Sylar had never really liked planes. He had never been on one as a kid since there hadn't been a lot of money left for him and his mother to spent on vacation. Sighing he tried to adjust his seat so he was able to sit comfortably, but the guy who sat in front of him and had leaned his seat all the way back made that pretty hard. Emma sat right next to him and appeared to be very relaxed as she flicked through the board menu. Did she know they were going to spend the next 13 hours trapped inside a metal box 6.000 miles above the ground?
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked through the small window, which threw a reflection of his face back at him. Well, not his face exactly, but the face of a thirty-something, blonde man he found in one of the parks in Tokyo that were often visited by tourists. The original was now missing a cap that was in Sylar's backpack, together with a fake passport going by the name Thomas Hanson from Baltimore, Maryland. Emma was now known as his sister, Veronica Hanson.
Sylar could feel how the machine started to move until it was fast enough to lift itself off the ground. He tried to ignore the swinging and pressure building in his ears. The last and only time he had been on a plane had been a flight from New York to L.A., but back then he had other things on his mind than the idea of the aircraft suddenly losing height. His reasons to travel by plane had been a lot more … motivating at that time.
He coughed, turned his head towards Emma and poked her upper arm. She looked tired and worn out. Sylar had overheard her fighting with Peter again the previous night, but he didn't know if he should bring it up directly. It wasn't any of his business, but he was still worried – and curious.
"I hope you don't mind, if I sleep through the flight," she started and chuckled.
"Sure, you should, you look tired."
"That's good coming from you." Sylar groaned and looked down onto the ground, without moving his head. Right. He really wasn't the right person to judge about being sleep-deprived.
"To be honest, I'm really glad to be out of there for a while," she added quietly. Sylar pressed his lips together. Emma hadn't really been present during the quarrels between the Bennets, Tracy and him. Of course, they had been attacked and were constantly in danger to be found again, but planning to infiltrate a reception camp led by a government that wanted her kind dead wasn't exactly a picnic either.
Sylar wasn't sure if she expected him to go into it or if she would rather keep her thoughts to herself. He asked her anyway. "How come?"
She blinked a few times until a tired smile formed on her lips. "It's hard sometimes, you know. Harder than I would have thought. I know how much Peter suffered and still does, but sometimes he is just so … cold and rejecting. I understand that he doesn't want to be and that he has a habit of excluding people from his life, but it's a different thing when you are lying next to someone, who doesn't want to talk to you at all. I'm not angry at him, but … I imagined us to be different."
The familiar feeling of guilt formed in Sylar's stomach. The week after they had gotten out Peter had done all he could to help Sylar re-adapt into the real world, had talked about an apartment and jobs, while Sylar had still clung to his everlasting existential crisis. He had just arrogantly assumed that it was easier for Peter to go back to normal life, so of course he hadn't once considered doing something to help his friend, instead of letting him handle both of their lives alone. As soon as he had managed to form something similar to a 'connection' or a friendship, he had seriously been selfish enough to ignore it was supposed to be a two way street. Wow. Way to go, Gray.
"Maybe he just needs time..." he murmured, not knowing any better advice. Why had he asked about Emma's relationship in the first place, it wasn't like he knew anything about it. "Try locking yourself up with him for five years."
Emma snickered and pulled a face. "I don't think I would survive this! Anyway, it's been a while since I have been in a relationship myself so … maybe I need more time, too."
She smiled at Sylar and let her head fall back into the seat as he didn't give her any respond. When she closed her eyes she fell asleep quickly and Sylar was left alone with his thoughts.
The building the two Specials were standing in front of was surrounded by cursing police officers that were trying to chase off the even more coursing journalists. From what they were shouting Sylar could discern that there had been more murders, this time at the other end of the country. They were making sure that Specials everywhere where scared of the big bad wolf. He wondered how long it might take until Samson would start murdering on other continents.
