Disclaimer Alert
The characters originally appearing in the Heroes series (which is apparently coming back. Yay!), the comics books (which can no longer be found on the NBC website for some reason) and novel (yes, there is a novel but I haven't read it so... Meh!) belong to the Kring, Tim and the NBC (Most likely).
Author's note
My chapters are a bit too long. It gives the illusion that the pacing is slow or maybe it is slow... or maybe I'm just tripping. Well whatever the case I'm writing furiously so that I can finish off chapter 5 (nudge-nudge-wink-wink-follow-follow) so next time I can upload two chapters a week apart. I hope you enjoy.
Heroes: Brave New World
Episode 3
Janice Parkman - Parkman family home
Janice Parkman entered the dark basement of her home. She got onto her knees to look through a stack of boxes. There were four boxes packed, with two at the base and the other two on top of them. Beside the boxes was a sheet covering a piece of furniture.
She lifted one of the top boxes and and placed it on top of the furniture covered with this sheet. She began to unpack the contents of the box onto the sheet. Dust began to fly into the air from her effort. Janice was looking for a book on meditation and inner peace that she had once been given by a colleague. She had read two chapters of the book before she lost interest but she thought that Molly would appreciate it more than her. She wanted to give her the book as a peace offering.
While searching through the box she heard quick footsteps behind her. She turned so fast that the box came crashing down, dragging the sheet covering the furniture with it.
There was nothing there. She then jumped when she heard the sound of things falling down. Janice approached the source of the sound cautiously. "Molly?" She called out. There was no answer as she approached. "Matt?" She said still approaching the source, her heartbeat quickening with every step. There was a bunch of junk piled high up and behind it was where Janice thought that someone was hiding.
She looked around the corner of the pile of junk and there was no one there, just a few old pots and pans. Picking up one of the pots she noticed how clean and shiny its bottom was; unlike the other pots that were all grimy and dusty she could see the reflection of her face in this one, as if someone had been furiously polishing it. "Probably just rats." She reasoned softly to herself.
She walked back to where the box had toppled over. She saw that it was now partiality covered with big white papers. The papers had paintings on them. She looked closely at one of the paintings and noticed that she was in it. In the painting she was on her knees with Matt Parkman standing over her and they were staring at an empty crib in sadness.
She felt sick at the pit of her stomach. She picked up other such paintings from the floor. They showed a distraught Janice or Matt or both with things that belonged to Matt jnr.
She recalled Matt telling her that he could paint or draw the future. When he told her, she did not give it much thought but now she was forced to as she flipped through the disturbing pictures.
"Matt." She called out with a shaky voice.
A moment later Matt Parkman walked down into the basement. "Yes?"
Janice showed Matt one of the paintings, " Matt, when were you going to tell me about this?" She said shaking the painting.
"Uhm... I was still trying to figure it out. What they all mean."
"The meaning seems pretty clear to me." Janice said. "Matt junior is in danger..."
/
Molly walked into the kitchen. She saw Matt jnr. sitting on his special feeding chair; there was a small amount of food in front of him in a miniature plastic bowl. Matt jnr smiled when he saw her. Without a hint of emotion she approached him.
She stopped and opened the kitchen drawer at her side and produced a fork and began to approach Matt jnr. again with the fork in her hand.
/
"Who would want to harm our baby?" Janice asked.
"I'm not sure yet." Matt admitted. "But whoever it is, they won't. I'll protect him."
"How? When you don't know who you're protecting him from?" Janice said looking through the paintings for some kind of clue. She noticed something about all the paintings and hesitated to say it out loud.
"What?" Matt asked resisting the urge to read her mind to just find out.
"There is someone other than Matt who is missing in all these paintings... Molly."
/
Molly was now upon Matt jnr with the fork in her hands. She raised it up and... picked up Matt the baby's miniature plastic bowl and began to mix the contents with the fork.
