Disclaimer Alert
I do not own Heroes; I do not own the characters appearing in the Heroes media fueled by the NBC. I do however own the knowledge that says that Tim Kring owns Heroes... or at least some of it. Okay I don't own that knowledge either.
Author's note
It has been and still is a difficult month but I was able to write this nonetheless. It is a pretty long chapter so I have partitioned it (I've always wanted to use that word: 'it'.) into 2 parts. I'll try to post the next part sometime this month hopefully. Here we go...
Heroes: Brave New World
Episode 6
Part 1
The sun was beating down on the African jungle. A boy was sitting down on the earthy floor. Blood that had once freely flowed from his nose had now dried up on his upper lip. The boy was on the edge of being a teenager but you could still see some innocents in him as he silently sobbed. He did not want to draw any attention to himself but that was unnecessary as his quiet sobs were being drowned out by the conversation and laughter of a few men a small distance away from him. He guessed that the men were probably laughing at him.
The sun continued to beat down at the boy. He fought the urge to move and seek shelter from its merciless rays lest one of the men noticed him, lest they remembered he existed. A long slender shadow fell on his face giving some relief from the heat. He looked up gratefully at the sky expecting to see a cloud but instead saw a woman. The woman wore a tattered dress that would be considered rags in normal standards. She would have been considered beautiful if it were not for her left eye being swollen shut and her lip, which still had blood seeping from it, being cut. She had various other cuts on her cheeks and chin. Her hair was ruffled up and messy.
"Stop crying." The woman said in French.
The boy flinched and looked past the woman to see if the men were coming again and was relieved when they did not. They seemed too busy with their conversation to notice them. The boy looked back at the woman and for the first time noticed that she held a rather large knife that would occasionally glint in the sunlight.
"No son of mine will be as weak as you are now." The woman continued. "If he is then he does not deserve to live. Get up… Get up and kill these bastards!"
Valery – America
Valery woke up with a start. It was the first time he had ever dreamt of his mother. He looked around the place he was at. The streets were swarming with fire fighters and other medical practitioners attending to some people. In addition to all the clutter of personnel there was also some policemen and he could hear more sirens approaching the scene.
"It's okay. You're okay now." A medical practitioner cooed to him soothingly.
Valery tried to recall how he got to the place in the first place. Suddenly the memory of what had happen came rushing back to him. He remembered accompanying Claire and being ambushed. The ambushers were able to subdue him and take Claire away. He had to save her. Getting up from the stretcher they had placed him in, he began walking away, wondering how he would go about finding her.
The medical practitioner tried to stop him by touching his shoulder. "Wait sir. I'm not done checking if you are okay."
Valery roughly shrugged his shoulder to get her hand off it. "Do your job and check up on the weak people around you because I don't need your help." He said not even bothering to look back at her. He was glad that he was reminded of that time in the jungle when he was a boy; his mother made him strong that day and the memory reminded him that he was still strong. Teargas would not stop him, no one would stop him.
As Valery walked he saw a shiny thing on the ground. He picked it up and noticed that it was a name tag that did not belong to anyone on the scene. He deduced that it most likely belonged to the people who took Claire and was probably got lost during the scuffle. He noticed that there was an address on the name tag. He now had a way to find Claire.
Hiro, N and Amir, P – India
"So you will do anything I ask if I release the prisoners I have?" Amir confirmed.
Hiro nodded, "Yes."
Amir thought of all the possibilities. He literally had all of time in his hands. He could make himself richer or even more powerful or both. He could destroy all of his enemies and fix his past mistakes. He could see some of the greatest moments in all of history. He could do anything or at least anything that Hiro Nakamura was willing to do. With all the possibilities, Amir only wanted one thing most of all. This was the reason why he collected all the specials he could get his hands on in hopes that one of them would be able to help him with his greatest goal...
"I want you to save my daughter." Amir said.
Hiro was initially confused but then a smile spread across his face. Would an evil man make such a request? Maybe Amir Prakesh was not so bad after all. "Of course! Tell me where she is and I'll save her."
"You don't understand. She is… already dead. You need to go back in time and save her."
Hiro started humming in his throat to show that he was unsure if he could fulfil his request. He had made an oath never to go back to the past after the whole Tekezo Kensie debacle. He could tell that this would be trouble. "That will be a problem because…"
"If you don't do it then I will not release any of the prisoners!" Amir threatened.
