HEROES - Volume 6: Brave New World
Chapter 13: Dangerous Minds
Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters, just playing with Tim Kring's toys.
A/N - show canon; GN semi-canon/references. A couple OCs.
UK
Rising from his mess hall table, Iason Galifianakis approached Austin. "Sir? Might I have a moment of your time?"
"Not really, but go ahead," he growled, stirring the drink in his hand by swirling the ice cubes. He glanced back to the others the healer had been conversing with.
"The other recruits and I have been talking," he said. "We would like to know if we are to go public as a united front, as we have seen on the news broadcasts?"
"So they send the pacifist to ask?" he replied, taking a swallow of his liquor. He motioned the man to sit.
Iason took the seat opposite the man who had recruited the international squad of Specials. "The others grow restless with simply performing your military training all day. We were lead to believe that we would be proactive in certain areas of distress in the world, assisting people."
Austin eyed him. "You lot aren't going anywhere near a war zone, if that's what you're asking."
Iason shook his head. "Nor did we expect to, sir. Several of us were engaged in proactive patrols in our native lands, and merely wished to continue our work."
"You know the Yanks have yet to announce their team, right?"
"This has not escaped our notice," Iason nodded.
Austin shrugged. "I'm told that we're going public as soon as they do in New York or DC, wherever they announce their team."
"I understand. The United Nations is working in tandem with the United Kingdom and America, correct?"
"Believe what you want to believe, red," Austin scoffed and downed the last of his drink. A buzzing from his jacket interrupted the conversation. "Austin, go," he answered. "Yes, sir. I understand, sir," he said and seemed to listen for a moment. "That's good to hear. We'll be waiting for your signal, then."
Iason waited patiently as Austin tucked his phone away.
"Tell the others to be ready to move at a moment's notice," he said, then left the commissary.
Iason reported the order to his new compatriots. Some cheered at finally getting notice of action, while a few kept their opinions to themselves. One of the more recent recruits, the young lady archer known as 'Briar Rose' pulled Iason aside. "Well?" she demanded in her thick Scots accent.
"The liquor dulled his responses, but I do believe he was pleased with the call," he informed her.
"Do we know the identity of his boss, then?"
Iason shook his head. Adom, the Egyptian known as Bakari, spoke up. "What of his abilities? Do we have confirmation of those?"
"He seems to carry a different energy aura every time I see him," Iason admitted. "Today's was slightly different from other days. I have heard there are some who can possess or copy other abilities, but not having met any like that, I can not say for sure."
"The impression I had was that the traveling one was not his," Adom noted. "It is possible his ability could work in conjunction with another's."
"Anything is possible these days, it seems," Iason agreed. He looked up to see Austin pass by the doors again, accompanied by a large man in brown leathers carrying an ancient Trojan styled helmet. "Anything."
Noah Bennet returned to Helix Base with four new recruits in tow, albeit one in chains. He expected the news of other recent arrivals, but not their conditions. Leaving Eli Polsky to see to the recruits, he made his way to detention center with Eric Doyle and Rene escorting the seven foot plus, large hairy muscleman that had attempted a bank robbery in Chicago to his new cell.
Leaving Doyle to check in their new 'guest' with several guards, Noah went to check on another duo with Rene and a pair of regular soldiers. "Let them out," he ordered the soldiers. When the two prisoners were ushered out, they both started to say something, but Noah raised his hand. "I don't want to hear it. Follow me," he ordered and led them to an interrogation room.
Once inside, he motioned them to sit. Rene closed the door behind them as Noah glared at his two wayward charges. "What...is going on?"
"Spreading the truth," Lyle snarled.
"You nearly ruined everything!" Claire screamed.
"Claire, quiet," he ordered, ignoring her huff of protest. "Lyle, where did you get those files?"
"From your office, where else?"
"Your mother said it looked like you had been on the computer before you disappeared. Did you scan them?"
"DUH! Why wouldn't I? I need a bit of insurance!"
"Insurance for what, knob goblin?" Claire retorted.
Lyle glared at his father and then Rene. "That I wouldn't forget again."
"Who did you share them with?"
Lyle crossed his arms and slouched down in his chair. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Are you feeling up to his, Peter?" Maury asked.
Peter shrugged. "No time like the present," he said and sat before Matt once more. "You ready?"
"Déjà vu all over again," he nodded.
Peter concentrated and held Matt's ankle. Matt felt the cool electric tingle run up his leg once again. When it faded, Matt felt like he had run a one-legged marathon.
