#we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au

[onyxbird]

Hello! I saw a post of yours saying you have a Leverage Hell AU series on Ao3. Any chance I can get the link to that? Thanks!

☠️ Warning ☠️: Consumption of Hell AU may result in Leverage brainrot and compulsions to write angsty fic. Experts* recommend against consumption of large doses of this AU in a short period of time, particularly for new users who do not know how they will be affected. Certain lines in this AU have been identified by the state of the comments section to be hazardous to human health. Writing while under the influence of Hell AU may pose a risk of spreading this contagion to others.

Please consume responsibly.

We Have Never Had a Hitter (That Wasn't Actually Moreau's)

*@darkfinch

#um... enjoy? #or whatever emotions people feel from this series. #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #undercover eliot au #leverage aus #eliot spencer

[darkfinch]

wait okay I saw an ask about binge-reading undercover Eliot AU and is there a written version of worst AU??? bc I want to read it!!! (but also I don't bc it will hurt me, but I will anyway) it's such a fun but awful concept and I love it so much!!!

!!! there is a SERIES on ao3 by the one and only onyxbird [link]

generally though when i talk about binge-reading worst au i mean watching people via the notifications feverishly & with great hunger consume onyx's #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au tag or my #undercover eliot au tag at ALARMING speed fkjhglkjfhg

#i do have top secret unpublished worst au wips in a google doc but like that's my business #finchtalks

[onyxbird]

Today I have picked back up on working on my "Worse-than-Worst AU" WIP, i.e., the one where both Eliot and Parker are working for Moreau and still working for him when they join Leverage. (And I think I figured out some things about how I'm going to bring the situation to a head, so fingers crossed that that works out.)

However, as I read through and expand on what I already had written, I am discovering that certain things about The Nigerian Job work unsettlingly well for this AU without any tweaks other than the thought process behind them in the Parker internal monologue. 😬

#we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) #undercover eliot au #undercover eliot and parker au #parker #leverage aus #leverage

[onyxbird]

hihi you and finch got me into quinn a Lot and you mentionned a hell au. is it on ao3 ? :eyes:

Ah, yes, a very simple yes/no question that does not have a simple yes/no answer. 😉

First off, Quinn is not a central character of Hell AU in general, so if you're looking for Quinn content, this probably isn't the AU to find it in. (The so-called "QWAT AU"/"Quinn Was Always There AU" is a much more lighthearted and Quinn-centric AU you might want to check out. Tagged "qwat au" by Finch and "we have always had two hitters au" by me.)

"Hell AU"/"Worst AU"/etc. is sort of a loose collection of concepts/ficlets/etc. about the scenario of Eliot having never left Damien Moreau's employ, but still joining the team in "The Nigerian Job" while secretly working for Moreau. It started on @darkfinch's blog (I think with this post). Both Finch and I use the tag "undercover eliot au" here on Tumblr.

Some fic for this AU is on AO3, e.g., anything I've published on AO3 for that AU is collected in this series*, but there's certainly a lot more that has circulated in Tumblr posts by various people and possibly elsewhere on AO3.

If you decide to dive in, please be aware that this AU is frequently dark, painful, and focused on Eliot being in a really fucked-up place mentally due to prolonged working with Moreau and on the team getting blindsided by the fact that someone they trusted completely has been lying to them the whole time.

*The title of my Hell AU series is my original (long-winded) tag for it, and it parallels my QWAT AU tag because they're kind of opposite sides of a similar what-if: What if Eliot's past with Moreau had ended differently? QWAT is the happier-than-canon AU where Eliot gets a ride-or-die hitter friend when he could most use one right after getting away from Moreau (and then escalating into lighthearted comedy of Quinn being integrated into the team from the beginning). Hell AU is the much-worse-than-canon AU where Eliot is grappling with conflicting loyalties with no one to turn to.

#leverage aus #we have always had two hitters au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #undercover eliot au #q

[onyxbird]

Hell AU thoughts after re-reading the bit about the Nigerian Job and other team payouts in @darkfinch's early posts on the idea, and what happens to Eliot's share of the money.