Hiro sighed loudly. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. Should he risk the present to save the people Amir had or should he risk the lives of the people being held to maintain the timestream. Hiro finally nodded, "Okay!" He said before taking Amir by the shoulder and propelling them both into the past.
Noah, B and Lauren, G –
Noah was angrily pacing up and down while talking to Rene. He had just found out that Rene did not know where his daughter was.
"So you think she made it back here! I don't understand how you could have let something like that happen! If I knew you were this incompetent I would have not asked you to keep her safe!" Noah shouted at the handset.
Lauren sat on a park bench and listened to Noah's conversation. She had gotten the gist of the situation by just listening to his exchanges with the Haitian. She felt sorry for the Haitian, he was no slacker on any task and if Claire had escaped his sight she knew it was not his fault and she was sure even Noah knew that but right now he was blinded by his anger causing him to tear into the Haitian.
Rene listened quietly and waited for a chance to speak as Noah ranted and raved. He had only seen Noah lose control like this once in the old days while they were still partners. He did not take the way he was speaking personally. In his calm demeanour, he had enough wisdom to see that right now he was not a professional agent but a worried father who did not know where his daughter was.
Noah Bennett slowed down. He stopped pacing and kept quiet for a moment to allow his mind to calm down. He was not accustomed to losing control of his emotions, especially in the sight of Lauren and the presence of the Haitian. "Do you have anything else to tell me?"
Rene hesitated. He was not sure if he should tell Noah that his nephew Valery was also missing. When he could not find him he began to suspect that he was in cahoots with whoever had placed Claire in danger in the first place. After Valery came to live with them Claire's friend called the house landline to ask for her help but how did she even know where Claire was staying? Only three people knew that she was there, himself, Claire and Valery. It all made sense that he was a traitor and could be very well leading Claire to a trap.
"My nephew might also be with her. Be careful of him, he is dangerous," Rene said.
"You have a nephew?" Noah asked surprised.
"Yes."
Noah knew he would get no further information from him so he hung up and sat next to Lauren. He began listening to a recording of the so called 'distress call' from Gretchen that Rene had recorded and sent to him. After a while he took out his earphones and told Lauren everything that he had just learned. He told her that Rene had sent him the recording and asked her to listen to it and give her feedback.
Lauren listened to the recording a few times before she took out the earphones and commented on it. "This audio is well done but if you listen to it carefully you can hear that this girl…"
"Gretchen." Noah offered.
"Yes, her voice's pace and pitch is not uniform throughout which leads me to think it was spliced together."
"Which only confirms that Claire is walking into a trap, if she hasn't already."
"What should we do?" Lauren asked.
"We need information on who is really hunting her." Noah said getting up from the park bench and being followed by Lauren. "We need someone who knows what is happening, the major events of this country. That way we can narrow down the list of suspects." Lauren got into the driver's seat while Noah sat shotgun.
"So I guess we're going to pay Tracy Straus a visit." She said before driving off.
Mainframe – Mainframe's Invitation Event
Mainframe got off the taxi to the meeting site of his event. He knew he was hours early for it, as it would not start until late in the night but because he felt like his home was not a safe place to be because of the Asian man who was looking for him. He wondered how he was found out in the first place when he had been so careful to conceal his true identity under his Mainframe alias.
He sat down on a city bench and looked at the people passing by. His stomach began to loudly grumble when he saw a hotdog stand. He instinctively checked his empty pockets. It looked like he would just have to bear the hunger for the time being. He wished he still had his connection to the internet so he could talk to it and take his mind of the building hunger. There was so much that he wanted to ask it but he was just too afraid at the time. His stomach grumbled again and he knew it would be a long day.
Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh –India
Matt lay on a hospital bed while Mohinder gave him a check-up, Matt had told Mohinder that he was having difficulty with using his ability. Every time he used his telepathy he would go into a trance like state, which is the reason why he had failed to protect Molly. He felt guilty about that because she was there to help him and it was his duty to protect her and now she was in a hospital bed recovering from a gun wound.
Mohinder agreed to run some diagnostic tests on him. They had walked around the hospital looking for an empty room with the needed equipment for him to analyse Matt's problem. Mohinder had hooked up a few wires to Matt's head to monitor his brainwaves on a screen; he then proceeded to do other tests on him, like checking his breathing, heart rate, etc. After a few minutes Mohinder concluded his studies.
"Without the availability of a blood test my diagnosis is that you are perfectly fine." Mohinder said.
