#is the drivers. well leave it to famin evidently he will find a way to make it ocon's fault

[pinkcarsupremacy]

i completely agree with you about esteban, despite being alpine's first winner and literally being born and raised in normandy, never actually being embraced by the higher ups and have actually felt that way for a long time. here's how i see things:

cyril - dickmatized by daniel

otmar - accepts bribes and hates the working classs (jk jk...unless? but also this)

rossi - whatever the fuck this was about

bruno - ...do i even have to say anything?

...and is it really a coincidence that marcin, the only team principal/ceo i didn't mention above, was leading when alpine was at their peak? i think not!

Yeah it's a bizzare state of affairs over there... it probably doesn't help that the team is already run in a weirdass way (controlled by ceo board & work being split between 2 countries) before even getting into whoever the team principal of the day is.

I've always assumed the team's higher up dislike of Ocon came from the fact they're not even in charge of their own driver because Mercedes manage him. He's in a very unique situation where he's being managed by a team that has absolutely no connection to the team he races for and is in fact one of their competitors. Like when George was at Williams or if Bearman goes to Haas you can point at them and explain that yes they are part of other teams' junior programmes but they are racing for a team that uses their junior team as an engine supplier so they have that existing relationship to be sharing drivers.

Alpine on the other hand are a works team and make their own admittedly godawful engine so it's a bit strange for them to sort of be beholden to Mercedes in this way by virtue of them telling Ocon where to go. Compare his situation to Alonso who wasn't tied down to any other teams by contract or to Piastri who was Alpine's own junior driver or Gasly who Alpine spent a lot of money on buying his contract out from Red Bull so he wouldn't have any connection to them anymore and you can see why Ocon would be a less favourable option than all 3 of them management wise.

As for TPs well Cyril sort of pretended Ocon didn't exist at all which arguably is better than whatever is happening now. Otmar was too busy trying to show the media that they treat both drivers equally (him on Sky Sports F1 broadcast in Monaco last year was so funny... they asked him about Ocon's podium and he just started talking about Pierre). I've never been able to pin Otmar's thoughts on Ocon down actually despite the fact they worked together for 2 years in Force India as well. What I will say is he was a relatively calm team principal who wouldn't have reacted the way Famin did on live TV in Monaco this year. Rossi wasn't the team principal but he was the CEO which is why he was happy to slander the team to the press because like all upper management he has no idea how the job actually gets done. That being said I think admittedly he did like Esteban which might explain - with him gone - why the team have suddenly decided Ocon's their number one enemy now.

Marcin of course led Alpine's only good season and was kicked in favour of Otmar for some nonsensical reason. Jokes on Alpine because that 2021 season was and is the best they're ever gonna achieve.

Famin I actually liked at the end of last year believe it or not lmao. Not sure what happened to him over the winter break but he seems to have woken up one day and decided Ocon is the root of all evil at Alpine despite the fact both of the drivers there are the only positive thing the team has going for them atm.

[salamadersaurus-rex]

Trouble

A Vasquez/Lena fic that got out of hand. Feat. nb!Vasquez.

Also on AO3.

//

Vasquez rides a motorbike. It’s an Iron 883, with a throaty roar that any DEO agent hears it rolling into the underground carpark knows by heart. When the Harley grumbles, Vasquez is near. So when a beautiful black Ferrari Spider pulls up outside the city base at eight am sharp, spilling Vas out onto the curb with a cheery wave to the driver, it raises some eyebrows.

“Sweet ride,” Alex says as Vasquez opens their locker.

“Though you preferred bikes, Danvers,” Vasquez teases. They change quickly out of their MIT shirt and jeans and into their uniform, comfortable enough with Alex that they don’t mind her seeing their binder.

Lucy comes into the locker room, fresh out of the shower after an early workout. She swats at Alex’s ass with a towel.

Alex yelps. “What are you, fifteen?”

“Twelve. Good night, Vas?”

“Dinner and a movie,” they say. “Well, microwave meal for one and Netflix.”

“Thought you had a date,” Alex says.

“What makes you think that?” Vas replies, keeping their tone nonchalant just so they can enjoy the look on her face.

“The fact someone drove you to work in a two hundred thousand dollar sports car?”

Lucy gapes. “Damn, Vasquez. Now you have to tell.”

Vasquez grins. They want to tell their friends who they’re dating. In fact they and their partner have talked about coming out for a while, but there’s just something so satisfying about watching Lucy and Alex squirm.