The Nigerian Job payout is probably a loss.

Moreau would have known about the initial promised paycheck from Dubenich, and Eliot would have to explain what happened when everything went pear-shaped, with the fact that they punished Dubenich and made a fortune off his demise being one of the strongest arguments that Eliot made the right call in sticking it out rather than abandoning the others and going back to Moreau to plan to bury Dubenich in their own way.

Plus, even if Moreau didn't know about the final payout, Eliot still considered himself to be solidly Moreau's at that point, and he'd be playing with fire if he tried to deliberately hide the funds, even if he were tempted.

Money from later in Leverage's operations is a different story.

They don't charge a standard fee that would come in at predictable intervals that Moreau would miss. Often most or all of what they steal goes directly to their clients or other victims. But, Eliot would still have the problem of being able to hide any money he received well enough to ensure Moreau would never find out.

What if he never got the money, though? What if, after a few times of the team getting a payout (with Eliot's portion dutifully handed over to Moreau), he "casually" tells Hardison to put his portion towards something else? Maybe something for their offices. Or something extra to help some of the victims. Or just to donate to some charity ("No, I don't want any receipts! Do it anonymously! I don't want that linked back to me!"). Anything to redirect it to somewhere it'll do some good rather than fund Moreau, without it ever touching Eliot's accounts.

Hardison knows something is up. Eliot's being awfully weird about it, and seems really unhappy for someone taking the opportunity to donate a whole heap of money to worthy causes because he thinks it'll do more good there. But Eliot's snappish when he tries to ask anything, so Hardison obligingly distributes Eliot's share as instructed and just starts paying a little more attention to what he can see of Eliot's finances.

And it's weird. Eliot's doesn't spend much; he doesn't have a ton of apparently expensive stuff, but the only accounts he ever seems to touch don't have a ton in them either. (Relatively speaking--he's always got ample funds, but not "this guy is worth 10s of millions of dollars" ample.) As far as a virtual footprint goes, it's like Eliot's first payout and any other significant savings just don't exist, unless he cashed it out and stored it in gold bullion or something.

So after a couple instances of Eliot not accepting his share, Hardison very casually floats a "Sure, man. But you haven't taken anything from the last 3 payouts--you sure you don't need to top up any of your emergency funds or anything? I can split it up any way you want."

Eliot's face does something really weird in response to that, and Hardison knows he's on to something. He doesn't know what is going on, but whatever it is, Eliot's not giving the money away just because he's feeling flush and charitable. So Hardison pushes a little. "Look, I can drop it into a brand-new account if you still don't trust me with your emergency accounts. You can move it wherever you like from there."

Eliot never touches the money in the new account.

He can't, since he says he'll get the account info from Hardison "later" and then never does. Hardison doesn't bring it up--he knows Eliot hasn't forgotten about the account, because every time there's a team payout, he tells Hardison how much to put in the "emergency account" versus something else. If he hasn't asked the account info, it's because he doesn't want to be able to access it.

Eliot asked for the balance once, as they gathered for the first new job after a break, seeming kind of stressed. Hardison told him and asked if he needed the account info. "Oh, not now. I'll get it from you later."

So Hardison just keeps maintaining the account. He makes sure the identity linked to it is squeaky clean and the taxes are paid. He spins off a couple of other accounts as it grows so the money isn't all in one place where it could all be drained by a single attack.

At some point after the truth comes out, he asks if Eliot wants the account details now. Eliot's a little shocked that Hardison is still willing to hand it over after his betrayal. He's even more surprised by how much money there is after all this time. (Eliot's pretty sure that there is more money than there should be. Hardison refuses to comment.)

#eliot spencer #alec hardison #undercover eliot au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #leverage aus

[onyxbird]

Unspeakable

Ficlet from @darkfinch's Hell AU, wherein Eliot never left Moreau's employ and has been Moreau's mole within the Leverage crew for three years. Jumping off from the ideas that Moreau would want to meet/recruit Hardison and this results in Eliot panicking and coming clean to Nate, only for Nate to suggest actually going through with taking Hardison to the meet-up.

