I don't own Heroes, etc.
Now, the really story starts. Sylar was captured at Homecoming by Eden and the Haitian. Eden confronts Bennet about his plans for Sylar. Enjoy.
Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
-Leviticus 19:29, KJV
"And now, behold, I speak unto the church. Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come."
-Doctrines & Covenants 42:18
Primatech Paper Company-Odessa, TX
Believe.
Eden could not believe this. Noah was going to do nothing. They finally captured that monster, and the Company wanted to do nothing. Sure, Sylar would be poked and prodded a little. After that he would end up at Level Five like all the others. Self righteous Noah Bennet was going to let the Company hide this monster away. Even the threat to his daughter failed to penetrate his Company Man veneer.
'This is wrong,' she told him again.
He gave her that patented father knows best look. The hallway lights flash off his glasses. Noah waved a hand dismissively at her. 'The company could learn something from him. Once we figure out how his power works, we'll take care of him.'
She knew what that meant, Sylar was destined for Level Five with all the other killers and their golden haired jailer. Eden thought that was not good enough. Sylar was a rabid dog and needed to be put down.
She said as much, 'He's a rabid animal, Noah. The Company needs to understand that.'
'NO,' the Company Man responded in an overly anger tinged voice. Noah started telling Eden that she needed to mind her own self, that the Company knew best, and that she should go babysit Isaac.
Eden was not really paying attention. Her phone rang just as Noah started in on her. Lithe fingers dug it out of her jean pocket. The number was unfamiliar. She thumbed the accept button. A random phone call was better than listen to Noah chew her out, again.
'Hello?' she asked with a curious tone.
'Eden?' a male voice inquired.
'Mmhh,' she answered. Already turned around, she walked slowly away from Noah. His words echoed down the sterile Primatech hall behind her. Eden waved a hand above her head. One finger extended. She tried to think and figure out who the hell called her.
'This may sound a little strange, but where are you?'
What the hell. Who was this and why the hell did they want to know where she was?
'Who is this?', she demanded.
'It's Peter. We meet at Mohinder's apartment,' voice asked.
Eden remembers him. Pretty Peter with the deep brown eyes. She was right about him. He called her and with pretty good timing too.
'I'm sorry, Peter, but he's not back yet,' she told him. 'Call me again in a few days.'
Eden suspected that if she played this right, arranging a date with awkward emo Peter would be very easy. His bag and tag might make up for what she was about to do. Still, she expected him to say something and he had not.
'Peter?'
'Peter?'
She looked at her phone. The call had been dropped. Eden was not surprised. After all, in an underground super secret prison, cell phone reception was notoriously spotty. As she went down the hall, Eden shoved the phone back into her jeans. Peter would call back and she had things to do.
Eden reached the female dorm, and her room sooner than expected. Her thoughts were distracted, which let her feet guide her along the well worn hallways. As she was about to enter her room, Eden considered the difference between the agent's quarters and the cells. One difference was that her room locked from the inside. The other was the interior mirror was smaller and not transparent, or at least Eden did not think it was.
Eden hurried inside and locked the door behind her. The worn dresser, a latticed back chair, and a twin the bed was the room's only furniture. She crossed quickly to the dresser. Eden kept a handful of clothes inside, which were the few remaining pieces of her former life. Rummaging through the clothes, her fingers brushed the gun.
Its cold metal weight felt uncomfortable. This was not her gun. She had done the basic firearms training like all the Company agents, however Eden's custom Strayer Voigt Infinty .45 was in her New York apartment. This particular gun had belonged to Bridget Bailey. When Bridget and Eden went on a mission together, the other woman 'lost' the gun. Naturally Eden helped Bridget lose the gun into Eden's purse. The Company became upset with Bitchy Bridget. Eden smiled at the memory. She always knew an extra gun would be useful someday.
Still, the two toned weapon felt wrong. Eden did not have anything against guns and she could shoot one, but a creeping uncertainty gnawed at her. When she killed her step-mother, it was an accident. It was the first uncontrolled misunderstood use of her power, while what she planned today was cold, terrible soul damning murder. She thought it was stupid that she worried about the blackness of her soul after all the things she had done.
Since accidently killing her step mom, Eden knew she had done a lot of things that were bad. Afraid that her voice could only kill people, Eden became terrified to speak. She had always been a quite, and the guilt over her step mom's death made her even quieter.
After Eden's step mom died, their house burned down. The dead woman's cigarette sparked the cleaning chemicals Eden was using when she killed her. Eden watched the house burn. Its loss left her without a family or a home. There was only one thing left for her to do.
She ran away. A truck ride to Las Vegas left her homeless, hungry and alone. As a sixteen year old runaway from nowhere Utah, Eden was unsurprised what happened next.
