microwavelength | (no subject)

"I feel a little nauseous. I know. Weird, right?" The smell of cooking meat turned his stomach and he just couldn't associate now. He really hoped that connection didn't stay with him. He pulled out his phone and checked the news, just to see if anyone had reported the robbery yet. Nothing yet but apparently the road outside the jewellery store had been shut off. No shock there.

Axel sent out a few messages online, just because, and then looked over his phone at the food again, as if debating if he could handle it or not. Maybe in a few. He looked back at his phone and idly continued typing.

"I'll jump right in when I stop picturing that guys organs on the floor, steaming away." Which could take a few. Maybe he could learn to blank this shit out. "Maybe next time kill someone after I have food, it puts me off less."

Microwaves were funny things. You could cook with them, sure, but you could also use them to have your cell ping a tower or a communication satellite to transmit data for you when you weren't on WiFi. It's what CCTV ran off of. It's what radar used. All of those little tweets that Axel decided to send out, therefore, could be redirected and scanned and understood.

That's what happened when you figured out you had a power at sixteen and spent the last five years or so getting very, very good with that power.

Luke sucked up some soda and settled back against the plastic backed booth.

"What should I have done? That dude was threatening you."

"People threaten me all the time. It's part of the job. Besides, I'm smaller, weaker and annoying. I get them back. Slowly. I'm less messy with my revenge." But still just as cruel. Little tricks and traps to hold people down, to hurt them, to make them sick. The last guy who hurt him, he lost his finger in a particularly vicious finger trap. The guy before that had a bomb strapped to him... but Leonard made him disable that before it properly blew anyone up.

He shrugged his shoulder as he set his phone down and looked over at Luke, shooting him a confused look. It was all so strange.

"Why do you care anyway?" Axel leaned forward a little, a playful smile coming to his lips. "Are you starting to like me? Aww, I thought I was boring."

It was a good question, even coming from a jackass. Luke leaned back, staring at Axel over the plane of his cheeks for a moment as if sizing him up. Or maybe trying to figure out if he should just kill him and blow the place up. It was hard to tell with Luke.

But he'd found a place to shower. He'd tried to do something with his hair (just with handheld clippers, but he made an effort). The truth was that he was lonely. And most people just ran.

Axel didn't.

"So when I was ten, my dad use to play this game with me. He'd hold a piece of candy in one hand and he'd have me try to guess which hand it was in. If I was right, I'd get the candy. If I wasn't, he'd give me these." He pulled up his jacket. The cigarette burns were numerous. Impressive. "I don't like bullies."

"Behind every psycho seems to be a fucked up dad, huh? It's like psycho 101 or something." Axel hmmed a little and took in the burn marks, head tilted to the side. He'd got his own share of scars, that sort of shit happened when you got passed from foster home to foster home, never really getting attached to anyone, always getting dropped and the discipline always ranged from person to person. Some got pretty physical. Still, as he got older, he got his one silver lining to cling to. The Trickster. "Well, not all psychos. My shrink says I'm a psycho but I have the best dad. He's the greatest man alive."

He picked up his phone again and swiftly googled his dad, turning the phone around so Luke could see the pictures and the wiki article. A terrorist and a murderer, not the kind of person who could, by any measure, be a good dad. Axel was, to a degree, a very massive degree, deluded when it came to his father. Brainwashed. Groomed. He had been writing to him in prison since he was thirteen and even then, he had no idea it was his father.

He'd never had anyone and now he had a father. And his father was his hero. "He's a legend. The original Trickster. Look at that body count! He let me use the name. He's cool like that. We usually work together. We're not right now. He sort of, you know, threw me out of a moving car." Axel smiled like it was nothing and shrugged his shoulders. "He had to get away, he needed a distraction. The cops went after me instead. Pretty smart."

Taking his phone back, he looked at the article with pride. "Barely hurt. I rolled on dirt, no tarmac."

"Never heard of em," Luke said honestly, unwrapping a burrito this time. Shredded chicken. He wasn't really paying attention what he was eating. It was good. It was filling. He needed the energy. "You don't gotta show me what's on your phone, dude."

He tapped his own, and then rolled his eyes and grabbed it from where it rested on his knee under the table. It was currently processing everything that Axel was doing. All he had to do was run an app and he could split the signal to and from Axell's phone himself.

It didn't always work, they had to be close for it, but it was just one of those neat little tricks he'd learned about when being alone.

"Where's your dad at now? I'd like to meet him."

