Money, Revenge and Love

Catherine could see nothing but a blur all around her. She shut her eyes so the rushing of the wind didn't dry them out. They stopped outside glass double doors that led into a building that she thought resembled a hospital. Her hair came to rest past her shoulders and her cheeks stung a bit. Her legs felt wobbly when Edgar sat her on her bare and freezing feet.

He lead her inside. "You're at Safe Haven now." He said to her, "I'm to take you to one of the holding rooms."

She felt panicked. She planted her feet flat on the floor and tried to jerk her body free of his grip, but his hands just tightened around her arms and he forced her forward without much difficulty, so she stopped struggling. It seemed pointless and she was too tired to fight anymore.

They got in an elevator and made their way down to the holding rooms. He brought her to a metal door with an electronic key pad on the outside. He put a card into it and she heard several heavy locks echo as they moved. The door swung slowly open.

The inside of the room had a bed and a small side table with three drawers. There was a clock mounted to the wall and in the corner was a toilet and a sink. She noticed also a small black dome in the center of the ceiling which she assumed was a monitoring camera.

"This is a cell! I'm a prisoner?" She whirled around yanking herself out of his hands.

"No, love. You're bait." He started to walk out when he turned and said. "I'll be returning with some water and something to clean up those wounds you have. Is there anything else I can get you? Some tea perhaps?"

Catherine found his question and politeness astonishing considering he just kidnapped her. "A blueberry bagel, toasted with lots of cream cheese. Oh, and maybe some shoes would be nice." She said with thick sarcasm.

Edgar returned thirty minutes later wheeling a cart into her cell with a bottle of water, a first aid kit, slippers, tea and her bagel made exactly the way she had requested. She didn't think he would actually bring it.

"I thought you might like some tea after all." He said with a friendly smile.

He began cleaning the gash on her head. Catherine noticed he was about the same height as her and he was quite muscular. His hair was short and his facial hair was carefully groomed. His smoky blue eyes looked kind and thoughtful. After a few minutes of awkward silence she said, "You must think I'm an awful person."

"Should I?" He asked making eye contact with her.

She quickly looked away. "I'm in love with a monster, a murderer. Everyone must think I'm out of my mind." Even she did.

He moved behind her to clean the scrape on her shoulder blade. "It's none of my business, really, who you're in love with." He started opening a bandage to put on her shoulder. "We've all done things we're not particularly proud of. Take me for instance. I'm working with this lot and believe me, they can be pretty bloody awful." He finished dressing her wound and removed the latex gloves he was wearing.

"If you think they're so awful, why work for them?"

"Money. They're paying me a ridiculous amount of it. People can be quite driven by different things. Money, revenge …and love." He looked away from her as he started gathering up the medical supplies. "People will do almost anything for them." He was starting to regret his decision, considering Noah and Sylar were both driven by their emotions. Crimes of passion didn't often end well.

She watched him as he started to wheel the cart out of the room. "I'll give you some time. I'll be back soon to take you to the shower facilities and give you some clean clothes. Enjoy the tea." He smiled and left.

Sylar landed about a mile away from Safe Haven and walked the rest of the way. He didn't want to bring attention to himself by flying in for anyone to see. The rain had finally stopped, but the sky was still heavy with overcast. He started walking through the parking lot when a few rows over he saw a security guard getting out of his car. He came up behind him without a sound.

"Excuse me. Do you have the time?" He asked as friendly as he could.

When the guard turned around Sylar punched him in the face. He grabbed the guard by his hair and slammed his head against the car knocking him out cold. He laid him across the seats and stripped him of his uniform and quickly changed into it. He reached down and dabbed his finger in the mans blood that had come from his nose and rubbed it in between his finger and thumb. He shape shifted into the security guard.

When he walked into the building he saw that the entrance was like a huge atrium. There was a fountain in the center and large potted topiaries and flowers all around. The second floor was open, so that you could look down into the atrium over a wooden railing that wrapped around the top. The second floor also had large plants and potted trees surrounding the area. It was a beautiful setting. There were two other security guards inside. One greeted him.

"Hey Mike." He said clapping him on the shoulder. "How's your dad doing?"

"He made it through the surgery well and they say he'll make a full recovery." Luckily for Sylar, when he put Mike's wedding ring on he picked up on this information.

"Well, that's great news, glad to her it." The other man said.

"Thanks Kevin, that means a lot. I'll see ya in a few." He walked away in the direction he would normally go to report in for the afternoon.

