Claire Bennet

San Ribero

Claire woke to the muffled whispers of Grant and Nathan, sitting near Elle's bed. She didn't like the conspiratorial tone of the two, but couldn't think of anything way of stopping it. Besides, it was good to see Nathan with a friend. She rolled over, ready to go back to sleep, only to find Gabriel watching her with Alphonse standing behind him.

"Holy crap!" she shouted, sitting up fast. It was a mistake; the fast motion made her dizzy. Gabriel lowered her back to the bed, while Alphonse cleared his throat.
Next time, warn a girl," she said.

Gabriel smiled, nodding. He was an attentive nurse, and Claire imagined that he wasn't so different from Peter.

Alphonse, on the other hand, frowned. "We need to talk, Claire. You need to know exactly what you've been given and what it's doing to you."

"Finally," she said, rolling her eyes and laying back. "Some answers."

"It's not that simple, Claire," Alphonse said. "You see, I've always believed the All-Gift was a myth, and now here it is, on my island, in a bed right in front of me. I'd only heard rumors of its existence, and now, it's shaking my every belief."
He cleared his throat again, and Claire's heart went out to him. It must be hard to have lived for two thousand years, thinking you knew about everything under the sun, only to have that shattered. She still wanted her answers. "Do it like a Band-Aid then, nice and quick."

"Yes," he said. "That might be the best way to handle it. You see, the All-Gift isn't really what it sounds like. It is in fact a reality warping talent, minor but still quite powerful. It gives the user the ability to change the meaning of things, such as Michael's tattoos, as I'm sure you remember, could come to life and be used like any other talent. A fairy tattoo, for example, became another part of his essence, like astral projection."
She nodded. It wasn't that long ago that she and Smokey encountered that fairy in an alley in Toronto on the great Peter Petrelli search of '07. It pained her to remember that however, because Smokey was now dead, as well as Michael and so many others. "That doesn't explain why I haven't been able to heal."

"It does," Alphonse said. "You see, it's interfering with your normal talent. You have to be careful. No one really knows how the talent works, and as far as I know, you were nearly the first casualty in your reign as the All-Gifted."

"What about Sylar?" Gabriel asked.

Alphonse shook his head. "That was the last in you reign, and that's the reason I've invited you here to hear this, Gabriel. You see, you two have always been bound by fate, one way or another, and now I have to ask the both of you to leave, and never come back."

Claire shot up again. "What? You can't do that! Look at me, I can barely sit up and you expect me to just leave? Have you lost your little mind?"

His frown deepened. "It's not me, it's you," he said. "Claire, you have to protect this gift with everything you have. Elijah and Vann will be hunting for you as soon as they know you have it. They long to shed their need for others to grow powerful. They want to be gods, and they will use you if they can't obtain it. It is only a matter of time before they learn of its passing. We cannot protect you here. You must go somewhere safe, and with Gabriel being the last bearer of the All-Gift, he is bound to you by Fate and must go with you to help keep it safe. If he searches his heart, he'll know it's true."

Gabriel's head fell and Claire shook her head. "But I still can't walk away? What about Peter, and Nathan, and Heidi, and my brothers, and everybody?" she asked, almost pleadingly. Then, she turned to look over at the other blond. "What about Elle? I need to help her?"

"Until you master the gift, there is nothing you can do for her," Alphonse said. "As for everyone else, we already have a number of volunteers to help see to it that you're okay. Nathan will be going with you. So will Gavin and his cousin. Emily, and Noel. Even Grant is going with you.

"As for Peter, I hate to say this, but both you and Nathan are a distraction. He needs to keep his mind on his own tasks to be ready for the war. I will continue to teach the Art of War, and soon, he will come to you and keep you safe.

"Heidi will be taking her boys somewhere they can be safe. They are being hunted by US forces, if you weren't aware, for helping you escape Armstrong, who is now reinstated and is hunting for you and Peter. There are enemies all around, Claire. The time is now."

Alphonse reached out, putting his hands on her stomach, and shut his eyes. A warming sensation filled her stomach, and she felt her body heal almost as quickly as it did under her own power.

Claire glared at the ancient boy. "What about this war? I've heard so many people talking about it, but I haven't seen any reason to go to war. I think you're just lying to me to get me to do what you want."

"Believe what you want, Claire, but we are already at war with the world," Alphonse said. "You saw Blueberry Hill. You now what they want to do with people like us. They fail to see that we are the next step in evolution, and that we only want to help. And then there is Vann, and Elijah, who only want to rule the world. Like I said, the time is now. What are you going to do?"

