Episode one, Younglings
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Heroes characters, just the ones I made up.
Author Notes: I decided that if I ran the future of Heroes... well it would probably suck as a tv show because it probably would be really cheesey. But it would also be different from the flashes we see in the show. Bear with me as I twist the fates of these characters and add in a few (Or more than a few) of my own! Also a small note, in some of the bios you see there will be X's next to ages, weights, heights, etc. This is because 1- I most likely don't know those facts, and 2- I most likely didn't care to put them down anyway, haha!
Claire Bennet sat in the chair at her new desk, flipping through the files of data she'd had compiled of her new students. A lot of them had some of the same powers she'd seen before- element manipulation, time control, speed, strength. She paused, looking at Elle's file.
"How did that get in here?" Claire sighed in exasperation, running her fingers through her hair which ran down to the middle of her back now, "I really should have someone organize all this stuff." She couldn't help but read through the file.
Name: Elle Bishop
Gender: Female
Age: xx
Weight: xx
Height: xx
Powers: Electricity manipulation
Status: Revived with Life Serum. Undergoing rehabilitation in containment.
Claire tossed the file across the desk. She'd put it in the correct file later. "Ugh, another one, who does this work here?" she pulled out another file that was in the incorrect pile.
Name: Sylar
Gender: Male
Age: xx
Weight: xx
Height: xx
Powers: Telekinesis (Mainly), electrical manipulation, healing
Status: Solitary confinement. Test subject for project 00x15
She tossed the file away from her as if it had bitten her hand, this one landed on the floor. Life had changed so much for her, for everyone. She and Peter had started this 'new company' to help others with abilities. He had decided she would make a good head for the company, while Peter himself was a teacher along with Hiro, Ando, and the mysterious Haitian. Peter taught power control, the Haitian self defense and basic combat, Hiro and Ando held sessions on working together with 'regulars'- the new term for people without powers. It was a noble thing, this new company. At least, Claire thought so. She thought of it as helping teens make the right choice, or keeping more Sylars from the world. There was no brain washing, no forcing of beliefs.
Claire rubbed her eyes and continued to sort through the files in front of her, there were five new students that caught her eye.
Name: Tad Jonson
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Weight: 189 lbs
Height: 6' 1''
Powers: Super vision/ X-ray vision, ability to make/repair any machine
Status: Level 2 student
Name: Stacie Jonson
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Weight: 120 lbs
Height: 5' 6''
Powers: Elasticity, enhanced speed
Status: Level 1 student. Tad's twin sister.
Name: Kathleen (Kath) Trent
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Weight: 120 lbs
Height: 5' 5''
Powers: Sonic scream powers
Status: Level 1 student
Name: Alice Cooper
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Weight: 130 lbs
Height: 5' 6''
Powers: Super hearing/ hears energy, super fast reaction time, almost to the point of precognition.
Status: Level 2 student. Half sister to Kathleen
Name: Reggie (No last name given)
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Weight: Subject was very sensitive about her weight and would not let anyone near her to weigh her.
Height: 5' 3''
Powers: Can bring her drawings to life
Status: Undetermined
That last one was quite interesting. Didn't give a last name, sensitive about her weight, and her status was undetermined. Claire chewed on her lip, frowning as she looked at the five files. Her glance kept returning to Reggie's.
"I mean seriously," she began as Peter and her talked over coffee, it was their Monday ritual, "I know girls are sensitive about that stuff, but she wouldn't even let our people weigh her? What is she, huge?"
Peter watched as she took a sip of her coffee, although she was in her twenties she still looked like a senior in high school, and sometimes still acted like she was still in high school. He loved her like a daughter despite this, "But it's not really her weight that's bothering you, is it?" he asked, taking a sip of his own coffee.
"Well no, it's more that her status was undetermined. We can usually classify our students in levels of one through five, most of them are level ones and twos. And she doesn't even rank a one? Or is she even more powerful than a five?" Claire let her breathe out, calming herself and lowering her voice to a more suitable volume, "I just don't want to have another Sylar. One's enough."
"I'm sure it's just her unusual power, no one knows what to do with it, and even I don't understand it." As much as Peter was trying to consol her, he was not doing a very good job.
"You know," Claire began, sarcasm dripping from every word, "Somehow that makes me feel so much better!"
He sighed, setting his coffee down, "Claire, don't worry so much about it, having Reggie at our facility will help us in the end, it'll put more info on these powers in our database and we'll learn as she's learning!"
Claire tipped her cup back, drinking the last of her coffee, "I hope you're right, Peter."
"I am." Peter smiled as Claire smacked him on the shoulder, smiling as well.