She smiled at Matt jnr as she did this. "I do not know how you babies can eat this stuff. I guess I cannot call it soft anything because it has dried up." She added warm water to the pourage and began mixing it in. She found it strange that Matt and Janice would leave the baby for this amount of time.
She placed the bowl down and took Matt jnr into her arms as she walked around the house looking for his parents.
/
"I don't want to sound mean but you have seen that in all of the paintings both Molly and Matt are not there." Janice said.
"I know but it might not mean what you think it does." Matt argued. "It might mean that they are both in danger."
"Yes but Molly is a strong girl who has proven to be able to take care of herself, Matt on the other hand..."
"Yes, I know."
"She probably feels like she does not fit in and could be blaming Matt jnr for it." Janice reasoned. "I can relate on some level to how she may feel but maybe we should act more cautious about this. Send her away for a while, see what happens. Just in case she is the reason why Matt is in danger."
"She is going to be angry..."
"Angry could not describes how I feel." Molly said at the top of the flight of stairs.
Matt and Janice looked up at her with worried looks on their faces... she had their son in her hands.
"Now Molly..." Janice said in a quiet and scared voice.
"Do not talk to me." She straining to keep her voice leveled. "You think I would harm a baby?"
"Molly, this is not what you think it is." Matt said calmly. He had learnt how to keep his cool in stressful situations thanks to his police training. "Just give him to us..."
"Not what I think it is?" Molly said struggling to keep her tears back and her voice from shaking, however as if doing it for her Matt jnr began to cry. "It looks to me like your wife is poisoning you against me and you don't seem to even be resisting!"
"Listen to..." Janice began.
"I said don't talk to me."
"Molly." Matt said with his voice more firm. "Give him to us." He said the last part using his powers to push Molly's mind to obey him.
Molly began to automatically walk down the stairs and gave the baby to Matt who handed him over to her mother.
Molly shook her head to get her mind back her control. When she realised what Matt had done she ran up the stairs before the tears could flow down her face.
She got into her room and slammed the door shut. She quickly found her luggage bag that she had came with. Molly grabbed her dirty clothes and stuffed them into the bag and began to climb out of the window. She found it ironic that she had done this last night and was now repeating the process. She did not want to leave via the front door because she had lost trust in Matt, he could use his powers on her again. He used his powers on her because he did not trust her and because of that she could not trust him either.
She landed with a thud and jumped the wall before running into the street. Matt opened the door and saw too late, Molly running away in the street. As she ran away he read her mind. He watched helplessly as his adopted daughter disappeared down the street.
Anita Rodriguez - The Asylum
Anita Rodriguez walked down the hallway of the asylum to her psychiatrist's office. She was not alone, as she walked with a fellow inmate and friend.
"...so it said I was special and it could feel it in its bones." Anita recounted the events of the other night to her friend as they were walking.
"I don't know Anita. You're here because you were involved in a traumatic crime that you blame on yourself. And do you remember why you blamed it on yourself?"
"I said I caused it because I'm not like other people... I'm special."
"Yes. And then suddenly a voice that only you have heard tells you that you are special. If you don't want to book your room and board here for any longer I suggest you don't tell the shrink that and just treat this for what it truly is."
"What?" Anita asked.
"A figment of your imagination." Her friend said as they got to the office.
Anita went into the office while her friend waited outside for her turn. Anita sat down on a couch as the psychiatrist opened up a notebook.
"Hello Anita. Anything happen today that you want to tell about before we continue from where we left off last time?"
"No, sir. There is nothing I have to tell..."
Mohinder Suresh - England
Mohinder woke up on the floor. He reached for his throbbing head but found that one of his hands was zip tied to the frame of a bed. He looked at the zip tie like he was annoyed and snapped it off. He felt his forehead and found a small bump there. It was then that he remembered what had happened before he passed out. Hiro had successfully teleported them away from one danger straight into another but he was not dead so that was a good sign at least.
