Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes. It belongs to Tim Kring...and I guess NBC, too.
A/N: So, I'm back...and this one's a bit longer than the last one. I apologize if the quality's not so great, and thanks to MigetX, Guard of the Heradi, and TJtrack99 for the encouraging words. Here's to hoping I didn't screw up.
On with it:
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Mohinder packed a small case with the syringe and two vials of the antibody and healing blood mixture. He'd wanted another vial, but the technician had said the remaining blood was to be studied. It won't be wasted this time, he promised silently. I hope I'm not too late.
At that thought, Mohinder chuckled wryly. As if that was the least of my problems. Mohinder thought about Molly, who was staying under Maya and Elle's care and couldn't help a small smile. It must be different to have two women look after her for a change. At least if Sylar came back, Elle would be able to handle him.
He made it as far as the end of the hallway when he ran into Bob.
"Dr. Suresh! I was afraid I had missed you," Bob said.
"My flight leaves in half an hour," Mohinder said, eyeing the briefcase in Bob's hand with interest. "I'm rather pressed for time."
"Very well then, I'm going with you," Bob said, walking out the facility's exit with Mohinder. "It seems that Niki is staying with family, with whom I need to speak. I have another assignment I want to brief you on as well."
Mohinder didn't see that he had much of a choice, so he nodded as a taxi came to pick them up.
---
Peter reread the letter again.
We have your brother and he will be kept alive. However, his continued existence and well-being will depend on your cooperation. Meet our contact at noon tomorrow in the Primatech Paper Co.…
It was unreal. He raised a fist and -
"Hey! Watch what you're doing! This is a rental. I don't want to have to explain why the car door blew off its hinges from the inside!" Matt snapped. Matt swallowed and calmed himself down. He was sitting in a car in the Primatech Paper Co. parking lot and he didn't want a repeat of what happened the last time he tried to expose the Company and he certainly didn't want Peter blowing up on him. "Anyways, it's almost time."
"Yeah…I should probably get going," Peter said, opening the car door.
"Let me know if you're in trouble," Matt said.
Peter nodded and stepped out, shutting the car door behind him. Looking at the mundane group of buildings, he couldn't help but shudder at how an ordinary looking company could hold such dark secrets. This was the last place he'd expect any secret organization to station themselves. He made his way across the parking lot towards one of the buildings.
After his first step into what appeared to be the administrative building, he half-expected guns to start blazing or a total lockdown. Instead, a plump little secretary greeted him warmly from behind her desk and directed him down the hall to an office, where he knocked on the door.
"Come in," a voice said from the other side. Peter thought it sounded familiar. He turned the doorknob and entered. Peter stared at the man before him in shock.
"Good to see you again, Mr. Petrelli," Noah Bennet said. "Would you do us a favor and please close the door?"
Peter was vaguely aware of his hand brushing against the door and pushing it closed behind him. What was going on?
"Have a seat, Peter," Mr. Bennet motioned at the chair in front of Peter, usually reserved for potential customers of the Primatech Paper Co. services.
Peter sat down, his mind still reeling. He'd trusted this man - trusted him to keep him from wiping out New York. "What's going on?"
Mr. Bennet - Noah - dropped his "friendly paper salesman" act and gave Peter an intense glare. Peter only stared back. Noah sighed, "As you probably know from the note left for you, we have your brother."
"And I want to know where he is," Peter said harshly. He threw the note down on the desk between them. "What's that supposed to mean? I trusted you!"
"Now hold on a second, Peter. I'm not the one making the decisions here. That's left for the higher-ups," Noah raised his hands to placate Peter. "The Company needs your help, Peter. As long as you do what they want, Nathan will be alright."
"No," Peter said.
"If you refuse, they might just let Nathan have a little accident," Noah pressed on. He saw Peter's resolute mask falter a bit before a stoic look replaced it. Noah decided to try a different tactic. "Right now, all immediate actions are in my hands - so long as we deliver what they want. You're lucky that I'm the one they sent. If it were anyone else, they'd be threatening your brother's family. Nathan wouldn't be too happy about that, would he?"
A flash of panic crossed Peter's face, but he wasn't willing to give in. "How do I even know if you've really got him?"
Noah swiveled his monitor around. On the screen, Peter saw Nathan lying asleep in a hospital bed with a guard in the room. Noah dialed a number on the phone on his desk. On the monitor, a phone rang and the guard picked it up. "Mac, how about wave to the camera? I have Nathan's brother here," Noah said into the phone. Peter watched as the guard, Mac, waved up at him before replacing the phone on its cradle.
"What's to stop me from rushing in there?" Peter challenged.
"What's to keep them from just killing Nathan?" Noah replied. "Mac's not there to keep Nathan from escaping. Do you really think you can do your trick before he pulls the trigger?"
Peter paused for a moment. "What do you want me to do?" he whispered.
---
Hiro teleported into Ando's apartment.
"Argh!" Ando yelped, dropping his (thankfully unopened) cup ramen. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry," Hiro said, looking chastised for two seconds before his eyes widened with fear and anxiety again. "Ando! I have bad news! Kensei's gone!"
