Yeah, sorry about the super long wait… I just started all my math courses for my major and …. It makes me want to cry a little.
Also, this is super AU from now on. Before it was what if, but it did keep with what was going on, like with info we found out after the fact as best I could, but I've given up on the TV show so I don't know about any new info.
6 Slushos And Counting
Elle stared out the fogged up window, shivering in her seat. She couldn't help but let out a nervous swallow as she stared at the cheerleader's front door. Elle tried to shake off the lingering sense of déjà vu, remembering how she had sat in the car, building her nerves, not that long ago. And those thoughts inevitably twisted to how her victory had ultimately ended.
She frowned.
Elle had tasted a lot of failure in her life, but, well, it was the exact opposite of grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat. She had her victory and then defeat jumped out of the shadows like a ninja, an evil ninja, and stole the victory she had spent so much time and effort to achieve… well effort. It all happened so quickly it was no wonder the stupid ninja jaws of defeat surprised her. She blinked and decided she had enough sugar today because that last slusho apparently was a little too much. Her metaphors were going crazy. Though that could also be nerves.
Elle pursed her lips, shoving those thoughts from her head and forcing herself into motion. She still had to finish what she started, this mess she /herfatherandstupidBennet/ created, and she wasn't going to get anything done sitting in her car like a moron. She needs to get out of the car because this whole thing will go so much faster with the cheerleader's voluntary help, not that she couldn't handle it…no, it was just easier this way. And, more likely than not, Claire would be more likely to help her if she didn't think Elle was some crazy driveway stalker.
Elle snaps her eyes shut and slams against the seat with a groan, annoyed at her brain for running in circles. She wished she had parked a little bit more surreptitiously so she would have a little bit more time to compose herself, but she figured it was only right to park right up in the driveway. After all, she had been invited. Sort of. Almost. Well, she had invited herself, but Claire agreed. And that was the kicker.
She anxiously walked the short distance to the front door, trying to ignore the fact that the little trip in the gas station rest stop did little to hide her earlier breakdown. She had done the best she could to cover it up, but she knew she looked like she had been crying and was worn out. This whole being invited thing was what was really eating at her. If she was invited, and Elle had convinced herself that she was, then this was practically by the books. Having already been given her sentence, and her little stunt earlier hadn't led to any suspicion her way, she wasn't really breaking any rules by going to a house she had been invited to. Which was good in its own way, but it also meant she was a guest. Not so good. Guests had to behave themselves and act nicely, politely. No insulting anyone or initiating conflicts or inappropriate touching. Being a good guest was for good girls like Claire. Elle wasn't a good girl or a good guest, probably because she had very rarely been given the opportunity to practice.
She raised her hand to the door, but stopped at a sudden, unwelcome, thought. No matter what she found out, it was more than likely that this was going to be one of her last free days. She wished she could figure out a way to make everything turn out alright, to be on the winning side, but past experience proved otherwise. There was no getting out of this, and did she really want to spend some of her last free moments being interrogated by the cheerleader. She'd have to be on her best behavior as the cheerleader verbally assaulted her.
Maybe it would be different, though. After all, Claire had invited her, mostly, so maybe she was actually welcome. But Elle recalled the anger in the younger girl's eyes, even after Elle saved her life. Mohinder had been so grateful, had convinced her that Daddy wouldn't be angry. Claire had insulted her and blamed her and was basically just a huge bitch. She had been nicer later on, but only after Elle started freaking out. Mostly she was just displaying how much of a good girl she was, showing sympathy for the killer. Most likely, now that Elle wasn't in hysterics anymore, Claire was regretting that hasty invitation and didn't want her anywhere near the house. Elle lost her nerve.