He got up and looked around the room. He found that he was the only one in there and began to worry about Hiro as his abilities seemed to fail him when he needed them the most. He walked to the door and placed his palms against it. He was about to push the door apart when he began to hesitate. He did not know what was on the other side of the door, he thought to himself. His kidnappers may be armed or have Hiro in a dangerous situation. He stayed still thinking of what his next move should be.
/
Outside the door four men sat around a table playing cards. Among them was the guy who had beaten Mohinder in the alleyway. He, unlike the people he was sitting with had dark skin as if to prove he was from originally another country. He silently stared at his cards and placed a bet. He could not help but steal a glance at the sword lying on the table. They could not decide amongst themselves who should keep it so they decided that they would play a single game of cards for it.
"So wha' we gonna do about our prisoners?" One of the men at the table asked un a strong accent. "I mean once they ge' up."
"We interrogate them . Find out what they are doing here." Another said.
"I don't think we should." Said the only black person at the table. His skin colour was not the only different thing about him from the other people around the table, he also spoke with a different accent that neither of his colleagues could place.
"It doesn't matter what you think, Valery." A fat man called Vida said as he also placed a bet. "You haven't been with us long enough to air your opinion."
The men showed their hands and the one who spoke against Valery won the game. Vida smiled at Valery's loss. He greedily pulled the money on the table and the katana towards him. He unsheathed a small amount of the sword's blade. There was a knock on the door. One of the men grumpily got up and opened the door.
"Kurt!" The man at the door said as Kurt pushed his way into the house.
"'Ello boys. So, where are these people you caught on our territory?" Kurt asked.
One of them pointed to the two doors at the end of the room. He walked to the door and Valery walked beside him.
"Have you found what I asked you for?" He asked.
Vida who had won the Kensie sword shouldered him out of the way. "Ask him questions later, now is not the time."
"I'll tell you after this." Kurt said when he reached the door.
Valery stood back a little to the side while Kurt stood directly in front of the door. The others stood a little closer to Kurt and another was beside Valery with space between Valeryand him. Kurt reached out and turned the door handle.
The door suddenly went flying out off its hinges. It sent Kurt flying and two other people who were unlucky enough to get caught in its path got knocked off their feet. The door flew just centimeters past Valery's face. Mohinder rushed out of the room sending anyone who was near him flying with well placed pushes.
Valery knew that the man making his way to him was not a normal man. He wondered if he was like his father, powerful, cruel, merciless and considered a god in Africa or was he like himself?
Mohinder swung at Valery but he side stepped the punch. Mohinder recovered quicker than his opponent had excepted and punched him before he could properly put his hands up to protect himself. Valery went flying through the room and crashed through a glass cabinet and into the wall. The glass cabinet cracked in half and all the drinking glasses inside were broken, when Valery smashed into the wall, cracks in the wall seemingly extended on it from his body had landed.
There was still another thug in the room but Mohinder stopped moving. He looked at the man he had just hit. With all the adrenaline he realised that he had never hit someone that hard before and was worried that he was dead. He felt a mixture of relief and mortification when the man got up and except for brushing off the dust and glass off of his shoulders, he did not look hurt.
The man got out a gun and aimed it at him and Vida who was the only other person left standing also took out his gun. Mohinder was in a bad spot. There was no way he could disarm them both without either of them getting a shot off. To his horror they both shot at him simultaneously. The bullets raced for him and suddenly stopped a few centimeters away from his face. Hiro got out of his room and saw the frozen scene before him.
He walked to the still Mohinder Suresh. "If I had stopped time a microsecond later Dr. Suresh would be dead. We're very lucky!" Hiro said to himself in Japanese. He grabbed his sword and grasped Mohinder's shoulder as his face clenched in concentration, then they both blinked out of existence.
The bullets that were heading for Mohinder's head passed harmlessly through the space that he had once occupied, into the walls, leaving a stunned Vida and Valery.
