HEROES: 1977

Characters: Maury, Adam, Victoria, Kaito, Angela, Arthur, Charles, Linderman

Disclaimer: I own nuttink! Just playing with Tim Kring's intellectual copyrighted toys.

-

Odessa, TX - October, 1977

"What's the latest progress on this virus we acquired from that Indian girl?" Adam asked Victoria as he perused her lab.

"Shanti Suresh?" she asked. Adam nodded. She looked over her notes. "So far, I've cultivated 137 different strains of this particular sample. The intensity of these strains range from mostly inert to lethal if not treated."

"Treated how?" he pressed. "I know that this 'penicillin' is all the rage these days, but what about other drugs?" he asked. "Could a sample of my blood be the only cure for some of these strains?"

Victoria hesitated. "Why would you want to know something like that, Adam?" she asked, suddenly alarmed. Who else was in the building today, she wondered.

"Oh, no reason, really. Just in case there was an...outbreak," he replied. "By accident, you know," he smiled.

His smile sent shivers down her spine. "Even the common cold can be lethal, Adam. Surely you know that," she replied nervously. Somebody get to the lab, now! She screamed inside her head, hoping one of the telepaths on staff were nearby.

"Ah, but this little girl," he said in wonder. "This little girl could kill an army without lifting a finger. Do you know how rare, how precious a gift like that is? And what happened? She wound up killing herself with her own ability."

"Adam, please get out of my lab," she demanded.

"What aren't you telling me?" he inquired. He picked up a vial. "Could some of those strains kill even me?" He asked, leaning into her ominously.

"Y-yes," she stammered. "Yes, some of those strains could kill even you, Adam. They could wipe out all life as we know it!"

Adam stepped back and smiled. "Thank you, that was all I needed to know." He turned and strode out of the lab.

Victoria slumped onto a stool and buried her face in her hands. She pounded the table with her fist. "Damn. Damn. DAMN!"

"Vic? Is everything all right?" Maury asked, poking his head in. He motioned to his head. "I heard you cry out."

"Maury?" she said, looking up at him in disbelief. "Oh God, what have I done?" she cried.

Maury went to her side and gave her a consoling hug as she told him what Adam wanted. "You don't seriously think that even he would consider something like that?"

"I don't know what to believe, anymore," she sobbed.

"I think the time has come we need to do something about our self-appointed leader," he replied. "I'm calling Kaito and Arthur."

Within six hours, a majority of the Founders had been assembled at the Odessa, Texas facility.

"So what's this emergency you called us all down here for, Parkman?" Arthur asked, not bothering to hide his disgust with the man.

"Calm down, Arthur," Angela said. "I'm sure Maury and Victoria had good reason to convene us." She motioned to her friend to explain.

"It's Adam," the redhead began. "He was asking about the virus stock I acquired from the Indian girl, Suresh."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "So? What does that have to do with us?"

Behind him, Angela exchanged glances with Charles, Daniel, and Maury.

"Surely he wouldn't?" Charles said aloud. "Especially not with Suresh's own child?"

Arthur turned and glared at the telepath. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"We have a history with the Suresh girl's father, Arthur," Daniel Linderman informed his friend.

"So?" he shot back. "You already told me you and Angela knew each other before we met in Viet Nam. This is just another coincidence."

"Arthur, we know you share many views with Adam," Angela said coolly. "But for him to take an opportunity like this is beyond coincidence. We have to put a stop to whatever his plans are concerning this virus."

"What, you think he's going to try and poison the world?" Arthur countered. "Make the 1917 flu epidemic look like a blip on the radar?"

"It's possible," Victoria said quietly. "He was asking if this virus could even kill someone like him."

Arthur eyed her a moment. "And?"

She returned a sad but defiant look. "Yes, at least one strain is lethal enough it may kill someone with regenerative abilities like Adam."

"Where is it?" he demanded.

"I've locked it up in a safe place."

"Where?"

"Arthur!" Angela interrupted. "There is no way in hell we are letting Adam get his hands on that or any other virus! I will not allow that madman to kill our children!"

