Ed 'W' Jamison

New York

He stretched, having already decided the next person to take to his little paradise away from Earth. It was beginning to feel a lot like it used to, back in the days when Dad made all the decisions, such as who needs to arrive, who needs to go, and where everything should be put. It was a strange, powerful feeling, having an entire universe at your fingertips. And it was all thanks to Dad's research of the All-Gift.

Such omniscience was bound to be a drain on a man, and Ed was beginning to feel it, inside and out. His hair had gone from black to white; and deeps bags hung from under his eyes. He wondered how Dad did it for so many years.

He reached out, sticking his fingers in the thin mesh of reality and tore a hole from New York to Seattle. Smiling and exhausted, he stepped through into Heidi Petrelli's apartment.

The place was soundless, nearly empty, but W knew better than to assume that. It was, after all, late in the day. He was sure his victim was home.

Slowly, he passed the small kitchen and went into the hallway. He pushed open the first door he came to, and shook his head. Wrong room. He moved on to the next.

This room was littered with toys, stuffed animals, and other such junk. Ed smiled. This was the place.

"Monty," he called out in a low, almost sing-song voice. There was no answer, but Ed could see the boy breathing on the bed. If Peter really was on to Vann, this would sidetrack him completely. It wasn't a good idea to have loved ones that could disappear without a trace in the middle of the night.

Ed tip-toed into the room, hoping not to wake anyone in the small apartment. From out of nowhere, he was struck. He hit the ground rolling, his left arm screaming at him. Standing above him was the missus, Heidi, and she held a baseball bat. She brought it up to bring it crashing down on top of him, but he kicked her in the stomach and sent her flying out the door.

As quickly as he could, he formed an image in his mind of his father's side universe and ripped a hole through to it. He could smell the ocean nearby, a coppery, thin smell. In the bed, Monty was sitting straight up, tears coming down his face, and he was calling for his mother. Ed snatched him up and threw him threw him through the portal.

The baseball bat collided with the right side of his face. The world slowed and his vision blurred from blood pouring into his eyes. He spun, punching Heidi in the face. He heard her nose crack and she went down, hard.

Ed wiped a hand along side his rapidly swelling head. Tomorrow, there was going to one hell of a bruise, but he'd live. He sealed the portal and hurried out to the portal to New York, which he left open in the kitchen.

Passing the first room, he didn't see the small foot sticking out until he tripped on it. There was Petrelli, the elder. Simon was on him in a fury, out for blood and getting his fair share of it, grabbing Ed by the hair and slamming his face into the hardwood floor. This time, it was his nose that crunched, and he howled with pain.

Ed flipped over, knocking off the small boy, and leapt to his feet. He grabbed up Simon and chucked him into the bedroom, watching as the boy bounced off his bed over to the other side. Then, he continued on his way to the bathroom.

His feet tangled up in something, and he fell again. This time when he looked, Heidi had both legs tied up in her arms, and she opened her mouth wide. He tried to pull his legs free, but she jammed her teeth into the soft meat behind his shins. Ed screamed.

One of his legs came free and kicked her in the face. This time, he straight for the portal, and what he saw chilled him to the bone. Sylar the Mutant Killer stood there in the way. The Killer reached out telekinetically and shoved Ed into the wall, who barely had time to open another portal to the other side. Instead of slamming into the wall, he was gone.

Heidi Petrelli

Seattle, Washington

She looked up at the man coming at her. Pain racked her body, and she couldn't think clearly. He looked familiar, but Heidi couldn't place him. "Claire, is she here?" Heidi struggled to shake her head. It hurt so much. Then she was being lifted into the air by unseen hands. "Tell me where she is," he said, barely audible, but the threat came through quite clearly.

"I…I don't know," she said, spitting through the blood that poured down her nose.

The man let her drop, and her ankle twisted on the hardwood. "I don't believe you," he said, making his way past her. "Maybe Simon can get the truth out of his mother. He walked to the wall and held up his fingers. To her amazement, a line was cut through the drywall. He slammed his fists into the wall, ripping chunks of it down.

She felt the energy when he held out both of his hands. Simon came flying through the hole and into his hands. She saw his mouth move, but couldn't make out the words.

"Tell Mommy who I am, maybe then she can see clearly enough," the stranger said.

"It's Sylar," Simon said, and Heidi's mouth fell open. A thousand times Nathan had shown her his picture and told her his name, but she just couldn't put it together.

Sylar held up his hand again, this time drawing blood on Simon's arm. "No!" She screamed, lurching to her feet. "I don't know where Claire is! Now get out!"

Another man came through the portal, accompanied by a young woman. Heidi spun to see her newest problem. She looked at the man, then back at Sylar, and then back to the new guy. It was the same person. Sylar and the Sylar look-alike gaped at each other. "Gabriel," Sylar said, barely audible.

The woman threw up her hands and a blue force field opened between Sylar and Simon, and the boy fell, rolling on the floor, and then he ran to Heidi, hiding behind her. Gabriel lunged at Sylar, tackling him to the ground.

The new woman pushed Heidi and Simon out the door and into the hall. "You'll be safer out here."

