Fic: Gifted (Leverage AU, Gen, PG)
Title: Gifted
Fandom: Leverage
Characters/Pairing: Gen - Team
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1264
Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage. I'm just playing.
Notes: For the au_bingo prompt - Other: Superpowers.
Summary: Hardison's not sure how he ended up on a team with four Supers.
In the world, there are two kinds of people - those with superpowers, and those without them.
Alec Hardison is one of the people without them. He had been bitterly disappointed upon reaching adolescence and realizing that he wasn’t able to fly, shoot fireballs out of his hands or throw the school bullies through a wall. He’s come to terms with it since. To make up for his lack of powers, he made himself a master of technology. He’s so good with computers he might as well be a technopath.
Once he got a bit older he realized that he wasn’t particularly unlucky - very few people ever developed impressive powers, the majority could barely hover a few feet off the ground. Eventually, they classified powers into two categories - Alpha and Beta powers. Alpha Powers are the people who are living comic book characters - they can fly, make a winter wonderland in the middle of summer, and are generally real life superheroes. They’re also incredibly secretive and keep to themselves, since there was a lot of backlash about letting such powerful people run around freely.
Hardison is not entirely sure how he ends up on a team with four of them.
They don’t come out and tell him. They don’t even tell each other. It takes several months, and they finally only reveal themselves when it’s absolutely necessary.
Well, except for Parker. But she’s Parker.
***
Parker tells them all straight off that she’s a Super, an Alpha at that.
At first, Hardison is sceptical. Alpha just don’t do that. “Yeah? What do you do? Phase through walls? Blend into shadows?”
Parker tilts her head. Hardison’s hat catches on fire. He yelps and throws it on the ground, stomping the flames out in a panic.
“I burn things,” Parker says simply.
Hardison rubs his singed head. “Does that help with thieving?”
“Not really. It’s just fun.”
They get back to work without further incident, and Parker’s gift isn’t mentioned again, although she will pop her own popcorn in front of them now.
The others don’t react to her revelation at all. At the time, Hardison doesn’t notice.
***
Nate’s next.
There’s only so many times he can say ‘I just know’ to all of Hardison’s very important questions before Hardison snaps and threatens to empty all his bank accounts.
Nate sighs. “I’m telepathic, Hardison.”
“You’re Professor X? No wonder you’re so evil!”
“I thought he was a good guy?” Parker asks, appearing in the doorway.
“That’s just want they want you to think,” Hardison replies. “Dude’s skeevy.”
Nate rubs his forehead and mutters something about getting a drink.
“Oh no,” Hardison says, when something very important suddenly occurs to him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been reading my mind all this time - that’s not right. That’s an invasion of my privacy!”
“I only read the minds of marks,” Nate says, and then shoots Parker a look. “And Parker, but she projects.”
“I guess I really am the source of all your headaches,” Parker says with a grin, unconcerned about any possible invasions of privacy.
Then again, Nate probably couldn’t navigate around her mind with a map and a compass.
***
Nate may refrain from using his gift on his teammates, but in the beginning, Sophie has no such restraint. It’s Eliot who figures it out this time. Hardison’s just there to watch the fallout.
“You keep doing something to me!” Eliot’s never needed a power to be the most intimidating of them, but Sophie just rolls her eyes. “I don’t make tea for anyone, let alone you.”
Nate looks up. “Seriously, Sophie? Cut it out.”
Parker claps her hands eagerly “Oooh, Sophie is a Super too! What’s your gift?”
Sophie smiles and stares Eliot down. “The Power of Suggestion.”
Parker deflates. “Oh. That’s a stupid gift.”
“I beg your pardon?” Sophie breaks eye contact with Eliot, taken aback. “I can get anyone to do anything I want them to do.”
“Still boring,” Parker mutters, and absently sets her fingertip on fire.
Nate stands up and gets between Eliot and Sophie before they could start arguing again. “Your gift is impressive enough, I suppose. But it only works with eye contact, and it doesn’t work on me at all. Don’t use it on the team.”
Sophie huffs, but eventually nods. “Fine.”
“I suppose if you can make someone stab themselves in the eye, that would be kind of cool,” Parker muses.
***
For the longest time, the entire team is convinced that Eliot is a Norm like Hardison.
Of all of them, his job is the one where if you had a power, might as well use it, right?
Apparently not with Eliot.
They only find out about his gift when a job goes south and the mark figures them out, sabotaging Parker’s repelling equipment. She goes over the side of the building and keeps on falling. Hardison’s heart is somewhere in his throat and he’s screaming and making a scene when suddenly, she just stops in midair. Parker eyes are squeezed shut, and she tentatively opens them after a few seconds and glances around. The people on the sidewalk look up at her and point. Hardison’s jaw is somewhere around his feet.
