Chapter Thirty-Seven: War Meeting

"Good lord! It smells like something bloody well died in here!" Claude grimaced as he entered the facility with Nikolai. Noah and Sandra Bennet followed him with Claire, Lyle and Molly, all of them copying his look of revulsion at the smell.

"I know and I'm sorry." Olivia sighed as she followed them inside with Gabriel. "I told you guys what Matt, Peter and I found this morning. We tried to clean up the best we could and I turned on the exhaust system before I left to try and pump some of the stench out."

Gabriel winced. "If it's pumped anything out, I don't even want to know what it smelled like before."

Olivia glanced at Gabriel. "You're right. You don't want to know how bad it was earlier."

She led them through the building to a meeting room and quickly began to open windows while Gabriel reached into a bag she'd brought with her and pulled out scented candles, lighting them as quickly as he could. "I hope this starts to help somewhat." Gabriel shook his head. "At least in here."

"Great!" Everyone turned as D.L., Niki and Micah walked into the room, their hands over their noses. "What died in here?"

Olivia shrugged. "A couple of people actually. Sorry about the smell."

"This is worse than that time the Mitchell's cat got under our house and died." Micah shuddered.

"I know." Niki nodded. "So where are the bodies?"

Olivia stared at the floor. "They've been disposed of." She whispered.

Soon, the other members of the group arrived. Nathan walked in with Heidi, Simon, Monty and Angela, having come directly from the airport. Hana arrived with Hiro, Kaito and Ando. Peter and Sherry entered the room, followed soon after by Herbert, Trevor, and Mohinder. Matt and Janice were the last to arrive. They all sat at the table and looked around at each other. Claude finally broke the silence. "So are we going to get this show on the road, or are we going to stare at each other while the stench of rotting corpses and-" He glanced at one of the candles "lemon trees fill the air?"

Noah sighed. "I guess I'm the defacto speaker of the house in here, huh?" Everyone laughed softly as he stood up. "First order of business, who has finished their trips?" He looked around as Heidi, Angela, Nathan, Hana, Claude, Sandra, Hiro, Kaito and Ando raised their hands. He turned to Niki, D.L. and Micah. "How much more are you two lacking to finish?"

Niki checked her list. "We have one person left, a Leilani Olan in Honolulu, Hawaii. Our flight leaves tomorrow night after we've finished unpacking and when we meet her, that will be all for us."

"Good." Noah turned to Olivia and Gabriel. "When do the two of you leave for the Caribbean?"

"We've got a flight to Canada the day after tomorrow and from there, we're flying to Havana to start our work." Olivia nodded.

"That reminds me." Niki pulled two passports out of her purse and tossed them to Olivia and Gabriel. "Compliments of Micah. He pulled some strings and was able to create passports for your trip to Cuba to keep the Feds here off of your backs. When you pass through Cuban customs, show this to them."

Gabriel picked up the passports and flipped through them. "We're Parker and Evelyn McKirk from Vancouver, British Columbia?"

"This is fine, thanks." Olivia grinned at Niki.

Noah turned to Mohinder and Peter. "And the two of you? When do you start?"

Peter leaned back into his chair for a moment. "As soon as we figure out how to handle our little 'hostile' down the hall."

"What hostile?" Nathan looked around the room. "Shit! Don't tell me we've kidnapped someone."

"Not exactly." Matt shook his head. "Linderman sent her to kill me and Pete and wound Olivia, send her some stupid ass message."

"And that message would be what?" Nathan's eyes widened. "Stop going against Daddy or I'll fucking spank you next time?" He looked at his kids for a moment and shrugged. "Just because I said that word, doesn't mean you get to."

"Then stop saying it." Heidi raised an eyebrow at him.

Nathan nodded. "Yes, Dear." He turned back to the group. "So obviously this assassin failed. And we're what, keeping her here as a hostage?"

"Well, we can't just let her go. She'll end up going back to Linderman and trying to kill us again, and the police can't deal with someone with her powers." Olivia shrugged.