She lowered her hand and took a hasty step back; releasing the breath she hadn't known she was holding. Maybe she should just leave and come back later, unexpectedly. Make them think she wasn't coming and then pop up unannounced and uninvited, not a guest certainly, and able to take full control of the situation. She could crash a meal… she definitely wouldn't be wanted then and if she planned on them not wanting her… well it would be better than expecting the alternative and getting shot down. Even better than a meal, she could show up when they weren't home and lay a trap, be all super villain ominous. She didn't really have the time frame or this plan, but she could leave and figure it all out… yeah, leaving was the best option. She was interrupted from her musings and rationalizations by the door opening.
Elle let out a startled yelp and stumbled backwards slightly before she regained her footing. Sandra, the one who opened the door, looked at Elle who was smiling sheepishly at her. Sandra quickly composed herself, something she was becoming quite adept at, and ushered Elle inside.
"Claire was in the shower, but I told her when you pulled up, so she should be down soon," Sandra told the fidgeting girl, not mentioning just how long ago that was, and Elle was just glad this meant that Claire couldn't know how long it took Elle to build up the nerve to come inside. "Would you like a snack while you wait?"
Elle nodded hesitantly, following Sandra into the kitchen. It unnerved her to be treated so kindly, especially in the Bennet household, but she figured that Mrs. Bennet was playing by the rules and being a good host. She was sure that, as a guest, she was supposed to say something, especially since Mrs. Bennet was being such a textbook host, but what?
"You have a lovely home," Elle blurted as little too loudly as she sat down at the table, taking a quick glance around the room. She tried really hard to pretend she hadn't just now realized there was a great deal of half packed boxes laying around.
"Thank you," Sandra said gracefully, giving Elle a courteous smile as she set out some cookies and milk in front of the girl. Elle gave a proud smile back, happy she was doing this polite guest thing right.
An awkward silence settled as Elle slowly nibbled on the cooking, unsure of what she should do next. From what she had overheard and read about Mrs. Bennet, she had some of those same memory problems as Elle. It really made Elle hate the hypocritical man just a little more for being so judgmental on her family. This meant that she might be a bit more sympathetic to Elle than the rest of the Bennet, but it also meant that she probably wouldn't be that helpful in figuring this computer problem.
All the same, this all came to light during the whole Bennet gone rogue debacle, which Elle had been explicitly told to stay out of it and not be involved in anyway. So, of course, she had snooped her little heart out. Hey, she wasn't really to blame. She was a naturally curious, constantly bored girl with authority problems; she most likely wouldn't have taken notice in the slightest if they hadn't made such a big deal out of it. She was starting to get why they didn't want her involved, though. Back then, her father wasn't quite as high on the totem as now, but Bennet could have easily found a use for her and with all this new information; Elle wasn't stupid enough to believe she would have stood up against Bennet trying to manipulate her.
She had, however, learned quite a bit in her sneaking and it did seem like Bennet was telling his wife more information now. Certainly not all of it, Elle was positive that a nice lady like Sandra wouldn't stick around if she knew all the horrible misdeeds her husband had done without the slightest hint of remorse, but it was possible that she knew where he might hide information. Since he was so gung ho about protecting his family, it would figure that he would give them some way to protect themselves in his absence. Then again, he was awfully egotistical. He probably thought he would never get caught or that they were incapable of protecting themselves without him.
Elle took a long sip of the milk, washing down the crumbs and taking a moment to subtly observe Mrs. Bennet. She looked tired and worn out, and Elle felt a slight sting of guilt at the thought that it was probably the stress that she had helped cause. Her and the company. And Bennet, couldn't be fooled into thinking he wasn't guilty. He was just lucky enough that no one seemed to hold him responsible for his guilt and he was apparently to good at his job to just be let go or killed. Seriously, they made such a big fuss about needing Bennet and how he was hiding Claire and Elle just couldn't figure it out. At the time this all started they had their own healer in the form of an ornery Adam, why waste so much time going after Bennet. It must be a pride thing.
Mrs. Bennet kept giving little glances toward the stairs. Most likely, she was anxiously waiting for her darling daughter… milk and cookies with a psychopath isn't anyone's idea of fun.
Elle scowled slightly, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself and leave Mrs. Bennet out of it and just wait for Claire. Till then…awkward.