"How's that feel?"
"Like I just took a bath in muscle relaxant, only less smelly," Matt quipped, working his ankle in circles while slightly glad the effect didn't travel higher this time. "I see you didn't change faces this time," he noted.
"Linderman?" Maury inquired.
Peter looked up at the older man cautiously. "Yeah."
"Good choice," he agreed, looking across Matt to the unconscious Hiro Nakamura. "I'm not sure if Danny's healing could help Kaito's boy, though."
Peter stood and looked to Matt. The unvoiced question passed between them. Would it do more harm than good? Matt nodded his assent. "Have you tried a mental probe?" he asked the elder Parkman.
"Random flashes, nothing intelligible I could make out," Maury replied. "It looked like a samurai movie, video games, stuff like that." He moved to the foot of Hiro's bed. "My Japanese is rusty, or I would understand more of what he was thinking." His mind floated back to his falling out with Kaito.
Peter looked over Hiro's charts once more. "I should try and contact him telepathically before trying any healing," he suggested.
Maury motioned to the chair beside the bed. "Be my guest."
Petrelli sat, took his friend's hand, and concentrated. "Hiro? Can you hear me?"
He suddenly found himself in a similar scene that Maury had described. A feudal countryside populated with various video game and comic book characters. There seemed to be a tournament of sorts happening in the near distance, so he followed the crowd to see what was going on.
Peter found the center of attraction to be a three way duel between a masked samurai, a mutton chopped character in brown spandex with claws, and a swordsman in a kilt. Overseeing the duel on the ornate Japanese grandstand were an older Japanese couple. Peter recognized Kaito Nakamura and guessed the woman to be his wife, Hiro's mother. Beside Kaito sat an equally stern-faced Adam in feudal period clothing, while a young boy in a suit sat at Ishi's side.
Sidling his way through the crowd, Peter felt like he was on the set of Roger Rabbit, with the mix of living and characters in various states of animation, moving drawings to fully animated beings of various stages. Reaching the dais, he reached out to tug on the young boy's arm. "Hiro! It's me, Peter!"
The boy ignored him as the combatants parried once more.
"Hiro? It's Peter. I need to talk to you."
The crowd suddenly fell silent. Peter looked around and most of the audience faded from view until only the quartet on the dais and the three combatants remained. The samurai yelled something at him in Japanese he couldn't understand.
Adam leaned forward and turned to Peter. "Carp says you are not welcome here."
Peter gave him a confused look. The Samurai yelled at him again. Peter rose, faced the warrior, folded his hands, and bowed. "My apologies, Master Carp. I only came here to talk to my friend." He hoped he was understanding the situation correctly.
The samurai shouted something else. The mutant drew his claws against each other in his classic move and took up an offensive stance. The samurai and Scotsman mirrored the mutant's stance, swords poised to attack.
Peter held his hands up flat. "I am no threat to you. I only came here to talk."
In a flash, the samurai was in front of Peter, his katana at the man's throat. He yelled again.
"Carp wants you to leave," Adam urged.
"It's me. Peter Petrelli." He could now see the man's eyes behind the mask. "Hiro, I'm a friend."
"No friend! You leave!" the samurai ordered.
"As you wish," Peter replied, remembering the line from the fantasy movie. "Help me, Hiro Nakamura, you're my only hope."
The samurai's head cocked to the side.
"One for all, all for one?" Peter offered.
"You kill my father. Prepare to die," he declared.
Peter gulped, then stood ready to face the warrior's wrath as he drew back for a killing stroke.
"Excuse me, sorry, that's my bad," Adam admitted. "I killed your father, Carp."
Peter glanced over to him and saw he was now in a black robe, holding a red laser sword to Kaito. No one else on the dais moved. The samurai charged. "Nooo!"
Adam and the samurai began dueling. The arena changed to a dark, metallic room with a large round window behind the dais. Peter watched in amazement as the scene played out almost exactly like in the movie. Only when Adam made a play for the killing blow against Kaito, young Hiro suddenly came to life with his own laser sword. He deflected Adam's blow only for the immortal to spin and lash out.
His stroke instead struck the samurai. His mask fell away to reveal the adult Hiro beneath, then exploded in a shower of sparks to reveal Adam's own face.
"Well, that's unfortunate," the blond quipped. The next Peter knew, Adam had been unhanded, literally, by the mutant and the Scotsman. He turned and faced young Hiro.
"Your move, Carp."
The boy stood poised in front of Kaito, ready to jump. He glanced to the fallen samurai. "No!" He threw away his sword. "I am not like you!"
