First Act – In the Hotel

Lassiter glanced at Bennet, wishing desperately that he could aim his gun at something. But he couldn´t. Because no one was here. Really no one. Every room they´d checked was empty, as if the whole floor was evacuated. Only that there hadn´t been any kind of alarm that would have initiated this. And that left only one explanation.

"They must have been kidnapped." Lassiter spilled his perfect explanation, causing Bennet to gape, brows raised.

"By whom?" the Company man asked. "Sylar?"

Carlton shrugged. "He´s done stranger things."

"But not this. He might be able to do many things, but we´ve been here all this time." He hesitated, narrowing his eyes. "That is … I was here. What about you?"

"What?" Carlton cried. "I was in my room. Trying to figure out this mess."

"And you didn´t hear anything?"

"A few footsteps crossing the hall once in a while. That´s all."

"When was the last time you heard that?"

Lassiter lowered his eyes. "Don´t know. An hour ago?"

Bennet nodded. "Sounds about right." he agreed with his own observations, however subconscious they might have been. "But I didn´t hear any sounds of a fight. Or sounds of a body getting dragged down the hall."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That it is highly unlikely that someone came in here and kidnapped all of them without us noticing it."

Lassiter gritted his teeth and got out his cell phone. Without saying a word, he pressed the one. O´Hara´s button. His anger subsided, overlapped by fear, when he didn´t get an answer. Only the ringing. Two of them. Three. Four. Please, answer. Please, be all right.

And then, at last: "Hello?"

He exhaled. Thanks god. "O´Hara, where the hell are you?" he barked into the phone. "Everyone is gone."

"Oh, I´m so sorry, Carlton." she coaxed, voice uneven. Nervous. "Shawn heard of this show … and we went out."

"Wha …" A show? He just couldn´t believe it. "All of you? Including the Petrellis?"

There was a brief pause in the line. "No." she answered, stunned. "I … I don´t know where they are. Maybe they´re in the lobby of the hotel?"

"Whatever." Carlton grumbled. "Never mind them. Where are you right now?"

"Ehm, in the city. I don´t know where exactly but … there´s a restaurant over there and …"

"You know what, forget it." Carlton talked over her. "Is Spencer with you? And Guster?"

"Sure." came her answer, quickly.

In the background he could hear a female voice: "Detective. It´s your turn."

"All right, I´m coming. Ehm, listen Carlton, I´ve gotta go. I see you when we´re back, okay? Bye."

"O´Hara, wait." he cried but the silence in his ear was not encouraging. "O´Hara? O´ … Dammit."

"What?" Noah asked. "What did she say?"

Lassiter sighed, looking at his phone. "I´m not sure."

Noah exhaled, more frustrated than he should be. "That´s not good, Carlton. It´s no coincidence that everybody is gone all the sudden."

"She said they´re in the city." Lassiter told him.

"And you believe her?"

The detective frowned. "It sounded like they´re at the public place. She´s my partner, why should she lie?"

"Okay, okay." Noah held up his hands. "Even if … they are there. That doesn´t explain where Suresh went. Or the Petrellis."

"You have the number of the mad scientist. Call him."

Noah took out his phone, feeling more and more uncomfortable, and dialed the number. But other than Carlton, he didn´t get an answer.

"Of course not." Lassiter growled, giving him a look as if to say: Didn´t I tell you that before? But he didn´t say it. Instead he took his own phone again, dialing a number.

"Who are you calling?" Noah asked.

"Spencer. Henry Spencer. We´re talking to the girl now, no matter what Suresh says."

He didn´t have to wait very long this time. Henry answered after the second ring.

"Henry, it´s Lassiter." Carlton spoke. "We need to talk to the girl."

"What girl?" Henry asked. "Molly?"

"What other girl is currently living in your house?"

"Molly´s not here anymore. Your Chinese friend brought her back home, a few days ago."

Lassiter felt as if his face was falling down. "What?"

"Yeah. This doctor asked him to do that. So she could go on with her life back home and go back to school. A good idea, if you ask me. I´m not a baby sitter and the girl didn´t seem very happy to be here anyway."

