HEROES: Duel, p1
Disclaimer: I own nuttink! Some lines cribbed from Jeph Loeb's script of 3.13, "Dual".
Notes: Having written the bulk of "Darkness" before s3 played out, I found the show went in a different direction than I thought it would. I eventually figured out where my story and the show canon really diverged. Here's what happened in my AU, and it's all Matt's fault, as usual. (sorry, Grunny!)
It was Daphne who suggested they look for Suresh at the lab PrimaTech had set up for him in downtown New York, the former loft of precognitive artist Isaac Mendez. Matt thought it slightly ironic that Isaac's sketchbook had told them what happened to Hiro, and that the time-traveler's only hope of rescue may lie in the former home of the man who inspired Hiro's search for destiny in America.
Daphne's idea that he could screw up history, even by dying wasn't funny to Matt as he rolled his eyes and opened the door to the studio apartment-slash-lab. "Mohinder!" he called out to the empty loft.
Of course, Mohinder was nowhere to be found, much less the formula that they had come looking for.
"You said he'd be here and we could get the formula," Ando bemoaned.
"No, I said I thought he'd be here," Matt corrected him as the Japanese man continued on about how they were going to save his friend.
"If Suresh isn't here, he's probably in his lab," Daphne offered.
"At Pinehearst? Too dangerous," Matt said, shaking his head.
"For who? Someone has to get him," she replied.
"No," Matt insisted.
She smirked.
Matt didn't have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking. "Daphne, STOP!" he called after the purple blur.
She came to a halt in the doorway, mid-step.
"Daphne?" he called up to her. She relaxed her body, standing straight, but otherwise not moving.
Matt and Ando shared a look and went up to her. She was staring straight ahead like a zombie.
"Daphne?" Matt asked again. No response. He waved his hand and snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Daph?" he asked again, worry edging into his voice.
She blinked and looked at Matt in confusion, who breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry, about that," he apologized. "I didn't mean to, uh, mind zap you or whatever, just make you stop. Sorry."
She smirked at Matt, who looked like the proverbial kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Matt, you know one of us has to go and get Suresh and the formula," she explained. "I know where it is, and I'm fast enough they won't realize I'm there until it's too late to stop me!"
"Like I just stopped you?" he asked. "No, you can't go alone. I won't let you."
"Matt--" she protested.
"We're coming with you," he said. "I might be able to talk some sense into Mohinder."
She smiled at him. "Well, what are we waiting for?" She grabbed both men and the trio soon found themselves in another building in New Jersey.
"Again, I really like teleporting better!" Ando insisted as he leaned against the wall to collect himself.
Matt found himself on the floor, having lost his balance upon their arrival and rapid deceleration. "I'm starting to agree with you," he groaned as he picked himself up.
Daphne rolled her eyes. "Come on guys, we don't have much time. The lab's this way," she said as she started down the hall.
"Daphne, wait!" Matt called after her, but she was already gone. He shook his head at her rash actions and suddenly found himself looking into her perky face already.
"Miss me?" she said, holding up a syringe.
Matt sighed. "I said together, we do this together, Daphne."
Daphne started to reply, but they heard a large crash coming from the direction she had run off to. "That sounded like it came from the lab!"
"Stay here," Matt insisted and started off down the hall. "And get Ando and the formula out of here if anyone tries to approach you!" he called back to them.
Matt made his way down the hall, sending out a mental pulse to see if anyone was near. Four familiar 'voices' came back to him. Mohinder was scared, Peter upset, but they were together. They should be alright, then, right? Matt thought as he concentrated on the other two. Nathan was groggy and slightly confused, while the other was...Knox? Uh-oh. Better see to Nathan, first!
Matt followed the second pair of thoughts to a nearby office. He peeked around the open door to see Knox fuming at Nathan, and a man dressed in military green lying on the floor, neck twisted at an odd angle. What's going on here? Better play it safe, Parkman.
Matt stepped to the door to hear his former friend say Peter was "one of the good guys, now."
