Adam Monroe and a group of twelve founders started the Company thirty years ago; their initial goal was to help other evolved humans. To find and protect them, even if it meant eliminating the "dangerous ones." The original founders were "like minded individuals" who wanted to save the world; Adam was the one who "brought them all together." But he was locked away for thirty years on November 2, 1977, concluding that he only spent about 10 to 11 months with the Company. Under the promise that they would "fix him", they rather only held him there to prevent him from "saving the world" or becoming a danger to others.
While in his cell, Adam refused to take his power negation pills. So his power gave way to madness, and now his deposition was evil. But he fancies himself a noble god, thinking that he can make the world a better place for him and his future wife. Even after the explosion in New York, his goal was still to eliminate most of humanity. So now he's working to bring down the Company, by killing Angela Petrelli and Bob Bishop.
But first Adam needed to escape, so he patiently waits for his annual visit from Elle Bishop . . .
--
As soon as Adam heard the security guard unlock his cell door, he immediately knew for who it was. Elle was Bob Bishop's daughter, and he was now in charge of the operations for the Company. Being one of the twelve founders, he was also an evolved human with the power of Alchemy. So his daughter Elle was an agent who worked for them, searching for other people with abilities at the behest of her father. She herself was an evolved human as well, with the power of Lightning which she used to subdue her targets.
When Elle entered the room, the guard quickly closed the door behind her. Knowing how very dangerous Adam could be when he was cornered, she didn't really seem to mind being left alone with him for a while though. But he knew what she wanted, so he was ready for it when she walked in with her hand conducting electricity. "Good morning Adam!" She teased him with a full blast, "Miss me?" Having lived for over 400 years, Adam was now immune to physical pain.
So when the signal was sent to Adam's brain, it helped him stay alert and react instantly. Jumping up from his bed, he rather enjoyed Elle's 'sadistic lighting' ritual by now. As his burnt skin began to heal, he greeted her with a smile back. "Hello Elle, it's always nice to see your lovely face again." Standing close to her now, he slowly reaches with his hand to gently brush her hair.
--
Adam was surprised when Elle didn't resist, as she closely watched his skin mend itself back together. So then he thought that maybe she might also be having similar feelings for him, she was the only women who he had spent the most time with in the past 30 years after all. When she herself had used the cell right next to his, he talked with her through the walls and she actually listened to him. But then the day when her father had her leave, that was when he realized how deeply he really missed hearing her voice. As his hand lingered in her hair for a moment, he then felt her hand slowly reach for his other and let her intertwine their fingers together.
But when Elle shocked Adam's hand with electricity and backed away from him, he was emotionally stunned with a longing for her touch on his burnt fingers again. "Adam...You may be getting a new roommate." She playfully smiled at him, pointing with her thumb toward the very same wall they had once shared many conversations through. "He's pretty powerful too!" He was both intrigued to the possibility of escape, but also deeply hurt at the thought of someone else using her cell. Knowing that he would've been willing to wait for her longer, if only it meant being able to talk with her the way they used to again.
"So...Adam, you going to take your pills today?" Elle persisted to tease Adam once more, as she charged her hand up with a full blast and began to walk toward him again. "Or do I have to make you?" Now he accepted her promiscuous behavior, and decided to play along. "Oh, well I don't know about that my darling." He contently smiled back at her once more, "I'm afraid I haven't been doing as I was told to do, and that can happen to a man when he's locked away in a cage alone for so long."
--
Thinking back to the day Adam first laid eyes on Elle, she looked even more beautiful to him now than ever before. He remembered when he first heard her pretty voice through their cell wall, and now she was giving him consent to express his true feelings for her. Even though he already had ten wives over the last 400 years, none of them could ever make him feel the way she did. Most of them fled after finding out the terrifying truth that he was immortal, "as if he were some kind of monster." She however accepted him for who he really was, a mad man desperately in love with her and his mass murdering self.
Adam watched intently as Elle slowly moved closer to him once more, "Don't get all high and mighty..." She said as he took her hand in his, innocently looking into her gorgeous eyes. "...You did try to end the world." When he half expected her to shock him with her Lightning again, he was deeply grateful that she didn't after all. Not that he would feel any physical discomfort from it, but right now in this perfect moment he couldn't possibly stand losing her forever more.
As Elle looked back into Adam's serene eyes, she spoke with her pretty voice that he loved so dearly. "Then again..." She moved closer still, showing him the familiar pill container in her free hand. His fiery vision becoming a reality when she then burned the pills into dust, which he gently brushed off of her hand onto the floor. "...there are other things we could do." He then took the very hand that had been holding his demise, and their bodies were practically one as he began to kiss her lips tenderly with his own.
