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: This chapter has had some minor editing for mistakes.

Chapter 27: Mistaken

Peter returned to his room to gather a few things and change out of his blood soaked shirt. Niki and Ando were going to meet him in half an hour which gave him just enough time to do what needed to be done and not think too much.

He couldn't afford to think right now.

Peter, having just found a duffel bag to put his things in, heard a knock at the door.

"It's open," he hollered, still busy pulling together a quick change of clothes.

"So you're really going?" he heard Beatrice ask.

"Of course I am," he answered without hesitation.

"But these people, you hardly know…"

"I told you," Peter interrupted, "I remember now. I… these are my friends. I know you were skeptical and so was I, a little bit, but…"

Peter sighed, shaking his head and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

This was why he hadn't wanted to stop and think about it. It was too overwhelming when he did.

"You need more time," Beatrice said, sitting beside him and sensing his unease. "You need to take a step back. To figure things out before…"

"No," Peter said abruptly, standing again and resuming his packing. "I can't waste anymore time. If I have questions, Niki and Ando will help me sort them out on the way."

"And what about your gifts? Will you have time to sort them out on the way too?"

"I hope so," Peter returned with as much confidence as he could manage.

"So you're just going to storm in and what exactly?" Beatrice asked. "Is there even a plan? And for what? For who exactly? This girl, this Claire… they're not going to kill her. They're just going to…"

Peter stopped, fixing Beatrice with an odd, inquisitive look.

"How do you know what they're going to do? What they're plans are? Right now we know the Order is planning to execute three of my other friends, why wouldn't they do that to Claire?"

"I was only speculating," Beatrice said dismissively. "Of course I don't know what…"

But Peter was already putting it together.

"That dream," he said with a short nod. "That dream I had about the phone call. I was so focused on the Order wanting to get her that I didn't… I didn't think about what it meant that someone else already said they had her. That someone else was already planning to turn her over… Over to who, exactly? Who were you going to send her to meet tonight? What's really happening here?"

"It's not…" Beatrice said with a grimace and a shake of her head. "It's not as bad as it sounds. They're not killing them."

"They're not killing them?" Peter repeated disbelievingly. "So that makes it alright?"

"It's something we have to do," Beatrice said firmly. "We need Primatech's help. They showed us the way here, have kept the Order…"

"The Order just swooped in and took Claire…" Peter shot back at her. "They just…"

"They provide us with food and electricity," Beatrice continued, ignoring his outburst. "They give us security. A place of our own. I think that's worth sacrificing…"

"No it's not," Peter said angrily. "It's not worth that. We're talking about people here."

"We don't have a choice. They can come up here anytime they want and take us all away. The things they can do… Peter, it is the only way."

"Is that what… is that what happened to Samuel? Did he find out or want out or…"

"It was necessary."

"Who knows about this? Who else is in on it?" Peter asked.

"Only myself and Albert," Beatrice answered. "Peter, it's why I want you on the council. I wanted to tell you. I wanted you to be apart of this."

"You really think I'd want to be apart of this?"

Beatrice said nothing.

"How am I supposed to believe that anyway?" Peter continued. "How am I supposed to believe anything you've told me?"

"You have every right to be mad, but it really is the only option. It's saved us."

"It's saved you."

Peter began to pace the room, angrier than he'd ever felt before.

"My dreams," he finally said. "Am I your source; am I your inside for the Order? I've been… for months now I've been dreaming about my brother and you knew, right? You knew who he was and you knew who I was too. Primatech had me on their list. They knew… so you knew."

"It's not…"

"So if you really wanted to help me, you would have just told me. You knew who I really was and yet…"

"I didn't know how you'd take knowing that Nathan Petrelli was your brother," she lied. "Knowing what he's done…"

Peter shook his head, turning his back to her.

"That's not…"

"You were going through a very trying time," Beatrice continued. "I knew you weren't ready for the truth."

"You had no right deciding that. Keeping that from me. Beatrice, I trusted you."

"Peter, you trust everyone."

Turning back around to face her, he saw her holding a gun on him.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't give them Claire but I can still give them you. I hope you know it's not personal. This is business."

"I've already been shot today," Peter said, taking a step towards her. "I think…"

"Are you sure?" Beatrice said cutting him off but taking a step backwards in the process. "Do you really want to…"

"Are you willing to take that chance?" he continued, still moving towards her. "They probably won't be too happy if I'm dead. Am I right?"

"You're right," she said. Her voice was confident, but despite being the one armed, she was also the one backing away. "I'll aim for the kneecap to be safe."

"You wouldn't."

He took one more step forward.

"I'm sorry but…"

Beatrice took one more step back.

"You are sorry."

Beatrice turned suddenly towards the new voice, towards Niki's voice. The other woman gave her no other warning, had slid silently into the room and had been watching the exchange, had been motioning Peter forward with her eyes for the past minute. When Beatrice had turned, startled as Niki knew she would be, Niki punched her.

One punch was all it took.

"You alright?" Niki asked Peter, stepping over the Beatrice as she crossed the room.

"Let's just get out of here," Peter sighed, grabbing his things.

"Sounds good to me."

"No wait," Peter said, stopping in the doorway. "I need to talk to David first. He needs to know about Beatrice and Albert. About Primatech. It won't take long."

"Alright," Niki agreed. "I'd like to know what's happening here myself."

"You're late. Again."