Suddenly, Elle jumped as a small fury body started exploring her legs. She looked at the dog in shock for a moment, and Sandra took the time to hurriedly explain that the yipping, yapping creature was Mr. Muggles and please ignore him because he's really such a sweet dog. Elle smiled wickedly at the little fluff ball and launched herself at the dog.
"A Dog!" Elle squealed as she started petting and rubbing an overjoyed Mr. Muggles, speaking little bits of nonsense words to the small dog. "Daddy never let me have any pet of my own, but if he had I would have gotten a boy dog, a Pit Bull, and I would have named him Scruffy and given him a nice leather collar with a golden bone shaped name plate and I would have bought him little doggy shirts and costumes and I could have trained him like the dog whisperer and taken him on missions and he would have been all the backup I would have needed."
Elle gave a glowing smile to the shocked Sandra before returning her attention to Mr. Muggle who was having the time of his life.
---
Claire adjusted the temperature in the shower as the hot water to cool down. She stood under the harsh flow of water, allowing the stream to relax and soothe her. She loved the harsh pounding of too hot water on her skin and would probably go crazy if she couldn't experience, couldn't escape, in this feeling. Sometimes, after a rough day, she would just come home, hop in the shower, and scrub hard to get all the dried blood and, in one unforgettable case, misc. materials off and it convince her she's still human.
"Claire," her mom's voice broke her out of her reverie. Claire rolled her eyes in anticipation of the water bill speech again, but nonetheless perked her ears in attention, "I think Elle just pulled in, so hurry up."
/shit/
"Okay, thanks," Claire yelled, "Tell…tell her I'll be down soon." Claire hurriedly started finishing up her shower. She had, for some reason, expected Elle to show up later, maybe under the cover of darkness considering she was supposedly being covert and now she had to rush through the shower. She let out a grunt as she used a little extra force to quickly get some dried blood off her arm from when she had gone through glass earlier. It really was lucky she wasn't as accident prone before her powers emerged.
She finished up and hustled quietly to her room. She took a glance out her window and confirmed that there was a car sitting in her driveway. It must be Elle since her mom didn't give her any false alarm sign. Though, weirdly enough, it seemed like the car was still running.
Claire began drying her hair frantically, hoping to get done quickly and still have it look nice. Not that she was trying to look nice for Elle; it was just that last time she had seen the older girl featured her after a round with Sylar and not looking her best. Claire had pride, and that was all. She grimaced at the mirror as she hit a tangle, but couldn't focus completely on her hair despite her best efforts. Why did Elle leave the car running?
Maybe, Claire thought unhappily, she wasn't planning on staying long and wanted to keep the car warm. Not that Claire minded, of course. Not at all; the sooner she left the better. Claire was just worried about the computer, that's all. What if Elle just wanted to grab and go and left the car running for a fast escape.
Claire glowered and slowed down. She wasn't going to do Elle any favors; she could wait until Claire looked her damn best. She could primp with the best of them and she'd make herself look like a model before she headed downstairs. See how much Elle liked that. She froze altogether as another thought hit her.
This whole time Claire had just assumed Elle had been successful and this was their meeting so Claire could figure out what was going on. But there was also a good possibility that the company had figured Elle out. How was she supposed to tip them off about Sylar without clueing them in on what had happened anyways? Subtlety wasn't exactly her middle name. The car being on outside could be a signal or something and a company agent could be downstairs with her mom right now. She took a breath, trying to reassure herself that they said they would leave her alone now that they had her dad. They were all liars.
Claire gave up on her hair, pulling it back in a quick ponytail and jumped in her clothes, practically flying down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom and took a deep breath, sneaking closer to get a better idea of the situation.
Claire eased the door open and froze at the sight before her.
The girl who was known as a sadist, a torturer, a sociopath was crouched over Mr. Muggles with a smile, petting and muttering nonsense words while her mom stood staring in shock.