He rounded the corner and walked into a large office with a woman sitting behind a desk with a large computer monitoring system.

"Oh, hey Mike. Good afternoon?" She thought he looked concerned about something. "Is everything okay?"

The door shut behind him. "No Amanda, I'm afraid it's not." He threw a hand out, pulling her out of her chair and up against the wall. She opened her mouth to scream but he silenced her by forcing her mouth shut.

"SSSHHHHH," he said with a finger to his lips.

He sat down to try to access Catherine's whereabouts when he started to feel light headed. He assumed maybe it was all the adrenaline zooming through his system but, then it got worse. He starting feeling dizzy, so dizzy that he couldn't focus on the screens in front of him. His head felt heavy. His vision went blurry. He felt intoxicated, drunk.

He turned and looked at Amanda. "What are you doing to me?" His voice sounded low and his speech was slurred.

He tried to stand, but fell back into the chair and slid halfway out of it to the floor. He couldn't control two powers at once any more so his form changed back into Sylar. He was struggling to keep his hold on Amanda. He tried again to stand and walk around the front of desk, but stumbled, knocking over and spilling several items onto the floor.

Amanda slid down the wall, she was free. She triggered the security alarm. Sylar, still unable to keep his balance, dropped to his hands and knees. His hands rolled over a few pencils, causing his arms to fly out from under him and his face to hit the floor. As he lay with his head turned to the side he saw something shimmer on the floor. It appeared to be a letter opener with a jeweled handle.

He reached out and curled his fingers around it, gripping it tight in his fist. Amanda stepped around next to him with a few zip ties to bind him with. Sylar swung his arm around, stabbing her deep in the thigh. She yelled out in pain, grabbing the letter opener sticking out of her leg. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to the floor to his level. Her concentration was interrupted as he had hoped and he started to feel somewhat sober. He was able to force her down with telekinesis once again. He ran out of the room sparing her life, but only because he didn't have the time to waste on killing her. If they crossed paths again soon, the story may be different.

Gaining back his sobriety, he electrocuted the security cameras as he made his way down the hall and up the stairwell. When he got to the second floor landing he cloned himself and ordered the clone to open the door from the stairwell first. It was a wise decision. Flames bellowed around the clone, destroying it to a mist.

"Sophie." Sylar said to himself. He stepped through the doorway with his hand out rendering her immobile, only it wasn't Sophie. It was a young man. Young and inexperienced. It was a shame his life was about to come to an abrupt end, Sylar thought as he slit his throat. He dropped him in a heap to bleed to death on the floor.

Noah was talking into an earpiece drilling out instructions. "I want to bring him out in the open to the atrium. Edgar. Be ready for my word."

Peter was walking along side Noah wondering why he had agreed to this ludicrous idea. He felt sick to his stomach. He was disappointed in himself. He should have stood his ground about it.

They made their way to the atrium with Rene, Alarric and several others behind them. "Hold your positions." Noah instructed.

Meanwhile, more were trying to subdue Sylar upstairs. He could hear them coming up from behind him. He made four clones which weren't able to acquire the abilities he had but they would make for a good physical distraction. He turned and saw two men and one woman heading for him. They were all armed. They began firing at every Sylar they saw. He struggled to keep the clones in form as the bullets zipped through them. A few bullets hit Sylar himself and he stumbled backwards but was able to stay on his feet. With a quick motion of his hand, he pulled the guns away from the two men. He caught one and shot the woman twice in the chest. The other gun flew passed him down the hall. The four clones went for the other two men. One was easily wrangled up by two of the clones. As they held him Sylar pointed his finger and slashed through his abdomen. Blood oozed down his body and his insides bulged from the wound. Sylar lifted him into the air and flung him over the railing down into the fountain below. The other two clones where struggling with the last man. Sylar held out his hand and began to strangle him. Then he heard Peter's voice.

"Sylar!" Sylar's head shot in the direction of the atrium where Peter's voice obviously came from.

Peter saw the man in the fountain drowning in his own blood that surrounded him in the water. "Sylar this isn't necessary. No one needs to die." He yelled out, looking along the railing above him.

"You're right, no one needs to die." Sylar stepped closer to the open area of the atrium loosening his grip on the man he had intended to strangle. "All of this could have been avoided if you would have left me the fuck alone!" His voice increasing with anger and volume as he spoke. He stepped out of the shadows and peered down at Peter. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you to let sleeping dogs lie?" He said mockingly.