--
Standing now in this warm embrace, Adam held Elle close within his arms. When he then slowly let go of her hand, allowing her to move it up onto the back of his own head. As she began to play with his hair now, at first gently pulling it but then hard causing him to smile from the pain. She reached up to kiss him back, lightly brushing her lips against his. Only waiting for a second to pass before kissing him longer again, now moving her other hand from his to rest on his back.
Going easy on Adam's hair for a moment, they both stayed just like that for a few more seconds of bliss. Knowing that Elle would have to leave him soon though, he had already begun to miss her desperately before she even let go of him yet. So as they both opened their eyes together, his were now longing for her presence to stay with him forever. But he knew that it was her time to go when she then smiled back at him with a sad face, before turning around and heading toward the very same door she had entered his life. Just then she stopped in her tracks and ran back to him, he hugged her tightly again and they kissed more passionately than ever before.
After finally being able to let go of each other once more, Adam barely even noticed a small jolt of electricity come from Elle. So he wasn't even completely sure if it was her Lightning or maybe just a static charge shared between them both, either way he knew that they now had a powerful connection with one another. A secret alliance and relationship like no other, "See you real soon yeah?" She smiled brightly at him yet again, as he watched his future wife walk out through the open cell door. This was a new beginning to the next chapter in his long life, "The Eleventh Bride of Takezo Kensei" . . .
--
Thinking of Elle as Adam restlessly lay awake on top of his cold bed, he grew constantly tired of being trapped within a small cell like this for the last 30 years. Realizing again how very lonely he was feeling now without her pleasant company, he then began to recall his past ten wives:
"1692, Diedenshausen, Germany. After turning 42, I realized I did not age. After 20 years as my wife, Helene saw it too. She fled into the woods, calling me a devil. Rumor has it she died years later in a nunnery.
1747, Milan, Italy. My second wife, Maria, bore me two sons. Even after a century of living, I learned something new -- I don't like children. I left them with two sacks of coin and left for the new country to begin again.
1782, I abandoned the queen's forces for Paris, France. My next wife I met at a ball at the Versailles. Proud of her looks, I never saw Frederica out of her face powder and rouge. It was that love of lead-based cosmetics that led to her untimely end.
1784, Japan. Searching for direction, I returned to Japan to find Yaeko's descendants. I thought I could find fulfillment by winning her heart, or her great granddaughter's. Yumi, while beautiful, was not Yaeko. I grew bored and faked my drowning with a carefully planned accident.
1787- The Northwest Territory, I took a new name and a new wife. Out of love, I confessed my secret to her that I cannot die. Angelica and I were together for 62 years, telling people I was her husband. Then son, then grandson. We held hands as she breathed her last breath, at age 87.
1864 - I married my second Maria in Atlanta, at the onset of the Civil War, as fate would have it, I chose the losing side. Again. While I fought on the battlefield, she died in a plantation fire after inhaling too much smoke.
Montreal 1901 - I put my French back to good use and meet a captivating beauty: Diane. After a harsh winter, she's stricken with tuberculosis. As a last measure, I injected her with a vial of my blood as she slept. The doctors called her recovery a miracle. She died a happy and peaceful death, 20 years later.
1926, Chicago - Louisa saw me regenerate my left eye and spleen after a vicious mugging. Ever the fragile creature, she drank herself to death four months later.
1958 - Los Angeles, Theresa never loved me. I learned this when she and her lover shot me twice in the chest, then dumped my body off a cliff. By morning, I swam back to shore and killed them as they slept.
1977 - Trina, she remarried. Had children, grandchildren. Died six years ago in a car accident. Thanks to Kaito and the others, I never got the chance to say good-bye."
Now that Adam was alone in his cage once more, it somewhat still suited him just fine though. Because he already knew that Elle was waiting out there for him, and was certain that she'd help come rescue him from this place soon. As he then heard the familiar sound of her past cell door open right next to his, he immediately assumed that it was "his new roommate moving in". So after waiting for the sound of security guards quickly locking it behind them, he slowly sat up and leaned against the very same wall that she had shared with him long before. After a few minutes of complete silence past by, he then finally heard movement struggling inside the other room.
"Now...I guess I wait!" Adam was startled when he heard the unnaturally deep voice echo through the wall, sadly corrupting the first words spoken with Elle in that cell so very long ago. Both wanting to know just how "powerful this man really was", and to be with his future wife again by possibly escaping with him. He then only hesitated for a moment before making himself known to the "man with the deep voice", as he greeted him with an important proposition to make. "Hello?"