"My apologies," Nathan said as he slid into his chair. "As you can imagine, my division has been extremely busy as of late."

"Yes," Carl Wright, the Board's most senior member replied. "Congratulations. Two right off the top."

"Yes, well…" Nathan began, leaning back in his chair with ease.

"It's about time," the older man barked. "We were beginning to look like fools."

"I think we're past beginning," Cynthia Stamford added dryly giving Nathan a hard look.

He gave her a single, short nod of his head, smiling tightly.

Nathan hated these meetings, but like everything else, they were a necessary evil. This is where the real decisions were made; where action was determined. The five people in this room controlled all aspects of life inside the Order. Each had their own division, their own responsibilities, and each was only answerable to one another.

Well, one another and the Republic; to Primatech.

Carl Wright was in charge of Justice. He oversaw all trials personally, not that there were a lot of trials. Most of the guilty didn't live that long. He also set forth new laws, new instructions.

Cynthia Stamford was in charge of Enforcement. She, along with her ever growing staff, planned checkpoints, patrolled streets, ensured curfews were being met. They were fairly good at what they did and getting better. They were always getting better.

Trenton West and James Calloway were in charge of Provisions and Education respectively. West was always busy as providing for a new nation wasn't an easy task, but Calloway's division was still in the planning stages. His correct title should have been Director of Reeducation.

Nathan, of course, was in charge of Abnormalities. It was his job, his duty, to track down and contain all of the people inside the Order who were considered outside the norm. Out of them all, he'd had the most success and the most failure. Nathan was always coming up with new laws, new ways of tracking and collecting these people, but they kept escaping. Most of their powers were so advanced it was near impossible to contain them.

That's why they need Primatech's help so much.

That's why Claire Bennet was so important.

Primatech had engineered weapons that would neutralize an individual's power. They had designed rooms that could contain people who might otherwise be free to leave whenever they'd liked. Primatech was working on a way to reverse the process; to end this nightmare.

They needed Primatech.

"When will they arrive to take custody of her?" Carl asked.

"Friday."

"And they don't want them both?" Cynthia said.

"Both?" Nathan returned, trying to feign ignorance.

"Bennet and Parkman," she elaborated. "They're both on the list. They didn't offer anything for him as well?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

"Even if they did," Nathan answered crisply, "I wouldn't have accepted. Parkman is dangerous and needs to be disposed of."

"Dangerous?" she scoffed. "He reads people's thoughts. Granted, I wouldn't invite him over for dinner, but he's hardly dangerous."

"I know my job," Nathan spat back bitterly.

"Maybe you don't. I mean, if you're just willing to throw away an opportunity like this. I have no objection to the other two dying, but Parkman could be valuable. You're killing off an asset, and for what I wonder."

"How many execution orders have I signed?"

"You expect me to keep track of those…"

"I've signed three," Nathan answered for her. "Three. Parkman. Hanson. Suresh. Just three. I do not take this lightly, so I am very serious when I say it has to be done."

Silence filled the room.

"Have it your way."

Beatrice awoke with a groan, Albert shaking her arm furiously.

"We've got to go," he said to her.

"What?" she asked as she struggled to her feet. "What's happened?"

"They know," was Albert said.

That cleared Beatrice's head better than anything else could have. She gave him a short nod and together they headed for the back entrance. She was relieved to learn he had already packed a bag for the both of them so all they had to was go.

Once they were a good distance away from the colony she heard Albert sigh.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"We'll make our way," Beatrice said reassuringly. "Head back into the Order's territory. Blend in. It will be fine."

"And Primatech?" Albert asked skeptically. "You don't think our friends there won't object to us just blending in? Walking away like this?"

He didn't have to explain it further. She knew which friends he meant; their only friends.

"Shouldn't we try to contact them?" Albert asked when she didn't answer his first question.

"No."

"Why not?"

They both stopped in their tracks at the sound of the woman's voice just behind them.

"Don't you think they'll want to know what's happened here?" Maggie asked, staring the two of them down and carrying what looked like a flare gun.

She'd probably followed them, Beatrice assumed. Maggie was good at that. She practically lived in the shadows.

"Just go back to the colony and tell them we're going. We don't want any more trouble."

"I'm not going back to the colony," Maggie interrupted. "And, I guarantee, you won't be any more trouble."

"What do you…"

"It's you," Albert said suddenly, seeing the truth in her as the colors around her changed. "You were the one. We knew that they had someone watching but I never thought… We always assumed it was someone…"

"Normal?" Maggie asked. "What good would that do? You'd never trust anyone that wasn't 'gifted'. Who wasn't like you. They knew that."

"Do they know about…"

"I've already told them about both Bennet and Petrelli," Maggie answered before Beatrice could even finish the sentence. "They're not very happy with you. Either of you."

"You told them we tried, right?" Beatrice begged. "You told them we've done everything…"

"They don't want excuses, they want results."

"We can still go back," Beatrice said quickly. "We can go back and pick any two…"

"But I've already got two."

Beatrice looked around hopefully before it dawned on her exactly which two Maggie meant.

"What's going to happen…"

Maggie didn't let her finish the sentence. She fired the gun in her hand, wincing slightly at the flash of light before smiling at the results. Both Albert and Beatrice were unconscious before her as planned.

"Two to pick up," Maggie said in her transmitter.

"Copy that," was the response.

"Good," she said turning to go. "I'm heading back in."