Chapter Eleven
"Marco."
"Another lab?" Rodney said. "You don't have much imagination, do you?"
"It's kind of hard to find anywhere that isn't a lab, Rodney," John pointed out. "Anyway, you could be guessing."
"Section three, level six-alpha. Have to do better than that."
John grimaced, heading back towards the transporter and muting the radio. "Alice, is there anywhere the sensors aren't working?"
"Some of the flood-damaged areas, down in the lowest levels. He'll see you go down there, though."
"Yes, but he won't know where I am."
"I can alter the display he's using, if that's all you want."
"No," John said firmly. "That would be cheating."
Alice frowned, stepping into the transporter with him. The suggested level was already flashing; John tapped it to get them going.
"Asking me for one kind of help is cheating, but another kind of help is not?"
"Right," John agreed without really listening.
"Human morals are tricky things," she said thoughtfully. "How do you decide what is acceptable and what isn't?"
The transporter hummed open and John stepped out, glancing around. "Which way?"
"To your left, down two levels, west hallway."
"Thanks." He grinned as he started out. "What's McKay doing?"
"Looking very confused, and complaining about his staff. Again."
"Oh, shoot. Is Zelenka still there?"
"He is keeping his head down and making agreeing noises. How do you decide?"
John frowned, running back through the conversation. "Decide what?"
"What behaviours are acceptable and what aren't."
John scrambled down the ladder, meeting her at the bottom. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Asking me for one form of help is acceptable," she said patiently, following him along the corridor. "Asking me for another, even if I offer it, is not. How do you decide?"
"You just kind of know. I'm trying to beat Rodney, but I want it to be my win. You're suggesting where to go but I'm still putting in the effort, see? If you messed up his readings it'd just be winning by default."
"I see," Alice said slowly. "In that case, stop." She gestured to a door. "Scanners are damaged in that section. They will bounce your signal to the next working set, two corridors over."
John grinned, stepping forward and opening the door. He wandered halfway down the corridor before tapping his radio. "Rodney, you still there?"
"Of course I'm here, where else would I be?"
"I don't know, might have given up and gone for lunch," John said easily. "Marco."
"Section seven, sub-level three-gamma."
"Ooh, I'm sorry. That's incorrect, but you do win our lovely runner up prize."
"What? That's where you are!"
"No, it's not." John grinned, leaning against the wall. "Marco."
"Seven three gamma!"
"Nope. Give up yet?"
"Don't move," Rodney ordered.
"Oh, don't worry. It's quite comfortable here. You do what you're doing. I'll just hang out and wait for you to give up."
"I think you're making him angry," Alice remarked from the head of the corridor.
John flicked the mic off. "Good. He works best when he's angry."
"He works best when he's scared," Alice corrected him.
"Well, angry is second. Warn me if he's getting anywhere, will you?"
"It's a hardware problem, not software. He can't fix it from there."
John grinned, sliding down to sit comfortably against the wall. "Good."
***
"Did you know that was going to happen?" Daniel murmured.
"Everything happens sometime."
"That's not exactly what I asked."
"Where the hell did he go?" Jack demanded, turning in a tight circle. Sam had pulled her gun again, though she still wasn't aiming it at anyone, and Teal'c was watching Nathan closely.
The kids, realising that Jack was a little distracted, came to gather around RJ; Daniel obligingly stepped out of their way, joining Sam.
"Mr Petrelli?" he asked politely.
"I don't know where Mohinder is," Nathan said easily.
"Do you know what happened?" Jack asked over-politely.
Daniel thought he would have missed the hesitation if he hadn't been watching Nathan. "No."
"Any theories?" Daniel asked.
"No," Nathan lied.
"Are you sure?"
"I've told you I don't know where he is. I am a United States senator, you know."
"You should be used to people questioning you, then," Jack said absently. "Daniel, c'mere."
Daniel very carefully didn't react to the scuffling sounds as he walked to the stairs, or to the sight of Dominic wandering across, apparently casually, to whisper urgently to Nathan.
"Nathan's lying," he said quietly as he joined Jack on the landing. "He knows what happened. And I'm pretty sure Mohinder's still here—he moved out of my way."
"Yeah. I haven't heard him go past, and the kids are too close to the other door for anyone to get out that way." He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Yeah. Some. Nathan Petrelli has the Meta mutation, no known manifestation."
"Nathan didn't do anything."
"Not that we saw," Daniel agreed. "But Mohinder doesn't have it. Someone did something to make him vanish."
"Is there any chance of you actually leaving?" Theo demanded from just below them. "We've got our own problems, and since you're looking for Dr Suresh who—oh look!—isn't here, maybe you could go look somewhere else?"
"Yeah. I'd like to leave," Nathan agreed. "I have a constituency to get back to."
"T?" Jack called, holding up a hand. Teal'c powered down the zat, throwing it across the loft.