As one of the reporters came rushing towards Sylar and Emma, asking questions about whether they were 'Evolved Humans' or not, Sylar pushed him out of his way roughly. Emma elbowed him and gave him a stop-driving-attention-to-us-asshole look. He rolled his eyes and fought his way to the entrance, where one of the police officers stopped them.
"What can I do for you?" he asked aggressively, scrutinizing them with red, watered eyes. Sylar opened his mouth, but Emma was quicker.
"We heard this is a safe place for Specials?" she asked and Sylar didn't escape the pejorative smirk the officer gave as a response to her way of talking. Sylar grit his teeth . If he wasn't on a undercover mission this guy's ugly face would have been accompanied by blood stains by now.
The officer glanced at the journalists behind them and lay a hand onto his club while pushing a plastic card against a scanner next to the glass door that opened with a rattling noise. Emma stepped in first and Sylar followed. The building was part of an old police station and they were standing in what used to be the entrance hall.
The reception table was stacked with plastic bottles full of water and etageres with biscuits. How considerate of them, Sylar thought and let his gaze glide along the gray walls. He couldn't see anybody who wasn't wearing a uniform, which didn't surprise him. It hasn't been long since the opening of the reception camps and the numbers of Specials exiting, much less considering turning themselves in, was fairly low.
However a door swung open and a young man with brown hair entered the entrance hall. He wasn't part of the force, at least judging by his white shirt and black pants. He put on his best toothpaste commercial smile and approached the "Hansons".
"Hi, welcome to Washington. My name is Jackson, I'm responsible here to make your stay as comfortable for you as possible."
Sylar almost snorted at his sugar-sweet ass-kissing, but Emma gave him the look again. Right, they were scared for their lives and were searching for shelter from the real evil.
"Hi, my name is Veronica Hanson, this is my brother Thomas." Emma stepped forward and smiled at the boy in front of her. Sylar stayed where he was and nodded quickly.
They spent another ten minutes or so going through several pages of paperwork. Sylar was amused by how thorough the questions were. They asked about all kinds of effects of their abilities, on objects, on humans on themselves. Neither he nor Emma refused to answer any of the questions. When asked about his ability the only thing he mentioned was telekinesis, because it was probably the most harmless of his abilities and easy to explain.
The questions about their medical history were pretty vague, but Sylar immediately knew what they really wanted to know. They asked about high fever and an adjournment of their ability during the last three years. Apparently there was somebody working for Striker who knew about the Shanti Virus, someone who was probably working for the company at some point.
"If you don't mind, the head of our scientific office, Dr. Zimmerman, would be enlighten to talk to you in private. She'll be your partner for every question concerning your abilities. You can also discuss several options for the use of your power, if you are interested."
The use of their power. Jackson was now walking in front of them while the two Specials followed him and Sylar glanced at Emma. She looked back at him, tightening her jaw. She was thinking the same thing. There was more than one reason why the government wanted to Specials to gather in those camps. Firstly, they wouldn't be causing troubles anywhere else, secondly, they could easily catalog them, sorted by utility and threat.
Some of the doors at the sides of the corridor stood ajar and when Sylar peeked into them he could see that the previous offices were now equipped with two to three twin beds. He could hear the voices of two men talking about whether they should stay or leave. As he looked into another room he could see a woman in her early twenties, who held an infant to her chest, carefully rocking it back and forth. As she looked up she caught a glimpse of Sylar, who saw that her eyes were full of tears.
Jackson stopped in front of a double winged door, knocked two times and opened the door. He held it open and smiled at Emma and Sylar, who carefully entered the room. It was larger than the tiny bedrooms, it had probably been the occupation of one of the higher animals on the police force.
Two huge windows flooded the room with daylight, letting the wooden desk at the back wall shine. The woman who was sitting behind the desk stood up and greeted her visitors. Sylar needed a moment to process what he was seeing.