A petite figure stumbled down the hallway under the weight of a heavy bag. Long, auburn hair, held in a messy ponytail, swished from side to side as she made went along and, on top of the big bag in her arms, a sketchbook was balanced. The girl came to a stop, trying to see past the huge obstruction she was carrying, in her struggle she dropped her sketchbook. Cursing under her breath she knelt, carefully trying to grab the book without spilling her things. A hand darted out from no where and grabbed the book up for her.
"Need some help?" asked a kind voice.
The girl stood and her bag fell, spewing all the contents closest to the unzipped part, it was mostly pencils, markers, erasers, and other assorted art supplies. "Um… yes," the girl smiled sheepishly, offering a hand to the girl standing in front of her, "My name's Reggie."
The other girl extended her whole arm, handing the sketchbook back to Reggie and then shaking her hand, "Stacie, some call me Stretch, but mostly it's just Stacie." Stacie smiled, "Where's your room, I'll help you carry some of this stuff!"
"Room 115," Reggie told her, bending again to pick up her things, "I really should learn to pack lighter." She grumbled, eliciting a laugh from Stacie.
"It's the same way with me!" she exclaimed, "Guess what? 115 is my room too!" she literally wrapped her arms around Reggie's bag and lifted it from the ground carefully, "I've already put my stuff in there and I was on my way to see my brother. He's here too, you know?"
Reggie nodded and followed. Stacie talked a lot, but it was a cheerful flow of babble and it made Reggie feel right at home, "What powers does your brother have?" she asked in the small space left when Stacie paused for breath.
"He can see super far, and through walls, and he can make things out of spare parts that really work." She ticked off the things on her fingers and then started to talk about the many inventions her brother, Tad, made.
Reggie let the flow of talk wash over her as she flipped open her sketch book and stretched out on one the one bed that wasn't claimed already- a lower bunk, one of two bunk beds. She started to draw, nodding or adding the occasional 'hmm' or 'oh' at the appropriate times.
"Hey, what's your power?" Stacie finally asked, Reggie had waited patiently for this moment and showed her the drawing of a bird on her sketch pad, "Did you just draw that while we were talking? Wow, you are so good! But I don't understand what that has to do with your power.."
Reggie smiled, "It has everything to do with my power," she explained, motioning for Stacie to come closer, "watch." She let her hand hover over the drawing of the bird, a soft glow came from it and then suddenly the bird on the page was gone. Reggie held out her two fingers horizontally and a small bird landed on them, "Tada!"
"Whoa, that is totally beyond cool! Is it real?" Stacie asked, holding her own fingers out.
The bird hopped from Reggie to Stacie's hand, "Real as you or me," she whistled to the bird and it hopped onto the paper and seemed to melt back onto it until it was just a drawing again, "I can do bigger things too, but it takes me a bit of time to draw them."
"You have to meet my brother and show him!" Stacie declared, taking Reggie by the hand and leading her out of the room and down the hallway.
"Alright, send the next ones in," Claire told the intercom and immediately the door to her office swung open, "please, sit down." She smiled warmly. As warmly as she could, considering she had been holding meetings with the new students all day long and was pretty tired. "You're Alice and Kathleen, right?"
"Kath," the small blonde corrected her, tossing her ringlet curls over her shoulder as she sat down adding a, "please" to sounds less rude.
"I'm sorry, Kath and Alice." Claire righted the statement, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Claire Bennet, Head of… Well, of whatever we are." She smiled again, this one less fake than the last one. "I-"
"Wanted to meet all of your new students so you can gauge our attitudes and add it to your files." The other one, presumably Alice finished for her.
"That-that's classified information, how did you-"
"Get it?" Alice shrugged, "It happens sometimes, I just know what people are going to say and I blurt it out, it's kinda freaky." She smiled shyly, embarrassed about her power.
"Well, that's just fine," Claire assured her, crushing the rising panic she had felt at the thought of being compromised, "I also want to get to know my students so that if you guys have any problems you can come to me with them." She could easily slip back into her newcomer speech. At the beginning of the meetings she had actually meant what she said, but as the day wore on and she got more and more exhausted it was just like an overused sales pitch. "I know what it's like having no one to turn to when you feel trapped," she paused, letting it sink into the minds of her audience of two.
"Why do you look like you're around our age?" Kath asked bluntly, her voice was quiet and low, but still audible "Aren't you supposed to be old?"
Alice shoved her half sister, "Kath, that's rude, you can't just say stuff like that, especially not to the Head!" her face burned with the shame that Kath apparently did not feel. She shoved Kath again, "I don't care if it's the truth and you wanted to know!"
Now Kath's face went red, her jaw worked as she turned fully to Alice and then opened her mouth, "DO YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR POWER ON ME?" she hadn't really shouted, Kath had only raised her voice to speak normally, but it still made Alice flinch and cover her ears. Even the glass on Claire's desk had started to crack a little bit and, with her super hearing ability, it was probably a lot worse for Alice.
