Chapter 7

Kiera, Somewhere in Florida, USA

Walking down the bleak corridor toward the lab seemed to be the longest journey of my life. The grey walls just seemed to stretch forever. I had never actually walked this corridor before, every time I had been taken to one of the labs I had been dragged there by one of the heavies employed by this sick organization. Now I had a chance to look around, not that there was a lot to look at. Our cell seemed to be the only cell on this level, the only other thing that broke up the bare concrete walls was the occasional store cupboard and we even passed a door that said 'morgue' on it. I shuddered as we went past, I had this weird heebie jeebie thing about death.

I wondered whether Claire had raised the alarm? Or had she been captured too? I know she escaped when I was initially captured, but what if they had gone after and caught up with her? It was terrifying to think that our only hope of getting out of here was based on what if's?

I was bought out of my contemplation by being shoved into a lab room and placed forcefully into a chair, I could see Bryony and Jess struggling as they were similarly put in the chairs and rope wrapped round their wrists and ankles, I watched with only mild interest as the guard who had been trying to put a rope around Bryony's wrist got bitten on the face. The guard who was tying me up looked relieved that I wasn't putting up a struggle. I had learnt not too after the disastrous attempts at escape before. After they had finished the guards left the room and we were left alone. I looked along the line at Jess who was sat at the very end, she was still twisting against her ropes.

"Don't" I said. She looked at me as if I was completely insane.

"You'll just end up getting rope burn and a very sore back if you do manage to escape" I said sounding indifferent.

"What?" she asked still moving slightly.

"Well I tried it and actually managed it after some serious wiggling and burns, but I was caught before I had got more than twenty meters taken back to my cell and whipped by a heavy rather hard. Apparently in this place people with abilities are considered to be animals until proven otherwise" I finished. Jess had stopped moving completely and made a small 'O' with her mouth as I stopped talking.

I heard the glass door behind me open and footsteps on the steel floor.

"Afternoon Ladies" I heard, I twisted around so violently in my chair that it nearly toppled over.

"Jack?!" I said as I saw the dark haired man standing in the door.

"Wait, you know this knob-head?" said Bryony

"Yeah, I do" I said still in shock, "He's my boyfriend"

"Kiera?" Jack asked as he looked up from what he was holding, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? I know I should have told you but Claire and I came on this holiday – some holiday – I was going to tell you about it afterwards but then it turns out you don't need telling! What the hell are you doing here?" I said my incredulity swiftly turning to anger.

"I work for this company." He mumbled.

"I thought you worked in a paper factory" I said

"Kiera, that's what I was told to tell you" he said

"So there I am, believing that my boyfriend of two years is a paper worker and actually he's with a company who treats people like animals" I said.

"Not people, mutants" he corrected.

"So I'm a mutant as you so casually put it?!" I yelled. I saw him pale significantly.

"So that's why you're here?" he said till shocked

"Why else do you think we're here Einstein, it's not exactly my choice of a day-trip" I heard Bryony say very sarcastically she wasn't even looking at him, she was staring intently at the bare wall ahead of her.

"Y-y-you, have an ability" stuttered Jack. I rolled my eyes, even this was getting beyond my tolerance.

"Yes" I said shortly.

"What?" he asked

"I am an Empath, we all are" I said

His eyes were by this time as wide as dinner plates.

"it seems like I'm not the only one in this relationship keeping secrets" he said softly.

I opened my mouth to give a scathing reply but was cut off by the glass door sliding open once more and I man with steel grey hair and a tanned, but slightly crumpled face coming to stand next to Jack.

"Sir?" Jack said.

"Is there a problem here Jack?" the man asked

"Yes their bloody well is!" I heard Jess say as she wriggled again

"Well you see sir, this girl here," said Jack pointing to me, "is my girlfriend of two years, we have plans to live together soon, I thought she was on holiday in Miami with her friend and the next thing I know she's here telling me she's got a power"

I glared daggers at him.

"And the problem is?" the man asked

"I can't hurt her!" jack said.

"Why not? You were given orders Lucas, to come down to lab 9 and take the DNA samples of the subjects there-in, is that so hard?" the man asked. I looked into Jack's blue eyes and saw that he was staring directly at me. I gave an infinitesimally small nod and he breathed a sigh of relief. He made his way down to Bryony.

