Unsung Heroes
By: Ro
Chapter 5: The meeting
AN's
This is definitely going to be AU as of Unexpected. I'm assuming no connection between Mohinder and Sylar, and that Ando stays with Hiro.
Loke14: Working on that slight chapter 4 rewrite, it should be coming soon.
Thoughts in italics
I don't own Heroes, I just play with them
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Isaac Mendez's loft, New York City
Isaac Mendez
Isaac was certainly not, nor had ever been, a social person. That was part of the reason he turned to art at such a young age. That was also the reason he was feeling so uncomfortable at the moment.
It started like an average day, he got up and ate a small breakfast and got right to painting. Then he heard a knock on his door. He shook his head to snap himself out of his trance and went to answer the door, hoping that his cloudy white pupils had reverted back to normal already. It turned out to be Hiro and Ando.
"Hello Mr. Eye-sack!"
"Sorry for the intrusion Mr. Isaac. Could we come in and rest awhile? It's been a long day."
"Uh sure, make yourselves comfortable…"
As soon as Isaac had seen that his guests were comfortable in the living room he went back to his painting area. He had barely dipped his brush into a paint can when he heard another knock at the door. This time Ando popped his head in before Isaac went for the door.
"Mr. Isaac, it's a cop. Perhaps we should hide?"
"Hmm….no, just make sure Hiro stays out of sight for awhile." It's going to be one of those days.
So fast forward a few hours and Isaac was in the midst of a situation he'd never thought possible. His living room was full of people, not just normal people either, others like himself. The cop from earlier, a scruffy looking man who was with him, a dark skinned man who never said a word, an Indian scientist, Hiro, Ando, Peter Petrelli, the cheerleader he painted, and her friend all gathered together with unintentional but impeccable timing.
The Indian scientist, who introduced himself as a Mr. Mohinder Suresh, got up and began one of the weirdest explanations Isaac had ever heard. Then again, he could paint the future, so did he really have any right to call anything weird?
"My name is Dr. Mohinder Suresh, and you all are here because you carry genetic markers that alter your physiology and extend your capabilities beyond normal human boundaries. They…"
"In English doc, we don't all have PhD's after all."
Everyone in the room managed to crack a smile despite the serious atmosphere. Ted Sprague really did have a knack for summing things up quite nicely. Matt just rolled his eyes and Dr. Suresh looked a bit sheepish; clearly this wasn't a man who was used to being rebutted.
"Of course, my apologies everyone. You all have abilities that are a result of a difference in the information you carry in your DNA. My father, Dr. Chandra Suresh, compiled a list of people with these abilities. Unfortunately, this list does not contain the nature of a person's ability, just their names and last known addresses."
"That's great Dr. Suresh, but I'm here to get more information about a man named Sylar, he's been implicated in various murders that my partner and I have worked on…"
"Sylar?! How do you know about Sylar?"
"Please Gentleman, let me finish. Mr. Parkman, Sylar is also on this list, he is one of you. His real name is Gabriel Gray. He's hunting down the people on this list and killing them."
"He's doing worse than that Dr. Suresh."
"What do you mean Mr. Petrelli?"
"Did you meet him?"
"Yes"
"Did he have telekinesis?"
"No, if my memory serves me right, his power was being able to understand how anything works, an odd power but useful none the less."
"…..That must have been why he was after you Claire!"
"You think he wanted my power? I just thought he wanted to kill me because of it, not take it."
"Of course he wanted your power, who wouldn't? He must have killed someone with telekinesis before he went after you."
"I'm sorry, but I am quite confused…"
"Welcome to our world doc…"
"Perhaps now would be a good time to stop and properly get acquainted."
Everyone looked around the room at one another suspiciously. Some had spent most of their lives hiding their powers; others had grown so jaded with the world that they had a hard time trusting anyone. Matt, for instance, was worried about revealing anything to the dark-skinned Haitian, and Ted looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin. Well I guess I'm going to have to break the ice…
"Sounds like a good idea. My name is Isaac Mendez. I can paint the future."
"I..am…Hiro Nakamura. I can…bend space and time. I can also...teleport. This is my friend Ando-kun."
"Matt Parkman. I hear people's thoughts."
"You can read my thoughts? How fascinating."
"Not right now doctor, he blocks my power."
"……."
"Well, what's your name?"
"…..My name is unimportant. I can block telepathy and erase people's memories"
"That's quite a power."