"That is most unfortunate," Adam said and lightning erupted from his stumps.
Hiro fell back, trying to protect his parents from the assault, but only fell to the floor. He reached out to them, "Mother, Father! Help me!"
Peter fought the urge to assist, to tackle Adam, to do anything. He finally saw Ishi move. She turned to look down on her son and gave a sweet smile, opening her hand to release a robin that flew away. Then Kaito finally moved. He gave his son a slight nod and looked to the sword Hiro had thrown away. Peter realized it had broken when he had thrown it. Hiro reached out for it and it flew to his hand, reforging itself anew. As he closed his small fist around the hilt, the blade glowed blue and he leaped to his feet, blocking the electric assault.
"Evil shall never triumph!" Hiro declared as he stood. Peter now saw he was no longer a child, but the young man he had known. As he leapt from the dais, his appearance changed once more into the urban samurai Peter had first met. In one swift stroke, Adam's head fell from his body.
As it hit the ground, laughter rang out. Adam had been replaced by Sylar. Hiro stood his ground and stabbed him once more, as he had done at Kirby Plaza. As he fell to his knees, Peter thought his face changed for a brief second into Nathan. Hiro swung again and the man's head fell away once more.
Hiro stood triumphant over his foes as his parents politely clapped their appreciation from the dais. "Peter Petrelli," he intoned. "You are not wanted here."
"I only came to ask for your help, Hiro."
"I have no wish to help you, Peter. I have lost too much."
"As have I," Peter countered. "I still live in the real world, Hiro. Your friends need you. There is a dark time coming."
Hiro sheathed his katana. "I am done fighting, Peter. Leave me."
"Hiro." Peter turned to see Kaito standing. Hiro dropped to his knees in supplication. "You dream of being a mighty samurai, but when the opportunity arises, you hide away. This is not the way of the warrior."
Hiro's face quivered. "I am sorry, father. I am only a dreamer, not a true warrior."
"You are many things, my son." Kaito turned and vanished. Ishi rose, hands folded upon her breasts, then spread them out to her son. She faded into a bright light.
Hiro reached out to her as she disappeared. "I am weak."
"No, you are not," Peter told him. He held out his hand. "Come back with me. Please."
Hiro looked up to him with tears in his eyes. "Peter, I-"
Peter woke up with a jerk. It took him a moment to re-orient himself after the sudden change in surroundings. Matt and Maury were waiting quietly by.
"Well?" the senior Parkman inquired.
"I-I'm not sure what just happened?" Peter stammered. He looked to the bed and saw Hiro was still asleep. "Hiro? Are you coming back?" He reached out with his mind again, but was rebuffed. Changing tactics, he grabbed Hiro's hands in his, feeling the physical damage, repairing it. When he sat back a minute later, there was no change.
"What happened in there?" Matt asked.
"He doesn't think he's worthy to help us," Peter replied. "And I think he watches way too much TV."
He saw both react and looked down to see Hiro's eyes had opened. Before anyone could say anything, he disappeared.
"Well, so much for that," Matt groused, secretly wishing the young man well. And that Hiro had taken him along. He caught his father frowning at him before he glanced away to the doorway.
"What did I miss?" Noah Bennet asked, entering the room.
"Noah," Maury and Peter acknowledged in near unison followed by a gruff "Bennet." from Matt.
"Well, we have these two back on their feet, but we just lost Nakamura," Maury explained. "Gray is up as well, but Walters is still out. Hanson also brought back a stray civilian from California. What about your end?"
"Four in from Chicago," he replied. "Three peaceably, one not. Oh, and Lyle compromised us. He wouldn't say to who."
"Lyle?"
Noah sighed. "My boy."
"Claire's brother?" Peter interjected. Matt nodded, the memory of his invasion of the Bennet house with Ted Sprague came to mind. He recalled they had never really gotten to know -no, never asked- the names of Bennet's wife or son.
"On his good days."
"Want me to go talk to him?" Matt inquired. "Or is he still mad at me for shooting Claire?"
"I'll do it," Maury said, leaving the room before Matt could argue.
"So, how's that little ball of fur?" Matt inquired.
"Fine, I guess. Sandra's got him, putting him out to stud," he replied.
The three men shared a bemused smirk, each waiting for the other to make a joke. Matt finally cracked. "Lucky him."
The trio's laughter was broken by Mohinder clearing his throat. "I see you two are feeling better," he noted. "How is- correction, where is young Mr. Nakamura?" amending his inquiry after seeing Hiro's bed was empty.
