A Power Beyond Reach

Chapter One: "He's Here! He's Really Here!"

Story Tagline: "Don't be ridiculous. No power is beyond my reach."
"Ya know Gabriel, Ah think love is the one powah that actually is beyond your reach."

A/N: Hey. This is my new fanfic. Updates will be really sporadic as I already have two current. What I'm going to do is post the first chapters to a bunch of fics and update according to what I feel like writing. The more reviews a story gets, the more I'll post on it. The choice is yours.

~ Jane McBrennen

Nathan Petrelli crashed through the window across from the government building he and Peter had faced Sylar in, landing on the ground hard. Sylar flew smirking, using his telekinesis to hold him up. He landed much more gracefully than Nathan had. As Nathan got up, Sylar slashed his neck open with a jerk of his finger. As Nathan made gurgling noises, trying to breathe, Sylar's smirk widened.

"Claire is gonna be so mad at-" Sylar stopped short, all traces of his arrogant smirk vanishing quickly as he heard a young woman call out from the next room. It couldn't be… Sylar could hear the young woman coming towards the door connecting the two rooms together, and his heart began to beat twice as fast. It couldn't be her…

The door opened, revealing a young woman in a business suit. Her hair was a deep, dark chocolate color with the exception of the front of her hair – which, bizarrely enough, was pure white. It is her! What the hell is she doing in New York!?

"I heard a noise. Is everything alra-" The young woman too stopped short on seeing Sylar standing in front of her – but strangely enough, she didn't seemed frightened; just shocked. They stared at one another in complete silence for a moment, but a gurgling noise drew the young woman's attention. She took one look at Nathan, and then turned accusing eyes on Sylar. The look of disappointment and anger in her eyes washed Sylar in a wave of guilt that no one else could evoke. He hated the feeling this young woman evoked in him – and at the same time loved them. How had he gotten here? How had he allowed himself to become so attached? He blamed his father. Yes, it was all his father's fault. If his father hadn't given him up for sold him to the Grays… If he had just been there when Sylar showed up at his house… this never would have happened. He never would have met the Rogue.

Our story really begins the day Gabriel Gray, a.k.a. Sylar, showed up at his biological father's house in hope of answers, only to be greeted, not by a loving father's open arms (not that he'd expected a loving father or open arms), but by a team of soldiers trying to capture 'heroes.' He took care of them quickly enough, even managing to capture one of them for questioning. Unfortunately, soldier boy seemed in need of a little persuasion to cooperate.

Which is why we now turn to Jane and Luke Reynolds. Luke was a fifteen year-old smart aleck with people problems… which was why Jane had to go pick Luke up from the principal's office that day. Ah wish he'd stop gettin' into fights, seventeen year-old Goth, Jane thought to herself with a sigh.

The entire ride home had been silent, not a word spoken between them. Jane thought it best to wait until they got home for the sort of talk they were going to be having.

Jane sat down on the front steps of their house, silently motioning for Luke to do the same. For a short while, they both just sat there, staring at the trees, enjoying the feel of the breeze on their faces. Finally, Jane spoke, her voice quiet and solemn.

"We don't have ta talk about it raght now, if you don't wanna." Luke hung his head guiltily. When Jane saw this she put her arm around her brother's shoulders, giving him a living squeeze.

"I'm sorry, Jane. I didn't mean for it to happen. It just… did." Luke shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of hopelessness.

"Ah know, Luke. Ah'm not mad. Just a little worried. You've been doin' so great, you know? I just want to know if it's somethin' here at home that upset yah, or if it was somethin' at school?" Luke looked up, and upon seeing the look of concern in his beloved sister's eyes, he knew he had to give her something, but didn't want to hurt her feelings with the truth – so he lied.

"It was about a girl at school. That's all." A flash of hurt crossed Jane's face for a moment, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She wished he'd trust her a little more. Of course, she knew he was lying. She always knew.

Jane sighed. Although Luke was a handful, no sister could love a brother more. This was an old song for them, and had been sung many times in the past. Things had gotten better since their father had signed over Luke's custody to a friend of Jane's – with the aid of a little 'persuasion.' Her friend had helped them get away from a very bad situation. He'd bought a house in his name, giving Jane and her brother a home, played guardian when needed, but other than that left them to Jane's capable care.

Luke had never fought Jane's role as surrogate mother – things had always been this way, Jane taking care of him. He felt that on some level he should (as a normal teenage boy) resent his sister, his senior of two years, having absolute control over his life, but how could he when she was so good to him? He often tried to resent her, but Jane's patient, loving attitude, never judging, never criticizing, made him wish sometimes that she really was his mom, instead of his sister. He always felt guilty about the trouble he got into at school, but when people started making fun of Jane, calling her a skunk-headed freak… Well, he just lost it. Luke was strong. Emotionally, he could handle just about anything, but when it came to his sister, he just lost control. She was all he really had in the world. And he was all Jane really had for the time being – at least until Prince Charming, as Luke had dubbed Jane's mysterious dream guy, showed up and saved Jane from her utter loneliness. He sometimes felt jealous of Jane's ability to know what her future could hold – the happiness that might be hers. Of course, nothing in Jane's visions were certain. Everything depended on her and Prince Charming's individual decisions.

"Is this the same gal that yah lahked before?" Jane asked, the look in her eyes saying a million things her mouth didn't. Luke rolled his eyes. Who did she think she was fooling?