"But my powers…"
"I think that is just a result of exhaustion. Lately you've been using your ability not only very frequently but at greater intensities than you normally do. I think, again, you're just exhausted."
"So all I need is a break?" Matt asked.
"Yes or your brain will automatically go into the trance you experience or maybe it will get used to the pressure created by your powers. But I would not risk it, just don't use them so much for a while."
"That's one thing that I can't promise, doctor. I still have a son to save. That's something I'm going to do now."
Mohinder kept quiet for a while. "Although I don't like doing this without you having fully recovered I can't deny that time is of the essence. I'll accompany you because I still have to save the other prisoners that Prakesh has. I just wish that we had Hiro to provide back-up."
Matt nodded and wondered where the Asian man had disappeared to.
Hiro Nakamura and Amir Prakesh – India, sometime in the past
Hiro and Amir appeared in the middle of the lawn of the yard of a mansion. Hiro ducked behind a rock a little away from the mansion while Amir did the same but he hid behind a tree. Hiro saw the big man hiding behind the stem of the tree and thought about how strange he probably looked to the gardeners around.
"Mr. Prakesh!" One of the workers said when he saw his employer hiding behind the thin stem of the tree. Amir stepped out from behind the tree and began talking to the worker.
Hiro continued to sneak around the property, taking great care not to be seen. He eventually got to a place that was lined with stained windows that were coloured in a variety of beautiful colours to make images. Hiro crouched beneath the windows until he heard some commotion coming from the room beyond the window. He peeked through it and saw two little girls fighting in a hall-sized room. The room had fine carpets with pictures both drawn and photographed hanging on the walls. There were expensive vases and rare pot plants lined along the wall. Hiro even saw two crossed broad swords hanging on the wall.
The two girls in the room fighting were very young, not older than eight years. One of the girls wore a bright blue dress dotted with shiny multi-coloured stones, the other girl had on a modest grey dress. Hiro looked on in silence as the girls fought over a doll. The girl in the blue dress was able to overpower the other and ran away with the doll. A man with a moustache walked into the hall-like room, too late to have seen the commotion. The little girl in the grey dress cried as she ran to him. He hugged her as she cried in his arms.
"What is wrong, Faro?" The man asked the little girl.
"Daddy! Ashvren has taken Lolo." The girl sobbed in his arms.
"Your doll? I'll ask Mr. Prakesh to tell her to give it back to you, okay?" The man who turned out to be the crying girl's father said.
Hiro watched this situation with great interest. He secretly spied on the man as he went to Amir's office. The man told a younger looking Amir, with a shorter beard, what had happened.
Amir nodded, "I will pay you for the doll that my daughter took." He assured the man.
"That is very generous sir but that doll is irreplaceable. It is the last thing that my wife gave to Faro before she passed away. Can you not… maybe ask Ashvren to return it?" The man asked with a shaky voice.
"I can do no such thing! Tell your girl to get over it and buy her new one."
"But sir…"
"Are we going to have a problem here? Because I do not think I can continue to employ problematic employees." Amir said.
"No sir, no problem," the man bowed slightly as he retreated out of the Amir's office.
Hiro was startled when a big hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. The hand forcefully turned him around. An older Amir stood there looking a bit annoyed.
"You fool; you took us too far into the past! You did not even wait for me to tell you how far back we needed to go. We need to go back seven years from our present to the 4th of November."
"Okay." Hiro said before taking Amir's shoulder and moving them through time and space again.
Claire Bennett – Washington, Secret Holding Facility
Claire Bennett finally regained consciousness. She felt a little groggy at first but the feeling soon dissipated when she realised the situation she was in. She found herself strapped to a silver metallic chair. Her arms and legs were tightly bound to the cold surface of the chair by leather straps. Twisting her wrists, she tested the strength of her bonds and found them to be secure. Feeling frustrated, she did the only thing she could do in such a circumstance… she waited.
/
Wilcox glided through the hallways of his secret base. He could not believe that he had finally caught Claire Bennett and it was all thanks to his brilliant assistants who were following him close behind. He had decided to show them the compound where they were keeping Claire. He felt they deserved it; they supported him without asking for much and what his men had been struggling to do for a long time, they did in a manner of days!
He stepped into a conference room with security camera monitors. There he met with Gillian McKay. McKay greeted Wilcox and his all woman posse with a big charming smile.
"Mr Wilcox! I didn't expect you here so soon and with… company." Gillian said.
