Kevin Sydney (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xp_changeling) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
xp_logs2018-11-18 08:02 pm
xp_changeling) wrote in xp_logs2018-11-18 08:02 pm
Morningstar - Old Man Sydney
Gabe and Miles collect a suddenly old Kevin Sydney.
The vibration of Gabriel's phone startled its owner. With one hand on a few French fries whose ketchup was starting to slide perilously toward Gabriel's fingers, he reached into his pocket to pull it out. His fingers moved quickly as he unlocked it and scanned the screen. "Puta mierda," he muttered before tossing the fries in his mouth. A drop of ketchup splashed on his jeans.
"Fuck," he grunted, reaching for a napkin but never quite looking up from his phone. It was just like Kevin to disappear, to tell Gabriel he was hanging up his hat for good, and then, after weeks if not months of silence, to out of the blue put out an SOS.
It was either a very real cry for help or a trap. But Gabriel didn't think Sydney would be the bait for a trap, and if he was, then he really did need Gabriel's help, which was honestly just—
"Well, shit," Gabriel finally looked up at his lunch companion. The ketchup stain went ignored. "Don't hate me, but we're gonna need to get a refund on those movie tickets. Something more interesting just came up."
Miles cocked his head to the side, eyebrow raised. They finally got a chance to hang out outside the mansion, no demon dimensions or end-of-the-world crises, but now this. "Interesting how? Everything okay?"
“Not entirely sure,” Gabriel admitted. He passed his phone to Miles. “Kevin’s not usually one to ask for help. Especially when he must suspect how annoyed I am by him.” Gabriel grabbed his soda and took a sip. “Did I mention I tracked him down a while back? Probably not.” He stood. “Come on.”
"No, because I have no idea who that is." Miles stuffed the rest of his fries in his mouth and grabbed his soda cup before getting up to follow. "Wait, is that that old guy who's always in nice suits? He's with you and the sp . . . the Snow Valley, right? He in trouble? I . . ." He glanced around and lowered his voice to avoid being overheard. "I don't have my suit or my webs with me."
“Good.” Gabriel snagged a stack of napkins. “You’re never always going to be fully prepared for every situation. And you need to be able to think on your feet and improvise.”
He paused. “God,” he grimaced, unable to help but sound a little disgusted. “Now he’s got me talking like him.”
He pulled the keys to Wade’s car out of his pocket. “This isn’t That Guy business anyway,” he said, continuing to follow whatever pedantic trail he’d started down earlier. “At least, I don’t think it is. We’ll figure it out.”
"I'm nothing if not adaptable." Still, though, Miles made a mental note to talk to Peter about designing more portable web-shooters. "You said you tracked him down. Is he missing? Or, was he missing, I guess, if you'd found him and now he's texting you."
"Not missing exactly." Gabriel scooped his phone off the table and started tapping again. "Sometimes people just go off the grid. Happens." He shrugged. "Sometimes people want to disappear. I've done it before. Lord knows I'll do it again."
[On my way ASAP. Better hope this is real.]
"We should jet. Pee before you leave."
"I'm good. No time if your friend's in danger, anyway." He took his trash to the garbage bin and headed out of the burger joint. "Where're we going?"
***
It was fortunate that Kevin had switched on his phone's locator for Gabe, as the man appeared to be on the move as they closed in on his location. The XF specific phones had a special suite of apps that had been developed with them in mind, hiding as other innocuous apps which allowed them all kinds of special features. The crash button was one of those; an alert that didn't show up on the user's phone but let XF in general or specific track them any way possible, including last transmitted location. By the time they reached the side street in Alphabet City that his phone led them to, the man was no where to be seen. But two large men were in the process of violently beating an old man up against a brick wall.
Gabriel always felt antsy about moving slow, but he felt that even by a normal person's standards, it had taken him and Miles too long to get here. And the feeling was confirmed when they arrived to see some octogenarian getting the shit beat out of him.
"Don't know where the fuck Sydney is," Gabriel whispered to Miles, "but this sure as shit ain't right. Shock and awe? I'll take the one on the right."
