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Eliot and Hardison have been a little sad recently – they’re trying to hide if from her, but she’s always able to read them, these days.
Parker frowns in concentration as she double checks her ropes for this part of the con, while making plans in the back of her head on what to do after this job is done to make her boys tell her what’s wrong.
The pieces spin in the back of her head – their vacation needs to be fun or funny, so maybe taking them on a parachute or hang-gliding run, eating dinner at a nice restaurant so Eliot can relax – or maybe just book him some time in a kitchen? He liked that…a few years ago, maybe it’s too soon to do it again? – and then spending some time at one of those gamer hotels that are all the rage these days to sooth Hardison’s feathers that he doesn’t actually have, but would probably look good with. Eliot thinks so, too.
There’s a certain blue boa that keeps popping into her that he would look particularly good in, although she’s not sure where she saw that particularly accessory. Maybe it’s just buried in her warehouse.
She’ll find it after the job.
“Okay, girl, you in position?”
“Yup!”
“We’ll see you on the other side, alrigh’ darlin’?”
“See you soon!” She shouts as she throws herself off the building and into the night, city lights flashing brighter than stars, and prettier than the strings of jewels on her Christmas tree.
But that was awhile, ago, wasn’t it?
~IiI~
“Sir, she’s flat lining.”
“Let her go. She’s on DNR, and her health’s been failing for weeks.”
“But she’s been in Save State for years – why now?”
The doctor thinks back on the other two deaths they’ve dealt with in the past few days, both Save States, waiting for their chance to return to the world at a word by the people in power, and dreaming memories, to keep their minds sharp. There had been a problem with one of the powerlines to one man’s pod, and when his line failed, so did the taller’s.
All three had been brought in at the same time, and while this patient had been moved to a separate room in case of further power issues, her main doctor can’t forget the set up she’d walked into the first day she oversaw their cases.
“Well, maybe she had some people to join,” she murmurs to the nurse.
“Maybe…” the younger woman mutters.
In the hallway, the janitor pulls her cap down, and whispers, “Thanks, Parker.”
She leaves the building, making sure to boost a ride out, for old time’s sake.
Background: Parker, Hardison, and Eliot all got captured at the end of a job gone wrong some years ago and, since the government was worried about how to hang on to them, got shoved in super special secret pods, on ice until they were needed. Kinda like Bucky, but with more brain stimulation, and the body entirely reliant upon the machine to keep it at the bare minimum function of "alive." Whether or not someone purposefully pulled Eliot's plug is up to you to decided.
Kudos, comments, and concrit welcome!
~Fins