Claire forgot her stealth as she leaned forward incredulously, letting the door hit the wall with a loud thump. Elle jumped away from Mr. Muggles as if burned, turning quickly to Claire. Claire was pretty sure she saw fingers twitch and sparks start, but it ended as Elle recognized Claire.
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Elle's full attention was on Mr. Muggles, all unease forgotten for the moment; so when she heard a creak and a thud, a classic sign of novice sneaking, her entire body went rigid. She moved away from the dog and felt the snap and crackle of electricity running through her body to her hand for maximum control and in a single movement she was in front of Sandra and Mr. Muggles ready to fire at anyone who had followed her. Her eyes widened as she took in her sheepish so called follower and she extinguished the electricity. The whole process took a couple of seconds.
She stood up straight and backed away from Claire's family with an uneasy smile on her face. Last time Elle had almost hit Claire with a jolt of electricity by accident, she had received a tongue lashing in return. Still, Claire wasn't making any movement forward and Sandra seemed to be taking cues from her daughter when dealing with people with powers, so it was up to Elle to make the first move.
"Uh, you have a lovely dog," Elle spat out nervously, almost flinching at how stupid she sounded.
"Thanks," Claire responded slowly, giving Elle a weird look that made her regret ever opening her mouth. She crossed her arms defensively, unable to help herself, but tried to keep her face carefully blank. The two girls both took the moment to examine each other carefully, each doing their best to be surreptitious.
Claire took in Elle's appearance, noticing the weary, worn out look on her face [had she been crying?], a slightly distrustful glint in her eye, and the way she was sort of huddling up into herself. Claire swallowed nervously; Elle acting nervous and looking unsettled probably meant bad news, but at least there didn't seem to be hidden partners lying in wait.
Elle also took the opportunity to give Claire the once over, making sure to keep her gaze disinterested. Claire looked pretty of course, she always did. Even when her hair was half wet in a quick ponytail and wearing wrinkled clothes; she always looked gorgeous. She did look unsettled though, with that suspicious expression she always seemed to wear. Elle couldn't help wondering if she ever just stopped thinking so hard and just relax for a moment. Then again, maybe she did when Elle wasn't around. Claire gaze was fixed on Elle, not even glancing at her mother, which did make Elle a little upset for some reason. If Elle's mom had still been around…not that it mattered because she wasn't around, so…whatever. It would just be nice to see the cheerleader be appreciative of what she had instead of just upset when things go wrong. She continued trying to figure out what was going on with Claire, but she was never great at figuring things out with nonverbal cues and the cheerleaders stare was starting to creep her out.
"So," Elle started, fake enthusiasm dripping from her words, "do you want to hear the good news or the bad news." Claire's eyes snapped to hers and then, for the first time since she came down the stairs, briefly landed on her mom. Claire nervously shifted, probably debating the choice Elle had given, before she straightened out with a determined look.
"Let's take a walk," she said, grabbing Elle's arm and pulling her along. Elle glanced back at Sandra to see her let out a disappointed sigh, but making no move to stop Claire. Claire had seemingly inherited her father's inflated sense of self-righteousness and belief that the family doesn't really need to know. She clenched her jaw and continued walking along with Claire, knowing that it wasn't her place to say anything and that she was sort of at the cheerleader's mercy. For a little while.
They exited the house but, at the first chilly breeze, Claire decided that a car ride would be better than a walk. Elle thought sitting inside on a nice comfy chair eating cookies was better than either, but got in the car anyways.
"So," Claire said, gazing out into the road, "what's the good news." Her voice sounded distant and Elle got the vague impression that she was trying to seem disinterested for whatever reason. Elle swallowed.
"Okay, the good news. After the police brought one Gabriel Gray to local hospital, he was stabilized and, before regaining consciousness, moved to a private secure facility for detainment," Elle said, electing a professional tone. She smirked wicked and adjusted her tone, "He and his crimes have been wiped from the books before it got back to the FBI. I understand he is on their hotlist, at least as Sylar. Not sure if they connected the dots, yet. The hospital and police think he was sent off and consider it a shut case. He's locked up tightly, though; they're right about that, but at a Primatech facility. I have no idea what's going to happen next, but I'm hoping that they learned from past experience and we won't see him ever again."
