The door shut behind her and she made sure all the locks were set before she sagged against the door, blowing out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “You good?” She pasted on a smile and gave him a quick nod before disappearing inside her apartment. “Hey Parker,” she glanced over at Hardison to see him looking at her with concern in his dark brown eyes. The door to her apartment, 611, clicked open and Parker realized she used her lockpicks-a habit she had been trying to break recently only because it made other people look at her weird. She always wanted to be out of them as soon as possible. Too many people in too small a space with no real way to get out. “Uh, see ya later man!” Hardison called over his shoulder as he followed her down the hall. Parker was out of the doors before either of the others even registered they had opened. The elevator dinged, finally making it to the sixth floor. With a start, Parker realized that his left eye wasn’t real. There was one long one, running from his temple all the way through his left eye, accompanied by a couple other smaller ones, including one that disappeared into the collar of his shirt. As the elevator continued to move upwards-at an annoyingly slow pace, seriously, why did anyone ever use them?-Eliot glanced over at her a few more times, allowing her a better look at his scars. He wasn’t that tall, only a couple inches taller than Parker was, but with a solidness in his frame that wasn’t present in her or Hardison. It’s nice that you got your furniture already though, man when I moved in here…” Hardison continued to talk, with Eliot only interjecting occasionally, giving Parker more time to examine him.
The other day there were a bunch of guys moving furniture and stuff in. “Yeah, I heard Nate talking sometime last week about someone moving into that place, it’s been empty since Hurley moved out like four months ago. Eliot gave her a small nod and what she was pretty sure was supposed to be a calming smile. Belatedly she realized he was probably waiting for her to introduce herself. Eliot’s eyes darted over to Parker, and she swore there was something… off about them. “Eliot,” he replied, reaching out and shaking Hardison’s hand once. I live in 614.” Parker watched as the look in the strangers eyes went from suspicion to almost bafflement-she understood, that was a common response to meeting Hardison. “Cool! My name’s Alec Hardison,” Hardison said, reaching out to shake the strangers hand, “but everyone calls me Hardison. “Uh, yeah,” he replied hesitantly, eyeing Hardison curiously. “Are you the guy moving into 613?” Hardison asked, turning to the stranger. Hardison reached out to press the button for the sixth floor, only to pause when he saw that the button was already lit up. When Parker got on she immediately put herself in a corner of the elevator, and wasn’t surprised when the stranger mirrored her on the opposite side. The elevator dinged, catching her off guard for a moment. Hardison flashed one of his patented ‘don’t mind me’ smiles, and she watched as the tension slowly melted out of the strangers posture. A grimace flashed across his face for a second when he put weight on his right leg-gone almost before she even realized it was there. He narrowed his eyes, standing a bit taller as they approached. The stranger gave them a once over, catching Parker while she stared at him. Look closer at what? At his long hair and his stiff military posture? How he stood facing the elevator, yet positioned himself so he was still able to see the door? At the not so subtle way he watched them as they approached, tensed and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice? At the dark red metal cane he carried in his left hand, or the scars that crossed his face? At the way he seemed to be leaning away from them? Or how his bag was set up as a barrier between him and the rest of the world? It took her a moment to realize that while half of the alarm bells were telling her to get the fuck out of there, the other half were telling her to look closer. He easily sidestepped and continued towards the elevator-still talking about Star Wars or something-after a second or two she followed him. She froze, Hardison nearly walking into her as he entered behind her. The moment Parker saw the stranger standing by the elevator, a dozen alarm bells went off in her head.
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