"What kind of power does she have?" Gabriel glanced at his wife.

"She shoots focused beams of energy from her eyes."

"Really?" Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "Intriguing."

"Don't even think about it, Baby." Olivia stared at her husband.

Gabriel started laughing at her. "I wasn't going to go 'Sylar' on her. I was just thinking that would be a cool power to add to everyone's arsenal."

"So if she can do all of this," Sherry looked around confused "why hasn't she just blasted her way out of here after you guys left this afternoon?"

"We drugged her to the gills." Peter checked on his watch. "Which reminds me, I'll be right back." He got up and left the room as Noah leaned against the table.

"Actually, Gabriel just brought up our next line of business. Claude and I have been talking. Mohinder, Herbert and Olivia have been documenting everyone's powers. We currently are housing about one-hundred and fifty people, not including the people meeting here tonight. That is a LOT of special abilities to choose from. I know Olivia, that you originally wanted everyone to all have the exact same powers, but some of these are very dangerous and could be used to create more harm than good in the wrong hands. At the same time, we are gearing up for what will truly and honestly be the battle of a lifetime for all of us involved, not to mention the world at large. I think we, as a whole here, should go over every power that we've documented, decide which ones would truly be the most useful in a battle, and only imbue everyone with those specific ones. Any objections?"

Everyone looked around the room, shaking their heads. "I think it's a good idea." Nathan nodded. "The wrong power with the wrong person could cause a lot of instability and danger."

"Exactly." Noah nodded. "So, any suggestions about what should be used and what should never be used?"

Olivia raised her hand. "I know Claire's power is going to have to be imbued with everyone. Regeneration is going to be our best defense. Also, we have samples of Linderman's blood. He was able to heal injuries with the touch of his hand-"

"-However," Angela spoke up "you should know that his power was limited. He could only heal you if you were still alive. That's why he was able to save my husband in Vietnam and not the other members of their troop when they were attacked. Also, as we've all heard, Claire's powers are somewhat limited as well. Decapitation is not survivable and if you are stabbed with anything in the brain, that foreign object has to be removed before you can regenerate and return to life."

"So that's how Peter survived that time." Gabriel mused.

"Exactly." Angela's eyes snapped at his.

Claude raised his hand as Peter quietly returned to the room and took his seat. "I'd like to offer up my power. Invisibility can come in handy in a battle. Also, if everyone is imbued with a combo of Olivia and Matt's telepathy powers, we'll not only be able to communicate with one another while fighting, we'll be able to read our opponent's minds and be one step ahead of them. We'll know any move they'll make before they make it and hopefully block it."

Nikolai raised his hand. "Doctors Suresh, Osgood and Gray, I don't know if you'll be able to do separate one of the powers I've acquired from the others, but if you can, my sister Natalia had a power that would be very great to your cause. She could sense danger moments before it happened."

"We can work on that." Mohinder nodded.

Sherry shrugged. "Being able to blow shit up is always a good thing. You can just blast your opponents with your minds." She grinned.

"What about flight?" Nathan looked around the room. "When all else fails, take to the skies and get the hell out of Dodge."

"Super-strength can help as well, obviously." Niki grinned. "And with D.L.'s phasing abilities, you can phase a bullet through your body with getting shot, you can probably do the same if someone were trying to stab you."

Gabriel looked at them, confused. "So why didn't he just phase when Linderman's double shot him?"

Niki smiled softly, squeezing her husband's hand. "Because if he'd phased the bullet through him, it would have hit me. He got shot defending me."

"And I'd do it again and again, Baby." D.L. leaned over and kissed his wife.

Molly spoke up, smiling softly. "I'll donate my powers. That way, we can always find each other, no matter what."

Gabriel looked around the room. "If you guys can sort out different powers from someone who has acquired multiple powers, I'll offer up a sample of my blood. There's a smorgasbord of things to choose from: electrokinesis, telekinesis, cryokinesis, super hearing, eidetic memory, and intuitive aptitude, not to mention precognition and the ability to create nuclear explosions."

