Chapter 1: Carnival
Claire was running. It seemed like she was always running these days. From the government. From other super-powered people. From humans.
She huffed as she swung herself into a side-restaurant, shaking the rain from her hair. Ignoring the puzzled and suspicious looks from the customers, she hurriedly removed her bright red coat and stuffed it into a nearby trash-can. She then pulled her hair out of it's ponytail and fluffed it up with her fingers before dashing for what looked like the back door.
She brushed by the cooks and waiters at lightning speed, ignoring their curses and shouts behind her. At this rate they'd catch her, and she couldn't allow that. The back alley was empty, with a small ladder leading up to the roof. Claire leapt at it, climbing the rickety thing two steps at a time. For some reason, she'd always liked heights.
Once she was on the roof, she began running again. She was small and she'd put on considerable muscle since... She couldn't and didn't want to remember when. She was quick, but that was the only thing she had going for her. If she was caught, she was dead. Figuratively speaking, of course.
She was almost 20 rooftops away from where she'd last seen the guy with the shades. She stopped to catch her breath, lungs burning with pain she couldn't really feel.
"Well, well, well..." Her head snapped up, eyes wide and mouth gaping as she saw the man who had first taught her how to run. He was the same as she remembered, tall dark and smug."If it isn't our very own cheerleader." He smirked and she tensed, her eyes widening as she took in the two men beside him. The guy with shades and another man with claws... No, not claws. Knives.
"Edgar?" He gave her a sarcastic little wave, crossing his arms. The man with the glasses chuckled.
"Of course, I would have preferred a more private reunion, but Samuel did insist. He told me that you have become quite hard to catch... A rather good disappearing act." Sylar smiled widely. "Tell me.." He leaned in, whispering into her ear. "How's Peter?"
Claire launched herself at him, scratching and screaming. "You bastard! You almost killed him! You would have killed him if I.." Claire was yanked back, and pushed down on her knees in front of Sylar. She stuck out her chin defiantly, glaring up at him.
"-if you hadn't given him your blood." Sylar finished for her, staring down at her as he rubbed a hand over an already healing cut. "Right. I forgot what a little savior you are." He smirked down at her mockingly. "That doctor of his must be pretty grateful to you."
She growled at him at the mention of Emma, struggling against Edgar's firm hold. "Edgar, take her back to camp. I'm sure Samuel's dying to see her." He gestured to the man with the glasses absentmindedly. "Me and him can teleport."
The man with the glasses stepped away from Sylar, waving his arms in refusal. "No way, man. I hate that teleport thing. You take the girl," he grabbed Claire away from Edgar roughly, ignoring her outraged gasp as he shoved her into Sylar's arms, "and Edgar will give me a ride."
Claire struggled in his grip, a new sense of panic washing over her. "No, no let go of me!" She pushed at Sylar ineffectually as he looked down at her pityingly. "Sylar, you let me go right-" She beat against his chest with a sense of purpose as he grabbed her around the shoulders. "Stop it!" She yelled, pushing angrily at his arms. "Syl-" He just rolled his eyes and squeezed tightly and suddenly they were somewhere else entirely.
It was a slight shock to her system, for sure, and she could understand why people wouldn't like it, but - Her mind focused. She didn't have time to think about this. The second her feet touched the floor, she was running. She had made it maybe six meters when she crashed into something. She stumbled backward, into another something. She tried moving sideways, but something grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Claire, you can stop now." Sylar said, looking faintly irritated. "You're not getting away," another, similar voice added. She snapped around, only to come to face with another Sylar, and another one, and another one. She almost collapsed back into Sylar (1,2,3,4, the original?).
"Eli?" She murmured to herself, more than him as he dragged her away. "- is dead." He finished for her.
"Hiro Nakamura?" She asked, her heart stuttering in her chest. She hadn't really known him well, but he had always been so kind - so innocent. The thought of Sylar drawing a deep red line across his forehead made her want to start mourning on the spot.
"Is alive." He snorted. "For all his silliness, he is rather good at running." They had reached a tent, white and tall in the middle of an open field. It reminded her of something... Something she'd almost forgotten. In the distance, a Ferris Wheel spun, slowly against the blue sky.
"The Carni- " a man stepped out of the tent, his eyes sparkling and arms outstretched in an all too familiar pose enveloped her in a hug that was stiff and unfamiliar. Earth and sweat filled her nostrils and her heart-rate sky-rocketed.
The man pulled away, and there, with his multiple rings and waistcoat wearing glory, stood Samuel Sullivan. Her eyes darted to Sylar, who gave her a sardonic smile.
