A Note From Lara: Since the last one sucked, I'm trying my hand at another Clando (ClaireAndo) oneshot, for ParaCaerOuVoar's sake, as her birthday fic kinda turned out pretty poorly.


"Go!" Ando exclaimed. "Run to the stadium!" For the umpteenth time, he wondered why he hadn't just stayed at the Burnt Toast Diner and allowed Peter Petrelli to do this. Speaking of which, where was the stoic hero, anyway?

But he had bigger problems. The Brain Man was slowly and casually advancing up the steps toward them, and...

"I'm not leaving you," the cheerleader said, staring at him resolutely.

Ando shook his head. "I have traveled 8000 miles to protect you," he insisted. "Go."

For a moment, she looked like she was about to obey him. But now the menacing shadow that had been stalking them was before them, and there was no time to run. Dismissively, the Brain Man waved a hand and Ando was falling, falling over the edge of the building, tumbling toward the pavement. As he fell through the air, he saw the cheerleader slip after him. Oh no, he thought. We couldn't save her! But suddenly her arms went around his waist and she reversed their positions, so that she was going to land first.

It seemed to take ages to fall, but it could only have been a few minutes. Ando felt her hit the ground beneath him, felt the sickening crunch of a spine snapping and ribs breaking under his weight. Desperate, he rolled off the cheerleader. "Oh no!" he exclaimed.

And at that exact moment, Peter Petrelli finally turned up, panting. "What--?" he demanded, out of breath.

"We fell," Ando said sadly. "She landed beneath me..." He tried to sit up and discovered that his leg was shattered. He hadn't felt the pain until that moment, and now it rushed in fully. He groaned between white lips. But once again, a broken leg was the least of their problems.

The Brain Man stepped out from the doors facing them. Ando struggled to his feet, wincing at even the slight weight put on his broken leg. "So, hero," the Brain Man said slowly. "She saved you. Stupid girl. Should have known I'm just going to kill you anyway." He raised a hand in the gesture Ando had seen him make at the other cheerleader and closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. He couldn't fight this. Hiro could, but he wasn't Hiro and he was never going to be.

"You're gonna have to go through me to get to him," a female voice said suddenly. Ando opened his eyes and saw, to his amazement, that Claire was not only alive, her massive injuries were rapidly healing. She had placed herself between him and the serial killer, staring defiantly at the terrifying man.

He smirked. "Silly Claire," he said. "That's exactly what I want." He made a deep cut in her forehead and Claire screamed at the pain of it.

But then he jerked and his hand was frozen in its place. His dark eyes revealed surprise as he stared at his unresponsive hand. Ando looked around and saw that Peter Petrelli had raised his hands as well and was telekinetically forcing the killer to stop. "You're not going to touch her," the hero said firmly.

Even as her forehead healed, Claire drew back her fist and punched the Brain Man squarely in the nose, knocking him unconscious. As he fell to the ground, she turned around and gave Ando a shaky smile. "Nobody hurts my hero," she said.

Ando couldn't help but smile back. He was a hero...