Claire had shifted and was looking at Elle now, her expression a mixture of shock and a little disgruntlement. Elle internally sighed, knowing that nothing is ever good enough for Claire.
"I think good news would have been him dying, but at least we won't have police coming by and asking questions or anything like that. How did the company find out? What did you tell them?" Elle gave a brilliant smile. It was hard enough coming up with the plans, but the hardest part was when they came together and worked she had no one to brag about it with. She was really proud and telling anyone was a one way ticket to trouble. Except Claire.
"That's the genius of it. I didn't tell anyone anything. It was all thanks to you father actually, h-"
"My Dad! Is- is he alright? What did you tell him?" Elle held Claire full attention, finally, but it didn't make her feel any better. In fact, she was barely able to stop a scowl from crossing her face. She couldn't contain the disgruntled sigh, however.
"I was getting there," she said, keeping her eyes on the road, "He's fine, just sitting in his room all day, bouncing his stupid ball. Now remember when I say this next part that I am driving and if you attack me or anything, we'll both crash." She glanced over at Claire to see her nodding, looking partly confused and partly upset. Elle didn't think for a moment that if Claire really wanted to attack her, her comment would have meant anything. It wasn't Claire's car and the girl could heal, but it was good to give some warning.
"Okay," Elle started, taking a deep breath, "I may or may not have threatened you and your family."
Before she even finishes the sentence Claire has moved from a slumped, partially bored position to rigid and glaring. Elle has never found Claire scary, the idea is laughable, but she really hopes she doesn't decide to try something while Elle is driving. She really doesn't want to try and explain that to daddy. The cheerleader moves and opens her mouth, most likely to demand explanation with that obnoxious voice of hers.
"No wait, let me explain," Elle says quickly, nervously, and she hates how weak she sounds in that moment. She shouldn't have to go making excuses for herself, she had done the only thing could and she hadn't even hurt anyone, which is more than she could normally say. It's not like she isn't being punished enough.
"I was just, at first I was trying to goad him into some answers that he had already started, maybe lure him to the subject of you or Sylar…but the answer happened mostly on its own. He said basically their wasn't anything I could do to get him to help in that damn smug tone of his, as if I was the one in a cage… and I knew what to do. It was perfect." Elle knows she started to talk too loud, too excited, too angry, but she can't help it. She's gripping on the steering wheel as tight as she can and she doesn't dare look at the cheerleader.
"I wasn't seriously threatening you or your family. It's useless to hurt you and I have no reason to hurt your mom or anything…she's nice and…well, I just needed to put the idea in his head. Make him think that he needed to check up on you. He would demand it of the company and, for whatever reason; they want to keep him alive and useful. They'll probably set up a meeting with you and him to prove you're okay any day know. But, of course, they would check to make sure you actually are okay first… and one quick search and they would find out about a break in and Sylar and it was in their best interest to go pick him up and take care of everything." She sneaks a quick peek at Claire and sees that she has calmed down.
Elle figures this is the correct time to give a little joke to ease up the atmosphere, especially since Claire doesn't seem mad anymore. She smirks before giving the younger girl a teeny, tiny jolt. Just enough to make her jump.
"Plus, I bumped up your street cred. All the bigwigs over at the company think that you somehow managed to take down Sylar all by your lonesome. Even my dad." Her smile slips for a second, just long enough for Claire to notice, but it's up again quickly enough. "They might figure out it's not true when Sylar wakes up, if they let him wake up and if they let him talk, but I shot him from behind and he wasn't turned in time to see me, so who knows what conclusions they'll draw. Maybe they'll think you did most of the work and your mom stunned him or something."
