Chapter Text
Anne stared at the numbers and words written hastily on her hand under the pale light from the lamppost outside the window.
“
In five days, if you do want to get rid of those pesky student loan debts and have a bit left over to finally get your own place,” the man, Snart, said, scribbling down an address on the back of her hand, “then come here, at this time. Just makes sure you come alone.”
“This seems pretty.... shady for a consultation.” Anne said uncertainty.
Snart smirked. “Have a little faith, Miss Ferguson. You’ll find I’m very specific in what I ask of you. There’ll be no confusion.”
At the nervous look displayed, the smirk on the man’s face dropped to a look of something akin to comforting.
“Hey now.” He hummed lowly, huddling closer to the electrician. “Nothing I don’t plan for will happen, and I do plan for everything. The only thing you,” The bastard had the gall to boop her nose, “need to do, is what I tell you
.”
Naturally, first instinct was to tell him to fuck off, and, oh, how she wanted to. So badly. But in those seconds of silence between Snart talking, Anne thought a lot. He was right; she was staying with Dorris, and she did have overwhelming debts, not to mention that she literally isn’t making any revenue.
So lying on the spare bed that smelled like cigarettes, listening to Dorris snore softly in the room across the hall, holding the stupid inhibitor device in the hand that had the stupid information on it.
Anne sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed. Now she was think about the money she had growing, well, lack there of. She and dad never had enough to be not be worried. Their small three bedroom house was filled with tools and bare necessities and laughter. The Ferguson Electrician Company was ran out of the basement; and more often then not Anne had to go with her father on jobs for the lack of funds to get a babysitter.
“We really stress the family in family business.” Her dad use to say. That got a lot of laughs.
Anne was born and raised in that house. Only leaving at twenty, and never had the chance to go back.
Maybe, if this all pans out, she could buy the house back.
No no no no! Bad Annabelle! Dad always taught you to get your money first then decide how to spend it! Geez, you might not even take the job yet, chill!
Beside, Anne thought, what exactly is this Snart character gonna have her due that’s gonna pay off five years of student loan debt?
Then Anne thought back on how Dorris specifically explained as to why Anne should never get involved with the patrons, seeing as most of them were ex-cons or on the run.
Oh, geez; Anne’s better keep this on the down low.
—-
The warehouse was a twenty minute walk from the bar, and by the time Anne got there, she realized it would be an hour walk back to Dorris’s.
Well, too late to go back now.
With a fortifying breath, Anne stepped forward to her possible doom. Dear god, since when was she so dramatic?
There was a small service door on the right side of the building, like Snart said, and Anne tentatively knocked.
A bald man with a dour expression opened the door, dark eyes instantly meeting Anne’s. He stared at her, eyes trailing up and down slowly, assessing her.
“You look even less threatening up close.”
The sentence was so sudden that it took an a second to realize the man spoke at all. He seemed like such a strong silent type.
“Snart and the rest of ‘em are inside. Comm’on.”
Anne followed dutifully, remaining silent the whole time. She didn’t let her eyes stray from the center of the man’s back. Large muscles strained the thermal shirt he was wearing and Anne tried not to swoon. She then reminded herself that this guy was more than likely a criminal and all previous amourous thought died.
The woman mentally shook her head. She didn’t know if this was illegal dealings, no need to jump to such conclusion! Then again, she was proposed a job in the basement of where the proposer places an electrical device to test Anne’s skill, so… okay, chances of this being illegal were more than likely. Oh, god what would dad say?!
The duo walked up a flight of metal stairs, the bald man opened the door and waited until Anne passed through the threshold before closing it.
The room was clean, with a desk, chairs, and a sofa furnishing it. The thing that was making Anne nervous was there were people on the furnishings.
Snart was at the desk, the bald man behind him in the desk chair. Snart smirked at Anne before speaking.
“Well, lady and gentlemen.” He started.
