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AN: So there's no confusion as we get into the events of "The Hard Part" in more detail, Sylar's storyline is still the most similar to what happened to him in canon, so by this point he's already killed Isaac and will visit his mother after he speaks with Mohinder. Also, Linderman has Micah while D.L. and Nikki are trying to find their son, but for the rest of the heroes… well, hopefully I've covered all the obvious questions and you can enjoy what's coming up.

The Not-So-Average Girl

As he walked through the city, Mohinder still found it hard to believe that his life had come to this. His amateurish plans to find his father's killer or continue his work had already been a considerable stretch beyond what he would have believed himself to be capable of before he came to New York, and now he was essentially part of a secret FBI task force tracking a serial killer…

"Hello?" he answered his phone, broken out of his thoughts when his phone began to ring.

"Mohinder," an unexpected voice said at the other end. "I need your help."

"Sylar?" Mohinder said, so shocked at this turn of events that he almost forgot to feel the same intensity of anger he'd felt in their last confrontation.

"I think I'm going to do something bad."

"You're a murderer," Mohinder said, unable to restrain his bitterness. "You don't get the luxury of regret."

"You don't understand," Sylar said, and the man actually had the nerve to sound apprehensive about the idea. "I think I'm going to kill a lot more people… a lot more. I understood it before- the killing. I had a reason. To take what others didn't deserve. It was natural selection."

"What are you talking about?" Mohinder asked, even as he made a mental note of this interesting new insight into Sylar's psychology; it didn't excuse his actions, but anything that could be a weakness would be useful right now.

"An apocalypse," Sylar replied solemnly. "A massacre… half the city gone in an instant. They mean nothing. They're innocent. There's no gain, so why would I do it? What possible reason could I have for killing so many?"

"Wait, listen," Mohinder said, suddenly hopeful that he could have a chance to talk this man down before he did anything too big. "You don't have to do that. If you're truly repentant about what you've done, turn yourself in."

"…I can't do that," Sylar said after a period of silence. "This isn't about my main goal… but you can't see past the necessity of what I've been doing."

"No, wait-!" Mohinder began before the call ended, leaving him staring at the phone in frustration before he put it back in his pocket. He was fairly sure there was no way to trace a call once it was over, particularly not one that short, and Sylar would almost certainly have moved on by the time anyone else managed to get to wherever he had been when he made it anyway.

In other words, the priority is still to stick to the original plan to get inside that company and hope we can shut them down while also using them to stop a serial killer… when did this become my life?

"Hey," Peter said, nodding politely at Simone as he walked into her apartment, Kim and Claire behind him. It was strange to look at Simone and feel… it wasn't as though he felt nothing for her any more, but he had been through so much since he first went to Texas to save the cheerleader that it was hard to muster up the same emotional intensity he'd felt in the past. He still cared about her, but it just wasn't as intense as it had been before, as though he was looking back on a part of his life he'd grown past…

"Hey," Simone nodded back at him as she stood up, a few sheets of paper in her hands and an uncomfortable expression on her face. "Are you… how are you all doing? I mean, after you-"

"We're… still trying to avoid certain people, but on the upside, we're making good progress in training this guy in what he can do," Kim grinned as she patted Peter's shoulder. "There've been a couple of close calls, but we're building to… well, we'll work that out once he's got full control."

"If we're talking about the future, I… might have something that could help with that," Simone said, walking over to a nearby desk and laying the paper in her hands across it, displaying the sketches on the other side to the group. "Isaac sent me these earlier; do any of them mean anything to you?"

Sensing that there was something Simone wasn't ready to discuss, Peter turned his attention to the desk, Kim and Claire on either side of him. For a moment Peter's focus was drawn to the bright colours of the exploding man picture he'd seen in Isaac's apartment, albeit now in a smaller form, but soon his attention was drawn to a picture of two men, standing in some kind of park…

He might be making a few mental leaps here, but Peter was getting familiar with Isaac's style by now, and one of those guys definitely looked like him… which meant the other could easily be…

"Is that… me?" Kim asked, drawing Peter's attention as she picked up two of the pictures in particular. In response to Peter and Claire's looks, she turned the pieces of paper around so that her friends could see the two pictures, one showing a redhead who definitely looked like Kim confronting a man in a suit, while the other showed that girl with a blonde young man and a dark-skinned boy who looked a few years younger than the other two.

