𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙'𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊! ━━━ ¹⁰
The one that got away
COLE and Shocker made it back to the hideout without a problem, thanks to Vulture interfering. Cole, also known as Argo, parked the van and got out of it, Shocker stumbled out of the interior of the van while holding his bloodied hand. Thick crimson liquid trailed down his forearm as he held his hand up, the sleeve of his denim jacket was stained by his own blood. Someone approached him and took him away, most likely to tend to his wound, leaving Cole to face Adrian Toomes' wrath.
"Idiots!" Adrian was still geared up in his Vulture suit, the menacing and razor-sharp wings unhooked themselves off his back. The furious man made his way down the platform, leaving the wings behind, he took off his helmet hastily and slammed it on the ground once he climbed down the stairs. "Idiots! Idiots!"
Cole inhaled calmly, allowing the man to act insubordinate, everybody stared at their leader with big wide eyes. "Boss?"
Amber eyes darted towards Toomes secretary, Phineas Mason, aka The Tinkerer. He held, in his hand, Adrian's phone and pointed at it, "Your wife keeps texting you." That caught Adrian's attention, he made his way towards Phineas desk. "Something about a brake light."
"What'd I tell you," he took his phone away from him, shooting The Tinkerer a judgmental look, "about looking at my phone?"
Cole rolled his eyes, never in his line of work has he encountered such unprofessional and ordinary people. Every community is fostered by a hierarchy, his crewmates are at the bottom of the chain, they shouldn't be allowed to act comfortably towards the leader. Respect must be instilled in them, they should treat Adrian Toomes as the leader he is, not as a friend or a pal. Cole hated how messy everything was, every member made the mistake of treating their crew mate as a friend or worse... like a family. Cole believed in structure and rules, he believes they foster dependability, everybody has a role to play, and they stick to it. No need for unwanted chaos.
"Sorry. You left it out." Phineas defended his nosey actions. "You know, I'm a curious person by nature. I finished designing that high-altitude vacuum seal. In case you want to, you know, go for the big one?"
Cole narrowed his eyes on him. "You're still on that?"
"We talked about this already." Adrian locked his phone and put it away in his back pocket, all while never averting his eyes from Phineas. "I told you, no. The answer's no. Forget it."
Phineas did everything but forget about it. Adrian turned around and walked up to Cole, his eyes glancing around trying to spot the third crewmate. "Where's Jackson?"
"Dead." Adrian stopped abruptly, he glanced at the Shocker whose wound was being wrapped up before his gaze returned to Cole. "He fell out of line. Did sh*t he was told not to. He faced the consequences."
Adrian felt his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach as he thought of the worst. "You killed him?"
Silence engulfed the room, everybody stared at Cole with either shock or judgmental gazes. "No."
The whole room visibly relaxed and got back to work. Adrian looked at him suspiciously as he gestured at a wounded Shocker and the huge scratches on the side of the van. "Then what happened?"
"Jackson did a demonstration of the weapons, he caught unwanted attention." Cole proceeded to explain.
Adrian huffed loudly, he turned to Shocker and yelled at him. "How many times have I told you not to fire them out in the open?"
"That's not all." Cole ran his fingers down the corners of his mouth, Adrian turned to him. "The mole. Edward White was there."
"We don't know that for sure." The Shocker added, he stood up from the high chair, hand bandaged, and he walked up to them. "Symbiotes can take on different hosts."
Cole shook his head. "How else would he have found us, huh? That's no coincidence. It had to be him."
Adrian ran a hand down his face before letting out a long and heavy sigh, the man seemed bored out with this conversation. "Who killed Jackson?"
"The symbiote," Cole answered sharply, jaw clenching. "Right when we were driving away a tendril shot out and pulled Jackson off the van, I caught him biting his head off from the rearview right before leaving the place."
The Shocker took a step forward, eyes wide with a silent point. "That's exactly why I think it wasn't Edward. Just think about it. Sure, the man gave us hell before escaping, but why would he seek us out while knowing we are hunting him down?"
"To finish the job." Cole offered. "Definitely."
"Then that would mean a vendetta." The Shocker argued, Cole shot him a look, the man didn't appreciate him discarding his theories. "He's a spy. Spies follow orders, you should know that. Why would he come back to kill us? What would he gain from that? Unless the symbiote affected him neurologically, and he isn't himself."
Adrian exhaled. "I don't like this. He's a loose end." Cole and Shocker turned to their boss. "We're gonna slow down with the expansion. Sell only to our niche." Cole nodded. "With that loose end, right now it is not convenient for us to look for new consumers."
