Tag to A Clear And Present Danger: Potential thoughts Nathan might have been entertaining while watching the plane being loaded.
Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes but am glad the people who do are finally providing us with some good episodes again.
Nathan watched the strange looking orange-clad people, slowly, groggily lining up. The men…his men…in their black protective gear herding them into place: Both groups masked and oddly inhuman.
Herding is right. Look at them! Look what you've done to them. You've stripped them of any identity. You're dehumanizing them.
Nathan blinked at the intensity of the thought. It shouldn't surprise him that after all this time of Peter acting as his conscience; his conscience had taken on Peter's voice in his head.
Even when he's not here, he's bugging me. Nathan thought ruefully.
But of course, Nathan reminded himself, Peter was here, wasn't he? One of those eyeless orange blobs was his brother. His little brother was one of those sad saps shuffling forward in a drugged stupor not twenty feet from him and Nathan couldn't even tell which of them Peter was.
Nathan's eyes went down the line again, wondering if some instinct would reveal Peter to him. He spotted the special gloves that identified Tracy. Tracy, was completely ruthless in her search for power and perfectly willing to abuse her ability in its acquisition.
Identifying Tracy actually buoyed Nathan's spirits. It was because of people like her he had to do this.
The line moved on and the large frame and bulging stomach of another prisoner caught Nathan's attention. Matt Parkman. Nathan sighed. Parkman was a good man.
"We met in Odessa. You were lawyering you brother out of jail. I'm sorry about Peter."
Nathan remembered Parkman's consoling words. He remembered the sight of Parkman leaned against a concrete pillar in a pool of his own blood after his futile but brave attempt to stop Sylar. He remembered working with him, planning with him, that long exhausting flight back to Texas with the man cracking jokes on his back.
Matt Parkman is a hero. He helped you save the world and this is how you repay him? Peter's voice in his head again.
Now. Nathan countered that small voice. He's a hero now but tomorrow who knows? Tomorrow he could be just like his father.
And maybe you're already your father.
Nathan shook his head. This had to be done. They were dangerous. They were weapons and they had to be safely contained.
Weapons? They're not weapons. They're human beings. You know that! That's why you've got them wearing those outfits. That's why you cover their eyes. Because you know that you're wrong. You just can't face it and so you can't face them.
And Peter was right…no he was right.
He was right. Nathan knew this was the right thing to do, but he still turned his back from the sight.
He still couldn't bear to watch.