☠️☠️☠️ Look, this is not a happy AU. Proceed accordingly. ☠️☠️☠️

“Do it,” said Nate, crisply. He took a sip of his whiskey, frowning out the front window, without really seeing the stripes of rainy streetscape between the blinds.

“What?” said Eliot. Confusion bled into the dull, almost-robotic blankness that had laced his voice since he arrived, as if everything about Eliot since he joined the team had been a grift, a personality programmed in by his employer to appeal to the crew.

“Do it. If Moreau wants to meet Hardison, then bring him.”

The pieces of the plan slowly slotted into place in Nate's mind. There would be risk, of course, but Moreau still thought he had the upper hand, that Eliot was loyal to him.

Nate never heard him move.

The glass flew from Nate's fingers as a muscular hand wrenched him around, just a heartbeat before his back slammed forcefully into the wall.

Nate's head bounced off the drywall, pain exploding from the point of impact. The glass shattered on the floor. There was a knife at his throat and murder in Eliot's eyes, and Nate suddenly, belatedly, remembered why Eliot Spencer had been the bogeyman of the criminal world even without the known link to Damien Moreau.

…

Nate was supposed to help. Shit, shit, shit. He'd fucked up. Doubled the number of Masterminds out to hurt Hardison. They were different, though. Moreau was out of reach, but Nate had been foolish. There was only one way to deal with someone who could be the next Moreau. He had to die before he could build his empire. Before he could become untouchable.

This would blow the whole con. He had to get them out. Grab Hardison and Parker and stash them somewhere until he could find a way to keep them away from Moreau permanently…somehow.

He couldn't kill Nate. If Hardison and Parker found out, they'd be terrified. They wouldn't understand. Lock Nate up; tip Sophie off after they were well gone. Even Nate couldn't build a criminal stronghold overnight. There would be time to come back. Time to mop up if he continued to be a threat.

Then it's just an extraction job. They trusted him. He could lead them on for a while, feed them some story about why Nate and Sophie were staying behind, get them to come willingly, not realize he wasn't letting them leave. They'd be upset when they caught on, but that was OK. They could hate him, as long as they were safe until Moreau was off the playing field.

Maybe he could stash Nate and use him to bait his way into Moreau's presence. Eliot didn't need to make it back out as long as he made sure Moreau would never touch them again.

Nate was talking. Begging? Bargaining? Nate wasn't the type to beg, but what else could he have to say at this point? It was just disjointed words through the haze of panic. "Don't understand...Plan...Not giving him..."

"Eliot, listen to me. Kill me if you have to—not like I could stop you—but hear me out first."

Eliot blinked, eyes finally focusing on Nate's face.

"Well. Guess I know where your loyalties are." Nate gasped, voice shaking. His head was tilted back against the wall, chin stretched upward, toes digging into the floor. It took Eliot a minute to register the slow trickle of blood oozing down his neck from where Eliot's blade pressed into the skin, and another to make the connection and ease the pressure on the knife.

For a moment, there was no sound except Nate's ragged breathing. He was trembling. Eliot could feel it in the forearm ruthlessly pinning Nate to the wall.

Nate took a deep, shaky breath and met Eliot's eyes, over the knife still poised to open his jugular. “I wasn't suggesting we should give Hardison up,” he said, slowly and deliberately. “I meant this gives us an opening. Moreau expects Hardison to walk in unprepared and alone, except for you, and Moreau thinks you're still loyal to him. You said not bringing Hardison would blow this job before we're ready. I'm saying we can have Hardison go in prepared and with an entire team making sure he—.”

Nate inhaled sharply. Eliot's fingers had flexed without conscious thought, pressing the knife back against tender flesh. He forced them to relax, giving Nate room to breathe.

“No.”

“Yeah,” Nate rasped. “Got the message.”

---

Also on AO3.

