[personal profile] lit_gal
Two days, two chapters. I really need to get my writing mojo back. Usually sucky work leads to more writing, but for some reason, this time it led to less.


Josiah, JD, Buck, Vin, and Ezra, Nathan ... Meet (not the Magnificent Seven but) the Tucson Seven (or six, anyway.  #seven is coming).


Title: Sunstroke, Insanity, and Faith
Genre: Gen... an introduction to the characters before I use them in crossovers.
Fandom: Magnificent Seven

Summary: An  undercover cop finds himself in deeper than he ever expected when a local priest hires him to defend the church in an all out gang-war.

( Part One... )

( Part Two... )

Part Three... )

Part Four... )



Vin stared at the exposed beam ceiling wondering what the hell he'd gotten into. Nathan had hooked him up to an IV, and either he'd lost more blood than he'd thought or Nathan had put something extra in it because he'd fallen asleep. And now he was waking up in the basement wondering how the hell he was supposed to explain any of this to his captain. Now that the adrenaline had faded, Vin could clearly see that he shouldn't have gotten in the car without calling his handler. That was enough to earn a write-up, but that wasn't the worst of his problems right now.

Nathan's strong hands had carefully washed and bandaged his wounds. Vin felt like he'd been punched in the stomach a dozen times, but he didn't feel the sort of dizziness or pain that meant he was in serious trouble. That meant that Nathan had taken care of him.

If Vin reported any of this, Nathan was going to get in serious trouble for practicing medicine without a license. Of course, that wouldn't be nearly as serious as the trouble Buck and JD would get into over those weapons. Vin could dismiss Buck's inveterate cheerfulness as some sort of disguise because Buck was clearly a dangerous man. However, he couldn't dismiss the fact that Buck had covered him, gotten him out of the line of fire, and even then, his first instinct had been to protect Vin. Considering that the man was a bounty hunter, he should have pounced on the idea that Vin was a wanted criminal. Instead, Vin was tucked up in a basement room with a brightly colored Navajo blanket and an IV.

Even without considering how much trouble he was in... and Vin was in a hell of a lot of trouble, he had no idea what to tell his superiors. He was going to lose his job over this fuck-up, Vin knew that already. He hadn't called his handler, he'd gone to an unknown location with unknown people, he been in the middle of a gunfight in a parking lot, and he clearly remembered telling Buck to not call the police. Yeah, he was screwed. Well, he'd been screwed before. He'd been screwed far worse before.

In Fort Worth, things had been so bad that Vin had sat in a holding cell wondering if he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison. He and his partner David Bowell had been investigating Eli Joe Liard for a series of murders, and next thing Vin knew, evidence from the murder of Jess Kincaid had shown up in his apartment.

It'd never been easy for Vin to trust—not after losing both his parents. His father had taken off before Vin could really remember, and his mother had died of cancer. While his aunt had taken him in, he'd always felt a bit like Cinderella with the evil step sisters—only with a lot more testosterone since he'd actually inherited four step-brothers, all of whom seemed to hate him on sight. So when David had partnered up with him when Vin was just out of uniform, Vin felt like he'd finally gotten inside the "brotherhood." He'd had someone at his back for the first time in what felt like his whole fucking life. Then his partner had made a neat little trap, and Vin had walked right into it. He'd trusted David and that had gotten him a knife in the back, all because David had been taking bribes to help Liard cover up his crimes and consolidate a hold over the local prostitution ring.

Vin might have spent the rest of his life in prison, only David's girlfriend got tired of being a punching bag and had blown the whistle. Vin certainly hadn't saved himself—and he hadn't given his trust to the right people. So this feeling of faith in Buck and JD and Josiah and Nathan—it was scaring the piss out of him. He didn't know the difference between faith and insanity, and even now, he couldn't help wondering how much his wound was influencing all these thoughts.

