New Renaissance Man: Strange Connections

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Set before this log. Scott goes into the city to see Doug and find out which particular rogue he's come across.


It was strange that after all this time, this was his very first visit to the brownstone. "Doug?" Scott asked, looking in the open door somewhat curiously. A faint smile tugged at his lips as he sized up what was unmistakably Doug's workspace. No suprises here, definitely...

Doug grappled for a moment over how to address Scott, but finally decided that he might have outgrown calling him 'Mr. Summers'. "Scott!" he said cheerfully, sweeping a few papers off his desk and repositioning a few of his swing-mounted monitors. His workspace was starting to look more and more like it belonged to either Aleph from Global Frequency, or DC Comics' Oracle. "How've you been?"

Scott's smile grew, turned crooked, but there was a spark of good humor in his real eye. "Tolerable, all things considered," he said, coming in. "It's been a long few weeks. You?"

Doug snorted. "Long doesn't even begin to cover it," he replied with a wry smile. "But with Amanda back, I guess tolerable's not a bad word." He'd probably have to be seeing Sofia regarding his feelings on the mission, but he could live with that. Shaking his head, he changed the subject. "So yeah, I was trolling around for information on the usual suspects, and one of them popped up in Cairo. My source there passed me some airport security footage. Take a look for yourself." He cued up the footage and sat back.

Scott sat down and leaned towards the screen to get a closer look at the black-and-white footage - and stared, the color draining all at once from his face. Not because one of the men was Robert Haverford -although a part of his brain filed that away as 'odd, damned odd, must investigate further'.

But because the other was Daniel Lyman.

Doug didn't know Robert Haverford from a hole in the ground, but he was entirely too aware of the horrible things Lyman had done, particularly to Scott. Which was why Lyman was one of the 'usual suspects' that he kept an eye out for, along with other people with connections to Weapon X, Mistra, and other organizations that students and staff from Xavier's had had bad runins with. "He's normally pretty good at covering his tracks," he said, mistaking Scott's reaction for simply one at Lyman's appearance. "But sooner or later people tend to get sloppy. And that's when people like me find out about it."

"I see." The words came out in a curiously natural sort of tone. Serious, but calm. There was a shield sliding over his link with Jean, seemingly of its own accord. "I suppose I shouldn't have assumed he was still in government custody. The man with him..." He stopped, cleared his throat, leaning back in his chair. "Robert Haverford. Jean and I met him not long ago - he's a philanthropist, or so he said."

"Dude. Wait, what?" Doug asked. "You know this guy?" he continued, pointing at the other gentleman. "That makes things...more confusing. What does a philanthropist want to do with the former second in command of Weapon X?" He shook his head. "Probably nothing good." He brought up a long set of records on the screen. "And he was in government custody until recently. Turned state's evidence on his former boss' antics, and got put into Witness Protection somewhere in New England as part of the deal. I'm guessing he got bored or something."

Lyman had been living a new life. Had gotten off scot-free, because he'd been willing to spill what he knew. How wonderfully ironic. Scott's expression stayed mild, considering, although the color didn't really come back to his face. "Do you have anything else on their movements?" he asked. "It's... well, I think it might be good to know what they're doing. All things considered."

"I had a feeling you'd ask," Doug told Scott with a dry chuckle. He tapped a few keys, and a list of flights showed on another screen. "These are the flights the two of them have been taking. Like I said, I think they must not be aware people are watching them, because they're not going to any great length to hide their tracks. Just normal institutional paranoia. Which isn't enough to stop me..."

"In case I haven't mentioned lately my deep appreciation for your aversion to the traditional boundaries of controlled information..." The attempt at banter fell a little short, but Scott summoned up a very slight smile. "Could I get hard copies, to take back to the mansion?"

A sheaf of paper inside a binder was slid across the desk. "It even has a professional-looking clear cover," Doug joked weakly. He had no idea how Scott managed to take these sort of things so impassively. If he'd been in Scott's place, he probably would have been...well, freaking out somewhere along the lines of when he'd taken the gun away from the flunky in Candra's estate.

"Thank you." Scott took the binder, pulling it from the desk into his lap. Made a good shield for the fact that his hands weren't quite steady. "Could I get you to see what else you could dig up? It's not high-priority, but... I'd consider it a personal favor." He swallowed, then went on, his voice even calmer. "Our last encounter with Haverford was... odd. I'd like to know what interests he and Lyman have in common."

"I can make it a priority, Scott," Doug said gently. "Matter of fact, this guy worked for one of the more despicable agencies out there, so it wasn't like I didn't already pay attention to trying to find out what he's up to."

"True. And I appreciate it already, don't get me wrong." Scott forced himself to smile again. "I should probably get back, talk to all the relevant people..."

Doug nodded. "I'll keep you updated, as soon as I get anything else."