Kate looked at Jonathon. His eyes were bright, and flames seemed to burn behind them.
"Jon…Jonathon?" She asked. The pain in her mind increased, and she blacked out.
"Think you've figured it out yet?" Sylar asked.
Kate glared at him. To the normal eye, it seemed as though she was just sitting in a chair, having a normal conversation. But if you looked, you could see her straining against his telekinesis. But she couldn't fight back in her normal way. Jonathon had stolen her will, making it impossible for her to fight back. He was standing in the corner of the room, looking out of the window, his eyes a thousand miles away.
"Well?" Sylar asked, a mocking smile across his face.
Kate looked at him, trying as hard as she could to break his hold on her, and punch him in the face.
"Answer." Jonathon said, not even bothering to turn and face Kate or Sylar.
"Yes." Kate spat hatefully as Jonathon's command took control in her mind.
Sylar's smile grew even more mocking, if that were possible. "Oh? Then what happened?"
Kate bit her lip. She was absolutely furious.
"Tell me, please. I want to know if you've REALLY figured it out." Sylar continued.
"Answer his question." Jonathon said, again not bothering to turn around.
Kate struggled to keep her mouth shut, but the words came pouring out. "Jonathon's mind…is more…advanced… then most people's." She said, her words breaking as she tried to stop them. "He's only two, but his… intelligence is that of… a thirty-year-old… at least." She was gasping with effort, still trying to stop her words. "But his…mindset, his emotions… advance more…slowly then his intelligence… He has the mindset of a…teenager."
Sylar smiled coldly. "Go on."
She glared at him hatefully, but continued.. "And most teenagers…have been known to…" She looked at him. "Rebel."
Sylar smiled again and nodded. "I'm impressed."
Kate looked at him, cold flames burning furiously behind her eyes.
And, for one small moment, her fury was too great, her powers came rushing back, and she punched him in the face, effectively breaking his nose.
Jonathon finally turned to face his sister, his eyes burning into hers. Kate's will disappeared entirely at his gaze.
"Ah, Kate." Sylar said, shaking his head slowly, his nose already healed. "Please. You know me better then to actually think that I would just let Jonathon go."
Kate glared at him.
"But you were… oh, what's the word?" He looked into her eyes. "Desperate?"
She looked back at him, her eyes burning with pure hate and fury.
Sylar smiled coldly. "Do you know what happened in those three months, when you were out searching for him?" He looked into her eyes. "I can show you." He was smiling mockingly.
Kate tensed, and would have punched him again if she could have.
Sylar looked into Kate's eyes, and suddenly, Kate was in another time, in Sylar's memory.
"That's all!" Jonathon was saying. "That's why, ok? I don't SEE the future! I can't tell you anything!"
"Then how did you know about it?" Sylar snarled, his hand sparkling with electricity.
Jonathon looked at his hand. "What? You want to kill me? Try it!" He snarled, glaring at Sylar. "You want to threaten me? Try and kill me?"
Sylar looked at Jonathon. There was no way that he could hurt him. Jonathon was way too powerful for that. His mind would be scrambled like so many eggs if he even tried. The only reason Jonathon hadn't done that already was because telekinesis was effective past his telepathic shield. Also, he needed Jonathon. He needed to know how Jonathon knew the future.
And that's when he saw it. Kate must have already woken up, because there she was, flying over the building. Sylar smiled coldly.
"Something like that." He replied, the electricity becoming more intense as he aimed it at Kate.
Jonathon's eyes widened as he realized what Sylar planned to do. "You wouldn't."
"Do you want to risk that?"
Kate picked the worst time in the world to land, sobbing in an alley. Sylar's hand targeted her. The electricity intensified.
"Look, just stop! I don't know anything else! I already told you!" Jonathon said, practically begging.
"There's more." Sylar replied. "I can see it in your eyes."
Jonathon looked at Sylar, and then at his sister. His eyes dropped to the floor. "I knew about your son…because I heard the scream."
Sylar looked at him. "What?"
Jonathon kept his eyes on his shoes, as though they were the most interesting thing in the world. "When Kate…died…You heard both of us scream, remember?"
Sylar nodded slowly, and the electricity started to fade.
"Telepaths call it the Death Scream. It's the sound that a person's mind makes, a scream that's ten times louder then the one that your body can make. When you can't cry out loud enough, your mind does it for you. And, to a telepath, that's the worst noise in the world. Because they can hear someone die." He looked at Sylar. "Like I heard your son."