“I can fly!” Parker waves her arms around, mimicking a bird. “Soar, damn it!”
She keeps trying for a few minutes until it becomes obvious that no matter what she does, she isn’t budging. Finally, she turns pleading eyes to Hardison. “Hardison, I’m stuck.”
He has no idea how to help her. She’s still more than twenty feet off the ground. He’s contemplating calling the fire department when Eliot hurries around the corner.
“Sorry, had to finish up,” he says, smiling at Parker and holding a hand up to her. She drifts slowly towards the ground, grabbing his hands once she’s low enough. “There, I gotcha.”
“You...” Hardison sputters for a moment. “I thought you were like me!”
Eliot gives him a droll look. “There’s no one like you, Hardison.”
“You’ve been holding out on us,” Parker complains once she’s back on solid ground. “You have the coolest gift.”
“So, what?” Hardison asks, grabbing Parker up into a hug because she seriously almost died today. “You’re telekinetic? You should’ve told us before today. We’d never have to get off the couch to get chips.”
Eliot stares at him. “I can kill you with my mind.”
Hardison snorts. “Yeah, sure. You’re like Phoenix. One wrong move and you’ll go psycho and kill us all.”
“Who’s Eliot’s Cyclops?” Parker asks, slinging an arm around both of them and pulling them off towards the van.
Hardison whistles appreciatively. “Wow, Parker. You really know your X-men.”
“That’s like foreplay to you, isn’t it?” Eliot pauses, and Hardison and Parker follow his line of sight to see the mark rushing out of the building and down the sidewalk. With a smirk, Eliot’s left eye twitches a little, and the door of a van parked on the street swings open in the mark’s path. He walks straight into it with a loud clang and crumples to the ground.
Parker shakes her head. “You should have told us sooner. Best gift ever.”
Hardison nods agreement. He might be the only Norm on the team, but he long ago came to terms with his lack of a gift. He’s awesome enough as just a mundane human.
But to be sure, there’s a lot of fun to be had with a telekinetic around.
“Revenge on Sophie?” He suggests, waggling his eyebrows at his teammates.
They share identically evil grins.
Eliot nods. “Oh yeah."
Fandom: Leverage
Characters/Pairing: Gen - Team
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1264
Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage. I'm just playing.
Notes: For the au_bingo prompt - Other: Superpowers.
Summary: Hardison's not sure how he ended up on a team with four Supers.
In the world, there are two kinds of people - those with superpowers, and those without them.
Alec Hardison is one of the people without them. He had been bitterly disappointed upon reaching adolescence and realizing that he wasn’t able to fly, shoot fireballs out of his hands or throw the school bullies through a wall. He’s come to terms with it since. To make up for his lack of powers, he made himself a master of technology. He’s so good with computers he might as well be a technopath.
Once he got a bit older he realized that he wasn’t particularly unlucky - very few people ever developed impressive powers, the majority could barely hover a few feet off the ground. Eventually, they classified powers into two categories - Alpha and Beta powers. Alpha Powers are the people who are living comic book characters - they can fly, make a winter wonderland in the middle of summer, and are generally real life superheroes. They’re also incredibly secretive and keep to themselves, since there was a lot of backlash about letting such powerful people run around freely.
Hardison is not entirely sure how he ends up on a team with four of them.
They don’t come out and tell him. They don’t even tell each other. It takes several months, and they finally only reveal themselves when it’s absolutely necessary.
Well, except for Parker. But she’s Parker.
***
Parker tells them all straight off that she’s a Super, an Alpha at that.
At first, Hardison is sceptical. Alpha just don’t do that. “Yeah? What do you do? Phase through walls? Blend into shadows?”
Parker tilts her head. Hardison’s hat catches on fire. He yelps and throws it on the ground, stomping the flames out in a panic.
“I burn things,” Parker says simply.
Hardison rubs his singed head. “Does that help with thieving?”
“Not really. It’s just fun.”
They get back to work without further incident, and Parker’s gift isn’t mentioned again, although she will pop her own popcorn in front of them now.
The others don’t react to her revelation at all. At the time, Hardison doesn’t notice.
***
Nate’s next.
There’s only so many times he can say ‘I just know’ to all of Hardison’s very important questions before Hardison snaps and threatens to empty all his bank accounts.
Nate sighs. “I’m telepathic, Hardison.”
“You’re Professor X? No wonder you’re so evil!”
