Five Years Later: Chapter Seven
Unable to stay in a hotel, or any place where Claire might be seen, Hiro has taken them all to an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere. Looking around the place, Gretchen is fairly positive he has been here before. Though still bleak in appearance, lights have been strung up around the ceilings, and old sofas and chairs have been set out on the concrete floor, standing in isolation in one corner of the big and empty space.
In another corner, a make-shift kitchen has been assembled, complete with refrigerator and microwave. Hiro makes his way towards this area, leaving the other three behind.
Claire looks dazed and exhausted. She allows Rene to lead her to a sofa and sit her down, and he covers her shoulders with a quilt before taking a seat beside her.
"There's nothing you could have done, Claire," he tells her again. "You must know that."
Claire leans into him, and he reflexively puts an arm around her, holding her as a father would. Gretchen watches on from where she stands, uncertain what to do. Then, looking away for a moment, she sees Hiro smiling at her from the little kitchen and decides to leave Claire and the Haitian alone for the time being.
The last thing Claire needs right now is more questions. And, questions is all Gretchen has to give.
Hiro gives her a small bow and a smile as she approaches. "I am so sorry for this inconvenience," he tells her, as if she's only been waiting in line at a drive-thru. "When we made the decision to extract you in New York, we never counted on another attack happening on our own home. We thought we were keeping you safe, and I sincerely apologize that we were unable to do so."
Gretchen smiles back, but she is tired too. The smile comes with a sigh, and is only a fraction of what it used to be.
"I'm safe, Hiro," Gretchen assures him. "I'm just ... a little confused. Where are we now, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh," says he, straightening his glasses. "Nebraska. No one will find us here, I promise you."
"How can you be so sure?" she asks.
He gives her a confident grin. "Because. We are in the past," he explains. "We are in the year 1954. This is my safe house. No one can find us here because they have not been born yet."
"You mean ... out there ..." says Gretchen, gesturing to the big steel doors on the other side of the room, "... it's 1954? Like ... for real?"
"Yep," says he. "Would you like a soda, Gretchen? Or something to eat? I always keep the kitchen stocked in case of emergency."
"No thanks," she replies. "So, on a scale from 1 to 10, how big of an emergency would you rank this? I mean, compared to other emergencies."
Hiro's face grows suddenly serious. "It is not good. We've lost many people today. People we cannot ever replace."
"What makes you so sure you lost them all?" asks Gretchen, looking back over at Claire and Rene on the sofa. "There could have been survivors. Becky ... she might have ... been just fine."
Hiro shakes his head sadly in response. "I'm afraid not. If they did survive, then surely they were captured afterwards. That's why I came to find Claire, after I blinked out of the building myself. We needed to get out before they came in."
"Blinked out?" asks Gretchen, blinking her own eyes rapidly in response.
"Oh, of course. You don't fully understand my abilities yet," he says. "When the blast happened, I instinctively used my abilities to leave the building immediately, just as I did when visiting you in the elevator. It happens rather quickly when faced with life or death, sometimes without me even thinking first."
"Like fight or flight," remarks Gretchen.
His smile brightens. "Yes," he tells her. "Yes, exactly."
"So ... Claire is worried that Becky may have been captured, not just killed?" Gretchen says. "I suppose either would be just as bad, from what I've heard."
Hiro looks over at Claire with sympathy in his eyes, then back at Gretchen. "It's not just Becky she's worried about," he explains, speaking softly. "It's her abilities. She's been working on expanding them ... has she told you?"
"You mean the whole healing fruit thing?" supposes Gretchen. "Yeah. I got a personal demonstration."
"If she had been given more time," he continues, still speaking in a hushed manner, "to expand it even more before this happened, then ... she may have been able to go in and save people. If Becky had been hurt inside ... Claire would have been able to heal her. But ..."
"She can only heal pears?" assumes Gretchen.
"For now," says Hiro with a smile. "But ... give her time. I believe she will be a great hero one day. Possibly the greatest."
"What makes you think that?" asks Gretchen.
Hiro shrugs. "Just a feeling."
Gretchen looks back at Claire again, still leaning against the Haitian in silent tears. It is almost unbearable to watch.
"So ... she feels guilty? Because she couldn't run in and heal them?" thinks Gretchen aloud. "But ... even if her abilities had expanded that far, she couldn't have gone in there, Hiro. Surely you know that, or you would have gone in yourself."
He sighs. "No. She could never have gone back in that building. It was not safe. But ... try telling her that. She can be a bit stubborn, you know."