"You're up." Nathan moved to his side and sat in the chair pulled up to the side of Vin's bed. Now that Vin's head was clearer, he could see that Nathan was younger than he'd first thought... maybe mid-twenties. He might even be younger than Vin who was twenty-six. Nathan's head was shaved, but his chin was stubbled and he looked tired. Nathan lifted Vin's arm and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around it before pumping it up. "You're doing well. Your blood pressure is holding well, and the IV has some antibiotics in it, although I would still recommend that you find an actual doctor who can get you stronger medicine."

A scraping sound distracted Vin, and he looked over to see Ezra just standing up from a chair. "Yes, as comforting as that sounds, I'm rather more worried about our friends upstairs."

"Friends?" Vin frowned. Had Buck managed to find Josiah?

"Well, perhaps friends was a poorly chosen designation. Armed thugs ripping the place apart in search of the hidden door to this charming little death trap might come closer to the truth."

Vin sat up, groaning as his entire stomach objected. He felt like Mohammad Ali had been using him for a punching bag. "What?"

Nathan reached out and caught him by the arm. "Hey, do not go ruining all my good work by opening that wound. Any more bleeding, and I will call 911 and send you to the hospital, no matter what Buck says. Legal problems are not worth dying over."

"I'm fine," Vin said, pushing Nathan's hand away. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About fourteen hours," Ezra answered.

"Buck? JD?" The fear twisted Vin's guts worse than the gunshot wound. His worries about how to explain this disaster were quickly taking a backseat to other worries.

"They are not going to rush into anything," Nathan said. Vin stared at the man, daring him to try and say that again with a straight face.

Nathan sighed. "Fine, JD would rush in. Wherever angels fear to tread, that's where you'll find JD. I've known him since his freshman year of high school. He started at Mary Meredith High School when I was a senior. But that's not Buck. He'll talk big, but he'll check out the situation before he rushes in. As long as Josiah is not in immediate danger, he's going to stay on the perimeter and try to find a safe way to get him back."

"And you're sure of that?" Vin demanded.

For a second, Nathan stared at him with an expression that came annoyingly close to amusement. "This isn't exactly the first time we've gotten into a tight spot. Buck knows how to take care of himself." Nathan snorted. "Hell, Josiah isn't exactly helpless and innocent himself. When I was a kid, I used to think I was big and bad getting into trouble on the street, but those two... they redefine the words."

Ezra moved closer. "Wonderful. They're both paragons of manly virtue. However, we still have gang members trying to find us. Is anyone going to worry about that?"

"Nope," Nathan answer. "Well, not unless Buck hasn't shown up by tomorrow morning. I have an embryology class I can't afford to miss."

"Wonderful," Ezra repeated, the sarcasm clinging to the word.

"Fourteen hours... that's too long. They may need backup." Vin swung his legs over the side of the bed and then stopped to think about his options. If he called the captain, he was going to end up tangled in enough red tape to choke an elephant. He wasn't sure he even could explain the situation well enough to avoid the psych ward. He could call in an anonymous tip, but that wasn't likely to actually work. Hell, the poor sap who'd driven off the road and called 911 had been ignored for two days while he died in a ditch, so he didn't expect a quick call to work. That left him with one option, which was the best one out of a whole lot of shitty alternatives.

"Can you get in touch with them?"

Nathan's eyebrow went up. "Buck usually turns his phone off when he's doing something either stupid or suicidal."

"Do you know where they were heading?"

"No way. No." Nathan shook his head. "You are not getting out of bed. You've been shot. Do you get that?"

"You can't possibly be suggesting that you are in any shape to provide assistance," Ezra added. It looked like Vin was outnumbered. He smiled at them and reached down to pluck the IV out of his hand.

"Yep. If they get killed, Los Cuatro Milpas are going to make it impossible to stick around here. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to like this place."

Nathan crossed his arms and got a stubborn look on his fact, but then from what Vin had seen, the man had entirely too much common sense to fit in with the rest of them. So he focused on Ezra.

"I suspect that you won that club of yours, maybe in a fair game and maybe not, but you won it. But if Buck and JD go down in a hail of bullets, you aren't going to live long enough to enjoy it. Now, you look like a man who knows how to protect yourself and your interests..."