He looked down again. "So I listened in. I heard the thoughts of you and your son in a time period shortly before that."
A small tear was forming in his bright eyes. "But I couldn't warn you. Your son was going to die. Everything was going to die and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't tell you to stop; I couldn't do anything but hear you. And I promised myself that I would never again listen to the thoughts of the future. It's… too painful."
Kate felt Sylar's emotions in the memory. Part of him wanted to roll his eyes at the way-too-sweet-sob-story of it all. But the other part wanted to know about his son. Wanted to know WHY his son died, WHY it was so painful for Jonathon.
And, WHY part of him could still remember him. That small boy that he could only imagine in dreams. His son.
Despite all of her anger towards Sylar, Kate's eyes weren't quite as hard when her mind came out of his memory.
But then she remembered why he'd shown it to her in the first place, and all of her pity for him was gone.
"And it never stopped from there." Sylar said, smirking at Kate.
Jonathon's gaze was a million miles away still, almost as if he was bored with the whole thing.
"You never knew about the scream, did you Sylar?" Kate spat, finally speaking without any assistance from either of the other two. "That's why your own mind rejected the telepathy at first."
Sylar looked at her, and Kate laughed, the humorless laugh of a crazy person.
"You're a killer born, Sylar." She snarled. "And my telepathy wouldn't let you kill." Her eyes blazed into his. "You've heard it now, haven't you? That scream. The one that blazes into your mind. You can never get rid of that. It will stay with you! FOREVER!"
Sylar looked at Jonathon, who didn't turn around. "Quiet." Kate's brother said softly, his voice little more then a whisper.
Kate found that she could no longer speak.
"Now now, Kate. That's no way to talk." Sylar said mockingly.
She would have punched him if she could.
What do you even want? Kate thought. She hadn't expected Sylar to read her mind, so there was fear mixed with the anger in those thoughts.
Sylar looked into her eyes. "What do I always want?"
Kate's eyes widened. Power.
Sylar smiled. "Exactly."
There was genuine fear in Kate's eyes this time, though it was hard to detect in the hate that dominated in them.
You already have my power.
Sylar nodded.
So why, exactly, do you need me?
"Influence." It was Jonathon who replied, not Sylar.
"Exactly." Sylar said, continuing on Jonathon's words. "You see, I have your power. But I don't have all the other powers that I want."
Something clicked in Kate's mind. Then why not get Jonathon to do it? Why me? Her voice rang out as he read her mind.
"Because no one trusts the toddler. No one listens to him."
Kate's eyes widened. All this time…Even after you killed me. Somewhat even after you turned Jonathon against me. Her eyes met his. I thought that maybe… just maybe… but you will always be nothing but a killer.
Sylar smiled coldly. Did you ever think otherwise? He asked in her mind.
"She did." Jonathon replied for his sister. "Because you didn't kill her the first time you met her."
Sylar chuckled darkly.
Kate glared at him murderously. So that's it? She asked. You want me to call the other heroes here so you can…kill them? Take their power?
Sylar nodded.
Never.
"You don't have a choice, Kate." Jonathon said. He turned to face her, his eyes burning with a quiet hate. "You never will."
Somehow, someway, nothing scared Kate more then the look in Jonathon's eyes at that moment. Nothing. Not Sylar, not the thought of her own death. Just that look.
Never.
Kate thought the word over and over. I will never call Hiro. I will never do it. Never.
Sylar rolled his eyes. Jonathon stared at his sister, his eyes blazing with quiet fury.
"Do it." Jonathon's voice was little more then a whisper. "Call Hiro here."
What are you doing, Jonathon? You're not a killer. Kate's mind reached out to her brother's.
"But Sylar is." Jonathon replied. "And I'm not just going to sit here, defenseless. You failed to help. He never has."
Kate looked at him like he'd been brainwashed. You're kidding.
Get Hiro over here now.
The command bent Kate's will, and she stopped thinking of anything but stopping herself from reaching out and talking to Hiro.
Do it!
Never!
The telepathic energy pouring into Kate's mind increased, and Kate started to scream…
Far away, somewhere in Japan, Hiro rubbed his head as a voice entered his thoughts.
Hiro! It's Kate!
"Kate?" he asked out loud. Thankfully, no one was around to hear him.
