Chapter Seven – Forgotten Memories
His eyes felt heavy as well as his entire body. His head was pounding like a hammer to a nail. Everything was a haze and he had trouble remembering where he was. Finally, when he gained his composure he lifted his head slowly. He was in an apartment, with a large map in the center of the room. A laptop rested on a desk ahead of him and every curtain was shut, shielding the sun from the room. Strange that the room felt familiar to him. Then a soft voice spoke from the corner.
"Sleep well, Gabriel?"
Gabriel? Now he remembered. It all came crashing back into his mind like a wave. The rush was so immense it caused his headache to intensify. Groaning he bent over only to see he was tied in a chair. Duck tape was wrapped several times around each ankle and hand against the wood. He couldn't see it, but there was something else there. It was strong and smelled horribly. Gabriel? His name wasn't Gabriel. It was Sylar. He remembered who he was and closed his eyes to extract his telekinesis. He focused on the tape, tearing it apart with his mind. Unfortunately, nothing was happening. Glancing down at the tape he saw it was still tight against his wrists.
"What the . . ."
"I told you," the voice said again. He looked to his left to see a silhouetted figure rise to its feet from a table. "You can try, but it's stronger than you. You can't break through it."
When they came into view, Sylar remembered more. Standing before him was Rory. She had a smug look on her face like she was proud of herself. She leaned over, placing her right on his forearm.
"Sorry for taking it up a notch," she whispered. "But I had to make sure you were out for good."
"What are you talking about?" he muttered.
"He doesn't remember?" another voice said from the darkness. Sylar looked up again and saw Mohinder appear from the shadows. The good doctor who was trying to save his father's petty list and the college friend who was more beautiful now than he remembered; they had worked together to bring him down. But how?
Mohinder, as though reading Sylar's thoughts, said, "You guessed right, Mr. Sylar. I knew it was you and you thought you had me fooled." Moving over to his laptop he twisted it around to show him. On the screen was an article about a local musician found dead in his home. His skull having been sliced open. Zane Taylor.
"After we left my house, Mohinder passed me a note explaining everything to me," Rory continued. "He asked me to put you out so he could run some tests. And seeing that I knew who you were, I thought it was only fair to help him since you murdered his father."
Sylar started laughing. "You fools! You really think you can stop me? Don't you know who I am?"
"Yes, you're Gabriel Gray," Rory immediately replied sending his blood pressure up.
"No, you're a parasite," Mohinder corrected and reached into his desk drawer. He pulled out two different objects. The first was a large needle unlike anything Rory had ever seen and the second was a handgun.
"Whoa!" she cried. "Mohinder, what are you doing?"
"Setting things right," he answered and approached Sylar angrily. With both objects in his hand, he lifted the one with the gun and pointed it at Sylar's head. "You killed my father, you killed Zane, and god knows who else. You deserve to die!"
"Do I?" Sylar replied and smirked. "Maybe I was doing them all a favor. Most of these people don't know what to do with the gift that's been given to them. They're ashamed of it and strive to rid themselves of it. But me . . . I embraced my gift and realized the good I can do with it."
"Good?" Rory proclaimed and stepped between Sylar and the gun. "If you mean 'good' by killing innocent people than you need to consult a dictionary. What you're doing is wrong, Gabriel!"
"I told you, my name is Sylar."
Rory wanted so much to knock him out again, but Mohinder pushed her aside. Though he was bent on revenge, he didn't want Rory in the middle of this. She served her purpose and he was grateful for that. Now, however, he needed to finish what he started. Cocking the gun, he held it closer to Sylar.
"Mohinder, no, please!"
"Why not? You said it yourself, Rory. What he's doing is wrong and he deserves to die!"
"I thought you wanted to run tests on him! Isn't that why you had me put him out?"
Sylar had moved his eyes from the gun over to Rory. He saw something strange in her eyes. She was angry with him for killing all those people, but she did not want him dead. She was pleading with Mohinder to spare his life and he found that odd. Because if she thought he would return the favor she was surely mistaken.