In the distance, sirens went up. The alarm had gone off, although Heidi couldn't tell when. It sent a signal directly to Viral and the Agency, and he must have called the cops. What good they were going to do, Heidi didn't know, but she prayed that everything would turn out okay.

Gabriel Gray

Seattle, Washington

Gabriel couldn't tell anyone why he was fighting himself. He only knew two things: that this was the killer who once lurked inside him, and the painting of him fighting himself. So, he fought, breaking Sylar's nose.

Sylar threw Gabriel into the wall with telekinesis and pinned him there. "You never were a fighter, Gabriel, that's why you needed me. You wanted to be more than a watchmaker. You wanted to be special. Look at you now. You don't even have power." Sylar always reveled in taunting his opponent, and now that he was free of Gabriel, he didn't worry so much about being caught.

"He doesn't need them!" Mackenzie screamed, throwing up a force field between the two Sylar's. It was larger than the rest of them, and orange sparks flickered near the edges. Sylar tried to reach out for Gabriel, but the force field blocked even telekinesis. On top of that, it started shining brighter than ever, and the orange started to take over.

Gabriel looked over at Mackenzie. Blood was gushing out of her nose, and even the whites of her eyes were turning red. "Stop it! I'll take care of this!" he yelled, but he already knew it was too late.

The apartment became thick with electric energy. The lights went on, shining bright than anyone thought possible before they exploded. The TV came on, flipping rapidly through channels, and then the screen shattered.

It was the force field that took most of the attention, however. The whole thing was orange, now, and pulsing. Mackenzie started wobbling on her feet. The force field exploded, sending Sylar flying out the window, and Gabriel felt a white hot head on his skin.

When it had passed, Gabriel found himself on the floor. He pushed himself up, every inch of his skin burning like he had one hell of a sunburn. He made his was over to Mackenzie, who had collapsed. He lifted her up into his arms, ready to carry her away, and then he saw her face. Her eyes had turned blood red, and her face was smeared with the gooey substance. She had blown a fuse in her brain or something, and it killed her.

Sirens grew closer, and Gabriel, for the first time, didn't care.

Claire Bennet

San Ribero

She sat on the beach, watching the wave's crash below a full moon. It was the closest thing she'd had to rest since, well, before this whole damn thing happened; before Gavin, before the explosion, before Peter. It was now officially too much. The game needs to be called on account to rain. Something like that.

Gavin stood off by himself, looking at Claire looking out at the sea. She knew he was there, and no longer cared. She cried, letting come out in sheets. Each tear burned as it rolled down her cheeks. She didn't know how she was going to go on, or to protect some gift that Michael was going to give her. She was just a cheerleader; she'd said it many times before and probably will many times again, but it didn't make it any less true.

Gavin came over and put an arm around her. She wanted to fight, but she didn't have the energy. "I'll stick with you, through what ever may come. I'll be there," he said.

She wanted to believe him, but she didn't know. She didn't even know if that war really the moon up in the sky, or some malevolent goddess destroying the lives of men by bewitching them into trying to sail up to her, in conquest of her.

Claire put her head on Gavin's shoulder. Gavin stroked her hair, holding her close. She could almost hear his heart beating. When he spoke again, it echoed in his chest. "Do you know what darkness it?" She shook her head. "Darkness is absolute. It is the absence of light. If you took everything away in the universe, darkness would still be there. It is immovable. So is I. Absolute."

Somehow, that stopped the tears, and she looked him in the eye. Then, she smiled.

Gabriel Gray

Hart Center, Seattle, Washington

He sat in the small interrogation room, waiting for the questioning to come. What did you do with Monty Petrelli? How did you get into Mrs. Petrelli's apartment without setting off the alarms? What did you do that woman in Mrs. Petrelli's apartment?

The door opened, and Heidi walked in. It was the last thing Gabriel expected. He winced at the sight of her face; the crooked nose, the bruised eye, the cracked lip. But her eyes were the same piercing ones he'd encountered in New York at Petrelli Mansion. She was still pretty.

"Who are you?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"My name is Gabriel Gray." There was nothing else to say.

"Why did you save me and my son?"

Gabriel opened his mouth to answer, but there was none. There was no answer that he could give that this woman could understand. He shrugged instead.

"Oh don't give me that crap!" She said with an edge in her voice. "If it wasn't for me, they would have shot you on sight. You owe me an answer, no matter how much bull it may be, and you will give me one, or I'll let them come in here and shoot you now. I'll say you attacked me. Nobody would question it."

That left only the underlying silence and that held even more threats than her words ever could. So, Gabriel took a deep breath and told her everything about before the storm and after it; how he wanted to kill, how he was torn inside, how he joined the small group of travelers, how Michael gave him a gift for Claire, how he woke with a splitting headache, and how he made his way to Seattle. "When I say him standing there, I just felt such revulsion. I wanted to kill him. So, I tried. I didn't even know anybody else was there, although I am glad you got out okay."

Heidi sat there, and he waited to see whether she would believe him or not. Her head fell in her hands, and he watched as her body shook with sobs. He wanted to go to her, to comfort her, but he was shackled to the table.

Finally, she looked up, empty and bone-tired. "I believe you, Gabriel." Then, she stood and left him in there.