Miles nodded before vanishing with his camo mode. Maybe there was no need for such theatrics to stop an assault, but people brazen enough to beat the snot out of a viejo needed the fear of Jesus put into them. And a good way to do that was for one of the assailants to be lifted into the air by an invisible force and literally thrown into the trash where he belonged.
Gabriel nodded at Miles's disappearance, then eyed the men. The one he'd picked as his target, a bald man whose upper body gains were all too clear, had a look on his face that led Gabriel's face to twist in disgust. It was almost a smirk, as if he were getting some kind of mirth from committing an obscene act of elder abuse.
It surprised Gabriel how mad this made him, and so he did the only thing he could think to do, using his powers to speed up and dive at the man, tackling him to the ground.
The aggressor's smile widened ever-so-slightly just before Gabriel made impact at his waist. The bald man let out a sudden groan as the wind was knocked out of him, and he fell to the ground, with Gabriel atop him.
"Hey, you okay?" Miles flickered back into sight and slowly approached the old man. He knelt down and extended a hand, and nearly recoiled when he saw how worked over the man was. A man that age was lucky to survive such brutality. Miles almost wanted to go back to the fiend in the trash and return every blow. But he needed to get this guy to help first. "Gabo, we gotta call 911. Gabo. ¡Gabriel!"
"Yeah?" Gabriel grunted as he tried to keep his target pinned to the ground. "Then fucking do that, kid." The bald man, apparently more resilient than most, used every ounce of his upper body strength to push Gabriel off of him. Still, the young mutant had the advantage of speed, and he was able to dodge the next punch. "Kinda busy here." He jammed the hell of his hand into the man's solar plexus before he could get off the ground. "Not super strong, remember?"
"Just . . . hold on one sec, 'kay?" Miles asked the unresponsive man, before turning his attention to Gabriel and his struggling opponent. He grabbed the man's wrist before he could swing another punch, and his fingers sparked. A small bolt of green lightning trickled down the man's arm, and Miles started a mental countdown. "Get off him," he told Gabriel. "I dunno if my blasts travel between bodies. Should probably look into that." And as soon as Gabriel broke contact, the venom blast struck, the electricity surging through the man's contorting body. "Now. Ambulance?"
"Forget the ambulance. There isn't time." The old man had pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. However, the moment he looked up, despite the extra fifty years and one side of his face bruised and swollen, that it was Kevin. He wiped away blood from the gash opened over his eye and gave them a slightly sinister half-smile. "Pretty, isn't it?"
Of course. Gabriel had the decency to look a little concerned as a snort involuntarily escaped him. “You have got to be kidding me,” he said, because he needed to say something, and there’s was no easy way for him to distill everything he was feeling.
“Glad you’re alive,” he added, sounding more callous than he usually dared in front of Miles. It wasn’t as if he didn’t mean it. But the radio silence had irritated the shit out of him, and he wasn’t slick enough to hide it. “But what the hell happened to you?”
"Long story. Short answer is that Worthington managed to get himself enthralled by a sex demon, tried to kill me, and if we don't act quick, that hellbitch is going to use him to go after everyone who was dumb enough to care about the son of a bitch next." He groaned as he forced himself away from the wall, holding his torso. At least two broken ribs, maybe some internal bleeding. If his powers didn't kick in reasonably soon, he was going to end up in a sick bed in an old folk's home. He had to admit, it would be an ironically appropriate end for the night.
"You're... I don't know who you are, kid, sorry. Give an old man an hand to the car."
The revelations of the last 15 seconds were a lot for Miles to process. It was going to take him some time. So he poked the fallen thug to deliver another venom blast — just for good measure — before returning to the old man to gently guide him to the car. The old man who apparently was the super spy they were looking for. Not quite what he expected. "No parece un espía," he said over his shoulder to Gabriel. "Something's wrong with Warren? I mean, more than normal wrong for him."
“God," Gabriel muttered under his breath, "can you even tell?”