/
Hiro Nakamura and Mohinder Suresh appeared in the busy streets of India. It took some time for Mohinder to get his bearings, one moment he was in an apartment fighting thugs the next he was on a street filled with people on scooters and in cars. He looked to his side and saw Hiro smiling at him.
"Hello Dr. Suresh." Hiro said in English for Mohinder's sake.
"Hiro! You're okay!"
Hiro nodded then his stomach grumbled.
"Come. Let me treat you to some food." Mohinder said.
"Yay! Waffles!"
Gabriel Grey - College
Gabriel entered the near empty library. It was almost deserted except for a few students however, he was only interested in one. He walked to the back and sat beside a tall thin girl with curled hair. She looked up at him and exclaimed.
"Mr. Bennett! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed.
There were sounds of people hushing her which as a result, she immediately placed her hand over her mouth.
Gabriel had taken up the form of Noah Bennett to gain the trust of Gretchen Gilmore. He had once kidnapped her and threatened her life, even though he did not intend on going through with it but he doubted she would forgive him or even trust him. She only knew him as Sylar, the man he used to be, not Gabriel, the man he was now.
"I'm looking for Claire, can you help me?" He said perfectly mimicking Noah Bennett's voice.
"Is she missing?" She asked in a desperate whisper.
"Yes, that's why I have to find her."
"She gave me a number. Said if I ever was in trouble that I should call her."
"Good. Give me that number." Gabriel said calmly.
"I will but... on one condition. I'll have to go with you."
"What? No, this is dangerous stuff. I can't allow you to get involved."
"Claire is my friend and... I want to do what I can to help her. And anyways if you don't allow me to help you I'll try to find her alone and be in more danger."
Gabriel did not want to agree to this but if he was going to find and protect Claire like Peter asked him to, he would first need help in finding her. "Okay, Gretchen."
She nodded excitedly and closed her textbooks and placed them in her bag. "I think we should go outside, Mr. Bennett."
Gabriel nodded and led her outside of the college library. Once outside Gretchen made the call from her own cellphone. Her face turned into a frown as she heard the automatic response that told her that the number she had dialed was not available at present. She decided to leave a message.
"Claire this is Gretchen. I'm here with your dad whose looking for you. Where are you? Please call me when you can, bye."
"The number is not working?" Gabriel said as more of a statement. He was somewhat relieved, this meant that he could ditch Gretchen and work alone.
"Yes, Mr. Bennett but let me try something else." Gretchen said dialing another number. "Hello," she said into the phone. "My name is Gretchen and I've lost my phone can you help me find it by tracking it for me?"
She kept quiet as the person on the other end spoke. She then gave the operator a string of numbers.
"Okay thank you." Gretchen said then ended the call. "They gave me the area where the number was last active. So we can start looking there."
Gabriel could not help but be impressed by this girl's resourcefulness. He smiled as they headed out of the university.
Noah Bennett and Lauren Gilmore - CIA headquarters
However, the real Noah Bennett was with Lauren Gilmore at the secret headquarters of the CIA. Lauren was sitting down in front of a computer while Noah stood behind her. She typed on the keyboard.
"So, we're looking for bulletproof, black SUVs. How new did they look?" Lauren said.
"Shiny new." Noah said.
"Must have been bought recently. Luckily for us transactions like that don't usually go past the CIA, even if they are illegal and have no paper trail." A picture of a man appeared. "There! This man bought sixteen of such vehicles. And he has worked with various agencies in the areas of hunting down fugitives or enemies of the organisations that employ him. His practically a hunter for hire."
"Then let's pay him a visit."
Peter Petreli and Tracy Strauss - New York
"...I'm telling you Peter. You need a bodyguard in case Sylar attacks you again." Tracy told Peter as they were walking down the streets.
"There's no need. Sy... Gabriel won't attack me again." Peter said.
"You're too trusting, that's a bad quality in a politician. Okay, what if someone like him attacks?"
