torchwoodinstitute | (no subject)

Sylar was crying as he moved his fingers through Luke's brain, but it was hard to tell. His face was smeared all over with blood, from the last few times he'd tried to clear the tears. The front of his shirt was coated with the stuff, and parts of his jeans were splattered.

He was moving as fast as possible, having had to switch to a kneeling position to see the brain properly. He knew that people would probably be barging their way in soon, and he had to find the power before then. Luke needed to come with him, as much as possible.

He heard someone come in and the tray clatter, but it didn't matter. He was following the path through, and...there. There it was. He sucked in a deep breath as he felt it settle into his brain. And then he just kind of collapsed, leaning his head on the dead kid's shoulder as he sobbed. Luke wasn't around to feel uncomfortable about it now.

Mohinder wasn't able to understand, but when Jack got to where the Indian was, leaning against the wall with his hands on his knees, crying and trying not to vomit on his shoes, and looked through the door, he understood.

"You did right by him," Jack said, knowing that the Indian was probably never look at him the same way again. He stepped into the room and crouched by where Sylar wept bitterly against Luke's bloody shirt. "Come on." He knew Sylar could fly off the handle for a touch to his shoulder but Jack thought that he might not. "I'll take care of him. I promise. But first we have to take care of you."

Jack had been with Gabriel/Sylar for so many parts of his life, unseen, just watching. That made him the best candidate for this job, even if Sylar and Gabriel had diverged along the way because of the boy laying on the bloody mattress.

Luke had the smallest smile on his face, through the blood. That was pretty telling too.

Sylar was very ready to fly off the handle. He had thought that they'd all be appalled, and maybe Gabriel would just nod and put him in another room. And then he'd have something to rage against. But Jack's words got through to him, even if Sylar didn't want them to.

He did right by him. He'd tried. Sylar sat up and wiped at his eyes, like a three-year-old. "He wanted- wanted me to-" Ugh, his voice was too shaky. He stopped talking and just nodded. Maybe he'd be mad after he calmed down. After all, Jack had kind of forced his hand. Right now, though, he was just hurting.

Gabriel had come by after Jack, and after seeing the whole scene, he sighed and leaned against the wall in the hallway. He'd wait for Jack to take Sylar out of there, and then he'd help Mohinder, if he could.

Mohinder was just a little beyond help at the moment. He rubbed at his eyes as if trying to pinch away the tears that kept flowing. He'd heard Jack's and Sylar's exchange and...

That hurt even worse.

The boy he'd barely met, the one that had killed a version of his father and had so steadfastly tried to protect Sylar in the kitchen, who had had a flare up of his ability and rushed away from the other boy... He'd given Sylar his ability. Mohinder could not believe that such a thing was ever romantic, but he hurt for them both, for their troubled relationship.

He had no idea what would become of the teenage version of his fiance... Or even what to think of Gabriel as he stood opposite him now.

"There's always another option," he said, the words in Tamil because he could not be bothered to attempt English. "There would have been-- I can't see you right now," Mohinder actually whimpered. He was not taking this well at all.

"Come on out of the room at least, Mohinder," Gabriel said gently. He replied in English- Tamil he liked to use in safe, pleasant situations or for emergency purposes, and this was neither. "You don't have to see me or talk to me, but you should leave the room and wash your face. There's a bathroom across the hall."

Mohinder seemed so lost, and Gabriel hated to see that. He hadn't been wrong, really, but he hadn't spend as much time with Luke as he and Jack did. And, to be honest, Gabriel hadn't been happy with the conclusion he'd reached. He had hoped to be proven wrong, but Luke went out the way he'd wanted.

Because Mohinder could not find the strength to do so, he let Gabriel tend to him. He might be angry and hurting and confused at the sheer horror of what had been done to the boy still laying in that bed looking more angelic than he ever had in life, but he needed Gabriel as much as he wished to distance himself from him.

Gabriel would be allowed to wash his face and his hands. He would be allowed to lightly pat him dry. And when that was finished, he slipped his arms around his waist and just held him.

Since they had awoken together in the jungle, Mohinder had not once been able to be angry with Gabriel. And now he needed him most of all.

