Well, it looks like the showdown with Adam and co. will indeed be a two-parter. This is just the first half of it, so obviously the cliffhanger warning is in effect.

Chapter 11: All In Your Head

"Elle, wait!" Breaking into a little jog to catch up with the slightly (but only slightly) taller girl's quick strides, Alice grabbed her sleeve in order to rein her in. "You can't move so fast around humans," she softly chided her. "They're very good at not noticing things they don't want to see, but they aren't totally blind."

Elle glared at her, not happy about taking correction from anyone other than Edward; for a split second, Alice wondered if she was about to get zapped, but then the blonde calmed herself. "Sorry. I know she's your sister and I shouldn't let her get under my skin anymore, but she's just so condescending, always acting like she knows more than everybody else...and because she sees the future, she's usually right! That's the most annoying part."

"I know," Alice agreed with a sympathetic half-smile. "If it would make you feel better, I'd say being right all the time gets old..."

"No it doesn't."

"It really, really doesn't."

They shared a laugh, but it was short-lived as they noticed that the third member of their party was missing. "Hey, where's Peter? I know humans are slow, but he should've caught up with us by now."

Before they could retrace more than a couple of steps, he came striding up the hall toward them, looking thoroughly put out, which prompted concerned questions from Alice that he refused to answer. "It's nothing. Look, we know where Adam's headed, so let's get back with Nathan, Edward, and Matt and plan our next move."

After a quick call to Matt, Peter took the girls back to his apartment, where Nathan and Edward reported that they had found Chandra Suresh's book. "It didn't contain much in the way of useful information on the double helix, though," Edward, who had read the entire book while they were gone, said dispiritedly. "There was some vague speculation that it might be a crude visual representation of a DNA strand, and it apparently was the personal crest of a legendary warrior from Japan's feudal era known as Takezo Kensei, but there was nothing connecting it with anyone in the present day."

Alice, Elle, and Peter exchanged looks filled with surprise and dawning comprehension before the blonde said, "Unless the person using it now was around in feudal Japan." Then she filled Edward and Nathan in on everything they had learned from Angela, though her rapid-fire speech sometimes left Nathan's ears scrambling to keep up.

"So let me see if I've got this straight," he said when she finished. "We're dealing with an immortal who's been around for centuries-" He paused as if hoping someone would tell him he'd misheard Elle's summation, but when no one did, he reluctantly continued, shaking his head at the new level of insanity that had just been added to his world. "And this guy murdered Kaito Nakamura, framed my mother, and now he's trying to release a virus that'll wipe out the majority of the human population?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

If Elle's nonchalant tone was meant to be reassuring, it appeared to have the opposite effect. "So what are we supposed to do?" he demanded of no one in particular, running a hand through hair that was already more disheveled than Peter had ever seen it. "Normally I'd turn this kind of problem over to Homeland Security, but since I'm already on leave because of family issues, they'd probably think I'd snapped."

"We'll work out a plan as soon as Matt gets here," Alice tried to soothe him, "which will take another five minutes tops."

When Matt arrived, however, he wasn't interested in hearing about Adam. "Molly's in a coma," he blurted out to the room at large before anyone else could get a word in.

"What?"

"A coma?!"

"How'd that happen?"

"Is it the virus?"

"Did it come back?"

"Is it possible she wasn't truly cured in the first place?"

Matt held up his hands, and the inquisitive babble ceased at once. "It's not the virus; Mohinder tested her. When I asked her to find my dad, she didn't want to - she called him 'the nightmare man' and said that when she looked for him, he somehow knew she was there. Still, I pushed until she agreed to use her power...but then she started screaming that he saw her and blacked out before she could pinpoint where he is. We weren't able to wake her up... Anyway, Mohinder's with her now; he'll call if there's any change, but I think my best shot at helping Molly is to track down my father."

"We may have an idea of how to do that." Edward quickly filled him in on what they had learned about the Company's origins and where Angela believed Adam was going.

"And you think my dad's with him?"

"It stands to reason; they obviously knew one another, and if Adam is as charismatic and persuasive as Angela described, it's possible that some of his followers remained loyal to him even after his true intentions came to light. If Maury is working with him, it would also answer certain questions I've been asking myself about the attack on Angela last night. For instance, how did Adam manage to enter the jail undetected, assault a woman in the custody of law enforcement, and leave again without being apprehended? Furthermore, why did no one in the building notice that one of their charges was injured until the following morning?"

