What is Lost
Chapter 10: Against All Odds
(Recap)
Peter tried to make his legs run faster. He could see Gabriel lying on the grass with Anderson looming over him. He had almost lost his friend once today, he'd be damned if he was going to let that happen again.
He was almost there when something came out of the sky and knocked Anderson back a few feet. Peter telekinetically pushed the copycat back and slammed him into the fence on the opposite side of the cemetery.
"Nathan!" Peter gasped.
"What kind of trouble are you into now Peter?" Nathan said in his big brother tone of voice. "Relax, I'm joking." he said when Peter glared at him. "Mohinder called me."
"Why?" Peter said narrowing his eyes. "Do you guys want to keep an eye on Gabriel?"
"I'll explain when we get back." Nathan said.
"I'll take that as a yes."
Nathan sighed. "C'mon. They are waiting for us back at the mansion."
Peter complied. He grabbed Gabriel's arm and lifted him onto his back. Nathan was already waiting for him in the air. He followed his brother back to their home.
The two brothers landed side by side, careful not to let anyone see them. They entered through the gates and into the huge house. Peter walked up the stairs wit h Nathan in tow. He picked one of the many spare bedrooms and placed Gabriel on the bed. Trying not to hurt him, Peter opened Gabriel's shirt to get a full view of the extent of the other man's injuries. Unlike himself, Gabriel couldn't heal himself.
"Claire's going to have to treat him."
"Most likely." Nathan replied.
"Why did Mohinder call you?" Peter asked.
"Why?" Nathan said. "He heard that Anderson was building some followers. A small army if you will. Naturally that needs to be stopped right away, before they do any real damage."
"We could have handled it."
"I doubt it."
Peter turned away from his brother. "He's changed." he said absently.
"I will have to take you word for it."
The former nurse stood up. "You will see when he wakes up. He's not Sylar anymore."
Nathan nodded. "I believe you Peter. But it's going to be tough to convince everyone else."
Peter smirked. "Then I'll beat it into them."
"Good luck with that." Nathan said laying a hand on Peter's shoulder as he walked past on his way to the door. "You'll need it."
Groaning slightly, Gabriel made an effort to sit up. He lifted a hand to try to make the throbbing pain in head go away. It didn't help. Opening his eyes, he noticed that he didn't know where he was. The first response was to panic and run. But Gabriel had learned that running away didn't solve anything, it just made it worse. Carefully he got to his feet and walked to the window. It was around noon he guessed by the looks of the sun.
Turning away he walked slowly to the door and opened it. He came out and saw a long hallway. He followed it.
A ways down he met some stairs and proceeded down them. At one point he went to fast and his head angrily protested. His whole body hurt from the beating that he took yesterday. Shaking it off, he continued downward.
He arrived at the bottom and walked into a series of rooms. When he was walking through them his super hearing picked up people in the next room. Arguing by the sounds of it. Gabriel knew it was rude to eavesdrop, but he couldn't help it. He stood next to the door and listened.
"You don't understand!"
"Oh I do! Perfectly! He's a danger!"
"Matt listen to me!"
"No, he shouldn't even be here in the first place!"
"Parkman shut up."
"Gabriel is fine. I know it."
"I'm sorry but I'm not going by a high school girls answer to this."
"Hey! Don't you dare-"
"What? You gonna make me believe her?"
"Parkman...!"
"Enough!"
Gabriel sank down next the door frame. All the people in there were arguing because of him. It was his fault that all this was happening. He could tell Peter was in there too. No doubt the one defending him. The watchmaker didn't know what he did to deserve a friend like Peter.
"I think we have visitor."
The hair on the back of his neck rose. Gabriel stood up quickly and turned to leave when the door was flung open.
"Gabriel. Can you please come in here?" A tall man with a navy blue suit on stood in the doorway.
Peter jumped in front of his brother and walked out to where the frightened man stood. "C'mon, it'll be fine."
Gabriel looked like a dear caught in headlights.
"Gabe?"
This time it was Claire who spoke.
Slowly he walked into the room. When he entered all eyes were on him. It made him feel even worse. Nathan shut the door and ushered everyone back to their seats. Gabriel chose a corner and sat down.
"All right," Nathan said. "Back on subject now, what are we going to do with Anderson?"
"Kill him." Parkman muttered.
Nathan glared at the officer. Claire wanted to say "Duh!", but resisted. Gabriel scanned the room. There was Claire, Peter, Mohinder, a little girl sitting next to Mohinder, Noah, a cop, the man who asked him to come in, and a blond woman next to a black man and a boy.
"Where's Nakamura and his side kick?" the blond woman said.
"In Japan." Nathan answered. "Supposedly he was needed there for some emergency."
Gabriel sat back further in the corner, if that's possible. He was trying to make himself as invisible as he could. Peter noticed this and nudged him. "You ok?" he asked.
Looking at Peter, Gabriel wanted to let it all go. He wanted to just yell that he wasn't fine. He was an ex-serial killer who killed a bunch of people for personal gain. He wanted to yell how unfair he was being treated by others. How people kept starring at him. He wanted to just let it all out.
But he just smiled sadly and nodded.
A little while later Gabriel whispered to Peter. "Who are all these people?"
Peter almost smacked himself. "Oh, sorry." he said back. "Hey, everyone!" Nathan stopped what he was saying and looked at Peter. As did everyone else who was sitting in the room. Gabriel felt his face go red.
"Good. Ok starting from the left is: Nathan, Claire, Noah, Mohinder, Molly, DL, Micah, Nikki, and Matt." Peter finished pointing.
