Chapter 14: Extermination

Sylar awoke with an odd sense of unease, he sat up and glanced around, he was alone, in the control room. His eyes drifted to the bulkhead beside him, a memory half formed and he pushed it away, it was too disjointed to comprehend.

"Claire!" he called out, getting to his feet, she should be here, he was certain of it, they'd been in this room together. His eyes fell on the corpse of the Roach that lay as he'd left it, neck at an impossible angle, its entire grotesque body pinned with metal fragments. Something about the Roach made his head hurt and he blinked, shaking his head and trying to clear the strange images and fragments of memories that attempted to surface.

He needed to find Claire. Spinning around the small room he darted towards a porthole and looked outside, his breath caught, they weren't in space. Instead odd orange tinted gases were floating past the window and he could see what was clearly a purple body of liquid beneath. They were on the planet, or at least floating in the atmosphere.

Frowning he darted from the room and began stalking down the corridors, he looked inwards, using little Molly's ability to find Claire once again. She was still, stationary, on the opposite end of the station. His feet left the ground and he flew with increasing speed towards the sense of her. The hatch tore apart at his insistence and he landed heavily, before glancing up and finding her, she looked unnaturally still, with her back to him, her hands pressed against the glass. He frowned and took in the room, it was clearly some sort of observation centre, the whole dome like room was see through, he stalked forwards.

"Claire?" he called out gently, raising his hand as he strode towards her, but his eyes caught sight of what she was staring at and he stopped dead, his hand merely hovering towards her in midair as his mouth opened in surprise.

"They're dead." There was something wrong with her voice, he noted despite his own shock, it sounded flat, broken.

"I... what?" his head spun around, darting from one view out of the dome to another, he stalked forwards and pressed his hands to the glass, frowning. "What happened?" he managed tearing his eyes away from the ruins of what had clearly been a city.

"We killed them." Claire replied quietly, not taking her eyes off the sight. "All of them."

"Wasn't that the plan?" he asked in confusion, not understanding her sudden change of heart.

Slowly she turned her head to look at him, her eyes were red and he realised with a start, she had been crying, she wasn't supposed to be able to still do that. "But like this?" she pointed her finger out the viewer. "My God." She sighed shaking her head. "They didn't stand a chance, didn't even have time to put up a fight."

"I don't understand?" he managed, realising with unease that he was missing large portions of his memory.

Her eyes narrowed and she moved towards him, he stayed still as her hands raised and she grasped his face, he stooped until their gazes locked.

"Are you... you?" she asked gently, her hand smoothed down across his cheek and he froze, 'when hadn't he been?'

"Yes." He rasped, the sensation of her hand brushing across his skin, then down to his lips as she traced them with her finger, it forced him to close his eyes. "I think so." He sighed as she skirted her fingers along his temples, clearly examining him. "When wasn't I?"

"You programmed the station and the ship to attack them." She explained wearily, turning away from him and releasing his face from her delicate touch, he resisted the urge to grasp her hands and place them back on his face, trying instead to focus on what she was saying. "Like a Trojan Horse, they thought the station, the ship was under their control, they never suspected anything. Kept trying to make contact with it even when it was clear it was destroying their ships. You said they didn't understand deception. Tactically it left them defenceless." She pressed her hand against the glass.

"I don't remember doing that." He told her pointedly. She glanced over her shoulder at him.

"No? Well I guess that's probably a good thing." She turned away again. "You weren't quite yourself." The way she said it made something unpleasant shiver along his spine.

"The Roach?" he whispered, "I was in its head, it's brain."

"Yes." It was simple, but succinct, that one word told him enough, the rest he didn't want to know.

"What does it say about us," she continued, "we came here with only one purpose, to kill them. We didn't offer them surrender, or mercy. We didn't even want anything from them, not their planet, or resources, we just wanted them dead." He stalked behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, when she didn't shrug them off he relaxed and stepped up closer behind her, noting that she still apparently hadn't found any clothes; not that he could miss it, but he had been doing his damndest not to stare. He supposed given as she was lamenting the loss of an entire civilisation and all he could think about was how close he was to her naked ass, that it probably meant he was well and truly going to hell.

"Does it make us as bad as them?" she asked him, although he sensed it was mostly rhetorical. "Or worse?"

"They started it Claire." He pointed out. "Pretty much think that covers us in the karma stakes, we just defended ourselves."

