A/N: FYI, as the chapter title implies, this chapter takes place a month before the first chapter does.
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Gabriel Gray stumbled out of the alley, angry and disappointed.
For the most part, he had laid low ever since he had gotten his abilities back, moving silently from town to town. Thankfully, his name and face had yet to be released to the public, so for the most part, no one knew that he was the infamous Sylar. The Company was probably looking for him, and he needed to wait until things cooled off before he started stealing powers again. And once he did, he would destroy the Company once and for all before going on to do the same to Peter Petrelli and any other special individuals who would have qualified for Mohinder Suresh's precious list.
He had arrived in the town of Neptune a few days ago. Compared to places like New York, it seemed rather out of the way; a good place to hide. He had checked into a hotel and mostly stayed in his room, watching TV (especially the news).
A few hours ago, he had decided that no one would be looking for him here for now, and had decided to go out for a bit. One of the first things that he had noticed was the large gap between the Haves and the Have-nots in this town. His hotel was located in the poorer areas, where the motorcycle gangs hung out; the sounds created by their bikes often rattled the windows in his room at night.
The class divide became quite apparent when he crossed into the other area of town, the one with the mall and the clothing stores and the nice restaurants. After exploring the downtown area for a while, he had found a rather classy-looking bar and went in. Sitting down at a table, he had ordered a drink.
And then he had seen her.
Thin, young, blond, gorgeous. She definitely looked very similar to the girl who had nearly fried him back in New York before he escaped with the blood that had saved his life and restored to him that which had been taken. She was sitting at the bar talking to a young brunette about her age; now he only needed to get a better view of the blonde's face. After leaving some money on the table for his drink, he had stood up and moved closer to the bar to get a look.
It was definitely her. Sure, he had only seen her for a few seconds back in New York, but he had a very good memory (for which he could thank that unfortunate waitress back in Texas), and he had known beyond a doubt he was looking at the one who had nearly brought his quest to an end. So the Company was looking for him here. Damn! Had they been using Molly Walker again? No, he had decided, otherwise they would have come looking for him at the hotel.
He had thought that he had seen the blonde glance his way a couple times from where she was sitting; however, when she continued talking to her brunette friend as though nothing was out of the ordinary, he had thought she had been looking at something or someone else, either beside him or behind him. Just to make sure, he had used his hearing ability to listen to their conversation, in which they talked about events at the campus; apparently, her brunette friend's name was Mac. Interesting name for a girl, he thought.
It had not once occurred to him at the time that the blonde may have had no clue who he was.
When he thought about it now, he realized that there was more than one time when he should have realized that it may have been the wrong person. Like when she didn't react to his presence in the bar. Or when, after waiting outside the bar for her to come out, he had attacked her and she had not once attempted to electrocute him.
But no, he didn't figure it out until he had removed her brain and realized almost instantly that he had killed the wrong blonde.
And so, not only had he murdered an innocent in vain, but it would now put the feds and the Company on his trail.
He had to get out of town now, before the two bodies were discovered in the alley.
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A/N: Special thanks to desi393 for being my sole reviewer for Chapter 1 (as of the posting of this second chapter). I always knew I could count on you!
The plan for the next (and probably final) chapter is to have it tell the details of the attack. Hey, I did say in the summary that this was a darkfic, folks!
Please, if you read this story, leave feedback, even if it's to criticize. I couldn't help but notice that, despite only one review, I had many hits.