"I'm not weak, Tracy. I've survived a lot, I even survived last night."
"Only because I was there!"
A boy stepped in front of them. He was black and wore a t shirt too large for him and a straight cap. He smiled at Peter and Tracy. "Hello, Ms Strauss. Mr. Petreli." He said nodding to them.
"Hello," Peter greeted him. "Uhm... who are you?"
"This is your new bodyguard, Ricky." Tracy said. Peter was about to protest when Tracy cut him off. "Listen, Peter. You're reluctant to take up a useful ability, so it will be harder for you to defend yourself. Therefore I got you a bodyguard that I helped train myself."
"But you were able to help me last time." Peter said.
"Yes, that's heavy lifting work and I don't do heavy lifting. But Ricky here does." Tracy said. "Enjoy your meeting with Wilcox."
/
Wilcox was being driven to the meeting. His body was in the car but his mind was far away. He thought of another meeting he had had with a mysterious man in black that he had come to know well. The man's name or at least the name he went by was Tom Solver.
"We've found out about your little project, Wilcox." Tom Solver said standing over him.
Wilcox was seated and looked up at Solver. "That may be Agent Solver but I don't see why it is any concern of yours or Viral inc."
Solver's voice got dangerously low. "It is our concern because you are Viral inc.'s property. Whatever you do concern's us." Solver spoke in a normal tone again. "You are going to give us all the information about your little project."
Wilcox made a move to stand while he protested. "What? No, I..."
Solver slapped him across the cheek so hard that he was driven back to his seat by the shock. "You seem to forget your place, Wilcox. You are nothing more than a side effect that we tolerate. All you have, your career, your money, we have manufactured. So if you don't want a tragic end to all of it, you better behave. I'll be back tomorrow to collect the information. Is that clear?"
Wilcox rubbed his cheek and had to force himself to say yes. Wilcox began coughing profusely as Solver left. His desk was getting stained with droplets of blood as he looked for his handkerchief.
/
"Sir, we are almost there. Sir?" Macy's voice cut through Wilcox's thoughts and brought him back to the present.
"Oh. Thank you Macy." Wilcox said before he got out of the car.
Macy watched her boss sat at a table outside of the restaurant building. The sky was grey with clouds, it felt like the weather mimicked her boss' mood. Wilcox did his best to hide it but everytime he received a visit from the mysterious Solver or any of his associates, his usually happy outlook would be diluted in sadness and anxiety. All of his four Personal Assistants saw it but there was nothing they could do about it. He would just pretend to be his usual happy self and they pretended with him to spare his feelings.
Peter arrived with Ricky walking beside him. He sat down and Ricky continued to stand.
"Hello, Peter." Wilcox said with a big smile. "Uhm... Hello?" He said looking at Ricky.
"Oh!" Peter exclaimed. "This is Ricky, he's my..."
"Bodyguard." Ricky completed.
"Wow! They make them young these days!" Wilcox remarked.
"'Ey, I'm capable."
"Ricky, Mr. Wilcox and I need to speak in private."
"Bud I gotta be close to protect you, boss." Ricky said.
"It's okay. I'm also here with my assistant Macy. I don't like her standing. You two can sit at that table..." Wilcox said motioning to a nearby adjacent table. "That way Peter and I can speak privately and you can still have full view of your... 'boss'. And order anything you like, it's on me."
Ricky's face lit up. "That's kind of you." He went to sit at the table and Wilcox motioned Macy to join him.
When they could speak in private Wilcox continued. "So, how do you think your request for a partnership with the government going?"
Peter looked at him confused, "you tell me?"
Macy sat down with the young man with a straight cap. "Hello I'm Macy."
Ricky did not look at her as he was staring at Peter and Wilcox intently. "Yeah, hello." He automatically answered.
"Peter," Wilcox began. "I really want this thing of yours to work, but there are many people who don't, Gilbert Vikes for example."
Peter recalled Gilbert Vikes in his first meeting with the government representatives.
