Author: Nils Bolle aka The Outlander

Disclaimer: Heroes was invented by Tim Kring and I do not own any of the copyrighted material he and his co-workers have produced since creating the concept. References to other franchises are purely for entertainment's sake, and I do not seek to profit from them, nor rob their creators from any profit.

Title: Anti-Heroes

Summary: A mighty new Hero rises, but does he want to save the world?

Chapter: Chapter 7 – Manipulation

Chapter Summary: Both John and Lucas find themselves on the receiving end of Company mind games.

Timeline situation: Around the beginning of 'Four Months Ago'

[Author's notes: This chapter contains without a doubt the best pun in Heroes history. First one to find it gets a lot of respect from me personally!

Oh; and please note that this story is completely unbeta'd. So if there are any mistakes or errors, I'm sorry!]

XXX___XXX___XXX

The footsteps in the corridor instantly alerted Lucas. He jumped out of his bed and waited for the door to open. He had been in here for about three days now, according to his calculations. He got fed once a day by Elle, which led him to believe it was at least evening now. He was extremely hungry as always, but that was the least of his concern.

The keys tinkled and soon the door opened. It was Elle, with a tray in her hands.

"Dinner time!" she said with a smile. Lucas however, could not muster the will nor strength to lift the corners of his mouth.

"Look, Elle," he began, gathering all of his courage. He had been afraid of girls all his life, being shy and withdrawn altogether. And the girls he had previously known could not create electricity with their bare hands. So he was pretty horrified at the moment. "I've been in here for three days," he cautiously continued, "and I haven't seen anyone besides you."

"What, you don't like looking at me?" Elle flirtatiously grinned.

"That's not it," Lucas quickly reciprocated, with a heavy blush starting to form on his cheeks, "it's just that you said I was here to be trained. But... when? And how? If I'm stuck in here, I..."

"Hey, relax!" Elle calmed him down, putting the tray on the floor, "your time will come, don't worry. It's not easy arranging those things, you know."

"I realise that," Lucas nodded, "but... I'm so bored in here. There's not a thing for me to do. I'd like to talk to whoever's in charge here, so I at least know what I can look forward to."

Elle sighed, and sat herself on Lucas' bed, gesturing he had to come sit next to her. He hesitantly did so, although he kept a respectful distance.

"I'll talk to my d... To the boss," Elle said.

"Promise?" Lucas asked with a faint smile.

"I promise," she answered. "I know it can't be easy for you, so I'll try to do my best. Okay? But you gotta keep going!"

"Yeah..." Lucas mumbled. "I just miss my friend. And my parents."

"Don't worry about that," Elle assured him once again. "They're doing just fine, and when you are a fully-trained Company Agent, you can work in the UK and have a full-time job without even having to graduate! Many guys your age would love to do that. But then, almost no one is as special as you are," she said, looking Lucas into the eyes. Lucas continued to blush, which made Elle smile. He broke the eye contact, and was left with a strange feeling in his gut. Something he had barely ever felt before. Elle was without a shadow of a doubt the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with her attractive features and long blonde hairs. She looked like a classy girl, but Lucas couldn't shake off the feeling that she was a ruthless as a raging lion. He didn't know if the way she flirted with him was an act or not. He wanted to believe it wasn't, but he had reasons enough to assume it was. It wouldn't be the first time a girl warmed up to him, only to reveal it had been a prank later.

"So erm," Lucas said, feeling painfully uncomfortable, "I'll get to see the boss today, then?"

"Possibly," Elle answered. "I'll ask him."

"Good."

XXX___XXX___XXX

Bob Bishop heard someone knock on his door. He waited a couple of seconds before answering, shouting a loud "Enter". The door opened, and Maarten stepped inside the room.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Bishop?"

"Absolutely," he replied, gesturing Maarten to take a seat. Once the moustached flamethrower sat down, Bob smiled. "Do you have any idea what this is about?" he asked.

Maarten shook his head. "No, sir."

"I regret to inform you that The Company will no longer be needing your services."

Maarten raised his eyebrows. "And why is that?"

