Heroes: Brave new world

by Sub Ink

Claire hunted, Peter becomes a politician, Molly Walker returns and many more Heroes in this story.

4. Whatever it Takes

Disclaimer Alert

The characters appearing in the Heroes series, web comics and novel do not belong to me. They belong to Tim Kring and the NBC

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Author's note

London is in England right? I was starting to doubt it. I was thinking maybe it's in France but then I was like no France is in Paris or maybe London is Paris. My Geography is bad so forgive me for any geographical errors. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. Warning: it is longer than my other chapters

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Heroes: Brave New World

Episode 4

Micah Sanders - New York

Micah heard a knock on the door. He got up from the couch to open it and found West and Molly waiting for him on the other side of the door.

"West... Molly... Hi." Micah greeted them while he moved aside to allow them to enter.

West came in first followed by Molly. "Hello, Micah," she said as she walked past him.

"Is Tracy around?" West asked.

"No, my aunt is not here." Micah said.

"Hey! Where's my... the recliner?" West asked longingly.

"Probably in Washington. My aunt is moving there. That was the only reason why I was able to convinced her to let you guys stay here for a while." Micah explained. "The lease for this apartment is going to end in three days time so she didn't mind you guys crashing here until then."

"Awe man, she's gonna kick you out on the streets!" West said.

"Technically no." Micah said. "I'll be moving back to Detroit and living with my other family."

"Well, I'm glad for you but I'm not staying with you guys."

"What?"

"Yeah, my parents would be too worried." West said. "They still think I'm in the neighborhood not a few cities away."

"Will you be able to fly safely at night?" Molly asked him as he was climbing out of the 6 storey high window.

"Probably not, but that's why I love flying at night." West said before he let himself fall out of the window.

A moment later Micah and Molly saw his body rise up past the window into the night sky.

"He can be so dramatic sometimes." Micah said trying to break the awkwardness that had already begun to build up with West's departure.

Molly stood in place unmoving. Micah could not read her emotions at all.

"Do you need me to take your bag?" He asked.

"No." Molly said still standing. She looked around the lavish apartment; she was not accustomed to such apartments as the last one she had stayed in was a small two bed room that she shared with Mohinder Suresh and Matt Parkman.

"West told me what happened over the phone." He said.

"Well, he should not have but considering he has been a good friend, I will not hold it against him."

Micah sat down on the couch and was relieved when Molly did the same.

"So, what is your aunt doing in Washington?" She asked him trying to change the subject.

"Knowing her, she's probably making enemies." Micah said smiling. They kept quiet for a while, until Micah broke the silence. "Are you... are you going to be okay? I mean with the whole Matt situation."

Molly sighed, although she understood that he was asking because he cared for her, she did not want to discuss the Parkmans, there were too many negative feelings there. Molly gulped down all the things she did not want to feel and answered his question, hoping it would be the last time they spoke of it. "I do not know, Micah, however I think this is for the best. Now that I am gone, they should be happier. I bet they are sitting around the dinning room table, eating, playing with the baby and sharing their time with each other, like a true loving family."

Parkman family home - LA

At the Parkman home; past the empty nursery; down the stairs; past the abandoned dinning room; down into the dimly lit basement and on the painting stand, lay a painting depicting an unconscious Matt Parkman who in the painting was laying on the floor among previously completed paintings, with blood trickling from his left nostril onto his upper lip and down his cheek.

The painter who painted the painting was in the same room as his creation. Yet, he was unconscious and laying on the floor among previously completed paintings, with blood trickling from his left nostril onto his upper lip and down his cheek.

Janice Parkman walked into the basement to find her husband on the floor. She placed the food she had brought him on the nearest flat surface and ran to him. She crouched down above his unmoving figure and was relieved to see his chest still rising and falling in time with his breathing.

"Matt. Matt." She called out to him as she gently shook him awake.

Matt's eyes slowly opened. It took some time for his sight to adjust to the dimly lit basement. He got up to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes.

"Are you okay." Janice asked him.

"Yes, using my powers for clairvoyance is taking a lot from me." He answered.

He got up and looked at his latest piece. His heart sank when he saw it. He grabbed and threw it to the floor with his other paintings. In his pursuit to find some clue about where his kidnapped son may be, using his future seeing ability, he had drawn many terrifying and confusing images of people he knew and did not.

There was a painting of Claire Bennett strapped to a bulky silver chair with a terrified look on her face. There was another picture of Noah Bennett falling back, covered in bullet wholes as he is being repeatedly shot by two gunmen. There was an image of Ando laying face down on a heavily cracked pavement with bruises on his face and blood coming out of his mouth. There were people he had painted that he did not know. There was a big Indian man who stood with his arms crossed. In addition to that, he had drawn a woman who was seemingly being attacked by a man in uniform, the name tag on the uniform was 'Brent'. Also, there was a picture of an Indian child chained to his bed. He had also drawn many images involving dogs or packs of them. At first he thought they were random dogs but later he noticed most of the dogs appeared more than once in different pictures.

As he saw his latest creation fall to the ground he wondered if his friends and allies would be okay. He wanted to help them, at least warn them of the coming dangers but he couldn't. His duty as a father outweighed his duty as an ally or friend.

"I didn't even know that your powers could hurt you." Janice said. "If its too much then maybe..."

"No," Matt said cutting her off. "I will find him, Janice, whatever it takes. I promise..." He closed his eyes and when he opened them again they were devoid of pupils making them completely white. "...I will find him."

That was the last thing he said before he dipped a paintbrush into orange paint and began painting on the white canvas.

Gabriel Grey and Gretchen Berg - San Diego

A taxi stopped in front of an entrance of a block of flats. Out of the taxi Noah Bennett and Gretchen Berg came. Noah looked up at the block of flats.

"This is where Claire's mobile phone was last active." Gretchen said. "Hopefully, she's still here."

Noah nodded as he led the way into the building. He went to the receptionist desk.

"Oh, it's you again. Come back for another stay?" The male receptionist said to Noah.

Noah and Gretchen exchanged glances of confusion. "No, I'm looking for someone. Girl... about this high with blonde hair." Noah said describing Claire.

"Uhm... Your daughter?" The receptionist asked in a confused tone of voice.

"Yes," Gretchen said.

"The last time I saw her was when she left with you when you two checked out." The receptionist said. "Do you guys think she still might be here?"

"We'd like to check, if it's not too much trouble." Noah said. "Uhm, what room did we stay in again?"

/

Noah and Gretchen found themselves in an elevator together. There were a few questions Gretchen had for Noah, things she needed answers to.

"So, you and Claire were here before?" She asked narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yes, we were." He said. "It was before we got separated."

Gretchen did not completely buy it. First of all, she told him where they were going and he did not mention that he and Claire had previously been there. Secondly, the receptionist knew him and Claire but at first, Noah seemed not to know him. It was all beginning to look suspicious. Gretchen reached into her bag and grasped the pocket knife she carried with her. After being attacked by an invisible psycho serial killer and being threatened by another psycho serial killer called Sylar, she could not be too safe.

"How did you two get separated?" Gretchen pressed.

The lift came to a stop and the doors slid open.

"We've arrived." Noah said, rushing outside.

Gretchen followed close behind. Looking at the apartment numbers, she found the right apartment first.

"I found it." She said. She tried to open the door and found it locked. "It's locked."

"Here, let me." Noah placed his body against the door. Gretchen could not see what he did but she heard the telltale sound of a lock opening. Noah smiled at her as he pushed the door open. "A little handy trick I learned."

They stepped inside into the empty apartment. It was small, with dim colours.

"Wow! This place is tiny. I don't know how you two managed Mr. Bennett." She said. Gretchen could not see Claire living here; it seemed beneath her. Gretchen imagined Claire in a lavish palace with dedicated half dressed servants fanning her with palm tree leaves and her wearing the finest silks. What completed the vision was Gretchen there by her side.

"Looks like she didn't come back here." Noah said cutting in through her daydream.

"Oh yeah!" She said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Suddenly two men entered the room and shut the door behind them. Noah and Gretchen looked at them with confused looks on their faces.