"These are my assistants, Rebecca, Macy, Mary and Mindy. Mr McKay, I would like to see her." Wilcox said.
"Of course." McKay said leading them to the monitors.
One monitor switched on and showed Claire Bennett bound to the silver chair. Mindy gasped at the sight. It seemed Wilcox was not impressed by what he saw either.
"Why is she bound like that?" He asked McKay.
"Well… she is one of them after all, Sir." McKay answered.
"So? She's not dangerous McKay."
"But we don't know what she is capable of. We don't know what any of them are capable of. Trust me sir, it is better this way." McKay argued.
Wilcox sighed. "I thought we were on the same page Mr McKay but sadly it seems that we are not. Claire Bennett is not my prisoner and if you don't understand that then I'm afraid we can no longer work together. You will be paid for services rendered but you are no longer an employee of mine."
McKay clenched his fists in anger. How dare Wilcox fire him for treating one of them like the animals they were? He was about to lay an insult but thought better of it and just left the room and later the building. Wilcox was glad to see McKay go. He knew one of his employees was a mole for Agent Solver and since Gillian McKay was the only one who knew that he was secretly running this project it could only mean that it was him who was feeding Solver information about this project. And firing McKay for badly treating Claire also placed him in good standing with his assistants and made them trust him and this process he had put in motion even more.
"Everyone now answers to my assistants because they answer directly to me." Wilcox announced to everyone in the room. "Rebecca, get them to move Claire to a more human holding facility. I have things to take care of before I speak to her." He said before walking out of the room.
Rebecca and the other assistants went about doing what Wilcox had ordered.
Samuel, S; Anita, R and Emma, K – Manhattan
Samuel Sullivan was walking around the musical instrument shop. His companions, Emma Kooldridge and Anita Rodriguez, were at another aisle section. Anita thought that maybe Emma would like a guitar to use in tandem with her ability but Samuel knew better. Although Emma's ability would work with any musical instrument, in fact he suspected that it could work with anything that made noise, he had discovered that she had a natural affinity with the cello. As he walked around his eyes landed on what he was looking for.
/
Emma and Anita walked around the store looking at various guitars. Anita ran her finger across one of the hollow wooden ones and smiled. Emma noticed this.
Emma made a gesture with her hands to symbolize playing a guitar and pointed at Anita.
"No," Anita answered shaking her head. "I cannot play but my fiancé could though. He would serenate me with beautiful songs."
Emma looked sad and pointed at her own ring finger questionably.
"No, I… we did not get the chance to marry… he died." She said before Samuel called to them.
Anita led the way to Samuel's voice. As Emma moved across the shelves she asked herself why she was working with Samuel again. She was beginning to feel conflicting emotions about him. She knew that she could trust him but at the same time a feeling of fear and hate was beginning to rise in her, feelings that she did not know where they came from. All that Samuel had done was not only for her benefit but also for her people's benefit. She felt guilty for the unprovoked negative emotions. He did not deserve such negative thoughts and doubts.
They finally found Samuel. He was bent over something and when he got up he revealed a cello. Its beauty made Anita gasp. The cello was black, it seemed to absorb all light and reflect none and on the left side of its strings was the symbol that was present in the last cello that Samuel had given her; she thought she saw the symbol on Hiro's sword once upon a time too. It was etched in white on the black surface of the cello. She had often wondered what the symbol meant but obviously Samuel knew since he probably just inscribed it on the cello.
"In the old days they used to give the most unique and powerful weapons names," Samuel said. "I think that tradition is appropriate for this instrument because it will help us destroy all the people who try to stop us. I think its name should be Silent Strings. Do you like it?"
'Silent Strings', Emma thought. She understood how the name related to her and she did like it. Emma nodded. She felt that feeling again, the fear and some mistrust. What did Samuel want her to do with Silent Strings?
Noah, B; Lauren, G and Tracy, S – Tracy's Penthouse
"So, will you help us?" Noah asked Tracy after explaining her daughter's disappearance. Noah and Lauren had just found out that Gretchen was also missing. According to the university she had not attended any of her classes and had not been answering her calls.
"Noah, as much as I like Claire I don't see how I can help with your problem." Tracy said.
"Well we do need your resources and expertise." Lauren said.
"Okay. Tell me what I can do but it better not cost me much." Tracy said.
"We want to track Gretchen's account information: where she spent her money and why. If it is possible we want to track her mobile phone too." Noah said.
"I could call in a few favours and get you that." Tracy said.
