Outwitted

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Fanfiction
Title: Outwitted
Author(s): Willa Shakespeare
Date(s): 1998
Length:
Genre(s): slash
Fandom(s): Blake's 7
Relationship(s):
External Links: Online at AO3

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Outwitted is a Blake/Avon story by Willa Shakespeare.

It was published in Fire and Ice #4.

Summary

"Post Gauda Prime. Servalan is determined to force Avon to recreate the technology of the Liberator and Scorpio, and uses Blake as hostage against any rebellion by Avon. An excellent plan - except that Avon is indifferent to the fate of the hostage..."

Reactions and Reviews

Be careful if you don't like rape-love stories (where an apparent rape turns into a love affair), as she occasionally writes these (see One I'd Love, Blood Ties, or Outwitted). I don't mind these, as I'm always aware that such stories use rape as an image for loss-of-control or being forced to admit desire, but caveat lector, if necessary.[1]

OUTWITTED by Willa Shakespeare: Again, the characters are lighter and a little nicer than I see them on the screen, but not too much so; we're given a good plot (a PGP with both Blake and Avon prisoners of Servalan). There's one scene which nearly breaks my Blake Would Never Hurt Avon rule, and the ending is rather mushier than I like, but I can overlook these small faults. A brief appearance by the Scorpio crew is enjoyable (Willa does a very, very good Vila and Tarrant, as she did before in Divide and Conquer.) [2]

Is this one online? I hadn't read it before, so I'm assuming not, which is a shame as it's pretty good. Mind you, it has some stuff that I don't like - prison rape (there's too much of that in this fandom), a dismissal of GP!Blake as not the real Blake (rather than a Blake who loves Avon the most), an instance of 'oh no, I am heterosexual!' (this time it's Avon, but he gets over it really quickly, so again I wonder why we even needed that brief moment of trauma - it is quite nicely done, admittedly. I dislike it more as an example of something I'm annoyed at reading too much of, than because this version exists), and - personally I prefer my Blake slightly more active than he is in this fic, which is mostly about what Avon can do in this scenario. But - I really like the way their relationship develops, I like the way Blake's feelings are the really strong ones for a while before it's both of them, I generally like Servalan as captor stories, and I think this is a very good example of that genre. Plus - I love the ending! [3]

References