"Particularly when my interests lie in avoiding death," Ezra broke in. "I am not going up against a gang."

"Then you'll just give up that beautiful club of yours?" Vin studied the man, watching the tension in Ezra's body. "You'll just let the gangs destroy your dreams? I would think that a man who takes care of himself, who carries a concealed weapon and faced down three armed men who walked into his club... I would think that man would stand up for himself." Ezra's mouth came open and then he closed it, but Vin noticed that he didn't deny any of it.

"You're as crazy as the rest of them," Nathan said.

"And you were willing to risk your career to come when Buck called," Vin answered. "Where are they?"

"This is not a good idea. You could have internal injuries still."

Vin let his hand ghost over his wound. The skin was hot, but it wasn't overly swollen.

"You could," Nathan said stubbornly.

"And I could get hit by a bus." Vin stood up and looked around the room. Unless he missed his guess, this place was stocked with food, water, and extra clothes. He walked over and pulled a cabinet door open. It was the third door before he found shirts. Pulling one off the hanger, he cringed as he put one on. He was going to hurt like hell for a while. Actually, he was going to feel a whole lot worse when Captain Rodriguez caught up with him, so he should enjoy the feeling of being employed while he could.

"So," Vin pinned Nathan with a hard glare, "where are they?"

Nathan crossed his arms, and for a second, Vin thought the man wasn't going to answer. However, then he sighed and shook his head. "You're an idiot for not just going to the hospital. They gang house is southeast of here, off Kolb."

"Where exactly?" Vin started opening cabinet doors until he found the stash of guns.

"No way are you going alone. I'm going with you," Nathan said. He crossed the small room and opened a cabinet behind Ezra. Guns were lined up on a pegboard with ammunition on the shelf underneath. These guys made militia groups look like girl scouts. "If they are in trouble, I can help. And if they aren't, I'm going to make sure you don't do any more damage to yourself."

"Seriously?" Ezra asked them both. "You are both going out there? Two against a gang?"

"Seems about right to me," Vin agreed. He pulled two guns down off the pegboard and tucked them into his waistband before pulling a box of ammo from the shelf.

"I am going to regret this," Ezra sighed, but he pulled a gun down and pulled the ammo clip out and started loading it.

Nathan reached out and caught Ezra's arm. "Look, Big Lester never got involved, and believe it or not, Josiah, Buck, JD, and me... we handled bigger problems than a bunch of gang-bangers who got run out of Phoenix."

The look Ezra gave Nathan bordered on disgust. "I don't need people to fight my battles."

Vin stepped forward before the growing tension could turn into something ugly. "So, the three of us go and check on Buck and JD. Worst case scenario, we decide these guys can kick our ass and we call 911. But maybe we can help them out and get Josiah back before things get any uglier."

Ezra and Nathan were still staring at each other, and Vin got the impression something unpleasant had happened while they were out. Ezra did have a particular way of talking... a slight southern accent and a very fancy vocabulary that suggested that he'd come from money—maybe Nathan just resented that. Or maybe Ezra didn't like Nathan whose accent still had a bit of the streets to it. Nathan had definitely grown up in this neighborhood. Or maybe Vin had no way of knowing what bug had crawled up either of their asses.

"Sounds like a plan." Nathan finally shifted his gaze away from Ezra. "But if I see blood on that shirt, I'm calling 911."

"Agreed." Vin held out his hand to shake on it. For a second, Nathan looked at him, and then he took Vin's hand in his own for a quick shake. When that was done, Vin held out his hand for Ezra. This time the pause and the consideration took longer as Ezra studied him, not bothering to hide his doubts. Finally, Ezra sighed.

"I am certainly going to regret this." He took Vin's hand in his own and shook it. "Now lets go get those two idiots before these Neanderthals decide that we are easy prey."

Vin smiled and Nathan carefully unbarred the door to their hidden room and all of them headed out into the trashed room that had once been Josiah's main dinnerhall. One wall was still missing the drywall, and the armor plates shown in the fading light. For better or worse, they were going to handle this themselves, and only then was Vin going to worry about how to handle his job and his coming unemployment. 