/
They waited for about 30 minutes until all the information they had requested had been delivered. They all read the information hoping for a clue on Gretchen's whereabouts. They saw from the accounts that large amounts of money was charged to her credit cards for transportation to Washington and then a few restaurants around the area. There were several locations where her phone was last used.
Tracy looked at one of the locations and recognised the address. "That's Peter's apartment!" She exclaimed.
"What would Gretchen be doing at Peter's apartment?" Lauren asked.
"Let's find out." Tracy said.
Hiro, N and Amir, P – India, in the past
Hiro and Amir materialized in front of a restaurant. Amir walked forward and looked around the place. People would occasionally stare at the big man as they walked into the café. After looking at the place Amir looked back at Hiro and nodded.
"This is the correct place. Let's hope it is the correct time as well." Amir said.
"It is the right time," Hiro assured him.
"My daughter should be somewhere in there. We'll both go in and try to find her. When you do find her tell me and I will warn her so that she does not die." He said before going in to hear what Hiro wanted to say about this whole situation.
Hiro walked in after him and saw Amir already talking to a few people in an attempt to find his daughter. He thought that maybe he should tell him to be careful who he speaks to and what he says to them but he had a suspicion that the bigger man was not going to listen to him. Hiro wandered around the restaurant looking for a young adult that he had only seen once when she was a child. The restaurant was big. It had an upstairs and a downstairs. There was a quiet buzz of sound and music in the air. He had sworn that he heard someone gossip about seeing a huge man in the place who was apparently looking for some girl. Hiro sighed; it was very hard for a man like Amir to blend in any place even among his own countrymen.
There was a section of the restaurant that led to the downstairs portion of it. Hiro tried to go down via the stairs but a man blocked his way. "VIP only," the man sternly said.
Hiro gave him his friendliest smile. "I am a VIP. I… I… uhh… I am a visiting dignitary from Japan!"
"Just because you are from another country does not mean you are important." The man said.
Hiro saw the man's face suddenly change into half horror and half surprise. Hiro only guessed that he had just seen Amir Prakesh. Amir ignored the two men and headed straight for the stairs. The man bravely and dumbly stepped in front of him bringing him to a stop. Amir's face of concern quickly turned into one of anger.
"What is the meaning of this?" Amir asked. "Out of my way!"
"I… I'm sorry V… VIP only." The man said holding his shaking hands into fist at his side.
"Do you know who I am, fool. I am Amir Prakesh, I am a VIP wherever I go."
The man thought for a while and then remembered the name Prakesh. A famous family who he had seen on TV news and a few Indian and even American showbiz reports since he was young. He gulped and nodded then moved aside to let him through. Hiro was following close behind and as he passed the security guard he gave him an uncharacteristic cocky smile. That is until Amir stopped and turned back at him.
"Do not follow me. You will look upstairs where the rest of the people are just in case my daughter is not down here, which is unlikely." Amir said.
"No. I need to be there. I have to make sure that the space time continuum…"
"Remember our agreement, Hiro. If you ruin this chance for me a lot of people will die." Amir warned.
Hiro clenched his fists and reluctantly agreed. He went upstairs and looked for Amir's daughter there. There were a few shelves of books upstairs and people speaking in hush tones. As he walked through the upper floor he heard a whispered argument between three people. He walked slowly by the arguing people and a phrase made him stop and spy on the people talking.
"You cannot do this to me Ashvren." One of the boys said to a girl. "I did not cheat on that test, you did and I will not get blamed for it."
"And who are you going to tell, Mirak? You will not report us because if you do…" One of the boys began retaliating.
"I will tell the university board, our lecturers, anyone who will listen. I will not be framed for something I did not do!" Mirak, the first boy snapped even louder than before.
Ashvren was idly playing with her smart device ignoring the conversation until Mirak raised his voice. She placed her device on the table and began to rise. "Then go Mirak. Tell the university board and lecturers, tell anyone who will listen that it was I who cheated on the exams but I wonder who they will believe. Will they believe me, Ashvren Prakesh, a well known student, who is a member of the School Governing Body, whose father has donated a large amount of money to the university, whose family has had generation and generation of its members attend the university and go on to become great and powerful members of society? Or will they believe you, a poor rat from the slums whose mother is behind on her son's fees for the semester and who was found with stolen exam papers on him?"
