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!
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.
“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.”
so everyone likes to talk about that moment in the beginning of The Rundown Job when Hardison and Eliot high-five each other and grin while Parker flips over lasers to steal the diamonds
but has the fandom taken a moment to consider the look on Eliot and Parker’s faces in the moment before that when Hardison is doing his Tony Stark hacking into the vault thing
There's a Mirror on the Wall 