"Who are you guys?" Gretchen asked the newcomers.

"We could ask you the same thing." One of them said as they both took out guns with silencers at the tips and pointed them at Gretchen and Noah.

"This is the Target's father." The other man said to his partner. "Tell us where Claire Bennett is?"

"That's what we want to know." Noah said. "Head for the room behind us and close the door." He said talking to Gretchen.

"What? I don't want to leave you here with these two."

"You don't have a gun," he said reaching for something under his jacket at his hip. "And you don't look like you can dodge bullets. Now go!"

Gretchen nodded and began to turn around.

"Don't move!" One of the gunmen said.

Gretchen stood completely still and looked to Noah for direction. Noah did not even look at her when he shouted it out. "Go! Run!"

Gretchen began running for the room. Shots began to go off and she could hear the bullets hit things around her. From the corner of her eye, Gretchen saw Noah fall down. She covered her head with her arms and when she reached the door of the other room which, turned out to be the bathroom, she pulled the door closed behind her. Covering her head she crouched down on the white tiles.

/

Noah Bennett fell to the floor with his back resting on a piece of furniture. For a moment the gunmen stopped firing as he was on the floor seemingly dead.

Suddenly his eyes opened and Noah Bennett's figure began to change, began to disappear. His hair became longer and his figure, slightly thinner and his complexion became paler. Noah Bennett was gone and in his place was Gabriel Grey.

Using his telekinesis, Gabriel disarmed the gunmen. The former gunmen were shocked to see their weapons fly off. They turned to run away but were each stunned by a shock of electricity running up their spines.

Gabriel moved a large cabinet in front of the door of the room that Gretchen had ran into. He did not want to risk her getting out and discovering him without his Noah-guise.

He picked one of the immobilized men off the ground with his power and placed him on a chair. "Wake up. I have a few questions to ask you?"

The man woke up with Gabriel looking at him. "You're... you're one of them but intel said..."

"Intel was wrong. It seems like you don't know where Claire is but maybe I could take out whoever is putting her in danger." Gabriel said. "Your obviously here to capture Claire Bennett but why and for whom?"

"For the government." The man said.

Gabriel felt the familiar tingling feeling he got when someone lied. He sighed; he did not want to resort to his old measures to obtain information. He wished he had another way to extract it. His powers only seemed to hurt him and others, he thought to himself.

No, Peter gave him this mission because he believed in him. Peter believed that he could find and protect Claire. He must believe that he can use his powers for good. In his pursuit to be a better person, he had come to think of his powers as a curse but maybe he could change that. Peter had always seen his own powers as a gift like Sylar had and he was still a good person. Why could Gabriel not do the same?

He instinctively used his original ability, which allowed him not only to take other people's powers but to also understand them and use them better than the original owners. His empathy ability could not be switched off. It allowed, or more accurately forced him to feel and share the emotions and feelings of others. It also gives him the ability to look into the psyche of others, allowing him to discover their deepest desires and fears. If he could use this ability in tandem with his lie- detector ability, he would be able to find out what people were trying to hide from him without needing to hurt him.

Gabriel clutched the hand of the man sitting before him. He was a little reluctant to go into this man's psyche because all he had ever felt when he actively used his empathy ability was fear of him or hate of him. He reached into the mind of the man and was not surprised when he felt fear.

The man's fear began to increase. "Look, I'm telling you the truth. I work for the government."

Gabriel got the tingling feeling again. The lie-detector ability helped him distinguish between the things that he felt that were true or false to his needs. He felt that the man did not know exactly who his employer was but he knew where they were to take Claire if they ever did find and capture her. He could see the location in his mind. Gabriel exited the man's psyche.

"That felt like an invasion of privacy." The man said.

"It was." Gabriel said smiling evilly. "Here, take a little nap." Gabriel said as he placed two fingers on his neck and sent a pulse of electricity up his neck making him pass out.

Gabriel got up and his smile endured. He was no Matt Parkman but by combining both of his abilities, he could read minds almost as accurately as any telepath and maybe even do more.

Gabriel walked around the room. He touched the surfaces of items in hopes of getting a vision of the past using another previously acquired ability. There was a wooden table in the kitchen. He placed his hand on top of it and his mind was transported to the past. He saw Claire and Noah sitting at the table opposite each other.

In the vision Noah leaned back on his chair. "Go ahead."

Claire smiled and narrowed her eyes at her father. "You don't seem to trust me, dad."

"It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't want to get shot in the eye... again." He said smiling.

"So, a bullet is stuck in the chamber, jamming the gun." Claire said.

"Yes but how do you fix it?"

Claire pointed the gun down at the table and pulled the top back twice in quick succession. A bullet popped out of the chamber and landed on the table.

Noah smiled. "Good. Now can we please get to bed. We have an early morning tomorrow."

"When are you going to teach me how to disassemble and assemble a gun?"

Noah got up and began washing the dishes. "Well, that skill is not important to you now."

"But it's so cool!" Claire said. She got up and joined him at the kitchen sink. "I'll do the dishes."

Noah smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you." He said walking out of the room.

The vision ended and Gabriel was back in the kitchen in present time. He walked out of the kitchen to the living room. He touched the couch that was there and had another vision. He saw Noah sitting down and taking out something from his jacket pocket. It was a plane ticket to England. The vision suddenly ended.

He smiled. Well done Noah, he thought to himself.

/

Gretchen heard a sound on the other side of the door. She was unaccustomed to staying still and quiet for so long. There had been gunfire and then silence. Was Noah still alive or were those criminals preparing to come in? Whatever the case, she'd be ready.

She got up from the floor and withdrew her pocket knife. Using both hands she flipped the blade out and held it in front of her, ready to strike.

The door opened and revealed Noah standing there. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I feel like I should be asking you that, Mr. Bennett." She said walking out of the room. She saw the two gunmen lying on the floor. "Wow, you took care of them on your own! So were you able to get any information on Claire."

"Yes but first lets get out of here before more of them show up."

Gretchen nodded as she lead the way out of the apartment. She still held the knife although hidden from his sight. Her trust in Claire's father was beginning to waver. She could have sworn that she saw him getting shot and yet his clothes had no bullet holes and no blood stains.

Ando and Kimiko - Hong Kong airport

Ando and Kimiko walked to the terminal entrance.

"I guess this is where we say goodbye." Ando said in Japanese, putting down his luggage bag.

Kimiko hugged him tightly. "I still wish you wouldn't have to go. Find Hiro as soon as possible, so that I can kill him."

Ando nodded loving the feeling of his fiancé's arms around him. He felt guilty for not telling her everything about him and her brother. He wanted to do it earlier but had lost his nerve. He smiled at her and picked up his bag. He turned around and began walking away from her. However, no less than five steps he dropped his bag and turned around. He walked back to her. He had decided that he would no longer keep any secrets from her; he loved her too much to do that.

"Kimiko, I need to tell you something." He said.

Kimiko looked confused. "Yes?"

"Your brother and I are not normal."

"I know you guys are not normal. You like doing strange things." Kimiko said smiling.

"No, you don't understand. Do you remember that video that showed an American girl jump off a tower and survive without a scratch?"

"Yes, some people said it was faked."

"It wasn't. People like that exist and your brother and I are one of them."

"I know." She said.

"I'm sorry we didn't... Wait, did you say you know."

"Yes, I figured it out. I'm not a complete idiot you know."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I wanted you and him to trust me enough to tell me." Kimiko said. "You two keep so many secrets amongst yourselves so I..."

Ando cut her off with a kiss. Although she was surprised, she decided to go with it.

When their lips parted Ando began to speak again. "I'm sorry I made you feel that way." He said softly with his face only inches away from her's. "We kept things from you not because we did not trust you. It was because we did not want to put you in any danger. But I promise, from now on I will tell you everything."

Kimiko nodded.

Ando walked backwards towards his luggage. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you too." Kimiko said as Ando left for America.

Mohinder Suresh - India

Mohinder Suresh was looking over a woman. She was dark tall and Indian and was lying down on a bed with the back rest of the bed raised. She wore a hospital robe.

