"You won't hurt me."

"Okay, listen. I think you're very nice and I really appreciate you wanting to help me, but this just doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't just do that to you. It goes against everything I believe in! Not to mention the trouble I could get in if anyone ever found out."

"I won't tell anyone if that makes you feel any better. And as for keeping your conscience clear, you know what I can do, so you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Yes, I know what you can do. I've seen you do it, just like everybody else. And maybe it's become normal for you, but for me? To do that to you? No, I'm sorry. I just can't."

"Ignoring it won't make it go away. You can't just switch it off. That's not how it works."

"I know! But there must be another way for me to do this without having to hurt you..."

"I can't get hurt."

"But you'll get burned."

"And I will heal." Claire held out her hand and smiled. "Just trust me."

Luke shook his head stubbornly. "How can you expect me to trust you when I can't even trust myself?" he asked, gazing down at his glowing hands with fear in his eyes. He clenched them into fists and took a step back. "I just want it to stop. This power, ability, whatever you call it, I don't want it. It brings nothing but pain. I can't do anything with it. I can't touch anything without making it melt. I can't do my job..."

"But,-"

"...can't go near my family. My wife. My son. I can't come anywhere near them, not as long as this... this thing is inside of me."

Thing? Claire was momentarily taken aback by Luke's choice of words. She was starting to see what the problem was. "But once you control it,-" she began, but he cut her off.

"It won't make any difference," he said, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Don't you see that? No matter what I do, no matter where I go, I will always be a danger to anyone who comes near me. I know it and so does that friend of yours, Micah."

Claire frowned. Micah would never say anything like that to anyone. Why would he? He was working very hard to help people with abilities, so why discourage them by saying it was pointless to even try? Something wasn't right. Claire cleared her throat and asked in a very serious tone, "What did Micah say exactly?"

"That I can't stop this thing from happening because I am afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of this! Of hurting the people I love. Of anyone finding out." Luke realized he had been yelling and quickly lowered his voice. "He's right, I know that now. I am scared. Even if I figure out how to control this, which I seriously doubt will ever happen, I could still lose my temper, or get sad, or... I don't know, get so excited about something that it activates this... power/ability-thing. If strong emotions are the reason why this keeps happening to me, then I can't come near my family, ever again."

Claire sighed. Luke had obviously misinterpreted Micah's words. "If you can't stop yourself from having these thoughts, then no. Your wife and son will never be safe with you." She didn't mean to sound so harsh, but it was the truth. Luke needed to realize that his ability was a gift, not a curse. "Now, stop making up excuses and take my hand."

Luke hesitated for a moment, but then, after realizing he had not one single argument left to convince Claire, he slowly placed his right hand on top of hers. "Tell me when it hurts," he told her stiffly.

Claire ignored him and held his hand in a firm sort of handshake. The heat radiating from his hand was doing instant damage to her skin, but it didn't matter. She couldn't feel anything. Her hand was completely numb to the pain. There was no burning sensation, not like she had with the burns she got from running into a train wreckage once.

It didn't sting. It didn't itch. She felt nothing. Her skin, however, had turned an angry red within seconds and was already starting to blister, but she kept holding on to Luke's hand, even though he constantly tried to pull away from her.

"Let go!" he panicked. "Please. You're hurt."

I wish. "I'm fine," Claire said with a stoic face. She placed her other hand on top of Luke's and tried to get him to look her in the eye. "Tell me what you're thinking about, right now."

But Luke refused to look at her. He kept his eyes on her hands, shocked by the fact that she wasn't showing any sign of pain. "You wanna know what I'm thinking? This here, this could happen to my wife one day. It could happen to my boy... Anyone I get close to, will get hurt. You might not be able to feel it, but trust me, they will."

Claire shook her head. "Don't think about their pain. Think about them, about what they mean to you. Think about..." Claire looked down for a moment as she tried to remember her uncle's exact words. She wasn't entirely sure whether Luke's ability worked the same way, but it was worth the shot. "Think about how they make you feel when you're with them."

The look of panic on Luke's face was suddenly replaced by a more puzzled expression. "What?"