"Copy."
Adrian turned around and started walking away, he spoke in a raised voice. "You come across that symbiote? Terminate it. We can't afford loose ends." He snapped his finger and pointed at the storage room where all their weapons were stored. "We got a weapon to tame that beast. Put it to use."
Shocker stood up straighter. "Yes, sir."
And risk losing it as a weapon? I don't think so, Cole thought. I have a better use for the symbiote.
THE PRIME-HERRERA returned home after a long night, Leo Reeves felt extremely exhausted after that night's event. Christian picked him up after he called Teagan, the youngest Prime didn't spare him a glance, Leo was starting to regret his actions. He could easily put the blame on Heathen, but he would only be fooling himself, he was the one who gave Heathen the green light. The symbiote might be psychotic, but it is very obedient.
Besides, Leo knew Teagan long enough to know she was the type of girl that holds grudges, so she needed to cool down first in order for him to talk to her. After Christian dropped Leo home with the promise that tomorrow they were all going to talk, the boy entered the apartment building and then made it inside his apartment. Despite how drained he felt, Leo's mind kept replaying that man's face, he hoped to God he was wrong, but something told him he wasn't.
"Ugh, frick." Leo sighed and lazily hit the doorframe to his room, he threw his head back. "I won't be getting any sleep unless I corroborate," Leo mumbled, he made his way to Leia's room and opened her closet. "Hello, hello."
From the top shelf, Leo drew out the family album, the teenager backed away while opening the album. He bumped into her bed and sat down, Leo set the album on his lap and left through it, sky-blue eyes searching for a particular photo. Heathen was uncharacteristically quiet as if sensing that Leo needed to be alone for this, his heart was beating hard and slow against his sternum. If he was right, what would he tell his sister? It was bad enough that he had to keep Heathen from her, he was just scared of her reaction, and he low-key feared she would want to find a way to separate them. Despite being extremely talkative, Leo liked Heathen's company, he felt like they connected well, they had a special bond.
His breath hitched once his eyes fell on a particular picture, seventeen years old Ercole Reeves stood next to a pink surfboard, and next to him was a fourteen-year-old Leilani hugging his waist. Leo swallowed as he stared hard at Ercole's face, in the picture his body was slim, and his face was less chiseled, his sandy blond hair reached his shoulders. The man he encountered was bulkier, a light stubble adorned his chiseled jaw, and he was sporting a buzz cut.
You recognized him because he means something to you.
"He means nothing to me," Leo answered, his voice was calm and yielding, with no hint of hatred or annoyance. "How can he mean something when he ran away from home and broke my parent's hearts before I even existed? When I was born, my only sibling was Leilani, then I grew up, and they told me about the one that got away. Ercole. Their firstborn."
Your brother.
Leo nodded, clenching his jaw before answering. "Yep... my brother." He ran his fingers down the picture. "Who also happens to be an A-List criminal. My parents would be absolutely heartbroken if they found out what he's up to these days."
What will you do?
"What I have to... Share this with Christian," he pinch the picture between his index and middle finger and held it before his eyes. "I trust him, and I'm positive he'll know what to do. Because I'm at a zero right now." Leo nodded to himself, he closed the album and put it back in its place. "Besides, we got caught. There's no point in hiding information from him, he's a freaking oracle."
LEO Reeves sat in Christian Prime's living room, Teagan sat on the love seat by herself and Gavin sat on the single couch's arm, leaving Leo all by himself. In front of the living room stood Christian dressed in a blue t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and crocs. It was a fine Sunday afternoon, Christian had gone and brought Leo to his loft, Teagan and Gavin lived with him, so the only missing piece was Leilani's younger brother. Teagan still wasn't talking to him despite his effort to try and approach her, eventually, he decided to leave her alone and grant her the necessary time.
"So, thanks to Leo's video we're able to ID the individuals, including the buyer, though he's of no importance," Christian spoke loud and firmly, Leo felt like a cadet in the army, he hugged the couch cushion tighter. "And I know what you're thinking, yes, if Teagan and Leo hadn't taken this dangerous step, we wouldn't have come close as we are now."
Teagan smirked, not even bothering to hide it.
"However," Her older brother made an emphasis, forcing her to drop her smirk as she stared at him, "that doesn't discredit the fact that you two acted irresponsibly and yes, stupidly."
Teagan rolled her eyes and let out an inaudible groan. "Killjoy."
