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AN: In advance, there will be some Peter/Claire hints in this chapter; I'm not definitively planning to make them a couple, but take into account that at this point they have no idea of their familial relationship, and I liked their chemistry in the show, so it's only fair to acknowledge that.
The Not-So-Average Girl
Even as he walked into the school, Peter wasn't sure if he could even explain to himself why he was doing this.
He freely admitted that part of it could just be his own frustration at Nathan's continued attempts to control his life rather than accept that Peter was his own person who wanted to help others in his own way, but there was a difference between taking a career path he wouldn't approve of and going somewhere when all available evidence suggested he was going to die there…
And when did my life reach a point where I can believe a man painted the future and consider that 'evidence' of anything?
Still, even if Nathan could say that he had been trying to hide the painting from him to protect him from himself and his 'delusions of grandeur', but as far as Peter was concerned, he'd had enough of his family trying to control his life. Everything that had happened since he first flew might have been more like something from a comic book than what he thought he knew about the world, but Peter felt like he was finally where he was supposed to be for the first time in…
Did I ever know where I was supposed to be before now?
He wasn't going to kid himself into thinking that Simone totally bought this whole thing herself- she probably just showed him the picture to stop him obsessing over trying to find a new copy of it, and he wouldn't be surprised if she was expecting him to find nothing out here- but so far he'd already had that interesting meeting with Hiro's friend Ando, even if it hadn't been particularly useful.
How does a time-traveller get stuck six months in the past?
Still, whether or not he had any help right now, Peter had found where he was meant to be, and he was almost certain that the cheerleader the older Hiro had told him about would be here; the only thing that mattered now was finding her.
So long as he didn't think about the full content of what was in that painting Simone had shown him, and focus on finding the cheerleader he was here to save before quarter past eight, he could do this…
It was like Hiro had told Ando; if someone was too afraid to use their power, they didn't deserve to have it. Peter might be limited to sharing powers with other people rather than possessing any true power himself, but didn't that mean that he had to be at least as good as the people he 'shared' with?
Pausing in front of the trophy display case, Peter's eyes were immediately drawn to a large banner overhead, proclaiming 'JACKIE, YOU'RE OUR HERO'. The display below the banner included a newspaper article with the headline Odessa Honors Local Hero, which included a photo of a young blonde in a cheerleader outfit who could have been the one he'd seen in Isacc's earlier painting; Isaac was good, but comics were always a little 'off' when copying real people…
Peter stepped back from the display case just in time to back into someone. Turning around, he found himself looking at two girls and one young man, the young man wearing a dark shirt and trousers with large pockets while the redhead was wearing a dark blue dress and the blonde was in a blue hoodie and khakis.
"Sorry!" he said apologetically.
"No prob," the young man nodded.
"Claire here just… wasn't looking where she was going," the redhead said, smiling over at the blonde, who moved to pick up a bag that she'd dropped.
"I'm sorry," the other girl looked at him as she adjusted the bag over her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it," Peter said, before he indicated the trophy display before them. "Hey, do you… do you know this girl, Jackie Wilcox?"
It was probably a bit of a leap, but when he didn't know anything else for certain beyond that he was looking for a blonde cheerleader, it made sense to start with the girl who already had a particular reputation in this town.
"Uh, yeah," the blonde said, her smile faltering as she looked at the display. "Half-time show starts in about five minutes; she'll be out on the field."
"Why do you want to know?" the redhead asked, looking curiously at Peter. "Are you a reporter or something?"
"Alumni," Peter said, hoping that a basic story would attract less follow-up questions. "I'm just curious."
"You know, between you and me, she's not that special," the blonde said, almost moving down the corridor before turning back to look at him. "Just your average teenage girl."
"So average it's boring," the young man put in.
"She rushed into a fire and saved a man's life," Peter said, looking curiously between the three kids (and when had he reached a point where teenagers were 'kids'?). "Sounds kinda special to me."
"Yeah, you're right," the blonde smiled. "I'm jealous. She's our town hero. Me? I don't win too many popularity contests."
