Authors Note: So here it is, the third chapter. After this I'm going to try to get a little more action and a little less exposition in the chapters. Somebody needs to tell me though, is Elle too hard to read. I tried to make her thought process a little erratic, but I'm worried it's to confusing. So hey enjoy… and please review, I got nothing last chapter.
Chapter Three
Elle was furious. She had tried so hard to stay in control. She hadn't responded when the stupid cheerleader blew up at her for helping or when that stupid cheerleader openly mocked her. But stupid Sylar gave her stupid goose bumps and she just got spooked. She got spooked and she blew it.
She ripped open her car door and flung herself inside, trying desperately to get rid of the frustrated tears welling up in her eyes. God, it was so much easier when someone was telling you what to do. She had never in her whole life done what she is doing now, not having any orders or plans. For all her apparent craziness, she really was a daddy's girl. She had been in the company her whole life; it was why she had never understood what Peter was so upset about. Her room was really just a modified cell and she only had enough ventures outside to teach her basic skills, like buying things and driving. Most of her human interactions came from prisoners and Daddy's employees, and she had only been allowed to do missions recently. Not that she was upset about that or anything. Yeah, she wished sometimes that her life had been as fun and easy as Claire's, but she knew her purpose and Daddy loved her enough to do what was necessary to prepare her for that purpose. Still…. when she sees Claire in her perfect house and her perfect family… she can't help but want to ruin it. Especially when Claire acts like such a bitch. So now she was outside, in her car, supposedly getting tranquilizers.
There were tranquilizers in the car, of course; she hadn't just used that as an excuse to escape. Daddy refused to let her get her own car, said she'd blow it up or something, so she always used company cars, which, by the way, she'd never blown up, except that once when she was still learning, just to show Daddy how responsible she was with her toys. The company cars came fully stocked with all sorts of goodies, including tranquilizers. The problem was her inability to actually use them.
She calmed herself, deep breaths, and thought out her options. She had been trained to use tranquilizers, agent protocol, but it had been a really long time since then. She hadn't been on too many missions, but on those few missions she had been on, it was her "one of them" that had always used them. And usually they didn't need to use them. Even the strongest evolved humans, like Sylar and Peter, would usually be out for hours, or dead, with a good shock. Still, with Sylar, it was better safe than sorry. But even if she managed to poke him right, she might not give him enough and would wake up too quickly. Or, a little voice in her head whispered, give him too much and he might die.
"Shit," she groaned, shaking the thought, as enticing as it may be, out of her head. Most evolved ones, even deadly ones like Sylar, didn't scare her enough to want to kill them. Normally she just wanted them in cells, harmless and hers, to play with. Something about Sylar disturbed her, though. She couldn't place her finger on the feeling, but whenever she looked at him, she felt… something. And it wasn't pleasant.
Ok, after her little, tiny episode, even without shocking anyone, Claire wouldn't be helping her willingly. All her hard work down the drain. And she still had to do something with Sylar, something that didn't involve death, without Daddy finding out she was at the Bennet's. Without Bennet finding out she was at the Bennet's. Plus, she still wanted those files.
God, it was so much easier when she was in a position of superiority and could easily get what she wanted. It had been a long time, though, with peter tricking her, Bennet playing head games, Daddy just fed up with her failures, and even Mohinder thought he was better than her.
Her head shot up and a victorious smile appeared on her face. Mohinder owed her one; she had saved his life. Mohinder was a scientist; he would know how much drugs to pump Sylar up with and how to poke him. Company employed, the directory would have his phone number. A more content smile snuck on her face as her hand darted for the car's phone.
She'd have to be careful so he didn't spill to Daddy. Even if he promised not to tell, Daddy was wily and Mohinder was easily manipulated. For a supposedly genius scientist, he wasn't very bright. Pretty, though.
Claire sat on her couch, glaring at Sylar's body. A single twitch and she would be out the door, running for Elle to shock him again. She pulled her knees to her chest at the thought of the blond sociopath. She was still thinking about Elle blowing up at her. Claire had only been checking to see what was taking so long, probably throw in another jab. If anyone deserved to be angry it was her; she almost got fried. Yet her anger for the other blond was slowly draining away now that she had time to think about her day. She still hated Elle, but it had lessened. Elle looked pretty freaked out considering she had been sent on an errand job and instead bagged Sylar. You'd think she'd be jumping for joy and zapping defenseless animals. Yet, she seemed unreasonably upset.