"If you mean the one that I asked to Homecoming that said 'yes,' showed up with another guy, and humiliated me in front of the entire school… then yeah, it is," he said, saying the things she was thinking. Instead of turning her head away, ashamed at being guessed so easily, Jane hugged her brother tightly, avoiding skin to skin contact. After all, they didn't want an accident, did they?

"Ah'm sorry, Luke. Ah'm really sorry," she said, her words once again holding a thousand more meanings left unspoken. Luke hugged her back, knowing how very rare it was to get her to hug him, even with the gloves and long sleeved shirts covering most of her body. They both reveled in the unusual contact for a while, and just sat there holding one another. It was only when the neighbors started to peek their noses between the blinds to see who was doing what terrible thing that they decided to go in. They did after all still have to work out a schedule to fit in all the detentions Luke had for the rest of the semester.

It's gonna be a long year, Jane thought with a wry smile.

Sylar was beginning to get more than a little irritated. He must have waited a half hour while those two had a sickening heart-to-heart family therapy session on the front steps. He didn't know why, but hearing them like that, all Brady Bunch, had annoyed him more than it should have. Maybe it was because of how obviously fake it all was. After all, if they were really just a happy little family, then why did the kid lie? Obviously, he just didn't trust his sister, and she didn't know it. If she knew anything about him, she would have seen right through the kid's lie and called him on it. But none of that mattered. He'd show them both how little they truly knew each other before he was through. After all, since he was here and imposing on their hospitality, he might as well do something for them. Maybe they'd come out of it better people.

Sylar almost laughed outright at that. No, he'd tear them apart, break down their relationship, see what made them tick, and then leave them as broken as he was.

Sylar smiled cynically as he heard the two teens walk in through the front door. He really did always hate the Brady Bunch.

Jane threw her purse down on the table in the entryway, and smiled as Luke rushed to get his guitar to play her his latest "undiscovered hit," as they'd dubbed Luke and Jane's collection of original songs.

"Ah'll be in the livin' room!" Jane called up the stairs to Luke. She heard Luke's voice say something like, "Be there in a jiffy." That or it was, "Gee, that's spiffy," but she thought that the former was much more likely.

Jane ran a hand through her chin-length chocolate-colored hair with white stripes in the front, sighing tiredly. She still had so much to do. Ah always have somethin' ta do, she thought wryly. It didn't matter though. Not really. Everything would be better when he showed up in their lives. Jane smiled again, this time wider. Gabriel Gray, the man of her dreams – literally. Well, they weren't exactly dreams; more like visions. She'd had one every night about him for as long as she could remember, starting with the day Gabriel's birth father had sold him to his uncle and continuing until their fiftieth anniversary. The one last night was pretty great. They had been sitting on a couch together, watching tv. It wasn't anything spectacular; that was just the way their life together would be: ordinary, but utterly and beautifully happy. Jane didn't know when he would show up, only that their first encounters would be rather hostile until she got him to trust her – then she could go in for the 'kill.'

The moment Jane walked into the living room, she knew that something was off – really, really off. As she walked further into the room, she came upon her favorite chair – the one that she had claimed for herself right in the furniture store before it was even purchased - the back of it facing her. There was a sickeningly sweet metallic smell in the air. If Jane didn't know better, she'd say it was blood – and a lot of it.

Jane's head jerked up quickly when she heard a muffled moan coming from her chair. She walked around to the side, and the sight before her made her want to retch. A man was sitting in the chair, gagged, and looking at her with a sort of warning desperation. All at the same time, his eyes seemed to say, "Save me! No, no! Run! You have to get out of here!" Jane ran to his side and quickly realized that what held him to the chair were screwdrivers driven through his hands, into the chair. Without hesitation, Jane reached up to remove his gag.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jane's head jerked up, and there he stood: Gabriel Gray. Her Gabriel Gray. Jane felt like her heart would fly out of her chest, with as fast as it was beating. He's here. He's fahnally here. Jane righted herself and looked at him squarely, her jaw somewhere in the vicinity of the floor, right in the opposite direction of her heart which seemed to be soaring somewhere in the clouds. She thought it would be years before she ever met him, but here he was, standing in the doorway of her kitchen, as dangerously beautiful as she'd envisioned him – literally envisioned him.

"He has the most annoying pitch to his voice when he screams. Wouldn't want to damage your eardrums…" he paused, looking down at an envelope, and looked back up, addressing her once more. "Jane, is it? When do you think Luke will be down? Not much of a party without a good trouble-maker." Jane suddenly remembered all the times she had had visions of their future arguments, and how irritating that arrogant smirk of his was. All at the same time, Jane wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and never let go, and throttle him to pieces. This wasn't her Gabriel… not yet, that is. Right now he was Sylar – and only Sylar. It would take time to draw out the man she loved in him. Right now, however, he was dangerous – to her and Luke. Jane looked over her shoulder when she heard her brother bounding down the stairs after what was an obviously long and strenuous hunt for his new song. Jane opened her mouth to warn him, but she was immediately silenced by Sylar's telekinesis over her mouth.

"Uh-uh-uh. We don't want to do that either. It would spoil all the fun." Jane would have glared holes in him, but all she could do was keep thinking, He's here! He's really here!

A/N: What do ya'll think? Should Ah post more? Is the accent irritating? Less or more of it?

Thanks for reading.

~ Jane McB.