Chapter Seven: Six Months Later

October 1, 2007

Tokyo, Japan

Hiro Nakamura made his way down the hall of Yamagato Industries, nodding to his coworkers. Passing Ando in the hall, he nodded to his friend before he turned to go into the small office he'd recently been given with his promotion. Closing the door, he turned and jumped back as a woman materialized in a chair in front of him. "Greato Scotto!" He yelped. Frowning, he stared at her, realizing that she seemed very familiar. "Victoria Pratt?" He looked around, confused. "Am I back in 1977 again?"

The woman shook her head, her long reddish blond hair flowing around her shoulders. "Oh no, you're still in good old 2007. I'm not Victoria, I'm her daughter, Miriam." She stood and bowed to him before sitting back down as he breathed a sigh of relief. "I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Nakamura. I met your father many years ago, he was a good man. I was sorry to hear about his death."

Hiro lowered his eyes, his expression sad. "I was very sad to lose him."

"I understand." Miriam watched as Hiro walked past her and sat in his chair. "My mother was killed shortly after your father. She was murdered. She was murdered by the same man who killed your father: MY father, Adam Munroe." At the mention of Adam's name, Hiro lifted his head, his lips tightening into an angry line.

"He was your father?"

She nodded, tears sparkling in her eyes. "I only met him once when I was ten. I didn't know much about him, but yes he was my father." Hiro's gaze landed on her hands, watching the way she gripped the arms of the chair she sat in. "As far as I'm concerned, he's dead to me now."

"I can understand that." Hiro nodded sadly.

"I have two sisters, a twin named Justine and a younger half-sister named Isabelle. Isabelle is autistic. She's the one who found Mom's body after she was murdered."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"She has nightmares every night, Mr. Nakamura." Miriam's grip on the chair tightened, her knuckles turning white. "After Mom died, the head of the organization that your father and my mother were members of decided that my sisters and I were too dangerous to stay in the general population, given our powers and wanted to lock us away. My godmother, Angela Petrelli, helped us get away and go into hiding after Mom's funeral. We barely had time to mourn our mother before we had to change our names and go underground. Izzie has nightmares, as I said earlier. She wakes up screaming, either because she's dreamed about finding Mom's body again, or she's dreamed that the people that want to lock us up had found us. She also finally got to meet a brother that she never knew she had at Mom's funeral. They have the same father. They bonded, Mr. Nakamura. They became very close in the short time they had to get to know each other. That's a very rare thing in an autistic person. Her separation from Matt-"

"-Matt Parkman?" Hiro's face lit up for a moment. "I know him!"

Miriam smiled sweetly. "He told me. Izzie bonded with him so closely. Being separated from him, along with everything else that has happened has caused her to withdraw somewhat. She's been through so much, we all have. I ultimately blame it all on Adam. If he hadn't killed Mom, we wouldn't be in this situation now."

Hiro stared at the top of his desk sadly as he played with a pen. "I understand that you and your sisters have suffered a great deal. I understand the pain of losing a parent." He looked up at her. "What can I do to help you?"

Miriam's lips tightened for a moment. "I understand that you were the last person to see my-" she grimaced "-ADAM before he disappeared. I need to know if you killed him."

Hiro looked at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the desk, remembering how he'd buried Adam alive near his own father's grave. He didn't notice the fleeting smile that crossed Miriam's lips before she frowned again. "He is in a place where he will never hurt anyone again." He said softly.

"But is he dead?"

"I did not feel right killing him, but I can assure you, where he is, he is suffering there more than he ever would in death and he can never hurt another living soul." Hiro raised his eyes to meet hers. "I lost a parent to him too. He IS being punished for his crimes."

Miriam nodded and stood. "Thank you for hearing me out and thank you for your time." Hiro reached out to shake her hand, frowning when she shook her head, quickly placing her hands behind her back. "I have a power that's similar to Peter Petrelli's. Like Peter, I absorb other's powers, but I have to touch you first. Teleportation? Time travel? Those powers would be much too tempting for me to have. I don't think I'd use them properly." She laughed softly. "Hell, I'd probably end up creating some sort of rift."

"I have worried about doing that too." Hiro returned her smile.

"I know my limits, Mr. Nakamura." She bowed to him as he bowed as well. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm about to do something a tad shocking. The people that are looking for me, they know what I look like and I'm rather afraid that they'd be watching this place. They know that you're the last person to see Adam alive and they have to know that I want vengeance." Hiro's eyes widened as her appearance changed, making herself look like a young Japanese business woman. "I don't think they'd notice me like this." She winked at him before turning and leaving the room.