Arthur stared hard at his wife for a long moment. "Children?"

"You know what I mean," she replied, suddenly caught off-guard by her slip. "All of this group's children. Everybody's children. The innocents who will fall in this mad plan."

"This is all speculation. You have no proof he's going to do anything with this virus," Arthur protested.

"Damn it, Arthur! This is no time for your damn idol worship of Adam!" Maury yelled. "He's always planning something and he's definitely interested in this virus! We have to get rid of it before he can get his hands on it!"

"More speculation."

"I've seen what he intends to do, Arthur," Angela finally exclaimed. "This world will be left a lifeless husk in a matter of months if he releases that virus. We have to put a stop to this and put a stop to him." She glared at her husband defiantly.

"Fine, I'll go talk to him," he replied, staring down his wife. "I'll ask him directly, find out what his plans are."

"Not by yourself, you're not," Maury told him.

"Right, at least two of us will approach Adam with you," Daniel added. "Keeps us all honest. Besides, he might just as well kill you as soon as tell you his plans."

Arthur glared at the pair, but finally acceded to their wishes. "Fine," he grumbled under his breath and strode from the room.

Maury and Daniel followed him to Adam's office.

Arthur stopped outside the door and turned to his escorts. "You'll see you were wrong about this." He knocked, "Adam, it's Arthur. I need to talk to you a minute."

"Come in," came a familiar voice from the other side of the door. Arthur opened the door to find Adam going over papers behind his desk. He glanced up and did a double-take at the two men with Arthur. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

Arthur glanced to his two companions then back to Adam. "It seems there are rumors that you've been asking about that virus from the Indian girl?"

"Yes, what of it?"

Another disdainful glance to his companions. "It seems some of us are making assumptions about your plans for the virus in question. We came to find out what your intentions are."

"Oh, Arthur, you disappoint me," Adam replied, rising from his desk. "A general must always know the status of his arsenal."

"So you have no intent to use it as a weapon, then?" Maury asked.

Adam chuckled. "Well now, Mr. Parkman, I never said that."

Arthur's jaw dropped. "You wouldn't?"

"Survival of the fittest, Arthur, you know that," he replied. "Those who follow me I will do my best to cure with my blood. The rest? Well, they'll just have to take their chances, won't they?"

"You lying bastard!" Arthur yelled and started to charge his immortal mentor before shots rang out. He stopped in his tracks as Adam was shot right in front of him.

"You'll pay for this, Parkman," Adam said as he crumpled to the ground.

Arthur turned to see Maury holding a .357 Magnum. "You killed him?"

"I shot him, so we can lock him up before he can release that virus," Maury replied coldly. "I've been keeping linked with Charles. The others know everything he said. It's over, Arthur."

Arthur glared at Maury, then down at the fallen Adam before turning and leaving the room.

"I'd better keep an eye on him," Daniel said. "You'll watch Adam?" Maury nodded and Daniel followed his friend.

Maury then leaned down and whispered. "Next time, I bring a real gun and blow your fucking head off, you sick bastard." He glanced at his hand and the gun dissolved into the ether. He wondered how long he would have before Adam's body realized it hadn't been physically injured. He reached down to touch Adam's head. "Sleep."

That should hold him for now, he thought. I'll be damned if I let him hurt my friends or family. Then again, Adam always had contingency plans. Best to start working on your own, he told himself. No way was he going to let Matty be drawn into this nightmare life. That was one promise he would die to keep.

Charles and Kaito entered the office. "You have him?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, made him think I shot him, then pushed him to sleep for now," Maury replied, standing back up. "Best I could do on short notice."

"You did what needed to be done, Maury," Charles consoled him.

Maury regarded his fellow telepath. "That's all we seem to be doing, isn't it?" he asked. "If you'll excuse me, I need some fresh air." He pushed past the other two into the hall where several security guards were standing, waiting to take Adam into custody.

"We need to make this official," Kaito said. "I'll draw up some documents that we all will sign to keep Adam under lock and key to prevent him from doing this again."

