torchwoodinstitute | (no subject)

"Nope." Gabriel wasn't going to pull punches, there. "I'm good with faces, and I've never met you before. It's possible you two got into a branch of realities where you don't exist. Huh, I wonder what the ones without me are like." They probably involved a lot of happier people. Oh, well.

Luke was looking better, even while looking like a drowned rat. That was good- Gabriel could take the heat, but that didn't mean it was pleasant to have your insides broiled. "So what's your name, kid? I never caught it.

"I never gave it," Luke pointed out, not playing that game. "It doesn't matter who I am if I don't even exist here right? Soon as you guys get some food into Sy, we're as good as gone anyway."

He had no idea that Jack had just about as good as offered Sylar a place to stay here. And he had absolutely no way of knowing that he himself would not be offered the same.

"So you're one of them now? Talk about selling out, dude. Do they feed you files too so you don't feel the need to go out and crack skulls?"

Well, he gave Luke the opportunity. From now on he was 'kid', or any increasingly embarrassing nickname he could come up with.

The accusation got a laugh from him. "Oh, you guys got caught by Primatech, huh? I suppose you would, you don't seem like you'd be all that subtle. Or maybe you went after Petrellis. That's pretty much an instant trip there."

He looked off into the distance as he thought about the rest of it. It had been a long road, getting to here. And seeing someone so like how he used to be was a big reminder. "This isn't Primatech. But you can call it selling out, if you want. I do make a lot of money. Not quite sure what you mean by 'one of them' though. This whole place is made up of misfits."

Fucking Petrellis. Fucking Peter. They should have killed him when they had the chance. Luke grit his teeth and stepped out from under the spray. He was going to leave footprint shaped puddles for a long while but he didn't complain. Discomfort was never one of his concerns. "Yeah. It was one of the Petrellis. The little one. Probably shouldn't have brought him to see Suresh." It's not like confessing did anything to anyone.

Luke even looked just a little proud of himself when he mentioned that name. Killing the doctor had been so good--

"I just don't get you. You can have anything. Did you stop having fun with it? Was it Suresh's kid? Fuck. That's it isn't it? And he's doing it again-- God damn it. Listen. Great talk. I gotta run."

Yeah, no. They weren't done talking yet. He held out his hand, palm down, and moved it down in the air. His telekinesis glued Luke to the floor, and propped him up from any tipping over due to his momentum.

"I found out I was going to go nuclear in Manhattan," he replied. "If you keep going the way you have, Sylar might, too. Hell, the Company might be planning that. I'll never understand what's going through Angela's head." What a scary woman she was.

"But yeah, eventually it's going to get boring for Sylar, because we kill for reasons, not just for fun. That's not how you operate, though, is it? You think he's going to kill you when he figures that out?"

Struggling was pointless and so Luke sort of hung there, leaning against nothing. He watched the water drip from his hair and chuckled. "That's pretty cool how you can do that." Whatever the grown up Sylar was attempting to prove, and whoever Angela was, Luke didn't know. And he wasn't going to comment either.

Mohinder Suresh had to die before Sylar became something he wasn't. That Luke knew for certain.

"I think he'll kill me when he stops needing me or that voice in his head demands to know how what I can do works." That thought made him laugh too. "Fuck. He doesn't need me anymore anyway. Bennet just hands Suresh's son folders with scans or some shit and they go off on fucking play dates for a few hours and bam! No need to cut people open when you can fucking do it virtually."

God. That pissed him off.

"I mean, whatever man. It is what it is. He'll never forget me anyway." His initials were burned into Sylar's skin. "Why? Is that thing in your brain getting itchy now because of me?"

"Not for the reasons you're thinking, no." It was as much as he was willing to admit. It didn't take a genius to see that Luke intended to go murder Mohinder, and since the teenage version wasn't available...

Let's just say this line of logic was making it really hard to care about this kid continuing to breathe. But being right on the heels of another situation that put Mohinder in danger and not handling that well, he had to do the right thing here.

Maybe he could bend the rules a bit, though.