"Well, Maarten, you have worked for us for over 25 years now, and you have an impeccable service record. This is a favour I'm doing you. Your age of retirement has come, and so we plan to release you. We will foresee a house for you back in Russia, and..."

"Bullshit. You wanna get rid of me," Maarten interrupted. "I'm no fool, Bob. Ivan made you do this, didn't he?"

Bob looked away from Maarten, a bit ashamed he was onto them. He decided there was no point in continuing to lie. "Look, agent Ivan has informed me of your, at best, questionable actions, decisions and remarks. He told me you were on the brink of insubordination and that he was afraid you might turn against the mission."

"Hmpf," Maarten snorted. "On the brink of insubordination. Bullshit. I questioned him because I believed he didn't do the right thing for the target. That's what The Company aims to do, isn't it?"

"Yes," Bob admitted, "but we are doing the right thing for him. I've read his profiles, both psychological and social. We're taking him in while no one else will. You've seen how society rejects him, haven't you? We're going to train him, make sure he has people he can work with, rely on, trust. You've read his school reports; he's not intelligent or smart, he doesn't study a lot. We can provide him with work, make sure he has an income. He can be of use to us, and we can be of use to him. It's a mutual arrangement that has mutual benefits."

"A mutual arrangement without his consent, and mutual benefits he has no need of. And if you're in such need of Agents, why are you letting me go?"

"Look," Bob crossly said, "I don't think you realise how flexible we are being here. When we suspect an agent of treason, we normally eliminate him. It was at Ivan's personal request that you be given a chance to withdraw voluntarily. We are going to give you a house in Russia, where you can go live with your sister. We're going to give you a monthly allowance you both can easily and comfortably live off. It'll be less than your current wage, sure, but I think you don't appreciate the efforts we've made to make this an agreeable termination of your Primatech contract."

"No golden handshake?"

"Funny," Bob said, his facial expression not moving a fraction of an inch.

"Look, I understand the effort you've made. But that doesn't mean I have to like you brushing me aside like this. This accusation is based upon one single mission where I merely had the target's best interests at heart. I don't think the other agents with abilities will be pleased with the way I've been treated either."

"Do I have to take that as a threat?" Bob remarked, tightening his eyelids.

"Not at all. It's just a word of warning," Maarten corrected him. "But it's clear I have no more say in this. So I accept the agreement you're bullying me into."

"Good," Bob said. "I wouldn't have wanted this to end badly. Or ugly. Or both."

Both men were interrupted by a young blonde that stepped into Bob Bishop's office. She seemed a bit tense.

"Elle?" Bob asked, surprised. "I'm in a meeting here. This had better be important girl!"

"Sorry, dad. But he wants to talk to you. Now."

"Who?" Maarten asked.

"That is not your concern," Bob said. "You are no longer a Company Agent and therefore you shouldn't meddle into our affairs any longer. Elle," he continued, addressing his daughter, "why does he want to see me?"

"He says he's bored and wants to know when you'll begin his training. I'm afraid that the longer we wait, the less likely he'll be willing to accept our offer."

"In other words, you're suggesting I talk to him," Bob smiled.

"I think that'd be in our best interest. And his as well. We don't want him to get suspicious."

"Yes, first of all because he doesn't need to be suspicious."

"Then why are you holding him in a cell?" Maarten intervened, guessing they were talking about Lucas Terry, the boy Ivan and him had kidnapped earlier.

"Former agent Maarten," Bob said, his cheeks glowing red, "you are hereby to be escorted to your residence, where you will be allowed to collect your personal belongings. From there, you shall be taken to the nearest airport and never set foot on American soil again; do you understand me?" Bob pressed a button, and two security guards immediately came inside the room.

"Sure," Maarten said, getting up. "I'll hold my end of the deal, if you do the same."

Without wasting any more words, Maarten and the guards stepped outside. Bob focused his attention on his daughter.

"Elle, bring the Terry kid to me. I'll see him now."

"Sure," she said, walking off elegantly.

XXX___XXX___XXX

"So he's the boss?" Lucas asked in front of Bob Bishop's office.