"Welcome back, Claire." Samuel smiled warmly, something that would have made her smile back once, before he had shown himself to be exactly like Sylar - a power crazed man determined to take all he could. His smile only filled her with dread now, a cold dark empty pit that pooled at the bottom of her stomach. Sylar gave her one last look, and stepped into the tent, leaving her alone with Samuel. Claire almost wished he had stayed.
"After you, Claire." Samuel, ever courteous, stepped aside and held the tent-flaps open for her so she could enter. Heart-pounding like a drum in her ears and fists clenched and battle-ready, Claire stepped into her very own brave new world.
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Edgar, Sylar and the guy with the glasses were sitting around a huge wooden table. Sylar was drumming his fingers on the table, looking bored and impatient, the guy with the glasses was reading an old book that was falling apart and Edgar was playing with one of his knives.
Claire took all of this in, not really seeing it or believing it. She was back where it had all started - a carnival, in the middle of nowhere, with the two people she feared most.
Not that she'd ever admit it, of course.
"So, Claire, what do you think? Do you like the improvements?" Samuel asked from behind her.
"Improvements?" Claire whirled round to face him. "What improvements? The kidnapping instead of lying to get me here?" She clapped her hands together semi-enthusiastically. "Great job."
Sylar snorted from behind her. "I told you she'd be difficult."
"Oh you did?" She turned to face him. "I don't think you understand just how difficult I will be. I am never going to stop trying to escape, and when I do, I'm going to shut you down. No matter what. I can promise you that." A spark of something had lit inside her, filling her shock-filled brain with a sudden strength. She was Claire Bennet, the Indestructible girl, the Ferris Wheel girl.
She could do this.
"That's why we'll be assigning you a... Guardian." Samuel seemed completely unfazed by her admission. "Sylar, Edgar or Pierre. Take you pick." The false-charm in Samuel's voice had gone, leaving a hard edge to it. She was completely lost as to what she was doing here. Why did he even want her here? Wouldn't that just bring more trouble for him? The government, Peter, her father? Why would he go through all that to bring her here? She couldn't do anything to help his cause - whatever it was these days. The best she could do was bleed on people, and she doubted that would help him a great deal.
"Why am I even here?" She said out loud. Samuel took her by the shoulder, turning her to face the three men who sat looking at her.
"All questions will be answered, Claire, but for now, just make a choice." He gestured to the men. He leaned in, whispering in her ear. "Remember, it's a game of chance. You win or you lose."
"What if I choose none?" Claire muttered bitterly. Samuel smiled, but there was no charm, only menace.
"Then I'll choose." He replied nonchalantly, but the threat was clear.
Claire glanced back at the men, thoughts running scatteredly across her mind. There was Sylar - who she knew, but he was also Sylar and she hated him. There was Edgar, who she also 'knew', but she didn't like him or trust him either. He was unpredictable, and now it seemed, disloyal. And then there was 'Pierre', who she knew nothing about whatsoever. She pursed her lips.
A minute passed. Maybe two. "Who's it going to be Claire?" Samuel asked finally.
Claire took a breath. "Sylar." She whispered.
She heard Samuel chuckle beside her but her eyes were fixed on Sylar's and that unreadable expression in those dark eyes of his. He looked faintly amused, and a little surprised. She didn't know why. He was her safest choice, obviously, no matter how ridiculous that sounded in her head.
Safe. Sylar.
It was almost laughable.
"Well, then. Sylar, lead her to her trailer. I'm sure the two of you have a lot of catching up to do."
Sylar got to his feet, and walked slowly towards her. He grabbed her hand with his usual genteel touch and pulled her forward, out of the tent and along the dirt roads. She hadn't noticed earlier but the place was lined with tents, trailers and the like. It was exactly the same as she remembered.
They stopped at a medium-sized metal trailer and Sylar dropped her arm and pushed his way inside. Claire followed, slightly curious as to where she'd be staying until she could escape. And she would. Eventually.
It was bigger than it looked on the outside. There were two rooms from the look of it, a bathroom and a small kitchenette. It was cozy, and her mom would have loved it. She gave a small smile at the thought of Sandra. She hadn't seen her mom in almost a year.
"Why am I here?" She asked again, her voice softer, yet firmer than before. "I have the right to know."
Sylar lounged back on his forearms on the bed in the room they were in, smirking. He got to his feet, taking one, two steps closer to her than was necessary.
"You don't need to worry about that, Claire. After all, I'm your guardian now." He said mockingly. He took another step closer to her, until she could feel his warm breath fan her face. He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "And I won't let anything bad happen to you." She just glared at him, watching as he leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "I promise."
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WHOOO! I think this is the first multi-chap fic I've tried that takes place after BNW. I have another one in the works, and the Batman crossover and FWF and the AU so updates will take loooooong periods of time. The most frequent ones though, will probably be this and FWF. So please, do stick around and review:)