"So, do you have powers?" Macy asked Ricky.
"Yeah, I do. Don't ask what they are though." He answered looking at her for a moment. "It's a secret."
"I know that. I'll just have to change their minds." Peter said to Wilcox.
"Yes but some people don't want their minds changed. Look." Wilcox pushed a folder across the table to Peter. Peter opened the folder and studied it.
The waiter brought the food that Macy and Ricky had ordered. She had asked for a salad while he had asked for steak, chips, rolls and soda.
"Hmm!" he said looking at his food. He looked over to Macy's salad. "You know you can order proper food if you want. Your boss is paying."
"His pockets are going to be empty since you ordered a fountain, tower cake for desert." Macy said.
"He offered." Ricky said in-between mouthfuls of food.
"These are the names of people... like me." Peter said.
"Yes, at the back is Gilbert's counter offer to yours." Wilcox said.
Peter flipped to the back of the folder and his eyes went wide open with surprise. "He wants to move all the people with dangerous abilities to homelands. But if he wanted this all along why would he agree to sit in on my committee for my proposal of starting a company?"
"So that he can dispute your idea in front of the other members? So he can sway the vote against you?" Wilcox said. "A good politician only does what serves his own agenda. Even I, talking to you now serves my own personal agenda."
"Which is?" Peter asked.
Wilcox smiled at the question. "I wouldn't be a good politician if I told you." Wilcox got up and nodded at Macy. "Good luck Peter. I don't know what you're going to do with this information but breath easier knowing I'm on your side." He said as he left to go to the front desk to pay the bill.
Macy got up and said goodbye to Ricky before she followed her employer.
Peter looked at the folder unsure what to do.
Mick Welch - San Diego
Mick Welch sat watching tv while the two way radio sounded off. He was wearing a fine suit while he ate a hotdog. He heard a knock on the door. He got up and withdrew his gun. He pressed himself close to the door and looked through the eyehole. He saw a man with horn-rimmed glasses. No, he thought they almost look horn-rimmed but they weren't. "Who are you?" He suspiciously asked.
"Agent 232. I'm here for an emergency debriefing." Noah answered.
"Dam CIA types." Mick said under his breath. "I'm never working with them again." Welch opened the door and pointed the gun at Noah. "State your identification number!"
Welch was being careless and the man with the horn rimmed glasses grabbed his hand and tried to wrench his gun away from him. Welch showed his training by kicking the man in the stomach. Although the momentum of the kick pushed Noah back it also gave him enough force to completely break his hold on the gun. Before the man in the horn-rimmed glasses hit the floor he already had the gun pointed at Welch. Welch ducked down as he closed the door and locked it. He heard a few gunshots as he ran to the couch to retrieve his second firearm between the cushions.
Welch heard a 'BAM!' on the other side of the door. He noticed that 'horn-rimmed glasses' earlier shots were aimed at the door's lock pad. This means that he was not really aiming for him which in turn meant that he wanted him alive. Being wanted alive was not a particularly good thing for a man in his industry.
He heard three more 'BAMS' until the door gave way to "horn-rimmed glasses" charge. As Welch was retreating to another exit he got a shot out at his pursuer. The bullet sped across the air where Noah's head had been. His pursuer was good, he did not stay in one place long enough for Welch to take proper aim. The man in the horn-rimmed glasses also returned fire but his shot was a bad one as it did not even come close to Welch when it harmlessly embedded itself in the wall.
Welch got to the back door and opened it without effort. Had he not have been looking back for signs of his pursuer, he would have seen Lauren Gilmore's forearm which hit him in the face with even greater force because of his running momentum. Welch almost flipped in a 360 in mid air as he was knocked down with blood flowing out of his nose.
The man in the horn-rimmed glasses caught up to him and grabbed him roughly by the collars of his shirt and dragged him back into the house while Lauren followed them after she closed the door.
