Chapter 2: Sweat
Sylar did not have a good night. It wasn't unusual at all, it was only that it had been a particularly bad night. It felt like the drugs were killing him and perhaps they were. He woke on the floor, feeling cold and stiff and in a lot of pain, very alike to when he had been killed before. Unfortunately not even his revival could get rid of the poison in his system and he found himself having to dart to kneel in front of the toilet bowl again and not able to concentrate on the opening door.
Claire had taken approximately two seconds to get convinced to go see Sylar with Peter. Not because she would've wanted to be of assistance, but because she had always had her own particular plans with Sylar. For him to be a detainee of the company was one thing, a good thing perhaps, except that it wasn't precisely what she had in mind for him as punishment. She felt a certain right over Sylar. The blonde considered herself her boogeyman's main victim, the one who's life he'd destroyed the most.
She marched into the company cell quite the thing, she was not afraid of facing him, in fact she was looking forward to being able to dump on him every verbal reproach she could think of and some more, all without having to worry about him getting annoyed and even the score. Therefore the young woman was not happy when her outburst was stalled. The sight of a sick Sylar befuddled her a little, but that wasn't what stopped her. It was Peter's sudden change of facial expression from encouraged to worried as he rushed to squat by his friend to assess his condition and lend a hand. The way her uncle was fussing over the not-to-be-believed former killer was a bit baffling. She watched with raised eyebrows as the paramedic supported Sylar's weight, helping him to the bed and continued to do all sorts of checks on him when he was lying down, eyes closed and breathing heavily.
The killer had not even noticed her presence and that just wouldn't do! She stomped a foot and stepped forward a couple of steps, "show's over, Sylar. Peter might buy your excellent acting, but I'm not!" She shook her head and frowned, "I must admit, looking pathetic does not look favourable on you. No wonder you were trying so hard to avoid it beforehand."
Peter glanced at her reproachfully and groaned, then got distracted from answering her back by the prisoner leaning up on an elbow and looking for the source of the voice disoriented. Disturbed by the fact Claire had seen him so vulnerable at this precise moment, he struggled to sit, needing Peter's readily offered arm to straighten up. "You didn't exactly look right through my acting abilities all the time, now, did you?" He countered, despite himself. Taking Claire on had always been fun and intellectually challenging. So much for blondes.
"Do you remember when I said I'm going to kill you? This is my perfect opportunity."
"Claire." Peter said gravely, straightening up. He could not believe his niece was going along with the plan to talk to Sylar, for it to come down to this. He instinctively turned away from the prisoner, taking on a defensive pose.
It seemed surreal to Claire for moment. Wasn't that supposed to be the other way round? But the fact that Peter was shielding the supposedly sick man from her, also made her think. She'd usually trust her hero's judgement without a second thought, so did that really mean that the evil one was, well, maybe not so evil now?
But she only pondered this for the fraction of a second, "relax Eagle Scout, it's just that I have promised him a good spanking and I intend to keep at least that part of my word."
"Oh, spanking, I'm up for that," Sylar raised his head with an impish glint in his eyes. The double meaning was evident, and yet he meant it in actual fact as well. He was quite sure that Claire's spanking would not be as torturesome than what he had to go through in there.
"Not so fast," Claire shot him a scrutinizing look, "you like to sweet talk. So talk. Tell me why I should let you out of here. And most of all, enlighten me why you're still here if you'd be otherwise able to blow the walls off this building and take off?"
"I could go into a hundred details, explanations and excuses, but it all comes down to the same thing," he looked up at her sheepishly, still sitting on the bed. He had practiced honestly and openness with Peter and Emma for a long time, but he felt quite a lot more self-conscious in front of Claire. "What I did before, trying to be in control, trying to be respected and appreciated, it doesn't work."
"Holy sh…is that what you were trying to do? Trying to be respected?" Claire scoffed and sniggered, finding his disclosure quite amusing. "What happened with feast and revenge and fun and all the other negatives you like to indulge in?"
"As I said, they don't give half as much satisfaction than being a hero."
"You never knew the meaning of the word hero. Not even when it, or more like he, nipped you in the butt."
"I'm trying to be different. We all change. You've changed too, haven't you? Circumstances change. I think I can control them, the powers, the temptation. I can not let them overwhelm my life, because it's too important. Who'd give me another chance?"
"You'd say with an open heart, that he's not dangerous?" Claire raised her eyebrows, turning to Peter.
"Abilities are dangerous. They can turn your life upside down, change who you are, make you do things you would never have done otherwise. And then you sober up and consciously try to find your way back and yourself. I think I have pretty much had the chance to get to know the real Sylar, but you haven't yet. Aren't you a tad bit curious to find out where this leads?"
"To the morgue. And since I've already been there a few times, I don't really wish to repeat the experience. You don't want people to get hurt either, Peter! It's hard to believe you're suggesting to let the world's most dangerous serial killer loose!"
"I've already let him loose once from behind Matt's mental wall, as I have explained, remember? Trust begins with a leap all right. My leap simply happened in my mind somehow despite my predispositions, I'll give you that, it wasn't a conscious decision. From one moment to the next, there came a time when I just knew he was telling the truth about everything and most importantly, that he would not let me down."
"Pretty risky if you're wrong," Claire rolled her eyes.
"Not gonna let him out of my sight. He's going to be with me 24/7. Not as if that's much different from what we've been used to while stuck in his brain."
"Yeah? And how's that gonna be enough? Merely your being there will keep him from escaping and killing people?"
"And merely a few walls and drugs do? Sylar has evaded before and he does not need no trickery to do so."
"No, but he has a special preference for playing games with me."
"That I do," Sylar agreed on a deep voice.
"Well, let's play then," Claire returned sharply. "I'm the one who doesn't need sleep, I'm the one who can not be hurt. I'm the one who can check what he is doing every second of the day. He's coming with me, at least for a few days till I can see for myself what I can make of him."
Tbc
