Merry Christmas, theron09!

[ultra_fic]

theron09 - for my wonderful friend, Megan, who works so hard and deserves an awesome gift. I hope you like this story. I think it should be better than this but I did try! *hugs*

Title: Heroes & Villains
Fandom(s): Leverage/Avengers
Prompt: a blast from the past
Timeline: post-Season 5 Leverage, post-Avengers/pre-The Winter Soldier
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Any and all recognisable characters do not belong to me.

It seemed like a strange coincidence, which would usually make Eliot Spencer suspicious. On this occasion; however, he was prepared to let it go. When you ran in the circles the Leverage crew did, you were bound to run into people you knew, be they heroes or villains. Maybe he shouldn’t even have been surrpised when he and Parker walked into a situation as an undercover couple and found that each of them knew a member of another such undercover pair.

“He used to be a thief!” Parker said out of the corner of her mouth, though it would still be clear to the other couple exactly what she said.

“So did you,” the hitter reminded her. “And trust me, she was a lot worse than just a thief.”

“So were you,” said the redhead smoothly. “Should I be reaching for my knife, Spencer, or do you come in peace this time?”

“Stand down, Romanov,” he smirked right back at her. “We’re the good guys now.”

“Us too,” said the man beside her. “Kind of surprised that you are.”

Parker snorted.

“Clint, I’ve been a good guy for ages now!” she said with a laugh.

Eliot thought about some of the stunts she still liked to pull, some of the suggestions she came up with for people to take down and stuff to steal. Sure, Parker was good a not small part of the time, but there was a crazy streak through her a mile wide that meant she could walk the line of darkness sometimes. Eliot knew how that went, only he’d zig-zagged across that line so many times he had lost count.

“As much fun as it might be to catch up,” said Natasha, one hand hovering near her ear as she was clearly getting a message on comms. “We have a job to do, and I’m guessing this isn’t exactly a social event for you either?”

“Not even close,” Eliot told her.

“So, you’re not stealing anything?” Parker hissed across to Clint.

He smiled; “I wouldn’t say that.”

In a second the lights went out throughout the ballroom. Both couples took that as their cue to do what they came to do, while the rest of the guests at the party were distracted by the power outtage. Nobody really paid any mind to the fact that when the lights came back up all of a minute later, four people were missing from the room.

<hr>

“What in the hell happened to you?” asked Hardison as Eliot and Parker returned to the van, both of them a little worse for wear.

“Don’t ask,” said the hitter, wiping blood from his lip.

“What he said,” Parker agreed, blowing her bangs off her forehead.

Hardison frowned hard.

“Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but I need to know if what’s been goin’ on with you is the same thing that’s been goin’ on with me,” he said as they sat down together in the back of the van, checking over their own injuries. “Somebody is interfering in our plans,” the hacker complained.

“No kiddin’, Sherlock,” Eliot rolled his eyes. “We had company in there we weren’t expecting alright. You heard of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D.? As in Agents of?” Hardison checked.

“As in here to steal the same thing we were!” said Parker crossly. “I can’t believe Clint beat me to it. He never beat me before. That guy got extra sneaky!”

“Romanov hasn’t lost the power in her left hook, I know that much,” Eliot grumbled. “What’s our best chance of intercepting ‘em, Hardison?”

“I don’t know, man. It’s like I was tellin’ you, somebody definitely messing with the system here,” he explained. “I thought I was putting the loop on the cameras and controlling the ballroom lights. Turns out not so much, and this tech they’re using to get one over on me? Like nothin’ I’ve ever seen before, at least not outside of Stark Industries and...”

“Stark?” said Eliot with a frown. “Damnit, Hardison, we’re trying to pull a job against Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Nah, man,” Hardison shook his head and out-right laughed. “No way, we weren’t... Oh, man!” he said suddenly as he heard a sound and pushed the van door open.

They all peered out just in time to see Barton and Romanov jump into the back of a sports car and speed away out of sight. Eliot’s phone buzzed in his back pocket the second they were out of sight.

‘Sorry I had to hurt you, Spencer, but as I recall you never used to mind that much. Kiev was special.’

Parker leaned over and read the text just as Eliot did.

“What happened in Kiev?” she aked curiously,

Eliot moved the phone out of her reach and shook his head.

“Nothin’ I can talk about,” he told her, a smirk he couldn’t help curving his lips. “Anyway, the job’s a bust, let’s get out of here.”

“Oh, we can go, but this ain’t over,” said Hardison grinning.

The hacker moved upfront in the van and put Lucille into gear, pulling out of the parking lot. It sucked that the job had gone south for now, but it made him smile to realise they had been beaten to the task by Tony Stark. He’d learnt so much from that man, a long time ago now, but the others didn’t need to know that yet. It meant they had an unexpected edge, especially if Eliot and Parker knew their adversaries too. There was a chance their old friends might be more asset than enemy in the end, if they played this right.

<hr>

“The man, the myth, the legend, huh?” Eliot smirked as he was introduced to Captain America’s alter-ego.

“Something like that,” Steve almost blushed as he shook hands with the hitter. “You have quite the reputation yourself, Spencer, and not just what I heard from Natasha.”

Team Leverage and the Avengers sat around in the large sitting room within Stark Tower, now one group celebrating a job well done. In the end, they were both on the side of what was good and right, and working together had sure made life a hell of a lot easier in getting the job done.

“You seem happy,” said Clint as Parker joined him on the couch with a glass of something fizzy in her hand.

“Yeah, you too,” she smiled back at him. “I guess we both just needed to find our place.”

“Took a long time,” he sighed, looking around the room. “But yeah, we got there eventually.”

“Here’s to teamwork,” said Tony then, raising his glass and encouraging everybody else to do the same. “And hey, that’s something you never thought you’d hear me say.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Hardison agreed with a chuckle as he clinked his glass against Tony’s own.

“You were always too smart for your own good, kid,” his old boss told him. “I guess you found a use for it though.”

“Yes, sir,” the hacker nodded “Found me a family too.”

Stark looked around the room and smiled, knowing he had done just the same, he just wasn’t about to admit it to anyone, ever.

The End

Comments

[theron09.livejournal.com]

Aw, I love this! All of the different interactions between everyone are perfect and I love how many of the characters you managed to get links between. Thank you so much for this, ultra!

[ultra_fic]

You're so welcome, hon *hugs* And I've just been catching up with your tweets - good luck with everything, not that I think you'll need it, because I have great faith in you :)

[florencia7.livejournal.com]

That was wonderful! You're spoiling as SO MUCH this holiday season with all these amazing stories! And it's so kind & sweet of you to be taking hours & hours out of your days to write them :] Thank you so much for that! ♥

[ultra_fic]

You are just lovely, my dear *hugs* Thank you.

I believe all my friends are so worth the effort. Y'all make me smile all year round :)