Help me, Hiro! I need you!
Hiro sat up straight. "What do you need?" He asked, his voice bursting with excitement.
Get over here, NOW!
A picture flashed in Hiro's mind as Kate showed him where she was.
"I'm coming Kate!" he cried in his best heroic voice. "I'll save you!" He shut his eyes tightly, and suddenly wasn't there anymore.
Far away, Kate's voice sounded out. "Hiro, NO!"
Hiro whirled around to face Kate. She was covered in sweat, all of her muscles tense. She was pale, thin, and looked horrible.
"RUN HIRO!" She shouted, looking at something behind him. "GO, NOW!"
Hiro turned to face the thing that Kate was looking at. Sylar was standing behind him. Sylar pinned Hiro to the wall.
Kate's heart was thudding unevenly. It was freezing in the room, and her breath came out in a cloud. Things seemed to slow down, as though the world was taking it's time to show her what was happening. Kate was thinking faster then she ever had, creating battle strategies in the blink of an eye, and disposing of them just a quickly.
The cold helped her concentrate, in some strange way. She knew that Hiro couldn't escape from Sylar until the telekinetic hold was dropped. She saw Sylar's hand come up, ready for the kill.
Kate took a deep breath. This was it. She had to save Hiro, and failure wasn't an option. Sylar teleporting was not a pretty thought.
She gathered up all her strength. She took a deep breath, and raised her hand as quickly as she could. Her hand clawed as she fought the telekinetic energy that held Hiro in place. And then it happened.
Sylar lost his hold on Hiro, who teleported away in the blink of an eye.
Sylar glared murderously at Kate, but that didn't matter. She couldn't see Sylar though the pain that Jonathon was causing as he flooded her mind with pure telepathic energy. She was gasping; trying with everything she was just to stay alive.
Sylar looked at Jonathon, who nodded. "Go. I'll watch her."
Sylar nodded, and ran out the door, taking off.
"Nice try, Kate." Jonathon spat the words hatefully at his sister. "But Sylar's still going to find Hiro. Now he's seen it, he knows how badly he wants that power. And he will stop at nothing to get it."
The pain in Kate's head lessened, but her will was still gone. "But I did what I could." She replied.
Jonathon looked at her. "You never did care about your own life."
Kate shook her head, weak and exhausted. "Oh, I care." She said, her eyes meeting her brother's. "But I have to try and save people. It's who I am."
Jonathon's eyes blazed into hers. "Who you are is weak."
She looked at him. "Then the weak are victorious. Because this weak person died to save someone else. I died trying to protect you."
"Exactly!" Jonathon shouted, a tear forming in his eye as he got more and more furious. "You DIED, Kate! And I had to save you!" He looked into her eyes, fury and hate burning through everything he was. "You DIED. He didn't."
Kate looked at her brother. "And why is he so strong in your eyes?" Her voice had never come above a soft whisper. "He can't stop himself, if he wants a power. That 'strength' was never his. He stole all of it. Is that who you want to be?"
There was absolute silence for a moment. "It's better then being like you."
The words stung with their own venom on Kate's heart, and the telepathic energy ensnared her mind, and she collapsed, gasping.
"Because you're nothing." Jonathon's voice rang in her ears. "And that's all you'll ever be."
Sylar walked into the room.
"Nothing?" Jonathon asked.
"Nothing." Sylar responded. He looked around. "Where's Kate?"
Jonathon was staring out of the window again. "Dead. I tried to get her to get someone else here, but her mind was too weak after all of this. It snapped."
Sylar nodded slowly. "The body?"
"Bottom of the ocean." Jonathon replied. "We'll have to think of something else, since that failed."
Sylar nodded again. "She's really dead?"
Jonathon nodded. "Yes."
"You killed her."
"Indirectly, but yes." The young boy showed no emotion as he discussed his sister's death.
Sylar nodded. Jonathon wasn't lying. In a way, he was proud. Jonathon could help him yet. He decided that taking the two-year-old's power could wait. After all, his sister could no longer stop him.
And, far away, a ghost of what once was stood there, waiting. Dark blue eyes shone out, like two oceans at midnight.
All that was left of Kate after her death and betrayal turned into an alley and disappeared.
A/N: I'm still not done! Yes, Kate is dead. But the Sylar/Jonathon thing lives on! Yikes. That's a scary team…
