The thing about serial killers is that they're normal people right up until they start their murders. This means that they don't look like the movie cliché of serial killers most of the time. Sylar is a perfect example of this, they'd had a stakeout going on his mother's apartment block and the call had come in an hour ago. By the time they had arrived he'd killed his mother and drawn a picture of a nuclear explosion in her blood.
Sitting across from them with slicked down hair, thick-framed glasses and a sweater vest, he didn't exactly look like a murderer.
"Why did you kill her?" It was Scully asking, Mulder was content to watch for now.
Sylar didn't respond, just stared down at his hands, which were still covered in dried blood.
"Gabriel." Sylar's eyes flicked upwards to glare at Scully, "Why did you kill her?"
"My name is Sylar." The killer hissed hatefully.
"Your name is Gabriel Grey. You were, until 6 months ago, a watchmaker from Queens. Now why did you kill her?"
"It was an accident." Sylar looked down at the blood on his hands, "I was trying to help."
"Drawing an explosion in her blood, that helped did it?" Scully was obviously annoyed, they'd been asking the same questions for 15 minutes and were getting nowhere.
"I was trying to help." Sylar repeated under his breath.
"Let's start over." Scully pulled out a photo from the file on the table, "Brian Davis. The first person you killed."
The photo showed a middle-aged man lying with his head cracked open rather untidily, he'd been moved to a back alley.
"You didn't cut his head open in the same way as your other murders, you also moved the body which you stopped doing later on. Why?"
Sylar remained tight-lipped.
"Why kill him?" It was the first time Mulder has spoken.
Sylar's eyes flicked over to the male agent very briefly.
"Most serial killers follow in a pattern, why this man first?"
"He was broken."
Sylar said that about most of the victims. They were broken, or not worthy, or needed his help.
Scully pulled out another photo, "James Walker…."
Half an hour later they still hadn't made any progress. Mulder stood with a cup of coffee, Scully was next to him. The two were watching from behind a two-way mirror while Agent Hanson talked through the same set of questions, he wasn't even answering her.
"Face it Mulder, the guy isn't a regular killer. Just some psycho that's going around killing people at random." Scully was rubbing her forehead wearily, morning was fast approaching and it was catching up to Scully faster than she liked.
"Some random psycho that is able to cut open people heads with incredible precision?" Mulder inquired.
"I don't know how he does it Mulder, but talking to him isn't helping at all. We can put him on a lie detector but if he doesn't respond to our questions the whole thing's pointless."
Mulder had to agree the investigation had hit a brick wall. A brick wall named Sylar.
Agent Hanson exited the interview room a few minutes later.
"Did he tell you anything?" Scully asked already knowing the answer.
"Nothing new." The woman indicated the room, "He's all yours."
Scully sighed and rubbed her forehead again.
"Scully." Mulder got the woman's attention, "You're too tired to work right now. Go get some sleep I can handle this."
"You're sure?"
Mulder nodded.
"Thanks Mulder." Scully turned and headed off to get some well-needed sleep.
Sylar was sat in the same position when Mulder re-entered the room. The agent sat down in the same chair as before and spread the files across the table. He sat there for a few minutes observing Sylar and occasionally skimming some of the notes.
"Did you always want to be a watchmaker Mr. Grey?" Mulder asked finally.
"My name is Sylar." The killer repeated in his usual deadly tone.
"Alright: Sylar. Did you always want to be a watchmaker?"
"Does it matter?"
"Will you answer the question?"
"My dad was a watchmaker, I'm just carrying on tradition."
"Is that a yes or a no?"
"A no I guess."
"Did you ever want to be a doctor?"
"Why would you think that?"
Mulder pulled out a sheet of paper, Scully's medical notes on a few of the bodies, and read from it: "The cut into the skull is remarkably neat and with little damage to the brain by the lack of scratch marks on the inside of the skull. The cut suggests the use of a medical instrument such as a scalpel or surgical saw. This is strange however as there is no other damage to the body, it seems unlikely that the murderer could have cut the whole way round someone's head without them struggling."
Sylar shrugged, "I never did want to be a doctor, can't stand the sight of blood." He smirked at his own joke.
"How did you cut the skulls open Sylar?" Mulder marveled at his own patience, the question must have been asked of Sylar about twenty times by now.
"Why are you all so interested in it?" Sylar looked at Mulder confusion etched across his face, "You seem more interested in how I did it than why I did it."
"Most people are of the assumption that you did it because you're a maniac."
"Most people?" Sylar raised an eyebrow curiously, "You don't."
"Even the insane have a motive for murder, though their motive is often a result of their madness."
"So do you think I'm mad Agent Mulder?"