"What are you doing to Nathan, Knox?" he demanded.
Knox whirled, fuming. "Parkman? I thought I killed you?"
"Matt?" Nathan said in surprise.
Matt smirked. "Let him go, Knox. I know you don't want to hurt either of us."
"That's what you think, Parkman!" he said charging his one-time mentor.
WHAM! Knox suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious.
"What the hell?" Nathan asked. He looked back up to see the thick office door was suddenly closed and had a Knox-sized dent in the thick wood at head height.
Matt opened the door and asked, "Are you alright, Nathan?"
The other man smirked. "I am now that you're here, Parkman. Come on, you can help me stop Peter from destroying the Formula." He started to push past Matt into the hallway.
"Wait, what?" he asked, putting his hand on Nathan's chest, pushing him back into the room. "I thought we wanted to stop people from using this formula?"
"We are. We're going to stop the formula from being given to the wrong people," he explained.
"And who gets to decide that? You?"
"Matt, there are already a squad of Marines waiting to be injected right this moment," Nathan explained. "With their help, we can see to it that people like Knox and my father never get out of line again."
"According to whose rules?" Matt demanded, growing angry. "And what if they do step out of line? What are you going to do, then? Throw them in jail? Some of us have powers that can't be easily contained!"
"Then we round them up, re-educate them," Nathan said coldly.
"Re-educate?" Matt was stunned. Was Nathan implying what he thought he was implying? "Concentration camps?"
"Exactly, just like Guantanamo Bay," Nathan replied matter of factly.
"What about Auschwitz? Or Buchenwald? Or-or Tule Lake and Manzanar!?" Matt shouted. "I don't like the way you're thinking, and I'm sure neither would a lot of other people! People like Hiro and-and Claire! None of us wanted these powers, but we're trying to do the best we can with them!"
Nathan was taken aback. "What are you talking about, Parkman?"
"I'm Jewish, Nathan, and I'm sure Hiro and Ando wouldn't like being arrested for no reason like they did back in the Forties during the war! Like that guy from Star Trek who spent time in one as a kid! As a little kid, Nathan!" he explained. "Kids like Molly, or even yours! That's what you're saying isn't it?"
"They won't put kids in those kind of camps, Parkman," Nathan protested, not really believing himself.
"So when they come for your boys, Claire, Molly, Micah, hell, maybe even my own ex-wife's unborn child, you won't stop them?" Matt demanded. "I'd die before I let that happens, Nathan! Even to your kids!"
Nathan held up his hands. "Nothing of the sort, Parkman! I'm just talking about rounding up the bad guys and--"
"And who decides who is 'bad'? You? Or do they just have to have an arrest record?" Matt countered. He gestured to the man laying unconscious on the floor next to the man whose neck he had snapped with his own bare hands. "I knew Knox here since he was a kid. I tried to get him to quit the gangs, because I knew he was a good kid at heart. I thought I had talked him into leaving, but he suddenly found himself running the same gang he tried to break away from. I guess I can figure out why, now."
Nathan raised an eyebrow at this confessed connection. "Matt, it's not like that," Nathan protested again. "I'll talk to the government, let them know we exist and we can work things out from there!"
"Listen, Claire told me about this guy, Canfield," Matt explained. "Your own mother had him locked up in Level 5, PrimaTech's own prison for people like us. Bennet said that's where they put my father after we stopped him from using Niki to kill Bishop. This Canfield, he could create black holes, Nathan. He killed his neighbor by accident when his power first manifested. Just like Ted gave unknowingly his wife cancer. All Canfield wanted was to go home to his wife and family, but Bennet tried to make him kill Sylar for his freedom. He refused and jumped into one of his own black holes to escape this madness. Not everybody deserves to be locked up, Nathan!"
"There are drunk drivers who kill people by accident every day, Parkman. They serve time for that. Surely you're aware of that?" Nathan countered. "We just need to police our own, keep people like Sylar from wreaking havoc."