Oliver Sterling

Mexico City, Mexico

He watched the ground grow closer as the helicopter lowered it's way down onto a helipad in the city. The Mexican government want US help to handle a situation, what they called a "Mutant Problem". Does the US send someone from the Freakshow Agency, with a specialty in this kind of issue? No, they send FBI Agent, Oliver Sterling, two years out of Quantico, with very little understanding of Mutants but calling him an expert. If he could, he would spit in the FBI Director's face, but he couldn't, so he'd settle for doing the best job he could, trying not to screw up diplomacy with the Mexico,

Sterling met his translator on the ground, as he was being lead to the scene. The translator was a young man by the name of Juan or something. Names didn't matter. Results did. Word around the street was the Mexicans suspected Peter Petrelli for the crime.

Juan and the others took Oliver to a police station two miles from the helipad, a rinky-dink little place, and he could tell he didn't want to enter the building as first sniff. The smell of blood was thick. He pulled out a small container of Vicks and rubbed some just under his nose to cut the stench, a little trick he was taught when dealing with cadavers, and then he stepped inside.

The front room was used for interrogations and was horrible. The walls were splashed in gore. Three officers were stacked next to an over-turned desk. Another desk was pushed to the center of the room and held up the body of a young woman with no eyes. The scene held overtones of a religious ritual, but the exact religion escaped Sterling.

He shook his head. "This isn't the work of Peter Petrelli," he said, listening to Juan translate it to the Mexican officials. "Peter has only one killing on record, and it was done with a sword, nothing like this. This is someone else entirely different." The officials listened to Juan, then looked expectantly at Oliver. He frowned, shook his head, and added, "in my expert opinion."

That quelled them. They left him alone to examine the scene, taking in everything he could. It was Sterling who found the body in the cell, the one of a young man missing his tongue as well as his eyes. Another set of eyes and a tongue lay nearby, discarded, but not matching to the description of the deceased male in the cell. The eyes found were blue, not brown. And the tongue was just disturbing.

Talking to himself, he didn't realize Juan was in the room when he said, "Check the girl's mouth for a tongue." Juan ran out, translating to the Federali who was waiting for Sterling's advice on how to handle it. Soon, Juan came back, telling him that nothing was wrong with the girl's tongue, meaning it was still there.

"Who were these people?" Sterling asked, rejoining the federali.

Juan translated his answer. "Maya and Alexandro Herrera, murder suspects."

"None of this makes sense," Oliver said. "There is nothing I can do to help except make a recommendation to send a more qualified agent to handle the case." He then left the cop shop, hoping to find some fresher air.

(A/N – another short chapter that I apologize for, but I do feel the need to clear up a few things. Maya and Alexandro make their All-Gift debut in the last chapter, and ended their run now. I just don't like either character; they always felt forced, even on the TV show. There were other characters from season two that I had plans for; mostly Monica Dawson. However, she was taken into custody by the Agency early on by Matt Parkman. It was briefly mentioned in an early chapter. She is now presumed to be dead at Blueberry Hill. West, however, was another character I didn't like. I much preferred Zach, gay or not. West was killed also at the beginning around the time Sylar was hunting in Southern California. Now, I feel like I've covered all the TV show characters except one, and she will make an appearance soon, though few will recognize her.

Another thing I want to say, since I'm making this a little soap box talk, is about what someone has dubbed The Sins, Gluttony, Lust, and Pride, since I don't think I will get to them soon. Gluttony has been mentioned but probably won't appear until late in the arc at the earliest. Lust has had an appearance in the story already, though few will remember her. As for Pride, she is a character from the show that I almost forgot completely about. You will see the whole list of Sins come to fruition in this Arc, as well as Claire's group grow and shrink at the same time. Everyone mentioned that will be going with her have something to do in this Arc.

As for what seems to be America's favorite Hero, Hiro, I have plans for him, too, as well as Ando. The two of them will be experiencing something new and old, but I don't want to ruin exactly what it is.

As of today, I have cleared up what the All-Gift is, finally, and hopefully a few other things. Again, if there are any questions about plot points I might have skimped on, let me know and one way or another they will be answered, either in an author's note, or in a future chapter.

Oh, and as to how Nathan survived, W was sent to where he was falling and opened a portal to Warsaw. I didn't think that was coming up in a future chapter, so I thought I'd let you know. I feel that both Petrelli's deserve a believed death. Now, all bets are off though. If they die, they won't be coming back.

Love Traumedy101)

PS – Grant will be doing a lot of revelations in the upcoming chapters. He'll finally give up his secrets, and 'Charlie' will make an appearance!