"So you're waiting to get discarded, then, now that you've outgrown your usefulness. Bet it stings a bit to know he didn't need you to get started. In fact, I got a lot further without you." His mouth pulled tight into a line, imitating a smile. "Mohinder was the only person who ever brought me down, tenacious as he is." Not entirely true, but Eden and the Haitian had to work together on that one. It was close enough. "Chandra Suresh is dead, isn't he? Who killed him?"

Gabriel was wrong on two counts, but he wasn't the psychopath that Luke was and he probably couldn't even fathom the way Luke thought. It wasn't human. Part of his brain had turned off where emotional caring was suppose to go. He played at it to keep Sylar, he gave into him physically because it kept his obsession close, even when it grossed him out to do the things he did. Sylar was important. Luke was not.

So no. It didn't bother him to know that Gabriel had gotten further without him. "Listen. I didn't even want him. He puppy dogged after me for weeks. It was easier to just join forces I guess. And give us a fucking break. We're seventeen dude. You probably had your own bank account to go wherever the fuck you wanted tracking people with powers down. We have fucking curfews. I bet if you did know me when we were older, and didn't kill me outright, you would have gotten further still. And you know what?" He actually laughed. "Shit man, if you did kill me anyway, that would still put you further up on the tally!"

So good try there.

The second wrong thought was just that, a thought. He could not answer it. However, he had absolutely no intention of killing this Mohinder here. What the fuck did it matter to him? Suresh back at home? He was the danger. He'd be as good as boiled soon as they got in range.

"Anyway? Yeah. The doctor is dead. I'll take credit for the kill there but Bennet's the one that wanted me to do it. Fuck if I know why. That old dude was a pervert though. He practically came whenever Sy showed him any of his abilities."

Huh, interesting. This kid really wasn't quick to a temper. But something had set him off. Gabriel would find it.

He chuckled at Luke's assessment of the 'old dude', rolling his eyes. "Yeah, he was not my favorite person in the world, either. The leading expert on special abilities in the world, and he couldn't tell I had one." He shook his head. Chandra was so quick to throw away everything that wasn't perfect. It sort of made sense that he didn't figure out Gabriel's ability to fix things, even when that was the very first thing he'd done for Chandra.

He never got to talk about any of this with Mohinder, for exceedingly obvious reasons. It was kind of nice to complain a bit. "But if you killed Chandra, that means that you're not going to get your death by Sylar's hands," he noted. "Mohinder's going to kill you first. Sorry, kid."

"A scrawny sixteen year old is gonna kill me? How?" No no. Tell him. Please do. The thought was laughable. "He still thinks Sylar is this sweet thing that could never willingly hurt anyone."

There was a sick smile on his lips as he thought about that, still hanging there in a weird angle between the floor and the nothingness. Sylar could let him fall and he would probably catch himself but it still might be just a little painful if he landed on his face. Oh well.

"But hey. If he does, he does. And then he can neuter Sylar like he's done to you."

He wasn't going to bother explaining it. There was no way he could understand that Mohinder was passionate in all areas, and that included mourning and avenging his father. Let Luke find that one out on his own.

The statement about him being 'neutered' made him laugh. If it had been the early stages of his reform, he might've been irked by it, but he'd been happy for too long by now. It was clearly not a state that Luke was familiar with. "Wow, you really don't have any use for emotions at all, do ya, kiddo? Maybe you're not even capable of understanding. In that case, I can only feel bad for you."

He did let go of his hold then, entirely. If Luke fell, then whatever. "You want some dry clothes?"

Luke wasn't ready for it and so he stumbled, but he didn't fall. The door was right there and be caught himself. "We can feel sorry for each other then," Luke said as he straightened up and then wrung out his clothing.

The smile he gave Gabriel was fake. It was well practiced but it was still fake. Nothing hit his eyes. It rarely did.

"Now dry clothes? Yeah. That'd be good. And I need to get back to Sy." Luke was obviously fixated. He didn't think Sylar needed him and maybe Luke couldn't feel anything real for Sylar, but Luke did need Sylar. Being away from him hurt.