"Nine-Eleven, Nathan! Oklahoma! People were calling for Mid-Eastern looking people to be rounded up and deported with no reason! People like us, we look like everybody else! Do you know the chaos that would create? The Red Scare in the Fifties would pale in comparison! Innocent people would suffer being blacklisted just because someone thinks they're 'different,' even if it's something normal, like being gay." Matt fumed. "Hell, Peter even came back from the future once already to stop you from exposing us!"
"It won't be like that, Matt! Trust me. There aren't witch hunts for gays, are there?"
"Matthew Shepard ring a bell, Nathan? Jasper, Texas? I'm sure I can come up with a dozen more examples I've witnessed personally on the beat," Matt threw it back in his face. "I'm glad you're suddenly such good friends with Barney Frank up on Capitol Hill, Senator Petrelli, but don't you think he worries about becoming the victim of a hate crime just because he's gay? It will be like that, Nathan, I've seen it all to often on the beat. New York and LA."
Nathan eyed Matt warily. "How'd you know I was appointed a Senator, Matt?"
"Your mother told me. She and Daphne caught me up to speed after I woke her up from the coma your father put her in, Nathan. By the way, you're welcome for that! Now stop changing the subject!"
Nathan took a step back, almost lost his balance. They both looked down to see the puddle of blood soaked into the carpet.
"Whose blood is that?"
Nathan grimaced, staring at it. "My father's. Peter came here to kill him, but Sylar did it for him."
"Sylar's here? Does he have your father's powers?"
"Long gone, by now," Nathan mused. "Much like my father's body. And no, it was a bullet to the brain."
"What happened to his body?"
"I don't know," Nathan shrugged. "I found Peter in here staring at it, still holding the gun. We argued, he knocked me out, then that Marine woke me up, Knox came in and then you did."
"Somebody took your father's body?"
"Now who's changing the subject, Parkman?"
Matt shot Nathan a dirty look. "Where's Peter, then?"
Nathan shrugged. Both men locked eyes.
"The lab!" they said in unison and ran out the room, Matt calling for Mohinder, while Nathan called out Peter's name.
They heard a commotion as they approached the lab. Glass shattering, things being tossed and broken. Mohinder shouting.
"These are your accomplices, Peter! Thugs. Killers. What does that make you?"
As they entered the lab, they heard Mohinder cry out and saw Flint toss him across the room.
"Get away from him!" Matt shouted, concerned over his friend. Daphne had said he had become disfigured from his own formula, but Matt couldn't tell from the brief glimpse he caught of Mohinder crashing to the ground.
Peter ran to Suresh first as Flint turned to face the pair in the doorway.
"Who is this guy?" Matt asked, wishing he had his sidearm.
"Flint, stand down!" Nathan ordered. "I'm in charge now, that means you work for me."
"No, I don't think so," the pyrokinetic replied in his southern drawl. "You want to give out powers, we won't be so special, any more. We can't have that, can we?" He flicked his hands and blue fire erupted from his palms.
"Whoa!" Matt exclaimed in surprise, holding his hands out. "Calm down, man, we're not going to hurt you!"
"Good thing I ain't making the same promise, innit?"
"And what do you think Meredith is going to do to you when you kill her daughter's father, Flint?" Nathan asked the man. A bit too smugly for Matt's taste. "You know she'll kick your ass, and that's only for starters."
Flint hesitated, unsure who to attack first, Nathan or Matt. "You-you leave my sister out of this!" he yelled, confused and frustrated.
Matt looked between the two men. How many of the people they know were related? Kevin Bacon has nothing on us, he joked to himself. He could sense Flint's agitation and Nathan's attitude, not a good combination in any case, especially so one where someone could throw fire from his hands. He then felt Peter's concern slowly turning to anger.
"Peter? Peter, how's Mohinder?" he asked, looking behind Flint, hoping the man wouldn't take advantage of his distraction.
Unfortunately, this only served to remind Flint that he was now surrounded and his flames grew brighter as he turned to look where Peter and Mohinder were. Matt and Nathan both had to hold up their hands because of the heat.