"You're right," Nathan agreed. "I was so upset when I heard about Ma being hurt that I didn't stop to think about it, but they said it looked like she'd been lying there in her cell for hours before the guards found her, and nobody heard anything while she was supposedly trying to claw her own face off. It doesn't make sense."

"Unless Adam went in there with someone who could influence the guards' minds so they didn't hear what was happening right down the hall and 'forgot' to do night checks - then it makes perfect sense," Peter said darkly. "I still can't believe I trusted him."

"Once again, Peter, it's not your fault," Alice sighed. "You heard what your mother said about him, how skilled he is at manipulation and deception."

"She's right," Nathan added. "I know you, Pete, and you always try to do the right thing. Whatever happened, it's not on you."

"Yeah, it's Adam's fault for being such a bastard," Elle chipped in her two cents. "You'll feel better once you kick his ass."

"I have to find him first," Peter demurred. "All we know is that he's somewhere between here and Odessa, which doesn't exactly narrow it down much. I wonder if Molly being comatose would stop me from absorbing her power..."

"You may not need to." A stricken look crossed Alice's face, as if a disturbing thought had just occurred to her. "We know where he's going, and if he left right after attacking Angela in the middle of the night, he'd have a pretty good head start. If he took a fast car and let Bella drive, he could've covered a lot of ground by now too. People like us don't need to sleep," she explained, "and Maury would make sure the police didn't stop them."

"So you're saying they could already be there?" Peter demanded, his voice rising as the urgency of the situation sank in. "Or close?"

Alice shrugged, nervously chewing her lip. "Like I said, it depends on the kind of car they have...or, for all we know, Adam might even have been able to get his hands on some kind of private aircraft. The thing about immortals is that if they're smart, which he obviously is, it's easy to amass resources over the centuries. Having an ally who can perform mind control helps too."

"We need to get to Odessa now," Matt said with an edge of desperation. "Molly's running out of time - she was burning up when I left, and Mohinder said he doesn't know how long she can hang on - but as much as I want to drop everything else and focus on saving her, we have to make sure Adam doesn't infect the whole planet with the virus that nearly killed her." He turned to Alice, Elle, and Edward. "You guys are rich; you wouldn't happen to have your own helicopter or private jet, would you?"

"You know, we don't; we had to rent one to go find Peter in Ireland, and why don't we have our own helicopter?" Elle wondered out loud. "The Cullens have everything else on the planet... But it'd be faster if Peter just teleported us."

"All five of you at once?" He sounded rather alarmed at the idea. "I'm not a Portkey!"

"Not five." Nathan shifted uncomfortably as all eyes turned to him, but pressed on nonetheless. "Let's face it, flying won't be much use in a fight, and aside from that, I'm just a lawyer. The best thing I can do now is stay here and make sure Ma doesn't dig herself any deeper with the cops."

Peter wanted to argue against Nathan's assertion that he wouldn't be much help, but he had to admit that his brother had a point; if Adam and Maury proved to be more than he, Matt, and the three vampires - four, once they'd made Bella see the light - could handle, Nathan's power of flight probably wouldn't make much difference. "Okay then, four," he agreed, "but that still seems like a lot. Is there a limit to how many people you can teleport at once? And if I try to take too many, is there any chance that someone could...I don't know...get left behind? Or end up somewhere they're not supposed to?"

He was looking at Elle, who he assumed was the most knowledgeable person in the room regarding such matters, but she just shrugged. "I don't know. I think you can take anyone with you as long as you're touching them, but maybe we should just go two at a time if you're worried."

Peter nodded, relieved - at least until a new problem occurred to him. "I've never seen the Primatech facility in Odessa before, so what if I can't get there? I mean, I've teleported a few times now, but only to places I'm familiar with."

"What if you made Claire's high school your destination, then?" Edward suggested. "It's in the same town, and you've been there before."

Peter agreed that this sounded like a workable idea, and before the next ten minutes were up, he successfully transported all four of his companions - first Edward and Elle, then Alice and Matt - to the area where his first encounter with Sylar had ended in a near-fatal fall. Once they were all there, a new problem presented itself: in contrast to the rather dreary day they had left behind in New York, the weather in Texas was clear and sunny, trapping Alice, Edward, and Elle in the shadows of the tiered seating outside the school's side entrance.

