Author's Note: I know this is weird because, in the last chapter, I did Elle's Monday and now I'm cutting back to Sylar's Saturday night. I think those scenes belong in their respective chapters; it just seems weird. And I want to thank everyone again for all the great reviews.
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Chapter 12
Night 37:
The night he spent with Elle, Sylar did not have any dreams worth remembering. However, the next night, he dreamed of her death again.
This time, when she caught fire on the beach, she grabbed his forearms, and said, "I forgive you, Gabriel."
She would not let go of him. The fire spread down her arms and caught him on fire. She did not seem to notice that he was being burned; she just kept insisting that she forgave him.
In the morning he realized that she had never forgiven him in his dreams. The forgiveness in real life was one of the hardest things for him to take. He had to give credit to his brain for bringing that up when he was almost at a point of being comfortable in this partnership with Elle.
He had meant it when he told her that he wanted her forgiveness. It was just difficult for him to accept. Even though he did not have to feel guilty over bringing out the sociopath in her, he still felt horrible guilt over killing her. All these feelings were much more complicated now, though. Before, he had entertained the notion of breaking off the partnership without a word and never seeing her again. That was no longer an option. Now, she was so much under his skin that the idea of staying away was as painful as living with his guilt and her forgiveness. Now he wanted this to work out, whereas he had not before.
He also knew that, at this point, Elle would not let him cut her out of his life anyway. She had given him a way out the night before, and he had not taken it. To leave her behind now would mean that he had been leading her on, and he shuddered to think what she might do if she felt that he had betrayed her. It seemed odd to him that he was almost invincible, but he still feared Elle's wrath. The bottom line was the more he let her help him, the harder it would be to get rid of her, even if he wanted to.
--
Using a fake identity, Sylar flew into Detroit on Sunday, spent the night there, and drove into Saginaw on Monday. It occurred to him that it might be a trap. He did not know how he would feel about Elle if he found that she had set him up, but he found it unlikely that she had. He was fairly certain of her loyalties at this point.
In Saginaw, Sylar observed Michelle Valcek. She was not what he expected at all. She was a sweet grandmotherly type. He had been testing Elle when he asked her to pick his next victim, but now he wondered if she was testing him. And if she was, what was the test? Did she want to know if he was heartless enough to kill an unassuming grandmother. Regardless of how he felt about this woman and her ability, he felt the need to prove to Elle that he was that heartless, so that she would understand what she was getting into. On the other hand, maybe Elle was trying to prove to him that she could devalue human life as easily as he could. Sylar reminded himself that Elle had claimed not to know Mrs. Valcek and tried to put those paranoid thoughts out of his mind so that he could concentrate on the task at hand.
--
On Tuesday morning, Angela came into Elle's office and pursed her lips. "Sylar has killed again. This time it was a woman in Michigan."
Elle had been waiting to get that news since Sylar left her Saturday morning. She tried to look surprised. "What does that mean? What can he do now?"
Angela waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, it's just a vision thing. I want you to go out there with Noah and investigate. Now that there's a trail, maybe we can find Sylar again."
Elle thought that she must have misheard or that Angela must have misspoke. "You want me to go with Noah?"
"Yes, he is your partner. And you are here to work on the Sylar case; that's why we brought you back."
Elle knew that was why they revived her originally, but she found it hard to imagine Angela would still want her on that case. She believed Noah when he said that no one would trust her anymore, and she certainly did not think they would trust her to be around Sylar. However, Elle wanted an assignment, and she really wanted to be on the Sylar case, so she did not want to ask any questions that might make Angela change her mind. She stood up. "Okay, then."
Angela handed her a plane ticket. "You will meet Noah in Michigan."
--
In the rental car, Noah was quiet. Elle had no more information than Angela had given her back at the facility, so she hoped Noah had a better idea of what was going on. "So if we do find Sylar, what then? I'm not really any match for him. Wouldn't it be better to have someone like the Haitian with you?"
Noah kept his eyes on the road. "Yes, that would be better. We're operating under the assumption that he won't try to kill you, though. He already has your ability, and you claimed that there was reason to believe he still has feelings for you."
