greeted, her attempt to not slur her words starting to fail.

"Prescott? What’s wrong with your voice?" Patrick Bonanno, Detective Captain of the Boston Police Department, asked.

"Nothing serious, I just need a favor." she answered, and before he could insist on the problem, she continued. “I have a family that needs to be in protective care. It’s the Hosting Homes case I’ve been telling you about." She could hear him sigh on the other line. “Bonanno. You promised you would do it. We’re at…" she paused as she had to lean on the sink due to a spinning room. She could hear a worried, “Prescott?" in the background before she continued. “We’re at one of your safe houses. The one that you told me to come to if I ever needed something. And I need you to take care of this family." Another pause.

"Fine I’ll be over there in a few minutes."

"Good. See you then." she snapped the phone shut before he could say anything else. Looking at herself in the mirror, she realized that she shouldn’t be seen by the family; her ripped and bloody shirt would scar them for weeks. Opening the door, she glanced around the the hallway to make sure there wasn’t any curious kids around before stepping into one of the spare bedrooms, leaning heavily on the walls as she went. Finding a spare t-shirt a little too big for her and a pair of sweatpants, Meg slowly and painfully changed into the more comfortable clothes. Once done, she stepped into the kitchen.

"So…. there’s going to be…. a detective to pick you up in a few minutes…." Meg explained, attempting to ignore Mrs. Thompson’s horrified look at Meg’s squeamish state. “He will take up you…. and your boys along with the laptop… to make sure… that you’re all safe…" 

[nicolebennet]

At a first glance, Bennet almost thought that Meg was fine. But the clean clothes were all a façade and after a mere second, the hitter noticed the other's pale complexion and the fact that she was having trouble speaking.

Normally, she'd tell Meg that she should really lie down, but something else had caught her attention. The person that was apparently coming to the safe house to keep the Thompson's safe. A detective. That was a no-go for Bennet, considering that she didn't have many pleasant memories regarding detectives. She grabbed Meg's arm and turned the two of them around.

"A detective? Are you planning on getting me arrested?" The hitter let out a long breath and straightened. "Fine. Okay, I'm going. Make sure to rest, sleep about twelve hours before you try to leave the flat. Yes, I know, sleeping sucks but you're going to have to suck it up and deal with it. If I'm getting any money for this job, you'll probably have a friend that can make sure it ends up on my bank account."

[bostons-virgil]

The People You Meet at a Hotel || Virgil & Bennet

[bostons-virgil]

Virgil nodded at Bennet’s past experience with dance. Most of the people he knew did dancing later in life as a bucket list type thing. He wasn’t sure if she did it for the same reason, but it didn’t matter anyway.

He mulled over how to answer her, debating on whether he should lie or not. Eh, what’s the point in that? “I started dancing when I was a kid. My parents thought it would be good to keep me well rounded so I stuck with dance for a while." A lot longer than a while, but she didn’t need to know that. “It kind of ended bitterly," he told her rubbing the back of his neck. “In case you couldn’t tell." He started walking down an empty street and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He didn’t like thinking about that.

[nicolebennet]

Bennet chuckled at Virgil's commentary. Yeah, she had noticed that things didn't end too well, judging from the somewhat tense conversation. Though Virgil's friend didn't really seem to know that he really didn't want to join him.

The situation was intriguing, and Bennet's curiosity made her forget to check to see whether or not she was supposed to ask this, something that in the past, Luke had to force her to do so she wouldn't be too rude towards others.

"What happened? I mean, that friend of yours seemed to think you still wanted to dance, so it must've been something on your end, that made you decide for yourself that you wanted to quit." She had been thinking out loud, looking ahead of her to keep an eye on the road.

[nicolebennet]

Miss Missing You || Bennet & Liam

[thievingliam-blog]

Liam watched her as she went to her target. She moved a little too slowly for his tastes, but she was still fast enough to not get noticed so he didn’t mention anything about it.

"Pretty good," he said looking through the wallet. He found the driver’s license and tried to pinpoint the address in his head. It wasn’t too far from the base. He could drop it off there after eating.

"I originally taught myself how to pickpocket just so I knew how to do it if I needed to. Somewhere down the line it became more of a game than a chore." He kept looking through the wallet and found a couple of business cards for one of the sleezy companies in town. On second thought, the guy probably didn’t need his wallet again.

[nicolebennet]

"Well, I'm not going to make a habit out of it. You can pickpocket people and do your thing. I'm not going to do your job, I'll do mine"

Bennet glanced over at the wallet, trying to determine the kind of person from what he had. She frowned a little at the contents, especially the business cards along with something that made her grab the wallet from Liam without asking. She  frowned as she browsed through the contents.

"Hmmm..." She flipped through a couple of other cards she noticed. "He's been looking for different offers. Keeps the cards hidden so that nobody else notices. He was probably on a way to a meeting when I bumped into him. Catch." She tossed the wallet back to Liam.

[bostons-virgil]

The People You Meet at a Hotel || Virgil & Bennet

[bostons-virgil]

Virgil quickens his pace without a second thought. He figured she wouldn’t know the area quite as well as he did since he’s lived there for his entire life. He stepped in front of her and put his hands in his pockets. He knew of a quiet place not far from them that he and Jenny would go to when they were kids. He was certain it would be free.

"So how long have you been dancing for?" He didn’t expect for her to have been practicing long. She didn’t seem like the type. On the other hand, a hit man would be able to handle the pain that came with dancing.

[nicolebennet]

Glad to see that Virgil seemed to know where they were going, Bennet followed him, and thought about the question. It was a bit of a hard thing to answer, though the question itself was pretty straightforward.

"Well... I took actual lessons about five years ago. One year of training, and after that, due to having to go back to work, I stopped. Couldn't afford to go back, so I just started dancing by myself whenever I have the time."

She glanced at Virgil, her eyes narrowing a little. "How about you?" It was kind of hard to guess his age, but she assumed that if he was so keen on letting nobody know that he danced, he would've done that for a very long time.

[miss-johansson]

[nicolebennet]

Make-up and weird-ass expression aside, Bennet sometimes walks around like this. Only the hair isn't styled to look like that, it's just messy because she didn't bother to brush it.

[bostons-virgil]

The People You Meet at a Hotel || Virgil & Bennet

[bostons-virgil]

"Yeah, dancing is a pretty good hobby," Virgil said putting an unintentional emphasis on the word hobby. He wished he wasn’t still bitter about what happened all those years ago, and in his mind, maybe he wasn’t. Regardless, he knew this would be a potential problem in the future is anyone found out.

"No telling anyone about this right? This is just between us two?" He needed to make sure it was clear. The last thing he wanted was for the team to take some dancing job because they knew he could dance.

[nicolebennet]

"Of course," Bennet said, as if it was ridiculous that Virgil even assumed she would tell anyone else. "I don't do gossip, and your private life is yours. Now, there's not much of a private life in my case to talk about, so I'd appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut about it too."

As they walked on, Bennet started to get less and less familiar with the area. This was further than Luke's apartment, so she had no idea where she was going, and deliberately slowed her pace, so that if Virgil knew a place to go, he would show the way, and this way Bennet didn't have to give up on her pride and actually ask him where to go next. They didn't even have a set destination.