Noah's eyes widened. "That is an idea." He pulled off his glasses for a moment. "What about teleportation?"

"NO!" Hiro shook his head as everyone turned to stare at him. He blushed for a moment, then sighed. "I am sorry, but I cannot allow my powers to enter your blood data bank. It's too powerful. If everyone had it, they could use it for anything. They could go back to try and change time and-" He shook his head again more vehemently "-who knows what kind of future we'd have if everyone went back and forth trying to change everything."

"He's right." Peter nodded. "It's not a good idea for all of us to have teleportation and time-travel abilities. And while I'm on the subject, I don't want my blood entered into this either. It's hard as hell for me to keep it stabilized, I don't want anyone else having to deal with it as well. If the wrong person got it-" He looked around the room. "It would just be too dangerous for me or Hiro or even Nikolai for that matter, to ever allow our main powers to enter your database. If you can separate Natalia's power from Nikolai's, fine, but destroy Nikolai's sample as soon as you acquire Natalia's. Also, until we get this place completely secure, I don't think Claire or Molly should donate either. Linderman's already proven that he can get an assassin in here. He could just as easily get a thief to sneak in here and steal our samples, adding to his arsenal as well. Until this place is tighter than Fort Knox, those powers should be kept under wraps."

"He's got a point, both of them do." Olivia nodded at Peter and Hiro. "If Linderman got his hands on teleportation or empathic mimicry, God only knows what kind of havoc he could wreak."

"Okay." Noah nodded.

"And while we're talking about powers." Olivia turned to Peter. "Mind telling us where you got that force field?"

Gabriel stared at Peter. "You never told her?"

"Told me what?" She looked at Gabriel. "YOU know?"

Gabriel glanced at Peter, then turned back to Olivia. "I have a feeling that this is something Peter's wanting kept completely under wraps for now." He looked at Peter. "Am I right?"

Peter gave Gabriel a surprised, but grateful smile. "I have met someone who can generate a force field-"

"-WHO?" Olivia stared at him.

"Not now, Honey." Gabriel squeezed Olivia's hand.

"-And I do have the blood samples for that power. However, I don't want it entered into our system until the very last minute. I don't want Linderman's hands on it, EVER! It's going to be our top secret weapon."

Heidi looked around the room. "So we've got a pretty interesting grab-bag of powers with everyone." She laughed softly. "It seems all we need now would be a human blow-torch and we'd be set!" Her laughter faded as Bennet, Claude and Claire began to look around guiltily. "Okay, what's with the faces?"

Bennet glanced at Claire, stunned at her expression. "You know about her?"

Claire stared at the floor. "I met her, Dad. When Mom started having those episodes, with her subdural hematoma, I got scared and researched my past. I found her."

"What?" Nathan looked around at everyone. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Are you guys talking about MEREDITH?"

Claude nodded. "She was a firestarter. That's how Claire found her way to Noah and Sandra. We were sent to collect Meredith, to bring her in for research. She set her apartment on fire. Noah rescued Claire and we thought Meredith was dead."

"But she wasn't." Claire sat up, blinking away tears. "I found her and we talked." She looked over at Nathan. "She made you out to be-" She shook her head "-she said you didn't care about me and that you didn't want me around."

"She lied." Nathan looked at Claire. "I'm your father, but I know I'm not your dad. I didn't raise you. Noah and Sandra did and no one could have done a better job of that than they did and for that I am so very thankful, but I did want you, Sweetie. The only reason I didn't come for you after the accident was because I was told you were dead."

"He's so proud of you." Heidi smiled at her. "I can see why."

Claire smiled softly at them. "Thanks. She told me that when you showed up in Texas, you were just there to give us money and that I couldn't count on you for anything else."

"That's all SHE wanted was money." Nathan rolled his eyes. "She called to blackmail me into giving her one-hundred thousand dollars."