Dr. Zimmerman was dressed in a dark blue blouse and a sand-colored skirt that went down to her knees. She approached them with long, elegant steps reaching out her hand towards them and while she walked, her dark brown locks bobbed up and down. Her face looked open, friendly and terrifyingly familiar.
A little gasp that escaped Emma's mouth snatched Sylar out of his state of surprise. He cleared his throat, stepped forward and took Dr. Zimmerman's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too." he said and put on his most charming smile. As the doctor released his hand and turned towards his 'sister', Emma still looked at her as if she was seeing a ghost. Completely bewildered she glanced at Sylar, who couldn't do anything, but shake his head slightly.
They couldn't let it show, or their cover would turn into thin air. Sylar could only hope that Emma wouldn't freak out, it had to be much more astounding for her than for him. He had seen one look-alike of Tracy Strauss, the night at Kirby Plaza. He hadn't known much about Nikki, except that she had a preference for hitting people with parking meter and that she had a really annoying kid. Every now and then other, more intimate images of her flashed in his mind, but those weren't his … Nevertheless he was surprised to meet a third one. He had never given much thought about the relationship between Nikki and Tracy, so this might turn out to be interesting.
Emma understood his warnings and tried to look relaxed while shaking hands with Zimmerman. Sylar hoped the doctor would interpret her strange behavior as nervousness. Obviously she did, because she took a step backwards and stretched her arm towards a couple of chairs that stood in front of her neatly ordered desk. "Please, take a seat." she offered and Sylar didn't hesitate, laying a hand on Emma's back to get her moving.
Zimmerman – or Barbara, as the golden name plate on her desk said – sat down across of them and folded her hands in front of her. She was nervous, too. Apparently he was right with his assumption that not many Specials had decided to come to one of the camps yet.
"I'm really glad to have you two here, although it is because of very alarming circumstances." she started and Sylar wondered how much she knew about the attacks. Her finger glided along the tablet in front of her, until the form with the questions he and Emma had answered minutes ago appeared.
"I can imagine that you two have some questions about your abilities. It can be very scary at first and I see that you both discovered it only months ago." They had decided to stick to the time when Emma had discovered her ability, so that their story would fit together.
"Uhm, yeah, we were wondering where those powers come from," Sylar improvised after waiting for a few seconds. This was actually supposed to be Emma's part. "We figured that it is genetic, since we're related and everything, but what is the source of it?" This was the best he could come up with, but Zimmerman seemed to be pleased with his question.
"Well, we don't know the exact moment in human evolution when an ability first manifested, but we do know that the DNA code exited in the 17th century." Yeah, the immortal, sword-swinging company founder. Peter had told him about that. Zimmerman's face started to light up as she continued to talk.
"Finding the source of the abilities is actually a part of my studies and my theory is that they have been existent a long time before that, maybe even for thousands of years. It would explain Greek legends of people who could lift mountains, or the origin of several religions. Sadly, it is very badly documented and it is extremely hard to tell the difference between fiction and the actual proof of an ability." She exhaled smiling and leaned back in her seat. "But I guess, you just wanted to know if it is a recent change in the human DNA, well it is not, even though there have never been as many of you as now."
Sylar noticed that she said 'as many of you' and not 'as many of us'. Tracy and Nikki both had abilities and he doubted that a third triplet, or clone or whatever she was would go away empty handed and without an ability. Neither had she talked about the possibility to synthetically create abilities, like the company had done to her sisters. Whatever position Zimmerman held in this organization and however much she knew, she had limits and order.
"Do you mind if I ask you something that doesn't concern our abilities directly?" Sylar tilted his head to see Emma, who had found her voice again. Zimmerman turned towards her and nodded.
"We came here, because we have to fear for out lifes. I just want to know, why there is somebody out there, killing us and if you can really keep us safe." Zimmerman's smile faded and Sylar had to swallow down his own. Apparently Tracy had been right, Emma could definitely ask the right questions.