"For how long?" Charles asked. "He has a wife, you know."

"Many people in prison are married," Kaito replied. "We'll let her get on with her life away from this madman." Charles nodded solemnly.

-

Angela left Victoria with a guard at the lab to find her husband. She found Daniel standing outside his office. "He's in there, if you're looking for him. He's not happy, I can tell you that much. Told me to get out, stay out."

"I understand, Daniel, and thank you," she said and stepped into her husband's office. He shrugged and left, deciding he needed some fresh air as well.

"Are you alright, Arthur?" she asked, stepping inside.

He stood staring out the window, glass of scotch in his hand. "You were right."

"Such is my gift," she replied, clasping her hands together. "Are you mad at me?"

He didn't answer for a minute. "I think I'm more mad at myself, really. I bought into his views, hook, line, and sinker."

"We all did to some extent. He was the world weary traveler, having seen 400 years of history. We were too young, eager for someone to show us how things should be done. We should all be ashamed for letting it get this far."

"We should be glad it only went this far," he echoed.

She came up behind him and leaned into his shoulder. "What I said earlier? About children?"

He turned his head and looked down at her.

"We're going to have another one." He smiled and started to say something, but she cut him off. "Don't worry, it won't be for a little while, yet. But he'll make us proud, just like Nathan, Arthur."

"What are we going to call him?"

She smiled. "I'll let you know when the time is right. I can tell you this much, he'll be the rock to hold this family together though some troubled times," she smiled. "He'll have the best of both of us in him."

"What about Nathan?"

"Nathan has his own destiny, Arthur," she replied. "It's just a matter of trying to be his own man and not trying to be the son you want him to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He idolizes you the way you idolize Adam. He just needs to know that he doesn't have to follow your path to the letter."

He mulled this over for a minute. "I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult."

She stared out the window, through her own reflection and smiled. "You'll know what I mean when the time comes."

Arthur raised an eyebrow and took another swig of scotch. It was times like these that he hated being married to a precognitive.

-

Outside the PrimaTech Paper building, Daniel Linderman had caught up with Maury Parkman staring into the twilight. "So what happens now?" he asked in his British accent.

"We cover our own asses, Danny."

"Is this the end of the Company, you think?"

"No, but this is the beginning of the end. We're going to question each other's motives a lot more from now on. Vic has really been shaken up by what happened here, today. I don't expect her to stick around much longer."

"Surely you can't be serious?"

"She was already thinking it before I called you all down here. She might help out if there's a real emergency, but I think she's already decided to leave in her mind."

"Can't say that I blame her. What about you?"

Maury was silent for a minute. "Like I said, we cover our own asses from here on out. I've got a wife and son to think about. I've got to make sure they stay well away from this."

"Which is why you moved to Los Angeles?"

Maury smiled. "One of the reasons, yes."

Daniel sighed. "Remember the good old days, when we were living our lives? We narrowly escaped the Coyote Sands massacre and were living it up in Las Vegas?"

Maury chuckled. "Yeah, those were good times." He turned and had a serious expression on his face. "Then I returned to my family in New York and immediately had to get them out of there for their own safety. Time to grow up and move on, Danny."

"I was thinking, I have a couple business contacts in Vegas. We were talking about opening a hotel, put in a small casino, expand from there. You're welcome to join me."

"No, I don't think so, Danny. I'm content to run the offices in LA with Susan. Hell, I was only down here to help you out while Paula's on vacation. Why don't you ask Arthur? He's got the legal contacts to keep you out of trouble out there."

"I know what you're talking about, 'trouble'. Yes, some of my contacts are, shall we say, of a questionable nature, but if it's good enough for Frankie, it's good enough for me."

"Sinatra?" Maury laughed. "Surely you can't be serious?"

"I am," he replied. "And stop calling me 'Shirley'," he winked. "Want to go raid Adam's office? See if we can find proof his plans for world domination are written down?"

"You just want to get to his good stuff before anyone else does, Danny."

"Well, to be honest, I really do like that sword of his, and since it looks like I'll be the one running this office for the time being, well, I might as well start making myself comfortable, no?"