Peter shrugged. "He disappeared after I tried to wake him up. I think I healed him, but he-" He made a 'poof' motion with his fingers. "-as soon as I did. No clue when or where he could have gone."
"I see. Quite...unfortunate," he noted. "Are you up to looking at another patient with me?"
Noah inquired "Walters?" Mohinder nodded.
Matt and Peter shared a confused look. "Who's Walter?"
"Dan Walters," Noah corrected. "Possible heart attack after the drama yesterday, I'm told." He looked pointedly at Matt. "You couldn't miss him. I hear he surprised everyone by his size increase and rage against your favorite person."
"Big guy Sylar took down?" Matt said flatly, ignoring the barb. "Yeah, I remember seeing him pinned down. Sylar gave him a heart attack?"
Mohinder spoke up. "It was my understanding that it was a result of his transformation? The unexpected size increase was too much strain for his body to bear, and all the other wounds he suffered have healed, save for the heart muscle."
"If you aren't busy, would you mind taking a look at him, Peter?" Noah inquired. "Not just for your medical expertise, but now that you have access to healing again, if what you said about Hiro was true?"
"Sure. We don't have anything else going at the moment," he replied, rising. "Matt, want to tag along?"
Matt nodded and brought up the rear of the quartet as they made their way to Dan Walters' room. They found his daughter Violet waiting, watching the BBC News.
A divided screen showed a prim looking black woman, while a video clip showed a man in street clothes swinging like a chimpanzee from streetlights to buildings to a red phone box and another man in Viking gear scuffling with a group of men, one wearing a large, round, black helmet while the others wore white helmets that could either have been fashioned after bowling pins or phallic in nature.
"Authorities have the nihilist group in custody, thanks to the efforts of private citizens who only identified themselves as 'Monkey Thunder' and 'Norse Daffyd'," the reporter informed her audience before the second image switched to a group in orange jumpsuits scrubbing graffiti. "In other news, a local community center is being investigated after a series of odd events, including a growing list of disappearances associated with the local ASBO-"
Violet finally fumbled the remote's off switch for the television in her father's room.
"Hey, how come we were crammed four to a room and he gets a private room?" Matt asked and was promptly ignored.
"Violet, this is Peter Petrelli," Mohinder introduced. "He has medical training and a healing ability, among others."
Peter shook her hand and took the medical chart. "Did your father suffer any previous heart trouble? Family history?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know," she admitted. "I was adopted."
"So this isn't your biological father?"
"Oh no! No, he is my father! My biological father," she explained. "I was the one put up for adoption. We only recently found each other. He said he had two, um, experiences shortly before we met, but those were, um, he shrank, apparently. After I started staying with him, he had another one, right after we turned in for the night, and I saw it for myself. He was maybe six inches tall."
"So he physically compressed?" Peter inquired, Mohinder listening closely. "Did he say the other instances happened at a particular time?"
"I'm not sure what happened. He yelled out one night after turning in, at maybe like eleven? I ran to his room and saw he was six inches tall. I freaked out for a minute. He passed out. That's when he started returning to normal size, I guess? We went to the emergency room and told the doctor it was chest pains and he didn't find any physical damage, so he gave dad a prescription for anxiety," she recited.
Peter frowned. "Any other time, I would say it wasn't too smart lying to your doctor, but considering the situation happened before we went public," he mused.
Matt spoke up. "He wasn't on your radar, Bennet?"
"What? What are you talking about?" she asked.
Noah gave Matt a dirty look before turning to Violet. "Did they explain to you that the Company has been around for several decades?" She shook her head. "Well, we have, and it was decided before I joined twenty years ago that individuals such as your father, Peter, Matt, and even Mohinder, would be watched, once they made themselves known," he explained, pointing to each man in turn. "In the cases of Misters Parkman and Petrelli, that task was significantly easier, as their parents were involved in the running of the Company."
"Which took precedence over their families, apparently," Matt sniped, sulking against the wall.
"Matthew!" Mohinder chided. This is not the time nor place for your rants against your father, he projected toward his friend. Matt gave no sign he heard.
"However," Noah continued. "There are those who slip through our cracks, as the science behind these abilities are inexact at best. Some may skip a generation, and some may emerge spontaneously, as could any genetic variation. Your father was one of many like these, who we were unaware of, especially as his ability was late in developing and he kept it hidden."
She gave Bennet a dark look. "Then explain how, if no one else knew about his ability, we were taken hostage by your soldier goons?" Matt smirked at this.