"Well," the doctor began, "As you have probably heard, we suspect that this is some kind of terrorist attack by a group of Evolved Humans that are probably involved with Claire Bennet. We fear that they are trying to form an army or a society of some kind and fight against humans and Evolved Humans that want to be included into our regular society. We can't say much about it right now, but every federal institution is trying to stop those who are responsible for the death of these people and to bring light into the dark." Sylar wasn't surprised when he heard the saw-like noise in vibrating in the back of his head. She either knew the truth or didn't believe in the lies someone had told her.
"I assure you that this is the safest place you could possibly be, they are surely not going to attack a place, where they would be arrested the second they got here." Tingling again. Zimmerman bit her lip and shifted on her chair. She wasn't a very good liar, but apparently good enough to hold this position. He almost asked how she could be sure that he and Emma weren't part of that terrorist group, but he didn't want to make it too obvious. The camp could easily be infiltrated, if whoever built it really thought that there were super powered criminals, who would try to break in, they would have made this place a lot more secure.
"Actually as we are speaking of your safety," Zimmerman added and put on her smile again, "We are offering you to be part of a government program that offers training to Specials. You'll be able to learn about the limits and dangers of you powers and, of course, the best use for them."
"What use could that be?" Emma asked, probably a bit too quickly.
"Well," Zimmerman didn't let herself be interrupted by the door being pushed open behind Sylar's back, "Your kind is persecuted by members of your own. The logical decision would be to use your powers to defend yourself against those who want to harm you. You would be under protection of the government and you could help to protect other Evolved Humans that want nothing but peace."
They were trying to make Specials fight against Specials. Sure, why not, that meant they didn't have to get their hands dirty and however the result might be, the ordinaries would be the winner at the end of the story.
The person who had entered the room a moment ago now spoke. "Uhm, Dr. Zimmerman, Mr. Warren told me to give you ..." the voice faded and as Sylar turned his head around his eyes widened. The first thing he felt was rage. He wanted to jump out of his chair, push this bastard against the wall and make him scream like he had screamed. Then he came to the realization that he would recognize Emma and that he would know who he was, because he had the ability to detect other's abilities. Sylar's fingernails bored into the armrest. They were screwed.
"He wanted you to give me what, Scott?" Zimmerman rose her eyebrows at the boy, waiting for his response. For a moment Scott kept his eyes interlocked with Sylar, who was ready to attack him any second. Scott turned his head towards the doctor and cleared his throat. "It's uhm...I'm sorry I interrupted." Sylar let go of the armrest and shifted. Wise decision.
"Well you're here now, what do you want?"
Scott took a few steps towards the desk and tried to stay as far away from Sylar as possible. Sweat was building on his temple. Good to know that Sylar still had this effect if he wanted to.
"He gave me the notes from the other facilities." he stated and lifted his arm so that the file he was holding stopped in front of the doctor's face. She looked at him in a confused way, but didn't suspect more. "Thanks." she answered and Scott gave her a forced nod. He crossed eyes with Emma, who was looking at him with the same mixture of anger and alarm as Sylar.
He turned around abruptly and left the room without saying another word. Sylar let himself fall back into the back of his chair. He exhaled quietly and looked back at Tracy 2.0. This wasn't his day.
"Sorry for that," Zimmerman murmured and placed the files on the side of her desk. "What I was trying to explain is that you have the power to help us end this conflict peacefully and quickly and help the world to go through such a rapid change. If you like I can contact a college, who can introduce you to the possibilities and … "
"That sounds great!" Emma blurted out and leaned forward. "If you don't mind, Doctor, we have had a really long day and I think it would be better if my brother and I could discuss things alone, in our quarters."
Zimmerman looked surprised and glanced at Sylar, who tried to force a smile on his face. Who knew who Scott was informing right now and what kind of cavalry was waiting for them to come out. The doctor didn't seem to be happy about being interrupted in the middle of her advertising campaign, but she nodded shortly and told them the number of the office where they were supposed to say.