Gavin threw her a glance, Christian continued to lecture them. "One of you could've been seriously injured," his eyes glared at Gavin since he was partly responsible for their involvement, "thankfully that didn't happen, and everything was kept under control." He huffed, running a hand through his long wavy hair and sighing. "Well, within the margin of error."
Gavin shot Leo a look, everybody, except Christian, saw him beheading a man. In those emerald green eyes Leo saw respect and curiosity, Gavin didn't judge him for what he did and that simple gesture somehow alleviated the tension he carried in his chest. Ava Herrera's firstborn turned around, giving Leo his back once again and focusing on Christian.
"The only individual we couldn't ID was Argo. He was in the van and didn't make any appearances." Gavin pointed out and Leo tense, suddenly acknowledging the presence of the photo he had folded in his front pocket. "Which assures us that he is Vulture's right hand."
Christian nodded pensively. "Argo... yeah, also, if he's the vulture's right hand then it makes sense he would be the one responsible for the MGH."
"MGH?" Teagan repeated.
Gavin turned to her and clarified. "Mutant Growth Hormone, it's a drug that stimulates your hormones giving you a temporary genetic shift."
"Dubbed Power Pills by the media." Christian added, he glanced at Leo and noticed his shock expression, perhaps he was talking too much.
"Wait," suddenly recalling the conversation she overheard in the girl's locker room, "you guys were involved in that? I heard that a Venezuelan cartel trafficked those pills across the country. They were in high demand until out of the blue it dropped. Nobody sells them anymore."
Gavin nodded. "Charles..." The Herrera boy suddenly grew quiet, he threw a glance at Leo before looking at Christian, his eyes asking him if it was safe to speak. Christian nodded. "The professor sent me and my team on a mission, these power pills were starting to become very popular. Everybody wanted to have powers for a day. Danielle located the Venezuelan hideout, their hiding place was suspected to be a meth lab, but instead of drugs they made power pills."
"And- but wait,... so, that pill just... gives you powers? Just like that?" Leo questioned, everybody except Teagan turned to him. "Like, how can you give someone powers? How does it work?"
"In order to achieve that they would have to do it systematically. First, they would capture mutants." Gavin disclosed, "Second, extract their genetic mutation and then mix it with other substances and- oila! You got yourself a power pill."
Leo couldn't believe what he was hearing, Gavin nodded at him as if telling him 'you better believe it because it happened.' "Damn, that's diabolical, man."
"That's why Vulture and his right hand, Cole, must be stopped." Christian intervened. "Although, I'm afraid Vulture's right hand might be the actual mind of the operation. He's a ghost, been under the radar for years, nobody knows how he looks like. We can't even ID him and I even partnered up with Stark once so I could use his satellite, plus mine, so I could have a broader grid. It blew."
Ercole, what the hell happened to you? Leo wondered.
"Question." Teagan raised her index finger, Christian nodded at her. "How exactly is Argo responsible for what happened with the power pills?"
Gavin clenched his fists as he involuntarily remembered what happened that day. "Haven't you been listening? I think it goes without saying that he was the one that trafficked mutants."
"How can you be so sure?"
Gavin scoffed, his eyes grew a bit darker, but it didn't cover his whole eyes. "Because I beat it the sh*t out of a man!" His voice raised an octave, Teagan's eyes widen slightly. "He told me everything except how he looked, his name, all I gathered was that he apparently, likes to wear a f*cking mask."
"Scheisse." Teagan whispered under her breath, she looked away from her half-brother. "Chillax, Liam Neeson. I'm not the enemy here."
Her big brother rolled his eyes at her and looked away, Leo's eyebrows shut up in amusement as he watched two bulls headbutting each other.
"We could use the van's plate number to track them." Christian brainstormed, he crossed his arms over his chest and held his chin with his right hand as he thought. "There is a probability that they change vehicles after what happened, but there's also the odds that they didn't since they don't know Leo recorded them."
Tell them. You said no more secrets.
Letting out a long and heavy sigh, Leo stood up and fetched the photo, Christian and Gavin turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. "I think I might have an easier way to ID him."
Teagan reluctantly turned to see Leo, she noticed the photo on his hand and how hesitant he looked. "What's that in your hand?" She dared to ask him.
But Leo didn't answer, instead, he walked up to Christian and handed the picture to him. His sister's fiancé grabbed the piece of paper and unfolded it, the frown on his face immediately disappeared, and his eyes darted to him. "That's Ercole Reeves. The family's firstborn." Gavin and Teagan stood up from their seats and went to stand on Christian's side. "I'm sure Leia told you about him."