"She told me you OFFERED to give her FIFTY thousand!" Claire scoffed. "That liar!" She looked at Sandra. "Have I told you lately how glad I am that you're my mom?"

Sandra hugged her. "You don't have to tell me, I know it every day."

"I know I might get yelled at about this, but where is Meredith now?" Peter asked as Claire, Nathan, Heidi, Angela, Sandra and Bennet turned to glare at him. "Look, I know she pulled some really bad crap here, and she's proven that she's a liar and probably untrustworthy, but if we don't find her, Linderman will and then HIS people will be the firestarters."

"Damn I hate when you're right." Nathan slumped in his chair. "I was hoping that I'd never have to run into her again."

"The last time I saw her, she was going to Mexico." Claire stared at her hands, twisting them nervously.

"We'll have to track her down and see if she's willing to join us then." Peter looked around. "Anyone disagree with that for a reason BESIDES personal?" He looked around as everyone shook their heads slowly.

"Okay, final order of business tonight." Noah sat down and looked over at Niki. "How's Micah coming along with breaking into the ICE database?"

"Done." Niki laughed. "He's gotten in there and is slowly but surely adding our foreign recruits into it. By the end of the week, most of the people at the apartment will be considered legal, naturalized citizens of the United States." She grinned at her son as he sat up in his chair proudly.

"By the way," Claude winked at Micah. "Good job you did with Nikolai and Tatiana's papers." He looked around the room, giving a coy glance at Hana. "I'd like to announce that I am officially their foster father and I'm well on the way to being their legal father. Nikolai and Tatiana have given me permission to adopt them, unless anyone here objects. ARE there any objections?" He turned to Gabriel. "I know you, especially have gotten quite attached to the little one."

Gabriel smiled softly. "You're going to be a good father to them both, that's all I want for her. Besides," his smile widened "as long as I'm allowed to be the doting surrogate uncle, I'm fine."

"Any other news?" Noah looked around the room. "Okay, this meeting is adjourned."

"Thank God!" D.L. stood up as he turned to Olivia. "No offense, but I lost my appetite being in here."

"None taken. I promise it will smell MUCH better soon." Olivia smiled.

Noah pulled Peter aside. "Tell me about this hostile. She wouldn't happen to be a red-haired woman in her mid thirties from New Zealand, would she?"

Peter's eyes widened for a moment. "Yeah. Her name is Susan O'Neill. How did you know?"

Noah closed his eyes for a moment. "She used to be a guest at Primatech." He glared for a moment at Claude as the man looked away guiltily. "She WAS a guest until someone let her go when she was a teenager."

"I see." Peter nodded. "So how did you guys deal with her? How did you keep her from blasting her way out of the building?"

"Well, we couldn't keep The Haitian posted outside of her door twenty-four, seven, so we devised another way to keep her in check." Noah flagged Hiro down and whispered in his ear for a moment. Hiro gave him a tired, baleful look, then teleported from the room. "He'll be back in a moment with part of what we need. The second thing we did was we put her in a mirrored cell."

"Mirrored? Mirrored walls?"

"Walls, ceiling and floor. She won't be able to blast anything for fear that she'll end up accidentally bouncing the energy back and shooting herself. If there's a cell in here that's usable, do that. Mirror everything, put a cot in there and a shower stall and toilet to the side and have her food sent in through a slot in the door. Do that until she's ready to cooperate, which I doubt she ever will be. I have a file on her somewhere, I'll dig it out and hand it over to you and Mohinder and Olivia. She's dangerous, Peter. Very, very dangerous. I know we don't WANT to be in the business of killing, but we are in a war and she can be a deadly enemy. We need to remember that."

"Okay." Peter nodded.

As Noah and Peter talked, Nikolai followed Claire down the hall. "I'm sorry about your mother." He said, blushing darkly as he spoke to her.

