Peter looked down at the street below. It seemed deserted, but that didn't really come as a surprise. It was late, most people were probably asleep and that meant that he was able to land without being seen. As he began to descend he realized that it probably wouldn't matter anyway. The fact that he and Sylar just flew away from the carnival probably didn't go unnoticed. It didn't even cross his mind that people could have seen him. That's how desperate he had been to get away from Noah.
He landed carefully on the sidewalk, soon followed by Sylar.
"Peter, why did you…" Sylar looked around. He had recognized the neighborhood from above, but he had not expected Peter to actually land. He thought they were just passing by. But then he realized that it had probably been Peter's plan all along. Sylar had been stupid enough to trust him and had followed him without any hesitation at all. The nurse had lured him into a trap. "Nice try," he said as he took a couple of steps back. I should have known!
"What are you talking about?" Peter was confused.
"Is this because of what Bennet said? Do you really think that I'm just gonna give up? Even after everything we went through? After just having saved thousands of people? People I don't even know!" Sylar had risked his own life to save thousands of people he didn't even know, people who would never know him or what he did for them. "You know what, Petrelli?" He pointed his finger at his own chest. "I am not going to let you," he pointed at Peter, "or him," he pointed at Matt Parkman's house, "lock me up in that hell hole again!"
"What?" Peter realized that it probably looked like he was going to do just that after the conversation they had with Noah. If that was even considered a conversation. "That's not why I wanted to go here. I just thought that maybe Matt could help us, help you. He can see inside your head. He knows that you have changed. We just need him to actually believe it."
Yeah, right. Sylar wasn't going to let Peter fool him twice. "Why should I believe you?"
"Because I am telling the truth and you know it. You have some kind of lie detecting ability, right?" I don't have to remind him, he knows that. "Use it," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Sylar narrowed his eyes and stared at the nurse. Peter was right, again. If he had lied, Sylar would have noticed. It was one of the many abilities he had collected over the years. Damnit! He suddenly felt very embarrassed for not trusting Peter and accusing him of treason. He should have known better. And yet, somehow, he knew for certain that it was going to happen again. He's Peter fucking Petrelli for Christ's sake. He had more reasons to want Sylar dead than anyone else on the entire planet. "Sorry," Sylar muttered, avoiding Peter's gaze.
Peter hadn't expected an apology. It took him by surprise. "Forget about it. I get why you'd think something like that." I wouldn't trust me either. He forced himself to smile at Sylar and said, "Come on," as he turned around. He started walking towards Matt's house, but stopped when he looked over his shoulder and saw that Sylar wasn't following.
Sylar wasn't ready to face Parkman. Not yet. Something was bothering him. "Peter…"
Peter turned around. "What now?"
"I think it's better if you take telekinesis, just in case."
"Why?"
"Because I think it's... I'm not sure if I…" Sylar sighed as he searched for the right words. He just couldn't bring it into words. What would Peter think? Even worse, what would Peter do?
"Just spit it out." Peter was starting to lose his patience again.
"I'm not sure if I can control myself when I see Parkman." There, I've said it.
"Control yours…" Peter's eyes widened. "You… You think you're going to kill Matt when you see him?"
Sylar shrugged, trying to act more casual than he felt at that moment. "Maybe not right away, but you know, if he says or does something… I mean, if Matt starts provoking me for some reason... I want to convince him that I've changed, I really do, but I just don't think it's going to work." Parkman had looked inside his head and he had seen the change in him, but somehow refused to believe it. Sylar still remembered what Parkman had told him. What I saw was inside your twisted mind. That wasn't your heart.
And here he was, admitting to Peter that there was a chance that he was going to kill again. But if he could warn Peter for something that might or might not happen, then it was totally worth it. The telekinesis was only an offer, so Peter could stop him in case he would lose control. "If Matt makes me angry or winds me up somehow and I lose it, you will have to stop me." He lifted his arm.
"That makes sense." Peter approached Sylar, but hesitated before taking hold of the man's arm. He wasn't sure if taking a different ability was such a good idea after all. What if it was a trap and Sylar flew away the minute Peter took telekinesis? Come on, Peter. Have a little faith, he had to tell himself. He pushed the thought aside and grabbed the serial killer's arm. He focused on telekinesis this time and instantly felt a different kind of sensation flowing through his veins than when he took flight. Having telekinesis always made him feel more powerful, somehow. He opened his eyes to see if Sylar was going anywhere, but the taller man was just standing there, looking a little impatient and… It was really strange, but Sylar actually seemed a bit nervous.
"Make sure he doesn't find out about that, Peter. I don't want Parkman getting crazy ideas inside his head."
"The man can read minds, Sylar. I don't think it'll take him long before he finds out."
Sylar rolled his eyes at Peter's comment. He knew exactly how telepathy worked after having lived inside Matt's head for so long. "If you just don't think about it, he won't find out either."
"Easier said than done," Peter mumbled. It was never going to work. If he wasn't supposed to think about something, then that was exactly the thing he had to think about. It would be so much easier if he could explain the situation to Matt just by using his thoughts. He wondered if he would be able to do that without Sylar noticing it. "Come on," he said again.
This time Sylar followed him. He kept looking around, still expecting some kind of trap. Parkman was probably already listening to his thoughts, plotting some plan to get him back inside that mind prison. Back inside that basement, behind that wall, making sure there was no way out this time...
