Selene finds out who's behind her illness.
I do not own Heroes.
For love of a friend Part 10
The shadow moving along the exterior wall went unnoticed by anyone. This was the place he was told to go. The mission was simple enough. Get in, find the subject, give them the ultimatum, and get out.
Because of his special ability, he was able to slip past security without detection. If anyone looked directly at him, he would only appear as 'dark air', insubstantial, a mirage, a blur in one's eye. Moving deeper into the facility, he rode the elevator down into the bowels of the building, where intelligence reported his target would be.
He exited the elevator to the left, walking down the hall until he reached the room he was told to seek out. Not needing to open the door, he faded in and through it. No one else was in the room, no one except her. He approached her bed, and leaned over her sleeping form. Just as he began to become more solid, his target opened her eyes. His hand covered her mouth before she could scream out a warning. Having anyone else come in just now would mess up everything. "If you say anything, I'll kill you. Believe me, I can too. If I uncover your mouth, will you let me explain before you go calling out for your boyfriend or your boss?"
Selene's mind worked rapidly, considering her options, and realized they were few. If this man had anything to do with what was wrong with her, it might be better to listen to what he had to say. Calling for Gabriel wouldn't give her any extra time, even if he heard her. She nodded. The hand was removed from her mouth, at which she spoke up, "Who the hell are you? How did you get in? Security is..."
"Yeah, security is tight here, I know. But my power sort of makes that inconsequential. I can become like air, insubstantial to the eye or material objects. Now if you listen to me, I'll tell you why I'm here. The people I work for are the cause of your current condition." He held out a small vial that held several pills. Tipping it, he let some of the small blue objects fall into his hand. He took one and handed it to Selene. "A cure," he said. Handing her the one pill, he put the rest in the vial, sealed and slipped it into his shirt pocket.
Selene took the pill and popped it into her mouth, figuring she had little choice. If he had wanted to kill her, there would have been many ways for him to accomplish that. But to her surprise, she began to feel infinitely better.
"In a larger dose, you would be completely cured within hours." The man stepped back from the bed, as Selene sat up. He wasn't sure just how much of her abilities she would get back, if any. He moved warily to the foot of the bed. "We have a proposition for you, Selene."
"Ok, so you know my name. What I do. And obviously people here. Now just who do you work for?" She was sitting fully upright, internally testing herself, but she realized her strength was not even half of her full potential. So she waited to see what this so called proposition was.
"Someone you've worked for before."
"I'm listening," she replied, wishing Gabriel would come back. She was even willing to have Noah burst in at this point.
"It's really very simple. You used to work for this organization, then one day you vanished. They didn't take that very well. A lot depended on your willingness to do jobs, but since you fell off the radar, there have been more missions left undone. No operative did as well as you. Yes, you did very well for the FBI and CIA, but we needed you more. International affairs have deteriorated to a very bad level, and the president..."
As she listened to the man, realization hit her. The Secret Service? All of her suffering was originating from the more covert branch of that service? "Look, you insignificant toadie, I was dead." As she saw the look on his face, she continued, "Yes, killed. I was locked in a morgue hidden away in a building run by...well, by some of the people who run this place. I finally self-repaired, but it took over a year. When I woke up, the place had been abandoned. They left me there. So I did some work for the CIA, odd jobs in exchange for, not only money, but the full use of their computer database. I was looking for someone. I'm engaged to him now."
The man shrugged. "Whatever. My bosses want you back, and they're willing to show just what can happen if you don't cooperate."
Selene held up a hand. "I don't get this. They're willing to use methods that make me useless to them?"
The man smiled. "They have the cure. Work for them, and it's yours. No more sickness. You can even live your life any way you want, as long as you're completely accessible to the agency."
"Ok, whoever you are, I don't care to be "accessible" whenever someone snaps their fingers. I spent a lot of time working for anyone willing to pay my price, and I'm done with that now. I'm going to be married soon. My fiance works for this outfit, helping people like us," she explained. "All I want to do is live a normal life. I don't need to be super agent anymore. Got that? Go back and tell your bosses I don't want anymore to do with them, or their threats."
He looked at the floor, slightly shaking his head. Then he looked up at her. "They won't like that. It doesn't end until they say so."
Selene removed the blanket, and placed her legs over the edge of the bed, standing while she faced the man. "I think, after all the work I did for them, they owe me. And all I want is to be left alone."
He said nothing, just stood there and waited. A smile of satisfaction came over his face as he watched Selene double over in pain. "That pill was temporary, by the way."
In another part of the building...
"Gabriel, we're doing all we can for Selene. Finding a cure is difficult, when you don't know what it is you're trying to cure."
"Noah, if she dies for real this time, I won't be someone you'll want in this organization. Losing her would..." Gabriel's eyes narrowed, as he imagined ripping the city to pieces, starting with this place.
An alarm sounded, interrupting the two men. Noah scanned the tracking screen that covered every floor of the Center. "Security breach. Lower level." He looked at Gabriel. "They're after Selene." He waved at the heavily armed security detail that had already come into the room. "Let's go!"
Back in Selene's room, the man looked down at an incapacitated Selene. "Gotta run. We'll be in touch." He bent down on one knee, and whispered in her ear. "Think about what I said." Then he vanished.
Noah and Gabriel burst into the room, followed by the armed men, but they saw no one except Selene, now collapsed on the floor. "Search every corridor, every floor. Do it!" Noah yelled to the guards.
Selene saw her lover, and called out for him. "Gabri..."
Gabriel gathered Selene into his arms, and placed her back on the bed. He brushed her hair off her face and kissed her forehead. "Selene, can you hear me? Who was here? Who was it?"
Noah glanced around, spying something on the floor. He bent to pick it up. "Damn, he's gone!" Walking over to the bed, he looked down at Selene. "Is she ok?"
Gabriel held her hand tightly. "No, she isn't. Noah, he got away. And I want him." A look of fury darkened Gabriel's visage. Even Noah's hand on his shoulder did nothing to soothe his anger.
Noah smiled at the blue pill in his palm. "Well, it looks like in his eagerness to leave, the intruder left behind something we can study," he said. He showed the tablet to Gabriel. "You stay with Selene. I'm taking this to the lab for immediate analysis." For the first time since he'd become a company man, his mind wasn't whirring, adding up the numbers. Instead, all he found himself wanting was a cure for Selene.
A/N: I know this is short, but I wanted to add something to the story. Been busy with vacations, work and plain writer's block. Thanks for reading, and comments welcome!