KEY: Italics inside triple asterisks are memories, but single asterisks are dreams. Single italics are private thoughts. Quoted italics are transmitted thoughts in normal scenes, but are single quoted in dreams/memories (single apostrophe). Arrows closed around are like a voice over affect {blah}.

Her head throbbed. Her mind swam. She felt like the entire world had been turned to liquid and she was left like a stone, doomed to watch everything from the beneath the surface but never drown. Everything was fuzzy and out of focus when she opened her eyes. She tried to use her telepathy and probe for stray thoughts. It was an instinct. An act she'd done a million times. This time, the action made her stomach turn. She groaned, struggling to keep her nausea at bay. But she couldn't move her hands to her abdomen. They were tied behind her back. And she was in a chair.

"Don't try to use her powers, Miss Petrelli. It won't do you any good."

She gasped. The voice had boomed from behind her. Directly behind her. A voice so devious it sent a chill down her spine. She'd never met the owner, but she knew the man just the same. Her father had told her all about him.

"Sylar..."

Her own voice was a hoarse mumble, just barely above a whisper. But her heard her. The chuckle that followed confirmed it. She heard him move. He walked around her chair and sat down in front of her in the chair she had just barely brought into focus. Suddenly her world was thrown off again. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.

"So, you know who I am," he replied cooly, his tone rubbing her the wrong way. "No doubt from your father. How is he, by the way? I bet he's told you how vile I am."

"What have you done to me?"

"It's a lovely little cocktail I came up with." His voice dripped with sadistic glee. "It dampens your powers and keeps you compliant during interrogations. Don't you like it?"

"No," she answered flatly. Her mind was hazy, jumbled and out of reach. She wanted to throw up. It took everything she had not to. A tiny part of her brain was screaming at her to concentrate and untie the rope that kept her hands bound. She tried. She really did. She couldn't let Sylar keep her there. She'd heard all the horror stories of his experiments on evolved humans. The torture they endured before he got bored and killed them off. And if he knew who she was, then there was no telling what he had in store for her.

"Now what did I say about using your powers?" he asked. The tone in his voce still hadn't changed. It was so cool, calm, and malicious. She hated it. "You're going to hurt yourself, Olivia."

"The only one that's going to get hurt is you when I finally get out of here."

He laughed at her, ginuinely amused. Then she felt the rope slip away from her wrists and heard it fall to the floor. Her arms swung free to her sides. Instinctively, she raised her hands to her face. She rubbed her eyes and her temples, trying to clear the fog. His chair scraped the tiled floor. He was standing. Waiting. Waiting for her to attack.

"Well, let's just see about that. If you're as strong as you're claimed to be, then you should have no problems trying to defeat me."

There. A tiny piece of clarity in the haze. She grabbed for it and yanked. Her mind started clearing rapidly. She could think without feeling sick. She probed the room. Sylar was the only one there with her. Not so good, but at least he would be the only one she'd have to worry about. She wasn't sure how long her strength would last, but she'd give him hell.

She looked up. He was standing no closer than five feet from her. He looked the same as he did in her father's memories. No wrinkles on his face. Not a gray hair in sight. He's used his regeneration abitlity quite a bit to achieve that affect. Uncertainty crept into her gut. Was she strong enough to get the best of him? He was twice her age, at least. He'd fought her father, and nearly killed him. Twice. He was powerful. He'd killed so many other evolved humans like her over the years.

No. She was strong, too. Her father engraved it into her brain when she was little. She was strong. She could take anything he dished out. She knew a lot of tricks most people her age couldn't know. Not only could she fight Sylar, but she could beat him, too. She could kill him. End his reign of terror. Free the rest of her kind. Get back to Adam.

She stood. Her chair flew back, all the way to the back wall. She heard it break against the painted cinderblocks. Sylar looked slightly shocked, then amused. He smiled that pure evil smile. She glared back. Her mind spread across the room, grabbing objects. Tables, chairs, books, pens, papers. Everything began to swirl around and attack him. But he waved his hand and they crashed to the floor. A few little things struck from behind. A paperclip lodged itself in his shoulder. Caught him off-gaurd. He cursed, and she smiled.

"I'm not a helpless little girl, Sylar," she told him with her thoughts. "My father taught me to be strong. My mind is a weapon you shouldn't have messed with."

He snarled. He waved his hand again. A tabled flew at her. She saw it just before it slammed into her and stopped it. She sent it back at him. He caught the full force of it and was sent reeling into the wall. Quickly, she aimed every paperclip she could find at him, straightening them for maximum damage.

The tabled crackled and froze over. It exploded, shattereing into thousands of pieces. Livvie threw up her hands and formed a sheild with another table that lay nearby. Sylar rose from the floor. His eyes glimmered with both anger and intrigue. She reached out for his thoughts, hearing them as loud as if he'd broadcast them over the intercom system.

...haven't had a good fight like this in a while... Too bad she's only telpathic and telekinetic... Could've been more useful...

She didn't give him time to breathe. She sent her tiny spears at him, full force. But they all missed. He phased straight through them. Then he mocked her by laughing. It infuriated her. She clentched her hands closed hard at her sides and stomped her foot. The walls groaned. The ceiling shifted. Sylar looked shocked. She did it again, closing her eyes tight this time as well. The entire room shifted inward. Another stomp. Another groaning shift, this time outward.

What the hell is she doing? The whole room is going to implode! What raw power! She's more useful than I thought...

"No!" She screamed the word in protest, both orally and mentally. At the same second, the walls cracked with the fury of a lightning storm. The rebar support system screeched and snapped. Every light bulb popped. Sparks showered all around. The walls twisted violently and broke apart. Some pieces flew inward, others outward. The ceiling collapsed. She felt something hard hit her, and she fell to the floor. That same heavy thing was on top of her, pinning her down. She could hear everything crashing and rumbling all around her. But she felt nothing.

Did I kill us both, she wondered to herself. Wait. I can breathe. I'm not dead.

She opened her eyes. The whole place had blown apart. She saw sky where ceiling was. And a swarm of guards coming at her where the walls used to be. And Sylar pinning her shoulders to the floor. He was looking around the destroyed room as well. Astonishment had taken over his face. He was shocked at her power. She grasped for his thoughts again.

Dear god... She ruined the entire place... How can she have so much power? It's impossible.

"I told you I was strong," she broke in. His head snapped down. He looked at her. "All my life, I've trained my mind. It's a weapon."

"It's a fucking bomb, is what it is!"

This time, she got to smirk. The guards that had been running at them finally arrived. Sylar stood and brushed himself off. But she still couldn't move. He was using his power to keep her on the ground until two guards reached down to pick her up. They all looked at the wreckage, then back at her. Their mouths drooped in awe. Sylar's normal look of deviated coolness returned quickly. He ordered them to take her to a cell.

"Give her a second dose of the cocktail," he added. "But no one touch her. I've got special plans for this one."

He heart thumped in fear. She tried to struggle against the grip of the guards, but they never budged from her attempts. They must have had enhanced strength. Enhanced humans working for the madman. She looked back at him as they took her away. She didn't like the look of interest he was giving her.