Leverage

Hestia 1

I screamed as loud as I could. I couldn't help it. I was terrified. My worst nightmare had come true. I was panicking while someone was trying to hold me down and do God knows what to me, and, to make it worse, I couldn't see anything since I didn't have my glasses.

Somewhere far away, I heard a door open. The next moment, a weight was lifted off of my body. The second I was free, I jumped off the bed and ran to the corner, making myself as small as possible and squeezing my eyes shut. I could feel blood running down my arm from where the IV had been ripped out when I jumped off the bed, but I didn't care. All I could do was hold myself while I heard two men arguing.

"What the Hell are you doing?!" the first man said. I recognized the voice from earlier, it was the same man that tried to hold me down.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," a second voice said. I didn't recognize this voice, but I did recognize the faint trace of a southern accent in his voice. I had one myself; although mine was much more obvious.

"I'm treating my patient," the first voice said.

"Really? 'Cause it sure as Hell don't look like it," said the second voice.

"Of course it doesn't," the first voice said, "she's an uncooperative patient being transferred to the psychiatric wing. It's hospital protocol to restrain and sedate uncooperative psychiatric patients." I felt my chest tighten. I couldn't breathe. Psychiatric wing?! No. There's no way. It had to be a mistake. I'm not crazy. Right?

"She's not crazy," the second voice said, "and she's not your patient. Now get out." I heard some shuffling and a thud as the door closed.

Even though I heard whoever the second voice belongs to moving around the room, I kept my eyes closed. After a minute, I heard him speak.

"Nate," he said, "I've got a girl here who was almost put in the psych ward for no reason. I managed to get rid of the doctor, but he'll be back with reinforcements soon." There was a pause.

[Nate: So?]

"We can't just leave her here. You know what these people will do once they get her in the psych ward."

[Sophie: He's right, Nate. If she's not mad already, she will be in less than a week.]

[Hardison: Everybody just hold up. Has anybody considered the fact that she might actually need the Psych Ward? How do we know she's not already crazy?]

"Cause I've seen crazy before, and this girl, she ain't it."

[Nate: Eliot, is she hurt?]

"Yeah."

[Nate: How bad?]

"Chart says sprained knee, decent sized gash on her right forearm, and a sprained wrist. Other than that, just cuts and bruises."

[Nate: Anything you can't handle?]

"No."

[Nate: And you're sure she's not crazy?]

"Absolutely."

[Nate: Grab her and bring her back to the apartment.]

[Parker: If they want to put her in the psych ward, once they see she's gone they won't stop looking for her.]

[Nate: They will if she was never a patient. Hardison, hack into the patient data and erase all of her information.]

"According to the chart, she's in the system as Jane Doe #54."

[Hardison: Got it. Making a copy for us, and erasing everything from the system. Like it was never there.]

[Nate: Good. Now in order for this to work, Eliot, you've got to get her out of the hospital and make it look like she was never there in the first place.]

"I'm gonna need some help."

[Nate: Parker, go help Eliot.]

[Sophie: Really? You want Parker to help Eliot convince an absolutely terrified girl to trust a group of complete strangers? No offense, Parker.]

[Parker: None taken.]

[Nate: Fair enough. Sophie, you I will help Eliot. Parker, you and Hardison give us a way out and cover our tracks.]

[Hardison: Already working on it.]

"Room 132."

[Sophie: On my way.]

I don't know how long I just sat there listening to him talk. He was obviously talking to someone, so he must've pulled out a phone or something.

Eventually, I heard the man coming towards me. On instinct, I made myself even smaller than before and squeezed my eyes shut even tighter.

"Hey," he said, "I promise I'm not gonna hurt you, but I need you to come with me."

"I'm not crazy," I whispered. It was the only thing I could get to come out of my mouth.

"I know," he said, "Here. These might help." He gently took my hand and placed something in my palm. I finally opened my eyes to see what he gave me. My glasses. I put them on and felt a little bit of weight lift off my shoulders.

"Better?" he asked. I nodded. I could feel myself slowly getting calmer and regaining control. 

I looked over and saw him for the first time. He might've been wearing blue scrubs and a lab coat, but his tanned face, long brown hair, and calloused hands told me that he definitely wasn't a doctor. Even though his entire appearance made him look extremely rough and intimidating, his small smile and the concerned look in his eyes gave me the impression that his tough exterior might be all for show.

"I'm Eliot," he said holding out his hand for me to shake. I shook his large hand with my smaller one. "What's your name?" I didn't trust myself to talk, so I just shook my head.

"That's okay," he said, "we can talk later."

The door to the room opened, and two people came in. The first was a tall, very well put-together woman with short black hair. The second was a man with dark, curly hair.

"Come on," the man said, "let's go."

"Nate," the woman said with a British accent, "give them a minute."

"Fine," the man called Nate said, "Where's her stuff?" Eliot pointed to the bed, and I saw that my stuff was sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed. Nate and the woman each grabbed one of my bags and anything else they could before leaving the room.

"My friends and I are going to get you out of here. Okay?" I nodded. I knew it was stupid to go with a strange man that I just met, but considering my other option was the psych ward, I was willing to take my chances with Eliot and his friends.

"Great," he said, holding out his hand for me to take, "then let's get out of here." I took his hand, and he pulled me up. When I tried to stand on my own, I felt my knee give out underneath me. Fortunately, Eliot caught me before I hit the floor.

"Woah," Eliot said, "Sorry about this, but we don't have a ton of time." With that, Eliot scooped me up bridal style and carried me through the already open door.