--
Adam was very intrigued to know what this man's ability was, supposedly "worthy enough to be locked up along side a god." Remembering the fight with "Evan the Human Replicator" back in the 1700's, or at least his army of clones. He was defeated that day when they pushed him off of the cliff into the river, and that was when he realized the need of followers. The same reason why he helped start the Company in the first place, which he now regretted so after being in this cage for so long. But now he thought that he might need help from the man with the "deep voice", and he really didn't plan to fail this time around.
"What's your name...or should I just call you Hello?" Adam heard the man's "normal voice now", as he then responded through the wall. Since Adam already didn't plan to tell the man with the "strange voice" his name just yet, he still tried to sound as friendly as possible though. "Me, you know it's been a while since I've had the chance to talk with someone like this?" He told him the truth, but didn't really want to start a conversation about himself right now. "So what's you're name then?"
--
The man was annoyingly persistent to know what Adam's name was, but he still wasn't willing to tell him at least until the man with the deep voice gave his first. "My name..." he then heard the man's laughter echo through the walls. "You can call me Sylar...What are you in for?" Trying to remember where he heard that name before, Adam realized that it must be an alias. So he wondered if maybe this man had a dark past that he wanted to forget, if this were true then they both had at least one thing in common. Adam himself had taken on a few dozen names over the last 400 years, but most notably as Takezo Kensei in the 1600's.
"Well, you came to the right place." Adam tested Sylar's patience for just a little longer, "I have to warn you though, it does get a bit old." His cruel joke echoed down the halls and through time, as he then began with his proposition. "Let me guess, you were living a perfectly ordinary life until one day you discovered you could do incredible things?" He didn't give the man enough time to answer before continuing on, "Bet it was wonderful at first and thought perhaps you could save the world, and then you realized tragically that you were dangerous?" After first letting that sink deeply within him, he then decided to add. "And yet you talk to me after a decade, actually talk to me after three."
--
Adam blankly stared out into space with all seriousness as he silently waited for Sylar's reply, but when he heard the man's unnaturally deep voice again it caused a shiver to go down his spine. Now Adam wasn't sure if he even wanted this man's help after all, maybe he really was locked up for a good reason? So then he decided to leave Sylar alone for a while, until he heard someone quickly open the man's cell door again. There was a great commotion afterward that echoed through the walls, a few minutes passed when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Standing right outside his own cell window in the hallway, was a man with blood on his hands staring back at him through the glass.
Immediately knowing for whom it must be, Adam had now seen the face of Sylar. After noticing the blood he assumed that the man must've killed one of his own visitors in order to escape, so he then carefully tried to find out what happened. "You've been through something awful haven't you?" But the man with the deep voice just stood there silently, as an evil grin began to form across his face. "I'm sorry." Adam answered the man's own question for him, now preparing for what was really about to happen.
--
Wondering why Sylar would even want to kill him in the first place, Adam was then slightly relieved when he heard the alarm in the hallway go off. As a small group of security guards quickly ran down the stairs toward the man, he watched as Sylar slowly raised his arm and flicked his wrist causing the men to crash into the walls next to them. Now realizing that the man with the deep voice's ability must be Telekinesis, Adam was startled when he then saw Sylar use multiple powers in order to literally tear the guards apart. Just how many abilities did this man actually have, and how did he even acquire them all in the first place? When the carnage was finally over, Adam now silently waited for what he thought might come next.
But as Adam saw the elevator doors slowly open, he was very surprised to only see two men standing on the other side. Now looking back to see Sylar's own reaction of them being there, Adam caught a quick glimpse of the man before he then melted into the dark shadows. So either Sylar planned to use stealth this time or maybe he even knew these men from the past, what if they were here to help him break out? Adam wasn't really sure if the man with the deep voice needed help though, if anything he did only because he was the one actually still locked up. If they were indeed enemies of Sylar however, then Adam would at least try to convince them to help him escape in the end.
As the two men began to walk down the long hallway together, they didn't really seem to notice Adam in his cell after looking through the fallen bodies on the ground. When they both stopped near Sylar's open cell door, Adam then assumed that they were now discovering what the man had done. By the horrified look of disgust on their faces, he realized that the man with the deep voice must've mutilated the corpse in some repulsive way. After finally hearing their muffled voices through the glass, one of them shockingly addressed the other as "Petrelli". Was this man quite possibly related to Arthur Petrelli, one of the Company founders' sons perhaps?