"Hey," Peter said, feeling a need to say more as the two girls started to walk away and the boy moved in another direction. "It gets better."
"What?" the blonde asked, as the three turned to look at him.
"Life after high school," Peter smiled encouragingly at them. "It gets a lot better."
The blonde girl just smiled at him before she left, but the redhead gave him a brief nod before she joined her friend.
It had been a brief talk, but now he had to focus on finding where the cheerleader he'd come here to save actually was, when he still had about ten minutes before the deadline in the painting…
"So," Kim smiled at Claire as they finished changing into their cheerleading outfits while Ron waited outside the changing rooms, "that guy was cute, right?"
"What guy?" Claire asked, obviously feigning ignorance.
"Hey, I'm not judging," Kim raised her hands in understanding. "He might be a bit older, but there's nothing wrong with that-"
"Will the nerviness never cease?" Jackie said, walking up to the two girls, the rest of the squad gathering around her. "I thought you were grounded?"
"It didn't take," Claire shrugged. "How's your eye?"
"Nothing I can't cover up," Jackie retorted, opening her locker to re-apply her make-up as the other girls left. "We need to talk in private-"
"Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of Kim," Claire countered, aware of the redhead taking up a defensive stance behind her.
"Your call," Jackie looked at the third girl for a moment before turning the full focus of her glare onto Claire. "I think you're a menace. And I'm not just talking about you punching me over your boyfriend, the girlfriend. I'm talking about you in general. We used to be BFF's. What happened?"
"I got perspective and decided I had to accept who I am," Claire said.
"When you've been trying to be me since second grade?"
"Only fair," Kim shrugged. "You are trying to be her these days."
"How do you figure?" Jackie chuckled incredulously at that statement.
"Your little 'hero moment' at that train?" Kim folded her arms and glared at Jackie. "That was Claire; I saw it, and she has it on videotape."
Jackie froze for a moment as she looked at the other two, before she turned around and began putting stuff back in her locker, remaining silent in a manner that said more than words ever could.
"You know," Kim said as she stared at Jackie's back, "my best friend has said it's better to be yourself and happy than popular. It took me a while to really get what he means by that, but I think he's right."
"Sounds like a loser to me," Jackie said as she shut her locker, only for the locker lights to suddenly turn off as soon as she started to walk away.
"Public sch-" Jackie began, before Kim slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Quiet," the redhead hissed at Jackie, reaching over to grab Claire's wrist. Once she was sure that Claire was looking at her, Kim jerked her head towards one end of the small 'corridor' they were currently in, but froze in apprehension when she heard something go by at the end she'd just indicated.
"Did you hear that?" Claire asked.
"Hear what?" Jackie said, rolling her eyes at the other two.
"Look," Kim hissed urgently at Claire and Jackie, ignoring the part of her mind telling her to just get out of here and leave Jackie to make her own mistakes, "let's just get out of here and then start worrying about-"
"What is your problem?" Jackie glared at the other two. "Just because you're freaks doesn't mean I want to get lumped in-"
"This isn't the time!" Claire hissed. "Can't you hear it? There is something in here with us-!"
"And I repeat, what is your problem?" Jackie impatiently slapped Claire's hand away as the other blonde reached for her. "You're seriously making us miss your own coronation? Look, if you don't want the crown, I'm more than happy to-"
Jackie's words were cut short when someone grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the lockers. Claire and Kim moved to help, but the man waved a hand and suddenly both girls were flying through the air without anything touching them. Kim vaguely registered Claire hit a concrete wall, but even as her friend struck the wall with a sickening crunch, Kim was already adjusting her flight through the air so that she hit the wall feet-first. She wasn't even thinking when she kicked herself off against the wall and rolled along the ground, moving back to her feet in time to see Jackie's attacker…
For a moment, Kim thought it was just a cut Jackie had sustained in the initial attack, but then she realised that there was far too much blood for that to be the case. When she noticed the man drawing his finger through the air, she initially assumed he was making some kind of mental plan, but it soon became clear that somehow he was cutting into Jackie's head with a finger that was at least a foot away from her.
