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Sully stirs, the blackness receding from the edges of his vision. He blinks to clear his head in order to take in his surroundings. "Knowing your surroundings could be thr difference between life and death," he used to tell Nate.
Nate. I was looking for Nate.
Sully's eyes dart around the dark room. He's seated, unrestrained, in an uncomfortable folding chair. An table and an empty chair sits between Sully and the only door. "What, no two-way mirror?" he mutters to himself.
"Ever the snark, Victor," comes Marlowe's voice as the door opens and closes behind her. "I can't say I'm surprised Nathan turned out the way he did."
"What'd you do to him?" Sully snarls, not even attempting to hide his rage.
"Nothing at all. Don't tell me you take us for common thugs."
"Where is he?" he asks, ignoring her jab.
"Nowhere near here. He's with a colleague of mine at the moment. Our Nathan has proved to be quite the handful, hm?"
"If you still have him, why am I here?"
"You think if you're here, he must be dead?"
Sully winces, but his only outward tell is a blink.
But the witch catches it and smiles. "Don't worry, Victor. We're not barbaric."
"Could've fooled me. Killing a kid over a goddamn ring seems pretty barbaric to me."
That ruffles her feathers a little. She purses her lips and drops a folder on the table between them. "You care so deeply for that boy. But does he feel the same way about you?"
Sully rolls his eyes. "You must be desperate if this is the route you're going down."
"On the contrary, Victor. Nathan gave you up. He told us that you are the only one who knows the location of Ubar."
She pauses to let her words sink in, but Sully isn't fazed. "Mm hm. He told you that of his own free will?"
Marlowe inclines her head with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Well, good. His self-preservation instincts finally kicked in."
The smirk drops off her face. "You think you know everything about that boy, don't you?"
"Nope. Kid's locked up tighter than a man in a failed marriage."
"How about something like his name? How did a child convince Victor Sullivan he was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake?"
Sully just grunts. He had had an inkling the kid was lying all those years ago, but what did it matter? Nate is still Nate.
"He and his late brother. From Morgans to Drakes."
Morgan. Nathan Morgan.
"They were probably trying to leave behind the pain of their miserable little lives. Their mother-"
"Alright, that's enough," Sully interrupts, chest squeezing. Nate's never said anything about his parents or where he and Sam came from before Colombia. But it's Nate's story to tell, not Marlowe's. And if Sully never gets to hear it, so be it. That's the kid's prerogative. "Where're you going with this? 'Cause whatever this is, it ain't workin'."
"Of course," Marlowe allows. "Let's crack open your file, shall we?" She opens a second folder and peruses it as if she didn't put the damned thing together herself. "Alcoholic parents. Abusive father. Ran away from home at the age of 16. Enlisted in the Navy and dishonorably discharged for theft. Any of this ringing a bell?"
Sully grinds his teeth. "Sounds familiar."
"Is that why you threw everything away when I slapped your boy? Your daddy issues kicked in?"
Fists clenching under the table, Sully struggles to keep his face still. He thinks back on the brief flash of fear in the kid's eyes as Marlowe's hand connected with his cheek, and the defiance that replaced it soon after.
He remembers the last night he spent at his parents place: his father's rage, his mother's disinterest, the belt. All he remembers is the fear. There was no defiance, just fear.
That boy, though... He straightened his spine and squared his jaw, daring her to try him again. Sully was inspired.
Back in present day, Marlowe takes Sully's silence as a victory. "So now, this goes one of two ways. Nathan alive or dead."
"There's no need for all that, I'll tell you what you wanna know. Just leave the kid out of this."
"That deal went off the table when you took that kid in and introduced him to this life. He will never be safe, and it's because of you."
That's the one that gets Sully to drop his gaze in shame. That's something that's been weighing on his chest since the beginning of his and Nate's relationship. It's too late to fix it, and all he can do to make it better now is to protect the kid however he can. And if that's giving up the location of the kid's biggest find, so be it.