"I'd think Kaito would want a look at that sword, first," Maury shook his head, laughing. "And here I thought I was the scam artist in the group!"

"Stick with me, kid, I'll show ya how it's done!" Daniel said in his best Bogart, which Maury argued was his worst as they headed back inside.

"Aw crap," Maury suddenly groaned, rubbing his temple.

"What is it?"

"Adam's awake and fighting the guards," Maury replied. "We better hurry back in there before he hurts someone."

Both men rushed inside to find Adam had returned to the lab, hurt Victoria and almost released the virus. He was quickly subdued once more and locked in a guarded sub-basement cell.

Later that night, Kaito presented the group with a Company document listing the crimes with which Adam Monroe was being charged. He informed the assembled group that Susan, Bob, Harry, Carlos, and Paula would arrive the next day to sign it, but those present had the option of signing it right there or waiting for the others.

"Since it seems the only way we can be sure of execution is decapitation and immolation, then scattering the ashes, we must all agree on that course of action," Kaito told them. "However, it is for the best, under current circumstances, that we keep him alive but imprisoned for the time being. This is just in case he has contingency plans already underway and we can interrogate him on how to deter those plans if need be."

"Sounds fair to me," Maury said.

"Since we have already begun construction on permanent holding cells for the more volatile personalities and abilities we have come across, Adam will be our first permanent resident, as it were. We only need a simple majority for indefinite incarceration, which we have present. We must be fully unanimous for the other option."

Angela spoke up. "I say we keep him around, try to find out what other secrets he's kept from us over the years." Others in the room nodded agreement.

"Even one vote abstaining means he lives," Kaito told them.

"Good, let him rot in a cell, thinking over how he fucked himself," Maury said and reached for the document to sign it.

Kaito put his hand on the sheet. "By signing this, we all agree not to take matters into our own hands in any event. Seeing as how he'll likely outlive all of us, the last of us will have to find new keepers of the agreement. Is that understood?"

Maury nodded and reached out again. Kaito drew back the paper and signed first, then allowed Maury to sign. Charles, Angela, Arthur, Daniel, and Victoria also signed off.

Kaito looked over the document one last time. "Very well, since it's after midnight, as of November 2, 1977, we have condemned Adam Monroe to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. Let the sentence be carried out immediately."

"What about the virus?" Victoria asked. "We should destroy it, just in case."

"What if he's already stolen samples?" Kaito pointed out. "We would need all the strains in your lab to create an antidote, if that were possible. No, we lock them away, as well."

"That's it then," she said.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"I wasn't asking. I was telling you," she said. "That's it, I'm out. I'm done with all this group has done. I wash my hands of you."

"Victoria, please," Angela reached to her friend. "Don't run away just because--"

"Because I'm tired of keeping secrets? Of all we've done?" she asked. "I'm sorry, Angela. I'll help you secure the virus, but then I'm out of here. If you have an extreme emergency that you think only I will be able to help with, I will come help if I can, but don't expect me to come running back with my tail between my legs. I can't keep living like this, I'm sorry."

Angela stood and held her arms out to her friend. "I'm sorry, too," she said as they embraced. "I'll miss you, dear."

Kaito, Charles, Daniel, and Maury also offered their support of her decision and let her leave for the night. Arthur stood indifferent to her, as they had never really gotten along.

"Are we done, or does anyone else want out, too?" Daniel asked, watching her leave. He forced himself not look at Maury, but could feel the man's dirty look at his back.

"Time will tell," Angela said, looking out the door after her friend. "Time will tell whether what we've done here will matter. And whether we've done our fair share of good...or we're all damned to Hell."

-

"Wake up, Adam," Maury intoned, standing outside his cell.

Adam's head lolled toward the door. Already awake, but obviously bored. "What do you want now, Parkman?"

"I just wanted you to know, we're all in agreement about keeping you locked up, you bastard," he said. "If it were up to me, I'd chop you up and bury your limbs in cement, then drop those blocks into the deepest ocean depths."