"The name's Ted, I can control, and spontaneously emit, radiation."
"Peter Petrelli. I guess you could say I'm a mimic. I can absorb other people's power and use them by thinking about the ones who I copied them from. I know of two others, my brother Nathan who can fly, and an invisible man named Claude."
"I'm Claire, well, I guess you could say I'm invincible. My body heals any sort of damage really quickly. Oh, and this is my friend Zach."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a more pressing issue than Sylar. Namely Peter nuking New York."
"Excuse me? What are you talking about Isaac?"
"It's better to show you, 'picture's worth a thousand words' and all that, and I've got a lot of pictures."
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Isaac Mendez's loft, NYC
Zach
Isaac led the group across the loft to the area where he kept most of his paintings. Peter, Hiro, Ando, and the Haitian moved forward somberly while the rest followed suit in a more confused manner. How is this guy going to nuke New York?
It was a lot of information to take in at once. Not only were there others like Claire, but they had such a variety of powers. Zach felt kind of inadequate in their presence. Oh well, at least Claire's happy.
Despite the serious subject matter, Claire seemed to perk up as each person introduced themselves and their power. It was like she considered herself less of a freak when she was around them. He wished she could make her feel that secure, that happy. All thought ceased for a moment when Isaac revealed two of his paintings. Oh shit, he wasn't kidding…
One of the paintings took up 3 canvases and showed a New York landscape destroyed and abandoned. The other showed a man who resembled Peter, but drawn broken apart and painted orange and red like an explosion. He looked around and saw the reality sinking in to everyone's face.
"Since I've absorbed so many different powers, they sometimes mix together and get out of control. Telekinesis, future sight, healing, and flight, it all gets to be too much for my body to handle. If I absorb too many other powers, they'll mix together and cause this."
"Are you sure it isn't me that's going to explode? If anyone's going to turn into a nuke, it'd be me."
"Yeah not to mention it happened once already Ted, at that hospital."
"Thanks for reminding me Matt."
"No, after I saw Isaac paint I had a vision of myself later. It was, is, definitely going to be me."
"Well, Hiro can control time right? Why doesn't he just slow down time when it happens, to give Peter time to get himself under control?" Hah, why couldn't she have been this sharp in her classes?
"I…no longer have…my power."
"Why not?"
"Ever since….Charlie died…..my power does not work. I need a sword to…help focus my power."
"Who's…"
Zach quickly moved forward and squeezed Claire's shoulder. This was definitely not something Hiro wanted to talk about. A topic change would do this situation some good.
"So, if you had this sword, the whole slow motion thing would work right?"
Hiro looked extremely relieved, and Claire looked more than a little put off at being interrupted, even more so by the fact that it was her friend interrupting her. Lesser of the two evils, I guess…
"Yes, it would. The sword is being….held by a man….named Linderman"
"Hmmm….Dr. Suresh, do you have a laptop with you?"
"Yes, why?"
"Is it equipped with a Wireless connection?"
"Yes."
"Then I think I can find where that sword is."
"That's excellent Zach, but before you start, there's one more painting I need to show you all."
When he uncovered the last painting, Zach could feel a collective cringe from everyone there. It was just a footnote though, because he could also hear Claire's shocked gasp and feel her hand grab onto his shoulder. It took awhile for him to register it all, but when it did, he realized why Claire reacted that way.
The painting centered on a large, shadow figure looming over a bunch of dead bodies. The scenery behind it was unclear, but what was clear was that all the bodies around the figure were those of the people in the loft. Matt, Hiro, Ando, Peter, the Haitian, Ted, even Zach himself were laying around the figure. Claire was there as well, but not dead, just looking up at that figure in fear. Definitely not looking forward to that, but at least Claire's alive.
"I-Is that the Sylar person who tried to kill me before?"
"No, it is someone else. I don't know how I know, but I remember feeling differently when I painted the shadow of Sylar. When I painted this one I felt, a rage, an anger that far surpasses what I felt when I painted Sylar. It's someone else, some other threat."
"Look, this is horrible stuff, but we need to focus on the more concrete threat. Do you know when Peter is going to explode? No offense man." Yeah that's it, sound like you can blow off seeing your own body.
"Around two weeks from now."
"Then we need to get Hiro his sword, quickly. Dr. Suresh, I need to use your laptop if you don't mind."
"Of course not Zach, it's on the counter in the kitchen."
"Thank you."