Lassiter couldn´t believe it. He stood there and stared into nothing, not able to say a single word in response.

"Carlton? Are you still th …?"

He hung up. "Dammit. She´s not there anymore."

"What?" Noah´s reaction was the exact mirror for his own.

"Apparently, Suresh asked our friend Hiro to bring her back home." the detective told him.

But the reaction he´d expected, didn´t come. Instead of being irritated by the news, Noah only lowered his eyes, thinking.

"New York." he murmured, looking down on the phone in his hands.

After a minute of thinking, he dialed again.

"Who do you call?" Lassiter asked but Noah only listened to the ringing, until he got an answer.

"Angela." he greeted. "It´s Noah. I´d like to talk to Molly. Is she there?" He nodded. "She´s getting her now." he informed Carlton.

"Did Suresh mention anything to you about this?" the detective wanted to know. Noah shook his head.

"Molly." he greeted, seriously. "Sorry that I have to call you, but I need your help. I don´t want you to worry, but we …" Carlton grabbed his hand to put the phone on speaker phone. "… need to know where Mohinder is at the moment." Noah threw the detective a glance. "He doesn´t answer his phone and it´s important that I speak to him. So if you could tell me where I can find him, then I´ll go to him. Would you do that for me?"

For a few seconds he didn´t get a response, only silence. Then: "Is anything wrong?"

"Let´s just say I hope not."

Again there was silence in the line.

"Molly?" he asked. And then there was a gasp.

"He´s in Arizona." she told him, and she sounded as if she´d asked: what the hell? "I thought you guys were in Washington."

"We are." Noah met Carlton´s gaze. "Last time I spoke to Mohinder, he was here too."

"Then how did he get to Arizona?" the girl asked.

Noah needed only one moment to know the answer.

"Hiro."

After another moment of silence, Molly affirmed, surprised: "You´re right. He´s in Arizona too. But he´s not with Mohinder. What is going on?"

"I´d like to know that too, Molly." Noah murmured.

"Molly, detective Lassiter here." Carlton spoke. "Can you tell us where Sylar is?"

Silence. Then, as expected: "Sylar´s in Arizona too." By now, her voice was really worried, uncertain. "Mr. Bennet. What is the meaning of this?"

Noah sighed. "I don´t know, Molly." he admitted. "But we´re going to find out. I let you know as soon as I get the word, I promise."

"All right." was all she would reply, her voice small and uncertain.

Noah finished the call and immediately dialed anew. Hiro´s number this time. He feared to get the same reaction as earlier, when he´d tried Suresh´s phone. But he didn´t. This time it was even worse.

"That´s not good." he said.

"What?"

"The phone´s out of order. Something´s wrong. We won´t get any answers that way."

"An answer to what?" a totally unexpected voice made them both swirl around.

The two Petrelli´s were standing in the door, frowning at them as if they´d caught them, wearing heads of tinfoil.

"Where the hell have you been?" Lassiter shouted at them, causing the frowns to deepen even more.

"Downstairs." Peter answered. "Having dinner? Why? What´s going on?"

"Was any of the others downstairs too?" Bennet wanted to know, daring to hope, just a little.

"Only Parkman." Nathan exchanged a glance with his brother.

"He left to go to town, getting a souvenir for his wife." Peter affirmed. "Why?"

Noah didn´t answer. He was trying to think, quickly.

"Peter." he addressed the young man. "Tell me you still have Hiro´s powers. Can you still teleport?"

Again he was regarded with a startled frown. "Yes. Why?"

"We need to get to Arizona. Right now. Sylar´s there. Suresh and Hiro went after him, they could be in danger."

Peter glanced at Lassiter, briefly. "Why should they be in danger?" he asked.

"Because I think Sylar is after Alice, Peter." Noah revealed, watching the other man´s reaction closely. Even Peter had to understand the meaning of that. He just had to.

But Peter only stared at him, glancing around for a moment, considering. Eventually he shook his head.

"I don´t think he is."

"If he knows about her, he is." Bennet insisted. "Do you really want to take that chance?"

"Who´s Alice?" Lassiter demanded to be a part of the conversation again.