"It's okay." Claire sighed as she leaned against a wall. "I was upset and confused when I first manifested, then I found out that Dad was working for that shadow agency and-" She shook her head "Mom got sick for a while. I was scared and I wanted to run away. I didn't trust my dad, my mom was sick and I wanted to find my 'real' parents. It took finding them, my mother especially to make me realize that my truly real family had been with me all along."

"Mrs. Bennet is alright now though, right?" Nikolai asked.

"Yeah, she's great now that there's not someone constantly removing her memories." Claire laughed softly. "She occasionally still forgets things, but we all get a little forgetful sometimes. At least she doesn't forget that I'm her daughter, and Lyle's her son and Mr. Muggles is her dog."

"That's good." Nikolai nodded. "I remember when my mother was sick." He stared at the floor, sadly. "It was a bad time."

"I'm sorry." Claire whispered.

"It's alright." Nikolai shrugged. "Mr. Nakamura was kind enough to return to our apartment after Father and Natalia died to get our things. He brought back some of our clothes and all of our photos and Mother's jewelry. There's a locket I'm going to give to Tatiana on her birthday in July that belonged to Mother and I have her wedding ring. It was supposed to go to Natalia, but now-" He shook his head. "-Perhaps I'll give that to Tatiana when she gets married one day."

"That would be nice." Claire smiled sweetly at him. "My mother gave me a necklace of hers. I never wear it, but-"

"-I've seen it." Nikolai nodded as Claire's eyes narrowed.

"HOW have you seen it? I never wear it and I keep it hidden in my-" She gasped as Nikolai looked away, blushing. "-you've been watching me in my room."

"Not often. Just occasionally. I've seen you take it out and look at it and-" Nikolai's eyes met Claire's for a moment as he blushed even harder.

"Have you ever watched me when I'm na-"

"-NEVER! Nikolai shook his head vehemently. "If you even take off a shoe, I look away." Embarrassed, Nikolai turned and started to walk away.

"Nikolai, wait!" Claire grabbed his hand, gasping as an electric tingle passed between the two of them. "Did you just-?" She stared at their hands.

"That happens sometimes." Nikolai smiled and looked away. "I guess I'm virtually indestructible now."

Claire laughed softly. "I guess so. Listen, Lyle, Molly and I saw this mini-golf place near the apartments. Would you and Tatiana like to go with us tonight after dinner?"

Nikolai turned to Claire, his green eyes sparkling. "That would be nice, thank you. Miss Renard from next door is watching Tatiana right now, but I'm sure she'd love to go when we return."

"Good." Claire smiled softly as she continued to hold Nikolai's hand.

Peter and Noah waited outside of Susan's room, jumping as Hiro returned, holding what appeared to be a pair of goggles. "Thanks, Hiro. I promise not to send you on too many more teleport missions for a while. I know you're getting tired of them." Noah smiled.

"Oh thank you." Hiro nodded. "I like my power, but sometimes it can be a burden. I never thought I'd say that." Hiro sighed and walked down the hall to leave with Ando and his father.

Noah glanced at the door. "She's currently out?"

"Like a light." Peter opened the door and walked in with Noah. Susan was sleeping on the table. Peter checked the straps keeping her on the bed, then turned to Noah. "So what do those do?"

Noah grinned. "They're mirrored, but the mirrors are on the inside. She can still see out of them, but if she shoots-"

"-She'll end up frying her corneas." Peter nodded. "Got it."

"As long as she's strapped to the table, she can't take them off. We used them whenever we had to transport her from her cell to test her."

"Good deal." Peter took the goggles and put them on Susan. "This will work until we get her cell ready."

"Okay." Noah turned to Peter. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving, regardless of how bad it smells here. I promised the wife and kids I'd take them out to dinner."

Peter smiled. "I've got a date tonight, myself."

"Sherry?" Noah asked as Peter nodded. "Nice girl, a little loud and wild, but she's still a nice girl. Good luck with her."

Peter laughed. "Thanks." Noah clapped him on the back as they walked out of the room, closing and locking the door behind them.