#nate ford #eliot spencer #undercover eliot au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #tw violence #tw blood #(no one gets seriously hurt. just very frightened.) #onyxbird fanfic #leverage aus

[onyxbird]

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Leverage Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Nathan Ford & Eliot Spencer Characters: Nathan Ford, Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Alec Hardison Additional Tags: dark au, Past Abuse, Trauma, Distrust, Nate doesn't know how to deal with this., Damien Moreau's influence Series: Part 3 of We Have Never Had a Hitter (That Wasn't Actually Moreau's) Summary:

Eliot never got away from Moreau and has been his mole within the team for three years. Nate figured out his secret, but hasn't told the rest of the team…yet. He intends to use Eliot to take down Moreau first.

Nate expects a fight, or a betrayal, or a threat. He doesn't expect total compliance.

#nate ford #eliot spencer #undercover eliot au #leverage #leverage aus #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #onyxbird fanfic

[onyxbird]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Leverage Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Parker & Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Alec Hardison & Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison & Parker & Eliot Spencer Characters: Eliot Spencer, Parker (Leverage), Alec Hardison Additional Tags: dark au, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Past Abuse, Self-Harm, (sort of), Damien Moreau's influence Summary:

Eliot never left Damien Moreau's employ, and he spent three long years as his agent within the Leverage crew, feeding information back with greater and greater reluctance as the team wormed their way into his heart. When they started hunting Moreau, there was no way they wouldn't find out. No way they wouldn't hate him. Of course Eliot had known Nate's plan would get him hurt, but it only made sense. Mastermind efficiency—accomplish a job and punish the traitor at the same time, right?

Weirdly, the team seemed to disagree. Why were they still trying to take care of him?

The aftermath of a job after Eliot's secret was revealed to the team.

#eliot spencer #leverage #leverage aus #leverage fanfic #undercover eliot au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #onyxbird fanfic

[onyxbird]

In Hell AU after this fic...

Nate: "Is there a reason you and Hardison seem to be trying to squeeze Eliot to death?"

Parker: "We're squishing his soul back into his body so he'll be Eliot again."

Nate, who almost completed Catholic seminary: "Uh..."

#nate ford #parker #undercover eliot au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #leverage aus

[onyxbird]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Leverage Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eliot Spencer & Team Leverage, Parker & Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Alec Hardison & Eliot Spencer Characters: Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Parker (Leverage), Alec Hardison Additional Tags: dark au, Past Abuse, Trauma, Damien Moreau's influence, Hugs, Not as dark as other parts of this series/AU, Eliot's perceptions and coping mechanisms are still severely screwed up, but the team is trying to help Series: Part 4 of We Have Never Had a Hitter (That Wasn't Actually Moreau's) Summary:

Eliot never got away from Moreau and has been his mole within the team for three years, slowly growing genuinely attached to the crew. Once they start targeting Moreau, the secret has to come out. After the team finds out, Eliot grapples with trying to fit into the team under these circumstances, and Parker comes up with an unusual strategy to cure what ails Eliot.

For all of you who keep yelling at me about hurting you with this AU and saying Eliot needs a hug, behold! A wholesome(ish?) Hell AU fic! (How’s that for an oxymoron?)

#eliot spencer #parker #alec hardison #leverage #leverage aus #undercover eliot au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #onyxbird fanfic

[onyxbird]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Leverage Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alec Hardison & Eliot Spencer Characters: Alec Hardison, Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Damien Moreau Additional Tags: dark au, Episode: s03e15 The Big Bang Job, Alternate Pool Scene, (no one goes in the water), Crack Treated Seriously, POV Alec Hardison, AU aesthetics Series: Part 5 of We Have Never Had a Hitter (That Wasn't Actually Moreau's) Summary:

Eliot never got away from Moreau and worked as his mole within the team for three years, slowly growing attached to the crew. When they set their sights on Moreau, Eliot has to choose sides.