"He's the one who ran away," Christian confirmed, Leo nodded.
"Yeah."
Gavin frowned and glanced at Leo. "And how is this relevant?"
"Because," Leo swallowed, hating how nervous he was feeling about this. "Ercole is Cole. The man you're after... he's our runaway brother."
The living room was engulfed in silence, Christian stared at Leo in utter shock, the owner of SIRIUS was left speechless for the first time in a long time. Gavin had no clue what this meant, and frankly, he didn't care. All he cared about was engraving his face on his mind, he was finally putting a face to the man responsible for so many mutant's death and also for almost killing his team. Even if he wasn't the one who fired those guns, no matter what he was still responsible, and he was going to pay. Gavin Herrera was going to make sure of it.
"Damn," Gavin breathed out, he grabbed the picture and observed closely before glancing at Leo and saying with a wicked smile. "What a plot twist."
Teagan stared at Leo in shock, she was not expecting this, nobody was expecting this. "Leo, are you sure?"
"Yeah. A hundred percent sure." He nodded, backing away, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. "Last night, while I was pursuing them, I came face to face with him. I unmasked him and there he was." He fell silent for a moment. "That was the first time I saw him in person, can you believe that?"
Gavin and Christian shared a look, a silent conversation going on between them before the latter stared at his brother-in-law. "I'm going to keep this." He grabbed the photo from Gavin's hand and folded it. "This is valuable information, after so many dead leads, we finally have an ID on him."
"Try not to sound too happy about it, Chris." Teagan nudged him. "It's freaking insensible."
Leo let out a shaky breath and tried to look positive. "Hey, I get it." He chuckled dryly. "You're just doing your job. Ercole is a bad guy, he's on the wrong side of the law. I get that."
"I'm sorry, Leo," Christian told him sincerely, he walked up to him and squeezed his shoulder. "I understand how you feel."
Leo stared at him, Christian was a great man, and he was happy he found his sister, he is worthy of her. And speaking of which, he asked him. "What about Leilani? She has to know. I can't keep this from her. I'm already keeping too many secrets, she doesn't deserve to be left in the dark."
"I agree with you."
Gavin took a step forward. "Are you serious? The last thing we need is a family member to join the cirus and complicate things up. We can't afford to be distracted by feelings. What if she tries to change your mind?"
"Oh, shut up, blackdog." Teagan snapped at her brother. "Stop meddling in other people's business, though I know how much you love to do that."
Gavin gave her a mean glare. "It takes two to know one." Teagan returned his glare causing Gavin to smirk darkly, knowing he had won that little argument. "And it's Blackguard. Wednesday Addams." He mumbled under his breath but Teagan heard him.
But before Teagan had the opportunity to argue, Christian intervened. "Children, children, please!" His young sibling's exchange mean looks at each other before looking away with crossed arms and sharing the same poker face.
"You... We should tell her." Leo spoke to him, Christian deliberately ignored his little siblings and focused on Leo. "Find the right moment."
"And we will." Christian gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll find the right moment to tell her. Hopefully, before things get heated."
Teagan smirked as she heard Christian accepting Leo's suggestion, she leaned close to Gavin and rubbed her victory on his face. "Ha."
"Shut up." Gavin pushed her away from him causing her to stumble and fall on the couch.
The sixteen-year-old teenager glared at Gavin with passion. "Push me one more time and I swear by all the gods I'll boil your teeth."
The trio shot Teagan a weird look, Gavin rolled his eyes at her and smirked. "Oh, how I would love to see you try, Cersei Lannister."
Christian sigh tiredly and glance back at Leo, he stuffed the picture inside his sweatpants pocket and straighten up. "Leo, I'm going to need Edward's stuff."
"Oh, yeah, sure." Leo jerked his chin at Teagan. "Ask her."
Christian ran a hand over his face and said, "Why am I not surprise? Oh, and one more thing, I'm going to need the symbiote. That thing needs to be stored away, safely, somewhere it won't cause any harm. In a lab."
Lie. Tell him you shit me out. That I went down the drain.
Leo wanted to burst out laughing, but he also wanted to run, Christian stared at him patiently and waiting for his cooperation. "Christian, I..."