Elle lets out an uneasy laugh and decides not to say anything else until Claire does. She turns the car around to head back to the cheerleader's house. They still have the trip back to finish their little talk, but it's good to set a deadline of sorts. Plus, she already passed the gas station and all this talking is making her thirsty for a Slusho.
Claire was giving her a searching look, not really noticing they had turned around. She seemed to come to some sort of decision and opened her mouth.
"Okay, so I agree that it might have been a necessary evil, but you can't ever threaten my family again. Got it?" Elle rolled her eyes.
"No problem, I promise I will never, ever fake threaten your family to save hospital personal from a psychopathic serial killer who would have then probably gone after you and your family again. At least I won't tell you directly to your face." Claire scowled to herself, but didn't respond right away, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.
"If all that was the good news then what is the bad news? I can't imagine what could be worse." Elle's sarcastic tone became sheepish and she took a moment to answer.
"Okay, the trust is that the whole threatening your family thing was the bad news…and…" Elle started, but was hesitant about telling Claire of her future isolation. It was really just Elle's bad news and didn't have much to do with Claire, but Elle did want to talk to someone…but would Claire even care.
Claire was looking at Elle when she petered off and could tell that something was off. There was something else that Elle wasn't telling her and she had a right to know if it affected her family. Despite how easy it was to read Elle for the most part, sometimes painfully obvious compared to most of the secretive people she knew (i.e. her family), right now she was getting mixed signal. Suddenly, Elle jerked the car sharply, causing Claire to clutch madly at her seat. She had stopped wearing seatbelts a while ago.
"What are you doing!?" Claire screeched, struggling to catch her breath and a little bit embarrassed. The turn wasn't that bad really, but Claire had been deep in thought and focused entirely on Elle.
"I, listen, there is still more and I'm not… you probably won't care, but I doubt you'll help me with the computer unless I tell you everything, so I will…I just need another Slusho. So, just give me a second." With that, Elle was out of the car and bounding to the gas station, telling herself that what she had said was the truth and she wasn't just finding an excuse to tell her story.
Claire hunched in the car, sulking. She probably would have gotten the whole story already if it wasn't for Elle's flare for the dramatic. Claire wasn't sure what her plan was at this point; she hadn't even made up her mind if she should help Elle or not. This was the person who was indirectly responsible for her dad being taken away from her family. Which was the cause of her recent and short lived foray into exposing the company. Which was the cause of her and West parting ways.
She wasn't all that upset about the last one. She was more in love with the idea of West than the boy himself. In retrospect, he was sort of a prick.
But exposing the company, exposing that there were people with powers like her and Elle; it had given her purpose and would have been a way to unite people with powers. She had been really lonely lately, missed her old life and hiding in her new life, and she had been looking forward to stop hiding. Yet, nothing had come of it. The company used her father to shut her up and she wasn't sure it was a good thing. And what Sylar had interrupted yesterday…she was trying not to think of Nathan and his almost death or Peter's stupidity (her blood would have healed him in a second). Her talk earlier today with Peter, him acting so weird… she might as well hear what Elle had to say and then figure out her next action.
After all, she didn't know much of the situation, other than the fact that Elle was doing something the company didn't want her to, and that was always a good thing in Claire's book. It seemed like Elle was just looking answers, something she had been doing for quite some time, and it would be nice to have some sort of plan… even if it was with Elle.
Claire jumped as Elle quickly opened the door and jumped back into the car, and Claire could practically feel her rolling her eyes as the sped out of the parking lot.
"Geez cheerleader, you need to be a little bit more aware of your surroundings," Elle said with a smirk pulling at her lips, taking obvious delight in unsettling the younger girl. Claire just glared at her, fumbling for a retort.
"If I recall correctly, you're not that much more aware. Aside from accidentally sneaking up on you just the other day, you were caught off guard when we were the only people on the beach and you were watching us," Claire said, relishing in the unhappy look crossing Elle's face.
"Well, obviously you don't recall correctly. I saw you coming a mile away…I just didn't have a chance to get out of there."