“Bike’s in the shop. I just thumbed a lift.”

And with that they saunter out the locker room, Alex and Lucy already bickering behind them.

They head to their computer, smoothly dodging Winn who’s wearing VR goggles and zooming around happily in his wheely chair. They put their headset on, tuning out the quiet chatter of a team on a routine patrol until it’s just white noise and set to reading over some code Winn sent. They actually manage to get five and a half minutes of work done before Kara comes sidling up to their desk.

“Sooo,” Kara says, playing with the edges of some paperwork in Vas’ in-tray. “Good night last night?”

“You’re as nosy as your sister, Danvers.”

“Wha- me? Nosy? Psshh.” Kara waves a hand, that adorable look on her face she gets when she’s trying to bluff. “I’m just… catching up, y’know. Haven’t spoken since-“

“You texted me and asked if I wanted coffee?”

“When was that? I don’t really…”

“Half an hour ago. Hey, complete change of subject but do you know how to play poker?”

“Just say no, Supergirl.” J’onn growls, spoiling Vasquez’s fun. “Agent Vasquez, I heard your motorcycle is out of commission. Do you need to borrow something from the garage?”

“No thanks sir. I have a ride sorted.”

“That’s what I wanted to ask about,” Kara says, jumping on the opportunity. “That was a very nice car.”

“Hmm.” Vasquez grins. “Driver wasn’t bad either.”

Supergirl makes an odd noise, taps out a quick rhythm on the table top. Vasquez is a highly trained agent and knows how to hold themself together, but damn, Kara’s making it hard.

“Did you not use your x-ray vision?” Vas asks.

“Didn’t think it was polite,” Kara mumbles.

She’s probably kicking herself with those nice red boots, Vasquez thinks. It’s hilarious. They spot Alex and Lucy leaving the locker room, both of them in badass agent mode and immediately starts paying attention.

There’s been an accident just outside of the city, an unmanned alien vehicle out of control. Kara’s already away with a whoosh that sends Vas’s paperwork flying, Alex and Lucy following her much more slowly out the door. Vasquez pulls up as many traffic cam feeds as they can, searching quickly for a good view of the accident.

It looks like a small, sleek vehicle has collided with a lorry, burying itself in the side. Billows of strangely coloured steam curl from a small fire raging in the wreckage, the occasional cascade of sparks shooting out towards the traffic snarling behind the crash like fireworks. Three cars back from the crash Vas can make out a familiar black Ferrari. The driver’s door opens and a slim figure gets out, the small first aid kit Vasquez made her start carrying in her hand.

Supergirl lands suddenly, blocking Vasquez’s view of Lena Luthor hurrying towards the crash site. Cursing under their breath, Vasquez pulls up another feed, checks Alex’s tracker to see how close she is.

Kara’s freeze breath easily puts out the fire. She pulls out the lorry driver, stunned but alive, and gently sits him at the side of the road. She must tell Lena to keep back as she approaches because Lena scoffs, picks her way over the debris daintily in her very expensive heels brandishing the first aid kit.

Vasquez can hear Supergirl over the comms.

“Keep back Ms Luthor, this could be dangero- oh okay, never mind.”

“Supergirl,” Vasquez asks calmly, burying the spark of fear deep down in their belly. “What’s she doing?”

“She says the lorry’s hers, it’s transporting a prototype.”

“Oh shit, that was today.”

“Um, yeah.”

Vasquez clears their throat. “Agent Danvers is en route, ETA one minute. Is the driver hurt?”

On their screen they can see Lena checking the guy over. He’s conscious, doesn’t seem to be hurt more than a few scrapes. Better safe than sorry though. “Take him to the hospital.”

J’onn’s asking what the prototype is, where Lena was taking it, probably what she ate for breakfast knowing him but Vas is busy checking every cam in a hundred meter radius, checking for danger as Lena makes her way over to the wreckage. She starts digging through the mess of twisted metal and burned canvas, and Vasquez can’t tell if she’s looking for the prototype or examining the alien vehicle.

They find a new angle just as Alex’s van screeches to a halt and roll their eyes when they catch Lena pocketing a bit of debris. Alex jumps out, Lucy not far behind. The both of them are in full tactical gear but Vasquez can’t make out a single threat in the area.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Alex asks, and Vas watches as she approaches Lena.

“Lorry’s hers,” they jump in. They decide not to mention the tech theft for now, it’ll only make things worse for Lena and Vasquez can easily confiscate it.