Still, she supposed she was lucky. With her long hair, big brown eyes and a slim graceful figure, she had the things needed for survival. Once she got hungry enough and cold enough, Eden became willing to do anything or anyone. At first the sex really bothered her. It made her feel dirty like her body was simultaneously on fire and covered in soul staining foul mud. The money she earned helped make her forgot how she earned. Well, it was more the alcohol that she bought, which helped her forget.
Later on Eden became even luckier when the mob took her in. With her youth and good looks, she worked the high end clients at various casino's, even Linderman's casino, which she thought was very funny considering who he really was. Working for the mob, Eden started the serious drugs and drinking. They helped her cope, helped her perform, helped her push everything away except making it through the night with another satisfied client behind her. After awhile she got numbed to the work. Every night became a swirl of drinking, drugs and sex. That went on for awhile, a long while.
Then, in a stupid moment of weakness, Eden skipped out of Vegas. Making it to LA, she tried going straight. She bartended at a hotel for a while, but her need for the drugs and the drinking outstripped her meeker income. Eden knew how to fix that, and she did. She had already done everything, well almost everything, so why worry about a few more tricks? As a bartender, it was easy to find the right guy, serve a few drinks, and drop some hints. Then upstairs to the room she reserved, a few minutes on her back or her knees, some money earned and then back down to the bar. Eden always gave the other bartender a cut, just to keep him covering for her while she was away.
Things went like that for a time. It was not great, but it was a life. Then one day Eden got pissed at a waiter. She told him to go put his head in the oven. Sure enough, he did. The dummy was lucky. The oven was off. Still, it was a defining moment. The elapsed time, the drugs and the alcohol had almost made her forget about her step mom. The waiter helped her remember and made her curious. Maybe she could do more than kill with her voice? She tried a few things. Of course people did what she wanted. She could make anyone do anything.
When she finally understood what her voice could do, Eden laughed until she cried. Then she cried for a longtime. The whole time she was doing those dirty things a few well chosen words could have saved her. Eden told herself it was all over, that she would fix everything. Telling herself that was supposed to make her feel better, even if it never did. It did make her sure of one thing. The world owed her, and she was going to make it pay and pay and pay.
For a time, things were good, or as closed to good as she had ever enjoyed. She got back at some of those entitled assholes that used her. Then Eden made LA her personal playground. All the cars, drugs, alcohol and men she wanted. For once it was only the men she wanted. That was nice. That was heaven.
After a time, Eden got bored, and decided to travel. On the drive to LAX, the Company abducted her. A few drops of Adam's blood, a chat with Noah, and she was 'cured'. Physically she no longer needed the drugs or the alcohol, yet, her she had a need for them that was like an insidious malevolent voice that whispered constantly. The Company shrinks explained it as psychological dependence.
Then they fixed her. Well, mostly they fixed her. Sometimes that voice would come back whispering seductive honey sweat words, just one drink, one hit and it would all be better. No Company. No loneliness. No memories. No pain. Some nights the voice was almost too much, almost.
Eden realized that thinking through her life, while holding a gun was probably a bad sign. She tried to escape the feeling of impending disquiet that had descended on her. In all the things she had done, Eden had never murdered someone.
She knew murder was a sin. Dad ensured his little sinner got all the religious indoctrination she could at a very young age. Then he left, but she did not want to think about that. Anyway, the Church's teachings left her with no doubt that she was a sinner. She was a woman who exchanged the favors of her body for money. She was a whore. The church told her that she was going to burn in hell for all the things she had done. It did not matter if she did them to survive. No sir, not for a black hearted sinner like her.
So, why not add murderess to her endless list of sins? Eden told herself it did not matter. A shake of the head helped drive away the unpleasant thought, yet the pieces of it lingered like the tendrils of a nightmare upon waking.
She tried to refocus on her current task. Eden found the gun's magazine hidden in her spare clothes. After loading the gun and chambering a round, she started for the door. The phone rang.
Her graceful steps slow as she considered. It was probably Peter calling again trying to find Mohinder. She wanted to get her business done with Sylar, yet she needed something to offer the Company, and Peter might be it. Eden switched the gun to her other hand and fished her phone out of her jeans.
'Peter?'
'Yeah, Eden?'
She said warmly, 'It's me. Mohinder's not back yet, sorry.'
'Oh, thanks,' he said. 'Actually I was calling about something else. I was in Texas a couple nights ago and I thought I might have seen y-.'
Abrupt silence.
Irritated dark eyes scrutinized her phone. Another dropped call, fuck. No matter, Peter could wait. She had things to do.
Eden jammed the phone into her jeans, again. Then she peeked out the white institutional bland door. Seeing no one, Eden slipped out into the hall. Fluid hurried steps carried her towards Sylar's cell.
Next Time: Elle, Sylar and Eden. Oh, my!
I'm really interested on any feedback on my characterization of Eden. Also, the plot will pick up in the next chapter.