"Stop, NOW." Claire stated, standing and drawing to her full height like a cat that's angered. Although she wasn't that tall she was still menacing, "Even though I may look young I have more years under my belt than either of you, and I will most likely live longer than the both of you combined!" That wasn't in the speech, but it helped to ad lib and get out of the rut she'd been in all afternoon.
"Sorry." Kath muttered, her voice was soft and low again.
"I-I'm sorry too," Alice stuttered, still holding her ears.
Claire sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose and her eyes, "Look, I know there are a lot more kids with powers out there these days and that it might be easier to just ask your friends for advice," she sat back down and leaned back in her chair, looking at the two of them, "But the teachers and I have been around the block more than a few times and we know what it's like to face your own personal apocalypse… And, thanks to my power, I'll just keep going around that block…" she hadn't meant to bring her own personal life into this, but it was too late to take that back. She kept going, "What I'm trying to say is, if you're going through something let one of us know, we can help and we've most likely been there too."
They both looked at her, Kath's eyes bored into Claire as if trying to gauge the Head's own personality and see if she was being genuine. Alice took her hands from her ears and Claire was shocked to see blood trickling slowly from the left one, "Do you mind if I ask you what your power is?" she asked timidly, rubbing her hands together, which just smeared the bit of blood she had gotten on them.
"Advanced Cellular Regeneration," She explained, "I can never die. I can never get older than I am now. I can't even feel pain anymore…" Claire sighed once again, "I believe you've both received a list of rules and the keys to your room, but right now I'd like you to visit the medical wing and get your ear taken care of Miss Cooper."
The two girls murmured their thanks and then left, Claire could just hear Kath whispering an apology to Alice. "Send the next one in." Claire spoke into the intercom once again, running her fingers through her hair.
"That is so cool," Tad Jonson grinned as he held the bird in his big hands, "You have the best power I've ever seen!" Reggie tucked a lock of auburn hair behind her ear; it had somehow escaped her messy ponytail. Her face was flushed as she mumbled an inaudible reply. "No seriously, I wish I could do something like this!" Tad's grin widened.
"Well, what do you do?" Reggie asked, "I mean, Stacie kind of told me about it, but um… yeah."
Tad laughed, not unkindly, at her awkwardness. He ran a hand through his short blonde hair which was in spikes, "I can see through things and I can look at microscopic things like they were right in front of my face, I can also build any machine I can think up and repair any existing machine in the world."
"I don't know my power seems kind of lame next to yours." Reggie smiled back, calling the bird back to her page and closing the book as soon as it had melted back onto it.
"Hey, have you had your meeting with the Head yet?" Tad asked suddenly, changing the subject. Reggie noticed he was a bit red in the face.
"No, I didn't know the Head or whatever was having meetings..." she looked at him quizzically, "Why is she meeting with people?"
"She wants to get to know her students I guess." Tad shrugged, "Uh oh, Stacie's about to round the corner, and she looks like she's in a state." He warned suddenly, looking slightly to Reggie's left. And sure enough Stacie rounded the corner, her legs stretched to get a longer step and she came towards them.
"Reggie, You're late, the Head has been expecting you for almost half an hour!" she cried, taking hold of Reggie's wrist and wrapping her fingers around it several times as she started to drag her away, "Stop flirting with my brother and get going!"
"Wha-wait, how do you know she's expecting me?" Reggie stammered, confused.
"Because my meeting was before yours," Stacie explained, "I waited around for you afterwards but when you didn't show the Head came out of her office and asked where you were!"
"Oh, sorry?" Reggie didn't know what to do as she was dragged to the office and pushed inside.
"I'm sorry, here she is!" Stacie said quickly, smiling as if Reggie was her personal responsibility.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know I was supposed to have a meeting, I only just got here a few hours ago and I still haven't settled in…" Reggie had a hard time shutting off the flow of babble, but she eventually did.
"It's fine please sit down, my name is Claire Bennet." Claire smiled, but she couldn't keep the tiredness from it this time.
Reggie sat, "It's nice to meet you Claire Bennet, I'm Reggie."
"I have a file on you Reggie," Claire began, totally ditching her speech in favor of maybe getting answers, "well, I have files on all my students, but the thing I noticed about yours was that you didn't give a last name, and you didn't give your weight." She studied the girl in front of her, "Not that not giving your weight or last name is a problem, I'm just a naturally curious person."
Reggie watched Claire with a guarded look, the warmth in her eyes disappeared replaced with a steely look Claire couldn't quite place, "I like to be cautious, is that a problem?"
"Not at all, but hypothetically if I have to protect you I'd like to be aware if you might be a criminal. Hypothetically speaking of course." Claire's voice became as steely as the look in Reggie's eyes.
