Syl was a distance a bit too far to able to make out who the guards were, but recognized the voices of all three who spoke. Doyle Larson, Vance Mettigo, and.. Cordelia?! Watching the events play out, he decided it was time for his intervention.H e'd come to expect this sort of thing out of Vance, he was a cocky son of a bitch, in Syl's mind, but Doyle was his friend. The other two guards were a mystery at this point, but he he was sure he could at least get Doyle's attention. Maybe even ease things over.
He walked briskly, but not too hurried, from around his corner, approaching them as Vance grabbed Cordelia by the arm ("Rather forcefully" he thought, irritated), and gave a shout to the group that was laid out in front of him
"Hey! What's all this commotion about about fellas?"
He asked vacantly, feigning ignorance and making himself smile. He was known to be lighthearted, even a bit of a joker, to his guard circle. To betray that image now would only be to his detriment. Immediately, Vance whipped around, still holding Cordelia by the arm. Doyle, standing next to him, and the other two guards, turned more casually at his voice, knowing exactly who it was. He was only hoping they weren't liquored up, or high on adrenalin from the previous scuffle. He needed to smooth things out quickly, but not hastily. Vance gave a scoff when he saw Syl's face, only a few feet away now
"Sylvester (Syl cringed) are you here to make our lives more miserable as well? We can handle this ourselves, this is none of your concern"
Completely ignoring Vance's curt response (it was just about what he expected out of him), he used this time to survey his surroundings. All four men were facing him, Vance in the center, Doyle to his right, the other two guards, who Syl still couldn't make out from this angle, were standing directly behind them. By the arm, Vance was still holding Cordelia, and there was a man Syl didn't recognize at first slumped over on the ground. He appeared to be beaten up pretty good though, as he lay slouched. He thought his chances of getting Cordelia out of this fiasco might actually be easier than what he previously anticipated
When Vance finished his sentence, Syl turned to Doyle, offering him a big smile and eyes that said "I didn't expect you here!", then spoke
"Doyle! Buddy! How's the night watch going? What's the situation here, friend?"
"Hey Syl, you caught us at a pretty bad time. The man slumped on the ground over there was seen conversing with others, secretly, recruiting them for a cause he refuses to disclose. This woman here was poking her nose around, trying to get us to let him go. They're both being brought back to-"
"You morons"
Syl interrupted, making a broad gesture of shaking his head and pretending like he had just laid eyes on the two "culprits". He saw Vance's face scrunch up when he made his insult, much to his delight
"I met these two in the tavern not a few hours back. They're friends of mine, recently moved from South Sector, with a place down in the valley not far from where we're standing. This man's "recruitment", as you say, is for an advance on his sister's surprise birthday party. He told me all about it in The Drowned Wench. Of course he's meeting in secret, it's a secret matter. Kicking his teeth in and manhandling a small woman is not what these two deserve, if you would've shown them the proper respect, I'm sure they would've told you so as not to embarrass yourselves with blatant ignorance. Unhand the girl, Vance, they've done nothing wrong. I'll make sure they get back to where they're going, safely."
Syl said, with cool confidence and open body language. His eyes darted to meet Cordelia's, an affirmation. Vance loosened his grip on Cordelia, turning his anger back to Syl
"You haven't been here two seconds and already you presume to know more about this situation then us?! This man was seen talking with known links to the rebel group we're all trying to combat here. He WILL be taken in to questioning, Sylvester, I don't care how good of "friends" you are"
Vance said, venom in his tone. Doyle looked back at Syl with apologetic eyes, Syl could tell he at least, bought the story. The guards behind them were shuffling their feet in nervousness, not knowing what to do. They were obviously new, they didn't seem recognizable and acted very green. Syl approached Vance steadily, a few paces made so that they were eye to eye, cancelling everyone else out of the room he was creating for them. He looked at him with confidence, but not an overwhelming sense of superiority. He had to choose his words carefully from this point, the situation now was a powder keg
"And what a great job you are doing, soldier, of handling this situation. Unless, of course, you're calling me a liar and insinuating that I, too, am assembling with rebels, you will let them both go. I can vouch for their characters, Vance. Go back to doing something useful, and let me handle this. You know how touchy the commander is about guard to citizen brutality, and I don't think he'd be too elated if I told him you were harassing friends of the Byrne family"
Syl said, never taking his eyes from the cocky soldiers face. When he finished his sentence, Doyle stepped in between them, facing Vance and putting a hand on his shoulder
"Come on Vance, he said they're clean. Let Syl take care of this, we're drawing a crowd and the dissension of the ranks is unsightly"
Vance scoffed once more before unhanded Cordelia all together, motioning for the two rookie guards behind him to keep moving down the alleyway. Syl never stopped looking into his glaring eyes
"Fine, have it your way. When you end up in this same alleyway, dead, maybe then we'll start to take this rebel threat seriously"
Syl watched as they all left, the last, Doyle who bid his farewells and offered another apology. When they had turned the corner and were sufficiently out of ear shot, his demeanor completely changed, and he glared down at Cordelia
"Mind telling me what the hell's going on here?"
He asked sternly, brow furrowed and ignoring the man in the corner for now