Gabriel was quiet and slow and gentle with his movements. If he had a blanket, he'd wrap Mohinder up with it after he helped wash Mohinder up. He might go to find one at some point. But for now, he was ready to just back off, as much as Mohinder needed, while he processed this.

He was surprised when Mohinder came closer, rather than drifting farther. Gabriel hugged him back, letting him feel the warmth in his body. He'd stay like this for as long as Mohinder needed. And if Mohinder wanted to yell at him later, or have him explain himself, he'd be happy to do that too. But for now, they could both use some time to just be there, together. Gabriel lightly rubbed Mohinder's back and closed his eyes.

Jack wasn't too far away doing roughly the same thing with Gabriel's younger self. As long as Sylar allowed Jack to help him clean up, that was what he'd do. Blood was difficult without a little assistance after all and Jack rubbed soaped up hands across Sylar's as they stood by the sink, water running.

He didn't say anything. There were no questions asked, no apologies demanded.

Jack knew what it was like to have kids and he knew what it was like to house murderers. That didn't mean that any of this was easy for him. Mohinder could heal through physical affection and understanding, but what about Sylar? Jack could attempt to find him another, less homocidal Luke when the lock lifted but he didn't think that would be a good idea.

The quiet time was very helpful for Sylar. He'd had much too much in the way of difficult conversations today. The help washing up was also appreciated- he wasn't feeling the burst of energy he usually felt with acquiring a new power. His limbs felt sluggish.

He stared at the blood and brain matter washing down the sink, breathing shallowly. "I'm not doing that again," he said, more to himself than anything. If he was going to keep killing for powers, he should've chosen to stay with Luke. No. This was special, and it was the last time.

"Good." Jack knew that Sylar hadn't needed to hear that word but he said it anyway. The sink was splashed with pink and these clothes were going to have to go. "You'll have to find a new name for yourself then. Sylar is a murderer."

But this boy didn't have to be. It might get hard to have two Gabriels but hey, Jack could call this one Junior. The thought tickled him just a little. And the boy might end up going home anyway.

"But that can be for later. You stay here and I'll get you something to wear." Not that they had a whole lot of things laying around for kids--

Sylar nodded, although he doubted you just stop being a murderer because you changed your name. It was a lot to make up for- half of his kills were people he loved. Looking at it felt like an insurmountable mountain, and he wouldn't even know where to start.

He pushed the thought away. A lot of this could be for later. He was feeling woozy and tired, and he suspected that adding two powers within a week might be a factor in that. The rest of it- well, it was obvious where that would come from.

"Anything's fine," he said, as Jack told him he'd find something to wear. The blood soaking through his shirt was getting tacky and cold, but he left it for the moment.

"Why're you being so nice to me?" he blurted out, before Jack made it out the door. "I don't even want to be nice to me right now."

Jack smiled. "I can't save everyone. I can't even find everyone that needs to be saved. I picked you. Not the you that's talking to me right now, but it's still you. I think I just chose to rescue the wrong one when I had the chance. Gabriel was already saved. Mohinder found him first." Jack ducked out of the door and went to find Sasan. Sylar was a skinny kid, but tall, and Sasan happened to wear clothing that might as well be painted on sometimes. Mohinder might have something as well but...

Jack really didn't want to interrupt whatever was going on with Mohinder and Gabriel right now. He'd already gotten them an engagement present for the surprise party and he didn't want have to return it.

It was best that they figure out for themselves what to do.

Sylar didn't know how to respond to what Jack said, so he just blinked at him, eyes widening in a vulnerable look.

And then he was left alone. He felt cold, through and through. He stretched out a shaky hand and watched as the running water in the sink began to steam from the heat.

He looked at the palm of his hand, as if it would somehow seem different. But he didn't see what he wanted. So he crossed his arms tightly and leaned up against a wall, pressing his face to the cool tile to keep his nausea down.

Sasan was back in the kitchen, hoping to sneak a piece of pizza when no one was looking. He was a little sad at being caught, but kept munching on it anyway. "Hey, how'd it go with those creepy kids?" he asked, when he saw Jack again.

"Just one creepy kid," Jack said, glancing around because he rarely saw Sasan alone. "What happened to your boyfriend?" It was suppose to deflect here. He really didn't want Sasan asking questions and he really didn't want to talk about it anyway before he requested some of Sasan's emergency clothing supply he knew the other kept laying around.