"Yeah, well, you live in a hick town, of course you haven't." Axel muttered bitterly because he had no idea how anyone could not know the Trickster. He hated this stupid town, he couldn't wait to get back to Central. Though he didn't love the idea of seeing the rogues again, knowing he'd been part of a murder. They had a lot of rules about that and Luke was crushing all of them.

He looked at the app and slowly, he raised an eyebrow. Huh. "That's... creepy. Dude, stay out of my phone."

It was private. Ish. He didn't really have much outside his public social media and all of his texting was either for hook ups or trying to co-ordinate heists. Nothing personal. Axel looked down and frowned a little, trying to not let that question bother him. "Dunno. He said he'd come back but ... look, he's busy. And even if he wasn't, I don't trust you near him. You'd melt my dad!"

"I'm less in your phone and more in your signal," Luke gloated. He couldn't help it. This guy wasn't praising his abilities, he wasn't awestruck by them but it was probably close enough. It was absolutely close enough. Luke was warming up to this guy. That might be the tacos talking, of course, but here he was, relaxing and having a normal conversation.

Would his mom be proud of him? Not that he'd ever know. After he stole the car, which she did not report missing, she moved. New life. No crazy son. He didn't miss her.

His emotions were broken. Samuel said that often enough.

"And uh...yeah. I'm gonna melt your dad. Well no. Melt? Stop it. It's not fucking melting people."

"Still in my phone no matter how you reason it. The nice thing to do is not to do it." Axel rolled his eyes, just glad there was nothing he was really ashamed of on his phone. He didn't have much shame in all honesty, he wasn't even ashamed of his dick pics from last week. He quick liked them, good lighting and everything.

Axel leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, levelling Luke a judgemental look.

"Why are you so offended by melting? They do melt. Boil first them melt. It's like that scene in Robo Cop, you know? Where that guy gets acid on him and melts. Only there's more heat and red and blood." Axel shrugged a little. It was traumatic to watch, sure, but afterwards it was a lot easier to talk about it like it's just some dumb film and nothing more. It helped him keep that detached distance he probably needed.

"And no, you're never going near my dad. No melting anyone I like."

Trying to explain the difference between melting and cooking was probably inconsequential. Soft solids melted. Harder solids cooked. Wet solids steamed.

"If I melted people, there would just be puddles left. And there aren't." He took Axel's soda in hand and concentrated on it until it started to bubble. "Think microwave, dude. So if you want to be accurate, I'm probably still gonna microwave your dad one day. He deserves it."

And maybe whoever Axel sent those pics to. Luke didn't like competition.

"But fine. Whatever. How about I just say that if he ever pisses me off, he gets nuked?" Axel might be thinking that was fair. That 'Sylar' would never come across his dad. But Luke has latched on. Axel was sort of doomed.

"You owe me a new drink." Was all Axel took away from that demonstration as he frowned at his bubbling soda. Horrendously hot pepsi bubbling away like some kind of tar like thing? No thank you. Pulling a face, he leaned over and stole Luke's drink instead, taking a long sip from it as the other spoke about human puddles and his dad. Sharing was what friends did and he just assumed, given everything, that was where this was going. Whether or not Luke knew that. He set the drink back down and slid into his seat again.

"Not my dad. Never my dad. If he pisses you off, use your fists. Don't melt-- or whatever, burn and boil, my dad. He's important." Axel wasn't going to relent on this one. He didn't want to lose what he only just got, especially not when he was his childhood hero.

Shaking his head, he finally took some food, trying to put the idea of nuked people from his mind.

"He doesn't deserve it anyway." He looked at Luke and cocked his head to the side, clearly amused. "Careful, Sylar. You're starting to sound like you're endeared."

"I don't owe you anything," Luke frowned, noisily biting into some of the nachos without much relish. Axel wasn't ruining it for him exactly but Luke didn't understand emotions the way most people did. His mom use to think he has some form of autism until he learned to smile-- Until he figured out how fun it was to have abilities that no one else did.

He watched the slightly older man take a long drag from his soda before he rolled his eyes and went up to buy a new on. When the staff didn't present themselves, he just grabbed a cup and filled it up at the soda station himself before sitting down across from Axel.

He did not, however, make any comment about being endeared. Maybe he was. Luke was aware that he got attached. Quickly.

"So what stuff do you like to do when you're not getting yourself almost caught by the police?" He paused and tilted his head to the left. "That's a normal question, right?" He was genuinely asking.

"Yeah, that's pretty normal." Axel was amused as he took the old soda and slid it over to himself, playing around with the straw and using it to stir the ice around, idly focusing on that as he tried to think of what it was that he did. "Mostly I just make stuff. Tricks and tech, I do a lot of hacking. I'm not like a hacktivist or something, I just like to snoop. You know, looking into things like whether or not the government is hiding alien deets or if my ex is bitching about me on facebook. He is."