She glanced up at him and he stared resolutely back, her eyes narrowed. "Forgive me, I forgot I was talking to a killer for a moment. I'm about as likely to find compassion from you as I am under a rock out there." She slammed her hand against the viewing window in frustration more than anger he assumed. The insinuation stung, but he let it slide, he could see she was clearly shaken.

"You're not like them." He told her firmly, sliding his hands down her arms and wishing desperately that he could just hold her, because whether he wanted to or not, he did feel like a mass murderer. "I doubt they ever shed a tear for Earth. Or the countless billions they killed."

She sighed. "I suppose not."Her hands lifted and she wrapped them around herself, pressing her hands over his. "We were supposed to die here you realise."

He smirked. "Yes well..." he trailed off, oddly grateful that they hadn't, he'd been ready, willing even to accept the end. But now... now he wasn't so sure, her fingers brushed his and he took that final step so that her back was flush against his chest. She sagged slightly, leaning back into him for support and perhaps simple human contact.

After a few minutes of silence Claire broke it, "Do you still know how to read their language?"

Sylar frowned. "I could read it?" he questioned and she snorted in amusement.

"We can't stay here." She told him pointedly, slipping out of his grasp and turning to stare up at him. "I guess we resort to plan B." He frowned, he didn't think they'd made one. "We go back to Earth." She elaborated, looking about as thrilled at the idea as he was. "And I guess we take as many ships as we can, get them docked to this station like you did the last one and fly them back with us, rescue the survivors."

Sylar raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

"What the hell else are we supposed to do?" She muttered. "Do you really think you can live with it... if we just left them all to rot?"

"There will still be Roaches there Claire."

"So we kill them." She snapped, apparently having forgotten her earlier distress over exterminating their entire race, but he wasn't fooled, her hands were trembling.

"It's your call." Sylar sighed, "You're the one with the conscience." He muttered, turning away from her to make his way back to the control room.

Cliare didn't rise to the bait and he heard her falling in line behind him as he trudged through the goop on the floor, trying to keep his feet from sticking.

"You do realise if we rescue them, they'll be stuck on these ships... I don't see how that would be any better than on Earth."

"Just shut up." She muttered and he rolled his eyes, clearly she didn't want to be second guessed, it would likely just remind her that neither of them had particularly wanted to be here to see the end... or the fallout.

Sylar examined the console and found with some mild surprise that he could indeed read the symbols now, he frowned, pushing buttons, the operating system was nothing like a human computer, but his hands seem to know what they were doing so he let them.

Flying back to Earth oddly enough didn't feel like going home.

It felt like giving up. Claire was silent, sitting staring out of a porthole as he continued examining the alien systems and information, trying to take in as much as possible.

"They were a little like us I suppose." Sylar spoke up finally, not able to take the silence anymore, but she didn't turn or give any indication she was listening, he continued anyway. "At least as far as I can gather." He sighed at the irony of it, "Overpopulated, too many mouths to feed, over polluted, they stripped their own planet bare of natural resources. Who knows, in a few years, maybe we might have even become them, willingly stripping another planet for what we needed to support our own burgeoning population." He shrugged trying to ignore the horrified look she'd turned on him. "I just think it's ironic."

He continued examining the logs, trawling through the data before he saw something that made his legs go weak and his gut clench. Sylar stared at it fixedly feeling his mouth go dry, if he'd been at these controls before, there was no way he wouldn't have noticed that... and yet he remembered nothing. A part of him tried to squirm away from the data, the urge to push it away, to keep his mouth shut was overwhelming, and he blinked, trying to shake the compulsion.

"I think I've found something." He managed to choke the words out, feeling his head buzz and his teeth gnash together with the effort. Claire glanced back at him from her positions and he examined the screen and the symbols once more, just to be sure, his stomach felt oddly heavy, Claire's ability usually kept him from throwing up, but his insides were certainly trying to give it a shot. But he needed to tell her; he'd never been more certain of anything.

"Maybe you should just give it a rest. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time." She told him coolly.

He frowned, still not able to remember that. "There's a list of planets in here." He told her whether she thought she wanted to know or not, deciding on the easiest first, for both her and for his still buzzing head. "Planets with resources like Earth, with iron, oxygen, nitrogen, plantlife, natural gas, ozone, water." Claire turned back to him finally and gave him an appraising stare. "It's a possibility." He shrugged at her unspoken question, "It would be better than rotting on these stinking ships anyway." He muttered, not liking the prospect in the slightest.