Hardison already regretted volunteering to accompany Eliot on this errand, but he kept his mouth shut since Eliot was on tenterhooks already preparing to con Moreau for Leverage. Now if he can just figure out why everyone is looking at Eliot so strangely…

Note: This started with a joke concept, and it's a considerably lighter take on this AU than other installments in the series, but it's still set in a dark AU and not exactly a humor fic.

#alec hardison #eliot spencer #damien moreau #undercover eliot au #we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au #hell au aesthetic #onyxbird fanfic

[darkfinch]

Okay but that worst au sounds fucking amazing please say more

it is what i have been mentally referring to as goodterrible in that it is so deeply fucking compelling but it also does feel like my brain is being made into swiss cheese every time i consider it,

it started over here [x] [x] with the idea of "what if Eliot never stopped working for Moreau and was undercover during seasons 1-3" and we collectively lost our collective minds. just a group of people waking up and endlessly choosing violence. absolute madness you can find all of my posts about it under the #undercover eliot au tag, but it is also referred to lovingly as "hell au", "worst au", "the bad au", "moreau's fiddle game", and "we have never had a hitter (that wasn't actually moreau's) au" etc if you're searching for it :^)

there are variants [x]! there are a couple of fics [1] [2] [3]! all of them are challenging! there is only suffering 2 b found here hope u enjoy <3

#these were the only fics i could find but i think there are a few ficlets floating around in the various tags as well #finchtalks #it's very bad. join us. it's very very challenging join us it's fun don't come here. it's great. it's terrible join us #undercover eliot au

[onyxbird]

fic authors self rec

Tagged by @delektorskichick

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💖

In order of publication:

The Nemesis Versus a Grue (Chuck): Chuck Bartowski and Bryce Larkin deserved a chance to actually be friends again and have goofy fun after sorting out their differences, so that's what they get here. Plus, Bryce gets a little more insight into just how much trouble he dropped Chuck into with that email. 😉 This one just makes me happy every time I revisit it!

Hoppy Meals (Poe Dameron comics & The Mandalorian): Drunk Poe relates the story of how 7-year-old Poe met a Mandalorian and his kid, and why he ate a frog. Had a blast with both the concept of little Poe and Grogu together (delighted by how those timelines fit together) and writing Black Squadron getting progressively drunker.

Red Roses for a Blue Hacker (Leverage) from my Boyfriends in Crime series: Hardison confesses to Eliot that he'd like to be sent flowers, and Eliot steps up to make sure Hardison gets his romance... with a few twists! I love how their banter and romantic gestures came out--it just wrote itself.

Six (More) Weeks of Murder (Leverage): The culmination of a Groundhog Day loop of Mr. Quinn repeatedly looping over the days of "The Big Bang Job" and murdering Damien Moreau over and over. This latched onto my brain and wrote up so fast once I had the idea. (Would like to someday expand it with some chapters about the previous parts of the loop, but this final loop was written to go up as a standalone like it is now.)

Unspeakable (Leverage) from my We Have Never Had a Hitter (That Wasn't Actually Moreau's) series: "Hell AU" fic where Eliot has been working undercover for Moreau the entire time and comes to Nate in a panic when Moreau decides he wants to meet Hardison. It's honestly so hard to pick a favorite from this series; I love how so many of them came out.

Tagging: @eliot-wolfgirl-spencer, @vickyvicarious, @regent-of-rarepairs, @innytoes, @be-gay-do-heists

#fic self rec #onyxbird fanfic #leverage #chuck #poe dameron #the mandalorian

[darkfinch]

Is worst!au the same as the undercover eliot au? or are they different

they are EXACTLY THE SAME everyone just calls this AU different things, some folks call it Hell AU some call it The Very Bad No Good AU some call it the We Have Never Had A Hitter (That Wasn't Actually Moreau's) AU we're all just pointing fingers at this AU and passing judgement

my personal tag for it is undercover eliot au just bc it's unique enough to remember and search for easily

#but yes they're exactly the same thing #usually posts where im discussing Worst AU i will tag as undercover eliot au #finchtalks #SORRY 4 THE CONFUSION