Based off of an incredibly unlikely idea a friend came up with during the last episode.

Also, I might do a oneshot based on Luke at some point in time, since I'm so goshdarned excited that Sylar is getting an (apprentice) associate? This is assuming I actually have free time again.

Takes place after "Trust and Blood".

IT'S TIME. G.E. PARKING LOT. 20:30. --REBEL

Claire sat in the front seat of her car, rubbing the edge of her phone over and over again. She had turned off the engine a few minutes previously, figuring that nothing was going to distract her from her present situation and that the frigid air of the outside world might as well serve to sharpen her senses. She could never be too careful, these days.

A simple trip to the grocery store. Innocent enough, so her mother wouldn't suspect anything. If things didn't turn out as planned, she would be able to turn back to home, and spend more time browsing on Craigslist for a job and pretending to look at college brochures.

A dark car turned into the lot and rolled into a space near hers, far to the back and left where no one else wanted to park. She spared it a glance, then looked away- no real rebel would come in such a mundane thing as a car, she was sure.

If everything went as planned, then maybe, maybe, she'd be able to help again. Rebel hadn't told her much, but something about the words he said made her feel like she could trust him. He would figure out a way to help her fight, but away from her family, so they wouldn't get hurt. He'd help her be a hero again.

Someone tapped lightly on the side of her window, and she whirled around quickly in her seat, her hand flying to rest on the taser she had borrowed from her dad's office. A moment later, she relaxed, and scowled. The boy standing outside had to be her age or younger, and looked far too bored to be able to cause any damage. She wouldn't have been surprised if he had known her once, back when she still bothered with going to school.

She rolled down the window a crack, and peered at him over the edge. "What do you want?"

"You're here to see, uh, Rebel?" His voice had a sort of anxious-to-please quality to it that made her dislike him on the spot. There was no way that he was the person who had been sending the messages- but maybe he knew who had?

"Yeah." Claire opened the door and slid out, glaring at the boy until he backed up a few steps. She flipped her hair behind her shoulders and nudged the door shut. "Want to tell me where he is?"

"Over here, cheerleader."

She knew that voice- she would always know that voice, until the day she died, which, if she was going to look at this logically, was never. She scrambled to pull out her taser, ignoring the fact that it wouldn't do her any good in this situation, and put her back up against her car. She could feel herself shaking, and tried to calm her nerves, but had she ever escaped from Sylar unscathed?

"I should have known it would be you, playing games," she hissed, glaring towards the dark figure leaning against his own car, a few spots away. It totally wasn't odd that she almost felt triumphant at the fact that she had known he was still alive, when no one else had listened to her. "Didn't I kill you already?"

"I don't die so easily, Claire," he replied, a feral grin slowly creeping across his face. "You ought to know that, if no one else does."

Someone coughed nervously, and she spared a glance for the boy who had lured her out of her car in the first place. Did he even know what he was getting into? Probably Sylar had tricked him or blackmailed him or something- she wouldn't put it past him. "Alright, Sylar, who are you trying to hurt this time?"

"Hurt? Oh, I'm not hurting anyone." He paused, reflected for a moment. "Well. Perhaps the 'bad guys'."

"You think this is funny?"

"I think I'm getting tired of the government poaching on my territory." He stood up straight and walked towards her casually, ignoring how she was pointing her weapon at him threateningly. Why wasn't he trying to telekineticly freeze her or something? "I think that my goals might mirror those of a few would-be heroes in this case, and that the government is rather too large for one man to take down alone."

"You want help?" She grinned back maliciously, every nerve on edge. "And you're honestly looking to recruit me? Go to hell, Sylar."

The boy shifted uneasily and started to speak, but Sylar waved a hand at him and he automatically fell silent. "You'll help," he said calmly, staring her down.

"No."

"You want revenge, of course, and who better to work through to get that revenge?"

She looked away; he really was disconcerting when he stared at a person like that. "I- I don't need revenge. I just want everyone to be safe."

He sighed. "You're lying. Don't glare, I can tell. And, more importantly, you know very well that doing anything would be better than sitting at home, wasting your time wondering which of your friends got killed today."

She balled up her free hand into a fist. Damn it, why did Sylar always have to tell the truth?

"This is a one time offer, Claire." He was still watching her, completely serious, and since when had Sylar been so composed? "And, think about it- if I'm going to be corrupting the young heroes of the day, as I'm sure you're suspecting me of doing, wouldn't you prefer to be there to help them escape when they came to their senses?"

"I thought you couldn't read minds," Claire growled, fingering the trigger of the taser half-heartedly.

"I can't." He smiled. "But I can sure as hell understand yours."