Sighing he left the console and instantly her shoulders seemed to relax, he frowned, had he been so bad before that simply seeing him at the consoles had put her on edge? He crossed to her and squatted down beside, steeling himself for her reaction, the buzzing in his head became almost deafening and he squeezed his eyes shut drying to drown it out, he reached out and grasped her wrist, the buzzing seemed to recede and he opened his eyes.

"I found something else. I'm not sure you're going to like it, but I don't like lying to you; we've had enough of that between us." He smiled softly at her, but Claire's expression wasn't softening; what he needed to tell her wasn't likely to help, he kept the grip on her wrist as the buzzing increased another notch and his tongue felt heavy. Acting on instinct he leant forward and caught her lips with his, she pulled away sharply, her eyes widening, clearly now she wasn't about to die, she wasn't in the mood to humor him. Either way, he had never been one to give up easily and after what he'd just read, he really didn't care anymore; he leant forward again until their lips were inches apart, her eyes dropped to his lips, but she didn't back away and he didn't close the distance. "I love you… you know that." He told her pointedly and her eyes locked on his, although what she was thinking he had no clue, her green eyes had long since stopped reflecting her inner thoughts.

"Now isn't the time for this." She turned her head to the side, avoiding him. He sat back on his knees and stared at her, the buzzing in his head increased to a roar and it seemed like the information in the data logs was pushed to the back of his mind.

"Claire. It's the end of the world!" he pointed out darkly. "When the hell else is there?"

"Exactly my point." She bit off still not looking at him, and he clenched his fists trying to reign in his tempter, only Claire could be that god damn stubborn, to reject him even now, after everything.

Maybe it was spite, but he grabbed her chin and dragged her head back round to his, the anger that lashed him seemed to overwhelm even the buzzing and he forced the words out of his lips wanting to hurt her with them. "We didn't kill them all!" He snarled vindictively, shattering any illusions she might have had that this was over. Her eyes narrowed.

"What?" she hissed.

"We killed one world." He snarled, dragging her face closer to his, "One stinking Roach infested world." A shadow of something flickered in her eyes and he released her, "There are dozens." Her head dropped and he felt suddenly wretched, to him she would always be the soft, sweet girl he'd craved. "It's worse." The buzzing returned as his anger ebbed and he shook his head futilely trying to clear it.

"I don't want to hear it!" She tried to pull away from him, and the rejection fuelled him again; he hated her for suddenly turning into that soft little girl, when he needed her to be the warrior.

"They were just the patsies." Claire froze and her wide eyes met his.

"Stop." She insisted, her fingers tightening over his and beginning to crush them, the contact of her fingers continued to spread the rage, that lashed through him, but at least the god forsaken buzzing was pushed back.

"A slave race, gatherer's… they're nothing more than strip miners. They were conquered thousands of years ago, the resources they gather aren't just for their planets." Her hands shoved at him but there was almost no strength in it, he caught her hands deftly and gripped them, to prevent, or at least attempt to prevent her trying again.

"You son of a bitch!" She snarled, he couldn't tell which was stronger, her evident anger, or the despair that was etched into the non-existent lines on her perpetually young face.

"You couldn't just let me believe it was over could you?"

"No." he snapped remorseless. "And you would have only hated me if I had. As always, I'm damned if I do, damned if don't with you." He threw her hands away from him and shot to his feet, for the first time in his life, not wanting to see her face.

The silence stretched between them, of course there was nothing to do to occupy their time, and he refused to look at the console again, the echo of the buzzing had receded for now, but he got the impression it was far from gone.

"When we get to Earth." She spoke up finally, her voice strong and unwavering, "We take out the Roaches there." He didn't bother turning around. "We find every single human being that's still breathing and we get them on board the ships. Spread them out evenly so that if we lose one we don't lose the entire human race." There was grit in her voice and he realized that whilst he had been staring blankly into space, she had been planning.

"And we don't tell them what we found out." She'd moved and he hadn't realized, so when her hand came down on his he had to suppress the reaction to flinch. "We don't tell them." She said more insistently and her hand raised to his face, smoothing along his cheek and forcing him to look down at her. "Agreed?"

He stared pointedly at her face, feeling something of the old Sylar rattling the cages of his mind, urging him to press the issue, to force the advantage, to manipulate now that he had leverage. Instead he swallowed it for now and turned away from her.

"You're the Commander." He muttered finally "I'm just the weapon."