"Just do it." She looked down and saw her skin was already past the stage of being burned and was now starting to turn black as coal. She hadn't been burned that bad since the day Ted Sprague lost control over his powers and blew up her house. Her entire body had been exposed to radiation, so it was hardly comparable to this situation, but the smell was exactly the same. The smell of her own burnt flesh. It was very unpleasant.

Luke nodded. "I can try." With a deep frown on his forehead and his eyes firmly shut, he tried to concentrate hard on what Claire had told him.

And Claire waited patiently. Luke was obviously struggling to let go of his fear, which was completely understandable. He hadn't known about his ability for very long and already had to accept it as a part of him, which wasn't an easy thing to do. Claire couldn't think of one person who had not struggled with their ability after it manifested, herself included. She, too, had gone through a very rough period after finding out about her own healing powers. The loneliness particularly had made that part of her life a living Hell.

Letting go of that horrible memory, Claire cast her eyes down and saw, to her great relief, that Luke's hands had gone back to normal. They were no longer glowing.

When Luke opened his eyes and realized he had finally been able to stop his ability, he smiled from ear to ear. He pulled his hand away and watched the healing process of Claire's burnt hands with the utmost admiration. "Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly.

"Are you?" Claire asked back. She waited for Luke's answer, but he seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all. She decided to help him a little. "You did great."

Luke nodded, but was still at a loss for words.

"Let's go back inside. You look like you could use a break."

He nodded and followed Claire across the schoolyard. All the while he kept looking down at his hands as though he still couldn't believe it. They had almost reached the main entrance, when he started talking again. "Can I ask you something?"

Claire stopped and turned around. "Sure."

"I was just wondering... Your powers, do you control them?"

"No," Claire answered with a frown. Isn't that obvious? She never really thought about it before. It was probably the first time anybody had ever asked her. "There's nothing to control. It just sort of happens. When I get hurt, I heal. That's it. I suppose that's why they call it Spontaneous Regeneration."

"I get that. It's just that you seem to know an awful lot about these things. You knew exactly what to tell me, what I needed to do to put a stop to it."

Oh. Claire smiled, but felt a little awkward getting credit for something she didn't even do. She had to tell him the truth. "That's because I know someone who has been where you are. He couldn't control his abilities either." She was not an expert when it came to having an ability and being able to control it. Not in the slightest. "I just told you what he told me."

"Oh."

"I'm really sorry. To tell you the truth, I didn't think I was going to be of much help to you. I just hoped that by holding my hand and not hurting me, you would be able to let go of your fear."

Luke didn't seem mad. On the contrary, he couldn't stop smiling. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

Claire smiled back, feeling better knowing she had finally been able to help someone who actually needed it. She couldn't wish for a better start of the day.

"This person you mentioned, is he here?" Luke asked as he climbed the steps to the main door.

"No, why?"

"I hope it's not too much to ask, but I would really like to talk to him, just to ask him a few more questions about my ability. There's so much I don't know. I mean, what if I do exactly what you told me and it still doesn't stop? I need to know if there are other ways to keep it under control." He opened the door for Claire to enter, waited and then followed her inside.

Claire thought about it for a moment. She supposed it was possible. Once she was able to find her uncle, once she had persuaded him in coming back with her, she could ask him to have a chat with Luke. She knew Peter wouldn't ignore anyone in need of his help.

But first she had to find him and with everything else going on, she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to. "You could ask anyone in here," she suggested instead. "They all had to learn how to control their abilities at some point. Peter is just the exception because he had more than one ability to control, and they worked differently for him."

Luke nodded absent-mindedly. He strode alongside Claire and remained silent until they had reached the bottom of the staircase. "I won't tell anyone," he said suddenly. "Just so you know."

Claire stopped and turned around.

"About you, Micah, this place. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"Thanks." She looked down and suddenly thought about something she'd been curious about for a very long time. Something Luke would be able to help her with. "Can I ask you something?"

"You've just answered all of my questions, so it seems only more than fair that I answer yours, right?"