"Are you Priya?" He asked the woman.

"Yes, you must be Dr. Suresh." Priya said. "What are you going to do to me."

"I'm just going to collect a little blood and tissue samples." He assured her as he placed the statoscope against her chest.

"But I... I'm afraid of needles."

"Then this is the time to conquer your fears." Someone behind Mohinder said.

Mohinder did not need to look back to know who it was. Amir Prakesh had a strong presence and not only because of his size. Mohinder noticed Priya tense up. Her heart rate sped up and her breaths became shorter. Clearly, Prakesh made her uneasy.

"Allow me to show you something, Doctor." Amir said to Mohinder. "Priya, you can go now. You'll continue this later."

Priya nodded and and left them. Mohinder walked with Prakesh until they reached the laboratory. There, there were other employees of Prakesh who acknowledged him by nodding. He stood taller and bigger than anyone else in the laboratory. He eventually led Mohinder to a table with different vials that had crimson coloured liquid in them. Prakesh handed Mohinder one of the vials.

"What is this?" Mohinder asked.

"That, Dr. Suresh, is one of the many achievements that we have achieved." Prakesh said. "If that formula is injected into the bloodstream or even taken orally, it will fog the mind within seconds."

Mohinder looked at the liquid in the little vial. This must be what they had used on Hiro. "This is... amazing!"

"Yes but it has its limits." Prakesh said. "Although it is a way to neutralize potentially dangerous abilities, it is not a solution for every one. It assumes that someone has to concentrate to use their abilities. What if we come across someone who possess an ability that does not need concentration? Like someone who may have super strength."

Mohinder tensed up much like Priya did when Prakesh used his power as an example. Did Prakesh know about his abilities? Is this some kind of game his playing with him? Waiting for him to slip up so that he can imprison him like the other people with abilities?

"I want you to help us to develop a formula that will suppress their powers."

Mohinder looked at the vial. He had to admit to himself, he wondered if he could make such a formula.

A servant came and whispered in Prakesh's ear. He nodded and with a flick of his hand Prakesh dismissed the servant. "Excuse me Dr. Suresh. I have other business to attend to." With that Prakesh left Mohinder to his thoughts.

/

A black woman was standing alone in a circular room. The room had a shallow pit at its center and at the circumference of the pit were steel bars forming railings. Leaning on the railings was a woman. She had a dark skin tone and her hair was plated back. She looked down at the pit with her hazel eyes at the pit's occupants. There were a pack of dogs in there. She even knew exactly how many dogs there were. There were exactly 23 dogs.

Amir Prakesh walked into the circular room and joined her. "I see your back Lwando. I'm glad your mission was a success."

"Yes, it was." She said with contempt. "But nothing has changed here. You haven't done what you said you do."

"It will be done. Don't worry." Amir assured her.

"No! I can't believe you!" She raised her voice. "I did very bad things! I stole a baby from the mother's arms! And all you do is make promises...!"

Amir grabbed her by the throat pushed her against the railings. Her legs dangled in the air as her hands tried went to her throat trying to pry his big hand off her it. The dogs in the pit began barking at the spectacle. Some jumped up to where Lwando was hanging over the rails. "Look at them, its as if they don't even recognize you. I bet if I threw you over right now they would tear you apart." He said to her nastily.

Lwando, while struggling for breath, looked down at the excited pack of dogs. Amir was right, the dogs didn't seem to recognize her.

"Go ahead." Amir said. "Go into railings with your powers."

"I... can't..." She said with her last breaths of air.

Amir leaned closer to her face. "You see, Lwando, everyone has their limits, even people like you. But I suggest you don't test mine because you'll find me far reaching." With that Amir let her go and she fell on the floor choking in fresh air. "I will attempt to do all I can to help him. I am a man of my word." He said as he walked away leaving Lwando on the floor rubbing her neck.

Noah and Lauren - Stanton

Lauren walked to the entrance of the building. Inside there were gates that can only be passed through with a security card. On the side of the gates was a desk with two security guards.

Lauren nodded and smiled at the security guards. She swiped her card and was relieved when the gates swung open, letting her through.

She walked into the building and casually placed her hand over her ear. "I'm in." She said quietly.

"Good. I'll be monitoring your progress." Noah said over their radio communication. He had been sitting in a building adjacent to the one Lauren had just infiltrated. He wanted to go in her place but she had pointed out to him that his face is most likely known to the employees of the building.

Lauren got to an elevator and pressed a button to make it climb up a few floors. She and Noah had formulated a plan to get into the building and disable whatever operation was going on there and find out who was the mastermind behind it. The lift doors opened and she leisurely walked to a room that housed multiple computers. The room was populated by a few people who were staring intently at their computer screens. She walked passed them and found an empty computer as far away from anyone else as possible.

She sat down and began furiously typing. "I think I've found the guy whose running this show." She said to her ear piece.

"Who is it?" He asked excitedly. Finally this was about to come to an end.

"Gilbert Vikes. Ever heard of him?"

"Yes. He's a big politic type."

"That's strange..."

"What?" He asked worryingly.

"According to the information I'm getting, Vikes' project isn't operational yet and although Claire is in their system; they're not actively pursuing her."

"That doesn't make sense." He said. "Maybe hunting Claire is an off the record kind of operation."

"Maybe. But they do seem to be monitoring something called Mainframe's Invitation."

"Mainframe's Invitation? What's that?"

"I don't know but specials seem to be getting it. The program they have here monitors it and once anyone gets it, they're details are captured on the system."

Noah began to hear her typing pick up speed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm no IT whizz, so I can't access their database and delete Claire and anyone else from it but I can cause their Mainframe's Invitation monitoring software to crash." She said while typing in codes. "There, all done."

"What's done?" Someone said from behind her. "And what are you doing at my computer?"

Lauren turned around to see a man in white shirt standing over her. She inwardly cursed at herself. Bragging about her achievements while on the job was a rookie move and she was no rookie. "I'm sorry, I was just getting done with checking my emails. I'll leave now." She got up and left before the man could ask anymore questions.

The man looked at Lauren as she left. He picked up a phone that was located beside his computer. "Hello security? There's a blonde female that just walked out of the Command and Information center. Could you check her out?"

As Lauren walked she saw a man heading for her direction. He spoke into a radio as he stared and walked directly to her. She quickly turned into a corner to avoid him but the man was persistent as Lauren could still feel him following her. She took three more corners and climbed down a flight of stairs in an attempt to lose him, which she eventually did, or so she thought.

"Are you exiting the building?" Noah asked with concern.

"Yes, I just had to lose someone who was tailing me." As Lauren walked he saw the man again and he saw her and turned to her direction. She turned into a corridor. "His found me again. I'm going to try and lose him." But the corridor was straight with no other visible detour paths. She saw the ladies room and quickly entered it. She hoped that the man would just pass by. However, she was disappointed when he entered the bathroom.

"Hey, you can't be in here!" She said.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I have to check your credentials. May I please see your security card." He said holding out his hand.

Lauren reluctantly gave him her security card which was not really hers. Noah and her had stolen it from a guy who they had seen exit the building.

The man took out his radio. "Security, check this ID out for me." He called out a string of numbers that he read from the card to the radio. He listened to the reply on the other side. He looked at Lauren with a serious look and took out his handcuffs. "This card was reported missing. You are coming with me." He said this as he approached her with the handcuffs.

In one quick move Lauren kicked the cuffs away. The man lunged at her, knocking her into a cubicle door. He grabbed her by the collars to keep her pinned.

"Who are you?" He shouted.

"I'm the girl whose going to kick you in the nuts." She answered.

"What?"

Suddenly he felt pain spread to his abdomen as Lauren's knee made contact with his groin. The man bent over in pain. She used the opportunity to grab his head and shove against the wall that divided the toilet cubicles. The man fell to the floor unconscious.

"I've dealt with him, so don't come here to rescue me with our whole arsenal." Lauren said into the ear piece.

"I was not about to do that. I know you can handle yourself." He said this as put the three pistols, shotgun and ak47 that he had armed himself with during the fight on a nearby desk.