Daniel could see Casey eye it, could almost hear him weighing the pros and cons of snatching it, but he obviously decided against it. The zat landed in Jack's hand and he powered it back up.
"By the stairs?" he murmured.
"Yeah. Be careful, if you miss you'll hit the kids."
Jack glared at him, firing with barely a look. The energy outlined two bodies; Mohinder fell, but the second, a dark haired man, shook it off.
"Hey!" Nathan yelled, taking a step forward. Teal'c blocked him, catching Sam's arm and drawing her back a couple of steps.
Jack glanced down at the zat, shrugged, and fired again. The dark haired man fell back half a step, catching the energy and gathering it in one hand.
In the sudden silence, Dominic's muttered "I thought he couldn't come in here," was clearly audible.
"Nathan," the man said almost impatiently.
Nathan shook free of Teal'c, crouching beside Mohinder to check his pulse. Twisting to look at Daniel, he demanded, "What did you do?"
"Stunned him," Daniel said quickly. "That's all. He'll be fine in a few minutes."
Nathan nodded, glancing up at the other man, who was looking towards RJ. "Wolf," he said, smiling faintly.
"Chameleon," RJ answered, inclining his head.
"City on the water?"
"I'll be there. Apparently."
Daniel could see dawning realisation on Casey's face; whatever was going on, he knew more about it than the others did.
Mohinder stirred and the stranger crouched beside him, flicking the zat energy away without seeming to think about it. He touched Mohinder's shoulder, reaching across him to grip Nathan's arm.
"Wait!" Daniel protested, but they'd already vanished.
***
"I can't believe they shot at us," Nathan muttered, pacing back and forth along the landing.
"They didn't shoot at you."
"You shouldn't have even risked that!"
Peter didn't look up from where he was checking Mohinder's pupils. "He was in control. It wasn't dangerous."
"They're going to come looking for us. Did you have to talk to RJ?"
"How do you know RJ?" Mohinder added.
"I dreamed about him. Can you move your neck?"
"I told you, I'm fine." He twisted his neck anyway. "See? No concussion."
"What kind of weapon was that, anyway?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know. Lucky it was close enough to electricity I could handle it." Peter sat back, away from Mohinder. "Near as I can tell, you're fine."
"Thank you." Mohinder turned away, digging the blood sample out of his bag.
"Is that really the priority right now?" Nathan demanded.
"What would you suggest? Running? I might have some success with that, but you would not."
"That's what you get for going into politics," Peter said brightly, leaning over Mohinder's shoulder.
"This will take a little time," Mohinder told him pointedly. "Why don't you go and check on our young friends?"
"Better not, not without making sure it's safe," Nathan said quickly. "RJ was pretty out of it, on and off."
"Yeah, I caught bits of it." Peter moved away, staring at the paintings.
"What about O'Neill and the others? Did you get anything from them?"
"Not from the big one. The one who was holding onto you? I couldn't hear him at all. The younger one…"
"Daniel," Mohinder offered.
"He was just worried about anyone getting hurt. And he figured out what was happening, more or less. The older man…"
"O'Neill," Nathan said quietly.
"Hmm. As soon as Mohinder vanished he labelled us threat-to-team. He wasn't really worried about us before that." He stared past the painting for a moment before shaking it off, turning back to them. "What about RJ, did he tell you anything?"
"A bit. They're some kind of kung fu monks, and they thought his manifestation was part of his training."
"He seems to perceive the wolf as a separate entity," Mohinder added. "He doesn't consider it part of himself, and it's only nominally under his control."
"Jessica fought Niki for months," Peter said thoughtfully. "Isaac couldn't paint on his own. What's triggering the wolf?"
"Threat-to-team." Nathan shrugged lightly. "Or threat-to-home, maybe. The kids thought they could talk him down, but Fran was the only one who could actually do it."
"Fran," Peter repeated quietly. "Why her?"
"Because she was neither afraid, nor a threat." Mohinder sat back away from the microscope, scrubbing at his eyes. "RJ carries both the Meta mutation and the second sequence, but it's breaking down. His powers seem to be out of control because they are; they can't manifest fully because the second sequence keeps blocking them."
"This is like the Shanti virus?" Nathan asked.
"Something like, yes, but aimed at this second sequence rather than the Meta mutation."
"Aimed," Peter repeated. "You think someone did this?"
"I don't know. I can't see any sign of a pathogen or contagion. It's as if the genes simply wore out."
"Genes don't wear out," Nathan pointed out.
"Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you," Mohinder said dryly.
His phone rang.
***
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Chylea: Sorry! I gotta go where the muse points me. :)
Casus17: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying. This is set in an alternate Heroes season three: Everything up to the end of season Two happened, and then Nathan got better. It's somewhere roughly around season 10 of SG1, season 2 of SGA, and post Jungle Fury. Hope that helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you might have.