Claire nodded. "I wanna know how you feel about what I did. Showing my ability to everyone, that is. I mean, you, being one of us, must have a different opinion than people who are... ordinary."

"Why does my opinion matter?"

Claire averted her eyes and looked down. "People keep telling me I was very brave for doing what I did, but sometimes I feel they're not telling me everything. I don't know what's going on inside their heads. For all I know, they might hate me for telling everyone what we can do. You don't know me, not like they do. You don't have any reason to lie to me."

"Fair enough," Luke said. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down as well. "You might think I'm crazy when I say this, but I was very happy when I found out. I'm not kidding," he said when he looked up and saw a look of surprise on Claire's face. "I was in a very bad place at the time, because of my power and all, and I remember looking at my television screen. I saw what happened at Central Park, what you did there, and my jaw literally dropped. All I could think was: Thank God, I'm not the only one!"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. It was such a relief to find out that there are others like me. I sat there with my wife who had completely lost it at that point. I don't know what she was going on about, something about a sham and no way that that was really happening and there I was, hoping, wishing it was real."

"So, you're not mad? Not even a little?" Claire asked. But before Luke was able to answer her question, they were interrupted by Micah, who was standing at the top of the stairs and from the way his chest was heaving, it looked like he had been running very fast to find them.

"Claire," he beckoned her to follow him. "Quick. There's something you need to see."

Claire looked up at Luke and shrugged. They both hurried up the stairs, towards Micah and followed him to the second floor. "What's going on?" she asked as she followed him, passing several empty classrooms on their way to the Principal's office. Mohinder, Molly and Edgar were already inside, she noticed. All four of them, including Micah, were looking as though someone had died, which was not a good sign.

And then she noticed the atlas lying on top of the coffee table. "Have you found him?"

The question was meant for Molly, but Micah answered. "No," he said, as if finding Peter was no longer important. He walked over to the desk and sat down behind his laptop. "That will have to wait. Something else has happened. I was just checking the news for anything ability-related, like I do every day, and found something interesting. Look."

Claire knew it had to be serious by the look on their faces, so she quickly went to stand beside Micah. He pushed his laptop in her direction, so she was able to read it better.

It was a news article.

Claire read the whole thing rather quickly, looking for anything about abilities, but couldn't really tell what the problem was, so she read it again. This time slower and more thorough, thinking she must have missed something.

The article was about an apartment building in Montville, New Jersey. The area around the building had been evacuated after not being able to get contact with the people who were still inside. The local fire department was called to the scene, assuming it must have been a gas leak, but this turned out to be untrue after the firemen in question went inside, but did not return. No one, not one person, had left the building for hours.

There was great speculation as to what was happening. According to the article, a few of the town's inhabitants had mentioned supernatural powers to be the cause of everything, but the head of the local police department waved these assumptions away. They were under the impression that the people inside had been taken hostage and, of course, they were doing everything they could to get in touch with the person responsible. But to this point, there still hadn't been any sign of life from the people within.

Claire read the headline again. Her eyes momentarily lingered on the word 'mysterious', which was probably supposed to give the reader a reason to believe that there were, in fact, supernatural powers involved. "How long has this been going on?"

"No one knows," Micah answered. "They started evacuating people from the area this morning."

"What did you say the town was called?" Mohinder asked.

Micah looked up at Mohinder and answered, "Montville. Why?"

Mohinder left Molly's side and walked over to the desk. "May I?" he asked.

"Sure."

He switched places with Claire and bent over to read the article. After a minute or so he closed his eyes and sighed. "I think I know what's going on." He turned his head to look at the others in the room. "The address, Mayfleet Avenue… I know someone who lives there." He then continued reading the article, his pupils moving rapidly from side to side.

"Who?" Micah asked.

"Maya Hernandez," Mohinder answered quickly. "A woman from Mexico. She used to have this ability. Very fascinating, yet very dangerous. Fatal even, to those who've been exposed to it for too long." He narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Impossible..."

"Used to?" Edgar asked.