"Angela Petrelli´s sister." Noah explained, never leaving Peter´s eyes. "And a very powerful woman. Just as Sylar likes it."

"What reason could he have to harm her?" Peter demanded to know. But it was his brother, not Bennet, who gave him the answer.

"Because it´s Sylar." Nathan looked at him, irritated. "Pete. Are you serious?"

"It´s not like you think, Nathan." the younger Petrelli tried to explain. "Sylar changed. It´s been years since he …"

"What?" the older brother talked over him. "Since he killed me?"

His eyes were piercing, almost accusingly staring at his brother, the man that had buried him once, swearing to avenge his death. A death caused by the man they were now talking about.

Peter sighed. "It´s not easily explained in just a minute." he said.

"Talking of which." Noah decided to take over again, before this talk mutated into a family therapy session. "Right now we don´t have that minute. I tried to reach Hiro but his phone´s out of order. Suresh isn´t answering either. They could be in danger. So will you bring us to Arizona, Peter, or not?"

The younger man only needed a moment of consideration. He nodded, and stepped forward to touch their shoulders, guessing, and rightfully so, that they were ready to go there right now. Before he could close his eyes though, his brother reached out a hand and lay it on his arm.

"What are you doing?" Peter cried.

"What do you think, I´m doing?" Nathan replied. "I´m coming with you. If you believe it or not, but I could actually help. If Sylar´s out there, I´ll help to catch him again. Just like last time."

"Last time you died."

Nathan lay his head askew, only for a moment. "I won´t this time around." he assured him.

"Fine." Lassiter rolled his eyes. "Now that we´ve settled, that we´ll look out for each other … can we please go now?"

Peter only nodded, grimly, and closed his eyes.

...

He brought them straight to the one and only place, he could think of in Arizona. The one place, Sylar would head for if, if, he really was looking for Alice.

The four of them looked around. The place was deserted and quiet, just the way it had been last time they´d been there, in Coyote Sands, that old camp that, after all those years, had been forgotten by the human race. The only sound they heard was that of the wind, blowing through the old baracks, while the sun was heading for the horizon. Soon the night would come over this place.

"I guess Molly didn´t tell you where exactly in Arizona they are, did she?" Peter asked, glancing at Noah.

The Company man looked back at him, warily. "How do you know it was her who told us?"

"How else would you know where they were?" Peter replied.

Noah grumbled, and drew his gun, glancing around. Next to him Carlton was swaying, just a little.

"You okay?" Noah asked, concerned.

"I don´t feel so good." Lassiter replied, not looking at Bennet, a hand on his stomach.

Peter nodded, understanding at once. "Travel sickness." he clarified. "Happens to some people when they teleport for the first time. Just take your time, it´ll pass."

Lassiter scowled. "I don´t have time to feel si – aaarrrrrp."

His last word ended in a hollow gulp and he closed his mouth quickly, blushing embarrassed. Bennet raised his brows. So did Nathan.

"Maybe I can afford a minute." the detective decided at last.

Bennet nodded. "I´ll have a look around." he said, padding his back. "I´ll stay in sight."

With that he started to make his way around the place, never passing a corner, but aiming his gun everywhere, checking the shadows.

Peter glanced around too, at the deserted and forgotten place, a place that harbored death literally everywhere. And he´d seen them all. He sighed.

"Feels strange to be back here, doesn´t it?" he spoke, knowing that his brother was probably feeling the same way.

"I guess it has been longer for you than it is for me." Nathan said. "Feels like I was here only a week ago." He regarded the place, sadly. "I guess I was. And now I skipped almost five years. How am I supposed to ever catch up with that loss?"

"You will." Peter assured him. "I´ll help you. We´ll all help you. What matters is that you´re back. The rest will come in time."

A few feet aside, Lassiter was trying not to spy on that private talk between the two brothers but that was not very easy, considering that they were merely a few feet apart. So he at least tried to isolate himself visually by facing the ground, taking deep and slow breaths. Slowly his stomach steadied itself.

And then he spotted something. Traces. But not the kind that were common for a place like this, miles away from civilization and only visited by animals. Not by a long shot. He went down to his knees to have a better look at it.

"You found something, detective?" Nathan asked.