Sheer terror was the only thing that stopped Kim joining Jackie's terrified screams, muffled as they were by the man's hand over her mouth as he held her up. As more blood streamed from Jackie's head, with her skull now seemingly sliced open from the front, the sound of bone shifting drew Kim's attention away from the horrific sight before her to see that Claire was getting back to her feet, adjusting her head and left arm in a manner that suggested they'd taken the brunt of her initial impact with the wall, along with a bloody face that was still knitting itself back together…
The sudden silence from Jackie's direction prompted Kim and Claire to look back, and they both immediately wished that they hadn't; the man was once again gripping Jackie by the throat rather than the lower half of her face, but the twisted state at the top of her face made it clear that Jackie wasn't going to live much longer with cranial trauma like that. What made it worse was that both figures were looking at Kim and Claire in that moment, and while Kim had just had a lucky break, Claire's face was clearly healing from being practically flattened against the wall.
"Run…" Jackie rasped weakly, even as her assailant dropped her to the floor. Kim reached out to grab Claire's hand, but swiftly turned around to run away when she realised that the other girl had already moved away as the terrifying figure stalked towards them, his attack on Jackie either over or interrupted. Panic seemed to fill Kim's mind as she ran desperately after Claire, all possible thought of trying to fight this man overridden by the all-consuming thought of getting away from this psycho who could cut people without touching them…
Even when he started to run towards the scream, Peter wasn't sure if he was just caught up in his own idea of destiny or if he genuinely thought he could help, but either way it didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. When he saw the two girls he'd spoken to previously running out of the changing rooms, one of them covered in blood and the other one with more than a bit of splatter on her face and chest, it wasn't hard to realise that they needed help even if he had no idea what was going on.
"You OK?" he asked, hoping that they understood what he meant. The blond glanced back just as a man stepped into the darkened hallway, face hidden by a black cap that cast his face further in shadow, wearing a simple dark jacket and trousers, his whole manner giving an impression of pure malice.
"We have to get out of here!" the redhead said, looking anxiously between Peter and the new arrival.
"Go!" Peter said, moving the two girls behind him while he turned to face the other man. Standing at the end of the corridor, Peter tensed himself for whatever the other man might have to offer, but even he was surprised when the other man raised a hand and locker doors from further down the corridor flew off their hinges towards him-
Wait.
Peter didn't know how, but even as the doors flew in his direction, he could see what the other man was doing… and he could also see how to do it himself. With an ease that he hadn't felt even when he was finishing Isaac's painting in the other man's loft, Peter raised his hands and sent the locker doors flying back towards the other man. His opponent managed to crush a few of the doors mid-air- Peter didn't know what he was up against, but doors didn't crumple when hit by thin air- but a couple of them hit the other man, even as a couple of the doors struck Peter in turn. Wincing at the brief impact, Peter thrust one hand out towards the other man, trying to force his opponent back, but was met with a similar motion and equal force from the man in the shadows.
After a few moments as the two strained against each other at a distance, Peter gave up on that strategy and turned around to run along the corridor, unsure if he wanted to catch up with the two girls or make sure they'd managed to get away. When he reached a large door at the end of the corridor, Peter ran outside and found himself in an amphitheatre, the blonde and the redhead scrambling up the stairs before they turned to look at the opened door.
"Run!" Peter yelled at them both, even as he hurried over to the bottom of the stairs, waving a hand in the direction of the stadium he'd seen earlier. "Get to the stadium; find people! He doesn't want to be seen; you'll be safe there! Go!"
The two girls looked at him for a moment and then ran off towards the stadium, leaving Peter to run to the centre of the amphitheatre before he turned back to face the door as the dark-clad man emerged from it. As though drawing on some knowledge he didn't realise he possessed, Peter thrust out a hand and watched in awe as a burst of ice struck his enemy, freezing one side of the man's body. The other man waved his free hand at the ice and it suddenly seemed to explode into nothing, but Peter lashed out with another attack from that strange new telekinesis (thank goodness he'd done some extra reading before coming here) before he ran for the top of the amphitheatre; he had a plan to stop this guy, but he needed to get him into just the right place…
Waiting at the top of the stone seats/steps, Peter took a deep breath as he prepared for what was about to happen; he had already made his choice by coming here, but the knowledge of what was about to happen… the painted prophecy that was about to be fulfilled…
Then the other man was standing right next to him, and Peter didn't have time to think; he just grabbed his enemy by the shoulders and he hauled the other man over the edge of the amphitheatre. As Peter fell, he tried to use his new power to force his opponent to a position underneath him, but was surprised to find that latest ability suddenly harder to access; the guy who had it was right in front of him, but it was as though it had suddenly become a lot harder to tap-
He felt a sickening crunch as he hit the ground before his opponent, and the world went black.
