Chapter 9- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Sylar borrowed yet another pair of Mohinder's pants and a dress shirt from Peter. The sleeves had to be rolled up to mask the fact that they were at least 3 inches short of his wrists and a belt was found to keep his pants up. It was, after all, a semi-formal affair. He knew for a fact there were no official labor laws to be minded, but he already worked all day and now he had to do another shift, apparently as a waiter if Peter was to be believed. Given his prior visit to his room, he didn't think Peter was in a joking mood and his pointedly irritated glances were proof.
"This is serious, Sylar, so pay attention." Peter demanded. "I don't know who her guest is, but we have to play it perfectly. One slip up and you'll give us all away. Under no circumstances are you to look anyone in the eye, even if they speak to you. Keep your head down and give the shortest answer possible followed by Ma'am or Sir. Only approach the table if you are summoned and pretend like you're not following the conversation no matter what they talk about. Don't hand anything directly to the person you're waiting on- put it down on the table. Are you remembering this?"
There did seem to be a lot of rules involved for what should have amounted to him dropping a plate of food in front of someone, but he gave a low, "Yes."
"Good. Just to make things simple, you wait on Maria and I'll take care of the guest. Follow my lead and try not to say anything if you can help it."
Mohinder chuckled as he rubbed seasoning into the lamb chops he was preparing. "This should certainly be entertaining. I dare them to send something back."
"Konichiwa." They heard Hiro call. "Welcome to the Siegel residence. Follow me, dinner will be shortly."
"Ready?" Peter asked, grabbing a saucer with a cup of hot coffee.
Sylar picked up his cup and his mouth formed a hard, straight line of obvious displeasure. This was humiliating. He once had the godlike power of a nuclear bomb- he had the lives of millions at his disposal and now he was reduced to serving coffee to some effete asshole who couldn't care less. He followed Peter into the living room where the dinner party would wait until moving to the dining room when the food was ready. He passed behind an overstuffed chair where Maria's guest sat. He could tell it was a man based on the haircut and the shoes that he could see unobscured by the chair, but when the guest repositioned himself, his profile came into view and Sylar froze. It was the reflection off the black, horned rimmed glasses that caught his attention and his blood ran cold. Peter too seemed caught off guard, but he recovered quickly while Sylar remained stuck to the floor.
"Gabriel." Maria called to break his attention. "Come meet the regional overseer of the government chip program, Mr. Noah Bennet."
Sylar's hand trembled slightly and it threatened to spill the coffee when Noah turned and gave him that easy smile that masked what lie beneath. Peter cleared his throat to remind him of his job and although it took a great amount of effort, he adverted his eyes, kept his head down, and delivered the coffee- being sure to set it down on the table next to Maria rather than hand it to her.
"Well." Noah smiled clearly enjoying the coincidence.
"Do you two know each other?" Maria inquired somewhat surprised.
"You could say that." Noah nodded while he removed his glasses to wipe them clean before putting them back on. "Gabriel and I have something of a history, don't we?"
He kept his head down and bit his lip even though he could feel his cheeks burning with anger. "Yes, Sir."
Maria looked from one to the other until Noah explained. "We've been watching him for quite some time, but I have to say you got yourself quite a specimen. I hope you didn't pay too much?"
"Less than what he's worth, I'm sure. Tipton had pity on me." She answered blowing on her coffee to cool it.
"He has something for you, but I don't think it's pity." Noah chuckled. She grinned deviously over her steaming cup and Peter signaled to Sylar that it was time for them to go.
As soon as they reached the safety of the kitchen, Sylar let out a low, rumbling growl to give voice to his extreme displeasure. "Bennet?" He hissed.
"Guess so." Peter shrugged. "But it means the pressure's off and we don't have to be so uptight. He's safe."
"He works for the government." Sylar reminded. "In the chip program, which I can only assume is an extension of Pinehurst or Primatech or whatever name the Company goes by these days."
"It's not my job to question." He sighed, waiting for Mohinder to complete the dish he was creating so he could serve it.
Sylar gave an indignant huff. "A lamb who willingly wears blinders."
"Yup." Peter agreed, still staring at the counter. He was done with Sylar for the day. He was tired, aggravated, and he just wanted the day to end.
Out in the dining room and away from the servants, Noah and Maria enjoyed their succulent lamb over a glass of wine. "Outstanding." Noah sighed, sitting back in his chair after vanquishing his meal.