"Get him over here!" Flint yelled. "I don't want anyone sneaking up behind me!"
Peter looked up at the man. "I thought you and I are on the same side, remember?"
"The only side I'm on is mine!" he snarled back.
Behind him, Nathan nodded to Matt and thought toward him a telepathic message. Matt nodded and moved to his right, getting Flint's attention.
"Stay where you are, fat boy!" the pyro yelled.
Matt scowled at the comment. "I just want to see if my friend is alright."
Flint waved his fiery fist toward Matt. "I said get back!"
It was at that moment that Nathan struck him with a pipe he had picked up. Flint stumbled forward into Matt, who was momentarily glad the man lost his concentration, causing his fists to go out.
However, Matt found himself knocked off balance by Flint collapsing and fell back into a large clear tub of red liquid. The tub fell to the ground and splashed toward Peter and Mohinder.
Nathan stood over Flint and kicked him hard, knocking the wind from his lungs.
As Matt picked himself up, he heard Mohinder sputtering. "Mohinder? You okay back there?" He went to his friend as Peter tried picking the Indian up.
Matt noticed dark splotches (sores? he wondered) on Suresh's hands and face slowly melt away where they had been drenched. He absentmindedly licked his lips, then scrunched his face, not liking the taste of the formula.
"Matt, help me get him up in that chair," Peter asked.
Matt turned to see a fallen stool behind him. He picked it up and Peter helped Suresh into it. "You feeling alright, Prof?"
Suresh wiped the liquid from his mouth. "I think so. I actually think that I can breathe again. Was that the formula?"
Matt nodded. "If your talking about the red kool-aid, then, yeah. Sorry to ruin your experiment."
Mohinder waved him off, coughing. "I can always make another batch. If Arthur will let me, that is."
The other three men shared a dark look.
"What? What happened?" he asked.
Peter glared at Nathan when he answered. "Dad's dead. There won't be any more viable formula. The Catalyst died with him."
Mohinder looked from Peter to Nathan and finally to Matt, who nodded. He hung his head in defeat, then his eyes went wide. "We have to save as much of this off the floor as we can! We can still help--"
Matt and Nathan responded in unison. "No."
"It's not right," Matt continued, giving Nathan a tentative look. "We don't have the right to play God, Mohinder.
Nathan nodded. "I didn't ask to be injected. My parents had no right to do that to me. We can't give these powers out willy-nilly to people only we think are worthy of them." He looked at Peter. "That's what dad wanted. We can't make the same mistakes he did."
"What?" Peter asked in surprise. "What made you change your mind?"
Nathan grimaced and glanced to Matt. "Someone had another point of view I hadn't considered. I, uh, I guess I didn't think things through and--"
"I don't give a rat's ass what you think!" Flint yelled.
"Nathan, get down!" Peter yelled, lunging at his brother.
Matt lunged past the pair and tackled Flint, who had been moments away from burning Nathan, knocking him out again when his head hit the floor. "Do you have anything around here to tie this guy up?" he asked.
"Yes, I'll get some cord," Mohinder said as he jumped up from his stool and took a step toward the counter when he slipped from the Formula-slick floor, knocking what little instruments remained on the counter to the floor. He turned to see that they had fallen over Nathan and Peter. "I'm sorry! Are you two okay?"
Peter rolled off his brother and onto his back, "Yeah, I think I--unh!" he winced in pain. "What the--?"
"Pete? You okay?" Nathan asked, leaning over toward his brother.
"Yeah, just got scratched by some glass on the floor I think?" He rolled back over to let Nathan and Mohinder have a look.
Nathan scowled in dismay. Mohinder started to say something, but Peter was suddenly hit with a convulsion.
Matt yelped from the sudden mental shout from Peter's pain, before he could ask, "What happened?"
"It appears that Peter rolled over onto some of the Formula syringes I had prepared," Mohinder said as he kneeled down to remove the two injectors from Peter's back.
"Wait, what does that mean?" Matt asked as Peter groaned.