Sasan had yet to repeat an outfit since their lockdown so he was hoping there was something clean and appropriate he could get. There wasn't a whole lot of time. Someone needed to get back to Sylar. The kid couldn't be alone.

Sasan raised an eyebrow, and he could totally see your deflection there, Jack Harkness. But he let it slide because: a) Jack was looking fairly serious and he knew better than to ask for details then, and b) He sure appreciated the way that question was phrased. Maybe Campbell ended up melting into a puddle or something. Sasan didn't generally understand how these super-power things were supposed to work.

With a smile, he replied, "Oh, he had to go for another walk. You know, since the last one got interrupted. He usually starts at the top and works his way down, so he's probably up there somewhere. Why? Do you need him?"

Oh right. Wrong part of the pair to fluster with that. Jim would have been on the defensive or just looked angry and left the room. He'd hired Sasan for a reason and now he was just proving how good he was at his job. Jack cracked his neck.

"I need you. Well, some of your clothing. Something teenage you sized," Jack clarified. "Jeans and a shirt. And some socks. And maybe some underware?" Jack arched his eyebrows and grinned. Yes, he was being flirty. With blood under his fingernails. Don't pay attention to that.

Oh, clothes for the Tiny Gabriel and not for Campbell, huh? Well, that was more likely to work out at least. "I can help with that," he said, although he bapped Jack on the shoulder when he took it to underwear. "My suitcase isn't far. I'm sure we can find something for him."

He put the remains of his pizza slice down, and caught that blood under Jack's fingernails. This prompted a bit of a frown. "You'll tell me all about it once the dust settles, won't you?" Because he will be asking.

And then he was out the door, only to return within a minute or two with a full suitcase. Opening it up, he started to sort through. "Okay, no...no, no. This might work, no. Hmm, all the jeans could go, but it might be smarter to stick with the skinny jeans, that kid is a twig."

He separated out about four outfits, all coordinated and fairly dark colors, for Sasan. "Just tell him to use all of these. It feels better if you have some choices." He plopped the pile of folded clothes into Jack's hands.

"I think that depends on what happens when all of this is over," Jack said. He liked talking to Sasan and Sasan was pretty much in the know about everything here because he had to be to do his job correctly. That said, when it came to personal matters, Jack did keep mum on most subjects.

Once Sasan had returned to the kitchen, though, depositing the large stack of clothing in his hands, Jack reached forward with the jeans curled against his chest between one arm and hugged the younger man tightly.

"I'm not going to ask why you keep so many clothes here on a constant basis," Jack said and pulled back again.

He grabbed a soda from the fridge and then nodded back to Sasan.

"I think you're good for Jim. And I think you should tell him that you are. But minding my own business!" And off he went back to Sylar.

He'd been kind of waiting for the comment about the clothes. So when it came, he just smirked and said, "You think that's bad? I actually have two suitcases." It was a combination of occasional late nights and a massive overabundance of clothing.

The advice actually made Sasan blush slightly. He hadn't been expecting it, and it wasn't the usual teasing/flirting. He was smiling quietly to himself as Jack left the room.

Sylar didn't want to be in this room anymore, but he didn't want to leave either. For one brief, fleeting moment, he wanted to go back to Primatech, before he realized he wanted to go back in time. He was staring at a spot on the floor, thinking about this, when Jack came back in. His eyes immediately went to Jack, and then to the clothes. "Wow, you hit the jackpot."

"Technically you did," Jack grinned, heading to the showers to turn on the taps. This was the last place Luke had been before being locked up in that dorm room but Sylar didn't need to know that. "These are Sasan's, that guy that looks like you will in a few years. He is far too prepared. You can use whatever you want. There's soap in there. And a can of soda. I'll be right outside."

Jack reached out to take Sylar's cheek in hand, large thumb rubbing briefly against his temple. It was the smallest of gestures and though it was affectionate, Jack didn't intend it to really be so. He just wanted Sylar to be strong.

He was alone here, after all. His support system was gone. Jack was offering himself as a surrogate for now.

The touch to his cheek brought out those wide, vulnerable eyes again. That was something his mom would do sometimes, and he didn't know how to take it. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he recognized it as an offer, rather than something mocking him. Jack was trying to help.