Hiro sat down at his desk, burying his face in his hands, regretting the day he ever met the man he once thought was Takezo Kensei.

She made her way downstairs to the car she'd rented at the airport and drove towards the cemetery. Stepping out of the car, Miriam quickly changed her appearance back to her normal self. She searched the grounds until she found the grave of Kaito Nakamura, then began to walk around, her eyes closed as she listened to see if she could hear a stray thought.

-Have to find a way out of here. Stupid carp, trapping me down here. How long has it been now? Must find a way out of here-

Smirking, Miriam stood over the place where her father was buried, her eyes narrowing as she stared down at the grass under her feet. Closing her eyes again, she sent him a message.

Those little eyes so helpless and appealing, one day will flash and send you crashing through the ceiling.

WHO IS THAT?

I remember you sang that song the day I first met you. That's the first thing I remembered about you, hearing your voice as you sang. I remember running down the hall to see you before Justine could, wondering who you were.

MIRIAM? Oh, thank the heavens child. Get me out of here, Darling.

I remember you telling me that you were my father. I didn't believe you at first. Even when Mom confirmed it, I still didn't want to believe it. Now that I know that you murdered my mother, I don't want to believe it at all.

Darling, Darling, I didn't MURDER your mother. It was self-defense. Your mother was out of line and threatening me with a gun. I came to her for help, with Peter Petrelli. We were searching for that virus-

-the virus you tried to release on the world in March? The same virus you tried to release before Justine and I were even born? We could have died before we ever entered this world because of you, you son of a bitch!

I can see that you've been listening to the lies of others, my child. Please, dig me up. Get me out of here and I'll tell you the real truth.

I already know the real truth. Miriam sneered as her eyes opened, glaring angrily at the ground. I know that you murdered my mother as part of a vendetta. I know that you did it in cold blood to punish her for having the audacity to turn against you and agreeing to have you locked away where you belonged for trying to destroy the world. Because of you, I don't have a mother anymore. Because of you, my sisters and I are no longer protected by her. Now Bob Bishop has us on the run, he has us in hiding. He wants to lock US up now that Mom isn't around to protect us-because of YOU! Isabelle has nightmares-

-Isabelle? She could hear the disgust in his mind. That's the child your mother had with Maury Parkman, isn't it? She's the simple-minded one, yes?

She is NOT simple minded. She's much smarter and has more heart than you ever will. She found Mom's body. She wakes up screaming every night because she dreams of that, or she dreams of Bob's goons finding us.

Why have you come here? Miriam's eyes narrowed as she heard how bored he sounded. If you haven't come here to free me, why are you even here?

I came here to tell you something.

Oh? And what have you come to tell me, Miriam?

She smiled a cruel, angry smile. I've come to tell you that I will release you one day. It won't be today or tomorrow or even a year from now. I'm going to wait until you've gone stark, raving mad, trapped in that coffin. I'm going to wait until you're a babbling lunatic. A hundred years should do it, don't you think? I can wait that long, I've certainly got the time to wait that long, thanks to you. When I finally dig your sorry, crazed ass up, I'm going to kill you, repeatedly. I'm going to do it slowly and painfully each time, taking off limbs, torturing you, taking my time. I'm going to do it over and over again, letting you resurrect until you're begging me to end you permanently. Then I'm going to shove you back into that coffin, bury you again and wait another hundred years before I dig you up and do it again and again. After maybe a thousand years of that, you'll be so completely insane, you won't even remember that you're human anymore. Maybe then, when you're mind is completely gone, I'll finally take pity on you and end you forever. But then again, maybe I won't. Maybe I'll just continue to torture you over and over again until the end of time. Perhaps by then, I won't want to cry myself to sleep thinking about my father murdering my mother in cold blood for revenge.

Miriam waited for a few minutes for Adam to contemplate her message. After a long time, he finally responded. You won't get the chance and you don't have all the time that you think you do, My Love. I'll find a way out of here. I still have friends and followers that you have no idea about. They'll find me eventually and release me and when they do, I'll come after you, your twin and your SIMPLE MINDED young sister. Now, unless you want to experience unspeakable pain at mine and my follower's hands, you will DIG ME UP NOW!

I don't think so. No one's ever going to find you. No one's ever going to care enough. She turned around to leave, practically skipping as she walked to her car, her father's thoughts following her all the way as he screamed out to her with his mind.

MIRIAM! DON'T LEAVE ME OUT HERE LIKE THIS! I TAKE IT BACK! I WON'T HURT YOU, DARLING! PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE! MIRIAM! MIRIAM!


Brooklyn, New York

"MOLLY?" Matt walked into the living room, carrying a suitcase and setting it down on beside the door, his plane ticket on top of it.