"Yeah… and that guy could be Ron…" Claire nodded thoughtfully as she indicated the picture of the trio. "No idea who the kid is though…"

"And that guy… looks like Nathan…" Peter began, before his attention moved past Kim to re-focus on the exploding man picture. "And this guy all over again…"

"Well, at least this one doesn't look obviously like you," Kim said, trying to smile at him as she casually traced a finger over the figure's head. "I mean, the hairstyle looks pretty standard compared to a couple of those exploding man figures-"

"Hold on; exploding man figures?" Simone looked between the three with new apprehension. "That's actually a thing? An exploding man?"

"We just have a theory or two that anyone's actually going to 'explode', we're still trying to work out who this figure's meant to be, and frankly I really think we should stop describing this image like that," Kim cut in as she put down the pictures. "It's not like anyone would develop a power that would actually kill them if they used it; this guy's generatingthe energy, so there's no way it would actually hurt him…"

"How do you know that?" Claire asked.

"For the same reason your ability always heals you the right way, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

"The 'right way'?" Simone looked curiously at the girls. "I mean, I get that she heals, but-?"

"We realised after we learned about Claire's ability that her bones must automatically reset themselves once they've been broken so that they'll heal in a normal position or she would have… well, in one case she could have healed with her head basically stuck on backwards."

"You broke your neck?" Simone looked at Claire in shock.

"By accident," Claire shrugged. "The point is that Kim's friend Ron pointed out that my ability is probably the only reason my body always heals everything the right way the first time. He's read comics where other people with healing factors need to set the bones themselves, and apparently one time a hero with enhanced healing had to re-break his wrist a dozen times to get the bones to set properly after he broke it taking out a particularly powerful enemy."

"…Does anyone else find it weird that we're in a world where we can talk about that kind of thing and seriously mean it?" Kim smiled incredulously at her friends, before she looked back at Simone. "And talking of the weird becoming normal, has Isaac sketched anything new recently? We just got a-"

"Isaac is dead."

"Dead?" the three of them repeated.

"The police called me earlier to say I was the last number he rang before… well, they apparently estimate he died shortly afterwards," Simone explained, clenching her fists as her eyes gleamed with unshod tears. "After his last call, I went over to check up on him, and he was… it was… God, he'd drawn it…"

Peter couldn't say anything else in response to that revelation, instead walking over to give Simone a cautious, sympathetic hug as she bent over the table, as though she was fighting to stay on her feet. After holding her for a moment, Peter helped Simone make her way over to a nearby chair, setting her down before he turned to Kim and Claire.

"So… what now?" Claire asked.

"Well," Kim held up the paper showing her apparent meeting with Nathan, "personally, I think I need to do this."

"Need?"

"Everything Peter or Isaac have sketched has always happened so far, right?"

"Right…" Peter nodded cautiously.

"So the best way we can use these sketches to our advantage is to make sure that whatever happens in them happens on our terms, right?" Kim explained. "I mean, I'm not in favour of us going to look for Sylar right now, I have no idea why Hiro and Ron would be looking at all those strings, and we don't know who this kid is or why he's with me and Ron, but we have a good idea about this one and it won't be dangerous for me to do something about it."

"…That makes sense," Claire nodded, before she looked at Kim with the kind of anxious fear that could only come from a horrible thought. "Hold on… if painting the future means that it's always going to happen-"

"We can work out the loopholes later; let's stick with what we know right now," Kim cut her off, unsure if her friend was thinking of the exploding man or that big picture Isaac had done of the explosion. "You two find Hiro and Ron and see if they understand that one; I'll… where's Nathan likely to be right now?"

"Probably his campaign headquarters," Peter replied after glancing up at a clock, pulling out his wallet and passing Kim a small printed card. When Kim saw that it was a publicity card identifying the location of Nathan Petrelli's campaign headquarters, Peter responded to her quizzical expression with a shrug. "He insisted I keep that on me, and frankly he's been spending more time at the office since… well, things are difficult back home."

"Right; I'll look for him there," Kim nodded as she put the card in her pocket and gave her friends a brief joking salute before she headed for the stairs to the ground floor, leaving Peter and Claire to spend a little time with Simone. Going off alone might be a risk, but considering that Claire was still potentially a target for Sylar and Peter was getting a good handle on his other abilities, it made sense for them to stay together to keep each other safe, while Kim could probably rely on her instincts to at least get away from Sylar if they ran into each other.