Date: 2010-05-14 01:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ctrl-issue.livejournal.com
Clever, clever, I can't wait to see Vin and the others riding to the rescue, such as it is. I also can't wait to see how he gets out of trouble with his supervisor. I'm sure it's going to involve Josiah stepping in, but... this is going to take some serious footwork. LOL!!

I'm liking Nathan more and more, and Ezra is such a serpent that it makes me smile. ^^

Date: 2010-05-15 09:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
Vin is a pack animal, no matter how much he wants to deny it. He has found his "pack" and he's not going to walk away from them, although I agree he's going to have a whole lot of explaining to do.

Date: 2010-05-14 02:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 1orelei.livejournal.com
Thank you for this. Thank you for this. I'm going to say it again, because I am So Very Thankful. So...

... thank you for this. Oh, and Ezra still rocks. :)

Date: 2010-05-15 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
You are very welcome. I'm glad you're liking Ezra because he is the trickiest of the seven. He's a big of a rogue, but I love him anyway.

Date: 2010-05-14 03:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com
OK, Vin is officially insane in my book but I loved watching him manipulate Ezra.

Date: 2010-05-15 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
Vin is insane in canon, too, so that doesn't bother me. Actually, they're all a little touched in the head.

Date: 2010-05-14 05:14 am (UTC)
ext_252155: silver wings (hunger)
From: [identity profile] zilentdreamer.livejournal.com
*squee!*

Can't wait to see how the boys handle the.....well the other boys. ^-^

I'm sure it'll be fun, whatever they decide to do. Of course I can't wait to see what happens when the others find out that Vin was an undercover cop...unless they already know...which I would not be surprised over.

Awesome story. You're ruining me for anyone else.

Date: 2010-05-15 09:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
The gang isn't going to know what hit them. These guys are stoners out to impress someone; they are serious men who will kill to protect what's theirs. And I do hope you enjoy it.

Date: 2010-05-14 10:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seadragonlady.livejournal.com
Darn it, now you got me hooked on another story. I was supposed to begging you to pick up the next part of the Kin Series and you went and distracted me. I am just soooooooo easy ;-)

Date: 2010-05-15 09:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
I need to clean up some of these small hanging WIPs before I can dive back into something as massive as Kin, but I will be getting there.

Date: 2010-05-14 01:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chaoskir.livejournal.com
Why I think Ezra is a cop too? Great update. I like Vin is stubborn enough to do what he thinks he has to do even if he might has to face his coming unemployment *grin*.

Date: 2010-05-15 11:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meeee3339.livejournal.com
Or maybe a Fed-you know like the Organized Crime section of the FBI? It's possible.

Date: 2010-05-15 09:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
I think Ezra would make you wash your mouth out with soap for calling him a cop. However, I think he's a better man than he gives himself credit for.

Date: 2010-05-15 12:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] boogieshoes.livejournal.com
i'm still loving this. and i really can't wait till you get to Chris! although, i'm also sure a big chunk of the fun is going to be reading all the parts in-between. :-D

-bs

Date: 2010-05-15 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
I am getting to Chris. I don't think he's going to be a huge part of this arc, but once I introduce him into this universe, he's definitely going to be the leader.

You're a Winner at Absence of Light

Date: 2010-05-15 06:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetwhip.livejournal.com

glitter-graphics.com

You won an award in the very last round at [livejournal.com profile] absence_oflight. You can go here to pick up your banner and to see who else won.


Gabrielle

Re: You're a Winner at Absence of Light

Date: 2010-05-15 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lit-gal.livejournal.com
Wow! Thank you so very much.

And "the very last round"?? Meaning you're not going to keep the awards going or meaning that it's just the most recent round of awards??

Re: You're a Winner at Absence of Light

Date: 2010-05-15 10:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetwhip.livejournal.com
You are more than welcome. Congratulations!

It's over. This round was the very last round we are going to do.


Gabrielle

Date: 2010-06-05 09:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lil-coyote.livejournal.com
The calvary's on the way!

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