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jedibuttercupT/het; B:tVS/F&F; 1250 words. (Post-Hobbs & Shaw). 4th in the Summers & Hobbs & Shaws series. For ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
twistedshorts.
Hobbs had had more than one reason for taking a transfer to Los Angeles after the business with Owen Shaw.
Title: Crossing the Streams
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not.
Rating: T/PG-13
Spoilers: Post-movie tag for Hobbs & Shaw; very post-series for B:tVS
Notes: The last bit for this series for this year's ficathon; though I definitely intended to add more to it at some point. Contains minor Hobbs/Buffy, even more minor Hobbs/Hattie, and some au-divergence elements.
Hobbs had had more than one reason for taking a transfer to Los Angeles after the business with Owen Shaw.
Hobbs had had more than one reason for taking a transfer to Los Angeles after the business with Owen Shaw. Part of it was starting over with a clean slate; after losing his entire crew to Reyes's goons in Rio, and then being betrayed by the next partner he'd teamed up with, the DC offices had reminded him too much of things he'd rather put behind him. Part of it was that wherever in the world they might currently be racing, the city would always be Team Toretto's home base, and they'd snared him into their sprawling definition of family. Part of it was his daughter; LA was closer to her mother's sister. And one more thing....
He looked up as he heard the California tones of a familiar visitor entering the DSS offices, and smiled. The pocket-sized blonde might owe her hair color, her wardrobe, and her abuse of the English language to her LA upbringing, but he'd learned through pleasurable experience that she was one hundred percent deadly grace in motion. He'd been struck by the contrast between her image and her skillset from the very first moment they'd met, and that had quickly turned into an appreciation for everything else about her. Buffy Summers was fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack, as the lyric went; and whenever she circled back near her hometown, they usually ended up spending time together.
She wasn't alone today, though; someone else, several inches taller but just as salon blond, followed close behind. Someone also, unexpectedly familiar.
"...my local government contact," Buffy was saying as she entered, gesturing toward his glass-walled cubicle. "I wouldn't trust most of them as far as Dawn could throw them-- not after everything that went down with the Initiative-- but he's one of the good ones, when you need help from someone official in the know."
In the know, huh? Implying she was, too? Well, that might have been nice to know a little sooner.
"Damn, girl," he said, shaking his head as he stood to greet them. The Slayer he'd met during the chase for Owen Shaw, hand in hand with the man's sister. He didn't know why he was surprised; it wasn't even the most ironic thing to happen to him that week. "You couldn't have made the introduction a little sooner? Say, before she ended up on my list?"
He'd probably still have kissed the woman when the opportunity presented-- as fun as it was when he and Buffy met up, it wasn't all that often in the scheme of things, so they'd never discussed exclusivity-- but he might have worried less if he'd known from the start just how much ass Hattie was capable of kicking. And how much she'd probably been holding back in their fight.
"Hobbs?" Hattie's eyebrows arched high over skeptical blue eyes as she took him in. "You're her local contact?"
"Wait, you two have met?" Buffy objected, then rolled her eyes. "Not that day job thing? I thought you said you were in that one with your other brother and his new best frenemy?"
"Which is to say." Hattie smiled wryly, gesturing in Hobbs' direction. "Small world, I suppose."
"Small world," Buffy snorted. "I probably should have guessed, though. Considering why we're here, and how I met him."
"Owen," Hattie nodded, smile fading at the reference.
"Owen." Hobbs tipped his chin in acknowledgement, cutting that off short. He and Deckard had managed to bury the hatchet enough to work together; no sense raking who'd done what to whom back up out of the coals at this point. "I never did apologize to you for that."
He ought to have put two and two together though, in hindsight. Mundanes like the least likeable Shaw sibling usually didn't jump straight from seeing friends fall to fangs on the battlefield to making high-stakes deals with demon lords; especially not for something as complex and dangerous as Instant Dark Ages in a Can, to use Buffy's term for the Nightshade device. Even finding out that the legendary hacker Cipher had been involved somehow hadn't explained everything. But a mundane skilled in the art of war, who'd had who knew how much access to his Slayer sister and her support structure before going rogue? That filled in a lot of the plot holes.
"Wouldn't have believed you if you had," Hattie replied, a wry, pained smile curving her mouth. "Nor would Deckard. At least Owen's still alive; that's more than some can say, and likely more than he deserves."