The subsequent walk through New York was actually relatively pleasant, even if Kim had to stop and ask for directions a couple of times once she reminded herself that she was looking for Nathan. She managed to take a loop around so that she got a good look up at the Statue of Liberty, but this wasn't the time to indulge in sightseeing when she had a prophecy to 'fulfil'; she could enjoy the sights once she was sure they weren't going to get blown away any minute.

When that particular thought crossed her mind, Kim suddenly felt like laughing; what kind of teenager could be this casual facing a potential threat to an entire city? It wasn't as though she wasn't aware of the dangers of the current situation, but at the same time… it felt like she'd found what she was always meant to do, no matter how weird it was.

Save the world and try to maintain some kind of regular schedule in between crises, Kim thought as she looked at the people walking around her, unaware that she was trying to save their lives. It's not a normal life, but like Ron says, 'Never be normal'.

Despite her occasional detour, Kim eventually found her way to Nathan's campaign office, the hustle of activity as people prepared for the final vote in a couple of days making it relatively easy for her to sneak in. Kim wasn't sure at first if her ability would help her in this situation, but she could see how being stealthy was always a useful asset, as she managed to avoid a few security staff by joining suitably large groups and breaking off before anybody could realise that she wasn't meant to be there. She eventually noticed an older woman with dark hair walking towards a door near the back of the building, and took a moment to recognise the woman from photos Peter had briefly shown her and Claire during their time in his flat.

OK, so the mother visiting the son is odd timing, but maybe she's just wishing him luck…

Even as Kim tried to tell herself that there was nothing to worry about, she was already sneaking her way towards the office, noting with a smile that the door was relatively out-of-the-way of the rest of the building. Satisfied that nobody could see her in this position, Kim moved in to press her ear against the relatively thin wood; if she just focused…

"…election is in hand," an older woman said, Kim deciding to name that voice 'Mrs Petrelli' until she knew otherwise.

"When all the pundits think I'm going to lose?" Nathan's voice responded. "And I just got a call from Peter warning me about someone named Ted Sprague; ring a bell?"

"You're worried about the plan?"

"You're talking about blowing up half of New York."

"For the best of reasons."

Kim had to force herself to keep listening at that particular revelation; the idea that Peter's brother could know about what they were dealing with… that his own mother saw it as part of a plan…

"You can't afford to get cold feet at this time," Mrs Petrelli said. "It's natural to feel ambivalent- nobody expects you to feel otherwise- but I wanted to give you some perspective."

"You know about Linderman's plan?"

"Yes. Well, they're not just Linderman's. A lot of people put time and care into making this a reality. Myself included."

"You?" Nathan's voice made his surprise at his mother's revelation clear, which at least assured Kim he wasn't as far gone as he might have been but still didn't comfort her.

"You don't know everything about me, Nathan," his mother replied. "But I do know everything about you. And I know what you're capable of."

"Do you think I'm a mass murderer?" Nathan countered, which at least gave Kim some hope that he wasn't as morally bankrupt as their mother seemed to be.

"Important men make impossible decisions," Mrs Petrelli responded. "President Truman dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II. Killed thousands to save millions."

"That was different, Ma; we were at war," Nathan countered. "I can't accept this."

"That is your one weakness, Nathan; you have no faith," Mrs Petrelli said. "How could you possibly believe this bomb could actually heal the world if you have no faith in the idea of destiny?"

There was a sound of something moving on the other side of the door, but while nobody spoke, Kim chose to assume someone was just moving a chair or something like that.

"Your destiny, Nathan, is to set the course of history after this unspeakable act has occurred," his mother continued. "The people will look back on what you do as the freshman congressman from New York, and they will thank you–for your strength, for your conviction, for your faith… in my day, we called it being presidential."

Looking up, Kim saw a man walking towards the office doors, but made a few cautious gestures that she hoped would convey the idea that Nathan was busy with something else; she could cope with the idea that this man might think that she was facilitating some kind of 'booty call' (she thought that was the term Ron would use in this situation) if it meant she could keep listening.

"Can you believe?" the older woman said again, once Kim had returned her attention to the conversation. "Can you be the one we need?"