"I'm not a criminal." Reggie stated, crossing her legs and arms, causing her forgotten sketchbook to fall on the ground. It lay there, open for all to see.
"I guess I'll take your word for it this time." Claire backed down, sinking tiredly deeper into her chair, "Well, your file also says you can bring drawings to life, do you mind if I see? I've never seen a power like yours before." She admitted.
Reggie picked up her sketchbook, still a bit irked, she smacked it down on the desk in front of the both of them, "You sure you trust me not to bring out some giant monster to kill you?" she said sharply, scooting her chair closer as if in warning.
"I dare you to give it a try, it'd be the most fun I've had all day." Claire said drily and Reggie couldn't help but laugh, "I'm being serious, do it I want to show you something anyway, but let me clear off my desk first." The Head deftly closed her laptop and put it in a drawer along with the rest of her own desk items except for the cracked glass that had been leaking all day.
Reggie stared at her in disbelief, "You're being serious?" she whispered, "I was just kidding!" she pulled the corner of her sketchbook closer to her, still staring.
"And I'm being serious, do it I'll be okay."
"Okay…" Reggie whispered, almost fearfully as she flipped the pages of her sketchbook and placed both hands over a drawing, the soft glow came from them and grew stronger. Reggie grunted and then pulled her hands away as if the page was hot. A hand reached out of the paper and used the desk to lift the rest of the monstrous body out of the paper, and as it came out it grew to monumental size so that its head touched the ceiling and his chest was almost twice as wide as Reggie herself. "Inkster," Reggie whispered, pointing to Claire who stood ready behind the desk, "Kill." The thing, Inkster, lunged. It grabbed Claire by her neck and she gasped, more with surprise than in pain. Inkster slammed her against the desk, on top of the glass which shattered into her back. "Inkster, stop!" Reggie screamed and the beast dropped Claire's throat and stood back.
There were bruises on Claire's neck and blood was pooling on the desk from her back, Reggie rushed to her side, "You didn't even fight back, why did you…" Reggie reached out to touch the blonde's face, only to have her wrist grabbed.
"Why did you hesitate?" Claire asked, gripping Reggie's wrist firmly and using it as leverage to sit up, the bruises were already disappearing.
"I-I thought… I didn't want you to die." Reggie gasped, watching as the last of the bruises faded away.
Claire turned around and motioned to her back, "Help me get the glass out." She stated quietly, feeling around for the bloodied shards herself. They worked quietly, each pulling out a fair share of glass and discarding them on the now stained desk.
"I'm sorry," Reggie whispered as soon as they had gotten the glass out and Claire's back had healed itself over, "I didn't know you had healing, I thought maybe you could've blasted Inkster apart like Sy-" She stopped herself mid-sentence and looked at the ground.
"Like who?" the Head asked sharply, turning to look straight at the petite girl, "Who's name were you going to say?" she urged her to go on.
"Like no one. Well I mean, like someone, but I don't remember their name, I don't even remember my last name…"
Claire looked Reggie over and her gaze softened, "Okay, I won't push you. But if you need to talk to someone I'll make sure to clear my schedule for you, That's what this whole meeting was supposed to be about."
"Okay… Um, can I go now Mrs. Bennet?" Reggie asked, fidgeting slightly and not meeting Claire's eyes.
"Yes," Reggie turned to grab her sketch book, "And Reggie, Mrs. Bennet is my mom, just call me Claire when you're with me, okay?" Claire smiled warmly and genuinely as she crossed her legs, still sitting on the desk in her own blood.
Reggie nodded and picked up her sketch book, holding it out to the statuesque Inkster, "Inkster, home." She called and the thing placed its hand on the open book, and was sucked back in. "Goodnight, Claire." She said over her shoulder as she left the room. A tall man in black brushed past her, into the office as she left, he turned and looked at her retreating back.
"Is everything alright? I heard a scream," Peter looked at the desk and Clair sitting on it and the blood and broken glass, "What happened in here?"
"Girl bonding time." Claire stated, uncrossing her legs and getting off the desk, "She knows about Sylar, I'm sure she's met him before, Pete. She almost let his name slip but caught herself." She bit her bottom lip in thought, "Also, I think we'll pencil her in as a level 2 for now, keep your eye on her, okay Peter? I think she's scared."
"I will, but let's clean this mess up first, you can't work in a messy office." They shared a smile and then got to work cleaning.
A scream that failed to penetrate the upper levels of the facility came from a small, high level security cell in the bowels of the company. A man was strapped to a cold metal table, several tubes and wires came from arms, nose and chest. A bag of rust colored liquid was hanging on a stand and slowly filtering through a tube into the man's arm. He screamed again and struggled against his bonds. If one were to look through the one sided glass you could just see the heavy brow and strong nose of Sylar.