"Yeah right." She said not believing him.

"Get out of there now. You've done enough."

She quickly left the bathroom as she wanted to leave the building before the situation got worse. She had no doubt that the security card that she and Noah had stolen would not work now.

She got to the security gates, took out a card and swiped. The doors automatically swung open allowing her to pass and in seconds she was out of the building. She took out the security card that belonged to the unconscious security guard that she left in the bathroom and threw it in the nearest bin and smiled to herself.

Matt Parkman - Parkman Family Home LA

Matt came out of his trance again. He looked at the new paintings he had painted. They were all placed on top of one another on the painting stand. He removed them off the stand the same way one would remove the pages of a calendar. With every page he removed he became more frustrated. The paintings did not show what he wanted to see. They depicted people or things he did not know and some, once again, showed a pack of dogs. These dogs seemed to be the one constant thing in all his attempts. He had painted at least two paintings of dogs in each one of his attempts. He removed another painting only to discover another dog painting underneath. As far as he could tell there was still one painting left under the new dog painting.

He sighed knowing he would be disappointed. He was about to remove it when his stomach called for his attention. He looked around the room and was surprised to find a sandwich waiting for him. He smiled and made a mental note to thank his wife.

Matt sat down and enjoyed his snack. He felt a little guilty because his son was missing and yet, although his presence greatly saddened him, he could still find simple happiness in his sandwich. When he was done eating he began to think of other ways to find his son because his current method was not working. Maybe he should involve the police. People with abilities were no longer a secret, so they would probably believe a woman came out of the mirror and took their son. He decided that they would have to take their chances. He began walking up the stairs to tell his wife his plan when he remembered that he still had not seen the last painting under the dog painting.

He looked back at it asking himself if he should even go through the trouble. He sighed and walked back to the painting stand. He removed the dog painting and saw one of the most important paintings he had ever done. The painting showed three teenage kids walking in a recognizable area. Two of the teenagers were boys. One was tall and had an ice cream in his hand and the other boy was shorter and unlike the other two teenagers, he did not have ice cream. In the middle of these two boys was a girl with a bright orange jacket. The girl was Molly Walker.

That is when Matt realised that his adopted daughter could help him find his son.

Valery - England

Valery stepped into the hospital room and found Kurt lying on the bed. Upon seeing him, Kurt quickly stood up to a sitting position.

"Val, you came. Thank you." Kurt said.

Valery did not understand why Kurt was thanking him as if he suspected that he would not come. Valery still needed something from him. "Did you find what I was looking for?" He asked him.

"Why do you always say it like that? Like I was helping you look for a thing when in fact I'm helping you look for a person."

"It is best if I don't get attached to him by thinking of him as a person. Because I might need to..." Valery hesitated.

"Kill him?" Kurt offered even though he could not believe it.

Valery nodded.

"You are hardcore." When Kurt met Valery, he had just come from America and was looking for someone. According to him, he is originally from Africa but has traveled half the world looking for that particular person and he was willing to do anything to find him, even join Kurt's gang. He was hoping to use Valery's want to find this man to his advantage. "I have found him but I need you to do something for me before I tell you where he is."

Valery was not surprised. At least he was closer to his goal than ever so one last job for Kurt wouldn't hurt. He nodded again to tell Kurt to go on.

"The doctors say my spine is bruised..."

He nodded again. It made sense, since Kurt was hit full on with the door when they had the super strong Indian and the meek looking Asian as prisoners. They were still confused how they had escaped. One moment they were fighting with the Indian the next they were both gone.

"Anyways, the doctors say I won't be walking for a while, until it's healed." He said feeling a little emotional. "Vida will try to get rid of me to take over the gang. No one is answering my calls that's how I know he's already turned the gang against me."

Valery kept quiet and his expression remained neutral.

"But I still have an ace up my sleeve." Kurt said with a smile. "One of the people I do business with will help me if he thinks our business arrangement will be in danger if I die. But he needs to believe that I can still keep my end of the business arrangement, that is where you come in. I need you to deliver a bag that's under the left side of my bed at my house at my apartment to my business partner. When you deliver it tell him that I need Vida dead if our arrangement is to continue."

"Then you'll tell me what I need to know?"

"Yes."

Valery left Kurt's hospital room after Kurt gave him the details of where to deliver the bag and to whom. This would be the last thing he did for these people and if Kurt was lying about having what he wanted, he would no longer need to worry about Vida because he would kill Kurt himself.

/

Valery eventually got to Kurt's place. A light drizzle had already begun which made him hug his jacket closer to himself. He entered the house and went straight for the bedroom. When he entered the bedroom he heard the sounds of a car pulling up in front of the house.

Valery peeled the curtain back and looked through the window and saw Vida and some other guys exiting the vehicle. He closed the curtains before they saw him. He felt for his gun at his back to reassure himself that he could take them on if he needed to. He looked under the bed and found the bag just like Kurt said he would.

He quickly took the bag and crept to the back door. He would try to avoid a confrontation if he could. While getting to the back door, he heard them opening the front one. He opened the door to find one of Vida's men standing there.

The guy pointed his gun at him. Valery did not move even though the gunman stepped slowly forward. "Valery? What are you doing here?"

The gunman looked at the bag in his grasp. He took the opportunity and lunged for the gun. Valery was able to grab the gun before it went off. He tackled the gun man to the floor as his partners came rushing in. He put the bag over his shoulder. When they saw Valery on top of their friend they opened fire. Valery drew his own gun and added it to the fire power of the one he had just taken from the first gunman.

He stood to his full height and began firing back with both his guns. He saw Vida hiding behind a wall firing at him. Valery counted at least five guys firing at him not including the one who he had taken out of the fight.

He retreated shooting back at them. He turned his back and ran away once he was safely away from the path of the gunfire. They rushed out ready to give chase but found that Valery had already disappeared into the drizzle.

Anita Rodriguez - Ohio Vows Asylum

"Anita. Anita. Anita!" The voice called out her name.

Anita tried to ignore it. "It's only in my imagination; it's only in my imagination," she kept repeating to herself in Latin.

"Anita, are you still there?" The voice asked.

It was getting on her last nerve. "Be quiet!" She screamed at the walls.

"What's happened? Have they poisoned you against me?" The Voice asked.

"They? They have done nothing." She said to the walls. "You are the one who's making me crazy!" She regretted arguing with the voice because it proved that her mind was reaching its breaking point and she was only further feeding her madness.

"This place is making you crazy." The voice assured her. "You, nor I, don't deserve to be here and if we don't get out, we'll both go mad."

Yes, the voice was right. Before she came to the Asylum she had never questioned her sanity. Before they put her here she knew the difference between what was real and what was not.

"We need to get out of here before things get worse." The voice said. "Are you willing to do anything to get out?"

She thought about the voice's question. "Yes." She said to the walls of her room.

"Good, then do everything I'm about to tell you..."

Gretchen - San Diego

Gretchen woke up to sounds coming out of her bedroom. She and Noah had decided to stay the night at a hotel instead of driving back. Noah had decided to sleep on the couch and let her get the bed.

However the sounds coming from beyond her room disturbed her once peaceful sleep. She opened her door quietly and saw Noah sneaking, or better yet unsuccessfully sneaking around in the fading dark.

He had his back turned to her room but then he suddenly stood still. He did not look back and yet Gretchen felt like he knew she was awake.

"Mr. Bennett? What are you doing?"

He sighed and turned to look at her. "I'm sorry Gretchen. I'm leaving."

"What about finding Claire?" She said walking towards him.

"I'll still be doing that but alone. I'm sorry."

"What about our agreement?"

"I'm breaking it. Yesterday only proved to me that I made a big mistake by allowing you to come with me on this. It's too dangerous and I work better alone."

Gretchen was about to say something when he cut her off.

"There's nothing you can say to change my mind." He said putting his hand up. He turned to walk out of the door.

"Wait!" She called out running to him.

He turned around just in time to receive a hug from her. The hug went on for longer than he had excepted. Then things got more awkward when her hands shifted down his back. He was afraid that she was going to grab some but he was relieved when she stopped at his hip. He was not sure what to do; he did not want to hurt her feelings.