"It means I have my power back, and all of yours as well," he answered, rubbing his head.
"How many doses are left, Mohinder?" Nathan asked.
"I'm not going to destroy them, Nathan," Suresh countered.
Matt jumped in. "Wait guys, this isn't the time or place. We need to just step back, collect ourselves and see what's been destroyed and what we can salvage here."
"So, you've changed your mind and want to use the formula, Parkman?" Nathan gruffly asked as he helped his brother to stand.
"No!" Matt said, a little too quickly. Mohinder frowned at him. "No, I mean, we have to stop and see how much formula we have left! We came here to get some so we could rescue Hiro from the past where Arthur Petrelli abandoned him without any powers," he explained to dumbfounded looks. "If we can get back there, somehow, we can save him, bring him back to the present, maybe give him his powers back." Matt realized the others were looking at him funny. "Ask him if he wants his powers back, I mean! Peter, did you really want your powers back, if you hadn't just rolled over and injected yourself?"
Peter shrugged, gave Nathan a dirty look. "There's a lot of good we can do, with or without powers."
Nathan eyed Matt. "We have a dozen Marines still waiting to be injected downstairs. How many doses did you prepare, Suresh?"
Matt glared at Nathan. "Now who's flip-flopping, Petrelli?"
"I only said that because dad asked him to prepare a dozen doses," he explained to Matt before turning back to Mohinder. "How many did you make?"
"Tracy already took the first four downstairs," he replied. "I made another five before I was interrupted. I was about to inject myself before the dose disappeared. I thought it was Peter, since he just barged in."
"Daphne," Matt sighed. "That's probably the dose she grabbed for Ando. I told them to wait for me before they used it."
Nathan glared at Matt. "So it's okay for you to decide who gets to use it?"
Matt scowled. "I said, we found out Hiro was stuck in the past, and getting a dose of the formula was our only shot at getting him back here!" he fumed. "Unless you know someone else who can time travel?" He looked to Peter, who shrugged.
"Not anymore, I copied that off Hiro, then dad stole my powers. They didn't come back after he died," he explained. "Unless Hiro makes a trip to the here and now before he lost his powers, I can't do it. Sorry, Matt."
Matt sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
Mohinder spoke up. "So if Daphne and Ando have the missing dose, where are they?"
"I told them to wait for me downstairs, and if anybody came after them, for her to get him out of here."
"Tracy," Nathan said.
Matt looked at him, nodded and followed the Petrelli brothers out to find the three in question.
"Hey!" Mohinder called after them, "You're not leaving me here alone with this psycho!"
Flint moaned. Mohinder smashed another beaker over his head then began searching the ruins of the lab for more doses of formula. First things first, where's the fire extinguisher, just in case?
-
"I spy with my little eye...something...black."
Daphne groaned and rolled her eyes. "The chair?"
"Nope!" he grinned. "Try again, Nemesis."
"I told you to stop calling me that!" she complained.
"Sorry. Daphne," he answered.
Daphne waved him off, before grousing, "Come on, Matt! What's taking you so long?"
"So I finally get to meet this mysterious Matt Parkman?"
Daphne and Ando jumped at the intrusion to stare at the blonde in the doorway.
"Niki?" Ando asked hopefully. Daphne looked at him in confusion.
Tracy sighed in disgust. "No, not Niki. My name is Tracy Strauss and I believe you have something of mine."
-
Matt and Peter led Nathan to an office near his own.
Matt slowed and peeked in. "Damn, Knox is gone."
Nathan looked over his shoulder. "At least Scott is still here, unlike dad's body," he grimaced.
"What?" Peter chirped up.
"You didn't move dad?" Peter shook his head. Nathan sighed. "I'll tell you later, Pete, right now, we need to find Ando and Daphne before Tracy and Knox do." He stormed down the hallway. "Any idea which office they're hiding in?"
Matt sent out a thought-pulse, then pointed down the hall ahead of them. "This way, and they've got company!"
-
"How about you hand over the vial, or I get Arthur to kill you, too?"