"The part where she was fucking the life force out of him was a tell. And while my father would have told you all women have that power... why am I talking to you about women. Christ, I think the blood loss is getting me." He shook his head painfully. "If it was just him, I wouldn't care, but there are others who are going to pay for it. Hardy, Dane, maybe Doc Grey... hell, even you-" He pointed at Miles, a little confused. "I still don't know your name. Didn't you used to work for him? You're probably on the list."
"Miles. And yeah, I did. He also pays for my college. Except this semester. Says he forgot. I almost got kicked out until Jolene fixed it all. But, wait. How exactly are his friends in danger 'cuz he's having sex with a demon lady? Bobbi's the only one who should be worried about syphilis from a succubus. And who were those guys? I have a lot of questions."
"That's why we need to get back to the mansion. There's some people I need to talk to and then, I promise, I'll lay out everything I know."Kevin said as he sagged into the seat. "But I need at least a few minutes to adjust to being a beat up old man before I do anything else. Gabe, you in? I mean, I know Worthington hates both of us. You're likely off the hook for any of this."
"Oh," Gabriel said flatly as he slid into the driver's seat. Kevin was bleeding on Wade's leather seats, but it's not like the car hadn't seen it before. "Now he suddenly wants my help again. Twice in one day, even." It came out colder than expected; he hadn't realized he was this annoyed.
Still, he sighed. "Sure," he finally said as he stuck the keys in the ignition. "Why not? Let's get the band back together. Who could resist the opportunity to help Warren?"
The frostiness in Gabriel's tone made Miles shiver. "Brr. Hey, maybe we can hold off on whatever it is you're mad about? A man's life is in danger," he scolded. "You don't have to like him, but that's no reason to let . . . whatever it is a sex demon does happen to him. What do sex demons do, anyway? Besides sex."
"They tear out your soul and, assuming the bitch wasn't lying, use it to corrupt and destroy the people who cared about you." More likely three ribs, maybe four, he thought as he struggled to catch his breath.
"Well, should be short work for her." Gabriel said before he could stop himself. "Sorry, sorry," he winced apologetically. "Everyone buckle up." He looked at Kevin. "I drive fast. If you're about to bleed out, be sure to tell me."
The vibration of Gabriel's phone startled its owner. With one hand on a few French fries whose ketchup was starting to slide perilously toward Gabriel's fingers, he reached into his pocket to pull it out. His fingers moved quickly as he unlocked it and scanned the screen. "Puta mierda," he muttered before tossing the fries in his mouth. A drop of ketchup splashed on his jeans.
"Fuck," he grunted, reaching for a napkin but never quite looking up from his phone. It was just like Kevin to disappear, to tell Gabriel he was hanging up his hat for good, and then, after weeks if not months of silence, to out of the blue put out an SOS.
It was either a very real cry for help or a trap. But Gabriel didn't think Sydney would be the bait for a trap, and if he was, then he really did need Gabriel's help, which was honestly just—
"Well, shit," Gabriel finally looked up at his lunch companion. The ketchup stain went ignored. "Don't hate me, but we're gonna need to get a refund on those movie tickets. Something more interesting just came up."
Miles cocked his head to the side, eyebrow raised. They finally got a chance to hang out outside the mansion, no demon dimensions or end-of-the-world crises, but now this. "Interesting how? Everything okay?"
“Not entirely sure,” Gabriel admitted. He passed his phone to Miles. “Kevin’s not usually one to ask for help. Especially when he must suspect how annoyed I am by him.” Gabriel grabbed his soda and took a sip. “Did I mention I tracked him down a while back? Probably not.” He stood. “Come on.”
"No, because I have no idea who that is." Miles stuffed the rest of his fries in his mouth and grabbed his soda cup before getting up to follow. "Wait, is that that old guy who's always in nice suits? He's with you and the sp . . . the Snow Valley, right? He in trouble? I . . ." He glanced around and lowered his voice to avoid being overheard. "I don't have my suit or my webs with me."
“Good.” Gabriel snagged a stack of napkins. “You’re never always going to be fully prepared for every situation. And you need to be able to think on your feet and improvise.”
