Gabriel and Sue: the same idea (Backdated)

[x-invisiblegirl.livejournal.com]

Gabriel ad Sue both break into the same house,their meeting doesn't go well.

Gabriel was only here because he didn't take kindly to being called a deviant sinner. It didn't sit well with him.

He'd seen Rodney Temain spouting his agenda on the streets of New York recently, holding signs and trudging down 6th Avenue leading a pack of hateful, homely followers. Gabriel had stood by, latte in one hand and iPhone in the other, taking in the show, more amused than anything else. And then Rodney had turned toward the crowd, his lips curled in a sneer and locked eyes with Gabriel. "Mutant sinners are among us," he had spat out before making eye contact with the other onlookers who'd gathered. "Deviants." Then he'd moved on, leaving a bewildered Gabriel standing on the street.

That made the man a prime candidate for Cohuelo justice, which is why Gabriel was standing in the foyer of the man's {brownstone?}, looking for something valuable enough to pawn but small enough that it wouldn't be too missed. He'd taken Laurie's advice that he find other outlets for his feelings to heart, and he'd started stealing again. Everyone had their vices, after all, and at least this one required some skill.

Although his current job was proving to be a cinch. Breezing through an open window (and who left windows open in the winter) was a piece of cake. For a man so hell-bent on antagonizing mutants with powers, {name of guy} had astonishingly lax security.

Slowly, slowly Sue let the key she had formed expand in the lock filling the keyhole and depressing the tumblers, it was a clever touch she'd have to remember  she realized as she pulled open the now unlocked door and stared into the study. Using a simple mechanical lock as a last resort after the hi-tech security system she'd already disabled would have thrown off most thieves. She would have been in trouble herself if she hadn't been able to create a key out of thin air, now there was just the old fashioned study to search. "Now, if I were a piece of secret computer data, where would I hide?" she asked rhetorically. as she approached the desk in the center of the room.

He'd jumped at the sound of the door, but now Gabriel was hiding around a corner, where he had powered up and retreated. When he saw the thief, his eyes widened. No mistaking it: Older or not, this was Sue Storm. By this point, seeing doppelgangers had become so commonplace he wasn't questioning it. And there was no doubt in his mind about this one: They'd fought zombies and Nazis together. He knew those eyes.

Gabriel couldn't wrap his head around why a Storm would turn to a life of crime (maybe she wasn't a science heiress or whatever in this world), but still, he knew one thing: He wasn't letting her blow this one. And so, he whooshed in front of her, seeming to materialize out of nowhere. "This is my job," he whispered, his arms crossed. "Time to get on your way."

It wasn't often in life that you literally jumped out of your skin, in fact it was a scientific impossibility, but Sue came close. All of a sudden this man just appeared next to her, it was enough to give someone a heart attack. Still if there was one thing she know she wasn't about to be driven off by another 'ghost'. "I was here first, and you know what they say, the early bird catches the worm," she shot back in a whisper.

"You weren't here first," Gabriel pointed out, "and if you weren't perceptive enough to realize that, you probably shouldn't be here." He gave her a once-over. It was an older Sue, one who appeared to be taking better care of herself. "What the hell does someone like you even take?

"I was here before you," Sue replied spinning around to poke the younger man in the chest, "unless you've been here watching me all this time." Which he couldn't have been, she should have seen him...although she could turn invisible...the blonde gave the Latino a odd look. "And what do you mean by 'someone like me'?"

"Oh, don't give me that." Gabriel rolled his eyes, but his heart was pounding. Maybe he'd come dangerously close to accidentally blowing the boundaries of this new universe. He figured he'd get out of this the only way he could. "Not really interested in your sad little white girl story." He turned his back on her in search of a nice tchotchke he could swipe before speeding out of here. "Room full of books," he muttered. "Wonderful."

"What were you expecting, gold bars?" Sue asked sarcastically, "this is a study." she told Gabriel archly as she sat down at the computer. The blonde wouldn't admit it but the appearance of the latino had thrown her badly, she kept shooting glances at him to make sure he was still there and not a fragment of her imagination.

"Well, excuse me." At the moment, he thought maybe he preferred the version of Sue that perished. "Not all of us grew up in houses with studies." With her back turned, he darted toward an antique-looking cabinet in the corner. Once he was closer, he could tell the cabinet was fake, which made him grin. Then, he turned to look at her, trying to look as casual as possible. "What're you looking for, anyway? Some thief."

"Oh you know, what normally makes the world go around, information what else?" the blonde replied shooting a glance up at Gabriel as she settled herself down in front of the computer, the newly lit screen casting a shadow across her face. "A good thief always knows what they want before they go in, too many shiny distractions otherwise," she noted picking up a bauble from the desk surface to illustrate her point.

"Oh, please. I'm adaptable." He flipped open what he thought was a jewelry box to see an antique-looking coin he assumed would be expensive. That'd do. He grabbed another one like it and put both in his pockets. "Like, I'm adapting to how boring this conversation is by leaving."

"Cya," the blonde looked up from the computer screen, "It was fun meeting you." she said as she gave Gabriel a level look, he may have managed to sneak up on her as he came in but there was no way she was gonna be taken by surprise in the same way as he left.

"Likewise," Gabriel said dryly, because it was anything but. He moved toward the door, then glimpsed back at her typing away. He hesitated. "Hey." So many of their old friends had resurfaced at the mansion in recent years, and he assumed she'd be next. "When you get in trouble – and you will," he added, the haughty disdain all too evident, "because you're not good at this. When you do," he ripped a sheet of paper out of the computer's printer and grabbed a nearby pen, "give me a call." He scrawled his phone number down for her. "I'm pretty good at escape routes."