"Something the matter?" Matt asked, his eyebrows shooting up at their hurried retreat into the deepest shadows they could find.

"They don't handle sunlight too well," Peter explained in a low voice, as if imparting potentially embarrassing information. "Skin condition."

"I see." It wasn't really surprising, Matt thought; he'd seen some pale people before, but their skin truly was paper-white. He knew he should feel sorry for them, but at the moment his mind was occupied with a more pressing issue. "How are we supposed to get all the way across town if they can't stand direct sunlight?"

"We need a car," Elle told them. Even though she was several feet away, Peter was pretty sure he heard her add, under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like, "Duh."

"I thought time was of the essence here, and now you want me to make a run to Hertz? Although I could probably make it in less than half an hour if I flew-"

"There's an easier way," Alice interrupted. "There are plenty of cars right over there."

Peter followed her gaze to the parking lot where Union Wells High School's students and faculty left their vehicles while school was in session, then turned back to her, his eyebrows shooting up incredulously. "You want me to steal one? Are you serious?"

"Not steal," she replied a little too quickly. "You can bring it back right after we stop Adam, so it's more like borrowing, really."

"And how are we supposed to 'borrow' a car without the keys?" Matt demanded.

"You'll have to hotwire it, of course." It seemed to Alice like a perfectly rational statement of fact, but Matt and Peter both stared at her as if she'd instructed them to build a working rocket out of Lego bricks. "Neither of you know how to do that, do you?" she huffed.

"You do know I'm a cop, right?" Matt asked in a dryly rhetorical tone.

"I'm not a cop," Peter acknowledged, "but I don't go around hotwiring cars either."

"We'll talk you through it," Edward offered. "You can generate your own spark to start the engine, so you won't even have to go the traditional route of tearing out the wiring." Seeing that they still seemed to harbor some doubts about the current plan, he said, "Ordinarily I wouldn't try to justify illegal activities by appealing to some notion of 'greater good', but we are trying to save Molly from whatever mental damage Maury has inflicted on her and extract Bella from the clutches of a nihilistic psychopath, not to mention preventing the release of a virus that will wipe out human civilization as we know it; in service of those goals, the unauthorized borrowing of a car is acceptable by anyone's reckoning."

"Okay, you've convinced us," Matt called over his shoulder as he and Peter began hoofing it to the parking lot. "There's no need to start throwing around words like 'nihilistic'."

Thanks to their telepathy, they were able to hear Edward's and Alice's instructions all the way across the lot as the pair guided them through picking the lock on their chosen sedan in order to raise the hood, then shocking the engine into life with a well-placed electrical bolt. Everything went perfectly until a man, probably the principal or vice principal judging by his suit and tie, came storming up to them, yelling, "What the hell are you doing with my car?!"

Peter and Matt froze like deer in headlights, neither saying a word; somehow, they didn't think the man would buy into Alice's rationale that they were just borrowing it. Still glaring at them, he pulled out his phone. "I'm calling the police."

We can't let him do that, Peter thought to Matt, ignoring Elle's voice in his head telling him to just electrocute the guy. Have you figured out how to do what your dad can do - control people's minds?

Not really, Matt admitted. I've tried pushing my thoughts at people, but I haven't made anybody do anything yet.

What if we both try it at the same time? On three, okay?

Just before the principal completed his call, they simultaneously ordered him to stop, both focusing every fiber of their being on projecting their thoughts into his mind. He paused, blinking in confusion, his thumb hovering over the Send button. The two telepaths traded excited looks before pressing on.

Put the phone away, Matt urged. You don't need to call the police.

That's right, we're just borrowing your car, Peter added. We'll bring it back before school lets out.

"Yeah, okay," the principal agreed, his rapid blinking giving way to a dazed expression. "You'll need the keys, though." He took them from his jacket pocket and held them out to Peter, who cautiously accepted the offering, amazed that his and Matt's desperate ploy had worked so well.

"Thanks." Now go back to your office and forget you saw us.

The principal nodded, then turned and walked away, weaving slightly as if punch-drunk. Peter and Matt watched him go, wondering whether their telepathic suggestions would hold or if he would snap out of it and report them after all, but he never looked back. Once he was safely inside the building, they breathed a sigh of relief, got into the car, and drove around to the side entrance to pick up their ultraviolet-averse companions.