"Yes?" He turned to see her leaning in her bedroom doorway, smiling up at him.

He grinned and walked over to her, giving her a hug. "You've done your homework?"

"Of course." Molly sighed. "Maya helped me with it."

"Good. Did you brush your teeth?" Molly nodded again. "Okay. Go get your pajamas on and get ready for bed." He kissed her forehead before turning and sitting on the couch, grabbing a stack of legal papers to look over.

"Matt? Can I ask you a question?" Molly walked over to him, leaning on the arm of the couch.

"Sure, Honey." He said, still reading through the papers, frowning before setting them down. "I'm going to have to get my lawyer to explain these." He rubbed his eyes as Molly watched him. "What's your question?"

"Do you think you're going to be able to get shared custody of Matthew tomorrow?"

Matt shrugged. "I hope so. I really want to have him in my life. I think I'd be a good father with him, don't you think?"

Molly smiled. "I think so too." She stared at the arm of the couch for a minute, then shrugged. "But your ex-wife has another husband now and you're alone. Aren't you afraid that they won't let you see Matthew because you're NOT married again like your ex-wife is?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't think that's going to happen." He turned to Molly, raising an eyebrow. "What made you think to ask me this?"

Molly shrugged and looked away. "I was just wondering if you had been thinking about maybe getting married again, that's all."

Matt sighed. "Molly Honey, we've been over this already. I haven't even been divorced a year. Heck, a year ago today I was still a somewhat happily married man who didn't realize that his wife was-" he shook his head "-what I'm saying is that I'm really not ready to think about dating again, much less getting married. I'd rather spend my time taking care of you." As Molly nodded slowly, he grinned. "You have someone in mind, don't you?" As Molly looked over at him, he laughed softly. "Maya?"

"I think she has a crush on you. She's always coming by early on mornings when she knows you're going to be home to make chile quiles and she's always talking about how nice and sweet and handsome you are. You two would be really nice together."

"Maya's a very beautiful woman, but I'm not interested." Matt yawned. "Now, go get ready for bed. I have to leave very early in the morning to catch my flight to Seattle, so I need to go to bed in a few minutes too."

"Why bother?" Molly sighed. "Mohinder will probably be home soon with Elle and you know how loud she gets when she starts talking."

"Yeah, I know." Matt grumbled. "I wish they'd end their dates at her place more, or at Mohinder's lab." He shook his head as he reached into his pockets, pulling out his wallet and detective shield, placing them on the table before he stood up and stretched. "I probably need to try and get some sleep now before they come back here."

"They're probably going to hang out and watch movies all night again." Molly rolled her eyes.

"I thought you liked Elle." Matt laughed.

"I did at first, but-" she shrugged "-she's too loud, she wakes me up with her giggling, and she's kind of mean to you. I don't think she likes you very much."

"I know she doesn't like me much. She does like Mohinder, however and he DOES like her, so I think I can put up with her acting like a witch around me." He winked at Molly. "And YOU want me to start dating too. What makes you think Maya wouldn't be like that, all giggly and loud?"

"Because she's not giggly and loud NOW." Molly frowned, noticing the corner of a photograph sticking out of Matt's wallet. "That's the picture of your sister and her sisters, isn't it?"

Matt nodded, his face growing sad. "Yeah, it is."

"You miss her, don't you?" Molly reached out and pulled the picture out of the wallet, studying it. "She's pretty. They're all pretty." She looked over at Matt as he nodded, his expression far away. "You think they're pretty too, right?"

"Of course I think Izzie's pretty. She's my sister."

"But you think her SISTERS are pretty too."

"You'd have to be blind not to think they're pretty."

"You think one of them's prettier than the other." Molly smiled softly as Matt turned to look at her, his ears turning red as he started to blush. "That's why you don't want to date Maya, you want to date one of Izzie's sisters."

Matt grinned sheepishly as he reached out and took the picture from her, carefully placing it back in his wallet. "Get ready for bed, Kiddo."

"I could try and find them for you. You miss them all so much and-"

"-No!" Matt turned his whole body around to Molly, gently grasping her shoulders. "Molly please, don't ever try to find them, okay? There are very bad people that are looking for them, people that would hurt them if someone found out where they were. Please, I'm begging you, don't EVER try to find them. I miss them, I do, but I'd rather keep missing them than know where they are and know they were in danger because of that. Okay? Can you promise me that you'll never try to find them?"

Molly nodded slowly, her expression grave. "I promise." She reached out, hugging him tightly. "I'll never try to find them unless YOU tell me to."