“Bring her in for questioning,” J’onn demands. He’s hovering behind Vasquez, which makes a change from his usual pacing but is still very uncomfortable when he’s ordering the arrest of their girlfriend.

J’onn stiffens behind them.

You can read minds, Vasquez thinks. I forgot.

“Do you know anything about this, Agent?”

“I knew she was taking a new piece of tech out of town for testing, and I know it’s harmless because I helped build it.”

“Do you know why anyone would want to destroy it?”

“It helps people and she’s a Luthor,” they snipe, not bothering to hide anything from J’onn.

J’onn clears his throat but doesn’t say anything. Vas knows they won’t have changed his mind at all, but they also know he respects and trusts them enough to hear Lena out.

Alex checks in and says she’ll be five minutes. Vasquez gets back to work. They dispatch a couple of agents to the hospital to watch the driver, organise a clean-up crew for the wreckage and a tow truck to pick up the alien vehicle. They know Lena’s machine will be brought back as evidence so they send Terry, who won’t manhandle and break the thing any more than it already has been. Vasquez sighs. Lena had worked so hard on that project, a machine that could plant, maintain and harvest crops all on its own. It could be cheaply and safely manufactured, easily built and disassembled by local workers, and what asshole in their right mind would want to deprive to world of that?

They’re distracted by Lena being escorted in the front door. Escorted being too strong a word maybe, given she was striding in way ahead of Alex and Lucy, head held high and wearing the most glorious resting bitch face Vasquez has ever seen her pull.

Vasquez gets out of their seat, hurrying behind J’onn to meet Lena in front of the computer bank. They must look worried because Lena shoots them a brief, comforting smile. When Vas got so attached to Lena they don’t know, but they care about her enough for it to show.

“Thank you for coming Ms Luthor,” J’onn starts. “We just need to ask you some questions.”

“It’s a harmless prototype I’m developing to help reduce widespread famine. I was escorting it to the desert to test the range of movement over a wide area. As you’ll see when you no doubt bring it in it’s perfectly safe. I don’t recognise the vehicle that crashed into the lorry, I didn’t see what happened, I am not in any way involved.”

“I…”

“Any more questions or do I need to call my lawyers?”

“She’s telling the truth,” Winn pipes up. He scurries over with a tablet, shows J’onn the data from the traffic cameras, the Ferrari’s on-board computer, probably Lena’s cell phone and email data too but they don’t want to tell her that. “There’s nothing to prove she has anything to do with the crash.”

J’onn clears his throat. “Thank you for your time, Ms Luthor.”

“I’m free to go?”

J’onn nods, and Lena turns on her heel and strides right back out the building. Vas can hear the Ferrari’s engine from where they’re standing, and they realise one of Alex or Lucy will have driven it back. The two of them are waiting by their computer when they turn around, expectant looks on their faces and arms crossed. They sigh, and motion in the direction of Alex’s lab.

//

“You’re dating Lena Luthor?”

“Did you not hear me the first time or…”

Alex is leaning against her desk, a look of shock on her face. Lucy’s pacing, scrambling for words and it’d be hilarious if Vasquez wasn’t so worried about Lena.

“Since when?” Alex asks.

“About four months now,” Vas replies. “We met at a bar.”

“Really? Not that exciting.” Lucy says.

Vas half-heartedly waggles their brows and Lucy sputters. “We’re so getting into this later Vasquez. But right now… how likely is she to do something stupid?”

“Remember that fundraiser?” Vasquez takes their phone out their pocket. Nothing from Lena, she knows they’ll be busy with the crash, knows she might even get a head start whilst they’re still working. Vas hits speed dial.

“Voicemail,” they grumble.

“Think you can talk her down?” Alex asks.

“I’ll go to her office.”

They start to make their way out of the lab, but Alex stops them. “You really care about her, huh?”

Vas nods. “I do.”

“We’ll do what we can to find out what happened and keep her safe,” Lucy promises.

“Thanks,” Vasquez says. They know it must be hard for them, hell they didn’t trust Lena at first either, but now her last name doesn’t mean shit to Vasquez except the fact it can get them both into fancy clubs and cosy little booths at expensive restaurants.

“Stay safe,” Alex calls as they rush out of the lab.

Vasquez chuckles to themself. Working so long at the DEO, fighting alongside superheroes every day, catching Winn trying to wipe his browsing history? Safe isn’t even in their vocabulary.