Noah glanced to Mohinder. "Blood tests. Thanks to the Human Genome Project, we have identified a certain genetic marker which seems to be a certainty in every Special we've found so far, but not all who carry it develop abilities. Obviously, these markers can pass on to the child, regardless if the parent's ability activates or not. A recessive trait, if you will, skipping a generation."
"So you're saying, I carry this marker, but I may never have an ability?" she asked.
"Entirely possible. Your father is what, in his forties, before he developed?" he asked. "You may develop late like he or Parkman did, or you may never activate, but there's still a chance you will pass the marker on to future children, who may activate. We have no way of telling."
"I'm only forty, now," Dan piped up. Most of the room turned to him in surprise. Peter had been distracted going over his charts again and listening to Noah, but Matt smirked, having picked up a few stray thoughts. "Y'all talk too loud. I'm trying to sleep."
"You heard what I was explaining to your daughter, Mr. Walters?"
He gave a slight nod. "By the way, I'm adopted, too, if that helps, but probably not," he admitted in a tired voice. "I didn't find out until after my parents died. Found the papers in their stuff, but no clue who my birth parents were."
"How are you feeling, sir?" Peter inquired.
"Like I went ten rounds with Tyson and Holyfield. You the doctor?"
"I'm a registered nurse and EMT," he answered, checking the man's pulse. "Mohinder here is more of a geneticist, and has some medical training."
"Yeah, you would have been my first choice, no offense," Dan told Mohinder. Suresh shook his head that he didn't mind. "What's going on?"
"Do you remember what happened to you, yesterday?" Noah inquired.
"You in charge of this joint? A Fed?"
"I'm one of several in charge, yes," Noah admitted.
Dan rubbed his temple, and seemed to notice the IV in his arm for the first time, sighing at his predicament. "Not much. I know we were kidnapped, brought here and processed in, and ran into an escape attempt? When they finally decided to release us from lock up, some other kid was causing trouble. Everything gets hazy after that."
"You don't remember being shot at?"
Dan immediately started feeling his body. "Not really? The kid was burning me, but without fire? I seem to recall someone hitting me, like with rocks or something? Then I was on the ground, couldn't move, and someone was whispering, telling me to sleep?"
"Sylar pinned you, my dad told you to sleep," Matt explained.
"You're a Fed, too. Or a cop," he replied. "I can always tell."
Noah raised an eyebrow, intrigued at the possibility of someone else with multiple abilities. The man's file listed his occupation as a self-employed mechanic. "You can tell how?"
Dan frowned in confusion. "I'm good at reading people, a plus when I deal with them all day. The way he carries himself. The way he's watching all of us. Simple body language," he explained. "Am I right?"
"LAPD," Matt admitted. "Plus a brief stint with NYPD. Before I got pulled into this mess again." He glared at Bennet.
"Again?" Dan repeated.
"You admitted to joining the breakout," Noah inquired. "Why?"
Dan's expression grew dark and his monitors suggested agitation. "I don't know. Maybe because we had been kidnapped and took the first excuse to get the fu-" he caught himself, glancing to his daughter. "To get the heck out of here, away from our captors."
"Did you know you were actually trying to break an individual out?" Bennet pressed.
"My daughter and I had done no wrong, we were given an opportunity to escape," he explained. "Freeing others along the way would only be right."
"And were you aware you had been misdirected to the cell of someone who had misused his abilities and was being held in a secure cell lest he cause more trouble to the outside world?"
"So I've been told when we were jailed after," Dan admitted. "I'm still not sure who we were supposed to free?"
"Me." Matt glared at Bennet again. "This was the break out dad told me about, wasn't it? They were after me."
"I would ask your father, Matt. I wasn't here," Bennet countered.
"Why are we here, Bennet?" Matt demanded. "He knows where my son is! Molly knows where Matty is! Why am I still here? I should be out there getting my boy back!"
Mohinder grabbed his arm to quiet him. "Matthew, please calm down!"
"Didn't you hear, Suresh? Didn't they tell you what Angela saw?" he shot back. "Peter's dear old mother saw me die. I want to see my son before then."
The room fell quiet. Matt stormed out. Bennet was flustered, calling after him. "I'm sorry, Matt. I couldn't tell you! They wouldn't let me!" He turned back to see the angry faces of his friends. They silently pushed past him in pursuit of Matt.
Noah rubbed his mouth, trying to figure out how things could get worse. He turned and saw Dan and Violet glaring at him. He was now holding his daughter's hand. "I apologize for my friends-"
"Can I have my privacy back, please?"