"Absolutely," Elle confirmed. "Be careful of what you say to him, though. He can be a bit... impulsive and rude."

"Oh, I'm used to that," Lucas smiled.

"Good," Elle grinned and she opened the door. "Mr. Bishop, this is Lucas Terry," she formally addressed her father.

"Ah, yes, excellent," Bob said, gesturing they both had to come in. "Nice to finally meet you," he told Lucas, extending his hand. Lucas shook it, and he took a seat in front of the desk.

"Now," Bob began, "you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes," Lucas said, "I basically just wanted to know what I can expect out of this. I mean, I had my doubts at first, but I really wanna try to make the most of it, but... I just need a prospect, you know what I mean, sir? Something to look forward to... In the near future."

"I most definitely know what you mean," Bob said in a friendly way. He then pressed a button on his desk. "Mary, send Kevin in, would you?"

"Who's Kevin?" Lucas curiously asked.

"He'll be your personal trainer," Bob answered.

"Does he have an ability as well?"

"No, he does not. You see, my boy, Primatech has a very specific way of working. Whenever we deploy a unit out in the field, we send one person with an ability, and another without one."

"Why's that?"

"Regulations; control; tradition;... There are lots of reasons," Bob explained. "But nothing you need to concern yourself with yet."

"So this Kevin guy is going to train me?"

"It's Mr. O'Keefe to you," Bob reprimanded him.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said, his blush returning again.

"No matter," Bob smiled. "You're new, you'll get used to it."

"But how can he train me in the use of my ability if he doesn't have one?"

"The reason I'm putting you with Mr. O'Keefe is because his former partner was a shape shifter. But the poor man got killed a couple of weeks ago. His death left us with almost no shape shifters in the Company's resources, that's part of the reason we're so interested in acquiring your services, Lucas. He knows enough about shape shifting to be able to help you, I think."

"Great..." Lucas mumbled. "Sounds cool. You know, I still have trouble believing it."

"Many people revel in disbelief. It's not the right course to take. You should free your mind of the restrictions of everyday life, Lucas. Because the real world knows no boundaries. Not to people like you and me. We see something that defies the law of physics, logic and common beliefs every day. In time, nothing surprises us anymore."

As Bob finished his sentence, a tall man came in. He seemed to be in his late thirties. He was bald and had a very distinguishable scar from his right ear to the corner of his mouth. He wore a long, brown jacket that reached his looked like he could break a grown man in half with his right hand. He sat himself down next to Lucas, nodding at Bob as a manner of greeting. Lucas didn't like him at all.

"This is Kevin O'Keefe, Lucas," Bob introduced him. Kevin nodded at Lucas; he himself didn't do anything. "He'll be the one training you. I trust the two of you will get along well. Now, Kevin, will you please take Lucas out of here? Then the two of you can start off right away."

"Sure," Kevin said with a surprisingly high voice for a man his size. "Come," he ordered, and left the room again. Bob gestured Lucas to follow him. When both guys had disappeared, Elle smiled.

"Well played, dad," she said.

"That's what I do best," Bob grinned.

XXX___XXX___XXX

John entered the room where the party took place. There was a lot of space, over 200 people could fit in easily. He made his way through the crowd, looking for someone he could talk with. The music, heavy drum 'n bass was already ringing in his ears.
He saw two of his friends from the swimming team. He walked over to them and said hello. They greeted him with a wide smile.

"Yo, John, how ya doin'?" a short fellow by the name of Marcus shouted at him, barely making himself understandable through the noisy music.

"All good," John answered.

"Not for long, though, I think," the other guy, Tony, grinned.

"How come?" John asked.

"After what you did to Stagnetti? Come on, he's out for you, man. You better watch out," was the answer.

"I think Stagnetti will have to wait a couple of months before he can make a move," John reacted, trying to act tough.

"You think Stagnetti's going to wait that long?" Marcus asked, raising his eyebrows. "It's no secret he only gets his hands dirty when he knows he can handle things personally. From what I heard, you beat up him and four of his pals."

