What would your ultimate Leverage movie plot be?!?!?
Nathan Ford has retired with Sophie. They have a gorgeous house in a beautiful Parisian neighborhood and he just doesn’t ask anymore where the money comes from.
One day, he gets a call. Its from the kids. Can you come back on the job, they ask. Normally they wouldn’t call him, but... it’s Maggie. She helped them out with a job and now Sterling is going after her, with the help of some corporate jackass who is mad that Maggie helped the museum repatriate some of the artwork back to where it belongs.
Nate smiles into the telephone and says no -- I’m retired. Sophie would kill me, we’re supposed to go to an auction tomorrow. But why don’t you ask Maggie if she’s got any ideas?
Scene: Parker and Maggie, heads down over a huge table of plans, co-masterminding the living heck out of a plan that liberates the jackass’s entire collection of ‘artifacts’. Elliot is in the background, flipping through floorplans with a plate of bacon-roasted brussel sprouts on the table next to him. Hardison as his feet up on Elliot’s lap. Elliot manages to feed him a brussel sprout as they squabble. Hardison is delighted by the taste treat until he discovers what it is, and then bitterly complains about secret vegetables. Elliot smiles to himself for hours.
The heist goes up, the heist goes off. We see some of the new recruits. McSweetin, still with the FBI but willing to look sideways when his favorite ‘consultant’ is in play. Amy from the Broken Wing Job, skilled at both thievery and grifting, out in the field running a few plays. Hurley and Peggy going out to dinner with their dogs and accidentally crossing paths with the team and blowing their cover.
Scene: Parker stressing out because while she cares about the clients this is Maggie who is her friend and it’s personal. Elliot gives her a proper pep talk and curls an arm around her while he lets her vent. Hardison sticks his head in and asks if they want pizza, he’s ordering some. From Dominos. Which is food with no surprise vegetables. Elliot is now very cranky. Parker snickers to herself and Hardison blows a kiss to her behind Elliot’s back
Things do go wrong, of course. In the end, they manage to do what they intended to do, but Maggie gets burned -- by choice, she calls an audible and goes into it with both eyes open. She gets out and avoids getting arrested, but she’s no longer a civilian. (Parker is so proud. She frames Maggie’s first wanted poster and gives it to her at Christmas next year)
Maggie joins the team, and she calls Nate for advice. “You don’t need my advice,” he tells her. “You’ll be better than I ever was. You’re even tempered, and scotch doesn’t turn you into your father.” (”Is that Maggie?” Sophie calls from the next room. “Tell her I’m going to send her the code to my Portland storage locker.” “What portland storage locker?” Nate asks. “I don’t know what you mean,” Sophie says, right to his face.)
Final scene: grateful folks telling the team that the artifacts are being shipped home. Hardison tells them all the costs are covered and their cultural center is funded for the next ten years. The team definitely did not also steal priceless works of art from the jackass to fund said cultural center.
The client leaves, all smiles. Amy and Elliot are handling the dinner shift in the brewpub, talking and laughing while Maggie has a well-deserved batch of comfort food and a beer at the counter. Hardison and Parker are sitting back to back, leaning on each other while Hardison makes Maggie new IDs and Parker flips through potential clients. Sterling sends a message to them to tell them he knows they have Maggie and he will get them next time, and to set up the sequel.
