SPN J2 AU Fic: Black Flag Over Texas (Masterpost)

[electricalgwen]

Title: Black Flag Over Texas
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~32,000 words

Summary: Jensen belongs to a team of mercenary vigilantes that is trying to stop a group of anarchists whose goal is the dissolution of the USA. They get information that a student group on UT Dallas campus is harboring at least one of the major players, and Jensen is assigned to an undercover mission to infiltrate the group.

His first day on campus, he meets a final-year PhD student named Jared who would be exactly Jensen’s type – if he weren’t a prime suspect. Move by move, like chess pieces, actions escalate, and the stakes get higher. Jensen and his colleagues are dealing with computer espionage, bombings, and kidnapping threats, as the institutions of government waver around them, threatening to fall. Ultimately, Jensen is forced to make a choice that pits revenge and love against the greater good.

Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction.

Warnings: Violence, language, sex under the influence of chemicals, discussion of politics.

Author's Notes: Written for the 2011 round of spn_j2_bigbang. Art by ladytiferet, who was a real pleasure to work with and put up with my last-minute flailing with great aplomb and grace. Big hugs are due to laisserais and dancetomato for beta-reading and fixing all my non-American vocabulary. Any remaining errors are of course entirely my fault (and please do let me know about them!) And of course, many thanks to wendy and thehighwaywoman for all their work in coordinating this amazing event.

This is set in the same universe as last year's story Green Means Go. It is a prequel, but both stories stand alone, and may be read in either order.

Part One  |  Part Two  |  Part Three  |  Part Four  | 

Art Post

Read here on AO3 - PDF/ePub/Mobi available for download

Comments

[nerthus.livejournal.com]

Ha, my daughter JUST graduated from UT Dallas, so of course I gotta read this one. It's a small campus and lots of new construction going on, but it's a pretty nice place. She lived in the on-campus apartments and enjoyed all 4 years of her studies there (Electrical Engineering). She's not really a fan of SPN, but I'll have to tell her you used her alma mater; she'll get a kick out of that.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! I have never been there, but I did do a fair bit of research to try and make it believable to anyone who is familiar with the area (the campus map was handy, as was the fact that all the course requirements/names/schedules are available online!)

Hope you enjoy the story! :)

Randomly

[kimberlyfdr.livejournal.com]

Nice icon ;)

[laisserais]

*SMISH* I can't wait to see what you've added! And also, in case I didn't mention it before: I SNOG YOUR BRAIN ON GENERAL PRINCIPLE.. God, I don't think I can flail enough about how awesome this fic is, and how awesome you are. I can't even believe you wrote something so perceptive and so timely about American politics when, you know, you aren't even American. Seriously, FLAIL

YOU ARE AMAZING

[dancetomato.livejournal.com]

I SNOG YOUR BRAIN ON GENERAL PRINCIPLE.
I approve this message.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

YOU! ♥♥♥

You and Kari are responsible for this seeing the light of day. I can't tell you how much it meant that you were positive about the mess that I sent you for beta-reading. I did almost nothing with this for weeks after sending in the draft largely because I'd gotten to a point where I hated it and was convinced it was unsalvagable. To hear that even in its incomplete state, you liked bits of it...it made a world of difference. Thank you so much for taking your time on vacation to read it and give me such helpful suggestions!

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

I could not have pulled this off without you. Thank you SO much for your encouragement and suggestions, on IM and in the final draft! I seriously was at the point where I hated the whole thing and was ready to throw it out, and you helped turn that around. ♥ ♥ ♥

When I set up this universe last year, I knew what I wanted the political situation to look like in 2015, and I based it on events that I planned to happen between February and May 2011. Not all that backstory made it into last year's story, but I'd outlined it roughly in order to figure out where the dividing lines were, what the order of breakaway and the reasons were. I did some very cursory reading (as I tend to be relatively unaware of news in general, politics in particular) to try and fit it into what was actually going on, so it was semi-believable. So to hear that it's timely and apparently perceptive is a) lovely from a writer POV, and b) a little disconcerting! :)

[bratlupa.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna wait for the PDF before I read this, but first have to ask and it's probably a stupid question but is this the prequel to Green Means Go or is it the other way around. It's getting late so I'm getting easily confuse.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Sorry! Not a stupid question, it was very late when I put this together and I didn't make it entirely clear. This is the prequel to Green Means Go. Apologies for the delay in AO3/PDF - I barely had time to get this posted between the end of work and the midnight deadline yesterday, and did not have time to put those together as well. Hopefully I will get it done after work tonight. :)

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Hey, just thought I'd let you know it's up on AO3 now, and that includes the option to download as PDF/ePub/Mobi. :)

[bratlupa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know. Going to download the PDF now and when I get the chance to read it I'll be back to leave a comment.

[amber1960.livejournal.com]

Oooh I really liked Green means Go so.... :D I'll return for the PDF forthwith!

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Yay! I do hope you enjoy this one too. It's up on AO3 now, which has the option to download as PDF or other epub format. :)

[ladytiferet.livejournal.com]

It was a real pleasure to read what you've written and totry to express the feeling it gave me! I loved and I loved the story and now I can enjoy it in all its glory :D
If you ever feel like cooperating again, I'm there :D

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I can't believe I actually did it. I was seriously writing incomplete chunks of the story YESTERDAY (if it has any glory, it's a lot better now than the version you saw!)

I would love to collaborate on something else! :)

[ladytiferet.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know how you did it but you did it :D It's wonderful (and much less confusing :P)!

[mistyzeo.livejournal.com]

This means I have to read TWO big bangs! What a tragedy. :D :D :D

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

OH NOES! You don't have to, but I'd love it if you did. :D

This one is now up on AO3. It's the first time I've used AO3 (I seriously need to improve my coding process, or something; it took me ages and still didn't come out the way I wanted) but I'll be working on getting some of my older stuff (including Green Means Go) up there over the next several weeks.

[mistyzeo.livejournal.com]

I started Green Means Go recently because I realized I never read it last year, so now I just have more motivation to finish it! I'm looking forward to it!

I like AO3 a lot: it's really convenient as a reader, and really nice as as writer to have everything together in one place. If only I could make up my mind about using one service or another. :P

[harrigan.livejournal.com]

\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/

Will be back on the weekend to wallow!

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Hope you enjoy! :D

[jennylynneh.livejournal.com]

I really love these kind of stories. I had been toying with the idea of writing a Jensen, Chris & Katie "retrieval team" fic a few months back so discovering this during big bang has been a delight!

I'm adding this to my delicious spn/j2 fic rec list (http:www.delicious.com/jlynne_spn) and want to tag it proper; are you going to name the verse? (I've downloaded the other to read later today. ;) )

J

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, thank you! I'm really glad you liked it enough to rec! :D

That is a good question! I guess I should name it. Hmm. Can I get back to you? (Any suggestions? :)

[jennylynneh.livejournal.com]

ghosts!verse?

God, I really love these kinds of alt-hist/future/political/cyber-spy-action-thrillers. I wish I could read the first one instead of work today. The prologue was such a tease. ;)

J.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Ghosts!verse it is. :)

Thanks! I had so much fun plotting out last year's.

[josieb1.livejournal.com]

This looks awesome, I can't wait to read it, I haven#t read last years yet either so I have double the pleasure, thanks so much, and thanks for the downloads, I grabbed the MOBI and PDF

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I really hope you enjoy them. :D