Mirak knew that he had been beaten. He would have to face expulsion but something in him told him not to give up, there must be a way out of this situation. He began to think and then an idea popped into his head. Ashvren's smart device probably had evidence of her crime. If he only could get it. He would need a way to escape after he got it because he knew Ashvren's boyfriend would beat him up if he took it. He looked around the room and everyone was sitting down. He saw a short man with what seemed like a sword slung around his shoulder. His mind did not even wonder about the strange man because all it was doing was looking at possible escape routes.
Mirak suddenly grabbed the device and began running for the exit.
"Mirak, you bloody thief!" Ashvren's boyfriend said.
Asvren got up and grabbed her boyfriend by the collar. "You have to get him!"
"Why, you can get another one, right? And anyways this does not work in his favour." He said.
"No you fool! There are things in there that will prove… Just get him!" Ashvren commanded.
Ashvren and her boyfriend began running after the youth. Hiro, who was secretly listening to the conversation began following after them. He got downstairs in time to see Ashvren run out of the door. He looked to his side in time to see that Amir had just seen his daughter. They both began running for the exit. Hiro got out first followed by Amir who had knocked down a few people who were in his way. They got out in time to see Ashvren get into a Mercedes Benz car and chase after Mirak who was on a scooter.
"Ashvren, wait! Ashvren!" Amir screamed out to his daughter but it was already too late. He desperately looked around for some transportation. A car was beginning to pull up to the restaurant's parking lot. "Come, we still have a chance," he said to Hiro.
Hiro stood in front of the man as he tried to get to the parking car. Amir stopped in front of him looking confused and bewildered. "I cannot save your daughter and I cannot allow you to do it. Things must remain as they are." Hiro said.
Amir was visibly angry. His breaths came out shallow and his eyes were wide. "What do you mean? Have you forgotten about our deal?" He shouted.
"No, I have not but I can't keep our bargain. We are going back now." Hiro said reaching out to Amir's shoulder.
Amir swung at Hiro at the side of his head before Hiro could touch him thereby knocking Hiro unconscious. When Hiro had fallen he ran for the car. The occupants were just getting out until they were attacked by him. It only took a few seconds to immobilize the driver and his companion and take the car keys. He got in the car and began to drive off. He thought back to years ago when two men had accused him of assaulting them and stealing their car but nothing could be proved as he was away at that time on business.
As he speedily drove out of the restaurant, Hiro's unconscious body, that was lying motionless on pavement, began to come up. He considered running over Hiro's head and kill him as vengeance for going back on his word. The wheel of his car was fast approach him; Hiro could not move and did not even know he was in danger. At the last moment Amir swerved away thereby missing Hiro's head by inches and continued after his daughter. He reasoned that he would still need Hiro if he failed to save his daughter. He drove away leaving Hiro lying on the pavement.
MainFrame – Mainframe Invitation Event Site
The sun had already begun to set and no one had arrived for Mainframe's event. At first he was optimistic that maybe they were all late but after a few hours he began to realise that no one was coming. Had they somehow not received his message or maybe they simply did not care. Maybe he was truly alone in the world.
/
Little did Mainframe know that a few blocks away his event was being hijacked by Samuel, thanks to Emma and Silent Strings. Samuel's people began to gather and with everyone who came, he could feel his power growing. Emma sat on a city bench playing her siren song on her cello. The tune was infused with her emotions which allowed her to attract everyone who had come to the city to attend Mainframe's event. While she attracted them with her song Anita increased their feelings of trust so they would be more receptive of Samuel.
However, Samuel and Anita should have been looking out for Emma because she was slowly coming to her senses. Her trust began to shrivel up and she began to suspect that Samuel and Anita had done something to her and that they were doing something to these people. She remembered the carnival and what Samuel had made her do. That was the last thing she needed to break free from Anita's spell. She realised that Samuel was using her again; what he did to her using Doyle he was now doing to her using Anita.
She began looking around without stopping her playing lest Samuel or Anita noticed that she was herself again. She needed a way to leave this place. During her secret search for escape, she saw a teenage boy wearing a black jacket with short black hair that would move about as he joined the main gathering crowd. He looked at her for a while and their eyes met for a moment, then he continued into the crowd. Her brother would have been that his age if he was still alive. She realised that she could not just leave these people at the mercy of Samuel. She doubted that anyone knew of his plan so it was up to her to save them and stop him. She began to change the song she was playing, but this one had a different purpose, it was to drive everyone away.