Jack was out of the room by the time Sylar could've reacted. He saw his own face in the mirror and sighed. It was time to move forward.

He took off the bloody clothes slowly, as if he were feeling sore. He showered for a long while, spending some of his time trying to heat the water himself. It wasn't too hard, but he could tell he'd need a lot of practice before his control was as good as Luke's. He'd make sure he got there.

When he was done, his body at least felt better. He chose some black jeans with a gray shirt and a dark purple hoodie, and he opened the door to the hallway. "I made you wait," he said- not apologizing, but showing that he did notice he took awhile, at least. "So what happens now?"

That was an extremely good question and one that Jack's answer was likely not as straight forward as the boy had been hoping for. Jack set his hand on Sylar's shoulder to guide him away from this floor. He had yet to take care of the room across the hall but he would do that shortly. There were still bloody footprints visible inside but the hall itself was clean.

"Right now, we have to wait. We could be here awhile. If your ability starts to work again once you rest...then you can decide before we lift our lockdown if you want to leave or not." Jack was going to offer Sylar a place here if he wanted to be here but given the circumstances and knowing that there was a Mohinder Suresh waiting for him back home, Jack was actually going to push him to return to a place and a person he knew could help him.

"There's a lot of options once we get ourselves sorted with out hacker friend. You can stay, but it will be provisionally. You're too young to work for me. We can try to find out exactly where you came from and send you there...or we can find somewhere else for you to go."

There was, of course, a few more options, like bringing younger Mohinder here, but that might raise stakes here for the agents. They didnt need teenagers underfoot.

"For today, let's focus on dinner and then giving you a place to sleep." Jack was going to give Sylar his own bed, tucked up in the observatory. It was safe and secluded.

Getting out of that hallway and into another area really helped Sylar get a better hold of his emotions. Right now, it was more just shoving them out of the way for dealing with later, but that was all right. It wasn't the first time he'd done that.

Jack was still being nice. Maybe he felt guilty about pushing it this far. Maybe he was just a nice guy- although a nice guy wouldn't have talked a teenager into assisted suicide. Regardless of whether Sylar should be mad or not, it was nice having a hand on his shoulder, keeping him connected to something. It helped him focus.

The Captain went through the options, far more than Gabriel expected, and talked about dinner and sleep. One of those sounded excellent to Sylar. But the other... "I don't know if I can eat anything," he admitted. "'m not hungry." He'd just gotten over wanting to hurl, in fact.

With confusion in his face, he asked, "You'd really let me stay here?" He didn't figure he'd want to, once he found out the provisions. But that meant that Jack might not have just been trying to be nice when he said he did good. Did they actually trust him after that?

"I would really let you stay here if you wanted to stay here," Jack replied without any hesitation. He pointed with his free hand upward. "There's a lot of steps but the mattress is comfortable and no one will bother you."

He wasn't lying either. To get to the cubby hole, Sylar would eventually have to climb a ladder and crawl into what looked like an observation dome. Jack explained that there was a bathroom nearby and where the intercom was should Gabriel need him.

That should give Gabriel just a little bit of a sense of privacy too, knowing that Jack would not in fact be hovering and yet would be within reach.

He'd figured out by now that Sylar was a boy with a skewed and somewhat needy desire for physical affection that he likely never requested. So Jack, with his long arms and wide chest and too much heat pulled Sylar against him for another hug.

Gabriel had become like a son to him and Sylar, honestly, needed a father.

Sylar liked the look of something that needed to be climbed to be reached. He'd feel safe up there. The only time he felt safe at the Company was when he was curled up with Luke, knowing he could mess with surveillance if he wanted.

The hug caught him off guard. He was frozen for a moment, then he hugged Jack back with a sort of desperateness that Jack probably hadn't felt too often. It was hard to push all the emotions aside when someone was hugging you. And Jack was warm, something that he needed right now. Even though he had Luke's power now, he'd felt cold all the way through, ever since taking it. Jack helped fight that unpleasant feeling.

"Thanks," he murmured into Jack's shoulder, before finally letting go. His lips pulled back into the closest he'd be getting to a smile for awhile. He headed up into whatever weird little bedroom this was, figuring it would take him awhile to get to sleep. He was tired as all hell, but he didn't figure he'd be able to rest right away. Wouldn't hurt to try, though, right?