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AN: I reiterate that I'm not looking at Sylar's activities at this time as he's just doing what he did in canon; Ron accompanied Hiro and Ando when they were trying to find Sylar, but since they were trying to stay hidden that didn't have much impact on them observing Sylar's meeting with his mother beyond Ron making a few comments about the merits of giving Sylar a chance to let himself get talked down. I'm also ignoring what DL, Jessica and Micah were doing at this point, but be assured they'll appear before this is all over; remember that final sketch of Isaac's and you may have an idea what I have planned in that regard…
The Not-So-Average Girl
"Sylar actually called him?" Audrey looked at Bennett in surprise as the amateur team sat around the Indian doctor's flat, trying to go over available evidence or planning their next move against the killer. The flat was in a bit of a state, giving the impression that there'd been a fight here at some point since Mohinder left it, but the door was still lockable and it made a convenient place to hide out anyway.
"According to Doctor Suresh, and I think we can all agree he has no reason to lie about that," the man in glasses observed.
"Why would he even do that?" Ted put in uncertainly. "I mean, after what he's done so far… Sylar's worried about killing people now?"
"It's hard to be sure what's motivating him," Bennett observed. "From what Doctor Suresh told us during that call, it sounds like Sylar seems to have convinced himself that he's pursuing this… hunt to take powers from those who don't deserve them, whereas what we're talking about here is mass death of innocent people…"
"And he'd care about that?"
"Even psychopaths have their own warped standards most of the time," Audrey observed grimly before she shrugged. "Anyway, what Sylar does or doesn't want to do isn't relevant right now; what is relevant is working out how to contain him."
"Which also depends on finding him before we disable the company's tracking system."
"And then what?" Ted asked. "How do we stop Sylar when he's already… seriously, does anyone know what he's capable of right now?"
"There is one who can match him."
Audrey was ashamed to admit that it took her a moment to realise who had just spoken, even if it was possibly justified that she hadn't heard the man speak before now.
"You can speak?" Bennett looked at the Haitian incredulously, before looking at Audrey and the others as though realising how that statement made him sound.
"Did anyone actually ask him- sorry, you- anything before?" Audrey began, turning to the Haitian mid-sentence.
"It suited me to be seen as silent," the Haitian replied, giving the agent a brief smile of acknowledgement before he turned to address the room. "And there is one man who may be capable of matching Sylar in battle, because he is the only man to have defeated me."
"Defeated you?" Bennett repeated, his expression a kind of cautious shock as he looked at the partner he now realised he knew so little about. "How?"
"He has the ability to imitate the powers of others," the Haitian explained with a solemn expression as he focused his attention on Bennett. "He used my own power to stop me… And he is the one who has been protecting your daughter since Sylar attacked her."
"What?" Bennett's expression became more intense as he glared at the Haitian. "You've known where Claire was this whole time-?"
"I knew who was looking after her, not where she was," the Haitian replied. "I was not anticipating that he would be able to defeat me when I first confronted them, and after that… I had faith that he could guard her."
"OK, who are we talking about here?" Audrey put in.
"Peter Petrelli," the Haitian replied.
"Well, at least I know I wasn't that far off," Bennett muttered, shooting an annoyed glare at the man he'd assumed was a literal silent partner all this time. "And there was me thinking he was just a person of interest in that assault…"
"We can worry about your ego being dented later," Audrey said before she turned back to the Haitian. "So this 'Peter'… I think Doctor Suresh mentioned that he had a tricky ability a while back; you're saying that he can… copy other people's abilities?"
"Without needing to kill them first?" Ted raised an urgent hand.
"At his full potential, it is possible that he could be capable of imitating every power he has ever encountered."
"Damn…" Audrey said with a grim nod. "We definitely need to find that guy…"
"And then-" Bennett began.
"Maybe we don't consider trying to attack the guy who might help us stop the real problem?" Audrey shot the older man a firm glare.
"I thought kidnapping was a crime?"
"Assuming your daughter chose to go with him because she felt that her life was in danger if she stayed home, it gets into an area where I'm personally willing to acknowledge the potential shades of grey," Audrey observed in turn. "If your daughter survived an attack by Sylar because of this guy, I can see her deciding to stay with him would be a good call."
"And could we even charge him with anything without getting into issues I don't think any of us want to go public?" Matt added.
"Pardon?" Bennett looked sharply at the telepathic cop.
"I mean, in any criminal case, both parties are allowed to say their piece, so even if you wanted to take the matter to trial, your daughter would have the right to explain why she felt running away with a stranger was safer than staying at home…" Matt shrugged. "Not saying she made the right call, but I can see why she did it and I don't think we're in a position to debate the legalities."