"Traces." Lassiter spoke, turning around to see Noah stepping closer. "Of a car."

"Someone was here." the Company man understood.

"And not too long ago. Barely an hour I´d say."

Nathan frowned, surprised. "You´re a tracker or something like that?"

"I know how to interpret a trace." Lassiter told him. "And this car isn´t gone for too long. Someone was here lately."

"We should go, check out Alice´s bunker." Bennet suggested at once. "Make sure, she´s okay. And let´s hope, we´re not too late already."

He met Peter´s gaze, just for a second and turned around to lead the way.

...

"Let me ask you something, Peter." Nathan spoke, a few minutes into the walk. "You keep talking about how Sylar has changed, over these last few years."

"He has." Peter replied, looking over the wide plain of the Arizona desert.

"But how?" Nathan persisted. "How did he change? You really want to tell me that he´s not a killer anymore?"

Peter only looked at him, not saying anything. And Nathan laughed.

"You must be kidding me. And you believe that? You of all people?"

"I asked him the same question, many times." Bennet mentioned, over his shoulder.

"How can you even buy that lie?" Nathan was still laughing.

"Because it´s not a lie, Nathan." Peter retorted, totally serious. "I was there when he changed. I was in his mind. For six years. Maybe you can spend years with only one person as company, without getting to know him. But I can´t. I know him, because I saw it happen right before my eyes. For years."

The gaze Nathan gave him was not encouraging. But that kind of refusal to understand was something Peter knew intimately from his older brother. Unfortunately, from years of experience. If Nathan refused to understand, no one would change that, especially not his little brother. Peter gave it up, throwing up his hands.

"You know what." he cried, exasperated. "Forget it. I´m sick of having to explain this over and over again. I know by now that no one ever gets it. Not Mom, not Claire, and you won´t be the exception. Why should you? He killed you."

"Exactly."

Peter nodded. Of course Nathan would agree, now.

"But to answer your question …" he went on, ignoring the well known sarcasm. "Yes. I do believe him. And not even you can change that. And you know why? Because I forgave him his deeds, a long time ago. And I made my peace with it. Somehow I managed it to get past my hate … and to forgive." he looked into his brother´s face, that mask of stubborn indifference, and chuckled, dryly. "That´s actually a pretty good feeling." he told him and not just him. "Maybe you should try it one day."

Noah threw him a glance, over his shoulder, knowing very well, that this comment had been directed at him and Carlton.

"And why did you never mention that before now?" Nathan demanded to know. "You had two whole weeks to break that news to me."

For the time of a heartbeat, Peter didn´t know what to say. Was that question for real?

"To break that news to you? Nathan, you were dead. I just got you back. Can you at least try to imagine that I had other things on my mind than to talk about Sylar?"

"The man who killed me?"

"Wow, guys." Lassiter cried out, suddenly, before Peter could give a response.

The detective was staring ahead, eyes wide, his finger pointing at a cone of smoke that was rising in the distance, against the sinking sun.

Peter exchanged a glance with his brother. And then they just ran.

It was a burning car, they found, next to a ravine with a steep slope. The earth was disturbed around the edge, but other than that burned out car, nothing else seemed to be around. No one to aim their guns at.

Lassiter checked the car, to make sure no one was inside. No one was.

"What the hell happened here?" the detective asked aloud.

Bennet knew the answer. "Sylar."

"We can´t know that." Peter blurred, not ready to simply jump to conclusions.

"What do you think happened here, Pete?" Nathan retorted, speaking down to him, just like he used to do it, when they were still kids.

"We need to get to that bunker." Bennet decided, urgently. "If Alice is even still alive."

Lassiter and Nathan agreed and started to move. Only Peter didn´t. His feet were fast in the ground, not moving away, his eyes were fixed in the distance, at the mountains that rose at the horizon. And the storm that was forming over it.

„I think, I know where she is."

The others followed his gaze and saw it too. The storm was over the first crest of the mountains, whirling up sand, spinning it, until it started to look more and more like a huge tornado. And then there was an explosion, halfway up the side of the mountain, too far away for them to hear but the fire was bright enough for them to see it, in that wall of black swirling dirt. Especially since it caused an avalanche to come down.