"um no Lucas, you can do her first" said the man motioning to me.

Jack looked like he could cry but he approached me all the same, he stood directly behind me and knelt down, putting down the briefcase he had been holding. He moved my hair out of the way so that my neck was exposed as he took his time placing my hair right he whispered in my ear.

"Kiera, I've got to take some spinal fluid and it's going to hurt a lot, I'm so sorry" he said gently and softly.

"It's alright" I whispered in reply. I heard the man with the steel gray hair leave the room. I could hear Jack preparing something and then I could feel the cool tip of a rather large needle pressing against the top of my spine. I nodded again and he drew it away and then stabbed it back in. I screamed, he was right it did hurt like a bitch, particularly when he pulled the plunger out and extracted some of the fluid, I hissed like a very angry cat when he withdrew the needle and placed the sample in a sterile container. I then felt something very cooling against the spot on the top of my neck that was stinging like crazy, Jack was bathing it with a cooling towel. He then moved around the front of me and knelt down in front of me.

"Kiera, I'm so sorry for not telling you the truth, can you forgive me?" he said gently.

"As you said, you're not the only one who's been keeping secrets in this partnership" I said, "so yes, also as long as you promise that you won't think of me as a mutant, I am a normal person you know, we all are"

"I promise" he said

He moved in and kissed me very gently on the mouth, as he drew back he nibbled slightly on my lip like he knew I loved. He then proceeded down the line to Jess who was cowering in her chair after she had seen the reaction I had taken to the needle.

Nathan Petrelli, New York, USA – 3 days ago.

We were stood outside the state courthouse, it had been a week since I had first met Niki and we had just finished her trial. The President had been able to push it through so that she had a very swift trial period. She was found innocent. The President had managed to get her off on most of the charges but due to my work she had been cleared of the killing of the detective, her condition of release is that she sees a shrink once a month to help her integrate her multiple personality.

Then a phone went off and I saw Noah Bennet pulling his mobile out of his pocket.

"Claire? Wait slow down" he said.

There was a pause.

"Claire, go back to the villa, lock all the doors, I'll call you when I get down there. I'm coming Claire-bear" he said and he snapped the phone shut.

"What's wrong?" asked Niki who was looking extremely radiant.

"It's my daughter, her best friend's been kidnapped and I need to get back there" he said. My mouth fell open.

"Kidnapped?!" I said. Then my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID – Peter.

"Peter?" I asked as I answered it

"Nathan! Jess has been taken!!" he yelled

"taken?" I asked

"Yes we were at the mall and then all of sudden she was carted away by three guards and thrown into a van and taken away"

"What?! Who were these people?" I asked harshly.

"erm, a paper company" he said.

"I'm flying back right now" I said and shut the phone. I looked at my two companions.

"My sister has been kidnapped." I said briefly

"Okay, now this is getting more than a little bit freaky" said Niki. Noah trod heavily on her foot. Niki glared at him.

"Why did you stand on her foot?" I asked suspiciously

"She's being an idiot that's why" said Noah. Niki glared at him again.

"Watch who your calling an idiot" said Jessica

"Jessica go away" said Noah.

"I only did that to scare you" said Niki

"You don't scare me Niki, whoever you are, I have seen Jessica work before you know" Noah said with a smile.

"Sorry, to put a downer on this guys but in case you haven't noticed we have both just received phone calls saying that two girls have been kidnapped. Do you think there's any connection Noah?" I asked.

"Yes, I do. Did peter say anything about who kidnapped her?" Noah asked

"yes, he said something about a paper works company" I said.

"now I defiantly know, c'mon I'll tell you as we walk back to the hotel" he said starting to walk away down the street, Niki and I hurried slightly to catch up.

"Well?" I asked

"Well first of all I'll tell you the plan, we're going to fly back tomorrow down to Florida and rescue the girls, I know exactly where they are. You see there's a company I used to work for that tracks down people with abilities and runs tests on them. It locks them up if they think they could be potentially dangerous-"

"my sister's not dangerous!" I said

"They think she is, because there a two others, two others like her and there is a theory that if they get together and are allowed to be free they will be so powerful due to the range of powers they will possess that they could so great evil or great good depending on which was the scales tilt."