They stopped at Matt's front door, hoping that he would see them first. But Matt was nowhere to be seen. Peter ringed the doorbell. Nothing happened. Sylar knocked on the glass. Nothing happened.
Matt wasn't home.
Sylar took a few steps back. "After you."
"What do you want me to do? Break the glass?" Peter asked irritably.
Sylar rolled his eyes again and sighed. "Yes, Peter. That's what I want you to do. I want you to break that door down, because that's not going to provoke Matt at all." He waited, but the nurse didn't seem to have any idea what to do. "Peter," Sylar hinted at the door with his eyes. He sighed again. Seriously? "The lock."
Peter looked at the door. "Oh." He finally understood what Sylar wanted him to do, but he had never done it before. Yes, he had broken in before, but always with brute force. Like he did with the vault where they kept that virus. The only time he used telekinesis in that way, was when he fixed Sylar's watch after replicating his ability. He lost that ability too, along with all the rest. Not that that was a bad thing. He never wanted to have Sylar's ability, ever again.
But Peter wasn't going to try this telekinetic lock picking thing with Sylar breathing down his neck. The man was undoubtedly an expert at lock picking, but Peter wasn't and he didn't want to look like a fool either. "Just do it yourself."
"I have changed, Peter," Sylar said with a smirk on his face.
"I know that," Peter began, but Sylar had not finished talking yet.
"If I break in here… What if he reads my mind? He already hates me for God knows how many reasons, I don't want to add breaking and entering to that list."
"I get that, but," Peter felt a little awkward. I can't believe I'm saying this. "I don't know how."
"Oh…" Sylar couldn't help the grin spreading across his face. Such a good boy. Of course he never broke in before. "There is a first time for everything, Peter." I'm going to enjoy watching this. Sylar crossed his arms, just like Peter had done before, and waited.
Peter wanted to argue with him, but somehow knew it was pointless. He threw Sylar one more irritated look before he turned towards the door. He held out his hand and tried to focus on the lock.
"Make sure you…" Sylar tried to help, but stopped halfway through his sentence when he realized that he never had to learn how to do it himself. Because of his own ability he always knew almost instantly how something worked. It wasn't fair to expect the same from someone who didn't have that. "Step aside, Peter."
Peter felt the little push from Sylar's hand against his shoulder and before he knew it Sylar had opened the lock himself. That was a bit disappointing. Sylar wouldn't even let him try. I thought he didn't want to provoke Matt! Asshole…
Sylar opened the door and stepped inside the house. Like someone coming home after a long, hard day at work, he sank down on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table. He closed his eyes, feeling quite comfortable on the couch that held so many weird memories. Sleeping with Matt's wife was definitely one of them.
Peter walked to the center of the living room looking irritated because of Sylar's behavior. He crossed his arms and looked around Matt's living room for something to do, something to talk about, anything to keep his mind occupied.
"Get something to drink and take a seat, Peter. It might be hours before Matt comes home. Maybe even longer." Sylar opened his left eye and saw Peter glaring at him. "Don't look at me like that. I've had to live here for a very long time, against my will. I have every right to feel at home and that," he put his feet back on the floor, bent forward and looked Peter dead in the eye, "is his own god damn fault."
Peter sighed and walked out of the living room. It was probably better if he didn't say anything about the matter. When he found the kitchen he took two diet cokes from the fridge and went back to where Sylar was. He handed one can to Sylar and opened the other.
Sylar laughed out loud as he looked at the drink in his hand. "She still wants him to lose weight." He shook his head and opened the can. "That's never gonna happen."
"Can't you be nice for just a couple of minutes?" What's wrong with him? Oh yeah, that's right. Sylar was just nervous. He didn't want to go back to that nightmare and Peter had to admit, he didn't like the idea of going back there either. He didn't even want to think about it. "You know… I've always wondered why you don't use some of your powers. I know you have a ton of them, but you barely seem to use them. Apart from telekinesis and regeneration, obviously." And flight of course, but it was probably better if they didn't talk about that one.
Sylar looked up and frowned at Peter. The nurse suddenly wanted to talk. "I told you, I lost most of them when I had the Shanti virus. And I don't have a ton of them."
"Of course, but that's not what I meant. Shape shifting for example, do you ever use it?" Sylar had told Peter a lot when they were living in Matt's mind prison. His abilities, the names of the people he took them from, how he lost all of them and the abilities he took after being cured from the disease. It wasn't one of Peter's favorite subjects to talk about with the serial killer, because talking with Sylar about his abilities meant talking about the murders as well. And even though Peter hated having to talk about those murders, he still preferred it over avoiding each other for months.
"Oh, that one." Shape-shifting had been very useful to Sylar in the past, but not anymore. "I'd rather be me, if that's okay with you." He wondered why Peter had picked that specific ability as an example. It was one of the few abilities Sylar couldn't get under control right away. "Are you seriously going to stand there all night?" he asked, trying to change the subject to something less... personal.
Peter gave up. He wasn't going to have a normal conversation with Sylar being all moody. Plus, he needed some space from the man after all those years of being alone with him. "Never mind." He looked around. What to do... He started opening doors and actually smiled when he found the bathroom. "I'll be in here for a sec," he told Sylar as he pointed at the bathroom. He heard Sylar mutter some words, but he wasn't interested enough to find out what they were. He stepped inside the bathroom and started exploring. Please, let there be a first aid kit.
Next chapter: Press Conference