Gretchen realised how strange what she was doing seemed and to add to that she was hugging Claire's father and since she had just got out of bed she hardly had any clothes on. She retreated from the hug with her face turning a shade of red.

She crossed her arms across her body self-consciously and looked to at the floor. "Good luck Mr. Bennett."

He nodded and walked out of the door.

/

Gabriel left the apartment just as the sun was rising. He tried to shake off the awkward hug Gretchen had given him. She was a good girl and a likable person, that is why he did not want to place her in anymore danger for his own ends.

As soon as he was far away from the apartment he began to change back to his own form. He was relieved to be back in his own body. It was like coming back home.

He walked a bit faster than launched into the brightening morning sky.

If only he had looked back at the bottom of his jacket he would have seen the tracker that Gretchen had placed on him during her 'hug' with Noah Bennett.

Valery - England

Valery was walking through the streets with the bag around his shoulders. The drizzle of that day had finally stopped and had opened up the blue sky. He felt good for a while. This city was not accustomed to clear weather and instead of being too hot like it was in Africa, it was cool here. It made him feel at peace, a feeling he was not used to.

As he walked he saw a woman with blonde hair. He had seen many blonde haired women in his travels but thanks to his good mood and the sun shining off the golden hair, its beauty was multiplied. He noticed that the blonde was walking next to someone. He was tall, dark with no hair. They looked like an odd couple walking together.

His feeling of peace was instantly destroyed when the blonde's companion turned to look at her and he realised that he recognized the face. He searched into his jacket pocket and produced a picture. The picture was old but this was the man he had traversed half the world to find.

Valery quickened his pace to catch up to them. He tapped the man on the shoulder and he turned. The man's blonde friend also turned to look at who had stopped their progress.

"René." Valery said to the man.

Claire looked at René then at Valery. "Do you know this guy?" She asked René.

René had a confused look on his face. "No."

Valery's phone began to ring. He answered it quickly.

"Val," Kurt said on the other side of the line. "Did you get it?"

"Yes." He answered back.

"Good. How far are you in delivering it."

"I'm not going to." Valery said still looking at René.

"What? Did Vida get to you? It does not matter because if you don't deliver I won't tell you where to find your guy. Remember?"

The phone suddenly went dead. Valery had hung up.

"Val? Val! Vaaaaaal!" Kurt tried to phone him again but couldn't reach him and that is when he knew he was a dead man.

Valery placed his phone in his pocket after switching it off. "You don't know me but I know you." He said to René. "You had a brother in Haiti that you killed. He was my father; I am your nephew and I have gone to Haiti, America and finally here in England to find you."

Claire was shocked. René had actually killed his own brother and now his brother's son had found him. She prepared herself for a fight.

"Are you here to kill me?" René asked.

"I'm not sure." He answered truthfully. "I've heard many things about my father. Especially about how evil he was and when I went to Haiti to kill him... I found out you beat me to it. Now all I want to know is why; why did you kill him?"

"This is not the best place to explain. Let's go to my car." René said.

Valery nodded and followed him and Claire.

"René, this guy says he's your brother's son and you just believe him?" Claire whispered to him. "How do you know he's even telling the truth?"

"Because he has my father's eyes." René said.

/

They had finally got in the car. René made sure to switch his power off just in case his newly discovered nephew was out for blood. He did not want Claire to get hurt and not be able to heal.

René drove the car while Claire sat shotgun and Valery sat at the back.

"A few years ago I heard reports of my brother amassing a rebel army in Haiti." René began. "He was killing innocent people and taking what he could from the weak. I saw it as my responsibility to stop him because our father was a good man and he would not have approved of what he was doing, so I stopped him."

"I understand." Valery said. "My father expanded his evil in Africa. Using his power he helped a few rebels set up shop and while he was there he did many unforgivable things. My mother was one of the victims of his evil. She knew when she had me that I would be one of the only few people who could stop him, so all my life that is what she trained me for. But of course you did it before I could."

Claire felt sorry for Valery. It did not seem right to raise a child with the sole purpose of killing his father.

"Are you going to kill me?" René asked.

"No, I will not. When I heard of what you had done I suspected it was the act of one devil killing another but you seem to be a good man. You can drop me off now."

Claire was shocked. So that is how they'll leave things? With a 'I'm not going to kill you uncle, bye.' Family is important, that is something she had learned over the past years. "Do you have anywhere to go?"

René looked at her with a 'don't-throw-this-guy-on-me' look. But she had to do it. It would be her good deed for the day.

Valery was about to answer her question with a yes but then realised that he did not. Since he had fallen out with both Kurt and Vida he would be hunted for a while. Then suddenly he also realised that he now had no purpose in his life. For most of his early life his sole purpose was to kill his father and when he could no longer do that he decided he would look for René and if need be kill him. Now he had done that. What does a man who has achieved all of his dreams dream of? "No I don't." He said. He needed to avoid all of his usual places.

"Then you can stay with us for a while." Claire said.

"Thank you." He said looking out of the window.

Mohinder Suresh - India

"So you are just going to let the villain win?" Hiro said.

Mohinder was sitting across Hiro in a restaurant. They chose this restaurant because it was the only place in the Indian city that sold waffles.

"What do you expect me to do Hiro?" Mohinder asked. "Amir Prakesh is one of the most powerful and supposedly dangerous people in India."

"So what about your... dream friend?"

"I don't know where Sanjog is. So I can't even help him."

"Then get close to the villain and find out, like Matches Malone."

Mohinder raised an eyebrow. "Matches who?"

"You know, when Batman takes off his mask..."

"I thought Batman was Bruce Wayne when he took off the mask."

"He is!" Hiro said. "But when he spies on people..." Hiro sighed seeing the confusion on Mohinder's face.

"Is this a... Japanese thing?" Mohinder asked.

"No, its a American thing. Its a Batman-thing." Hiro said the last part more quietly. "You get close to Amir. You find where his keeping your friend, then when time comes..."

"We save him and destroy Prakesh!"

Hiro clenched his fist and said, "hos!"

Suddenly a black spot appeared between them and expanded. The black spot grew like fire expanding in the middle of a smoldering paper. It eventually engulfed them both then suddenly Mohinder found himself in a different world. It had white sands as far as the eyes could see. Above the sky was black with no stars, no light and yet everything could be seen clearly. The world he was in was both beautiful and unnerving.

He found Sanjog standing before him. "I'm sorry to disturb your dream but anyways, you should not be dreaming of the past."

Mohinder wondered if Sanjog knew of he and Hiro's plan to save him. He had never really understood how his abilities worked.

"I am here to ask something of great difficulty to you." Sanjog said.

"What?" Mohinder asked worried.

"I need you to store this man in your mind." Sanjog said pointing to a man who, it seemed, had appeared out of thin air.

The man was a black man, thin with small eyes. He had on kaki jacket and jeans. He never took his eyes off of Mohinder and Sanjog.

"Who is he?" Mohinder asked.

"He is one of Prakesh's strongmen. He is like us; he has the ability to shift parts of his consciousness to animals thereby possessing them. He made the mistake of splitting his consciousness between 23 dogs and now he cannot pull himself together again. This is one of the pieces of his consciousness that I could retrieve but I cannot totally heal him. Not now anyways."

"Wait. This guy's one of Prakesh's henchmen and you want to keep a piece of him in me?"

"That is why I said what I ask of you will be difficult." Sanjog said. "He may be useful in the future."

Mohinder sighed. "Why don't you ask someone else. Like Hiro, he would probably agree."

"The time traveler?" Sanjog said a little surprised. "No, he is too powerful. If he was taken over by him the results would be drastic."

Great so he thought it would make more sense to put Mohinder's mind at risk. "You don't sound like you trust him."

Sanjog looked at the man they were talking about. "I don't."

"Then why are we having this conversation right in front of him?"

"He does not know what we're saying for he does not speak Hindi."

"But we haven't been speaking Hindi..." Mohinder placed his hand over his mouth when he realised that the last part of his sentence was spoken in Hindi. He sighed again, this dream power thing was confusing. "Fine," he said in perfect Hindi, something he was unaccustomed to doing.