He paused. “God,” he grimaced, unable to help but sound a little disgusted. “Now he’s got me talking like him.”
He pulled the keys to Wade’s car out of his pocket. “This isn’t That Guy business anyway,” he said, continuing to follow whatever pedantic trail he’d started down earlier. “At least, I don’t think it is. We’ll figure it out.”
"I'm nothing if not adaptable." Still, though, Miles made a mental note to talk to Peter about designing more portable web-shooters. "You said you tracked him down. Is he missing? Or, was he missing, I guess, if you'd found him and now he's texting you."
"Not missing exactly." Gabriel scooped his phone off the table and started tapping again. "Sometimes people just go off the grid. Happens." He shrugged. "Sometimes people want to disappear. I've done it before. Lord knows I'll do it again."
[On my way ASAP. Better hope this is real.]
"We should jet. Pee before you leave."
"I'm good. No time if your friend's in danger, anyway." He took his trash to the garbage bin and headed out of the burger joint. "Where're we going?"
***
It was fortunate that Kevin had switched on his phone's locator for Gabe, as the man appeared to be on the move as they closed in on his location. The XF specific phones had a special suite of apps that had been developed with them in mind, hiding as other innocuous apps which allowed them all kinds of special features. The crash button was one of those; an alert that didn't show up on the user's phone but let XF in general or specific track them any way possible, including last transmitted location. By the time they reached the side street in Alphabet City that his phone led them to, the man was no where to be seen. But two large men were in the process of violently beating an old man up against a brick wall.
Gabriel always felt antsy about moving slow, but he felt that even by a normal person's standards, it had taken him and Miles too long to get here. And the feeling was confirmed when they arrived to see some octogenarian getting the shit beat out of him.
"Don't know where the fuck Sydney is," Gabriel whispered to Miles, "but this sure as shit ain't right. Shock and awe? I'll take the one on the right."
Miles nodded before vanishing with his camo mode. Maybe there was no need for such theatrics to stop an assault, but people brazen enough to beat the snot out of a viejo needed the fear of Jesus put into them. And a good way to do that was for one of the assailants to be lifted into the air by an invisible force and literally thrown into the trash where he belonged.
Gabriel nodded at Miles's disappearance, then eyed the men. The one he'd picked as his target, a bald man whose upper body gains were all too clear, had a look on his face that led Gabriel's face to twist in disgust. It was almost a smirk, as if he were getting some kind of mirth from committing an obscene act of elder abuse.
It surprised Gabriel how mad this made him, and so he did the only thing he could think to do, using his powers to speed up and dive at the man, tackling him to the ground.
The aggressor's smile widened ever-so-slightly just before Gabriel made impact at his waist. The bald man let out a sudden groan as the wind was knocked out of him, and he fell to the ground, with Gabriel atop him.
"Hey, you okay?" Miles flickered back into sight and slowly approached the old man. He knelt down and extended a hand, and nearly recoiled when he saw how worked over the man was. A man that age was lucky to survive such brutality. Miles almost wanted to go back to the fiend in the trash and return every blow. But he needed to get this guy to help first. "Gabo, we gotta call 911. Gabo. ¡Gabriel!"
"Yeah?" Gabriel grunted as he tried to keep his target pinned to the ground. "Then fucking do that, kid." The bald man, apparently more resilient than most, used every ounce of his upper body strength to push Gabriel off of him. Still, the young mutant had the advantage of speed, and he was able to dodge the next punch. "Kinda busy here." He jammed the hell of his hand into the man's solar plexus before he could get off the ground. "Not super strong, remember?"
"Just . . . hold on one sec, 'kay?" Miles asked the unresponsive man, before turning his attention to Gabriel and his struggling opponent. He grabbed the man's wrist before he could swing another punch, and his fingers sparked. A small bolt of green lightning trickled down the man's arm, and Miles started a mental countdown. "Get off him," he told Gabriel. "I dunno if my blasts travel between bodies. Should probably look into that." And as soon as Gabriel broke contact, the venom blast struck, the electricity surging through the man's contorting body. "Now. Ambulance?"