Anne’s eyes darted around the room. Excluding her, Snart, and baldie, there were four other men in the room. One, sitting on the arm of the sofa, had pale skin and black hair with a thin and crooked nose. On one of the lounge chairs sat a skinny bearded man, with brown hair and tan skin stretching across his gaunt face, his blue eyes never settling on a single object for more than a few seconds. Two look nearly identical, both with blond hair cut in the same style, both wearing the same outfit, but one looked meaner, glaring at Snart whole he talked while the other had a soft, emotionless expression; despite the long scar on his face.
Oh god, Anne thought, she was in a room of criminals. No legal dealings happened at 12:19 in a warehouse in Central!!!
“I had selected you five to help me with a… little project.” Snart soldier on through his speech, pointing to cork board Anne hadn’t noticed earlier on the far wall.
On the board were several photos. The only thing that made sense to Anne was the blueprint of a grid system and the picture of a small solar panel generator.
“What you’re seeing is the list of items that multi millionaire Bob Winslow bought for the last five years, the layout of his private museum, his grid blueprint, his main source of electric power, and the layout of his mansion. With the help of you five individuals, with myself and Mick,” he tacked on, looking directly at Anne (as if to say, “Remember that name, he’s more important to this than they are,”), “I have a foolproof plan that could get up in that house and swipe enough shit to get us three hundred thousand dollars,” he moved his gaze to the dark, pale man, “each.”
Baldie, Mick, looked up to the board and grunted. “If you’re doing this. There ain’t any backing out. If you’re in, you’re in.”
The finality in his voice made Anne pause. She hated to think what would happen if someone backed out.
The dark, pale man spoke up. “Any reason as to why I’m here, Snart?”
You and me both buddy, Anne thought.
Snart smirked and tutted, wagging his finger back and forth as if to scold a child. “Now now Ralpho, I’m not gonna say anything until I know if you’re on board or not.”
Everyone made a noise of displeasure at that statement.
“Very big, my friends. Who’s in?”
The twins glanced at each other before nodding. Mick mumbled something about not having a choice. Ralpho rolled his pale eyes but relaxed against the sofa, as if giving in. The only two not on board were Beard and Anne.
Snart seem to anticipate resistance from those two. “If you need more convincing, just ask me anything you want until you feel comfortable with this plan.”
“We don’t even know the plan.” The un-scarred twin deadpanned.
Anne’s words were flying from her mouth before she realized it. “Have you been caught don’t something like this before?” She immediately bit her lip as soon as she was done, refusing to look at the others whose stares bore into her.
Snart smiled arrogantly. “Not when I’m in charge, no. Last time I was caught was because the boss used me as a scapegoat.”
That did comfort Anne a little. Snart seemed to know his business, and if the only time he was caught was when someone had deliberately set him up, then… but this was still illegal. What if Snart sets her up? Or one of the others do? This was stealing; not a pack of gum at the gas station stealing but actual stealing. Organized crime stealing. Morally wrong. There’s a whole Commandment for not stealing. Her father never taught her to steal.
(Anne thought about the upcoming winter and the fact she still has no home).
Then again, he never taught her to starve either.
Snart was still watching her closely, eyeing every feature on her face. He must have seen her resignation. So, he turned to Beard.
It took a second or two before he spoke. “I need to know this stuff will be able to sell.” He said softly, trying to make himself smaller under Snart’s needlessly pointed gaze.
Ralpho seemed eager to answer Beard’s concern. “Winslow is known for buying half his things on the black market. Who cares if they gets sold back to it?”
That seemed to be enough for Beard.
Snart seemed pleased and clapped his hands. “Wonderful! This plan will be over the span of three months. From now until New Years. I’ll contact you all for our next meeting to discuss the plan in more detail, but until then,” he gestured towards the door, “good night gentlemen.”
Ralpho launches of the sofa’s arm, threw open the door (which hit Anne’s side) and dashed out. The twins silently nodded in farewell to Snart, the scarred one smirked at Mick and Mick smirked back before leaving. Beard followed suit in departure.
Anne made a move to leave as well when she heard Snart speak up.
“Mick, give me and the newbie the room, hm?”