Sanjog smiled and said thank you.

Mohinder woke up at his desk. He realised he must have dosed off. He recited a few facts to himself to make sure Thulani hadn't taken over his mind. He realised that he now knew the man's name without being told. He was now sharing his mind with a piece of Thulani.

Matt Parkman - Manhattan

Matt sat down on a park bench but although his body was there, his mind was somewhere else entirely. His mind had entered that place that he needed to enter to sketch the future.

His mind finally returned and he looked at the picture he had just drawn. What he had drawn made him so mad, so furious that he could feel his heart beat quicken. He clenched the pad he was drawing on tighter, threatening to crush it. "Another dog! That's the 23rd one!" He shouted. No, this aspect of his ability was not helping him. He needed to rely on something else, something he was more familiar with.

He got up and walked through the amusement park. It was one of those moving amusement parks that never stayed in one place for too long. He knew Molly was here somewhere. He began to search the minds of people he saw, hoping one of them had seen Molly.

/

Molly and West were eating ice cream while Micah looked for a place where they could sit. He pointed at a small fountain bounded by a wall. They sat down with Micah in the middle. He opened up his laptop and on the screen the Mainframe's Invitation webpage appeared.

"Okay, so this Mainframe's Invitation event is happening a few days from now. We need to be ready for it." Micah said.

"Yes, I'm ready to attend it and find out who this Mainframe guy is." West confirmed in between licks of his ice cream.

"So you are going to be going there alone?" Molly asked.

"I'll be communicating with him through the whole thing." Micah assured her.

"But still, it sounds dangerous to be there alone. Should you not maybe call in rest of Rebel?"

"Yeah, make it a proper party!" West said.

"No." Micah said. "Rebel has disbanded and I think everyone we used to roll with back in those days are dealing with their own issues. You know, ever since our secret went public."

"But you'll still need back up." Molly said to West. "I will go with you."

"That could be dangerous!" Both boys said simultaneously.

Molly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Boys and their need to protect girls from danger, she thought. "Come on guys. We have had a few adventures together. You know I can handle it."

They both could not argue with that. They began going through their plan and each role they would play during the event. They had been on a roll until the sound of someone calling Molly's name stopped there progress.

Molly looked up to see Matt standing a short distance away from them. The sight of him first made her feel love then came anger at the memory of what he had done. She got up quickly and was followed by West and Micah.

"Molly... I'm sorry about..." Matt began.

"You should be sorry! What do you want?" Molly said.

Matt gulped. This was not how he wanted to apologise. It would seem like he did it just to obtain her assistance. "Can we speak in private."

"I do not trust you enough to do anything with you in private! Whatever you came here to say, say it and go!"

This just became even more awkward for him. "We were wrong Molly and I don't know why we thought you would ever do anything to hurt my son. But someone did kidnap him."

Micah was surprised. He knew of Matt jnr. but he did not know he had been kidnapped. Who could have done something like that?

"I need help to find him. I need your help." Matt said.

Molly bit her lower lip in frustration. She wanted to be done with the Parkmans but if Matt's son was in danger then she had to help. Although, she was angry at him, she still loved him and did not want to see him suffer and the life of his baby was at risk.

She turned around and looked at Micah. An understanding passed between them and he smiled and nodded, "It's okay."

"I really did want to help." She said.

"I know but do what you have to do. We'll be okay." He assured her. "If you ever need anything, anytime any day, just call me... I mean us."

She hugged him and said quietly, "I will." She also hugged West and told him to be careful before she left with Matt.

Micah and West looked on as she left. "Call me, huh?" West said.

"Shut up West."

Anita Rodriguez - Ohio, Vows Asylum

"Remember the plan." The voice said to Anita.

"Yes, I remember it." She confirmed with to voice.

She heard the familiar sound of Brent opening her cell door. This was the usual time he tormented her. Brent walked in and smiled at his victim.

"How's my dog doing?" Brent said.

Anita took a deep breath. She needed to do this perfectly. She got up and slowly walked to Brent.

"What are you doing?" Brent said suspiciously.

Anita stopped inches from his face. She could smell his coffee breath and a tinge of alcohol. She looked deep into his eyes. She could not explain it but she could almost feel his emotions through his eyes. The contempt he felt for her; the disgust but there was something else he felt for her... lust. That is what she wanted. Anita pulled the lust out and the results were almost instant.

Brent forcefully mashed his lips to hers. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her onto the cell's small bed. He began taking off his shirt as he climbed on top of her.

His heavy body made it difficult for the thin Anita to breath. No, she should not lose control of this situation. Using all of her strength she switched positions with him. Once she was on top she reached behind her to her right sock. From the sock she pulled out a white plastic knife. She raised it above her head and brought it down with all her might.

Now anyone who has ever handled a plastic knife knows how weak it is. Even with the greatest of thrusts , it would be difficult to cause anything more than a painful bruise. However, there are parts of the body that would be vulnerable to serious damage from even a plastic knife. Anita did not want to go for the eyes because the knife would probably not be able to get through the tough sclera into the brain. She needed to put the knife in a place where it would be such a great obstruction that it would end Brent's life.

She thrust the white knife into his throat and pushed it further in before his eyes went wide with shock. Brent quickly got up knocking her off of him and hard into the floor. She landed with a painful thud as the man stumbled out of bed. He was clutching at his throat coughing out blood and struggling to breath. He gave one big cough and a piece of the knife stuck out of his throat. On instinct alone, he reached into his mouth and pulled the knife out of his throat. He looked at it in disbelief. The knife like his lips was stained red with his blood.

From the floor Anita watched in horror as her plan failed. The man she tried to kill was walking away and although he was badly hurt she had no doubt that he would survive, especially now that he had removed the knife. "It's...It's over, his still alive."

"It's still not too late Anita." The voice said. "But you have to act quickly. Kill him! Kill him now for your freedom or you'll spend the rest of your life in this place!"

With that a new fire was lit in her. She got up from the floor and charged at the retreating enemy. She pushed the bigger man on to the floor. His head landed where the door would rest if it was shut. Anita took advantage of her blind luck and slammed the heavy door to her prison cell shut. It bounced off the Brent's skull and swung open to return to her waiting hand. She slammed it again and again into his head. She slammed it with all her strength, with all her building rage and hate; hate for the years she had spent in this place being degraded by this man ; the rage she had felt building up everytime she had to explain herself to everyone, explain why she was not crazy, the rage she felt when no one believed her. The room was dark except for the moonlight but in her mind her emotions were burning bright, bright enough to blind her and with each and every slam she made against the man's head they burned even brighter. She did not stop slamming the door into the his head, even when his screams stopped; even when he began foaming at the mouth; even when his body stopped its epileptic-like quaking.

The voice called out her name but in her rage she ignored it. This only served to make it louder, as loud as it could get. It was like a fly buzzing around her ear and the more she swatted it away it would come back to buzz around even fiercer than before. She clenched her teeth and finally had had enough and she screamed, "WHAT!"

"Is it done?" The voice said in a panic.

For the first time Anita looked down at her handiwork. The anger faded replaced by satisfaction and then even it disappeared to be replaced by horror. "Yes, it's done," she said more to herself then to the voice.

"Then get on with it!" The voice commanded. "The Asylum is waking up."

That jolted her into action. She bent over and unclasped the keys from Brent's hip, then continued on into the hallways. She turned a corner then took a right. The voice was right the Asylum was waking up. Everywhere inmates screamed and banged on their cell doors. She could hear the panicked whispers of the guards trying to figure out what was wrong.

She finally reached her destination. It was a cell slightly different from hers. The door was not only thicker but wider too. It had more latches and was painted white. She had never been to this part of the Asylum before, she did not even know it existed.

Anita placed one of the keys she had taken from Brent into the door's key slot and turned it. There was a familiar but louder click. She began to pull the latches out of their locked positions.