Considering the circumstances that had driven them away, Kim wasn't sure what had prompted her and Claire to go back towards the amphitheatre. Maybe it was just some morbid sense of curiosity about the whole situation, or maybe she didn't like the idea of leaving her fate in the hands of someone she'd only just met, but either way, after she and Claire had been running for a few moments, they came to a halt, glanced at each other, and ran back the way they had come, heading for the other side of the school amphitheatre.
When they ran around the corner to the main door of the Physical Education Centre, both girls saw what could only be the second-worst thing they could have imagined; the mysterious man who had just helped them escape from a psychopath, lying on the ground with his body twisted in a manner that it was clearly never meant to be in, and no sign of their attacker.
"Oh no," Claire whispered, staring at the man's body in shock.
"No…" Kim said, joining Claire as they hurried over to the man's body, anxiously looking over their saviour, lying in a pool of his own blood, his neck and legs in particular twisted in a manner that made it clear he was-
The man suddenly sat up, coughing as he twisted his neck back into position, a strange crunching sound filling the air as he moved his legs into position. Claire and Kim each knelt down beside the man as he panted with exertion, unfolding his legs so that they were straight before he turned to look at the two girls.
"You…" Claire stared at the man in awe, eyes wide with exhilaration as the bleeding cut on the man's face healed as they watched. "How did you…?"
"Where is he?" the man said, looking carefully around himself.
"No idea," Kim said, looking grimly at their strange saviour. "The guy ran away before we got here."
"Police," the man said, as sirens filled the air. "Go get some help-"
"Correction," Kim said, reaching out to grab the man's arm. "You are going to come with us so we can get you somewhere safe."
"What-?" Claire looked at Kim in confusion.
"Look," Kim looked between Claire and the unknown man, "I've read enough of my mom's files to have an idea about how this is going to go down; if the police are here already in these kind of numbers, they must have some idea of what just happened, and if they find someone in your state, they're going to focus on arresting you rather than finding someone else."
"They'd arrest him?" Claire indicated the man incredulously.
"He's covered in blood without a scratch on him and he could match the description of whoever just attacked us; if we leave him here, he is going to get arrested, and I'm not going to let that happen when he just helped save our lives," Kim said, helping the man to his feet and placing an arm over her shoulder. "Let's just get him somewhere out of the way and… well, we can work out what we're going to do next later."
"…Sounds good," the man said, nodding tentatively at Kim even as Claire followed her example and put the man's other arm over her shoulders. "Just need a little time… somewhere to think…"
"What's your name?" Claire looked at the man as they began to walk.
"Peter," the man replied.
"I'm Claire," Claire replied, giving him a soft smile.
"Kim," Kim added, grinning slightly as she noticed the way the two were smiling at each other. "Kim Pierce."
"Are you the one?" Peter looked at Claire in particular. "By saving you, did I save the world?"
"Her?" Kim looked at Peter in surprise, before she shook her head. "Look, we'll talk about this later; right now we have to just get you somewhere you can clean yourself up, then we can work out what to do next."
Kim was fairly sure she remembered an old house or two nearby that might be a safe place to take Peter until they could clean themselves up, and she was definitely going to call Ron before he started getting the wrong idea about whatever had just happened…
AN 2: To get this out of the way in the most spoiler-free manner possible, if anyone wonders why Peter did a little better against Sylar here then he did in canon, be assured that I have an explanation for that beyond 'I like this way better'; everything will be cleared up as the story unfolds.