#everyone look upon my leverage au and rejoice

[wlwinry]

okay so about that d20 leverage au that won the poll. we're gonna do this in bullet points bc it just works better for my brain i suppose (see tangled au for examples)

postcanon

several years postcanon

we're talking early to mid twenties bad kids

funnily enough fig dropping out did a great job of setting up this whole thing bc the premise relies on the bad kids, while still loving each other and being a team, eventually splitting off to do their own thing. and their various "own things" spiral into crime, and they lose contact with each other, only to all be pulled into the same job later and end up being a team again. yay!

but first. context

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW. leverage is a tv series that ran from 2008-2012, following the heists of the leverage team: a group of criminals, each the best in their field (hitter, hacker, grifter, thief, mastermind) taking down corporations and ceos and giving the money to their victims. it's really fun and has the best found family portrayal ive seen in A While

back to the bad kids

fabian drops off the grid first in true dramatic fabian fashion. by faking his death to escape his mother's abuse for good. and then deciding to be better than his father--by doing a better job of stealing than him. he uses his dexterity to his advantage and becomes one of the most dangerous art thieves in spyre. he's the thief

gorgug takes on a few security jobs for the council of chosen when his parents' ownership of the tree is threatened, to ensure they'll have the money to keep their home. this spirals, however, and to keep both sets of parents safe he ends up taking a few jobs on the...more dangerous side. and once you're in, it's hard to get out. he's a retrieval specialist utilizing his specific barbaficer talents--he's the hitter and the maker

the court of stars goes back on their word regarding adaine's payments. with an understanding of arcanotech and her foresight, she takes to siphoning money from the people and organizations who don't need it to ensure that the mordred mortage stays paid, lydia's PT is covered, and that bee applebees's (who moved into the manor midway into senior year) college stays paid. she also takes a few jobs and challenges to pay her own bills. the oracle is, much like in batman, the hacker

being the former chosen one of helio and the lead cleric of a new pantheon gives you a lot of connections, and kristen has always been good at filling in gaps and better at negotiating than people realize. if she needs to cut a few backroom deals, dig up dirt on some prospective allies, she'll do it. the system's failed her and the others before. why shouldn't she work outside of it? kristen is the fixer.

fig's music career takes off--and then the dawn family decides to go after and disgrace sandra lynn after fig makes it clear that she's coming after them for hurting her mom. fig digs more and more into her disguise and con-artist talents to get them to back off, and by the time she takes them down...well, fig (no cig figs) might not be onstage anymore, but she's given some very impressive performances, and she's ready to take a more hands-on approach when it comes to getting what she wants. fig is the grifter

riz doesn't want to take the council of chosen job. he doesn't. his mom's biggest fear was always him following in pok's footsteps, and he doesn't want to work for them after how badly they've failed him and his friends (his lost, missing, or seemingly dead friends), but...they pay well now. really well. better than PI work, and he figures he'll work for them for a couple of years, save up enough to quit, and then maybe try some adventuring of his own. this goes on until he gets a mission: steal a particular set of new arcanotech spell components. his team has already been hired.

his team is the rest of the bad kids

it's one hell of an awkward reunion. everyone is happy to see each other but no one knows what to say, so they focus on the job and try not to think about how this might be the last time they work as a team. riz definitely doesn't let himself think about it.

until it's revealed that this was a ploy by the council to kill them all off. the company they stole for was in on it, because the council promised to put them ahead of the competitors that the team stole from.

unfortunately, they forgot that the bad kids are Very Hard To Kill, and very dangerous when pissed off

riz leads the team in a very elaborate heist to take down the company who was in on the plan and humiliate the council of chosen. it works. it's beautiful. they're a team. heartfelt conversations are had. they fall back into old dynamics with a side of new skills, new goals, new experiences. they missed each other. they love each other.

and then they win. and it's time to separate--except they don't. because they've fought plenty of bbegs in their time...but maybe it's time to take down the enemies that the law can't (won't) touch.

the six of them are the leverage team, and riz is the mastermind.