"Thank you." Matt whispered. He watched as Molly turned and walked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later, he slipped into her room, tucking her in bed and kissing her goodnight before turning off the light and leaving, closing the door. He climbed into the recliner and lay back in it, grabbing his wallet and pulling out the photograph of Isabelle and her sisters. He could immediately tell which twin was Miriam, even though she and Justine were identical. He smiled sadly at the photograph, tracing Miriam's smile with his finger before setting it aside. He pulled out the letter she'd left him and carefully unfolded it, the creases in the folds deeper and threatening to fall apart with repeated readings. As he'd done many times before in the six months since he'd seen her last, Matt read over the letter again, his heart aching as he finally dozed off, the letter clutched in his hand.

He woke with a jolt an hour later, gasping and grabbing at his cheek as the small shock went through him. Hearing a giggle, he rolled his eyes. "Hello Elle."

"Rude awakening?" He turned to see her standing beside the chair, smirking down at him. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the piece of paper in his hand. "What's this?" Matt yelped angrily as she snatched the letter from his hand and started reading it out loud. "'Last night and this morning, I had probably one of the best times of my life.'"

"Give it back." Matt glared at her.

Ignoring him as she paced around the room, dodging Matt as he tried to grab her, Elle continued to read aloud. "' I know that you're probably thinking that I used you to keep you from realizing that we were going to run, but it's not true.'"

"Dammit Elle!" Matt turned to Mohinder, watching as he leaned against the door, shaking his head sadly at Elle. "Mind helping me with this?"

Elle smirked. "'I have never spent a night in bed with another man, much less slept in his arms. I've always left as soon as I could. During one of the saddest moments of my life, you gave me one of my happiest. Thank you for that. I'll never forget the way it felt waking up beside you-'"

"ELLE!" Elle stopped, surprised as Mohinder raised his voice. "That's quite rude. Give him the letter back and then leave."

Elle pouted for a moment as Mohinder stared sternly at her. "Okay Mohinder, I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Mohinder whispered, his voice steely.

Elle turned to Matt, lowering her head as she carefully folded the letter and handed it back to him. "I'm sorry for making fun of the letter." She said softly.

"Thank you, I accept your apology." Matt growled as he carefully placed the letter back in his wallet.

Elle turned back to Mohinder, chastised. "Do I have to go?"

"It's been a long day, Elle. I'm tired." Matt's eyes widened for a moment as he read the geneticist's mind. And I'm tired of you disrespecting my friends and tired of you acting like a child. Why did I think it was a good idea to date you? I must have been mad.

Elle nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow at work." She turned back to Matt for a moment, her eyes narrowing before she turned and walked over to Mohinder. Your friend is such a crybaby! Of course, if he's upset now, just wait until I finally track that trio of bitches down and make them regret tearing up my car and making me look stupid to my daddy. "Goodnight Mohinder." Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him passionately, her hands roving his body as Matt rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Goodnight Elle." Mohinder opened the door and showed her out before turning to Matt. "Sorry about all of that, she can be a bit-"

"-Childish?" Matt interjected as he picked up the photograph of the sisters that rested in the chair.

Mohinder covered a grin. "I was going to be nice and say impulsive, but yes, I suppose you could say that she's a bit childish." He watched as Matt studied the photo for a moment. "You miss them."

"Yeah." Matt placed the photo in his wallet. "I really do miss them like crazy." Sighing, he stretched back out in the recliner. "And you want to break up with Elle."

"Sometimes," As Matt glanced over at him, Mohinder nodded "most of the time, yes."

"Why don't you, then? If she doesn't make you happy-"

"-I don't know." I'm trying to make sure I can be the first to hear if she's found the sisters, give you a heads-up first. Mohinder shrugged. "She can be alright, sometimes."

Matt sighed. "Mo, don't stay with her out of a sense of obligation to me, okay? If you're only sticking with her because you want to warn me if she finds the Pratts, go ahead and dump her now. Those girls can take care of themselves, trust me. I actually WANT Elle to run across those girls. She probably wouldn't come back in one piece."

Mohinder cut his eyes towards Matt. "Do you know how irritating it is sometimes when you read my mind?" He stretched out on the couch, covering his eyes with his forearm. "Bloody hell I've had a long day."

"Elle keep wanting to play 'hide the test tube'?"

"Besides that." Mohinder laughed softly. "Bob's got me on this project, studying the genetic properties of this blood sample that quite frankly, I can't make heads or tails of, and he won't tell me what it's all about." He sat up, rubbing his temples. "The blood is so strange. It appears human, and then sometimes appears to be the blood of a lion, or a wolf. It keeps changing back and forth and I can't get a bead on it."