###

The drive to Primatech's Odessa facility took another half hour, which Alice passed by attempting to probe the immediate future for some hint of what they would face when they got there, even though her task was made more difficult by the fact that Bella, the only opposing player she was familiar with, remained a frustrating blind spot; then, just as they came within sight of what looked like a perfectly ordinary industrial building, she suddenly stiffened in her seat and let out a small gasp of dismay as her mind returned to the present.

"What is it?" Edward asked, grasping her arm to steady her. "What did you see?"

"We took too long," she replied grimly. "They're already here."

Peter jerked the steering wheel so sharply that the tires screeched in protest as he swerved into the parking lot, but he was too busy trying to catch her eye in the rearview mirror to care. "And Bella?"

Alice shook her head. "I still can't see her, but she's probably with Adam - but don't worry about them right now. First we have to get past Maury."

"Yes, I can hear him," Edward murmured as he tuned in to the psychic babble he usually ignored, only this time there was no babble; all he picked up, besides the thoughts of the other people in the car with him, was a single mind that seemed to be scanning the area, no doubt listening for intruders. Whether this meant that Adam, Maury, and Bella had somehow cleared the building, or if Maury's mental presence was simply so strong that he drowned out everyone else, Edward didn't know, but one thing was abundantly clear: "He's very powerful."

"Yeah, he is." For once, Elle was completely serious. "I've had the bastard in my head before, and trust me, it's not fun. So what do we do? I could try to fry him, but he'd probably make me use my power on you guys instead."

"Which is why you should stay as far away from him as possible. He may be strong, but his range doesn't extend as far as mine; I can sense him from here, but he doesn't seem to have noticed us yet. If he's anything like Matt, I don't think he'll be able to control you unless you're in close proximity to him."

"Yeah, I mostly just hear people who're in the same room as me," Matt confirmed. "But I only see one way into the building; if he's waiting nearby, how are we supposed to get in without him seeing us?"

"We can't," Edward answered. "I believe our best chance is to send in someone to draw his attention, then hope the others can slip past once he's occupied with the-"

"Bait," Peter finished for him. "Who are you planning to sacrifice?"

"Myself, of course, although I don't consider it a sacrifice since I doubt Maury Parkman is capable of harming me. I expect he'll try to torment me with unpleasant memories, or trap me inside my own mind as he did to Molly...or maybe not. If he experiences the same feedback Matt has when he's tried to read my mind, I might be able to turn the tables on him."

"I'm hearing too many 'ifs' in this plan," Elle commented, her face taut with worry.

"I'm sorry, love," Edward told her, leaning over Alice - who, as the smallest, was sitting between them in the backseat - to peer earnestly into her eyes, "but we can't risk all of us falling prey to Maury. The important thing is to stop Adam before he gets his hands on the virus, and this facility is big enough that the rest of you may have to split up to search for him."

"Not me. I'm going with you," Matt declared.

Much to Elle's displeasure, Edward turned away from her to look at the detective. "Are you sure? No offense, but I have reason to think my brain might withstand Maury's assault better than yours...and this is your father we're talking about. It wasn't so long ago that you wanted to protect him."

Matt shook his head, a mulish expression creeping onto his face. "That was when I thought he might be Adam's next target, before I knew he was working with him...before he put Molly in a coma. Whatever it takes to stop him, I'm on board."

"Just be careful," Elle ordered Edward. "If Maury gives you brain damage because you're trying to be all noble, I'll zap you into the middle of next week." Leaning so far across the seat that she was practically in Alice's lap, she grabbed his chin, forcefully turned his head back toward her, and crushed their lips together in a brief kiss that was still steamy enough to make everyone else uncomfortable. When they broke apart, she turned to Matt and said, "I hope you'll be okay too, but I'm not gonna kiss you."

"I'll try to contain my disappointment."

###

Upon entering the building, Matt and Edward discovered that the reason for the telepathic silence wasn't merely that Maury was blocking everyone else out; the place really was deserted, though that hadn't been the case until very recently. There were several security guards and a couple of people who looked like office workers in the front lobby, all with bullet holes in their foreheads.