"I had to run across sand pretty far to get to your car…what could possibly take you so long to get out of there. And don't say you wanted to face me head on. If that was the case you wouldn't have tried your poor attempt at subterfuge," Claire said with a dark grin, sure she had the upper hand this time. And it was true judging by the uncomfortable expression Elle was wearing and the way she had her eyes focused entirely on the road.
"I was in a sling, in case you forgot. Not all of us can heal overnight from a gunshot wound."
"How could you drive in the first place if the sling-"
"I could drive just fine, the sling made it hard to maneuver the keys properly in the car. And yes, I did take them out of the ignition, it's what you're supposed to do when you turn of a car and we are going to stop talking about this now!" Elle was clenching her hand tightly on the steering wheel, not wanting to talk more about one of her failures. Especially since Claire was finding the whole situation absolutely hilarious.
"And is that when you spilled your slushy all over yourself?" she asked with a laugh. Elle's face colored with embarrassment.
"It's a Slusho…and I don't know what you're talking about." Claire grinned like the cat that ate the canary.
"Please, it was pretty hard not to notice and I probably would have said something if you hadn't been stalking me during my dad's… funeral. So what happened, di-"
"Do you want to hear the rest of the news or not," Elle snapped sick of this conversation. Claire smirked, knowing she had won a little battle.
"Fine, dazzle me." Elle sighed, wishing she had just let Claire continue to harass her. But she had to get it out somehow and maybe Claire would be more willing to help her.
"Well, I'm not sure if your realized this, but I'm not the… best agent. I mean, I am not a horrible agent, no matter what some people say, but I have just got handed some of the hardest missions, or at least ones that don't play to my strengths and for the most part haven't really been given a good partner. So…my missions haven't really turned out all that well. Like, getting your blood was one of my first missions outside company walls and you saw how that turned out. And it wasn't my fault. Your father was supposed to be distracted while my dad got you and he knew we were coming and had back up… it was Mohinder who screwed up! But no! I get the blame. And the only reason I got shot was because I stopped you and nobody else worked on that to keep you from leaving…" Elle was pretty caught up in herself, but she did notice Claire looking a little angry.
"No offence. Sorry. The, uh, point is that my dad sees me as a failure because of these missions and recently I almost caught Sylar when he was trying to get his powers back, but was too late. And he escaped. And he was really pissed off; especially since I went off on my own…it wasn't a mission. And then when he thought you had managed to stop Sylar, without any offensive powers, it just made me seem weaker in comparison. So he decided to bench me."
Claire's angry expression melted away to confusion.
"So is that really a bad thing. I mean, you're looking for those files, right? If they say what you think they would say, then would you really want to stay working there anyway… even if it is your dad?" Elle rolled her eyes at Claire's naiveté.
"The company has your father locked up in a holding cell right now who, besides going after some old retirees or something, doesn't even have any abilities." Elle snorted derisively, resisting the urge to give the cheerleader a little shock. "I don't have a life outside of the company and this wouldn't be some sort of vacation. If I need to be benched it's because I'm not good enough and I need to become better. And my… my dad will lock me back up and do whatever it takes to become better."
Elle willed herself to look straight ahead as she pulled back into the Bennet's driveway, ignoring the shocked and conflicted expression on Claire's face. She jumped out of the car, slamming the door while the cheerleader was still unbuckling her seatbelt. Elle took a quick glance back to make sure it was safe before she let a dangerous voltage of electricity spark between her hands and quickly extinguishing it.
A strange, unpleasant tingle, no more than a static spark of her own ability, twisted through her body, making her frown. She swallowed nervously at the sensation, not used to any after affects of her electricity, but put it in the back of her mind as Claire was finally out of the car. She clenched her jaw and headed towards the front door.
"Come on Cheerleader, you owe me a look at your computer."
Authors Note – Why is it that all the attention paid to Mr. Muggles is by psychopaths… Sylar, Mrs. Bennet when she was batty… West. I was just continuing the trend.