![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mystizan Alec Hardison (Leverage) & Auggie Anderson (Covert Affairs) r my geek husbands. For ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
leverageland I wrote a meta abt Alec baby which I am re-posting here. It's my first meta 0_o
Alec Hardison is an exceptionally talented hacker. Before joining Nate’s crew however, he lacked the focus to be really great. He was good but not always confident, he’d been raised a foster child but still managed to land in a decent family and above all else, he was in it for what he could get and not for any noble motivations.
As Nate implies in The Mile High Job, he basically got by on talent and wit alone. He did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it, living a kind of hedonistic existence. By the end of The Nigerian Job though, Alec confesses that working with Nate kept him focused. As the seasons of Leverage unfold, we see that running cons with his team mates gives him a certain responsibility—if he forgets that a con is going down and spends the time pwning World of Warcraft, then people may end up having to climb 30 flights of stairs instead of getting into the secure elevator he had hacked for them. If he fails to focus and calm down, then a plane carrying hundreds to Cayman, including Eliot, Nate, Sophie and Parker will explode and kill them all. Working with this team then, he does bring his hacking skills to the table, but Nate gives him challenges that force him out of his comfort zone and introduces him to a reality where, if he fails, he does not fall alone. His actions have repercussions that affect the people he eventually recognises as family and this is exactly the kind of pressure that he needs to move from being a great hacker to someone really exceptional.
In the Ho Ho Ho Job, when Alec and Parker are inside the Yakomoto building, Alec says:
Alec: Nate this is like trying to plug a firehose with a pebble.
Nate: Are you saying you can’t do it?
Alec: When have I ever said that? Ever?
This is a far cry from the Alec of The Mile High Job, whom Nate had to shore up by telling him that he knew that Alec goofed off but he always came through for them in the clutch. This more confident Alec is born of years of doing the difficult to the impossible, sometimes on the fly. In The Bottle Job, when Nate suggests running The Wire in ninety minutes, the only people who object are Eliot (who always prefers a solid plan) and Tara (who’s new). Alec doesn’t even raise an eyebrow, until later when Tara puts him on the spot and he has to rig a fake weather broadcast using Nate’s blanket as a green screen and wearing some of Nate’s clothes to pass as a weather person.
Working with the team has also given Alec one of the most stable families he’s had since the death of his Nana. He is one of the first to realise that it is a family and he knows, as do the others, that the role of each member of this unit to have everyone else’s back, whether or not you agree with what they’re doing (you can argue with them about it after they’re out of danger). In The Stork Job, he places a tracker in Parker’s shoes to prevent them from losing her like they could have after she stabbed Petrovic in the American Embassy in Belgrade and leaped over the balcony. No one asked him to do it. He recognised a potential problem and fixed it. When the team realised she had gone back to rescue the other orphans alone, even though Nate had said they needed to wait and plan some more before doing that, they all immediately sprang into action to give Parker the backup she would need to keep her alive and to safely rescue the children. No one even thought of doing otherwise. Of course, they only knew where she was because of Alec’s forethought in planting the GPS tracker. When Parker had been griping about Nate sidelining her on the production set of the movie they had stolen to get Luka back, Alec calms her down:
The Alec of The Homecoming Job was afraid to proceed once Castleman sent men to kill Corporal Perry. This Alec is still afraid but his fear is outweighed by his commitment to do right, partly because he has seen them take on so many giants before this one and always manage to beat the odds in favour of the good guy.
Alec Hardison was probably the guy in class who was the clown, irritating his teachers and entertaining his peers. Eventually, he discovered computers and code and got really good at it. But it would take more than skill for him to reach his full potential. That would require that he be tied in to a new kind of family where, motivated by his love for them and his desire to right wrongs done against others, he would move from being an exceptional hacker to an exceptional man.
leverageland I wrote a meta abt Alec baby which I am re-posting here. It's my first meta 0_oThe Evolution of Alec Hardison
Alec Hardison is an exceptionally talented hacker. Before joining Nate’s crew however, he lacked the focus to be really great. He was good but not always confident, he’d been raised a foster child but still managed to land in a decent family and above all else, he was in it for what he could get and not for any noble motivations.
As Nate implies in The Mile High Job, he basically got by on talent and wit alone. He did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it, living a kind of hedonistic existence. By the end of The Nigerian Job though, Alec confesses that working with Nate kept him focused. As the seasons of Leverage unfold, we see that running cons with his team mates gives him a certain responsibility—if he forgets that a con is going down and spends the time pwning World of Warcraft, then people may end up having to climb 30 flights of stairs instead of getting into the secure elevator he had hacked for them. If he fails to focus and calm down, then a plane carrying hundreds to Cayman, including Eliot, Nate, Sophie and Parker will explode and kill them all. Working with this team then, he does bring his hacking skills to the table, but Nate gives him challenges that force him out of his comfort zone and introduces him to a reality where, if he fails, he does not fall alone. His actions have repercussions that affect the people he eventually recognises as family and this is exactly the kind of pressure that he needs to move from being a great hacker to someone really exceptional.