Zach was about to go see what he could dig up about that sword when he was pulled back. Claire was still holding on to his arm. He smiled and whispered something to her before pulling away.
"It'll be ok Claire."
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NYC Penthouse
Letalis and Sylar
Letalis's POV
The scarred, dark skinned man sat back in his chair doing what he did best, thinking. He looked out of his window and saw countless people scurrying about their lives. He was not like them, pampered like them, normal like them.
Unlike those ants, he grew up in an area ripe with instability. It was a place where family meant more than anything. It was only himself, his brother, their wives and children, and his parents. They lived in an old world, certainly not modern. The people there were less than modern too, when they found out about what his parents could do, the militia came and slaughtered them all, except himself and his brother who were out at the time. Then some man came out of nowhere and proposed a new life for his brother. Unlike his brother, Letalis had not shown any power that proved useful so he was left behind.
That's the tragedy these freaks caused. Their "gifts" elevated them above others, and left the rest of humanity in the dust. For their audacity, they must pay. They will pay. He did have a power; he could cancel out the gifts of the others. He would find them, eliminate them, and save his traitorous brother for last.
Luckily, his most recent associate was bringing that goal even closer for him. His crime organization proved useful as it supplied a never ending stream of enforcers and revenue. However, if this Sylar could really absorb all the gifts of those freaks, then he would only have to kill him to get rid of them all. Speaking of the devil…
"No luck in finding the cheerleader so far. But I did find a report on a museum display that contains some sword that focuses inner power. If I could get my hands on it…"
"Mr. Sylar, I am not placing my resources into your hands to satisfy your urges, I am doing so to find and destroy the others."
"You mean let me absorb their powers…"
"Of course Mr. Sylar, slip of the tongue."
"Well, I may not be the only one going after it, if someone else who's got a power sees the article they might come around too. It could be worth it to stake the place out."
"Now that sounds like a good idea."
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Isaac Mendez's loft, NYC
Claire
Claire was so glad almost everyone had left. Only Matt Parkman, the Haitian man, Zach, and Isaac were left in the apartment. The others had already retired to their separate hotels, promising to meet again in the morning.
All her life, Claire had yearned for acceptance, for a place to belong. When all these people had gathered, she'd felt that, and it felt wonderful. Just knowing that there were others out there like her made her feel less like a freak. Everything was going great until Isaac had unveiled that last painting.
Now she felt drawn to it and with everyone gone and Zach in the kitchen searching away, she could look at it without drawing attention. She saw everyone around that shadow dead, but her. Everyone, including Zach. She reached up to touch the painted form of her friend, the blood around him caused her heart to constrict and her eyes to mist over.
He was her best friend, the only one she could ever trust. He didn't deserve this; she shouldn't have let him come along. What if this came true? What if I lost him? Who would I turn too then? God, how could I face his parents? I need to get him to go home.
"Don't even think about ditching me, as much as I'd love to explore the big city, there's no way I'm going to let you face this alone."
"Zach?!" Geez, how does he do that?!
"Sorry, didn't mean to shock you. Just thought I'd come in to say that I found the sword. It's at a museum gallery; they're having a show tomorrow. We could get in there and steal it."
"That's great Zach, but….you need to get out of here."
"Not a chance, didn't you hear me?"
"Yeah, but…what if it comes true, what if you…"
"Those paintings are of a possible future. We can change them, well, you all could change them. Maybe that's why you all have powers in the first place."
Claire couldn't even begin to finish her sentence. The thought of Zach not being around just couldn't register in her mind. He was here now though, and that was enough. Maybe he was right about the painting.
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Isaac Mendez's loft
Matt Parkman
It had been a long day. The silence in his head thanks to the presence of the Haitian had been unnerving. He was walking past the painting area of Isaac's loft before heading to his hotel when he nearly keeled over. The mental assault of thoughts almost brought him to his knees. What the hell is going on?!
He peeked in and saw that there were only two people in there, the cheerleader, Claire Bennet, and her friend Zach. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but their thoughts were coming in loud and clear. Teenagers….I wonder if the Haitian man is still around, or maybe the mimic can copy the telepathic block. These two are going to give me migraines.
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Post AN's
Extra helping of action in the next chapter, I promise! Scout's honor and all that jazz
Could anyone please tell me the name of the sword Hiro is after?
Chapter 6 Preview: The Sword of Ages (tentative title)
A small group of our Heroes attempt to retrieve the sword from Linderman's museum, Sylar is on the lookout. Who will win? Tune in to find out!