Bennett looked around the room with an expression that made it clear he wanted to vent his frustrations in some way, but he finally settled on just making a frustrated snort and nodding in resignation.
"Right," Audrey smiled around the room. "With that sorted, do we focus on finding Sylar or Peter Petrelli first?"
As he followed Thompson into the medical lab at their Kirby Plaza address, Mohinder wondered at the implications of the man's previous observation. He couldn't entirely deny the idea that he was motivated by a sense of guilt at his father's role in helping Sylar become the killer he was now, but at the same time, his father hadn't done anything to provoke Sylar on purpose. From everything he'd learnt from Bennett, this company had managed to capture Sylar for a time and failed to keep him contained; it wasn't like he was condemning their methods for no reason.
In any case, the priority now was to find out what he could about how this company worked and figure out how best to use that knowledge to find Sylar and then shut these people down for good. The first step was finding this 'Walker System' Bennett had told him about, and while he still wasn't sure what he was looking for, there was no reason to disbelieve in the existence of such a system…
"What is this place?" he asked as he was led into a lab, various displays on the walls and equipment and computers on the desks.
"There's someone you need to meet," Thompson explained as he closed the door. "Molly Walker; does the name ring any bells?"
"Yes, she was on my father's list," Mohinder replied, his mind already flying to the worst possible implications of this news.
"That's right," Thompson said, still talking in a self-satisfied manner that made it clear he wanted Mohinder to feel guilt about this. "Your father led Sylar right to her. He slaughtered her parents, then attacked her."
"How did she survive?" Mohinder asked, choosing not to get into a particular debate about who was responsible for Sylar claiming his victims, his attention briefly focused on a nearby computer monitor.
"Well, luckily, we got to her," Thompson explained, his manner now a cool, collected one that made Mohinder briefly feel like he was being treated like a fool. "That's what we do. We find people with abilities, help them, protect them."
"And she's sick, isn't she?" Mohinder said, choosing to focus on the essential details of what he'd just put together.
"How can you tell?" Thompson asked, moving to stand beside Mohinder and study the screen himself.
"Her nucleotides are decomposing," Mohinder indicated the red blood cells on the monitor before him, although with some of the data displayed on either side of the image. "You need to get her to a doctor."
"A doctor can't help her," Thompson shook his head. "I'm thinking… maybe you can."
"I'm a geneticist," Mohinder countered coolly; he wasn't going to let this man make him feel guilty about something he wouldn't be able to do. "I wouldn't know the first thing about this-"
"Molly's virus is very rare," Thompson cut him off. "It's destroying her nervous system; prevents her from accessing her ability. There's been one other case; an Indian girl, 1974."
"My sister," Mohinder said, suddenly realising where the company man was going with this. "Shanti died."
"Yes, we know," Thompson affirmed, moving to place a hand on Mohinder's back and lead him away from the screen. "Sadly, your father developed a cure months too late. Unfortunately for Molly, our people can't figure out what that cure is."
The two men now standing in front of a thick white curtain, Thompson moved away from Mohinder to pull the curtain open. On the other side of the curtain was a glass-walled room, where a dark-haired woman in a purple jumper was sitting beside a little girl in a pink top, the girl currently colouring with crayons at a desk. The room itself wasn't large, but there was a bed in it and various toys scattered around, ranging from horses near a window to some other books above the bed. The girl looked up from her book and waved at Thompson with a warm smile before she turned her attention back to what she was colouring.
"Cute, huh?" the white-haired man said.
"You're trying to manipulate me?" Mohinder countered, taking care to keep his voice low; he didn't know if the glass was soundproof and didn't want to disturb a little girl in an uncertain state of health. "Showing me this poor girl, preying on Shanti's memory? Sylar is out there, and he's planning a slaughter; everyone is in danger, and this- none of this is going to help."
"You just don't get it," Thompson said grimly. "Molly is the only one who can stop Sylar."
As much as Mohinder wanted to object to the idea of putting that much pressure on a child, he couldn't deny that there were obvious advantages to the idea of them 'using' Molly's ability to find the killer. So far he, his allies and any other parties seeking Sylar were basically playing catch-up, only able to track the man by his latest victim or when they had some way to anticipate his next target, but if they could take him by surprise at least once…
Granted, it wouldn't help if they didn't have a plan for how to stop him after that point, but the idea still had potential.
So much for just shutting down the tracking system, but while I hate it, he has a point; I can't just let Molly die if I can help, even if she wasn't a potential key player in how to find Sylar.
Of course, he had no intention of forcing this innocent girl to face Sylar again even indirectly if he could help it; if he could just work out a way to treat her condition, maybe he could introduce her to Peter Petrelli and have her give him a lesson in using it…