Axel nodded his head slowly and huffed a little. He stalked one guy once and broke into his apartment to steal his clothes and then try to seduce him and suddenly he was 'creepy'. Pfft, people.

"Otherwise I go to clubs. Drink some, meet some guys, you know how it goes." He doesn't explicitly explain but he assumes Luke would just get the point. What else did someone go to a club to meet guys for? Axel looked at Luke and smiled. "What about you, handsome? What do you do when you're not nuking people?"

He didn’t like it. There was a sour look on Luke’s face when Axel again called him ‘handsome.’ There was no eye roll, just an out and out scowl. Of course, that scowl could also be because Axel had just he told him that he cyber stalked people after making a big deal about being spied on with his phone. Or maybe because he had gotten Cherry Pepsi instead of regular Pepsi.

He set his cheek in his palm, unblinking as he watched Axel’s face for a moment. None of those ‘fun things’ sounded very fun to him.

“I don’t make plans. I just try to stay alive and kicking and under the radar.” Which he hadn’t been doing since he’d been trying to impress Axel with his abilities in wildly public manners.

Axel cocked his head to the side and frowned as Luke looked at him like that. He seemed almost off put and Axel was unsure why. What was his problem? Not a fan of Axel's productive week or did he just not like the gay thing? Either way, he didn't get too drawn in by the look, he let it pass as he ate some of his food, slow and careful, not wanting to risk making himself feel sick again. "Sounds like you have an amazing amount of fun."

There was some sarcasm to his tone but if that was all he did for fun? What a boring life. Didn't he like watch TV? Play video games? Hell, did he at least go out and do stuff? Frequent taco bell regularly or something.

"You should come to a club with me some time. I can find you a pretty girl or something." Wait. "Not to nuke! Obviously."

The next face pulled was even more rancid. Axel was going to have to take back that ‘handsome’ remark sooner or later. Preferably sooner, or else Luke might just progressively slip to uglier and uglier faces. “Too many people, too loud, too many phones and the fuck would I want anything to do with a pretty bitch?”

Looks meant nothing to Luke. He just liked interesting, out there, potentially insane people to stalk. To emulate. He couldn’t imagine Sylar actually going to a club either, so he certainly wasn’t.

“Unless you want to have fun with the sound systems…?”

There was that nasty smile again. At least it was a step up from the faces? Maybe?

Edited 2017-01-23 14:52 (UTC)

"Fuck her." Axel offered as he sipped his drink and gave Luke a frown. He just looked pissy and he didn't seem game, it wasn't very nice. He didn't like the idea of playing around with a sound system either so he just held up his hand and relented. "Forget it, we won't go and do clubs. You just keep on being you, gorgeous. Just don't be it where I like to hang."

He snorted in amusement and looked down, putting some nachos in his mouth. He licked his fingers a little and looked back up at his company.

"What's your problem? You look like I spat in your food? Is it cause I stole your drink or something?"

Lesson one, Ax. Do not tell Luke not to do something. He will do it just on principal. It wasn't that Axel wasn't allowed to to out and have fun, it's just that he wasn't allowed to do it with other people. Luke learned the hard way how it was like being second fiddle and he was going to do it right this time around.

If he decided that Axel was right for the position. If not-- Well, Luke didn't really have a ex policy. Not yet. This was his first and hopefully last attempt at getting what he wanted anyway.

Then again, Axel was being disgusting right now. Luke's eyes darkened. "Did you spit in my food?"

Not cool. He dropped the nacho he was holding immediately.

"No... why the fuck would I do that? And when would I even have chance?" Axel rolled his eyes and shook his head, finishing off his drink and giving Luke a look. He was difficult company. It was hard to be around him sometimes and it was even harder to read him. Everything could end badly at a wrong word or a dodgy thought and that left him feeling tentative.

He slid his phone into his pocket and gave the other a slight sigh. "Yeaaaah. Look, dude, you've got some issues and that's not so bad, I think it's part of your charm and all. The whole cute, psycho vibe? Not bad but I gotta head off. This was a fun date."

With mixed results but Axel really needed to go before he made a proper mistake here and got melted.

Sliding out, he smiled at Luke then paused, leaning in a little. "Huh. Did you do something to your hair? It's nice. I like it."

Luke was fine with Axel leaving. He'd not actually spoken to someone for this long since Samuel Sullivan. It had been almost twenty minutes total, including the walk over. Luke liked it. And he would see Axel again. In a few days.