Adam sat up and gave him a slow, appreciative clap. "Bravo, Maury! It seems some of you have taken to my teachings after all!"

"Did you tell that black chick you married about us?" Maury pushed. "Did you tell her you can't die?"

Adam's grin vanished. "Leave her alone, Parkman! Trina has no part in this."

"That's what I wanted to hear," he smiled back. "The others want to tell her you're being locked up and let her sign divorce papers. Now we can tell her you died in a car accident or something. Let the poor girl get on with her life without you."

"And what happens when I get out of here? Hmm? What then?"

"You're not getting out, Adam. Not ever."

"You do realize I'm going to outlive each and every one of you, right? Not even Daniel's healing can stop natural aging."

"We've already made arrangements for that," Maury said coolly. "We just need to know if you have any other plans in motion, so we can put a stop to them."

Adam crossed his arms in defiance. "Like I would tell you," he scoffed.

"Yes, you will," Maury replied as Adam grabbed his head in pain.

Maury pushed his way through Adam's mind until his nose began to bleed. He barely noticed. When he thought he had finished, he released the man's mind.

"Just as I thought, you make all these plans, but you never put them into motion. We don't have anything to worry about from you," Maury snarled as he wiped the blood trickling from his nose.

Adam groaned as he pulled himself up from the floor. "You don't know the half of what I have planned for you people, Maury. You'll regret this. I will have my revenge on all of you and then all of your heirs. We aren't done. Not even close. If there's anything you report back to your master, Arthur, it's that. You, Shaw, Petrelli, Linderman, and especially Nakamura. You'll all pay for this!" he yelled. "Do you hear me? You'll all pay for this!"

"You don't scare me, Adam," he replied. "You never have."

Adam looked him square in the eye again. "Then why did you run away from New York? You, your mother, your 'Uncle Ben'?"

Maury's face went slack. "W-what? What do you know about Uncle Ben?"

Adam smiled. "I know a 'Boss Moroni' put a hit out on him and his family right about the time your father...shall we say, 'left'? The same time your abilities surfaced? I've been watching you. You and so many others, Parkman."

"Shut the hell up. Shut the hell up, damn you!"

"Do you think it a coincidence that Coyote Sands was even created, much less that so many people like us were sent there? I was recruiting my army, Parkman! You were all to be my army, if not for that damned Suresh and that weather witch!"

"You're a liar!"

"You're Jewish, surely you heard what happened during the last war? I was merely trying to prevent the same thing from happening to our kind, Parkman! I was trying to save us all so we could take over the world!" he yelled, and began laughing maniacally.

"You liar!" Maury argued back. "You're a sick sadistic bastard! Don't you touch my family ever again!" he yelled and pushed his mind at Adam with all his might.

He didn't even feel it when he crumpled to the floor.

-

"Maury? Maury, can you hear me?" came a familiar British accent.

"D-Daniel?" he asked groggily. "Wha' hap'n? Wher'm I?"

"Kaito asked me to check on Adam and I found you lying outside his cell, unconscious and bleeding." He held up a bloody handkerchief. "You burst a blood vessel in your head, fell and busted another in your nose. I healed you. Adam was out, too, but he can fend for himself," he shrugged. "You want to tell me what you were up to?"

Maury tried to sit up. He looked around to see he was in an office. Adam's former office. He shrugged and looked down at his hands. "Blacked out."

"Yes, but why did you black out? What were you two discussing down there?"

Maury looked his friend in the eye. "Do you really want to know?"

"What were you saying yesterday about not trusting anyone, any more? Questioning motives?"

Maury sighed. "He made a confession to me. He set me up to wind up at Coyote Sands. A lot of us." He struggled with what came next. "He had the hit ordered on my family."

Daniel sat back, taking this in. "Then that would mean...."

Maury nodded. "He set up the whole camp. Everyone who was sent there was to be part of his personal army." He looked at Daniel again. "He told me after the war, he didn't want people like us persecuted the way we were--my people, Kaito's people, Charles' people--like we were all persecuted during the war. He was apparently going to turn all of us with abilities into his own private army. If not for Suresh and the weather girl starting that riot--"

"Wait, Dr. Suresh and a weather girl started the massacre?"

