Apocalypse by SLynn

Summary: Three years have passed since the explosion and life has drastically changed for everyone. This isn't the world they imagined they'd be saving.

Spoilers: Up to 'Fallout'

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.

Notes: Thank you Tripp3235. And really, I love your soaps!

Chapter 8: Searching

Micah had gone to work immediately.

He'd spent nearly the entire day setting up his laptops, fixing the power supply, connecting to the infrastructure and searching through all the latest prisoner records.

There were a lot to go through and the process was time consuming, but he knew it had to be done.

He would be hard pressed to explain to anyone exactly how he did what he did. Actually, Micah imagined all of them would. It wasn't something you could explain. It was instinctive, like blinking. Or breathing. That was a better way of thinking of it; it was like breathing. It was an integral part of who he was, it defined him and he embraced it.

Even though he was only thirteen the rest of them had always treated him like an equal. He was never excluded from the conversation or denied a chance to help. True, his mother did sometimes put her foot down, but Micah knew she had only the best of intentions.

But good intentions don't always yield good results.

"I think I found them," Micah said as the sun began to go down again.

"Where?" Hiro asked, rushing over to see what the young man had dug up.

"Wait," Micah said, straining to stare at the screen. His hands hovering just above the keyboard. "Wait. Oh… no. No, they're checking their fingerprints. They're sending out their photos. They don't know who they are yet. They've…"

"What?" Ando asked hurriedly. "What is it?"

"They know," Micah said turning to the rest of them. "Matt's fingerprints were in their database. They know who he is. The system…"

Micah stopped talking and turned back to the keyboard with a frantic speed. He was trying hard to override the results, to intercept the verification, but with no luck.

"I couldn't stop it," he said throwing his hands up in disgust. "I wasn't quick enough."

"It's not your fault," D.L. said reassuringly, patting him on the shoulder. "You tried. Matt's a smart guy. He'll get out of it. Both of them will."

Micah didn't say anything in return; instead he pulled the confirmation page he knew was being shown at a detention center somewhere in New Jersey.

The page that not only confirmed Matt Parkman's identity, but ordered his immediate transfer back to the capital where he was to await execution.

Henry Jacobs loved the idea.

"It is what I do best," he said to Matt after hearing what the younger man had in mind. "I've broken out five or six times now, twice out of here. It should be fun. When do you want to do it?"

"The sooner the better," Matt urged.

"What's the hurry? We can go whenever you'd like," Jacobs said as if they were planning a trip to the movies. "Personally, I'm famished. The food isn't bad. Let's wait till after dinner."

"No," Matt said shaking his head, "we need to go now. Right now."

"Oh," Jacobs said with a knowing look, "you must be trouble. I like trouble."

'Is he nuts?' he heard loudly from Claire.

"Well, are we going to invite anyone else," Jacobs asked, "or will it just be us?"

"More might be better," Claire offered. "More confusion. More cover."

"Yeah," Matt said with a short nod, "besides, that woman who came in with us, she might be a good distraction."

"That was quite a shriek she gave," Jacobs added.

"I'll let her know," Claire said.

"Young lady," Jacobs said before she got far, "not too loudly. We don't want to raise suspicion."

Claire gave him a quick smile before she was on her way.

"Good thinking," Matt said.

"Like I've said," Jacobs returned, "I've done this before."

"So, where do you…"

"I have to ask you something first," Jacobs interrupted.

Matt felt his insides clench. He'd been afraid of this, but really there'd been no choice. They had to have help. There was no way he and Claire could escape on their own.

"Have you heard of the colony just north of here?"

Matt hadn't been prepared for that.

"Yeah," Matt said with a short nod.

"I've been there," Jacobs said, for the first time sounding dead serious. "It's an interesting place. Lots of our kind. Lots more than the Order would like to believe."

"I'm not sure what this has to do with escaping," Matt returned.

"I think this is going to be my last escape," Jacobs said, ignoring Matt's last remark. "I think I'm going to head north and retire. You should come with me. Both of you."

'We could use you.'

"For what?" Matt asked.

Jacobs didn't answer, just smiled oddly back at Matt and brought his finger to his lips in a 'hushing' gesture as Claire returned with Anne and Lionel in tow.

"They're in," she said shortly.

"Excellent," Jacobs said, his voice once again jovial and light. "Let's begin."

"Get up."

Audrey gave the guard at door of her cell a contemptuous look.

"Now," he repeated loudly. "On you're feet. You've got a visitor."

"I didn't think I was allowed visitors," Audrey said as she reluctantly did as she'd been told.

"Well it must be your lucky day."

The only person it could be, Audrey imagined, was Nathan. Back again to try and weasel more information out of her. It didn't matter; she rather enjoyed the fact that he was wasting his time this way. She was never going to tell him anything.

She wouldn't do that to Matt.

Handcuffed and alone again, she waited in the same sterile room as before, but the wait was short this time.

As the door opened, Audrey felt like the room had tilted. She was nauseous and sweaty. There was no explanation for it.

It took her a minute to regain her composure and when she did she was startled to find Mohinder in the room with her.

She started to question how he'd gotten in, how he'd even known where to look for her but he beat her to the punch.

"Nathan called me," the man said, taking a seat across the table from her. "He thought I might get you to see reason."

"Mohinder, what are you talking about?"

"We need Claire Bennet, Audrey. Where are they headed?"

"We?" Audrey asked still confused and a bit dizzy. "Since when are you part of this? Mohinder, I thought…"

"We're all apart of this," he said and that feeling of tilting, of being on the edge of a cliff returned.

"I don't know where they're going," she said as strongly as she could. "They wouldn't tell me. They don't trust anyone that isn't one of them."

"That's a lie, Audrey."

"No," she said shaking her head, "it's not. It's not a lie."

In the room next door three men sat around a video monitor watching the interview.

"It's not working," one man said. "She was expecting this, or something like this. It's too difficult for Jenny to fool her conscience mind. The hallucinations aren't working."

"Then why do we keep her around," said Nathan viciously.

There was no mistaking who he meant.

"Jenny has done a lot of good for the Order, sir," the other man said.

"She's not doing any good right now," Nathan said dismissively.

On the monitor they saw Audrey cradling her head in her lab, visibly shaking. The young Asian woman in the room with her looked up at the camera and shrugged.

"I'm sure if we try again..."

They were interrupted by a messenger at the door. He quickly passed off the note to Nathan who read it and gave the other men an odd smile.

"Looks like its Jenny's lucky day," he said, handing them the note as he strode out of the room.

The men scanned it and breathed a sigh of relief.

All it said was, 'We have Parkman.'

"Where are you going?"

"After Matt and Claire," Hiro answered still packing his backpack.

"All of you?" Niki asked, directing the question at D.L. this time.

"It's the right thing to do," he answered.

"Its suicide," she shot back.

"That man saved my life," D.L. said quite seriously. "This is the least I can do in return. I owe him."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Niki asked. "What about us? Don't you owe us something?"

"I want to come," Micah put in.

"No," Niki shouted. "Absolutely not. I'm not going to lose you too. Not like this."

"Your mother's right," D.L. agreed. "Stay with her. The two of you keep going north, up to where Audrey said that colony is. We'll be a few days behind you. I promise."

Niki crossed her arms and silently shook her head.

"Dad," Micah implored. "I want to help."

"Then help take care of your mom," D.L. said.

Micah nodded, ready to reluctantly do as he'd been told.

"Are we ready?" Ando asked.

"As ready as we'll get," D.L. returned.