Edited 2016-01-29 22:37 (UTC)

"In that case, just head right across the hall." The room across the hall was something like a dorm room, with a desk and a bed and a drawer that had a number of different sizes of a few different outfits.

He held the door open for Luke, and waited out in the hall. It gave him time to type in a message to Jack on his wrist strap: Heat sink is secure. Bring him back to kitchen? y/n?

It was very possible it wouldn't get through to Jack in time, due to the time dilation issues. But if it did, he thought he'd give the Captain a heads-up on this.

The text actually came back before Gabriel could send his. Bad idea. I want to talk to him in private. Lock him up somewhere safe. Damn time dilation.

But that could be a bad idea too. Jack wasn't going to like what he found. Sylar and Luke might not be reunited if that was the case. Gabriel of all people knew how brutal Jack could be. He made the tough choices. Sometimes that was honestly the only choice left to make.

Luke was dangerous. How dangerous Gabriel could only speculate.

It took the boy some time to get himself out of his wet clothing and into dry ones. That was enough time for Jack to get down to them. And probably enough time for Luke to realize something was wrong and start banging on the door.

Gabriel didn't lock the door, and instead just held it shut. At least that way, Luke would know he hadn't left. Not that he figured that really mattered. Gabriel figured he was a flawed version of Sylar, as far as Luke was concerned.

He wasn't sure how this was going to go down, but it probably wasn't going to be good. When Jack had recruited him, he was surprised that the man trusted him, but he'd know that Gabriel cared about some things. Luke wasn't like that.

He nodded his head when Jack arrived. "You want me to come in with you?" In case Jack needed some immediate muscle, in this case.

"You are them! You turned into them exactly!" Luke was screaming, banging his hands against the door once he realized that the whole heating thing wasn't working when it came to bricks and there wasn't any CCTV to manipulate. He was going to kill them... And for what? Because of Suresh? This wasn't even their reality!

He didn't even notice how easily he had taken to that concept and how easily he believed it either.

Jack looked stoic as he glanced towards the screaming. "You know what's probably going to happen, right?" Jack was being straight with Gabriel here. "And you know I can't risk you wanting to do something else if I do what I think I'm going to have to do."

Gabriel sighed. Yeah, he knew. He had been doing a lot better with that, but he'd also been almost entirely removed from temptations. And he also really didn't like this kid. It was honestly surprising him a little.

That wasn't what he was concerned about, though. Luckily, Luke's screaming was keeping him from listening in on this conversation. "If we force Sylar to be alone, he'll never forgive us. You know how loyal I tend to be. Just- keep that in mind, okay?"

"He's too young to stay with us. Too volatile. You could take him under your wing, but I think he needs to go back. And I think he needs to back without Campbell. What Sylar's been telling Mohinder is disturbing, but his eyes--". Jack sighed. He'd killed kids before for far less, but Gabriel was right.

He pulled the Wembly officer's special out of his pocket holster and handed it to Gabriel by the butt.

"I'll be back when I can. Go and keep Mohinder company. I'm having trouble reading your younger self too. I hate it when I get too invested in my people." He dimpled in Gabriel's direction and then headed in to see Luke. He could at least lock the door behind him.

Sylar stared at the door for a long moment, holding Jack's gun. It was one of those times when he really didn't want to follow orders. And of course he really should. Concern for what was going on in that room could easily be masking the hunger underneath. He couldn't risk that getting out and rearing its ugly head again.

So he closed his eyes, heaved another sigh, and headed back upstairs. At least he was heading towards people he wanted to talk to, in this case. He didn't want to strand Sylar back in Primatech, but at least Mohinder was there, too. Hopefully they'd make it out okay.

As he neared the kitchen, his nose reminded him that he'd have some pizza too. So there was another upside. He stopped by the doorway to listen a bit before entering- how were things going over here?

In all honesty, Mohinder had no idea how it was going. He'd never been good with children and while he might have been all right if Sylar was younger, seventeen was a hard age. They'd spoken a little about school. And a little about Primatech. And a lot about the other boy that Sylar had been with.