Just then Sylar finally decided to attack them with his Telekinesis, "Gabre..." the man who had spoken before gasped as he was forcefully thrown hard against the wall. As Adam wondered if maybe "Gabriel" was actually Sylar's real name, so who was the now unconscious man lying on the floor? When Gabriel carelessly stepped over "Anonymous'" body, Adam's theory was soon confirmed that the man with the deep voice did indeed know the two men from the past. "We have to stop meeting like this Pete..." Sylar referred to Petrelli, when "Peter" taunted him back Gabriel now smiled menacingly.
"Seeing as how last time we met you went boom!" Sylar used his unnaturally deep voice yet again, but Adam still wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that. "How does it feel Pete, to have killed more people than I ever could?" So now Gabriel accused Peter of being "the villain", well then who could Adam really trust in the end anyway? "Honestly...Men, Women, and even Children ..you killed them all!" As Sylar's voice echoed through the walls once more, Adam finally understood what he was trying to say all along. "Who's the real killer here?" After the man with the deep voice was finished, he crossed his arms and stared into Peter's eyes.
When Peter tried to defend himself against the truth, Adam already knew who the "real hero" was all along. He was "Takezo Kensei the Immortal" after all, not some insignificant "Exploding Man". Only wiping out .07 of the world's human population was unacceptable, but to exterminate 93 of "the virus plaguing this planet would be godly". Finally waking from his even darker vision of the future, Adam desperately wanted more pain and suffering in the world. As he then saw Anonymous try to raise himself up from the hard ground, while the fourth of many showdowns between "Angel vs. Demon" once again began.
"No matter how many times you play hero..it will never make up for what you have done!" Gabriel mocked Peter with his unnaturally deep voice once more, as he slowly circled around his prey. Adam watched excitedly now as the man used his Telekinesis once more, sending one of the dead security guard's riot batons flying into the pipe on the wall. Confused at first, Adam then noticed that the reverberating sound of metal on metal caused Peter to grab his ears tightly and drop to his knees in excruciating pain. "How does your head feel right now Pete?!" Sylar yelled at the top of his lungs, as blood began to drain from Peter's now damaged ears through his fingers. So did Peter also have multiple powers as well, Induced Radioactivity and Enhanced Hearing?
Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds as Adam watched the tortured Peter on the floor suffering, after suddenly vanishing into thin air and then appearing to have recovered away from Gabriel now. The pipe had immediately stopped vibrating, and now Adam was startled to realize that Peter must also have Space-time Manipulation. But how can only one man control so many abilities at once, had Adam finally met some worthy competition in them both? As Anonymous slowly stood up on his feet again, Peter asked him if he was okay. Just then the alarm sounded yet again, "What's it going to be? We fight for a while...guards storm in, capture us all?" Sylar asks the two men, "Or we escape together and fight another day?"
Adam watched intently as Peter warned his partner not to fight back, when Adam learns that the other man's name is "Evan". Memories of tracking down and being cornered by Evan the Human Replicator's clones flooded back to his mind, him standing on the very edge with his back to the cliff side. He fought valiantly with his sword, cutting them down left and right. But even that wasn't enough; he would need followers to help him achieve his ultimate goal. So he still needed to either convince Evan and Peter or Sylar to fall into their own traps, to help him "destroy the virus" plaguing this planet once and for all.
Before Adam could even get their attention first however, Evan agreed with Peter that they wouldn't fight Gabriel just yet and they both ran quickly up the stairs. As Sylar also followed slowly behind in the shadows again, Adam knew where they were headed and didn't understand why they would go that way. Since it just led to small office cubicles, which would be a dead end for sure. Thinking that the two men would then be cornered by Gabriel, Adam either expected them all to fight anyway or possibly even be overpowered by the increased security forces. So after a few minutes of silence he was very surprised to only see one man return in the end, and it looked as if Peter was now the victorious one . . .
--
As "Peter" then slowly approached Adam's cell window, the man's voice wavered for only an instant before finally speaking to him. "Are you ok? Sylar's gone...he escaped with his brother." Adam now found himself slightly glad to hear that Gabriel was supposedly gone, but at the same time intrigued to learn that Evan was Sylar's own brother all along. "I'm going to get you out of there!" After detecting something strange about "Peter's" voice, Adam became very suspicious as he wondered why Evan and Gabriel would even leave together in the first place. So now thinking that it may be some kind of trap set for him, he then decided to play along for just a while longer.