Buffy laid a hand on Hattie's arm, shadows briefly darkening her leaf-green eyes. "Maybe, maybe not. That Brixton guy might have been day job business, but we can prove now that Cipher isn't. We'll take her down, and then we'll see how much of it was actually your brother's fault."
"I'm not holding my breath," Hattie replied lightly, as her gaze tracked back to Hobbs. "But that's a problem for another day. You know about Cipher as well?"
"Knew she was bad news; lost a friend to her last year, and nearly lost a whole lot more. Deckard was there for a lot of it, too," Hobbs replied, frowning as he glanced between Buffy and Hattie again. "You're saying there might be something supernatural at work there?"
"Hard to say; she crossed paths with Wolfram and Hart at some point, so her history's really muddled." Buffy shrugged. "But when you mentioned last year that you'd found somebody higher up the food chain from Owen, I asked some friends to do a little digging-- and found a few loose threads. To get more, though, we need to talk to your friend Toretto. Did you ever finish clueing his team in?"
Hobbs made a face. He'd had to say something, after a few of Owen's thugs had shown their true faces during that final fight. Not all of them had taken it well; Buffy had heard a little of that fallout. "They know the basics. Haven't run into anything else overt, since. Why do you need Dom now?"
"Because he broke away from her. From what we've been finding-- that's unusual. And because when Willow tries to scry her, all she sees is his face. She's set up magical firewalls around herself somehow, but it doesn't hide where her path crosses others', and apparently she's not done with your friends yet."
"Which makes this our best chance to stop her," Hattie concluded.
"So you're here because apart from Dom, Owen's had the most contact with her of anyone who's lived to tell the tale," Hobbs nodded, glancing at his desk calendar. "And you're here to ask the questions. Anyone else coming, or do you want to go straight over? The sooner the better, if that's the case; it's a barbeque night, so most of them will be there. Good thing Deckard isn't here, actually; Han's widow would set him on fire first and not bother to ask questions afterward." Better those paths didn't cross.
Hattie hadn't winced at the discussion of Owen, but she did at that. "He did say he'd done some things that he needs to make amends for."
"Another problem for another day," Buffy replied, then gave Hobbs a tired smile. There was just enough warmth in it to promise something a little less business, but later; the perils of being a pair of badasses first and human beings afterward. But that was the job.
"In the meantime," she concluded, "lead on."
(x-posted on twistedshorts and on AO3)
twistedshorts.Hobbs had had more than one reason for taking a transfer to Los Angeles after the business with Owen Shaw.
Title: Crossing the Streams
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not.
Rating: T/PG-13
Spoilers: Post-movie tag for Hobbs & Shaw; very post-series for B:tVS
Notes: The last bit for this series for this year's ficathon; though I definitely intended to add more to it at some point. Contains minor Hobbs/Buffy, even more minor Hobbs/Hattie, and some au-divergence elements.
Hobbs had had more than one reason for taking a transfer to Los Angeles after the business with Owen Shaw.
Hobbs had had more than one reason for taking a transfer to Los Angeles after the business with Owen Shaw. Part of it was starting over with a clean slate; after losing his entire crew to Reyes's goons in Rio, and then being betrayed by the next partner he'd teamed up with, the DC offices had reminded him too much of things he'd rather put behind him. Part of it was that wherever in the world they might currently be racing, the city would always be Team Toretto's home base, and they'd snared him into their sprawling definition of family. Part of it was his daughter; LA was closer to her mother's sister. And one more thing....
He looked up as he heard the California tones of a familiar visitor entering the DSS offices, and smiled. The pocket-sized blonde might owe her hair color, her wardrobe, and her abuse of the English language to her LA upbringing, but he'd learned through pleasurable experience that she was one hundred percent deadly grace in motion. He'd been struck by the contrast between her image and her skillset from the very first moment they'd met, and that had quickly turned into an appreciation for everything else about her. Buffy Summers was fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack, as the lyric went; and whenever she circled back near her hometown, they usually ended up spending time together.
She wasn't alone today, though; someone else, several inches taller but just as salon blond, followed close behind. Someone also, unexpectedly familiar.
"...my local government contact," Buffy was saying as she entered, gesturing toward his glass-walled cubicle. "I wouldn't trust most of them as far as Dawn could throw them-- not after everything that went down with the Initiative-- but he's one of the good ones, when you need help from someone official in the know."
In the know, huh? Implying she was, too? Well, that might have been nice to know a little sooner.