My mouth was hanging open.

"So this other girl that has also gone missing, she could be one of three?" I asked

"More than probably" Niki said

"Wait, you knew?" I asked incredulously.

"yeah, I knew, I do work for Mr. Bennet" she said

"okay, fair point" I said with a roll of the eyes.

We had reached the doors of the hotel and the air-conditioning hit me as we entered the enormous lobby. We approached the reception desk.

"Good evening Mr. Petrelli" said the girl at the desk, "I've just read you sensational story in the paper"

"what?" I asked taken aback.

"here you go" she said handing me a paper.

"I'll read it later" I said tucking it under my arm.

"can I have two executive suites please for one night?" asked Noah

"I'm very sorry Mr. Bennet we only have one left" said the girl.

"It's alright Niki can share with me" I said, glancing at Niki to gauge her reaction. She had smiled at me when I said it, I put my hand out and she took it, I encased her small hand in mine and held her close. I looked down at the paper and saw a small advert in the bottom corner.

"Who fancies going to a party tonight?" I asked my companions

Bryony, Somewhere in Florida, USA

"fucking bastard……fucking bastard….fucking bastard…..fucking bastard" I said heavily under my breath. At this moment in time I was tied to a running machine that was going at a fast running pace, my wrists were tied to the sides so I couldn't move them, I had been on this machine for about three hours and I couldn't use my super speed due to the fact that Haitian pills had been shoved down my throat about two hours ago. I was waiting for them to wear off.

Across the lab jess was sat in a chair that kept giving off electric shocks, she hadn't been given pills so she could heal, there was a 'scientist' taking notes on what she was doing, so far they had turned the current up to a current that could kill an elephant and power a street of houses for an hour, but jess seemed to be holding her own. As for Kiera she was being regularly and momentarily being submerged in water to see whether she could breathe under water and as whether if she stopped breathing once they took her out again would she start breathing again. She did, but they were increasing the time length to see whether she still would. Her boyfriend had been removed from the room to work somewhere else when the testing had begun, he had become too hysterical when one of the 'scientists' had shoved a two foot metal pole through Kiera's chest to see whether she would heal from the grievous wound.

I felt the running machine slowing down beneath my feet and then it stopped. The wrist straps where undone and I fell off. I fell off the running machine and the scientist who was observing me didn't even bother to catch me, I lay on the hard floor for a long while waiting for my legs to regain feeling. I may have powers it didn't mean I was invincible! Before they had regained feeling however I had been dragged to my feet and pushed into a cage, I fell into it and landed on something soft that gave a muffled 'oof' of protest.

"Oh shit, sorry jess" I said as I got up. I looked around we were in a metal cage with close knit mesh , Kiera was huddled in a corner trying to regulate her breathing, jess was lying on the floor just trying to regulate full stop and I could barely stand up.

"good night ladies" I heard a man say.

"You sodding bastard!!! Come back here now and give us something to eat!!! We've been working for you all day – not that we had any choice –" the door slammed on my protest and I sank to the floor with a low groan.

"Pissing idiot" I heard Kiera mumble from the darkness.

Nicole Sanders, Manhattan, New York, USA – 1.30am

I was sat on the cream sofa in Nathan's suite. In the background he was playing some very gentle jazz music on the surround sound system that was installed in these suites. The large glass window that covered the whole side of the city showed off all the lights and the huge expanse of the metropolis that lay below. Nathan came and sat down beside me and handed me a glass of champagne, I took it gratefully and held it up.

"To victory" I said

"Victory" he intoned and took a sip from his glass.

"That was a wonderful party Nathan, how on earth did you know about something like that at such short notice?" I smiled at him.

"I have connection's in NY," he said and after a pause, "I'll tell you something else that's wonderful; that dress your wearing, do you think I could talk you out of it?" he teased gently.
"You could try" I challenged yet encouraged him huskily.

He placed his glass down on the table he looked at me intensely. I gazed back into his eyes trying to gauge what was going on behind them.

"On second thoughts I don't need to talk" he said throatily
"Confident?" I said

"Most definitely" he said. I raised my eyebrow softly, still challenging him. Then his soft lips met mine in a gentle kiss, I was a little taken aback but after the momentary shock I started to kiss back. He tilted his head to the left and I did too, he touched his tongue to my bottom lip and I opened my mouth ever so slightly so he could push his tongue past my yielding lips. Our tongues met in a passionate moment before we broke apart.