Back when she thought the company had killed her Dad, all she could feel was hatred. She felt sad too, but, for the most part, anger and revenge was on the forefront of her mind. She was probably still in shock, but, unlike her mother and Lyle, she had felt like she was losing her dad for a long time now. Discovering her dad's true identity was such a rollercoaster of love and hate that when he was killed, she didn't know how she should feel; guilty, upset, happy? Not happy. But no matter the emotion, it was the company's fault and it was so easy to just focus her energy on them. And without her dad, she could get revenge in a way she always longed for, where it would hurt the company the most. West didn't understand; his leaving was both a relief and another agonizing betrayal. She really liked him, but sometimes they just didn't share the same wavelength and she wondered if they both just wanted somebody who understood. But he didn't understand.
When her dad made his appearance she felt relief, but soon that changed. Now when she thought about the company, the only thing she felt was defeat. All her plans for revenge were ruined and they still had her dad under their control, because of her. With Elle's involvement in their plots, it was so easy to use her as a substitute. Logically she knew that Elle wasn't very high up on the food chain, and hadn't had much to do with her dad getting shot. Ironically, she was just the spark that started the mess. But she was angry at herself for being defeated so easily and upset about what a mess her life was turning into. Elle was not only an acceptable target; it just felt so good to fight with her.
Claire was not used to feeling like the one on control, not with how her life had been going, but despite Elle being older, Claire always felt like she was winning with Elle. Elle seemed so easy to defeat sometimes, not physically, but it was like she was always flailing and looking for help. Sure, Elle could shock her, but that meant she couldn't think of anything else to say, it meant Claire won. And Claire could take the electrocution. With Elle it was darkly amusing to see how far she could be pushed, provoked, before she lost it.
That was why the earlier incident was so disconcerting. Claire had pushed and prodded and Elle just held her tongue and barely fought back. Then walks into the room and BAM! They need a new TV. Claire was sort of in a loss.
Still, it was true what Elle said earlier, Claire was sort of in her debt. Despite her claims that her dad could protect her, she still remembered the last time her dad had tried. He had done everything in his power, excluding talking to her and including giving her mom brain damage, and yet Sylar had still found her. Jackie ended up dead and Peter almost died saving her. Elle, on the other hand, had saved her with barely a thought. Claire was so sick of being saved.
Her power made her feel like a constant victim, unable to help others and really, besides guaranteed survival, unable to help herself. Sometimes she really envied Elle for her powers. She can still remember that terrifying moment when she was sure Brody was going to rape her, even if he couldn't. Her powers wouldn't help her out at all, except maybe making it impossible for her to go to the cops. Elle would have obliterated him.
Still, she should suck it up and at least say thank you. Then she could go right back to hating Elle. In fact, she should do it right now; Sylar unsupervised would make a great excuse for a quick leave. She gave Sylar a quick, light kick, just to make sure he was still out, and quickly sprinted out of the room.
Outside she is surprised to see Elle not rummaging around the car for tranquilizers, but instead on a phone. So, apparently, Elle left her alone in the house with a downed serial murderer to chat on the phone. Just when she was ready to ease up a tiny bit, Elle pulls this shit. Claire crept up around the car, staying just out of Elle's sight. She got all pissed off because Claire accidently surprised her, well this time she really would sneak up on her. Sure, maybe it was a little juvenile, a little petty, but so was Elle. She stopped real close and then heard what Elle was talking about.
"Listen, Mohinder, I can't tell you more than that. I saved your life, you owe me and I'm not going to hurt anyone so you're stupid conscious is fine," Elle whined, looking somewhat haggard and nervously biting at her nails. Claire squinted in confusion and decided that it might be better to listen in on this conversation. What was Elle doing that needed hiding?
"Oh right, because you're just right all the time. Like when you said Daddy wouldn't be mad at me, which went over real well. I was right and you were wrong. He was furious, said I was a failure, and all I want from you right now is to tell me how much tranquilizer to give," Elle snarled, no longer in a whiny mood. Her entire body kept moving, legs shifting and hands wandering, so she was still pretty nervous. Claire couldn't help but wonder at the conversation. When had Elle saved Mohinder's life? And Elle's dad was mad at her for it? Claire was completely baffled at where this was going; why did she call Mohinder in the first place?
"No, I already told you. I'm not telling you who… Because you'll make a big deal out of it… and you coming to tranq him yourself is the worst possible thing that could happen," Elle continued, sounding more than a bit exasperated. Her moods really seemed to shift fast, but at least the exchange made some sense. Mohinder wasn't coming anywhere near her house, not after what he had pulled, but if he knew Sylar was here, he'd certainly try.
"Whatever, thanks. Have fun with what's her name," Elle finished, slamming the phone shut. "Shit," Elle sighed as she leaned against the car. "Way too hard."
"What's too hard," Claire popped in with a sneaky smile. She was disappointed when Elle didn't even jump. She just groaned and looked at Claire.
"Life," she stated and grabbed a bag that was sitting next to her. "Let's go check on our unconscious little camper."