"Nice to meet you." the watchmaker mumbled. He was shy when meeting new people, especially those who didn't seem to like him very much.
Nikki, Micah and DL smiled. At least that was some relief Gabriel thought. But the man Peter pointed out as Matt glared at him. Which in turn made Gabriel try to shrink back into his corner again.
"Peter," Nathan said, saving Gabriel from the stares of everyone else. "What is Anderson's ability?"
"I think it's fire. But an odd kind of fire, it was white, not red."
Gabriel sat back, wanting to say what Anderson's true ability was. But he was afraid to speak up. Especially since Matt kept glaring at him from time to time. Finally he couldn't take it any longer.
"Peter's wrong." he muttered.
"What?" Noah asked.
"I said," Gabriel said. "Peter is wrong. That's not Anderson's ability."
"Then what is it?" Matt snapped.
Gabriel flinched, but answered anyway. "Once his is hit by another ability, he absorbs it. Almost like Peter."
"And you."
Gabriel lowered his gaze. "Yes..."
"Except you kill your victims." Matt said cooly. Gabriel saw his hand toying with his handgun. It seemed Matt was still edgy about their last encounter.
Peter jumped to his feet and drew his fist back ready to teach Parkman a lesson, or two. But someone was even faster and caught it in vice like grip.
"Don't, Peter." Gabriel whispered. He had anticipated Peter's outburst, and decided it was best not to get into another fight. "It's all right."
"No it's not." Peter seethed still glaring straight at Parkman. "You don't deserve this."
"But I do, Peter."
Peter stopped struggling and turned to the watchmaker. "No you don't. Parkman's just being-"
"Don't try to defend me." Gabriel said slowly. "I killed people. The way I figure it, the world will never forgive me. Not after all that I've done."
"Damn right." Parkman growled. He dodged around Peter and slammed his fist into Gabriel and flung him back. Gabriel hit the wall and landed on his stomach. He slowly sat up and tried to catch his breath. His head pounded even harder after hitting it again.
Claire rushed over to try and help. She sat him back against the wall and checked to see if there were any broken bones. There weren't. "I probably deserved that." the watchmaker sighed. "Excuse me." he stood up and walked out of the room. Claire jumped up and followed after him.
Peter shoved the police officer back in his seat. "Was that really necessary?" he growled.
Claire ran down the hall trying to keep up with the taller man. She promised herself that the next time Gabriel ran, she would follow. He had become a close friend to her, and she wanted to return the favor. By the time she got to his room the door was shut and locked.
"Gabe it's me."
The door clicked open. Gabriel stood in the dark doorway. "Claire. Go back with the others."
Claire smiled. "They don't need me. Besides, you look like you could use a friend."
Gabriel opened the door further. "I guess."
A half hour later things calmed down in the group and they were able to get on track again. Nathan proposed they form a plan to counter Anderson and his growing army of followers. Mohinder filled everyone in on who and what Anderson was capable of.
By now Anderson would have been able to amass new recruits for his army. Peter wanted a small group to attack Anderson directly, while a larger group took out the rest.
Nathan decided that Peter, Claire, and Gabriel would go after Anderson. The rest would do damage control and arrest the small army. The mission depended on Molly being able to find Anderson. She said that would be no problem. Everyone agreed to the plan.
Peter sat back and listened. He kept wondering what would happen to his friend after this was all over. He did know that he wasn't going to let Gabriel be taken anywhere. Be that the Company or jail. He was so convinced that Gabriel had changed for the better.
"So that's it. We launch two days from now." Nathan confirmed. At this Peter was jerked out of his thoughts and back into reality.
Everyone stood up and started exiting the room. Peter hung back to talk to Nathan.
"What do you think of Gabriel?"
Nathan thought for a moment. "Let's say this, if I thought that Gabriel was Sylar in any way, I wouldn't let you near him."
"Does that mean you like him?"
"Maybe. But I can't say for sure, I've only met him this way once."
Peter nodded.
At first Gabriel didn't feel like talking at all. But gradually he opened up and told Claire everything. He told her where he went the night he ran away, what he saw and how he felt. And Claire listened.
When he opened up Claire could not believe that the man in front of her used to be Sylar. The name of the man everyone feared. She never would have guessed in a million years that he would become her friend. As she sat there listening the more she realized how he had suffered, even before he became Sylar.
Eventually Gabriel's headache became too much for him. He tried to ignore it but Claire noticed and forced him to lie down. A little while later, Gabriel fell asleep. Claire thought this was a good time to heal the wounds that Anderson had inflicted.
After Claire was done, Peter walked in. "Hey." he whispered and motioned for her to follow him.
Closing the door so they wouldn't disturb the sleeping man, Peter told Claire the plan.
"When?" she asked.
"Two days from now."
Claire sighed. "I can't wait until this is over."
Peter pulled his niece into his arms to comfort her. Tears fell down her face as she buried herself in her uncle's embrace. Peter wished there were more that he could do in a time like this.
"I know. I know."
But before they knew it, the day had arrived.
Hello! It is I! Well this is chapter 10! TEN! I'm so happy!! :D As you can see. I finally reached ten! Yay me! And I will reach 100 reviews very soon! Woot!
Anywho, I added more Heroes cause I thought it needed it. DL and Nikki are alive in this because I wanted them to be. Plus I had this planned out before watching season 2.
Chapter 11 will be called: Confrontation and Chapter 12: At An End. Then there will be an Epilogue to this story. And maybe a one-shot for a sequel, I don't really know. With exams (finals) coming up it'll be hard to write.
Ok end of rant. I love you guys for reading and reviewing, you are the best!!
See ya and drop a review if possible.
--Memories of Nobody