/
Noah threw the man in a chair then Lauren handcuffed him to it. He was glad that Lauren's plan worked. She had the idea of him driving Welch to the back door to avoid a big fire fight and give her a chance to ambush him.
"Alright, Welch..." Noah began. "We know someone hired you to gather people and resources to hunt down Claire Bennett. We'll let you live if you tell us who that someone is."
"Please, sir! I don't know what you're talking about." Welch lied.
Lauren had been looking around the place for tools. "So I guess he's not cooperating?"
Noah looks at her and says: "I guess not."
"Good, then it's my turn." Lauren said plugging in an electric drill she that she had found in the house.
Noah looked at Welch and said sorry. Welch began looking even more afraid. "Wait! What's she going to do?"
Noah bent down and whispered to Welch as if they were sharing a secret. "My partner here has always wanted to be a dentist. She's practically obsessed with it." Noah said as they both looked at Lauren fiddling with the power drill. "Whenever we come across people like you, she looks for every opportunity to... well, play dentist."
"Alright, I'm ready." Lauren said approaching the pair with the running power tool. "I'm sorry I don't have any anesthesia."
Welch shut his mouth tight and made sounds of horror in his throat. Lauren couldn't get his mouth open.
"Is this really necessary?" Noah asked Lauren sounding concerned.
"We agreed if he didn't talk," Lauren began. "I'd get to do this. He doesn't want to open his mouth, oh well! I guess I'll have to drill through the cheek to get to the teeth."
"Alright! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Welch desperately shouted out. "I... I don't know much about my employer but I can tell you that the person who hired me is a big politician type."
"Give us his name!" Noah said.
"I don't know he keeps his identity secret from me."
"That's not enough to stop my fun." Lauren said. "Now, open wide."
"I... I can tell you where his base of operations is."
Lauren turned off the machine. "Tell us."
/
Although Welch did not have the information Noah wanted, the location for the base of operations for whoever had hired him would be valuable.
"Too bad he didn't have the name of the guy who hired him." Lauren said as they left the house.
"But we'll find out whoever it is. Good job in there. Our bad cop, psycho cop act seems to have gotten better."
Molly Walker - Los Angeles
Molly waited sitting on the grass. She had closed her eyes to mediate and not let her emotions overwhelm her. She heard a sound that she had grown accustomed to during her time in Rebel, it was the sonic boom of a man flying, unaided, through the skies at great speed.
West dropped from the blue skies and landed on the green grasses some distance away from where Molly sat. The medium length grass rippled outward in response to his landing. Molly grabbed the bag that was beside her and got to her feet.
"You called me. Are you okay?" he asked approaching her.
"I am now." West was about to ask another question when she cut him off. "All you need to know is that it... it did not work out with the Parkmans. I'm no longer going to be living with them."
West noticed her bag with a hastily packed sleeve of an orange jacket sticking out of it. He laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head. "If you want me to fly to India, well... I..."
"No." Molly assured him. "Of course not. I just need somewhere to stay until I can get my things together and leave."
"I might know someone who can give you that," he said stretching his hand out to Molly. As soon as she held it he pulled her closer to him and with a big goofy smile said hold on before he blasted into the sky before she could respond.
Peter, Tracy and Ricky - Washington DC
Tracy Straus flipped through the folder that Peter had given her. "Wilcox was not lying." She said, "Vikes is making a counter offer to our own. A more intolerant counter offer might I say."
"He has already gathered some resources, men, weapons, even the locations of some people with powers." Peter said. "We need to do something. Our people aren't safe."
"What do you expect us to do? Storm into his headquarters and destroy everything?" Tracy asked. "And how do you know that Wilcox wants you to do something irrational? Maybe that's his plan?"
Peter had to admit that she had a point. He remembered what Wilcox had said: "A good politician only does what serves his own agenda. Even me, talking to you now serves my own personal agenda." Could his agenda be to see him fail. "Regardless, we can't risk these people's lives by doing nothing."