Turning back to Mohinder and the gun he scoffed. "Well, what are you waiting for? Pull the trigger. Or perhaps your father was right about you. You're too scared to face your destiny."
Rory could hear the gunshot going off in Mohinder's mind, but luckily he did not do the same in reality. Sighing, he lowered the gun and glared at Sylar.
"I won't kill you . . . yet," he snarled and put the gun on the desk next to his laptop. "You may prove useful otherwise."
Walking behind Sylar, Mohinder removed the cover from the needle. Neither Rory nor Sylar knew what he was doing and was quite curious. While Mohinder set himself up, Rory asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm pretty sure I can create another list with his DNA," the doctor explained and tested the needle. "So I need a sample of his spinal fluid." Sinisterly, Mohinder leaned over Sylar and whispered into his ear, "And it's going to hurt."
Sylar's eyes widened and Mohinder pushed his head forward. With excessive force he pushed the needle deep into his neck. The sound of it echoed through Sylar's ears and made him cringe. He screamed in agony while Rory covered her ears and turned the other way.
A few minutes later, Mohinder was busy analyzing the DNA in the bedroom leaving Rory and Sylar alone. She sat in the corner peeking out through the windows. The people below rushed to and from stores, restaurants and meetings completely unaware of the monster in the room. It bothered her to know that Gabriel was somewhere locked inside Sylar's mind. She had tried so hard to bring him out, but Sylar was stronger and wouldn't give up without a fight.
Meanwhile, Sylar was recuperating from the needle. It had hurt, he wasn't going to lie, but he also knew it would come in handy. If Mohinder was able to recreate the list then he could steal it and find them all. He knew after he got out of this he would find that Mendez who lived in the city. He wasn't too far; Sylar remembered the address because of his eidetic memory. Then he would go after the cheerleader again and then perhaps go after that one who's like him.
"Do you remember that really bad snowstorm?" Rory suddenly said from her corner.
Peeking over he replied, "What are you talking about?"
"That snowstorm, that snowed everyone into their dorms," she said again and turned to face him. "I was a freshmen and you were a senior. We were in the same dorm and hung out all day because classes were canceled."
"I don't remember anything from college," he lied. The moment she reminded him of the day he did remember. It was a chilly December morning when they all woke up to see they were snowed in. He remembered he had a final that day. Together with Rory and three others, they played cards in the lounge and ate warm soup and bread. No one was able to leave until the walkways were clear of the snow. It was one of his best and long forgotten memories of college.
"That's a shame," she said with a soft, motherly tone now. "I'll never forget how much fun we had. Just playing cards and eating. We all swore we gained three pounds because of it."
She giggled and Sylar did too, but concealed it with a cough. He wasn't about to give Rory the satisfaction, at least not now anyway. When he was slicing her skull then he would.
"God, I also remember that day in class when that girl was late and the professor yelled at her forever. We were gonna sneak out, but he finished lecturing her when we decided to go for it."
While Rory continued to talk about college memories, Sylar was thinking of a way out of the sticky situation he was in. Rory was clearly using her power to stop him using his, but she wasn't looking at him. There was something she kept a secret about her power and he was going to figure it out sooner rather than later. So he decided to sit there and keep trying to extract any of his powers. He tried for minutes with no luck. It was starting to exhaust him and he wanted to have full strength for when he could make his move. Finally he stopped and rested, thinking through other possibilities. Then, while Rory was in the middle of a story, Mohinder rushed into the room.
"Rory! I've done it! His DNA was exactly what we needed! I can create an entirely new list! My father was right all along!"
"There's a new list?" Sylar said from his chair. Mohinder stopped jumping and Rory rose to her feet ready for anything. "Excellent. Do you mind if I see it? Better yet, can I have it so I can sink my TEETH INTO IT!"
Hey everyone, finally here is Chapter 7. Sorry it took forever. Anyway, thanks for the reviews so far. Looking forward to read what you think of this one. Chapter 8 will be here soon. -- Jess
A/N: I borrowed some of the quotes from the episode "Parasite" so I must credit those quotes to the fabulous writers of that episode. Can't wait till April 23!!!
