Title: You could drown in those eyes, I said

Fandom: Highlander/Marvel movies

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Richard Siken

Warnings: post-Cap2 and Highlander.

Pairings: mentions of OC/OC

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 1975

Point of view: third

Prompt: Any, Any(/Any), There's something moving in the fog.

Sid feels the buzz while he's out getting his morning coffee on the way to work. He covertly glances around Starbucks; the staff are all the usual people and none of them have ever felt like pre-immortals, so he dismisses them. After he gives his order to Frankie, he loiters at the side of the counter, trying to figure out who is new and who isn't.

He can't be sure, but Sid finally settles on the only guy tripping his danger-signal: a big guy with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a black sweatshirt and jogging pants, hands tucked into the pockets of the sweatshirt. The guy's hunched in and seemingly lost in his own head, but Sid's had 500 years to hone his instincts. This is the source of the buzz. The guy, though… he either has no idea what's going on or he's the best actor Sid's seen since that time Amanda got him in trouble with the bishop.

After grabbing his latté, Sid leaves Starbucks and stays within range of the buzz. He calls his boss to say he won't be able to make it in: food poisoning. Apparently, there was something heinously wrong with his breakfast burrito.

Sid hasn't fought a challenge in almost 50 years and something tells him he does not want to start with this guy. The best thing to do is observe and make a decision once enough data has been collected. The guy exits with three drinks in a drink tray and walks at a pretty good clip; he almost loses Sid twice, but Sid manages to keep up and follows the guy to a pretty nice hotel, not that far from his office, in fact, and decides to not draw attention by going in.

It almost feels like there's another buzz in the hotel, but that's unlikely. Sid heads home because he needs to err on the side of caution and practice his swordsmanship.

.

That night, Sid goes back to the hotel, slips in with a big crowd, and settles down in a chair in the lobby pretending to read a newspaper. He can feel the buzz so he knows the guy is somewhere in the hotel.

In his 500 years, Sid has fought thirteen challenges. He usually runs, but he's invested in this life. He likes his job as a computer programmer, loves his apartment, and is pretty sure he's falling for Yvette, the woman he's been flirting with for eight months, who works in the PR for the company. He can't really run anymore, anyway; he'd need more than a few days' warning to create a new identity. He has an emergency stash, of course, just in case, but he doesn't want to.

So, he can either challenge the guy or wait until the guy challenges him; talk to the guy and see if he's just passing through; or go home right now and forget about the guy.

The problem, of course, is that the guy had to have felt Sid's buzz, even though Sid didn't see any hint he did. So the guy might track him down, taking away any advantage Sid might have.

In the back of his head, Dixon laughs. He barely won his last challenge, and only did through tricks: he shot Dixon after Dixon proved Sid couldn't win in a fair fight. Shot him and took his head. The guilt kept him up for about a week after, but… well. Sid likes life. Dixon's quickening almost overwhelmed him in the first few minutes but Sid fought him down and ran. Didn't stop running for a year because Dixon's memories showed that he had a couple close friends and they'd miss him. Sid had even spotted a couple people who tripped his memory – he knew he'd seen them somewhere before but he couldn't place them. So he ran.

Dixon was about 800, and his friends a little younger, which mean they all had at least two centuries on Sid. And this new guy, Sid has no idea how old he is. But he moves like the mercenaries who killed Sid, in his first life. Sid really doesn't want to fight him.

So he sighs, sets the paper aside, and goes home. He makes it as difficult as possible to follow him, of course, to be safe.

He doesn't feel the buzz till he's already locked the door and reset the alarm.

.

In his first life, Sid was Li, the son of an artisan. He learned his father's trade and was struck down by marauders two weeks before his arranged marriage to the daughter of a merchant. They hadn't been wealthy by modern standards; neither had they gone hungry. He had been prepared to do his duty.

Instead, he was murdered with most everyone he cared for and rose from death. He'd thought himself cursed till he met his teacher. For a long time after, he still thought himself cursed. Jin taught him for twenty years, to fight and to live and to hide. Sid never took on any students of his own and avoided immortals when he could. He preferred to live quietly and learn a new trade before moving on, watching as the world changed around him.

He likes to think he's a good man, that he always has been.

.

"Hi," the white man in Sid's apartment says, slouched in his favorite chair, a sword balanced on his knees. "Sid Kingsley, computer programmer, 26 years old, orphan, single." He grins, eyes sharp and cold. "Let's talk."

"Okay," Sid agrees, immediately sinking down onto his sofa. "I don't want trouble."

This guy, whoever he is, can suppress his buzz. Jin had only mentioned the ability a couple of times, said it might be possible for the 'old ones.' Jin didn't count himself amongst the theoretical 'old ones,' even though Sid is pretty sure he should count since, at the time, he was over a thousand.