/
West flew through the night skies looking down at the city lights. Micah was in his ear the whole time giving him advice and directions. Micah was sitting at a temporary base of operations. He did not want to work from home lest he places his family in danger. Everything of the mission was going well so far until he began to notice that West was slowly veering off course.
"West you're going off track." He said into the mouthpiece which relayed his voice to West.
"Oh." West said and began to fly a few degrees until he was on the right track again.
Micah began looking at the information channel. This Mainframe Event was seemingly happening under everyone's noses. No one had even found out about it. It gave Micah hope that maybe it was legit and that his and West's services would no longer be needed. He looked at West's geographical position on his laptop to check on his progress and noticed that West was once again veering off track.
"West you're going off track again." He informed him trying to stay calm.
"Again?" West said before correcting his course.
"What is wrong? I thought you had a great sense of direction and yet you keep going the wrong way? Are you losing your focus?" Micah asked.
"It's nothing. It won't happen again." West said. West honestly did not know why he kept going in the wrong direction. When he thought about it, it felt like something was pulling him somewhere else. He shook his head free of the silly thought. Not even gravity could pull him down to Earth so what could possibly be pulling him to anywhere.
West landed at an abandoned spot near the Mainframe Invitation Event. He was trying to be secret but an obese man saw him come from the sky and safely land on the ground without a splat or any noticeable injury. Mainframe realised that West could fly! He got up and began walking to him excitedly. He was not alone after all!
West looked around the empty site. "Micah, I think you over-exaggerated with this whole Mainframe thing. This place is empty." West said disappointedly.
"That's strange, was it cancelled?" Micah asked.
"Everyone probably saw it for what it was, a trap and smartly stayed away. Or everyone might be invisible, intangible and 'un-hearable'." West offered.
Micah sat back and rubbed his eyes. "I doubt it," he simply said.
West saw Mainframe walking towards him. "I've got someone approaching me… big guy."
"If he looks too tough then you should just get out of there." Micah said moving forward in his chair, closer to his laptop.
"Not big as in muscles but… the other big." West said.
Mainframe stopped in front of West. "Hello, are you here because of Mainframe's invitation?" He asked hopefully.
"Careful West, prepare yourself for the worst." Micah said through the earpiece.
"Yes I am. I'm assuming you are too." West said.
"Yes. I'm Mainframe!" He said excitedly.
Micah hacked into a satellite feed and ordered the satellite to zoom in on West's current position. He could see Mainframe and West standing facing each other. "So this is Mainframe. He doesn't look so bad."
"So what happened with your event?" West asked.
"I don't know. It seems no one attended except you."
"You hear that." West said holding his earpiece.
"Yes. It's weird. But I guess it's for the best." As Micah said that he looked around the city with the satellite that he had just hijacked. He saw that there was a large group of people who had gathered some distance away from the site. Was it a coincidence that there was a sizeable number of people gathering some distance away from the Mainframe event? He thought of something that had happened twice during the mission. West had gone off course and he did not explain why. He extrapolated West's incorrect path to see where it would lead and saw that it would have led to the gathering group of people that he had spied upon. "West I think Mainframe's event is still going on just not at your current location."
"What!" West said.
"What?" Mainframe asked. He had noticed that West was talking to someone through the device in his ear. Maybe they knew why there were no people here.
"Why would they be there?" West asked Micah after he had told him where the people were.
"I don't know and I don't like it." Micah said.
"Okay." West said. He looked at Mainframe. "It seems all the people who were supposed to attend your event are at another location."
"Why would they be at another location? The message I wrote clearly said…"
"I don't know but I'm going to check it out."
"Please take me with." Mainframe said.
"Uhm… It could be dangerous."
"Please. If they are in danger because of me then I have to be there to help them." Mainframe reasoned.
West wanted to give him an excuse that avoided stating the obvious but he could not bring himself to do it. "Fine." He said before turning his back to allow Mainframe to piggy back on. "Hold… on… tight." He said struggling with Mainframe's weight. West struggled to take off as he found it difficult to balance himself but he was able to get high above the city buildings before he made his way to his destination.
Mohinder, S and Matt, P – India (Present day)
Mohinder Suresh and Matt Parkman were standing outside of Amir's building. Somewhere in there was Matt's son Matt Parkman junior and Sanjog Iyer and other prisoners with abilities.
"We're going to have a problem with the guards." Mohinder noted the guards at the entrance. "Looks like I will have to take care of them."
"No need. I gave them an order to ignore me. Hopefully the order is still in effect." Matt said. "Just stay close to me."