They managed to leave the room in a reasonable pace and when the door closed behind them they started to hurry through the hallway. They needed to find that son of a bitch, quickly. Sylar doubted that he told anyone about who they really were yet. He hadn't said anything in Zimmerman's office, probably because he was scared to be killed, now that he didn't could deceive them anymore or had a team of trained killers waiting behind his back.
They didn't need to search long, they found him huddled up behind the reception table, staring at them widened eyes. With long steps Sylar approached the boy while he kept him in place with a telekinetic grip. "You're coming with us." he hissed into his ear when he was close enough.
Sylar enclosed the other man's arm with his hand, forcefully enough to hurt him. He looked to Emma who nodded as a sign that nobody was around to see him and he quickly dragged Scott into the first empty room he found. The second Emma closed the door behind them Sylar shapeshifted into his usual body, stopped using his power on Scott, took his other hand and pushed him against the wall roughly.
"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you on spot." He whispered. Scott tried to struggle against Sylar's grip, but he couldn't free himself.
"Please!", he begged and suddenly the self-assertive man they had rescued from the prison was gone, "I didn't want to do it, they are forcing me, they have my girlfriend and my daughter."
Sylar's eyes squinted. Somehow he had managed to scrub round his lie-detection when they were at the beach house, so Sylar couldn't know for sure if he was telling the truth and to be honest he didn't really care. Neither did Emma.
"You betrayed us." she hissed and stepped nearer, "You let us walk right into their trap, people died because of you!"
"I'm sorry about your friend." he cried and Sylar tightened his grip so that he would keep his voice down.
"You helped them feed as good as every power imaginable to the most dangerous man on this planet." The one man he hated more than anyone else and who had no scruples to kill his own son to escape his lonely and pathetic life.
"Yeah you should know something about that." Scott retorted bitterly and Sylar lifted his right arm and pushed it against Scott's throat. This guy knew nothing about him or his father. He didn't know what Sylar had to go through so he didn't end up like him, to escape the terrifying monster that lived in his past and himself.
Scott's face turned red as he struggled for breath and tears streamed down his face. Sylar kept his arm where it was and pushed him harder against the wall until he felt Emma's hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him away.
"Stop, you're killing him!" she muttered. Sylar kept staring at Scott's contorted face for one more moment, then he let go of him abruptly so that he hit the floor with a thud. Scott started coughing and writhed in pain as he tried to crawl away from Sylar, but he was stuck between a filing cabinet and a bedstand.
Sylar turned around and let his hand run through his hair. He could hear the blood pumping through his veins and tried to calm his breathing. He knew the anger that boiled inside him and he knew that he wanted to kill Scott, but he couldn't. Not in front of Emma.
As he turned around again Emma had knelled down so that she was at eye level of Scott, who was holding his neck and breathed heavily.
"Who are 'they', who is holding you're family?" she asked him and Scott swallowed, distorting his face in pain.
"I don't know who gives the orders or who is involved."
Sylar huffed until he remembered something he saw earlier. "They're here, aren't they?" he asked and tilted his head. Scott looked at him confused.
"Down the hall, the brown-haired girl with the baby?" Sylar smirked and got the targeted reaction from Scott whose eyes widened in shock. He already thought that Sylar was exactly like his father, so why not leave him in this belief.
"I only know one man, his name is Striker. He sent two men to my house who brought me to him, to the prison. He told me that if I would manage to let Gray get his hands on Claire he wouldn't hurt my family, but he is still using them against me, there's nothing I could have done.."
"Yeah, now cut the crap," Sylar barked and Scott shut up immediately. "Striker, is he here? What are his plans?"
Scott shook his head. "I don't know where he is. I don't know what his end game is, but I think he is trying to set Specials against each other. He must have connections to very high, circles, I mean the highest that he could probably get. I know that there are people in the White House who are supporting him, but I don't know who's giving him orders, or if he is the one giving all the orders. He wanted Gray to kill all these people, so Specials wouldn't stick together or trust Claire and so that they would all flee to these facilities, where they are easier to control. I swear to God, that's all I know."