"Weird." Matt lay back in the recliner. "Hey, if things don't work out with Elle, you could date Maya and give me a break with Molly. She's hell-bent on fixing me up with her."

"You should give her a shot, she's a lovely girl."

"I know, but I'm not ready."

"You're hoping to see Miriam again, aren't you?" Matt looked away as Mohinder smiled kindly at him. "I'd like that for you too. Judging by the letter she left, she's hoping to see you again as well."

"Of course she is, she wants our sister to be a part of my life." Matt closed his eyes as Mohinder chuckled.

"I don't think that's the only reason."

"The night we spent together was just sex. That's all it was, that's all we agreed it would be."

"If it had been JUST sex, she wouldn't have left you that letter, she wouldn't have left you her motorcycle, and YOU wouldn't be hanging onto that letter she left as if it were the Holy Grail. Admit it, you felt a connection."

"Goodnight, Mohinder." Matt stretched out on the recliner and tried to doze off, his mind filled with memories of the night he'd spent with Miriam.

Outside of the apartment building, Elle pulled out her phone and dialed it. "He's going to Seattle tomorrow. Mohinder says it's to meet with his ex-wife and some arbitrator about custody for their son, but I'm going to follow him anyway." She listened for a moment, then sighed. "I KNOW Daddy, but I really think that if I keep following him, he'll lead me to THEM! One of them is his sister and the other one," she smirked "someone's still got 'feelings', he was sleeping with that stupid letter in his hand like it was a freakin' blankie. Okay Daddy, I'm going to go ahead and fly there now, wait for him at the airport and follow him from there. I KNOW that he'll look for them eventually. He'll slip up and then we'll get them."


October 2, 2007

Bainbridge Island, Washington

Justine groaned as her cell phone began to ring. Rolling over to answer it, she yawned. "Detective Conner." She mumbled.

"Justine, Justine, I've got one for you." She rolled her eyes as the voice of her new partner, Tom McHenry echoed in her ears.

"You're awfully chipper for five a.m." She muttered as she slowly climbed out of her bed, grabbing a suit from the closet. She had been partnered with Detective McHenry a month earlier after he, his wife and infant son moved to Seattle. His cocksure, condescending attitude had not impressed her in the least, in fact, it irritated her to the core.

"Well, some of us are just morning people, I suppose. Come on Detective, hop on that ferry, get your ass here to the University District and help me investigate this murder."

Justine sighed. "I'll be there soon as I get Isabelle together." She hung up the phone and turned to see Isabelle lurking in her bedroom doorway. "How'd you sleep?" She sighed as Isabelle looked away, resting her head on the door jamb. "More nightmares?" Isabelle nodded, her eyes fluttering sleepily. Justine walked over to her and hugged her gently. "Why didn't you come get me?" Isabelle shrugged. "Next time that happens, come to me if I don't come to you. You know you can always count on me and Mir to help you, no matter what." She kissed Isabelle's forehead. "So you didn't get much sleep, huh?" She sighed as Isabelle shook her head again. "I have to go into the city on a case. Can I trust you to stay here alone, with the doors locked and sleep in? I know you have school today, but I'm going to give you a pass, just this once so you can get some z's, is that okay with you?" Isabelle nodded again, her expression blank. "Oh Izzie." Justine hugged her again, sighing with relief as Isabelle finally hugged her back. "I'm going to get dressed and catch the ferry into downtown. Stay here, get some sleep and don't answer the door for ANYONE!" She walked with Isabelle down the hall, towards her younger sister's bedroom, gasping as she heard the front door open. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" She and Isabelle turned and watched as Miriam climbed the stairs and strolled into the upstairs hallway. "What on earth are you doing here? You just called from Tokyo at midnight. How did you get back here so quickly?"

"I flew." Miriam smirked as she walked over to Isabelle, hugging her tightly. "More nightmares?" Isabelle nodded mutely as Miriam winked at her. "Well, I'll have you know that the jerkwad that killed Mom? He's not going to be bothering anyone ever again."

Justine frowned at Miriam. "What do you mean you flew? There aren't any planes that could get here in five hou-" she groaned. "Oh no. You" she flapped her arms "flew."

"Duh." Miriam snorted. "What are you doing up, anyway? I figured you and Iz wouldn't be up for another hour to get her ready for school. I was planning on surprising you with pancakes." She rubbed noses with Isabelle. "Izzie loves her pancakes, don't you?" Isabelle nodded sleepily.

"I got a call from my partner. I have to go into town."

"What does Detective Assface want?"

"Besides my fist connecting with his tiny balls? Apparently there's been a homicide and they need us to check it out." Justine glanced down at Isabelle. "I told her she could stay home today and catch up on her sleep."

