| Moment of Awesome - Kevin Sydney/Changeling: Kevin can be annoyingly astute, as Amanda Sefton finds.
“Sure… but, well-“ Kevin lit his cigarette. “This is more. Sorry, five decades as a spymaster. I know when motivations aren’t simple. What are you really looking for?”
She snorted. “You know, I think I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t asked.” She took another drag on her cigarette and tapped ash into the empty take-out coffee cup on her desk. “I left Adam there. With Rack. I got a chance to get out and I took it, but I didn’t go back for him.”
“Sorry, what? You had a chance to get him out when you were fifteen?” Kevin shook his head and tapped the file. “Is that what this is? Survivor guilt?”
“Maybe?” Amanda winced. “I know how it looks and I should know better. I mean, part of me does. But I guess I needed to be sure. Have all the information available. My memories of back then aren’t the best. Trauma, I guess.”
“So why didn’t anyone else get him out? You were in the mansion, I’m told. Why didn’t the X-Men get on their plane, grab him and put your shitty foster dad into the dirt at the time?”
“Magic?” She shrugged. “I mean, I don’t really know, I wasn’t exactly privy to X-Men decisions back then, even before I got expelled, but from what I gather, they didn’t really have a lot of experience with the whole magic thing. I was the first student they’d had who could do it, and Rack was way out of their league in that sense.”
“So, if the mansion didn’t do it and your fifteen year old operative skills and resources didn’t do it, why are you revisiting it?” Kevin blew out a long plume of smoke. “Unless you’re looking to tear yourself up for shit you had no control over? Yes, yes, I know. I should be HR.”
“You’re such an arsehole.” It was said mildly, however. “Like I said, I know I should know better. Maybe I’m just filling all the gaps before filing it away as ‘stuff I fucked up but can’t change’.” She took another drag and blew out smoke, turning her gaze to him. “I’ve got a question, tho’. How is it a former CIA operative knows so fucking much about magic? I doubt the White House followed the Winding Way, even back then.”
“CIA collects intelligence Lots of it doesn’t make sense. That’s where the magic, aliens, and conspiracy theories come in.” Kevin shrugged. “I worked the New York field office for years. There’s a lot of weird that lands in this city, Even if I couldn’t push it up the food chain, I learned to take it seriously. The thing to remember is that magic is just one part of someone. Fear, loyalty, patriotism; all of those leak in when someone ends up talking to the men in black.”
“So that’s how you knew about Mr. Jip?” Amanda asked. It was something she’d been wondering about ever since Warren had told her the whole story.
“I know about a dozen Mr. Jips. That doesn’t mean I believe all of them.” He said. “You worried that your magical community isn’t as secret as you think?”
“No, more that there’s a bloody great gaping hole in my intelligence. You know as well as I do, surprises aren’t good things.”
“The CIA isn’t going to be the source you need. We knew a lot, but we didn’t take stock in most of it. You’d be better off taking Clea and re-establishing your presence in the community. First-hand intelligence is the most valuable possible.”
“You might have something there…” Amanda considered the suggestion. “But Clea? I don’t think she’s ready for someone like Jip.”
“No. Not even close. But there’s only one way to train her up until she is.” Kevin locked eyes with her. “She’s not your sister or your daughter. I fed her into Madripoor’s sex trade and she did her job. It’s time to decide whether you trust her to move forward or to cut her off. It’s that simple.”
Kevin tapped the file. “Your decision, Sefton. Move forward or live in the past.”
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