"Uh, well, Peter was supposed to heal any damage your body hadn't already repaired?"
"Was that the 'laying of hands' thing he did to me while y'all were jawing, or was he just feeling me up?" he snapped. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Out."
Bennet grimaced, waved his farewell and left the room. He debated silently for a moment to follow Matt before he headed back to the interrogation room containing his wayward children and Matt's father. He found Claire waiting outside in the hall, Rene standing over her.
"Did he say anything yet?"
She glared at him. Rene opened the door. "The Director is with him now." Noah nodded his thanks and entered.
"He got into your stash, you know," Maury informed him, standing in front of the sleeping youth. "Just be glad he didn't share the porn."
"I'll keep that in mind," Noah smirked. "Who did he share the Company files with?"
"Someone online calling himself 'CodeStone'."
"Coldstone? Isn't that a beer?"
"Codestone," Maury corrected. "It sounds familiar, somehow?"
"Someone from the old days?" Noah suggested.
The look on Maury's face hinted he knew the person in question. "Perhaps. I'll have to check the files," he lied. "I'll see to your boy. Why don't you go show your daughter around the base? Take my boy with you. Show them what we're trying to do here."
Noah started to say something, but thought better of it, and nodded compliance. "Just don't hurt him."
"I'm not the monster Matt takes me out to be, Bennet," he replied. Noah nodded and left his son with the elder telepath. Maury turned back to Lyle and sat across from him once more. "Now, where were we?" he asked, probing deeper into Lyle's mind.
The room looked like a typical teen's bedroom. Several school and professional sports team photos adorned the walls, amidst various posters of bands and a pin up girl Maury didn't recognize. Lyle sat at the computer desk, which was littered with Company files, the scanner constantly running, and the monitor showing various pictures and charts that should never have left the premises of PrimaTech in Odessa. He was typing away, the other user named 'CodeStone' replying as fast as Lyle was sending him the files. Then he sent Lyle his own file.
When Lyle clicked on it to open, Maury saw more familiar charts. They belonged to two people he once called friends. It also revealed the true parentage of the boy. That he had been an attempt to clone Adam Monroe long before Claire's regeneration manifested. He also saw the other results of the previous experiment with Adam. Maury grabbed the boy's head and uttered a single word.
"Forget."
Snapping back to the real world, he looked up to see Eli Polsky pass by the window in the door towards the other cells. A cursory mind scan showed Maury he had just seen to the captive from Chicago they had just brought in. It took Maury a moment to realize not only should he be accompanied by another guard, but that they had sequestered the Sasquatch-esque man in a different area than planned.
"Walk with me," Noah Bennet said, leading Claire upstairs. They came upon Matt arguing with Mohinder and Peter in the building's lobby. Sally Schroeder was there as well, trying to convince them all to quiet down. "What's going on?" he inquired.
"Where's Molly?" Matt demanded on seeing Bennet rejoin them.
Bennet looked to Mohinder. "I wasn't aware it was my turn to watch her? Dr. Suresh?"
"I told you, I'm not saying until you calm down, Matthew."
"Don't make me take it from you, Mohinder," Parkman threatened.
"Gentlemen, why don't we take this outside, get some fresh air?" Noah suggested. "Let you test that bad ankle before you go running off anywhere, half-cocked? Let me show you around, so you can see what we're really doing here."
"I. don't. care." Matt snarled. "I want my daughter. I want my son. I want you to leave me the hell alone!"
"She's my daughter, too!" Mohinder snapped, suddenly aware of how that could be misconstrued.
"Yeah? You bundled her off to god knows where at the first sign of trouble, and never told me!"
"A- I did it to keep her safe, and B- you never asked," Mohinder countered. "You were too infatuated with Daphne to-"
Matt stepped closer to Suresh. "Don't."
"Outside. All of you. Now," Bennet ordered.
"C'mon, Matt," Peter urged. "Some fresh air will do you good." Matt didn't move. "Please."
Mohinder and Claire followed Peter to the door. Noah turned to Sally, who started to apologize. "It wasn't your fault, just go get the packages ready," he told her. She hesitated a second, glanced to Matt, then hurried off. Bennet then turned to Matt and pushed at his shoulder. "Come on, let's walk."
Matt resisted a long moment, then grudgingly followed the others, throwing as many dirty looks as he could as they followed Bennet around the base.
Their first stop was the other recruits' basic physical training. "A few military drill sergeants running them through basic PT drills," Bennet explained.