"What do you mean 'gone'? Isn't that good?" Ando said, picking up the ramen and stepping around Hiro to retrieve the boiling water.
"No! It's very bad," Hiro said. "I went by the cemetery. His grave is empty. I don't know where he went!"
"What are you so worried about? It's not like there's another virus he wants to release. The only thing left he probably wants is revenge…," Ando's mind flashed back on his encounter with Sylar and he gulped. "What are you going to do?"
"Find help!" Hiro put a hand on Ando's shoulder and before Ando could protest, they vanished….
…and reappeared in a very expensive looking room.
A woman screamed. Two little boys ran in. "Mom? Who are they?" The younger one asked.
Hiro blinked. Did he come to the wrong place? He saw a photo on the mantle. This should be the right place. There was a picture of him there.
Ando looked sheepish, still holding the steaming kettle in one hand. "Ah," he began. "My friend and I are very sorry. We thought …" Ando trailed off. In Japanese he asked, "Hiro! What are we doing here?"
Hiro spoke up. "Ah, where is Fly- Ah, Nathan Petrelli?"
"Nathan?" The woman's eyes narrowed. "What do you want with him? Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"I'm Hiro," Hiro said. "Hiro Nakamura and he -" Hiro motioned to Ando "- is my friend, Ando. We teleport here from Japan." Both Hiro and Ando gave her matching nervous smiles.
The woman's looked at them warily. "Boys, go to your room." The two boys looked ready to protest, but she stopped them with a glare and they complied. Turning back to the two Japanese men, she said skeptically, "Teleport. Like how my husband can fly?"
Hiro looked at her brightly. "Yes! Yes, he's Flying Man! Whoosh!" He zoomed his hand up diagonally.
The look on her face told him that was probably not the right thing to say.
---
Breathing.
How could something he'd done since he was born hurt and make him so tired? Nathan took a deeper breath, coughed and stayed still again, trying to keep his head from spinning and throwing up. After getting his breathing under control again, he willed his eyes to open.
In the blinding white of what might be the hospital walls, images of someone moving, machines that helped him stay alive, a chair, a plant, and an odd picture that looked like it might have been drawn by a child swam to and fro. He blinked a few times before his vision cleared. He almost wished it hadn't.
Anger and hatred lent him the strength. Still, it took him a few seconds to work up enough saliva to weakly say, "You."
"Nice to see you awake, Mr. Petrelli," Mr. Bennet greeted him, the smile didn't quite reaching his eyes. He helped Nathan drink some water from a cup. "One more second and you would have undone thirty years of hard work and secrecy… I wish the sniper would have given you that second." The smile took on a sinister look. "I can imagine that you'd like nothing more than to make good your promise to me."
Nathan took a shuddering breath. "More than ever… What do you want from me?"
"Me? To tell you the truth, I want nothing to do with you," Mr. Bennet began. "But, if I'm going to be able to protect my own family, I need to do my job. For now, that means finishing what I started in Vegas…and then some," Mr. Bennet held up a syringe full of thick, red liquid - blood? - and injected it into the IV bag. "I suggest you get some rest, Mr. Petrelli. Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day for you."
Against Nathan's will, his eyes closed.
---
Mr. Bennet sighed. Talking with Peter earlier was … frustrating to say the least. Peter had abilities and didn't even use them properly. He'd been trying to get Peter to communicate with him via telepathy, but Peter hadn't taken his hint. He would've been able to help Peter through the situation - explain things to Peter that he couldn't say out loud.
He had wanted to fake accidentally spilling Claire's healing blood, but he knew that would mean he or another Company operative would have to go back to his family again to get more. He was thankful that he did not have an ability, especially once the Company had their way and began running their tests and experiments.
He went back to his computer and pulled up the files Bob had sent him.
---
Sylar grinned at the empty can of spinach before tossing it aside. So…it was some Company who rescued me …and it was because of that Company that I lost my powers. Oh yes, someone was going to pay.
Someone always has to pay.
Sylar took a deep breath and got up, stretching his limbs. First, though, he needed a shower and a change of clothes.
---
Adam awoke to the darkness of the cell. Where was he? He moved his arms and discovered that they were chained to the wall behind him.
"Oh, good! You're up," said a chipper voice. "We hoped that the lack of oxygen in your brain would not have severely damaged your ability to regenerate, but now that I know you're fine…"
CRACK!
"OW!" Adam spat out the teeth that had been knocked loose and felt new ones replace them.
"The boss does want his revenge."
Adam had a very bad feeling about this.
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A/N 2: Hope that was alright. Usually the first part of anything that I write is okay, but the second part and anything afterwards is plain and utter trash. Also, I'm trying to keep the number of major Original Characters to a minimum because I don't really like OCs and I'm terrible at making names.
I did my best to proofread this, but I'm human and humans are prone to making mistakes. If there's any grammatical, spelling, or logic mistakes, let me know so I can edit or learn from it.
Also, if you like what you're reading, you might want to use the alert thingy, as my updating is VERY unreliable.