"Forget the ambulance. There isn't time." The old man had pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. However, the moment he looked up, despite the extra fifty years and one side of his face bruised and swollen, that it was Kevin. He wiped away blood from the gash opened over his eye and gave them a slightly sinister half-smile. "Pretty, isn't it?"
Of course. Gabriel had the decency to look a little concerned as a snort involuntarily escaped him. “You have got to be kidding me,” he said, because he needed to say something, and there’s was no easy way for him to distill everything he was feeling.
“Glad you’re alive,” he added, sounding more callous than he usually dared in front of Miles. It wasn’t as if he didn’t mean it. But the radio silence had irritated the shit out of him, and he wasn’t slick enough to hide it. “But what the hell happened to you?”
"Long story. Short answer is that Worthington managed to get himself enthralled by a sex demon, tried to kill me, and if we don't act quick, that hellbitch is going to use him to go after everyone who was dumb enough to care about the son of a bitch next." He groaned as he forced himself away from the wall, holding his torso. At least two broken ribs, maybe some internal bleeding. If his powers didn't kick in reasonably soon, he was going to end up in a sick bed in an old folk's home. He had to admit, it would be an ironically appropriate end for the night.
"You're... I don't know who you are, kid, sorry. Give an old man an hand to the car."
The revelations of the last 15 seconds were a lot for Miles to process. It was going to take him some time. So he poked the fallen thug to deliver another venom blast — just for good measure — before returning to the old man to gently guide him to the car. The old man who apparently was the super spy they were looking for. Not quite what he expected. "No parece un espía," he said over his shoulder to Gabriel. "Something's wrong with Warren? I mean, more than normal wrong for him."
“God," Gabriel muttered under his breath, "can you even tell?”
"The part where she was fucking the life force out of him was a tell. And while my father would have told you all women have that power... why am I talking to you about women. Christ, I think the blood loss is getting me." He shook his head painfully. "If it was just him, I wouldn't care, but there are others who are going to pay for it. Hardy, Dane, maybe Doc Grey... hell, even you-" He pointed at Miles, a little confused. "I still don't know your name. Didn't you used to work for him? You're probably on the list."
"Miles. And yeah, I did. He also pays for my college. Except this semester. Says he forgot. I almost got kicked out until Jolene fixed it all. But, wait. How exactly are his friends in danger 'cuz he's having sex with a demon lady? Bobbi's the only one who should be worried about syphilis from a succubus. And who were those guys? I have a lot of questions."
"That's why we need to get back to the mansion. There's some people I need to talk to and then, I promise, I'll lay out everything I know."Kevin said as he sagged into the seat. "But I need at least a few minutes to adjust to being a beat up old man before I do anything else. Gabe, you in? I mean, I know Worthington hates both of us. You're likely off the hook for any of this."
"Oh," Gabriel said flatly as he slid into the driver's seat. Kevin was bleeding on Wade's leather seats, but it's not like the car hadn't seen it before. "Now he suddenly wants my help again. Twice in one day, even." It came out colder than expected; he hadn't realized he was this annoyed.
Still, he sighed. "Sure," he finally said as he stuck the keys in the ignition. "Why not? Let's get the band back together. Who could resist the opportunity to help Warren?"
The frostiness in Gabriel's tone made Miles shiver. "Brr. Hey, maybe we can hold off on whatever it is you're mad about? A man's life is in danger," he scolded. "You don't have to like him, but that's no reason to let . . . whatever it is a sex demon does happen to him. What do sex demons do, anyway? Besides sex."
"They tear out your soul and, assuming the bitch wasn't lying, use it to corrupt and destroy the people who cared about you." More likely three ribs, maybe four, he thought as he struggled to catch his breath.
"Well, should be short work for her." Gabriel said before he could stop himself. "Sorry, sorry," he winced apologetically. "Everyone buckle up." He looked at Kevin. "I drive fast. If you're about to bleed out, be sure to tell me."