leverage

hey can I get yusuf “invented modern art” al-kaysani and nile “is this a rodin” freeman and “slightly unhinged but loves a scam” quynh banding together to heist precious cultural artifacts from western museums and return them to their home countries? nicolo “we fight for what we think is right” di genova can come too.

bonus:

james “I’m now appatently the tech and privacy guy” copley hears whispers about a group called leverage consulting that is rumored to do things exactly like this and gets in contact with a user called @age.of.the.geek.baby and bing bang boom the leverage crew is helping plan heists and showing the tog crew the ropes of liberating art and artifacts for the greater good (and looking good and sometimes ridiculous doing it)

Can you imagine if they met face to face and became friends?

Eliot and Nicky talking about the horrible things they did in their pasts and working towards forgiveness and how they find it in the people they love.

Nile, Joe, and Parker geeking out about art and techniques artists use and the security around different pieces (that's mostly Parker but Joe is taking notes as she rambles).

Copley and Hardison talking about ways to cover virtual and physical footprints and Hardison giving Copley tricks he's learned over the years.

Then the Leverage team hears from Nate and Sophie who are in France, trying to track down a forger who has been making replicas of paintings to pay for his alcohol addiction. Imagine Nate and Booker reluctantly bonding over loss of a son and alcoholism. Imagine Quynh and Sophie taking over the world together.

hey can I get yusuf “invented modern art” al-kaysani and nile “is this a rodin” freeman and “slightly unhinged but loves a scam” quynh banding together to heist precious cultural artifacts from western museums and return them to their home countries? nicolo “we fight for what we think is right” di genova can come too.

i genuinely understand if they choose not to invite sébastien “literally a forger” le livre, but i DO think it would add an extra layer of hilarity. 

nile [as joe wraps up the object they came for]: should we take this piece too?  booker [sheepish]: it’s, uh, not real. i forged that back in ‘52.  nile [pointedly not asking which ‘52]: uh-huh. booker: it’s in my safe house in marseille. nile: *looks into the camera like she’s on the office* 

Nicky’s eyes narrow “Why is it in your safe house?”

“If you’ve had it so long, you should have returned it to the appropriate-” Joe starts his lecture, but is quickly cut off.

“…then they’d find out this one is a forgery…” Booker gestured helplessly at the artifact.

Nile sighed, hand moving to her face, “Why is that important exactly?”

“I want to see how long it takes them to figure it out. The curator has it authenticated every time it goes on tour and so far I’ve bested 87 experts on this piece alone.”

Booker’s face lit up and Joe chuckled. It had been some time since they’d seen such emotion on the Frenchman’s face.

“It is safe?” Joe asks, eyebrow raised. Booker nods. “Properly stored?” Booker raised a hand to his chest in offense. Joe shakes his head, “Once you get to 100, you give it back regardless.”

Booker is nearly grinning, hands clasped tightly together, “That’s fair.”

Nile throws her hands in the air and Quynh sticks her head out from the next exhibit over, “Did you forge anything else in this museum?”

Now, Booker is grinning.

OH. Booker hooks up with the Leverage crew during his exile.

During this hookup with the Leverage crew, Booker and Elliot argue about food. Most of those arguments can be distilled to disagreements about whether there’s enough fat in the recipe. Booker’s on team “more is more” while Elliot’s on team “I know what I’m doing, cook your own food if you don’t like it and stay out of my kitchen!”.

Booker freaking loves Hardison. He’s not quite as good as the hackers working for Copley, but he’s the best solo hacker Booker’s seen in decades. Plus, he’s the team forger, and Booker’s fascinated by how Hardison knows which parts of a digital footprint to build first, based on the mark and the con.

Booker worries about Parker, but he learns after the first week not to say anything. She’s daring and conscientious and she’d never risk her life or her team’s for something foolish, but Booker still worries about her for months, until she sees the care she takes in maintaining and updating her equipment. He doesn’t quite shake his worry (there’s something about Parker that reminds him of his wife’s sister (this character is not canon, I have no idea how much thought Rucka’s put into his characters’ families’ families)), but he learns to trust Parker’s judgement.

THIS

At some point Sophie shows up and it’s like that Spiderman meme where they’re pointing at each other like, YOU.

Andy would 100% Not Be Here for Nate’s crap. And she would love Parker.