"That's what he claims," Maury explained. "I don't know, really. I had just nodded off that night when things went crazy and I hid, found the other two kids, kept us all hidden. Adam was a soldier there. He found us and we escaped with Suresh. That's where a lot of the research for the Formula came from, Adam recovered Suresh's and Zimmerman's notes. Victoria has been working off those notes all along. Suresh having a daughter with that virus ability, well, that has to be coincidence, doesn't it? Or maybe someone else in his family had an ability before that?"

"I don't know. We may never know, now," Daniel mused. "Do we tell the others?"

"Tell them what? A decades old plan for world domination was stopped by chance, and the main source of our research come from the notes of a man in another country we already brainwashed? There's nothing to tell them, Daniel."

Linderman mulled it over. "What if one of us picked up the idea for those plans, especially if this Formula finally provides a breakthrough? That we can give abilities to anyone we see fit? They would assemble an army just like Adam planned."

"It would throw the world into chaos," Maury agreed. He glanced back to his friend who appeared to be deep in thought. "What's wrong?"

"Someone must not find out about those plans, lest he decide to carry them out himself."

"Who are you talking about? Arthur?"

Daniel Linderman gave a grim nod. "Here, read my memory." He opened his mind to Maury, showing him the events that happened in Viet Nam with the 'Au Co' mission where he first met "Dallas" Petrelli.

Maury leaned back into the couch he was on. "Oy."

"You can say that again, my friend."

"I knew Arthur was a bit of a bastard, but that--savage is an understatement."

"He can be a bit too focused on his end objective. He'd destroy the world if he ever got the Formula to work."

"Then I guess it's a good thing Vic is leaving."

"What about that guy we have in LA? The one you took your son to, about his autism, was it? You don't think Zimmerman would be able to finish what she started, do you?"

"Matty's got dyslexia. No wonder you couldn't fix him," he chided.

"You didn't want me to, Maury," he reminded his friend.

"Ruth doesn't want any 'miracle cures' for the boy," he replied. "Zimmerman's only run a few brain scans in addition to my probing to see if I can help Matty out. Matt thinks it's a big overwhelming. He's not too fond of Doc Z," Maury explained, then thought about the question at hand a moment. "No, they're close, but Vic mentioned to me they seem to be missing something unique, a catalyst or something. She asked me if we had anyone on file who could manipulate bio-energy like her or yourself. Neither of you seem to have what she needs."

"So it's not just a healing factor to make it work?"

"No, but Kaito has met someone with a similar healing ability in Tokyo, but I don't think he'd be willing to let her try."

"You mean that one little lady he's been dating back home?"

"What's that they say about dipping your pen in company ink?" Maury chuckled.

"Don't!" they said together, laughing.

"You know, Arthur was really disappointed about Nathan not having abilities. You don't think--?"

"Angela would never let him," Maury replied. "Not to her boys."

"Right, right," Daniel nodded, then looked at his friend. "Boys?" he questioned.

Maury froze for a second. "uh...What she said earlier, 'children', plural. Sh-she knows she's going to have another child--a boy--someday," he blurted out nervously.

"She's pregnant now, you mean?"

"No, not now. She thinks it will be a few years, yet."

Daniel took this in, not entirely believing it. "If you say so, Maury. I won't say anything if you don't." He winked.

Maury regarded him a moment. Shit! Did he know? Better change the subject. "Are we going to sit here all day yakking? I'm starving."

"I'm a bit peckish, myself. What do you say we hit that diner over in Midland, French Toast?"

"Burnt Toast," Maury corrected. "Yeah, I like that place. Cute blonde waitress there, Lynette."

"You are incorrigible, my friend," Daniel laughed, slapping Maury on the back.

"I'm married, not dead," he replied. "I can still look, just not touch," he winked as they exited the office.

"Great, I have no such compunctions about asking her out, then!" he laughed.

TBC_______________