Just as the man extended his arm toward the impenetrable cell door, Adam now assumed that he was going to pry it open with that brain of his. But when the heavy door began to melt before his very eyes, it caused him to dive out of the way of liquid metal. Again with the new abilities, so now Melting as well? Adam constantly grew tired of "Peter's showboating skills", as the man then slowly entered through the now open gap in the wall. But since Adam needed "Peter" to trust him, he regretfully began to tell him "everything". "Hello Peter, it's nice to meet you." He again tried to sound as friendly as possible, "I'm Adam."
--
When the man extended his arm once more, Adam then felt a wave of familiar pressure across his whole body. So now he realized that "Peter" like Sylar must also have Telekinesis, as he was unable to move from the crushing force. "This is just a precaution...why don't you tell me why you're locked up.." The man then smiled reminiscent of someone very similar in Adam's eye, "If you were next to Sylar then you must be dangerous!" Now "Peter's" voice seemed to give him away, as Adam then assumed that it must really be Gabriel in disguise.
"So, Illusion as well I see?" Adam now mocked the man with the deep voice, "That's a fine trick, Gabriel." Not knowing exactly what the man must've done to mutilate his own visitor, Adam however was sure that he could handle whatever pain Sylar could dish out. So he then again prepared himself for the man's reaction, but as Gabriel's illusion quickly faded back from "Peter" to Sylar it once more caused a shiver to go down Adam's spine. This was now fractured as he was pushed forcefully against the wall, before feeling the sensation of paralysis in his legs.
--
"This is usually the part where people start screaming!" Sylar's unnaturally deep voice echoed down the lifeless hallway, as Adam's legs hung limp for a few seconds but then were healed immediately. When the man slowly stepped toward him now, Adam then became very uncomfortable as Gabriel continued to smile at him like that. "You know Adam...after I acquired the ability from that women...I never thought I would get another one within the same hour!" What did the man with the deep voice just say, "acquiring abilities from other evolved humans"?
Just then Adam remembered reading about the ancient Zapotecs who would trepan captured warriors, similar to what Sylar must've done with all of his other victims. They would grind their skulls and make medicines from the bones, as a way of stealing their power. Could that be it then, was the man trying to steal his and Peter's abilities? "I have to thank Elle for bringing me here...she's very naive," Gabriel quickly flicked his wrist forward again. "although her power...now that's something I will enjoy taking!" Confirming to Adam that he was right about this man all along, "I won't let you even lay a hand on her!"
--
"Oh...don't worry," Sylar then mocked Adam back with his own evil grin. "I won't be laying any hands on her!" As the man with the deep voice now slowly extended his finger toward Adam's forehead, "Let's see what makes you tick...shall we?" When Gabriel attempted to take Adam's ability by opening up his head with Telekinesis, the man then finally realized what Adam's power was as he immediately healed afterward. "Great...one of those...you might be more useful after all!" Adam now heard Sylar's unnaturally deep voice echo as he was thrown down the same hallway, but he was still numb to the physical pain of his arm breaking on the hard floor.
After the bone in Adam's arm mended itself back together, he then quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed one of the dead security guard's riot batons. "Come out here, you coward!" Adam screamed as he began to run down the hall toward his now opened cell, but was then horrified himself by the sight of what exactly had transpired behind Gabriel's own door. "I'll never let you do this to her, and you'll pay for what you've done in the end!" Adam challenged with a look of rage on his face, now ready to fight the man with the deep voice. Having been trained with Takezo Kensei's sword, Adam knew how to fight properly with a melee weapon.
--
When Sylar now slowly entered the hallway still smiling, Adam then quickly began to charge forward with his baton swinging. But just as the alarm was set off once more, the loud sound distracted Adam while the man raised his hand yet again. "...Luck's on your side apparently...but consider the rest of your life on borrowed time." Adam then heard Gabriel's threat as he was forcefully sent flying through the glass window outside, cutting his hands badly in the process as he fell from the Company facility down into an abandoned alleyway. When Adam now saw his only weapon and reached for it as his head did split open on the ground, the shot of pain woke him up and he dove for the baton yet again.
After his body pushed the glass from the cuts in his wounds, they then began to mend themselves as he stood with his weapon in hand. His skull slowly mended itself back together as he looked up and toward the window, he waited for a few seconds and then heard his assailant quickly take down several more guards in the hall. "Show yourself, where are you?" Adam yelled up at the now open window, but after a moment of silence he then gave up and slowly turned around. Finally after 30 long years of imprisonment he was at last free, as he quickly walked down the street with his baton in the holster . . .
Copyright ©2008 by Michael Copley. All Rights Reserved.
