Chapter 10- Last Man Standing
Ok, I admit it: I got sucked into the hype and coughed up $10 for a ticket to see "Hunger Games" along with every other teen in the Metro area and as I watched the mayhem unfold on the screen, it made me wonder what I would do if I were in that situation. If it all came down to it and specials were rounded up for such a game, would I wantonly kill my cohort for the entertainment of the viewers at home? Would I even survive?
There are ultimately two sides to extreme survival: the physical and the psychological. One might think that with all of my abilities, I should be able to just kill everyone the second the game began. That might be true in principle, but nothing galvanizes people like a sure threat and you can bet that I would have a big red target painted on my back from the word go. In a hypothetical world in which I was thrown into an arena with Peter, Parkman, Claire, Hiro, and even Nathan if he were alive, I'm not so sure I would be the odds on bet. Let's ignore for a moment the fact that Hiro could just say to hell with it and teleport himself to a nice beach somewhere while the rest of us duke it out, or the futility of trying to kill Claire when she can't die. I wouldn't be immune to their collective attack and I wouldn't get a moment's rest always wondering if one of them was just around the corner with a sharp knife to saw my head off. They might not know where my kill spot is, but it would only take a few well placed cuts to ensure my death no matter where it is.
Peter isn't known to be the type to take another's life, but I have been on the receiving end of his wrath enough to know that if it absolutely came down to it, he could kill me. If he thought there was no alternative but to take my life to save his own or that of someone he loved, I would undoubtedly take my last breath at his hands. After all, he was going to take me out at Kirby Plaza, I truly believe that. I remember the look of determination in his eye as if it were yesterday and if he had to murder me he would. He might feel guilty about it, but he would do it just the same and just like me, he could do it in an astounding number of ways: even taking one of my own powers like disintegration to use against me. There really is no such thing as having an advantage when you have an empath that can copy your ability at will in proximity.
Hiro has the unfair advantage of being able to freeze time and he almost gave me a Cuban necktie in my own mother's apartment once. It was the scariest thing in the world to have a razor sharp sword held to my throat when all I could move was my eyes and watch him swing. Lucky for me he hesitated and the spell was broken or else things could have ended very differently- for better or worse. The world wouldn't have known Sylar, but then again, many more would have died because I didn't stop Sullivan. But he isn't quite the same mousy man he used to be and just like Peter, if his honor was at stake, I'd be several inches shorter.
Parkman too has plenty of motivation to make me a target and a means to get the job done. Even though he doesn't like to use it and may not even be fully aware of the extent of his own ability, he more or less has the power of mind control and that could be very dangerous for me. Aside from my ability to detect lies, I really have no defense against that kind of attack and he's monkeyed with my mind on more than one occasion. He can place thoughts into people's minds and this gives him the option to control me like a puppet all while making me think it was my own idea. He could either make me make a mistake that would render me vulnerable or he could make me kill myself. Parkman may not want to think that he's capable of such a thing, but I know from being a resident of his brain from a time that for him it wouldn't take much persuasion because he hates me anyway. I have been the source of so much misery in his life from killing a man and framing him to having sex with his wife, so if I took myself out he wouldn't feel too badly about it.
Claire would be especially daunting because in order to be assured of her death, I would have to be thorough. I know roughly where her kill spot is, but either I would have to bludgeon her to a pulp, entirely disintegrate her, or something equally horrific and I simply wouldn't have it in me. I've never brutalized anyone like that and for good reason. But anything less and I would be faced with a constantly resurrecting enemy that just keeps coming at me like a determined zombie. She wouldn't physically be a threat, but she certainly would wear me down with her persistence.
Nathan wouldn't be a physical threat because all he could really do is fly away, but he was far more deadly with the legendary Petrelli weapon of manipulation. Of them all, he was probably the only one that was capable of full on intellectual assassination and the only one I would consider my equal in that domain. Nathan's strength would be his ability to lead the others in a pack to hunt me like dogs after a fox. He would be the architect of my demise because he certainly wouldn't ally with me even if it meant sacrificing himself as he did at Kirby Plaza and again on the roof of the hospital, although I think that had more to do with his realizing that he was living as a guest in my head and that to him, it wasn't really living at all. I respect that because if I was faced with the prospect of living in Matt's head forever, I would have killed myself too. I didn't even want to live in my own head for crying out loud.
But then there's the psychological aspect of survival and although I can deal with isolation, surviving in the elements with only basic supplies and being hunted would be enough to demoralize anyone and test their mettle. I faced a version of this myself thanks to Matt, but true survival is another story entirely. None of my powers would be particularly helpful: I can't conjure water, snap my fingers for shelter, or create my own food. Telekinesis would be minimally helpful for these things, but I wouldn't be much better off than anyone else with the exception of not being able to die of exposure or starvation if I don't procure them. It certainly wouldn't be a comfortable existence and in some ways even worse because the suffering of hunger and cold would never end.
So really, my only option would be to kill my fellow participants to end the game or get the supplies I need. But would I just so the folks at home could forget about how miserable their lives were for an hour or so? Could I really bash Claire's skull in with a rock? Would I engage in an epic battle with Peter to gain ratings and hopefully support from sponsors? Surprisingly, no. I would flat out refuse from the start to kill anyone no matter how much suffering that meant for me and it has nothing to do with morality. It simply isn't logical and I have no reason to kill them. I already have Claire's ability and most of Peter's, Nathan's wasn't really useful to me, and Matt's is interesting but not enough to kill him for. Hiro's ability to teleport would be the only power I would love to add to my arsenal, but the painful truth is that I simply can't catch him to get it. To put me in the arena would be a grand misunderstanding of my motivations by the promoters because I don't kill because I like to, I do it to gain abilities. Without the motivation to gain powers, I have no more inclination to take another's life, in turn removing the urge for the others to protect themselves.
It would be a ratings nightmare because the only action on view would be us sitting in a circle staring at one another. Perhaps I could juggle a few apples for the camera, but that's as far as I would personally go. Cooperation is not exactly my forte, but it is the only logical path to share survival skills and it would satisfy my contrary nature. You want me to perform like a circus animal for your amusement? Ask Bennet and Elle how that turned out. I don't perform for anyone and I don't kill for entertainment- mine or anyone else's.