So it’s the mid 1800s. Hardison is an exceptionally smart free-born black man in the North. A group of Southern assholes who want to profit from his intelligence and also show the (racial epithet) his place kidnap him into slavery in the South.
They hire Elliot without telling him much. When he finds out they want him to break a slave, he’s pissed, because that’s not what he does. When he finds out Hardison is a kidnapped free-born man he decides the group isn’t making it out of this.
Meanwhile, girlfriend Parker has been tracing her kidnapped boyfriend and finally finds him. Cue fight scene, because she initially thinks Elliot is one of the bad guys and she tries to kill him. Hardison stops her and she plans their revenge.
The group is taken down in the most public and humiliating way possible, and all the victims are set free with a considerable sum of money and tickets as far north as they want to go. The trio also has a considerable amount of money and decides to go free slaves that the Underground Railroad can’t get to, incidentally ruining lots of rich slaveholders and distributing their land to poor people of multiple races (for a very small landlord cut).
And they lived happily ever after.
*rolls about in feels and glee* YES! This is awesome!
I love that this is basically the same as the “We have a Hulk” scene in Avengers (and came out before it) but that in terms of the Leverage Crew, the Hulk, who you’d think would be Elliot (rage, not good with talking out his emotions, Mr. Punchy) is actually Hardison (that cheerful grin, the sass, the neverending well of love and joy). Because the truth is, Elliot can’t do that always angry thing. He can’t sustain his anger, he can only sustain his pain. He can’t simmer for ages, he has to get in there and Do Something when he gets mad. He’s Steve, to be honest. But Hardison? Hardison who hacked a foreign bank on prom night to pay back his Nana for all the good she did her foster kids? Hardison who buries himself in games and toys and gummy frogs and orange soda because that’s what people expect of the “geek”? Hardison who grew up poor, and orphaned, and black, and oh so incredibly smart? Hardison who is so constantly afraid, of dust, of small spaces, of high places, who loves a vent-crawling building jumping thief like she’s the sun? Who had to hold Parker’s hand as she panicked about foster kids in Eastern Europe somehow ending up broken like her?
People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money they have all the power and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now you’re suffering under an enormous weight. We provide… Leverage.
They said it was impossible, that three people couldn’t share a Jaeger. There was no way that three people’s minds could sync perfectly enough to work one of the machines. Especially if they weren’t related. But that’s what they did: they bent the rules.
My Notes:
I like finding crossovers and long fic, and this is an awesome bit of both. And I love how the author wove the triad, and it’s just. I love this. I am going to go reread this again soon.
So then, what is your opinion on the Actor for Elliot saying that Elliot used to be apart of a Star Gate team from the Stargate: SG1 series?
I love it. LOVE IT. It fixes literally the only flaw that I actually cared about in the show.
The thing that made my eye twitch a little bit in the first couple of seasons of Leverage was the hacking – the ‘I know he’s a Super Genius, but the hardware for what he’s doing with that flip phone literally cannot do what they’re doing’.
But if it’s in the Stargate universe, then of course some of that advanced tech has slipped unnoticed into the private sector. Boom! Suspension of disbelief now fully back in play.
(SG:1 was my main obsession for years – including a decade of playing in and running a Stargate online game (OCs). It was before I’d gotten back into any kind of online fandom, mind you, so I didn’t do fic, but nevertheless! My screen-correct gate team jacket – the style Daniel’s wearing in the top gif – is still my favourite piece of cosplay ever.)
It also means that Hardison, knowingly or unknowingly, has forced Eliot to sit through episodes of Wormhole X-Treme.
And that is everything to me.
Both. So very both. So Hardison absolutely did it accidentally to complain about the special effects/plot implausibility at some point. And then after the Gone Fishin’ Job and probably after the trio gets together, he FINALLY figures it out.
Probably tries hacking the Mountain, too, now that I think about it. Given Hardison I’m not even placing odds either way.
Anyway picture it: it’s been a year or two since Alec last inflicted Wormhole X-Treme on Eliot, who thought he was safe from That Goddamn Show. And then one TV night becomes one marathon session of That Goddamn Show and literally the only saving grace for his nerves is that Alec’s poker face is not, and his shit-eating grin keeps sneaking out.
Usually, Eliot thinks, when he’s picturing Eliot doing the shit on the show.
I’m now convinced Sam Carter called up Eliot more than once and said “Spencer, could you please convince your boyfriend to stop trying to hack us? If he keeps this up it’s either we recruit him or jail and I don’t want to deal with your girlfriend and Vala getting into shit. Teal’c says hi, by the way.”
“What are you talking about? Parker, this is your job!”
“Something came up. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine.”
“Hardison can do it. I have my own job.”
“He’s claustrophobic. I’ll walk you through it. I’m in the van, so I can follow you on the computers.”
“I got your back, man. You concentrate on breaking in.”
Parker’s voice murmured in their ears as Eliot and Hardison moved into their new places. It was obvious that she was working through the computer systems, and locks opened as they approached.
Eliot slid into the vents and Hardison listened as Parker walked him through the grab. The timing was off – of course it was, and he’d never imply that Eliot wasn’t doing a great job. But the timing difference meant that they were more likely to meet with resistance.
“You there!”
Eliot came around the corner at a run. With the delicate nature of the item he was carrying, he couldn’t fight off the pursuers himself. Hardison stepped up as Eliot went by and grinned at the security men who followed.
One came at him while the other two tried to circle and keep chasing Eliot. Hardison knew he could do this fast because he had been given permission to fight dirty. He ducked the man’s swing and came up to head butt him in the balls.
The others turned, and Hardison had two on one. He kept his back to the wall so they couldn’t surprise him and did a lot of ducking and kicking. When the sprinklers came on suddenly, it was enough of a surprise for him to chop each of them in the neck and get away.
They back at the van and there were victory hugs all around.
“All right,” Nate said in their ears. “Good work. Time to get the dog back to the ex-wife.”
There's a Mirror on the Wall 