That didn't mean he appreciated this being called a date. And he didn't appreciate being left. The rest though? That was accurate. And he kind of liked being thought of as having his crazy psychopathy as being cute. So points to Axel there.

"I combed it," Luke said, dead panned. He wasn't joking. He just took a sip of his soda and looked back to his food. "See you later." It was possibly a threat. Axel would just have to worry.

"Looks good on you." Axel smiled and gave Luke a look, frowning a little. "Seriously though. Next time you want to hang out. Don't start it by killing someone, it's going to ruin all our date moods if that's how you're always going to swing it." That was Axel's warning as he made his retreat, making sure to grab his bag full of money. It wasn't a massive amount, enough really.

It paid his rent for the next month in his crappy little apartment, it paid some food, phone data and his drinks at the club.

Honestly, that was where all his money went. Buying shots and drinks for other guys, which is pretty much what he did a few days later after laying low. He reaped the benefits of having disposable money as he plied his dates with cheap booze, danced a little and managed to convince one to make out with him in the bathroom. And a little hand stuff, nothing too much cause hey, you know, bathroom. Not a turn on.

A small part of him afterwards, as he lingered at the bar, had a weird concerned sensation. As if Luke would find out and be pissed at him or melt him. Or his handsome new friend. It was insane but he did worry. Just in case.

The worry would end up being founded. Axel hadnt tweeted where he was going that night, Wednesday, Industry night where the guys were just of age and a little bit too eager since it was their night off from the bars and clubs they worked at. The trouble with having a phone at all, as Axel might want to look into, was that it broadcasted its location to overhead satellites all the time. Every little ping told the GPS where the phone was and if anyone knew what to look for, it was safe to assume that the phone in question was with the person that owned it.

So right after Axel's fun in the bathroom and the promise of a warm body to go home wih him after a few more drinks, that Just In Case moment happened to be fortuitous. Then again, what good would worrying do when Luke didn't have to be anywhere nearby to do what he wanted to someone?

He was angry. Angry enough that he very nearly didn't give Axel a chance to right whatever wrong Luke had plucked out of the air.

The phone in Axel's pocket buzzed. It was a new text for a number he didn't know. It said, simply, Get rid of him.

Axel felt his phone buzz as he turned his head and smiled at the guy he was hoping to take home. He was a lot bigger than Axel, more muscle, he couldn't tell the age he had a sort of generic young face that left Axel unsure. He knew he was definitely legal though and that was all he needed. They'd whispered dirty promises in each other's ears during the bathroom and the guy was expecting a pay up.

Knocking back his drink, he didn't check his phone right away, instead he approached the man and pulled him into another kiss, taking a moment to whisper a mutual location and letting the other feel up his ass. They were basically a done deal by now.

Once the guy moved away to go tell his friends, Axel pulled out his phone with a smile and checked his messages. The smile fell and he looked around the club, feeling that creep of uncertainty. Fuck.

Sylar? Are you watching me? Yep. That was creepy.

Luke ignored his phone the same way that Axel had ignored his. He wasn't looking for a conversation. He wasn't looking to be second string any more. Axel had been given a choice. Get rid of the guy or don't. He'd evidently chosen the or don't portion of the list. Technically that wasn't fair. Luke didn't deal in fair, though.

He dealt in being a murderous asshole who dealt in death instead of exposing his feelings. If he even had feelings. That was debatable.

Axel's done deal wasn't leaving this club with him. Neither were his friends. They were standing under the fog machine, the one that the DJ used during really intense moments in the music and it was held up by plastic cords. They were easily melted and one moment, the dance floor was a frenzy of jumping bodies. The next, people were laying injured under a hundred pounds of equipment.

Axel knew what was going to happen before it even happened but of course, he could't stop it. He watched them die and found himself unable to move as almost everyone in the club started rushing to the exit. He felt a strange stab of spite in him and looked down at his phone, grinding his teeth. He warned him the clubs were off limit. He told him not to do this and he fucking did it.

I'm done with you. Get out of my life, you fucking psycho.

Axel threw his phone after that, into the carnage, as hard as he could before wiping his hands on his trousers, grossed out by the fact he just spoke to that guy. Again. The self destructive, angry part of him didn't want to move. He was tempted to just walk into that mess out of spite but instead, he slipped his hands into pocket and started counting his weapons.

He had a feeling he was going to need them.

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Phew. Figured out how to turn layout off.

You genius!

Except it took me twenty minutes

Moderate genius!

\o/

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