Slow Horses Big Bang Master Post
1 September
Untrust Us by @the-omnishambles
It starts raining in thin, steady sheets as River steps down from the train. The email had not been overflowing with information: pack for all weathers, no mobile phones, date and time of departure, board Paddington, change Newport, final stop Ludlow, wait. It had also told him not to be followed.
River endures assault courses, psychological torment and bad food at MI5 residential training, with only James 'Spider' Webb to cheer him up. He's fucked.
Accompanying art by @hr-twink
3 September
everywhere, everything by @cartwrong
Louisa and River just want to eat some pizza and drink away the week at Slough House. Instead their evening ends with a bomb, a near miss, and a sprint through the city and Louisa’s blood staining River’s hands.
Just another Friday night for the Slow Horses. It’s a good thing they have each other to lean on — and a shame that neither of them are very good at it.
Accompanying art by @needs-more-hugs
5 September
Old School by @timrousbeastie
As advancing dementia takes the last of the man David Cartwright used to be, more consequences of his machinations decades ago show up to make trouble in the present. Major cyberattacks in the here and now conspire with loose ends from an op in Berlin before the Wall fell that saw Jackson Lamb and Diana Taverner’s younger selves cross paths.
The Park’s leaking like a sieve, so Taverner is obliged to take refuge at Slough House and rely on Lamb and his Slow Horses for her survival. Standish might be back in her old job and trying to look after them all, but what the others don’t know is that the twisted codependency has escalated and Lamb’s distracted by the shifts in their relationship right when he needs to be at the top of his game.
They’ll get through it — probably — but not unscathed and it’s anyone’s guess whether Dander or Coe will end up killing someone along the way.
Accompanying art by @tenderlywicked
7 September
Quick Repairs to Cope by @abubblingcandle
After talking to the Old Bastard about the file, River doesn't know where to go. The Park tried to kill him. He was about to become a whistleblower. He had failed to rescue a Slow Horse. He needed to go apologise for that to Catherine and so that was as good a thing to do as any.
What he had not intended to do was end up sleeping on Catherine's settee, catsitting and technically dragging Catherine into committing treason. He couldn't even think about regretting spending more time getting to know Catherine despite all of that.
Accompanying art by @rebicha
10 September
Working for the Knife by @ashildrs
"Wow, there’s a really big gender discrepancy here,” Shirley squinted at the website, disapproving, “Maybe they should start running diversity schemes to get women into international crime.”
River blinked at her, “That’s your takeaway from ending up on Interpol’s most wanted list? Really?”
She shrugged, "Someone's got to advocate for women in crime. It sure as hell isn't going to be your piece of shit father."
My River and Shirley friendship thesis which got out of hand; in which Patrice survives, frames River and Shirley for mass murder, and the slow horses have to untangle the web Frank Harkness has left behind.
Accompanying art by @thelastdeadletter
12 September
An Imperfect Spy by @whumpdoyoumean
A normal day working at a local bookshop turns dangerous upon the arrival of three stereotypical bad guys. Oh, and (completely unrelated) there's an MI:5 agent there too--one who is anything but stereotypical. And who could really use a wardrobe change.
A bit of a character study in the form of an Outsider POV fic! Contains canon-typical: swearing, River in peril, and people making fun of him.
Podfic by @abubblingcandle
14 September
Til Jest Do Us Part by @hr-twink
James: the son of the regent Queen Diana, reluctantly a Jester (long story), and NOT called Spider.
Prince River: grandson and heir of the ailing king, sent away (exiled) to the Ogre-Knight Sir Lamb for 'training'.
Unbeknownst to Spider, River's exile is over, and he's coming back for the thing Spider wants most... or thought he did.
Accompanying art found here, here, here and here by @louisaguy
17 September
salt off my skin by @ghost-woods
“Spider’s sort of an unusual nickname for a girl, isn’t it?” River asks her a week into training. They share a few seminars, so she’s seen him around, and of course she’s heard of him — he’s a Cartwright; everyone has heard of him by now — but it’s the first time he’s spoken to her.
She looks up at him from her seat with a sharp smile. She’s not offended, but she wants him to know she isn’t a sure thing, even with his important last name and annoying good looks.
“Isn’t your name River, or am I thinking of someone else who’s hardly in a place to judge about unusual names?”
Accompanying art by @hr-twink
19 September
The Thief’s Gamble by @daydreamgoddess14
Sent to tail a minor gangster at a Mayfair casino, River is quickly distracted by the man’s mysterious girlfriend. Convinced she’s undercover, he breaks orders to pursue her. Each time he finds her, she’s someone new - different accent, different story, but always one step ahead. What begins as routine surveillance spirals into obsession. But is River chasing a spy… or falling for a lie?
Accompanying art here, here, here and here by @louisaguy
21 September
Starburster by @remixedroses
When River finds out his father is alive and that he has siblings he had no knowledge of, his entire world is thrown upside down. As he tries to find his brothers and get closure from his mother, as family secrets and relationships gets turned over, River tries to figure out what it is he isn’t being told and who exactly his father is.
James thought it would be normal day, but when he turns up to work to find one of his agents absent and said agents grandfather missing, nothing is as it seems.
Accompanying art by @thatsgonnaleaveamark
23 September
Fear of Falling by @cillmequick
Agent Eve Carter - Peggy to almost everyone in the Service - is hanging by a thread. She might be one of the youngest senior officers in MI5, but she’s had arguably more than her fair share of bad luck since being promoted. And everyone knows you are only a finite number of fuck-ups away from Slough House. Facing a mission that could make or break her career, the last thing she needs is to be made to bring River Cartwright along for the ride. Right..?
Accompanying art by @cartwrong