Edgar woke Catherine, "Come on. We need to go. He's come for you."

She jumped to her feet sliding into the slippers. Her heart was racing with anticipation. She was worried Gabriel or Sylar, whoever he was now, might kill someone else.

He brought her up to the ground floor and stopped just before the entrance to the atrium. She could her Gabriel's voice now. She tried to move forward to see, but Edgar held her back. "Not yet."

Noah held up his hands. "Just surrender to us Sylar and we let Catherine go. It's that simple."

"Why do I need to surrender to you? Up until very recently, I have done NOTHING…" He paused trying to collect his composure. "nothing since my earlier escapades, which we had agreed we had moved on from." He continued looking now at Peter.

"We need you to let us experiment on you." Noah said.

Sylar rolled his eyes. "Oh, here we go again. You want to render me powerless. Then what?"

"Then we let you go."

Sylar began to laugh. "That's a lie. You want to kill me."

"Yes, I do want to kill you," Noah admitted. "but I'm not going to."

"Why not?" He shrugged. "That's what I would do."

"Well, I'm not like you, Sylar."

"Yes, you are, Noah. You're just a weaker, powerless version of me."

"Edgar." Peter said having Edgar bring Catherine out from behind them so she was visible to Sylar. They both stood next to Noah.

When Sylar saw her he tried not to show much concern. He paced along the railing. "Who else is involved?"

"Angela, Suresh…"

Sylar cut Noah off. "Suresh has tried to kill me before. What's to say he won't try this time, once I'm unable to regenerate. Hypothetically speaking."

"He won't. I'll personally see to it."

Sylar slammed his fist down on the wooden railing. "Another lie. You're right Noah, you're not like me. I don't lie nearly as much as you do."

Noah turned and looked behind him. "I've had enough. Rene."

Sylar saw the Haitian step into view. His clones disappeared when Rene turned off his abilities, along with everyone else's. The man the clones where holding came towards him, punching Sylar in the jaw. He swayed backwards and then caught his balance again. Then he punched Sylar in the stomach. He hunched forward feeling like he was going to vomit. The man grabbed Sylar's arms, pulling them around his back and holding him there.

"That's why Sandra left you. All the lies." Sylar smiled down at Noah with blood dripping from his mouth. "And your Claire." His chuckle echoed around the atrium. "Tell me, does Lyle call much?"

Noah pulled his gun out from the holster under his jacket and shot Catherine in the stomach, then immediately shot Edgar in the hip. Even without use of his ability, Edgar still had extremely sharp reflexes. He knew Edgar would try to play the hero and could easily take him down. Edgar fell to the ground, taking Catherine with him because she was wrapped in his arms.

Edgar looked up at Noah. "Are you bloody mad?"

"Noah!" Peter yelled. Noah aimed his gun at Peter now, stopping him from coming towards him.

Noah looked up at Sylar who was gaping down at Catherine in shock. Noah could see real pain on his face now and it made him smile.

Alarric held up his gun and aimed it at Noah. "What the fuck have you done!" He screamed. "You said you wouldn't let anything happen to her." He started to walk towards Noah still aiming his gun at him and was about to shoot. But, Noah shot him first without taking his eyes off Sylar. He pointed his gun back at Peter.

Peter's hands flew up to his head. "Jesus Christ, Noah." He said looking down at Alarric.

"Catherine." Sylar said. His eyes where spilling over with tears.

"How does it feel? Seeing someone you love hurt by someone you can't stop." Noah said to him remembering how Sylar had terrorized Claire. Sylar was also partly to blame for his failed marriage, therefore ruining his life. "I can get her to a healer, Sylar. Just give yourself up to us and I'll see that she lives."

Catherine coughed and blood started to seep out of her mouth. Edgar held her close, wondering how they would get her to a healer fast enough. When Rene turned his ability off, he wouldn't be able to run.

"She's running out of time, Sylar." Noah yelled up to him.

Sylar dropped to his knees. He rested his forehead against the ground and began to weep. For the first time, he was surrendering. Finally broken.

"Who's weak and powerless now…Gabriel." Noah said in a snide sort of tone.

Rene, along with several others came running up to where Sylar and the man holding him were. They cuffed him and pushed him off toward the lower levels to the cells.

Peter walked over to Edgar and touched his arm to borrow his ability. "We have some things to work out when I get back." He said to Noah just before he took off out the door with Catherine in his arms.