"Listen, I bet you've grown attached to that thing." He stepped closer to him, his tall figure towered over the average size boy. Thing? Did he just call me a thing? "After all, he saved your sister and for that, it'll have our eternal gratitude, but let's leave it at that. We good? Now, hand it over."
No! He can't separate us! Apart equals weakness and weakness equals death!
Gavin frown. "Wait, you're doing this right here? Without the proper equipment?"
"Right, you're right." Christian sigh, nodding. He patted Leo's shoulder, Teagan noticed the conflict on Leo's face. "We'll do it tomorrow. After school, I'll come pick you up."
Teagan stood up and took a step forward. "Listen, I don't think they can be separated."
"Of course they can." Gavin butted in.
She shot him a glare before turning to Christian. "What about the side effects after the separation? How do you know it won't affect Leo somehow? Say neurologically?" Christian frowned. "His body has already adapted to the mutation, it's not the same as it was before the symbiote entered his body. Have you thought about that?"
"I cannot allow Leo to keep endangering his life," Christian stated.
Speak! Don't just stand there like an idiot.
"I,uh, I'm... fine."Leo said, lethargiclly. They all turned to him and Leo tried to shake off the nerves he was feeling. "I swear."
Gavin chuckled dryly. "Oh, he's swearing now. We should definitely take his word for it."
Teagan gestured at Leo, blatantly ignoring Gavin's sarcasm. "See! He's fine. And why is that? Because Leo's body did not reject the symbiote, clearly showing it's compatibility."
"Meaning?" Christian pressed.
Teagan took a step closer to her brother and looked him in the eye. "Meaning... Leo is safe." Christian wanted to argue further. "Listen, you're after Vulture and Cole, not after his weapons. Sure, they will be confiscated and he'll be indicted, but what do you have that proves his connection with the symbiote? If anything, the only people directly involved with the symbiote has been one of your men and Leo, not Vulture or Cole."
"Since when did you become an expert with the symbiote species?" Gavin asked, everybody anticipated her answer.
The youngest Prime-Herrera straightened her shoulders and raised her chin proudly. "A couple of days ago."
"Mmm-hmm."
Christian wanted that symbiote so he could send it to a lab and have scientist study it, but he knew there was a high chance the symbiote couldn't be extracted from Leo's body without there being any damage. He couldn't do that to Leilani and Leo, they were his family and Nikiolaj always taught you always protect your family. Beside, he already had hard evidence on Vulture, but he still needed something to incriminate Cole. The bandit was smart, Christian was willing to admitthat, but that didn't mean he'll give up easily. That's not how Christian Prime works.
"Okay, listen up," Christian spoke, his eyes settled on Leo, "this is how things are going to be if I let Leo keep the symbiote until we find a safe way to extract it."
Teagan sigh tensely. "Why not just-"
"Teagan!" Christian's yell made everybody, except Gavin, flinch. Teagan stared at Christian in fear and shock, her brother gave her a glare that clearly told her to shut up and stop questioning everything he had to say, Teagan licked her lips and put on a brave face. "Please, just listen to what I have to say."
Gavin covered his lips to hide his smirk. "I'll allow you to keep the symbiote, for now." Leo tried to contain Heathen's fury, he nodded his head at Christian allowing him to carry on speaking. "But that doesn't mean you're free to go around and pretend to be a vigilante. Think of Leilani, none of us want her to suffer should something happen to you, so I need you to act accordingly and responsibly until we solve this matter. You hear me? Stay out of trouble."
"Yes, sir." Leo nodded, Christian sigh in relief and ruffled his hair before making his way to his studio. "I'll be in my studio. If you need me, you know where to find me."
Leo and Teagan made it to her room where Kylo was taking a nap. Leo Reeves apologized for what he did (allowing Heathen to bite a man's head off) and Teagan, for the first time in so long, decided not to hold a grudge against him. It wasn't easy, she still wanted to be mad at him, make him suffer for what he did so he would never forget about it, seems rather easier then to just let go. But as the time passed, Teagan began warming up to him. Leo was a caring, funny, charming, and annoying boy, she liked hanging out with him and having an extra friend.
And as that Sunday afternoon passed, Teagan and Leo spent it together, playing with Kylo and rewatching Star Wars per Teagan's request. Without knowing what she had done, Teagan Prime was slowly getting over her suppressed trauma, her walls were starting to cave in. She had finally, slowly, but not definitely, allowed Leo in.
Though, she was yet to realize that.
I just noticed the update stopped in an odd number and it was bothering me,
so here's an update to make it even (XD) Ik, im crazy like that.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!