"Good idea." Miriam grinned down at her younger sister. "We'll sleep in, we'll make pancakes and then we'll watch some more kung-fu movies so I can pick up a few moves before I go to SoDo and open up The Hideaway for the night."

"Lovely." Justine rolled her eyes. "If you take Iz back to bed, I'll finish getting dressed to go into town to deal with Assface." She smirked. "I should probably stop calling him that here before I end up calling him that to his face."

"I say go for it. What's he gonna do?"

"Not much since he doesn't know that I know he calls me Cuntwad behind my back." Justine growled.

"Ugh! Dick!" Miriam took Isabelle's hand. "Let's go and see if we can think of some good dreams for you to have." She escorted Isabelle into her bedroom, smiling as usual at the way the sisters had decorated it for her. It was a teenaged girl's dream, with frilly white bedding and a white lace canopy bed. Miriam climbed into bed with Isabelle, resting the teenager's head on her shoulder as they curled up together, Isabelle clutching her doll. "Just get some sleep, okay? Sweet dreams all around, I'll have them too, now."

"I miss Matt." Isabelle whispered.

Miriam stroked Isabelle's hair, smiling sadly. "I miss him too. I miss him a lot, actually." As Isabelle lifted her head, smiling at her. "Not like THAT. I miss the way he made you smile, that's all."

Isabelle shook her head, giggling as she lay back down. "You came straight home?"

Miriam sighed as Isabelle gave her a knowing look. "No. I didn't come straight home."

"Get any bad people?"

"One or two." Miriam kissed her forehead. "Go on, go to sleep."


University District: Seattle, Washington

Justine yawned as she drove off of the ferry into town, making her way towards the address that Tom had called her back with. She arrived at the scene of the crime, a small set of low-income apartment buildings and got out of her car. Ducking the yellow crime scene taped to the front door of the apartment, she walked into the small house and immediately spotted her partner, Tom McHenry as he leaned against a wall, wearing sunglasses and looking bored. Justine sighed, instantly irritated by the sight of her partner as she walked over to him. "You do realize that first of all, we're indoors and second of all, it's raining outside so those sunglasses only serve to make you look like an asshole."

"The body's in there." Tom ignored her remark as he nodded towards the kitchen. "Fucked up, man! I remember a case similar to this in L.A."

"Maybe you're the killer." Justine smirked.

"No." Tom pulled off his glasses and rolled his eyes at her. "Are you always this much of a bitch first thing on the morning?"

"I am when I'm awakened by a flaming asshole." She turned and walked away from him, walking into the kitchen. She frowned as she stared at the dead body on the floor. "What the fuck happened to his head?" She turned to Tom, her brow furrowing. "Where did his brain go?"


Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: Seattle, Washington

Matt Parkman walked through the airline terminal and stopped at the car rental counter to pick up the car he'd made arrangements for earlier. Taking the keys, he found the car and drove to the offices of Stiller and Stowe. He made his way towards the office of his new lawyer, Benjamin Stowe and greeted the man, smiling at him as he shook his hand. "It's good to finally meet you after talking with you over the phone."

Ben nodded as he directed Matt to a seat across from his desk. "Jeff Nichols is a good friend of mine, when he told me that he was referring you to me, I was quite pleased." He leaned forward, smirking. "He's a good lawyer, but he had a hell of a time passing the bar in California. He would have shit himself if he'd had to take it again to practice in Washington."

Matt smiled and shrugged. "So, what's going to happen today?"

"What's going to happen is that YOU are going to get to have visitation with your son, I can feel it!" Ben shuffled papers around before setting them down. "We meet with your ex-wife, her lawyer and the arbitrator at noon to get this settled for once and for all." He flipped through the papers, frowning. "Now, it says here that you're currently only asking for one weekend visitation a month and every other holiday and birthday until the child is five years old?"

"Until Matthew gets older, yeah." Matt nodded. "I've talked with my boss in the NYPD and I've been saving money and making some financial arrangements and I think I can afford to come here one weekend a month. I don't want him to be separated from his mother too much while he's so young."

Ben nodded solemnly. "You realize that she took a drubbing in the California courts for lying on your son's birth certificate? She and her current husband weren't married at the time that the child was born, so putting his name on the birth certificate when she knew that the child was actually yours was considered a criminal act. If you had pressed it, she could have found herself being much more heavily prosecuted for that, instead of just paying a hefty fine." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "You COULD discuss it with the arbitrator today and find yourself possibly even getting full custody if you pushed it. I'm sure your wife and new husband could afford to fly back and forth to visit Matthew more than you could."