Peter stepped forward, shocked.

"We need to get there."

And before anyone could say anything in response, he´d closed his eyes and was gone.

"Peter, no." Nathan cried but too late. After a grumbled curse under his breath he took off the ground and headed for the mountains, to where his stupid little brother had just jumped.

"Hey." Lassiter shouted, surprised. "Heeeeeeyy! DAMMIT!"

"Come on." Bennet nudged him, and started to run. Lassiter stared after him in disbelieve.

"Are you kidding?" he cried. But in the end he had no choice but to follow.

...

He reached the bottom of the mountain, only a second after he´d left the others behind, a few miles away, and immediately he got lifted off his feet by the force of the wind, strong and unexpected. He reached out his hands, trying to grab something, anything in reaching distance, but his body was swirling and so did his surroundings, until he didn´t see anything but a blur of dirt and schemes.

And then he hit the ground, sliding across sand and stones until he finally got to grab something. A rock, one that really held him. The wind kept tossing around him, but it seemed to have moved on, as if there were more important targets around than him. Peter panted, and dared to look upwards. He saw a figure, flying through the air, passing him above. Nathan?

He tried to stand up but as he tried to, the wind increased again. Coincidence, he was sure of it, but it could have been a sign that something – Alice – didn´t want him to get up. That she wanted him to stay out of her business, whatever it might be. But of course that wasn´t the reason. The reason was something else, and he had to find out what it was.

So he leaned forward, trying to outweight the force of the wind with his body. Only that he´d underestimated the storm and once again his feet lost contact to the ground. Again he flew, but this time he collided with something in midair. Not a rock, a body, and together they hit the ground again, grunting about the impact.

Peter knew, within a heartbeat, that the body he´d crashed into, was his brother and this time he knew it without a doubt.

He didn´t know how long they were lying there like this, just clinging to the rocks, trying to stay on the ground but eventually the storm subsided, and let go of them. When Peter looked up, he could see that it hadn´t subsided, but merely changed direction. A big cone of swirling dust was wandering over the plain, heading south, away from them. As if Alice was done here and moved on to the next place to devastate it.

Peter exhaled, his whole body shaking. Next to him, Nathan grunted, and Peter jumped up, scared.

"Nathan! Nathan, are you okay?"

He rolled his brother around and Nathan groaned, facing the sky above.

"I hope you´ve got the plate of that bus." he groaned and when Peter chuckled, relieved, he frowned at him. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded to know. Peter shook his head. "I had to help."

"Who?"

"I …"

"It was stupid."

The younger man was simply flabbergasted. "And you?" he retorted. "You came here too."

"I really had to help someone." Nathan replied. "A little brother that doesn´t know how to keep his head out of trouble."

"Says the right one. You were the one who almost got his head cut off."

The gaze he got in response, made him realize what he´d just said and a strange silence evolved between them.

"Come on." Peter broke the pause eventually and held out a hand, to help his brother up. "There must be a reason why she went all out around here." he mentioned.

The two of them glanced around, inspecting the area. The lose rocks, of the avalanche they´d seen, were lying in a big heap before them. But other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Until they heard a sound from above. Chugging.

"Do you hear that?" Peter tried to spot the source of the sound.

"Sounds like a car." Nathan searched the side of the hill.

There was a path running alongside it, now trashed by whatever had exploded up there. Nathan threw a glance at Peter, and lifted off the ground, flying up to where that motor was still purring quietly. As if a car was parked there, with the motor running.

He reached the level of the path.

"Pete." he cried out, alarmed, and landed, out of Peter´s sight.

The younger brother didn´t waste any more time, and closed his eyes, teleporting himself up, to where Nathan had landed, to what he´d found there. When he opened his eyes again, he saw him, kneeling next to someone on the ground. A car, a Nissan X-Trail, was standing there, pressed against the side of the mountain, probably by the wind, motor still running. The driver was lying on the ground, unconscious.

"It´s your friend." Nathan cried. "What´s his name?"

Peter stepped closer, to see the face of the unconscious man. When he saw him, his eyes went wide.

"Shawn!"