"Damn, girl," he said, shaking his head as he stood to greet them. The Slayer he'd met during the chase for Owen Shaw, hand in hand with the man's sister. He didn't know why he was surprised; it wasn't even the most ironic thing to happen to him that week. "You couldn't have made the introduction a little sooner? Say, before she ended up on my list?"
He'd probably still have kissed the woman when the opportunity presented-- as fun as it was when he and Buffy met up, it wasn't all that often in the scheme of things, so they'd never discussed exclusivity-- but he might have worried less if he'd known from the start just how much ass Hattie was capable of kicking. And how much she'd probably been holding back in their fight.
"Hobbs?" Hattie's eyebrows arched high over skeptical blue eyes as she took him in. "You're her local contact?"
"Wait, you two have met?" Buffy objected, then rolled her eyes. "Not that day job thing? I thought you said you were in that one with your other brother and his new best frenemy?"
"Which is to say." Hattie smiled wryly, gesturing in Hobbs' direction. "Small world, I suppose."
"Small world," Buffy snorted. "I probably should have guessed, though. Considering why we're here, and how I met him."
"Owen," Hattie nodded, smile fading at the reference.
"Owen." Hobbs tipped his chin in acknowledgement, cutting that off short. He and Deckard had managed to bury the hatchet enough to work together; no sense raking who'd done what to whom back up out of the coals at this point. "I never did apologize to you for that."
He ought to have put two and two together though, in hindsight. Mundanes like the least likeable Shaw sibling usually didn't jump straight from seeing friends fall to fangs on the battlefield to making high-stakes deals with demon lords; especially not for something as complex and dangerous as Instant Dark Ages in a Can, to use Buffy's term for the Nightshade device. Even finding out that the legendary hacker Cipher had been involved somehow hadn't explained everything. But a mundane skilled in the art of war, who'd had who knew how much access to his Slayer sister and her support structure before going rogue? That filled in a lot of the plot holes.
"Wouldn't have believed you if you had," Hattie replied, a wry, pained smile curving her mouth. "Nor would Deckard. At least Owen's still alive; that's more than some can say, and likely more than he deserves."
Buffy laid a hand on Hattie's arm, shadows briefly darkening her leaf-green eyes. "Maybe, maybe not. That Brixton guy might have been day job business, but we can prove now that Cipher isn't. We'll take her down, and then we'll see how much of it was actually your brother's fault."
"I'm not holding my breath," Hattie replied lightly, as her gaze tracked back to Hobbs. "But that's a problem for another day. You know about Cipher as well?"
"Knew she was bad news; lost a friend to her last year, and nearly lost a whole lot more. Deckard was there for a lot of it, too," Hobbs replied, frowning as he glanced between Buffy and Hattie again. "You're saying there might be something supernatural at work there?"
"Hard to say; she crossed paths with Wolfram and Hart at some point, so her history's really muddled." Buffy shrugged. "But when you mentioned last year that you'd found somebody higher up the food chain from Owen, I asked some friends to do a little digging-- and found a few loose threads. To get more, though, we need to talk to your friend Toretto. Did you ever finish clueing his team in?"
Hobbs made a face. He'd had to say something, after a few of Owen's thugs had shown their true faces during that final fight. Not all of them had taken it well; Buffy had heard a little of that fallout. "They know the basics. Haven't run into anything else overt, since. Why do you need Dom now?"
"Because he broke away from her. From what we've been finding-- that's unusual. And because when Willow tries to scry her, all she sees is his face. She's set up magical firewalls around herself somehow, but it doesn't hide where her path crosses others', and apparently she's not done with your friends yet."
"Which makes this our best chance to stop her," Hattie concluded.
"So you're here because apart from Dom, Owen's had the most contact with her of anyone who's lived to tell the tale," Hobbs nodded, glancing at his desk calendar. "And you're here to ask the questions. Anyone else coming, or do you want to go straight over? The sooner the better, if that's the case; it's a barbeque night, so most of them will be there. Good thing Deckard isn't here, actually; Han's widow would set him on fire first and not bother to ask questions afterward." Better those paths didn't cross.
Hattie hadn't winced at the discussion of Owen, but she did at that. "He did say he'd done some things that he needs to make amends for."
"Another problem for another day," Buffy replied, then gave Hobbs a tired smile. There was just enough warmth in it to promise something a little less business, but later; the perils of being a pair of badasses first and human beings afterward. But that was the job.
"In the meantime," she concluded, "lead on."
(x-posted on twistedshorts and on AO3)