Matt shook his head. "Look, I still care about Jan and I'm not in this to hurt her. I don't want to hurt my son either by taking him away from the only two people he's gotten to know in the four months since he's been born. I just want a chance to get to know him and to let him get to know me too. Is this going to strap me financially? Yeah, but I'm willing to do it to get to know him and to keep Jan from being taken from him. I hurt her a lot last year and I don't want to hurt her any more and cause bad blood by bringing up her mistakes or taking our son from her, I just want what's fair. Hell, I even agreed to drop the case in California and start over here with an arbitrator so that her husband could take the job he was offered. I simply want to know my boy."

Ben sighed. "You're being a better man than I would be in your shoes."

"And as far as paying you goes, I know I'm going to be strapped, but I'm going to find a way to-"

"-Don't worry." Ben winked. "It's been taken care of."

"Excuse me?" Matt frowned.

Ben nodded. "We have a mutual friend who has already paid me for my services. Do you know Bob Bishop?"

Matt felt his blood run cold. "Yeah, I know Bob."

"He's paid for everything." Ben smiled. "In fact, I spoke with him on the phone not five minutes ago and he wanted me to pass a message on to you. He's offering you a part-time position in his company."

"Doing what?" Matt asked, trying to keep his voice even.

"He wants you to call him about the details when you return to New York. Apparently one of the perks will be to have your air travel and hotel fare paid for whenever you come here to visit with your son." Ben winked at him. "Sounds like you've got a fan."

Matt nodded slowly, his mind racing. "Sounds like."

"Well," Ben checked his watch as he stood "it's almost noon. Ready to go and get your rights to see your son?"


University District: Seattle, Washington

Sylar stood hidden among the crowd that gathered around the apartments, rubber-neckers that wanted to find out about the crime that had been committed. Occasionally, when it was feasible, he liked returning to the scenes of his crimes, watching as the police attempted to discover who had caused such a travesty. In the last six months since getting his hands on The List, he'd traveled across the country, taking odd jobs where he could to earn money to continue on his way, collecting powers whenever he could. Unfortunately, his arsenal of new powers had barely had a chance to be expanded. He'd spent the first couple of months in Boston, and later New Orleans, searching for the Pratt twins, disappointed to hear that both of them had disappeared after their mother's funeral, without even returning to their respective apartments to collect their things. He remembered sleeping in Miriam's apartment in Boston one evening, walking through the small loft near a cluster of bars as he studied her clothes and looked through her books and magazines, trying to get a feel of the woman who had lived there and tried to figure out what had made her drop from the face of the earth with her sisters. He'd done the same with Justine's apartment in New Orleans, spending the night there while looking through her photo albums and studying the degrees on the wall before taking a few guns from her closet the next morning as he left. The Pratt sisters had become an obsession with him. He didn't know what their powers were, but he knew that he wanted them desperately.

After leaving New Orleans, Sylar realized that he had another problem when it came to chasing down the names on his List and taking their powers for himself. He'd lost confidence. He continued to feel haunted by the images of his mother he'd seen in Bangor in March. It had taken a few months to even psyche himself up enough to commit another murder and collect another power, always terrified that his mother would appear again as he was plotting another death. He'd finally gotten over that fear by the time he'd reached Seattle and found the young man whose name was on the list: Calvin Rose, a local musician and college student who had highly enhanced night vision. Sylar couldn't wait until the sun went down that evening, to test his new power before he moved on to the next city and the next name on his list.

His eyes widened as he watched the two detectives exit the apartment, immediately recognizing the strawberry blonde. Smiling to himself, he watched as she talked with her partner, noting her obvious disdain for him as he listened to them talk.

"Look, just take care of the paperwork, okay Conner? I've gotta go, already. Jan's gonna have my ass if I'm not in that arbitrator's office to help hammer out that custody deal with her ex." The partner sneered at her.

"Hey, you're not the only one with a life, numbnuts." Justine snarled. "I have to-"

"-Not my problem." Tom glared at her. "Why don't you take that pretty little ass back to the station, fill out the paperwork and earn your fucking paycheck. God knows you're probably going to need it to pay that mortgage on that McMansion you and your sisters are shacking up in over in Bainbridge."

Justine snorted. "Oh, is someone feeling a little inadequate because he and his wife couldn't afford a house over there?"

"Bitch." Tom muttered as he walked away from her.

"Shithead." Justine shook her head as she walked over to her car.

From the crowd, Sylar licked his lips, his mouth watering as he watched Justine drive away. "Gotcha." He whispered.