In the Ho Ho Ho Job, when Alec and Parker are inside the Yakomoto building, Alec says:
Alec: Nate this is like trying to plug a firehose with a pebble.
Nate: Are you saying you can’t do it?
Alec: When have I ever said that? Ever?
This is a far cry from the Alec of The Mile High Job, whom Nate had to shore up by telling him that he knew that Alec goofed off but he always came through for them in the clutch. This more confident Alec is born of years of doing the difficult to the impossible, sometimes on the fly. In The Bottle Job, when Nate suggests running The Wire in ninety minutes, the only people who object are Eliot (who always prefers a solid plan) and Tara (who’s new). Alec doesn’t even raise an eyebrow, until later when Tara puts him on the spot and he has to rig a fake weather broadcast using Nate’s blanket as a green screen and wearing some of Nate’s clothes to pass as a weather person.
Working with the team has also given Alec one of the most stable families he’s had since the death of his Nana. He is one of the first to realise that it is a family and he knows, as do the others, that the role of each member of this unit to have everyone else’s back, whether or not you agree with what they’re doing (you can argue with them about it after they’re out of danger). In The Stork Job, he places a tracker in Parker’s shoes to prevent them from losing her like they could have after she stabbed Petrovic in the American Embassy in Belgrade and leaped over the balcony. No one asked him to do it. He recognised a potential problem and fixed it. When the team realised she had gone back to rescue the other orphans alone, even though Nate had said they needed to wait and plan some more before doing that, they all immediately sprang into action to give Parker the backup she would need to keep her alive and to safely rescue the children. No one even thought of doing otherwise. Of course, they only knew where she was because of Alec’s forethought in planting the GPS tracker. When Parker had been griping about Nate sidelining her on the production set of the movie they had stolen to get Luka back, Alec calms her down:
Alec: It’s the trust thing. He just wants to know that you’re gonna go along with the game plan.
Parker: Yeah, yeah, I get it, we’re a team.
Alec: Little more than a team. I’m just saying.
The action of the team in rescuing her later brings the message home beautifully, even though Hardison still manages to let his worry for Parker shine through.
Alec: You know you could’ve gotten killed. Did you even have an exit strategy?
Parker: I didn’t really think that far ahead.
Alec: You don’t work alone anymore, you know that, right?
Parker: I know.
Alec: We’re a team.
Parker: We’re a little more than a team.
Another key change in Alec (seen also in Parker) is the commitment to right even at great cost to self. In the Gone Fishin’ Job, when Nate had stolen a train to get Alec and Eliot home, Alec is the one who stops them from getting on it. He’s concerned that if they board the train, knowing that the militia has an unstable bomb, they’ll use it and they’ll be forced to watch the tragedy unfold on the news instead of preventing it. A little before they take on the militia, just the two of them, Eliot has a little pep talk that reveals the true state of Alec’s mind.
Eliot: Feeling confident?
Alec: Not really.
Eliot: Good. Overconfidence will kill you faster than a bullet. Fear is good.
Alec: Oh, I've got fear. And doubt. And serious regrets. I should be fine.
Parker: Yeah, yeah, I get it, we’re a team.
Alec: Little more than a team. I’m just saying.
The action of the team in rescuing her later brings the message home beautifully, even though Hardison still manages to let his worry for Parker shine through.
Alec: You know you could’ve gotten killed. Did you even have an exit strategy?
Parker: I didn’t really think that far ahead.
Alec: You don’t work alone anymore, you know that, right?
Parker: I know.
Alec: We’re a team.
Parker: We’re a little more than a team.
Another key change in Alec (seen also in Parker) is the commitment to right even at great cost to self. In the Gone Fishin’ Job, when Nate had stolen a train to get Alec and Eliot home, Alec is the one who stops them from getting on it. He’s concerned that if they board the train, knowing that the militia has an unstable bomb, they’ll use it and they’ll be forced to watch the tragedy unfold on the news instead of preventing it. A little before they take on the militia, just the two of them, Eliot has a little pep talk that reveals the true state of Alec’s mind.
Eliot: Feeling confident?
Alec: Not really.
Eliot: Good. Overconfidence will kill you faster than a bullet. Fear is good.
Alec: Oh, I've got fear. And doubt. And serious regrets. I should be fine.
The Alec of The Homecoming Job was afraid to proceed once Castleman sent men to kill Corporal Perry. This Alec is still afraid but his fear is outweighed by his commitment to do right, partly because he has seen them take on so many giants before this one and always manage to beat the odds in favour of the good guy.
Alec Hardison was probably the guy in class who was the clown, irritating his teachers and entertaining his peers. Eventually, he discovered computers and code and got really good at it. But it would take more than skill for him to reach his full potential. That would require that he be tied in to a new kind of family where, motivated by his love for them and his desire to right wrongs done against others, he would move from being an exceptional hacker to an exceptional man.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 11:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-08 03:15 am (UTC)