“I thought he was a good guy?” Parker asks, appearing in the doorway.
“That’s just want they want you to think,” Hardison replies. “Dude’s skeevy.”
Nate rubs his forehead and mutters something about getting a drink.
“Oh no,” Hardison says, when something very important suddenly occurs to him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been reading my mind all this time - that’s not right. That’s an invasion of my privacy!”
“I only read the minds of marks,” Nate says, and then shoots Parker a look. “And Parker, but she projects.”
“I guess I really am the source of all your headaches,” Parker says with a grin, unconcerned about any possible invasions of privacy.
Then again, Nate probably couldn’t navigate around her mind with a map and a compass.
***
Nate may refrain from using his gift on his teammates, but in the beginning, Sophie has no such restraint. It’s Eliot who figures it out this time. Hardison’s just there to watch the fallout.
“You keep doing something to me!” Eliot’s never needed a power to be the most intimidating of them, but Sophie just rolls her eyes. “I don’t make tea for anyone, let alone you.”
Nate looks up. “Seriously, Sophie? Cut it out.”
Parker claps her hands eagerly “Oooh, Sophie is a Super too! What’s your gift?”
Sophie smiles and stares Eliot down. “The Power of Suggestion.”
Parker deflates. “Oh. That’s a stupid gift.”
“I beg your pardon?” Sophie breaks eye contact with Eliot, taken aback. “I can get anyone to do anything I want them to do.”
“Still boring,” Parker mutters, and absently sets her fingertip on fire.
Nate stands up and gets between Eliot and Sophie before they could start arguing again. “Your gift is impressive enough, I suppose. But it only works with eye contact, and it doesn’t work on me at all. Don’t use it on the team.”
Sophie huffs, but eventually nods. “Fine.”
“I suppose if you can make someone stab themselves in the eye, that would be kind of cool,” Parker muses.
***
For the longest time, the entire team is convinced that Eliot is a Norm like Hardison.
Of all of them, his job is the one where if you had a power, might as well use it, right?
Apparently not with Eliot.
They only find out about his gift when a job goes south and the mark figures them out, sabotaging Parker’s repelling equipment. She goes over the side of the building and keeps on falling. Hardison’s heart is somewhere in his throat and he’s screaming and making a scene when suddenly, she just stops in midair. Parker eyes are squeezed shut, and she tentatively opens them after a few seconds and glances around. The people on the sidewalk look up at her and point. Hardison’s jaw is somewhere around his feet.
“I can fly!” Parker waves her arms around, mimicking a bird. “Soar, damn it!”
She keeps trying for a few minutes until it becomes obvious that no matter what she does, she isn’t budging. Finally, she turns pleading eyes to Hardison. “Hardison, I’m stuck.”
He has no idea how to help her. She’s still more than twenty feet off the ground. He’s contemplating calling the fire department when Eliot hurries around the corner.
“Sorry, had to finish up,” he says, smiling at Parker and holding a hand up to her. She drifts slowly towards the ground, grabbing his hands once she’s low enough. “There, I gotcha.”
“You...” Hardison sputters for a moment. “I thought you were like me!”
Eliot gives him a droll look. “There’s no one like you, Hardison.”
“You’ve been holding out on us,” Parker complains once she’s back on solid ground. “You have the coolest gift.”
“So, what?” Hardison asks, grabbing Parker up into a hug because she seriously almost died today. “You’re telekinetic? You should’ve told us before today. We’d never have to get off the couch to get chips.”
Eliot stares at him. “I can kill you with my mind.”
Hardison snorts. “Yeah, sure. You’re like Phoenix. One wrong move and you’ll go psycho and kill us all.”
“Who’s Eliot’s Cyclops?” Parker asks, slinging an arm around both of them and pulling them off towards the van.
Hardison whistles appreciatively. “Wow, Parker. You really know your X-men.”
“That’s like foreplay to you, isn’t it?” Eliot pauses, and Hardison and Parker follow his line of sight to see the mark rushing out of the building and down the sidewalk. With a smirk, Eliot’s left eye twitches a little, and the door of a van parked on the street swings open in the mark’s path. He walks straight into it with a loud clang and crumples to the ground.
Parker shakes her head. “You should have told us sooner. Best gift ever.”
Hardison nods agreement. He might be the only Norm on the team, but he long ago came to terms with his lack of a gift. He’s awesome enough as just a mundane human.
But to be sure, there’s a lot of fun to be had with a telekinetic around.
“Revenge on Sophie?” He suggests, waggling his eyebrows at his teammates.
They share identically evil grins.
Eliot nods. “Oh yeah."