"The guards are still holding their guns," Matt observed, clearly disturbed by the gruesome tableau laid out before them. "Do you think my dad made them do this?"

Edward sidestepped the question by adding his own observations. "This blood is fresh; spilled less than half an hour ago, I'd say. They must have arrived shortly before we did."

Following the beacon that was Maury's powerful telepathy - they were close enough now that Matt could sense it too - they went deeper into the facility, both broadcasting a steady stream of thoughts to draw Maury's attention while being careful not to tip him off that they weren't alone.

Come on, Dad, Matt called silently into the seemingly empty cubicle-filled room ahead. You ran away from me when I was a kid, but you can't run anymore. You've hurt someone I care about, and you're working for a psycho who wants to hurt a lot more people - let's get this over with so I can find him and haul his ass off to jail. Come out and face me!

"There's no need to shout," Edward said in an aggrieved tone. "I can hear you too, you know."

So can I.

They both froze; the new voice in their heads wasn't loud, but it carried all the force of a thunderclap. Nice of you to join us, Maury, Edward replied politely. I don't suppose you would do us the courtesy of speaking with us face to face?

So you can beat me to a pulp? I don't think so - you seem to have gotten mixed up on who's the sucker here, bloodsucker. This was followed by a mental laugh at what Maury clearly thought was a very witty remark.

Edward rolled his eyes. Save me from amateur comedians.

The laughter echoing in his head suddenly took on an ugly, sinister edge. It's too late for that... No one's gonna save you.

The fluorescent tubes illuminating the room went out, plunging the area into blackness so absolute that even Edward's enhanced eyesight couldn't penetrate it. He instinctively reached out for Matt, who had been right beside him a moment ago, but the detective was gone, at least as far as he could tell. Fascinating - it seems that Maury Parkman shares Carlisle's friend Zafrina's talent for creating illusions, but he's able to affect all the senses, not just sight. Still, I was expecting something more elaborate than merely depriving me of sensory input. Is that the best you can do, Parkman?

Tough guy, huh? So you think you've seen convincing illusions before? You ain't seen nothing yet.

With that, the ground seemed to fall out from under Edward's feet, and he experienced the frighteningly realistic sensation of falling down, down, down into an endless abyss.

###

Outside, Peter, Alice, and Elle waited a few minutes after Matt and Edward went in, then cautiously followed. "Maury's still here," Peter reported after tentatively probing the psychic ether, "but he's not on the lookout for us anymore. I think they've got his attention."

"Great." Elle knew she should be glad Edward's plan was working, yet somehow she couldn't bring herself to be too thrilled about him facing off against a master of mental manipulation who got his kicks by digging through the most private recesses of other people's minds and torturing them with their deepest insecurities, darkest fears, and most painful memories - especially since Edward had a lot of memories. Most of them were good as far as she knew, but surely there were some bad ones in there too.

Correctly guessing what was on her mind, Alice moved closer to her as they rode an elevator down to the lower levels and said in a voice too low for Peter to hear, "You don't have to worry about Edward, you know. I know how hard it is to think something bad might be happening to your mate and not be able to help them, but he's strong; whatever Maury tries to do to him, he can handle it."

Her words weren't terribly comforting, but it was still nice of Alice to try to make her feel better. Elle rewarded her effort with a smile that was only slightly strained and a whispered, "Thanks." Remembering Alice's touchy-feely tendencies, she even managed to give the other girl's hand a quick squeeze, which seemed to please her even as it took her by surprise; despite her precognitive power, she never would have foreseen Elle behaving in such an almost-friendly manner. However, she made a prudent decision not to say anything, not wanting to jeopardize whatever progress she might have made toward breaking through the blonde's prickly exterior by embarrassing her. There was no time for further conversation anyway, because at that very moment the elevator reached the end of its descent, and the doors opened onto a horrifying scene of death and destruction.

The bodies of half a dozen security guards littered the floor outside; most of them appeared to have been stabbed or had their throats neatly cut with some sort of blade, but there was one whose death had been significantly messier. The best that could be said of that man's grisly demise was that it must have been quick, so quick he didn't even have time to drop the gun that was still clutched in one crushed and mangled hand - unfortunately that hand, and the entire arm attached to it, were ten feet away from the rest of his body.

"My God," Peter whispered. "Adam did all this?" And I let him out, which makes it my fault...