Mostly because Mohinder didn't understand how Sylar could want a companion at this particular stage in his life. He'd always known him as a loner... Or a user.

"I suppose it's just that... I'm not sure what you see in him. You said there are other teenagers your age there, right?"

Gabriel listened for Sylar's reply. "Yeah, Mohinder and Elle. I like Mohinder. Elle's okay. But Luke understood me, before any of that." Sylar had gotten tired of referring to him as 'Campbell' and had slipped into Luke's real name a few minutes ago.

And Sylar's earnest attempt to explain was encouraging, Gabriel thought. So he stepped into the doorway and smiled. "I don't know if you're going to get this one, Mohinder. After all, you get along with just about everyone."

Mohinder looked surprised to see his fiancé and he stood up a little from the table. Why was he alone? Jack had left the room, Gabriel was meant to be with Luke-- Sometimes Mohinder was honestly just too smart for his own good.

"Where's Luke and Jack?"

Luke might scare him but no one deserved to die. He had almost killed Sylar but if he had, he'd be alone and lost right now, not completely and hopelessly in love.

"Gabriel-- Where did you leave them?" He would run if he had to.

"Mohinder..." Gabriel sighed. He held a hand up to his head, as if he were getting a headache. One had to be careful with homicidal Sylars, lest they find themselves more homicidal than usual. "Luke's about four levels down. He's resting. It took awhile to get him to cool off."

He was sure Mohinder would be on his way already, so he caught him by the arm. Leaning in towards Mohinder, speaking quietly, he looked Mohinder in the eyes and said, "He killed Chandra." He honestly wasn't sure if that would change Mohinder's mind, but it was something he should probably know.

Sylar was watching quietly, but his eyes were sharp. He clearly knew something was off.

The words were shocking to him but that Gabriel would even say them was more shocking. Mohinder pulled his arm out of his grip, pretty face turned angry and eyes with too much passion lifted in Gabriel's direction. "As did you," he spat. You. Not Sylar. "And I was still able to forgive you, and more. I have learned my lesson about revenge and I still bear the scars as proof of that sin."

He didn't mean to hurt Gabriel, but he was angry at what was being done just the same.

"He's a child, Gabriel. My god, he's a child."

Mohinder rushed off, high on his moral horse as always, to leave Gabriel and his younger self behind. A younger self that was scrutinizing everything.

Down stairs, Mohinder tried to hone in on just where Jack and Luke might be and he found them talking behind the closed door of one of the dorm rooms.

He slammed his hand against the door. "Jack Harkness, I need to speak with you this instant!"

Jack turned his grin to Luke, who was as blank as ever. "He has no ability and no power but he does have a lot of heart. Think about what I said."

Luke didn't even nod. "Bring Sylar."

And Jack laughed at that because it was so ridiculous. So single minded. "I'll let him know you're looking for him," he said and left the room, locking the door behind him, to face Mohinder.

He didn't expect to see the tears in his eyes.

Sylar knew immediately that Mohinder was morally affronted by something, but had to wait farther into their conversation before he realized what was going on. It was fascinating, how they interacted with each other, but he was only minimally focused on that.

They were doing something horrible to Luke. Something even Mohinder was upset about.

As soon as Mohinder was out the door, Sylar tried to raise a hand up to push Gabriel against the wall with telekinesis- and he found it frozen in position.

"Yeah. Sorry, kid," Sylar said, hands finally coming out of his pockets. "I've had more practice."

"Jack is killing Luke?" Gabriel asked, tension in his voice.

Gabriel looked uncomfortable. "I don't know. It was a possibility."

Sylar stared at him, hurt and rage boiling in his eyes. Gabriel cut him off before he said anything. "Sucks when its someone you care about, huh?"

The glass on the table in front of Sylar shattered, spilling the remaining ice. "Let me. See him," Sylar said carefully.

Gabriel sighed and shook his head. "All right, I'll take you part-way down, at least. But you have to do it my way." He rose his hands, palms down, and Sylar felt control clamp over his whole body.