Petite Daphne stood defiant to the taller blonde. "I already know Arthur Petrelli is dead, you bitch."
Tracy scoffed. "Very well, then I'll have to kill you myself," she threatened as she raised her hand to freeze Daphne.
"Tracy!" Nathan shouted as he barged in, Peter following. "What are you doing?"
Tracy stopped and turned to look at her lover. "Just trying to get back what is rightfully ours, Senator."
"You don't need to do that, they'll willingly give us the formula they have, won't you, Ando?" he informed the Japanese man.
"I will?" he replied in confusion.
Tracy eyed Nathan for a second, eyes narrowed. "Something's not right, here," she said as she aimed her hand at Nathan, dropping the temperature of the room by the second. "I know you well enough that you don't ask, you take. Who are you?"
Nathan looked at her and smiled. "Busted." He then flicked his hands up and blue fire erupted from them. The illusion dropped.
"Peter!?" Tracy yelled as she started to freeze him, but he wasn't there any more. She spun to see Daphne and Ando suddenly disappear from where they had been sitting as well.
"Damn!" she shouted to the empty room. "I thought he lost his powers!" She started towards the door, but was blocked by Nathan once again.
He grabbed her wrists and shook his head. "By the way, Ms. Strauss, you're fired." He then shoved her back in the room and locked her in the room.
Tracy tried to freeze the door solid, but suddenly found herself powerless. She pounded on the thick door, but Nathan had already left. Frustrated, she dropped down to the couch Daphne had been sitting on and pouted.
"How long are you going to leave her like that?" Nathan asked Matt, grimacing.
"Just until we get things settled here, then we can figure out if we can contain her here or take her back to PrimaTech to hold her," Matt replied. "That dream-state should keep her a few hours, at least."
"I think we really don't have anything to worry about with her," Nathan added. "Tracy's power hungry, but she wasn't that fond of her power to begin with. She wants political power, not real power."
"Well, we'll figure it out after we find Knox and rescue Hiro, okay?" Matt offered.
"Maybe we can lock her up with Flint?" Peter suggested, half-joking. "Shouldn't their powers cancel each other out?"
"Either that, or make one hell of a thunderstorm," Daphne replied. The men looked at her. "What? I grew up on a farm, I know basic weather, warm front plus cold front equals big storm." She shrugged. "Just hope they don't make a tornado."
Matt chuckled and hugged his arm around her shoulders, before turning to Nathan. "What now? You've got soldiers waiting downstairs, and we still have to rescue Hiro from the past."
"I don't suppose the odds of one of them developing time travel abilities is good, is it?" he threw out to the rest.
"It all depends on genetics, I'm afraid," Mohinder answered. "If they were to develop powers, we wouldn't know what they were until after we inject them. Our best bet would be to find a close relative of Hiro and inject them, the closer the better."
"Does he have any relatives left?" Peter asked, noticing that Matt was looking at Ando.
"Well, we know his father is dead," Matt replied, still looking at Ando, who seemed to be struggling over what to do next.
"It was Adam who killed Kaito Nakamura?" Nathan asked, and Matt nodded.
Ando crossed his arms and sighed. "Kimiko, his sister."
"Let me guess," Nathan offered, "she's in Japan, isn't she?"
Ando nodded. "We cannot ask her, it is too much. She has her own life, she doesn't need to be involved in this."
"Then what do you suggest we do to return Hiro to the present?" Mohinder asked him.
Ando glanced at Matt, who shrugged back, indicating it was his decision. "I will take the Formula. I will save Hiro."
"Is that wise?" Nathan asked him.
"No wiser than taking a chance one of your soldiers will develop the required abilities, and we only have a handful of the Formula to spare. Best to take a chance on a willing known acquaintance than lose Hiro in the past if we don't get the right soldier."
Matt wasn't entirely convinced. "Are you sure you want to do this, Ando?"
He hesitated. "I must. Hiro would do it for me."
"Well, then," Mohinder spoke up, "let's get to the lab and see about what chance we have taken."
_________