"Trust me, I know," says Gretchen.
"It will take time," Hiro says, "and ... faith for her to heal."
"Faith?" replies Gretchen, turning to face him again. "Do evolves believe in God?"
Hiro laughs. "Some do, some don't," he answers. "But ... I wasn't talking about having faith in a God. I was talking about her having faith in you, Gretchen."
"In me? But, what can I possibly do to help someone who can't be hurt?" she questions.
"Oh, but she can be hurt," he tells her. "Perhaps in a worse way than any of us. I think you already know that, from the look on your face. You know she's in unimaginable pain right now, and you want to help her. I don't have to have be a mind-reader to see that."
Gretchen exhales a long, deep breath and runs a hand through her hair. "Hiro, I really think I've only made things worse. I mean ... right before the explosion happened, I was accusing Becky of being a traitor."
His back stiffens at this, but he doesn't look all together surprised. He straightens his glasses again and says, "What made you think that?"
"Well, someone's got to be a traitor," she tells him. "The government may have files, but ... they couldn't have known about my connection to Claire. Who else would have told them? The Haitian? Besides Becky, he's the only one who knew and lived long enough to talk about it."
Hiro rubs at his chin in thought. "Becky is a hard person to read. Claire is the only one who could ever really talk to her. She put up walls around the rest of us."
"So ... you don't think I'm totally off?"
"I'm not sure. We would need more to go on than that," Hiro explains.
"Well ... what about the bomb that just went off?" reminds Gretchen. "Who put it there? It had to have been someone on the inside, and ... the Haitian said he saw something flash in front of the security camera in that room, which is why he came down to look."
"Sounds like a speeder," suggests Hiro, who then adds, "I mean, someone with super speed. They tend to flash, as you said."
"Or ... was it really a flash he saw?" continues Gretchen. "Did you have any ... uh, speeders living there at the time?"
"No," says Hiro, his eyes wide with concern. "We never did."
"So, maybe it wasn't a flash," she explains. "Maybe it was a door opening on it's own, or the reflection of a door opening on it's own. The doors are steel. If one opened, it could easily cause a reflection to flash across the room. Could that have been what Rene saw?"
"Possibly," admits Hiro. "And, if so ... then ..."
"It could have been Becky in that room," Gretchen finishes for him. "When Claire showed up in my lab in New York, she appeared like that. The doors opened on their own, and ... POOF! There she was. Did Becky do that?"
Hiro nods. "Her own expansion of powers," he explains. "She can make other people invisible, as well as herself, by concentration. It's how Claire and Rene entered all those banks ... under the cloak of Becky's invisibility."
"Of course!" exclaims Gretchen, still trying to remain quiet, despite being excited about putting all the pieces together. "They enter unseen, Claire pulls out the gun, the Haitian wipes their memories, and then they leave the same way they came in: invisible!"
Again, Hiro nods. "All Claire's idea," he tells her with an apologetic smile. "But ... I don't know what we would have done without it."
Gretchen waves this off. "It doesn't matter. Don't you see? Becky is the one who knew of my connection to Claire, she is the one who tried to kill me five years ago, and she is the only one who could have gotten into that room and planted a bomb. Hiro, Becky is your traitor! She's not dead ... she's been working with them all along. Probably even before Sylar returned. Or, at least, right after. She's been using Claire this whole time!"
"Shh!" he demands. "Keep your voice down. This isn't the time."
"She's killing herself over there," Gretchen points out, her heart aching for Claire as she says it. "Over guilt for not being able to save the very person who tried to kill all of us! If now isn't the time, then when is?"
"When she's had time," Hiro explains. "She's in shock right now. She may even suspect that you are right about Becky. After all, Claire is no fool. She runs on emotions, but ... not for long. Remember that, if you are right about Becky, then she is going to have a lot to figure out. They have been together for four years, Gretchen. That's a long time to be lied to."
Gretchen looks down at the floor with a sigh, and Hiro places a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "If you want to help her, then you must be strong for her," he whispers. "She will return the favor a million times over, I promise you. Just ... be patient."
Then, in a moment: "I know what we have to do," says a steely voice from behind them.
Hiro and Gretchen look up and see Claire and Rene standing near-by. Claire has her fists at her waist, and has erased all signs of crying from her face. Her chin is set and angled, determination edging her features.
"We have to find Peter," she tells them. "He's the only one who can help us now."
*to be continued ...*