As Anita did this she wondered what she would find in the cell. While making the escape plan, the voice said she should get the keys from Brent and come here and open the door. She assumed it also wanted to be freed but what if the voice did not exist. What if she opened the door to find nothing, further proving that it was just in her head. She killed someone because of it and if it did not exist, if it was not attached to a body then that would further prove that she belonged here. Maybe the door she was opening was her new cell.

On the other hand, what if the voice was real. She could be releasing a dangerous person out into the world. Someone who actually deserved to be locked up.

There was one latch left. She hesitated to even touch it. "I've come this far." She whispered to herself in Latin. She pushed the latch free and pulled the heavy door open. At first after peering inside she saw nothing but darkness then she saw a moving figure approaching her. The figure stepped into the dimmer light revealing his face.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I am your voice and your friend. My name is Samuel Sullivan but because your pretty you can call me Samuel."

The alarms began ringing loudly. Samuel said something but she could not hear over the sirens. He took her hand and pulled her away to the exit and out of the Asylum.

Peter Petreli and Ricky - Staton

"Seems safe, boss." Ricky said to Peter.

They were both hiding behind a row of bushes surveying the place they were about to break into. It was not hard to find Vikes' base of operations since Wilcox provided its location in the information he gave Peter. The place was walled off but they found a section of the wall where there were no people or cameras.

"I think your right." Peter whispered back. Suddenly without warning he jumped out of the woods and ran for the wall. He quickly scaled the wall by wedging his hands and feet between two raised sections of the wall.

Ricky followed close behind. He could not believe his boss would just make a move without telling him. "Wait for me, Boss." He said mimicking Peter's climbing technique. He looked up to see their progress and his eyes were met by falling debris. "Hnn!" He moaned as the dust landed on his eyeballs.

Peter stopped and looked down at him. "Are you okay?"

"You made dust fall into my eyes." He said.

"Is that all all? I'm sorry for that but you need to stop being a baby and continue climbing." He said continuing to climb.

"I'm not being a baby." Ricky said with tears coming from his irritated eyes.

Peter reached the top of the high wall first. From his vantage point he could clearly see the facility. "Be careful. There are spikes here."

The wall was lined with grey metal pikes rather than 'spikes'. Peter was careful and made sure he stood between them. Ricky pulled himself up using the pikes and stood next to Peter. He looked down at the far ground and felt gravity pulling him forward. Fearing that he would fall he crouched down on the wall, with his knees positioned between pikes and his hands tightly holding on to another. From his docile position he looked at Peter who was standing straight at full height. It was almost like he was in his element up here.

"Do you think we could survive a jump from this height?" Peter asked his terrified companion.

Ricky risked a peak below and quickly averted his eyes, resting them on Peter's legs. "Wh... Wh... What? A jump from this height would break your spleen."

"I've jumped from higher places." He said to himself. It almost seemed like it was just yesterday when he was standing on that roof looking down at his brother, Nathan. That was the first time he flew. He bent his knees and prepared to leap off the high wall. Then... he stopped, remembering his brother made him think more rationally. He could no longer fly and if he got hurt jumping off, he would not heal quickly enough. Too many people depended on him for him to be reckless now.

Peter surveyed the wall and found the same raised structure on this side of the it similar to the one he and Ricky had used to climb up.

"I've found a place where we can climb down." He said walking in between the pikes to the structure. Ricky followed, albeit he moved slower than him and he moved on his hands and knees rather than walk like Peter.

Peter once again wedged his arms and legs between the raised structures and began climbing and sliding down. When Ricky arrived he too did the same.

Peter reached the bottom quickly. He looked up at his partner who was descending painfully slow.

Ricky was too scared to move any faster. He knew Peter was probably getting impatient and for that he could not help feeling disappointed in himself. This was his chance to impress and he could not even keep up with the big boys.

Suddenly all thoughts of self doubt disappeared from his mind when he did one thing... he slipped. The fall was terrifying and although it was short to him it felt like a quick eternity. He twisted in midair more by luck than anything else and thrust his arms out to brace himself for the fall. Green energy shot out of his hands and hit the ground, the energy ricocheted from the ground to all directions. The advancing green wave hit Peter first, knocking him a few feet away to the ground. The upward moving part of the wave collided with the falling Ricky, slowing down his fall, causing him to safely land on the ground.

Ricky raised himself up. He almost could not believe that he was alive. "Boss? Boss!" Ricky ran to where Peter had landed. "Are you okay Boss?"

Peter slowly got up."I haven't been hit that hard since... never really."

"Sorry."

"No, you did a good thing. You stopped your fall by using your power. That was smart of you."

"Uhm... Thanks." Ricky said not mentioning that he used his powers the way he did by accident.

They snuck around the place for a while until they came upon a window. Peter tried to open it but it was locked. "Window won't open. I guess this is where you come in."

Ricky nodded and positioned himself in front of the window. This was his chance to impress. What Peter had felt before from his powers was only a little of what he was capable of. Tracy and Eli had trained him to focus his power into a more destructive force. He took a deep breath in and felt the power gathering in his body. He let it out through his hands as a focused blast. The green energy smashed through the window and the wall. There was now a big man sized hole where the window had been.

"If I knew you could do that, I would have picked any spot for you to blow a hole in." Peter said amazed. "Let's hope no one heard that."

Peter went into the building first. They were in one of the offices. He opened the door and peeked into the dark hallway. He was relieved to see it empty.

"Alright, remember the way here, just in case we get separated." He said.

Ricky nodded before he followed him into the hallway. Peter took out a pair of glasses that had little cracks along their edges and placed them over his eyes.

"What's that for?" Ricky asked in hush tones.

"This is my disguise." Peter said lightly tapping his glasses.

Who did he think he was? Superman? Ricky thought to himself. "Well I also bought a disguise." Ricky pulled out a ski mask.

"But that's too obvious. What if someone saw you?"

"Then they would not really see me." Ricky said taking off the ski mask.

They got to the information center. Peter located a computer and began typing in commands. He found the database containing the names of all specials. "Bingo! Now to delete all these names."

Peter clicked a few buttons then the words 'Access Denied' flashed in red.

"I can't delete the names without proper authorisation."

"Great. Now what do we do?" Ricky asked.

"I guess we call a friend."

/

Wilcox was reading an official document in his office. One of his Secretaries was there to help him understand it. Her name was Mary Smith, a red head with thick spectacles hiding her eyes and freckles on her cheeks.

"I don't know how you understand any of this jargon, Mary." Wilcox remarked struggling to understand what he was reading.

"Well I did go to school in order to understand it." She answered giggling.

"How about this. You read this document and dumb it down for me by tomorrow and I'll treat you to brunch."

Mary looked at the slightly overweight man. She found it strange that she had never seen him eat much. "The other girls might get jealous." She said.

"Fine, then I'll treat you all to brunch. They'll owe you one." He said before he began to cough.

Mary had begun to notice that his coughing spasms were becoming more frequent nowadays. She had asked him more than once if he was okay but he always answered with the same 'you worry too much' answer.

Wilcox coughed into a handkerchief. After he did so he was careful to put it away and not mistakenly show the blood that he had coughed up on it. "Now, lets continue." He said trying to pretend that everything was fine.

His phone suddenly rang. He looked at it for a while and realised he did not recognise the number. He picked it up and heard a familiar voice on the other side. "Peter! How are you?" He said happily.

"I need your help." Peter said through the phone. "I've broken into Vikes' place of operations..."

"What?" Wilcox shouted. He placed the phone close to his chest to muffle the sound. "That will be all for now Mary, thank you." He said dismissing her.

Mary looked suspiciously at him but nonetheless nodded and left him to his conversation.

"Why would you call me! I can't afford to be implicated in any of this."

"Yes but I need your..."

"Wait, when your call came up my phone did not recognise your number. Where are you calling me from?"

"The landline here. Now listen..." The other side of the line suddenly went dead. "He hung up on me." Peter said through clenched teeth.

"You could call Ms Strauss." Ricky suggested.

"That's what I was about to do." Peter said fingering the number into the landline phone.

/

Micah was packing up his belongings, getting ready to leave the apartment. The task was only made harder by his conversation on the phone. He held the mobile phone between his ear and shoulder to allow him to the use both of his hands.