—-
Len walked with no shortage of amusement at Anne tensing up at his words. Mick raised a questioning eyebrow, but grunted and eventually left, closing the door behind him. The brunette remained standing by the doorway, eyes fixated on the floor.
Well, that wouldn’t do.
“Take a seat.”
It took a second for her to comply, but eventually Anne quietly walked to the sofa and sat in the center, looking up to Len as he walked around to the front.
He stared at her for a bit. Brown and grey eyes locked and neither backing down.
Finally, Len spoke.
“You still have doubts.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
Anne looked agitated when she responded. “I thought you needed time to re-wire a house or something, not rob some guy.” She spat.
Len shrugged nonchalantly.
All this did was agitate Anne more. “Any specific reason it’s this guy? Bob whatever?”
The thief looked to Anne sharply, eyes hard and mouth teasing into a smile. “He has a lot of money and I want some of it. So does Mick, and Ralpho, and so do you .”
She looked away with a huff.
He didn’t really need an electrician like her on his crew. He or mick had enough knowledge between them to complete their task. And Lewis always warned about too many people on a single job…
But Len could see the naivety on the woman. He almost wanted to tease her. “ You really thought I was going to ask you to do a real job? I set up a test for you; wrote down instructions I told you to memorize then erase; did any of that sound legal to you?” Mostly, he wanted to exploit her. It didn’t take a master of body language like Leonard to see that the young woman was unsure of herself, sad, lonely, desperate for money and real work beside neon signs and old fuse boxes. This was a girl who would do this job if the pay out was a bag of Big Belly Burger. There was a shred of morality, what a pesky thing, but Len could convince a priest to break his vows, so he wasn’t too worried. Anne was a tool, an instrument that needed to be played the right way to be her best. Len could sway her to just about anything he wanted if he said the right thing the right way at the right time.
After all, the con in con-artist meant “confidence”, and Len was certainly an artist in his craft.
“You’re staying Dorris, right?”
Anne looked back to Len, then nodded shyly.
“She’s good people. You don’t meet a lot like her.”
Anne’s eyes casted back to the floor. “Better than most.” She mumble, a frown pulling at her lips.
“And I don’t know about what landed you at her place, and I don't care, but I think you and I agree you don’t want to bring this on her.” Anne flinched at his implication.
Ah, guilt. The fastest way to manipulate someone.
“There’s another room in the warehouse, on the other side. It used to be the foreman’s office, so it’s all decked out and furnished.”
Anne looked confusingly up to Len, as if to say “So what?”
Len sigh for dramatic effect. “We don’t want Dorris involved in any which way, so I’m giving you the room here until the job is done.”
He stressed “we”. It was important to convince the girl that she thinks she is accepting the job in her own free will.
There was still uncertainty on Anne’s face. Reasonable, Len supposed. This is probably the first time she’s willingly planning to break the law.
“I’m the best in the business, Ferguson.” He stated, smiling smugly and putting on the airs of confidence. “I’ve been pulling heists for years and the pigs haven’t been able to get me. My plans are perfect, and the only thing you need to worry about,” he leaned over a bit, just to grab her attention. “Is how you’re gonna spend all the money.” He drawled.
Anne sighed heavily, but Len knew she was sold.
The next few minutes were filled with Len explaining his normal routine, where the closest laundromat was and the bus schedule. Basic things Anne would need to live in the warehouse. She nodded and repeated a few things, but otherwise was completely compliant. She looked defeated, just the way Len needed her to be. It was always much easier to play a person when they were dependent on you; much less variables, less chances for things to go wary.
At the end of the mostly one sided conversation, Anne nodded and stood up.
“Mick wasn’t kidding.” He tacked on. At the confused look Anne gave him, Len elaborated. “Once your on a job, there’s no backing out. I either make you leave,” he tilted his head down to look more threatening. He half wanted to scare her away, half wanted her to fully understand how serious he was. “Or I make you leave. Clear?”
Anne seemed a bit paler at the words, but nodded. “Crystal, boss.”
Hmm, boss. Len liked the sound of that.