Scott's eyes shifted between Sylar and Emma, helpless and full of tears. The two latter exchanged glances and Sylar sighed. Emma stood up and took a few steps back, so that Scott could slowly lift himself by sliding up the wall. Unsure of what to do he kept standing in between the furniture.
"Does this facility have some kind of director? An office, where we could find any other information about their plans?" Sylar kept his voice steady. There was no use in screaming at somebody who was already scared to death.
"You could search in Mr. Warren's office. He's one of Striker's underdogs and has is the supervisor here, but I doubt you'll find anything of use." Sylar nodded. Striker had been clever enough to separate the point of recruitment and the point of the actual training. Scott was probably brought here to check the truthfulness of the Special's statement about their abilities. He could detect a shapeshifter or an illustionist without troubles. Sylar was sure if they would have taken the offer Zimmerman had given them, there would have been other Specials who would double check on them.
"Do you know where they are taking those who agree to fight for Striker?" he asked. Scott shifted and pushed himself off the wall. "I'm not sure," he began, "I think they are sent to the military, I mean the official one. Like I said, Striker has got a lot of friends."
He glanced towards the door carefully. "What are you going to do now?"
That's a good question. They couldn't just let him go, if anybody would know that they were here they had new material to tear apart in their propaganda, but they couldn't take him with them either. Sylar turned around to look at Emma. He wondered what he would do if she wasn't here …
"Here is the deal." Emma began, probably thinking the same as Sylar, "You'll get us into Warren's office unseen. After we searched it through we will leave and you will tell Zimmerman that Veronica and Thomas Hanson changed their minds and left and you are going to make sure that she believes it."
Scott exhaled sharply and looked onto the ground, but he seemed to understand that he didn't have much of a choice. "Fine." he retorted and Sylar looked almost content. He wouldn't tell anybody about their little visit, because if they knew he helped them, his girlfriend would soon be one head shorter.
A few minutes later the three Specials were standing in an elevator that crept up the building. As the floor beneath their feet came to a stop and the doors glided open, Scott stepped out first. He looked around the floor until he turned around and beckoned Emma and Sylar, who had taken on his fake body again, to follow him.
The corridors on this floor were a lot wider and the doors leading to the offices were closed. They walked quickly so that they wouldn't waste any time, but just as Scott wanted to open one of the doors a woman stepped out of the room. She looked startled and almost bumped into the young man standing in front of her. Confused, she eyed Scott and then the other two.
"Mr. Ellis," she began, but didn't take her eyes of Emma and Sylar, "You do know that our guests are probably best taken care of in the lower areas." She scrutinized her surrounding, presumable searching for someone to get help from.
Scott cleared his throat and looked into her eyes. "I don't know who you are talking about, we are the only people on the floor." The woman's pupils widened and her concerned features softened at his calming voice that let Sylar shudder.
"Why don't you tell me, is Mr. Warren in his office?" She blinked a few times until she told him very slowly that he wasn't. Scott nodded and smiled at her. "Why don't you call it a day and go home?"
Like a ghost she walked around Scott and left the hallway without sparing Sylar or Emma a glance. Scott turned around and looked at Sylar with stone cold expression. The ex-serial killer returned this look. "Leave." he demanded, "If you sound the alarm I will come back personally to
put you to an end, are we clear?"
Scott didn't give him any respond, just a look full of contempt until he began to move and hurry back into the direction they had come from. Even though Sylar was pretty sure that Scott would keep his mouth shut he didn't want to lose any time and entered the office right away.
The office was about the size of Zimmerman's, but much more decorated. One wall was covered by a huge shelf, with mostly medical books. Sylar didn't know any of the titles, except a large blue copy of Activating Evolution. Just behind the huge desk was a window that gave light to the room. The third wall was decorated with pictures, certificates and medals. Yup, somebody had definitely been planning to establish the reception camps a long time before the attacks.