Tracy handed the folder back to him. "It's your choice but I wouldn't suggest it." She left Peter's apartment.
Peter sighed and threw the folder onto his coffee table as he sat down. He rubbed his temple while thinking of a plan. Should he destroy what Vikes had planned or should he let things play themselves out? He wished he could get a sign on what he should do.
"I'll help you boss." A voice said from behind.
Peter was caught off guard. He had forgotten that Ricky was in the room. "What?"
"If Ms. Straus won't help you, I will."
Peter smiled and nodded. He would go through with this and hopefully stop Gilbert Vikes.
Janet and Matt Parkman - Parkman Home L.A
Janet Parkman had just finished changing the babies diaper. She threw the diaper in the disposal bin before placing Matt jnr. back in his crib. She left the room to throw away the diapers . As she was walking downstairs Matt saw her as he was looking for the tv remote.
"What are you looking for?" Janice asked.
"The remote. My show is about to start."
It's probably in between the couch cushions."
Matt looked and he found it. "Great! You going to throw away the dudu bin?"
Janice nodded and adopted this sad look on her face.
Matt sighed and held out his hand and she gave it to him.
"Thank you honey!" She said before running back up the stairs.
When Janice Parkman reached her son's nursery, she was met with a most unsettling sight. Her son was lying peacefully in his crib and on the other side of the crib, some distance away there was a woman she had never seen before in the room. She was a thin, black woman with hair tightly braided to her head. She wore blue jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. She looked as surprised as Janice was.
They were both the same distance away from the crib with Matt jnr. in it. Watching the scene, no one would know who acted first and who reacted but they both ran for the crib. The mystery woman reached it seconds before Janice but Janice shoved the woman back away from her son. The woman stumbled back and it seemed as if she was going to crash into a mirror that had been hung on the wall. Instead of crashing into, Janice was surprised to see that she went through it... no, not through it but into it.
The woman's feet were the last thing to disappear into the mirror. Janice now had her baby in her arms as she looked into the mirror but instead of seeing only her reflection, she saw the woman looking back at her in the mirror! It became obvious to her that this woman was not normal, she was like her husband and son. As she turned to run out of the room she screamed for help. The woman seemingly moved out of sight in the mirror. Then suddenly a hand shot out of the reflective frame of the crib. The hand grabbed the baby and pulled. Janice struggled against the hand, the baby began crying as they struggled to obtain possession of the him.
The struggle was short but it felt like it took hours to Janice. The hand suddenly withdrew and disappeared back into the crib's reflective frame.
Janice did not realize that during the struggle her position had changed, she was now standing where the mystery woman had been when she first saw her. She could hear Matt racing up the stairs calling her name.
Janice suddenly heard someone behind her, in a distorted voice say: "I'm here."
She instinctively turned around and the mystery woman's torso came out of the mirror and snatched the still crying baby out of her arms.
Matt arrived in time to see his son being pulled into the mirror. The woman now had the baby in her arms in the mirror. Baby Parkman's cries came out distorted, like they were being heard through thick glass. Matt ran to his wife's side as she looked at her baby helplessly being held by another woman in a place she could not go.
"Matt, do something." She pleaded.
Janice did not know this but Matt had been trying to influence the kidnapper telepathically to give them their son back but it did not work since he arrived into the room. "GIVE HIM BACK TO US!" He said putting all his power into the command but it still had no affect.
The woman moved out of the mirror frame and was now out of sight, leaving Matt and Janice helpless and alone.
Amir Prakesh - India
A service man knocked on Amir's door. He gave the command for him to come in.
"Sir, he's here." The service man said in Hindi, slightly bowing.
"Let him in." Amir said smiling. A man walked into the lavish study and stood before Amir. "I am glad you changed your mind about working for me, Dr. Suresh."
"I thought it was the right thing to do." Suresh said.
Amir held out his hand and Mohinder took it and they shook hands to cement their agreement.
To be continued...