"Nice boys don't kiss like that" I said breathlessly as my nose was just touching his.

"I'm not a nice boy" he growled under his breath as he drew me too him on the sofa so I was sat on his lap, he proceeded to kiss my neck and down my collarbone, he was leaning me back until I was leaning heavily against the arm of the sofa. I titled my head back slightly to let his lips move to the small triangle of sensitive skin at the base of my throat, he then moved back again and holding onto the back of my head he kissed me deeply again. I moaned throatily into the kiss and he – if men can – giggled ever so slightly making the kiss vibrate.

He slid his hand down my back until he encountered the zip of my dress. He light fingers traced patterns on my back as his mouth once more claimed my neck as its territory. He then held the zipper and slow slid it down so that my dress was falling off. He broke away and looked at my barely clad chest. He then leant down and paid the due homage to the tops of my breasts. I moaned again as moved his hand around my back and undid my black lacy bra. He then returned to his work on my breasts. I slid my hands through his hair appreciatively.

He brought his head back up to steal another long kiss, as he did so I moved my hand down his chest pulling down his undone black bow tie, I flung it on the floor and then undid the buttons to his crisp white shirt. I slid it back off his shoulders so that he was sat topless before me, I ran my manicured hands over his toned chest, my fingers stopped at his treasure trail I then drew my finger down it until they met the top of his waistband.

Slowly he stood up away from the sofa and he motioned me to get up, so my crimson dress slid down to the floor in a billow of silk, I was now only clad in my black lacy topped suspenders which were attached to my pants and my large black heels. He bid me to wrap my legs around his waist and I did so enclosing my long legs around him, so my breasts were pressed against his torso, he then carried me into the bedroom of the suite. He laid me gently on the bed, before slowly taking off my heels and kissing my ankles, he then worked his way up my body so that he was leaning over me.

I reached up and drew his head down for another kiss. I reached between us and slowly undid the button on his trousers, I then flipped him over so he was underneath me and I slid down his body, administering kisses to places I thought were most appropriate, I reached his trousers and I pulled the zipper down with my teeth, I then slid his trousers down over his hips and then landed in a tidy heap on the floor. I kissed the top of boxers and then I placed my hands either side of his shoulders and slid myself back up his body so that my breasts gently tickled his chest. He groaned deeply into the resultant kiss that was instigated by him. He flipped me over again so I was on the bottom he then unhooked my suspenders from my knickers and one by one he slid then down my legs, on the way he administered gentle kisses and nibbled to my inner thighs, my knees and once again my ankles. He moved back up my body until he reached my knickers these he held with his teeth and pulled down slowly until they too ended up on the floor.

Now I was lying totally naked beneath him, he was still wearing his boxers, I thought this an unfair advantage so I swiftly pulled them down his legs so he too was naked. He moved gently between my legs and I felt his hardness brushing against the top of my inner thigh, a put my hands behind his neck as he slowly entered me. I moved immediately against him, titling my hips so we could get maximum friction between us, he placed his hand on my bum and lifted my hips even further. He then moved his head down to my breasts again as he picked his pace and ground into me quicker. I moved my hips against him and he groaned loudly, I moaned heavily as he brushed against a beautiful spot inside of me.

"Niki your so beautiful" he choked, I silenced him with a passionate kiss, he then sped up even faster, removed my hands from about his neck, he put then above my head so I couldn't move them and he titled his hips to an even lower angle and I felt it building up inside me, I cried out once again as he took my writhing as a good sigh. He was taking me to the top of the wave and I was nearly in oblivion, he thrust heavily once more.

"Nathan!" I shouted ecstatically as I came, he held me close as my body shook and due to the spasms of my body he came too with a hoarse cry of my name. I fell back heavily against the pillows. He held me close, still inside me, capturing my lips once again in a gesture of passion. He rolled over and lay next to me, he placed his arm around me and put my head on his chest. we were both breathing heavily.

We lay together in the cloaked darkness of the night, listening to the rhythm of the other's breathing. The silence took over and we slept until the heat of the morning was well under way and creeping through the window.