"I am very lucky Mohinder can cook." Maria agreed. "I certainly can't. Thankfully, he actually seems to enjoy it."
"It's nice of you to let them chose what work they do."
"As much as I can." She demurred. "Of course there are dirty jobs that nobody wants, but they have to be done anyway." As far as he was concerned, she was preaching to the choir. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?"
He smiled and placed his napkin on his empty plate. "It should be me taking you out to dinner. Perhaps some nice French cuisine?" She nodded knowingly. "Maria, I can't thank you enough for helping with the project. You have no idea how much it means to me."
She took a sip of her wine. "I think I do. I know it was important to a lot of people. Am I still clear?"
"Yeah." He replied in a lower tone. He was reasonably sure her house wasn't bugged, but it was just in his nature to be cautious. "I've been monitoring the wires and so far your name hasn't come up. I think you're still under the radar. And as long as you are, you are still a valuable asset to the cause. The minute anyone suspects you, I'll let you know."
"So did Nathan get a chance to see her?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "I know she went through London and he was the one that arranged passage from there to Paris, but you know how careful he has to be. He can't associate himself with the dirty laundry or his career will be over the minute he steps foot back in this country. He's taking a big risk in secretly dealing with Parliament as it is. If he's discovered, he will be exiled and never return or worse."
"Do you really think the government would assassinate a popular Senator?" She asked.
Noah tried to be polite, but it was probably the stupidest question he'd ever heard. "Accidents happen all the time." He smiled tensely. "No one will shoot him in the head and leave his body in a dark alley, that's too obvious. But there are a million ways to cause a death without even leaving a mark." The confidence in his tone gave her chills and she thought it best not to ask for examples. "But if they were really smart, the politically savvy thing to do would be to stage it as though a special used a power to kill him. It would galvanize support here and put the foreign dissenters on the hook for not protecting their allies or by extension their own people." She had to admit, his acumen was quite impressive and he might have had the right stuff to be president were it not for the piles of skeletons in his closet.
Thankfully for Peter, Noah didn't stay long. Whatever business he had with Maria was short and to the point, as was his usual style, and he walked him to the car. "You look like you had a long day." Noah observed. Peter just shook his head miserably and looked like he would fall asleep on his feet any minute. Noah looked to the house and lowered his voice. "I won't even ask how Sylar came to be here, but what worries me is Maria seems to be in the dark about him."
"She is." He admitted. "I saw him at a sale and she bought him."
He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tell me the dog has a leash."
"Yeah. She hasn't deactivated his chip yet. He's only been here a few days."
"See that she doesn't. You know as well as I do that he has a history of biting." He opened the car door and mused, "You said he's chipped, but I haven't seen his name in the database. And believe me, if he was we would know it because he's flagged at the highest level. If there was a hit on his name, alarms would go off and evacuation orders would be issued."
"I don't think it was an official job." Peter smirked imagining the chaos Noah described. "His chip was unregistered, but I caught it and was able to at least put a name and number in."
Noah raised his eyebrows. "That was definitely not my men, but we're seeing more and more of those. It's a pretty lucrative business. An unregistered slave is a very valuable one since they can't be traced." He started the car and added, "You know that's not official, it will only fool short range detectors."
"I know." He acknowledged. "But it's enough to keep people around here from asking questions."
After he closed the door, Noah rolled down the window and grimly asked, "You know he's going to run, right? Maybe not now, but he'll bide his time until he thinks he can escape. I'd be very careful about how much he knows. He may not have his IA, but he's still very intelligent and that makes him dangerous."
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Sylar rinsed the remaining toothpaste from his mouth and spit the pink tinged liquid into the sink. It looked vaguely like blood and he glanced into the mirror. If before today he ever had any inclination to run, it had only grown stronger. He had to figure out a way to get his powers back, but more pressingly, he had to get out of the system that kept him captive. Perhaps he could get to Canada or Europe and have his chip removed for humanitarian reasons. He didn't have a full grasp on how the chips were constructed or how they were attached, but he did know that it took specialized equipment to remove them without causing permanent neurological damage. Fools who tried to remove them themselves usually ended up dead. The chips were mostly tamper proof, but all he needed was more information and he would figure out a way to circumvent the system, he always did. But for now, he had to find a way to escape and he had a good idea of where to start.