They walked closer to the building and sure enough the guards allowed them in with no problem. They walked around the building looking for the prisoners.
/
Lwando was called into the security room. It was strange when she got there and Amir was not waiting for her. She answered directly and only to Amir Prakesh, no one else. There was a tall Indian man waiting for her in the room.
"What you want?" She asked the man who she knew would probably be in charge in Amir's absence.
"We have a situation and Mr Prakesh is currently not here." The man said nodding at the monitor screens.
Lwando checked out the screen. He saw the two men. One slightly overweight white man that she had come to know as being Matt and Amir's former employee, the Indian Mohinder Suresh. Matt Parkman had defeated her once before and had invaded the safety of her own mind. She was now afraid of him.
"I can't now." She said.
"You have to." The second in charge said. "We don't know why they are here. They could put your little lover boy in danger."
Lwando understood the insult too well but she could not deny the risks these two men presented. She would have to try and stop them on her own. She jumped into the nearest reflective surface wishing that Thulani was here to help her. But she was all alone heading for round two with Matt.
/
She had a plan. She could not defeat Matt but maybe she could pull him into the reflective world and keep him there. He would be no danger to anyone in her little world. As for Dr Suresh he was most likely a weakling.
Matt suddenly felt uncomfortable, like he should be watching his back. He realised why when he saw that he was just passing a mirror. He tried to step away from it but bumped into Mohinder. Suddenly a figure appeared from the mirror, his enemy, Lwando. Her arms shot out and grabbed him. Matt's upper body was pulled into the mirror before he knew it. He struggled to get free but it was a losing battle. That is until Mohinder joined the skirmish.
Although he was initially stunned to see his friend being pulled into a mirror, he eventually regained his wits and grabbed Matt's back and gave a big pull. The force was enough to pull both Matt and Lwando out of the mirror. Lwando tumbled but quickly got up. She ran for the safety of the mirror. Mohinder tried to grab her but she slipped through his fingers as she dove head first into the safety of the mirror. Once she was safe, she looked at her enemies.
She knew that she had underestimated the doctor. She looked at them trying to come up with a new plan of attack. Mohinder looked at the girl in the mirror. It was the first time he had ever seen her and yet he felt like he knew her somehow.
"Dark Beauty?" Mohinder called out to the girl in the mirror.
"What… What did you say?" Lwando asked surprised. She had always hated her dark skin but one person told her that her dark skin was what made her beautiful. Her lover, Thulani told her she was his Dark Beauty and only he had ever called her that in their most private and intimate moments. "Where you hear that name!" She said her voice sounding distorted through the mirror. She looked at Matt suspiciously.
Mohinder was confused himself. He had never called anyone that but it seemed that the name somehow related to the woman in the mirror. He realised where the name came from. "Thulani! You know Thulani don't you. I have a piece of his mind in me."
"That is impossible. Thulani is…"
"Separated into 23 dogs, I know. But a piece of him is in my mind."
"You never told me that." Matt said interjecting into the conversation.
"I did not think it was important." Mohinder said.
Matt looked at Lwando who was staring intently at Mohinder. "I could help you." Matt said. "I could help Thulani; I could fix him."
"You lying!" She said.
"I'm not! You've seen what I can do. You know what I can do." Matt said trying to convince her. "I will help you but you'll have to help us too. Lead us where Amir is keeping my son and the other prisoners."
"The prisoners in building, baby is not; he moved."
Matt was distraught when he found out that his son was now at a different location. "Where is he Lwando?"
"I tell you where prisoners but you help Thulani then tell you where baby is."
Matt and Mohinder exchanged glances. This was the best that they could get from her so they agreed to her conditions. She told them how to get to the prisoners at which Matt convinced Mohinder to go save them as they were his priority.
"Before you go Mohinder, I will need that piece of Thulani you have in your mind if I am going to heal him." Matt said.
"Please, take it." Mohinder said happy to be rid of the foreign consciousness in his mind.
Matt placed his hands on Mohinder's head and began to feel around his mind until he found what he was looking for. He transferred it and put it in his own mind. "Good luck." He said to Mohinder and he wished him the same.
Lwando then lead Matt to Thulani's body so that he could have somewhere to place his consciousness. Lwando stayed in the safety of her reflective world all the time while leading Matt. Once they got to the room where Thulani was seemingly sleeping peacefully, Matt took his body in his arms and he began racing to the pit where the 23 dogs were being kept, where he would try to save Thulani.