"True, he's got enough goons running out there," Tony agreed. "His father's basically a mobster, I think he ain't gonna be too happy about what you did to his little boy either."

"Well, let them come," John shrugged. "I don't regret what I did. And if something bad happens to me, at least I know they'll be punished for it."

"Don't know about that, the Stagnetti family basically controls Manchester," Tony intervened.

"I think you severely overestimate his influence, Tony."

"We'll just see about that."

XXX___XXX___XXX

Fran stood outside the swimming club's main building, where the party was being held. She had just seen John going in. She stood out of plain sight, where no one could see her shift her appearance. She slowly started. She had created this form a couple of years back and had noticed that no hot-blooded male was able to resist it. It contained the most beautiful parts of celebrities and models she had touched. She was an extremely advanced shape shifter and was able to mix parts of appearances to create an entirely unique one.

She was a tall blonde, with beautiful eyes, full lips, a small nose and big breasts. As she stepped from behind her cover she immediately felt eyes fall upon her. That's the nice thing about being a shape shifter. She could hide in plain sight. As she strode towards the entrance in the most elegant fashion she could conjure, she thought about how she was going to handle this.

"I'll improvise," she grinned when she entered. The noise fell upon her ears as a hammer to the temple. "Ugh, drum 'n bass," Fran thought. She was almost fifty years of age, and had spent her teenage years in the seventies. She was more into disco and all that stuff. She had some second thoughts about seducing a guy that could be her son, but all things considered, it could prove to be a nice challenge; and a nice distraction if nothing else. She usually wasn't so careless about assignments, but part of her wanted to get back at the Company for putting her in this position. And having as much fun as possible was one way to do that.

She had no problems getting through the crowd. Most went out of her way to get a better look at her. There were an awful lot of boys and very few, according to her tastes, attractive girls. So she wasn't exactly surprised. It took her only a couple of minutes to find her target. He was chatting to two of his pals, with his back towards her. As she approached him, she noticed his friends stopped paying attention to what he was saying, focusing on her instead. She concealed a grin. Let the games begin.

"So I thought maybe that... Are you guys paying any attention at all?" John asked when he saw Tony and Marcus' eyes wander off. Suddenly he felt someone tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and it felt like someone had thrown a cup of hot water in his face. A warm feeling came over him, dripping from his eyes to his gut, from his gut to his genitals, from his genitals to his toes. He had to blink twice before he truly believed what he saw. She looked like an angel without the halo or white dress. She was without a shadow of a doubt the single most beautiful and attractive woman he had ever seen.

"Hi, I'm Rachel," she said.

"Erm, hello," John stuttered. "You, erm... New here? Never seen you before. I think I would remember," he added with a smile as cute as he could possibly muster.

She smiled as well. "Yes, I'm new in town as a matter of fact."

"You're from the States, aren't you?" John asked, noticing her accent.

"Yep," the fake Rachel confessed. "From Aurora, Colorado as a matter of fact."

"What brings you to Britain?" John kept on going, noticing that his two friends were silently gaping at her. He also noticed a lot of people were looking at the both of them, and not all looks were friendly. He didn't really care. She came to him out of her own free will. John knew that meant she saw interested in him. And he was taking this opportunity with both hands.

"Family, mostly. And friends. Well, I don't have any of them here. I kinda fled from those in the USA. Came to Manchester, I heard there was a party here, and decided to check it out. That's about it."

"Cool," John said. "Say, care to go somewhere a little bit less noisy?" he suggested, amazed at his own flirtatious audacity.

"Absolutely," she agreed.

"Let's go, then. Catch you guys later," he yelled over his shoulder.
Fran, still in her Rachel-shape decided to turn up the heat. As John led the way, she grabbed his hand. She could feel he startled a bit. This was going to be easy. She was a bit disappointed, but it didn't really matter. She predicted they were going to have loads of fun...

[Author's notes: Things are getting a bit scrambled, chronologically speaking. I'll try to clarify things next chapter. Basically, for now, Lucas' story is a few days ahead of John's.
Next chapter: Lucas gets training for the first time. And it's not really what he had hoped.]