Kim moved to the side at that comment, waiting in a corner until the door opened and Mrs Petrelli walked out, leaving Nathan alone in the office. Before she could talk herself out of it, Kim walked into the office and closed the door behind her, glaring in outrage at the older man.

"You bastard," she said simply.

"Who-?" Nathan began before his eyes widened in recognition. "Kim, right? You're Peter's friend?"

"And clearly he actually got all the damn decency in this family if you and your mother are seriously planning to let this city get blown up!"

"It's… not like that," Nathan said, an edge to his voice that suggested to Kim he was defending his actions to himself as much as he was trying to justify it to her. "The world needs… something big to make it change; if that means… if that explosion goes off, it's just point zero seven percent of the human population-"

"Oh, it's just point zero seven percent, is that it?" Kim spat bitterly at the older man, refusing to back down even as the perfect counter-argument came to her. "Then tell your family to stay here."

"…What?"

"You have a wife and kids, right?" Kim clarified, rolling her eyes as she gave him a cold glare, trying not to take pleasure in the sight of Nathan being shocked at her declaration. "If we're only talking about killing off point zero seven percent of the human race, what does it matter who's in that percentage, right? So long as you get what you want, is it really an issue if a few more people die in the blast that gets you there?"

"You're seriously… you can't be asking me to leave my family-"

"They'd only be part of that point zero seven percent of the population; that's not such a large number of people, right?" Kim cut Nathan off, hoping that she could at least make him listen to her point. "You get to be the big shot who takes over afterwards and leads humanity to a bright shining future, so what does it matter if point zero seven percent of the human race gets killed off even if that includes your family?"

"Stop saying that-"

"What, you can justify killing point zero seven percent of the population to yourself except when you know any of them, is that it?"

"Those deaths are for the best-"

"Then leave your family; they'll just be part of that point zero seven percent-"

"It's my family!" Nathan yelled, suddenly leaping from his desk with a move that was so fast Kim could have sworn he was using his ability as he leapt towards her. Despite his speed and size, Kim felt her own body move almost without her own input, grabbing Nathan by his wrists and placing one foot on his chest so that she could spin him around. Rather than grabbing her, the older man hit the wall behind her, falling to the ground with a sharp yell of pain.

"And everyone who'll be part of that point zero seven percent is someone else's family," Kim said, looking coolly at Peter's brother as he lay sprawled on the floor of his office in shock. "Can you honestly tell yourself that you're willing to risk putting even one other family through what you'd be dealing with if you left your family there?"

"Linderman… Ma… they're right…" Nathan said, looking up at her with what was probably intended to be a glare if he hadn't been winching from the impact. "We're at our best… after attacks… look at 9/11…"

"You- you seriously think you're going to win me over by comparing this to 9/11?" Kim looked at Nathan in shock. "God, if you really think that the only way to save humanity starts with mass murder… I never thought I'd say this, but I'm not sure we'd deserve to be saved."

"Sometimes hard decisions are necessary-"

"This isn't Hiroshima and you're not dealing with active military targets!" Kim yelled. "It was bad enough when we dropped the most powerful weapon ever developed on civilian targets, but this is you deciding you're fine letting thousands of innocent people die in the name of your own reputation for some… abstract idea that you can make the world better that way!"

"I can make this country better-"

"By letting people die?" Kim just stood and looked at Nathan, waiting to test his reaction to her words, but then she shook her head and walked over him. "Go and be a killer and tell yourself you're not guilty just because you're not the one arming the bomb; I'm going to help the people who actually want to help people."

To his credit, Nathan said nothing as she opened the door and left his office, making her way towards a rear exit she'd noticed earlier. She was fairly sure Nathan wasn't going to actually try and press charges for what had just happened, since he couldn't exactly risk her explaining why she'd confronted him like that in the first place, but she wasn't going to stick around here longer than she had to.

That's one picture down, anyway… now it's just a case of finding some way around that image of the explosion… and telling Peter just how big a jerk his brother actually is…

It was almost a relief when her phone rang once she was a few streets away from the campaign office.

"Ron?" she said with a grin. "Is everything-?"

"We need help, KP," Ron's voice said, her friend sounding unnaturally grim. "Sylar just killed his mother and broke Hiro's sword."