Matt was reminded of the police academy and vaguely recognized a few faces from the co-ed group that Dan Walters had been with the day before. A couple barely looked eighteen ranging to a few who looked slightly older than him in their forties, he guessed.
"Col. Davis here is in charge today because of his outburst yesterday," Noah pointed out. "Everything copacetic, Colonel?"
"As long as that bloody killer is dead, then yes."
"My sentiments, exactly," Matt muttered, knowing who he meant.
"Moving on," Bennet declared, heading toward the aerial obstacle course Matt had seen earlier. He motioned to the officers monitoring their progress. "Claire, I believe you've met Cpl. Mills?"
Peter made note that the other two officers with Mills were wearing Air Force flight suits similar to what Nathan had worn during his service. Her badge indicated Marine Corps.
"Rachel, right?" she asked extending her hand.
"Miss Bennet," Rachel replied, holding her hands behind her with her clipboard. The three fliers alighted behind her and quickly stood in formation.
"Nice to see you too," Claire started to snark before recognizing one of the aerialists. "West?"
"Claire," he replied coolly.
She turned to her father. "What's he doing here?"
"Helping us," Noah informed her, before turning to see a quartet coming to join them. "Cpl. Mills, I do believe I have another airborne recruit for you?" he said, motioning the three men and the woman over. "Night Raptor, this is Cpl. Mills, you will report to her after you get your bunk squared away and changed. Is that understood?"
Several amongst them rolled eyes at the use of a code name over his real name. The man in the brown caped costume glanced between the two groups uncomfortably, noting the obvious disdain. "I understand, even if I don't like it," he griped.
"You agreed to help us, so that means you will partake in drills with others in your power set," Bennet reminded him before turning to the others. "Miss Burchett, Upstart, you'll be with the rest of the low level powers." He pointed to the group they had just left. "No offense, that group just has less outré or specialized abilities. Strength, mental, and more covert abilities, that is," he clarified. "We're headed towards the barracks in a minute, you may as well join us," he suggested. "Doyle, did Director Parkman have any other orders for you?"
Eric was distracted from nodding hello to Claire. "Huh? Oh, no, sir. I was to see them to their quarters then escort them to their assigned squads," he explained.
Bennet nodded, said something to one of the other supervisors, Lukas Bahn, then motioned for the larger group to follow him. They approached one man struggling to stack crates. Peter stepped forward to watch him for a moment. He let one drop and dropped to his knees in exhaustion. "You alright?" Peter asked, approaching him.
David Berman nodded, panting. "I've been at this almost all day. I'm totally wiped."
"Don't try to force it," Peter suggested. "Just imagine the object moving. Soon enough, it will be reflex." He glanced over and concentrated. Three of the crates floated up and moved in a circle before they came down in a stack.
"Show off," Berman panted. "I can barely lift hundred pounds."
Peter's lip twisted as he thought on the subject when Upstart interrupted. "If I may? How much can you lift, physically?"
Berman shrugged. "I dunno, fifty, maybe sixty pounds? I don't go to the gym, so I never really tested myself."
"A pity. Do you find it easier to move a number of smaller objects than one larger?"
Berman thought for a second. "Sometimes. Why?"
"So you work better with smaller objects, rather than larger and heavier?" he clarified. "Try something smaller. Perhaps a tool set or small pile of rocks?"
"We've got a pile of debris from Mr. Petrelli's arrival yesterday. We still need to fill in the crater," Noah offered. "Beyond that, we can stop by the motor pool."
"Lead the way then, Mr. Bennet," Upstart urged.
"We were headed there eventually," he sighed. "Peter, can you stow those crates?"
Chagrinned, Peter asked where the supervising officer wanted them and stacked them where directed before following the group to the motor pool. There, they were greeted by a large clanking. They were surprised to see a suit of armor nearly ten foot tall working it's way around an obstacle course of several military vehicles in various stages of repair. It was obvious the armor had been constructed from various scraps found on the base, from it's hodge-podge look and military coloring. The main body was egg-shaped with a turret of sorts for the head. It seemed as if more work had gone into the legs than the arms, which were still partially exposed and had rudimentary claws for hands.
"Mr. James! Can you bring it in, please?" Bennet called out.
The armor turned toward them and began it's slow plodding across the warehouse, escorted by a small group of military personnel with portable monitors. When it neared, the helmet popped loose and the chest cracked open with a hiss, revealing the pilot strapped inside the torso. He wore goggles with a variety of wires trailing out, and many could see the various readouts flashing across the lens for his HUD. He wore a pair of gloves and boots also wired into the armor.