Hartsdale, New York

Mohinder sat in Bob's office, staring at a report as Bob sat at his desk. "This is extraordinary." Mohinder whispered. "And this man, or at least what's left of him, is a very dangerous individual."

"I know." Bob shifted in his seat nervously. "And he's heading this way." As Mohinder looked up at him, his eyes widening with shock, Bob nodded. "Roger has a vendetta against me, personally."

"A lot of people seem to have those, apparently." Mohinder mused.

"It wasn't my FAULT." Bob whined. "I warned him and warned him about experimenting on himself. It's not my fault what happened. I did what I had to do to keep the public safe." He looked up as Noah walked into the office, his eyes narrowing as he spotted Mohinder. "Noah, I wanted to bring you up to speed on this as well. Mohinder, hand him that file."

Noah took the file from Mohinder, glaring angrily at him for a moment before opening it and reading it. When he was finished, he set it down. "Are you serious? This-" he gestured to the file "-thing exists?"

"And he's escaped. He was last spotted last month in the wilds of Calgary. It appears that he's trying to avoid the public as much as he can," Bob grimaced "until his lesser nature takes over and he becomes hungry. He's on his way here. He's after me."

"Couldn't have happened to a better man." Noah smirked.

"I want you to put together a team to find Roger and neutralize him. I want him alive, if possible." Noah began to chuckle, taking off his glasses as he wiped his eyes. "What's so funny?" Bob frowned.

"In order to catch this man, thing, whatever it is, you're going to have to either get an army, or a small team of pretty powerful individuals to subdue him. Just WHO do you think I'll be able to recruit for this job? Hell, Bob, you've pissed off most of the people I would choose for a mission like this and sent others underground."

Bob's eyes narrowed. "When you say 'sent underground' who are you referring to?"

Noah sighed and shrugged, covering the plan that was forming in his mind. Right in the palm of my hand. You're eating out of it big time, jackass. "For starters? Off the top of my head? I'd have to say Justine Pratt."

Bob sat up straight in his chair. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Now, now, Bob," Noah tried not to grin "think about it. She and her sister have built up quite an arsenal of powers over the years, right?" Bob looked away, his jaw clenching. "She has a history in law enforcement and a master's degree in criminal psychology. She's also quite a bit more stable, emotionally than Miriam is and let's be honest here Bob, MIRIAM is the one you REALLY want to lock up, not Justine and certainly not Isabelle, right? Miriam is the one you have the vendetta against, even though it was unfounded, it happened fourteen years ago and she didn't cause any permanent damage to you. This vendetta you have against them is just because she hurt your pride."

"What did she do?" Mohinder asked, interested.

"Well-" Noah began to speak as Bob slammed his hand on the desk.

"-That's CLASSIFIED!" Bob breathed hard as Noah sat back, folding his arms against his chest.

"I'm sure if we sweetened the pot for Justine, promised her that she could return to her former life and raise Isabelle if she helped us catch this 'Roger' creature, she'd be willing to help. She probably wouldn't be too pleased at your request to lock Miriam away, but hey, you could offer to let HER return to her life as well in return. No sense in continuing with holding a grudge for something that happened years ago when there's a man-beast currently snarling at the gates for your blood, right?" Noah grinned. "Hell, I bet even Miriam would join up with us long enough for that if you promised to leave her and her sisters alone afterwards."

Bob pouted at his desk, his lower lip pushed out. "They've gone into hiding." He whispered. "We've been searching for them for six months. They're nowhere to be found."

Noah snorted. "ELLE has been searching for them and let's be honest here, Bob. She couldn't find her ass with both hands and a flashlight. If she does find them, it would be by accident. Get more people involved in the search for them." He turned to Mohinder. "Or get Molly to find them."

Mohinder glared at Noah. "Molly is staying OUT of this!"

"Really? You brought her here once before."

"Because she was in danger." Mohinder retorted.

"And she's not now? Once that thing rips Bob to shreds" Bob shifted in his seat uncomfortably "do you think it'll just fade into the woodwork somewhere? We're ALL in danger if that thing makes it to the city."

Mohinder sighed. "I'll talk to her about it and see if she'll locate them for us."

"Good." Noah turned to Bob as he continued to pout in his seat. "Once we find the Pratts, we'll bring Justine in first. She's a bit more reasonable than Miriam. We'll get Justine on our side, then we'll bring in Miriam and Isabelle and convince Miriam to work with us as well, with Justine helping us to convince her, of course."

"I probably shouldn't sit in on those negotiations." Bob muttered.

"Probably not." Noah smiled. "Well? Let's get on it!" He stood and walked out of the office, mentally patting himself on the back. All going according to plan. He thought to himself.