Even though Elle knew that was true, it would not help the company capture Sylar. "So is that part of... I feel like I should know Angela's plan before we find Sylar."
"You said that even if the company were able to take him into custody and gain control of him, there's no way to guarantee that we would keep control."
Elle remembered saying something to that effect. "Yeah. So?"
Noah pulled into a driveway. "So Angela thinks you might be the best way to control him. He's always been a little vulnerable to you. You manipulated him perfectly when you first met him, and you did it again when you were haunting him. We still don't trust you, but right now, no one can think of any other way, or any better way, to control Sylar."
Elle wanted to ask Noah more about that, just to hear more about how Sylar was vulnerable to her and how she was the only one who could control him. She liked the sound of that, but they were at the house, and there was other work to do. So she got out of the car and followed Noah into the house. Inside, the body was still lying where Sylar had left it. Somehow they had gotten the tipoff before the police. The company never ceased to amaze Elle.
Elle noticed the pictures on the wall before she really looked at Michelle Valcek. The walls were covered with the images of children, teenagers, weddings, and more children. Then she looked at the body and was not surprised to find the sweetest old lady with the top of her head cut off and her brain removed. Elle had known that Michelle Valcek was a widow, but she honestly had no idea that Michelle was so old. She did not know why it made it harder to know that she had sentenced this woman to death instead of a younger one, but she figured it must be all the grandchildren staring at her from the wall.
Fortunately, Noah misunderstood whatever horror was showing on her face. He gestured at the brainless body. "How do you feel about your boyfriend now?"
Elle wondered if that was Angela's real purpose in sending her to Michigan, to show her what Sylar had done. Maybe Angela thought they would be able to trust her more if they could break down her feelings for Sylar. She turned to Noah. "How can you look at that and not feel guilty? We did this. We should have let him hang himself rather than let this happen. What happened to Claire, what happened to my father, to me, we're responsible for all of it. I don't know how you've talked yourself out of that."
"No one is responsible for what Sylar did except Sylar. Once you realize that... It's this guilt that's keeping you from moving on."
Elle smiled inwardly. She had only said what she thought was expected of her, but now she knew that Noah believed her when she said those things. That was a really good sign. She sighed. "I don't think there's any trail here to follow. What was her ability?"
Noah put on a glove and pushed some things around. "Telescopic vision. He could be watching us right now."
Elle looked around at the windows. She had to admire how calm Noah was considering that Sylar had recently threatened to end their game of cat and mouse. She tried to look like she was doing something, but even if she found a trail, she probably would not tell Noah.
Finally, Noah gave up and took off his gloves. "There's nothing here."
"So what do we do now?"
"Leave the body for the F.B.I." He held the door for Elle to exit the house. "I'm sure Agent Hanson is in need of something to do."
In the car, Noah said, "I am curious how Sylar found Mrs. Valcek. Was she in your phone?"
"No," Elle said. "I didn't even know her."
Noah looked at her warily. "Well, now we'll look into her children. I'm sure by now Sylar has realized these abilities are genetic."
--
Michelle Valcek had five children, none of whom had been documented as having abilities. Three of them were still located in nearby towns and a fourth lived in Detroit. Elle and Noah spent two days talking with and monitoring those children when word came that the fifth and youngest of the Valcek brood had been murdered in Maryland.
The remaining siblings were bagged and tagged for their own safety, and Elle and Noah flew back east to have an uncomfortable conversation with Tracy Valcek Chobham's husband. He claimed that he had never seen her do anything out of the ordinary, but they both knew that in situations like this, people tended to lie. Without going into too many details, Noah stressed how important it was that they know what Tracy was able to do. As of right then, Sylar had at least one ability the company knew nothing about.
After hitting the wall in Maryland, Noah sent Elle back to the facility in Hartsdale. She did not like being dismissed like that, but at least she had been sent on a real mission. It worked out for her anyway because she wanted to be somewhere where Sylar could easily find her if he needed or wanted to. She still needed to witness a kill in order for him to trust her, and after just seeing two bodies, one in person and one in pictures, she wanted to get that over with as soon as possible.
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Author's Note: Michelle Valcek and Tracy Chobham were from Chandra Suresh's list, but there is no indication they were related.