"What's up, Mr. Bennet?" he greeted. "I've nearly got the kinks worked out, it's just a matter now of speed and mobility on the field testing. After that, we're talking armament. Give me another week and you'll have an assembly line of these," he boasted.
Claire expected a more serious nerd type, but he was a near middle-aged, slightly overweight dude in coveralls. This man reminded her more of a lighthearted cross between her adoptive father and Matt, except his hair was brown and long enough to start curling a bit. She figured him to be a few years younger than her currently sour-pussed telepathic friend. Not that she blamed him, she didn't want to be here for her own reasons, much less his previous rant about getting back to his family.
"May I present Mr. Rodney James, our resident mechanical genius," Bennet announced to the crowd. "We just need to borrow a corner of the motor pool for some more testing with one of our telekinetics. Will that be a problem for you?"
"What do you need? I can have one of my Rovers get it for you," he replied. Peter pointed out to Matt another makeshift robot rambling around the back corner. A similar one sat quiet nearby. After his experience inside Hiro's head, a quip about droids came to mind, but Matt's indifference held his tongue.
"It's more the use of your tools and such, not your Rovers," Noah informed him.
James gave him a thumbs up. "Fine by me, boss. I'm sure we can work around him."
Noah turned back to the group. "Alright then, Mr. Berman, you and Upstart can stay here with-"
Noah stopped as he realized the others were looking around for the source of the shaking as several small items nearby began to fall to the ground. They all soon felt it as the ground itself seemed to heave.
"Earthquake!" Matt shouted. "Get to a clear area so nothing falls on you!" he ordered, having lived through his fair share in California. Everyone in the motor pool ran outside save for Rodney in his armor, who only closed himself up to move it clear.
"This is Virginia," Burchett shouted. "There aren't any fault lines around here!"
Petrelli and Bennet shared an alarmed look. "This isn't a natural earthquake," Peter informed her. "This is an ability. You've got Samuel Sullivan here, don't you Noah?"
"He's supposed to be sedated in solitary!" Bennet shouted.
"Well, he's awake now, and with all these Specials around, what happened in Central Park will be nothing compared to this!"
Closer to the epicenter, Maury Parkman stumbled his way through the shaking walls, avoiding falling plaster and broken glass from lights and windows as best he could. He sent out a mental call to anyone nearby to summon the help he knew he would need when he sensed a presence before him. Several in fact. And none of them were very happy.
"I don't believe we've met," the tattooed man said, sizing up the older fat man. "Going by the look of you in that suit, I seriously doubt you were a prisoner here, either."
"Actually, I think he runs the joint," the men holding up Samuel on either side remarked in unison. One had the carnival barker's trench coat slung over his free arm.
"Polsky? I thought you were working with us?" Maury panted, trying to dodge a falling chunk of ceiling plaster and failing.
A growling in the dark behind him made him turn. "Hi there, tubby."
"Have you met our new friend?" Eli asked.
"Actually, I've known him for quite a while," Samuel corrected. "He just didn't like the carnival life, but he does owe me a few favors, especially since we're breaking him out of this joint."
Maury stumbled back, trying to get as much distance from the latest discontent, the large, hairy man that tried to rob the bank in Chicago before he was apparently thwarted by Upstart, Night Raptor, and Mary Burchett. All of whom were elsewhere in the base.
TBC...
A/N:
I've left a lot of the new recruits open as to identity, only making a few story notes as to ethnicity, and Rodney was originally meant to be black, but as I started writing his scene, I felt he was more of a Ray Stantz (Ghostbusters) or Danny Heffernan (King of Queens, the cousin of Kevin's lead; real life bro) type. I still do have a couple black characters in mind, one featured previously, but that aspect is secondary to their parts.
The "Sasquatch" character is loosely based on the X-Men movie's Sabretooth, as well as a personal friend who is a 7' teddy bear...aaand whose name I kinda borrowed for another character's.
I do seem to be army building with the other groups. Why is that? Heh.
And what of the "packages" Sally was sent after? Oh, and her last name is pronounced like "shray-der"/Schrader, not "shrow-der" like the Peanuts character. I borrowed her from another Heroes fic I wrote and didn't even realize the connection, as the name is from a local business/family to me.
Another previously used minor character was intentionally based on another friend's original project's character, and I found out he's getting 'dusted off' after several years for another TV101 project this morning! LOL (12/11/12)