"You're too precise to be mad. There's a pattern to your murders; we just haven't identified it. Until now."
"Until now?" Sylar asked curiously.
"A while ago a man phoned to warn the FBI about you. A Dr. Mohinder Suresh. He claimed that there are people who have developed extraordinary abilities and you're murdering them. Of course he wasn't believed, but funnily enough the names on his list match the names of your victims."
Sylar stayed quiet.
"Why are you killing these 'special' people Sylar?" Mulder asked after a few moments silence.
Sylar's eyes darted around the room before settling on Mulder, "Why do you believe they exist?"
"My partner and I specialize in investigating the paranormal. I've seen some strange things, this theory that Dr. Suresh has explains some of what I've seen."
"What of the rest of it?"
"I believe that to be the work of aliens." Mulder leaned back awaiting the reaction he always got.
"Aliens?" Sylar asked skeptically.
"Is it any more farfetched than a serial killer who steals people's brains to take their recently gained supernatural abilities?"
"Yes." Sylar said simply, "I'm evolution. Aliens are science fiction."
Mulder shrugged, "Maybe."
Silence reigned again and Sylar began to fidget. Mulder could see the killer's rising agitation and knew it would work to his advantage.
"So the people you killed they all had abilities?" Mulder asked after a while, he glanced through the files, "Brian Davis, James Walker, Zane Taylor, Dale Smither?"
"Yes." Sylar said quietly.
"What abilities did you kill them for?"
"Brian Davis had telekinesis." Sylar focused on Mulder's cup of, now cold, coffee and lifted it into the air.
Mulder jumped slightly and watched the cup transfixed.
"Impressive?" Sylar asked watching Mulder's reaction.
The man quickly settled, "I've seen it before."
"Really?" Sylar raised an eyebrow, "Have you seen this?" He snapped his hands from the cuffs restraining him. Mulder reacted fast pulling his gun but Sylar held his hands out to show he wasn't trying to escape.
"James Walker had cryokinesis." Sylar said placing a hand to the cup and freezing the contents. "Impressive?"
"Seen it before." Mulder still had the gun out.
"Have you seen this?" Sylar twitched a finger and the gun flew from Mulder's grasp. "Zane Taylor had liquefaction." Sylar placed the gun on the table and touched it melting it into a puddle of metal.
Sylar looked up at Mulder, he could almost see the fear radiating from the man. "Impressive?" He asked again.
Mulder nodded nervously and Sylar grinned, "But I've seen it before." The agent added infuriating Sylar.
"Have you seen this?" Sylar twitched his fingers again and this time it was Mulder flying across the room, the agent slammed into a wall and Sylar approached smirking.
Mulder's eyes were wide and his throat paralyzed with fear.
"Dale Smither had enhanced hearing." Sylar said stepping right up close so that his nose was inches away from Mulder's. "I can hear all sorts of things, and one of them is moods. I can hear people's heartbeat and I've learnt to tell the subtle changes apart so I know what someone's feeling."
Sylar reached out and slid two fingers against Mulder's cheek, "Like right now. You're terrified I can hear it and god does it feel good." The killer leered at Mulder, "But underneath it all there's something else. You know what it is?"
Mulder flinched as Sylar grabbed his jaw and pulled his lips so that they were millimeters away from Sylar's, "Arousal." Sylar finished joining their lips.
Despite the fact that Mulder was terrified, he knew the killer was right and didn't fight as Sylar's tongue shot forwards to explore his mouth. His heart was hammering against his chest, more so than when Scully had been attacked by Tooms, but he could feel warmth spreading throughout his body and it felt good.
As Mulder let out a moan from somewhere deep in his throat Sylar smirked into the kiss and pulled away letting the agent drop the floor as he cut off the telekinesis pinning him there.
"Why did-?" Mulder began but Sylar cut him off.
"I'll see you again Agent Mulder." Sylar messed up he agent's hair and smiled down at him in a superior way before sauntering out the door.
Mulder quickly got out his feet and ran out the door turning to look both ways and finding nothing but empty corridor.
"Fuck." Mulder punched the wall angrily. He ran a hand through his hair before straightening it out and running off to find someone.
Agent Hanson was a few doors down and she exited the room disrupted by Mulder's loud curse.
"Agent Mulder wh-?" She started to ask.
"Sylar escaped." Mulder half-shouted cutting her off.
"How?"
"It's a long story. Warn everyone and lock down the building."
Agent Hanson nodded and ran off to ensure they stopped Sylar's escape. Mulder thought back to the few seconds that the killer had been kissing him and wondered very briefly whether it was the kiss or his job that wanted him to stop Sylar escaping.