"Not all of them; the one-armed wonder here was definitely a vampire's handiwork," Elle concluded after taking a closer look, approaching the body carefully so as not to get any of the blood on her shoes. "The others' wounds are all pretty clean, so Adam must've killed them with some kind of weapon, but this guy's arm was ripped off - see how the edges of his skin are all ragged?"

Seeing the shaken, slightly sickened look on her nephew's face, Alice said quietly, "For what it's worth, I don't think Bella meant to kill him. She was probably just trying to disarm-" Realizing that might not be the best choice of words under the circumstances, she amended it to, "-Take his gun away, but it takes time for new vampires to adjust to their strength. Until they do...accidents happen."

"Right." He ran his tongue over his suddenly dry lips and tore his gaze away from the dismembered corpse. "That's understandable." And it was - he knew exactly what it was like to have powers you couldn't control, so of course he wouldn't blame Bella for slipping up, even if he preferred not to look too closely at the carnage she'd left behind. Once we get her away from Adam, I can help her. I'll make sure it never happens again.

"Well, whatever else she's been up to, it doesn't look like she ever got her appetite back," Elle grumbled, straightening up from her examination of the victims. "Look at all this blood - I bet she didn't touch a drop of it."

Peter found that oddly reassuring; while the fact that she'd killed a man, even by accident, and apparently stood by while Adam murdered five more was undeniably disquieting, at least she hadn't crossed the line into truly ghoulish behavior.

Moving on, they soon came to a door made of bulletproof glass and equipped with a keypad for authorized Primatech employees to enter the code required to open it. Adam and Bella obviously didn't have the code, so she had simply smashed the glass; a vampire's fist, it seemed, was a lot harder to stop than a bullet. Peter started to step through the hole she'd made, but Elle suddenly grabbed his sleeve and yanked him back. "Shit!"

"What?!"

"There's something in the air up ahead - some kind of knockout gas, I'm guessing. It must be a new security measure they added after Sylar escaped from this facility."

"Would it work on someone like Adam?"

Elle shrugged. "I don't know. It could've just made him dizzy for a minute, or maybe it did knock him out if it wasn't toxic enough for his body to register it as a threat and purge it. From what I remember about him, though, I don't think any drugs ever worked on him."

"Then it shouldn't affect me either." Peter tried to tug his sleeve out of her grasp, and she let go, but neither she nor Alice seemed in any hurry to move forward. "The gas won't hurt you, will it?"

"No, I don't know of anything that can make a vampire lose consciousness. The problem is that this stuff may be odorless to humans, but we can smell it - in fact, it's all we can smell," Alice explained. "We can't track Adam and Bella past that door."

"Then we'll just have to split up," Elle decided. "I'll go right, you two go left."

The other two agreed, and they went their separate ways. Peter did get lightheaded from breathing in the gas that filled the corridor, but it soon passed, which he took as confirmation that Adam was still active as well. After passing a few labs, some of which held unconscious scientists, they came to another fork in the hallway.

"I don't see any more labs down either of those halls, so they must lead to the places where they keep the things they're experimenting on," Alice surmised. "If they have dangerous specimens here, it makes sense that they'd want to store them here in a secure level, as close to the labs as possible so they wouldn't be carrying them all over the facility. The question is, which way leads to the virus Adam's looking for?"

"I couldn't say, since nobody seems to have put up any 'deadly virus this way' signs. It's almost like they don't want people to find it," Peter said dryly. "Guess this means we split up again."

Alice nodded, concern flickering across her features. "Good luck, and if you find Bella...just be careful. She's very strong now, even stronger than she was as a human; for all we know, your powers could be useless against her. Don't do anything to provoke her if you can help it."

"I won't," Peter promised, even though he couldn't quite believe Bella might actually attack him. "Good luck to you too."

"Thanks." With that, Alice turned and went her chosen way, leaving him to continue on his own.

And that's all for now. The next chapter will conclude this little adventure, and we'll finally get to see a certain long-awaited reunion... Unfortunately, since we're now approaching the end of November, it'll have to wait till next year. I plan to update Demon's Games one more time in December, and maybe Lost In Camelot too if I have enough good writing days, so hopefully I'll have a new Dark Days update for you in January or February. Until then, enjoy the holidays, stay safe, and best wishes to everyone for 2021.