"Good, you're smart," the guy says. "You can call me Adam." His hand is still on the hilt of the sword, though his fingers are loose. "You followed my student today. Why?"

"He was new," Sid says promptly. "And had a buzz. I was trying to decide if I should challenge him or not."

"You shouldn't," Adam says kindly. "There are few people on this planet who could beat him in a fair fight, and I've taught him to never fight fair."

"Okay." Sid nods, trying to smile. "I don't like challenges, I try to avoid them. But I like this life and I want to keep it as long as possible, so I didn't run."

The guy taps each finger of his free hand on the blade. Sid watches nervously for a few moments before looking back at the guy's unreadable expression. "You're one of Ke Jin's," the guy says. "He's a good boy. Honorable."

Jin is over two thousand years old. Adam calls him boy, and it's not said like an insult. It's just a fact. Sid swallows down the taste of fear and says, "Yes, sir. My teacher is honorable. As am I."

The guy smiles a little nicer than before. "So if I tell you we're just passing through, my student and I and a friend, we're on vacation and hanging around a few days before moving on, but then we'll be gone and your peaceful life remains undisturbed – if I tell you all that, Sid Kingsley, you'll go about your usual routine, you won't return to our hotel, and everyone's heads stay on their necks?"

"Yes," Sid says. "All of that sounds perfect."

"Good." Adam rises to his feet and sheathes his sword in the same movement. "You know Duncan MacLeod?"

Sid blinks. "I – am familiar with the name?" Of course he's heard of Duncan MacLeod. The guy kills more of their kind than anyone but head hunters.

Adam chuckles. "Call him up and ask about Watchers. Don't mention me."

"Okay," Sid says. "Um. It was good to meet you?"

"I'll see myself out," Adam says.

Sid follows him to the door to lock it behind him and holds down the panic attack by the skin of his teeth.

.

Before tracking down Duncan MacLeod's newest contact information, Sid calls Jin. They haven't actually interacted face-to-face in about a century but Jin always leaves his newest identity's information at one of Sid's boltholes. Once he's suitably calm and convinced himself running would be pointless, Sid dials the most recent number he has for Jin.

"I think I just met an old one," he says after Jin answers. "He said to call him Adam."

"Fuck," Jin says. "Are you safe?"

"Yeah, he didn't want to fight. I just…" Sid shudders.

"Tell me everything about him," Jin orders. He listens in silence as Sid explains the events of the day, starting with Starbucks. When he's done describing the minute details on Adam's windbreaker, Jin says, "Stay away from this Adam and his companions."

"I intend to," Sid assures him.

"Good." Jin sighs. "I think – my teacher once told me of a man as old as the ocean. I'm sure that's impossible, but there are legends of the oldest of us. And you're certain there was no buzz until you were already in the apartment?"

"Completely certain," Sid says.

"Then he must be truly ancient." Jin is quiet for a few moments and Sid grabs a beer from the fridge. Jin says, "He told you to contact Duncan MacLeod about watchers?"

"Yup," Sid mutters after draining the can. He grabs another and drains it, too.

"I'll look into it," Jin says. "You go about your life. I'll let you know what I discover."

"Okay." He rubs at his eyes. "I'm sorry I bothered you, Jin. I just… had no idea what to do."

"It was no bother, Li," Jin says in Sid's first language, in the exact dialect of home. "It is my responsibility as your teacher. Now, take a hot shower and rest. Live your life."

"Yes, teacher," Sid replies and hangs up. He takes a shower, goes to bed, and dreams of his parents, of the marriage that never happened, of a life that would've ended nearly 500 years ago.

.

In the morning, Sid takes a taxi to work. He flirts with Yvette as usual, but this time, he also explicitly asks her out. She agrees to meeting at Sid's third-favorite restaurant on Thursday at 7pm. He catches up on his missed work, fixes a mistake one of the interns makes, and eats lunch at his desk. He leaves promptly at 4:30 and takes another taxi home instead of risking the bus.

If he runs into Adam's student, he's pretty sure Adam will consider it an attack, or the student might. Better to not take chances.

.

Wednesday morning is foggy. Sid pulls on his 'alma mater's sweatshirt and walks to the bus stop.

He startles a little when he feels the buzz, tries not to panic and glance around desperately. There are mortals waiting with him so he knows nothing can happen, but –

The buzz fades.

Sid goes to work. Goes home. Goes to work. Goes home, gets ready for his date, meets Yvette. Arranges a second date. Goes home, goes to work, goes home. He throws himself into life.

.

Two weeks after meeting Adam, Jin calls Sid and – in the calm tone that means he is beyond utterly furious and all the way to enraged – tells Sid what Duncan MacLeod had to say about watchers. Three days later, Sid is pretty damn sure he's figured out who's watching him.

He could disappear. He doesn't want to. He could really have something with Yvette. This is the best life he's had in over two hundred years.

So he walks over to Bob's office and says, "We need to talk."