"I'll be okay. I'm going to catch a train in the morning." He said.

"Why are you moving out so late?" Tracy asked over the phone.

Micah did not want to tell her that the reason was because he was preoccupied with figuring out the Mainframe's Invitation mystery. "I guess I got too comfortable." He lied.

"I could pay the hotel extra, get them to extend the lease..."

"No! You've already done too much." Micah said. "Don't worry I'll be fine."

"Hold on a minute, Micah. I have another call coming in." Tracy said putting him on hold before he could protest.

"Tracy! I'm glad you answered." Peter said when she answered the call.

"Peter...?"

"Listen Tracy. I've broken into Vikes' HQ..."

"You did what?" Tracy shouted. "So you just decided to ignore my advice?"

"Hey Ms. Strauss!" Tracy heard Ricky say in a loud whisper.

"You dragged Ricky into this mess!" She shouted some more.

Well technically she dragged Ricky into this mess, Peter thought but recognised that now was not a good time to have that argument. "Shut up and listen, Tracy...!"

Micah did want to wait for long but it seemed that Tracy was determined to make him. What could she be talking about to keep me on hold for so long? He began to be curious. He knew he should not spy on his aunt but his curiosity got the better of him. He used his powers to listen in on her conversation.

"I am literally looking at the personal information of everyone who has abilities. If Vikes has his way he'll use this information to hunt people like us down." Peter said.

"Then destroy it." She said realising what was at stake.

"I can't." He said. "Not without proper authorisation."

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm not a computer whizz and I have no other way to help you."

"I was afraid of that." He said disappointed. "We'll find another way," was the last thing he said before hanging up.

Tracy had almost forgotten that Micah was on hold. When she switched back to him she found that he too had hung up. Probably got tired of waiting, she reasoned with herself.

Micah was tracking Peter's call. He finally found the location and using his powers and his laptop as a gateway, he connected with the places technology. He could not believe such a place existed right under his nose. It was a good thing that people like Peter Petreli existed to safeguard his people like he did. He was glad that his aunt was working with him because Peter was a good man and one of the good guys.

He connected with the servers that held the database that had information on a lot of people with abilities. He told the servers to empty their contents into his own personal server and just to be safe when they were done he uploaded a computer virus he had created himself onto the servers.

He smiled to himself. "Well, that should keep them busy for a while." To finish off he told the security cameras of the facility to erase all the footage of that night then commanded the machines that control the buildings electricity supply to shut off. That should cover Peter for long enough so that he can safely get out of there, he thought to himself proudly.

/

Peter hung up the phone disappointed. He said he would find another way but there was no other way. He had run out of options.

"So Ms. Strauss couldn't help." Ricky asked.

Peter nodded unsure what to do next. He typed a few keys.

Ricky gasped at what he saw on the screen. "Wow, Boss! You did it!"

Peter looked up at him confused then he looked at the screen in front of him. The information on the database began to disappear, row by row, line by line.

"But I didn't do anything." Peter said in disbelief.

"Well, you did something." Ricky said.

When the database was completely gone the power went off. Unbeknownst to them when the facility was faced with a power failure certain protocols were put in place to protect the most important areas of the building. Peter and Ricky had first hand experience of such protocols when a metal door slid in, in front of their exit.

They ran to the now blocked exit. Through their combined strength they still failed to open the steal door.

"I guess I'm going to have to blow it open." Ricky said preparing to blast the door. He released a powerful burst of energy. The energy hit the door. It bent at its center but it did not give way. "Tough guy, huh?" He said preparing to take another shot.

"Don't hit it again." Peter said putting his hand in front of Ricky. " Look at the wall."

Ricky looked up at the wall near the door and saw cracks and a free debris falling off.

"I think this room was designed to collapse if anyone used brute force to enter it... or exit it."

"How do you know that stuff?" Ricky asked.

"I once saw a documentary on it."

Ricky looked closer at the door. "This door is magnetically locked. Look at this pad."

On the left side of the door was a small box with numbers on it. On top it had a light that shone red.

"Too bad we don't have the security code."

"Maybe we don't even need it." Ricky said. "My powers are partly magnetically based. Maybe I can reverse the door's magnetism through the pad."

"How do you know about magnetism?"

"I once saw a documentary on it." Ricky said placing his palms over the security pad and beginning to focus. He needed to apply enough of his energy without destroying the security pad. The energy radiated from his palms. The red light on the pad flickered red, then green, then red.

Peter could not help but hold his breath as he saw the security pad being slowly crushed. If it was too damaged, they would be stuck here.

Ricky began perspiring. Using his powers this way was hard. It felt like trying to hold back a river with a wall made of mud. He saw the flickering light finally set on green. The metal door detached from its resting place. Ricky could not help but smile, he had tried something very difficult and had succeeded.

"Come on lets get out of here." Peter said pushing the door open.

They ran through the halls until they heard sounds of soldiers approaching. Peter pulled Ricky into an adjacent room before they were upon them. They waited until it was safe to come out.

The hole in the wall that they had used to enter the building had four soldiers inspecting it. They did not know what hit them when they heard the door open then suddenly came a green light that knocked them unconscious. Peter and Ricky ran over the bodies on their way out of the facility.

Team Wilcox - Washington DC

Mindy, one of Wilcox's assistants was sitting at her desk. She was diligently working when an email disrupted her focus. She looked at the email's subject line and saw the words Report X.

"That's strange." Mindy said.

Mary looked up from the document she was reading. "What?"

There were two long receptionist desks on either side of Wilcox's office. Each desk had two computers for Wilcox's four personal assistants. On one of the desks was Mindy and on the other was Mary. The other assistants were on a late night coffee run.

"I've just received an email here with the subject headline Report X." Mindy said.

"That's interesting. Let me see it." Mary said rushing to her colleagues side.

"No. I'm not opening it." Mindy said. "It's probably for Mr. Wilcox. I'll forward it to him."

"No." Mary said. "This could be his secret."

"Excuse me."

"Think about it, Mindy. The secret meetings with Solver, the private phone calls."

"It'su private." Mindy whispered.

"But what if we could help with whatever it is." Mary reasoned. "His helped us so much what if we can do the same for him."

Mindy thought about it. Mr. Wilcox was a good man. He hired her when she had no experience and has been nothing but kind. He treats his assistants like his family. She reluctantly opened the email. They both read it.

Rebecca and Macy walked in carrying five cups of coffee in between them. When Mary and Mindy saw them they jumped to attention.

Rebecca, the head assistant looked at them suspiciously. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing. We're doing nothing." Mary said.

Rebecca eyed them. She began approaching the computer they had been staring at. "Let's see." She said. She looked at the screen and began reading the email.

"We... We didn't mean to read his email." Mary explained.

"This is Ken's... Mr. Wilcox's email." Rebecca said surprised. "I can't believe you two."

"You guys are in trouble." Macy said.

"Okay we shouldn't have done that but how is Mr. Wilcox connected to Claire Bennett?" Mary asked.

"Claire Bennett? As in Ferris Wheel girl?" Mindy asked. "I didn't get that far in the email.

"Yes, according to the email she's been seen leaving the country." Mary said.

"What has Mr. Wilcox gotten himself into?" Macy asked.

Rebecca was worried. She did not know what to do. From the email, it seemed that Mr. Wilcox had hired people to hunt Claire Bennett down. But why?

"Let's ask him." Rebecca said walking to the office.

"Rebecca wait..." Mindy said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he has a good reason for this." Rebecca said.

/

Wilcox was being confronted with the newly learned information by Rebecca.

"Ken, please tell me you have a reason for why your hunting down this poor girl."

Wilcox coughed for a while into a handkerchief. "I didn't want you... any of you to find out this way but I guess it's time. Call in the rest of the ladies."

All four of the receptionists had walked into the office. They stood before him in a straight line with Rebecca standing a little to the front. They felt strange being there. They could feel the tension in the room.

Wilcox began coughing again. There was more blood coughed up this time. "I've been trying to keep this a secret from all of you." He said. "I'm dying and Claire Bennett is the only one who can save me."

To be continued...