Emma stepped towards the shelf and looked through the books, so Sylar decided to search through the desk. A black laptop was placed on top of it, but he didn't have the time or the hacking skills to scan it for any information. He grabbed one of the files instead that lay right next to the laptop. He opened the first folder and was surprised when a photo of Mohinder Surresh greeted him. After one look at the first sheet he knew exactly what he was holding in his hand. It was one of the old primatech files.
He looked through the other files and saw the faces of Claire, Peter, himself, Tracy and various other Specials he knew. Cursing he put the files back onto the desk. This organization had the advantage of knowing exactly who their enemy was, which he couldn't say for himself.
"Here!" gasped Emma and Sylar lifted his head. She held a piece of paper in her hand. As she came closer and Sylar could examine the paper he saw various names written by hand. Behind the names stood a city, an address … and an ability. It took him a second to realize what Emma was holding in her hands.
"Those are the Specials they are attacking," he stated, half talking to himself. As he looked again he could see that the names were sorted by region, which made sense. Emma nodded and stepped around Sylar so that she could lay the paper onto the desk. She pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and made a quick photo of the list until she folded it and placed it exactly where she had found it.
Sylar turned his attention to the pictures that were hanging on the wall. One of it showed a groom and a bride kissing in front of the altar and another showed two men in uniform. The man appearing in both photos had to be said Warren, a dark haired man with glasses and an aquiline nose.
Sylar had almost turned around again, but when he looked at the second picture again he paused. He squinted his eyes and concentrated on the man who was standing next to Warren. He was taller than his colleague and a more muscular. He was probably in his late thirties or early forties, had gray hair and according to the badges on his uniform he had a higher rank than the other soldier. Sylar didn't know why, but he had the feeling that he knew him from somewhere … and suddenly he remembered.
He was standing against a wall, arm crossed in front of his chest. The only light came from the clinical lamps above his head. Two men were standing in front of him. One of the two men was Emil Danko and the other one was the man on the photo.
"It's all about control." Sylar said, but it wasn't his voice he was hearing.
"With all respect, Senator." It was the second man who spoke. His name was General John Striker, or rather Ex-General. After his dishonorable discharge of the British army he had been very interested in joining the operation going on in Building 26.
"I don't think that what you are suggesting will work long term."
Nathan furrowed his brows and looked at Danko, who wore his usual, detestable smile. "What do you mean, Striker?"
"Well," Striker began and took a step towards the senator, "Your plan involves driving those people together to get them under control with the intention to keep them from violating the life of the citizens of your country. I say locking a few of them up will not solve the problem."
"And what would solve the problem, General?"
"A precise extermination of them. I have seen what some of them can do and believe me, locking them up in your excuses for cells won't stop them, the opposite will happen. They will get to know people their kind, they will form alliances, they will try to use their powers to gain power."
Nathan stared at Striker in shock and tilted his head. "Are you suggesting a genocide?" he asked unbelieving and Striker pulled down the corners of his mouth.
"I have been in wars, I know what will happen." he stated coldly, "The day will come where it will be us against them and when this day comes our race will go down. Except if we bring them down first, before they have a chance to organize themselves."
Striker was completely serious and meant every word he said. Nathan gritted his teeth. He knew his plan had holes, he knew that it would be to get them all under control, but bringing a kind to the brink of extinction? His own kind?
"I know how dangerous they are." he said and he really did. He had seen his brother explode just miles over New York City. "But I will not support the murder of thousands of people, not if we can handle this situation differently."
Striker's jaw tightened and his face grew darker. "You'll see." There was something in his voice, something like threat. Nathan stared at Striker, wondering if he knew …
Hello everybody! I know, it has been ages since my last upload and I really don't have a valid excuse for it x.x Anyway, I think this is the longest chapter so far so please tell me what you think about it :)) thanks to everyone who started to follow this story in the last months and special thanks to ii-romana who was the beta for this chapter.