"Arthur Petrelli took her ability from her. He absorbed her powers." Mohinder saw the look Claire gave him as soon as he mentioned her grandfather and quickly explained, "She came to him, voluntarily. Her ability, some kind of dark poison, it had already taken too many lives. Maya had it under control eventually, I believe, but she still couldn't bear to live with it."

Claire looked down at the article and furrowed her brow. "But if her powers are gone, she can't have anything to do with this. Right? Something else must be going on."

"If they are gone." Mohinder took a step back and folded his arms as he leaned back against the window, which Micah had covered with newspapers to keep prying eyes out. "I know for a fact that Arthur Petrelli took Maya's ability, but now I wonder… What if he didn't take everything? What if there's still a bit of her power left inside of her? It would certainly explain why nobody has come out of that building, nor why there hasn't been any contact with the other residents."

"Is that even possible?"

"I never had the chance to examine Arthur's ability, so I can't know for sure, but it's a possibility we have to consider."

"Or someone is actually holding those people hostage," Edgar suggested. "Do we really need to panic over some rumor, when there's a good chance that this hasn't got anything to do with abilities, at all?"

"We need to consider the possibility," Mohinder repeated heatedly.

Claire couldn't help but notice how much more interested Mohinder suddenly seemed in helping out, than the day before. She suspected it had something to do with that woman.

"If this is Maya's doing," Mohinder continued, "then we need to help her. She's one of us and we all know that abilities can be unpredictable in certain situations. She might have killed those people without even realizing it. What if anyone finds out? Just think about what they'll do to her. Think about what they'll do to us, once they find out that these type of abilities exist."

Micah turned on his stool to look at Claire. "That's why we need you to go in there and take a look. Whatever's going on inside that building won't be a problem for you. You can't get hurt."

Claire didn't know exactly what to say. She wanted to help. She had been wanting to do something worthwhile for so long, but she suddenly found herself feeling less excited than she thought she would be.

The idea of going out there, in broad day light, where people could actually see her after being gone for so long, was a bit overwhelming. She was no longer afraid of being recognized (that was just inevitable), but she was worried. This was something she had to do by herself. What if she screwed up? What if she made things worse?

And then there was Peter. She had plans to go look for him, help him if he let her. She had been looking forward to talk him for so long. She had so many things she needed to talk about, things that only he could understand, which would now have to get postponed.

And then there was Mohinder. He was standing there, by the window, his arms folded and shaking his head like it was the worst idea ever for her to go out there. "What do you think?" she asked him.

"I'm not sure," he answered without looking at her, "but it might not be safe for you to go in there."

"Why?"

"I have never witnessed the effect of Maya's ability on someone with regenerative powers. I haven't done enough research to know what it would do to your brain. But if I have to guess, which I would rather not, I would say that you are immune to any kind of poison."

"So, you're telling me there's a chance I could die?"

"A small chance, yes. I know, it's a difficult decision."

Claire sighed. "If I decide to go in there," she began, having accepted that it was going to happen either way, "I will be seen, won't I?"

"I will take you there," Edgar offered.

"You can't go in there," Mohinder told him. "If Maya's ability is causing this, you might get to close. You'd be exposed to her poison."

Micah turned to look at Claire. "He could drop you off a little outside the danger zone, but you're right, there'll probably be a crowd. Something strange like this usually attracts lots of people. I'm not sure if it's possible to avoid them."

"Maybe that's a good thing." Claire looked up at the others, who were giving her confused looks in return. "I've been thinking that maybe I should appear in public more often. What West said about people getting used to seeing us using our powers, it makes sense. I'm going to see what's going on inside that building and do the best I can to help the people who are trapped in there, and if anyone sees me... who knows. It might give them a better image of who we are and what we are trying to do."

It was something she had thought about during the night. She hardly slept anymore, not just because she didn't need it, but because she had so many things to think about and this had been gnawing at her since she and West returned from their trip. She had been thinking that maybe if she showed herself in public more often, others would be less afraid to do the same. That if the world accepted her for who she was, it would accept them as well.

Nobody reacted to her idea, except for the few half-hearted smiles they gave her, but Claire didn't need their approval. She had already made up her mind.

Next chapter: Evil Angel